1. Obama destroyed the Clinton Political Machine, driving a stake through the heart of Hillary’s presidential aspirations - something no Republican was ever able to do.
2. Obama killed off the Kennedy Dynasty - no more Kennedy's trolling Washington looking for booze and women wanting rides home.
3. Obama is destroying the Democratic Party before our eyes! Dennis Moore had never lost a race. Evan Bayh had never lost a race. Byron Dorgan had never lost a race. Harry Reid - soon to be GONE! These are just a handful of the Democrats whose political careers Obama has destroyed. By the end of 2016 dozens more will be gone. Just think, in December of 2008 the Democrats were on the rise. In the previous two election cycles, they picked up 14 Senate seats and 52 House seats. The press was touting the death of the Conservative Movement and the Republican Party. However, in just one year, Obama put a stop to all of this and has given the House and the Senate back to the Republicans.
4. Obama has completely exposed liberals and progressives for what they are. Sadly, every generation seems to need to re-learn the lesson on why they should never actually put liberals in charge. Obama is bringing home the lesson very well: Liberals tax, borrow and spend. Liberals won't bring themselves to protect America. Liberals want to take over the economy. Liberals think they know what is best for everyone. Liberals are not happy until they are running YOUR life.
5. Obama has brought more Americans back to conservatism than anyone since Reagan. In one year, he has rejuvenated the Conservative Movement and brought out to the streets millions of freedom loving Americans. Name one other time when you saw your friends and neighbors this interested in taking back America!
6. Obama, with his "amazing leadership," has sparked the greatest period of sales of firearms and ammunition this country has seen. Law abiding citizens have rallied and have provided a "stimulus" to the sporting goods field while other industries have failed, faded, or moved off-shore.
7. In all honesty, one year ago I was more afraid than I have been in my life. Not afraid of the economy, but afraid of the direction our country was going. I thought, Americans have forgotten what this country is all about. My neighbors and friends, even strangers, have proved to me that my lack of confidence in the greatness and wisdom of the American people has been flat wrong.
8. When the American people wake up, no smooth talking teleprompter reader can fool them! Barack Obama has served to wake up these great Americans! Again, I want to say: "Thank you, Barack Obama!" After all, this is exactly the kind of hope and change we desperately needed!!
9. He made Jimmy Carter happy since Jimmy is no longer the worse president we've ever had.
Government welfare programs created to buy the votes
of those who want someone to take care of them?
Japan does not have a welfare system.
Work for it or do without.
These are possibly the 5 best sentences
you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity
by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for,
another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything
that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they
do not have to work because the other half
is going to take care of them, and when the other half
gets the idea that it does no good to work
because somebody else is going to get
what they work for, that is the beginning
of the end of any nation.
I hope you're all planning to vote in tomorrow's primary election. We deserve to make the best possible choice for Governor, and for all the other offices as well.
I've met Dr. Don Berwick, and he's exactly who he says he is - a thoughtful, compassionate, progressive, and wise manager and problem-solver. Having looked at his policy positions, his experience as a leader, and his philosophy of public service, I'm certain that Don is our finest choice. Here he is, explaining why he's asking to be our Governor. Please take a few minutes and give him a look:
There are other ways to learn about Don.
Learn where he stands on the issues which matter to you - jobs, managing healthcare costs and quality, the environment, the economy, reproductive rights, casinos, affordable housing, and many more: http://www.berwickforgovernor.com/issues
More videos: https://www.youtube....MM1hgrJRLgzwxGCSshhg
Don's birthday is September 9, primary day, tomorrow: if we vote to make him our choice for Governor, we'll be giving OURSELVES a gift.
Not sure whether Massachusetts should open casinos? Have a look at the disaster of Atlantic City.
Sept. 1, 2014:
"The Atlantic City region is on the brink of a short-term economic disaster. ... casino employment - which for years exceeded the number of city residents - drops precipitously after a decade of steady decline.
The closing of three casinos ... and the rapid-fire loss of 5,700 jobs, draw historic comparisons to longer-term collapses of U.S. industries such as steel. "This is a massive economic body blow to Atlantic City on par with the hit to the national economy during the Great Recession" ...
Don Berwick is the ONLY gubernatorial candidate, Democrat or Republican, who is opposed to casinos in the Commonwealth. http://www.berwickforgovernor.com/casinos
Don just asks that you examine the data, that CASINOS DESTROY COMMUNITIES.
From single payer health care to the environment to the role of government, Dr. Berwick gives you his thoughtful and well-founded responses. http://www.berwickforgovernor.com/issues
This is why Don Berwick, has my support. Please bring friends, and vote in the Primary next Tues. Sept. 9.
THE DOCTOR IS IN.
Yes, it's a hokey video, but Don Berwick is the only gubernatorial candidate with the solution for skyrocketing health care costs - and the experience to lead the change: MEDICARE FOR ALL!
Please share broadly with friends and family in MA.
The first Democratic Primary Gubernatorial Debate was held last week. Didn't have time to watch? Here is a compilation (6 min.) highlighting Don Berwick’s positions on various issues from the debate at Stonehill College on Aug 19, 2014. See why Dr. Berwick is our best choice for Governor!
00:15 - On Universal Pre-K 00:32 - On Market Basket
00:50 - On Ferguson 01:48 - On Single Payer Healthcare
02:09 - On Casinos 03:57 - On Affordable Housing Crisis
04:42 - On Charter Schools 05:41 - On Trust in Government
Correction: Ma. Primary Held September 9th, Not The 6th
Apologies for the error in my previous posting about Don Berwick. The MA. primary will be held Tuesday September 9th. Please register and vote for our next governor (as well as for other state races).
Don Berwick: The Gubernatorial Candidate You Should Know
Are you familiar with Don Berwick? Do you know that he’s our progressive Democratic candidate for Governor, running in the primary against two career politicians?
Don Berwick is running for governor to continue to make Massachusetts “a beacon of light and hope”. We were the first state to recognize healthcare as a human right, and the first state to institute equal marriage. Don is ready to demonstrate that bold, progressive leadership can truly deliver for the people. I’m proud to have met him personally; he is a thoughtful listener whose positions evolve as he learns; he has compassion and is unafraid to speak his values.
Don Berwick is NOT A CAREER POLITICIAN, but a pediatrician and executive who’s been working to improve health care delivery and affordability for 30 years. He was tapped by President Obama to run the Center for Medicare and Medicaid, the largest agency in the federal government (with a budget larger than the Pentagon!). The Republicans in the Senate refused to confirm him, so his recess appointment ended after 18 months. Dr. Berwick describes himself as an “improver”, an optimist and a progressive. As with Elizabeth Warren and the CFPB, a federal agency nomination loss could once again be Massachusetts’ great gain!
Berwick has ambitious goals for creating jobs, eradicating poverty, improving our infrastructure, and protecting the environment, including being the first carbon-neutral state. He recognizes that climate change is the most pressing concern to the health of our planet and to future generations.
Here are some of Don Berwick’s positions:
- Would work to establish single payer healthcare (Medicare for All).
- Opposed to casinos (proven harmful to the communities in which they operate); would vote to repeal the law.
- Opposed to the Kinder-Morgan (fracking) pipeline proposed for Franklin County.
- Supports divestment from fossil fuels.
- Supports universal pre-school education and improving education at all levels.
Don Berwick has been endorsed by Progressive Massachusetts, Mass-Care, Progressive Democrats of Mass., Jamaica Plain Progressives, Senators Jamie Eldridge, Sonia Chang-Diaz, and Pat Jehlen, and numerous other state senators and representatives. His supporters are as passionate about him as Elizabeth Warren’s are about her.
Don Berwick is the best possible Democrat to beat Charlie Baker for Governor in the November election. Massachusetts voters have demonstrated that they often prefer a new leader with fresh ideas over an old-time politico when making a choice at the top of the ticket. A Democrat who is new to statewide office very often wins. The evidence is in 40 years of Massachusetts elections.
The Winners:
* * Ed Markey beats Gabriel Gomez for senator in 2013.
* * Elizabeth Warren beats Scott Brown for senator in 2012.
* * Deval Patrick beats Kerry Healy for governor in 2006.
* * John Kerry beats Ray Shamie for senator in 1984.
* * Paul Tsongas beats Ed Brooke for senator in 1978.
* * Ed King beats Frank Hatch for governor in 1978.
* * Michael Dukakis beats Frank Sargent for governor in 1974.
And The Losers:
* * Martha Coakley (then Attorney General) loses to Scott Brown for senator in 2010.
* * Shannon O’Brien (then State Treasurer) loses to Mitt Romney in 2002.
* * Scott Harshbarger (then Attorney General) loses to Paul Cellucci in 1998.
History suggests that either of the other two Democratic candidates, Martha Coakley or Steve Grossman, will follow in the footsteps of Coakley, O’Brien, and Harshbarger, and lose to the Republican gubernatorial nominee. Massachusetts voters want a new face with new ideas and a track record of success OUTSIDE OF GOVERNMENT. That person is Don Berwick. If Don is the Democratic nominee, he will beat Charlie Baker (another political “retread”) with his bold ideas and proven leadership. Let’s work to add Don Berwick to the list of winners in 2014. Please share this with friends across the state. And please vote for Don Berwick in the SEPTEMBER 6th PRIMARY. Thanks!
TOM WHEELER, President Obama's newly appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), RECENTLY PROPOSED ADOPTING RULES THAT WILL END NET NEUTRALITY AND KILL THE INTERNET AS WE KNOW IT.
DEADLINE- TODAY!!!
The FCC needed to feel overwhelming pressure to stop the corporate takeover of the Internet. And they did. Literally.
So many of us submitted public comments before Tuesday’s deadline that the FCC’s website ACTUALLY BROKE because it was so overwhelmed by all the traffic.
"After Servers Crash, FCC Extends Deadline for Public Comments
“By the end of the day on July 15, the FCC had received more than 780,000 public comments on its Net neutrality-killing proposal - a huge number that would have been MUCH HIGHER if the agency’s site hadn’t broken down repeatedly.” "
In response, the FCC has extended its deadline UNTIL TONIGHT, FRIDAY, MIDNIGHT.
Please spread the word to your friends and family as well.
________________________________________
Please submit sign and/or public comments to the FCC on any or all of the following websites before the tonight's deadline. THE FATE OF THE INTERNET IS AT STAKE.
You're invited to come meet progressive MA. Gubernatorial candidate Don Berwick!
PLEASE COME AND MEET DON! There are several local opportunities this weekend and next:
THIS SUNDAY, JULY 13:
5 - 6:30 PM. “MEET & GREET” in Northampton. The Meet and Greet starts at 5:00, and Don is expected to arrive around 5:30 and stay until 6:30. Don will make some remarks and then answer your questions, circulate and talk with you. See why Jonathan Klate (whose Gazette letter to the editor I posted) and others are lining up to support him.
LOCATION: home of Nancy Mihevc, 51 Day Avenue, Northampton (Off Route 9 -directly across from Sheldon Field). Parking is available at the Park & Ride next to Sheldon Field or on street. (If possible please RSVP to: mihevcn@comcast.net )
JULY 13, 6:45 - 8 PM BERWICK W. MASS OFFICE OPENS IN SPRINGFIELD!
Western Ma HQ 361 Boston Rd Springfield, MA. Official Opening: DON WILL BE THERE.
UPCOMING EVENTS WITH DON BERWICK:
Saturday, July 19, 3 - 4:30 PM.
FUNDRAISING EVENT at the home of Heather & John Hornik, 59 Carriage Lane, Amherst
RSVP John Hornik at 256-8854 you are coming, and please feel free to pass these invitations along to others.
Here are some other options:
Saturday, July 19 12-1:30pm 55 Main St, Northfield Steve Martin
Saturday, July 19 5:00-6:30pm 6 Cider Mill Road, Haydenville Mark Novotny
Saturday, July 19 7:00-8:30pm 32A Round Hill Road, Northampton Bryan Bruce
Sunday, July 20 11-12pm 35 Woodbridge St, So. Hadley Chris Pyle
If you plan to come to any of these, RSVP to John Hornik at 256-8854 so he can assure that the host is informed.
And let others know about these events.
DON BERWICK IN GOVERNOR’S RACE FOR RIGHT REASONS: PUBLIC SERVICE
Opinion by Dr. Jonathan Klate:
Sunday, July 6, 2014 Gazette.com The Hampshire Gazette
AMHERST — In the race for the Democratic nomination for governor, Don Berwick is the compelling story now. Martha Coakley and Steve Grossman, established pols aspiring to higher office for years, are being challenged by a smart, mature, experienced, unabashed progressive who has surged into serious contention for all the right reasons.
I had the opportunity to talk with Berwick in a Northampton coffee shop recently. When was the last time you felt a progressive politician running for statewide office was honestly speaking his or her truth, and from a wise heart? I mean other than Sen. Elizabeth Warren?
And I do mean talk with Dr. Berwick, because conversation is supposed to be a two-way street, and this gentleman doesn’t just spout, he listens. He lets you finish and makes it clear by his responses where his thinking has been modified by the information you have provided, if you made sense.
These are the habits of a curious mind and the ethics of a lifelong learner, perhaps shaped by his clinical training as a doctor. He brings a cultivated scientific mentality to his analytic approach to public matters. He is genuinely reflective rather than ideologically reflexive.
Before Berwick was a doctor he was the child of one. His father was a family physician in a small town in Connecticut. Like many small town docs in the 1950s he delivered babies, took his own x-rays and was on call 24/7. What he rarely did was take a vacation.
Berwick’s mom was a leader in the struggle to get a new elementary school built in their hometown. She died when Don was 15. When the school got built they named the library after her. So, while coming to terms with the body blow of his mother’s death, his consciousness was imprinted by her public legacy to the community achieved through political activism.
Don sees his parents’ dedication to both their family and the needs of the community as a way of life. “I don’t think they would have identified it as some kind of nobility,” he says. “It was just the way you lived. It was a habit as much as a value system and that colors the roots of my own values.”
He came of age in the 60s and these core values blossomed into mature progressive political inclinations during the inspiring era of the Kennedy presidency, the civil rights movement, the War on Poverty, the New Frontier, the Great Society, the peace movement and searing incidents like the Kent State massacre.
He learned that government, when animated by concern for human needs, is not necessarily the enemy. Structural poverty is. Underfunded and inequitable education is. Lack of substance abuse treatment is. Exclusion from quality health care due to low income is.
And without government to facilitate solutions like single-payer health care, for example, which he strongly supports, we can’t get the job done to improve the quality of life for all. It is fair to think of his principled mastery of health care policy as comparable to the expertise in the fields of banking and financial services of Sen. Warren.
He was president and CEO of a major not-for-profit organization with a mission to improve health care throughout the world. President Obama appointed him the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services and he ran the agency, overseeing an $800 billion budget, far bigger than the one he’d manage were he to be elected governor here.
It is unusual to find a systems thinker with tons of policy implementation experience who retains compassion for how well or poorly individuals’ needs are met. Through his decades in human and public service he has not succumbed to cynicism or narcissism. This is all too rare in public service.
This is not a person engaged in politics for personal aggrandizement. Can you look at his competitors and honestly say that?
If you think that Martha Coakley is the Democrat who matches up best against Republican Charlie Baker in the general election, you might want to recall what happened when her senatorial ambitions encountered Scott Brown.
Or, if you think just being a woman gives her an edge, maybe it’s time to recall Shannon O’Brien’s defeat by Mitt Romney.
Steve Grossman is a personable, centrist Democrat. But somewhere the Democratic Party has to stop muddling through, find its heart and be willing to have a principled fight. If not in Massachusetts, and now, with such a strong progressive candidate, then where and when?
Berwick can win, provided Democrats who see elections as meaningful agencies of democracy strongly support him.
“I think people are as tired as I am of mincing words and the failure to clarify a value system with a clear and unapologetic commitment to helping each other. I just think it’s wrong.” This guy doesn’t pander. He means it. Stand him next to his competition and it shows.
* * * * *
Jonathan Klate of Amherst writes about spirituality and political perspectives. His column appears the first Monday of the month. He can be reached at opinion@gazettenet.com.
Hi Sam,
I appreciate your thinking about and commenting on what you feel is the left’s reaction to the SCOTUS Hobby Lobby decision. It’s good that, even when folks see things differently, they can still talk about their points of view with respect and openness.
I’ve thought about the case a lot, but also thought about how this 5/4 Court has ruled on a number of cases. While you and I may simply be coming from very different places, and yes, I am opinionated, I like to think that I don’t just “shoot from the hip” or that I’m an extremist; even when I feel strongly about issues, I think that facts matter.
The article you referred me to in the National Review had a certain hostile tone that made it difficult to take seriously. It didn’t engender a lot of openness on my part, starting with “The Left is FOAMING AT THE MOUTH over the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision” and continued with “This is not just garbage. It’s an entire landfill on stilts.” Hyperbole, much? There are more than a few other straw man arguments – putting words and ideas in the mouths of pro-choicers that are ugly, incendiary, and non-representative.
So, I’ll just get to the points. Interestingly, I’ve read that Hobby Lobby paid for coverage of all 20 types of contraception prior to filing this case. One point the article makes is that the 4 out of 20 forms of contraceptive were singled out because they were abortifacients. They are NOT. Hobby Lobby “feels” that they are. However, the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) of the National Institute of Health reports that IUDs are contraceptives, not abortifacients. Hobby Lobby does not represent the thinking of science in this matter. Sadly, the right-wing regressives in this Court allowed for a religious definition of medical facts, not a scientific one! Political ideology, anyone?
The owners of Hobby Lobby are not doctors. They are not scientists. They are not ministers. They are employers. Their “mission” is to deal in products, services, and profits.
Additionally, the Greens, owners of Hobby Lobby, have a 401(k) employee retirement plan with over $70 million in mutual funds with investments in companies that produce emergency contraceptive pills, intrauterine devices, AND DRUGS OFTEN USED IN ABORTIONS. Hobby Lobby makes large matching contributions to this company-sponsored 401(k). They had no option to invest elsewhere? Some wonder if the owners have mostly a strong religious belief in earning their profits wherever they can. This egregious hypocrisy should have been a factor in the court case; I don't know why it wasn't. Will authentically religious Christians scream about it, or boycott them because of it? Doubtful.
Even if they WERE correct on the scientific merits (of abortifacients), the decision is still a slippery slope, recklessly decided. Once the Court allows the intrusion of the employer into alleged religious objections, we will see (we are already seeing!) companies which will religiously object to ALL forms of birth control, the hiring of the LGBT community, or Muslims, or any group with which they have an issue. See http://talkingpoints...t-hiring-hobby-lobby
They won’t even have to prove their sincerity! Groups could use a religious dodge as a cover for their monetary interests, to skirt civil rights laws, or to impose other forms of social control, if they can invoke religious imperative. Other businesses may wish to impose other restrictions on coverage based of their religious beliefs: no transfusions for Jehovah’s Witness? No anti-depressants for Scientologist companies? The religion of an individual should be freely practiced; it should not be imposed by the individual on others.
On another point, family planning, whether contraception, vasectomy, tubal ligation, morning after or emergency contraception, or termination of pregnancy, encompasses options which are both MEDICAL and LEGAL. Employees don’t get “free” birth control or medical care handed to them by the employer; employees pay for it, and health insurance coverage is one of several benefits as part of a package workers EARN, like vacation time, pensions, etc. HIPPA laws also should protect the patient’s privacy from anyone who is not their doctor; the employer has no business in the doctor’s office or the record room!
The owners of Hobby Lobby are either a for profit business (which they ARE), and are subject to offering their employees the benefits they’ve earned, or they are a church – a “for PROPHET”, if you will. I would understand a church not wanting to include some of these benefits in their package. But they are not a church. They do not have a place in controlling either the private lives or medical decisions of their employees. In her dissent, Ruth Bader Ginsburg made the point that “"Religious organizations exist to foster the interests of persons subscribing to the same religious faith. Not so of for-profit corporations. Workers who sustain the operations of those corporations commonly are not drawn from one religious community."
Another point: some of us are profoundly concerned that the Court would give religious rights to a corporation which would trump the rights of workers. No matter how devout the Greens might be (and whether they are or not is moot), the rights of their “personhood”, that of religious freedom has been gifted to the corporation, while being taken from the employees. This Court has given supremacy to the corporation over workers. Interestingly, on the same day, they gave no such standing to unions when they allowed family caregivers who get union benefits to opt out of union dues.
It will be a better day for us all when we have single-payer health care, so that doctor-patient relationships will not be intruded upon by outside forces. I still remember with horror how members of Congress and Jeb Bush involved themselves with brain-dead Terry Schiavo’s medical situation, despite her husband’s legal authority. It will also be a better day when Citizens United is overturned, and when corporations find their proper, more humble, place in the life of this nation.
Please Read All The Facts Political Decisions And Keep The Scales Balance...lest Become What Despise...
Hi Dinah, I am always interested in your postings and learn much from them. Thanks for your efforts in being a helping force in creating a more humanistic world for all human-kind; as we are all from the omnipotent source, energy, LOVE, and thus one family, in my humble opinion and learnings to date.
I caution us on this Hobby Lobby debate to not shoot from the hip and - and use for our own extreme political agendas - a twisted less truthful version of what is really factual - lest we become the same as we despise.
...it goes on to reveal (and backed by other sources) that: ..."a woman starts work at Hobby Lobby tomorrow morning — July 1. She joins Hobby Lobby’s health care plan. It includes access, copay-free, to the following categories of FDA-approved birth-control:
Male condoms
Female condoms
Diaphragms with spermicide
Sponges with spermicide
Cervical caps with spermicide
Spermicide alone
Birth-control pills with estrogen and progestin (“Combined Pill)
Birth-control pills with progestin alone (“The Mini Pill)
Birth control pills (extended/continuous use)
Contraceptive patches
Contraceptive rings
Progestin injections
Implantable rods
Vasectomies
Female sterilization surgeries
Female sterilization implants
(This new woman at Hobby Lobby cannot use male condoms or a vasectomy, at least not directly. However, if she chose either contraceptive method, in conjunction with her husband, she would have access to it.)
Further, not only would she have access to these medicines and devices, but Hobby Lobby would fund them. That’s right: while White House press secretary Josh Earnest claims that it “jeopardizes the health of women,” Hobby Lobby’s health plan pays for 16 different kinds of contraceptives for its female employees!
In the Left’s fantasy world, the militant Christians at Hobby Lobby police single female employees to assure that they have not engaged in sinful, pre-marital sex. As for married women, Hobby Lobby deprives them of birth control so that each can deliver a new baby every nine months, for God’s glory, just like in the Old Testament.
Liberals are living in a cartoon of their own making... [I interject: Please be careful not to be promoting this! There are militant Lefts just as their militant Rights...the balanced scale is one the swings to neither extreme...]
Again, Hobby Lobby’s health plan pays for birth-control pills, vaginal rings, contraceptive patches, and other items to help female employees plan their pregnancies."
I hope this helps bring the scales of information exchange a little more in balance.
Another great source of REAL and TRUTHFUL information on the history of Birth control can be found from this awesome resource: A Brief History (and truth) about birth control can be found at OurBodyiesOurselves website: http://www.ourbodies...brief-history-of.../ ... I hope this site is useful to some people. I know the book was very useful for my wife - as we we both born in the 60s and schooling and parenting in that era were generally predominately abstinent in that area. (pun intended)
I have posted before, but there is a July 4th deadline.
Just today and tomorrow are left to begin this great project to reclaim our democracy! The MAYDAY.US PAC earned its first $1 million in pledges in just 13 days. We're in the 2nd phase: MAYDAY PAC now has over $3 million in pledges. Help it get to $5 million by the end of tomorrow, July 4th! Once we reach $5 million, we kick into the next phase, that of supporting 5 House candidates who stand for getting big money out of political campaigns! Share this, pledge even a small amount, and be part of it! Thank you! Dinah
Trouble, I understand your frustration and outrage (which are mine as well), though mine are mainly directed at the current SCOTUS majority, rather than Hobby Lobby. Personally, I think of the Fiendish Five (Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Kennedy) as SCROTUM: Supreme Court Regressives of the United Mega-corporations). They have consistently voted against women and unions and individual rights in favor of corporate rights.
As of the Hobby Lobby case, they have now sent cases back to lower courts, where they can re-decide to allow religious objection (or a pretense of religious objection to cover monetary self-interest) to trump the health care coverage of their employees. This is exactly what Ruth Bader Ginsburg warned in her dissent! The door has been kicked further open to more corporate despotism (in the name of religious principle). http://www.motherjon...-forms-contraception
There are many ways to be active - local protest at Hobby Lobby, boycotting the company, activism in Senate and House races, Move to Amend (overturning Citizens United), voter registration, etc. I just hope that the employees (who are victims of these repressive policies) will not have political anger directed at them, or get caught in the cross-fire. Anyone who goes, please give shoppers alternative options, not just angry polemics.
The war against women by the fright-wing is REAL. So: is every woman and male supporter of women's freedoms registered to vote this fall? Same for workers and unions. We can't keep leaving power in the hands of those who love repression.
HOBBY LOBBY (Wahabi Lobby) will not receive my business, as it is against my religion to support HYPOCRITES. Their company is FOR PROFIT; they only PRETEND to be FOR PROPHET. Because IUDs are so expensive, women who are employed by Hobby Lobby and don't have the insurance coverage may be forced to fashion their own personal ones with craft supplies, my hope is that they will instead purchase those supplies at another craft store such as Michael's.
Citizen-funded Superpac Restore Democracy And End All Superpacs.
https://mayday.us/ is a SuperPAC, powered by CITIZENS - you and I.
First goal met: we raised $1,000,000 in 13 days.
Our democracy has been corrupted by the influence of money in politics. But let’s not let cynicism become a self-fulfilling prophecy! Please watch this and other Mayday PAC videos. Then become a part of the movement to restore the democratic promise.
Have you heard of the MA Gubernatorial candidate with the most executive experience, a superlative professional resume of leadership, visionary progressive ideas, the passion and compassion to fight for social and economic justice, and the commitment to boldly guide our Commonwealth? You should!
In 2013, DR. DON BERWICK - a non-politician - declared his candidacy for governor of Massachusetts. Here is some biographical information, along with Dr. Berwick’s moving and powerful speech at the MA. Democratic Convention last week.
Donald M. Berwick is a Harvard-educated pediatrician, founder, President /CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (a not-for-profit organization improving health care systems & policies worldwide), and has a Masters in Public Policy from John F. Kennedy School of Government. In 2010, Pres. Obama appointed Dr. Berwick to serve as the Administrator of Medicare/Medicaid (which has a budget larger than the Pentagon!) Dr. Berwick is Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Health Care Policy in the Department of Pediatrics at the Harvard Medical School, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. Dr. Berwick has published multiple articles on health care policy, decision analysis, technology assessment, and health care quality management. He is the co-author of several books.
Dr. Berwick has spent his life in service to the community. He quotes Vice Pres. Hubert Humphrey: " 'The moral test of government is how it treats people in the dawn of life – the children, people in the twilight of life – the elderly, and people in the shadows of life – the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.' These values will inform every decision I make as Governor." This is his call to (and a promise of) moral governance, where justice for “ALL MEANS ALL”.
Please take a few minutes to see and hear Don Berwick’s vision of leadership, and learn where he stands on the issues - jobs and the economy, education, health care, the environment, energy, reproductive rights, LGBT rights, casinos, and more.
I sent the following only to Dinah, who encouraged me to share it on the list. I have to admit, I am not usually comfortable with public expressions of my political opinions. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that one facet of our broken democracy is the lack of political discourse, or the tenor of what passes for debate these days. So, to honor Dinah's many thoughtful contributions on our list, here's my take:
Dinah, I wish I shared your optimism. Two things come to mind that discourage me.
1) $5 million is a teeny, tiny drop in the bucket of the multi-millions of dollars that are being spent by the big bad boys (any girls?). And, while this approach is unique, many other organizations have been raising money for years to get progressives in office. I've given before. I've pledged not to do so again. I don't know what can possibly turn this democracy around, but I do not believe that a monetary arms race is the answer.
2) I also gave to my now President Barack Obama. I know it is often argued that he is fighting upstream against an obstructionist congress, and that is why he has not been able to make as much progress as we'd hoped. But, what about climate change? He can't even commit to renewable energy and no keystone pipeline, even with such clear evidence. And, as bad as that is, I'm especially disheartened that he has not stood up to Monsanto and the other corporations hell bent on stealing not just our government, but our very lifeblood, the food upon which all humanity depends. How can he not come out strongly against GMO's, or at least allow states to institute their own laws governing GMO's and GMO labeling? I am baffled by his lack of leadership on this issue.
I wish I could envision a government that works. But, the more I learn about how the system operates, even on a micro scale, the more I feel that no government is immune to excessive influence by those who seem to want to rule the world, or destroy it. I admit, I've lost hope, except perhaps in the transition resilience movement with a focus on community and local food production. Unfortunately, I do believe we are in for a very rough ride.
Like me, do you dream of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people? Learn about the great experiment in reviving our democracy: a people's PAC, whose mission is to restore representation to the people. https://mayday.us/
We can make the dream real. I pledged. Will you? We have to be IN it to WIN it!
BIG NEWS: Today, after immense public pressure, the FCC voted to invite public feedback on two proposals -- the bad one and an awesome one.
FCC Chair Tom Wheeler's preferred plan would create a fast lane for big corporations and a slow lane for everyone else (BOOOO!). The alternative proposal would reclassify the Internet as a public utility like water -- equally accessible to all (YAY!!!)
Which plan wins is up to you. Are you willing to fight this battle for the future of the Internet?
Help us pressure the FCC, Congress, and the White House to enshrine Net Neutrality into law.
We have 120 days to act.
During this time, telecom industry lobbyists will swarm Washington, DC. What do we have? The power of Internet.
We have millions of everyday Americans who use the Internet for fun, for work, for innovation -- and who don't want some websites working better than others based on who bribes Comcast or AT&T the most.
Our PCCC activism already got a direct response from the White House, distancing itself from the FCC's bad proposal. Al Franken, Elizabeth Warren, and others have joined our fight.
Will you help us mobilize the public to rise up and defend the Internet?"
Please watch Sen. Al Franken's message, and please sign.
Once again, “0i812”, who calls himself L. Blakes or Blakeslee, has posted on our mostly wonderful Five College Community space. Once again, I’m speaking out, because there are three outrages in his post tonight:
- The first is that it he's posted another's writing, without attribution.
- The second is the writing is falsely attributed to Saul Alinsky.
- The third is that this screed (falsely attributed to Alinsky) is found on not only radical right-wing sites but a White Nationalist site, which comments with the usual virulent racism and anti-Semitism.
ONE: As usual, 0i812/L. Blakes couldn’t be bothered to write his own piece, but instead lifted it whole from other sources on the internet. Once again, he cut-and-pasted / copied without attribution / plagiarized, as he is wont to do. This evening's posting, titled “You Decide”, contains the usual paranoia, hate, untruths, and a false guilt-by-false-association screed. Only his first sentence appears to be his own. While mental laziness isn’t a crime, a consistent lack of intellectual integrity is certainly icky.
TWO: Saul Alinsky NEVER WROTE this list, “How To Create A Social State”, nor are the ideas congruent with Alinsky’s. Snopes.com labels it FALSE, and says: “The above-quoted list of steps for "How to create a social state"… IT'S NOT SOMETHING TAKEN FROM THE ACTUAL WRITINGS OF SAUL ALINSKY, and … the idea of "increasing the poverty level as high as possible" is the very antithesis of what Alinsky worked to achieve ... This piece is simply a modern variant of the Communist Rules for Revolution piece http://www.snopes.co...t/communistrules.asp (published in 1946) which was originally passed along without attribution until Alinsky's name became attached to it…”
Check for yourself: http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/alinsky.asp
THREE: I found 0i812’s above post floating around on many internet sites from 2014, but the earliest posting I found (December 2010) is on STORMFRONT. This is their logo.
This is a White Nationist forum, for self-described White Separatists (who feel exploited by alleged anti-white government policies and hatred by non-whites). Huffington Post reports that “A white supremacist site has blood on its hands, according to a new report. Stormfront.org is linked to close to 100 killings in the last five years, the Southern Poverty Law Center found.” http://www.huffingto...site_n_5173944.htmlv You’ll see that the comments following this post are rife with hatred for Jews and blacks (e.g., “Get with the Pogrom.”, “Jews are Liars”, and “Obama is “an uppity black boy”). Have a look. http://www.stormfront.org/forum/t1022812/
Is 0i812 / L. Blakes / Blakeslee a White Separatist? I don’t know - and maybe making that inference would be guilt by association, which is something he plays at on a regular basis in his deceitful posts. But he IS abusing his free speech rights by posting falsehoods, and fomenting division and hatred with those smears and slurs.
SHAME ON YOU, Blakeslee!
If you want to know about Saul Alinsky, have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky . He created the principles of modern community organizing to improve the lives of the have-nots, with organizational strategies to accrue community power. Though considered a radical, he was never a Communist, nor was he a member of any other organization. Alinsky said: “This becomes a contest of power: those that have money, and those who have people. We have nothing but people.”
P.S. I suspect that Jesus was a radical community organizer, but maybe that’s just me.
Let this sink in and you'll figure where the hell this country's heading if we do nothing on Nov. 4, 2014....Vote Damn It !!!
Recall that Hillary did her college thesis on his writings and Obama writes about
him in his books.
Saul Alinsky died about 43 years ago, but his writings influenced those in political control of our nation today.
Saul David Alinsky, a writer, was an American community organizer and writer. He is generally considered to be the founder of the modern community organizing movement. He is most noted for his book Rules for Radicals.
Died: June 12, 1972, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
Education: University of Chicago
Spouse: Irene Alinsky
Books: Rules for Radicals, Reveille for Radicals
Anyone out there think that this stuff isn't happening today in the U.S.?
All eight rules are currently in play.
How to create a social state by Saul Alinsky:
There are eight levels of control that must be obtained before you are able to
create a social state. The first is the most important.
1) Healthcare– Control healthcare and you control the people.
2) Poverty – Increase the Poverty level as high as possible, poor people are easier to control and will not fight back if you are providing everything for them to live.
3) Debt – Increase the debt to an unsustainable level. That way you are able to increase taxes, and this will produce more poverty.
4) Gun Control– Remove the ability to defend themselves from the Government. That way you are able to create a police state.
5) Welfare – Take control of every aspect of their lives. (Food, Housing, and Income)
6) Education – Take control of what people read and listen to – take control of
what children learn in school.
7) Religion – Remove the belief in the God from the Government and schools.
8) Class Warfare – Divide the people into the wealthy and the poor. This will
cause more discontent and it will be easier to take (Tax) the wealthy with the support of the poor.
Does any of this sound like what is happening to the United States?
Alinsky merely simplified
Vladimir Lenin's original scheme for world conquest by communism, under
Russian rule. Stalin described his converts as "Useful Idiots." The
Useful Idiots have destroyed every nation in which they have seized power
and control. It is presently happening at an alarming rate in the U.S.
"It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere."