Why is He Running?

You may have heard that Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is entering the 2016 Democratic Party race for president. Many say that he doesn't have a chance of winning the nomination, but, he has good reasons for running. Why run then? Sanders hopes to influence the debate within the party. He plans by entering is to drag everyone else to the left on major issues like trade, campaign finance reform and income inequality. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/04/29/bernie-sanders-isnt-going-to-be-president-but-he-matters-anyway/

It may be interesting then to take a closer look at his voting record. I usually go to a few trusted sites to gather information on prospective candidates. GovTrackUS gives a report card on all members of Congress.  Here's their report card on Sanders:  https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/bernard_sanders/400357/report-card/2014 Note these stats are only for the 113th Congress and compare him to others in that congress.

Another site, Project Vote Smart, gives Sanders recorded votes on past bills in Congress:  https://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/27110/bernie-sanders#.VUI7RPlViko  You can go there to see how he voted on issues that matter to you.

On the Issues is a site that gives you quotes of what political leaders say on major issues facing our country.  Here's their set of quotes by Sanders on the issues:  http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/bernie_sanders.htm

Finally, I will share a link to my favorite political information site, Ballotpedia.
http://ballotpedia.org/Bernie_Sanders  By searching this site, you can find out relevant information about Sanders.

I hope you will do your own research and not just accept what the main stream media decides you should know.

Yet Again

"For yet again, the family of a young black man is grieving a life cut short.

Yet again, the streets of an American city are marred by violence. By shattered glass and shouts of anger and shows of force.

Yet again a community is reeling, its fault lines laid bare and its bonds of trust and respect frayed.

Yet again, brave police officers have been attacked in the line of duty."

"We have to come to terms with some hard truths about race and justice in America."

Hillary Clinton's speech today addressed the racial injustice in America saying that there is something profoundly wrong with America when this continues for decades. 

Her speech was profound and if you didn't hear it, you can read the text here:  http://www.vox.com/2015/4/29/8514831/hillary-clinton-criminal-justice-transcript

I like her optimism that things don't have to be this way. She said, "But I am convinced, as the congenital optimist I must be to live my life, that we can rise to this challenge. We can heal our wounds. We can restore balance to our justice system and respect in our communities. And we can make sure that we take actions that are going to make a difference in the lives of those who for too long have been marginalized and forgotten.

"Let's protect the rights of all our people. Let's take on the broader inequities in our society. You can't separate out the unrest we see in the streets from the cycles of poverty and despair that hollow out those neighborhoods."

If we always do what we've always done, then we'll keep on getting violence and unrest. It's time for change and confronting the injustices built into our system.

A Couple of Terms You May be Hearing

As we contemplate the situation unfolding in #Baltimore, we may be hearing or reading about institutional racism and white privilege. These terms are often confusing and upsetting. Let's look at what they mean.

 Institutional racism is defined as:  societal patterns that have the net effect of imposing oppressive or otherwise negative conditions against identifiable groups on the basis of race or ethnicity. http://civilliberty.about.com/od/raceequalopportunity/g/inst_racism.htm What's happening in our inner cities with big corporations moving jobs out and young people having no hope for real, income producing jobs is an example of institutional racism. Another example is the difference in school funding for inner city schools versus suburban schools.

White privilege is another term that is upsetting to many people. It is defined as:  "a term for societal privileges that benefit white people in western countries beyond what is commonly experienced by non-white people under the same social, political, or economic circumstances." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_privilege 

Teaching Tolerance magazine has an excellent article explaining the terms "racism" and "white privilege". http://www.tolerance.org/article/racism-and-white-privilege

Many years ago Peggy McIntosh wrote about white privilege in an essay called "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." You can read it here:  https://www.isr.umich.edu/home/diversity/resources/white-privilege.pdf  She gives 26 personal examples to illustrate white privilege. See how many you can relate to.

We on the Left must educate ourselves before we can start the work needed to change these systems that are impacting our society.

#LorettaLynch

I am excited about Loretta Lynch. After a lengthy wait for confirmation, she was finally sworn in today. Afterwards, she told a bit about her childhood and used the phrase, WE CAN, several times. Lynch is the 83rd US Attorney General and the first Black woman to hold the office. She rode on her father's shoulders to civil rights rallies. She is from North Carolina. More details are available here:
http://www.npr.org/2015/01/14/376997783/tough-attorney-general-pick-loretta-lynch-vies-for-senate-confirmation

I believe we can count on her to achieve great things for our country. "In her remarks, Lynch said her role was to "not just represent the law and enforce the law, but to use it to make real the promise of America: the promise of fairness, the promise of equality, of liberty and justice for all."

Lynch went on to say, "We can imbue our criminal justice system with both strength and fairness for the protection of both the needs of victims and the rights of all. We can restore trust and faith both in our laws and in those of us who enforce them. We can protect the most vulnerable among us from the scourge of modern-day slavery so antithetical to the values forged in blood in this country. we can protect the growing cyber world and we can give those in our care both protection from terrorism and the security of their civil liberties."

Read more: http://www.nationallawjournal.com/legaltimes/id=1202724635648/Lynch-Takes-Helm-of-DOJ-Promises-Even-Greater-Heights?back=NLJ#ixzz3YXIatDUJ

Divide and Conquer

Democrats have to take a serious look at what is happening before we end up going home with our tails between our legs in November 2016.

If it isn't the #TPP, it will be something else. Maybe drone policy or something else around the corner will be the tool they use to keep us fighting each other instead of focusing on WINNING.

Do you want Democrats to win in 2016? I do. It's time to rally the troops and stop our infighting. The right is untied in one goal - winning the presidency and maintaining their majorities in congress.

Are we Democrats going to assist them in their goal of victory? Or will we change our focus to the single goal of WINNING? If we don't win, we can't achieve any of our objectives and we will be at the mercy of the victors. They will get to select the next justices for the Supreme Court. They will get to privatize Social Security, Medicare, education, and any other agency they choose. 

#Unite4Victory

Earth Day 2015

President Obama is taking Air Force One to South Florida today to give a speech on #ClimateChange in the Everglades and right wing media are having spasms over it! I suppose they expect him to ride a bicycle to the event! Isn't this just like the right wing? They claim they think #ClimateChange is a hoax, then they rave about the fuel the president is wasting to fly to Florida! Republicans say that our President's environmental policies are job killers. Well, I say they should look in the mirror and ask themselves how many jobs they've created outside of the military industrial complex!

By going to South Florida, the President will draw attention to the rising sea levels and the impact that will have on the coasts of our country. Florida's tourist economy is based on it's coastal areas and if they are impacted by #ClimateChange then there will be a great loss of jobs.

In every way possible, President Obama and his administration are giving Americans concrete examples of how #ClimateChange will effect us. Let's pay attention and support our President as he tries to unite us in our efforts to protect the environment and stop #GlobalWarming! See this link for more:  http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/22/politics/obama-everglades-florida-climate-change/

A Case in Point

Political propaganda specializes in half-truths and innuendo. Winston Churchill told us how it is done.

A case in point is the recent statement by Reince Priebus about Hillary Clinton. In a Face The Nation Sunday interview, he said that Hillary Clinton took "money from kings of Saudi Arabia and Morocco and Oman and Yemen."  A Politifact article rates his statement as half true. It should have quickly pointed out that the statement was misleading and untrue in several aspects.

So, even in correcting the obvious trickery in Priebus' words, the article waits until the last few lines to state the facts. But the headline reads, "Hillary Clinton took money from the kings of four countries, GOP chief Reince Priebus says" Now, which do you think most who see the article will note and remember. Will they remember the correction or the headline? 

I will link the article so you can see for yourself how it is done:  http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2015/apr/20/reince-priebus/hillary-clinton-took-money-kings-four-countries-go/

And again I will caution you to be a careful consumer of information this political season. Question everything!

Are You a Critical Thinker?

As we move closer the 2016 Presidential election, we will be deluged with information about the various candidates. Now, more than ever before, we need critical thinking to process the information. The first quality of a critical thinker is rationality. This means we rely on reason rather than emotion and require evidence to support assertions. We are thinking critically when we weigh the evidence and consider the bias of the presenter. It also helps if we are aware of our own bias, prejudice, assumptions, and point of view. Critical thinking also requires honesty, open-mindedness, discipline and judgment.

So, are you skeptical, do you actively search for information, are you open to new ideas and information? http://www.criticalreading.com/critical_thinking.htm I hope I am. I try not to blindly accept what the pundits are saying. And I hope you practice your critical thinking skills along with me.

Outraged

There's so much to be outraged about that I don't even know where to start. Just a few that come immediately to mind are:  GMO's, war, poverty, NSA, every GOP presidential candidate, dysfunction in our Congress, 47 traitors letter to Iran, Donald Trump's comment about Hillary, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell's refusal to bring the Loretta Lynch nomination to a vote. All of these have generated some form of meme and post on Facebook, Twitter, G+, and other forms of social media.

We are getting pretty good at it. We get outraged, write a blog, find a meme, post it all over the social media scene and then move on to the next outrage. Sometimes, I think this is how we are kept busy so that we don't really pay attention to how the powers behind the scenes are steal our country away from us. Gradually, they are getting their agenda passed in our schools, our counties, our states and at the national level. Who are these powers behind the curtain? They are the "soulless ones" who live for one goal above all-PROFIT. Whatever increases profit is good. Anything that decreases profit is bad. All decisions rest on that basis.

Long before the Citizens United vs. FEC decision, the plan was unfolding to turn our country over to corporations. Corporations run the military industrial complex and now they own many in our Congress and statehouses. Profit is the prime objective. Privatize schools, Social Security, Medicare, etc. De-regulate corporations so they can increase PROFIT.

Will we continue in our outrage over a myriad of issues or will we unite to fight back against the forces that seek to turn our democracy into a corporatocracy? An Alternet article by Bruce E. Levine challenges us to fight back. http://www.alternet.org/economy/10-ways-fight-corporatocracy Check it out.  I'll leave you with a quote from it, "The elite spend their lives stockpiling money and have the financial clout to bribe, divide and conquer the rest of us. The only way to overcome the power of money is with the power of courage and solidarity."

Risking Everything

Yesterday, on #TaxDay, an unlikely "Hero" risked everything to call attention to the horrible effects to our political system from the Citizens United vs. FEC decision which ruled that corporate donations to political campaigns and Super PACs qualifies as free speech.

Sadly, his attempt at civil disobedience backfired. Yes, he successfully landed his gyrocopter on the lawn of the US Capitol, carrying stamped letters to every member of congress detailing his protest of the Supreme Court decision and asking for them to choose one of three options: "1. You may pretend corruption does not exist. 2. You may pretend to oppose corruption while you sabotage reform. 3. You may actively participate in real reform. "  http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/ruskin-mailman-tries-flying-to-capitol-in-gyrocopter-to-deliver-campaign/2225584 

But it backfired because the narrative is not his stated objective. Is Congress looking at ways to fix the mess created by Citizens United vs. FEC decision?  Is that what folks are talking about today?

No, everyone is freaking out over how he was able to pull it off. Homeland security is trying to figure out exactly what is a gyrocopter. Media pundits are wondering why the Secret Service didn't know since many claim to have told them about Hughes' plans over a year ago. That is why his mission was a failure.

So, I'm wondering if we will ever talk about or do anything about fixing the mess created by our Supreme Court. I think the 2016 campaign should focus on what the candidates think about the decision and what they plan to do about it.

In case you missed it, back on September 11, 2014, DEMOCRATS in the Senate proposed a bill that tried to overturn Citizens United decision. Guess what happened? "But forty-two senators, all Republicans, voted no. As a result, Udall noted, the Republican minority was able to “filibuster this measure and instead choose to support a broken system that prioritizes corporations and billionaires over regular voters.” http://www.thenation.com/blog/181590/senate-tried-overturn-citizens-united-today-guess-what-stopped-them# For more information on the decision and its effects to our political system, please see this website:  http://www.opensecrets.org/news/reports/citizens_united.php

The reality is this:  We must elect a DEMOCRATIC president and majority in both houses of congress if we are ever going to overturn the Citizens United decision.

Now, get out there and start working to elect Democrats or Independents who will support their efforts. 

My Kind of Hero

The CEO of Gravity Payments just took a pay cut so he could raise the minimum wage in his company to $70,000. Isn't that amazing? According to an article in the New York Times, "Mr. Price surprised his 120-person staff by announcing that he planned over the next three years to raise the salary of even the lowest-paid clerk, customer service representative and salesman to a minimum of $70,000." Article linked here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/business/owner-of-gravity-payments-a-credit-card-processor-is-setting-a-new-minimum-wage-70000-a-year.html

It seems that he'd read an article about how income correlates to happiness.  It suggested that for folks who earn less than $70,000/yr a little extra money makes a big difference. 

Even more amazing is the fact that in order to do this for his employees, Price is cutting his own salary to $70,000 from $1 million. In a country where CEO's on average make 300 times their average employees, this kind of action is unheard of.  We desperately need more CEO's like Mr. Price and more companies like Gravity Payments if this country is ever going to address the income gap that has dramatically increased in the past few decades. 

This topic needs to be front and center in our political discussions as we approach the 2016 election. Which candidates will be willing to discuss income inequality and the gigantic gap between CEO pay and employee pay? 

I Like Money

Today is #EqualPayDay and I am glad that I worked in education where I had a union to protect my right to equal pay. It has made all the difference in my retirement. But, there are still many women who don't have unions to ensure that they receive equal pay for their work. According to an article in CNN Money, nationwide women earn 78 cents for every dollar that a man earns. This effects the economy now and later when the woman faces retirement. The CNN Money article includes an interactive map that you can use to check out the level of inequality in your state.  Check it out.
 http://money.cnn.com/infographic/economy/gender-pay-gap/index.html?sr=twmoney0414gendergapmap833aINT

In searching the #EqualPayDay hashtag on Twitter, I came across a website for women that is free and has interesting ideas for establishing what a woman's contribution to a job is worth. You enter some data and it generates tips that are tailored to your specific situation. Here is a link to the site:  https://getraised.com/

Democrats are committed to equal pay for women. If you are too, then please go to this link and sign up to help spread the word:  http://my.democrats.org/page/s/equal-pay-day-2015?source=em_20150412_dnc_misc&utm_medium=email&utm_source=dnc&utm_campaign=em_20150412_dnc_misc

We can make this a reality. For more resources see:   https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/equal-pay/resources#top

Don't Be Fooled

Some would have you believe that there is no real difference between the two major political parties. They say the Republicans and Democrats are both owned by the 1% and there's really no point in voting. Those people lie and the reason they lie is so YOU won't vote and it will be easier for Republicans to get elected. Don't be fooled. Here's a handy chart that compares some of the major differences in how Democrats and Republicans view various issues:

Another source from Addicting Information lists 15 major differences between the two parties. See this link for the complete listing:  http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/05/09/fifteen-differences/

After looking at the chart and reading the list of 15 differences, you will see that Democrats and Republicans are very different in their approach to problems. There are many other articles you can find by Google searching - Differences between Republicans and Democrats. Some are written from a particular political slant, but, they do point out differences. So, the next time you hear or read that there's no point in voting because both parties are essentially the same, realize that they are telling you lies and just want you to sit out the election. Don't be fooled!

#ILoveObama

I love this photo of President Obama by Pete Souza.

The perfect shot to exemplify what many wanted to believe about him when he first ran for president. We wanted to believe he had magic in his fingertips. We wanted to believe that he could fix everything. We wanted to believe that he could, somehow, make all his campaign promises come true. Sadly, we learned that he is merely a human being and he has to work within a system that we helped create.

Many will accuse him of not getting more done while he had majorities in both houses of Congress during his first two years in office. What those accusers don't realize is that those majorities still didn't back his entire agenda and that the Senate was encumbered by the filibuster rule and only briefly during those two years had 60 votes to override a GOP filibuster. In the House, where Nancy Pelosi was Speaker, the Blue Dog coalition stubbornly refused to go along with the agenda. Yet, even with those obstacles, President Obama still managed to get many things accomplished. See this link for some of them:  http://www.theprogressivesinfluence.com/2015/03/milt-shook-updates-obama-accomplishments.html

Now, President Obama is in his 4th quarter and we have failed him by our inaction in the 2014 midterm election. Our Congress is more dysfunctional than ever before in history. Will we learn our lesson? That's what I want all Liberals and Progressives to ask everyone they encounter. We have a chance to turn things around. We can work our butts off to get Democrats elected at every level of government. All elections matter. Our school boards, our county boards, our state governments all make decisions that effect the lives of all of us. Please get involved politically at any level and support candidates who believe as you believe.

What Do We Stand For?

Democrats have their own 10 Commandments and more. It's called the Democratic Party Platform. The 2012 Platform was called Moving America Forward. Here is a link to it:  http://www.democrats.org/democratic-national-platform
If you read it carefully, you will see that it is the antithesis of the Republican 10 Commandments.

Now, we on the left need to make sure that everyone sees the differences. Will you help spread the word?  By the way, The Mad Asshatter is a great page on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mad-Asshatter/509956375727738?fref=ts

Social Media Manners

Today, I witnessed some exceedingly bad manners on a group Facebook post. It all started when a member posted a vague reference to President Obama. He said "Obama is a Keynesian". The post was intended to confuse and illicit angry responses. In case you don't know John Maynard Keynes was an economist. See this link for more:  http://www.maynardkeynes.org/ 

Now, the person who posted it knew that and some in the group also did, but, many responded as if the post had read, "Obama is a Kenyan". They accused the original poster of being a birther. He remained vague and confusing in his responses. When some called him out as being deliberately confusing, he continued to insist he merely wanted to engage in conversation on the subject. People continued to jump into the thread without reading prior posts. It quickly became a circus.

Now, I want to ask you this, "If you are at a gathering and you come upon some folks having a discussion, do you jump in a attack one of them?" "Wouldn't you listen for a bit trying to figure out the gist of the conversation?"

Of course, the original poster, having gotten the reaction he was seeking, simply left the conversation.

Was he a troll? I think so. But, what about the other good folks in the group that he tricked into attacking him and others who were trying to explain that the conversation was about economics, not birth place?

There really is such a thing as social media etiquette. There are some basic rules for how we interact on social media. In my opinion, it is worth taking a few minutes to read up on it and try to follow them.  See:  http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/work-life-etiquette/manners/social-media-etiquette

If you don't care for that one, there are many other sites you can Google. Let's all try to do a better job of communicating. After all, that's what social media is all about isn't it?

Sabotage

Sabotage is a very strong term. It means deliberate action. People who sabotage others are traitors and bullies who want their own way. Dictionary.com puts it into perspective with this definition: 

"any underhanded interference with production, work, etc., in a plant,factory, etc., as by enemy agents during wartime or by employees during a trade dispute." I don't know about you, but, I'm thinking of the GOP in our Congress.

Colbert I. King in the Washington Post recently opined on the subject of insurrection against President Obama.  He wondered if the GOP in Congress would back our president and the executive branch or side with Red States if they openly defied President Obama. I wonder too. We know they vowed to obstruct the actions of his administration from the first day of his first term.  They vowed to make him a one term president. They have fought him tooth and nail on every initiative of his administration, even the ones they previously were supporting. So, if they don't fit the definition of saboteurs, I don't know who does. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-rising-insurrection-against-obama/2015/04/03/d00e39f6-d94f-11e4-ba28-f2a685dc7f89_story.html?postshare=7811428176963474 

King states, "the resistance out West to federal authority has been received in virtual silence on Capitol Hill. It’s almost as if the GOP Congress wanted an uprising against the president."

King goes on to compare President Obama to President Lincoln and warns that we who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. 

What do you say? I say, it is time to demand that our members of Congress start acting like they represent all of us and not just the Tea Party or the Corporations.  

Technology Wins

The tentative Iranian Nuclear Agreement was announced today on Twitter. Amazing isn't it? At least to anyone over the age of 30. "Found solutions," Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted. "Ready to start drafting immediately." "U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sent a tweet saying that "parameters to resolve major issues" have been reached." 
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/02/world/iran-nuclear-talks/

Like it or not, this is how we learn things now days. I don't know what's coming next to us via technology, but, I do know that one either adapts or loses out.

Technology will also play a huge roll in determining whether the parameters of any agreement are being met. If you find yourself resisting the lure of new technology, please let go of your fear and do your best to learn how it works. 

Change is the only constant and the pace of change has been accelerating over the past decade. Adapt or perish. This is the law of the jungle and the reality of our lives in the modern world.

How to Tell Whether You are Republican or Democrat?

Here's a little, silly quiz to see which party best suits your needs.
1. If you see a little child wandering along a busy highway, do you:
    a. readjust your mirror and keep on going
    b. pull over, call 911, try to get to child before they get hurt.
    .

2. You believe that :
    a. women are sex machines and do not deserve contraception because they will really act out.
    b. contraception is useful to help women and their families achieve a higher standard of living.

3. You hear that a bus load of illegal immigrants is heading to your town's processing center:
    a. get out your protest signs and go yell at them to go home!
    b. organize a group of people from your church to collect clothing, toys, food items to donate to the             center.

4. You see a same-sex couple coming down the courthouse steps with their marriage license and family.
    a. you yell at them and tell them they are going to hell
    b. you smile and think how great America is becoming.

If you answered a then you aren't a Democrat.