Thank You Mr. President

If you have not seen it (or even if you have) please watch the President take on the GOPpers. He is brilliant and in command. He is calm, cool and collected. He has a patience and a professionalism that is unmatched.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Then, if you have a minute and are so inclined, please send him a thank you note. I think that it is important to reward good behavior and to let him know that we support him and have his back when he takes them on.

(I have certainly been letting him know when I disapprove.)

Thank you, in advance, for your support.

Cross posted at PAS.

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Action Alert

Sign, Call, Write.

Because Democratic Corporate Tools are more dangerous than Right Wing Corporate Tools.

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Please Don't Divorce My Friends

Watch. Read. Sign. Forward.

Bring a tissue and then funnel your outrage!

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To Hope or Not to Hope

The Progressive villagers are getting restless.

I get it. It is incredibly frustrating. I want Progressive Change and I want it now. (Stamps feet, grabs the gum and turns into a purple human blueberry…) Seriously. I am with all of you.

I, however, am not willing to throw in the towel [yet] and say that they are all the same. (All of these politicians. spppltt!)

The thing is, what makes these assholes “all the same,” is also what makes them different. Click ‘read more’ to see what I mean – or, just disagree with me based on the title…that works too.

These bastards, Left, Right and Center, all have one thing in common; they want to keep their jobs. They have also woken up to the fact that we the people are paying attention. And, we the people, can get mobilized and kick the bums out.

The last two elections are still fresh in their minds. The Right has watched their buddies be replaced by Democrats and the Democrats have watched – in awe – as the people got together and went to the polls. The Democrats also know (as do the Republicans) that the more people who vote, the more that Democrats get elected. This is just a simple, unarguable, fact, and it is also why the Pukes do everything that they can to suppress the vote.

Knowing this little tidbit, that the bastards all want to keep their jobs, is what makes them different. It is also what makes this particular period of time so amazing. What is so amazing right now, so fascinating, is that the GOP still thinks that their only problem was that they did not move far enough to the Right! This is excellent. Let them move farther…they are going to move so far to the Right that they will join the death-knell of the Wigs. Dumb asses.

While the Republican dumb asses move farther to the Right and continue to play their games, the Dems are being “cooperative” and “accommodating” and “bi-Partisan” and the public is eating that shit up. Seriously. The majority of the Country are not Partisans like we are…but they are starting to pay attention in ways that they never have before.

What Obama has done, not because he is so great or so cool or whatever, is that he has communicated in such a way that the people want to pay attention. This is not all Obama’s doing, we also have GW Bush to thank for this.
Bush fucked this country so hard and for so long that the people are all watching with keen interest; we have become a Nation of observers just like a rape victim watching the trial of her attacker – every word said, every piece of evidence presented, every witness who speaks – the people are watching and this bodes well for Democrats. The Democratic Ideas work; the Republican ideas are like being raped all over again. The people know this intuitively, even if they do not understand all of the intricacies of the plans.

Obama needs us in a way that no other President since FDR has needed the people. He needs a movement. No matter how many times that I say it, I do not feel that I can say it enough. He needs us to educate our neighbors. He needs us to call our Representatives and Senators. He needs us to write LTEs. Without us he will not be able to do this. He just won’t.

Here is a start:

Hold an economic recovery house party. Educate your friends and neighbors. Obama needs a movement and we need to give it to him. Real change will happen if the people demand it. These Representatives and Senators want to keep their jobs.

Tell your Senators to support the National Parks in the stimulus.

Call your Senators and support the stimulus package.

Demand accountability for the Bush Administration.

Stand with Al Gore and Repower America. Demand that your legislators support climate change legislation. I watched Vice President Gore’s testimony this weekend and it is terrifying. Why every single student in this Country - college and HS and Jr. High and elementary – are not required to watch this is beyond me.

Demand that family planning money be put back in the stimulus. It is so common friggin sense – offer people assistance with their health care costs and they will spend that money elsewhere in the economy. In addition, if you want to help people to be lifted out of poverty, help them to prevent pregnancies. Could people be any more stoopid?!

Remove Republican tax cuts from the stimulus; they do not do shit to help the economy. We need targeted cuts to the lower and middle income people. This petition and letter writing campaign calls for eliminating all of them, and I would honestly rather see all of them gone, than any corporate ones.

Hillary’s online community, No Limits. From what I can tell it is a forum dedicated to fixing this fucking Country.

Find your local District Attorney and ask them to file charges against Bush.

Vote on FDLs priorities.

Demand that Holder appoint a Special Prosecutor.

Hold a repower America house party this weekend.


Dictionary defines the antonym of “hope” as “despair.” I agree, and I agree that one of the greatest contributors to despair is powerlessness. The more involved that I am, the less powerless that I feel. Call it delusional or airy fairy or naïve or whatever. Personally I don’t care, I only know that the alternative leads to days on the couch and inability to function and I can’t do that today. It is difficult enough to move as it is; I will not add the kind of pessimism that I am used to experiencing to it. I may get screwed in the end and highly disappointed, but at least I can say I tried to change it.

PS: I started this post a few days ago so I hope that all of the links still work. Here a couple of add-ons that I also felt were worth the time to share.

Obama’s op-ed selling the plan; well worth the read.

Olbermann’s special comment last night was excellent. He made a couple of verbal flubs so read the thing too. How I wish that I could say the same to Dick – to his face.

Cross-posted at PAS.

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A Couple More Ways to Fight the Obstructionists

The only way, I believe, that we can fight the obstructionists is to call them on their bullshit. (BTW, I do not limit this to Republican hacks, if there are blue dogs who want to fight the stimulus package that we need or there are Democratic dumb assess who knew about the domestic spying or torture and rendition policies and did nothing – we need to hold them accountable too.) We need to let these assholes know that we are watching and that we are paying attention.

Yep, there is more.


We are not powerless and these are not people with power in high up places that are untouchable; not with the power of information. SoS posted a link to the criminal behavior of Jon Cornyn yesterday. We have the power to share this information with the sheeple – including their Republican constituents who are so frightened right now, that they too do not want obstructionists, and they do not want criminals in the Congress.

Especially not now; the sheeple are being shown what it is like to have someone of integrity and intelligence in the WH, they are seeing what public service is about. It is not supposed to be about power and enriching oneself – it is supposed to be about sacrifice. The dicks who treat it as their own personal ATM need to be sent home, hopefully in shackles. It is up to us to work towards that.

The Republicans are moving farther to the Right. There are very few moderate Republicans left. We need to elevate the moderates and tear down these extremists. I know that people think that a phone call to the office of a Senator or Congressperson does not make any difference - but it does.

The staffers in the office really do keep a log of calls from constituents and if there is a particular piece of legislation up for a vote or a person to be confirmed – the staffers keep a Yea and a Nay call log. The Right has their phone trees and their electronic calling machines and their Right Wing Radio and Faux News that encourages their sheeple to call in. We have the Internet.

We need to use the tools that we have and fight their crap. The Daily Show last night had a rundown of Faux News on the first day of the Obama Administration. The anti-Obama and anti-Democrat and anti-American people and and Anti-American-Values crap that was spewing from the montage was frightening. They are working hard to take him down and we need to take them down first. We are still at war and we are on the right side of history and the good side of the issues.

Here are a few petitions to fight the Republicans and to congratulate Obama:

Thank Obama for ordering Gitmo shut down.

Don’t block Obama’s Attorney General because you support torture. I really cannot believe that Cornyn is such a transparent dick.

Bail Out People thinks that the stimulus package is too conservative. I tend to agree on many points; however, I have not read the actual package so I am reserving judgment. I think that Obama is playing “good cop” with the Republicans, knowing full well that the House and the Senate are totally Dem controlled and the package will be far more Progressive than what Obama has to pretend to support.

Demand that immigrant children and pregnant women are not excluded from SCHIP.

If you can make it to Colorado next week, go to camp!

Right Wing Myths about the stimulus.

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Republican Obstructionism Day 2

It is back to CSPAN 24/7 - the Congress is really interesting right now - especially the lost little Republicans. It did not take long for these creeps to show their true colors. It makes no difference that they pretend to be supportive by prefacing their obstructionist bullshit with the line "We want Obama to succeed but..."

They are not fooling me and I doubt that they are fooling anyone else. Click “read more” to see what I mean.

Oy. Because the Senate is so collegial and has all of these entrenched rules which respect the minority Party – a Democratic Majority of 59 Senators is not enough to stop the Republicans from certain acts of obstructionism. We also have the benefit of Democratic Senators who still believe in tradition and “bi-partisanship.”

[Yes, I did say “benefit” because I believe that it is. As much as I cannot stand these rabid Right-Wing hacks, the last thing that I want is for the Dems to behave like they did. And, as much as I (so far) like a lot of what Obama is doing and I really like his style, I do not want a Democratic Congress that rolls over to him like the Republicans did with Bush. I do not think acting like them benefits anyone.]

This is one of the types of things that I was referring to when it comes to policing the Congress (and the Administration.) The Congress is a co-equal branch of the government and because they have been so impotent, and because the friggin’ Bush Administration ran right over the Congress, they are now (suddenly) flexing their muscles to show the Obama Administration that the Congress has equal power. I am actually happy about this. Regardless of Dem control in both Houses and the Presidency I still want the Congress to show that they are back and to remove the precedent set by Bush. I want them to restore the co-equal status.

As a result of this equalization, the Congress is acting a little tougher than they would in normal circumstances. In normal circumstances they might just take the President’s Package and run with it, but they are not. In addition, the Democratic Congress’s stimulus package is better than Obama’s - in that it does not rely so much on the Republican religion of tax cuts.

With the [too long] preface over, the preface explaining a little bit of the power-play dynamics occurring, let’s get back to the gist of this post: The Goddamned Right Wing Republican Hacks Are Using Every Tool in the Rule Book to Obstruct Cabinet Appointees and the Stimulus Plan. Jerks.

The Republican Party is going through some pretty intense adjustments. They have no idea who they are or what they stand for and they are acting like Tourettes Victims; they just stand there obstructing shouting out epithets like “Ronald Reagan,” “Tax Cuts,” “forced lending to the poor!”

They really are pitiful when we see them for what they are. Their entire philosophy of existence has been proven a failure and they still do not want to change. Like an alcoholic sleeping in a ditch, they still think that all will be well if they can just get their next drink. Unfortunately, their disgusting behavior affects far more people than just them; we all suffer for their philosophy and we are the ones paying for their decisions. That is why it is still easy to hate them – rather than pity their useless souls.

Not only are they trying to block Obama’s Appointees to the Cabinet, they are also using every procedural tool that they have to try to stop the new stimulus package. What makes this worse is that they are using their “constituents” for cover. They preface every one of their whiny proclamations with “our phones are ringing off the hook with our constituents calling because they are concerned about…” Fill in the “about” with whatever policy or appointment that they are trying to block.

This is where we come in. We need to contact our Senators and our House Member and tell them what we want. The Pukes say that their people are calling them, we need to make damned sure that our people are actually calling them. Enough of this crap. We need to show these dicks for the obstructionist hacks that they are. We need to make sure that their constituents know exactly what it is that they are doing.

Progressive Future has a petition up telling the Republicans to stand down. I am sure that more petitions are coming and I will make them available as I come across them and time permits. We are a bit more tenacious than they are and we are on the correct side of history. Enough of their crap; the world has suffered enough.

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Hello, Hello, Hello

Is There Anybody Out There?!

I get it, everyone is busy and sick and completely bored by the blogosphere. The fight was won. Bushco and his criminal crew are gone in just a few short days. We are on to a new chapter in this country...a blissful new chapter of Peace and Love. [Pay no attention to the multiple wars and the economy in the crapper.]

There is nothing left to fight for. Right?

Wrong.

Dammit. We have more work to do than we did when we were fighting the criminality of the Bush Administration and the corrupt Republican Congress over these last 8 long fucking years.

Obama needs a movement.

And, the thing is, Obama recognizes this. Obama knows that he will not be able to implement any significant change unless the people are louder than the lobbyists. It is not enough to police the Democratic Congress and then bitch about it when they do wrong. This will not get us anywhere except for providing us a place to come and bitch and agree with each other. This is not what we need.

This is what Change.gov is all about. It is also why Obama continues to send us a zillion emails. It is not about fundraising right now...we won. There will not be an election for President for four years. All of this communication with us is not for show - it is because Obama needs a movement. Without us screaming louder than the frickin' lobbyists the change will not happen.

There is also Change.org which is a division of Democrats.com. This is the people's side of the Change movement. (Don't go to change.com unless you want to jack-off; change.com is the underwear manufacturer.)

The bottom line, even though we are tired and we are bored, we have work to do. I warned about the let-down and people seemed to agree with me that it would happen. I thought that it would have happened earlier and been over by now...but, I am thinking, the Holidays might have postponed it and might have added to it (family really is a pain in the ass.)

Consider this the pep-talk. (I can only give them, I have a hard time actually following them up with action - so I expect you all, my friends, to call me on it when I start whining...) We have work to do people. Our blog should be more active than it was while fighting the GOP. There are hearings to watch and policing of the Congress to do. Phone calls to make and letters to write. Volunteering to participate in. Movements to initiate. Media to watchdog.

Just nod if you can hear me - Is there anyone at home?

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A Feel Good Story of the Holiday Season

Who here can't resist "throwing a big shoe" at bu$h? I know I can't... what this young man did took some "Grande Huevos" and should be taught in schools as a way of protesting any corrupt regime, government or monarchy. Anything to delay the (illegal) process of an out going pResident from screwing over the populace during their last 60 days in office.

Tim DeChristopher Throws Utah Oil And Gas Drilling Leases Auction Into Chaos

An environmental activist tainted an auction of oil and gas drilling leases Friday by bidding up parcels of land by hundreds of thousands of dollars without any intention of paying for them, a federal official said.

The process was thrown into chaos and the bidding halted for a time before the auction was closed, with 116 parcels totaling 148,598 acres having sold for $7.2 million plus fees.

"He's tainted the entire auction," said Kent Hoffman, deputy state director for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Utah.

Hoffman said buyers will have 10 days to reconsider and withdraw their bids if they think they paid too much.

Tim DeChristopher, a 27-year-old University of Utah economics student, said his plan was to disrupt the auction and he feels he accomplished his goal.

DeChristopher won the bidding on 13 parcels, auction records show, and drove up the price of several other pieces of land.

"I thought I could be effective by making bids, driving up prices for others and winning some bids myself," the Salt Lake City man said.

Some bidders said they were forced to bid thousands of dollars more for their parcels, while others fumed that they lost their bids...

My wish for the Holiday Season is that Tim DeChristopher has a lot of donations to help his legal fund and the federal court drags this into the Obama Administration. Then an immediate pardon from Obama.

We will know right away if Obama will fight for what is environmentally right! This case will also test Ken Salazar upon confirmation: Will he fight big corporations and their explotation of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management? Or will he stand with the environmentalist?

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Solstice, Wonderful Kwanzaa and Happy New Year.

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Additional To Do (Damn, Being a Citizen Requires a Lot of Work!)

In my email inbox today is a note from Congressman Robert Wexler. [I love Bob Wexler. He rocks.]

Anyway, the email lets us know that he supports Nadler's legislation, H.RES.1531, which calls for no "pre-emptive" pardons and demands that Bush Administration officials be held accountable for their crimes.

Currently there are 8 co-sponsors:
Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] - 12/10/2008
Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] - 12/10/2008
Rep Frank, Barney [MA-4] - 12/9/2008
Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] - 12/9/2008
Rep Lewis, John [GA-5] - 12/9/2008
Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. [NY-14] - 12/9/2008
Rep Pastor, Ed [AZ-4] - 12/9/2008
Rep Stark, Fortney Pete [CA-13] - 12/9/2008
Rep Wexler, Robert [FL-19] - 12/10/2008

You know what to do.

See the entire email below the fold.

Dear Anjha,

There is much to celebrate, as there is only 33 days until George W. Bush leaves the White House. In addition, Congressman Nadler, Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, recently introduced a resolution expressing staunch opposition to any potential preemptive pardons of members of his Administration and the need for an Independent commission or select committee to "investigate, and, where appropriate, prosecute illegal acts by senior officials of the administration of President George W. Bush."

I fully support this resolution and I have signed on as a co-sponsor.

The issue of preemptive and/or blanket pardons has been a subject of much debate and frustration. There is great concern that Bush will abuse his pardon power and further cover up wrongdoing by his Administration.

However, as citizens, we have a responsibility to reject any abuse of the presidential pardon power to shield or manipulate investigations.

Regardless of the legality of potential pardons, there needs to be a full accounting of this Administration's abuses. No doubt many of the players in the Administration will seek future positions or public office. The public deserves a full accounting of what they have done, and the law, in my opinion, requires it.

Many felt that President-elect Obama's victory might free members of Congress to move forward with Impeachment Hearings. However, the weeks since the election have been largely consumed with trying to formulate a balanced and thoughtful response to the economic crisis, which, no doubt, is affecting many of you.

The struggles of the American auto industry, and the ongoing banking and credit crisis, skyrocketing unemployment, and our exploding budget deficit have taken center stage.

Some of our most critical issues - universal healthcare, Medicare and social security funding, alternative energy investment, and education improvements are all threatened by this crisis. Although I am committed as ever to holding this Administration accountable, we are facing a historic crisis in this nation that Congress and President-elect Obama must work together to solve.

Obama's victory gives us a window to accomplish vital tasks that will have very direct impact on you and your family.

I thoroughly believe that President-elect Obama will return us to a government that respects the rights of its citizens and the rule of law. I look forward to working closely with his Administration to not only repair the damage, but bring forth a renewed sense that government is, in fact, responsible and answerable to the people.

With great respect and admiration,

Robert Wexler

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Petitions and Such

A long time ago, when I first started a blog, my intent was to use it as a clearing house for petitions and other action items that were found in my inbox.

This was at a time before the 2006 elections when we all felt absolutely powerless and we were watching our entire country go down the tubes. We were angry, frustrated and terrified.

My contention was that even doing a little action – taking that anger and turning it into something productive – would help us to feel as though we were doing something, anything, to save our country.

The situation is different now. We are at the helm and we are driving this ship. Why worry about petitions and crap right now?

For one thing, we still have 58 long days of watching helplessly as this Administration pushes through last minute “fuck you” rules and regulations (or removes rules and regulations.) Right now it is imperative that we are paying attention. It is imperative that we are making noise.

Take, for instance Senator Feingold’s call for all of us to come forward and speak out now against possible Presidential pardons. Possible bullshit blanket Presidential pardons. We have to make noise now.

However, we also have to make noise once Obama and the Democratic Congress take office. Obama needs a movement. It will be impossible for him to implement Progressive change unless he has a movement behind him, unless the people back him, unless our Representatives hear from us – demanding what we want. It is more important now, than ever, to “sing louder.”

Click “read more” for a list of petitions to sign and action items that require our assistance.


Petitions and Active Campaigns

(Note: Many of these orgs have several active petition campaigns; I have linked to their petition pages rather than linking to individual petitions.)

• Support Representative Nadler’s bill, HR 1531, against Bush pardons.

• Democrats dot com list of petitions and active campaigns.

• Sign up to make calls to GOTV for Georgia’s special election.

• Courage Campaign’s active campaigns

• Tell President-Elect Obama to “go for it” and shoot big!

• Vote on how CREDO will spend their money! (This one is too fun.)

• CREDO Campaigns

• True Majority Campaigns

• Save America’s Wolves

• Use this easy form to submit letters to the editor against Bush pardons for himself and his criminal Administration and for Impeachment.

• California residents – please write letters to the editor against your GOP legislature’s severe budget cuts.

• Impeach Bush to stop pardons.

• Choose Obama’s top priorities.

• Support the Apollo Alliance.


Donations Requested:

I know that most people are financially fucked (it is true in my neck of the woods) and I know that we all contributed massively to the recent elections. Unfortunately, because the economy is so bad, the orgs most hurt are those organizations who do good works in our communities. It is a catch 22 – they are needed most right now to feed our hungry and house our homeless and they are normally the first to suffer from the belt tightening that is being done everywhere.

A couple of things to consider:
a) Most of the below requests for donation are tax deductible and it is almost year-end.
b) Why not give donations for Holiday presents or request that donations are given in your name for Holiday gifts that you receive? Or, give gift subscriptions to Progressive publications as presents?

• Truthout has been sending out a desperate call for donations.

• Franken needs donations for the recount. (Remember, Romney is paying Coleman’s fees.)

• Hillary is still trying to pay off her campaign debt. (DNC is offering a DVD of Hillary’s Denver speech for a donation of $50.)

• The Progressive needs donations. (Or, better yet, subscribe!)

• Courage Campaign needs funds to Repeal Prop 8

• Shop the Free Press store (Again, gift time is coming!)

• Join the Progressive Book Club

• Wildlife Adoption and Gift Center

• True Majority gift center (Get your free pie lapel pin, too.)

• Support NARAL; support Martin

Cross posted at Progressive Action Spot.

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