Ohio Progressive Action Coalition

Our Doctor Friend and Activist In PA Gets It!

Michael Carano — Sat, 17 May 2008 07:35:53 EDT

This from the front page of the PDA website at www.pdamerica.org

NY Media Covers Single-Payer Rally; PA Media Ignores Single-Payer Legislative and Political Gains
By Chuck Pennacchio, Ph.D.
May 15, 2008, Harrisburg, PA

Did you hear? On Monday, May 12th, 2008, fewer than fifty paces from the Capitol Media Center, in Harrisburg's Capitol Rotunda, more than two hundred citizen lobbyists--members of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Medical Student Association (our future physicians, IF we pass Single-Payer), the League of Women Voters, the Council of Churches, the Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, Healthcare for All Pennsylvania, organized labor, and the business community--held a news conference and rally in support of Single-Payer universal healthcare's House Bill 1660 and Senate BIll 300.

Like a tree falling in a distant forest, with no mainstream media (MSM) present to record the event, you probably hadn't heard.

If you depend on the Pennsylvania Capitol Media Corps to inform you of such significant advances in our Commonwealth's democracy, you may be forgiven for not knowing. Again. But please don't repeat the mistake. Again.

This isn't the first time Pennsylvania's MSM has ignored the compelling economic ($10B+ in savings), moral (millions of lives saved and improved), and democratic (65% in poll after poll) arguments of its diverse citizen voices in support of the Single-Payer Solution. The MSM must be forgiven; they don't deal well with rationality -- you know, argument, evidence, and analysis.

Pennsylvania's finest reporters--those who cover state politics--also skipped the formal introduction of the citizen-crafted "Family and Business Healthcare Security Act" (twice, in 2005 and 2007); ducked a public hearing before the Democratic House Policy Committee (February 2007); avoided the first-ever single-payer hearing in front of a standing committee, the House Health and Human Services Committee, on March 19, 2008; and drop-kicked the public endorsements of the 900,000-member AFL-CIO, the 35-chapter League of Women Voters, the 20-denomination Council of Churches, numerous business leaders, and many, many more.

Fortunate for our democracy, news editors and editorial board members across the state assure us that their non-coverage is "not systematic." Whew! Had us worried there.

Just to prove that missing historic healthcare legislative milestones has nothing to do with institutional biases, advertising revenues from 'you-know-who,' lack of professionalism, laziness, cynicism, fatalism, and/or fear, we hear--time and again--that information gathering papers, TV networks, and radio stations are simply "short-staffed." "We can't be everywhere," reporters and editors repeatedly cry.

We shouldn't be so harsh on the MSM failing to note our broad-based coalition's critical events related to a paultry ninety-eight percent (98%) of Pennsylvanians directly threatened with personal bankruptcy should they/we endure a debilitating illness, accident, or other catastrophic medical condition. Poor media... Or is it rich media, poor democracy?

So there you have it, folks.

As I've written repeatedly over the last few months, the Single-Payer Solution that tackles the economics, morality, and democracy of healthcare delivery through common wealth, common sense, and common purpose, will pass the State House and State Senate, and be signed into law by Governor Rendell in 2009. But you won't hear about it or see it in the so-called Fourth Estate. No, you'll find out about it through e-mail, blogs, paper pamphlets, and word-of-mouth...

We are democracy--you and me.

Civilized Healthcare is ours to win, person by person, legislator by legislator. 2008 is the year to educate and organize, research and lobby, campaign and elect Single-Payer candidates. 2009 is the year Pennsylvania delivers a 1776-like earthquake: passing and enacting the Single-Payer Solution (HB 1660/SB 300)--the state-level model for saving the United States economy, American lives, and American-style democracy.

Mark my words. Mark this message. Share it with your fellow citizens. Crank up your efforts. Educate and organize, research and lobby, campaign and elect. Single-Payer. Civilized Healthcare.

Chuck Pennacchio is the executive director of Health Care for All Pennsylvania. Visit the website: www.healthcare4allpa.org

More on Union Organizing

Michael Carano — Wed, 14 May 2008 07:31:09 EDT

Again from the hinterlands, I post this with the imprimatur of friend and writer Bill Onasch, a union activist and resident of the great state of Kansas. Thoughtful words to be considered in the debate:

Shocked But Not Surprised

That's how I felt after reading an article on yesterday's online Wall Street Journal entitled, Unions Forge Secret Pacts With Major Employers. The unions involved are SEIU and UNITE-HERE. The corporations are British based Compass Groups; French based Sodexo (who recently dropped an h from their name); and also Philadelphia based Aramark-though the unions claim they have reneged on their deal.

These companies are huge, with hundreds of thousands of workers in dozens of countries-nearly 400,000 employed in North America. All are involved in institutional food service-schools, hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, military bases. Aramark is also a major player in managing conference, entertainment and sporting facilities and uniform rentals.

While the power of these employers is formidable they lack the potent threat routinely made in manufacturing--to offshore the work. In many cases these companies are also dependent on political approval of their service contracts. It should be possible to organize, and win significant improvements, for their mainly low wage workers. Normally we would applaud efforts by SEIU and UNITE-HERE to unionize the industry.

The problem is these "fast growing" unions seldom actually organize workers. I was taught organizing in the UE back when Hugh Harley was Director of Organization. He emphasized that the goal was not to put together a successful election campaign to win an NLRB election; it was to assist the workers to start organizing their power to control the tempo and conditions of work on the job. Recognition of the union means little if the workers are not prepared for inevitable battles to negotiate, and later enforce, a decent union contract.

That is not the approach of these Change to Win leaders. They make deals on the highest corporate level for chunks of the workforce. They rough out a pattern for contracts for the newly "organized." Once the deals are in place they send in the staff to establish a bureaucratic hierarchy and dues collection.

Not being greedy, Andy Stern and Bruce Raynor didn't seek all the workers at these three giants, only a modest slice of them-20,000 Compass, 11,000 Sodexo-approximately ten percent of their wage earner workforces. A confidential SEIU internal memo-leaked to the WSJ-- says,

"Local unions are not free to engage in organizing activities at any Compass or Sodexho locations unless the sites have been designated."

The companies designate the sites where the unions can "organize." According to the WSJ article,

"The agreements enable the unions to organize workers through a simple card-signing process in which the companies agree to remain neutral, rather than a secret-ballot election. The companies agree to provide the unions with lists of employees and access to workers."

That's a far cry from any organizing drive I've ever seen. Just establishing the names of those in the bargaining unit is almost always a protracted, contested process with the Labor Board. Typically union organizers are kept off company property while the bosses hold all kinds of captive audience and one-on-one meetings during working hours to blast the union. But with this boss secret pre-approval about 15,000 have been "organized" over the past couple of years.

Of course, the bosses expect some consideration for this unusual generosity. Stern and Raynor agreed to forfeit the right to strike for their lucky future members. They further pledged not to bad mouth the companies either in public or on the shop floor. The Change to Win partners will undoubtedly be of assistance to their corporate partners in smoothing the way with politicians.

Not all in the SEIU are pleased with these hitherto secret organizing successes. The article quotes Zev Kvitky, president of a small SEIU local that represents food-service and custodial workers at Stanford University,

"We really believe that Stern and the international are putting growth in numbers ahead of any other consideration of what a union means in the lives of working people."

We'll have more to say later about secret organizing.

Bill Onasch

Pennsylvannian Knows Single-Payer Health Care

Michael Carano — Wed, 14 May 2008 07:25:28 EDT

Though relegated to the labyrinth in the netherlands, I hope readers find this post in which a friend and proponent from PA speaks of the importance of single-payer health care and the lack of Corporate Media's coverage on the issue. Though speaking of PA, his thrust applies equally to those of us in Ohio pushing for the only real solution to the health care crisis. One must ask, where are so many of those who call out for "progress" and bandy about the word "progressive" on this issue? A disquieting silence is the response, they part of the statuw quo where moneyed interests take precedence over the qualtity of lives of the citizens. Enjoy:

NY Media Covers Single-Payer Rally; PA Media Ignores Single-Payer Legislative and Political Gains

Did you hear? On Monday, May 12th, 2008, fewer than fifty paces from the Capitol Media Center, in Harrisburg's Capitol Rotunda, more than two hundred citizen lobbyists -- members of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Medical Student Association (our future physicians, IF we pass Single-Payer), the League of Women Voters, the Council of Churches, the Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, Healthcare for All Pennsylvania, organized labor, and the business community -- held a news conference and rally in support of Single-Payer universal healthcare's House Bill 1660 and Senate BIll 300.

Like a tree falling in a distant forest, with no mainstream media (MSM) present to record the event, you probably hadn't heard.

If you depend on the Pennsylvania Capitol Media Corps to inform you of such significant advances in our Commonwealth's democracy, you may be forgiven for not knowing. Again. But please don't repeat the mistake. Again.

This isn't the first time Pennsylvania's MSM has ignored the compelling economic ($10B+ in savings), moral (millions of lives saved and improved), and democratic (65% in poll after poll) arguments of its diverse citizen voices in support of the Single-Payer Solution. The MSM must be forgiven; they don't deal well with rationality -- you know, argument, evidence, and analysis.

Pennsylvania's finest reporters -- those who cover state politics -- also skipped the formal introduction of the citizen-crafted "Family and Business Healthcare Security Act" (twice, in 2005 and 2007); ducked a public hearing before the Democratic House Policy Committee (February 2007); avoided the first-ever single-payer hearing in front of a standing committee, the House Health and Human Services Committee, on March 19, 2008; and drop-kicked the public endorsements of the 900,000-member AFL-CIO, the 35-chapter League of Women Voters, the 20-denomination Council of Churches, numerous business leaders, and many, many more.

Fortunate for our democracy, news editors and editorial board members across the state assure us that their non-coverage is "not systematic." Whew! Had us worried there.

Just to prove that missing historic healthcare legislative milestones has nothing to do with institutional biases, advertising revenues from 'you-know-who,' lack of professionalism, laziness, cynicism, fatalism, and/or fear, we hear -- time and again -- that information gathering papers, TV networks, and radio stations are simply "short-staffed." "We can't be everywhere," reporters and editors repeatedly cry.

We shouldn't be so harsh on the MSM failing to note our broad-based coalition's critical events related to a paultry ninety-eight percent (98%) of Pennsylvanians directly threatened with personal bankruptcy should they/we endure a debilitating illness, accident, or other catastrophic medical condition. Poor media... Or is it rich media, poor democracy?

So there you have it, folks.

As I've written repeatedly over the last few months, the Single-Payer Solution that tackles the economics, morality, and democracy of healthcare delivery through common wealth, common sense, and common purpose, will pass the State House and State Senate, and be signed into law by Governor Rendell in 2009. But you won't hear about it or see it in the so-called Fourth Estate. No, you'll find out about it through e-mail, blogs, paper pamphlets, and word-of-mouth...

We are democracy -- you and me.

Civilized Healthcare is ours to win, person by person, legislator by legislator. 2008 is the year to educate and organize, research and lobby, campaign and elect Single-Payer candidates. 2009 is the year Pennsylvania delivers a 1776-like earthquake: passing and enacting the Single-Payer Solution (HB 1660/SB 300) -- the state-level model for saving the United States economy, American lives, and American-style democracy.

Mark my words. Mark this message. Share it with your fellow citizens. Crank up your efforts. Educate and organize, research and lobby, campaign and elect. Single-Payer. Civilized Healthcare.

Yours in reason, common sense, and common purpose,

Chuck

Mothers Day: "Arise then... women of this day!"

Lorraine Bieber — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:55:33 EDT

It is indeed puzzling that so many Republican members of Ohio's congressional delegation voted no on H.R. 1113, “Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day” (full warm and fuzzy text here).

...until you consider the origins of Mother's Day.

Julia Ward Howe, who penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic, also authored a mothers' Declaration calling on women to oppose war, and worked to get recognition of a Mother’s Day for Peace. Says Code Pink: "Were she alive today, Julia probably would have told her kids to dispense with the roses and chocolates, and instead join her in an anti-war rally. Yes, Julia Ward Howe was a peacenik."

[Howe] saw some of the worst effects of the [civil] war -- not only the death and disease which killed and maimed the soldiers. She worked with the widows and orphans of soldiers on both sides of the war, and realized that the effects of the war go beyond the killing of soldiers in battle. She also saw the economic devastation of the Civil War, the economic crises that followed the war, the restructuring of the economies of both North and South.
In 1870, Julia Ward Howe took on a new issue and a new cause….She called in 1870 for women to rise up and oppose war in all its forms. She wanted women to come together across national lines, to recognize what we hold in common above what divides us, and commit to finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts. She issued a Declaration, hoping to gather together women in a congress of action.

Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace, but her effort was carried on by Anna Jarvis, who had organized women during the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and then toward reconciliation of Union and Confederate neighbors.

Jarvis’ daughter, of the same name, then took up the campaign for Mother’s Day. After the custom spread to 45 states, President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother’s Day in 1914.

Julia Ward Howe's Mothers' Declaration:

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Maybe Pryce, Schmidt, Tiberi, Chabot, Boehner, Regula, LaTourette, Hobson, and Turner have a thing against moms. But YOU can make this Mother's Day a Mother's Day For Peace.

Help CodePink help Iraqi refugee moms here.

Send a MomsRising Mother's Day card and tell the presidential candidates to fight for family-friendly policies. here.

Oh and don't forget to call the Congressional Switchboard at 1-800-839-5276 to give the above members of Congress a piece of your mind about H.R. 1113.

Do you have another suggestion for honoring Julia Ward Howe's Mothers' Declaration? Are you a mom working for peace? Leave a comment below.

Close to 1 in 5 Iraqis are refugees...

User from Columbus, OH — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:51:36 EDT

Watch It:

Labor Notes Conference

Michael Carano — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:05:26 EDT

I just got back this Sunday evening from the Labor Notes conference in Dearborn, Michigan. It was great to be around committed labor leaders and activists bent on improving the working peoples across the globe. Attendees came from India, Vietnam, China, Columbia, France, Australia, England, Brazil, Mexico and other nations to share ideas, explain difficulties in their home countries, and recommit to building a labor movement that puts decmocratic principles and rank and file power back into labor.

I had the pleasure and honor to facilitate and be on the panel of two workshops, both of which dealt with health care issues and the single payer solution (in this case both our Ohio state initiative being pushed by SPAN Ohio, And, of course, we must not forget H.R. 676, the national single payer plan, or as I like to put it our doctor/patient run health care plan that is publically financed and privately run. For those interested, check out SPAN's website to see about our annual conference being held in Columbus next Saturday, April 19, 2008.

Canadian doctor Susan Rosenthal co-chaired one workshop with me, while I had the pleasure of teaming with Michigan PNHP head Dr. John Mitchner, John Horgan of IBEW Local 2222, and Malinda Markowitz of California Nurses Association for another. National single payer is growing as the choice by labor in the nation, it being the only real solution to solving the health care dilemma facing our nation.

Even with the minor distraction by the anti-democratic Andy Stern faction of SEIU (see article below this post) the conference was a great success having over 1100 attendees. I met with the more progressive members of SEIU, those who support democratic principles so it is important to not paint all SEIU members with the same color. Most the rank and file are on board not allowing their union leadership take it down the path of top-down, undemocratic functioning. Met with many of the CNA activists. This group has been on the forefront of making unions a powerful force who unbashedly stand up for the rights of working people over the corporate interests. They do not see climbing in bed with management to foment sweetheart deals, and for this their members should be commended.

Here is one take on the violence perpetrated by the busloads of SEIU members who stormed the grand foyer area, they never making the large hall where peaceful union brothers and sisters were enjoying good talks and a Saturday evening meal. It should be said, by some of the comments heard from attendees, it appears many of the SEIU members brought into disrupt the conference may have been unwitting participants to what was planned for them. More news will be forthcoming, I am sure. If so, one must wonder at what level this trickery desends through the ranks to use their members in such a way.

Here is the article about the debacle:

For Immediate Release
April 12, 2008
Contact Chris Kutalik 313-378-2588 or Mischa Gaus 773-627-3205

SERVICE EMPLOYEES UNION ATTACKS LABOR GATHERING
CONFERENCE-GOERS ASSAULTED

Dearborn, MI--The Service Employees International Union turned their dispute with the California Nurses Association violent by attacking a
labor conference April 12, injuring several and sending an American Axle striker to the hospital.

A recently retired member of United Auto Workers Local 235, Dianne Feeley, suffered a head wound after being knocked to the ground by SEIU
International staff and local members. Other conference-goers--members of the Teamsters, UAW, UNITE HERE, International Longshoremen's Association,
and SEIU itself--were punched, kicked, shoved, and pushed to the floor. Dearborn police responded and evicted the three bus loads of SEIU
International staff and members of local and regional health care unions.

No arrests were made.

The assault took place at the Labor Notes conference, a biennial gathering of 1,100 union members and leaders who met to discuss strategies to
rebuild the labor movement.

David Cohen, an international representative of the United Electrical Workers, asked protesters why they came. He said one responded, "they told
us just to get on the bus." The protesters included several members with young children, who had to be
ushered away when SEIU tried to force their way into the conference banquet hall. Protesters were targeting Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the AFL-CIO-affiliated CNA. DeMoro was scheduled to speak but declined to appear after threats were made against her union's leadership.

Despite being welcomed to the conference earlier in the day--and given space to debate supporters of the CNA and the National Nurses Organizing
Committee about neutrality organizing agreements--SEIU international and regional staff shouted down speakers at workshops and panels throughout
the event.

"Labor Notes has always been a space for open debate, but when a union decides to engage in violence against their brothers and sisters, we draw
a line," said Mark Brenner, director of Labor Notes. "Violence within the labor movement is unacceptable and we call on the national leadership of SEIU, including President Andy Stern, to repudiate it."

Trojan Horse: When the Fascist Right Woos Progressives...

User from Columbus, OH — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:50:08 EDT

I attempt, in my political practice, to alert progressives to the dangers of the political disorientation that can occur when the hard right attempts to break out of their marginal status by pitching their message of ethnocentrism and exclusion to a broader audience, including, increasingly, progressives.

They do this by finding vehicles that afford them that opportunity. They are working overtime in the 911 'Truth' movement, the Ron Paul Campaign and within the anti-immigration movement, to name a few.

Here"s an instructive example of an EXPLICIT effort by fascists to pitch their politics to, in this case, ANARCHIST YOUTH.

This particular effort is a part of a developed fascist political movement known as 'THIRD POSITSIONISM' which claims to be neither 'Right nor Left'.

Of course this is just a shuck since their message is extreme-right, namely- white racial nationalism. This essay by honest 'GREEN ANARCHISTS' exposes such NATIONAL 'ANARCHIST' efforts.

Excerpt:

'There is a wave of fascist groups that are attempting to cross-recruit by sporting Che t-shirts and Palestinian scarves, even marching in Black Blocs! ..., they... are attempting to pull people from anarchist and left movements into the white racist milieu.'

It's an INTERNATIONAL strategy as well.

It's now generally acknowledged that we're in a recession. As conditions worsen, these marginal forces will doubtless appeal to a wider audience, especially if progressives don't educate themselves and expose the threat in it's infancy.

'Ding Dong Belle,' Something Wicked This Way Winds

User from Columbus, OH — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 22:18:16 EDT

Sherry Clark, an activist with the Columbus 911 'Truth" grouplet, posts on ProgressOhio's community blog under the nom de plume 'Liberty Belle'. The post I am concerned with was also published, in her own name, HERE.

'Liberty Belle"s' POST concerns Republican Party's nominee-designate, John McCain. It weaves together several older-than-dirt, right-wing conspiracist themes, including the Israeli Defense Force's 1968 attack on A U.S. SPY SHIP and the DISCREDITED ASSERTION that POW's were held captive long after the war ended.

She really reaches her stride, however, when she discusses how McCain's family wealth helped him get started in Arizona politics. Her case is that McCain's father-in-law, Jim Hensley, was a mobbed-up underling of the Meyer Lansky crime syndicate who "took the fall' for federal liquor violations and was rewarded with a beer distributorship that he parlayed into a $200 million empire.

She cites nary a source for her claims BUT she has excellent reasons for not doing so- THE PERSON SHE LIFTED THE STORY FROM- ALMOST WORD-FOR-WORD AND WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION- DIDN'T CITE ANY EITHER!!!

The use of another's published words without attribution is 'PLAGIARISM.' Among writers, it's an unforgivable transgression. While I find the act tawdry and unprincipled, I'm not as invested in the issue as some.

I AM, however, implacably opposed to HARD-RIGHT EXTREMISTS: neo-nazis, xenophobes, antisemites, Holocaust-deniers, white racial nationalists etc. and their VIOLENT message of HATE and EXCLUSION. Every category I just listed accurately describes Michael Collins Piper, the author 'Liberty Belle' finds so articulate and credible that she attempts to pass off his words as her own. Piper is a long-time 'reporter' with the neo-nazi 'AMERICAN FREE PRESS' and is currently recycling this 2000 article of his from the LIBERTY LOBBY paper 'THE SPOTLIGHT' founded by notorious antisemite WILLIS CARTO.

People other than 'Liberty Belle' value Piper as an important source, including his close comrade-in-arms , DAVID DUKE, who puplished the article in it's entirety.

I substantiate the charge of plagiarism in 'Ding Dong Belle, Part II'

'Ding Dong Belle' II, 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'

User from Columbus, OH — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:01:28 EDT

In another post- 'Ding Dong Belle'- I claimed that Sherry Clark, a 911 'Truth' activist who posts as 'Liberty Belle', (and poses as a progressive) plagiarized the work of Michael Collins Piper, a 'reporter' for the neo-nazi 'American Free Press.'

Here's the evidence- first the neo-nazi's words followed directly by 'Liberty Belle's' Xerox copies, which are all in caps:

McCain's father-in-law got his start as a top henchman for Kemper Marley, who, for 40 years until his death in 1990 at age 84, was the undisputed behind-the-scenes political boss of Arizona. But Marley was much more than a machine politician. In fact, he was also the Lansky crime syndicate's top man in Arizona.
JIM HENSLEY GOT HIS START AS A HENCHMEN FOR KEMPER MARLEY, WHICH WAS THE BEHIND THE SCENES (SIC) POLITIAL (SIC) BOSS AND LANSKY CRIME FAMILY'S TOP MAN OF (SIC) ARIZONA.

In 1948, 52 of Marley's employees (including Jim Hensley) went to jail for federal liquor violations...
MARLEY BUILT UP A LIQUOR DISTRIBUTION MONOPOLY IN ARIZONA, BUT IN 1948, 52 EMPLOYEES OF MARLEY'S WENT TO JAIL FOR FEDERAL LIQUOR VIOLATIONS, INCLUDING JIM HENSLEY.

The story in Arizona is that Hensley took the fall for Marley and, upon his release from prison, Marley paid back Hensley's loyalty by setting him up in the beer distribution business. That beer company today, said to be worth $200 million, is what largely financed John McCain's political career.
SOME PEOPLE SAY THAT FOR PAYMENT FOR HIS LOYALTY, KEMPER MARLEY SET HIM UP IN THE BEER DISTRIBUTION BUSINESS, WHICH IS NOW WORTH $200 MILLION AND HAS HELPED TO FINANCE MCCAIN'S POLITICAL CAREER.

While John McCain himself cannot be held personally responsible for the sins of his father-in-law, the fact is that this "reformer" owes his political and financial fortunes to the good graces of the biggest names in organized crime. Today, the Las Vegas gambling industry is among McCain's primary financial benefactors.
THE LAS VEGAS GAMBLING INDUSTRY IS ALSO AMONG MCCAIN'S PRIMARY FINANCIAL BACKERS. OF COURSE, JOHN MCCAIN HIMSELF CAN NOT BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE SINS OF HIS FATHER-IN-LAW, BUT THE FACT IS, THAT THIS 'REFORMER' OWES HIS POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL FORTUNES TO SOME OF THE BIGGEST NAMES IN ORGANIZED CRIME.

You may read the original Michael Collins Piper piece HERE at the American Free Press or on the website of his close comrade, racist DAVID DUKE

WARNING: these sites exhibit antisemitic and racist 'discourse' but (IMO) people NEED to be aware of the sinister forces gnawing at the body politic. I also highly reccommend the respected Southern Poverty Law Center's 'INTELLIGENCE REPORT' for more information.

The next post in this series looks at the established history of promoting antisemites, neo-nazis and their ilk by Columbus 911 'Truth' activists despite efforts by concerned individuals to caution them not to do so.

THE DEMOCRATS AFTER NOVEMBER- MIKE DAVIS- January 2007

User from Columbus, OH — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:19:02 EST

The second in a series of articles from diverse sources on the Democratic Party and prospects for progressive change.

With anti-war sentiment growing--if still passive--in the US, how will Democrats use their recapture of Congress? Mike Davis analyses likely outcomes on the questions--Iraq, corruption, economic insecurity--that confront a Party leadership hooked on corporate dollars, and myopically gazing towards 2008.

Excerpts:

Indeed the Democratic leadership--the Black Caucus and a few notable progressives aside--has exploited domestic resentment against Bush policies in Iraq to consolidate, not debunk, the underlying Washington consensus about the War on Terrorism.

The Democratic leadership likewise has deliberately avoided a debate on the constitutional implications of the Patriot Act; not a single prominent Democrat has proposed the straightforward rollback of the totalitarian powers claimed by the presidency since 9/11.

The next election cycle will be the most expensive in history, and Hillary Clinton is unlikely to relish congressional hearings into the crimes of the pharmaceutical, oil and military-construction industries that could unleash massive corporate retaliation against her in 2008. From a strategic perspective, it makes far more sense for the Democrats to concentrate congressional exposés on a handful of Administration villains, while quietly rebuilding parity of representation on K Street, where many of the winged monkeys are reputedly rejoicing at their recent liberation from DeLay, the wicked witch of Texas.

Read the entire article HERE

A Blood Pressure Lowering Guide to the Democratic Party and Democrats by Chris Townsend

User from Columbus, OH — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:20:04 EST

The first of a series of articles, from various perspectives, on the Democratic Party U.S.A. and the prospects for significant social change:

Excerpt:

Over the past seventy years, many working people and most unions have tended to regularly support the Democratic Party. That sometimes brought tangible results for working people, such as enactment of the various New Deal programs of the later 1930s. In recent years, Democrats holding office have survived by promising just slightly more to working people than the Republicans and working a skillful "if-the-Republican-wins-the-sky-will-fall" strategy. Combine it with the fact that both parties will go to great lengths to legalistically bar any third party candidate from challenging their de facto monopoly, and there you have it. This is the political straightjacket that working people wear. They don't call it the two-party trap for nothing.

Read the entire article HERE

The Gaza Bombshell- 'Vanity Fair' Article Online

User from Columbus, OH — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:37:12 EST

The latest issue of 'Vanity Fair' has an exposure

of the Bush administration orchestration of the

recent Hamas versus Fatah civil strife.

The article is available online.

An audio interview with author, David Rose, and copies of incriminating
documents he uncovered are available as well.

'Vanity Fair's' introduction:

After failing to anticipate Hamas's victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current U.S. officials, David Rose reveals how President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams backed an armed force under Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever.

Progressives, Catch This Movie!

User from Columbus, OH — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:19:18 EST

PERSEPOLIS is an animated feature based on the graphic novels of Iranian born Marjane Satrapi.

It covers her life as a child growing up during the overthrow of the C.I.A. installed Shah Reza Palavi dictatorship to the establishment of a socially conservative theocratic regime and the horrific Iran-Iraq war and beyond. Sardonic and very powerful... Now at the Drexel East- through 3/20.
Click HERE for showtimes,

M. Satrapi

My Other Blogs

'Planet of Slums' Mike Davis

User from Columbus, OH — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:22:40 EST

Mike Davis is perhaps the most prescient social historian of our generation.
Literally anything he writes is worth examining and some of his work, such as the following, can help the serious reader see the world from a valuable and startling new perspective.

This essay (since expanded into a small volume: Verso; 2007, 256 pp) first appeared in New Left Review
whose online archives are well worth perusing.
The essay, including the bibliography, which I deleted for this post, is currently available at The Black Commentator

New Left Review introduced it as a 'Future history of the Third World's post-industrial megacities. A billion-strong global proletariat ejected from the formal economy, with Islam and Pentecostalism as songs of the dispossessed.

Planet of Slums, Mike Davis. 2004

Sometime in the next year, a woman will give birth in the Lagos slum of Ajegunle, a young man will flee his village in west Java for the bright lights of Jakarta, or a farmer will move his impoverished family into one of Lima's innumerable pueblos jovenes. The exact event is unimportant and it will pass entirely unnoticed. Nonetheless it will constitute a watershed in human history. For the first time the urban population of the earth will outnumber the rural. Indeed, given the imprecisions of Third World censuses, this epochal transition may already have occurred.

On conspiracism & the anti-war movement...

User from Columbus, OH — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:32:06 EST

Here's an excellent 'Countrpunch' interview that elaborates
on the critique of conspiracism and weaves a number
of themes together on its relationship to anti-war organizing.

Excerpts:
...it's something that's very deep in American culture.
There's sort of a Protestant puritan ideology that is
central to American culture: "Bad things happen
because of bad people." God holds individuals
responsible for bad things that happen. So, morally,
ethically, legally, a good society has to act in accord
with that principle. We have to find individuals to be
responsible for bad things. The simplicity in that is
that social reality is much messier. There's lots of
contingency in social reality.

Hope comes to Ohio's 12th Congressional District

Liberty Belle — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:17:08 EST

Hello, my name is David Robinson and I'm running for Ohio's 12th Congressional seat. I'd like to speak with you about a policy initiative that is central not only to my candidacy, but far more importantly-- to the future well-being of our country.

I'm calling this policy initiative the Apollo II program. By Apollo II I'm not referring to sending humans back to the moon or onward to Mars, but about a different kind of journey with a supremely important destination. I'm referring to the mission now before us of freeing ourselves from foreign oil, protecting our planet from dangerous climate change, and rebuilding our industries and jobs here in Ohio.

Here on American soil.

These three challenges: energy security, protecting the planet and creating good American jobs-- they all come together in the Apollo II program.

Three challenges, with one common solution.

At the heart of Apollo 2 is a bold, sustained national commitment to the creation of a clean-energy, sustainable economy. In this new economy wealth will be created and retained here in America.

The energy that fuels out lives will be in our hands, and we will once again control our own future.
A future we can look forward to with hope and faith that we are leaving a better world to our children.

With Apollo II, I am not suggesting merely small or incremental changes to existing systems but rather a game-changing, paradigm-shifting movement towards renewable energies and an efficient, sustainable, made-in-America economy.

Apollo II needs to be of a scope and of an intensity like the first Apollo program, leading to nothing less than a second INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

Through robust research /development and pilot deployment, focused incentives and smart trade pacts, we can reward those who work and produce in ways that serve the national interest.

Instead of subsidizing-- as we do now, those that pollute, that keep us dependent and offshore jobs out of their short-term interest.

Specifically, Apollo II establishes the goal of complete energy independence by 2030, and an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050.

These goals-- once firmly committed to, will unleash tremendous innovation in our country creating whole new industries and jobs--jobs that cannot be exported, raising the standard of living for millions of Americans.

We will immediately rewrite the rules with OPEC and foreign oil producers and we will assume the role of global leadership on combating climate change.

This is the kind of America that I believe in and that I know is possible. We the people want this, and so it's time to elect a President and a Congress that will lead us in this new direction.

I hope that you will join our campaign and that you will Vote: David Robinson for Congress.

Thank you very much.

I am David Robinson and I approve this message.

David ROBINSON for 12th Congressional District

Liberty Belle — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:42:40 EST

A longtime supporter of Pat Tiberi, I have always believed in responsible foreign and fiscal policy, but "our Congressman" says we should stay in Iraq another 100 years. I can not in good conscience pass off the cost of our foolish foreign policy to future generations.

Tiberi has also violated his only oath of office...to defend the Constitution. Tiberi repeatedly votes to support torture, rendition, warrant-less wiretapping, and to remove humanity's basic right to habeas corpus.

ROBINSON is different. A strong defender of the Constitution and Veterans' rights, ROBINSON believes supporting our troops means fighting for responsible and sustainable policies.

A tireless advocate of the environment, ROBINSON has plans for economic development in bio-fuel and bio-mass technologies. He envisions a non-petroleum-based future, reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Not only will ROBINSON's vision of new green industries rejuvenate Ohio's declining job market, it is also a responsible global position.

Honest and brilliant, ROBINSON has his Ph.D. in Theology and Psychology as well as an honors accounting degree from The Ohio State University. ROBINSON is the Vice President of a small local manufacturing company so ROBINSON understands the struggles of our country's largest employer, small businesses.

This "Progressive Republican" supports David ROBINSON -- a Democrat who will defend Americans far better than Tiberi.

David Robinson Endorsed by Ed Begley, Jr.

Liberty Belle — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:18:34 EST

Actor and leading conservationist Ed Begley, Jr.'s visit to central Ohio was more than an opportunity to talk with students about pressing environmental issues, it was an opportunity for him to meet with and encourage local activists and candidates.

The Emmy-nominated, award-winning actor was in central Ohio as the featured speaker for Otterbein College's Distinguished Lecture Series. Begley knows there are two possible responses to our environmental challenges: forget it and hope that government and corporations will figure it out, or take action yourself.

In the "take action yourself" camp, a few individuals are leading the way. One such person is Ed Begley, Jr.

Environmental lawyer and long-time friend, Bobby Kennedy, Jr. has said "Ed has a greater sense of social obligation than anyone I know. He's like a West Coast cadet who gets up every morning and says 'reporting for duty'".

Another tireless environmental activist is one of the three democratic candidates for the 12th Congressional District, David Robinson. Robinson went to listen to Begley's talk and afterwards, the two struck a kinship over their shared environmental interests. Having delivered many pro-bono presentations on the science of climate change and energy independence to many civic organizations and area universities, Robinson felt right at home with Begley. Robinson shared his dreams of helping create new jobs in industries to foster an energy independent future for Ohio, and Begley liked what he heard.

After their meeting, Begley stated officially, "I feel a sense of responsibility for our environment and our future generations to endorse a candidate like David Robinson. His common sense approach is exactly the kind of representation we need in Washington, D. C."

Open Antisemitism Promoted on Columbus 911 "Truth" Blog

User from Columbus, OH — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 06:50:47 EST

Despite repeated cautioning from progressive activists, Columbus 9/11 "Truthers" continue to feature media and events that promote the far-right, including neo-nazis and antisemites.

The latest example, found on the Columbus 9/11 "Truth" ProgressOhio blog, is a link to a vile, openly antisemitic "YouTube" video entitled "Ring of Power"/"Illuminati Bloodlines".

Frances Strickland To Speak At RootsCamp Sunday

Lorraine Bieber — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:12:32 EST

Progress Ohio, America Votes, and the Ohio Progressive Leadership Network are pleased to announce our 9:30 AM welcome speaker:

First Lady of Ohio, Frances Strickland

Mrs. Strickland will speak about sustaining Ohio's progressive movement through 2008 and beyond.

First Lady Frances Strickland has shared Ted's vision for a better future for Ohio with thousands of people across the state. Often seen brandishing her guitar and leading the crowd in a sing-along, Frances brings an irreplaceable creativity and enthusiasm to her work for Ohio.

Our lunch speaker:

Robert Creamer of Progress Ohio's national partner, Americans United For Change. Creamer's recently released book is entitled Listen to Your Mother: Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, with a foreword by Tom Matzzie of MoveOn.

Says Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio):

"If every activist in America read Listen to Your Mother: Stand Up Straight, we could change our country. This book will help bring on the New Progressive Era. It's that good."

Find out more about RootsCamp here.

RootsCamp is Sunday, January 13, 9-5 at the Riffe Center, 31st Floor, corner of State & High Streets, Columbus, OH 43215

RootsCamp: Come. Talk. Learn. RootsCamp is a conference for organizers, leaders, tech, fundraisers, bloggers and anyone else who is working for change. It's an opportunity for open dialogue about leading the way in '08 and beyond.

RootsCamp is participant-driven. Want to lead a session? Write your topic on a card and tape it to the wall. Add more sessions throughout the day as ideas are generated. YOU set the agenda.

RootsCamp: Ohio jobs for Ohioans. Organizations who are hiring in '08, bring your job descriptions; job-seekers bring your résumés - we're going to have a jobs fair.

RootsCamp is FREE. Breakfast/lunch provided, and plentiful coffee.

RootsCamp is organized by the Ohio Progressive Leadership Network, and sponsored by Progress Ohio, America Votes, Licking County Pro-Active Citizens, UFCW Local 1059, UAW CAP Council, League of Young Voters, Licking County Democratic Club, Ohio Young Democrats, Ohioans for Democratic Values, Clintonville Community Market, and Licking County Women's Caucus.