Morgan County Alabama Democratic Party: Home Page

I am running for Delegate to the Democratic National Convention
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:27:06 GMT
Johnnymack55

My name is Johnny Phillips and I am running to be a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from the 5^th Congressional District. I am a lifelong resident of Lauderdale County. I am a 1973 graduate of Brooks High School in Killen and am employed by International Paper at their mill in Courtland. I also serve as President of United Steelworkers Local 1137 at the mill.
Why I am running to be a delegate is a long story that begins with the Alabama Democratic primary of 1966 …
I was in the 5^th grade at Elgin Elementary School in the spring of 1966. Our little school was the voting place for our community. When the man brought the booths out to the school, a few days before the primary (THE primary … I don't think we even had a Republican primary back then) our teacher/principal took the 5^th and 6^th graders out and showed us the machines. We were shown how they worked, how it would only let you vote for one for each office, etc. Then they let us, one by one, step into the booth, flip that big red lever that closed the curtain, and cast our votes. I was awestruck by the whole process … I will never forget the feeling when that curtain closed, the feeling of flipping that little black lever and seeing the x, MY X, appear beside the names I had chosen (which, by the way, I remember to have been Bob Gilchrist for Governor). This was the primary that Mrs. Wallace won and I also remember Jim Folsom, John Patterson, Richmond Flowers, Charles Woods and others being on the ballot for Governor.
Since that day, I have been very interested in the whole political process. I have watched these conventions ever since then and have always wanted to attend one, but only now feel that I can afford to do it.
I have not missed voting in an election that I was eligible to vote in since I turned 18. I am a lifelong Democrat. My family knows that, when I die, they can put in my obituary, “He never voted for a Republican”. I am a working man, lucky to have a good job and lucky to have attained the middle-class lifestyle that that job has provided - and that the Republicans want to take away.
My wife (of almost 38 years) knows that if I am elected, we will be responsible for all of our expenses and that this convention will most likely be our ‘vacation’ for this year. She still supports me in this effort. The Democratic Party is supposed to be the party of the working people, of the middle class. I am both. I think we need more representation at our convention from everyday people, not just elected officials and professionals. As I said before, I am running to be a delegate to the DEMOCRATIC National Convention, and I am a lifelong DEMOCRAT. I am running to be a delegate from ALABAMA’s FIFTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT, and I am a lifelong resident of Alabama’s Fifth Congressional District. I would sincerely appreciate your vote and support.
“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” – Franklin Roosevelt

I am running for Delegate to the Democratic National Convention
Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:24:37 GMT
Michael A Blakely II

I just wanted to stop in and let everyone know that I am running for delegate in the 5^th district for the Democratic National Convention. I know that mooncat and company have been working hard for a long time now to be the progressive voice here in Alabama so I figured I would make the announcement here that I was running.
I decided to do this because I am, and always have been, a Democrat. I was raised to respect other people, love my country, and work hard. I was raised to understand that if you wanted to do something do it right and do it to the best of your ability. I was raised to understand that you do not judge a person by the color of their skin, but instead by the content of their character.

My upbringing instilled these things in my character and my heart told me that it was time to get more involved with our process so that is why I want to go to Charlotte this fall and be one of the six delegates to represent our district. First let me say that I did declare that I am supporting our President and am not going to the convention “undeclared”.
I did this because I feel that if we list all the things that President Obama has achieved, I feel that he deserves another term and our full support. We can debate over the things he has not done, but really I feel like everyone can understand that it is not from a lack of trying that he has not completed every promise he made to us in 2008.
As to the record just let me list a few of the things that I feel warrant my support of President Obama and why it convinced me to run for delegate declaring my support for him:
He enacted the Lilly Ledbetter fair pay act of 2009.
He signed on his first day in office the executive order banning gifts of any amount from lobbyists to executive branch employees.
He put new fuel economy standards in place for cars and trucks.
Saved General Motors and the whole supply chain through the bail out of the auto industry. This saved thousands of American Jobs and the proof is in the pudding - Chevy is now back on top of Toyota.
Appointed not one but 2 women to the supreme court, Sonia Sotomayor & Elena Kagan.
Captured or killed 22 of 30 top Al Qaida targets.
Showed us how the US can “lead from the rear” and be successful in his approach to Libya. Not one drop of American blood was spilled in that action and yet one of the true supporters of terrorists is now dead.
Brought the troops home from Iraq.
Has continuously showed that he is the mature adult in the room by not running around like a peacock every time something he wants to do gets done – i.e. no mission accomplished banners.
Got the affordable care act pushed through against all odds and we know what Joe Biden thinks of that “This is a big ______ deal!”
Last but not least Bin Laden was killed and fed to the fishes on his watch – the GOP likes to point out that “he” didn’t get him, but we all know what they would have said if President Bush got him and we can all just laugh at them for being so childish.
So in conclusion I would like to humbly ask for your vote so that I can go to the Democratic National Convention and proudly support President Obama.
Michael Anthony Blakely II

More boring but important stuff about money
Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:57:16 GMT
El Al Cool Jew

Ok, so by now I was hoping that Crazy Uncle Ronnie would be out of the race, but not only is he still in, his “the Fed is out-of-control” meme seems to be gaining traction. So I am going to have to do something I did not want to do: write a piece on the way the Fed operates.

I’m going to have to get a little mathy, but just one equation. It’s called the Equation of Exchange and was dreamed up by Irving Fisher, who was an economist who lived about 100 years ago. Here it is:

MxV=PxQ

where
M= the money supply,
V= the velocity of money
P= the price level, and
Y= national income.

So let’s unpack.

M is the money supply, which is influenced by a number of factors, including the Fed. The Fed actually has a number of ways of measuring the money supply, called M0, M1, M2, and M3. M0 is the most liquid and includes cash and deposits at the Fed, and M3 is the least liquid and includes M0+M1+M2+large CD’s and other illiquid deposits. The exact definitions are not important; what is important is they all move in tandem so for analytical purposes most economists just use “M” to represent the money supply.

V is the velocity of money, the number of times a dollar is spent in a year. Economists used to believe this number was a constant (about 5), but with the advent of credit cards, debit cards, and other forms of payment, it seems to be changing faster than it can be measured. However, money does have a velocity, even if we don’t know what it is.

P is the general price level, which goes up with inflation and down with deflation. For those of you who are mathematically inclined, it is a row vector of all the prices of all the goods in the economy.

Q is the real, physical output of the economy. Think of it as GDP. Again, for the mathematical, it is really a column vector of all the goods produced in the economy.

So, what does the Equation of Exchange tell us? Merely that the number of dollars spent in a year (MxV) equals the value of the economy’s output in a year (PxQ). Yes, this ignores a number of important things, like savings, exports and imports, but it’s just a model. Economists have earned Nobel prizes elaborating on this model but we’re just gonna keep it simple.

The Equation of Exchange is a very simple and powerful idea because, if you assume away the problems of saving, imports, and exports, it is a good way to see a basic and logically unassailable principle: That is, the money supply affects prices and output. If you increase M by adding money to the system, something on the right side of the equation (PxQ) has to increase. Of course, we hope it’s Q and not P; that is, the objective of increasing the money supply is intended to stimulate real output. But if you do increase M, you do run the risk of increasing P.

Most economists view this problem like this: If the economy has excess capacity (idle factories, high unemployment, etc.), then increasing M will increase Q. This is because people will have more money, will go and spend it, and more will be produced to meet that new demand. This is called expansionary monetary policy.

On the other hand, when the economy has little or no excess capacity, Q cannot go up in a response to an increase in M; it’s already as high as it can go. The result of an increase in M would be an increase in P, or inflation. What is called for then is a contractionary policy, a decrease in M. Of course, if the Fed decreases M, there is always a risk that some of the decrease on the right side of the equation will come from Q, causing a recession.

And there you have it. That is all of monetary theory. No matter what you read on this topic, the Equation of Exchange underlies all the thinking on this issue. Of course, dozens of Ph.D. dissertations are written every year adding some new insight or wrinkle to this analysis, but fundamentally this is it.

This should make it clear that money is important, and why the Fed has to be very careful, fair, temperate, and judicious in its monetary policy. The Paulites assert that it has not been any of these things, and in a previous post, I suggested some reasons why he has a point. That does not mean that we should scrap the Fed, but given how important their actions are, we should reforming them and watching them a lot more carefully.

In the next post, if I can bring myself to do it, I’ll explain how the Fed influences the money supply and how the commercial banking system implements the Fed’s policies. Bring your No-Doz.

Birth of a Liberal
Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:36:53 GMT
Iamaleftie

I remember Reagan's 30-year old trickle down economics theory that has defied the laws of gravity.

I remember when Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, touted the 16-year old "Contract with America" in 1994 as a mandate for Republicans to overhaul the way our Government operates.

I remember which party put politics before our country and interpreted their 1994 newly elected majority in Congress as giving them not only a mandate to reduce the size of Government, but also the authority to shut it down. Thus, they allowed Federal appropriations to expire, causing the shut down of the Government in 1995. And to this day, I loathe the sight and sound of Newt Gingrich. In my eyes, he personifies the worst abuse of authority I have ever witnessed from Government officials. Yep, I was there and I was personally affected. I didn’t know about party ideology at that time, but I do now.

I remember which party passed legislation during the 1990s giving tax breaks to corporations that moved their operations and US jobs off our shores in the interest of promoting “free” trade.

I remember which party was setting national policy while middle class households began supplementing stagnating wages with credit card debt, just to maintain their way of life.

I remember which party slashed veterans' benefits and severely underfunded the Veterans Administration, leaving a skeleton infrastructure to provide medical services for our Veterans.

I remember which party and which nonpartisan Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Alan Greenspan, promoted the free market system as self-regulating and Federal Regulations as unnecessary "interference" with that system from 1994 – 2006.

I remember which party controlled Congress and put Bill Clinton in a vise as they dismantled the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, thus allowing Commercial and Investment Banking services and products to not only blur, but to become "too big to fail". That’s when Bill Clinton buckled under the pressure of the financial interests representing Wall Street. And that’s when he sold his soul to the company store, in the person of Sandy Weill, former CEO of Citigroup. I didn’t know it then, but I know it now.

Yep, I remember which party made the legislative decisions between 1994 and 2006 that brought the financial system of this country to its knees in September 2008.

I remember Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulsen, having realized the Bush administration could not keep the financial system afloat until after the November 2008 election, brought the bailout proposal to Capitol Hill in Sep 2008. As I recall, he presented it to Congress as the ONLY solution to not only avoid the collapse of the US financial system, but also the collapse of the Global financial system. And, as I recall, the situation was so dire that there was no time for Congress to alter the proposal, let alone debate it. So, members of Congress, people just like us who decided to devote their lives to Public Service, basically had the bejesus scared out of them. So, they hastily passed the Total Asset Relief Program (TARP)giving essentially a $700 billion free pass to the financial industry, 6 weeks before the General election. Congress acted in good faith, assuming the financial industry would use those funds to reinvigorate the failing US economy that had been precipitated by their high risk investment activities. They lost the election, both Presidential and Congressional, but the Republicans need not have worried. The American electorate, famous for its short memory, has forgotten in the space of 3 years, which party took legislative actions over a 10-year period that gave the financial industry the lattitude to pursue unregulated investment risks. But I didn’t forget. I remember it well.

I remember which party’s administration was willing to sacrifice Secretary of State General Colin Powell's reputation to sell the second Iraq War to our Congressional representatives, the UN and the World.

I remember which party started the war in Afghanistan, only to put it on hold 2 years later, while it turned our attention, our troops and our tax dollars to support the 2^nd Iraq War, allowing our REAL enemies to regroup on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border and elsewhere, including from within our own citizenry.

I remember which party had our troops, both active and reserves, stretched beyond capacity to occupy lands and fight Wars with no foreseeable end, against unspecified enemies.

I remember which party pursued international policies that resulted in our country losing the respect and admiration of countries, both friend and foe, around the world.

I remember which party took a budget surplus in the year 2000, when Clinton left office and turned it into a trillion dollar budget deficit, fueled by tax cuts that exceeded projected revenues, unfunded DoD expenditures to support not one, but 2 wars, and lest we forget, the unfunded Medicare Part D Prescription Drug program. I didn’t know it then; but I know it now.

I remember which former Vice President, who only a few years ago said that Federal deficits don't matter, speaking out during the past 2 years about the burgeoning budget deficit "created” by the current administration in an attempt to avoid a deep recession for the vast numbers of unemployed who that party portrays as somehow having forgotten about “personal responsibility”. Yep, I remember.

I remember which party dismantled the government agencies that protect our food supply and our environment, by underfunding them, all aimed at keeping Big Government in check.

I remember which party’s representative, Joe Barton, characterized the current administration’s demand for compensation from BP oil as a “shakedown. My jaw dropped in disbelief, as I watched it on C-SPAN. My memory of that event is crystal clear.

I remember when Jimmy Carter restructured the Department of Health, Education & Welfare in 1979, into two separate Departments: Health & Human Services and Education. And I remember Reagan’s vow to abolish it. Carter’s decision made sense to me then and makes even more sense to me now, as the US educational system faces technological advances that are revolutionizing the teaching profession. From my perspective, the challenges are equivalent to the industrial revolution of the 19 century. I also know that both Bush the father and Bush the son declined to pursue abolition of the Department of Education, even though the political party they represented has vowed to abolish it since its inception.

I remember which party passed legislation creating Government-subsidized private health insurance plans, called Medicare “Advantage Plans” as part of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. It was passed with the rationale that such private plans would operate more efficiently than US-managed “Traditional” Medicare. But, lo and behold, by the time the health reform law was passed in March 2010, the US Government was subsidizing Advantage plans at a rate 15% higher than traditional Medicare. What a deal! http://www.ncpssm.org/news/archive/vp_medicare_advantage/.

I remember which party representatives voted AGAINST the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in Jan 2010, that allows pay discrimination suits to be filed by victims within 6 months of discovering pay discrimination practices, instead of within 6 months of when the unknown discriminatory pay practice commenced. Yep, I remember when Parker Griffith, then Representative of the AL 5th US Congressional District voted against it within 1 week of taking the oath of office.

I remember George W. Bush beginning his campaign to privatize Social Security in the summer of 2001, shortly before the terrorist attack on our country. I specifically remember the date because I had already become concerned about the increasing cost of health care in this country, and wrote Congressman Bud Cramer, asking why the President would give higher priority to privatizing Social Security than to addressing Health Care costs, which seemed to me to be spiraling upward. Of course, at that time I was totally oblivious to party ideology.

I remember which party doesn't believe the Federal Government should interfere in any way with business operations, but does believe it should interfere with the individual choice of a woman to abort a pregnancy.  I also remember the days before the legalization of abortion when women of means presumably left the country for medically safe abortions; whereas those without such means turned in desperation to back alley butchers who performed abortions in despicable, unsanitary conditions, often sacrificing the life of the woman who made that choice.

I remember which party wants to force its Christian beliefs on all US citizens and does not accept other religious beliefs as legitimate.

I remember which party says we have the best health care system in the world, and which fought for 14 months to maintain the status quo for those who can afford access to the best health care system in the world.

Yes, those are only some of the things I remember.

Presidents FDR, HST, JFK and LBJ, were all men who guided this country through times of trouble. Every one of them believed in a strong Federal Government. So, I agree with the GOP. It’s time to take our country back… Back to the time when our citizens believed our Federal leaders were working on our behalf, not to destroy our way of life, but to improve upon it.

Bored with Gold, we move on to actual Monetary Policy
Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:08:11 GMT
El Al Cool Jew

OK, so last time we discussed Ron Paul and the gold standard with respect to its impact on the foreign sector. Somehow, the discussion morphed into public works projects in the afterlife (which I suppose is part of the foreign sector), but no matter. Also, Herding Old Cats pointed out, correctly and gently, that claiming that a gold standard would be good for US exports was, how do I say this politely, dubious. Certainly there is no historical evidence for it. During the Depression in the 1930’s, the US was on the gold standard and certainly exports did not do well. I have four comments to make on this:

            1. The whole world was in a Depression, so other countries could not afford to buy US exports                                no matter how cheap they were,
            2. The world’s money system was caught in a “liquidity trap,” meaning interest rates could fall                   no further, and interest rates are a vital mechanism in currency valuations,
            3. The US’s main trading partner, Europe, was also on a metal standard (mostly silver), and
            4. International economics was never really my thing, so leave me alone.

I was going to do a blog on the domestic consequences of a gold standard, but I’m actually bored with gold now. If any of you are similarly bored, you may dispose of your gold by sending it to me.

But now I want to riff a little on Paul’s other bugaboo, the Fed.

Uncle Ronnie* is right about one thing. The Fed Stinks. The only thing is, any other monetary system that would be compatible with a modern postindustrial economy would be worse.

So, why does the Fed Stink? Let me count the ways:

1. It is owned by its member commercial banks. If you want to open a commercial bank and be included in the Federal Reserve system, you must buy stock in the Fed. This is great for banks and lousy for everyone else for SO MANY reasons, which we’ll come to.

2. The Fed is split into 12 regional banks in NY, San Francisco, Atlanta, Richmond, etc . Look at the $1 bills in your wallet. To the left of George is a circle with a letter in it. Surrounding the letter is the name of the Federal Reserve Bank that issued that dollar. Way at the top of the bill are the words “Federal Reserve Note,” just to make sure you get it. The Fed issues all money, even though the Fed is owned by the private banking system. Beginning to get the “stinks” part yet?

3. Even though it is privately owned, the Fed is governed by a politically appointed Board of Governors. This is a seven member board that sets the overall direction of monetary policy, about which more in due course.

4. The most important part of the Fed is the Open Market Committee (FOMC), which makes specific decisions concerning the conduct of monetary policy. This committee is composed of all the Fed governors, the Director of the FRB of NY, and four of the other regional directors on a rotating basis. Fun fact: Herman Cain (yes, THAT Herman Cain) was the director of the Kansas City FRB in the early 1990’s, though he never rotated onto the FOMC. Is the stink getting stinkier yet?

5. So, these are the guys and gals that determine monetary policy, which is probably the most important factor in setting prices and interest rates. It also heavily influences employment and income, at least in the short run.

Next time we’ll get into how they conduct monetary policy, both the ends and the means. At some point, I’ll be forced to defend Fed, in concept if not in execution, but that’s too distasteful for a Monday afternoon.

* My cousin is married to Rand Paul’s cousin, who he calls “Crazy cousin Randy.” This makes Ron Paul my third cousin (or uncle?) a dozen times removed. No, I have never met either of them. Ron or Randy, not my cousin’s husband, who is a normal, nice guy.

Hope for change in the Deep South
Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:32:40 GMT
Iamaleftie

5 January 2012
By~John Shelby Spong -Retired Episcopal Bishop of Delaware

There are times when one’s perceptions are challenged and one’s stereotypical prejudices are shattered. This happened to me in recent days when I fulfilled invitations to speak in three cities that one thinks of as traditional, heartland cities. They were Birmingham, Alabama, Tupelo, Mississippi, and Kansas City, Missouri. I share with my readers these experiences and my own response of being surprised by joy.

I went to Birmingham under the auspices of an organization called SPAFER, which stands for South Points Association for Exploring Religion. The brainchild of a Presbyterian minister named Ken Forbes, this organization was designed to allow people in the Bible Belt of the South to encounter a non-fundamentalist version of Christianity. In some ways, it is obviously a counter-cultural movement. At its beginning the traditional religious voices of the South responded to SPAFER by denouncing this movement and separating themselves from it, portraying it as “heretical,” perhaps, they hinted with great concern, even “communist.” I have been the featured speaker at SPAFER events on two previous occasions beginning in 2002. On one of these earlier events the Episcopal Bishop of Alabama, fearful I suspect of “guilt by association,” took pains to tell the media that I was not in Alabama under the auspices of the Episcopal Church. I was also invited to be a guest on a morning television talk show in which the co-hosts, who were husband and wife, were consistently rude and derogatory in their interview, which prompted me to ask them whether they were always this rude to their invited guests or if I was somehow being singled out for this special honor?
Religious rudeness seems to be thought of as a virtue in conservative or fundamentalistic circles and it always stems from an assumption that truth is something they and they alone possess.

The reality was, however, that crowds of people attended those lectures, making me aware that there is a silent, non-fundamentalist minority of some significance in the Bible Belt of the South, hungry for meaning and integrity in their understanding of Christianity. They cannot find this in their local churches so they sink into passive silence. Perhaps, because of their silence, this audience is simply not in the consciousness of the traditional clergy.

On this year’s trip, the audience was not as large, but it was still substantial. Its slightly diminished size can be accounted for, at least in part, by the fact that we were competing with the football game between number-one ranked LSU and number-two ranked University of Alabama. If not apparent in a larger attendance, there were, nonetheless, other signs signaling that a new breeze was blowing in the South. Many of the people who attended were social and economic leaders in the community. The Southside Baptist Church, a magnificent structure in downtown Birmingham, asked for the privilege of hosting the lectureship. The leadership of SPAFER, which originally was an Alabama only organization, has moved into other Southern cities in what they call “Roadhouse Communities,” that is, groups of ten to twenty people, meeting on a monthly basis, to explore their faith in ways that their churches would not allow them to do. The questions following the lecture where consistently thoughtful and were posed, not to counter some perceived threat to their religion’s security, but to clarify, to expand or to open new approaches. I left Birmingham feeling that a shift in consciousness in the deep South was well underway. One additional sign of that shift was visible in the huge levels of discomfort that these mainstream Alabama citizens now seemed to have with the “Arizona-type” anti-immigration laws recently passed by the legislature of Alabama and signed by the governor. One native Alabaman said to me in a letter that Alabama “seems not to be able to function without a visible victim. First, it was the African-Americans, then it was the homosexuals and now it is the brown-skinned Mexican immigrants.” Yet the over-reaction present in that anti-immigration legislation is now bringing wide spread economic pain to all segments of the society including un-harvested crops in the fields of Alabama farmers, something that those who pushed for the passage of these laws simply did not anticipate. Amendment and/or repeal of these laws is now obviously under discussion.
More...
http://johnshelbyspong.com/2012/01/05/the-monolithic-conservatism-of-the-american-heartland-is-not-so-monolithic/

I figured that I'd say the facts
Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:33:34 GMT
SaintSatinStain
I figured that I'd say the facts and the truth honestly, then many folk would say, hey, he's right, we gotta change.
Nope. There is something wrong with Alabamans.
I understand that the thought and feel processes in the brains of South Alabamans grew stunted, but expected a difference in the brains of North Alabamans.
North Alabama where more folk in science and technology think empirically, deal with fact, read science fiction..
I expected and got disappointment.
I remember when folk said that racism, a child of ignorance, so believed by many, include me, we defeat by education.
PhDs, doctors, lawyers, and indian chiefs live racist; live racists in spite of their education.
I think now, no, you can't educate racists away.
The limestone in the water makes folk stupid and mean, my next hypothesis, just sounds silly I dare write it amazes me.
What explains poor folk who vote for Senator Richard Craig Shelby and Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, two senators who vote for the landed, the rich, and super rich in the senate?
What explains the middle class, especially tech folk, educated folk, and whaaat explains the clergy?
I go back to my hypothesis about the limestone in the water.
I buy a filter soon.

I want to get on a list
Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:17:59 GMT
SaintSatinStain
I want to get on a list, so this I wrote on a petition submitted to a government department. Yeah.
Okay folks in the government, Interior, folk supposed to be smarter than me, please don't do it, think a second time about drilling in the Arctic.
Go to your kitchen, take an ice tray out of the freezer, dump the ice in the sink, then mix some water and oil, pour it in the ice tray and place it back in the freezer. Tomorrow go some place cold - such as walk in freezer - and separate the ice from the oil.

My experiment is less stupid than drilling
the Arctic.
President Obama acts smart, so he appointed smart folk to cabinet posts, including Interior. Please let it not be an act, your smarts. It will more than smart when potable water is scarce, ocean life, especially plankton, becomes extinct, the earth gets dirtier and more toxic, and in 20 or 30 years, almost uninhabitable.
I am less than a year from 70, so will miss the worst of it.
I will probably be dead.
I don't want my daughter and son dead along with me.
I want my granddaughters to live in a clean world, a world free from pollution.
So when you allow drilling in the Arctic and there is a spill that cannot be cleaned, who do we blame?
What do we do to you?
I say, we release the murderers who've only murdered fewer than a dozen people, and put you in the cells instead.
You are more dangerous to human life than serial killers.
You may kill our species.
I will work to un-elect or recall all politicians who commit to the drilling in the Arctic. I will work to impeach the impeachable. I will work to defeat each politician who supports this threat to the world.
I am peaceful. But.
What will the young, who will suffer a toxic planet in a decade or three, do to you who commit this dastardly act if you live that long?
What will they do to the corporations?
They will dismantle corporations.
I pray that they don't dismantle the humanity that people corporations.
They will dismantle capitalism.
I like humane capitalism peopled by really smart folk who are responsible.
Interior folk please allow the interior of your head to reconnoiter truth, the facts.
Refuse to allow drilling in the Arctic.
You may save corporations and capitalism, and as side effect, save
homo sapiens sapiens.
Act like one.

Ron Paul's Gold Problem
Sun, 08 Jan 2012 04:29:55 GMT
El Al Cool Jew

I know it’s a little weird to write a blog about Ron Paul on a lefty site, but bear with me. More than a few lefties are attracted to Paul because of his stances on civil liberties and the wars, so I expect that a few who are sympathetic to Paul’s views do look at this site occasionally.

Problem is, Ron Paul, in addition to his other faults, is a gold bug. He believes that the dollar should be tied to gold in order to prevent inflation. Well, he’s right. A gold standard would prevent inflation. It would also destroy the world economy.

In order to see what’s going on, we need to start at the beginning – that is, with the nature and purpose of money.

Money must serve three purposes. It must serve as

            A medium of exchange;
            A store of wealth; and
            A unit of account.

Lots of things can and have done this. Pacific Islanders have used shells, other societies have used stones, beads, wheat, silver, and, of course, gold. Gold was used as actual money as recently as the late 1800’s in the US. In fact, anything that a society agrees is money is, in fact, money.

So what makes gold better money than green paper bills? It has no intrinsic value, except for certain electronic and outer space applications. It is highly impractical to carry around gold as currency. It would be almost impossible to use in international transactions.   It can’t be kept as a bookkeeping entry. In fact, it fails two of the three standards above for being good, easy to use money. Also, it has no “intrinsic” value. You can’t eat it, you can’t sleep in it, you can’t drink it. It’s as intrinsically worthless as dirt.

Ah, but you say, Paul isn’t talking about using actual gold! He’s talking about using green pieces of paper redeemable in gold! Well immediately, you can see the problem. We’re back to green pieces of paper already! And those green pieces of paper are already redeemable in gold. Anyone on earth can go to the US Mint web site and purchase gold American Eagle coins ($1,862 per ounce), or, if you prefer, you can purchase gold from any of Glenn Beck’s advertisers. So redeemability really isn’t the issue either.

In fact, what Paul advocates, is that the dollar be redeemable in gold at a fixed value. This is very important. The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is about ten billion ounces, worth about $16 trilliion. Considerably less than the world’s GDP, but no matter. The point is that the amount of gold in circulation is for all intents and purposes fixed. Sure, the gold stock is added to through mining, but the growth rate is very slow. Pegging the value of the dollar to gold would prevent the growth of the money supply absent a commensurate increase in the gold stock. This is what a gold standard is all about.

So, good idea or not?

Well, doing this would prevent inflation. No question.

But what is the downside, as they say?

I can think of a lot, but let’s just start with a few.

First, if other countries did not adopt the gold standard, then they would have at least some inflation. Even a 3% inflation rate in, say, Japan, would Japanese prices 35% in 10 years, so that the Corolla that costs 1.3 million Yen ($16,000 US) today would cost 2.15 million Yen ($26,800 US) in 10 years. Since inflation in the US would have been zero during that 10 year period (in other words, no price or wage increases), Corollas would be dramatically more expensive in the US. While exchange rates might ameliorate some of this effect, remember that other countries that did not adopt the gold standard during this period would still be able to afford Corollas, so the Japanese would sell to them instead. More to them, less to us, and anything that is in shorter supply becomes more expensive. No way around this one, folks.

Then there’s the issue of US exports. In a zero inflation environment, US exports would be very cheap on world markets. As a result, manufacturing jobs in the US would be plentiful. Unfortunately, prices of US made goods would rise due to foreign demand, and producers would raise domestic prices since they would have the alternative of selling US produced goods in foreign markets for these higher prices.

Since the domestic money supply would be fixed and inflation would be zero, the higher prices that US residents would have to pay for domestically produced goods would have to result in lower prices somewhere else, most likely in a sector that does not have international exposure (since foreigners would still be able to pay higher prices for US goods). This could only be the service sector, leading to lower prices and wages for service workers like retail workers, cooks, and barbers. Those in industries with many international customers, like banks, agriculture, and aerospace would benefit from the higher foreign demand. The bottom line is that the US would be producing more for export and paying more for, and consuming less domestically.

There’s lots more wrong with a gold standard for dollars, but I’m going to stop there for now. Watch this space for more!

On Holding Down The Conversational Fort, Or, Jobs, Republicans, And Hooey
Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:13:04 GMT
fake consultant
As the next Congressional fight over payroll tax extensions and unemployment benefits and pipelines gets set up in the next few weeks for either its final chapter or to be kicked down the road a bit farther, one or the other, you're going to hear a lot from our Republican friends about how much they value work and workers; most especially, they'll tell you, they value American jobs for American workers.
After all, they'll say, creating American jobs is the most important thing of all.
But if we were to look back over just the last few months, some would tell us, we could quickly find examples of how Republicans promote ideas that don't seem to value work or workers at all, much less American jobs.
Well as it turns out, "some" seem to be right; to illustrate one of those examples we'll look back a month or two or three to a time some Republicans might wish was long, long, ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

A successful comedian usually becomes more megalomaniacal as the success barometer rises. Initial success might be achieved from stand-up but then the comedian envisions a sitcom, then Broadway, albums, extended tours, Europe, and then his or her own production company. These things are all fine. Don't do dinner theater. Don't open stuff, like shopping centers or bowling alleys. Don't do fairs, especially if you follow the pig contest.
--From the book "How To Be A Stand-Up Comic", by Richard Belzer

So...the House Republicans went and promoted and passed out their payroll tax cut plan, and within that plan was a demand that the Junkie XL Pipeline - sorry, that should be Keystone XL Pipeline - get special "expedited" approvals, despite the objections of those who are worried about their water supply, and we have to do this, right now, those same House Republicans tell us, in order to put more or less 6500 folks to work getting the thing built.
And as we mentioned above, this is because the House Republicans care about American jobs and American workers.
So...it may strike you as a bit odd that the exact same House Republicans sent to the Senate in September the "Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act" (HR 2587), which has only one purpose: it tells the National Labor Relations Board (the "NLRB") that if workers at a company decide to form a union, or the company even thinks a union might be coming, and the company, in retaliation, decides to move work from that plant - or, for that matter, decides to move the entire plant - then neither the NLRB nor the United States Courts shall have the authority to do anything about it.
All of this stems from an effort by Boeing to move work from Washington State to South Carolina in retaliation for union activity by the Puget Sound workforce; the NLRB has ruled that Boeing cannot move the work, and the Company and its friends in Congress have joined forces with other anti-Union Members of Congress to move this legislation.
Need a third-party expert opinion to help make sense of the NLRB's involvement and remedies? Consider this comment from University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Ellen Dannin, via Dennis Kucinich:
The NLRB has decades of experience with cases of this sort, and the National Labor Relations Act is clear that employer actions like Boeing's violate the law. If this were a murder case, it would be a case in which the police found a person saying : "I did it," while standing over a fresh corpse with smoking gun in hand.

Decades of experience, did she say? Yes she did - and she was right. In 1964, the Supreme Court ruled that the NLRB had the power to order remedies that include making companies "bring work back", the relevant case being Fibreboard Paper Products Corp. v. Labor Board, 379 U.S. 203.
The 250 law professors who wrote a letter explaining why HR 2587 is such a bad idea point out that it's not just about Boeing: companies will no longer have any reason to even bargain with unionized workers (or those who wish they were) before closing plants and moving work overseas, as they have to do now under the law; again, that's because no one will have the power of enforcement in these cases anymore.
As you might imagine, that's going to accelerate the departure of jobs overseas, and it won't take very long to get to 6500, which makes all that Republican fussin' and fightin' and sanctimoneoussin' about Keystone look a bit hollow, eh?
Let's jump to the side track, as it were, and take a moment to talk about why the question of which Party controls Congress matters: HR 2587 was introduced into the House, and if the Democrats controlled the Chamber it would have died in Committee, and that would have been that...but they don't, and it didn't, so the bill made it to the House floor, where it passed with no Democratic "aye" votes and six Republicans voting "nay".
Then it went to the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Sometimes Frustrating) has a bit more power than a Speaker of the House to kill any bill before his Chamber, if he's so inclined; in this case the bill sits on the Senate Legislative Calendar, and unless he says otherwise, that's where it'll stay. Of course if Mitch McConnell (R-Hates Obama With The Fire Of A Thousand Suns) were Majority Leader, he would have that bill on the Senate Floor in a heartbeat - and it would pass with a Republican majority, unless Democrats were willing to stand firm and filibuster the thing or the President was willing to use the veto pen, neither of which seems particularly certain.
A companion bill, S 1523, was introduced by Lindsey Graham; it was referred to Committee, possibly to never be seen again - which is also thanks to Harry Reid, with an assist from Tom Harkin, who is the relevant Chair.
At this point I was going to move on to the "what have we learned today" part of the deal, but before I do, I want to take a moment to show you just what kind of legislation our GOP friends will bring to the table, given the chance:
S 1720, the "Put All Your Crazy Eggs In One Basket Act" (not the real bill title, but close enough), was introduced by John McCain just before Halloween (it's now on the Legislative Calendar, not doing much), and it's a classic.
This one single bill calls for a Balanced Budget Amendment vote, a semi-flat income tax, repeals "ObamaCare", repeals Dodd-Frank (Wall Street reform), says you basically can't sue for medical malpractice anymore, says that if Congress fails to approve any Federal Agency regulation in 90 days, it's invalid, and then says no Agency can pass any regulation, of any kind, until unemployment hits 7.7%...and there's a lot more besides, including, I kid you not, forbidding the EPA from regulating the discharge of pesticides into water.
So now let's get to "what have we learned?"
How about this:
We are going to hear a lot over the next 60 days about how the GOP loves you, the American worker, but at the exact same time they are looking to...well...put all the crazy eggs in one basket, if they can get away with it, and at the same time they're looking to make it easier and easier to send more jobs to more countries than ever before, even to the point of trying to tell courts and regulators that they can no longer enforce laws Republicans can't get repealed.
As our GOP friends stand before you, these next couple months, professing their undying love, remind them of this conversation today, and HR 2587, and S 1720, McCain's "Crazy Egg Basket" bill, and then ask them if they think the GOP really cares about American jobs, or if they're just getting hustled by slightly-slicker versions of used-car dealership credit managers?
Then you lean in close, look 'em in the eye, smile just a bit, and you say to 'em: "And hey, while you're here...what do I gotta do to get you into a slightly used 1993 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon...today?"
Then you can both have a little laugh - while you take their money and run.

Just moved to Dothan
Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:14:48 GMT
jpmclendon
My family recently moved to Dothan and would like to meet some like minded, progressive people. Anyone know where some may hang out?

No papers please - a Food Ministry Christmas
Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:00:20 GMT
BobNBama
They came from all over North Alabama and southern Tennessee, black, brown, white and all shades in between. They were the volunteers on Thursday, December 22.
They came from all over North Alabama and southern Tennessee, black brown, white and all shades in between. They were the hungry, those who needed clothes or toys for their kids for Christmas.
It started off as a food ministry, but now it also fills other needs as well. English was the main language, but Spanish was often heard as well.
On the food line we were given strict instructions; two cans of green beans, two cans of carrots, two of pears, a bag of frozen sweet potato fries and two pounds of rice for each person. No more. Unless someone asked. Our customers in turn would not only tell us if they needed more, but when they had enough at home. "No rice today, I have enough and I don't want to take it when someone else needs it more".
The toy line was long. Each person got a ticket for two toys. The supply was limited, but no one complained. Shoppers were let in 15 at a time because the space was small and the demand was large. Hundreds were served by the end of the evening.
The toys were donated, as was much of the food. All of the help was by volunteers; an odd mix of individuals, a middle school basketball team, an alumni group from a fraternity and many different church and civic groups.
You heard Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, and God Bless you often. But what you never heard in this ministry the week before Christmas was, "your papers please". This ministry answers to a higher law.

On Christmas 2.0, Or, Who Might Be The New Santa?
Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:31:32 GMT
fake consultant
I've been thinking a lot about the evolution of Christmas, and I've been thinking that there is a lot about the current practice that we can admire.
Peace and good will, of course, and cookies and candy canes, and happy kids - and this is also the time we think the most about those less fortunate, as do Jews and Muslims, who also have holiday celebrations this time of the year that include a component of charity.
But if there is anything that I could change about the modern practice of Christmas, it would be the installation of Santa Claus as an icon of consumer spending, more or less to the exclusion of everything else.
As an intellectual exercise, I started thinking about what a different Santa might be like; today's story lays out who a few candidates might be for "Santa 2.0" and why.
So go grab a cookie, and, perhaps, a refreshing beverage...and let's have some post-Christmas fun.

Chipmunk Family Reunion...
...someone stole the nuts...
...squirrel jail...
...Justice.
--"Flo", the Progressive Insurance Representative, in a recent commercial

To help everyone understand my choices, I'm partial to the kind of Santa who might be inclined to be a force for good in society, even when Christmas isn't around; that concept's central to these selections.
I also tried to pick folks who would make the gift-giving role Santa fills interesting and, above all, fun; with all that in mind let's jump right in and see where this thing goes:
In a tough economy, you want to save where you can, with that in mind my first nomination for the new Santa is Michael Moore, if for no other reason than he fact that he already fits the suit.
He's from Michigan, you know, so the cold weather up there at the North Pole is something he's already used to - and you can imagine that the Elves will finally be getting the health care and retirement benefits that they've been negotiating for these past several years.
But beyond that, I could see Mike coming down the chimney and giving people jobs if he could apply the Santa power that way, and I figure he likes cookies and milk, too, so we wouldn't have to change that part of the deal - and all that suggests he'd be really good for the economy.
Plus, if he had all of Santa's powers, he'd always know where Roger is, and that's pretty cool, too, eh?
Now our next choice is a bit unusual, but I think we're on the right path nonetheless, and that's Meghan McCain, daughter of the Senator from Arizona.
She seems to be a really nice person, which is a good place to start, she's blonde, which, again, works with the red suit, and I get the impression that she'd be OK with dealing with kids all day.
As for her Santa power...she's an outspoken critic of the Crazy Right, and it's entirely possible that she'll bring some degree of rationality and reason from way up North to the GOP, which would be a present we could all use.
Some of y'all might be a bit put off by the idea that she appears to be the kind of person who, if a 13-year-old boy asked, would get him a gun, but I got a Godson who was given his first rifle younger than that, and he turned out to be a nonviolent person, so, you know, maybe Santa would turn out to support the Second Amendment, but that doesn't automatically have to be a bad thing.
For our next nomination, we're going way off the track to select someone you've probably never heard of: Yetta Kurland.
Ye-who What, you say?
Yetta Kurland is an attorney in New York City, and for the past few years, if you are a member of the LBGT community, and you're interested in civil rights litigation, Yetta Kurland's has been a pretty good name to know.
But beyond that, Yetta's been working as a member of the National Lawyer's Guild as one of the on-site attorneys for Occupy Wall Street, right down there at New York City's Zucotti Park - and that means our Santa nominee's been working day and night, literally out on the barricades, fighting for the rights of every one of us.
Animal rights are also a big focus for Yetta, and that suggests a Santa who would be thinking about all the kids, even the ones covered in fur...and that also means a Santa who might be particularly interested in bringing good homes to abandoned animals, which is as worthy a cause as anyone could wish for.
The best part is that Kurland is already interested in the arts, as is the potential Ms. Claus (Kurland's partner, Elizabeth Koke); that's good news for the Elves going forward, and for anyone who would be getting presents designed and manufactured at the North Pole Workshops.
Finally, the nomination for Claus 2.0 that I consider the most serendipitous - and potentially the most interesting of all: Lady Gaga.
She's already known, loved, and admired around the world, which is exactly what you want in a Santa, she's bound to do something interesting to the costume every year, which seems like a "great leap forward", and she's already used to dealing with great volumes of fan interaction - and if Lady Gaga were the next Santa, you could expect social media to become a big, big, deal at the North Pole.
It was entirely coincidental, but I happened to catch "Gaga by Gaultier" the other night, and as it turns out Gaga is looking to recreate The Factory, the storied workshop and studios of Andy Warhol...which could not be more perfect for a Santa with artistic ambitions, since the North Pole Workshops are full of skilled technicians who have been cranking out a mixture of art and fun as long as there's been a Santa Claus, for Goodness sake.
As for her Santa power: imagine if someone could visit all the bullied boys and girls, all in one night, just to let them know that things can "get better"...and leave coal and access to social services for the bullies...well, that's a pretty good power, and if Santa could do all that while singing "I Was Born This Way" - then I think we may have a winner.
So how about that? Four alternative Santas, each with a set of unique qualifications, all of whom could make things fun even as they're stirring things up a bit, and all of whom bring their own interesting personality characteristics to this thought exercise.
Toss it around in your head a bit, see what you think, and let's have a bit more fun fleshing out the thinking here in an effort to see who might really be the best choice for Santa 2.0.
In other words, now that I've reported - you decide.

Jesus is Born - So What?
Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:45:08 GMT
BobNBama
This is a Christmas message to Christian readers (with a decidedly political view). If you object to religious or religion language please pass up this post.
Christmas is here and Christians around the world are celebrating Jesus' birthday. So What? You say you're a Christian? Jesus is born! So what are you going to do about it?
If you respond and say you show your love of God by going to church, my response is again - so what? To quote the bumper sticker, "Going to Church no more makes you a Christian than standing in a garage makes you a car". You say you give to your church. That's nice but if it is all you are doing it is not enough.
First, let's start with your church. Is it inviting to all? Do you welcome the rich and the poor equally? James 2:1-4 teaches us that if we show favoritism, we are committing a sin. James continues in 2:5-7 "5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?" James' work was deemed important enough to include in the Bible. Now we would dismiss him as being a radical in the Occupy Movement. What does that say about us? Why is pointing out social injustice threatening to many US Christians?
The prophet Isaiah had this to say about good, church-going folk who make offerings and pray, but stop there. "15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening" Isaiah 1:15. Isaiah explains why God does not listen to their prayers in verses 16-17: 16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow". Yes Isaiah knew that God would not hear their prayers if they did not practice justice.
Isaiah's time was much like our own. Here is what he had to say about the leaders of his time in 1:23 "Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts". It sounds like money has always corrupted politics and power too often attracts scoundrels.
Do you think that perhaps Isaiah is an anomaly in the Bible? Listen to the words of Amos: "7 There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground. 12 For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. 21 "I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" Amos 5:7, 12, 21-24.
But let's assume that your church is inviting to all and is interested in social justice. It's time to get more personal.
James continues in chapter 2 "14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." James is clear - faith requires action. To those who are wondering where Grace fits in here, yes, you are saved by Grace, but if you are saved, won't there be evidence? If your heart is changed to love God, that love will leave tracks for all to see.
James gives us a hint on one of the things we are to do: feed the hungry. But why don't we hear from Jesus himself on what we are to do: "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40 "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" Matthew 25:34-40. Jesus goes on to promise condemnation to those who do not heed this call.
To be a Christian is a call to action, a call to loving others with more than good intentions and good feelings. A call to feed, clothe and provide medical care to those in need. A call to question the world as it is and to demand, not middle class comfort, but justice. A call in all ways to love one another as you love yourself.
So there you have it. Jesus is Born! So what? So get moving.
Coming at the New Year: Part 2 - Jesus gives the leper a Band-Aid, or does government fit into this call to action?

On Helping Republicans, Or, Next Time You Need A Bad Idea, Try These
Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:37:02 GMT
fake consultant
I have spent a number of years complaining about the interactions between Democrats and Republicans, but after the recent events involving the Keystone XL and civil liberties cave-ins, I've decided it's time to stop complaining and embrace the madness.
But I also feel like there's an ugly edge to all this...that hasn't really been fully exploited.
I mean, Republicans have tried to force through a lot of disgusting ideas this Congress as they've held various bills hostage, but it seems like, if they really tried, they could do so much more.
But I'm not here to complain, I'm here to help; that's why today we'll be trotting out a few ideas of our own that Republicans can attach to bills throughout 2012, with the assistance of certain errant Democrats.
It'll be fun, it'll be festive, but most of all...it'll be an exercise in Civic Responsibility, and in these difficult times, that's something we could sorely use.

1) Above all, the needs of the army need to be taken into consideration. For instance, it will scarcely be possible to avoid, here and there, leaving behind some trade Jews who are absolutely essential for the provisioning of the troops, for lack of other possibilities. But in each case the proper Aryanization of these enterprises is to be planned and the move of the Jews to be completed in due course, in cooperation with the competent local German administrative authorities.
--From a planning document written in 1939 by Reinhard Heydrich, as reported in the book "Documents of the Holocaust", edited by Yitzhak Arad, Israel Gutman, and Abraham Margaliot

So let's start with the economy: the Census Bureau tells us that nearly half the population is now poor or near-poor, and something needs to be done. With that in mind, I'd propose the "Economic Freedom and Upward Mobility Act" (HR 4377), which would establish a series of military catapult sites along the US border where carefully selected poor folks would be given, literally, economic freedom and upward mobility, even as we instantly reduce the number of impoverished persons in the United States.
Civil rights are important, but not at any cost; that's why the "Election Cost Control Act" (HR OU812) would allow States to empower local officials to preselect winners in various elections, saving the taxpayer the time and expense of having to count the votes for all those losing candidates.
Messaging matters, and there's no reason Republicans have to be the bearers of all the bad news: Mississippi Congressman Hatesem Lotsabunch confirmed to me in a phone call yesterday that he will take my suggestion and introduce the "Voter Education Act", which would require President Obama to wear a giant red, white, and blue dog whistle on a thick silver chain every time he appears in public between the date of passage and November of 2012. (For the record, I actually suggested a gold chain; he thought that was a bit "uppity".)
We have a serious immigration problem, but I think we can take a page from the Newt Gingrich playbook and introduce the "Guest Worker Protection and Identification Act" (GWIPA).
Here's the idea: Gingrich has proposed creating a class of persons ("worker residents"?) who are allowed to live and work in the USA, but are never going to be allowed to have US citizenship. The problem is that it will be impossible to quickly tell who is a legal worker resident and who isn't. Under GWIPA, government-issued armbands would be provided for all legal worker residents to hold their photo ID; as long as they always wear the armband, they'll be protected from having to show papers to law enforcement officials as they go about their daily business.
Governors as diverse as Rick Perry, Jan Brewer, and Robert Bentley have demanded that the Federal Government finally get serious about "securing the border"; the "Nuclear Assault Mine/Border Legislation Act" (NAM/BLA) is my "if you're crazy enough to support Rick Santorum, why not this?" proposal to make that happen. The new law would order the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense to work together to develop, manufacture, and deploy small "assault-sized" nuclear land mines along the Mexican border as a way to deter illegal immigration.
"Well you look perfectly idiotic in those clothes!"
"These aren't my clothes!"
"Well, where are your clothes?"
"I've lost my clothes!"
"Well, why are you wearing these clothes?"
"Because I just went GAY all of a sudden!"
--Cary Grant, as David Huxley, from the 1938 movie "Bringing Up Baby"

Finally, let's take a moment and consider one of the vital social issues of the day.
It is apparently still possible to lock down some GOP votes by going "hard negative" on the LBGT community, if what I'm hearing from the candidates is to be believed (I was particularly struck by Mitt Romney's ability to twist on this issue: in the last GOP debate, in one single sentence, Romney said he felt there should be no discrimination against the LBGT community...but that there should be no same-sex marriages), and I have a proposal that allows the GOP to appear to be moving to a better place while ensuring that nothing ever changes at all:
The "Mitt Romney Legal Access Beyond Intimidation Act" (MRLABIA) would do two things: it would repeal the Federal Defense of Marriage Act - and, in the Mitt Romney tradition, it would also add a new provision into law that prevents same-sex couples from entering into contracts for the purposes of marriage, thus ensuring "a perfect flip-flop, every time", as they might say on an infomercial somewhere.
So there you go: instead of relying on the usual "poison pills", I'm challenging the GOP to try out a few of these ideas - and I'm also challenging much of the American media to try and tell the difference between some of these ideas and the present reality; just at the moment that won't be easy, and, all humor aside, I think that might actually be the saddest part of this whole exercise.

Inside Job
Mon, 19 Dec 2011 03:04:13 GMT
julie

This weekend's educational offering won the 2011 Oscar for Best Documentary. Matt Damon narrates. If you haven't seen it yet, you can watch it full-length on Vimeo here.
'Inside Job' provides a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, which at a cost over $20 trillion, caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulted in a global financial collapse. Through exhaustive research and extensive interviews with key financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics, the film traces the rise of a rogue industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. It was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.

Please Support the USW and Sign the Petition
Sat, 17 Dec 2011 15:44:14 GMT
julie

Members of USW Local 207L gave up $30 million in pay and other benefits to help Cooper Tire in its time of need. With our help, Cooper made more than $300 million since 2009. The company paid its executives millions of dollars in bonuses, bought a new corporate jet, then refused to bargain with us in good faith. They locked us out and gave replacement workers our jobs. Cooper Tire is just flat wrong. Please sign our petition and urge Cooper to end the lockout.

The US v. The State of Alabama, George Bentley, Governor
Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:02:27 GMT
kennethL

From Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Secure Communities (SC) Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)

Use of IDENT/IAFIS for the purposes of racial and/or ethnic profiling or other activity in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution is not permitted and may result in the suspension of the local jurisdiction engaged in the improper activity. ICE reserves the right to take appropriate remedial action if necessary.

IDENT/IAFIS (http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/systems/ident-iafis.htm) is the "interoperability interface" for the domestic intelligence apparatus.

The disclaimer fulfills the legal obligation of the DHS to disavow any codified practice of unlawful targeting of individuals based on their apparent ethnicity. However the practice of the law, under local legislation such as AL HB 56, does not reflect ardor regarding prohibition of race-targeted apprehensions (or reports thereof). The DHS and particularly ICE are remiss in failing to address state policies which concern their jurisdiction; in the case of HB 56, it seems to have fallen to the Department of Justice (under pressure from minority. Immigrant’s rights, and other civil liberty monitors/interest groups) to check Alabama’s overstepping of Constitutionally-enumerated bounds.

Just last week, the DOJ expressed its concern openly in communication with Alabama lawmakers and the enforcement community.

In a correspondence dated December 2, 2011, the US Department of Justice admonished Montgomery County, AL authorities concerning the upholding of Civil Rights protections under Alabama’s new immigration law. The character of the memorandum stops short of being explicitly litigious.

The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice is closely monitoring the impact of HB 56 in a number of areas to ensure compliance with applicable civil rights laws, including to ensuree that law enforcement agencies are not implementing the law in a manner that has the purpose or effect of discriminating against the Latino 01' any other community.

We are also very concerned about the impact of HB. 56 on victims of crime, in particular in cases of sexual assault and domestic violence.

As a recipient of federal financial assistance, your agency is required to comply with various non-discrimination requirements under federal statutes and regulations, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d, and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3789d(c) (Safe Streets Act). The federal government may, in some circumstances, terminate federal funds or bring a civil lawsuit in federal court seeking affirmative relief to enforce Title VI, the Safe Streets Act, and their implementing regulations.

The DOJ in fact has brought suit seeking that HB 56 be struck down entirely. While the dialogue among activists and the media has been focused on Civil Rights violations (under any number if protections, from the Civil Rights Act of 1968, to U.S.C. § 1983 (http://www.constitution.org/brief/forsythe_42-1983.htm)to the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution), the Justice Department has invoked the preemptive power of the Supremacy Clause.

The federal government has historically practiced a meat-and-potatoes Articles approach to correcting wrongs prohibited by the 14th Amendment (which is supposed to provide for equal unqualified protection under the law). In order to force intergration on businesses after the passing of the CIvil Rights act in 1968, the Department of Justice resorted to the Interstate Commerce clause

In their complaint filed in The US District Court of Northern District Of Alabama, Southern Division, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v. STATE OF ALABAMA & GOVERNOR ROBERT J. BENTLEY, the DOJ outlines a solid prohibition of the implementation of HB 56 policies by virtue of the Constitutional preemption under the Supremacy Clause.
This article paraphrases (except where indicated by quotation or explicit annotation) the enumerated grievances of the Department of Justice regarding Alabama HB 56’s failure to incorporate federal preeminence.

The statutory premise for the DOJ challenge of the law stems from their contention that it obviates the due execution of immigration policy as enacted under federal law and regulation, and as such must be adjudicated as invalid under Article 6 of the US Constitution.

The plaintiff submits that the federal government has preeminent authority to regulate immigration matters which derives from the United States Constitution as well as numerous acts of Congress.

In the undertaking of national immigration policy concerns, there is a wider context of complex national interests and strategies for which Congress has tasked the United States Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Department of State, and other federal agencies with accommodating in their administration of Immigration law. States’ liberty to utilize their police powers in a manner that has an incidental or indirect effect on aliens cannot effect the establishment of a State’s own immigration policy in interference with the above mentioned agencies’ execution of their Article 6 mandate. The government’s text characterizes:

“The Constitution and federal immigration laws do not permit the development of a patchwork of state and local immigration policies throughout the country.”

( see figure based on image (Diana Hubert/The Epoch Times) found http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/feds-sue-alabama-over-immigration-59898.html)

The complaint cites an interview with AL state Rep. Mickey Hammon (R) in which he told the New York Times:

“[The goal of HB 56 is] to prevent illegal immigrants from coming to Alabama and to prevent those who are here from putting down roots.” (In Alabama, a Harsh Bill for Residents Here Illegally, New York Times, June 3, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/us/04immig.html )
BE SURE TO "MOUSEOVER" THIS PIC.

Always, always classy.
Representative Hammon stated his opinion that the law would make undocumented immigrants’ lives “difficult” and that “they will deport themselves.”

As crops have gone un-harvested and whole businesses have found themselves unstaffed in the wake of an immigrant exodus, thousands (including large numbers of properly documented immigrants) have indeed fled for fear of incarceration, the Governor and other state officials have denied that the law’s motive includes intimidating marginalized ethnicities to seek refuge across Alabama’s borders.
MOUSEOVER. AS A RULE



As passed, the bill’s provisions seek to detect and punish unlawful entry by requiring the ascertainment of immigration status during all lawful stops by any local law enforcement agent, where there is “reasonable suspicion” that an individual is unlawfully present. The bill enacts new state punitive and criminal sanctions against unlawfully present aliens.

The mandate to enforce H.B. 56 to the *fullest extent possible (the complaint addresses this presently in general response to bill’s repeated insistence on “maximum enforcement”) is reinforced by a provision allowing for any legal resident of Alabama to file suit against any state or local authority that “adopt[s] or implement[s] a policy or practice that limits or restricts the enforcement of this act to less than the full extent permitted by this act.”**Ala. H.B. 56 § 6(d).

Any such authority held liable would face civil penalties of between $1,000 and $5,000 “for each day that the practice or policy has remained in effect after the filing of an action” for under-enforcement. Persons working for state or local authorities have an affirmative duty to report violations of H.B. 56 where the person has “reasonable cause to believe”* that H.B. 56 is being violated. A failure to report a violation is a criminal offense. *Ala. H.B. 56 § 6(f).

“Maximum enforcement” as an overriding principle of AL H.B. 56 effects the neglect of established federal immigration policy priorities, and the DOJ submits that this failure to facilitate US national immigration policy focus constitutes sufficient conflict to invoke Constitutional preemption of the AL law. “Even where Alabama appears to pursue one of the goals of the federal system, it does so to the detriment of other federal immigration priorities, thereby disrupting federal immigration enforcement and burdening resources that focus on aliens who pose a threat to national security or public safety.”

This photo is from Occupy Birmingham's road occupation to Columbus and Fort Benning for School of the Americas Watch. (SOAW website http://www.soaw.org/about-the-soawhinsec/what-is-the-soawhinsec)
An interjection seems appropriate that while the DOJ is showing due-diligence in policing their jurisdictional prerogative, egregious human rights crimes are perpetrated in broad daylight within our borders under orders from our defenders.

Justice is adamant that H.B. 56’s enforcement scheme is in conflict with and will undermine the federal government’s “careful balance of immigration enforcement priorities and objectives." The DOJ contends that such will occur through the imposition of detrimental burdens on federal agencies’ Constitutional and Congressional charge to enforce the national immigration scheme; the diversion of resources and distraction from high priority aliens, those assessed as posing a specific national security or public safety threat.

The DOJ predicts that the new guidelines will result in the apprehension of authorized visitors, or citizens not required to carry ID by statute. More, it will “conflict with longstanding federal law governing the registration and employment of aliens. It will also conflict with the administration and enforcement of U.S. education laws. And it will undermine federal law and invade federal authority by imposing punitive sanctions for conduct that falls outside of the state’s police powers and that Congress affirmatively decided should not be subject to such sanctions.”

The DOJ emphasizes that the federal government is not unsympathetic to Alabama’s concerns with the issue of illegal immigration and welcomes further cooperation from state agencies; however, the Supremacy Clause forbids Alabama from “supplanting the federal government’s immigration regime with its own state specific immigration policy.” HB 56 violates the Article 6 provision for federal prerogative and therefore must be struck down.

I just have to get one more look at Bentley....

If you didn't mouseover, it's not too late.

@Occucott Walmart, via Occupy Huntsville, also #OccupySCOTUS
Mon, 12 Dec 2011 02:15:35 GMT
kennethL

I received the following from Facebook:
We will picket WalMart at the corner of the Pkwy and Drake tomorrow [Monday] for our daytime occupation this week in solidarity with the west coast port shutdowns on the busiest shipping day of the year. Black Friday type signs should be good for this protest (Buy Local!)

11:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Good spot under the overpass just across the street from the WalMart.
Walmart's female employees' case against their employer was thrown out because the field of complaint was "too broad;" it was essentially too great an injustice, apparently, for our Supreme Jurisprudential body to arbitrate.
It's late notice, but the Hunstsville Occupation is holding a picket tomorrow at the corner of the Parkway and Drake. If I remember correctly that's in south Huntsvegas, heading toward the Tennessee River and "Gasoline Alley." I grew up near Bird Spring's Road and that Walmart was the first I can remember.
Oh yeah. The firm that represented Walmart in the SCOTUS case had as a senior partner Scalia's son (pdf news.findlaw.com/wp/docs/scotus/chny31804jsmem.pdf)
If you simply pay attention, you find more examples where the powerful don't even bother to hide their maneuvers or their avarice.
I haven't set foot in Walmart since this decision from the Scalia Court. Join me in exercising our very real power to effect their abdication.
We all fight the same enemy.
[Images of colonial expansion below the fold ...]

On The Question Of Virginity, Or, "Starter? I Can't Make Her Stop!"
Sun, 11 Dec 2011 07:58:16 GMT
fake consultant
I got a weird little story about my friend Blitz Krieger to bring to you today.
He's had a crazy car problem, he has, and over the past few months he thought he had found a solution - in fact, he thought he had found the solution of his dreams - but in the end, he's discovered that the things you dream about often don't go according to plan.
The way it's worked out for him so far, it's been a lot of anticipation followed by a sudden wave of frustration, but I feel like he's a lot better off having his particular problem with his car...because if he'd had cancer instead, he'd surely be dead by now.

The community is always embarrassed by the drag queens because straight society says, "A faggot always dresses in drag, or he's effeminate." But you got to be who you are. Passing for straight is like a light-skinned woman or man passing for white. I refuse to pass. I couldn't have passed, not in this lifetime.
--Sylvia Rivera, describing the founding of Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), quoted in the book "Becoming Visible: An Illustrated History of Lesbian and Gay Life in Twentieth-Century America"

So here's what happened to Blitz: he waited forever to buy his first car because he wanted, more than anything else in life, to drive his "perfect" car: a 1982 American Motors Eagle SX/4.
It's a wild car: it was designed as a small hatchback...with a V-8 engine...and "switchable" 4WD...which allowed it to travel easily in snow in a way that virtually no other passenger car at the time could manage.
So he waited all this time, and two years ago, in California, he literally found a little old lady from Pasadena who sold him his "Dream Car", which, ironically, was the same brown color as Al Bundy's Dodge.
It drove great for about six months, but it's been suffering from a strange malady that presents as a horrible grinding noise when he tries to start the car. He has no idea what to do - and standing in the way of a solution is an obsession that I find a bit strange:
He is absolutely determined that he is not going to go to just any mechanic.
Instead, Blitz told me that since it's the first time the Dream Car needs to be repaired, he intends to go to a mechanic who has never worked on any car before his - and he says he wants to do this because he feels the experience of having the work done this way will make it more "special" for the both of them.
It took him almost a year to find someone, but when he did, it was truly perfect: he met a woman named Jenna Talia who wanted more than anything to be a mechanic.
She'd been studying through one of those "learn at home" programs, and, amazingly, she had an attitude similar to my friend Blitz's: she knew about how to fix a car from what she'd read in a book, but she refused to actually repair one until she got the chance to work on her Dream Car - and even more amazingly, her Dream Car...was a 1982 American Motors Eagle SX/4.
They actually met on the bus (Blitz, naturally, refused to drive any other car except the Dream Car), and after a few months of knowing each other, Blitz proposed that Jenna might work on his car in his garage, and she agreed.
Fun Fact I Just Made Up: In a recent poll, 32% of voters thought the Iowa Caucuses were a country located near the former Soviet Georgia.

So we're going out last Saturday night, and I get a call from Blitz asking if I could come by and pick 'em both up there at his house, and I'm OK with that, because with two drinks in a night being a big evening for me I'm more or less a permanent designated driver.
I was wondering how it was going with the car, and what I saw was stunning: the upper half of the engine was sitting in the living room, entirely disassembled. There were rockers and rods and all kinds of stuff there, neatly arranged for easy reassembly, and it looked like they had really put a lot of effort into the thing, but it was clear that they just couldn't get it quite figured out...which isn't surprising, considering it was the first time for both of them.
And you could see, in just that first second, that the two of them were some kind of frustrated. But it gets worse: Blitz told me that this was her third "diagnosis", and that, now that she was actually face-to-face with a real car, she seemed to be entirely confused about exactly what to do.
Apparently things had gone so bad that Jenna wouldn't even leave his house at night to go home until she could get things figured out...and, from what he's telling me, he's ready to throw her out, buy a different car, and get that car fixed by a mechanic who's been there and done that - a lot.
To put it another way, he's ready to dump his virgin mechanic...for a slut.
Now here's the really crazy part of the story: I've had a bit of experience with cars breaking down over time, and I knew what was wrong from the beginning, as many of you probably did, too: the starter was bad - and that's located on the very bottom of the engine, not the top, which means everything they'd been doing was pretty much pointless.
But I couldn't tell them that in the beginning...because, again, it would've just spoiled the experience...and I sure wasn't gonna say "I told you so" now...so even though I could have offered them both useful advice about how ignorance ain't bliss, they surely didn't want to hear it.
So look, folks, we could have a lot more fun following out this comic premise, but there's a bigger point: I don't want a virgin mechanic, and surely not a virgin doctor - and they don't even allow virgin pilots to carry passengers.
What is it about sex (and politics, for that matter) that makes people think they'll be able to simply "get it" with no experience at all? What is it that makes them think that celebrating their own ignorance is the best way to show they're ready to take on something that, frankly, requires a bit of trial...and error...before you really get it right?
I don't know the answer, but the next time someone tells you how their ignorance makes them a lot smarter about something, do me a favor and think about Blitz and Jenna and the Dream Car - and the living room full of engine parts - and if that person's running for office, run the other way. Quickly.
I'd appreciate it; so will you - and if I know Blitz, he will, too.

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