Progressive Media Advocates
Walter Brasch: Why do Pennsylvania Republican leaders support a state law that discriminates against the rural counties, while supporting a special exemption that protects the the urban and suburban counties where many of the state’s most powerful and wealthiest constituents live.
Charley James: When I became homeless and lost regular access to people I knew, I lost my connection to the whispers of life.
We have been back in the United States about two weeks now but I immediately realized why I had “opted out” of this system. I had not fully unpacked from our trip to Vietnam when my e-mail was flooded with messages from my conservative friends reminding me that the president was “black”, not really from [...]
Friday Feedback: The Goverment and Military were informed and knew what the hazards were as far back as year 1900, as well in 1922 when the first class action suit was filed.
Sherwood Ross: By now substantial majorities the American public, like their European cousins, want all their troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq, yet their elected officials betray the sound instincts of their citizenry.
Paul Hogarth: Back in 2008, his second run for President – where he seemed a lot more interested in trumpeting his attractive wife – finally provoked a primary challenge, who raised the legitimate question of what Dennis Kucinich has done for his own district.
Marshall Poe: In the end, the message is the message, and the message transmitted over virtually all modern media, the Internet included, is this: buy something. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just the way things are in our world. It’s time to face it—the Internet changes nothing.
Tom Degan: The debt that the United States has incurred in the last ten years is now at a level where it’s probably insurmountable. The only solution (and that’s assuming there is a viable solution) will involve taxes – decades of serious taxation.
Berry Craig: A Somali man’s request for a permit to establish a place of worship in a small town in Kentucky was turned down because the townspeople claim there wouldn’t be enough parking spaces.
Marian Wang: The California National Guard misspent as much as $100 million from a fund that was meant to attract new recruits and encourage Guard members to re-enlist.
This is part 2 of an exclusive interview. Dr. Gabriel Buelna talks to Congressman Raul Grijalva of Arizona about his positions on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In this exclusive interview, Dr. Gabriel Buelna talks to Congressman Raul Grijalva of Arizona who takes on the Obama administration for not taking on the issue of immigration and not stopping the flow of arms into Mexico.
Randy Shaw: The SEIU must convince 44,000 Kaiser Hospital workers that the NUHW leadership team that brought them the best contracts in the industry when they previously ran SEIU-UHW should be replaced by out-of-state staff with no such track record. It’s a tough sell, which is why SEIU is avoiding public debates.
Part 2 of Gabriel Buelna’s interview with Father Boyle, founder and director of the largest gang intervention program in the country, Homeboy Industries. Fr. Boyle discusses ways the organization has raised funds including an idea that was brought to him by actress Rosario Dawson.
Tom Degan: It’s going to be an absolute scream in the next few years watching the Bush Mob try to rewrite history with the flood of books that are sure to come out. The latest screed by Rove is merely the tip of the iceberg. They have quite a chore ahead of them no doubt. Putting a positive spin on the worst administration in American history? I imagine something that tricky would be the equivalent of trying to put a smiley face on a decomposing pig:
Tim Wise: It’s a common argument, made by those who would rather ignore or finesse the problem of racism in America. If you can’t argue the facts, never fear, just suggest that certain facts are too dangerous to be spoken. The possibility that persons of color might adopt a victim mentality once they learn the extent of racism, means we simply have to move on, and tell those who are, as a matter of fact, often the victims of injustice not to dwell on their experiences too much, lest their commitment to self-help be vitiated.
Randy Shaw: As the midterm elections approach, progressives face a critical choice: either spend resources now on funding organizers who can win real change in 2010, or invest in the November elections to set the stage for 2011. The choice should be clear.
H. Scott Prosterman: I’m told by a fellow traveler that the upside of hell is knowing that all of your friends will be there. I can hardly wait. Such was the feeling I had when I saw my name among many more important people on the Masada 2000 website. They are an ultra-right Zionist organization, bent on destroying the reputations and careers of any Jew who dares to utter or publish a criticism of Israel . They call this the Self Hating and/or Israel Threatening (SHIT) List. And there are over 8,800 names.
Uhm, I remember seeing video of Osama bin Laden and several al-Qaeda spokesmen publicly stating after September 11 that the group wants to destroy everything America stands for. Well, it seems Erickson is all in favour of letting the terrorists have their way, going so far as to demand Washington finish the job those four groups of highjackers started by destroying the rule of law.
While Pew concludes that cell “refuseniks” generally are less educated and poorer than people who have them, it concedes grudgingly there is “a subset of adults who resist cell phones simply because they do not want them.
I do know that when a sitting American president is named a Nobel laureate – including Obama, only Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson have been so honoured while still in office – it is a cause for rejoicing not just in the US but in the world.
What didn’t register at the first screening was the profound theological message Michael Moore, a devout Catholic, wires into his new film.
Somehow, I suspect Pawlenty is more interested in the impact of his idiotic comments on the GOP’s dwindling base of lunatics than he is in my comments. If I hear back, I’ll let you know.
“Is there anything in all of that to suggest a way forward”, a colleague asked me, “or are we just stuck here?” This essay draws on Mancur Olson’s “logic of collective action” to address this question by interpreting two anecdotes through Olson’s logic: both anecdotes involve short-sightedness, and in very different ways both involve the [...]
After thinking about Attorney General Eric Holder’s unfathomable court filing defending the Bush-wacked “states secret” defence and a claim of “sovereign immunity” in lawsuits involving illegal wiretapping, I sent this e-mail to The White House. TO: President Barack Obama FROM: Charley James DATE: April 8, 2009 SUBJECT: Where Did Change To Believe In Go? Dear [...]
It didn’t take the GOP long to begin devouring its own. No sooner had the Senate passed The Stim yesterday but notorious right-wing funder-in-chief Richard Mellon Scaife’s front organization, “The National Republican Trust PAC,” sent an urgent e-mail to fellow travellers asking for money to defeat Senators Arlen Specter, Susan Collins, and Olympia Snowe – [...]
he Initiative Reform Task Force met during the Democratic Party’s November E-Board meeting in Anaheim to propose changes in California’s initiative process. Chief among them is the immediate creation of a statewide “watch network” to analyze proposed initiatives as soon as they appear — BEFORE they are released for signatures. Click here for the November [...]
Maybe it’s because after countless pre-election late nights I slept in this weekend and missed the announcement, but when did everything become an “experience?”
Randy Shaw: Now that cities offer walkable, bicycle-friendly, public transit-available neighborhoods with desirable restaurants and a high quality of life, the poor are being shunted to car-dependent suburban areas in economic decline.
Julie Driscoll: Call me crazy, but I believe firmly that the statutory laws are in place for a reason – to prevent the exploitation of young men and women who don’t have the ability to make informed decisions, who don’t have the ability to “consent.”
Lauren Steiner: Please help us spread the word across Los Angeles! Come with signs that say “Bruce Karsh, please don’t sell the LA Times to the Kochs” and “Bruce Karsh, our democracy is not for sale” We are gathering Thursday, May 23 for a rally and march.
PCL offers monthly Open House Events on the 2nd Saturday at 2pm and 3rd Thursday at 6pm. Click here to learn more.
Poets Talk: Socrates, Cirino, Hunter Thompson, Tina Fey, et. al.
Gary Corseri and Chuck Orloski: Where is there a Socrates in the mainstream media? They fired Phil Donahue at the beginning of the rape of Iraq. The best we get is some ironic wit from Colbert or Maher or Tina Fey.