September 2010 archive

Whether you’re interested in being part of a third party or skeptical of them as a strategy, you’ll be interested to hear me interview Phil Huckelberry tonight. He is the co-chair of both the Illinois Greens and the national Green Party.

Listen here at 8:30 PM EST tonight: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/i…

Under his leadership, the Greens gained 10.3% of the gubernatorial vote in 2006, and they hope to do the same or better this year. Phil has also run for office as a Green and been in a national leadership role for years. This year in Illinois, the Green candidate for Senate is the only African American in the race and has polled as high as 14% with the entire public and 30% with African Americans. Their gubernatorial candidate has polled as high as 11%, although he has seen a recent slump in the polls. They also have other strong candidates, like candidate for state rep Jeremy Karpen, who outraised the incumbent Democrat at one point during the race and got 21% against her last time he ran…this time he is much better-organized, though.

I’m a Green Party member (at least nominally, if not legally), but I don’t plan on asking softball questions. Please leave any questions you have in the comments or call in at 646-200-0264.

Bill Clinton is prominently quoted in Paul Krugman’s recent column about “structural unemployment.”

For example, former President Bill Clinton recently told an interviewer that unemployment remained high because “people don’t have the job skills for the jobs that are open.”

Krugman refutes this nonsense in one line.

Unemployment has surged in every major occupational category.

So there is no category of “job skills” that would equip millions of workers for millions of jobs that don’t exist.

But debating sold-out hures like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama about public policy is beside the point.

Neither of those narcissists ever gave a damn about the public, and the bottom line was always “What’s good for me is good enough for the country.”

Since Bill Clinton left the White House, he has collected more than $100 million in deferred bribes from his grateful corporate clientele, after eight years of nonstop de-regulation and runaway mergers and acquisitions.

More than $100 million in earnings!

And the really important question isn’t “How did he “earn” all all the money?”

The really important question is “When did he earn it?”

And it should be obvious even to a hockey-puck that Bill Clinton earned all that money in the White House, and his fantastic income is nothing but a huge deferred bribe.

So if you want to impress Barack Obama…

If you want Barack Obama to take an interest in the public good instead of always and only what’s good for Barack Obama…

Forget about Krugman’s arguments and any other variety of “public policy debate,” because all of it would pass right through Obama’s empty head like static on a radio, and instead of debating, slam Bill Clinton into prison for public corruption.

Send Obama this message!

“If you ever collect a dime from your corporate buddies, you’re going to prison, sucker!”

“You’re working for us now, you’re working for the public from now on, or you’re working for nobody!”

Note: from Progressive Blue and cross-posted at DailyKos.

In the quest to maintain a Democrat majority it seems easy to overlook the race for New York State Attorney General. Considering a powerful social and economic justice policy position where the jurisdiction includes Wall Street and the traditional influence this office has had over media and talk shows it’s not about majority but justice vs. injustice.

Now Eric Schneiderman who is committed to “protecting homeowners and consumers from bad actors on Wall Street” faces a Republican who has suggested that he would “de-emphasize the high-profile securities fraud cases that defined the tenures of Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo and Eliot Spitzer.” In a nation where the banking lobbyist induced false claim that “sound economics means hands off Wall St.” is too often heard, think back the early 1990’s when nobody seemed interested in the big money crimes and Eliot Spitzer did much to change the national focus.

But Senator Schneiderman represents so much more that that. Not just a politician but a public servant with the energy and willpower to fight for the people. Looking at what this man has to offer in this high profile office with the power to steer the national debate, it seems obvious that a NY loss would be a setback for all Americans.

I’ve been reading around the Left web for the past couple of hours, and it is heartening to see the quick solidarity toward the Freedom Road Socialist Organization comrades being subjected to police raids and the confiscation of vast quantities of their personal papers, records, mementos, and even money.  

Left activists from across the spectrum are organizing a series of emergency protest rallies around the country over the next few days, using Facebook and other social media to spread the word.  A list of those rallies and various related items on the flip.