Top Stories For November 2009

It's Taxes Stupid

"In a Democracy, people would celebrate on Tax Day.  Why then do most Americans view April 15th as a day of mourning?" - Noam Chomsky 

Twenty-Nine years ago, when Ronald Reagan was elected president, the United States of America was the largest creditor-nation in the world.  Yes, that's right, we lent money to everyone else.  After Reagan's eight transformative years, our country stood in 1988 as the largest debtor-nation in the history of the world with $3 Trillion in debt.  Reagan transformed us into debtors.  Through the following presidencies of George H. W. Bush (who raised taxes), and Bill Clinton (raised taxes again), our Nation's debt climbed, but not at the rate it had under Reagan.  From 2000-2008, thanks to the failed leadership of the Republican's and the Bush / Cheney disaster team, our National Debt doubled to over $10 Trillion.  Although most politicians speak about government spending as the cause (and they are right in some respects), the real culprit is TAXES.  We are not willing to pay for what we want.  This situation is both childish, immoral, and incomprehensible.  

Politicians on both sides of the aisle are unwilling to tackle the problem.  No one wants to talk about raising taxes.  The wealthy have tried to convince America that if they were allowed to keep all of their profits, money will trickle down to the rest of us.  Since Reagan, the wealthiest people in America have gotten the tax cuts they desired, and after doubling their wealth in the past eight years, has anything trickled down?  The answer is NO!  Barack Obama said last October, "this economy we face is the final verdict of the trickle down theory."  And Obama was elected by a majority of Americans after telling us that he was going to raise taxes on individuals making more than $250,000 and couples earning more than $500,000 a year, while ending the erroneous war in Iraq, and providing access to Health Care as a basic Human Right.  Talk is cheap Mr. President.  It is time for swift and decisive action so America can climb out of the massive debt accumulated since 1980.  

If you look at the National Debt Graph, you will notice that following WWII, the U. S. had a debt ratio almost 120% of its Gross Domestic Product.  We were able to pay that debt off, as well as pay for wars in Korea and Vietnam, build a highway system second to none, add the safety nets of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, provide the best free Public Education in the world, pay for the G.I. Bill, go to the Moon, as well as a multitude of other programs, services, and legislative actions that enhanced life in America for everyone.  At the same time, we had a world dominant currency, and the largest growth of the Middle Class the world had ever seen.  Yes, that is right, with high taxes on the wealthy, our economy BOOMED!  Why then have Americans believed the lie that only by cutting taxes for the wealthy are we able to thrive, when the reverse has proven to be true?  Probably because every corporate hack on the TV, as well as the Republican Party is devoted to selling us the lie.  It is a redistribution of wealth they claim.  Sadly, Americans are only to willing to buy it.  Do many Americans really understand what Republican Colin Powell said this past summer, "that taxes are and have always been a redistribution of wealth?"  Or do Americans realize that Income Taxes were progressive from the first time they were instituted by Republican President Abraham Lincoln in 1861?  Or how often do you hear that Republican President Theodore Roosevelt called for extremely high taxes on the wealthy because as he said, "they benefit more from the freedom this country provides them."  We need to respond to the uneducated Town Hall Tea Party crowd who "want the America back that they grew up in," and truly turn back the clock to the high tax rates we did grow up with.      

Every country that has high tax rates has the highest standard of living.  Take a look at the European Union.  Not only do all the citizens there enjoy FREE Health Care and Education, their economy is now more powerful than the U. S. Economy, and their currency more valuable than ours.  The change from our currency dominating the world market to today when everyone wants to sell their U. S. Dollars can be traced to the lowering of tax rates in America.

American's need to wake up to the fact that we are being fleeced by the rich.  Obama needs to do what he said he would, and not only raise taxes on the wealthy, but close the loopholes they enjoy, crack down on the companies who move their headquarters off-shore to avoid paying, and really break the backs of the companies who ship U. S. jobs overseas.  That is one of the main reasons why he was elected.  It is time to act.  Raising taxes back to the rates they were in the 1940's, 50's, 60's and 70's, and stopping the illegal pre-emptive military excursions and occupations of foreign lands (where over 30% of the taxes we pay goes), combined with a really large job stimulus package for Americans without jobs, will not only repair our tattered economy, and help us pay down the National Debt, but will also enable us to pay for Health Care for all Americans, Education for those who desire it, and the have money for the needed infrastructure reordering and repair that has been overlooked for too long.

Cindy Sheehan: Peace Mom And Much More

On October 27th, Cindy Sheehan visited Raleigh, NC, and gave a passionate, well informed talk about the economy.  That's right, the Peace Mom as she is known, has a new book out titled, MYTH AMERICA: 10 Greatest Myths Of The Robber Class And The Case For Revolution.  Although she is still known for her anti-war activism, she has a lot to say about the dire economic situation we find ourselves in.  The "Robber Class in America," according to Sheehan are in control of the media, the wealth, and the power.  "This Robber Class is the Military Industrial Complex, the Major Banks, and the Corporations who write policy in America for their own ends.  Everyone else is in the Robbed Class."  These ideas are not new, progressives have been talking about them throughout history, but Cindy has put her time, effort, education and name behind them, and is trying to educate others and bring real change to our country.   

Most Americans know Cindy as the mother of a fallen soldier in the Iraq War.  Her son Casey was killed in battle in Iraq in 2004.  She gained notoriety after she camped out near George Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, and for the multiple times she has been arrested for her acts of civil disobedience.  What most people do not realize today, is that she is not only well informed on the war and it's devastating policy, but is also a voice about the tragic American system that perpetuates not only war, but a stagnant economy, and has led to the largest disparity between rich and poor since the 1920's.  She also ran against house Speaker Nancy Pelosi for Congress in 2008, and although she came in second place running as an Independent, she was not able to generate any substantial media coverage of her campaign or platform.  From her standpoint, "they (the media) followed me into the outhouse in Crawford, but when I ran for Congress, I couldn't get any coverage."  Unlike the uneducated voices in the media like Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck (who combined have no formal education) who only go out of their way to smear her, Cindy studied History at UCLA.

Just prior to Cindy's visit to Raleigh, we saw the deadliest day in Afghanistan for America's service men and women, and more heinous bloodshed and carnage being carried out with suicide-bombings in Iraq as well.  All this too, in October of 2009, nearly 7 years after our invasion of Iraq, and now entering the 9th year since we bombed and invaded Afghanistan.  It is truly mind boggling that "we were attacked on 9/11 by 19 men with box-cutters (Cindy's Myth #10)," and have been fighting for this long, when we only fought for 4 years against the military machines of Germany and Japan during WWII.  The reason is probably because our entire policy of fighting terrorism, has only created more of it.  Cindy Sheehan, bantered about in the media as a crazy peace nut, is actually in agreement with the mainstream voices within the United States National Intelligence Estimate that says we are creating more terrorists by our violent policies.  

As the world still celebrates Barack Obama as the new President of the United States, and Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize in October, Cindy said she does not support him because, "he has done nothing to overturn the Bush Imperial Presidency."  The facts on the ground bear out Cindy Sheehan's version of events, not the mass media's.                  

Barack Obama: One Year Since His Election

Presidential candidate Barack Obama campaigned and won election as President on a platform of "change."  Underneath the slogan, was his tough rhetoric in October of 2008, that he could stand another month of slander thrown at him from the conservative right, but America could not stand one more day of George Bush and his policies.  Now that George Bush is gone, progressives anxiously await the day when the destructive Bush policies will hit the road too. 

When America voted, they decided that John McCain represented Bush policy, and Obama represented real change.  To gauge the success of now President Obama since last years election, we must weigh just how far he has departed from all things Bush.  While he started off changing the tone in Washington with his reach across the aisle attitude, and he gets good grades in some areas (mostly surface issues), he is failing far short in delivering the larger objectives which drove ordinary Americans to campaign for him in record numbers.  When Americans got together at Obama's request during the transition to "Plan For Change," the resounding results from all the gatherings across the country was clear.  End the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; Fix The Economy (invest in JOBS for the American worker and regulate a financial system that earns profits for the rich at the taxpayers expense); Deliver a means by which all Americans have access to adequate Health Care; Gain true Energy Independence and protect the Environment; and Crack Down on the fraud and ethics violations inside government and in the business sector.  These were the top five issues Obama's own people delivered to him.

While it is no small task cleaning up every department in the Executive branch torn asunder by the Bush administration, Barack Obama is not working alone.  He had an opportunity during his transition, to hire 8,000 people to work on the job with him.  We expected the best and the brightest to be brought in.  We were told they were.  The work should be done.  Only by playing politics, can delay be expected when you are hiring the best individuals to work with you.  As we get close to Obama's first year in office, just how well has he done?  Here is a progressive's report card of Barack Obama's grades.

An End to War in Iraq and Afghanistan - F
Investment in the Economy and Instituting Financial Regulation and Reform - D
Providing All Americans with Adequate Access to Health Care - F
Investing in Green Technology to Save the Environment and Gain Energy Independence - D
Cracking Down on Fraud and Ethics Violations in Government and in the Business Sector - F

 Although Obama can be commended for taking his time deliberating on a course of action, a stark reversal from the revenge imperial politics of Bush, he has done nothing to end the two illegal, immoral, and misguided wars.  While his Stimulus package enabled many to keep their jobs, and created some new ones, it falls far short of helping an economy that is the worst since the Great Depression.  Leaving Health Care Reform in the hands of Congress has been such a devastating mistake, that if and when Congress ever passes any Legislation, it will not even help people (and there is major doubts that it ultimately will) until 2013 at the earliest.  We still live 100% dependent on foreign Oil.  And with all the fraud and deceptive practices by those in the financial sector clearly apparent to scholars across America, just when will the handcuffs and prison jump suits be handed out, and responsibility be taken for America's financial nightmare?    

If Barack Obama were really trying to change America, but found it difficult to break through the corporate controlled system that buys Congress and writes legislation, it would only be just and fair for him to level with the American people and tell us so.  That could lead to real reform and the change Americans want.  If he doesn't believe Congress is to blame, then our only recourse would be to attach that blame to him.  I will assign blame also to all Americans.  It was Obama, after all who told us on November 4th, 2008, as he accepted his election as President, that "things would not change if we went back to the way things were before."  After the election, most Americans did go back.  Back to waiting for the government to do it for us.  It is probably time for the masses who came out to support Obama to get back to the street and make both Congress and Obama do it.  Change, Obama said, "comes to Washington, not from Washington."    

Afghanistan: The Graveyard Of Empires  

As President Barack Obama decides what course to take in Afghanistan, Americans should know, but aren't told in the mass media, that the country we are occupying is known as The Graveyard Of Empires.  As Obama decides, we should all be aware that there is no victory forthcoming in Afghanistan, just as victory has not been achieved in Iraq.  For all the cost of the wars (see the cost in U S Dollars to date here), both financial as well as the mass scale of human suffering and death, there is no victory.  There will probably be no victory becuase like Vietnam, the entirety of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and occupations have been illegal, immoral, and unjust.  Not only have the invasions of two sovereign nations been illegal (and against all U. N. Treaty regulation, of which the U. S. is a party to), the invasions have made huge profits for private contractors like Haliburton, and Blackwater (now called Xe), and the builders of military weapons in America like General Electric, Lockheed Martin and Boeing.  And we continue to fund both the excursions in Iraq and Afghanistan as if there is some fairy tale ending coming.  While history shows that empires have found a graveyard in Afghanistan (the Brits a century ago, and the Russians in the 1980's) for their empires, and nothing more, we continue to charge on ahead.  This year already, the forces both military and civilian have been substantially escalated, yet to no avail.   

Our original invasion was based on George Bush telling the Taliban to hand over Osama Bin Laden for his guilt in the 9/11 attacks.  The Taliban asked for evidence of his involvement.  No evidence was ever given.  Today, as it is clear that Osama and Al Queda are not even in Afghanistan, and have safe haven in Pakistan, what then is our mission?  No one really knows for sure.  And when Obama speaks on Tuesday December 1st, should we even believe what he has to say?  Just like in Iraq, where we change the theme of the mission every time we need to, it should be clear to all Americans that America is seeking war, and not peace with these countries.  In Iraq, it was WMD's and the imminent threat posed by Saddam Hussein (even though he was no threat to his own neighbors).  When that was found to be untrue, we were told it was to bring Democracy to Iraq and the Middle East.  Falling short there, we changed it to a "surge" to keep bloodshed from occuring.  Today as bloodshed and carnage still rip through Iraq, we must ask why are we still there?  In September, Matthew Hoh, a Foreign Service Officer with the U. S. State Department resigned citing his failure to "see the value or worth of continued U. S. casualties or expenditures in support of the Afghan government in what is truly a 35 year old civil war."
  
Here is an article by Andrew Bacevich, a West Point graduate, former Army Colonel who served in the Vietnam War, and professor of History and International Relations at Boston University.  Colonel Bacevich's own son died in Iraq in 2007.  He details what many scholars in America are in agreement about.  That America cannot win in Afghanistan, and in fact cannot defeat Islamic Jihadism period.  

Just 10 days ago, Bill Moyers chose to do an expose on Vietnam, using LBJ's tapes, and compare it to Afghanistan.  "The situations are eerily similar," Moyers said.  He knows firsthand as he worked in the White House with LBJ in 1964.  You can watch his show from Friday November 20, 2009 here. 

While the military leaders ask for more troops, and Barack Obama decides what to do, we are bombarded daily with the lies that we are fighting a just war in Afghanistan, and that our mission there is a very strategic defense of America.  Neither point is true.  The only real reason we are in Afghanistan, just like the Brits and Russians were once, is to dominate the resources and culture of another sovereign Nation. 
It is time to leave Afghanistan, completely.       

 Israel's Human Rights Violations And War Crimes

The United Nations Human Rights Council released a report recently of an investigation into the violence in the Gaza Conflict, condemning both Israel and Hamas for committing Human Rights Violations and War Crimes.  Judge Richard Goldstone, a South African Jew (and professed Zionoist) was the head of the U. N.'s investigative mission.  You can view him speaking to Bill Moyers about the report's findings, also known as the Goldstone Report, and his personal background on PBS here. 

The U. N. was particularly harsh in its condemnation of Israel's actions.  The report states that Israel's actions were, "a disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate, and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability."  This report, a fact finding mission, has ignited a tumult of backlash in Israel and the United States.  In the U. S., the House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer issued a statement on November 3rd, condemning the report as "biased and one sided."  Regardless of whether Rep. Hoyers point is valid, sufficient evidence remains that Israel committed serious War Crimes and Human Rights violations.  This is not open to a debate, it is fact.

To discuss the fact that the enemy Israel is fighting hides among the civilian population, and committs their own crimes is plausible.  Does that excuse bombing civilian populations in Gaza?  It is clear from the evidence in the U. N. report, that children, schools, and hospitals were bombed indiscriminately.  In fact they were targetted.  This is a shame on Israel, and the U. S. who supplies Israel with their weapons.

The question American's should be debating is why in 2009, when one of the clear motives of the 9/11 attacks was our unbridled support for Israel, despite her violations of United Nations resolutions, occupation of Palestinian lands, and disproprtionate violence against the Palestinian people.  Where is the moral argument in that?  We are only fighting fire with fire, and our so called war on terror has been a complete failure by doing just that.  The fact the we support Israel (where nearly 1/2 the population disagrees with their own countries war policy) without moral rationale is a blight on our own souls, and a disregard for the safety of both Israel and America.               

Monthly Progressive

Rick Ford, President of Floridians For Health Care, Inc. (FFHC) - "Until insurance companies are completely removed from the financing of health care, America will never be able to provide universal health care to our people.  Health insurance companies will always put profit before patients, waste money and abuse policy holders who are stuck with them.  Medicare for All, a single payer plan, is the only solution that reduces costs, simplifies administration, reduces administrative overhead, offers coverage more comprehensive than that currently available on the market and controls costs so that benefits are sustainable.  Unfortunately, none of the bills being considered by Congress achieve those goals.  The public option being offered is a sham.  Our Representatives and our President have failed to bring about the change we need and the change we voted for in 2008.  Only when we have a progressive majority unbeholden to special interests will we see true change."  

Monthly Quote

"We all have a front row seat to the end of the empire." - Cindy Sheehan
 
An American Song and Animated Editorial

LIVES IN THE BALANCE by Jackson Browne and Andrew Thomas
I want to know who the men in the shadows are,
I want to hear somebody asking them why,
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are,
But their never the ones to fight and to die,
And there are Lives In The Balance.....

 
Top Stories For October 2009

Health Care Reform

The late Ted Kennedy echoed what Progressives have been saying for over 100 years, from Theodore Roosevelt to Barack Obama.  The battle to reform Health Care in America is a "moral" issue.  Until it is spoken about in that way, the for-profit Health Care industry is destined to rule the debate.  It is a shame in October 2009, that while 72% (NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll) of Americans yearn for a form of National Health Insurance or Universal Health Care, their representatives in Washington are turning a deaf ear to their wishes, and allowing the Health Care Companies to write Legislation that will be further devastating to an already exacerbated situation.  Strengthened by their ties to Big-Money and Corporate Wealth, the U. S. Senate is simply unconcerned with the average American, and wholly sitting on the side of the Health Insurance companies.

America needs the moral leadership of President Barack Obama to draw a line in the sand, and deliver to the people what he promised.  In so doing, Barack Obama will win a victory for his Presidency, the American people who elected him, and Humanity.  If Congress does not reform the way Medical Care is distributed, the President needs to Veto the Bill and Lecture us as if we were children, because we sure are acting like it.  

HR676, The United States National Health Insurance Act aka The Expanded and Improved Medicare For All Act is the Public Option that Americans want and deserve, as well as the only reform that will alleviate the financial burden of Medical Care, that is shared by our people, families, government, and economy.  The Republicans in Congress say, "a public option is a slippery slope to a Single Payer System like HR676.  Progressives say let's just go right there.  HR676 is the smart choice, financially and morally.

Confronting Corporatocracy

On September 19, 2009, the Progressive Democrats of NC (PDNC), held their annual convention at the McKimmon Center on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., and confronted not only Corporatocracy, but the status quo in American Capitalism that benefits the wealthy at the expense of the working class and poor.  True to the platform they adopted on December 8, 2007, PDNC are committed to the development and implementation of progressive ideals based on Human and Civil Rights, Peace, Economic Justice,  Environmental Sustainability, and Election Reform for North Carolina, and the Nation.  The featured speakers behind the podium for the day were David Donnelly (Director of the Campaign Money Watch Project), Gene Nichol (Professor of Law and Director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at University of North Carolina),  Bob Hall (Executive Director of Democracy North Carolina), and Ilana Dubester (Director of El Centro Latino).  All of the days' speakers were in complete agreement that the wealthy corporations in America use their immense resources to choke the economy, and stifle true democratic values.   

  According to the PDNC, "the major impediment to progressive solutions is Corporatocracy, the web of powerful special interests and their political allies that seek to control the national agenda, write the legislation and manipulate the regulatory processes so that their power and profits are maintained."  Less than a year after the Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush Banking Crisis and Government Bailout, is there any American who does not believe America is being run by the powerful and wealthy?  Gene Nichol quoted the progressive president LBJ who said, "Boys I know the difference between Chicken Shit and Chicken Salad."  There's been more shit than salad lately in our economy, and democracy.
 America needs Barack Obama to stand up to those who hold the financial power, and say to them what President Franklin Roosevelt said about the angry financial sector in the 1930's when he introduced new regulations on them, "I welcome their hatred."  Mr. Nichol gave us his insight into the situation when he said, "money in politics tilts the favor of results to the economically powerful."  He also quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words from 1967, when King said we are still waiting for the day, "when justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."  

America has witnessed a rise in inequality over the past 30 years.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke out about the unjust inequality he saw throughout the country in 1967 when he spoke to the congregation at Riverside Church in New York City in his famous speech, Why I Am Opposed To The Vietnam War.  He said that, "any country that spends $500,000 to kill one enemy, and only $55 on the poorest of the poor, when most of that goes to salaries, is heading toward spiritual doom."  In Iraq and Afghanistan, we are doing the same thing as Vietnam, 42 years later.   

Ilana Dubester, a Brazilian American (of European and Jewish descent), gave her first hand account of a "woman who only became Hispanic, when I crossed the border into the United States."  Her talk showed a clear inequality between those who rule, and those who are trapped in a "systemic racist system."  She eloquently pointed out the "institutional practices based on skin color that lead directly to educational achievement, employment, incarceration rates, and media influence and representation.  This is a "social wedge issue in politics," she said.  The "other, is unlike us, and is potentially dangerous."  We see this false racial and ethnic distinction being promoted all over the media today, and it is reminiscent of the internment of Japanese Americans to camps during WWII, an injustice that was apologized for and prompted reparation payments, by President Ronald Reagan in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.      

Sacrificial Poets

The Sacrificial Poets, a band of young Americans, provided Entertainment at the PDNC annual convention.  Their talent in using the spoken word, guided by their faith and values, displays morals, character and intelligence.  These young people care, and are committed to their communities, family and friends.  Their wizardry of language and feeling say unconditional love, education, and speak the revolutionary tune, of Love, not Violence to the oppression they see in their lives and around the globe.  Politically, these adult human beings comprise a very small part of this earth, yet they think about or try to reach outside themselves to neighborhoods in the mind, and by so doing, have a life-giving effect on their world.  They are progressive.  Like our Liberal Forefathers, They seek enlightenment.  They are truly gifted.  You can view their work at www.youtube.com/sacrificialpoets 

Our Economy In 2009

The Bush years took America from a Balanced Budget (and Budget surplus in 2000), to a devastated economy with a spiraling out of control National Debt, and Budget deficits as far as the eye can see.  Although many wish to blame Barack Obama, the fact is he inherited a fiscal crisis from George Bush, that is staggering.  The Bush presidency was on a drunken sailor spending spree, while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans, and our tax dollars to private companies.  And Regulation of any and all Financial Sectors was non-existent by choice. 

When Bush took office in 2000, President Clinton handed him a budget surplus.  Bush quickly moved to give a huge tax-cut that benefitted the wealthiest Americans.  Bush declared, "this money is not the governments, this is your money."  Than he used the next 6 years to spend our Government out of control.  Another tax cut followed, with Dick Cheney casting the deciding vote in the Senate, as well as 2 endless wars.  Any responsible President would have rescinded the tax-cuts once it was clear after 9/11 that our country was heading to war, and our economy was severely weakened.  Bush's father even had the correct judgement to raise taxes when it was clearly needed.  George W. Bush did not veto 1 spending bill in his first 7 years in office.  He pushed through a huge Government program (Medicare Part D) for political purposes, and doubled our National Debt in 8 years.  The next Tea Party should be held in Dallas outside George Jr.'s house.  He is the culprit of our devastated economy.  

Here is a video from 4/03/2009 that explains the Financial Crisis and what to do about it by William K. Black (University Of Missouri) who has written a book:  "The Best Way To Rob A Bank Is To Own One."  He clearly tells the history of De-Regulation and Banking Fraud.  Barack Obama and both Houses of Congress need to depart from the past way of handling Bank Fraud and put in place the suggestions of Mr. Black.  His story of fraud and deceit in Banking, and how the Government has handled the dire economic tragedy for America goes back to the 1980's Savings and Loan Scandal.  Progressives in America have been shouting this story for almost 30 years to no avail.

Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" 

Michael Moore's new film, Capitalism: A Love Story opened in over 1000 theaters around the country on Friday October 2, 2009.  According to Moore on his Website, "I pull back the curtain, and reveal who's responsible for the calamity we are in."  With unemployment figures in double digits, and the largest disparity between rich and poor since the Great Depression, this film is not only timely, but profound, and needed in the discourse of everyday life in America, as well as in all political circles.  Only by knowing the root causes of the financial meltdown in 2008, can we find solutions that will benefit all Americans, rich and poor alike.  We cannot survive as a functioning society in an atmosphere of what Senator Bernie Sanders calls, "an unfettered type of cowboy capitalism."

For the past twenty years, the middle class in America has been shrinking.  More and more people are living in poverty.  We lead the industrialized world in children living in poverty.  At the same time, the wealthiest 1% of America is doubling their wealth.  Capitalism is not the culprit.  American capitalism is.  Our's is a type of crony-capitalism.  We have had 30 years of de-regulation at the top, and anti-labor policies at the bottom.  The working class in America has been largely forgotten, and the mass media has sought to boost control for the corporations and wealthy.  Anyone who fights for workers rights is classified by the media as a Socialist, or Communist.  As noted American intellectual Noam Chomsky of M.I.T. charges, "the media is the propaganda arm of the government, and wealthy corporations."  

Michael Moore should be applauded, and his film should be watched, and the evidence he has uncovered and gathered should prompt President Barack Obama to act forcefully for the American worker, just as his progressive predecessors in the White House did.

Monthly Progressive

The late Senator Ted Kennedy's lifelong battle for Health Care Reform must be won this year.  The Kennedy Bill, now in the Senate, is the only one with a robust Public Option, and must be voted on.  That battle, must also lead to other battles for justice to prevail in America.  As Teddy said on August 13, 1980 in his address to the Democratic National Convention, "the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

Monthly Quote

Finally, someone who says what people who aren't thinking, are thinking. 
- John Stewart of the Daily Show, commenting on Glenn Beck this past Summer.

An American Literary Music Video

FOR AMERICA by Jackson Browne
"I have prayed for America / I was made for America / I can't let go 'til she comes 'round
Until the land of the free / Is awake and can see / Until her conscience has been found"