anti-democracy

anti-democracy https://www.dailykos.com/news/anti-democracy News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Mon, 27 Jan 2020 03:11:11 +0000 Mon, 27 Jan 2020 03:11:11 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Sunday Open Thread: January 7th is NY Anti-Democracy Day (Unofficial)** https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/1/7/1728565/-Sunday-Open-Thread-January-7th-is-NY-Anti-Democracy-Day-Unofficial World History this day 1558 -- France took Calais from England. 1942 -- The start of the siege of the Bataan Peninsula 1959 -- The US recognized Fidel's government in Cuba 1979 -- The Vietnamese drove Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge out of Phnom Penh US History this day 1608 -- Fire destroyed Jamestown, Virginia. 1920 -- The New York State Assembly refused to seat five legally elected Socialists ** 1980 -- Carter authorized $1.5 billion in loans to Chrysler 1999 -- The Senate's impeachment trial of Clinton started ** The State Assembly of New York State expelled 5 elected socialists for being socialists and when they were re-elected in the special election held to replace them, immediately expelled 3 of them a second time. The remaining two quit in disgust and protest at the blatant anti-democratic behavior of the ruling elites. Science & Technology this day 1610 -- Galileo made his first observation of the four brightest Galilean moons 1785 -- Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries flew from Dover to Calais in a gas balloon. 1927 -- The first transatlantic phone service (between New York City & London.) 1985 -- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched the Sakigake deep space probe The Arts this day 1955 -- Marian Anderson became the first person of color to perform at the Met Misc. this day 1948 -- A Kentucky Air National Guard pilot crashed while chasing a UFO. Birthdays of Note this day 1891 -- Zora Neale Hurston, author 1899 -- Al Bowlly, singer, songwriter and composer 1906 -- Red Allen, trumpet player 1912 -- Charles Addams, cartoonist 1922 -- Jean-Pierre Rampal, flautist 1935 -- Kenny Davern, clarinet and sax player 1938 -- Paul Revere, keyboard player and songwriter 1946 -- Jann Wenner, published, co-founded Rolling Stone 1948 -- Kenny Loggins, singer and songwriter 1950 -- Juan Gabriel, singer and songwriter 1959 -- Kathy Valentine, bassist and song writer Deaths of Note this day 1943 -- Nikola Tesla, physicist and engineer 1972 -- John Berryman, poet 2016 -- Kitty Kallen, singer - - So now some music Marian Anderson <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=YDMdNXut8Yc" data-frameborder="0" data-height="315" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YDMdNXut8Yc" data-width="560">YouTube Video</a></div> Al Bowlly <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=Rb9t9kPRAH8" data-frameborder="0" data-height="315" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rb9t9kPRAH8" data-width="560">YouTube Video</a></div> Red Allen <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=WFkXBvL9odI" data-frameborder="0" data-height="315" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WFkXBvL9odI" data-width="560">YouTube Video</a></div> Jean-Pierre Rampal <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=4ZTGaJ4nkeY" data-frameborder="0" data-height="315" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4ZTGaJ4nkeY" data-width="560">YouTube Video</a></div> Kenny Davern <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=yXg" data-frameborder="0" data-height="315" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yXg_px3gqqk" data-width="560">YouTube Video</a></div> Paul Revere <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=iY4rIFc3JVA" data-frameborder="0" data-height="315" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iY4rIFc3JVA" data-width="560">YouTube Video</a></div> Kenny Loggins <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=1rmPckNvD3E" data-frameborder="0" data-height="315" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1rmPckNvD3E" data-width="560">YouTube Video</a></div> Juan Gabriel <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=0O4CLgXvbjU" data-frameborder="0" data-height="315" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0O4CLgXvbjU" data-width="560">YouTube Video</a></div> Kathy Valentine <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=UojeT" data-frameborder="0" data-height="315" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UojeT_NcbY0" data-width="560">YouTube Video</a></div> Kitty Kallen <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=-fQXuuPOqgg" data-frameborder="0" data-height="315" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-fQXuuPOqgg" data-width="560">YouTube Video</a></div> - Photo: La corrupción empieza aquí by Daniel Lobo It's an open thread, so do your thing I have a bunch of stuff to do today, so I might not be around much. Crossposted from http://caucus99percent.com rss@dailykos.com (enhydra lutris) anti-democracy January7 Jean-PierreRampal KathyValentine KennyLoggins KittyKallen MarianAnderson OpenThread PaulRevere redallen _1728565 Sun, 07 Jan 2018 14:12:02 +0000 Trump/GOP budget: "Path to a new Gilded Age" | Middle class tax hikes & Dropping home values https://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/5/31/1667338/-Trump-GOP-budget-Path-to-a-new-Gilded-Age-Middle-class-tax-hikes-Dropping-home-values This won’t be a breaking news type story, and most of the interesting parts are within the links included below. Lately though I’ve been hearing so many dishonest claims of lower taxes and affordable healthcare being made by the elected republican politicians that control all three branches of government, that it seemed more important than ever to continue telling the truth about their agenda. This first report linked is the work of Robert Greenstein. A man than has deep knowledge of fiscal and budgetary matters. It needs telling — imo <h2 class="AlignCenter"> <a href="http://www.cbpp.org/press/statements/greenstein-trump-budget-proposes-path-to-a-new-gilded-age" target="_blank">Trump Budget Proposes Path To a New Gilded Age</a> </h2> “In fact, this stands as the most radical, Robin-Hood-in-reverse budget that any modern President has ever proposed” That is the determination after careful analysis from <a href="http://www.cbpp.org/robert-greenstein" target="_blank">Robert Greenstein</a>, founder and President of the Center for Budget & Policy Priorities | May 22nd, 2017 # # # ...and for those republican voters, especially the middle to upper class that voted for Trump/Pence, here is the analysis from a real-estate perspective: <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <h2 class="AlignCenter"><a href="https://www.nar.realtor/news-releases/2017/05/tax-reform-could-deliver-a-tax-hike-for-homeowners-new-research?ftag=MSFd61514f" target="_blank">Tax Reform Could Deliver a Tax Hike for Homeowners: New Research</a></h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> First an excerpt from the report: <div> <blockquote> WASHINGTON (May 18, 2017) – While tax reform proposals swirling around Washington, D.C., promise lower tax bills for American families, <a href="https://www.nar.realtor/articles/impact-of-tax-reform-options-on-owner-occupied-housing">new estimates</a> indicate that many middle-income homeowners may actually see a tax increase if those proposals go through — emphasis added </blockquote> ..Then to juxtapose that information with data according to Robert Greenstein @ <a href="http://www.cbpp.org/press/statements/greenstein-trump-budget-proposes-path-to-a-new-gilded-age" target="_blank">CBPP</a> linked above; tax breaks would go to.. <blockquote> ...fewer than 1 percent of Americans who make over $1 million a year, who would get tax cuts averaging $50,000 annually. </blockquote> ..which is really peanuts (that’s snark btw) when compared to the <a href="http://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/trump-tax-plan-would-give-400-highest-income-americans-more-than-15-million-a" target="_blank" title="">real beneficiaries ($15 million a year)</a> of the Trump/GOP tax cuts.. <blockquote> ...enormous additional tax cuts, heavily tilted to those at the top, that would likely cost several trillion dollars over the coming decade. Among other things, the tax proposals would open the door to substantial new tax avoidance by conferring massive tax cuts on affluent individuals who organize themselves as <a href="http://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/trump-tax-plan-includes-major-tax-break-for-wealthiest-taxpayers" target="_blank">“pass-through”</a> entities. The <s>President</s> [Trump/GOP] has not proposed a plan to pay for these tax cuts, nor does the budget include specific proposals to offset their costs. — emphasis added </blockquote> ..then back to the more conservative real-estate <a href="https://www.nar.realtor/news-releases/2017/05/tax-reform-could-deliver-a-tax-hike-for-homeowners-new-research?ftag=MSFd61514f" target="_blank">report (May 18th, 2017)</a>: <div> <blockquote> Homeowners with adjusted gross incomes between $50,000 and $200,000 would see their taxes rise by an average of $815 </blockquote> okay.. paying another eight hundred and fifteen $bucks isn’t that.. bad,.right (?), not when the most recent <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52752" target="_blank">CBO report</a> out has this on the horizon if Trumpcare passed by the House also makes it through the Senate: (note: I’ve included the issue of Healthcare with <s>Tax reform</s>/Taxcuts because repealing Obamacare is the least democratic path enabling the GOP to <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/09/politics/tax-reform-obamacare-congress-republicans/index.html" target="_blank">force their tax cuts for the rich agenda</a> through via the <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/obamacare-repeal-tax-cut-wealthy-232379" target="_blank">budget reconciliation process</a>) <blockquote> H.R. 1628, as passed by the House, would tend to increase such premiums [single policyholders] before 2020, relative to those under current law [PPACA-Obamacare] — by an average of about 20 percent in 2018.. — emphasis added </blockquote> or as the conservative Wall Street Journal reported on a slightly earlier version of pretty much the same GOP <s>Heathcare</s> <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-and-gop-deliver-one-two-punch-to-americans-health-2017-03-22" target="_blank">Tax cuts plan:</a> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <blockquote> The Wall Street Journal reported that in one Nebraska county, a 62-year-old earning $18,000 per year and currently paying $760 per year for health insurance would shell out $20,000 per year under the new plan, a figure that boggles the mind </blockquote> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> .. unfortunately, the less than good news doesn’t end there: <blockquote> For many homeowners that currently benefit from the mortgage interest deduction, the elimination of other itemized deductions and personal exemptions would cause their taxes to rise, even if they elected to take the increased standard deduction. For others, the elimination of the state and local tax deduction alone would result in higher federal income taxes. </blockquote> <div> But wait a minute..Last year when speaker of the House Paul Ryan, a republican, was pulling this con, he and his republican cohorts had a <a href="https://waysandmeans.house.gov/taxreform/" target="_blank">totally slick video explaining all this good stuff. They called it the “Better Way for Tax Reform” — built for growth !</a> except that this is what really grows,.. or rather.. shrinks as taxes grow: <blockquote> In addition to increasing taxes on many middle-income homeowners, the report finds that such a proposal could cause home values to fall by an average of more than 10 percent in the near term. In areas with higher property taxes or state income taxes, the drop could be even greater. </blockquote> So that little nest egg, — one’s home — that so many of the middle class Trump voters thought they were protecting all these years voting for a republican, any republican, because being “conservative” would automatically do the trick (?) Turns out.. again, it is not true <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/05/trumps-budget-dynamic-scoring/527901/" target="_blank">In other word’s:</a> <div> <h2><a href="http://www.cbpp.org/blog/trump-budget-should-be-dead-on-arrival-but-may-not-be">Trump Budget Should Be Dead on Arrival — But May Not Be - cbpp.org</a></h2> </div> — just for the <a href="https://therealdaily.com/board-associations/nar-sends-strongly-worded-letter-house-republicans-tax-reform/" target="_blank">record</a> note: yes, I purposefully cherry picked out information from the latest <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52752" target="_blank">CBO score of H.R. 1628</a>, (the republican’s massive tax cuts for those most wealthy masquerading as a healthcare Bill) not to mislead, but provide a direct comparison of premium rates “relative to those under current law” → PPACA (Obamacare). The republican politicians continue to boast of lowered premiums, but leave out facts: the loss of EHB’s (Essential Health benefits); age group discrimination; republican states that waive many of the patient protections built into Obamacare; pre-existing medical conditions (left up to insurance corporations to examine/judge); Junk insurance policies; tax hikes on the middle class; dropping home value; those sorts of facts, including the 23 million people that will lose their healthcare altogether, 14 million who will lose their Healthcare within the first year if the republican House version of <s>Trumpcare</s> Tax cuts for the highest income elites passes the senate — It’s gotten late, time to turn in — resist & disrupt for peace... ♫♪♫ </div> </div> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Eric Nelson) anti-democracy CBO ConJob Disrupt GOPfakebudget HenryGeorge Homevalue Kakistocracy Kleptocracy middleclasstaxHikes neofascism Resist RobertGreenstein SystematicInequality TaxCuts _1667338 Wed, 31 May 2017 07:34:09 +0000 "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the EM Takeover of MI": Mark Maynard interviewsAlec Gibbs https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/8/9/1320256/--Everything-You-Ever-Wanted-to-Know-about-the-EM-Takeover-of-MI-Mark-Maynard-interviewsAlec-Gibbs Observers of the Emergency Manager Takeover in Michigan tend to believe that this takeover was not accidental or motivated by good intentions by GOP Governor Snyder and his cronies. This interview conducted by Mark Maynard, a local blogger who covers political issues broadly defined, with Alec Gibbs, an attorney based in Flint who has been deeply involved with the fight against Emergency Managers for several years now, is simply a must read. In it, Gibbs confirms that even one's worst suspicions about the EM strategy are probably not as bad as what has been documented, nor as bad as what is still unfolding. Here is their conversation: <a href="http://markmaynard.com/2014/07/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-the-emergency-manager-takeover-of-michigan-and-how-we-allowed-it-to-happen/">Everything you ever wanted to know about the Emergency Manager takeover of Michigan, and how we allowed it to happen</a> And here are some excerpts to convince you to go read the whole thing (all links are from the original source). This exchange discusses the very large amounts of money that are being spent to make the pension funds (themselves in the billions of dollars) more accessible to exploitation: <blockquote>ALEC: Now, it’s important to remember that current Michigan Governor Rick Snyder left his venture capital firm, Ardesta, in 2008, because<a href="http://www.mlive.com/businessreview/annarbor/index.ssf/2008/10/ann_arborbased_ardestas_decisi.html">he was frustrated with the reluctance of “institutional investors” to finance venture capital projects in Michigan</a>. This includes pension funds, as well as MERS [Municipal Employees' Retirement System]. And MERS, by the way, is <a href="http://mibiz.com/item/21685-public-pension-fund-could-consider-more-michigan-based-investments">moving towards direct investments in local firms</a>. And you know what their chief investment officer cites as the reason for that? Michigan’s “competitive” business environment, courtesy of Rick Snyder. And his Emergency Managers have pushed these transfers, in Flint, in Pontiac, and in other cities, which have substantially increased the investments that MERS can make. In addition to that, the Emergency Managers control federal and state grant allocations, and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), through the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF), is responsible for distributing even more money. In recent years, it’s worth noting, the MEDC and the MSF have been the targets of bipartisan criticism for <a href="http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/2013/09/michigan_economic_development_7.html">reporting inflated and misleading job figures.</a> And the Mackinac Center is at least publicly opposed to the existence of the MEDC and other corporate subsidization programs. MARK: OK, so your sense is that Michigan’s Emergency Managers were given the word to push their locally controlled pension funds into MERS, with the thought that they could then dole the money out to venture capitalists friendly with the administration, etc… ALEC: That’s really the question isn’t it? In other states, like New Jersey for example, there has been pretty extensive reporting on this. For example, <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/178862/pensiongate-christie-campaign-donors-won-huge-contracts#">The Nation has connected Paul Singer, the founder and CEO of the hedge fund Elliott Management Corporation, to Chris Christie’s “pension reform” project</a>, and Singer was also a major contributor to the short term PAC <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/01/republican-governors-association-perry-michigan">RGA Michigan 2010</a>. According to the disclosures that are available <a href="http://www.mcfn.org/pdfs/reports/RGA_MI2010pac_contrib.pdf">he was the third top contributor at $500,000,</a> just behind Robert Perry and David Koch. Just over $482,000 came from Steve Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, another hedge fund. SAC, by the way, just settled a major insider trading case that arose out of the University of Michigan in 2008, and one of their hedge fund managers, Matthew Martoma, was convicted of insider trading in February. Now, in light of these known contributions, and in light of the fact that Snyder’s NERD fund had dark money pouring into it in cities with EMs, aren’t there a lot of questions we should be asking about these transfers? After all, the transfers to MERS involve hundreds of millions to billions of dollars. Now with respect to MERS, there’s also been a <a href="http://www.pionline.com/article/20140326/ONLINE/140329916/michigan-municipal-employees-banks-on-mc-credit">significant increase in direct lending</a>, which is also<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/101222174">reflected in the national market</a>. This is a way of avoiding the stricter lending standards that apply to banks. In other words, these pension funds are now supplying credit to “midsize” companies that can no longer get loans from banks because their credit isn’t good enough. There are arguments marshalled in favor of this, including the elimination of financial intermediaries or middlemen, but this is happening with very limited public input, and in an era of politicized financing. We should be concerned, and we need independent and progressive financial experts to scrutinize what’s happening with our pension funds. </blockquote> Here's Alec's explanation of how Flint has been left holding the bag: <blockquote>MARK: And how did Flint fare? Did aggressive privatization solve all of your problems? ALEC: Clearly not. Most privatization is simply a boon to some favored special interest. Even if you privatize or outsource public functions, you still have to pay for them. For example, when Flint transferred the local pension system to MERS, the city initially claimed it was saving hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in administrative costs. But, in fact, there was no cost-savings, because the pension system was the entity responsible for paying these administrative costs. Additionally, the transfer to MERS will probably cost the City of Flint even more in the long term, because MERS uses a shorter actuarial period to calculate the city’s payment obligations, which means that the payments to the pension system will be set to increase in the short run. </blockquote> And here are the two of them discussing the victim-blaming rhetoric that has been exercised to meet political ends: <blockquote>MARK: So it was changed to reflect the increased powers of a state appointed receiver? ALEC: Yes. And I think that it was also a reflection of strategy. Because this law was sold on a theory that these cities were mismanaged into the ground to the point of a generalized crisis, not simply a financial one. So for example you have the Flint EM claiming that <a href="http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20140717/NEWS01/140719876/flint-manager-warns-of-bankruptcy-over-retiree-costs#">retiree health care threatens public safety</a>. You have Kevyn Orr telling the Wall Street Journal that Detroit workers are <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324635904578642140694511474?mod=hp_opinion&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424127887324635904578642140694511474.html%3Fmod%3Dhp_opinion">entitled, stupid, lazy and fat [sic: rich, from the original quote]</a>. [WSJ behind a firewall, sorry] The backlash against that was pretty strong, so <a href="http://michronicleonline.com/2013/08/05/detroit-em-refers-to-city-as-dumb-lazy-happy-and-rich/">he backed away from those comments</a> when he spoke with the local press. But it was very revealing: These people, <a href="http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/21/anatomy-of-the-deep-state/">members of the financial and technocratic intelligentsia that dominates Wall Street and Washington</a>, think that workers don’t deserve anything. You see this very clearly in the Detroit water shutoffs. I think that they are very happy to cut off water to unemployed Detroit families, because they’ll either die from dehydration or leave, <a href="http://michigancitizen.com/water-shut-offs-are-urban-removal-prof-says/">paving the way</a> for the <a href="http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/peter-hammer-debates-detroit-future-city/Content?oid=2144158">Detroit Future City</a> plan. The shutoffs weren’t designed simply to improve the water system’s finances; if that was the plan, they would target the corporate accounts, but <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/26/detroit-shuts-off-water-to-residents-but-not-to-businesses-who-owe-millions.html">they don’t want to do that</a>. In order to convince people that this is a legitimate project, its architects must lay the blame on the working class. They are very cognizant of the parallels to authoritarianism; Kevyn Orr was quick to point out that the takeover <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/155424185/Detroit-EM-emails">would be perceived as a fascist exercise</a> in emails that were released as part of a FOIA request. [Actually, Orr was the recipient of that one, though he didn't disagree. The whole series of emails is truly chilling, worth following the link.] That was in relation to the idea of the Bloomberg Foundation financing the takeover, which also raises<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/155424185/Detroit-EM-emails">interesting questions about the secret donors</a> who paid for Orr’s $4200 a month condo at the Westin Book Cadillac. But the corporate press doesn’t dwell on this. Instead there are two competing narratives, one that is reflective of American liberal or Keynesian thought, and the other reflective of more right wing presuppositions. In the liberal framework, <a href="http://www.eclectablog.com/2013/11/interview-flint-mayor-dayne-walling-part-2-reflections-of-a-mayor-under-emergency-managers-a-better-path-forward.html">which Flint’s Mayor Dayne Walling articulates quite well</a> [in an interview with Eclectablog], this is the inevitable consequence of the decline of the manufacturing industry, and is largely beyond the control of local officials, even if local corruption might exacerbate the problems. The <a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/07/23/dont_buy_the_right_wing_myth_about_detroit/">right wing narrative</a> blames unions and local corruption almost exclusively, and that’s the narrative you hear coming out of Orr when he meets with the Wall Street press. </blockquote> This is a very long, very comprehensive interview, and I can't claim to have pulled the best segments from it. There is much insight and analysis within, along with Gibbs' recommendations at the end about what WE CAN DO to set this aright. Please, please, go read it. Come back and let us know what you think afterwards. Tell us then how you plan to get involved. rss@dailykos.com (peregrine kate) AlecGibbs anti-democracy Corruption CronyCapitalism Detroit EmergencyManager Flint KevynOrr MarkMaynard Michigan Oligarchy PA 4 PA4 PA436 Racism Recommended RickSnyder _1320256 Sat, 09 Aug 2014 14:42:48 +0000 Let's Not Forget Who Wrecked The Car. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/8/3/1318773/-Let-s-Not-Forget-Who-Wrecked-The-Car We certainly have our food fights here at DailyKos.  We all have our favorite issues, and of course my issues should have top priority, and we may disagree with which candidate should get more attention and which should get less.  We even get mad at the candidates we elected because they're not paying enough attention to our favorite issue, or they don't have the godly power to turn everything the Republicans just wrecked around overnight. But we sometimes forget where the real threat to our democracy and a fair and equitable society is coming from.  We also sometimes forget that we here at DailyKos have FAR, FAR, FAR more in common with each other than what we have with almost anyone from the Oligarch owned Republican Party. So here's a small reminder of where we just came from. <div class="dkimg-c"><img src="http://images.dailykos.com/images/98141/large/Don't_forget.jpg?1407075151" alt="" width="500" height="546" /></div> rss@dailykos.com (pollwatcher) anti-democracy Bush Dick Cheney DickCheney Disaster Liars Recommended Republicans _1318773 Sun, 03 Aug 2014 14:29:28 +0000 Anti-Democracy Tactics (?) Witnessed in My First Campaign as an Organizer https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/5/11/1090386/-Anti-Democracy-Tactics-Witnessed-in-My-First-Campaign-as-an-Organizer The term anti-democracy may seem automatically hyperbolic, but if you believe knowing things like the political party of the major contenders in a race and the correct day (or month, for that matter) of the election are some of the keys to a functioning democracy, you may find yourself surprisingly open to the idea that some of the campaign tactics I witnessed in my first political campaign as an organizer were not just anti-Democratic, but anti-democracy. Near the end of the primary election campaign, I held in my hands a mailer that went out to thousands of Democrats that said "Democrats for (the Republican candidate)" in huge letters, while hidden off in a corner in tiny font was written "Paid for by HRCC" (Pennsylvania's House Republican Campaign Committee, but of course, only the acronym was given). The word "Republican" was nowhere to be seen on the mailer. A robocall was sent out to thousands of Democrats, asking them to write-in the name of the Republican incumbent when they went to vote, but conveniently failing to mention that person is a Republican. A similar Democratic write-in robocall by the Republican candidate gave an unknowable number of Democrats the incorrect election date, even after the Republican claimed it was a mistake that had been stopped. I had my first political campaign experience in the midterm elections of 2010 canvassing for longtime incumbent Democratic U.S. Congressman <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/paul-e-kanjorski/gIQAlv3o9O_topic.html">Paul Kanjorski</a>. In 2011 I ran for local office, but I relied on a great and wise person named Brian Victory (who I took to referring to as my Obi-Wan Kenobi) for any and all advice on how to go about executing that small campaign (also some social media help from the dynamic Nabil Cristillo). This year, I found myself unofficially the head volunteer for a campaign for Pennsylvania State Representative in the 176th District, specifically for Democratic candidate <a href="http://www.maureenmadden.com/">Maureen Madden</a>. Since I was around so much, I also became one of the organizers. I knocked on doors with Maureen to get the necessary signatures of registered Democrats to get on the ballot, wrote phone banking scripts (at times we joined forces with the campaign of progressive Democrat <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57420970/holden-longtime-pa-incumbent-ousted-in-primary/57420970/holden-longtime-pa-incumbent-ousted-in-primary/">Matt Cartwright</a> to beat notorious "Blue Dog" U.S. Congressman <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/09/1053012/-My-Future-Congressman-His-Vote-For-NDAA-and-Really-Really-Poor-Excuses">Tim Holden</a>) and helped edit a robocall script. I helped Anne Tiracchia, the chair of the <a href="http://www.monroepadems.com/">Monroe County Democratic Committee</a>, schedule Democratic volunteers to be at the polls to counteract the Republican write-in campaign. <img src="http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg9/scaled.php?server=9&filename=mariowriteinfront.jpg&res=landing" /> <img src="http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg856/scaled.php?server=856&filename=mariowriteinback.jpg&res=landing" /> This mailer went out with only about a week until the election. As you can see, I wasn't exaggerating when I said it has "Democrats for (the Republican)" in huge letters, it doesn't say the word "Republican" anywhere on it, and even "Paid for by HRCC" is in tiny letters off in a corner. I think a Democrat who wasn't well-informed and received this mailer could have easily fallen under the misconception that Mario Scavello is a Democrat. It's very important to note here that the district in question has a solid majority of Democratic registered voters, but the Republican (who, incidentally, supported <a href="http://blog.pfaw.org/content/New-Lawsuit-Challenges-Voter-ID-in-Pennsylvania">the PA version of ALEC's voter ID bill</a> that has since passed into law, as <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/14/1054414/-Prevention-of-Voter-Fraud-or-Insurance-of-Voter-Suppression-">previously mentioned</a>) has stayed in office because he usually has no one running against him. On Sunday, April 22nd, a day we were only phone banking because the election was just a couple days away, I walked into our campaign headquarters to hear that Mario Scavello had sent out a robocall to Democrats asking them to write-in his name on the Democratic primary ballot for State Representative. Naturally, the robocall, recorded by Mario himself, failed to mention that he's a Republican. But that wasn't all. This robocall - that I must reemphasize was sent only to Democrats - said that the primary election was May 18th, when it was really on April 24th. We knew it was an old robocall because it said he'd been in office 8 years when it's been 10 now, and May 18th was the date of the primary in the last election cycle. Anne Tiracchia was going back-and-forth with <a href="http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120423/NEWS/204230312/-1/NEWS">a local newspaper</a> about it, and we were told that Mario said it was a mistake and he had stopped it. But how exactly does one accidentally put out an old robocall instead of recording a new one? I have a hard time wrapping my brain around that. That just doesn't seem like "mistake" territory to me. Now, you may be thinking, of course, from your perspective opposing him, you wouldn't give him the benefit of the doubt that you normally would others. But I phone banked for hours that day, and I can tell you there were many Democrats who were confused about when the election was because of Mario's robocall, and one gentleman told me he had received the robocall with the false election date just 10 minutes prior to my calling him, well over an hour after we'd gotten word that Mario said he'd stopped the robocall. So, either Mario lied that he'd stopped it when he hadn't yet, or he lied that he'd stopped it while letting it continue on awhile longer, giving more and more Democrats a false election date by the minute. Then there were those who I (only half-) jokingly refer to as Mario's goons. Mario has these big poster boards with a mock-up of what the ballot looks like inside the voting booth with step-by-step instructions written on them telling Democrats to write-in his name on their ballot. Then there's another poster board with his picture and "Democrats for Mario Scavello" in huge letters to go next to it, the post cards that also have write-in instructions, and the miniature write-in pencils with his name on them. None of these materials mention that Mario is actually a Republican - and neither do the goons. These two poster boards are up outside every polling place in the district with someone handing out the post cards and pencils. But perhaps more importantly than the materials are Mario's goons - highly aggressive volunteers who wait for voters to approach a polling place and, depending on how much of a goon the goon in question is, literally force the pencil and post card into a voter's hand, following them up to the door of the polling place insisting they vote for Mario. I got pretty lucky with Mario's goons at the polling places where I was all day, but I heard bad stories from a number of people I know from the Monroe County Democratic Committee who were at others. Anne and Maureen both spoke with one of our volunteers who was at a polling place with Mario himself who said she felt he was intimidating her. When I say I got lucky, I mean I was mostly with more friendly volunteers of Mario's, but that wasn't true for the whole day. At the very beginning of the day, at a church in East Stroudsburg, Mario's goon was handing out the post cards and pencils and told a Democratic voter to write-in his name because he votes with Democrats in the PA House. That's a lie, and I told the voter that wasn't true and I could tell them details if they wanted to hear them. They smiled at me and handed me the post card that had just been handed to them. After they went inside, I asked Mario's goon if she really believed that Mario votes with Democrats because he's usually a party-line voter and has <a href="http://votesmart.org/candidate/47251/mario-scavello">voted</a> for radical right-wing policies. She said she didn't believe me, so I told her about how Mario was an <a href="http://www.politicspa.com/ultrasound-mandate-bill-loses-32-co-sponsors-and-counting/32721/">original cosponsor</a> of an ultrasound mandate bill that would, in some cases, require a transvaginal ultrasound (recall Governor Corbett's <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/15/tom-corbett-ultrasound-bill-pennsylvania_n_1348801.html">advice</a> to women to just close their eyes). All she said in response was he must have had a reason for it. I didn't think anything of it, but several hours later a guy who said he wasn't a voter went in the church for about 15 minutes, came out, and told me he was the constable and that they'd gotten multiple complaints about me accosting voters and forcing abortion discussions. I told him what had happened with Mario's goon earlier in the day, then a voter came by so I gave them my pitch for Maureen Madden, and the constable said what I was doing looked fine and that they hadn't had any complaints inside all day, so there was no problem. Evidently, some of Mario's goons called the Monroe County voter registration office and pretended to be voters with very exaggerated stories. Perhaps individually the mailer trying to blur the political party of the candidate, or the robocall to one political party with an election date that's a lie, or the thuggish campaign tactics at the polls aren't anti-democracy; I think reasonable people can disagree and there's no question it's a weighty charge. In aggregate, I can't help but feel that our opponents attempted to manipulate the electoral process itself rather than engage in a legitimate, honorable campaign. Maybe I should have been more cynical about politics generally and expected all this; not that I was totally stunned by it, but I also couldn't say I expected it. This was the first time I experienced political dirty tricks first-hand. It was reminiscent of a particular scene in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Weeks later, it still does not feel like hyperbole to say they engaged in tactics that could be described as anti-democracy in nature. The good news is the Republican write-in campaign was a dismal failure. On to November. rss@dailykos.com (ProgressivePatriotPA) anti-democracy DirtyTricks MarioScavello MattCartwright MaureenMadden PAGeneralAssembly PAHouse Pennsylvania PennsylvaniaGeneralAssembly PennsylvaniaHouse PoliticalCampaigns Politicaldirtytricks Politics PrimaryCampaigns primaryelections StateLegislature StateRepresentative TimHolden _1090386 Fri, 11 May 2012 16:53:52 +0000 The Problem With Scapegoating in a Global Age https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/12/1044493/-The-Problem-With-Scapegoating-in-a-Global-Age Ever notice how only the weak and the powerless, the most marginalized of people, are the ones with the ability to wreck an entire nation’s or even the world’s economy?  Listen to the right-wingers in this country, for example, and you’ll learn that the global – let me repeat that, the global – financial meltdown was caused by a bunch of poor black and brown people buying homes they couldn’t afford.  These people were just too much for the harried, powerless gazillionaires working on Wall Street, who were outmatched and overwhelmed by the might of this great, dusky-hued horde, and now look where we are.  It’s just too bad that rich white people don’t have any real power in the United States. rss@dailykos.com (swellsman) Alabama anti-democracy Anti-Immigrant Civil Rights CivilRights europeancrisis Hungary Immigration Krugman Kunstler Labor PaulKrugman Rescued Xenophobia _1044493 Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:36:10 +0000 Radical, Extremist, Fringe, Anti-Democracy, Right Wing Conservatives https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/8/5/1003572/-Radical-Extremist-Fringe-Anti-Democracy-Right-Wing-Conservatives There are a lot of things we disagree on.  We disagree on the effectiveness of the leadership in office.  We disagree on the motivations of the administration.  We disagree on the strategies necessary to run the government at this seemingly pivotal moment in time.  We disagree on the level of brinksmanship necessary to "negotiate" with the leadership of the Republicans in congress.   We do not disagree that the Republican Party is controlled by corporate puppet masters who have ceaselessly promoted an agenda of broader corporate control over all aspects of American and global culture.  We also probably don't disagree that they are cynically using the good will of regular Americans to do this.     This is not "business" that is being represented by the current Republicans in congress.  This is a multi-headed and pathogenic virus.  This is an unending line of financially well off corporate masters who dress up in diapers and play baby as they suckle at the teat of government entities of all sizes.  As is usually the case, it isn't the provider and nurturer who is in charge here.   rss@dailykos.com (otto) anti-democracy Extremist fringe Radical Republican YawingAbyssofModeracy _1003572 Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:34:09 +0000 I was born in a Small Town -- scratch that -- in a Corporate Warehouse https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/3/10/955096/-I-was-born-in-a-Small-Town-scratch-that-in-a-Corporate-Warehouse I was born in Michigan, so this next story, hits kind of close to Home for me ... <a href="http://www.americablog.com/2011/03/maddow-michigans-governor-wants-power.html">Maddow: Michigan's governor wants the power to auction off its towns to corporations</a> by Gaius Publius, americablog.com --  March 09, 2011 <blockquote>The Teabag-enabled plan in Michigan: Use the budget to starve cities and towns, then put in an "emergency town manager" who could 1) kill any contract the town entered into AND 2) dismiss elected officials AND (3) "disincorporate" the town itself. Oh, and the 'emergency manager' can be a corporation. </blockquote> They're kidding right!? The Michigan Governor wants to be able to "Dis-incorporate" entire Towns and Cities -- and then turn around and "Re-incorporate" them with actual Corporations ... WHO are his appointed lackeys !? To DO what exactly?   Sell the town off in pieces -- for pennies on the dollar? <img src="http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t106/OnlyObvious/gop/warehouse.jpg" /> Incredible!    There's no place like <s>Home</s> -- Warehouse America ... there's no place like  ... rss@dailykos.com (jamess) anti-democracy CITES Class Warfare ClassWarfare CorporateManager CorporateTakeover Corporations Disincorporate EmergencyTownManager Framing GOP Michigan Over-Reach RachelMaddow RickSnyder Tea Party TeaParty Towns Union Busting UnionBusting Unions _955096 Fri, 11 Mar 2011 03:20:31 +0000 Why Making Pope Pious XII a Saint is a Very Bad Idea https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/3/29/852047/-Why-Making-Pope-Pious-XII-a-Saint-is-a-Very-Bad-Idea That there is something very wrong with the ethics of the Vatican is yet again coming to global attention with the latest wave of revelations of priestly pedophilia and higher level cover ups that some contend extends all the way to the Pope. But this sort of episodic spike in concern represents a chronic practical failure to appreciate the greater scale of the problem that is allowing the church to get away with claiming that it - despite the occasional flaw - is a moral beacon to the world. The grave failings of the Roman church are not isolated to a few items or times. It is a many faceted, systemic set of issues that extend back to the founding of the male dominated autocracy as a state power, first by the Roman emperor Constantine, and more recently by the fascistic dictator Mussolini. A classic example of the repeated moral incompetence of the church is how it made the critical contribution to making Hitler the dictator of Germany, and instead of rebuking the cleric who made a leading contribution to the uber mistake, wants to reward him with the highest honor the church can bestow. rss@dailykos.com (Gregory Paul) anti-democracy Concordat EnablingAct Hitler Holocaust Nazis popes RomanCatholicChurch _852047 Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:16:44 +0000 Republicans Favor the Public Option!!! https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/25/786517/-Republicans-Favor-the-Public-Option I just saw it now on Keith Olberman, the new CBS/NYT poll on health care reform.  Sure, 65% of all Americans favor the public option, we knew that.  But who knew that 47% of Republicans favor it (while 42% oppose)?  Even better, 51% of Republicans say they would OPPOSE a health care bill if it did NOT contain a public option.  So...WTF?  Is the business lobby more powerful than BOTH PARTIES PUT TOGETHER? rss@dailykos.com (Turing) anti-democracy Democracy Public Option PublicOption Republicans _786517 Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:22:27 +0000 The U.S. Senate: Graveyard of Democracy https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/22/785330/-The-U-S-Senate-Graveyard-of-Democracy James Fallows wrote recently that the U.S. Senate was one of the two most unrepresentative legislative bodies in the world, the other being the English House of Lords.  We all know roughly what he's talking about.  Each state gets two senators which means in Wyoming they get one senator for every 247,562 persons, while in California they get one senator for every 16,965,399 persons.  Over time the disproportionate representation in the Senate has gotten much worse.  In the beginning the difference in population between the most populous and least populous states was 12 to 1.  Today it is 69 to 1.  And get this: due to "internal immigration" -- people moving from one state to another -- as well as birth rates, demographers project that by 2050 50% of the American people will be represented by 90 senators, with the remaining 50% of the people represented by the other 10 senators.  Who are these 50% of superempowered Americans?  That's the scary part.     rss@dailykos.com (Turing) anti-democracy U.S. Senate _785330 Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:57:44 +0000 Obama sold out. Vilsack is pro-biotech AND anti-democratic https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/12/18/674819/-Obama-sold-out-Vilsack-is-pro-biotech-AND-anti-democratic Obama is planning an organic garden at the White House but it is clearly only for a false show given his choice of Tom Vilsack to run the USA. Vilsack, according to The Organic Consumer's Association, was named Governor of the Year by Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the biggest pro-genetic engineering lobby in existence.  Why?  Not for nothing.  Because he'd championed local transgenic R&D corporations like Trans Ova, which clones cows. Vilsack was also the founder and former chair of the Governor's Biotechnology Partnership.  Vilsack speaks for biotech.  He is Monsanto's boy. haphazardgourmet.blogspot.com/2008/11/tom-vilsack-emerges-as-frontrunner-for.html rss@dailykos.com (Scaredhuman) anti-democracy Betrayal Monsanto Monsantolaws Obama preemptionlaws pro-biotech seedlaws Sell-Out Vilsack _674819 Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:45:22 +0000