Truth

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. George Orwell

Doing so is the test of character.

Joe gets out & mixes it up on King St.

The Stone Soup Block Party had some great moments. Like Joe O'Brien mixing it up with the DJ. Way to go Joe!



See more pics here.

Dear readers

The Progressive Democrats of Worcester is no longer a chapter of PDAmerica.org. As the point of origin of the name, the blog, discourse and commentary, I claim all copyrights under the statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Blog entries that may have been authored by others have been removed. Thanks for understanding.

Barney Frank in Dartmouth

A few of us here in PDW drove down to Darmouth August 18th, to participate in the Town Hall meeting called by Congressman Barney Frank. Well worth the drive. While I love our Congressman, he just doesn't have the "ethnic heritage" for such chutzpah. Hoorah, Barney, way to go!

"Ma’am, having a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table, I have no interest in doing it."



See more rubutal at:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/protests

On a more serious note, I had the opportunity to ask Barney about ACES and the derivatives market that will emerge from its enactment. Quote "we will regulate this derivatives market to insure safe passage of ACES." The future of the world is in your hands, Barney. Thanks for caring.

Colbert challenge to the Nation

Colbert to the Nation: "People all over the world, when you wake up in the morning, set your oven to 350 and leave it on all day long!" October 24th
International Day of Climate Action

The reference article mentioned is "Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim?" by James Hansen et al.; ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE J. 217, 217-18 (2008); found here

Kunstler on progressive politics

Should be no suprise to anyone that I espouse the peak oil thesis of why we have economic troubles, and will have for some time to come. Hence, I'm a bit of fan of James Howard Kunstler, and hope he succeeds waking up America.

In circles that pass for “progressive” these days, the natives are getting restless. Their agitation seems pretty inchoate for the moment — still resting on vague, poorly-defined wishes for “change.” These vague promptings need to be focused on specific action that is realistic within the context of comprehensive contraction and transformation. A big piece of this would be the recognition that our suburban sprawl economy is dying, and that we now have to bend our efforts to reorganizing American life on the most fundamental physical terms. We have to inhabit the landscape differently, move around it differently, generate food out of it differently, and make things on it again. Whatever remaining real capital there is in the system can’t be squandered on cash bonuses for Wall Street employees. (see post)

Any progressive politics (as this blog presumes) must be based on a likely vision of the future. Rebuilding a plausible economic future for Worcester means dealing with peak oil reality, a sustainable energy future using the means we have now, like wind & solar, and a relocalization of all the essential goods and services on which society depends. I've posted before on Small is Beautiful and its corollary, Relocalize Now.

The next Mayor and City Council of Worcester need to adopt a new vocabulary. Don't trust any candidate for pubic office who doesn't know what it means to relocalize or prepare for a sustainable future. Building another cog for the global economy will only waste precious time in preparing for the emergent reality. Joe, hope you're listenning.

The Quisling Green

Well then... a different moment, hopefully. Some PDW members are keeping the art & science of Quisling alive & well.

The District 4 race for City Council, between Grace Ross and Barbara Haller, will be most interesting - that's a good thing. City Council will be well served by an airing of the various issues. As a maker of the Green Amendment at the DSC (extensively blogged here), I'd like to see a fair & balanced debate between the two on the role of the City in addressing the significant challenges of Climate Change. We'll have plenty to say about this, so stay tuned. I know and respect both Grace and Barbara - they're good people and true public servants.

For those members of PDW that are avid supports of Grace Ross - that is not license to hijack this organization for your own purposes, especially when that subverts our Chapter Rules and the democratic process in our own organization. Its grounds for removal. We now have a no tollerance policy for quisling the chapter for political purposes not of our own making.

PDW is a chapter of PDA, a PAC for the Democratic Party. We don't hand out endorsements to those who are not recognized members of our party, period. Barbara is a long-time, hard working member of the Democratic Party. Grace is an independent, formerly a member of the Green Party.

As a progressive, I have myself vasilated between the green and blue lines. I love the Greens, but also feel that our best chance of overcoming our nation's many deficiencies is by "a progressive reform of the democratic party." Such is my commitment, and hopefully yours.

Please respect our boundaries as an organization. Thank you! Regards.

Obama Pattern Language Primer

I first read Christopher Alexander's "A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction" in the late seventies. Having grown up in the sixties, and after my early experiements in community, College and Graduate School, I wanted something real with new age sensibility. Rather than join a commune, I wanted to build one along with others of like mind. We bought 110 acres of beutiful Texas farmland north of Austin and all read this well conceived guide to building "as if people mattered." Like all such experiements, it was local zoning and building codes that ruined us, and we eventually sold the farm to a local farmer who wanted nothing more than to farm.

That book stayed with me, however, and served as guide to all built things, from houses to cities. Stephen Rose recently posted the following series at Huffingtonpost.com, a primer for President Obama. Alexander talks about a "timeless language" and so, now, that is needed as guide on rebuilding our entire world, not only as if people mattered, but all of life.

Getting people to understand this alternative to metrosprawl is a Promethean task. Getting the Obama administration to understand why this widely ignored and buried thinking is the essential missing link in all the talk of “economic” recovery is utterly necessary if we are to have change that will actually work for everyone.

See the brief at http://stephencrose.wordpress.com/pattern-language/ and then read in sequence:
Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four,, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight, Part Nine, Part Ten, Part Eleven, Part Twelve, Part Thirteen, Part Fourteen

Joe O'Brien announces he's entering the race for Mayor

Check out his post at http://joeobrienformayor.blogspot.com/. Joe I'm sure will invigorate the race for Mayor and provide some much needed contrast on the issues facing the city. Good luck, Joe.

Speaking about the upcoming election, seems we're going to have a crowded field again, making the job of the electorate (that's us) all that more difficult. Check out the Worcester CEO project at http://worcesterceo.wordpress.com/ - Coalition for Educated Options, to "help empower the electorate" and "reverse the decline in civic participation." They want to act as a community broker for questions of the candidates, and are making that easy to do.

I've got one question that will put the candidates to a real test. Question: How has the City used ARRA funding to create jobs here in the City? Please be specific and include examples. How would you have used the funds differently?

A New Economy

I recommend reading Robert Reich's blog, frequently. He's a former secretary of labor, tenured academic economist, and well regarding author. He blogs at http://robertreich.blogspot.com/. Why? Because we all need some serious new guidance on the economy, and the actions we must take to survive (forget about thriving.) Reich is, along with past recommendations to look at the work of The E.F.Shumacher Society (http://smallisbeautiful.org/), what we must understand as a Guru on economics ("as if people mattered".)

My prediction, then? Not a V, not a U. But an X. This economy can't get back on track because the track we were on for years -- featuring flat or declining median wages, mounting consumer debt, and widening insecurity, not to mention increasing carbon in the atmosphere -- simply cannot be sustained.

The X marks a brand new track -- a new economy. What will it look like? Nobody knows. All we know is the current economy can't "recover" because it can't go back to where it was before the crash. So instead of asking when the recovery will start, we should be asking when and how the new economy will begin. More on this to come.

So, in a nutshell, the economy we grew up with is gonzo and there's nothing, yet, to replace it. Fortunately, "we the people" are, and always have been, in control of the emergent economy. That's by virtue of our choices, of what to buy and do to make our wages. That, of course is what ACES is all about ... see below. ACES, as it happened, must be considered more a green jobs bill than a Global Warming Solutions Act. It is in essence, what Krugman and others are calling for, as a "second stimulus" package. It is much more specific, however, in where the money goes.

ARRA was more about immediate recovery, getting the money out quickly, mostly to preserve state & local government ability to retain its local labor force. ACES, on the other hand, is more about the right recovery, no matter how long it takes. Money for cleantech and the new economy that Van Jones has consistently called for. In case you hadn't noticed, Van Jones got what he asked for in ACES, so did Congressman McGovern (as follows).

So, you ask, ACES was a good thing? Well, no. Because it was really supposed to be a national Global Warming Solutions Act, meaning a significant lowering of CO2 emissions. It won't do that in time, and we'll likely pass the climate tipping point, and end with catastrophic climate change. Start building those life boats.

Congressman McGovern on ACES June 26th

Congressman McGovern provided support in the Rules Committee for passage in the House of the American Clean Energy & Security Act of 2009. It is important for those of us working for a Senate version which is more likely of averting catastrophic climate change, to understand why:



The article mentioned by Ken Hackett, Ppresident of Catholic Relief Services, can be found here:
Combat hunger by investing in agricultural development

Some key points:

• as the co-chair of the congressional hunger caucus, is particularly concerned with the impacts of climate change upon the hungriest in the world


• portion of the allowances to international adaptation financing, funding to help poor save their farm lands, sources of water and homes


• funding for domestic and international adaptation in clean technology transfer - will spur a boom in jobs, such as irrigation technology, can create jobs here while solving problems abroad


• will be investing in sustainable agriculture culture and practices


• a moral imperative to be good stewards of this earth


• as we look toward the negotiations in copenhagen, the world is looking for leadership from the united states for global solutions - devoting portions of a cap and trade system to adaptation to those countries' most vulnerable is a sign that the u.s. can and will combat climate change

Vote NO on the The American Clean Energy & Security Act (H.R. 2454)

Open Letter to
The Honorable James P McGovern
Third District Massachusetts
Re: Vote NO on the The American Clean Energy & Security Act (H.R. 2454)

Dear Congressman,

The American Clean Energy & Security Act (ACES) will soon come before Congress for a vote. The Progressive Democrats of Worcester commend the tremendous work of Chairmen Waxman and Markey and other members of Congress for their efforts authoring a bill that conforms to scientifically-based long-term emission reduction targets. It is historic legislation.

At least it started that way. In its passage to the full Congress it has become so weakened as to be counter-productive. We're better off without it and encourage your NO vote, until such a time as the bill has been sufficiently strengthened.

The science demands it. Just published and released by the White House is "Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States." Think of this as the US version of the IPCC Assessments, with all our various science bureau's involved in its draft. Please read, at least parts, like the executive summary (see a few quotes below). The question for all of is, does ACES come anywhere near to meeting the demands of our scientific community? Sadly, no.

While the long-term target of reducing emissions 83% below 2005 levels by 2050 is of the order demanded by science, the interim target of 17% reductions by 2020 is not enough. Moreover, these targets are further weakened by carbon offsets provisions in the bill.

ACES aims for greenhouse gas reduction targets that are at best 20 times weaker than a 450 parts-per-million stabilization target, which itself only gives us a 50/50 shot for avoiding catastrophic global warming!

Recognizing this, we the Progressive delegates to the Massachusetts state convention, successfully amended language in our Platform:
"Promoting those strategies which will quickly stabilize atmospheric carbon dioxide at a maximum of 350 ppm and protect against further climate change, in accord with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change."
The 350 ppm target improves our odds of averting catastrophic climate change. This is our platform, there to guide you, Congressman Markey and members of the Massachusetts delegation.

Furthermore, While ACES does have a renewable electricity standard (RES), it is presently too low to drive needed investments in clean energy development and deployment. We need those millions of green collar jobs, to create sustainable, healthy, vibrant, local and resilient low-carbon economies. Anything less is unacceptable.

The Supreme Court also recently ruled that EPA can regulate CO2 emissions, and EPA has found that CO2 emissions are in fact a threat to public health. ACES in its present form would take away EPA's authority to regulate point-sources of global warming pollution, including power plants. This is most certainly not in the interest of Massachusetts, whose legal team brought the original suite against the EPA.

We don't understand how Congressman Markey could have allowed his bill to become so weakened. ACES needs to be referred back to committee, with a mandate to correct whats wrong with it, from the perspective of climate scientists. Please come up with a real climate solution that:
1. Cuts greenhouse gas pollution quickly to return to a safe level - below 350 parts-per-million.
2. Includes, as part of the emissions-reduction measures, a switch to 100% renewable electricity in 10 years.
3. Preserves the ability of the Clean Air Act to set scientifically-based pollution standards.
4. Does not allow unreliable, fraud-prone offsets in place of real emission reductions.
5. Phases out coal, and prohibits the use/extraction of tar sand and oil shale -- all the worst culprits of global warming.

Warm regards.
Progressive Democrats of Worcester
______
A few quotes from "Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States", Thomas R. Karl, Jerry M. Melillo, and Thomas C. Peterson; 2009
http://www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/us-impacts

* Observations show that warming of the climate is unequivocal. The global warming observed over the past 50 years is due primarily to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases. These emissions come mainly from the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas), with important contributions from the clearing of forests, agricultural practices, and other activities.
* Warming over this century is projected to be considerably greater than over the last century. The global average temperature since 1900 has risen by about 1.5 F. By 2100, it is projected to rise another 2 to 11.5 F. The U.S. average temperature has risen by a comparable amount and is very likely to rise more than the global average over this century, with some variation from place to place. Several factors will determine future temperature increases. Increases at the lower end of this range are more likely if global heat-trapping gas emissions are cut substantially. If emissions continue to rise at or near current rates, temperature increases are more likely to be near the upper end of the range.
* Society and ecosystems can adjust to some climatic changes, but this takes time. The projected rapid rate and large amount of climate change over this century will challenge the ability of society and natural systems to adapt. For example, it is difficult and expensive to alter or replace infrastructure designed to last for decades (such as buildings, bridges, roads, airports, reservoirs, and ports) in response to continuous and/or abrupt climate change.
* Impacts are expected to become increasingly severe for more people and places as the amount of warming increases. Rapid rates of warming would lead to particularly large impacts on natural ecosystems and the benefits they provide to humanity. Some of the impacts of climate change will be irreversible, such as species extinctions and coastal land lost to rising seas.

From an excellent article at http://campfire.theoildrum.com/node/5473

Peter Schiff for Senate in CT, replacing Dodd

Peter Schiff announced his run for the US Senate, replacing Chris Dodd, on the Jon Stewart show. Peter is known as an economists who predicted the current financial crisis, and its exact causes. His remedy for the crisis aligns well with Paul Krugman, Simon Johnson and others progressives who want to see America return to a productive economy. Please watch:

We're the Green Team

There are three amendments being advanced by Progressive Democrats, each with a volunteer team and a single coordinator. The Pink Team is advancing the Single-Payer Healthcare amendment. The Orchid Team is advancing the Protect Urban Wildlands amendment. Together, we can make all three happen! Good luck all.

Our Amendments to the Platform

Please contact Richard Kerver to help get these passed at the Convention June 6th

Getting it

Dave Wheelock over at The Small Towns Papers gets it, in the same way we Progressives do here in Worcester. "A good peasant is loyal, simpleminded, and full of misdirected anger.” And the Oligarchy will always be adept in first stoking the anger and then making sure its misdirected. Its the anger about the financial crisis, that everyone feels in one way or another.

And the misdirection, by Fox news, Newt Gingrich and the far right is towards our Democratic President. So called TEA bagging is just the beginning, as over time that unholy alliance deflects blame over the crisis to the the Obama administration, never mind how they came into office as the inheritors of that really big problem, and are doing their very best to solve it, for real.

So Dave, gets it, the real causes of the crisis, as described by Paul Krugumn, Joeseph Stiglitz, Simon Johnson, William Black and other "progressive" economists. Progressive because they remain reality based, smart, and able to articulate the viewpoint of the rest of us not in the billion dollar club ... banking that works for the average American, the way it should be.

So read Dave's article, TEA baggers, and try for smart instead of angry. Want to really understand what's going on? Try http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/finance/

Climate Crunch

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090429/pdf/4581091a.pdf
"The difference between 350 and 450 is not just one of degree. It’s one of direction. A CO2 concentration of 450 p.p.m. awaits the world at some point in the future that might conceivably, though with difficulty, be averted. But 350 p.p.m. can be seen only in the rear view mirror. Hansen believes that CO2 levels already exceed those that would provide longterm safety, and the world needs not just to stop but to reverse course. "

Mark Shuttleworth on Creating Community

Mark Shuttleworth is one of those highly effective people doing enormously important things helping something different to emerge and evolve in the affairs of human beings. Some will recognize Mark as the founder of the Open Source Linux distro Ubuntu. Ubuntu means community and there's a lot there. Here's Mark in a recent interview (at about 24 mins in):

"If you build something for people with people, you get the possbility of something fundamently different than what you get if you just build something yourself. That's not to say that communities are easy. We have to continuely defend the idea that left to their own devices, people will take issue with one another more than the world out there... We have to stay focused on what we're trying to do - reinventing the world. If we don't remind ourselves of that all the time, its very easy to allow ourselves to look inwards, and allow differences of opinion, differences of design and direction to turn into drama. The tabloid idustry does so well because people love a fight, people love scandal, people love bitterness and gossip. We must not allow that element of human nature to poison the fact that we we're creating an open, level, calm playing field for people who want to drive this agenda forward."

If you can assemble 300 or more residents ...

"So, are you more upset than when you started reading this column? Feel frustrated and powerless? With your friends, ask your Senators and Congressperson during their frequent recesses for a three-hour public accountability session. If you can assemble 300 or more residents, after you rev up your community, you're likely to have your elected representatives come to an auditorium where you live and work. If they think 500 people will show up, it is even more likely. Especially if you are organized and tell them this is just the beginning. Just the beginning!" Ralph Nader at Common Dreams

Rethink Afghanistan - The Cost of War

Rethink Afghanistan (Part 1)


Rethink Afghanistan (Part 2)


Rethink Afghanistan (Part 3)


Getting the Defense Budget Under Control


Join Congresswoman Lee for a public panel discussion entitled:

A Progressive Assessment of the
Obama Administration’s First 100-days
11:30am – 1:30pm • Saturday, May 2, 2009
C. Walsh Theater | Suffolk University
55 Temple Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
(Behind the Massachusetts Statehouse on Beacon Hill)

Please join Congresswoman Lee and other progressive leaders for a candid assessment of the Obama Administrations First 100-days. She was an activist, social worker, U. S. Representative and is now Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Hers was the lone voice in Congress to oppose the Bush Administration’s call for unchecked war-making authority in September 2001.

For more information see http://www.suffolk.edu/35466.html

Bill Moyer and William Black on banking fraud ... and Where's Congress?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Well, Geithner has, was one of our nation's top regulators, during the entire subprime scandal, that I just described. He took absolutely no effective action. He gave no warning. He did nothing in response to the FBI warning that there was an epidemic of fraud. All this pig in the poke stuff happened under him. So, in his phrase about legacy assets. Well he's a failed legacy regulator....
BILL MOYERS: Well, where's Congress? Where's the press? Where--
WILLIAM K. BLACK: Well, where's the Pecora investigation?
BILL MOYERS: The what?
WILLIAM K. BLACK: The Pecora investigation. The Great Depression, we said, "Hey, we have to learn the facts. What caused this disaster, so that we can take steps, like pass the Glass-Steagall law, that will prevent future disasters?" Where's our investigation? ....
BILL MOYERS: Yeah. Are you saying that Timothy Geithner, the Secretary of the Treasury, and others in the administration, with the banks, are engaged in a cover up to keep us from knowing what went wrong?
WILLIAM K. BLACK: Absolutely, because they are scared to death.
WILLIAM K. BLACK: We need some chairmen or chairwomen--in Congress, to hold the necessary hearings. And we can blast this out. But if you leave the failed CEOs in place, it isn't just that they're terrible business people, though they are. It isn't just that they lack integrity, though they do. Because they were engaged in these frauds. But they're not going to disclose the truth about the assets.
BILL MOYERS: And we have to know that, in order to know what?
WILLIAM K. BLACK: To know everything. To know who committed the frauds.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich votes against the budget ...

http://kucinich.house.gov/News/

"Washington D.C. ( April 2, 2009) – Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today issued the following statement after voting against H.Con.Res 85, setting forth the Congressional Budget for the fiscal year 2010:

“I am committed to doing everything I can to put our community and our nation on the path to economic stability. I led opposition to the bank bailout program TARP, I worked vigorously in favor of the stimulus package, and I have worked to save the automotive, steel and aerospace industries in America.

“This budget is a statement of principles for the upcoming year, and I cannot accept it in its entirety. I will not vote for a budget that ties military spending to the operational funding of our government. This year, the budget includes $130 billion for war funding. The Washington Post reports today another 10,000 troops may be sent to Afghanistan, bringing our total number of troops there to as much as 78,000 by 2010 – a more than 100% increase from today’s troop levels. This budget is a plan that authorizes the expansion of the war. I simply cannot endorse a budget or a plan that sends more of our brave men and women to Afghanistan, a conflict which has the potential to become this generation’s Vietnam.”

We applaud Congressman Dennis Kucinich continued principaled stance!

Simon Johnson - The Quiet Coup

Simon Johnson, professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, he’s now a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. His new article in The Atlantic, “The Quiet Coup,” argues that “the finance industry has effectively captured our government — a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets.”

Read the article and listen to the WBUR On Point interview by Tom Ashbrook.
The verdict is in on the Obama Administration with regards to the financial crisis - they will do everything in their power to insure the continued regime of the mega-banks and financial institutions that got us into this mess to begin with. The taxpayers in this country, from individual citizens to businesses on up to the front door of the banks, will get nothing but more of the same as we pay their mega-salaries - the shaft.

There are real economists like Paul Krugman and Simon Johnson that are trying to speak on our behalf - its just that President Obama and his financial advisers are not listening, yet.

Bill Moyer and William Greider Join the call for a New Way Forward

March 27, 2009 For years best-selling author William Greider sounded the alarm about Washington's unholy alliance with Wall Street and the failure of the Federal Reserve and other regulators to take preventive measures to avoid disaster. Now, he offers some suggestions to the question everyone is asking: "What do we do now?"



BILL MOYERS: I read just this morning that there's a nation wide grassroots protest planned for April 11th.

WILLIAM GREIDER: I know some of those kids.

BILL MOYERS: They're young people who want to take on banking reform, and reform the financial systems, as a campaign, an ongoing witness.

WILLIAM GREIDER: I know. They call themselves A New Way Forward.

And you can find them online. But I actually knew a couple of the organizers. I've been talking to them, for some years. And they're full of, you know, just...

Young people are part of my optimism. They're smart kids, want to be engaged in their times, see the injustices of their society. And they don't quite trust the great, big existing organizations. And with some good reason, as you know. And particularly, they're not totally sold on the Democratic Party as the vessel of reform.

WILLIAM GREIDER: I've been very enthusiastic about his opening as President. He did the stimulus package and a number of other things that's fulfilling his promise. On this, he does seem absolutely committed to restoration of the old order. There's no other way to say it. And this- these things Secretary Geithner is saying this week and others have been putting out, all confirm that.

I think that's a huge mistake, financially ... and then somewhere down the road people are going to learn that the investors, so called, are reaping 20 double digit returns on this money with almost no risk at all to themselves. And whether that works or not, people will be outraged. Again, as the returns come in. And I think should be. And outrage right now might just get the Congress to slow down a bit, calm down, we want reform, but we want it done right. And we want it done for the public interest, not for the old order.

WILLIAM GREIDER: President Obama and if the Democratic leaders in Congress follow along, he'll put the Democratic Party on the wrong side of history. At this critical moment. What we ought to be seeking, the goal of reform, and government aid, is creating a new financial and banking system, of many more, thousands more, smaller, more diverse, regionally dispersed banks and investment firms. That's first obligation is to serve the economy and serve society. Not the other way around. What the administration's approach may be doing is consecrating too big to fail, for starters. Which, of course, everybody in government denied was the policy until the moment arrived. And secondly, and this will sound extreme to some people, but I came to it reluctantly. I fear what they're doing, not intentionally, but in their design is setting the crown for a corporate state.

WILLIAM GREIDER: The corporate state is here. And I'd say, let's not argue over that. The fact is, if the Congress goes down the road I see them going down, they will institutionalize the corporate state in a way that will be severely damaging to any possibility of restoring democracy. And I want people to grab their pitch forks, yes, and be unruly. Get in the streets. Be as noisy and as nonviolently provocative as you can be. And stop the politicians from going down that road. And let me add a lot of politicians need that to be able to stand up. Our President needs that to be able to stand up....
.... that's what, I hope for now. That people of every stripe will stand up and say, we love you Mr. President, but you don't have it right yet. And we're going to bang on your door until you get it right.

Our first political challenge is to disturb business as usual in Washington and prevent Congress from taking hasty action to adopt Wall Street's "reform" agenda. Congress is rattled by the exploding popular anger and listening nervously. The people need to speak louder--loud enough for the president to hear.

Alternet: Powerful Banks and Government Handouts to the Rich: It's Time for Protest

Sign the petition please!

This is the Democrats.com lead petition drive for a real solution, along the lines suggested by Paul Krugman. The Obama administration and Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner are going down the wrong path for America and must be stopped.

Go to the petition at www.democrats.com and then join the local protest movement in April at www.anewwayforward.org

The people's plan:


NATIONALIZE: Insolvent banks that are too big to fail must incur a temporary FDIC intervention - no more blank check taxpayer handouts. (see Paul Krugman on nationalization)

REORGANIZE: Current CEOs and board members must be removed and bonuses wiped out. The financial elite must share in the cost of what they have caused. (see Simon Johnson on reorganizing)

DECENTRALIZE: Banks must be broken up and sold back to the private market with new antitrust rules in place - new banks, managed by new people. Any bank that's "too big to fail" means that it's too big for a free market to function. (see Mike Lux on decentralization)



"You are the ones perceived — understood in a visceral and even transcendent way — as the committers of what is becoming class economic rape. And heed this one word before these people grow weary of forgiving you, and instead decide to bring the “good life” — which you have built on their backs — crashing down on top of your heads: Enough!" (full transcript)

I don't know about you, but I'm way past weary - its time for the pitchforks!

Congressman Jim McGovern on TARP

As of today, H.R. 384 was voted in the House and its now up to the Senate. To follow, see:
TARP Reform and Accountability Act and
Taxpayer Protection Act
at OpenCongress.

Our hero on this is Senator Byron Dorgan [D, ND], who introduced s195:

Cash for Trash

OK, I admit that I shamelessly took this post from Alternet's Hey Paul Krugman post, but I couldn't resist.



There were a number of us "Progressive Democrats" who met with Congressman McGovern in December to provide copy & conversation on our "Priorities for the 111th Congress." One does have to try at least. I gave Jim a copy of Paul's book
The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008, which Jim thanked me for. If Jim read the book, and took it to heart, then maybe in some small way I've contributed to the debate, now raging.

So what's that all about, simply put, you may (or should) ask? Its about who's U.S.Treasury is it anyway? Before you answer, "its ours, the American people," be forewarned. The answer is in Paul's book, that the U.S.Federal Reserve (a private banking conglomerate) assumed control some time ago - its why Goldman Sachs chairman Henry Paulson got the job under that neocon criminal cabal infecting our government for the past 30 years.

The hope of course, for us ever optimistic progressives, is that Barack Obama would make a real difference of authority and control. The verdict is still out on that, but its not looking too good right now. Paul Krugman is on the front line, on "our" side. Against the forces of the Shadow Banking System. Instead of nationalizing the bad debt and privatizing the U.S.Treasury, Paul wants to nationalize the good assets - the banks, and privatize the bad debt, leaving the perpetrators of this financial crisis to flounder under the weight of their sins. Think AIG.

I'm all for leaving the laws of karma to work. But Congress legislated us into this mess to begin with, by lifting all restraints on banking in the first place. Now we expect them to fix it? Really? For more on this, consult Paul Krugman:
Paul Krugman on the "Cash for Trash" Program

2009 Massachusetts Democratic Party Platform

PDW members participated with other PDA members in the state to compose language for the new party platform. Unlike is previous years, the platform is being scraped and rewritten in its entirety. The March 7th statewide PDA meeting in Worcester initiated the process, where various issues were discussed as possiblities, a plank committee was formed and a decision made to focus on three primary planks. Here are those planks in final form:

Health Care, Not Warfare:
The Democratic Party of Massachusetts supports reduced U.S. military spending, an end to America's wars in the Mideast, and an end to the occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine. We advocate that America use an international multilateral approach to resolving conflict and attend to our own domestic agenda, especially on human health and welfare. Our foremost domestic priority is the creation of a comprehensive, single payer, guaranteed health care system, similar to Medicare.
The Democratic Party of Massachusetts calls upon all elected Federal and State officials to make single payer health care a legislative priority. Our goal is to create a health care agency with a single source of funding, administered by a non-profit government agency, and accountable to the public, which pays for all medical services and affirms the primacy of the doctor-patient relationship, the values of physician patient medical decision-making, and medical privacy. This single payer agency is designed to replace the 1500 private health insurance companies that currently do this work, each with its own profit stream, bureaucracy, complicated policies, and process for negotiating with medical providers.
To help fund a comprehensive single payer health care agency, U.S. military spending must be cut by a minimum of 25% by 2010 and funds redirected to the domestic agenda - health care, not warfare.

A Green New Deal:
Two of the urgent crises which confront the world are a grave threat to the environment from human-caused global warming, and a collapsing world financial and economic system. The Massachusetts Democratic Party calls upon our elected officials to affirm the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and to enact environmentally sound national legislation, in keeping with the exemplary Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008 and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
* Enact the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, increasing America's domestic energy capacity, including energy efficiency, conservation, progressively tougher CAFE standards, and large scale renewable energy development,
* Enter an international treaty on climate change prior to 2012, that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions a minimum of 80% by 2050, and reduce atmospheric carbon at a maximum of 350 ppm by the end of the century
* Enact a national Renewable portfolio standard) and a national cap & trade system for carbon emissions
* Build out a "smart", highly distributed, and reliable electricity grid

In this process we will create a clean and sustainable energy future, create millions of green collar jobs rebuilding and reinvesting in a new American and Massachusetts economy, and do so in a way that supports full social, environmental and economic justice here and abroad.

Restore the Rule of Law:
The Massachusetts Democratic Party calls for the passage of legislation to require complete transparency at all levels of government - local, state and national - regarding matters of justice, substantive policy, and political process.
We call for passage of legislation to guarantee all citizens the opportunity and power to affect the direction of all public enactments.
We call for legislation upholding and protecting the rights of individuals under the Constitution wherever they have been found to have been weakened, undermined or allowed to become moribund.
We revere the Constitution of the United States and find abhorrent acts contrary to its intent, such as excessive executive privilege leading to "preemptive" war.
We instruct our Congressional delegation to support and work for the appointment of a special prosecutor to hold any person at any level of government to account for:
* willfully violating the laws and the Constitution,
* willfully violating the rights of citizens and the rights guaranteed to foreigners under international treaties,employing or advocating torture,
* waging illegal wars with wanton disregard for the lives and safety of civilians, and
* ignoring, bypassing and/or sabotaging the laws, resolutions and subpoenas issued by the Congress of the United States.

Groups Request Special Prosecutor For Bush, Cheney, Et Alia

Statement on Prosecution of Former High Officials

We urge Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a non-partisan independent Special Counsel to immediately commence a prosecutorial investigation into the most serious alleged crimes of former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Richard B. Cheney, the attorneys formerly employed by the Department of Justice whose memos sought to justify torture, and other former top officials of the Bush Administration.

Our laws, and treaties that under Article VI of our Constitution are the supreme law of the land, require the prosecution of crimes that strong evidence suggests these individuals have committed. Both the former president and the former vice president have confessed to authorizing a torture procedure that is illegal under our law and treaty obligations. The former president has confessed to violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

We see no need for these prosecutions to be extraordinarily lengthy or costly, and no need to wait for the recommendations of a panel or “truth” commission when substantial evidence of the crimes is already in the public domain. We believe the most effective investigation can be conducted by a prosecutor, and we believe such an investigation should begin immediately.

Drafted by The Robert Jackson Steering Committee
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/robertjackson

Signed By many organizations, including:

Progressive Democrats of America
http://www.pdamerica.org

Contact: David Swanson david@davidswanson.org

I Met The Walrus - a John Lenon audio with awsome animation - Peace!

Our Priorities for the 111th Congress

December 23, 2008
The Honorable James P McGovern
34 Mechanic Street
Worcester, MA 01608

Dear Congressman,

The Progressive Democrats of America have formed as chapter in your district. We hope to sustain an ongoing dialog with you throughout your term with the 111th Congress and provide grass roots support for the Progressive agenda of the Democratic Party. Our priorities are as follows:

Bailout Main-street, Not Wall-street

• Immediate economic relief from the financial crisis and ongoing recession through job creation and assistance
• We support President Barak Obama's plans for infrastructure investment
• Stop the foreclosures - keep people in their homes
• "Small is Beautiful," "Too Big to Fail" is not - no more taxpayer dollars for the big banks - there are other more effective solutions

Restore Trust in our Banking & Securities Sector

• Restore a sound banking and securities system - bring back regulations and a Securities and Exchange Commission willing to enforce them
• Bring back the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 that separated investment, commercial and consumer banks and set limits on bank leverage
• Krugman's simple rule -- "anything that does what a bank does, anything that has to be rescued in crises the way banks are, should be regulated like a bank" -- no shadow banking system
• Dismantle complex Mortgage Backed Securities (MBO's) and return mortgages where they belong - consumer banks and the original secondary market of GSE's - Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Federal Home Loan Banks
• Insure that Credit Default Swaps (CDS's) and other complex interbank derivatives and auction rate securities have regulatory oversight - heed Buffet's Maxim that "derivatives are weapons of financial mass destruction" and treat accordingly

A Green New Deal

• Build a "green collar economy" through investment in America's energy infrastructure, including large and small scale renewable energy, offshore wind, and an on&off-shore high voltage DC transmission network, all connected to a smart grid
• Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants - EECBG to our Cities, a full budget appropriation to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
• Invest in reviving the nation's rail system, but a modern version, energy efficient, high speed, electric and ultra-light weight
• Progressively higher CAFE standards for all classes of vehicle; allow preemptive state standards (e.g., California)
• Whatever we do, it must be economically and environmentally sustainable, and cut reliance on fossil-fuels as quickly as realistically feasible

Environmental Health and Climate Protection

• Enter into International Treaty for Climate Protection
• Implement a national carbon tax or carbon cap & trade system (like RGGI)
• Restore rules & regulations protecting the environment and consumers, with an effective Environmental Protection Agency; consider an immediate injunction on recent EPA rules changes
• Make Environmental Health a real priority, controlling and reducing the toxins polluting us, our water, air and land
• Stop mountain top removal for the excavation of coal, the mining of oil shale and tar sands, offshore drilling and other climate/environmentally destructive practices; stop the subsidies big oil/coal

Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security

• Cut the dependence of our farms on fossil-fuels and high-energy agriculture and move towards local production, farmer markets and direct marketing
• Preserve family farms and make sure our farmers have a living wage
• Protect the biodiversity and health of farm soil - organic should be the law
• Stop the subsidy of corn based ethanol and biofuels that compete with food crops

End the War, Redirect Funding

• Withdraw our troops from Iraq and redirect war funds toward social needs at home and humanitarian aid in Iraq; we support Rep. Barney Frank's call for a 25 percent cut in military spending
• Fully investigate false White House claims justifying the invasion and occupation of Iraq ; hold criminal prosecutions of all those who violated our international treaties, which are the law of the land and binding obligations
• Shut down the permanent military bases established in Iraq during our illegal occupation of that country
• Use multilateralism and international law in all our foreign relations without exception
• No invasion of Iran has ever been justified to the American people; Iran's nuclear enrichment activities are permissible under the international Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty; a peaceful resolution of tensions and detente are our ONLY recourse
• Negotiate an end to the war in Afghanistan and a reduction of US forces from the Mideast; the problem of Al-Qaeda is a police problem, not a military one
• Insure that the US honors international treaties we are signatory to regarding nuclear and biological weapons manufacture and reduction of stockpiles

Single Payer Health Care for All

• We support Rep. John Conyer's bill, H.R. 676, which establishes a streamlined, nonprofit national health insurance program -- enhanced Medicare for All - and which would negotiate drug and treatment costs

Economic Justice

• We call on Congress to roll back Bush tax breaks for the wealthy, so that the richest 1 percent of Americans (with yearly incomes averaging $1.3 million) will not pocket $300 billion over the next four years
• We support fair trade that protects workers' rights and the environment, while opposing wage-reducing "free trade" agreements that protect only corporate rights to globally exploit unprotected labor
• We endorse the Employee Free Choice Act, which establishes unions in any workplace where a majority of workers sign up
• Minimum wage and a safety net above the poverty level, and adjusted for inflation in the actual cost of living

Clean, Fair, Transparent Elections

• Comprehensive campaign finance reform at the state and national level, including Clean Money public financing of elections, plus free TV/media time for candidates "Instant Runoff"/proportional voting, and paper ballots which assure more accurate and broader representation than winner-take-all elections

Social Security

• Make the necessary adjustments which will insure the financial solvency of Social Security and an income for our elderly above poverty levels, accounting for the soon-to-be-retired baby boom generation and other demographic trends

Restore the Rule of Law

• Investigate and prosecute the crimes of the Bush/Cheney Administration, because our laws require it: Our government authorized the use of torture and rendition, approved secret electronic surveillance against American citizens, secretly detained American citizens without due process of law, denied the writ of habeas corpus to hundreds of accused enemy combatants and authorized the use of procedures that violate both international law and the United States Constitution, among other numerable war crimes
• Restore our constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties

Thank you for your consideration, and thank you for your continued excellent representation of our interests in Congress.

The members of the Progressive Democrats of Worcester

Born in America

The Progressive Democrats of Worcester blog is born!