Disenfranchised by the Left

(This was in my mailbox this morning from my Michael Moore mailing list. I won't be going to any - I don't live close enough, I have to work tonight, and I wouldn't take a freebie because I make enough money not to need it - NOW. That wasn't the case for many years. I'm passing it along in case it benefits any of you, since I know it's perfectly possible to have an Internet connection and still be below the poverty line, or you might know someone in this situation.)

Friends,

We're just one day away from the widest opening I've ever had for any of my movies. Tomorrow, Friday, October 2nd, "Capitalism: A Love Story" opens on over a thousand screens across the United States, a record for an independent documentary.

This follows last weekend's limited opening in New York and L.A. where "Capitalism" set the box office record for the highest per screen average of ANY movie released so far this year. Not just any documentary -- any MOVIE! It was, as the studio said, a good indicator of just how well the movie may do when it goes wide this weekend. I sincerely hope they're right because I believe deeply in this film.

To kick off the national release of "Capitalism: A Love Story," I've asked the studio to offer a number of screenings in the nation's hardest hit cities - the ones with the highest unemployment rates and highest foreclosure rates - where those who've lost their jobs or who are in foreclosure (or have already been evicted) may attend my film free of charge. They've agreed, and so tonight (Thursday), the night before our opening day, ten cities will grant you free admission if you have fallen on hard times. The list of theaters and cities is below. You don't need to bring any "proof" of your situation - just show up - it's the honor system, no questions asked.

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president obama fighting a protesting fly that happened to be flying near-by...a conspiratorial assassination of the third kind before it had a chance to speak its truth.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cta…




barack obama fly swat cnbc funny kill buzz harwood interview united states president democrat comedy humor

You're friendly neighbourhood lesbian again.

Marriage Equality Florida is marching in the Stonewall Pride Parade. Join us and help organize more people to fight for our marriage equality.
http://eqlmarriagefl.blogspot.com/…

Details for Stonewall Pride Parade
Date: Sunday, June 21, 2009
Time: 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: Ft Lauderdale High West Parking Lot
City/Town: Wilton Manors, FL
Phone: 954-703-0691
Email: ithesiren@hotmail.com

PLEASE RSVP! Either at the FaceBook page, by phone or by e-mail. You can text me too.

We can have up to 35 people march in the parade, if you're interested in marching please RSVP and I will send you more details.

You must be there no later than 6pm!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?…

Right now we've only got Three People.

THE RISE of the UNITED SOCIALIST STATES of AMERICA

Want to see the press POV of an Obama campaign rally? I also took a couple of low-quality videos.

Your friendly neighbourhood lesbian here, with a little last minute notice.

Stonewall Pride in Ft Lauderdale will have an Obama booth (right by the main stage!) June 22nd from 10am to 5pm and we will be marching in the parade June 21st at 8pm.


Over 28,000 people come out to celebrate the diversity of South Florida in Wilton Manors on the famous Wilton Drive from 16th Street to Five Points. Businesses and organizations are represented on the drive to meet with the community to expand both knowledge and relationships. Food and drink will be offered all day. The 9th Annual Stonewall Street Festival 2008: Sizzling with Pride! is a spectacular two-day event full of fun and friends and can't be missed!

Stonewall street festival and Exhibition 2008 (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Wilton Drive from 16th Street to Five Points: BOOTH G 2B (Obama Booth)
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311

The Street Festival MeetUp Sign Up.

The Parade MeetUp Sign Up.

I realize this is very last minute but for anyone who can make it we'd love the support.

Barack Beach Bash!
Come out to the beach for a full day of organizing, fun and sun! We'll have signs, buttons and stickers to hand out. We'll also be serving up some hot dogs and hamburgers (vegans we will have some boca burgers).

Anyone who would like to volunteer to help set up, clean up, bring materials (buttons, stickers etc...) to hand out or food to share please contact Lauren.

E-mail: ithesiren@hotmail.com
Phone: 954-703-0691

Pass the world along! Let's show people there's a presence for Obama here in South Florida.

Where: Pompano Beach, A1A off of Atlantic Blvd by the pier. If you need directions just harass me.
When: May 10th, starting at 8am and lasting all day.

(I wrote this originally for the vote_smart community, and if you'd like to check out the place, I'm sure it could use some more members - this essay is posted there. I thought I would crosspost it here in case anyone is interested.)

Here is my disclaimer: I have mild insight into the field of agriculture, mostly into field crops. I am a journalist who spends a great deal of my time writing about the issue and I have for several years, though it is certainly not my only “beat” nor am I a farmer or commodities expert. I am socially liberal, more fiscally conservative, and my views of global warming are slightly different than what is being pushed as popular these days (and do involve agriculture in a very small way). I will try to present a colloquial quick-and-dirty of some agricultural issues facing us right now as a nation and world, in as objective a manner as I can, just from my observations.

I would not suggest you take any of this for the gospel truth, since I am not providing you my professional information. In fact, I would not suggest you take the gospel truth from any source if you cannot identify its financial and political interest. All this is intended to do is get you interested enough to look up stuff on your own with official and educated sources. Be careful of what sources you trust, especially online – even me – and what news outlets you choose to believe. While some of my information (numbers) comes from the USDA, I keep in mind at all times that such agencies do have politically-appointed directors.

Finally, if you really want to know more about agriculture – ask a farmer, for God’s sake, or call your county extension office (usually affiliated with a university) or Farm Service Agency office (a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA). The hundreds of people I’ve dealt with in this part of my career have always been friendly because I treat them like the experts they are, and because I freely confess that I don’t know much about farming.

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From David Hyde, Professor of Sociology, South Puget Sound Community College

Each year for the last five years on the anniversary of the official start of the Iraq war I’ve sent out an update with various facts and statistics to remind us of the events too often omitted in discussion by the press and our political leaders. While President Bush has today tried to paint a positive picture of the situation in Iraq , I’m skeptical of trying to put an optimistic spin on war. In Oklahoma we used to call it “putting a pig in party dress.” With the exception of this introduction, I’ve attempted to present just the facts themselves and leave opinions out. Let’s all hope this is the last of these emails I’ll have to write.( Collapse )
x-posted to my journal

Our U.S National Committees:
Ever Wonder What They Do?
Alternate Title: U.S. Politics are Organized to Worship Wealth

Short Introduction
Most other nations have private member based national political parties. Parties whose members, directly or indirectly, write and approve an enforceable political platform that gives political unity to the party.  Conversely, the DNC's and RNC's collect money at the national level. Besides providing the convenience of one-stop shopping for donors, I am sure that you will be pleased to learn that, working together our national committees can often create a great deal of bipartisanship.

Bipartisanship and our Glorious National Committees
Quotes from Arrogant Capital by Kevin Phillips
Little, Brown and Company 1994, Chapter V, Page 123

Aspects of Republican-Democratic rivalry can seem as staged and phony as American professional wrestling.  Since the 1980's bipartisanship in the United States frequently involves suspending electoral combat to orchestrate some outcome with no great public support, but a high priority among key elites.  

In foreign policy, these issues have included the Panama Canal treaties and NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico.  On the Domestic front, bipartisan commissions or summit meetings have been used to increase Social Security taxes on average Americans while the income tax rates of the rich were coming down and to raise the salaries of members of Congress.

The pay raise deal involved walking on so many political eggshells that both sides negotiated an extraordinary side bargain: that the Democratic and Republican National Committees would refuse to fund any congressional candidate who broke the bipartisan agreement and made the pay raise an issue!

Some Purely Subjective Observations

1  The DNC/RNC can provide a significant amount of party unity by controlling who gets their money.

2. Any unity they provide would tend to be approved of by the donors.

3. Any time that a significant numbers politicians of both political parties feel disturbed about voter influence, both the DNC and the RNC stand ready to do all in their power to eliminate that influence.

4. Very little information about the true objectives of either political party is readily available to the average voter.

Conclusion
A political party in a two-party system is a gigantic coalition of many different interests. Lacking an enforceable party platform, the other forces that decide which of these interests will get rewarded (after the votes are counted) - are not very clear in either major party.  This is a system that rewards politically dishonest or misleading rhetoric much more than a system with an enforceable party platform. It's important to remember that one elected politician can't pass a law!  Heck: One elected politician can't get a bill out of committee!  Once the private organizing influence of member based political parties was removed, then the private organizing influence of wealth increases.

Jack

A political science book I read in the 70's said (paraphrasing) ; "Political parties in the U.S. are probably unique in having few other functions than raising money for politicians."