Politics

Populism Is Back – On Both Sides Of Aisle

August 5, 2014 Pooja Bhatia, www.usatoday.com Educate! Elections, Occupy, Politics, Populism, Tea Party

It began on the fringes a few years ago, with the Tea Party. Then came the smart, motley crews of Occupy Wall Street. The following summer, then-Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren used her Democratic National Convention keynote to talk about hard-working people up against a system that's rigged against them. Glimmers all — until this season of primaries and midterms and a looming presidential campaign. Get out your pitchforks, everyone, because populism is back. From left to right, American politicians are picking up a populist mantle that's been stuffed in a closet for about 100 years. Senator Warren's crusading about it on book tour; the enraptured crowds want her to run for president. In June, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was soundly defeated in a primary by Tea Party member David Brat, an economist who spent his campaign talking about how bankers should've gone to jail after the 2008 financial crisis. Last week, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan jumped in with an anti-poverty plan whose raison d'etre could have been cribbed from Warren's book: "Both big government and big business like to stack the deck in their favor. And though they are sometimes adversaries, they are far too often allies."

Single Payer Advocates Should Bring Constant Pressure On Dems

July 26, 2014 Ted Van Dyk, www.crosscut.com Organize! Democrats, health, Obamacare, Politics, Single-Payer

The Western Washington Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, which advocates for a universal, comprehensive single-payer national health program, held its annual public meeting last Saturday evening at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus. The event provided a useful snapshot of things to come in healthcare politics nationally, but also here in Washington State. The meeting, held before a nearly full house that included numerous practicing doctors and nurses, also provided its share of surprises. Here are some highlights: There was consensus that a single-payer plan is at least several years away and that state- rather than national-level organizing efforts to institute one would bear the most fruit over the next two years. The Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) allows states, beginning in 2017, to seek exemptions from its provisions provided they present a credible alternative plan to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. The meeting’s speakers agreed that between now and 2017 lobbying efforts to enact single-payer alternatives should focus on governors and state legislators. (Such HHS approvals, Rep. Jim McDermott pointed out, would likely occur only during the administration of a President sympathetic to the idea).

Israel, US, UK Carve Up The Spoils Of Palestine’s Stolen Gas

July 25, 2014 Nafeez Ahmed, www.theecologist.org Educate! Energy, Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Politics

"Israel's current offensive in the Gaza Strip is by no means an energy war", writes Allison Good in The National Interest in a response to my Ecologist / Guardian article exposing the role of natural gas in Israel's invasion of Gaza. This "has not stopped conspiracy theorists from alleging that the IDF's Operation Protective Edge aims to assert control over Palestinians gas and avert an Israeli energy crisis." Describing me as a "self-proclaimed" international security journalist engaging in "shoddy logic, evidence and language", Good - who works as a contractor for Noble Energy, the Texas-based oil major producing gas from Israel's reserves in the Mediterranean Sea - claims that: "Israel is nowhere close to experiencing an energy crisis and has no urgent or near-future need for the natural gas located offshore Gaza. While Israel gains nothing for its energy industry by hitting Gaza, it stands to lose significantly more." If you don't like the evidence - ignore it Yet Good's missive is full of oversimplifications and distortions. She points out that Israel's recently discovered Tamar and Leviathan fields together hold an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas - which, she claims "are expected to meet Israel's domestic energy needs for at least the next twenty-five years" while simultaneously sustaining major exports.

16-Year-Old Creates App To Expose Corrupt Politicians

July 25, 2014 Janet Allon, www.alternet.org Create! Corruption, Money As Speech, Politics, Technology

While it's easy and almost safe to assume that most of today's politicians take large donations from dubious corporate interests—given the fact that we live in an oligarchy and all—inquiring minds still want to keep track of who's taking money from big oil, big pharma, big defense contractors, you name it. Seattle teenager Nick Rubin recently made keeping track of the money trail a whole lot easier with his creation Greenhouse, a browser plug-in that operates under the motto "Some are red. Some are blue. All are green." (Get it? Green House?) His website describes Greenhouse like this: "A free browser extension for Chrome Firefox, and Safari that exposes the role money plays in Congress. Displays on any web page detailed campaign contribution data for every Senator and Representative, including total amount received and breakdown by industry and by size of donation. Puts vital data where it’s most relevant so you can discover the real impact of money on our political system." Said to be surprisingly easy to use, the app shines a light on dark money, and helps you deepen your understanding of why your representatives vote the way they do.

Germany May Revert To Typewriters To Counter Hi-Tech Espionage

July 17, 2014 Philip Oltermann, www.theguardian.com Educate! Germany, Politics, Privacy, Surveillance, Technology

German politicians are considering a return to using manual typewriters for sensitive documents in the wake of the US surveillance scandal. The head of the Bundestag's parliamentary inquiry into NSA activity in Germany said in an interview with the Morgenmagazin TV programme that he and his colleagues were seriously thinking of ditching email completely. Asked "Are you considering typewriters" by the interviewer on Monday night, the Christian Democrat politican Patrick Sensburg said: "As a matter of fact, we have – and not electronic models either". "Really?" the surprised interviewer checked. "Yes, no joke," Sensburg responded. "Unlike other inquiry committees, we are investigating an ongoing situation. Intelligence activities are still going on, they are happening," said Sensburg. Last week, Merkel's government asked the CIA's station officer in Germany to leave the country after an employee of the German intelligence agency BND confessed to passing confidential documents to the US secret service. The ongoing investigation prompted speculation that the CIA may have actively targeted the Bundestag's NSA inquiry committee. Last year, the Russian government reportedly took similar measures after the extent of US electronic surveillance was revealed by the whistleblower Edward Snowden. The federal guard service, a powerful body tasked with protecting Russia's highest-ranking officials, put in an order for 20 Triumph Adler typewriters, which create unique "handwriting", that allows the source of any documents created on them to be traced.

Public Rallies To Reinstate Marijuana Scientist

July 16, 2014 Matt Ferner, www.huffingtonpost.com Organize! Arizona, Education, health, Marijuana, Politics

A petition demanding that the University of Arizona reinstate a research scientist fired after she won federal approval to study marijuana for military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder has received more than 27,000 signatures. Dr. Suzanne Sisley, a Department of Psychiatry faculty member and researcher at the school, was suddenly terminated last week for reasons she maintains were related to her research. She won federal approval in April for the long-delayed veterans study, when the Department of Health and Human Services signed off on the project. Ricardo Pereyda, an Iraq war veteran with PTSD who said he's been treating his symptoms with marijuana since 2010, started the Change.org petition to reinstate Sisley, which had nearly 28,000 signatures Tuesday night. "The university must reinstate Dr. Sisley, providing her with the necessary space and resources she needs to conduct her research," Pereyda wrote in the petition. "Her study could mean life or death for many veterans.

A New Game Plan For Taking Down Privatizers

July 16, 2014 Sam Pizzigati, www.nationofchange.org Educate! Corruption, Inequality, Politics, Privatization

Analysts at the OECD, the Paris-based economic research agency, have just shared a grim prediction: If current trends “prevail,” all developed nations will show by 2060 “the same level of inequality as currently experienced by the United States.” If we let those current trends continue, that conclusion sounds about right. But why on earthshould we let those trends continue? The trends that have made our world so unequal don’t reflect some inevitable unfolding of globalization. They reflect wrong-headed political decisions. We can make different decisions. Take privatization. Over the past four decades, governments all around the world have chosen to privatize a broad array of public services. These privatizations have generated vast new concentrations of private wealth, among them the $75 billion fortune of Carlos Slim, the world’s second-richest single individual.

Citizens Say Get Money Out Of Politics

July 10, 2014 Eleanor Goldfield, www.occupy.com Resist! Corruption, Money As Speech, Politics, Protest

The Rolling Rebellion is now halfway through its one-week debut and has a lot to show for it. From coast to coast, grassroots activists have taken their creative zeal to the streets in a myriad of ways promoting peaceful and artful activism in the name of real democracy. On July 1, activists in Washington, D.C., staged a musical theater performance outside the Federal Communications Commission, entitled “Which Side Are You On, Tom?” In the name of Net Neutrality, protestors sang, danced and enacted a game of tug-o-war between the people and the telecom giants. Rally-goers even performed a rendition of Queen's “We Will Rock You." In San Diego, the aptly named Artful Activists have used graphic and theatrical means to engage and interact with citizens at various locations, from the Civic Center to La Jolla Cove. “It's street theater,” Brain Frazier explains. “We have a dunk tank and we get people in the crowd to pick blocks that have different grievances and throw those blocks to 'flush' the politician.”

Hundreds March Against Corruption In NH

July 9, 2014 Suzanne Laurent, www.seacoastonline.com Resist! Corruption, March, Money As Speech, New Hampshire, Politics, Protest

A wind-weary, but determined crowd, arrived at Fort Constitution Saturday afternoon after a 16-mile walk along the New Hampshire coast in support of New Hampshire Rebellion's nonpartisan movement against monetary corruption in the nation's capital. The N.H. Rebellion, founded by Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard Law School professor, is a movement that considers unrestrained money and the influence it buys in Washington, D.C., to be the root of the nation's current political and governmental dysfunction. The goal of the walk was to bring hope for change, said N.H. Rebellion Executive Director Jeff McLean. Many walkers met at the ending point at Fort Constitution to be bused to the start of the walk at Hampton Beach. A busload of 20 walkers also arrived from the Boston area. Decked out in red, white and blue stars and stripes, Debbie and Garritt Toohey of Rye were among the walkers gathered at Hampton Beach. “We need to bring awareness about what the federal government is and isn't doing,” Debbie Toohey said. “People need to pay attention and listen.”

Spain: Leader of Podemos Has High Hopes

July 8, 2014 Ashifa Kassam, www.theguardian.com Strategize! Elections, Podemos, Politics, Protest, Spain

Across Spain, everyone has an opinion about Pablo Iglesias. Mere mention of the ponytailed leader of the insurgent leftwing party Podemos (We Can), who is only 35, elicits a barrage of adjectives that range from honest to dangerous. There was the woman in Barcelona who gushed that "he seems like such a decent person" as she explained why she had cast her first vote in a decade and given it to Podemos. Or the worries expressed by the monarchist from San Sebastián who spent hours waiting on a sunny morning in Madrid to catch a glimpse of Felipe VI on his first day as the new king of Spain. "Iglesias wants to turn Spain into the next Venezuela." In only a month, Iglesias has gone from well-known political pundit to member of the European parliament and one of Spain's most polarising personalities. Soft-spoken and calm, Iglesias shrugs off the attention. "I'm a normal person," he said. Active in left-leaning politics since he was 14, he describes himself as "a guy who worked in the university for many years, as a researcher, then as a professor". Wearing a shirt lined with the red, yellow and purple colours of the Spanish republic, Iglesias pulled loose his ponytail as the interview started, his long brown hair falling over his shoulders for a moment before he tied it back into his signature style.

Get To The Root: Amend The Constitution

July 5, 2014 Ben Cohen, www.truth-out.org Create! Corruption, Democracy, Money As Speech, Politics

In civics class, we still teach our children that American-style representative democracy is a model for the world to imitate. But in practice, our government has become a broken system of corrupt lawmakers and crony capitalism. It's time to either change the lesson plan or fix the government. Wealthy special interests use lobbying and campaign contributions to buy access and influence in the halls of Congress and they use that access to advance their own self-interest. For example, in 2003 when Congress passed Medicare Part D to provide prescription drugs to seniors, pharmaceutical companies spent over $100 million to ensure the final bill barred the government from negotiating prices with the drug companies. As a result, taxpayers foot the bill for bloated medical costs while drug companies rake in billion dollar profits. Meanwhile, the congressman who sponsored the bill, Rep. Billy Tauzin left Congress for a seven-figure salary with the largest pharmaceutical lobbying firm. The story is the same for defense spending, the financial industry, big agriculture and big energy. Companies invest billions of dollars in lobbying and campaign contributions in order to secure even bigger profits.

Spanish Social Movement Releases “A Charter For Democracy”

July 5, 2014 Movimiento Democracia, www.occupy.com Educate! Democracy, Mass Movement, Politics, Spain

Whatever happened to the 15-M Movement? Where did Occupy go? Three years after the groundbreaking revolutionary ruptures of 2011, violent repression and media invisibility have relegated these thriving movements to a grey area. The perception seems to shift between mainstream derision and niche-group interest. Occupy’s roots have spread out and sprouted a multitude of initiatives, though perhaps the source inspiration is not always publicly recognized. But in Spain, the popular experience of austerity – the murderous palliative prescribed as a cure for the crisis – and the resulting political movements in reaction have been giving the lie to the mainstream narrative that 15-M is a “has been.” The movement undeniably lives. Its form has been mutated, re-imagined, distributed, and coalesced into a multitude of initiatives and hacks to the system. We live here, we see it every day. These initiatives are not as easily seen, defined – or, for that matter, targeted – as a physical occupation may be; yet they permeate the hegemony, creating new possibilities and spaces. You need only look at the recent EU Parliamentary election results to see how Spanish voters have reacted to austerity and debt – and how that reaction contrasted strongly with that of some other European nations. One of the most important evolutions of 15-M is undoubtedly the “Movimiento por la Democracia” (Movement for Democracy).

Americans Consensus: Fix The Corrupt System

July 5, 2014 Patrick Caddell, Bob Perkins, and Scott Miller, www.huffingtonpost.com Organize! America, Elections, Politics, Revolution

July 4, 1776: In the shadow of the hangman's noose the signers of the Declaration of Independence ended their document that would change the world with these words -- "we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor." July 4, 2014: In a different but no less significant crisis, the American people are being summoned to reclaim that first Revolution. The challenge of this moment is to redeem the promise of America, to revitalize the American Dream and to restore the People's rightful place as the sovereign rulers of America. Let's be blunt: America is in trouble. We are in danger of losing the American dream. That's not just the opinion of the three of us. It's the conviction of most Americans. Over the past six months, we have conducted an intense national research project among likely voters of all parties, and we are releasing the results now, for Independence Day, 2014. The battle lines of the new political order are emerging. When presented with the proposition that "the real struggle for America is not between Democrats and Republicans but mainstream America and the ruling political elites," over 66% of voters agree.

New Study: Americans Not That Polarized

July 5, 2014 Voice Of The People, www.vop.org Educate! America, Policy, Politics, Survey

A new study finds remarkably little difference between the views of people who live in red (Republican) districts or states, and those who live in blue (Democratic) districts or states on questions about what policies the government should pursue. The study analyzed 388 questions asking what the government should do in regard to a wide range of policy issues and found that that most people living in red districts/states disagreed with most people in blue districts/states on only four percent of the questions. “A Not So Divided America,” contradicts the conventional wisdom that the political gridlock between Democrats and Republicans in Congress arises from deep disagreements over policy among the general public. The study was a joint project of Voice Of the People and the Program for Public Consultation (PPC), affiliated with the University of Maryland. “Clearly, the gridlock in Congress is not driven by the people,” said PPC Director Steven Kull, who led the study. “Although some research has shown partisan polarization in response to broad ideological slogans, on specific questions about what government should do, the study found hardly any difference between red and blue districts.”

Canada: Rogue Page Brigette DePape Still Protesting Harper

July 3, 2014 Laura Payton, www.cbc.ca Resist! Canada, Climate Change, Harper, Politics

The most memorable moment in the last throne speech came when a young woman walked into the centre of the plush red Senate chamber filled with dignitaries and elected officials and held up a handmade sign that read "Stop Harper." Brigette DePape, who had worked as a page in the Senate for a year, was then quickly hauled away by the House of Commons' sergeant-at-arms. "I remember I was terrified," she said, recalling that moment on June 3, 2011, in an interview with CBC News from Vancouver last week. On Wednesday, Canadians will see the first throne speech since the one DePape tried to interrupt with her protest. CBC News will carry it live at 4:30 p.m. ET. DePape was one of 15 university students every year who suit up in a black uniform — with matching bow-tie — and serve as a Senate page, fetching coffee and documents at committee meetings and running messages between senators during Senate sittings. Two years ago DePape was finishing up university and unhappy with the result of the election one month before. She was nearly finished her year as a page, and decided to use the chance to express her opposition to Harper. DePape says she summoned the courage — many would say gall — by thinking about people affected by climate change, residential school experiences and job losses, all areas where she says the government is failing to do enough.

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