Re: [Fwd: Support Chicago Workers Occupying Factory]

Daniel Stafford wrote:
>
>
> Geri Perry wrote:
>> -------- Original Message --------
>>
>>
>> <http://www.chicagojwj.org>
>>
>> Kevin,
>>
>> *Workers Occupy Factory! Need Your Immediate Support!*
>>
>> Yesterday, Friday December 5th, the workers of Republic Windows and
>> Doors occupied their factory, which was due to close at 10:00 AM. The
>> workers are fighting for pay for their lost vacation days and for the
>> 75 days notice that they are guaranteed under Illinois law. This is
>> the first time in many years workers have taken the bold, militant
>> strategy of occupying their place of work to demand justice. The plan
>> to occupy the plant until the hear the results of the next round of
>> negotiations Monday afternoon. THEY NEED TO KNOW THEY HAVE OUR SUPPORT!
>>
>> A prayer vigil has been planned for 12:00 Noon, Saturday December
>> 6th. Please attend. BUT WE SHOULD ORGANIZE A CONSTANT PRESENCE OF
>> COMMUNITY MEMBERS PICKETING OUTSIDE THE FACTORY! BRING FOOD AND
>> COFFEE FOR THE WORKERS. It is our presence and the press that is the
>> workers best defense against the police raiding the factory.
>>
>> These workers are fighting for all of us!!! As the economic crisis
>> deepens we need to launch a working class fight back. These workers
>> are the starting point and deserve our full support.
>>
>> Go to:
>>
>> Republic Windows & Doors
>> 1333 N. Hickory
>>
>> On Goose Island, near the intersection of Division & Clybourn
>>
>> Feel free to call me for more info? (312) 502-7867
>>
>> (Message written by Jerry Mead-Lucero, www.laborexpress.org)
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
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I've changed the "e-mail to" address for our blog

Hopefully that will chill the "freebie stuff" spam for awhile.

Write me if you want the new address for legitimate posts.

Dan

Thanks for Supporting Peace

Dear Friends,

Thanks so much for your support this campaign season. Thanks to your efforts I was able to gather 9,067 votes for peace in the US Senate race. When I began in October of 2007 I did not realize how many friends I would make on the trail and how many people in Tennessee are in support of peace and real human priorities for Tennessee.

It has been a tremendous honor to travel this beautiful state. My campaign began last year in Jonesborough, Tennessee where hundreds of us gathered to call for an end to the production of depleted uranium weapons at the Aerojet facility in Irwin. We learned about the role that Aerojet plays in the production of depleted uranium and how it has caused long- term health problems for our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Since then I have been to all corners of this state - to Oak Ridge for the Stop the Bombs annual action to call for an end to the remanufacturing of nuclear bombs. We were also in Oak Ridge this year for the Department of Energy Hearings and spoke out in support of putting hundreds of people to work cleaning up the toxic legacy of sixty years of DOE activity in the area. Many of us closed out the year at a conference sponsored by S.E.A.C. at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro where we learned about the interconnectedness of the nuclear issues in this state, where foreign countries ship waste into Tennessee to incinerate, landfill and put into permanent temporary storage facilities.

Thanks also to the support I received this year from Democracy for East Tennessee and the Knoxville Greens as well as students at Heritage High School in Maryville, Tennessee and Kevin Rowland for his efforts. I would also like to recognize the work that so many people are doing in East Tennessee to promote peace and support a progressive agenda, especially members of the GLBT community.

There are so many wonderful people to thank who have offered their support and encouragement for the past thirteen months. I would like to thank the NAACP for hosting the only US Senate debate this season at Austin Peay State University, the Green Party of Middle Tennessee, the Green Party of Tennessee, the Chattanooga Area Greens, Democracy for Tennessee, Scott Banbury for personally securing a visit of Cynthia McKinney to Tennessee to submit her nominations to be on the ballot in as our presidential candidate. I would like to thank John Miglietta who ran a fantastic campaign as the Green Party candidate for the 5th District US House seat and was my constant companion in middle Tennessee as we traveled to neighborhood meetings, festivals, fairs, public events and campaign meetings.

I would like to thank my partner, Nini Thomas, who traveled with me across the state from Memphis to Chattanooga to Jonesborough and all points in between. Nini listened to my speeches, proofread my letters, designed my buttons and brochures and was a constant source of encouragement. I would like to thank the peace activists in Memphis at the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center and the Gandhi-King conference, especially Allison Glass and Jacob Flowers for promoting peace through a fantastic conference that brought together hundreds of peace activists from around the world to talk to each other and hear Amy Goodman.

I would like to thank the Nashville Peace and Justice Center for all the good work they do to promote peace and offer a center for community groups to gather and hosting numerous events this year all while fighting a lawsuit and undergoing an audit. I would like to thank the Nashville Movement for letting me flyer at their events this summer to seek justice for taxicab workers, HUD houses for the homeless and a living wage for everyone. These groups did not endorse me and they did not take a position on any candidate because of their non-profit status, but their work for social justice has made Tennessee stronger and I believe in what they are doing.

I would like to thank the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, whose path I crossed many times this campaign season including in Nashville where Sherri Honkala helped lead an occupation of an abandoned HUD house with the Nashville Homeless Power Project, and again at the Republican National Convention protests in St. Paul where I marched with Sherri Honkala and the Green Party of Minnesota and hundreds of protesters demanding economic human rights, and then again in Chattanooga this fall when Sherri came in October and we marched to the doors of the city council with demands to address the needs of the working poor and homeless in Chattanooga.

Thanks also to the folks at Clarksville Online and the activists in the Clarksville area where almost ten percent of all troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan are stationed or shipped through, and their long struggle and transformation from Clarksville Freethinkers for Peace and Civil Liberties into their work with Clarksville Online and the Unitarian Church and their collective struggles for peace in the heart of a military town.

I would also like to recognize the work that the Cumberland County Center for Peace and Justice are doing with communities in the plateau region around Monteagle, Sewanee, Tracy City and points beyond as well as the Farm in Summertown, Tennessee. I am so impressed with the efforts of the Peace Roots Alliance and their work, especially Liz Barger and Alan Graf and Judy Meeker and Albert Bates and so many others at the Farm, which has held its space for the past thirty years as a home for peaceful, community seeking individuals. This campaign season I crossed paths with so many different people all of who had a collective vision of peace, social justice, the environment, a living wage, economic justice, the need to address the deep wounds of racism, disarmament, education, alternative energy and more.

I have seen a shift in Tennessee. In 2006 I think that there was much less tolerance for the message of peace and the environment. People seem to be more tolerant and more interested in the message. I think that perhaps this is the beginning of a real shift. I think it will be a long time coming, and perhaps it won't come at all, but I definitely noticed a change. Everyone in Tennessee seemed to be more open minded, more willing to hear differing perspectives this year, more willing to consider alternatives.

Thanks to the Tennessee Alliance for Progress for all the work they are doing to promote a common message in Tennessee and Radio Free Nashville for promoting democracy on the airwaves. Thanks to Middle Tennessee Students for a Democratic Society for all their fantastic work at MTSU and thanks to the folks in Dyersberg, Lexington, Lebanon, Jackson, Hohenwald, Shelbyville, Cookeville, Crossville and other places in rural Tennessee who expressed support this campaign season, especially to Howard & Katey for all the work they do for the Green Party of Tennessee and Catherine Austin Fitts for all the work she does to reclaim our democracy and thanks to the Reverend Larry Fagre of Vetsburg for all his work to support housing for homeless veterans.

Thanks to Cathy Danielson and to Kathi Gregory for her blog Streetalker and Dan and Beverly Sweeton for all their support this year, especially at the Wilson County Fair. I would be remiss if I didn’t also say thanks to my parents for their support as well as Marylin and Ray Williams, Eric Schecter, Glenn Christman, Sandy Hepler, Courtney Meeker, Richard Aberdeen, Ricky Nickolson, Beth Dachowski, Ken and Fle Frasure, Martin Holsinger, Bill Humble, Free Land, Gigi Gaskin, Rhonda Fergus, Joe Shedlock and Sizwe Herring for all of his fantastic work at the Carver Food Park and being an anchor of the community in so many ways.

But I would especially like to thank the Nashville Peace Coalition for all of their support and fantastic work for peace this year, especially organizing the fifth anniversary peace rally and the alternative presidential debate. It was so exciting meeting eight presidential candidates this year and having six of them attend our alternative debate. I can't believe how much work everyone I have met across the state of Tennessee is doing on peace, the environment and other areas of social justice.

I would also like to thank my opponents, the Libertarians, for their spirit of cooperation on many issues including tolerating my many posts on their message boards and for the cooperative work they did with the Greens this year on the ballot access lawsuit as well as coming out for protests against the war, against FISA and turning out for the alternative debate. Daniel Lewis is a man of integrity and it was a pleasure to run against him for the US Senate seat. I would also like to thank the Democrats for their support this campaign season.

Many progressive Democrats were supportive of my running and I wanted to personally thank them, even if I didn’t receive their vote - especially the folks at the L-Club and Democracy for Tennessee who have been so nice and respectful all this campaign season. I would also like to congratulate Bob Tuke on a good run. I was always impressed with his professional approach and happy to see his support on environmental issues in Tennessee.

I don't think I have mentioned all of the people I wanted to thank for their support this campaign season nor all of the national contacts that we have made. If I have omitted someone please forgive me. I just wanted to thank everyone who was supportive this campaign season. The reason that I ran is because it is my hope that we can build a progressive majority in Tennessee

I think the most important thing we need to do is talk to each other. As a candidate I have had an opportunity to meet a lot of communities, and I think one of the principal needs we still have is to get together and network more and let each other know what we are doing. The other need I really see is for us all to come together under one big tent on issues we can all agree on. I think this is possible in Tennessee, but we need to talk more. Really I think more than anything we need to talk to each other and learn who we all are. There are actually a lot of progressive in Tennessee and if we get to know each other then I think we can build a strong movement in this state..

To end I would like to leave you with a letter for your consideration, written by Tom Hayden of Progressive Democrats for America and co-founder of Students for a Democratic Society in the 1960's. I met Tom this summer at the Democratic National Convention protests in Denver, and he talked about pushing the Democrats from within.

Now is the time to push the incoming administration to bring the troops home and it is the time to push hard. Maybe they will give us what we have been working for six years to end, or maybe they won't. The jury is out. But I will leave you with this letter to consider for our President Elect.

Thanks for your support and best wishes.


Sincerely,

Chris Lugo
9 Music Sq So #164
Nashville, TN 37203
615-593-0304
chris4senate@gmail.com







--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Dear President-Elect Obama,

We are deeply moved to address you as our nation’s first African-American president and, we proudly note, the first president whose campaign began with a pledge to an anti-war rally. Your courageous speech in October 2002, provided the rationale momentum that led to victory in Iowa and other Democratic primaries, and we still applaud you for that stand.

We write amidst this exciting week to urge your immediate attention and opposition to the so-called Status of Forces Agreement on Iraq being prepared in secret negotiations by the outgoing Bush Administration. The current United Nations authorization ends December 31st, making it imperative that you take leadership even before being sworn in.

The proposed agreement is a transparent attempt to circumvent Congress and formally bind your Administration to a war and occupation that far exceeds your stated commitment to a 16 month withdrawal of our combat troops. As your own website specifically states, any agreement should include a commitment to begin withdrawing our troops and avoiding any permanent bases. We also believe that thousands of Iraqi detainees should be treated according to human rights norms, or released in the absence of charges or evidence. You also have committed to a role for Congress in affirming any agreement.

Already the Bush administration and Pentagon are threatening “consequences” if the Iraqi parliament fails to endorse this pact.

We believe instead that you should signal your intention to abide by your pledge and work with the Congress immediately to formulate an agreement consistent with your pledge to end this war as rapidly as possible. We propose that you include the withdrawal of all American forces, including trainers and advisers caught in a sectarian crossfire, as recommended by all peace and justice organizations as well as such Washington think tanks as the Center for American Progress.

In place of this counterinsurgency war. we recommend an immediate diplomatic surge, including talks with Iran, as the only alternative to the continuing quagmire in Iraq which now costs our taxpayers some ten billion dollars per month, puts lives needlessly at risk, and stains our national honor.

We realize you will be hearing from all sorts of advocates for prolonging the occupation by one means or another. We urge you to keep the faith with the voices of those who put you on the road to the presidency, by implementing your pledge to end the war in 2009.

Ditch the TV and get online for REAL election-night coverage, Starting with Brad Friedman of Bradblog.com...

Ditch the TV and get online for REAL election-night coverage, Starting with Brad Friedman of Bradblog.com...

SPECIAL NOTE - ELECTION NIGHT COVERAGE

I'm anchoring "Special Election Night Marathon Coverage" from 3p-12am PT (6pm-3am ET) on the NovaM Radio Network, w/ Mike Malloy, Randi Rhodes, Peter B. Collins, the rest of the NovaM family & experts around the country. We'll be covering both the horse race and the track conditions like no one else! Ask your local station to carry it! Stream in live, call in @ 800-989-1480 & spread the word! - Brad

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/im-ready-to-declare-a-win_b_140625.html

Arianna Huffington

Posted November 3, 2008 | 04:04 PM (EST)

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I'm Ready to Declare a Winner in the 2008 Race

Okay, all the arguments have been made. And I am ready to declare a winner in the 2008 race.

The Internet. (The other winner will have to wait until Tuesday night).

From the way campaigns connect to supporters, to the way those campaigns are covered, to the way voters decide who to vote for, 2008 has delivered the first truly 21st century presidential race. And election night promises to fortify the Internet's victory.

While discussing with a friend an election night viewing party he's throwing, he announced there would be "televisions all over the place." "That's great," I said, "but just make sure the WiFi is working." Because this year, the laptop -- along with the array of Internet-connected mobile devices -- has replaced the television as the must-have election night device.

Of course, we want the TVs, too -- but mostly just to see how the results are covered, what the anchors are saying, when they call it, how the winners and losers react, and how crazy John King gets with his Magic Wall.

For real time results, however, the Internet will be the go-to destination. A host of websites, starting with HuffPost, will make it possible for you to choose how and when you want to follow the results -- whether you want to follow them state-by-state and county-by-county or jump between the presidential race and hotly contested Senate and House showdowns. And do it interactively.

And if you are a real election junkie, you can log on to each secretary of state's page and get the latest numbers even faster.

The clichéd putdown about the blogosphere is that it's just people spouting opinions, but this election has shown it's also about expertise and information -- collated, graphed, spread-sheeted, distilled, and cross-tabbed. Witness the rush to relevance of fivethirtyeight.com and its wonky numbers guy Nate Silver. Lately, it's been hard to go even a couple of hours without hearing someone say, "Nate Silver just wrote about that poll and here's what he says is wrong with it..."

As the countdown to Election Day continues, here is a rough guide to some of the Internet's best offerings to help you fill the anxious, final hours of the campaign -- and some places to make sure you check out (or bookmark, if you are Old School like me) as the returns start to roll in on Tuesday.

First and foremost (and completely objectively, of course), I hope you'll check out HuffPost's exhaustive Election Night coverage. We'll be featuring up-to-the-minute stories, stats, and video, along with a host of interactive maps, electoral widgets, and fun (and surprisingly accurate) tools like the Intrade and Betfair election predictors. We'll also bring you intensive reporting and on-the-scene coverage of the vote, including any voting irregularities, from the battleground states by our OffTheBus' network of citizen journalists. And, of course, we'll have our usual top-flight commentary -- including a host of top bloggers who will be liveblogging the returns as they come in. Plus, a number of our international bloggers will be weighing in from various spots across the globe, letting us know the local reaction to the results. All in all, we're aiming to be a one-stop-shop for all things Election Night. (For those of you who will be out and about on Tuesday, be sure to check out our new HuffPost Mobile site -- http://m.huffpost.com -- which we launched today, in time for on-the-go election day coverage.)

Here are some other don't-miss sites:

For raw polling data, check out FiveThirtyEight, Pollster.com, Real Clear Politics, Talking Points Memo's Election Central. Here's our final poll compilation page.

YouTube has put all its election video onto one page, and has begun a project called Video Your Vote, in which you can video yourself voting and upload it.

Google has some incredible election map pages. For instance, here's a great page of historical election maps. Their election homepage is here, use it to find your polling place, get directions, and read what each candidate says about the issues.

Congressional Quarterly also has a great page of historical maps here.

The American Prospect's election night guide can be found here.

DailyKos and TPM both have fun and very functional interactive maps.

TechPresident.com's numerous tools and resources -- including The Real Electoral Map and the Twitter Vote Report -- can be found here.

For poll closing times, here are pages by CNN, 270 To Win, Swing State Project, and The Green Papers.

Want to do your own interactive electoral vote map? There are several to choose from: PBS, Yahoo, CQ, CNN, New York Times, Washington Post.

So wherever you will be spending Election Night -- at a party, a campaign event, a bar, or hunkered down on your couch biting your finger nails -- be sure to have your computer, your BlackBerry, or your iPhone nearby, and be a part of what promises to be a historic night -- both for the country and for the Internet.

See you online Tuesday night -- and, I hope, every waking moment in-between. I, for one, despite my paeans to sleep plan to postpone sleeping from now until after the last race is called.

Read more Election Day Liveblogs, Reaction and Analysis from HuffPost Bloggers

If you are in the San Francisco area, I will be speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit on Friday, November 7th.

And be sure and check out the HuffPost Election Forecast Contest

Vote Green on November 4th

I am writing today to ask for your vote on November 4th in my campaign for the US Senate. I am running as a progressive, Green Party candidate because I believe that the time has come to end the war in Iraq, ensure that all Americans have access to affordable, quality health care and to restore common sense and decency to our national dialogue.

Health care is a pressing need here in Tennessee where the Democratic Governor has removed over 300,000 people from the health care rolls. For far too long we have neglected the needs of the poor in America, allowing hundreds of thousands in Tennessee to go without healthcare and millions nationally. That is why I support universal single payer health care.

Education if a priority for all Americans. As a candidate I support increased funding for our state's public schools, universities and community colleges. With only twenty five percent of Tennesseans graduating from college and less than sixty percent graduating from high school, isn't it time for us to make education a real focus? I support full investment in education from PreK to PhD.

We must take solid steps to ensure that all Americans have safe and affordable housing, that we live in a clear and healthy environment, and that we take steps to address the deep divisions of inequity that still persist in our society. I did not support the bailout of corporate America and would have voted against more money for Wall Street. I believe that we must begin to invest in poor and working class people by supporting an increased minimum wage, a moratorium on housing foreclosures and a rollback of the Bush tax cuts.

I believe in the American dream and I believe that all Americans deserve the opportunity to have a rich and meaningful life, but the only way to ensure that these priorities are addressed is to make certain that our government makes this a priority, that our elected representatives make peace and social justice a priority on a national scale.

I am ashamed of the international reputation that the United States has developed as a purveyor of torture, as a rogue superpower which exercises its military power at will, in the face of widespread international protest. I believe that the American people are not really the way the rest of the world sees us. I believe that we are really a decent, caring, compassionate people. As a candidate I will work to sunset the patriot act, reverse the military commissions act, close Guantanamo Bay and bring the troops home from Afghanistan and Iraq.

I want to live in an America where everyone can afford to go to school and earn a college degree, where we are not under the constant fear generated by our own nuclear umbrella, where everyone is paid at minimum a living wage that can feed and house a basic family unit, where our power is generated by clean energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal power. As a candidate I support programs to make these ideas a reality.

I want to live in an America where poor people do not spend years locked up in a criminal penitentiary unit because they have lost hope and do not believe there are alternatives to the path of incarceration. I want to live in an America where every person counts, where no one is forgotten, where our government does not listen in on our private conversations, where people believe that their vote counted and where the environment is a sacred trust that we leave in tact for future generations.

We are at a crossroads in history, and we face a choice in the South which all Americans face. Do we choose to continue down the path of abandonment, of hopelessness and fear or do we choose to embrace the compassionate, hopeful elements of our national identity? I for one, choose to hope. I believe that the government is here to serve the people and our elected leaders are here to serve you. That is why I am asking for your vote on Tuesday, November 4th in Tennessee.

Please consider voting Green on November 4th and thanks for your support.

Chris Lugo for US Senate
9 Music Sq So #164
Nashville, TN 37203
615-593-0304
chris4senate@gmail.com
www.voteforpeace.info

In Support of a Negotiated Peace

The United States has been at war with Afghanistan for six years. The original intention of the war with Afghanistan was to find and capture Osama Bin Laden. In the years since the original occupation of Afghanistan, the war with Iraq has eclipsed both national and international attention, leaving Afghanistan as America's forgotten war. Much like Korea was in the 1950's, the United States is engaged in a war it cannot win against an enemy it cannot defeat. Recently, rhetoric by both the Democratic and Republican Presidential campaigns has been actively calling for a troop surge in Afghanistan. In addition to costing the United States more money that we cannot afford to pay, this foreign policy decision ignores the obvious repercussions of an extended and increased war with Afghanistan.


These factors, which seem obvious to the average resident of Afghanistan, a country that has been bombed into the stone age, seems to escape the leaders of the free world, the policy wonks at the pentagon, and most of the corporate media. The simple equation goes something like this, more bombs and more military equals more resistance and hence more enemies to be defeated. In this case the enemy is the Taliban, a right wing fundamentalist reaction to Soviet occupation and failed US foreign policy. Here in the United States of America, the Taliban has been labeled public enemy number one, and for the past six years we have been pouring tens of billions of dollars annually into defeating an enemy that was created out of our own failed international policy under the Reagan administration.


Today the Taliban numbers in the thousands or perhaps tens of thousands and is perceived as a real threat to both the United States and the occupying administration in Afghanistan. Although the US death toll remains relatively low in relationship to the war in Iraq, the death toll could mount significantly if US forces are redirected to that area or even brought in from further depletion of US reserves based stateside or in other parts of the world. In addition, the people of Afghanistan are tired of US occupation. They have been occupied continuously by one or another occupying foreign power since 1979. Afghanistan is a country that has not known peace in almost two generations.


The specter of fear and nationalism lives on in the long tried US war on the Taliban. It is now 2008 and the United States still hasn't caught Osama Bin Laden, but we have managed to destroy an entire country. The international community is calling on the United States leadership to step back from its rhetoric about increasing the troops in Afghanistan. They are calling for a negotiated peace, led by the United Nations, between the United States and the powers that be in Afghanistan. For every day that we stay in Afghanistan, for every bomb we drop, for every gun we fire, for every civilian we torture and for every innocent villager we accidentally kill we create yet another recruit for the Taliban and make the resistance to US occupation that much stronger.


It is time for the United States to remove its forces from Afghanistan and bring the troops home now from the Middle East. The failure of US leadership for the past eight years has been obvious to the entire international community. We are behaving as an occupying power and have not succeeded in our missions. We never found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and we never found Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan and yet somehow US foreign policy continues to occupy these two zones, taking hundreds of billions of dollars from our national budget at a time of looming economic recession when Americans need jobs at home and investment in America. Now is the time for a negotiated peace and an immediate withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.

Re: Resource-based Society

Daniel Stafford wrote:

Interconnectedness in an alternative future...DS

Future by Design - William Gazecki has produced and directed a documentary based on him and his ideas...
http://www.futurebydesignthemovie.com/
Imagine a world where war is outdated, there is no shortage of resources, and every human being enjoys a high standard of living. THIS IS THE STORY OF JACQUE FRESCO -- A MODERN-DAY DA VINCI

Documentary on My Life Directed by William Gazecki (3 min 22 sec)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=g3cBXHLgC7s
There is a good preview of this documentary...

From: http://www.fbdthemovie.com/fbdpresskit.pdf

Future by Design

Future by Design is a documentary film by Academy Award nominated filmmaker William Gazecki, sharing the life and far-reaching vision of Jacque Fresco, a modern day Da Vinci. Peer to Einstein and Buckminster Fuller, Jacque is a self-taught futurist who describes himself most often as a multi-disciplinarian or “generalist” -- a student of many inter-related fields. He is a prolific inventor, having spent his entire life (he is now 90 years old) conceiving of and devising inventions on various scales which entail the use of innovative technology. The film explores Fresco’s world of the future, where scientific method, not politics, rules world operations, and all human activities and efforts are directed towards achieving dynamic equilibrium between man and nature. Future by Design is a visually and intellectually engaging exploration of one man’s vision of a future where war is outdated, there is no shortage of any necessary resource, and our focus as a species is sustainability. But far from presenting a vision of Utopia, this documentary demonstrates a “possible future” -- with real and viable alternatives to our current paradigm of militarism and commercialism. Jacque Fresco is an outspoken and immediately likable character who’s radical and sometimes irreverent ideas are sure to draw both praise and controversy.

In all of his dealings with the public, Jacque attempts to illuminate the causes of our current social ills and outline a wide range of constructive alternatives. He does this by presenting a redesign of our culture, one that would emphasize the intelligent use of science and technology to enhance the lives of all people. Infused within everything he does is his desire to share his global vision of hope for the future of humankind in our technological age.

CLIP

Jacque’s vision of a Resource-based Economy is a society where automation and technology replace servitude and menial labor, and where resources are distributed on a whole basis according to the needs of the population, balanced with the carrying capacity of the natural environment. Much of the technology Jacque has developed over the years is designed to support and implement the cybernated culture he envisions. In Fresco’s world of the future, all activities and efforts are directed towards productive solutions to real and physical problems. It is a society which utilizes energy, materials and human potential in the most organized and efficient manner possible. In Jacque’s perspective, professions and industries which do not contribute to the physical wellbeing of the population are deemed inconsequential. He also feels that environmental restoration and the elimination of human-caused environmental decay is essential for long-term survival.

Jacque’s concept of a society of the future integrates intra- and inter-personal needs, psychological and sociological functioning with the macro-scale mechanisms of governance, social stratification, commerce and spiritual needs. It is not a society based upon a moral philosophy. His long study of human and animal behavior has greatly influenced his thinking with regard to psychology and sociology. Jacque’s idea is that our actions are determined by our values, and our values are in turn determined by our beliefs. What he has observed is that, in general, human social evolution throughout history has been cyclic – war, poverty, aggression, territoriality, violence and crime are all indications of aberrant human behavior. Given that these kinds of behavior are consistently demonstrated over time, it is Jacque’s consensus that there is some underlying cause. In his opinion, the source of all aberrant behavior is the operating belief systems with which we determine our values.

Jacque’s research has led him to the conclusion that one of the most harmful beliefs carried by the majority of people is the general assumption that there is “not enough to go around” for everyone. Jacque calls this tendency or belief “scarcity”. The perception of scarcity on a mass scale throughout history has led to the accumulation of wealth, the gross obsession for power, and the tendency to manipulate people in order to protect one’s resources or belongings (property). All of these mechanisms can be seen to function on a personal as well as an international scale. In Fresco’s projection of a functional future, where each individual’s needs are met, the tendency to want to accumulate material things or exercise power will become minimal or unnecessary.

In a Resource-based Economy, the use of resources is balanced with the needs of the population. This is done through the gathering of information and the use of artificial intelligence and automated technology to apportion resources on a fair and equitable basis based on physical needs rather than other factors, such as perceived threat or the domination of central power structures. In the Future by Design, governance is maintained by the cybernated system, which depends wholly upon information derived from the physical environment. This information is derived from physical measurement and the input of data by the general population. Beliefs, biases, prejudices, class systems, religions, nation-states and their priorities play no role in determining “who gets what” in the future. In Jacque’s synthesis of elements, he firmly believes that equitable use of physical resources combined with a dramatic shift in elevating the level of education of the public will create a functional, equitable world capable of long-term sustainability. A highly educated population can articulate their needs intelligently, make informed decisions.

He believes that when people are born into a system where it is understood and assumed that all physical needs will be met and that access to resources will be unfettered, that the majority of individuals will grow up psychologically healthy. His feeling is that aberrant behavior which results in crime or in some kind of overt harm is not the result of any moral crisis or ethical violation, but is really determined by one’s environment. If an individual’s needs are met, in an environment of non-violence and comprehensive education, the tendency to explore or institute harmful behavior is eliminated.

In the Future by Design, all systems work together. The personal, social, economic, industrial and governance arenas are all interconnected and balanced into one functional system. The Future by Design is a true participatory democracy, where each member of the society has the opportunity to input their needs, opinions and preferences into the central computer, which then assesses and analyzes all information to determine the use of resources in distribution of goods and services.

As a futurist, Jacque is not only a conceptualist and a theoretician, but he is also an engineer and a designer. Each one of his concepts and ideas has a firm foundation in the physical world. Whether through his study of animal and human behavior, science and the methodologies of science, or physical engineering principles, everything he has conceived of is rooted in practical reality. The basic overall concept of the Future by Design is the application of the scientific method to social systems, wherein all processes are based upon measurable factors rather than beliefs and opinions. Everything Jacque has conceived of can be designed and built as envisioned.

Jacque is not a Utopianist. In his paradigm, all social systems are evolutionary. Jacque has always based his work on the processes of nature and how organisms and systems function in a natural eco-balance. In Jacque’s estimation, there is no such thing as a Utopia, as Utopias are generally conceived of as a status-quo or end-result, never to be surpassed. In Jacque’s estimation, once our basic needs are met and we have eliminated usurious and superfluous inefficient efforts (i.e., militarism, commercialism, etc.), we can then focus the whole of human effort on an endless cycle of constant improvement and endless evolution.

http://www.thevenusproject.com/intro_main/whatis_tvp.htm

The Venus Project is a educational think tank operating out of a 25-acre Research Center located in Venus, Florida.

When one considers the enormity of the challenges facing society today, we can safely conclude that the time is long overdue for us to reexamine our values, and to reflect upon and evaluate some of the underlying issues and assumptions we have as a society. This self-analysis calls into question the very nature of what it means to be human, what it means to be a member of a "civilization," and what choices we can make today to ensure a prosperous future for all the world's people.

At present we are left with very few alternatives. The answers of yesterday are no longer relevant. Either we continue as we have been with our outmoded social customs and habits of thought, in which case our future will be threatened, or we can apply a more appropriate set of values that are relevant to an emergent society.

Experience tells us that human behavior can be modified, either toward constructive or destructive activity. This is what The Venus Project is all about - directing our technology and resources toward the positive, for the maximum benefit of people and planet and seeking out new ways of thinking and living that emphasize and celebrate the vast potential of the human spirit. We have the tools at hand to design - and build - a future that is worthy of the human potential. The Venus Project presents a bold, new direction for humanity that entails nothing less than the total redesign of our culture. What follows is not an attempt to predict what will be done - only what could be done. The responsibility for our future is in our hands, and depends on the decisions that we make today. The greatest resource that is available today is our own ingenuity.

While social reformers and think tanks formulate strategies that treat only superficial symptoms, without touching the basic social operation, The Venus Project approaches these problems somewhat differently. We feel we cannot eliminate these problems within the framework of the present political and monetary establishment. It would take too many years to accomplish any significant change. Most likely they would be watered down and thinned out to such an extent that the changes would be indistinguishable

The Venus Project advocates an alternative vision for a sustainable new world civilization unlike any social system that has gone before. Although this description is highly condensed, it is based upon years of study and experimental research by many, many people from many scientific disciplines.

The Venus Project proposes a fresh approach--one that is dedicated to human and environmental concerns. It is an attainable vision of a bright and better future, one that is appropriate to the times in which we live, and both practical and feasible for a positive future for all the world's people.

The Venus Project calls for a straightforward approach to the redesign of a culture, in which the age-old inadequacies of war, poverty, hunger, debt, environmental degradation and unnecessary human suffering are viewed not only as avoidable, but totally unacceptable.

One of the basic premises of The Venus Project is that we work towards having all of the Earth's resources as the common heritage of all the world's people. Anything less will simply result in a continuation of the same catalog of problems inherent in the present system.

Throughout history, change has been slow. Successive groups of incompetent leaders have replaced those that preceded them, but the underlying social and economic problems remain because the basic value systems have gone unaltered. The problems we are faced with today cannot be solved politically or financially because they are highly technical in nature. There may not even be enough money available to pay for the required changes, but there are more than enough resources. This is why The Venus Project advocates the transition from a monetary-based society to the eventual realization of a resource-based global economy.

We realize to make the transition from our present culture, which is politically incompetent, scarcity-oriented and obsolete, to this new, more humane society will require a quantum leap in both thought and action.

An Obsolete Monetary System

The money-based system evolved centuries ago. All of the world's economic systems - socialism, communism, fascism, and even the vaunted free enterprise system - perpetuate social stratification, elitism, nationalism, and racism, primarily based on economic disparity. As long as a social system uses money or barter, people and nations will seek to maintain the economic competitive edge or, if they cannot do so by means of commerce they will by military intervention. We still utilize these same outmoded methods.

Our current monetary system is not capable of providing a high standard of living for everyone, nor can it ensure the protection of the environment because the major motive is profit. Strategies such as downsizing and toxic dumping increase the profit margin. With the advent of automation, cybernation, artificial intelligence and out-sourcing, there will be an ever-increasing replacement of people by machines. As a result, fewer people will be able to purchase goods and services even though our capability to produce an abundance will continue to exist.

Our present, outmoded political and economic systems are unable to apply the real benefits of today's innovative technology to achieve the greatest good for all people, and to overcome the inequities imposed upon so many. Our technology is racing forward yet our social designs have remained relatively static. In other words cultural change has not kept pace with technological change. We now have the means to produce goods and services in abundance for everyone.

Unfortunately, today science and technology have been diverted from achieving the greatest good for reasons of self-interest and monetary gain through planned obsolescence sometimes referred to as the conscious withdrawal of efficiency. For example, the U. S. Department of Agriculture, whose function is presumed to be conducting research into ways of achieving higher crop yields per acre, actually pays farmers not to produce at full-capacity. The monetary system tends to hold back the application of these methods that we know would best serve the interests of people and the environment.

In a monetary system purchasing power is not related to our capacity to produce goods and services. For example, during a depression, there are computers and DVD's on store shelves and automobiles in car lots, but most people do not have the purchasing power to buy them. The earth is still the same place; it is just the rules of the game that are obsolete and create strife, deprivation and unnecessary human suffering.

A monetary system developed years ago as a device to control human behavior in an environment with limited resources. Today money is used to regulate the economy not for the benefit of the general populace, but for those who control the financial wealth of nations.

Resource Based Economy

All social systems, regardless of political philosophy, religious beliefs, or social customs, ultimately depend upon natural resources, i.e. clean air and water, arable land and the necessary technology and personnel to maintain a high standard of living.

Simply stated, a Resource-Based Economy utilizes existing resources rather than money and provides an equitable method of distributing these resources in the most efficient manner for the entire population. It is a system in which all goods and services are available without the use of money, credits, barter, or any other form of debt or servitude.

Earth is abundant with plentiful resources; today our practice of rationing resources through monetary methods is irrelevant and counter productive to our survival. Modern society has access to highly advanced technologies and can make available food, clothing, housing, medical care, a relevant educational system, and develop a limitless supply of renewable, non-contaminating energy such as geothermal, solar, wind, tidal, etc. It is now possible to have everyone enjoy a very high standard of living with all of the amenities that a prosperous civilization can provide. This can be accomplished through the intelligent and humane application of science and technology.

A Resource-Based Economy would make it possible to use technology to overcome scarce resources by applying renewable sources of energy, computerizing and automating manufacturing and inventory, designing safe energy-efficient cities and advanced transportation systems, providing universal health care and more relevant education, and most of all by generating a new incentive system based on human and environmental concern.

Many people believe that there is too much technology in the world today, and that technology is the major cause of our environmental pollution. This is not the case. It is the abuse and misuse of technology that should be our major concern. In a more humane civilization, instead of machines displacing people they would shorten the workday, increase the availability of goods and services, and lengthen vacation time. If we utilize new technology to raise the standard of living for all people, then the infusion of machine technology would no longer be a threat.

To better understand the meaning of a Resource Based Economy consider this: if all the money in the world were destroyed, as long as topsoil, factories, and other resources were left intact, we could build anything we choose to build and fulfill any human need. It is not money that people need; rather, it is free access to the necessities of life. In a Resource Based Economy , money would be irrelevant. All that would be required are the resources and the manufacturing and distribution of the products.

When education and resources are made available to all people without a price tag, there would be no limit to the human potential. Although this is difficult to imagine, even the wealthiest person today would be far better off in a resource based society as proposed by The Venus Project. Today the middle classes live better than kings of times past. In a Resource Based Economy everyone would live better than the wealthiest of today.

In such a society, the measure of success would be based on the fulfillment of one's individual pursuits rather than the acquisition of wealth, property and power.

The Choice Is Ours To Make

Human behavior is subject to the same laws as any other natural phenomenon. Our customs, behaviors, and values are byproducts of our culture. No one is born with greed, prejudice, bigotry, patriotism and hatred; these are all learned behavior patterns. If the environment is unaltered, similar behavior will reoccur.

Today, much of the technology needed to bring about a global Resource-Based Economy exists. If we choose to conform to the limitations of our present monetary-based economy, then it is likely that we will continue to live with its inevitable results: war, poverty, hunger, deprivation, crime, ignorance, stress, fear, and inequity. On the other hand, if we embrace the concept of a global Resource Based Economy, learn more about it, and share our understanding with our friends, this will help humanity evolve out of its present state.

The only limitations are those we impose upon ourselves. The Venus Project is neither utopian nor Orwellian, nor does it reflect the dreams of impractical idealists. Instead, it presents attainable goals requiring only the intelligent application of what we already know.

CLIP

 
 _______________________________________________ CitizensTruth mailing list CitizensTruth@six.pairlist.net http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/citizenstruth website: http://citizenstruth.info   

[PDI] Naomi Wolf joins other conspiracy theorists that bailout was a coup

All,

I am blocked from sending e-mail via my regular e-mail accounts by Comcast. They are claiming spam from our internet account, I believe they are blocking because of legitimate political discussion being sent out by myself.

I can receive but not send from my normal addresses, and must use webmail, yahoo groups, and blogs to speak out. This limits my access to my address lists, especially address groups in my e-mail client.

See below, give me your take on it, forward if you deem it appropriate.

Dan Stafford

*Watch this video:*
/"Americans are facing a coup as of this morning. It's happened."/ *- Naomi Wolfe*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XgkeTanCGI

This is apparently the clip of Rep. Brad Sherman talking about martial law threat if bailout bill did not pass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaG9d_4zij8

Third Party Candidates to Debate 'Real Priorities' at Vanderbilt University

9.30.08 Nashville, TN: The Coalition for October Debate Alternatives (CODA) announced today the Presidential Candidate's Alternative Debate to take place October 6th, in Nashville, Tennessee. The debate is open to all third party candidates for President in the United States as well as the major party nominees. The debate, which is scheduled to take place on the campus of Vanderbilt University on Monday, October 6th will feature several Presidential Candidates who have confirmed attendance including Brad Lyttle of the US Pacifist Party, Charles Jay of the Boston Tea Party, Frank McEnulty of the New American Independence Party and Brian Moore of the Socialist Party. The Constitution Party has also confirmed that Presidential Candidate Chuck Baldwin or Vice Presidential Candidate Darrell Castle will attend the event.

The debate, which is being organized by CODA has been in the making for several months and is scheduled to take place on Monday, October 6th at 7:00pm, one day prior to the Presidential Debates which are happening at Belmont University in Nashville on October 7th. CODA says that many of the Presidential candidates have been excluded from attending the Belmont debate.

In a recent release to the press CODA indicated that is was organizing the alternative debate because it believed that voters deserve to hear from all the candidates if they are going to make an informed choice at the ballot box, " While we want to hear what the major party candidates have to say on issues related to the war, health care, the economy, gas prices, the future direction of the military, civil liberties and the environment, we do not believe that most issues of concern to American voters will be touched by the Democrat-Republican debate. That is why we are organizing an alternative debate so that voters in Nashville, Tennessee and beyond may be informed of all their choices as they participate in America's electoral process."

The general public and the media is invited to attend this event, which will begin at 7pm on the campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The moderator for the event will be Bruce Barry, a professor at the Owen School of Management at Vanderbilt.

Chris Lugo, of the Coalition for October Debate Alternatives, said that the Democratic and Republican candidates have also been invited to the event, but have not indicated an interest in attending, "We believe that voters should make a fully informed choice about who they vote for and we do not believe this is possible if they are only hearing from two candidates. We have invited the Barack Obama and John McCain in the interest of fairness, but we are intending to highlight this alternative debate as the most egalitarian possible event by including all the candidates and promoting this as an event to which everyone is invited."

Presidential Candidate's Alternative Debate
Vanderbilt University
4309 Stevenson Center
Nashville, TN 37240

Monday October 6th
Candidate's Debate 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Light Reception to Follow Debate

For more information visit:
http://calendar.vanderbilt.edu/calendar/2008/10/06/us-presidential-debate-the-alternatives

$700Bn for a temporary fix??? NOT!!!

If we do what Bushcrew is proposing, this problem will just come back to haunt us all again in a few months and be even WORSE.

The real problem with the economy is that its primary driver - the middle class - is out of money to squeeze.

Everyone has been sqeezing and squeezing until the middle class has been bled dry - it's just that many haven't figured that out yet. They still have a little room on the credit cards, or they bought their house 15 or 20 years ago - but done the way Bushcrew wants, this will get them in the next round.

Raise property taxes every year - squeeze!

Bank fees for every little microservice the banks can think of - squeeze!

Pay more and more for every form of insurance - squeeze!

Pay for more of the medical expenses and prescriptions insurance won't cover - squeeze!

Higher - deregulated - utility bills - squeeze!

Higher gasoline taxes and income taxes and sales taxes - squeeze!

School registration fees in addition to property taxes - squeeze!

Higher college tuition fees and higher interest rates on them - squeeze!

These are just the biggest things, there are myriad littler things pinching money off the middle class. The list goes on and on and on and on.

The problem is, the middle class probably uses 4/5 or so of all the goods and services purchased every year - until this one. There's nothing left to squeeze - in fact, they've squeezed SO much that the middle class can no longer even meet obligations in addition to extras. Why do you think credit card use and debt is so high? People are buying food and gas or paying bills with them. It isn't luxury vacations or bling, its basic necessities.

4/5 of the economy can no longer afford to participate in the economy. They simply don't have the money left!

But wait! Bushcrew wants to add a little less than $3,000.00 to the bills of every man, woman, and child in the country - squeeze! - squeeze! - squeeze! - squeeze! They are going to press the body until there's not even any red moisture left in it!

Who is going to buy ANYTHING?? RICH GUYS?? Puuuuhlease!

If you have a guy with 20 cars and ten houses, guess what? he can only drive one car at a time! He can only live in one house at a time! Even if he goes to a different house every night, he will still only spend a fraction in the local economies he lives in as what 10 families in 10 houses and 20 cars would spend. The families will spend money for gas and groceries and utilities and etc. every day almost in each of the 10 houses - but the rich guy might buy gas at one house one day, groceries at the next house, toys for the kids at the next, and so on.

If the middle class isn't made middle class again, the economy will continue to tank until it stops. The middle class economic engine is out of gas. If you suck on the tank inlet until there's a huge vacuum, which is what this bailout does, you'll make the problems WORSE!

Kiss my hiney, Bush & Paulson & Wall Street. You have no economy left to bail out because you don't have a real middle class anymore. You squuezed to much, and there's nothing left. If you want to fix the economy, get the middle class truly breathing again. Otherwise that money you're slipping out of the corpse's pockets will be totally worthless in a very short while.

Dan Stafford

Democrats.com wrote:

TODAY: March Against Paulson's Plunder On Wednesday, George Bush went on TV to sweet-talk Americans into letting him steal $700 billion of our tax dollars - $2,333 for every man, woman, and child - to bail out his greedy rich friends on Wall Street. Today (Thursday) Bush will meet with Democratic and Republican leaders to finalize a deal that gives Bush nearly everything he wants, but nothing America needs: The people who caused the problem or profited most should pay for it Re-regulate to prevent this from happening again Include Main Street in the bailout and invest in a new productive economy Worst of all, it's another massive fraud. Bush lied to our faces when he promised to buy toxic securities "at their current low prices... and we expect that much, if not all, of the tax dollars we invest will be paid back." Bull. This is the same administration that promised the invasion of Iraq would pay for itself through lower oil prices. The cost of that disaster is now $3 trillion and climbing, not to mention millions dead, maimed, or exiled. So make no mistake: every penny we give Bush now will be used to greatly overpay for securities that will lose most of their value. We will pay the price for decades, which is why dozens of economists oppose Bush's fraud. Democrats.com members have sent nearly 100,000 emails to our Senators and Representatives opposing Paulson's Plunder. But Congress is moving fast, so we must too. Today (Thursday) there will be emergency afternoon street protests across the country. Please find the nearest protest and bring a sign and a friend: http://tinyurl.com/3sh2cb And call your Senators and Representative right now to say "No $700 Billion Bailout for Wall Street" - dial the Capitol switchboard at 800-473-6711 or 202-224-3121 or dial direct using the instant phone lookup on the right side of http://usalone.com And if you have not emailed your Senators and Representative, please do it now:  http://www.democrats.com/stop-paulsons-plunder Thanks for all you do! ________________ Be a "Pollworker for Democracy" This year, you have an amazing opportunity to ensure a fair election, protect the right to vote, and get paid for doing so. How? By becoming a pollworker. That's why CREDO Action is proud to sponsor the "Pollworkers for Democracy" project - a nonpartisan effort to get more people involved in protecting our elections - in order to support our democracy. We'll provide you with information to supplement your pollworker training, and also a system to report and track any problems on and before Election Day. Your county still needs pollworkers for the November 4th general election. By signing up as a pollworker, you can support our democratic system...and get paid! Click here to sign up to become a pollworker. http://tinyurl.com/6jaujd ________________ Are You Registered to Vote? Are You Sure? Republicans are working quietly to steal another election by disenfranchising Democratic voters, just as they did in 2000 and 2004. So please make sure you are registered to vote! Login to Democrats.com and click: http://www.democrats.com/voter_registration ##### Forward this message to everyone you know! To subscribe, create a free Democrats.com account here: http://www.democrats.com/user/register

Who Needs A Bailout? Reviving National Service in a Big Way

William J. Astore | Reviving National Service in a Big Way
http://www.truthout.org/092408N
William J. Astore, TomDispatch.com: "... Amazingly enough, ordinary Americans generally don't want bail-outs, nor do they want handouts. What they normally want is honorable work, decent wages, and a government willing to wake up and help them contribute to a national restoration."

Whille millions pay half their income or more on housing, Paulson's former corp is the bailout winner

No blank checks!

Millions spend half of income on housing
7.5 million struggling to survive. Parents move in with kids, up 67% to 3.6 million.
9 Replies

Revealed: Paulson's former firm to gain most from bailout

Live stream: Banking crisis hearing in House

Paulson to Congress: US in 'dire' peril

Just Say No to Corporate Bailouts

The world financial markets were rocked to their foundation this week by the news of the collapse of one of the oldest Wall Street Investment firms in American history, preceded by two of the largest bailouts in American history. If that was not news enough, the market was then knocked around again in round two when American Insurance Group (AIG) was given a 24 hours notice to raise $85 billion dollars to cover debt tied to the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Once again the federal treasury decided to bail out another corporation in the name of the American people and the stability of the marketplace. Then the mother of all bailouts was announced just before the close of business Thursday when Secretary of the Treasury announced a $700 billion dollar bailout of all remaining investment firms, banks and insurance groups. President Bush proudly proclaimed that the American people had been saved by the quick thinking and decisive actions of the US Treasury and anticipated quick passage of the trillion-dollar bailout by the House and Senate this week.

The reality of the situation is that the American taxpayers are being held responsible for the irresponsible investment decisions and speculative actions of private corporations and private investors. When the economy was booming and Wall Street was raking in record profits on fraudulent business dealings taxpayers saw none of the benefits, but when it is time to save those same corporations and their investors from the brink of irrelevance then the taxpayers are expected to foot the bill. The end result is that the investors reap all of the profits when times are good but when times are bad the American taxpayers pay the bills. This time the price tag is too high. In addition to the $650 billion dollars the federal treasury is paying annually for the defense budget plus the costs of the war in Iraq, the general public is now expected to foot a trillion dollar bill based on speculation.

Americans do not understand what the cost of the proposed bailout is in real terms, and many Americans do not realize the amount of debt that the federal government has already accrued, which is a burden to be passed on to our future generations. In real dollars, the proposal by the treasury department will cost the average taxpayer five thousand dollars and ten thousands dollars for a household of four. That is ten thousand dollars of debt that President Bush and his cabinet will leave as a legacy to compete with the shared cost of the war in Iraq, which will cost the average household nearly an additional ten thousand dollars in debt. That is a total of twenty thousand dollars in debt per household multiplied by millions of Americans equals nearly two trillion dollars that we are deeper in debt as a result of the war in Iraq and the recent proposed bailout which will in all likelihood sail through Congress this week.

It is time to say no to more corporate bailouts. The United States is already almost nine trillion dollars in debt as a result of decades of over spending on the US military combined with twenty-five years of Reagan era tax cuts for the wealthy and private corporations. Now is the time to invest in real priorities for the future by fully funding health care and education. By saying no to corporate bailouts for Wall Street we will ensure real economic opportunity for Main Street. As a candidate for federal office I oppose further corporate bailouts and I support strict regulation of Wall Street and a federal investigation into fraud and abuse of the trading system, which led to the current financial crisis. The results of decades deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthy and privileged has led to the decimation of the middle class and brought us to the edge of ruin for future generations.

There is hope for the future, and it involves electing candidates who will look out for the interest of working people and the middle class, rather than selling out every federal office to the highest bidder. By supporting campaign finance reform, progressive taxation, universal health care, a drastically reduced military budget and by placing the highest priority on funding education we can begin to move this country in the right direction. Through strict regulation of markets and a tough but conservative approach to finance and investment we can begin to regain the trust of both investors and the general public. By withdrawing our troops from the Middle East and reducing the military budget we will gain the trust and good faith of people around the world. It is time for us to invest in the people and we must begin by saying to to any further bailouts for private corporations and Wall Street and insure that our tax dollars go to real human needs and domestic priorities that benefit everyone

In Designing Their New Economic Ship Of State, Corporations Forgot What Fuels Economies - The Gas Tank Is Dry

In Designing Their New Economic Ship Of State, Corporations Forgot What Fuels Economies - The Gas Tank Is Dry

Dan Stafford - 09/22/2008

No economy works if the majority of the populace can't afford to buy anything.

This should be simple and basic. If wages are too low, and costs too high, across a broad spectrum of the population , economic activity stops. The rich will only buy so many items, being one % of the population, or so, they are not enough to "fuel" a global economy.

Right now, housing prices, fuel prices, insurance prices, and myriad other prices have risen continuously while wages have stagnated or even fallen precipitously across the USA.

The true numbers are completely unreflected in government statistics which either use outdated or arbitrary numbers designed to minimize the scope of the problem.

The world wonders at the precipitous use of credit cards and large mortgages in the USA and fails to understand why this has happened, because only so-called "fringe" voices haved dared to speak the truth; wages in the USA are worth half what they were in the 1950's and Americans have been buying NECESSITIES on credit because of it.

In the 1950's, one person in the family worked, and one person stayed home to take card of the children and the home, yet credit use was low and the bills were generally paid with a little left over for savings. Now, in many US families, BOTH parents work, often multiple jobs, and there is still not enough money coming in to meet expenses. Or, more properly, that was the case up until the past few years. Now, at this moment, many are unable to find jobs either at all, or jobs that pay anything near what they used to.

Americans are forced to commute great distances for work, as offices and jobs are in the city, and housing that is even close to being affordable is far out in the suburbs. Add to this companies constantly laying people off, while forcing the remaining employees to take on ever greater responsibilities. The vast majority of Americans work long hours, commute at least an hour and more often two, and are stressed at work by the sheer load on their shoulders and at home by the financial burden on their shoulders. They face endemic chronic sleep shortages, most average six hours a day.

Between the stress and the unhealthy lack of sleep, combined with junk additives to almost all food, obesity has become rampant. Stress and sleeplessness messes badly with the human metabolism and increases appetite. In addition, most US workers see the shortest vacation times in the "First World."

The average American is exhausted physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. This is true of a very large swath of the US population. They come home from work and drop into a chair and watch TV because they are too broke and tired to do much else. They get no time for creativity or play or in-depth relationships. They have no energy left for "bad news" because they are worn out and bombarded with it on TV.

The scale of this is vast - and by the great majority un-admitted. Being a "hard worker" has become so over-valued at the expense of feeding anything that truly recharges the soul, that people have come to see anyone gone from the office for more than two weeks at a time as a "slacker" and eccentric.

Is this any state of mind or soul to be in to make sound financial decisions, to make in-depth discussions of difficult or complex topics, or anything else of value? I don't believe so. We have become a nation of workaholics, and worse, no one could - until now at the card house's collapse - admit that we couldn't afford even all the necessities, let alone the luxuries.

Materialism then becomes the easy way for a brief emotional high. The new TV or car or clothes or whatever. "We can afford it, we have a great credit rating! Let's get out and have a nice dinner, I'm starving [stress-induced hunger pangs] and too tired to cook!"

---------------------------------

If you want people to continue purchasing goods and services at a sustainable rate and an economy that hums along fairly smoothly, people need to be fairly well-rested and happy, and have a bit of money left over after basic expenses across the majority of the population.

If you want to make a few hundred million before the crash, or the next crash, or the next, give them lots of credit and not enough money, with plenty of stress and just enough sleep to stay alive but not truly live. They won't be thinking straight and impulse buying is pitifully easy to encourage. They certainly won't tell their friends and family that they can't afford the wedding/anniversary/graduation/birthday/holiday/ insert event that you can't avoid without appearing not to care about someone.

Economically speaking, do you drive a fuel-efficient car across the country, or do you run a dragster with a tiny gas tank and a big engine until you're on the side of the road on empty?

Maybe we should all sleep on it.

It's time for All of us to weigh-in on global economic policy - NOW, before Bush grabs extreme powers over the economy

All - we need to speak loudly and clearly now, in the pivotal moments of this artificially-induced economic melt-down.

I believe that the Fascists have engineered this crisis in order to implement an unprecedented economic power grab.

The calls by Democrats and others for oversight and a plan that serves and saves everyday people needs to be supported. If every voice is not raised, there will be unprecedented human suffering as the rich seize anything and everything they wish.

The powers that Bush and Paulson are asking to be granted to the treasury, unchecked by the Judiciary, are supposed to be held by Congress, NOT the Executive via a crony appointed by Bush. The risks are grave. Some are even calling this a subtle attempted economic coup to make Bush king for corporatist interests.

"Bush administration seeks 'dictatorial power unreviewable by the third branch of government, the courts' 20 Sep 2008 The Bush administration asked Congress for unchecked power to buy $700 billion in bad mortgage investments from U.S. financial companies in what would be an unprecedented government intrusion into the markets. The bill would bar courts from reviewing actions taken under its authority. "It sounds like [Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson is asking to be a financial dictator, for a limited period of time,'' said historian John Steele Gordon, author... The Bush administration seeks "dictatorial power unreviewable by the third branch of government, the courts, to try to resolve the crisis,'' said Frank Razzano, a former assistant chief trial attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission now at Pepper Hamilton LLP in Washington. [See: Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1 for deployment during 'civil unrest,' 'horrific scenarios' 08 Sep 2008.]"

http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-Resounding-Bottom-Up-NO-by-Rob-Kall-080921-907.html

"William Greider | Paulson Bailout Plan a Historic Swindle
http://www.truthout.org/article/paulson-bailout-plan-a-historic-swindle
William Greider, The Nation: "Financial-market wise guys, who had been seized with fear, are suddenly drunk with hope. They are rallying explosively because they think they have successfully stampeded Washington into accepting the Wall Street Journal solution to the crisis: dump it all on the taxpayers. That is the meaning of the massive bailout Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has shopped around Congress. It would relieve the major banks and investment firms of their mountainous rotten assets and make the public swallow their losses - many hundreds of billions, maybe much more. What's not to like if you are a financial titan threatened with extinction?"

There are more, I couldn't begin to list them all.

We have all seen what Bush does when granted power. He mis-manages in ways that harm and kill people he and his crowd do not like. He disappears people that speak out against his methods and policies. He threatens anyone and everyone that even hints at getting in his way. He has a family history of supporting fascism going back to his grandfather working with the Nazis. Note that the definition of fascism is corporate control of the government. The U.S. is inches away from this. Do we want the trans-national corporations to have control of the U.S. purse? I think not. Nothing Bush and the people around him have done have been for the common man, they have all been for various corporate interests that stand to gain everything while the rest of us lose everything, even our basic freedoms.

We would be far better off to see an independent commission - truly independent of industry or political party - filled with experts in both economics and social policy and overseen by Congress and the Courts running any economic relief efforts, rather than handing such duties over to a Bush appointee.

I would suggest an immediate call for submissions focussed upon this issue, while there are a few moments left to speak up.

Petitions such as this one pasted below should be immediately distributed to all US Citizens on all of our lists. If the People do not speak now, they may never have another chance.

Regards,

Dan Stafford

Subject: No blank check for Wall Street.

Dear Friend,

Congress is on the brink of making a one-sided deal to give George W. Bush a blank check to bail out his pals - offering nearly (or perhaps more than) a trillion taxpayer dollars to Wall Street to cover its bad debts. That works out to somewhere between $2000 and $5000 from every American family. So what do the taxpayers get in return?

Nothing. No new regulation or oversight to help avoid this kind of crisis in the future. No public interest givebacks to help people whose homes are in the hands of the banks. Perhaps most shockingly of all, the taxpayers get absolutely no share in the profits if and when these finance giants bounce back, even though we are now assuming a great deal of the risk.

This is worse than a bad deal - this isn't a deal at all. This is a blank check to some of the richest companies in the world.

I just signed a petition calling on key members of Congress to impose a few sensible conditions to this bailout in order to protect the American people -- I hope you will too.

Please have a look and take action.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/no_blank_check/?r_by=-76391-IelSC.x&rc=paste

Thanks!

Re: [CitizensTruth] FW: You were made for this.......

This is the right frame of heart - DS

Robin Migalla wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> This brought me great hope...
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2008 14:10
> Subject: FW: You were made for this.......
>
> Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:12:29 -0400From:
> peacemaker.ymani@gmail.comSubject: You were made for this.......
>
> A wonderful reminder from Clarissa Pinkola Estes:
>
> You were made for this
>
> My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have
> heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They
> are concerned about the state of affairs in our world now. Ours is a time
> of daily astonishment and often righteous rage over the latest degradations
> of what matters most to caring, visionary, civilized people. You are right
> in your assessments. The lustre and hubris, the bald faced audacity that
> some are engaged inwhile endorsing acts so heinous against children,
> elders, everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, this mother
> earth, is breathtaking. Yet I urge you, ask you, gentle you . . . to please
> not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do
> not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is, we were made for
> these times. Yes. For years we have been learning, practicing, been in
> training for, and just waiting to meet, on this exact plain of engagement .
> . . I grew up on the great lakes, and recognize a seaworthy vessel when I
> see one. Regarding awakened souls, there have never been more able vessels
> in the water than there are right now, across the world. They are fully
> provisioned and able to signal one another as never before in the history
> of humankind. Look out over the prow; there are millions of righteous souls
> on the waters with you. Even though your veneers may shiver from every wave
> in the stormy roil, I assure you, that the long timbers composing your prow
> and rudder, come from a greater forest. That long grained lumber is known
> to withstand even the fiercest storms. To hold together. To hold its own,
> and to advance, regardless. In any dark time there is a tendency to veer
> towards fainting, over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not
> focus on that. There is a tendency too, to fall into being weakened by
> dwelling on what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus
> there either. That is spending the wind, without raising the sails. We are
> needed, that is all we can know. And though we meet resistance, we will
> also meet great souls who will hail us, love us, guide us, and we will know
> them when they appear. Didn't you say you were a believer? Didn't you say
> you are pledged to listen to a voice greater? Didn't you ask for grace?
> Please remember . . .that to be in grace means to follow a voice greater.
> Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of
> stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any
> small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another, to assist some
> portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given
> to us to know which acts, or by whom,will cause the critical mass to tip
> towards an enduring good and transformative shift. What is needed for
> dramatic change is an accumulation of acts great and small, adding, adding
> to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on
> earth to bring justice and peace, but small determined groups and
> individuals who will not give upduring the first, second, or hundreth gale.
> One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a
> stormy world, is to stand up and show your soul. A soul on deck, shines
> like gold in dark times. The light of such a soul throws sparks, sends up
> flames, builds signal fires, causes the proper matters to catch fire. You,
> as much as anyone else, are this soul. And to display the lantern of the
> soul in shadowy times like these, to be fierce when necessary and yet show
> mercy toward others, both are acts of immense bravery and of greatest
> necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are brightly
> lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the turbulence,this
> is one of the strongest things you can do. There will often be times when
> you feel discouraged. I too have felt this despair many times in my life.
> But I do not keep a chair for it. I will not entertain it. It is not
> allowed to eat from my plate. The reason is this: In my uttermost bones I
> know something, as do you. It is that there can be no lasting despair when
> you remember why you came to earth, what you are here for, who you serve,
> and why. The good words we say and the good deeds we do, are not ours. They
> are the words and deeds of the love and life that brought us here. In that
> spirit, I hope you may write this on your wall: When a great ship is in
> harbor and tied to the pier, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But that
> is not, what great ships are built for. - Clarissa Pinkola Estes -
> _______________________________________________
> CitizensTruth mailing list
> CitizensTruth@six.pairlist.net
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/citizenstruth
> website: http://citizenstruth.info
>
>

Freedom of Assembly Shall Not Be Infringed

In support of the right to protest.

There is a long and venerable tradition in our culture which has helped to shape the character of this nation. The right to protest and peacefully address grievances to our elected officials, the media, and the general public is a fundamental aspect of American citizenship. The right to peacefully assemble to express concern about all matters of public policy is older than the formation of this country and is the foundation of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. When colonists felt the burden of excessive taxation during English rule, their first step as subjects of the rule of law of England was to address their concerns to the magistrates and officials of their day. The very act of expressing dissent is a hallmark of an engaged community.

I have just returned from two weeks of expressing dissent to the leadership of the Democratic and Republican parties. My activities, along with those of thousands of other peaceful protesters was aimed at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado and the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. As a candidate who is committed to peace and ending war, I hold both major parties accountable for the hundreds of billions of our taxpayer dollars which have been wasted on war and the senseless killing which has taken place in the name of my alleged freedom. As a citizen, I am outraged at the continuation of policies which have taken the lives of tens of thousands of Iraqis and I hold the leadership of both major parties responsible for this state of affairs.

What I encountered in Denver and especially in St. Paul has shaken the faith of my belief in government. I have always believed that the role of protest was crucial to the American dialogue, and that dissent was tolerated in this country, although not always supported. I understand the resistance to change and the fear that dissenters create in the general public. We have always been only marginally tolerated, from the times of the American revolution to the abolitionists to the suffragists to the unionists, dissenters have always taken risks, but the rewards of their efforts have been to the benefit of all Americans, whether it be the right to vote, the forty hour work week, the end of slavery or the very creation of this country, dissent has always played a fundamental role in the creation of those rights.

In St. Paul, Minnesota, during the week of September 1st-4th the right to protest and peacefully assemble was greatly impinged upon by local, state and federal officials. It was also greatly diminished in Denver, Colorado but to a lesser extent. At the Republican National Convention protests I personally witnessed peaceful protesters demonstrating against war being beaten by police, nearly trampled by horses, dispersed with tear gas and concussion grenades, and everywhere treated as dangerous criminals and as a threat to the government. I participated in a march led by mothers with children in strollers that was blockaded on several occasions by national guard troops in full paramilitary gear. I witnessed homeless people marching for the right to housing being dispersed by security police in riot gear wearing gas masks and carrying beating sticks that were in excess of two feet long. I witnessed journalists and legal observers rounded up by the police and detained prior to mass arrests of hundreds.

A government that cannot tolerate the dissent of its citizens is a terrible burden upon freedom and democracy. The right to dissent plays a healthy, vital role in the national dialogue. It is only through dissent that we can often see the ugly face of actions which the wealthy and powerful would prefer to remain hidden. The victims of war deserve to be heard and the rights of the people should not be infringed upon by any force to express their dissent from policies which are morally abhorrent. It is my sincere hope that I never again witness state, local and federal police and security officials engaging in violent and intimidating gestures against the citizens they are suppose to be protecting and whose rights it is their responsibility to protect.

As a candidate for federal office I do not and will not support such excessive use of force and the wasteful spending of tens of millions of dollars in order to intimidate and suppress dissent. I will support the active and engaged expression of the concerns of citizens which is the hallmark of the democratic process.

for more information and archival coverage of
the DNC and RNC protests please visit:

http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2008/9
http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2008/8
http://mobilebroadcastnews.com/
http://www.youtube.com/chris4senate