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Coburn Holding Up Critical Vets Bill

SarahBurris — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:41:27 GMT

The Army Times today announced that Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn is the one responsible for holding up a major veterans benefits bill.

"Coburn has been identified by Senate aides as the lawmaker preventing consideration of S 1963, the Veterans' Caregiver and Omnibus Health Benefits Act of 2009, by using an informal but legal practice of putting a hold on a bill. . .
Earlier this fall, Coburn placed holds on S 252, the Veterans Health Care Authorization Act of 2009, and S 728, the Veterans' Insurance and Benefits Enhancement Act of 2009, which led to the introduction of S 1963, which combines key provisions of the two earlier bills in an effort to get around Coburn's opposition.
In a letter sent Monday night to the Senate majority leader, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the 13 military and veterans groups ask the Senate to get on with it.
"It is essential that Congress act on this comprehensive measure without further delay," the letter reads. "Thousands of disabled veterans with serious medical conditions and the family members who care for them are counting on this additional support."
The letter says passing the bill by Veterans Day would be a "fitting way" to honor veterans."

Oklahoma honors its veterans, and I find it totally unacceptable for a Senator to be holding up legislation that would help take care of our veterans in such an unstable economy when everyone is hurting.

All voters, regardless of partisanship stand up for our troops and our veterans, Oklahomans shouldn't stand for Coburn's hold on this bill.

Please contact his office here:

Washington D.C.:
172 Russell Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Main: 202-224-5754
Fax: 202-224-6008

Tulsa:
1800 South Baltimore
Suite 800
Tulsa, OK 74119
Main: 918-581-7651
Fax: 918-581-7195

Oklahoma City:
100 North Broadway
Suite 1820
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
Main: 405-231-4941
Fax: 405-231-5051

Last chance: Health care town hall tomorrow (Nov. 5) in OKC

OKWatchdog — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:26:49 GMT

We've all been following the national health care debate. But what most people don't realize is that state governments have many of the same powers at their disposal as Congress and will be called upon to implement whatever Congress passes.

So, shameless plug alert: You can help influence what we do as a state by attending an Oklahomans for Health Care Reform town hall meeting Thursday at Metro Tech, Springlake Campus, from 6 to 8 p.m. This will be the sixth and final town hall meeting we conduct. We will then begin compiling people's stories and survey results and write a report to give to legislators before next session, as well as draft a legislative agenda.

To do this, we need you there.

Previous meetings have been in Noble, Lawton, Muskogee, Stillwater and Broken Arrow.

The format will be open, with audience members sharing their stories and suggesting solutions to make Oklahomans healthier and provide better access to care. We moderate the discussions but depend on the audience and legislators to keep things interesting.

Rep. Mike Ritze, R-Broken Arrow; Rep. Eric Proctor, D-Tulsa; and Sen. Jim Wilson, D-Tahlequah, attended our last meeting and had very different views on health care reform. It made for a worthwhile two hours.

Oklahomans for Health Care Reform is nonpartisan and focuses on state-specific solutions rather than waiting for Congress to act.

WHO: Oklahomans for Health Care Reform (www.okhealthcarereform.com)
WHAT: Last in a series of town-hall meetings throughout the state
WHERE: Metro Tech, Spring Lake Campus, 36th & MLK Blvd., OKC
WHEN: 6 to 8 p.m. Nov 5

On Being A Government DJ, Or, "Torture? You Call That Torture?"

fake consultant — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:21:25 GMT

It's become more or less common knowledge that US forces have been using music as an operational tool for some time now, and I've begun seeing lists of the songs that are being used either to inflict pain, to demoralize, or to just generally disorient various people in various sorts of situations.

There are others, wiser than I, who will opine as to the questions of efficacy and the moral issues surrounding these kinds of operations; I will opine, instead, as to the quality of the songs used.

Frankly, had anyone asked, I could have put the torturers onto much better musical choices, just by selecting from my own "My Music" folder--which left me thinking: "hey, it's the weekend...why not do exactly that?"

Got any psychological warfare mission planned for the weekend? Expecting to have to direct amplified sound at an angry mob in a defensive maneuver Saturday night? Planning a Halloween haunted house that goes a bit...fuurther?

Come along with me then, soldier, and I'll provide you a playlist that should do the trick in almost any foreseeable emergency.
Before we go any further, a word of warning: some of the links in this story will lead to material that is extraordinarily offensive and, in some cases, exceptionally distressing in nature.

If you are reading this, and you're, say, eleven years old, go get your parents and make them read this with you so that they can also learn about some sweet death metal; later on you can all listen to better music in the car on family outings.

What's On Guantanamo's iPod?

So the obvious first question: what songs are the government using?

If the lists that I've been seeing can be believed, there is a fair collection of songs being used to create "environmental manipulation", including songs like Eminem's "White America" and "Kim", the obvious choices like "Born in the USA", songs from the super-patriotic county song genre like that "boot in your ass" song, sexually suggestive songs like Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty" (which has a waaaay dirtier video than lyrics...), and a heavy diet of heavy metal. (According to Justine Sharrock's reporting at Mother Jones, MPs on duty in the detention facilities would often be making the choices about what detainees would hear.)

"The healthy man does not torture others -- generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers."
--Carl Jung

The odd thing about the metal: most of the songs seem to be far more tame than what they could have found--and a lot of the songs are actually among my "Rocktober" favorites...although at least one song was new to me, and I liked it, too.

Examples included Nine Inch Nail's "March of the Pigs", AC~DC's "Hell's Bells", Drowning Pool's "Bodies", Mettalica's "Enter Sandman", and a song by Deicide that I had never heard before...but, to borrow from "American Bandstand", it had a great death metal beat and you could mosh to it.

Now if it had been me in there, I would have suggested, for starters, some good old New Orleans Goatwhore, like "Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult", or maybe some delightful Cannibal Corpse ("Barbaric Bludgeonings" being a good place to start), or perhaps something that draws from Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" concept, like "Upper Decker", by The Red Chord.

One of my friends suggested I consider a Norwegian Black Metal band (which is a good choice due to the Satanic messages that are literally at the core of the music); and you can't go wrong with either Gorgoroth's most excellent "Carving a Giant" or a selection from Emperor's "The Nightside Eclipse" (which should also be mandatory for any haunted house soundtrack anywhere).

Did You Say Sex?

Songs with gay-oriented themes work in both PsyOps and "friendly" haunted house environments; my suggestions would include two long-time favorites: The Mike Flowers Pops' rendition of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" (which actually manages to be amazingly perky, unabashedly "pop", samples "The Macarena", and, despite all that, doesn't suck), or, when you're ready for the big guns, the Keta-Men's super-masculine, give-it-a-beat, four-part-harmony reworking of Sheryl Crow's "Strong Enough"; which should be effective, as I said, for any PsyOps you may have planned--or any friendly haunting.

As for other songs with a sexual connection: well, you could do a lot better than Christina Aguilera. How about, just to get things rolling, 20 Fingers and Gilette's "Short Dick Man" ...and then, after midnight, you gotta dig up the impotent sea snakes' "Kangaroos (Up the Butt)" (which is, indeed, about an Australian lifestyle choice gone horribly, horribly, wrong).

Apparently songs like "Wind Beneath My Wings", "Mandy", Air Supply's "Lost in Love", the entire Celine Dion catalog, and Morris Albert's unforgettable "Feelings" (unforgettable? After you hear it, you wish you could forget it...) did not make the list (although the public record is incomplete, and that may yet prove to be incorrect). The "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack apparently did make the cut, which confirms some theories I've had about the Brothers Gibb and torture that date back to the 1970s...but that's a subject for another day.

It also appears that no one went for the industrial/dance bands, and as far as I'm concerned, no serious haunted house (or PsyOps mission) is complete until the Negativland comes out to play--but there's a lot of other top-quality disorienting and jarring music available, including music from :wumpscut: and ohGr and Einst?rzende Neubauten...or even Twink's "Pussy Cat".

Finally, a few words about what might be the cruelest songs to make it on the list.

The theme from the Meow Mix commercials made the list.

The Sesame Street theme song made the list.

And, finally, in what might be the most barbaric act ever perpetrated by the American Government...Barney the purple dinosaur's "I Love You", a song you always said was torture to have to listen to, has now actually been used to soften up detainees for interrogation at Guantanamo Bay.

Amazingly, the song that might be the worst ever to have deployed against you in any PsyOps operation--or any haunted house, for that matter--is not on any list I've seen so far: the theme from the Disney ride "It's a Small World". I can testify to this personally: as a kid at Disneyland I was stuck on the ride, one summer day, for about an hour-and-a-half.

All I can say...is that it changes you.

Check out the link. It's almost 11 minutes long, and I challenge you to sit through the whole thing. If you do make it, I challenge you to get that song out of your head...ever...again. Good luck.

On A New System (Sort Of), Or, Referendum 71 And Mail-In Voting

fake consultant — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:51:03 GMT

We are now about two weeks away from the November election in Washington State, and one item on the ballot that has national attention is Referendum 71, the so-called "everything but marriage" proposal that would give same-sex couples more rights and protections than they have today.

There has been a lot of conversation about whether it will or won't pass--and a lot of conversation about whether it should pass.

I hope it does, and if you live here I encourage you to vote "yes" November 3rd.

But that said, you may not be aware that Washington has an electoral system in transition, and that as a result of the transition Washington has some idiosyncrasies that will make forecasting the results a bit tougher, and determining the results a bit slower.

We'll talk about that today, and by the time we're done you should have an appreciation of the odd way in which things can work out--and that, absent a landslide, we aren't likely to know the results on Election Day.
These Are Not Normal Times

We have the strangest weather here: it is not quite 50 degrees F. as I write this, in midafternoon; but by tonight it's expected to get warmer as the rain moves in.

In normal times, this is the kind of thing experts would be considering as they tried to estimate what turnout might be in the upcoming election-but these are not normal times. After the November '08 election, Washington, following Oregon's lead, became the second "vote-by-mail" state, and now the question has become not whether weather will impact the turnout...but if it will matter at all.

"Democracy is only an experiment in government, and it has the obvious disadvantage of merely counting votes instead of weighing them."
--Dean William Ralph Inge, "Possible Recovery?"

The first unusual thing about Election Day in Washington is that there no longer is an Election Day. Voting now begins when the ballots begin to arrive in voters' homes (20 days before Election Day), and as of Sunday, October 25th, King County Elections (Washington's largest county; the county that includes Seattle and almost 1/3 of the State's population) reports that 8.59% of the ballots are already in. All ballots with a postmark before November 4th will be counted, which means there will be new ballots arriving for several days after the "polls close".

(As you may have guessed, each county operates their own elections office. All elections in the State are regulated by the Washington Secretary of State, which is also the office that handles paperwork for State-level candidates, initiatives, and referenda.)

This is driving the professional political community nuts, because it means every day there is a smaller pool of voters to influence, even though the cost of advertising time isn't going down. Additionally, it is at the moment unclear exactly who has voted and how; over time, I think we'll begin to see patterns emerge.

For example, in King County in this election cycle, the locations most likely to have already voted are, for the most part, the wealthiest regions of the county. A group of six communities clustered around Bill Gates' house all have "in" rates above 10.5%, including three above 13%. The Town of Beaux Arts Village is at the top of that pack, running almost double the countywide rate at 16.74%.

The other communities most likely to have already voted are among the most rural in the County. Skykomish has 16.31% in, Enumclaw 12%. Unincorporated rural King County, however, is only running 8.49%, suggesting that the trend to vote early among the wealthy is more predictable than that same trend among the rural voters.

Among the many communities with average "in rates", however, are clusters of low- and upper-income housing-and that's where it is impossible to determine precisely who's voted already and who is left to influence. With polling reports on Election Day you can track by precinct (and that type of tracking will be available after November 3rd), but for now an effective method of tracking has not emerged.

We assume that over time we'll see the development of some form of "exit polling" of those who have already voted...but this is the first significant election since all-mail voting began, and prediction tools are as of yet untested.

"Message, We Have A Problem"

All of this is affecting advertising-after all, if you don't know what portion of the electorate has already voted, how do you target your message to the remaining voters? When we get a week out, if we have 20% or more of the ballots in, this question will begin to loom very large as campaigns have to decide whether they have spent enough campaign dollars to buy airtime...or not...and whether the target audience they seek to influence is actually responding to the message...or not.

This all becomes even tougher to figure out because it's a series of state and local races that are being contested in this election; as a result there is no daily tracking poll data available from which we might draw some near real-time conclusions.

Speaking of polling data: here's some. A Survey USA poll conducted October 3rd and released October 6th of 548 likely voters suggests R-71 was winning 45%-42%. Women were both more likely to vote for the measure and more unsure as to how they would vote, relative to men (48% yes, 36% no, 16% unsure for females; 42% yes, 46% no, 12% unsure for males).

Voters 35-49 were simultaneously the least supportive of the measure and the most unsure as to how they'll vote (35% approve, 49% reject, with 20% unsure). Voters over 65, the group most likely to vote, were supporting the measure (44%-40%, 16% unsure) as of October 6th.

The poll has a 4% margin of error, and some of these results are within that range, so as of October 6th this was still a race that's very much up for grabs.

There are no Federal or State offices being contested in this election, and the only other statewide ballot issue, Initiative 1033, seeks to limit the growth of State income. The presence of the two ballot measures is likely to increase voting by 3% to 8%. It is suggested that a lower turnout will help the anti-71 crowd, a higher turnout, the pro-71 crowd.

All of this has had a major impact on "get out the vote" efforts as well-for example, no one volunteers to drive voters to polling places anymore...because there aren't any polling places left. (There are a few exceptions for the disabled.) Instead, the effort here is to make sure those ballots get in mailboxes before Election Day.

It is possible to construct ads that attempt to "close the deal": suggesting, in the last 20 days, that voters vote right now for or against the candidate or issue, but I haven't seen ads of that type yet.

Finally, a few words about the "after Election Day" action. If this election is close, the number of votes that are in the mail in the days following the close of voting (and where they're from) will be critical-and in the '08 cycle 50% of the total votes cast were in that "in the mail" category.

(Washington has been moving to voting by mail for some time, and in the 2008 cycle more than 90% of the votes cast were mail-in ballots. At that time 37 of the State's 39 counties were voting entirely by mail.)

The bad news: it could take anywhere from several days to several weeks before we absolutely know the results. This process may include "reevaluation" of votes after Election Day and efforts by either party to disallow votes based on what they think they can get away with, and the result could be litigation.

The good news: there are no electronic voting machines in this system, and every ballot is a paper ballot. This means we can determine, eventually, exactly how the votes were cast-and if it takes a few recounts before we know the results, well, that's what it will take.

So as of right now, that's where we're at: it's the first major election since mail-in voting was adopted statewide, we are not sure of exactly how the impact of early voting is being felt, even though we know that almost 10% of the votes are in, professionals are still not exactly sure of what's going on, and there should be a higher turnout due to the fact that we have two questions on the ballot for the entire voting public to consider.

Don't expect a final result on Election Night, and if we do have to go to a recount, there won't be any electronic voting machines to screw things up. Instead, every vote will be on a paper ballot. Most importantly of all: this ain't Florida, we've been through recent close elections and recounts before-and we were able to work things out just fine.

Fighting The White House for the Public Option

SarahBurris — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:50:57 GMT

I reported late yesterday afternoon that a deal had been made and the White House was talking down the Senate on the Public Option because it wasn't going to be bi-partisan. (Never mind that it didn't stop the White House from signing the stimulus bill earlier this year)

So, a local group in Maine has launched an ad targeting Sen. Olympia Snow who represents a state that went for Obama by 58% to 40% of the vote. They also started a national petition to the President to show support for the Public Option. I urge you to sign it and see how we can show the White House that its not ok to play politics with our health care for the appearance of bi-partisanship with the Party of No.

"Every day, insurance companies deny care and let people die. Getting one Republican senator's vote is not worth delaying reform -- too many real lives are at stake. We need you to fight and state clearly that anything less than a strong public option is not change we can believe in." Sign here."

Fallin Likes it Both Ways

alicescheshirecat — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:45:36 GMT

Rep. Mary Fallin is no stranger to having whatever she wants. But today, she's trying to convince us that she loves small hometown businesses.

The McCarville Report says this morning

"Congresswoman Mary Fallin today said Democrats are targeting small businesses during the worst economic recession in a generation to finance a federal takeover of health care.
Fallin joined other Republicans in speaking on behalf of the 70,000 small businesses in Oklahoma which would be saddled with $800 billion in tax increases if the Democrats' proposal passes.
"In Oklahoma, as in the rest of the United States, small businesses are the bread and butter of our economy. Over 97 percent of Oklahoma's businesses are small businesses, who employ over six hundred thousand of our workers and provide over 50 percent of our state's jobs," Fallin said. "During these trying economic times, Democrats want to pay for their federal takeover of health care with a surtax on approximately half of them."

Oh really? Funny you say that because yesterday @RepMaryFallin retweeted John Bohner by saying

"Nearly 3/4 of Americans back "allowing people to buy health insurance across state lines": http://is.gd/4w5aA #tcot #okgop"

Interesting, over the course of Fallin's work in Congress she has taken $185,550 from health care workers, and $54,075 from insurance, and $213,500 from the Health Sector including political action committees, according to OpenSecrets.

Its good to see that Fallin wants to take money from Oklahomans and then vote against them. The kind of policy Bohner is pushing is a lot like what credit card companies do. The laws are so lax in Connecticut that every major credit card company has banks in their state and consumers get hosed. The same will be true for health care. One rogue state will pass laws that enable the race to the bottom, and it won't be Oklahoma. We've been pretty good about consumer protections in Oklahoma.

If Fallin loves small businesses so much, why does she want to sink the Oklahoma insurance businesses we have here?

John Kerry to Speak to Youth on Clean Energy

SarahBurris — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:47:04 GMT

Consequences, the youth outreach organization fighting global warming and demanding a sensible solution to the climate crisis, has announced a special conference call next Tuesday with Sen. John Kerry.

According to their email

"Senator Kerry will engage young people across the country to talk about this historic moment in the fight for clean energy. Senator Kerry, the author of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, understands the importance of youth action on the climate issue and wants to hear from us."

The call will take place this upcoming Tuesday, October 27th at 9pm eastern. You can RSVP on their website here.

Health care reform town hall tour continues in Broken Arrow

OKWatchdog — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:49:28 GMT

Northeastern Oklahoma residents will have the opportunity to share their health care experiences and concerns next week at the fifth of Oklahomans for Health Care Reform's ongoing town hall meetings throughout the state.

Oklahomans for Health Care Reform kicked off the series in Noble in July.

The format in Broken Arrow will be open, with audience members sharing their stories and suggesting solutions to make Oklahomans healthier and provide better access to care.

Oklahomans for Health Care Reform is an alliance of consumers, small businesses, patient advocates, medical professionals and others who are sick and tired of seeing health insurance companies deny care and kill life-saving legislation.

Oklahomans for Health Care Reform seeks to draw attention to the need for increased oversight of the under-regulated industry and greater fairness in how it treats policyholders.

Oklahomans for Health Care Reform is nonpartisan and focuses on state-specific solutions rather than waiting for Congress to act. The group was formed to provide a voice for regular Oklahomans in health care issues, advocate for health care change and promote projects and services for a healthier state.

Participants will include legislators; state agency personnel; small-business owners; patients, doctors and health care providers; and anyone who is interested in providing policymakers with reliable information for use in upcoming legislative sessions.

The town hall will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 26 at Northeastern State University-Broken Arrow in the second-floor ballroom, Building A.

Come share your stories and concerns.

A Better Deal 2009

SarahBurris — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:25:29 GMT

I'm at A Better Deal, for young people who are trying to navigate the economy in such troubling times. We've told you these stats before: youth have twice the unemployment than the rest of the country despite having twice the education, 1/3 of Millennials don't have health insurance at all, and many more are under insured...

These are all things we're talking about in the next two days at a Better Deal 2009. Follow on Twitter #abd09 or here is the live stream online. Or watch below. I'm about to also upload the welcome remarks.

Broadcasting Live with Ustream.TV

From Washington: Today's Press Conference for Young People

SarahBurris — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:37:10 GMT

Speaker Nancy Pelosi along with Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA) held a press conference with representatives from several youth organizations in support of the Young Adult Health Coverage Act which allows young Americans remain on their health insurance plan until they turn 26.

According to the Speaker

"Young adults are the most uninsured group in the country. They often lose coverage at age 19 when they graduate from high school or a few years later when they graduate from college. Once they enter the workforce, they face new obstacles to getting insurance. Today, they are speaking out and their voices are being heard. For many weeks, young Americans have added to the call to the chorus for reform. They have offered specific proposals about health insurance reform that works for everyone.
Our legislation answers their call by: ending discrimination based on pre-existing medical conditions, capping out-of-pocket costs, focusing on preventive care, investing in workforce training to boost the number of primary care doctors and nurses, creating a health insurance exchange to give Americans a better deal in the individual insurance market, and speaking personally, a public option in the House bill. Today, I'm pleased to announce that our bill will allow young people to stay on their parents' policy until their 27th birthday if they need it.
Our young people are our future. This is our opportunity to lay a foundation for growth, progress, and prosperity for our youth, and provide affordable, quality health care to every American. It is an opportunity we will not miss."

The Speaker has been a consistent ally to the youth movement, frequently lending her leadership to issues that support my generation. Reps. Van Hollen and Dahlkemper should be proud of their work on something so meaningful in the health care battle.

Thomas Frank in OKC This Weekend

DocHoc — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:41:19 GMT

Thomas Frank, the author of the bestselling book, What's The Matter With Kansas?, will be in Oklahoma City this weekend.

Frank will sign books at Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, at 3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 10 and then will conduct a question and answer session after showings of the movie version of his popular book. The movie will be shown at 5:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Dr.

I wrote about Frank in 2004 on Okie Funk here and here.

Here's a trailer for the movie:

Joblessness discussed in Ed and Labor Committee Hearing

SarahBurris — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:31:46 GMT

As part of the continued outreach from the 80 Million Strong program national co-chair Matthew Segal from the Student Association for Voter Empowerment testified before the Education and Labor Committee this morning.

Congress to Hold Hearings on Youth Unemployment

SarahBurris — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:23:50 GMT

Just recieved this release and thought I'd just post the whole thing:

Contact: Matthew Segal, SAVE executive director, 847-502-5012, matthew.segal(at)savevoting.org;
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 30, 2009
WASHINGTON, DC- The Committee on Education and Labor in the U.S. House of Representatives has announced it will hold a hearing this Thursday, October 1st at 10am entitled "Ensuring Economic Opportunities for Young Americans." The hearing was scheduled as a result of a conference organized by the 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs Coalition, which convened hundreds of young leaders in the U.S Capitol to urge Congress to examine the disproportionate effects of the economic recession on young Americans.
Data shows that youth unemployment is nearly double the national average:
18% of all 16-24 year olds are unemployed compared to a 9.7% national average (BLS)

Young African-American unemployment has climbed to 27.3% (BLS)

Young Latino unemployment stands at 21.37% (BLS)

Undergraduate debt from student loans averages $27,000 per graduate

$2000 dollars is the average amount of credit card debt by the age of 24

30% of young people are uninsured, the highest of any age group, according to the Kaiser Foundation

To address this crisis head-on, nearly thirty of the nation's leading youth organizations launched the 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs Coalition, working collaboratively to endorse various policy platforms that will create jobs and economic opportunity for the 80 million members of the millennial generation.
The coalition's proposals center on four areas: increasing entrepreneurship resources, student debt reform, access to public service careers, and the creation of "mission critical" jobs that tap young talents.
"In a recession, young people are great sources of innovation and entrepreneurship - yet because of predatory lending and debt, our generation is also more hamstrung at an earlier age than we have ever been. We need some breathing room in which to create new ideas for a new economy," said 80MS national co-chair Matthew Segal, executive director of Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE). "Young people are inherently entrepreneurial. We need a legislative environment that supports, not burdens, young ideas," stated Segal.
"In order to strengthen the American economy, we must invest in young adults today," said 80MS co-chair Hilary Doe, director of Roosevelt Institute Campus Network. "Our parents and grandparents have been hit hard by this crisis; their security and retirement is on the line. The Millennial generation is already stepping up by going home and working hard to support their families. We cannot leave this young generation crippled with debt and waiting for jobs; we need to help them stand up and lead the new economy, lifting the burden off all generations in the process."
"Whether it be providing grant money to low-income youth for historically unpaid service and internship positions or increasing access to community college, many Americans need more opportunities to get the skills and training they need to build the 21st century economy that will power our country for the future," said Maya Enista, CEO of Mobilize.org and co-chair of the 80MS coalition. "And by investing in mission critical sectors like health care, national security, and green jobs, our Congress can further grow our economy by opening new opportunities where young people are ready to serve, and where our nation most needs our labor."
News of Thursday's hearing comes just weeks after the 80 Million Strong Coalition issued a formal letter to House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) requesting a hearing to exhibit the financial concerns of young Americans. "This is a big victory for young people," said Matthew Segal, "we are confident that Thursday's hearing will demonstrate how our generation has developed and expanded its record-breaking civic engagement since the 2008 election."
For more info, please visit http://80millionstrong.org

Share your health care story in Stillwater

OKWatchdog — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:35:20 GMT

You are cordially invited to attend the Oklahomans for Health Care Reform Town Hall meeting in Stillwater on 24th. The event will be hosted at the Sheerar Museum from 6 to 8 p.m. The Sheerer Museum is located at 702 S. Duncan.

Oklahomans for Health Care Reform was formed to provide our citizens a voice in health care issues that affect their everyday lives. Our mission is to advocate for change in our health care system, promote existing programs and develop local and state programs that offer education, assistance or services for making Oklahoma a healthier state.

Oklahomans for Health Care Reform is a non-partisan organization that seeks solutions to existing health care problems to provide a real voice on behalf of our citizens to local and state officials and legislators regarding health care issues in Oklahoma.

The Town Hall meeting in Stillwater is a continuation in a series of meetings planned across Oklahoma this year.

We are encouraging medical practitioners, local business leaders, local town officials, state agency officials and legislators to attend the series of meetings to listen to issues from our citizens and to provide necessary information and discussion.

Visit www.okhealthcarereform.com for more information.

Askins Launches Women Outreach Program

alicescheshirecat — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:34:53 GMT

I just received an email from the Askins Campaign about a new program they are launching called Power of the Purse for women who want to help both raise money for Lt. Governor Askins and women who want to work to help connect the Lt. Governor to their communities.

While this is a normal every day kind of thing I really like the video which (for once) features both young and older women. Great to see young professionals getting involved in politics, particularly women.

Text Below:

Dear Alice,
Sunday afternoon, with the enthusiasm of so many of our supporters, we launched the "Power of the Purse." Throughout the past nine months, Jari has heard from thousands of women who want to help in her campaign for governor, but they aren't sure how to get involved.
What is POP?
"Power of the Purse", or POP for short, is a group of women who know the power of working and giving to help other women succeed.
In today's political environment, any successful campaign for political office requires dedicated individuals who participate in the campaign process by dedicating their time and financial resources to support their candidate. POP gives women a forum to support Jari Askins to be our next governor of the great state of Oklahoma!
Why Women?
So many women come together to support issues and work for causes and candidates they believe in. Women have natural networks in their lives through friendships, family, churches, charities, work, and social groups. POP is a network that helps women find the resources they need to help spread the word about and raise money for Jari's campaign.
Become a member of POP today!
Host an Event: We are looking for women all over the state of Oklahoma, who'd like to host a POP event in their community to allow their friends to get to know Jari! Fill out the form here or email Michelle at the address listed below.
Join us on Facebook: We have set up a Facebook page for POP members.
We are looking forward to making this program a success for Jari! With your commitment, we can grow our numbers to thousands, and combine our efforts to make Jari the next Governor of Oklahoma!
Sincerely,
The POP Team
P.S. If you have more questions, or want to join in our efforts, please contact Michelle Tilley Johnson at 405-826-0841, or email her at tilleyjohnson(at)gmail.com

Blumenthal: Who Created the Right and Who Funds It

SarahBurris — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:12:01 GMT

I was going to write about this on Friday but I totally slacked off, so forgive me. The Progressive Book Club has selected Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party By Max Blumenthal as the next book that progressives must read.

On the PBC site is a substantial excerpt of Max's experience at the RNCC last year (partial excerpt below)

Suddenly, the floor of the 2008 Republican National Convention is in rapture, having just heard vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin taunt Barack Obama as an unqualified elitist, assail the liberal media, and bill herself as "an average hockey mom." The man at the top of the ticket, John McCain, would speak the following night, but Palin, a charismatic culture warrior, was the spark that ignited the party base.
When the chant finally died down, three country music stars stepped to the stage to perform a patriotic musical mash-up. John Rich and Gretchen Wilson stared deeply into one another's eyes, singing the national anthem, while Cowboy Troy, an African American singer known as the "king of hick-hop," stood off to the side, reciting lines from the pledge of allegiance. Gales of spontaneous cheers rose from the crowd when Cowboy Troy proclaimed, "One nation under God." From my position to the immediate left of the stage, standing next to the Pennsylvania delegation, Cowboy Troy was the only African American I could see among a sea of gray hair and white faces. After the pledge of allegiance, as Rich broke into "Raisin' McCain," a honky-tonk campaign anthem that extols McCain "goin' down in Vietnam town," a handsome middle-aged black man in a suit brushed by me, heading rapidly toward the arena exit. He was Lynn Swann, the Hall of Fame National Football League wide receiver and failed Republican gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania in 2006.
"Mr. Swann, where are the rest of the black people?" I asked him.
He paused, shrugged his shoulders, and kept walking. Then, before disappearing into the crowd, he turned and blurted out, "We need to do more."

After covering the religious right for 6 years (without going nuts) Max details the fall of the GOP as a "big tent" party into an exclusive extremist party.

On NPR's Fresh Air on Friday he spoke about Paul Brown, a Congressman from Georgia,

"who was inspired to become an Evangelical Christian by the guy who use to hold John 3:16 signs at sports games and wore a multicolored wig - who is actually in prison now for kidnapping and stink-bomb attacks - that this image of this character at sports games inspired him to become a born-again Christian.
And he gave special access to two characters, Paul Mahoney and Rob Schenck, who were involved in Operation Rescue during the 1990s, which is the militant wing of the anti-abortion movement, which was at least indirectly connected to several assassinations of abortion providers and attacks on abortion clinics, most recently the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas. . .
...They were planning to anoint the door that Obama would walk through, as he prepared to give his inaugural address, with oil crosses. And the reason that I described this scene and thought that it was important was that it was emblematic of where the movement was going to go, that they were consecrating their planned opposition to the Obama administration at a time when the media and probably the Obama administration believed that they had the good will of even elements that had opposed Bill Clinton in the 1990s, and that this was a new, post-partisan era. And I think that this anointing of the door was symbolic of what was to come. And I think it's bearing out right now in the health-care debate."

He went on to address the bizarre voices naming the President as anything from Hitler and Stalin (two leaders who were in opposition to each other) to communist, socialist, fascist (all conflicting philosophies) etc... and notes the irony of using this kind of language against someone who's advocating "consensus-building"

"I think it's ironic that they would level this rhetoric ... when one of the movement's great inspirations, R.J. Rushdoony, advocated replacing the U.S. Constitution and secular government with a totalitarian theocracy in which disobedient children, adulterers, witches, abortion doctors, women who receive abortions, etc., would all be executed. Rushdoony's son-in-law, Gary North, who is a former staffer for Ron Paul, the Republican libertarian, and who is an economist, advised stoning these evildoers to death because stones are less expensive.
The Christian right, during the 1980s, advocated putting people with AIDS, particularly homosexuals, in quarantine, in camps. They're on the record saying this. And Mike Huckabee, who campaigned for president in 2008, was among those who advised - who advocated quarantining AIDS patients, and he's refused to recant his advocacy for this sort of policy.
So I think it's ironic that a movement that has authoritarian, if not totalitarian, tendencies, along with this paradoxical anti-government strain, would level these accusations at one of their opponents. "

NPR reporter Terry Gross notes that the Southern Poverty Law Center has a new study which indicates this kind of anti-government rhetoric is spilling over into the mainstream. Blumenthal notes the

"Republican Party, over the last 20 years, has been subsumed by extreme elements, mainly by the Christian right, and the Republican Party at the same time has been the most dominant party for the last 30 years. So naturally, you know, the extreme rhetoric of the right-wing fringe is going to become mainstream if the major opposition party to the Democrats, who now control Congress and the White House, are echoing it, and Fox News is providing a megaphone for it.

While I'm not accustom to being alarmist, but I was concerned long before they gunned down Dr. Tiller in his church on a Sunday morning. This kind of rhetoric, some of which is specifically racially charged, some pushes the "he's not one of us" philosophies, is not only alarming but we've seen, as Blumenthal says, an uptick in the advocacy for the overthrow of the government.
I wasn't as involved as some were in the anti-Iraq movement but I've never before heard the left advocate for the overthrow of the government and certainly never the violent overthrow of the government, and I can't believe that mainstream media, is indeed lending voice to these groups.

This weekend glared the stunning indicator of that, when Media Matters, the non-partisan non-profit group that holds journalists accountable for not being independent, reported that the Washington Post gave the teabagger protests front page when in 2002 peace protesters had more people at the Washington rally and got little to nothing.

In the end the GOP has been hijacked. For a time in Kansas progressives delighted in this because it meant Democratic candidates would win. We saw this with Kris Kobach and Dennis Moore, with Ryun and Boyda, with Sebelius both between Shallenburger and Barnett, we've seen it several times at the Legislative level; in the end - where the right wing appears, Democrats that maintain moderate Kansas values win. But I fear we've reached a point where its now becoming dangerous.

This morning's LA Times reports that many GOP officials are as fearful as I am, but more for the security of their party vs. safety.

"Some party insiders now fear that extreme rhetoric and conspiracy theories coming from the angry reaches of the conservative base are undermining the GOP's broader credibility and casting it as the party of the paranoid... Some are pressuring the Republican National Committee and other mainstream GOP groups to cut ties with WorldNetDaily.com, which reports some of the allegations.... Critics charge that the RNC has paid WorldNetDaily for access to its mailing list, estimated to number in the hundreds of thousands, and that the RNC is therefore subsidizing the website's anti-Obama writings. RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho did not respond to questions on the matter."

The end of the book excerpt at the PBC site recalls the last time this kind of movement was seen in American History and the quick kibosh President Eisenhower put on it as a leader of the GOP

"During the 1952 presidential campaign, the Republican nominee and former Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe Dwight D. Eisenhower silently observed the attacks on the patriotism of a man he knew was a great American, General George C. Marshall, then serving as secretary of state. His assailant was Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, as opportunistic and sloppy as he was vicious. Eisenhower seethed while McCarthy smeared Marshall as "a man steeped in falsehood," who supposedly harbored at least fifty-seven active Communists within the State Department. Eisenhower loathed everything about McCarthy, regarding him as a dangerous and petty demagogue, but he shrank from attacking him or defending Marshall, fearing that McCarthy's influence among the Republican Party right-wing base might upset his campaign.
Only later, when McCarthy initiated a witch hunt of a phantom Communist Fifth Column within the top command of the U.S. Army in 1954, did Eisenhower strike back. He did so by sleight of hand. "I will not get into the gutter with this guy," he told aides. He instructed his staff to leak damaging information about the senator's ethical breaches and invoked executive privilege to stifle McCarthy's request for notes on the president's meetings with army officers. McCarthy's show trial quickly degenerated into a farce, leading to his rebuke by the army's attorney Joseph Welch ("Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?") and censure by the Senate for "vulgar and insulting" conduct. Eisenhower had guarded his party against the far right, defended its essentially moderate temper, and ensured the preservation of its national appeal.
By the time McCarthy drank himself to death in 1957, what the historian Richard Hofstadter had called "the paranoid style of politics" had spread into new and growing grassroots conservative groups that sought influence within the Republican Party. These groups cohered into the movement that enabled Barry Goldwater to seize the presidential nomination in 1964, would gain genuine power with the administration of President Ronald Reagan, and would reach their apotheosis under President George W. Bush."

Maybe its time for GOP party leaders to do the same. My only fear is that there are few left who would want to.

Tom Coburn is "About Loving" in His Opposition to a Public Option

Senate Guru — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:19:05 GMT

{First, a cheap plug for my blog Senate Guru.}

Wingnut Tom Coburn has publicly admitted that private insurers in the U.S. do ration health care. However, he's A-OK with that. Why? (emphasis added by me)

"There is no compassion in any government program...Jesus said love your brother as yourself. We need to be about loving, and you can't love through the federal government," the first-term senator said.

So there's no compassion in anything we do together through our government (like SCHIP health care for children and Medicare for seniors); but, we can love, apparently, through Big Insurance bureaucrats. Swell.

Student Reaction: Schools Show Obama

progressiveok — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:42:46 GMT

My parents teach at a rural Oklahoma High School. The entire district has around 500 students. Many schools in the region and across the nation have decided not to show the President's Speech to America's Students on Tuesday. I'm proud to say my that my school is doing what's right - they're incorporating the speech into class curriculum.

My dad didn't vote for Barack Obama (despite my best efforts to sway him). He doesn't support many of his policies and he makes no secret about it. But when he found out that the President was planning to address the nation's students, there was no question about whether to show it or not. It was just the natural thing to do - the President of our Nation wants to address students, just like others have before.

So Dad was surprised when school districts nearby decided not to show the speech. He was surprised when Conservatives in the media criticized the President harshly about what Dad sees as a non-issue. He was surprised when Oklahoma legislators started accusing the President of attempting to indoctrinate young people. But what really iced the cake was when parents started calling his school to complain.

"Are you sure this is constitutional?"
"Doesn't the Constitution prohibit this sort of thing?"
"I don't want my child brainwashed."
"Will students be forced to watch?"
"SOCIALISM!"
"Will my child be counted absent if I take them out of school?"

Luckily, the administration backed my him up. Students will be going to specific classrooms to watch the speech. Those who don't want to view it will be sent to another classroom to work on assignments or study. Those who don't come to school Tuesday will be counted absent.

Many students don't receive any sort of support at home. There isn't anyone encouraging them, pushing them forward, and congratulating them for their successes. And for minority students, there often isn't any sort of role model or figure in their lives to prove that they can do whatever they want, with a little hard work. So I'm glad those students will have the chance to listen to the President speak directly to them. It's not going to be about votes, health care reform, or anything else political. It's about encouraging students to stay in school, get good grades, and work hard. What's wrong with that?

I'm proud of my rural Oklahoma school district for making the right decision and I'm proud of my barely-Democratic Dad, too. For him, this was an easy decision...It was just common sense.

Keeping Kids Home Over the President's Speech...

majorinsight — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:56:17 GMT

I remember sitting in a public school classroom in Oklahoma and watching this...

http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/re...

And yes, there were complaints such as; Patricia Schroeder, then a Democratic member of Congress from Colorado, said the speech showed "the arrogance of power," and that the White House should not be "using precious dollars for campaigns" when "we are struggling for every silly dime we can get" for education.

And there were responses such as; "Why is it political for the president of the United States to discuss education?" asked Newt Gingrich, who was then the House Republican whip. "It was done at a nonpolitical site and was beamed to a nonpolitical audience. . . . They wanted to reach the maximum audience with the maximum effect to improve education."

I sat in a public school system in Nebraska and watching this...

http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/a...

I could not find any evidence of complaints or responses, but this was 1986, I would likely have to look beyond the World Wide Web to find these records.

So I am also confused over the outrage over this;

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_...

There is some complaining to be done:

http://blog.newsok.com/capitol...

There were complaints over Bush giving the speech, but not a call from a legislator for parents to complain, vote out school board members and keep their children home from school. I think what Newt Gingrich had to say was on target. Many voters were not aware before today that this speech had been scheduled, because the press release happened late yesterday, so of course they didn't know. The news started running the story as soon as it was released, so if parents don't watch or read the news where does that responsibility lie?

Although my boys aren't old enough to vote, they are citizens of the United States. They are future voters and they need to know that they are significant not only as an individual and part of a family, peer group, class, organization, community, city, county or state, but as a part of our country. If their schools choose not to show the President's address to the students of our nation on Tuesday, I will rearrange my schedule and take them out of school to watch it.

Gen We Author Speaks at Google

SarahBurris — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:37:18 GMT

Eric Greenberg author of the opensource book Generation We and unbelievable supporter of the youth movement, spent an afternoon with the folks at Google as part of their authors series talking about his work on the book and the future of our generation. Incidentally, Greenberg was announced by Adam Borelli founder of the New Leader's Council

I spent a lot of time reading and then re-reading pieces of Greenberg's book and listening to his lectures about the research, and I cannot stress the importance of it as well as the immense amount of quality information. If you're one of us who wants to save the world, I highly suggest you read through the book and think about the capacity of this generation as a means to make a heck of a dent.