enlarge Credit: Ocala.com Here’s how Florida’s prisons were nearly privatized without anyone knowing about it. In a rather arrogant and high-handed move, Republican lawmakers tucked a secret provision into the budget right at the end of the frenzied 2011 legislative session requiring private companies to take over 29 prisons by January 1st. Of course, it was all intended to union-bust and replace nearly 3800 union employees with minimum-wage private company replacements. Tallahassee.com : Turner and Johnson said Sen. JD Alexander, a Lake Wales Republican and budget chairman, placed the privatization language in the budget after the prisons portion had cleared earlier committees that would have opposed the move. Assistant Attorney General Jon Glogau argued that legislators have wide authority to tell departments how to use appropriated funds. He said the Legislature didn’t have to pass a stand-alone statute to privatize prisons because the state has had a law for 20 years allowing the DOC to outsource some prison operations. How many, and where those prisons will be, is up to the Legislature, Glogau said. He said every budget item embodies some form of policy choice and that House and Senate appropriations committees and subcommittees held many public hearings on all phases of the budget, including the final product. “Slippery-slope arguments are hyperbole, at best,” Glogau said. He said agencies have executive authority to organize, operate and staff their offices most efficiently. “Privatization of prisons is a unilateral right of the employer,” said Glogau. “I don’t want to make light of the fact that people are losing their jobs but, under the facts and the case law, it is the unilateral right of the public employer to do this.” That sneaky Senator. After the prison portions cleared committees who might have noticed, much less have agreed to it, he slipped it in there. Despite all the false bravado, there seems to be at least a small concern that it might not be one hundred percent on the level, since the good Governor Scott pressured former Florida Corrections overseer Ed Buss not to testify or give a deposition before the case was heard. Fortunately the unions were paying attention, and took it to court. Last Friday, Judge Jackie Fulford ruled the scheme unconstitutional. There is a cynical, criminal aspect to this whole scheme, in much the same way that Governor Walker rammed through his “reforms” in Wisconsin. TampaBay.com : Leon County Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford found that a plan to privatize 29 state prisons in South Florida is unconstitutional because lawmakers wrote the change into the state budget instead of passing separate legislation. Governors from both political parties and legislatures controlled by either Republicans and Democrats similarly have been overruled by the courts over the past 40 years for using the state budget to slip in significant changes to state law. That often happens when those policy changes can’t stand up to public scrutiny or don’t have enough support among rank-and-file lawmakers to be approved on their own merits. In this case, Scott and influential legislators such as Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander of Lake Wales were determined to pursue one of the nation’s largest privatization efforts no matter what. In the Senate, Alexander quietly stuck language into the budget to privatize prisons — to the surprise of the chairman of the committee that oversees criminal justice spending, Sen. Mike Fasano of New Port Richey. And Scott fired his Department of Corrections secretary after he questioned the wisdom of the privatization effort and supported the lawsuit filed by the union that represents state prison guards. It’s probably just a coincidence that the Boca Raton company expected to win the new prison contract, GEO Group, had 16 lobbyists in Tallahassee, donated $25,000 to Scott’s inaugural celebration and once employed Scott’s key outside budget adviser. Yeah, sure that’s coincidence. Just like it’s coincidence that CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican Governors’ Association in 2010 so they could land the fat privatization contracts in those governors’ states. Not that it should surprise anyone, but this is standard operating procedure for these insane Republican governors. If you can’t win by legal and straightforward means, just go ahead and slip it in there where no one will notice. And if they happen to notice anyway, just stare them down and claim you’re perfectly right about screwing state employees. And if that doesn’t work, pray for a friendly judge. Rick Scott drew the short straw this time, so I expect his next move will be stacking the Florida court system with judges of his choice. What a good ole boy he is. Oh, and such good news for Florida! Tricky Ricky plans to run again in 2014 !!!!
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American freed by Italian court gives brief but emotional press statement in Seattle thanking ‘everyone who believed in me’ Amanda Knox has arrived home in Seattle saying she is “overwhelmed” to be back in the US following her acquittal of the murder of Meredith Kercher. Visibly emotional and shaking, Knox, who spent four years in an Italian prison, spoke briefly to supporters at a news conference after alighting at Seattle-Tacoma international airport shortly after 5pm local time. “I’m really overwhelmed right now,” she said. “I was looking down from the airplane and it seemed like everything wasn’t real.” Knox, 24, and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 27, were cleared on appeal on Monday of the 2007 killing of Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy. Knox sobbed and held her mother’s hand as her lawyer Theodore Simon said her acquittal “unmistakably announced to the world” that she was not responsible for the killing. After her parents offered their thanks to Knox’s lawyers and supporters, Knox spoke briefly, saying: “They’re reminding me to speak in English, because I’m having problems with that.” “Thank you to everyone who’s believed in me, who’s defended me, who’s supported my family. “My family’s the most important thing to me so I just want to go and be with them, so thank you for being there for me.” Knox’s father, Curt, later spoke to reporters outside his house, where there was a small welcome home party but no sign of his daughter. He said Amanda “needed her space” and had not agreed to any media deals. “She has been in a concrete bunker for four years.” Curt Knox said Amanda would like to return to the University of Washington at some point to finish her degree, but for now “the focus simply is Amanda’s wellbeing and getting her reassociated with just being a regular person again”. He said he was concerned about what four years in prison may have done to his daughter. “What’s the trauma … and when will it show up, if it even shows up?” he said. “She’s a very strong girl but it’s been a tough time for her.” Theodore Simon described the Knox family’s situation as a “gruelling, four-year nightmarish marathon that no child or parent should have to endure”. “Meredith was Amanda’s friend. Amanda and the family want you to remember Meredith and keep the Kercher family in your prayers,” he said. On Tuesday the family of Meredith Kercher said that they were back to “square one.” Monday’s decision “obviously raises further questions”, her brother Lyle Kercher said. “If those two are not the guilty parties, then who are the guilty people?” Rudy Guede’s conviction for the murder of Meredith Kercher is the only one that still stands. His sentence was cut to 16 years in his final appeal. His lawyer has said he will seek a retrial. The prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini, has expressed disbelief at the appeal verdicts of Knox and Sollecito and said he will appeal to Italy’s highest criminal court after receiving the reasoning behind the acquittals, due within 90 days. “Let’s wait and we will see who was right. The first court or the appeal court,” Mignini said. “This trial was done under unacceptable media pressure.” Anne Bremner, a Seattle defence lawyer and spokesman for Friends of Amanda Knox, said Amanda was looking forward to having a backyard barbecue, being outside on the grass, playing football and seeing old friends. Amanda Knox Meredith Kercher United States Italy Lee Glendinning guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Congressional Priorities! Triple DOMA Defense Funds While Defunding NPR, Again
October 4, 2011 No Comment
enlarge Congress is back with a triple serving of crazy. As I watch C-SPAN on one screen and Occupy Wall Street protests on another, it makes me wonder if this is what it feels to be on a bad acid trip. Do these Republicans actually ever look beyond their ideological blinders at what is going on in this country? Surely not. Here’s a shining example: Eric Cantor has declared he will not bring President Obama’s jobs bill up for a vote. Jobs, you know. That thing not enough people have and because they don’t have it, that thing that is pushing economic growth down. Those. And even though the jobs bill is just a dent in a very large bucket, it’s a jobs bill . It does things. Like repair roads and pay for teachers and things like that. So of course, Cantor wouldn’t bring it up for a vote. Why would he? But look at what they are voting on today! Defund Planned Parenthood and NPR – AGAIN IB Times: Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are again trying to defund Planned Parenthood and National Public Radio, this time through a draft bill to fund several departments and agencies. Planned Parenthood would be banned from receiving federal funds unless the organization certifies it will end abortion services under the House Appropriations Committee’s draft legislation released Thursday. The proposed spending bill would also cut all funding to a family planning program, known as Title X. Meanwhile, the proposal includes a provision preventing the Corporation for Public Boradcasting from using federal money to support NPR. Oh wait, there’s more: In addition to the Planned Parenthood and NPR provisions, there are other controversial measures included, such as blocking $8.6 billion from being used for Affordable Care Act programs and regulations from the National Labor Relations Board. Even more important to Republicans than jobs, they will also vote to raise the “lawyer fee ceiling” on their expensive DOMA defenders. Via Think Progress : Earlier this year, Speaker John Boehner’s (R) office announced that American taxpayers would pay former Bush Solicitor General Paul Clement to defend the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act — at a cost of $520 per hour of legal work . Clement’s original contract, however, included a $500,000 cap on the amount Clement could charge the United States to help protect discrimination. Less than six months later, Clement appears to have blown through that cap, and the House GOP now anticipates that he will take another $1 million from the American people : The [House of Representatives] agrees to pay [Clement's law firm] for all services to be rendered pursuant to this Agreement a sum not to exceed $750,000.00. It is further understood and agreed that, effective October 1, 2011, the aforementioned $750,000 cap may be raised from time to time up to, but not exceeding, $1.5 million , upon written notice of the [House] to the [firm]. I’m sorry. I must rant. Not about the Republican stupid in Congress, but about how this kind of thing lands in the news as “Washington.” NO. It’s not “Washington.” It’s REPUBLICAN wingnuts in our current Congress. As I watch the stupid reports today about Chris Christie and the iPhone 5 and how disappointed Republicans are in their choice of candidates for President it feels almost surreal to me. This idea of calling out “Washington,” as if everyone there is just sitting on their hands and doing nothing is ridiculous. When do names start being named? Is it any wonder that those kids out on Wall Street and around the country are furious? Why shouldn’t they be? They’re the victims (though not the only victims) of this, and instead of some honesty in how we talk about this it all gets mushed up into “Washington.” It’s not Washington. It’s Republican wingnuts doing wingnutty things. The sooner everyone figures that out, the better, though it may be too late by then.
Continue reading …Kenya kidnap attacks by Somalis drive terrified tourists out of paradise islands
October 4, 2011 No Comment
Britain and US advise travellers to avoid Lamu after woman’s abduction – drying up tourism and forcing hotels to lay off staff It has always been one of the most peaceful places in Kenya, and perhaps the most beautiful too – a Swahili island paradise of warm, deep-blue water, golden sands and ancient, narrow streets where cars are banned and donkeys rule. Even the commute from Lamu’s airport is spectacular, with wooden motorboats ferrying tourists to their hotels in the Old Town or further along the beach. But now the traffic is nearly all one way. “Few people coming,” said Mohamed Lali, 50, a boat captain wearing a faded T-shirt and a wrap. “Only people leaving.” The reason is fear. On Saturday morning a 66-year-old disabled French woman was kidnapped from her beach house in the Lamu archipelago by Somali gangsters who bundled her into a speedboat and escaped to mainland Somalia. The attack came two weeks after a British woman was abducted while on holiday further up the coast in Kiwayu, close to the Somali border. Her husband was killed. She is still missing. Following this weekend’s kidnapping several foreign governments immediately changed their travel advice. Britain and the US, which provide the biggest number of tourists to Kenya, warned their citizens to stay away from Lamu, as did France. At a stroke, the tourism sector here was shattered. Some guests took the first flight home. Others shortened their stays and cancellations poured in. At Lamu House, a high-end hotel on the Old Town seafront, there were 12 cancellations on Tuesday. Only one of the 10 rooms was occupied – by an expat couple on leave from their posts in Somalia. The hotel’s 45 staff members had gathered next to the swimming pool, listening to the Belgian owner, Frank Feremans. “I had to let half of them go,” he said, his eyes red with tears. “This is going to be a hard time for the people here.” Some hotels have shut altogether, especially on Manda island, where the French woman was kidnapped. Across the water in Shela, a village where super-wealthy Europeans, including Prince Albert of Monaco, own spectacular Swahili-style mansions, hotels have beefed up security. At Peponi Hotel, where the cheapest single room goes for £150, three armed police officers now keep watch at night, along with two watchmen on boats moored in front of the hotel. Lars Korschen, the owner, said there had been numerous cancellations, and though he had not yet laid off any of his 120 employees, the hotel was “way overstaffed”. “I can’t blame the governments for telling tourists not to come,” he said. “If it [the kidnapping] has happened twice, it could happen again.” The Kenyan authorities have been embarrassed by the kidnapping in Lamu. Though few locals had believed that the Somali kidnappers would be so brazen as to launch an attack here, there is a feeling that police were complacent. One hotel manager, who asked not to be named, said police had assured hotel owners after the Kiwayu kidnapping that security forces in Lamu were “on high alert, with all measures taken”. But even though there is a naval base in Lamu, the kidnappers were able to escape to Somalia, several hours away by boat. Two Kenyan naval officers drowned during the pursuit after their boat capsized. “The boats were not ready and the officers were not trained well,” the hotel manager said. Chastened, the Kenyan government sent the tourism minister and police chief to Lamu to try to allay fears of further attacks on tourists by Somali gangsters. Several police boats were in Lamu harbour on Tuesday, and a police aircraft waited on the airstrip. Fredrick Karenga, the district tourist officer, said a police helicopter would be stationed in town from now on, and officers were already positioned along the various coastal entry points to the main tourist areas. “We will not let Lamu die. We have learned our lesson and there will be no repeat,” Karenga said. But that is little consolation for Abdillahi Abubakar, a tour guide who has seen his business disappear overnight. It will be several months, and possibly much longer, before business returns to normal. But his loss has not been purely financial. “This place has always been peaceful. Everyone knew each other so we did not need police or much security. That’s how it was,” he said. Kenya Africa Somalia Piracy at sea Tourism, transport and travel Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
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CBS's Sharyl Attkisson revealed on Tuesday's “Laura Ingraham Show” the extent of the rage directed at her from the Obama administration for her reporting on the “Fast and Furious” controversy: ” The DOJ woman was just yelling at me. A guy from the White House on Friday night literally screamed at me and cussed at me .” Attkisson also stated that ” they think I'm unfair and biased by pursuing it .” The journalist appeared on the conservative talk show host's program at the bottom of the 9 am Eastern hour to talk about her latest reporting on the growing Justice Department scandal. She highlighted on Monday's “CBS Evening News” that ” new documents … show Attorney General Eric Holder was sent briefings on the controversial 'Fast and Furious' operation as far back as July 2010. That directly contradicts his [May 3, 2011] statement to Congress .” [ Audio of Ingraham's interview of Attkisson available below the jump .] Through this program, the federal government smuggled guns to Mexican drug cartels in order to “get a better handle on where… [the] cartels were operating,” as fill-in anchor Bob Schieffer put it in his intro for Attkisson's report. Ingraham first asked, “What exactly is the Justice Department saying to deflect criticism or concern that “Eric Holder might indeed have said something that was untrue to Congress?” The CBS correspondent led her answer with the anecdote about the yelling she had received: SHARYL ATTKISSON: Well, in between the yelling that I received from [the] Justice Department yesterday – the spokeswoman, who would not put anything in writing. I was asking for her explanation, you know, so there would be clarity and no confusion later over what had been said. She wouldn't put anything in writing, so we talked on the phone, and she said things such as, the question Holder answered was different than the one he asked. But he phrased it, he said, you know, very explicitly, 'I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.' We have evidence- the Justice Department turned over this material to Congress- I don't think it's all of it. But they turned over evidence of memorandums sent to the attorney general himself. Whether- if he wants to say he didn't read it, I'd suppose he could say he didn't read this. But as far back as July 2010, in the documents they sent, he was getting information on this program. So, he certainly heard of it sooner. Later in the segment, the conservative radio host asked for more detail about the yelling. Attkisson named names: INGRAHAM: So they were literally screaming at you? ATTKISSON: Yes. Well, the DOJ woman was just yelling at me. A guy from the White House – INGRAHAM: Who was it? ATTKISSON: On Friday night literally screamed at me and cussed at me – INGRAHAM: Who was the person? Who was the person at Justice screaming? ATTKISSON: Eric Schultz- oh, the person screaming was [DOJ spokeswoman] T racy Schmaler. She was yelling, not screaming – INGRAHAM: Oh, really? ATKISSON: And the person who screamed at me was Eric Schultz at the White House . INGRAHAM: Hmm- I thought we were supposed to be so transparent. This is a new era of transparency. And Pelosi was draining the swamp, and the White House was going to turn a new page, and that was actually good to hear. I mean, we were like- okay, that's- we'll give them the benefit of the doubt. And then, the first time a reporter asked a serious question about, at least, a Justice Department move here, the reporter is yelled at and screamed at. And I would imagine, Sharyl, that if- let's say, a NBC reporter had been yelled at and screamed at by Karl Rove, we would have been hearing about it for years afterward (laughs) in the Bush administration. It would be, 'Oh, those bullies over at the White House, once again, shutting down true inquiries into their goings-on behind closed doors.' For the record, Schultz is the associate communications director at the White House and was the former head of communications for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee . Tracy Schmaler worked at Yahoo! as their senior director for global public affairs, and before that, for Senator Pat Leahy on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Near the end of the interview, the journalist revealed that the Obama White House even accused her of being biased: ATTKISSON: And I'm certainly not the one to make the case for DOJ and White House about what I'm doing wrong- INGRAHAM: Right- ATTKISSON: They will tell you that I'm the only reporter- as they told me- that is not reasonable. They say 'The Washington Post' is reasonable, the 'LA Times' is reasonable, 'The New York Times' is reasonable- I'm the only one who thinks this is a story, and they think I'm unfair and biased by pursuing it. And my side of the story is- and I never knew where this story was going when I talked to those whistle-blowers back in January and February- and I didn't care where it went. I'm just, sort of, digging away and going where it leads. But I'm sure they take it very personally, because it's very important- they have very important implications . Speaking of bias, Attkisson's colleagues at NBC and ABC have punted on the “Fast and Furious” issue . Neither Big Three network have covered the controversy on the air since April and June respectively.
Continue reading …Could the USPS’ last great hope be angry Americans? An avalanche of letters and emails are pouring into Congress, with offices reporting that they’re dealing with, in one case, as much as 1,422% more constituent-penned correspondence than they did in 2002. Politico reports that House offices are seeing an…
Continue reading …Remember those Black Swan interns suing Fox Searchlight for not paying them to make coffee? Turns out they may not have actually worked for Fox Searchlight. The interns were employed by Darren Aronofsky’s production company, which made Black Swan , “well before Fox Searchlight even acquired its rights in the film,…
Continue reading …Michelle Rhee Hires Republican Lobbyist To Push ‘Reforms’ Over The Top In Pennsylvania
October 4, 2011 No Comment
enlarge To understand the attack on public education in Pennsylvania, begin with Rachel Tabachnik’s comprehensive report on the partnership between far right-wing funders like the DeVos family with Michelle Rhee’s national StudentsFirst organization, and the Pennsylvania StudentsFirst organization, which shares the same name as Rhee’s group, but has very different people running it. The Pennsylvania Students First organization is actually an affiliate of American Federation for Children (AFC), chaired by Betsy DeVos, as it states on the website. A donation to Students First PAC was received from Joel Greenberg, a board member of AFC, on the date the PAC was formed. Approximately 5 million dollars from Greenberg, a co-founder of Susquehanna Investment Group (SIG), and two of the other SIG co-founders, Jeffrey Yass and Arthur Dantchik, would follow between March 10 and May 11, 2010. Most of this money was, in turn, contributed to the campaign of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Anthony H. Williams. Graphic at right is the AFC board of directors. It would be simple enough to dismiss the Pennsylvania organization as a cynical effort to piggyback onto the national Rhee organization, which still seems to meet with the approval of liberals who aren’t paying attention, except that Michelle Rhee is bear-hugging projects of that organization and gracing them with her appearance and support. For example: Rhee visited Lincoln Charter in June of 2011 , with Gov. Corbett, Ed. Sec. Roy Tomalis, and Jeffrey E. Piccola. The school choice bill in Pennsylvania is Piccola’s number one priority , and Governor Corbett is in lockstep with that goal. DeVos’ StudentsFirst PAC donated $50,000 to Piccola, so it’s reasonable to conclude they’re expecting some results for that donation. Rhee spoke to teachers at the Mastery Academy charter school in Philadelphia on Sept. 22. Dawn Chavous, a board member at a Mastery School, is also an employee at the DeVos-funded StudentsFirst PAC . Finally, there is the now-infamous appearance with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker at the gala sponsored by American Federation for Children, the DeVos organization which spawned Pennsylvania’s StudentsFirst organization. From this evidence alone, it would be easy enough to conclude that Rhee is either amoral or Republican. Take your pick, but I’m leaning toward Republican with her latest new hire. With the Pennsylvania school choice bill still stuck in the ever-grinding gears of legislative activity, Rhee has decided she needs a lobbyist to give it a jumpstart, and that lobbyist is a Republican strategist by the name of Ray Zaborney , former campaign manager for Lynn Swann’s gubernatorial bid . Zaborney is also currently advising Republican Tim Burns’ bid to unseat Senator Bob Casey in 2012. It wasn’t immediately clear that Zaborney’s registration applied to the Rhee organization, rather than the DeVos organization. But a check of the mailing address for StudentsFirst.org — 406 7th Street NW 2nd Floor, Washington, DC 20004 confirms that it is the Rhee organization’s Washington, DC mailing address. Zaborney gave testimony at the Pennsylvania House Education Committee hearings about the efficacy of charter schools and how best to expand them. He was to appear alongside Dawn Chavous, of the DeVos StudentsFirst.org group, according to this published agenda: 12:30-1:15 Lunch 1:15-1:45 Unite PA-Sharon Cherubin and Don Adams 1:45-2:15 Philadelphia Archdiocese-Sister Edward Quinn, IHM and Mr. Jason M. Budd 2:15-2:45 Freedom Works 2:45-3:30 Students First Dawn Chavous, Raymond Zaborney However, transcripts indicate he did not, in fact appear at those hearings. It appears that Zaborney is keeping a low profile on whatever education activities he is undertaking on behalf of Michelle Rhee. But his prior public statements are anything but ambivalent: He is a full supporter of vouchers, ending teacher tenure and other hot-button issues Rhee advocates. There is no question school reforms are needed. What isn’t needed is private schools run by fundamentalist religious groups with more of an eye to conversion than education. For Michelle Rhee to continue to present herself as some sort of non-partisan crusader for reform without acknowledging who her partners are and what their agendas are is a dangerous thing. Pennsylvania’s tea partiers are pretty angry about stalled school reform. It was one of their top-ticket items, and they’re expecting action. It looks like Rhee is there to help them deliver.
Continue reading …For all intents and purposes, the movement known as the tea party started in the mainstream media, on a national show. CNBC’s Rick Santelli, fired what cable news would later dub “the shot heard around the world” in 2009, when he lamented paying for the mortgages of the “losers” who couldn’t pay their bills. “President Obama, are you listening?” he bellowed. Well, it was broadcast on national television. By the way they snarl about the mainstream media on Fox News, you’d think they were disseminating their programs via ham radio instead of on the number one cable news network in the country. Fox News is as mainstream a media as any. And they’ve puffed up and promoted their pet protest group called the tea party for the last two and half years. And just like the imaginary death panels in the health care reform act or the fantasy Sharia law threat – the tea party got its legs from Fox News. So when criticism is lobbed at the tea party as being an astroturf re-branding of the Republican Party, sponsored by interest groups and corporate media, it’s because it is. To put this into perspective, look at movement Fox News hasn’t endorsed and Karl Rove’s group, American Crossroads, haven’t chartered busses for: meet Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Wall Street started as a couple thousand protesters marching through lower Manhattan and camping out at the detonator of the economic meltdown. For the first two weeks, the protest was largely ignored by actual mainstream media. Then NYPD officer Anthony Bologna pepper sprayed a couple of young women peacefully assembling at this public demonstration. The footage landed on YouTube: Then there was attention. A skirmish with police. A Story. Last Saturday, 700 of the protesters were arrested by the NYPD. Another Story. Worthy of a mention even on the venerable Sunday Shows. Who are these people? Are they the anti-tea party? No. In fact they are not in any way like the tea party. If they were the tea party, the media would be giving value to all their political peccadilloes. Yes, “What does the tea party think?” has become a staple in American political discourse. And for what? They’re identical to Republicans. They have a public approval rating, according to some polls of 26 percent. And the tea party-led House suffers a historic low of around 13 percent (more people approve of salmonella). Yet the tea party is given credence and credibility as a swell of a movement to give rich people and corporations more tax breaks. How is that populist, exactly? It’s a protest movement that just so happens to be suspiciously business-friendly. How, as they say in corporate-speak, synergistic. This tea party now has a seat at the table of power. Their corporate sponsors must snicker every time they hear about the “tea party’s take” on whatever issue. I was at an Occupy Wall Street solidarity demonstration over the weekend in Los Angeles. Around 3,000 people were there when I arrived. The first thing apparent is the crowd is young. These are not cantankerous retirees worried about the government getting involved in Medicare. No these are the children of the middle-class’ Lost Decade. These are kids whose American Dream has been eroding while the rich have gotten richer. These are the young people on Facebook and Twitter calling for an “American Autumn” to match the Arab Spring. And the Arab Spring is a far better comparison for this group. Like the Egypt and Tunisia uprisings, Occupy Wall Street are youths worried about their futures’ downgrade. It’s about the lack of prospects in the “land of opportunity.” Their battle cry: “We are the 99 percent and we are too big to fail.” They’ve succinctly stated their goal is “economic justice.” Pandering to the wealthy minority is the disease: Occupy Wall Street is a symptom. What does economic justice mean? Maybe a better question is: How top-heavy can the wealth inequality get before something tumbles? The hurdle for Occupy Wall Street is that it was not birthed on cable news. Cable news doesn’t own it so it can’t show it off like they have the tea party. But the Arab Spring revolution wasn’t televised; it was re-tweeted. Tweet Cross posted at TinaDupuy.com
Continue reading …Turns out super homemaker mom wasn’t. Martha Stewart was a bit of a shrew in the maternal department—a gut-churning, demanding perfectionist when it came to her house, and decidedly not kid friendly. That’s the verdict from her grown daughter, Alexis, who has penned a kind of “Mommie Drearest” tell-all…
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