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News aggregatorThe Bats and the Bees
Coupled with the massive collapses occurring among bee colonies, this is not just a sad scenario, but an extremely alarming one with regard to our food security. These creatures play a vital role in natural insect control for fruit and vegetable crops. What is happening to our future chances for survival on a purely subsistence level while all of our energy and resources are directed toward "growing" an already enormous and dysfunctional consumer economy and waging an irrational war on the other side of the globe? We have surrendered much of our investigative science capacity to corporate agendas, and what remains in the way of publicly funded efforts is frequently targeted by the right, either as a waste of money or a moral menace. Ignorance and hubris threaten our very survival, but as we are witnessing in Copenhagen, the industrialized giants seem to be locked in a paralytic state of denial. This will end badly. Categories: DNCC State Blogs
(Federal appeals) Court: 'Under God' in Pledge is constitutionalSource: [b]San Francisco Chronicle[/b]
Categories: DNCC Pool Blogs
Holder Failed to Disclose Brief on Detainee PolicySource: [b]The New York Times[/b]
Categories: DNCC Pool Blogs
EeeshRep. Capuano (D) says he'll probably vote no on Health Care Reform....
Josh Marshall
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/joshmarshall.phpCategories: DNCC Pool Blogs
Remove all American troops stationed in Afghanistan in the next 30 days?Sounds good to me.
Yesterday, the House of Representatives defeated House Concurrent Resolution 248 offered by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) by a vote of 356 to 65. The privileged resolution would have directed the President to remove all American troops stationed in Afghanistan in the next 30 days, unless the President deemed such action to be unsafe. Congressman Jim Himes (CT-4) voted against the resolution, as did Joe Courtney, Chris Murphy, and Rosa DeLauro. John Larson, bless his heart, voted for the resolution. While Himes believes American involvement in Afghanistan should come to a decisive and successful end as soon as possible, he believes forcing withdrawal in 30-days would put America's security severely at risk. While a 30-day withdrawal might technically be possible, it would mean the near immediate departure of all American troops without the time or resources to save the billions-worth of military equipment currently stationed in Afghanistan. Additionally, Himes argues that America's Pakistani and Afghan anti-terrorism allies have made significant progress in recent weeks, and a sudden departure could undermine this improvement. "I, as much as anyone, want to make sure we have a robust plan in place to bring our troops home as soon as possible and having accomplished their mission," said Himes. "But it is unreasonable to put our security at risk simply to meet an arbitrarily short withdrawal deadline and irresponsible to walk away from our Afghan and Pakistani allies just as we see them engaging meaningfully." Categories: DNCC State Blogs
News, Seed Vault, Mario Lopez, Chatroulette, Roy Ashburn, Atlanta
Categories: DNCC Pool Blogs
Question Will Never Be AnsweredI don't know why reporters have a complete double standard on their treatment of scandals. I don't think we'll ever get an explanation.
Categories: DNCC Pool Blogs
Get Out of Afghanistan QUESTION: On Agreeing to the Resolution
H CON RES 248 YEA-AND-NAY 10-Mar-2010 6:22 PM BILL TITLE: Directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of Link to Full Vote - Kucinich Get Out of Afghanistan   Democrats - Yes Vote No Vote Not Voting (Present)CDIllinoisMichiganOhioCDIndianaMinnesotaMissouri1RushStupakDriehaus 1ViscloskyWalzClay2JacksonHoekstraSchmidt 2DonnellyKline Akin3LipinskiEhlersTurner 3SouderPaulsen Carnahan4GutierrezCampJordan 4BuyerMcCollum Skelton5QuigleyKildeeLatta 5BurtonEllison Cleaver6RoskamUptonWilson 6PenceBachmann Graves7DavisSchauerAustria 7CarsonPetersonBlunt8BeanRogersBoehner 8EllsworthOberstarEmerson9SchakowskyPetersKaptur 9Hill Luetkemeyer10KirkMillerKucinich IowaWisconsinKentucky11HalvorsonMcCotterFudge 1BraleyRyanWhitfield 12CostelloLevinTiberi 2LoebsackBaldwinGuthrie 13BiggertKilpatrickSutton 3BoswellKindYarmuth14FosterConyersLaTourette 4LathamMooreDavis 15JohnsonDingellKilroy 5KingSensenbrennerRogers 16Manzullo Boccieri 6 PetriChandler 17Hare Ryan 7 Obey 18Schock Space 8 Kagen 19Shimkus 9 Of interest are Quigley, Johnson and Stupak. Good to see Quigley mixing it up for a change. Categories: DNCC State Blogs
House will miss March 18th health reform deadlineThis is not much of a surprise, but the House of Representatives will not pass the Senate bill by March 18th, as the White House had requested. Anthony Weiner explains:
The reconciliation bill itself, Weiner said, will likely bee less than 100 pages, and will be released at least a week before it comes to the floor for a vote. If that's correct, it means the House will not be able to act before March 18--the date the White House wants them to press ahead. There are quite a few things that are delaying the bill in the House. The House isn't going to pass the Senate bill until the two chambers have an agreement on a reconciliation bill that has enough votes to pass both chambers. This requires:
This is just going to keep dragging on. Even if the House passes the Senate bill and a reconciliation fix, we are headed into April. Categories: DNCC Pool Blogs
The Trauma of WarThe Trauma of War By Michael Boyajian When I was younger I used to watch war movies, mostly John Wayne stuff like his cavalry trilogy, his World War II forays and finally the Green Berets. As kids we all played with our G.I. Joes dressing them up in Marine dress up or a frogman outfit. All the neighborhood kids would run around the block playing army with toy guns. How did we know how to play army? Well, they were broadcasting the Vietnam War on television every evening. Categories: DNCC State Blogs
Scott Brown votes against dollars for MAHey, he's got his book deal and a cushy new job. Why should he care about Massachusetts families who are hurting: they are not the out of state conservatives who funded his campaign and will try to push him through again in two years. As to health care, Senator Brown continues his long march to the Republican villages of Too Bad for You and Sorry, I Can't Help You. Link to H.R. 4213. DNC email:
U.S. Senator Scott Brown voted Wednesday against legislation that would extend jobless benefits such as unemployment insurance and COBRA subsidies for families in Massachusetts who are struggling to find work. Senator Brown's vote could have cost many families in Massachusetts unemployment insurance and health care, further hurting already-struggling folks in these difficult times. Earlier this month Brown, of course, first praised Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning's one-man filibuster against unemployment benefits, then voted in favor of the bill Bunning was trying to block. Now I guess he is once again a member of the Solid South. Categories: DNCC State Blogs
Push Poll Alert: FRC Attacking Healthcare ReformI just received an automated push poll from the conservative Family Research Council (FRC) slanted against healthcare reform. The poll asked me if I had a favorable opinion of “Obama’s government run healthcare plan”. Upon responding yes, a quick paid for by message was played and the call was disconnected. Categories: DNCC Pool Blogs
Shoot, I Forgot to Tell Y’all the Best News!One, I have crocuses blooming in my yard! I have to take pictures. They’re so gorgeous. Two, the story that I read to y’all the other night? With revisions, it got accepted to this awesome online journal. Woo hoo! (I’m not sure if this means I’ve revised my feelings on crocuses or not. I still feel like they may just be really expensive, beautiful squirrel food. Of course, if I had some animals that… Oh my god, did I tell you people that we have a mouse in the house? That all three cats at one point last night caught and paraded around and then let go for someone else to catch? Three cats caught it. Three cats let it go. The mouse still lives. IN MY HOUSE. I had to fire the whole lot of them. Ridiculous. But, as you can see, there’s no hope for them actually keeping squirrels away from the crocuses.)       Categories: Blog Feeds
Author assumes guise of 10-year-old to punk famous (AP)
Categories: News Feeds
Final March for Health Care Reform: Call CongressThe Obama campaign -- sorry, Organizing for America -- is asking you to call Congress today to support health care reform. When I clicked on the link, "Janice N" had just called Scott Garrett, so if she can call the most hopeless member, maybe you and I should call too. Probably Adler is the only vote that might flip, and he is also the only local Democratic vote we're likely to lose.
Categories: DNCC Pool Blogs
GOP loses bid for ethics probe of Dem leaders (AP)
Categories: News Feeds
Do Not UnderstandThe whole point of forging a compromise is to... get a deal done. I don't get why Democrats like to stick with the compromise even when there's no deal. The point is to say, "suppport this, or we're gonna pass some crazy commie hippie shit."
Categories: DNCC Pool Blogs
When figurative gay bashing just isn’t good enough…Hey Itawamba County School Board… way to assure that this kid gets the shit beaten out of her by her fellow students:
Ya think? And you think the vindictive pricks on the school board didn’t realize this when they canceled the prom in response to her request? I imagine it’s hard enough being openly gay in rural Mississippi, but now the local school board has publicly branded her as the dyke bitch who ruined prom. I guess the real message to students is, “Shut the hell up and stay in the closet, or else the figurative gay bashing may become a literal one.”
Categories: DNCC State Blogs
Hispanic y Latino News Summary :: March 11th, 2010Essentials --»
Best of the Rest Hispanic/Latino News --» Cultura News --» EssentialsBusiness News --» EssentialsMore US Hispanic/Latino News --» International News --» Aggregated by HispanicTips :: Hispanic & Latino News & Information We Remain United: In Zimbabwe’s Labor Movement, a Voice for Human Rights and DemocracyBernard Pollack, who is taking a leave of absence from the AFL-CIO to travel through Africa, and Danielle Nierenberg describe their visit with Wellington Chibebe, the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). In Harare, on the way to our meeting with Wellington Chibebe, the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), even our driver was excited for us.
Since the early 1990s, ZCTU grew increasingly opposed to the government of Robert Mugabe and was the main force behind the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). In fact, MDC’s leader and the current prime minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai, held the same position with the ZCTU before Chibebe. Chibebe is one of the most vocal—and effective—voices in civil society promoting respect for human rights and democracy. Despite being brutally beaten, tortured and having his life threatened over the last two decades, Chibebe remains more positive than ever about the direction of his country. It was largely due to Zimbabwe’s labor movement that in the 2008 presidential election Tsvangirai defeated Mugagbe. Yet, despite MDC’s victory, Mugabe refuses to step down and the nation has a “power sharing” agreement. When we met with Chibebe, he was cautiously optimistic about the power-sharing agreement and the future of democracy in Zimbabwe.
He says that while the MDC plays a critical role in promoting democracy, the mission of the union movement will be to hold all political parties accountable to these principles. “We just can’t afford to repeat the same mistake by treating any government or political party as angels from heaven,” he says. While he described the beginning of the power-sharing agreement as “terrible,” Chibebe felt strongly that “things are now getting better, we are able to make some positive changes happen.” Chibebe was born 300 miles south of Harare. His upbringing herding goats and farming built both a sense of responsibility and social consciousness, he says.
He also described how in rural life he had no access to books or libraries, so everyone listened to their elders, learning about the importance of struggle and hearing passionate tales of resistance against the ruling government. Not even a teen when his mother passed away, Chibebe became passionately involved in political struggle for social and economic justice that has lasted his whole life. Being at the helm of the Zimbabwe labor movement at this moment is no easy task. The country faces unemployment rates of more than 90 percent. The media is controlled by the government. Union leaders are routinely harassed and imprisoned. And the Mugabe government instituted draconian laws to thwart unions, such as arresting any meeting of more than four people. Yet the affiliates of the ZCTU, representing more than 30 unions and every sector of the economy, have remained united. Says Chibebe:
Chibebe works tirelessly to bring attention to Zimbabwe’s economic and human rights realities and to pressure the government to reform its ways. As workers struggle to survive inflation and low-paying informal employment, Chibebe has expanded the work of the ZCTU to represent all workers in both formal and informal employment. ZCTU fights for economic and social justice not just for his members, but for the fundamental rights of all of Zimbabwe’s workers. In 2002, Chibebe and the ZCTU had the vision of helping informal sector workers—everyone from street vendors to musicians and artisans—form unions. The desire for social and economic change spread like wild fire when the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Associations (ZCIEA) started in 2002. Presently with more than 1.5 million paying members (out of 3.5 million members), the informal workers now have access to all the resources of the ZCTU such as their lobbyists, their research arm, and the strength and power of their affiliate unions. Chibebe, and everyone we met with at ZCTU, speaks with great pride about the support they’ve been given by the American labor movement through the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center, which maintains an office in the country. “Because of the Solidarity Center and the American worker, we’ve had incredible moral and material support,” Chibebe said. Some of the examples he cites are the role the Solidarity Center plays in supporting their research institute, expanding distribution of their newspaper, The Worker, their ability to fund a lobbyist, create a paralegal program, training activists and leaders and getting support from international governments and politicians through organizational delegations such as the visit from the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU). This is a cross-post from Border Jumpers. Categories: DNCC Pool Blogs
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