WEB WANDERINGS - 3/26/2012
Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
-- Harriet Beecher Stowe
ILLINOIS WOMEN - SAVE THE DATE!
APRIL 28, 2012 STATE MARCHES - SAVE THE DATE!
(You can find more information on the individual state marches at April 28, 2012.)
IMHO: But that's a good question, Barney Fife. "How many women ARE marching?" Given the poor number of state posters over at April 28, 2012, I wouldn't know how to answer that question. I have great posters from Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri, all with pertinent contact information. I have three generic State posters from unitewomen.org for California, New York, and Virginia, none giving any pertinent contact information. For a March that is happening in a mere thirty-three days in all the State Capitol's throughout the United States, there doesn't seem to be much outreach going on or information being shared. If there is information out there beyond unitewomen.org and Facebook, please let me know. I would like to share all the information I can about the State Marches to my readers. Most of them are women, and they're angry about the current political climate of outright War on Women. If they knew who to contact for further information, I'm sure they would! Just read their voices below:
THE VOICES OF AMERICA'S WOMEN
Daisy Cheramie
Title Text.
Nancy Summers-Long
"Republicans in Congress are set to vote this week to eliminate Medicare to pay for more special tax breaks for big corporations, political donors and Washington special interests. We must stand with President Obama to make sure right-wing Republicans don’t get away with breaking this sacred promise to our seniors. Please sign the petition and don't let anyone tell you is not the right thing to do!"
Martin Sheen Video: Stand Up For Medicaredccc.org
Have you seen the video? Watch it now and add your name so we can reach 1 million strong against ending Medicare.
Have you seen the video? Watch it now and add your name so we can reach 1 million strong against ending Medicare.
MAXINE SAYS:
Maxine's Solution to Senior Health Care
Under the "Obama Care" Program:
Under the "Obama Care" Program:
So you're a senior citizen and the government says no health care for you, what do you do?
Our plan gives anyone 65 years or older a gun and 4 bullets.
You are allowed to shoot 2 senators and 2 representatives.
Of course, this means you will be sent to prison where you will get 3 meals a day, a roof over your head, and all the health care you need! New teeth, no problem. Need glasses, great. New hip, knees, kidney, lungs, heart? All covered. (And your kids can come and visit you as often as they do now).
And who will be paying for all of this? The same government that just told you that you are too old for health care.
Plus, because you are a prisoner, you don't have to pay any income taxes anymore.
IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY OR WHAT?
Our plan gives anyone 65 years or older a gun and 4 bullets.
You are allowed to shoot 2 senators and 2 representatives.
Of course, this means you will be sent to prison where you will get 3 meals a day, a roof over your head, and all the health care you need! New teeth, no problem. Need glasses, great. New hip, knees, kidney, lungs, heart? All covered. (And your kids can come and visit you as often as they do now).
And who will be paying for all of this? The same government that just told you that you are too old for health care.
Plus, because you are a prisoner, you don't have to pay any income taxes anymore.
IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY OR WHAT?
Nancy Summers-Long
Gadfly Granny
Gadfly GrannyGadfly Granny updated her status: "WARNING... I'm going to Costco and I'm wearing a hoodie... be very afraid because I'm armed and dangerous... I've got skittles in my pocket."
Dare To Demand
Please read:
Whether you are a Liberal, Conservative, or Libertarian. Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent. It is important to remember regardless of ideology or belief in the role of Government; most of us here have common beliefs. We do have common ground regardless of false dichotomies constantly portrayed in the media. We do have common ground despite consistent narratives made by pundits and party.
Most of us want the corruption of our Government to end. To stop the endless flow of money by lobbyists and special interests that decide our elections.
Most of us want campaign finance reform along with an end to gerrymandering.
Most of us want peace with an end to the wars and the war drums constantly beating.
Most of us want our liberties respected with respect to the constitution and as citizens of the world.
Most of us want reform in many aspects of the government.
We agree on these things and much more. Instead of focusing on the differences which can fray us at the seams; we need to unite on these grounds of common purpose. If we stay bound to strict rigid views and ignore our common ground that is essential for reform we will never change anything.
Thank you for reading. Please share.
- Bryant
Cherie Blackfeather:
The Age Of Aquarius is HERE: [These are our commandments: Think for yourself and don't blindly bow down to the claims of another. Exercise your own best judgment. Ask questions and investigate whether what you've been taught is true. There have been countless wars and devastation's because people were too eager to subordinate their will and conscience to the ruling authorities, but as Sam Harris says, no atrocity was ever committed because people were being too reasonable, too skeptical, or too independently minded. If anything, human beings have always been too eager to obey and to subordinate their will to others. The more we throw off that ancient and limiting mindset, the more freedom we have to think, act and speak as we choose, the more humanity as a whole will prosper. ]
How Religion's Demand for Obedience Keeps Us in the Dark Ages
March 19, 2012
For the vast majority of human history, the only form of government was the few ruling over the many. As human societies became settled and stratified, tribal chiefs and conquering warlords rose to become kings, pharaohs and emperors, all ruling with absolute power and passing on their thrones to their children. To justify this obvious inequality and explain why they should reign over everyone else, most of these ancient rulers claimed that the gods had chosen them, and priesthoods and holy books obligingly came on the scene to promote and defend the theory of divine right.....[MORE]
Companies Should Disclose Contributions as Unions Do
Letter to the Editor of the Wall Street Journal,
by RICHARD TRUMKA, AFL-CIO
Your editorial "The Corporate Disclosure Assault" (March 19) falsely claims that disclosure of corporate political expenditures is not in the best interest of all shareholders. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion in Citizens United, which upheld the First Amendment rights of corporations to make independent political expenditures, explicitly relied in part on the principle that "prompt disclosure of expenditures can provide shareholders and citizens with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable for their positions and supporters.''
Current law enables businesses to spend for many political purposes without disclosure, whether to the public or their shareholders. The editorial's suggestion that businesses should be able to conceal their political spending in order to avoid criticism or controversy disserves shareholders. As Justice Antonin Scalia recently observed in another case, Doe v. Reed, which rejected First Amendment-based claims for keeping secret the identities of ballot-petition signers, "Requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed."
Unions have long been required to make public disclosures of their political and other spending. Corporations that spend to influence politics have no legitimate gripe against shareholder disclosure resolutions that would require them to publicly disclose that spending—and they have ample opportunity and resources to explain why that spending advances shareholder value and the public interest. [MORE]
Nancy Summers-Long
Ivy Jo
Gadfly Granny
Bill Sammon, left, Jan. 2, 2009.
Fox News managing editor:
I lied on-air to smear Obama
by Jed LewisonFollow for Daily Kos
Tue Mar 29, 2011 at 09:15 AM PDT
Fox Washington managing editor Bill Sammon, admitting in a newly uncovered 2009 speech that he publicly smeared Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign with speculation that he did not privately believe:
Speaking in 2009 onboard a pricey Mediterranean cruise sponsored by a right-wing college, Fox Washington managing editor Bill Sammon described his attempts the previous year to link Obama to "socialism" as "mischievous speculation." Sammon, who is also a Fox News vice president, acknowledged that "privately" he had believed that the socialism allegation was "rather far-fetched." "Last year, candidate Barack Obama stood on a sidewalk in Toledo, Ohio, and first let it slip to Joe the Plumber that he wanted to quote, 'spread the wealth around,' " said Sammon. "At that time, I have to admit, that I went on TV on Fox News and publicly engaged in what I guess was some rather mischievous speculation about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism, a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched."
Sammon isn't part of the Fox News "opinion" team. He's part of the "news" team, and here he is admitting that he used his position to engage in political warfare against a candidate that he didn't want to win. He lied, and lied repeatedly.
But as blunt as Sammon's words were, let me be clear about one thing: there's nothing at all surprising here. We know Fox is a Republican news channel, there's no question about that.
The only question is why others in the media pretend that this isn't the case.
Update: Greg Sargent assesses Sammon's attempt at damage control: "Sammon is conceding that the idea did indeed strike him as far fetched in 2008, even though he and his network aggressively promoted it day in and day out throughout the campaign. And he’s defending this by pointing out that the idea ended up gaining traction, as if this somehow justifies the original act of dishonesty!"
Posted at 12:10 PM ET, 03/29/2011
By Greg Sargent
Another major blow to Fox’s credibility
Media Matters, as part of its guerrilla-style operation against Fox News, may have uncovered one of the most damaging revelations yet: Audio of the Fox exec in charge of political coverage admitting that he repeatedly speculated on the air during the 2008 campaign about Obama’s alleged socialist tendencies, even though he privately found the notion “far fetched.”
But what may be even more interesting than this revelation is the Fox exec’s defense of it, and what that defense tells us about Fox’s attitude towards news reporting.
The audio uncovered by Media Matters shows Fox vice president Bill Sammon saying the following during a 2009 cruise:
You know, speaking of mischief, last year, candidate Barack Obama stood on a sidewalk in Toledo, Ohio, and first let it slip to Joe the Plumber that he wanted to quote, “spread the wealth around.” At that time, I have to admit, that I went on TV on Fox News and publicly engaged in what I guess was some rather mischievous speculation about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism, a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched.
Howard Kurtz contacted Sammon for comment, and here’s how Sammon defended himself:
In an interview, Sammon says his reference to “mischevious speculation” was “my probably inartful way of saying, ‘Can you believe how far this thing has come?’” The socialism question indeed “struck me as a far-fetched idea” in 2008. “I considered it kind of a remarkable notion that we would even be having the conversation.”
He doesn’t regret repeatedly raising it on the air because, Sammon says, “it was a main point of discussion on all the channels, in all the media” — and by 2009 he was “astonished by how the needle had moved.”
That’s pretty remarkable. Sammon is conceding that the idea did indeed strike him as far fetched in 2008, even though he and his network aggressively promoted it day in and day out throughout the campaign. And he’s defending this by pointing out that the idea ended up gaining traction, as if this somehow justifies the original act of dishonesty!
Now, Sammon is also claiming here that Obama’s behavior in office ultimately persuaded him that the original diagnosis of Obama as a socialist turned out to be correct after all. That in itself, of course, is also a ridiculous falsehood. But that aside, the bottom line here is that he doesn’t regret having spread an idea he personally found far-fetched, because so doing helped ensure that the far-fetched idea ultimately gained widespread acceptance. That’s a peculiar attitude for a “news” executive, isn’t it?
IMHO: It's hard to know WHO to trust these days. Will we be able to trust Fox News broadcasts for the 2012 Election? This overt lying on the part of national media needs to change or we're never going to have a nation that truly is of equality for all.
MAXINE SAYS:
BLUE SAYS: Have a great day everyone, and I hope you enjoy today's Web Wanderings. I'll be posting on and off all day with the latest from my loyal contributors, so keep coming back. It's fun!
Cherie Blackfeather:
Daisy Cheramie
Dare To Demand
Gay Girl Revolution
Gadfly Granny
Heather McMeekan
Ikoi Hiroe
Ivy Jo Cochran
Linda Garland
Nancy Summers-Long
Sharon Starkey Jacobs
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