The right's war on voting

By now, many of you have likely seen maps such as this one.

Source Looking at what is happening, what is clear is that certain segments of the electorate are - on a state by state basis - being targeted for voter suppression. For example

Source We really need to start making a fuss about this and to work toward stopping the GOP's war on voting. Here is one place to go to lend your support to the right of all citizens to vote

Some analysis from within the Occupy movement

Max Berger, an organizer with the Occupy Wall Street movement, has some very insightful analysis of this movement and where it needs to be going, particularly in terms of its relationship with mainstream politics.

His conclusion:

The Occupy Movement would be derelict if we focused on the electoral at the expense of systemic change. The entirety of civic life cannot be reduced to a get-out-the-vote campaign. The left needs strategies that take aim at all the ways corporate-funded neo-liberalism breaks down our communities.

You can read his full analysis here.

This speaks for itself

We are the 99% and we deserve a better deal! Support the Occupy movement!

On this 4th of July, some quotes from Howard Zinn

After being dormant for a while, the Mid Hudson Progressive Alliance blog is ready to relaunch. So, to do so, I give you some quotes from the late Howard Zinn. These seem very appropriate to reflect on on a day devoted to the American Revolution.

The Founding Fathers were not just ingenious organizers of a new nation (though they certainly were that) but also rich white slaveholders, merchants, bondholders, fearful of lowerclass rebellion, or as James Madison put it, of "an equal division of property." Our military heroes-Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt-were racists, Indian-killers, war-lovers, imperialists. Our most liberal presidents-Jefferson, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Kennedy-were more concerned with political power and national aggrandizement than with the rights of nonwhite people.

People are practical. They want change but feel powerless, alone, do not want to be the blade of grass that sticks up above the others and is cut down. They wait for a sign from someone else who will make the first move, or the second. And at certain times in history, there are intrepid people who take the risk that if they make that first move others will follow quickly enough to prevent their being cut down. And if we understand this, we might make that first move.

The power of a bold idea uttered publicly in defiance of dominant opinion cannot be easily measured.

Social movements may have many "defeats" - failing to achieve objectives in the short run - but in the course of the struggle the strength of the old order begins to erode, the minds of people begin to change.

If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves.

... What normally operates day by day is the quiet dominance of certain ideas, the ideas we are expected to hold by our neighbors, our employers, and our political leaders; the ones we quickly learn are the most acceptable. The result is an obedient, acquiescent, passive citizenry-a situation that is deadly to democracy. If one day we decide to reexamine these beliefs and realize they do not come naturally out of our innermost feelings or our spontaneous desires, are not the result of independent thought on our part, and, indeed, do not match the real world as we experience it, then we have come to an important turning point in life. Then we find ourselves examining, and confronting, American ideology.

In the United States today, the Declaration of Independence hangs on schoolroom walls, but foreign policy follows Machiavelli.

For a prince, a dictator, or a tyrant national power is an end unquestioned. A democratic state ... must present national power as benign, serving the interests of liberty, justice, and humanity.

Happy Fourth of July! Here's to reclaiming a more progressive view of America and its destiny!

Some commentary from Congressman Hall

Read here as Congressman John Hall (NY-19) speaks truth to power about the fascist direction of American politics. Hopefully, he will stay engaged in the fight for democracy.

In an interview this week, Rep. John Hall (D-NY), who lost his seat in the mid-term elections, told the New York Observer that he sees a threat to American democracy in the court's ruling.

"I learned when I was in social studies class in school that corporate ownership or corporate control of government is called fascism. So that's really the question -- is that the destination if this court decision goes unchecked?"

The Citizens United decision upended decades of campaign finance regulation, allowing corporations, unions and other groups to spend unlimited amounts on political campaigns without having to identify themselves. In a decision split along ideological lines, the court ruled that restrictions on spending amounted to a violation of First Amendment rights. Others have challenged the notion that corporations and other organizations have the "personhood" needed to be granted constitutional rights.

Hall was a key player in efforts to mitigate the effects of the Citizens United decision. He backed the DISCLOSE Act, which would have required groups to identify themselves when campaigning. Hall added provisions to the bill limiting the ability of foreign corporations to spend money on US elections. But, after passing the House, the bill was defeated by filibuster in the Senate.

Slideshow - Survey Results for MHPA Survey

Here is the slide show views at the MHPA meeting this past weekend that shows the results of the recent survey of MHPA members

Why is Obama giving Bush torturers a free pass?

This is a very disturbing article, one which calls into question the Obama Administration's promise to abide by the rule of law.

An excerpt:

....Judge Baltasar Garzón—a world-renowned jurist who had initiated previous prosecutions of war crimes and had publicly said that former President George W. Bush ought to be tried for war crimes—to decide whether to pursue the case against the six former Bush officials. That June—coincidentally or not—the Spanish Parliament passed legislation narrowing the use of "universal jurisdiction." Still, in September 2009, Judge Garzón pushed ahead with the case.

The case eventually came to be overseen by another judge who last spring asked the parties behind the complaint to explain why the investigation should continue. Several human rights groups filed a brief urging this judge to keep the case alive, citing the Obama administration's failure to prosecute the Bush officials. Since then, there's been no action. The Obama administration essentially got what it wanted. The case of the Bush Six went away.

Back when it seemed that this case could become a major international issue, during an April 14, 2009, White House briefing, I asked press secretary Robert Gibbs if the Obama administration would cooperate with any request from the Spaniards for information and documents related to the Bush Six. He said, "I don't want to get involved in hypotheticals." What he didn't disclose was that the Obama administration, working with Republicans, was actively pressuring the Spaniards to drop the investigation. Those efforts apparently paid off, and, as this WikiLeaks-released cable shows, Gonzales, Haynes, Feith, Bybee, Addington, and Yoo owed Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thank-you notes.