And the lack thereof

Thanks but no

My biggest remembrance of Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is from 2014 when she was being interviewed on Rachel Maddow's show concerning the Farm Bill from that year that was coming up for a vote.  The Farm Bill is where the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (more colloquially, Food Stamps) is funded, and that year's bill (which was sponsored by my sad sack Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow) was going to lead to several thousand Americans losing benefits and going hungry.  When asked by Maddow about the bill, Klobuchar responded that it didn't affect Minnesota, so she was going to vote for it even if thousands of Americans were going to go hungry (note that current Democratic Presidential hopefuls Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Kirsten Gillibrand voted against the bill for just that reason).  Her rationale for voting for the bill seemed to me a callous and hollow response.

So it came as no surprise to me this week when news leaked that Klobuchar had voted to confirm more judges nominated by Donald Trump than any of her fellow contenders--and by a considerable margin (better than 25% more).  One wonders how she'll rationalize this, as Trump is nominating right wing ideologues who stand to do considerable harm to workers' rights, workers' paychecks, Americans' healthcare, voting rights, LGBQT rights, and a host of other that will most certainly affect Minnesotans.

Frankly, what this country needs in its post-Trump era is a President borne of the courage and fortitude that makes up the Democratic Party and it platform and not weak kneed Democratic lite candidates like Amy Klobuchar.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Kid Crock

Kid Rock must be in the house...

Note that at Wednesday's Detroit Pistons home opener in their new downtown Detroit stadium, a surprise appearance by Eminem was met with wild cheers, while a Jumbotron shot of Kid Rock was met with boos.

Though I've always suspected Kid Rock's considering a run against Senator Debbie Stabenow in 2018 to be more of a way to sucker republicans out of their money than an actual bid to be in the U.S. Senate, he might just want to reconsider if he's actually planning on challenging Sen. Stabenow.

Seems that the folks in Michigan aren't all that fond of folks who support racist assholes.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

The first cut is the deepest

Near as I can tell, the Democratic Party plan for the next 2018 mid-term election is to hope Donald Trump falls flat on his face and we get swept back into power.

How else to explain the election of Chuck Schumer to be our Senate Minority Leader?  As a man whose slogan could be "If it's good for Wall Street, it's good for Chuck", it's very hard to see how Schumer will inspire voters who don't turn out in non-Presidential election to turn out in 2018--hell, we couldn't get them to turn out in 2016 in an election against Hitler, and somebody somewhere thinks Schumer will help change that?  What the fuck?

Schumer has already said that he doesn't see voters supporting an obstructionist party in 2018 which already shows his utter lack of paying attention to the last several elections--voters supported republicans quite nicely in 2010, 2014, and 2016 even though they accomplished nothing except obstructing any chance at progress for millions of Americans.

Never fear, though, Schumer has made Joe Manchin a part of his inner circle--the same Joe Manchin who said he wouldn't rule out siding with republicans before the election and called Harry Reid (the only Democrat who has shown any spine at all since November 8th) an "absolute embarrassment" for ripping Hitler after the election.  Why this is is anybody's guess--Manchin resides in the reddest of red states and even if he switches parties, there's not a potential opponent in West Virginia who isn't salivating at the commercials they can run against the father of Miss I Made Millions Off The Suffering Of Those Who Need Epi-Pens.  Apparently Democrats learn nothing from history as it's pretty darn easy to see the comparisons between Joe Lieberman and Manchin--and look what that got us:  a big fat nothing.

We also got Debbie Stabenow, my own Senator here in Michigan, whose lone accomplishment in 12 years as a Senator has been to gut food stamp benefits.

They threw a sop to the base with Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Sherrod Brown, but none of them will wield any power and it's really nothing more than giving a lollipop to a crying kid to get him to shut up.  It won't solve the problem and will just serve to anger the kid even more when it's gone.

Keep in mind that it took a majority of Americans six years to realize George W. Bush was a bozo--and a Democratic Party strategy of waiting for epic republican failure in two years is a pipe dream (just ask the national media, who completely blew the election--and the Iraq War, and the economic collapse of 2008--and are now blowing the transition).

And that pipe dream is going to take millions of Americans down with it.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

With Dems like Stabenow, who needs republicans?

For whatever reason, President Obama decided to make a deal with the devil and/or Georgia's two republican Senators and nominated Michael Boggs for the District Court of Northern Georgia.  Boggs is a ConservaDem who as a legislator in Georgia voted to keep the Confederate flag insignia in Georgia's flag, is anti-abortion, anti-civil rights, and anti-marriage equality.

In other words, he's a Democrat like a bear is a chimpanzee.

Needless to say, his nomination has Liberal groups in an uproar, and one of the many that send me constant e-mails about the issues of our day asked me to send an e-mail to my Senators demanding they oppose Bogg's nomination.  This is the letter I got from Senator Debbie Stabenow:


Dear Mark,

Thank you for contacting me about the nomination of Michael Boggs to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. I understand your concerns.

The Senate is charged by the U.S. Constitution with an "advice and consent" role in the appointment process, which ensures that all nominations made by the President are thoroughly reviewed. I take this Constitutional mandate very seriously, as do my colleagues.

Mr. Boggs's nomination is pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which I am not a member. Should this nomination come before me for a vote, I will keep your views in mind.

Thank you again for contacting me. Please continue to keep me informed about issues of concern to you and your family.

Sincerely,

Sincerely,

Debbie Stabenow
United States Senator 

Stabenow is a Democrat from a Northern state, pro-choice, pro-marriage equality, and relies heavily on African-American and women's votes to keep her job...and when it comes to a nominee who is the antithesis of all of this, she will "...keep [my] views in mind."

What the fuck?  Try, "Should this nominee come before me in a vote, I will not support his nomination."  Doesn't have to be mean, doesn't have to be heavy-handed, but for fuck's sake, Francis, it should be a no brainer, emphatic "NO!"

With Democrats like Senator Wishy-Washy Stabenow, it's getting harder and harder to believe we aren't going to absolutely get our clocks cleaned come November.

Peace,

emaycee

An obscenity

"Hunger is not a problem.  It is an obscenity."--Anne Frank

The excerpt in this post by Digby shows the best and worst that is America.  The hungry mother forgoing eating so that her children could have more, her son saying he was full so that his mother could have some of the food that was on his plate--these are the best.  The worst...well when one in five Americans has been food insecure in the past year in the richest nation on the face of the earth, when we read of a family going hungry...it is an abomination.

While it's correct to point a finger at the callousness of republicans, many of whom couldn't care less that Americans are going hungry or think it's their own damn fault (never mind the utter void of moral leadership in corporate America or the Pyramind Scheme that is Wall Street), the Democrats share the blame.  Scenes of hungry families like those noted above are what Bill Clinton's disastrous welfare reform has wrought; the ninety dollars a month that 850,000 American familes won't have for food thanks to Debbie Stabenow's Farm Bill; the President's bowing to the Gods of Austerity rather than looking out for the best interests of the working class men and women on whose backs this country is carried.

Anne Frank was a teenager.  It's quite amazing how much better she understood the scourge that is hunger than do our so-called leaders in our nation's capital.

Peace,
emaycee

Thanks for caring, Senator

While the Farm Bill of 2014 was being prepped for its final vote in the Senate, I sent my Senator, Debbie Stabenow, Chairman of the Agriculture Committee, a letter though The Daily Kos asking for the final bill to not contain $8 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.  After its passage, Senator Stabenow sent me a decidedly lame response in which she invoked the three people in America who have won lotteries who are scamming the system and claimed how much she wanted to help people who were in need of food.

She did not mention the 850,000 families who would lose $90 a month in benefits, nor the roughly one million children who would have even less food to eat thanks to her half-assed bill.

Rather incensed, I sent her a personal response, in which I asked why she was not honest about the 850,000 families who, thanks to her, were going to have even less food to eat each month while Agri-Business and the Koch Brothers (through Georgia Pacific) would receive millions in corporate welfare.  And that frankly, a handful of goofballs scamming the system was red meat for her conservative constituents, but that as a fellow Democrat, her claim was, well, rather unenlightened.

I received a response today from the Senator's office, and it was the exact same letter she had sent before. Apparently, in addition to becoming the first Democrat to ever oversee cuts to the food stamps program, she is also adept at hiring people who can't even bother to take the time to read letters from her very own constituents.

By the way, Senator, the next time you send me an e-mail asking for campaign contributions...the check's in the mail.

Peace,
emaycee

Taking food out of the mouths of babies

The Senate passed the Food Stamp Slashing Bill today, with only nine, count 'em fucking NINE, Democrats voting against the cuts.  If you live in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, or Connecticut, you can be proud of your Democratic Senators--just about anywhere else, well, your Senator decided that giving government money to agribusiness trumped feeding children.  Over 1.7 million people will see a cut averaging about $90 month, thereby forcing children to go hungry.

Noted Liberal stalwarts like Bernie Sanders, Barbara Boxer, Al Franken, Jeff Merkley, Tom Harkin, and my state's own Carl Levin voted for the cuts.  It's not surprising when lame-ass Democrats like Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer, Amy Klobuchar, Claire McCaskill, and my state's own Debbie Stabenow fuck over the poor--you always knew that while they are marginally better than republicans, they were really only in it for the money.  But people that we've been asked to help again and again because they were really the good guys, and stood up for what Paul Wellstone famously called the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party?

I know days like today really pump me up for the elections in November.  Unfortunately for Democrats running for the Senate this year, what little money I have will be going to food banks.

At least I know that they give a shit about the poor.

Peace,
emaycee

The same sad echo

Democrats in the Senate, which we control 55-45, are on the verge of "compromising" on cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to the tune of $9 billion.

Un-fucking-believable.

I know it's the same sad echo, but we live in a time when one in six Americans--in the wealthiest nation in the world--live in poverty, when one in five Americans are food insecure, when there are three unemployed Americans for every job opening, and Democrats, led by my home state's own Debbie Stabenow, are for the first time in our party's history willing to concede to steep food stamp cuts in order to prove they are as callous as republicans.

We're talking children going hungry here.  Children.

Frankly, this is simply unacceptable.  Helping those in need is a core principle of the Democratic Party, and if abandoned, makes our party's leaders no better than let them eat cake republicans.

Bill Clinton's compromise on welfare reform has had harsh consequences for poverty in America, and this one will do the same for hunger in America.

Peace,
emaycee

Please, sir, I want some more

And the answer for America's hungry is "no."

On the first of November, benefit cuts to food stamps took effect leaving a family of four  with an average cut of about $36 dollars a month.  Benefits will now be less than $1.40 per person per meal.

In a word--actually it's not a word but an amalgamation of a word--un-fucking-believable.

Have you ever really given thought to how much $1.40 per person, per meal, is?  For my family (three of us, three meals a day) that comes to $88.20 a week.  Our current grocery bills consistently run better than $150 a week--and believe me, we do not eat like millionaires.  We cut coupons, use lots of store brands, take part in store loyalty programs, and eat lots of leftovers.  We also don't eat fancy meals--meat, side dish, vegetable, or along the lines of spaghetti or tacos.  Could we cut from our grocery bill?  Sure--my gut could definitely use with a few less sweets and we spoil the Beautiful Boy with a few treats, but cutting better than 40% from our food budget?  There's no way we could eat three decent square meals a day on $88.20 a week.

Sadly, though trying as valiantly as they can, food banks (despite republican groupthink) cannot keep up with the demand (also here).  This means that these cuts have resulted in more Americans going hungry, hardly  an optimal outcome (not to mention it's bad economics for all of us).

While Democrats do shoulder some of the blame (deals with the devil rarely pay off) and Michigan's own Debbie Stabenow has been a colossal disappointment (despite two different appeals from me--imagine that, a poor motherfucker with no influence) for spouting the usual fraud bullshit (less than 1%) it's important to remember that this is a republican initiative.  Republicans are happy to watch their fellow Americans go hungry so long as the wealthy have to pay less in taxes (and Democrats like Kirsten Gillibrand and the Congressional Progressive Caucus are certainly fighting the good fight).

Let's just hope that--as the leader of America's largest food bank noted--when America's poor begin rioting because they can't afford to eat that their first target are the congressional offices of heartless republicans.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Peace,
emaycee

No man an island

David Atkins wrote a nice piece today taking President Obama to task for his many errors on economic policy (Digby threw her inimitable two cents in as well) and outlines a framework for changing the narrative.  While I couldn't agree more--and I'd be the last to defend the President, who has been a monumental disaster from the Liberal standpoint on help for the working men and women of America--President Obama hasn't exactly had a lot of support from the spineless Democrats in the Senate:

• There's no way a $4 billion dollar cut in SNAP benefits can pass the Senate without Democratic votes (we provided 28).  Michigan's own Debbie Stabenow had the gall to say it was about cutting waste and fraud.  Au contraire, Senator Agriculture Industry, it's about taking food out of the mouths of children and giving the money saved to millionaires.
• Don't know about you, but I signed, oh, about a thousand petitions in the last couple of months to keep student loan rates low.  That worked out well--the Senate, with fifty-five fucking Democrats, managed to pass a bill that significantly raised the rates.  So much for competing in the global economy....
• Republican use of the filibuster has been unprecedented, but even with their minor victory in getting the President's nominees through recently, there still is great doubt Sen. Reid has the votes if he needs to go nuclear in the future.  I did, however, get a letter from my gutless Senator, Carl Levin, this week, outlining why he is against it.  Seems Sen. Levin can cite about three instances where Democrats successfully used the filibuster to prevent bad bills from becoming law.  What exactly Sen. Levin plans to do about the hordes of President Obama's judicial nominees that are languising while republican appointees run roughshod over American workers and support every bad bill/law/decision made by corporations and the chamber of commerce, Sen. Levin didn't say.  One supposes it's the usual gutless Democratic Senator answer:  we can suck on it.

Look, I get that the U.S. House is out of our hands--there's nothing that can be done.  And I really appreciate Senators like Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, Elizabeth Warren, Al Franken, and a few others.  But where's the love from the rest of the rotten bastards? 

For fuck's sake, without our votes they'd be back home doing what the rest of us are doing--actually working for a living.

Peace,
emaycee

Damn hungry

Many years ago my brother and I took a vacation to the West Coast.  We spent a few days in San Francisco, and on one of them, as we drove into the city itself, we passed a young African-American man standing on the median at an intersection holding a cardboard sign on which he had etched in black magic marker, "HUNGRY, WILL WORK FOR FOOD."  As we were leaving the city at the end of our day, we passed him at the same intersection, and he had turned over the sign and written on the other side, "DAMN HUNGRY!" 

I know I must sound like a broken record, but a recent study on the growth of hunger worldwide showed that 24%--24 fucking percent--of Americans answered "yes" when asked if there had been times over the past year when they didn't have enough money for food (if you note the chart at the link above you'll see that we're not alone, though other countries didn't fare quite as bad).  What makes this number even worse (to me) is that they didn't ask this question of five-year-olds--I mean, undoubtedly these questions were asked of people who were also parents or spouses and the number of people who went without food for a lack of money in the richest nation in the history of civilization was actually greater than 24%.

And just as I thought when my brother and I passed that African-American gentleman so long ago, there is something inherently fucked up about that many Americans going without food, especially with the report coming on the heels of the big three scandals for the Obama administration.  The true scandal is that currently both the House ($20 billion) and the Senate ($4 billion) are considering cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (aka food stamps).  It's not surprising that republicans would be supportive of such cuts--the party thinks its main function in our society is to fuck over the poor and the middle class while fellating the wealthy.  But there are Democrats--including Michigan's Sen. Debbie Stabenow--who are also supportive of such cuts.

All of these so-called "Democrats" should be slapped silly.  With our economic recovery still on shaky ground for the poor and middle class, with nearly a quarter of Americans not having enough money for food in the past year, the last thing we should be doing is giving corporate welfare to Agribusiness while cutting aid for the needy.

After all, I'm pretty sure Jefferson would consider eating an integral part of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Peace,
emaycee

Red fish

When my subscription lapses to the Detroit Free Press this September, this piece by Stephen Henderson will officially be the figurative straw that broke the camel's back.  At column's end, Henderson--either woefully ignorant or embarrassingly naive--makes this assessment of the Senate race between Democrat Debbie Stabenow and republican Pete Hoekstra:  "It's hard to see how the state could lose no matter who wins."

Un-fucking-believable.

Let me count the ways Hoekstra would be worse for our citizens, in no particular order:

1)  He's a racist as judged by his oft viewed Super Bowl ad with the Asian speaking in a broken accent
2)  He thinks equal pay for women is a "nuisance."
3)  He thinks we should drill for oil in the Great Lakes.
4)  He's a fiscal conservative, the absolute last thing we need in the Senate right now with our economy still struggling.
5)  He's a deficit hawk, the absolute last thing we need in the Senate right now with our economy still struggling (the failures in Europe aren't from overspending, they're from not spending enough).
6)  Henderson is living in fucking La-la Land if he thinks Hoekstra is going to be some maverick republican based on a couple of half-assed compromises he made when he was in the U.S. House.  If he wins, the day he steps into the Senate Mitch McConnell is going to stick a pole up Hoekstra's ass and he's going to dance however the republican powers that be want him to, just like every other fucking republican in the Senate (and the House, too, for that matter).

That's just off the top of my head.

I mean, if Henderson, head of the Free Press's editorial board, thought he was so great, why did the Free Press endorse his opponent, Clark Durant, for the republican primary?

Frankly, this was merely a Free Press sop to its republican readership.  Henderson just puckered up his lips and placed them squarely on their lily-white asses.

His questionable assertion as to Hoekstra's viability as a candidate for the state of Michigan is beyond disgusting.  We can just call him the Kung Fu Panderer.

Peace,
emaycee

Who?

Meteor Blades hits the nail on the head with this piece--we should be hammering Tom Harkin's Rebuild America Act at every opportunity.  Unfortunately, he neglects to tell us exactly who should be using the bullhorn to spread this information far and wide.

Because it seems to me if we don't have it out before the elections this fall, it's not going to help much.  Not to mention, this isn't exactly the kind of plan that has the time to ferment for a few years before taking off--we need jobs now.  Mind you, I'm not talking about getting it to pass--just getting the information out as what we Democrats are offering, what distinguishes us from Romney and his circus clowns.

So...as we've seen over the past few years, President Obama the Centrist Wonder is pretty much out.  And the major media outlets, too--fewer and fewer are reading newspapers and Rachel Maddow and the MSNBC gang don't have that many followers.  I think Harry Reid is a possibility, though the Senate Dems that would support it (like our Senators, Levin and Stabenow) are not likely to be able to make enough noise.  Nancy Pelosi is likely the best choice, but even at that, she doesn't have that strong of a caucus.

I truly believe Sen. Harkin's Rebuild America Act is the best economic vision I have seen from the Democrats in years.  But as all too often in the past, it will turn out to be mere wishful thinking because we can't get the information to the mass of Americans it needs to be successful.

Because if preaching "Isn't this cool?" to the already converted were a successful strategy, a whole hell of a lot more of your high school classmates would have been in the Chess Club.

Peace,
emaycee

How not to run a Senate campaign

It was probably a longshot that Pete Hoekstra would defeat Debbie Stabenow this year for the Michigan Senate seat--Stabenow is the incumbent, thanks to Obama's auto bailout and a little buyer's remorse over the 2010 elections Democrat and Independent turnout is likely to be higher, and Stabenow has never been quite the lightining rod for hate that Gov. Granholm was (just quietly goes about her business and gets the job done).

Still, between the racist ad he ran on Super Bowl Sunday and his recent appeal to the birthers....

For a member of a party that advocates less government and less spending...doesn't it seem a bit odd that he'd like to set up a commission to verify the birth records of the Presidential nominees?  I mean, couldn't we just take the word of the state's birth records department and FUCKING FACE REALITY?

Just wondering.

Peace,
emaycee

Keep it coming, fellas

Seems our own probable republican Senate nominee to take on Sen. Stabenow, Pete Hoekstra, just can't keep his foot out of his mouth.  When he's not using racist ads to denigrate Asian Americans, it seems he's telling women in Michigan that the Lilly Ledbetter Act is a "nuisance."

Because, you know, it's good politics to tell 51% of the voting public that it's too much of a pain in the ass to see that they're paid the same as men for doing the same job.

Enjoy those six extra years, Senator Stabenow....

Peace,
emaycee

A cold, cold heart

From Michigan republican Senate hopeful Clark Durant:

"In regards to the Occupy Wall Street movement, Durant said the protesters should 'go find a job.' In regards to the wealth gap the movement decries, Durant said, 'I think it should be wider.'"

While I think the radical legislation struck by Gov. Snyder and the state gop have improved Senator Stabenow's re-election odds immeasurably (and President Obama's chances here in Michigan as well) by firing up unions and the Democratic base (note that Karl Rove--don't like him, but no political dummy--isn't spending money here, at least yet), it doesn't hurt when republicans like Durant (don't think the republicans here in Michigan are nutty enough to elect him) say things that really serve to underscore the differences between the parties.

People like me and you just don't matter to republicans--they wouldn't pee on you if you were on fire unless they were taking your last nickel as payment.

Peace,
emaycee

One lyin' nerd

Kudos to our new Governor--in less than three months, his approval rating has already dipped to a low point it took former Gov. Granholm six years to reach: 33%. His approval rating among Democrats is 10%--ten fucking percent! Man, that's George W. Bush territory, and he hasn't even been in office 90 days. If the election from last November were held today, Virg Bernero would defeat Snyder 47-45--that's a 21 point turaround from the 59-41 troucing Snyder gave Bernero. Think those approval ratings are bad now? Wait until the fine citizens of Michigan find out that Snyder's $1.8 billion tax giveaway to the businesses of Michigan resulted in next to no new jobs. How low can you go, Governor? Continuing the cheery thread, thanks to Snyder's overreach, Debbie Stabenow's re-election chances have improved dramatically: she now holds double digit leads over four hypothetical republican challengers (including former Michigan Secretary of State, Terri Lynn Land, who I believed was the republicans best potential candidate). And party I.D. now has the Democrats back to 2008 levels, which has to be good news for President Wishy Washy. Note to republicans: if you're going to run as a moderate, it really helps if you govern as such. Governing as a radical tends to really piss off the opposition--and, surprisingly enough, the people whose very names implies their centrist nature: Independents. Anybody want to guess how many Michigan Democrats vote for a "moderate" republican in 2012? My guess is pretty darn close to zero. Peace, emaycee

Jobs, Justice, and Peace

They marched--men and women, black, white, and brown, young and old, for jobs, justice, and peace. And in their midst was...li'l ol' me, carrying my sign ("Bring the Troops Home Now!" with a b/side of "Money For Our City, Not For War!"), and sporting one big ass grin. Fifty-one years on this planet, and today was the first time I ever joined a rally for a cause I believed in. Indeed, as the saying goes, you are never too old. 'Twas very nice to be among a group of like-minded souls, and even better, souls who sought the betterment of our fellow poor and middle-class Americans. Railing against Wall Street, railing against corporations, railing against continued tax cuts for the wealthy--you have got to love unions and African-American churches. As the poet queen (Ms. Patti Smith) said, "People have the power." Nice speech from UAW President Bob King on the need to continue marching and fighting. Virg Bernero put in an appearance and continued his Main Street vs. Wall Street theme. Debbie Stabenow put in a few good words for the President (he owes her big time). Marcy Kaptur (with whom I was not familiar), an Ohio U. S. Rep., gave perhaps the best progressive speech of the bunch. And, of course, the Rev. Jackson gave his usual stirring speech (plus we all got to recite "I am...somebody!"). A wonderful experience, but... Turnout was moderate at best (a few thousand)--yes, it was a beautiful day here in Detroit, yes it was in downtown Detroit, yes, it was a Saturday, but you'd hope this close to such an important election people would turn out for the cause. Also, when Sen. Stabenow attempted to give President Obama his props, the response was...underwhelming. One has to wonder if his administration has any clue--Democrats aren't Republicans: we don't reward disappointing Presidents (see also, George W. winning in 2004). The enthusiasm gap may be a real problem--never having attended a Republican rally (and never will) I have no idea what they are like, but the mood started great and eventually became subdued. Don't know if it was disappointment in Democrats or hopelesness in the face of corporate power and a corporate media who kisses republican party ass on a daily basis, but the disappointment was real. Finally, the talking points on Wall Street were dead on, but other than Bob King and Sen. Stabenow, very little was done to tie these people to their biggest supporters--the republican party. We really need to remind people that the republican party has never, and never will, stand up for the working people, unionized or not. It is a party for corporations and the wealthy, the poor and the middle class be damned. One other thing--if you're ever organizing a march with speeches afterward, keep the speech segment afterward BRIEF. There's a reason most school courses last an hour--that's about the limit for people's attention span. As the speeches dragged on today it was painfully obvious that people were turning their attention elsewhere (like on going home). Still: raise your fists, brothers and sisters--NO JOBS, NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE! Amen. Peace, emaycee

Fare thee well, m'lady

SPECIAL SHOUT OUT: To our own Senator Stabenow for her appearance on Olbermann tonight. I'll be the first to admit I had my doubts about Sen. Stabenow during her first term (specifically her vote for the credit card companies) but her second has been a joy. It appears she does belong to the Democratic wing of the Democratic party. Particularly enjoyed her mentioning what many blogs have been saying for a while--if this Healthcare Reform bill was going to be as truly disastrous in November as Republicans claim they'd vote en masse against it and let the Democrats pass it. Not happening. Kudos, Senator! Peace, emaycee