Over the last thirty years, Republicans, conservative Democrats, and their well-to-do allies have perfected a twelve-step program that has worked to transform America. Cut taxes and establish loopholes and subsidies for the rich and the corporations, to redistribute wealth upwards, drown government in red ink, and justify slashing of social programs. a. Lowest tax rates…
It can be done. The world we want is available. Vermont has enacted a single payer medical care system. Right here in the US, a state has established the medical system that would fix so much that is wrong with our health care system. I think we can count on the free market medical care…
Every social movement has its music.  From the union movement  in the early part of the 20th Century to the 60’s revolution to Africa’s apartheid;  everywhere voices were raised together against the forces of injustice and misrule.  There are important reasons why music belongs in every revolution. Music  penetrates to deeper levels of consciousness than mere language. The discipline forces simplicity upon  the…
I was reading the Wikipedia article on Clean Elections, with the hope of deepening my knowledge and writing a summary article. What I learned, in short, is that many states and jurisdictions have passed various forms of Clean Election laws, but both the Courts and the citizens themselves have rolled back the laws in some…
June 10 update: Jackie continues to be weak and is reportedly being released to return to Washington State for medical treatment. June 5 update: Evaluated at the hospital and returned to prison Still no medical care for Sister Jackie Hudson as far as we can determine. Read message below from Leonard at Ground Zero Center….
Tacoma activist Arthur M sent along an email and link about organizing that I think is right on. Thanks, friend. Here is the link if you want to read the whole article. It’s 14 pages and I recognize that we live in a world of tweets and sparkle fingers today, so I want to tweet…
Three minute summary, from Michael Moore’s ‘Capitalism: A Love Story’ DVD Extra Preview – Bank of North Dakota A detailed (26 min.) history of the Bank of North Dakota (produced by PrairiePublicBcast) Slides from Bob Hasegawa’s PowerPoint presentation http://www.inspireseattle.org/minutes/HB%202040-State%20Bank.pdf Materials courtesy of Inspire Seattle
Prisoner of conscience, Jackie Hudson, is at the Irwin County Detention Center and is having chest pains. We need to put pressure on the facility to transfer Jackie to a hospital emergency room for evaluation right away. The facility is reported to be monitoring Jackie’s condition, but has refused to transfer Jackie to an ER…
It’s bitter sweet to be writing about prisons during the week that Gil Scott-Heron died. I believe that Gil did some time for possession of cocaine. That tells you so much about the current purpose of the incarceration industry. I guess there’s a good chance that with a record and prison time that Gil lost…
Gil Scott-Herron died a few days ago. If you are not familiar with his work, he is the grandfather, the god father of rap, hiphop, spoken word. Here is a video of Gil talking about his work. Gil is best known for the revolution will not be televised piece.