Ryan, Akin: Two More Reasons to Vote for Obama (tags)
On the eve of the Republican National Convention, two stories — Mitt Romney's choice of arch-conservative Ayn Rand devotee Paul Ryan as his running mate and Missouri Congressmember and Senate candidate Todd Akin's comment that women almost never get pregnant from "legitimate rape" — highlighted the vast differences between the two major parties. No progressive can possibly still believe that it makes no difference whether the Republicans or the Democrats win this year's election in the face of the overwhelming evidence that the Republicans plan (and, if they win, will enact) a sweeping change in U.S. government that will eliminate ALL business regulation, environmental protection and civil rights for women, people of color and Queers.
Immigration Endgame: May 1st and America’s New Race War (tags)
Nothing has changed except this: Since the mass pro-amnesty marches in Chicago and Los Angeles our potential for mass resistance against mass repression is now on the table as an absolute factor in the equation. And that’s what the May 1st Huelga General is all about. It’s about our power and their vulnerability...
a broken dream
Filibuster Wars Power Grab at the Height of the Empire http://rwor.org/a/004/filibuster-wars.htm The Senate was heading for a major showdown, as the Republican majority and Vice President Cheney conspired to strip the Democrat minority of their ability to even filibuster the most extreme judicial nominees. Then, after playing chicken for two weeks, a "Gang of 14" Senators suddenly announced they had reached a "historic compromise based on mutual trust" -- and they announced that they had saved the Senate from destruction. And the media oohed-and-aaaahed over the last minute development. But it quickly became pretty obvious, that nothing here was an obstacle to the most dangerous plans for remaking the courts. And did the compromise "safe the filibuster" as the media said? In fact, the compromise said "If you don't take the filibuster, we promise not to use it." Which, if you think about it, gives the top reactionaries what they want. Part of this "compromise" is that the Democrats immediately stopped their opposition to Precilla Owen and several other of Bush's judicial nominees -- these are people who are literally monsters of an extreme kind, who had been stalled in the Senate (in some cases for years.) So this "compromise" meant that these vultures are headed for powerful courts. And, it is also clear that huge new showdowns lie just ahead -- as the White House and Senate brace for a struggle over putting extreme rightwing judges on the supreme court. The following article (written just before the "compromise" was announced) lays bare the stakes and dynamics of this whole crisis.
Revolutionary Communists Take on Christian Fascists Over Schiavo (tags)
"One thing that God has brought to us is Terri Schiavo to elevate the visibility of what's going on in America."
Tom DeLay, Congressman from Texas, House Republican Majority Leader,
speaking to his co-thinkers of "Family Research Council"Tom DeLay is a powerful right-winger who wraps his ambitions in a frenzied god-speak. He is the cynical manipulator, who redistricted Texas to disenfranchise political opponents, and is now rewriting congressional ethics procedures to rescue himself from his own colossal corruption. He is an aggressive liar, who recently dared describe Terri Schiavo as "lucid."
But, for a half second there among allies, he let out something true.
This huge national power struggle over Terri Schiavo's fate has, in fact, elevated the visibility of what's going on in America.
A Bush Narco-regime--here in the USA? (tags)
The dirtiest of all Bush secrets?
Secret Memos Connect Bush and the Global Campaign of Torture (tags)
In Washington, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld fumed that the "distraction" of Abu Ghraib prison has to end. This theme has been taken up by the Republican Right. One congressman said that he was "outraged over the outrage."
Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment: Tightening Tradition's Chain (tags)
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Misery likes company George Bush has second thoughts on Irag (tags)
Irag