Posted on April 30, 2011 by Lou
If you think Citizens United was bad, just give republicans a chance to pick the next one or more supreme court justices. Handing corporations free reign to manipulate the political system was only the beginning of the far right’s judicial agenda. Next in line could be eviscerating the commerce clause which enables the federal government [...]
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Posted on April 27, 2011 by Lou
Too bad California’s greatest living historian Kevin Starr is sometimes confused with Bill Clinton’s foil Ken Starr whose investigation turned oral sex into an impeachable offence. Because Kevin Starr teaches Californians about ourselves better than anyone else. Just finished his treatment on the pre-war years called The Dream Endures – California Enters the 1940s, less [...]
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Posted on April 24, 2011 by Lou
Despite economic inequality, corporate abuse, foreign wars, homelessness, union busting, overcrowded prisons, suburban blight, factory farming and global warming, this is still a remarkable country. Where people have a real shot at a good life. And though I’d prefer if Americans read more, didn’t watch fox news, ate healthier foods and stopped yelling at their [...]
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Posted on April 20, 2011 by Lou
Republican commentators and thought leaders are worried about Donald Trump: That his appeal to populist conservative sentiment exposes the inconsistencies – and lack of judgment – among tea party activists and the republican base. Which drags down the GOP’s more “serious” contenders. Obama’s re-election strategists – positioning the president as a sensible and centrist leader [...]
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Posted on April 17, 2011 by Lou
New to the state, I was astonished in 1982 when republican George Deukmejian defied polls to defeat then L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley to take the governor’s office. That was followed by another surprise three years later when state Supreme Court Chief Justice Rose Bird and two of her liberal colleagues were ousted by voters. In [...]
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Posted on April 13, 2011 by Lou
What if you agree with the fierce criticism by progressives of Barack Obama but are still compelled to support him? That’s the dilemma many of us face. We may think that the president’s apparent approach to the budget battles – a succession of compromises to hard-line republicans – is a de facto surrender to conservative ideology. [...]
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Posted on April 10, 2011 by Lou
Sometimes I think I should be more outraged. The budget deal – which averted a government shutdown and included severe cuts to the poor and other vital spending programs – is being soundly criticized by progressive commentators. And – as you’d expect – President Obama is being blasted for allowing republicans to define the terms [...]
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Posted on April 8, 2011 by Lou
The Union for Bloggers who Blog about Unions If you can credit Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker for arousing the American Labor Movement, than why not give Arianna Huffington her due for triggering the campaign to pay freelance bloggers? The call for a bloggers union is, of course, a reaction to Arianna’s big payout from the [...]
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Posted on April 5, 2011 by Lou
I don’t care how disappointed you are in President Obama. If he loses in 2012 it will vindicate the republican strategy of making him and his presidency illegitimate. And it will hand the white house over to someone who is committed to tea party ideology. Progressives disagree over the extent to which Mr. Obama has [...]
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Posted on April 3, 2011 by Lou
I’ve made some money as a writer: Many years ago as a reporter for a progressive weekly newspaper in Vermont. Then in Los Angeles as a freelance journalist, PR guy and – since the mid 1980s – a union propaganda specialist. I earn nothing as a blogger and don’t expect to. I’ve never submitted anything [...]
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Posted on April 2, 2011 by Lou
Let’s make the 2012 election about unions and not let day-to-day political debate over budgets, taxes, foreign policy and personality obscure the fact that American workers are falling behind. Some democrats will worry that too much union-talk will scare off independent voters. The mainstream media will refer to us as an “interest group.” Our job is [...]
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