Posted on August 28, 2011 by Lou
I became a Californian more than 30 years ago at the end of the first Jerry Brown era. Then I watched three republican governors, Deukmejian, Wilson and Schwarzenegger, and a “recalled” democrat – Davis – manage state government’s top job. So when Jerry Brown came back to Sacramento last January, I was excited by the [...]
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Posted on August 25, 2011 by Lou
Kadafi’s overthrow – even though it may trigger bloody conflict – advances human rights in the region and vindicates Obama’s military strategy. But don’t expect the president to get much credit. The left is skittish about American military intervention and the right will twist any fact to prove Obama wrong. If the mission in Libya had [...]
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Posted on August 24, 2011 by Lou
Preventing a right-wing takeover will preoccupy progressives in 2012. Bitterness over Obama’s failures will be suspended as we work to defeat the republican presidential nominee and conservative congressional, gubernatorial and legislative candidates. To sustain us, progressives will need some diversion and inspiration. You can already see these emerging: Elizabeth Warren – who set up the [...]
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Posted on August 18, 2011 by Lou
________________________ The American economy is falling off the cliff And the president’s approval needs more than just a lift To disappointed democrats it all seems very bleak With Obama and his allies looking frail and tired and weak But now that the republicans are taking center stage It gives us all some hope and a [...]
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Posted on August 15, 2011 by Lou
Americans don’t see picket lines very often so it’s big news when 45,000 American workers go out on strike. The two unions taking on Verizon – CWA and IBEW – are calling it a campaign to save the middle class. That’s a good way to gain public support. But a rapidly dropping unionization rate makes it [...]
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Posted on August 13, 2011 by Lou
Just ten years ago, before the blogosphere exploded and MSNBC tacked left, there was a relentless crusade about the lack of progressive voices in the media. A watchdog group called FAIR [Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting], carefully documented how mainstream broadcast media was dominated by far-right to center-right opinion. That’s obviously changed. Now there are [...]
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Posted on August 11, 2011 by Lou
The uprising among London’s Afro-Caribbean and other residents in that city’s poorest area was triggered by a racial incident reminiscent of L.A.’s Rodney King riots 20 years ago. Instead of tackling desperate conditions and high unemployment, the world’s “democracies” are imposing austerity budgets and cracking down on dissent. While the crisis in England is rooted [...]
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Posted on August 10, 2011 by Lou
Reply to “One Term” Comments… I admire Barack Obama. I don’t believe he’s a sell-out, an opportunist or a coward. He is failing because his opponents are vicious, uncompromising zealots who endanger the nation and harm innocent people. His approach doesn’t work. His handling of the debt-ceiling crisis confirms this. And I don’t think he [...]
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Posted on August 9, 2011 by Lou
Democrats Harry Truman in 1952 and Lyndon Johnson in 1968 were eligible for another presidential term but chose not to run. It’s a shame and a national tragedy that Barack Obama’s conciliatory governing style has failed in the face of republican intransigence. But the fact is that his presidency has been marginalized. Talk broke out [...]
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Posted on August 6, 2011 by Lou
Suppose union activists took over the democratic party and held the nation captive until radical labor law reform was passed? Though much of the nation would think we were lunatics, we were guided by a belief that only a re-unionized economy could close the wealth gap, rebuild America, restore worker power and save democracy. So [...]
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Posted on August 4, 2011 by Lou
Even those who like or love President Obama now concede that he’s not very good at his job. You’ll find almost no liberal or progressive who thinks he handled the debt-ceiling crisis just right. Is he in over his head or is he a moderate conservative in disguise? Or does it really matter? Because I [...]
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