Author name: davidswanson

#1 Idea on Obama's Site

The number one policy proposal on the president’s website and now third second most popular proposal over all calls for prosecuting Bush and Cheney.

The proposal is called End the Imperial Presidency and you can still vote for it. It’s climbing up fast.

Go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/open and go to Brainstorming and log in.

Find the proposal and click the thumbs-up sign.

Also post your suggested changes to the proposal.

THANKS!

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Weaseling Out of Top Proposals on Open Government Site Begins

By David Swanson

The president’s open government site was supposed to allow brainstorming through May 28th, but the top policy proposal and third highest ranked proposal overall, as of the end of the 28th, was “End the Imperial Presidency.”

It is not too late for you to vote for this proposal.

That’s because the Open Government just changed the rules and won’t be moving on to phase 2 until June 3rd, and will be leaving phase 1 (brainstorming) open until June 19th. read more

Weaseling Out of Top Proposals on Open Government Site Begins Read More »

Top Ten Proposals on Obama's Website

By David Swanson

You might want to hurry because the open government is about to close. Participation in the “Brainstorming” phase 1 of President Obama’s online Open Government Initiative only lasts from May 21st to May 28th. To find it, go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/open You’ll see listed there three phases, with the “Discuss” and “Draft” phases not yet active. read more

Top Ten Proposals on Obama's Website Read More »

"Looting of America" Author Sees Opportunity in Meltdown

By David Swanson

I’ve just interviewed Les Leopold, who blames the recent financial disasters on trends that began over 30 years ago, explains how a great deal of Wall Street’s “investing” has had as much connection to the real economy as fantasy baseball has to baseball, diagnoses the failures of labor and the left to resist the financialization of the economy, views the current situation with genuine optimism as a rare moment in which we might be able to make necessary read more

"Looting of America" Author Sees Opportunity in Meltdown Read More »

Accountability Audio

Listen to the latest edition of The Urban Journal

Hosted by Keith Murphy on XM Satellite Radio Channel 169, "The Power" daily, Monday through Friday, 8pm Eastern and the special encore edition at 5am.

  Urban Journal 5/27 pt. 1 Heather Boushey, Center for American Progress
Urban Journal 5/27 pt. 2 David Swanson, After Downing Street
Urban Journal 5/27 pt. 3 Economist and author Ellen Brown
Urban Journal 5/27 pt. 4 Playwright, Janet Langhart Cohen

Also Progressive Democrats of America has posted a recording of an Accountability & Justice Conference Call held on May 13, 2009.  Go here and skip the first 6 minutes of people calling in and introducing themselves.

Accountability Audio Read More »

Obama's Open Forum Opens Possibilities

By David Swanson

Candidate Obama asked for our opinions through a website. Our top demand was that he keep his promise to vote against immunity for telecoms that spied illegally. He ignored us, promised to do better as president, and hasn’t.

President-Elect Obama asked for our opinions through his transition website. Our top question was whether he would appoint a special prosecutor for Bush, Cheney, and gang. He refused to answer the question until asked by the corporate media, and then read more

Obama's Open Forum Opens Possibilities Read More »

The 45th President

By David Swanson

The United States has had 44 presidents and nobody knows who the 45th will be. For the sake of argument let’s imagine for a minute something that is a very definite possibility. Let’s imagine that the 45th president will belong to a political party you detest, will espouse the opposite position from yours on matters dear to your heart, and will strike you as completely unlikeable, untrustworthy, irresponsible, and dangerous. Let’s imagine that #45 will want to read more

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Fantasy Finance and Real Fixes

By David Swanson

If you’re like me you find it at least a bit disturbing that we’re giving trillions of dollars to save the economy to the very people who wrecked it, and more disturbing that we’re doing so without any solid basis for expecting to get much of it back and without making fundamental changes to prevent a repetition. But if you’re like me, you also aren’t 100 percent certain how a credit default swap works with a cubed collateralized debt obligation, read more

Fantasy Finance and Real Fixes Read More »