Elections

I'd love to see this backed up by specifying a single thing Perriello has done (I don't mean thought in his heart of hearts, but done) that is more liberal than Virginia's Fifth District.

By David Swanson

Congresswoman Donna Edwards' bill proposing a Constitutional Amendment to deny corporations the free speech rights of persons in the form of unlimited election bribery spending has now been cosponsored by: John Conyers, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Jim McGovern, Keith Ellison, Chellie Pingree, Barbara Lee, Andre Carson, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Betty Sutton, Raul Grijalva and Ed Markey.

With the exception of Carson, these congress members are also all cosponsors of the Fair Elections Act, which seeks to address the fairness of our elections by providing public financing for campaigns.

JOIN THIS CAMPAIGN!

As I sit waiting to fly out of LAX, secure in the knowledge that while most of our money is going into the greatest effort the world has ever seen to make most of its people hate a particular nation, everyone around me has had to take off their coats and shoes and display their toothpaste, except for the people living on the streets of Los Angeles who aren't part of the airport traveling world, and -- this ought to help things -- Lynn Woolsey came to this city yesterday to support Jane Harman.

Every election cycle, the labor movement alone dumps enough money into the corporate media through the campaigns and PACs that it could have instead created a new television network that would actually report the news all year long through every future election cycle.  Rather than threatening to possibly not succeed in persuading working people to vote for corporate candidates, Trumka should threaten to defund the corporate media election bonanza and give us real news.

By David Swanson

Several years ago we started a community garden where I live. We worked at it quite energetically. We got more and more people involved. Much of the hardest work involved digging irrigation ditches to bring water to the soil.

We made progress slowly. We brought water to little corners of the garden. But the work was exhausting, and some people burned out and needed to take a break. Usually they'd be back within a year and working shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of us again.

The work was hard but extremely enjoyable. The camaraderie of it was a benefit whether or not the garden was yet prospering. It was very properly called a community garden.

On Saturday, Dec 5th, from noon to 2 p.m. ET, Jonathan Tasini will be the featured guest at Firedoglake.com, one of the leading blogs in the country that has been a vocal proponent for real health care reform.  Firedoglake is launching a series of organizing forums to make sure we continue to build a national movement for Medicare For All.  Saturday's forum will be moderated by progressive political activist David Swanson.

You can take part at http://firedoglake.com

You can go ahead and register ahead of time at http://firedoglake.com/wp-signup.php

For Immediate Release: December 3, 2009
For More Info: http://democrats.com/contact

Three progressive Democrats who are running in primaries for Congress today declared their support for Jobs Not Wars.

The candidates are Jonathan Tasini, who is challenging appointed Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY); Regina Thomas, who is re-challenging BlueDog John Barrow (GA-12); and Marcy Winograd, who is re-challenging BlueDog Jane Harman (CA-36). They wrote:

"After 8 years, nearly 5,300 U.S. lives, and $3 trillion, it's time to bring our troops safely home from Afghanistan and Iraq.

"If voters elect us to Congress, we promise to vote against any funds for these wars, except to bring our troops safely home.

"We have urgent priorities at home, especially jobs, healthcare, education, and global warming. We must also reduce taxes for working families and the national debt. We simply cannot afford another $100 billion each year for never-ending wars.

"Our message to voters is straightforward: if you want Jobs Not Wars, please support our campaigns however you can."

With official unemployment over 10%, polls show jobs are the top priority for voters. Voters also oppose spending countless billions on the never-ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"On the crucial issues of jobs and wars, Washington isn't listening to the American people," said Bob Fertik, president of Democrats.com. "We need to change Washington by electing a new generation of progressive Democrats who will create millions of jobs by saving trillions on endless wars."

In the past two weeks, Democrats.com has raised over $22,000 for the first three "Jobs Not Wars" candidates. Democrats.com is also reviewing a dozen candidates for future endorsements and encouraging more progressive Democrats to run for office on the "Jobs Not Wars" platform.

By David Swanson

Congratulations are in order for Congressman and senate-candidate Mike Capuano of Massachusetts for openly acknowledging that Dick Cheney should be prosecuted for his crimes.

Calling Dick Cheney a vampire recently helped Congressman Alan Grayson raise over 1/2 million dollars in a day. But for Capuano to light the sort of fire needed for him to win (or for Grayson to continue exciting people, for that matter) is going to require actions as well as words.

Here's the action that would put Capuano over the top and energize supporters across the country.

Introduce a 1-sentence bill, as was done on Alberto Gonzales leading to his departure, reading:

By David Swanson

Pulling pranks on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is just too easy. The Yes Men held a press conference this week pretending to speak for the chamber and fooled the journalists in the room, because "We are no longer going to promote the destruction of the earth's climate" is such a compelling position that it's very tempting to imagine that any human being could adopt it.

But Tom Donohue and his chamber take the opposite position and have for years. William Kovacs, a senior vice president at the chamber, told the LA Times he'd like to stage a "Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century" to deny, not evolution, but human-made climate change.

Diebold/Premier's Equipment and Software Must Be Immediately and Permanently Decertified and a Criminal Investigation Launched

As A Result Of The California Secretary Of State's Findings and Diebold/Premier's Own Admissions That Its Voting Systems Do Not Meet Federal Standards, Velvet Revolution Calls on the Company to Return the Well Over $100 Million in Taxpayer Funds Spent by Californians on Failed, Faulty Voting System Hardware and Software. 

Learn more and take action: http://dieboldreturnourmoney.com

By David Swanson

Former governor of Alabama and political prisoner Don Siegelman has filed a motion (PDF) for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence.

Here are the highlights:

ISSUE I. THE GOVERNMENT’S FAILURE TO PRODUCE EXCULPATORY AND IMPEACHING INFORMATION IN ITS POSSESSION AS TO KEY WITNESSES AND CORRECT FALSE OR MISLEADING TESTIMONY DURING TRIAL VIOLATED SIEGELMAN’S RIGHTS UNDER THE DUE PROCESS CLAUSE OF THE FIFTH AMENDMENT AND THE GOVERNMENT FAILED TO COMPLY WITH ITS OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE JENCKS ACT.

By David Swanson

Let's elect someone to the U.S. Senate from New York. Just that would be progress. But let's elect someone who is not a servant to any party boss or any corporate agenda. Let's elect a leading voice against corporate power.

Let's elect someone who goes on cable news business shows all the time even though the hosts and rightwingers eat up two-thirds of the minutes, and who speaks truth to nonsense so powerfully that even I can almost stand to watch the crap.

By David Swanson

I ran into Creigh Deeds, candidate for Virginia Governor, at the farmer's market in Charlottesville on Saturday. He'd been trailing in the polls for a long time while the two men ahead of him, Brian Moran and Terry McAuliffe beat up on each other. Now Deeds is leading, but only just barely. Essentially it's a three-way tie for the Democratic nomination in the Tuesday, June 9th, primary, with virtually nobody planning to vote and the outcome entirely dependent on who gets their handful of supporters to actually go to the polls.

Here's what Norman Solomon says about Marcy, about Jane "cover up Bush's spying" Harman, and about challenging incumbents. Every incumbent should be challenged from the left in this country every time. Waiting for a candidate as awful as Harman is pretty low standards. If we're going to bomb people around the world in the name of democracy, the least we could do would be to have one!

They're the new Democratic nominees for Charlottesville, Va., City Council!

Book Can Now Be Ordered, Book Tour Being Planned

You can now pre-order my book at Amazon.com at http://tinyurl.com/daybreakbook

It's a thick book containing everything I know - and then some - for $10 (pre-order discount price).  And you can support a good cause by pre-ordering it now.

You can also call or visit your local bookstore right now and ask them to be sure to stock the book.

If you're in California, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, or Ohio please see below.  I'm only coming once to any given state, so please schedule more events for the times I will be in yours! Please don't ask me later why I didn't come to your town!

If you're in another state, please contact me re dates in 2010. -- David Swanson

Read For the Love of Money.

And open for video.