TBF
TBF's JournalWomen telling it like it is:
These memes are from the Christian Left's facebook page. Visit and like them if you're on Facebook and so inclined ... and enjoy:
Rich gain clout as Supreme Court kills political spending limits
David Horsey doesn't just draw awesome political cartoons - he also has a column (you probably already know this - but just in case you're in the same boat as me I'm putting this up here):
Rich gain clout as Supreme Court kills political spending limits
By David Horsey
April 3, 2014, 5:00 a.m.
America has seen some impressive winning streaks -- the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan, the New York Yankees for half the 20thcentury, Tiger Woods until his wife caught him with his putter on the wrong green --– but few can surpass the string of wins being racked up by rich people. And now, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservatives, the super-wealthy can take another victory lap.
On Wednesday, in a 5-4 ruling, the highest court in the land took one more big step toward eliminating all the campaign finance laws that have been enacted since the Watergate scandal in the 1970s. This time they struck down limits on the amount of money any individual can give to candidates running for the House and Senate.
<snip>
“Taken together with Citizens United, today’s decision eviscerates our nation’s campaign finance laws,” Justice Stephen G. Breyer said in his dissent from the ruling. Some observers predict that the path is now open for the court to kill every remaining restraint on spending in elections ...
More here: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-supreme-court-spending-limits-20140403,0,5185172.story#ixzz2xsBpl72y
Supreme Court Defends Wealthy’s Right to Own Government
This post is sarcasm (well, sarcasm imitating real life)
April 2, 2014
Supreme Court Defends Wealthy’s Right to Own Government
Posted by Andy Borowitz
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—By a five-to-four decision, the United States Supreme Court today defended the right of the wealthiest Americans to own the United States government.
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts summarized the rationale behind the Court’s decision: “In recent years, this Court has done its level best to remove any barriers preventing the wealthiest in our nation from owning our government outright. And while the few barriers that remained were flimsy at best, it was high time that they be shredded as well.”
More here: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2014/04/supreme-court-defends-right-of-wealthy-to-own-government.html#entry-more
Si Se Peude
Marchers say 'Si se puede' on 18th annual César Chávez event
By Elaine Ayala : March 27, 2014 : Updated: March 27, 2014 10:47pm
SAN ANTONIO — Forecasters have predicted only a 10 percent chance of rain Saturday, when thousands of people are expected to join the 18th annual César E. Chávez March for Justice.
Even if it pours, organizers plan to weather temperatures and precipitation.
“We're marching regardless,” said Jaime Martinez, founder and president of the César E. Chávez Legacy and Educational Fund, which co-sponsors the annual march with the City of San Antonio.
As in years past, the march's route will start on the city's West Side at 10 a.m. and end at Alamo Plaza. Organizers said marchers are expected not only from San Antonio and South Texas but several points east, including Washington, D.C., and west, including Albuquerque, N.M.
The march traditionally hosts a member of the Chávez family. This year it's Christine Chávez, granddaughter of the late union leader and civil rights icon, who works as a farmworker coordinator in the U.S. Department Agriculture in Washington ...
More here - http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/religion/article/Marchers-say-Si-se-puede-on-18th-annual-C-sar-5355627.php
KKE Statement on Ukraine
Joint Statement of Communist and Workers’ Parties on the recent developments in Ukraine (Proposed by the KKE and DKP):
Feb 27, 2014
Statement on the reactionary developments in Ukraine
The recent dramatic developments in Ukraine do not constitute the “victory of democracy” by the alleged “revolutionaries”, as it is being described by the mass media of the USA and the EU, but is a dangerous development, above all for the people of Ukraine themselves.
Reactionary political forces, ideological descendents of the Nazis, have risen to the political “surface” with the assistance of the EU and the USA. These are forces which apart from destroying the offices of their opponents, are planning political persecutions, and the banning of parties, above all against the communists, and even racist legislation at the expense of the Russian-speaking population, like what has been in force for the last 20 years in the countries of the “European” Baltic, with the blatant political support of the EU.
The communist and workers’ parties that sign this Joint Statement:
Express our solidarity and support with the communists of Ukraine, above all with those who in many instances went on to the streets in order to defend the monuments of Lenin and the other Soviet and ant-fascist monuments, which found themselves “targeted” by the ideological “cleansing” of history being attempted by the nationalist-fascist armed groups ...
Much more here: http://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/Joint-Statement-of-Communist-and-Workers-Parties-on-the-recent-developments-in-Ukraine-Proposed-by-the-KKE-and-DKP/
Trotsky on Ukraine
The Editors 3 March 2014
Trotsky on ‘The Ukrainian Question’ in Socialist Appeal, 22 April 1939 (via Counterpunch):
The Ukrainian question, which many governments and many “socialists” and even “communists” have tried to forget or to relegate to the deep strongbox of history, has once again been placed on the order of the day and this time with redoubled force…
In the conception of the old Bolshevik party Soviet Ukraine was destined to become a powerful axis around which the other sections of the Ukrainian people would unite. It is indisputable that in the first period of its existence Soviet Ukraine exerted a mighty attractive force, in national respects as well, and aroused to struggle the workers, peasants, and revolutionary intelligentsia of Western Ukraine enslaved by Poland. But during the years of Thermidorian reaction, the position of Soviet Ukraine and together with it the posing of the Ukrainian question as a whole changed sharply. The more profound the hopes aroused, the keener was the disillusionment. The bureaucracy strangled and plundered the people within Great Russia, too. But in the Ukraine matters were further complicated by the massacre of national hopes. Nowhere did restrictions, purges, repressions and in general all forms of bureaucratic hooliganism assume such murderous sweep as they did in the Ukraine in the struggle against the powerful, deeply-rooted longings of the Ukrainian masses for greater freedom and independence ...
<snip>
The question of the fate of the Ukraine has been posed in its full scope. A clear and definite slogan is necessary that corresponds to the new situation. In my opinion there can be at the present time only one such slogan: A united, free and independent workers’ and peasants’ Soviet Ukraine.
Read the entire article here: http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2014/03/03/the-editors/trotsky-on-ukraine/#sthash.wUVCCUs1.dpuf
Ukraine (Socialist Progressives Group)
Bringing this over via a poster named "Comrade" who wrote an interesting post re Ukraine at another forum I frequent. This is beyond the resistance party, departing president, and all of that. He thinks a split may be happening in Ukraine and explains the breakdown.
He posits the following:
1, the Western Ukraine (technically northwestern on the map) is heavily pro-EU/pro-NATO.
2, the southern and eastern regions are heavily pro-Russia.
3, the central area (technically north-central on the map) is probably 50/50.
Around half of the country’s population lives in the south and the east, so most of the country's total population is pro-Russia. However, the problem is that, as far as I know, the Party of Regions and the Communist Party only have combined majorities in the regional governments in the south and east (the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the Donetsk, Kharkov, Lugansk, Zaporozhia, Dnyepropetrovsk, Odessa, Nikolayev, and Kherson oblasts). So when the country breaks up it will probably only be the eastern and southern oblasts that form the new pro-Russia country.
Here is a map of the Ukraine from Wikipedia, the blue areas will likely form a new pro-Russia country and be free from NATO and the EU:
The headlines on CNN this morning:
1. Ukraine's Parliament votes unanimously to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from office.
2. Venezuela's Maduro wants talks with Obama
Sigh. 
Coolest mayor in the country - Part II
A lot of folks viewed my initial post about the mayor of San Antonio and his latest sports bet - so I thought I'd update.
This is the Facebook status update from a few days ago:
Mayor Julián Castro (Feb 10):
A couple of months ago, I visited Lanier High School to encourage the students to work hard and aim for college. One of the students in the audience asked if I'd paint my hair yellow if the boys basketball team made it to the playoffs. I said sure. Little did I know. Tonight is the last game of the regular season. Looks like the Voks will make the playoffs, and I'll be going blonde. Glad to celebrate the success of our city's young people. Go Voks!
Here is the update tonight:
Mayor Julián Castro - about an hour ago
I made a promise to a Lanier High School student that if their basketball team made the playoffs, I'd go blonde. So here it is. Looks silly, I know. But, I hope our city's young folks will take two things from this. First, always keep your word. Second, you have an entire community of San Antonians who care about you and will always support your success on the court and in the classroom. Go Voks!
The coolest mayor in the country --
Check out the mayor of San Antonio - who is an avid sports fan (and I really hope the Voks win so we can see him as a blonde!)
Mayor Julián Castro
37 minutes ago
A couple of months ago, I visited Lanier High School to encourage the students to work hard and aim for college. One of the students in the audience asked if I'd paint my hair yellow if the boys basketball team made it to the playoffs. I said sure. Little did I know. Tonight is the last game of the regular season. Looks like the Voks will make the playoffs, and I'll be going blonde. Glad to celebrate the success of our city's young people. Go Voks!
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: Wisconsin
Current location: Tejas
Member since: Thu Jan 17, 2008, 01:44 PM
Number of posts: 32,106
