We have a great group of progressives all in one place and we could start making some serious noise if we decided to vote on and carry out some group projects. We learn every day how we are getting screwed by corporate America and the tea party seems to get attention every time one of them farts. We should really start organizing and funding our own actions.

My pet project would be to fund a few billboards in areas where there are walmart stores and with a customer base of working or middle class voters. The billboards should highlight how much of the tax payers money is going to support the workers of these stores and how much it is adding to every dollar they spend there.

I do not have any firm numbers about how much we pay in tax breaks and worker subsidies but one estimate is around one billion dollars a year. This amount was extrapolated from a study that shown how much it cost Massachusetts. I wonder if these kinds of statistics would make people think about how much they are really spending when they shop there.

I am not very good at organizing but would love to join any group effort if there is enough interest.

The discussion was about their long term goal of changing the political debate to one that is favorable to them and one of them was quoted as saying that they were going to continue this course of action until they stop breathing. Hmm, I wonder how many other people thought of the same solution as I did.

This is a subject that seems to bring out the worst in us when we discuss it, but I would love to get some of your thoughts on it.

http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2012/11/15/why-im-rejecting-rabbi-yoffies-call-for-progressive-jews-to-support-israels-bombing-of-gaza/

I just read a thread before it was blocked and it truly disgusted me.
It was an insulting rant aimed at a young woman whose made an appeal for help to feed the starving children in the world.

I was so disgusted, I thought I would ask for a jury decision to delete it but then I would not get the chance to tell the poster just how I felt about his comments so this is what I wanted to tell him:

She is asking people to send money to help all the children in the world that are starving to death. You do not care for the way the appeal is produced, but you will find it in your heart to give money if you get a look at her boobs. That sort of comment can be expected from the like of Rush Limpballs but it is shocking to find it on DU. Shame on you.

I do not know if this post is legal but I felt I had to say it.



http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1002&pid=1232822

It was an insulting rant aimed at a young woman whose made an appeal for help to feed the starving children in the world.

I was so disgusted, I thought I would ask for a jury decision to delete it but then I would not get the chance to tell the poster just how I felt about his comments so this is what I wanted to tell him:

She is asking people to send money to help all the children in the world that are starving to death. You do not care for the way the appeal is produced, but you will find it in your heart to give money if you get a look at her boobs. That sort of comment can be expected from the like of Rush Limpballs but it is shocking to find it on DU. Shame on you.

I do not know if this post is legal but I felt I had to say it.

I was checking my local congressman through Opens Secrets web site and found that in the last two election cycles his campaign has paid almost $200,000 to a LLC comany. The secretary of state sites lists only the agent for service of process for this company. This person happens to be the congressman's chief of staff. I think this kind of arrangement is a little suspect. I have a suspicion that the company is actually owned by the congressman himself but, of course, I do not know that for a fact.

Do any of the great legal minds here at DU think this type of arrangement is quite normal or does it sound a little suspicious. Any input would be very welcome.

I was doing some reading about Thomas McCormick and his association with a company called Political Dynamics LLC and the information at the Secretary of State site was very limited. Does anyone have any background into who this company is. He has apparently paid them thousands of dollars in consulting and other expenses. I think it would be important to find out who they are.

I do realize that the star is posted next to our user name but I do not always look there and did not notice that it had gone and my membership had expired. I think it would be a good idea to send a computer generated reminder to our inbox. This would be a good ways of ensuring renewals on a timely basis.

I have let my membership lapse in the past for this very reason, so it would seem to be a cost effective move. I notice that the new membership rates do not include the opportunity to get a tee shirt included with membership. That is a shame as I always like to get one with my subscription, it gets me a lot of strange looks in the republican area where I live.

Then I realized I was reading a British version of "The Onion" It is very good.

http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2012/07/20/police-brutality-up-for-instant-review-as-rioters-adopt-hawkeye/

Police brutality up for instant review, as rioters adopt ‘Hawkeye’

Following on from some high profile cases of police brutality and disputes about reasonable force, the decision has been taken to use Hawkeye for all major riots in the UK. This move comes to try and give an instant verdict on the ‘field of play’ and save money on expensive trials to find police officers not guilty.

‘The technology can be used to see if an officer’s blow was ‘below the belt’’, Stan Johnson, head of the newly formed Rioters Association (R.A) told us. ‘In fact Hawkeye will tell us if the whole of the truncheon was below the whole of the belt. Should that be the case, the offending officer will have to serve a 10 minute sin bin.’

I found a site that seems to be the class lesson taught by a Mrs. Burns in a school in Virginia. I am not posting this as an endorsement of the lesson although it seemed quite good. However, there was a page that listed the reasons why so mean people fell for fascism. The last reason listed on that page seemed to be tailor made warning about this country's future if we do not stop the corruption of our politicians and courts by corporations and groups like the Tea Party.

It is referred to as "The Boiled Lobster Theory" It is said that a lobster dropped in a pot of very hot water will immediately jump out. A lobster put in a pot of cold water, which is then heated, will not notice the problem until it is too late. Most Germans, Italians, and Japanese who watched the rise of fascism in the early 1930s did not notice or know how bad it would all turn out. By the time they did fully understand, those who objected knew perfectly well that to speak out would mean arrest and maybe death.

This may be a well known theory to the many well read members of DU but I had not read of it before. I saw it as a perfect way to describe what I fear will happen here if we elect people like Romney to run our country.