2011 Progressive Wish List

A short list of issues I'd like to see movement on in the coming year.


1. Immigration Reform

Many Republicans want illegal immigrants to be treated as criminals who broke the law. Democratic leaders advocate a more lenient policy allowing some illegal residents to remain an active part of U.S. society.

The DREAM Act passed the House this month but couldn't get the 60 votes required to defeat a GOP filibuster in the Senate. Opponents argued that anyone living illegally in the country, even those brought involuntary as kids, should be treated as a criminal, not rewarded with amnesty and benefits.

The Obama administration has been deporting illegal residents at a record clip over the last two years, but conservatives say he hasn't gone far enough to stem the tide or control the borders.

It is simply unrealistic to round up and deport the millions of illegals already in the country. Immediate reforms should focus deportation efforts on those who pose a more direct threat, such as those who've committed other crimes, while allowing students and workers a path to gain a more permanent foothold in the U.S.

Enforcement policies disproportionately target illegal workers rather than the domestic businesses that hire them. There may be a violation of law by the immigrant who comes into the country, but that's preceded by the violation in the law that occurs by the U.S. employer who is willing to hire illegals.


2. End the War in Afghanistan

Nuff said!


3. Positive Action Dealing with Guantanamo Detainees

Can we get some movement on this issue? On January 22nd, 2009 President Obama signed an executive order calling for the closure of the detention facilities at Guantanamo. There has been little progress.

The executive order was very direct in referencing compliance with Geneva Conventions and calling for a restoration, or application, of habeas corpus rights for detainees. As a country of laws we are obliged to offer justice to those imprisoned. They can and should be either prosecuted or released. If the imprisonment and interrogation of detainees is tied to illegal actions taken by members of our government or military, they should be prosecuted as well.

We need some sunlight disinfectant on this one, big time.


4. Repeal or Revision of Citizen’s United SCOTUS Ruling

Campaign finance reforms have, from the beginning, been designed to protect incumbents.

We need to bring about an end to corporate personhood.


5. Abolishment of the Death Penalty

Statistics are trending in the right direction. The number of death sentences in 2010 was over 50 percent lower than in the 1990s. 46 people were executed this year in the U.S., compared to 52 in 2009. Most of the executions were carried out in the South.

The cost of the death penalty has played a major role in changing public opinion. In a recent national poll conducted by Lake Research Partners, 61% of U.S. voters chose various alternative sentences over the death penalty as the proper punishment for murder. In the same poll 65% supported replacing the death penalty and using the money saved for crime prevention. Illinois hasn't executed anyone for 12 years, but continues death penalty prosecutions at the cost of $100 million over seven years. California reported their death penalty costs at $137 million each year. Permanent imprisonment for all those currently on death row would cost just $11 million.

Two other factors over the past year contributed to the decline in the popularity of the use of capital punishment. Problems with the lethal injection system and innocent people being sentences to death, or worse yet already executed.

In October, Anthony Graves was released from death row in Texas after being imprisoned for 16 years for a crime he didn't commit. Troy Davis, whose guilt is also in doubt, remains on Georgia's death row.

The death penalty system is broken. Privatized prisons are on the rise with profit motives taking priority over justice.


6. Legalization of Marijuana

The war on drugs has failed.

The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world. One in every 31 adults is on probation, in jail or in prison. FBI figures show that over 800,000 people in the U.S. are arrested for marijuana offenses each year. The vast majority of these arrests are for low-level, nonviolent simple possession offenses.

Drug law enforcement in the United States is behind some of the worst aspects of our flawed criminal justice system, including significant racial disparities. People of color are arrested at far higher rates than whites for marijuana offenses, even though rates of drug use are equal across racial lines.

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, we incarcerate black men in the United States today at rates more than five times higher than in South Africa during apartheid. Stats like this make it a bit challenging for our leaders to publicly decry human rights offenses in China, Iran or anywhere for that matter.


7. Judicial Appointments

The 111th confirmed 60 judges but there are currently 94 judicial vacancies in U.S. Federal Courts. 94! That leaves 11% of all federal judge seats vacant. The Court of Appeals has 16 vacancies and the U.S. District Courts have 78 vacancies.

Cases are backing up, and with a long-standing majority of Republican appointees the federal courts are being used more and more as a partisan conservative tool. Ironic, given the political Right’s frequent condemnation of so-called activist judges.

The 13 Circuit Courts are currently comprised of 90 Republican appointees, 73 Democratic and the 16 vacancies. By filling the 16 vacancies Obama could create a near equal split of progressive and conservative judges. The breakdown within each district is not so equal as the possible overall split. However, this is as important an issue as ANY pending legislation on the docket for 2011.


8. Marriage Equality

Some states have taken this on as a ballot initiative and have been pushed back and forth by appeals court rulings. This issue should be taken up by the Supreme Court who should rule that banning same sex marriage anywhere in the U.S. is unconstitutional.


9. Strengthening Social Security and Medicare

Conservatives continue to attack the safety nets, fighting for privatization. Some ground was lost in the compromise tax deal. Obama must make the case for preservation and provide a long-term funding plan.

Petitioning the Senate to Return to Collegiality

Common Cause has set up a petition addressed to the Senate to fix the broken filibuster rules.

We the undersigned call on the United States Senate to reform its filibuster rules when the 112th Congress convenes in January.

It's time for the Senate to stop the partisan posturing and gamesmanship. Sixty-vote supermajorities have become the de facto rule – but they are not what the Founding Fathers intended and they do not serve the needs of 'we the people'.

With all that's facing our great nation, America cannot afford rampant obstructionism. It's time to break the gridlock by fixing the Senate rules now.

Sign it won't you?

CREW has laid out a straightforward list of filibuster reforms.

1. On the first legislative day of a new Congress, the Senate may, by majority vote, end a filibuster on a rules change and adopt new rules.

2. There should only be one opportunity to filibuster any given measure or nomination, so motions to proceed and motions to refer to conference should not be subject to filibuster.

3. Secret "holds" should be eliminated.

4. The amount of delay time after cloture is invoked on a bill should be reduced.

5. There should be no post-cloture debate on nominations.

6. Instead of requiring that those seeking to break a filibuster muster a specified number of votes, the burden should be shifted to require those filibustering to produce a specified number of votes to continue the filibuster.

7. Those waging a filibuster should be required to continuously hold the floor and debate.

8. Once all senators have had a reasonable opportunity to express their views, every measure or nomination should be brought to a yes or no vote in a timely manner.

This sums it up pretty nicely:

This is neither a partisan nor an ideological issue. The question is not whether legislation or nominations blocked by filibuster are good or bad, but whether the American people will be better served by up or down votes that will allow voters to hold senators accountable on Election Day. Staying the course is unacceptable.

Let's review...shall we?

A Beautiful and Amazing Video

Business lobbyists...who needs 'em?

The politifact.com number #4 Lie of 2010, from my previous post, got me thinking about the anti-business sentiment talking points that are still in play.

At the end of September, Forbes magazine ran an article entitled “Obama’s Problem With Business”. The problem with the problem is that it’s not a real problem. Dinesh D’Souza’s ridiculous assertion that Obama is exercising something he calls anti-colonialism is baseless. I read the article which prompted my to read Obama’s book “Dreams From My Father” which D’Souza cites as the root cause of Obama’s socialist world view. To say that it’s absolute nonsense would be a compliment.

The same day that idiotic hit piece ran in Forbes, the president signed the Small Business Jobs Act. The bill included a series of proposals that small businesses started benefiting from on day one. Among the many provisions in the bill, twelve of the top benefits to small businesses are:

• Extension of Successful SBA Recovery Loan Provisions —Immediately Supporting Loans to Over 1,400 Small Businesses

• A More Than Doubling of the Maximum Loan Size for The Largest SBA Programs

• A New $30 Billion Small Business Lending Fund

• An Initiative to Strengthen Innovative State Small Business Programs – Supporting Over $15 Billion in Lending

• Eight New Small Business Tax Cuts

• Zero Taxes on Capital Gains from Key Small Business Investments

• Extension and Expansion of Small Businesses’ Ability to Immediately Expense Capital Investments

• Extension of 50% Bonus Depreciation

• A New Deduction of Health Insurance Costs for Self-Employed

• Tax Relief and Simplification for Cell Phone Deductions

• An Increase in the Deduction for Entrepreneurs’ Start-Up Expenses

• A Five-Year Carryback Of General Business Credits

• Limitations on Penalties for Errors in Tax Reporting That Disproportionately Affect Small Business

It’s difficult to see anti-business written across those bullet points. In addition to the legislative improvements for small business, large businesses are not suffering at all. Quite the contrary.

According to a Commerce Department report released in mid-November, American businesses earned profits at an annual rate of almost $1.7 trillion in the third quarter of 2010. In noninflation-adjusted terms, that’s the highest figure recorded since the government began keeping track over 60 years ago.

The Dow, below 8,000 on the day President Obama was inaugurated, is now hovering around the 11,500 mark. In a rational universe, American business would be very happy with Mr. Obama. However, fear-messaging has shown to be a powerful opponent to rational thought.

The irrational buzz is that Obama is “anti business”. There are widespread claims that fears about taxes, regulation and budget deficits are holding down business spending and blocking economic recovery. There is no truth to these claims.

Anti business fear-mongers will tell you that business spending on plants and equipment is at its lowest level, as a share of G.D.P., in 40 years, but what they don’t mention is that business investment ALWAYS falls sharply when the economy is depressed.

Think about it – rationally. Why would any business expand production capacity when they’re not selling enough to use the capacity they already have?

It’s surprising how well business investments are doing, given the low rate of investment. Capacity utilization in industry is up over the past year, but still far below historical norms. Vacancy rates at industrial and retail properties are at historic highs. Businesses have plenty of idle structures and machines, why should they be building or buying even more?

Where’s the evidence that an anti business climate is depressing spending? The answer, supposedly, is that this is what you hear when you talk to entrepreneurs. But don’t believe it. When business people talk to the press they complain about taxes, regulations and the deficit; they always do.

But the cries that Obama is wrecking the economy aren’t coming from businesses; they’re coming from business lobbyists. Check out the Washington Monthly report on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in the latest Washington Monthly. The Chamber is peddling scare stories about what Democrats are up to.

Reading through the latest survey of small business trends by groups like the National Federation for Independent Business, you find commentary that is largely a diatribe against government — “Washington is applying leeches and performing blood-letting as a cure”. One might imagine this diatribe reflects what the surveyed businesses said. But while a few businesses declared that the political climate was deterring expansion, they were vastly outnumbered by those citing a poor economy.

It turns out that business is less concerned about taxes and regulation than during the 1990s, an era of booming investment. Concerns about poor sales, on the other hand, have surged. The weak economy, not fear about government actions, is what’s holding investment down.

So why are we hearing so much about the alleged harm being inflicted by an anti business climate? For the most part it’s the same old, same old: lobbyists trying to bully Washington into cutting taxes and dismantling regulations, while extracting bigger fees from their clients along the way.

Pants On Fire!

The results of a poll taken by politifact.com reflect reader opinions of the most significant political lies of 2010.

(drum roll)...and the winners are:

1. ObamaCare is a "government takeover" of health care.

The health care legislation is far from a government takeover, but the talking point is pervasive.So much so that despite the facts Republican spokes-dummies continue to beat the drum. John Boehner's website still displays this untruth.

What we got from the new law is a market-based system relying on private health insurance companies. There's an increase in government regulation under the new system, but nothing approaching a takeover.

On the up side, more people will be covered, exchanges are created to provide coverage for those having trouble getting coverage and Medicaid will be expanded.

We didn't get a single-payer system or a public option. These government-run plan ideas were dropped from the bill. Coverage will be paid the same way it is now, by private employers and individual premiums.

2. "The president of the United States will be taking a trip over to India that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day."

OK, can we all refer to Michele Bachmann as a total idiot and bold-faced liar NOW?

3. "The stimulus has not created one private sector job."

Gov.-elect Rick Scott, R-Fla., and others made this claim. Go to the recovery.gov website and roll the mouse over the state of Florida and you'll see over 60,000 jobs created as a direct result of stimulus monies. Sure, the unemployment rate is high, but the stimulus created jobs...period.

4. "Ninety-four percent of small businesses will face higher taxes under the Democrats' plan."

Ah, the Obama hates small business meme. btw Dinesh D'Souza's article "Obama's Problem With Business" in Business Week was a piece of crap!

5. The ethics report "exonerates me." -- Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y.

Oh Charlie!

6. "Taliban Dan" Webster thinks wives should submit to their husbands. -- Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla.

Apparently Democrats can use out of context quotes too!

7. "Phoenix is the No. 2 kidnapping capital of the world." -- Rep. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Blatantly false!

8. There is no specific #8. Simply listed as other....hmmmm?

9. Republicans want to dismantle or privatize Social Security. -- Florida Democratic Party and others.

This is a pants on fire distortion.

All I want for Christmas...

An occasional look at The Drudge Report sheds a bit of light on how today's stories are being spun from the other side. Today they present this trap of a headline: "Feds force bank to pull "Merry Christmas" buttons..." which links to this story from ABC affiliate KOCO in Oklahoma City, under the headline: "Feds Force Okla. Bank To Remove Crosses, Bible Verse". The original KOCO headline sounds quite a bit different from the Drudgester's "War on Christmas" headline doesn't it?

It turns out that a team of Federal Reserve examiners, from Kansas City, deemed a Bible verse of the day, crosses on the teller’s counter and buttons that say "Merry Christmas, God With Us." inappropriate. The Bible verse of the day on the bank's Internet site also had to be taken down. Seems rather straightforward.

Bank customers interviewed by the KOCO reporter had a different view:

“This whole thing is just ridiculous. We all have regulatory bodies that govern us. But this is too much.”

“I don’t agree with it at all. They are taking Christ out of Christmas and life.”

I'm sure many drudgereport.com visitors reading the headline won't dig any deeper and the headline will serve to reinforce their well-established fears of big gummint and the "War on Christmas". This is the problem with the right-wing spin machine. Make up or overly hype a problem and then get all bent out of shape about it. No facts, nothing fair and nothing balanced. Just totally faked outrage, repeated in the echo chamber with amplified outrage. It's truly remarkable.

Happy Holidays!

Today's required reading

Why do Republicans hate the Constitution so much?

Good piece in Slate today, Repealing Common Sense by Dahlia Lithwick and Jeff Shesol

The conservative mission to destroy the Constitution in order to save it.

Gotta love it. They've been cherry-picking the Bible for years and now the even more sacred text. Hey why not have a complete re-write, merging both of them into one supertext to save the world.


American Exceptionalism - real or imagined?

posted on Daily Kos: We don't need more cheerleading in America

Smoke and Mirrors

Mitch McConnell on Meet The Press this Sunday, when asked about a Senate vote on ratification of the START treaty, defers to Harry Reid for setting the legislative agenda. In almost the same breath he says that Congress shouldn't move forward on ANY legislation until the Republicans get their way and extend the Bush Tax Cuts. So who's legislative agenda is it...McConnell's or Reid's?

This is not a move in support of the American people, many of whom are poor, unemployed and the middle class, but is especially for the protection of the financial interests of the wealthiest Americans. In other words, it serves McConnell himself, and his myriad campaign contributors, now allowed to donate in secret thanks to the SCOTUS decision in the Citizen's United case.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

In the meantime, the extension of long-term unemployment benefits is held hostage. When pressed on the matter McConnell tells David Gregory that he "doesn't want to negotiate deals on Meet The Press". He doesn't wish to negotiate ANYTHING. It all about ultimatums.

There is great irony, when political stunts like this are staged. McConnell make claims of Democratic power grabbing, yet he as leader of the minority party, is attempting to seize control of the Senate. Seems like an attempted power grab. No?



The so-called mandate of the American electorate calls for our political leaders to get serious about sacrifice. When pressed for details, of the cuts they intend to make, Republicans haven't specifically identified any single cuts in spending. They know damn well that voters don't reward politicians who insist on sacrifice.

It's unclear how this will play itself out. Cuts are inevitable. Republicans will attempt to spin this as the failure of  Democratic policy decisions and leadership. Cuts in spending are required today as the result of reckless  spending habits of both parties, but in recent history it's been Republican spending and tax cuts that have contributed to the debt and the deficit. If the American people fall for this line of bullshit and continue to elect fiscally irresponsible Republicans, we'll be in serious financial trouble for decades to come.

They don't want to talk about George W. Bush anymore, or the majorities they held in the House, the Senate, the White House, and Federal Court appointments across the country, up to and including the conservative majority in the Supreme Court. What did they do when they had all that power and control? They "screwed the pooch". Now they'd like to convince us they learned their lesson. What indicators are there that this could be true? It's the same cast of bad actors, strutting and bloviating their way into the next election cycle, led by McConnell and The Orange One.  

Obstructionists vs. Lame Ducks

Mitch McConnell and the Republican caucus in the Senate are playing a high-stakes game of poker today. Threatening to obstruct everything except what they, the minority, wish to vote on. Un-fucking-believable!

The Bush tax cuts, in place for 8 years, are about to expire. If the current unemployment numbers are any indication of the effectiveness of these "job-creating" tax cuts we should ALL be calling our representatives to call for their demise (not the representatives...the tax cuts). An extension of these tax cuts is now supposed to  magically create jobs. Based on what exactly?

The wealthiest beneficiaries of the tax cuts are in no way obligated to create jobs in 2011, nor were obligated to do so over the past 8 years. Evidence shows that they didn't do it in the past, and if history is any indicator, tax cuts won't lead to them creating jobs in the future.

The GOP has pulled the ultimate infantile maneuver with this illogical train wreck:

• Don't do anything until the government is funded
• Refuse to fund the government
• Don't provide unemployment benefits until we cut taxers for rich people (thereby increasing the deficit and breaking campaign promises made before day one in office!)

Why do we elect people who hate government, and governing, and refuse to cooperate to do their job for the American people?

Envision the same approach in the private sector. Imagine a company hiring an employee who refuses to work with anyone else in the office and whose only goal is the get everyone else fired. That describes these ass-clown Republicans in the U.S. Senate, and it will only get worse after the swearing in next month.

Why do we have to live through this bullshit AGAIN to get to the next pendulum swing? We were not born yesterday, were we?