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What is it about Cleveland and Bill Belichick? They just don’t seem to hit it off.
Sunday was not a trap game….

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According to the Houston Chronicle, the Department of Homeland Security is in the process of trying to dismiss thousands of deportation cases against “suspected illegal immigrants.”

The Chronicle goes on to say that this effort by the Obama Administration began a little over a month ago in Houston, where the Department of Homeland Security now has five attorneys working full-time on this backdoor amnesty for illegal aliens. This program is expected to be rolled out nationwide very soon (you know the old congressional lame duck quackery)

Until Obama gets off his skinny butt and delivers on his campaign promise concerning immigration reform, the several states have no choice but to handle it themselves.

If memory serves (I may be old but not senile) Obama ran for the presidency promising secure borders, increased number of LEGAL immigrants, to remove incentives for illegal immigration, and to allow undocumented immigrants who are in good standing (no police record), to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.

He has done absolutely none of those things he promised to do, but what can one expect from a fraudulent, fast talking, phony sidewalk commando who can’t remember from one minute to the next what just came out of his mouth, and then when confronted with his own words chooses to ignore the question.

People are still questioning his very eligibility to occupy the office, which he still refuses to clarify (he won’t go near that one).

It makes not a bit of difference if amnesty is front door or backdoor, we need to put a lid on that crap.

Earlier in the year, Obama affirmed his support for the Schumer/Graham immigration legislation outline.

These ELITES in Washington keep talking about COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM, would just one of you self aggrandizing blowhards define that term.

Now try this on for size     

H.R. 1388 was passed, behind our backs.  You may want to read about it…  It wasn’t mentioned on the news…  just went by on the ticker tape at the bottom of the CNN screen.        

Obama funds M in tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas Refugees to the USA .  This is the news that didn’t make the headlines…         

By executive order, President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of .3 million in “migration assistance” to the Palestinian refugees and “conflict victims” in Gaza .

The “presidential determination,” which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States , was signed and appears in the Federal Register. 

Few on Capitol Hill, or in the media, took note that the order provides a free ticket replete with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006

Now we learn that he is allowing thousands of Palestinian refuges to move to, and live in, the US at American taxpayer expense          

These important, and insightful, issues are being “lost” in the blinding bail-outs and “stimulation” packages.

Doubtful?  To verify this for yourself: www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2009-02-04-E9-2488

I don’t know about anyone else but I can hardly recognize my own country anymore, this certainly isn’t the country I grew up in.

It should be perfectly clear that the phony schmuck in the Oval Office is not for this country or its people.

WAKE UP AMERICA!!!

Written by: Aaron Cantor
Source: http://www.eyesonwashington.com

Democratic Party News – The News of the Democratic Party.

Let’s start by being perfectly clear about Keith Olbermann’s suspension from MSNBC for his political contributions to Democrats. Being suspended “indefinitely” doesn’t mean forever.

Olbermann is one of MSNBC’s signature personalities, and his “Countdown” programs is one of the network’s flagships. It simply can’t afford to be parted too long from one of its biggest stars.

That said, it’s entirely appropriate for Olbermann to see some penalty for his transgression against NBC News policy.

Olbermann’s liberal colleague, Rachel Maddow, made the case for the policy Friday night on her own program.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Most journalists, almost instinctively, know that campaign contributions would create conflicts-of-interest, either perceived or reality.

I worked with a political reporter at a newspaper years ago who went so far as to abstain from voting, in pursuit of total objectivity.

Forgoing one’s citizenship in that way always struck me as taking things too far, but in all of my years as a professional journalist, I would never have thought to make political contributions.

Full disclosure: the contributions I did make, during the 2004 campaign, were made when I was working for the federal government, and thought my days as a working reporter were behind me.

I offer that disclosure because it’s the right thing to do.

I also offer it because you could easily check up on me to see if I’m telling the truth.

That brings us to the larger point, here. The good news is that we can so easily find out what contributions that I, Olbermann, or anyone else have made, and to which causes or candidates.

It’s all there, thanks to the Internet and federal disclosure regulations.

It’s easy to get online to see where candidates are getting their campaign funds. Just visit opensecrets.org, and start searching.

Reporters in Washington, and across the country, use this valuable resource in their stories every day. If Senator So-and-So, for instance, opposes a bill to hold BP accountable for its monster oil spill, it’s easy enough to find whether, and how much, the oil company contributed to that senator’s election campaigns.

Start with your own senators and congressional representative. Search their records, and find out which interests they might be beholden to.

But as completely open and transparent as campaign giving is for individual politicians, the total opposite is true for the money that funds the third-party attack ads, like those that washed over the 2010 campaign like a tsunami.

Powerful organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce can completely hide where they’re getting their funds for, for these ads — even if the money is coming from wealthy foreigners seeking to influence American elections.

If you see an attack ad on television, you should be able to get online and easily search who put that ad up, and the interests that paid for it.

That’s the goal behind a bill in Congress called the DISCLOSE Act, which would open up these third-party attacks to public scrutiny.

The House approved the legislation — but at the urging of powerful special interests — Senate Republicans have kept it bottled up in a filibuster.

When Olbermann gets back on the air, he should apologize for his error — and make enactment of the DISCLOSE Act a nightly crusade.

Scott Nance has covered Congress and the federal government for more than a decade. Capitol Idea is his regular column from Washington. This article was first published as “The Good News Behind The Olbermann Suspension” on Blogcritics.

The Democratic Daily

After the dismal 34-14 loss to the Browns, the Patriots are looking themselves in the mirror and trying to figure…

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Following the collapse of Reconstruction in 1877, African Americans organized a movement–distinct from the white Populist movement–in the South and parts of the Midwest for economic and political reform: Black Populism. Between 1886 and 1898, tens of thousands of black farmers, sharecroppers, and agrarian workers created their own organizations and tactics primarily under black leadership.

Dr. Omar H. Ali  has written a new book, In the Lion’s Mouth: Black Populism in the New South, 1886-1900 (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2010) which chronicles the largest independent black movement prior to the modern civil rights movement. Dr. Ali traces its origins, growth, and demise. It’s particularly relevant to what independents are struggling with today in the building of a black and independent alliance.  

In the Lion’s Mouth breaks new ground … Omar Ali paints a compelling portrait of an independent movement. But understand that by independent, he does not mean separatist. It is an important distinction, for if we follow Ali’s arguments and the evidence he marshals seriously, we can only conclude that the white Populist movement, more than any, exhibited separatist tendencies. Ali flips the script, if you will, and compels us to rethink the entire history of late 19th century Southern politics.
—Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression

In this insightful survey of a generation of African American political activism, Omar Ali lays to rest the common misconception that black politics in the South ended with the death of Reconstruction. He shows how, during the 1880s and 1890s, two Populist movements, black and white, mainly separate and unequal, challenged the political status quo. Any one interested in the innovative and often bold political action undertaken by black southerners in these trying times will benefit from reading In the Lion’s Mouth.
—Charles Postel, author of The Populist Vision

COMING SOON:
Watch for Dr. Ali’s new column on The Hankster, historical notes on independents throughout American history … from the Abolitionists, the Populists, to today’s movement of non-aligned voters.

The Hankster

The City Club of Boise has scheduled a candidate forum (debate) on September 15, 2010 for candidates for Governor. The nominees of both the Democratic and Republican Parties were invited. However, three other minor party or independent candidates running for Governor were not invited. The most prominent of the three candidates not invited was independent Jana Kemp who [...]
3rd Party – Independent Pulse

A prominent progressive senator is citing MSNBC’s decision to suspend on-air personality Keith Olbermann as grounds to put the brakes on a merger between the network’s parent company and cable giant Comcast Corp.

MSNBC brass late last week suspended Olbermann, the host of the network’s flagship “Countdown” program, for making political donations to Democratic candidates in violation of NBC News policy. That suspension will end Tuesday, when Olbermann is expected to return to the airwaves.

“I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the hundreds of thousands of progressives and others who demanded that Keith Olbermann be reinstated to his position at MSNBC,” says Sen. Bernie Sanders, the left-leaning independent from Vermont. “These people understand the enormously important role that the media play in contemporary American politics. They know the recent ascendancy of the Republican Party and right-wing politics had less to do with the leadership skills of Mitch McConnell or John Boehner and far more to do with the enormously powerful role played by Rupert Murdoch, Fox News and right-wing talk radio.

“Progressives know there is something very wrong when a nation divided politically has one major network operating as a propaganda arm of the Republican Party and 90 percent of talk radio is dominated by right-wing extremists,” Sanders adds.

Sanders calls it a “silver lining” of the Olbermann fracas that “people will now pay more attention to the political role of corporate media in America.

“While commentators on Fox and right-wing radio have the backing of Rupert Murdoch, a major Republican contributor, and other conservative corporations, progressives understand that their position is extremely vulnerable,” the senator says. “Keith Olbermann was suspended by General Electric’s MSNBC for a bogus reason. What will prevent the same thing from happening to Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz and other progressives?”

Maddow and Schultz are other liberal voices on the MSNBC network.

Sanders says he will “do all that I can do to stop” the impending merger of Comcast and NBC-Universal, a deal worth in excess of .5 billion.

“There already is far too much media concentration in this country. We need more diversity. We need more local ownership. We need more viewpoints. We do not need another media giant run by a Republican supporter of George W. Bush,” Sanders says, referring to Comcast executive Stephen Burke, who raised in excess of 0,000 for the former president’s 2004 re-election. “That is the lesson we should learn from the Keith Olbermann suspension.”

Others raised the connection earlier between the planned merger and the Olbermann suspension, notably Susan Crawford, former special assistant to President Obama for technology policy.

Sanders also is not the first senator to oppose the merger. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) announced his opposition months ago. Franken once worked for NBC on the longrunning comedy series, “Saturday Night Live.”

The publisher of the news site On The Hill, Scott Nance has covered Congress and the federal government for more than a decade.

The Democratic Daily

Sean Scallon, who has written a book on third party politics, expands on his argument for non-partisan elections in this article at EtherZone:

Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer decided to break ranks. He was a conservative but had always run for office as a Democrat, a lean towards the partisan tilt of his State Assembly district in eastern Wisconsin near Manitowoc. His votes had touched off a primary challenge from a liberal member of the party. So instead of taking the risk of losing because he was his own man and didn’t follow the party line, he decided to run as an independent.

Of course it easy to go this course when you are a sitting member of the state legislature and the voting public in the district already knows you. Even so, it will still be difficult for him to raise money without one of the two major-party campaign committees paying his bills. Now picture yourself as candidate without office trying to do the same thing.

There’s nothing in the Constitution of the United States that even mentions political parties or factions of any kind in the role of government. They came about well after the document was ratified in 1787. Parties have always justified their existence as ensuring the blessings of liberty and democracy by keeping each other honest and on their toes. But in this day and ages of parties adhering to starkly different ideological viewpoints and using all manner of discipline and coercion to try and keep their members in line, what we see are parties more akin to socialist political entities rather than traditional American ones. Even in a state like Wisconsin, where party control is traditionally supposed to be weak, legislative campaign committees and caucuses dictate their candidates’ votes in office with control of the purse string and seniority on committees. In so doing they have harden both major parties into warring camps rather than partners in government.

But while the state capitol in Madison (and Washington D.C. for that matter) resembles a World War I battlefield with its political equivalent of artillery barrages, trench warfare and no-man’s land covered by barbed wire, local government in the rest of the state functions without partisan rancor. Not that there is peace and harmony, but with seats on county, village and township boards along with city councils and mayors offices all designated non-partisan, the two sides of any concern over the budget, road maintenance or garbage fees, is dealt with rather than becoming part of the back and forth bickering that finds both sides looking to score political points rather than accomplishing what they were elected to do.

Perhaps it’s time then to bring practice of non-partisanship from the bottom up.

Only one state legislature in the nation designates its member’s non-partisan, meaning no party whatsoever, and that’s Nebraska’s (it’s also a unicameral legislature, another reform well worth considering). Minnesota’s once was (it reverted to partisan designation in the mid-1970s). This is not to say that members of the Nebraska state legislature don’t identify with political parties in particular, many of them do. But what it means is there’s no divide of seats in the chamber, no first consideration of the party line and no worry that a vote to make the best decision for the state doesn’t end up costing a member funding for his or hers next re-election campaign.

A non-partisan legislature will also be boon to those outside the two-party monopoly (or perhaps a better description is the two-party trust given that a monopoly is a single company overlording a particular field of business. Here there are two or more companies colluding to control the market.). Greens, Libertarians, Constitutionalists and Socialists of all stripes could run for the state legislature without having to worry about competing against the big two with little money or organization. They could also work in coalition with the majors to back a candidate in a particular Assembly or Senate district. The fluidity to the political system that a non-partisan legislature would create would make it easier for bills and resolutions to be debated and worked over without the calcifying effect that partisan politics has had on the Wisconsin state legislature over the past decade and a half. It would eliminate the partisan campaign finance scandals such hardening of party lines created. It also can eliminate the need to gerrymander such districts to favor one party or another. The same could also be said for closely contested legislatures across the country. Indeed, California’s budget crises could have been solved more quickly without parties trying to whip deal-making legislators into line. Perhaps a way to mitigate the affect the newly passed Prop. 14 and the establishment of so-called “jungle primaries” where all the candidates of all parties run on a single ballot, is to create a proposition which would have said candidates be declared officially non-partisan.

George Washington warned against the “spirit of the party” that would paralyze the nation in factional strife whether by region or by economics throughout his term in office. Little did he realize how ideology would make such factionalism even more contentious. To set free state legislators to do what’s right instead of chaining them to a party standard, perhaps it’s time for Wisconsin and more states like her to work as its local governments work every day, without regard to party or faction.

Independent Political Report

Should Angle win the Senate election — and signs point to that likelihood — it will send a fairly chilling message to other candidates running for office: mainly, you don’t have to talk to the press to get into public … Continue reading →
republican-elephant.com

There will be a meeting of the state party’s committee, a fundraiser dinner featuring Green Party activist Mike Nance answering the question, “Was Hericletus right?” and a pancake breakfast the next morning at the house of Green Party activist Hillary Kane, which is part of an effort to form a new West Philadelphia Greens group.  Both Nance and Kane were involved with Hugh Giordano’s campaign for state legislature this year.  Below are links to the facebook pages for each event, with more details.

State Committee Meeting

Singapore Dinner Fundraiser

Pancake Breakfast

Independent Political Report