There's been plenty of angst lately among progressives regarding how Barack Obama will advance civil rights as President. In particular, the discussion on LGBT rights has been heated since Obama selected known homophobe Rick Warren to speak at the Inauguration. And recently, the discussion has become more complicated with the revelation that Barack Obama may have flip-flopped on marriage equality.
Now I'd rather not dwell upon what Obama should have done in these past decisions. Instead, I want for us to talk about what we must do now to make sure "the homosexual agenda" is advanced on the state and national levels once Obama is inaugurated. We can't dwell upon the past, so we must start planning now to win in the future.
This is what I warned about last month. If anything, the recent fight over Rick Warren and Obama's Inauguration should show us that we can't be complacent in thinking that President Obama and the Democratic Congress will magically pass all the legislation we wants. Pols are pols, so they'll try to find an "easy way out" in delaying votes and/or watering down civil rights legislation.
We can't wait for them to act. Rather, we must act now to push our elected officials to do what we elected them to do. We must tell Obama that words aren't enough, that he needs to use his bully pulpit to push for civil rights. We must tell Congress to pass this legislation and make civil rights a priority. And closer to home, we need to work in the states to repeal marriage bans and end "legalized discrimination".
Obama himself said, "We are the ones we've been waiting for." So really, what are we waiting for? Neither Rick Warren nor Washington "conventional wisdom" can stop us now. We can't allow the politicians to tell us to "wait our turn". The time is now for marriage equality. The time is now for workplace equality. The time is now for immigration equality.
The time is now for equality! So if you can, please take the time now to support good organizations like Courage Campaign and ACLU. And if you're in Southern California, please join me this Sunday as we protest in front of Rick Warren's church. The time is now, so let's stop waiting and start acting.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Civil Liberties in Wartime
We've been through this before, and we're facing the aftermath again today. What to do with Guantanamo? What happens with the PATRIOT Act? What about FISA? And should we prosicute the Bushies for their war crimes?
It's appalling how, even today, most in the corporate media are still making excuses for Bush-Cheney. How can we ever fix the mistakes of the past when the media refuse to even call them mistakes? Will someone please provide the Newsweek crew with a US History lesson?
It's appalling how, even today, most in the corporate media are still making excuses for Bush-Cheney. How can we ever fix the mistakes of the past when the media refuse to even call them mistakes? Will someone please provide the Newsweek crew with a US History lesson?
Don't Be Stingy on Our Stimulus
When President-Elect Obama first released his economic stimulus plan, I was underwhelmed. Corporate tax breaks? No undoing of the disastrous Bush tax cuts? Only $775 billion?
Fortunately, the response from Democratic Congressional leaders and progressive economists has been great. They've challenged Obama to agree to a better bill, and now we may have a better chance at seeing a better stimulus passed. Believe it or not, it often takes some pushback and a whole lot of standing our ground to get something good accomplished.
While I may not agree with him on everything, David Sirota made some great points today at Open Left on what progressives need to do to win a stimulus that actually works. We need to stand our ground in saying no to silly "entitlement reform" gimmicks that are only meant to finish what GW Bush started in privatizing Social Security & Medicare. Furthermore, we must also resist "tax relief" gimmicks that are only meant to continue redistributing wealth from the working class to the "American Oligarchs".
Of course, we can't just resist awful "ideas" from the radical right. We must also promote our own good ideas, as A Siegel has done. We shouldn't just settle for "infrastructure spending", but push for "green economy" infrastructure. We can create good jobs and reduce our carbon footprint by developing more renewable energy, building high-speed rail lines, supporting carbon neutral building, and much more. Building green will actually stimulate more green, if you know what I mean.
But is it really all that important to be so ideological when Obama wants to be pragmatic? This is a false dichotomy. The fact is , as Jane Hamsher points out so well, that progressive ideas for spending will be more effective in stimulating the economy than tax cut panders to the GOP. Now this doesn't mean that no tax cuts should be included in the final bill, but it's utterly ridiculous for a $775 billion bill to include $310 billion in tax cuts that only yield a return of about $1 for every dollar spent. This isn't about "ideology vs. pragmatism", but rather about pragmatically utilizing proven progressive Keynesian economics to provide real relief to the American people.
So what should we do to get a real stimulus passed? We need to continue pushing Obama to care less about whipping 80 Senate votes for the bill, and more about achieving more bang for our bucks. We need to keep pushing Congress to pass good legislation. Basically, we need to keep being loud & refuse to give up.
We've already succeeded in having Obama drop corporate tax breaks from his stimulus proposal. Let's keep up the good work! Now, we should push to include good spending in this bill.
Call your local Congresscritters. Write to the Obama Transition Office. Raise some hell until we get a stimulus that isn't stingy to us.
Fortunately, the response from Democratic Congressional leaders and progressive economists has been great. They've challenged Obama to agree to a better bill, and now we may have a better chance at seeing a better stimulus passed. Believe it or not, it often takes some pushback and a whole lot of standing our ground to get something good accomplished.
While I may not agree with him on everything, David Sirota made some great points today at Open Left on what progressives need to do to win a stimulus that actually works. We need to stand our ground in saying no to silly "entitlement reform" gimmicks that are only meant to finish what GW Bush started in privatizing Social Security & Medicare. Furthermore, we must also resist "tax relief" gimmicks that are only meant to continue redistributing wealth from the working class to the "American Oligarchs".
Of course, we can't just resist awful "ideas" from the radical right. We must also promote our own good ideas, as A Siegel has done. We shouldn't just settle for "infrastructure spending", but push for "green economy" infrastructure. We can create good jobs and reduce our carbon footprint by developing more renewable energy, building high-speed rail lines, supporting carbon neutral building, and much more. Building green will actually stimulate more green, if you know what I mean.
But is it really all that important to be so ideological when Obama wants to be pragmatic? This is a false dichotomy. The fact is , as Jane Hamsher points out so well, that progressive ideas for spending will be more effective in stimulating the economy than tax cut panders to the GOP. Now this doesn't mean that no tax cuts should be included in the final bill, but it's utterly ridiculous for a $775 billion bill to include $310 billion in tax cuts that only yield a return of about $1 for every dollar spent. This isn't about "ideology vs. pragmatism", but rather about pragmatically utilizing proven progressive Keynesian economics to provide real relief to the American people.
So what should we do to get a real stimulus passed? We need to continue pushing Obama to care less about whipping 80 Senate votes for the bill, and more about achieving more bang for our bucks. We need to keep pushing Congress to pass good legislation. Basically, we need to keep being loud & refuse to give up.
We've already succeeded in having Obama drop corporate tax breaks from his stimulus proposal. Let's keep up the good work! Now, we should push to include good spending in this bill.
Call your local Congresscritters. Write to the Obama Transition Office. Raise some hell until we get a stimulus that isn't stingy to us.
"Bored, Anonymous, Pathetic Bloggers Who Lie"
Yikes. Sarah Palin sticks her foot in her mouth again. Will she ever stop? Perhaps not, so she'll keep me laughing my @ss off. ;-)
SoS Confirmation Hearings Start
Is there any way Hillary won't be confirmed? Maybe if all the other Senators are idiots? ;-)
Monday, January 12, 2009
Why Warren-gate Matters
Taylor Marsh said it best today. Why are the same straight white males "the wise ones" on religion? Really, why?
ExxonMobil CEO Backs a Carbon Tax?
No, I'm not kidding. So when will Obama, Reid, & Pelosi? Now's the perfect time to be bold in making real climate solutions happen.
And the Winner Is...
"Slumdog Millionaire"? Kate Winslet? Mickey Rourke? TalkLeft has a good round-up of the Golden Globes.
Did you watch the award show? I did, and I must admit it wasn't quite as fun as what I was hoping for. Still, I was glad to see "Vicky Christina Barcelona" recognized for the brilliant film it is. ;-)
Did you watch the award show? I did, and I must admit it wasn't quite as fun as what I was hoping for. Still, I was glad to see "Vicky Christina Barcelona" recognized for the brilliant film it is. ;-)
Bishop Gene Robinson to Start Inaugural Celebration
Apparently, the world's first openly gay Episcopal Bishop will be delivering the invocation at the opening ceremony for Obama's Inauguration Week. It doesn't really "make up" for allowing flaming homophobe Rick Warren deliver the invocation for Obama's actual Inauguration, but I guess it's good that we're making him sweat over this. After all, bitch-slapping the people who put one into that office isn't cool.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The Gaza Protests
Because the US corporate media hardly even talked about them, check out the reports from abroad. You'll be surprised.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Blago Impeached
The Illinois State House just voted to impeach Gov. Blagojevich. I'm sure the trial in the State Senate should be awfully interesting...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
