The current deal if passed, will deepen the economic depression our country has suffered since Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, and their ilk crashed the economy in 2008. The current deal is favored by the profits-over-people U. S. Chamber of Commerce even as it drastically cuts aid to graduate and professional students, authorizes a cabal of 12 to fast-track legislation through Congress that could dramatically cut funding to a wide range of vital programs, and authorizes deep cuts in spending over the next ten years. Should this cabal fail to agree to what to cut, $ 1.2 trillion would be cut automatically. While the bill leaves open what programs may get cut, it is clear from Congress’ record that those cuts will come from programs that help average Americans and that no cuts will come from corporate subsidies and the like.

It is time the American people stand up to the psychotic bullying of Republican and Caspar-Milquetoast-cowardice of Democrats and declare that we will not stand for any deficit deal that cuts the social safety net and sinks America’s working men and women into further hardships by gutting our already feeble economy. It is time to rebuild America’s economy and infrastructure. It is time to provide aid and employment to the millions of Americans that have been thrown out on the streets since our country’s economic collapse. It is time to take to the streets and demand economic justice, to declare that we the people own America and we will not stand by and suffer in silence any longer!

Nearly one in ten Americans is unemployed. The Bureau of Labor statistics has June’s unemployment rate as 9.2% or 14,100,000 people. Gallup places the nation’s underemployment rate at 18.4%. These may seem like mere figures, but, in truth, these numbers are people. Out of every ten people you see, there’s a good chance one is unemployed and two are unable to make ends meet. These are our neighbors, our friends, our coworkers, and ourselves.

As corporate profits continue to rise, the employment rate continues to drop, and the mythical “job creators” aren’t hiring. They continue to ship American jobs and money overseas to even poorer and more desperate workers.While America’s wealthy corporations rake in their ill-gotten gains, the average American continues to suffer in the depths of the recession. This is especially true for Latino and African Americans whose net worth, on average, is 18-20 percent less than that of their European-American counterparts.

While we Americans suffer, Congress continues to play political games at our expense. The deficit, it seems, has gained control of the minds of America’s politicians, in the process it has convinced them to let go of their hearts. Cutting the deficit has become and idol for many, a matter of faith that blinds them to basic morality and decency.

In the midst of an ongoing recession, the last thing working people need is to be thrown out in the cold. We continue to suffer from unemployment, underemployment, and wage reduction and Congress wants to cut funding to the benefits it often takes for average Americans to make ends meet. Instead of working on behalf of their constituents, Republicans see the deficit as an excuse to ensure that the poor stay poor by removing their safety net and by cutting aid to average working people struggling to make ends meet.

If America’s politicians truly want to cut the deficit, they can easily do so without harming the poor. They can cut corporate subsidies and tax loopholes, especially since many American corporations have shown now interest in helping the American economy. Further, Congress can raise taxes on the wealthy business men (yes, they’re mostly men) who refuse to contribute otherwise to America’s well being. The top 1 percent of Americans have more than enough money to provide themselves with their necessities and many creature comforts. They can afford to share. The tax rate under Eisenhower was 91 percent for America’s wealthiest. Under Nixon, it ranged from 70 to 77 percent. Yet under neither of these presidents was America accused of being an oppressive socialist regime. Now it’s a mere 35 percent, for those who can’t pay their personal accountants to find a few convenient  loopholes to avoid paying the taxes they rightfully owe. If the rich could afford a 91 percent tax rate under Eisenhower, they can afford it now.

The true crisis in America is not the rising budget deficit, but a rising deficit of the soul. Republicans, who so often tout their Christian credentials, now openly refuse to head God’s call to take all they have and give to the poor and to open their hands wide to the poor and the needy in our land. Instead, they are doing everything in their power to hurt American families. They are denying the American people and they are denying the God they pay lip service to. Democrats, despite claiming to be the party of change and of the common people, continue to bow to corporate and Republican pressures instead of fighting for their constituents. The American people do not need a balanced budget, we need food, we need homes, and we need jobs. We need a society without an entrenched oligarchy, a society where there is equality, where their is liberty and justice for all, not just for those who can afford it. We need a society where people matter more than profits, where basic morality isn’t cast aside by those who sold their souls for political power.

On my trip up to Madison a while back I heard a couple awesome songs on WORT that I haven’t been able to get out of my head. I thought I’d share them here for your listening pleasure. The first is Duane Stephenson’s “Soon As We Rise” featuring Ras Shiloh. The second is Peter Tosh’s “Equal Rights.”

And for good measure I’ve thrown in an old feminist anthem from 2Pac:

Happy listenings and keep ya heads up!

As we celebrate Mother’s Day and the wonderful women who have made all our lives possible, it is important not to forget that Mother’s Day began not simply as a celebration of mothers, but as a day of action to improve the lives of mothers.

The first American call for Mother’s Day was made by Julia Ward Howe as a call for international peace and disarmament. Howe wrote this impassioned “Mother’s Day Proclamation” in 1870:

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or tears!

Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of the devastated earth, a voice goes up with our own. It says, “Disarm, Disarm!”

The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail & commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesars but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

Not long afterward, Ann Jarvis began founding Mother’s Day Work Clubs to work for better sanitary and safety conditions for workers and others. Her idea of Mother’s Day too included the goals of peace and social activism.

Jarvis’ daughter Anna successfully pushed for the official establishment of Mother’s Day after her mother’s death, but later protested the holiday’s subsequent commercialization.

As we honor our mothers, let us also honor these women’s memories. Let us act in the true spirit of Mother’s Day and work for peace and justice within our communities and the world. Mothers should not have to suffer because their husbands, their sons and daughters, their friends and brothers are killed or injured in war. Mothers should not have to suffer because corporations destroy the environment that they and their families live in. Mothers should not have to suffer because they cannot earn a living wage to feed and shelter their children. It is our duty as children to honor our mothers by making sure they have a just, equitable, and peaceful world to live in.

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Osama bin Laden’s dead. I can’t say I’ll miss him, but I’m far from celebrating. His horrible crime on 9/11 has been used to justify too many unjustifiable deaths and to perpetuate a world of hate and war.  His crime has been used as a white wash for the crimes of America since 9/11 and the continuation of America’s Middle Eastern imperialism.

Now that we’ve killed off our number one boogey-man, perhaps its time we show true support for our troops by bringing them home, by allowing them to live in safety with their loved ones. They have served their country. A safe trip home is the least they deserve.

Sign the petition to bring our troops home today.

For a more reflective post on Osama’s death, read this post.

I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.—Jessica Dovey

Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
—Martin Luther King, Jr.

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In my last post, I caused some offense by posting a video by a right-wing nutjob that I found on YouTube. Fortunately, a commenter was kind enough to point out a much better video (the one above) that shows the real situation in Wisconsin and the real Americans whose lives and livelihoods will be dramatically affected by Scott Walker’s rabid anti-worker mentality. I encourage anyone confused about bureaucrats, bad customer service, overpaid workers, and other right-wing myths to watch the video above.

As Americans, union and non-union, it is important that we stand with those fighting to protect workers rights in Wisconsin and in states across our nation. The people of Wisconsin: workers in unions and out of them, workers from the public and private sectors, students and teachers, police and nurses, firefighters and small business owners, religious leaders and atheists, farmers and factory workers, all of them have come together to protect our right to organize and to have a say in how we are treated at our places of employment. It is important that we support them and join them in their struggle to defend democracy.

It is vital that we not only stop national Republican aggression against working Americans, but that we turn the tide. We as Americans must take the offensive. If we only defend our rights when they are under attack then it is inevitable that we will eventually lose them. We must look to the example of the civil rights movement, of the women’s movement, of the labor movement in the 19th and early 20th century, and to the example of our Founding Fathers. We must be proactive and push not only to defend the freedoms our brothers and sisters in past decades have died for, but to forge ahead for greater freedom, for truer democracy, for a world where Scott Walker and his kind are no more because everyone can understand the true source and meaning of freedom.

Let us never forget there is power in a union. Too long labor’s strength has dwindled and declined. But the vast majority of Americans are workers. We labor for our food, for our homes, for our families. Let us stand united. Let us expand our unions so that all workers may have the right to collective bargaining. Let us remember the terrible price so many Americans have paid for the freedoms we so recently took for granted. Let us honor them by struggling as they did for justice, dignity, equality, and freedom!

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After all the brouhaha in Wisconsin over the past few weeks, I decided to go up to Madison this Saturday and see what all the fuss was about. What I expected was scraggly trust-fund hippies and union thugs ready to pound any scabs they saw into a pulp. What I found was America.

After driving around Madison for over half-an-hour to find parking, I began the long walk toward the rally at the capitol. As I walked I noticed that many of the houses I passed had signs in their windows supporting unions and decrying Scott Walker. These weren’t the mansions I’d been led to expect from all the outcry about overpaid public workers. These were working class apartments and modest, middle-class homes with just enough room for a family of four.

When I got to the rally There were swarms of people marching around the capitol square between business that had posted signs in support of Wisconsin’s public unions. And the square wasn’t full of hippies but average working Americans, some in public-sector unions, some in private-sector ones, some, like me, not in unions at all.

There were only a few police on hand to maintain order as this crowd marched around the capitol. These police were outnumbered by their brothers and sisters who were participating as protesters in the march. These police were joined by firefighters, teamsters, school teachers, students, and numerous working families. There were even a few protesters there who needed canes, walkers, and crutches to get around.

The speakers at the rally urged recalling Scott Walker and his cronies in the state senate and urged all the working people to stand strong in the face of anti-union persecution. A few offered prayers, all offered words of encouragement.

As I left the rally, I noticed a few small business on the way back to my car. Like those on the public square, most of these had signs in their windows showing support for unions and antagonism for Scott Walker.

What I found in Madison, wasn’t the rabid, greedy, anti-American rabble Republicans would like everyone to believe was there. What I found in Madison was the mythical real America that haunts Sarah Palin’s fever-dreams. I found a state were workers from all walks of life came together with small business owners to defend democracy and human rights from the Republican party’s corporate onslaught. I saw working families, retired workers, and college students marching and chanting together to defend the American dream.

While there were calls for a general strike among protesters, the main calls for action from the event’s speakers were for recall and legal challenges to the rights-stripping bill that Walker just signed. Recalling the politicians responsible for this affront and challenging the legality of their new anti-worker law is important and should be done, but the real strength of America’s working people is in themselves. While recall campaigns against Walker and his cronies should go on the most important thing Wisconsin’s working people can do is organize. Unions are the strongest line of defense individual Americans can have against corruptible politicians and monied interests. We must unite in the AFL-CIO, in the IWW, in Change to Win, in independent unions, in Working America, in Wisconsin and across America, because when we stand together, we can show Scott Walker and his kind that we the people of the United States of America will never be defeated!

[EDIT 3/14/2011: The crazy Nazi video above is brought to you by YouTube user mulhollanddose at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t27fiOMqW_A. I posted it here to give an example of how far from reality the Republican/Fox News/Tea Party understanding of unions and the issues in Wisconsin are. I in no way endorse or agree with the views expressed by this video. My intention was to demonstrate by my post how wrong all the ideas expressed by this video and other right-wing propaganda is. Sorry for the confusion this has caused. If you are offended, please feel free to let the video's poster know over at YouTube.]

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Alan Greenspan wrote in The Assault on Integrity that “Capitalism is based on self-interest and self-esteem.” Ayn Rand, a strident advocate of laissez-faire capitalism, wrote in The Virtue of Selfishness that her “Objectivist” ethics “proudly advocates and upholds rational selfishness.” If we look to present day America, we see many Americans out of work while those at major corporations still receive large bonuses and government aid. We see the wages of the vast majority of Americans stagnate while the earnings of America’s richest 1% continue to increase dramatically. By looking at the writings of capitalists, who advocate self-interest and the accumulation of wealth, and the practices of American capitalists, it becomes apparent that capitalism and greed are synonymous. As Christ spoke of false prophets in Matthew 7:16 we will know them by their fruits.

Of course, the question is what does Christ say about self-interest? If he doesn’t contradict Greenspan, than I am wrong to conflate greed and capitalism. In Luke 12:22–32, Christ admonishes his followers not to have any concern for their own well-being, that is not to exercise self-interest, but to simply have faith that God will provide them with everything they need. In Luke 12:33–34 he tells them to sell all they have and give to the poor. By giving to the poor, they have given themselves wealth in God, but if they keep what wealth they have, they reject God, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” This last statement is a repetition of the point Christ makes in Luke 12:15–21. Here he gives the example of a rich man who profits from his farm and instead of sharing his excess wealth he reinvests it in his farm, building new store houses, and when he dies God calls the man a fool because he who lays up treasures for himself is not rich toward God.

In Matthew 19:21–22 Christ tells a rich young man that if he wishes to be perfect then he should sell what he has and give it to the poor for he will have treasure in heaven. He immediately follows this advice up by telling his apostles, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” and “many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matthew 19:23–24, 30).

The implication in Christ’s words as drawn from Matthew and Luke is that if those who accumulate wealth cannot enter Heaven, then they will be condemned to Hell. But I may be reading too much into His sayings. Perhaps Christ meant to imply no such thing. Maybe when He said it was hard for the rich to enter Heaven He did not mean they would go to Hell, but some other place. Maybe I am wrong. Surely Christ never said “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation” nor would He have said “You cannot serve God an mammon,” that is riches (Luke 6:24, Matthew 6:24). Surely Christ never commanded His followers not to accumulate wealth (Matthew 6:19–21). If He had said such a thing surely such a statement would condemn those who do accumulate wealth, like American capitalists, as sinners against God. Surely, if God did not condemn the rich then Mary never would have exalted Him saying “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty” (Luke 1:53). Nor would the prophet Amos say that his God “rains ruin upon the strong” (Amos 5:9) since many of the powerful today are also wealthy capitalists.

Of course these condemnations seem to be primarily against the rich, but what of struggling capitalists who do not possess great wealth? John the Baptist and prophet of God, told his followers that even those of modest means must share and not work to accumulate wealth, saying, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise” (Luke 3:11) just as Christ told his own followers, rich and poor alike, to sell all they had and give to the poor.

But these are all mere sayings. What of Christ’s actions? While capitalism did not exist in the time of Christ, there were merchants. Some of these merchants changed money and sold sacrificial cattle and doves at the Temple for the benefit of those who wanted to enter without unclean money or to make a sacrifice to God. This seems the closest correspondence to capitalists the Bible offers, so surely Christ will have treated them kindly. Yet in Mark 11:15–17 he drives these poor merchants from the temple, overturning their tables and seats, saying they have made the Temple “a den of thieves.” In John 2:14–16, Christ makes a whip of cords to chase out these merchants commanding them, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”

But perhaps Christ was only angered because they were selling goods in the Temple. Maybe the pursuit of profit was not against his teachings. If this is the case surely we must see it carried out in the example of his followers. Let us turn to Acts and see what sort of economy his followers practiced among themselves. Luke wrote in Acts 2:44–45, “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need” and again in Acts 4:32–37, “Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” Far from pursuing wealth, the earliest Christians sold all they had and shared with one another. The churches in Macedonia behaved likewise, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 8:1–6, giving gladly beyond their ability to give even though they experienced deep poverty. In verses in 8:13–15 of this same letter, Paul tells the Corinthian church to give to those who are in need so “that there may be equality” and that all the churches of Christ may not pursue wealth, but be like the ancient Israelites of Exodus 16:18 who shared all they had gathered so that none had more than they needed and none had less than they needed. This seems a far cry from modern American capitalism where the most successful 1% of capitalists earn far more than 99% of Americans and where the richest 20% of Americans have accumulated far more wealth than the bottom 80% combined.

Christ commanded His followers to love their neighbors as themselves (Mark 12:31). He commanded them to sell all they had and give to those in need. He commanded them not to follow self-interest but to trust in God that their needs were met. He told them plainly and repeatedly that the accumulation of wealth was a sin against God. His followers understood this and shunned wealth. His true followers still do.

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At the Republican Governor’s Association meeting in Sand Diego, Calif., last November, Walker got together with the likes of Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, Brian Sandoval, Rick Perry, and others to discuss strategy. As reported by Tony Perry of the Los Angeles Times, they had two main targets they wanted to crush:

The main opponent mentioned at the Republican Governors Assn. conference here — described in terms ranging from misguided to downright evil — is the other party, the Democrats.

But running a close second are the public employee unions, particularly the teachers unions.

At their meeting, Walker’s anti-worker comments from September apparently made him a poster boy of their campaign:

And among the lines most quoted and paraphrased among the governors was the comment in September from Scott Walker, now governor-elect of Wisconsin, regarding the need to trim the salaries and benefits of public employees: “We cannot and should not maintain a system where public employees are the haves and the taxpayers footing the bill are the have-nots.”

The have-nots Walker is referring to are, of course, his rich backers like the Koch brothers and M & I Bank.

Their open campaign against America’s working people coincides nicely with their national poll tax campaign to disenfranchise voters that are poor, young, or members of a minority, and their ongoing national campaign against women. It’s good to see these state politicians kowtowing to the interests of big money and their national party instead of their own constituents.

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