Cambridge, Massachusetts is the East Coast's Berkeley, California. Its crunchy reputation -- from hippie/granola to People's Republic -- is well-earned on average, but, well, a bit off-target and way out of date. You see, since rent control was thrown out by the end of 1994, Cambridge has seen a dramatic erosion of its working class communities. And going back to 1940, when the Plan E / City Manager form of government was first instituted, the elites have found it easier and easier to pull the strings on policies of social upheaval and community destruction.
While no substitute for reading Bill Cunningham's historical backgrounder Which People's Republic?, he manages to sum it all up in one sentence:
In Cambridge, these policies have uprooted poor and working class communities in order to cultivate, on the same soil, the University City.
And for all the feel-good progressivism that pervades this city, there is an underbelly of corruption, liberalism, and exploitation that stink up the place. The racial diversity is lovely, but quietly growing apartheid conditions and a fierce, latent racism mean that such feel-good sentiments are dangerous illusions. And while it's lovely that we are sister cities with so many others around the world, we are on a path of social destruction here at home. I am proud and grateful to live in a city that has an active, funded Peace Commission, but I am ashamed to live in a city with a more active, better-funded city government that colludes to protect the elite university, biotech, and developer interests at the expense of its own people.
So it is with a bit of glee that I observe the unfolding drama around the wrongful-termination lawsuit that is haunting City Manager Bob Healy and the complicit City Council. It's rare that all the corruption, hypocrisy, and racism hiding under the veneer of all the many positives that Cambridge has going for it bubble to the surface in one instance.
Peter Vickery gave me chills today, when he painted the picture of what will happen on October 18th this fall, when Mark C. Miller becomes the first-ever Green-Rainbow Party candidate elected to the State House. Mark, who received an extraordinary 45% of the vote against an incumbent Democrat in his first time running for office, spending just over $3,000, would raise $20,000 this go-round, and run a 90-day sprint to reach the 4,000 Unenrolled voters in his district.
Mark followed up this grand introduction by pointing out one key difference from his 2010 run -- this time he'd have a campaign manager, Peter Vickery. He then proceeded to outline what he was struggling with as a candidate, and what he was yearning to bring to the 3rd Berkshire District. And there was no simple rhetoric available to him, no campaign playbook for messaging his vision for Pittsfield, the Berkshires, and the Commonwealth. He is looking to run a transformative campaign, sparking the economic, cultural, and political transformation that Pittsfield and the rest of the state is burning for.
Transformation is what we need, and Mark's victory will indeed be a transformative act. It's easily within our grasp if we rise to this exciting -- joyous was Mark's word -- 90-day challenge and make it happen.
Part of the challenge will be communicating the idea of a transformative campaign in a way that connects with the average voter in Pittsfield, and re-connects with those who have given up on the political system entirely. It will be a crowded field for this open seat, and there's a mountain to climb to win it. But we have 93 days in which to do it. 93 days to change Massachusetts politics forever.
The Massachusetts Budget - A Work of Shame Democrats all - the Speaker, Senate President, and Governor - are patting themselves on the back for passing a budget that had three main features: crushing cuts to virtually every aspect of state government that services regular people, a major attack on public employee unions and their collective bargaining rights, and - best for last - not a dime of "shared sacrifice" from the wealthiest in our state.
Yes, those "crazy liberals" from Massachusetts have for the third year of this recession failed to ask for a single dime of "share sacrifice" - the favorite phrase of the political class who seek to undermine government and its duty to enrich our public life and lift up the neediest in our society - from those who have the most in our society. The last time the state raised taxes, what did it do? It raised the wrong tax - the sales tax - the one that is most regressive, affecting the poor more than the wealthy. And before the budget debate even began this year, those good Democratic leaders decided that no amount of cuts to libraries, schools, parks, services for the mentally ill would be painful enough to get them to violate the sacred commitment to the wealthy - no tax increases.
We have a bill to raise $1.4 billion a year, mainly from the wealthiest in our state. See ourcommunities.org. Now we just need the movement to get our "representatives" to see the light.
-Max Page
P.S. Public higher education was cut by $60 million, and financial aid by another $2 million. The catalogue of shame is detailed at our reliable friend, the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.
I was happy to meet with fellow health care advocates from around the state, most of whom are strong supporters of Single Payer Health Care (aka Medicare For All), which is one of my major campaign issues as a Green-Rainbow Party candidate. The issue is also one of the major policy initiatives behind the party's mobilization around the Commonwealth.
Joining me at the hearing were fellow Green-Rainbow Party members Patrick Burke, Mark Miller, Jeff Turner, Jeff Wheeler. Mark Miller, a candidate for 3rd Berkshire District, also provided testimony.
BOSTON - This year's state budget has revealed a yawning gap between the priorities of state legislature and the priorities of the people of Massachusetts, according to Nat Fortune, who will testify today as a Green-Rainbow Party representative at a State House hearing on budget measures. Fortune noted that while schools, health care, social services, and environmental protection are being severely cut this year, legislators have seen fit to largely protect tax giveaways to businesses with strong lobbying presence on Beacon Hill.
"How did spending public tax dollars on public services for the public good become a lower priority than subsidizing private industries?" asked Fortune.
The Canadian Greens and the voters of the Saanich-Gulf Islands BC riding made history yesterday by electing Green Party leader Elizabeth May to Parliament. May, who was excluded from the national debates (as a national party leader) on the argument that they did not have an elected Member of Parliament, became the first Green MP in Canada's federal government. They excluded her despite the fact that May participated in the 2008 debates and did very well, resulting in significant federal funding of the Green Party annually. The Greens also fielded MP candidates in 304 out of Canada's 308 total ridings.
Asked what just one lone MP can do, May responded "Just watch me!"
Watch her victory speech and post-election interview (below the jump):
This is a great tool to get a quick glimpse of the effect of money in state legislative races. What did Bob DeLeo need $895,000 for? Well, it's one way to funnel money around to your Democratic buddies who do your dirty work. And it's sure gotta be nice to have $446k in the bank.
Please join us at the hearing Thursday, May 5, anytime between 10:00 AM & 3:00 PM, State House Gardner Auditorium, Boston. Come tell the Governor and legislature to stop slashing critical health, education, social and environmental services in order to protect billions in useless corporate tax give-aways and subsidies for the massive, needless health insurance bureaucracy!
Raise the bar for a better budget and real tax reform. As a first step, we're also supporting "An Act to Invest In Our Communities" (SB1416 / HB2553) at the hearing. Supporting this revenue bill is one part of our commitment to stop the cruel, & unnecessary cuts that the governor and legislature are proposing.
In addition to asking the rich to pay their fair share, the GRP is also calling for single-payer Medicare-for-all health care and the elimination of unjustified and ineffective corporate subsidies - saving at least $2.5 billion a year. The Green-Rainbow Party alone brings it all together into a "Better Budget," which will not only prevent new budget cuts, but will allow us to restore essential public services that have been severely compromised over the past decade.
{Note: it appears that this subpoena was served on David House of Cambridge, who was detained last year in connection to an investigation of WikiLeaks.}
FBI serves Grand Jury subpoena likely relating to WikiLeaks
Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com Wednesday, Apr 27, 2011
In the wake of a massive disclosure of Guantanamo files by WikiLeaks, the FBI yesterday served a Grand Jury subpoena in Boston on a Cambridge resident, compelling his appearance to testify in Alexandria, Virgina. Alexandria is where a Grand Jury has been convened to criminally investigate WikiLeaks and Julian Assange and determine whether an indictment against them is warranted. The individual served has been publicly linked to the WikiLeaks case, and it is highly likely that the Subpoena was issued in connection with that investigation.
Notably, the Subopena explicitly indicates that the Grand Jury is investigating possible violations of the Espionage Act (18 U.S.C. 793), a draconian 1917 law under which no non-government-employee has ever been convicted for disclosing classified information. The most strident anti-WikiLeaks politicians -- such as Dianne Feinstein and Newt Gingrich -- have called for the prosecution of the whistle-blowing group under this law, and it appears that the Obama DOJ is at least strongly considering that possibility.
Exciting news coming out of the Green-Rainbow Party, generating serious momentum towards local initiatives. Check out this note from GRP Co-Chairs Jill Stein and John Andrews:
Wow. There was electricity in the air from the start. And by the end of the day, we knew for certain that something new and exciting had appeared on the scene.
Thirty-five activists met Saturday at the Green-Rainbow Party's "Initiatives Summit" in Worcester to plan a new future for Massachusetts and beyond. One by one they rose to tell of their experiences, their hopes, and their vision. They were tired of the betrayals of a government in which politicians routinely sold out to special interests and big money. Tired of seeing our men and women - and civilians in far off lands - maimed and killed in wars for oil while arms merchants grew rich. They were tired seeing their neighborhoods ravaged by unemployment and foreclosures while a well-placed few grew ever richer through financial manipulation. And they were tired of seeing their democratic rights eroded by insider deals cut by the Democratic and Republican Parties.
"You can't spoil a system that is spoiled to the core."
--Ralph Nader
As the Los Angeles Times reports, key Democrats are beginning to embrace the no-holds-barred arena of corporate influence on political elections, in which disclosures of funding are not required by law.
Democrats putting together new independent political organizations for the 2012 campaign are embracing a model that will allow them to conceal their donors - the very tactic for which they criticized Republicans in 2010.
Majority PAC, a new group aimed at electing Democrats to the Senate, and American Bridge 21st Century, which will serve as a research hub, are being organized as so-called super political action committees that can raise unlimited amounts of money from contributors whose donations are reported to the Federal Election Commission. But both are also affiliated with nonprofit 501(c)(4) social welfare groups that can raise money from undisclosed donors and give money directly to super PACs.
The same dual structure is being considered by Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney, two former White House aides who are likely to launch their own independent expenditure effort in support of President Obama's reelection, according to people familiar with the plans.
As a spokesman for Obama, Burton repeatedly hammered Republican groups for their lack of transparency in 2010. He declined to comment.
From Boston.com: "Let me just also say, there's a conversation we're going to have to have ...that I've been trying to have since the first few weeks I've been in this job, and it has to do with communication," the governor said. "I can't compete if I don't know something's at risk."
"Massachusetts has been kind to Fidelity. I know that's a two-way street, but if we're going to build on what we have here, then they need to tell me what they need and I need to be able at least to have an opportunity to respond," he said.
The governor added: "I feel disappointed and frustrated."
Governor Patrick,
You are not dating Fidelity, and this is not a question of communication. This is about government officials lying prostrate on the floor before all-powerful corporations. This is about giving away our tax dollars to unscrupulous, very profitable, greedy bastards, when we ABSOLUTELY cannot afford it.
When you ran for re-election, you failed to make an issue about these indefensible giveaways, even while your Green-Rainbow opponent raised the issue. You praised yourself for weak claw-back provisions in future tax giveaways, rather than challenging the idea of giving away tax dollars to corporations trying to hold us hostage to their agendas.
At least two people have been killed and more than 300 injured after Yemen security forces stormed a protest site where thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators have been camped out for weeks, demanding the ouster of the country's leader.
In a pre-dawn raid on Saturday, police are said to have used tear gas and hot water mixed with gas to disperse the demonstrators.
Meanwhile, a teenage boy was killed in separate clashes between security forces and protesters in the city of Mukala.
Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from the capital Sanaa, said that the situation remains tense, and that the opposition is accusing the government of committing crimes against the protesters.
"They also say the raid will speed up the revolution, and that president Ali Abdullah Saleh must go now before [he] faces the wrath of the people," he said.
Also on Saturday, at least three students were injured when security forces opened fire at protesters in the city of Taiz, where residents had gathered to demand that Saleh be put on trial.
The clashes come after tens of thousands of protesters marched on the streets of the capital on Friday, drawing record crowds in a continuing push to demand the ouster of Saleh, who has been in power since 1978.
Borrowed from the Jefferson Airplane classic "Volunteers," my headline neatly summarizes what I'm asking each of you to do in this post: Pick up the cry!
Last fall, you - MyFDL readers - chose ten prospective opponents to Barack Obama in the 2012 Democratic primary. You spelled out five relentlessly Progressive platform points, each of which stands in stark contrast to the compromised "progressivism" this president and his corporate-owned, hapless party have force-fed Americans for more than a generation. You even gave this fledgling effort a name: the New Progressive Alliance.
The FDL family of sites was officially neutral during the effort's founding and remains so, but gave the effort a place to grow - when other purportedly "progressive" sites were banning readers and diarists who dared even suggest the Democrats have sold out their principles to the highest bidder.
Since the nominations and voting last fall, a few volunteers have continued to work on the effort. Last week, they received via e-mail a "sneak peak" at the very first NPA Update. We now share it below, right here - where nearly 150 of you participated in the NPA's founding.
We're all frustrated about the sorry state of America and the lack of voice given to Progressive policy objectives at the national level. Those ideals, time and again, are shown in nationwide polling to be overwhelmingly supported by the American people. And certainly, it is great when we "Look what's happening out in the streets" - in the Mideast and our own Midwest - to borrow another line from The Airplane.
As anti-democratic, anti-union action flows from Wisconsin to Michigan, filmmaker Michael Moore called what's going on "a class war on the people of this country by those in power and the tools that they have bought and paid for, who now serve in these legislatures."
He went on to say "This is our moment. This truly is our moment. Everybody, up off the couch right now."
From Abby Zimet of CommonDreams.org:
Protester Tom Spellman, "Scott Walker is going to go down in history as one of the greatest union organizers there ever was."
In a bold, idiotic move, Governor Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Republican State Senators (minus one), have flaunted Wisconsin law and passed "non-economic portions" of the original budget bill that would have needed a quorum to pass. Acting with impunity like dictators before them, and billionaires at their back, just might have been Walker's third Mubarak moment. The people of Wisconsin are now moving swiftly to both recall the Republican Senators who went along with a such a mess, and to re-occupy the Capitol building like it were there Liberation Square.
Watch this report from Democracy Now!, and live streaming of what's happening at the Capitol building below the fold:
The Pentagon is out to make an example of Bradley Manning. In the "age of Wikileaks", the most dangerous threat to American world dominance is our own people, with insider access, deciding to blow the whistle of the abuses they witness. Now being charged with "aiding the enemy", 23 year old Manning is facing the death penalty for allegedly "knowingly giving intelligence information to the enemy". For exposing US military murder of innocent civilians, Bradley Manning is now himself facing murder at the same hands. In this supposedly Christian nation, the killers are us. The killing -- with our munitions, our aircraft, our hands, our tax dollars -- continues:
Thanks to Rudy Perkins for sharing this first-hand account of his weekend trip to Madison
On Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011, I took part in the latest of the large demonstrations at the Madison, Wisconsin State Capitol building against the attempt by Republican Governor Walker to strip collective bargaining rights for many of the public sector unions in the state and to launch sharp cutbacks. The late afternoon demonstration surrounded the Capitol with large contingents of union members, Wisconsin families, and progressive activists -- maybe 50,000 to 75,000 demonstrators in all, with more still arriving when I left, as dusk and a new dusting of snow began to fall across the city.
It's quite possible that organizers hit their 100,000 target by day's end. Certainly tens of thousands of demonstrators filled the streets, curb to curb, completely surrounding the Capitol on the four long city blocks that surround the state house square. Several thousand more demonstrators circled on the sidewalk at the base of the Capitol building, or stood on its wide steps or on the snow-covered slope of the Capitol lawn. Hundreds more continued the occupation inside the Capitol building.
Green Mass Group is an online forum for Green thought and collective action in Massachusetts. It is a community forum for justice, sustainability, democracy and health in the Commonwealth and beyond.
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Quotes
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty--power is ever stealing from the many to the few... The hand entrusted with power becomes... the necessary enemy of the people. Only by continual oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot: only by unintermitted Agitation can a people be kept sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity.
--Abolitionist Wendell Phillips, 1852
"Last year Evergreen, a Massachusetts company, agreed to establish their first-ever United States based manufacturing facility here in Massachusetts. They did so, or are doing so, at Devens. They have now agreed and chosen to triple their size at Devens. Their next phase of expansion, right here in Massachusetts, a signature company in a signature sector, and we congratulate all of the folks at Evergreen and look forward to continuing to work with you...
We made a personal commitment to Evergreen for the sake of Evergreen, but also because we wanted to show that there are ways in which state government, in working together with private industry and with the utility companies, could begin to create a different kind of environment, a different kind of business climate here, to grow that sector, and it is happening. It's happening. Evergreen is one of the most prominent examples, but there are a whole host of examples."
--Governor Deval Patrick, April 7, 2008, boasting about state investment in Evergreen.
and Now...
"Evergreen Solar Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, completing a stunning reversal of fortune for a high-flying alternative-energy company that once seemed to herald a new era for the Massachusetts economy... At its peak, Evergreen employed roughly 900 people locally and attracted more than $50 million in state support, as its stock price soared above $100 a share.
Yesterday, Evergreen's stock closed at 18 cents. The company shuttered its manufacturing plant in Devens earlier this year and now has only 85 employees left. Massachusetts is one of its top creditors, owed $1.5 million in rent."
--Erin Ailworth, Boston Globe, August 16, 2011
