Link: http://century-club.com/blog2.php/2009/08/24/it-s-really-so-simple

People like Frank Luntz teach people like Sarah Palin how to use well-chosen words, expressions, analogies, metaphors and diatribes to emotionally re-characterize our understanding of a particular issue in order to sway public support to bias a particular policy in such a way that gives some individual, group or organization some kind of political and/or corporate advantage, usually resulting in a redistribution of both power and wealth from the most needy to the most greedy of our society.

Andy Lubershane made the video below using very simple language and clever imagery to make a pretty clear argument against the for-profit health insurance option, and for a not-for-profit universal health care system. See if you don't agree.

This past Friday night on Bill Moyers Journal, I watched the most educational conversation I have heard in a single place to date on the current healthcare debate we are trying to have in this country.

Personally I find many similarities between this debate and the less publicly mentioned Employee Free Choice Act debate that is still brewing quietly in the back rooms of Congress and our national mainstream media empire. One thing I find very similar are the opponent arguments, which are biased towards the industry. The corporations. And the fact that both debates are tied to employment, and the current standard of living for the most vulnerable of our citizens.

The show consisted of two segments on the healthcare debate, and both were very informative. It's been clear to me for some time that what seems to be holding back the tide of citizen support for single-payer is their, well, ignorance on the construct of our current system, how and why it is broken, and most importantly, why it is not sustainable. Not only economically, but morally as well.

The very fact that the opposition even has our good President confusing the issue with false excuses about "service disruptions", great complexity to change and even having us believe that, although admitting the system is broken, somehow it is not so broken that we can't more or less leave it in place while we make a longer term transition to public healthcare, is nothing short of disingenuous. This was an argument I was having trouble with myself until I watched this program. They explained it all with a matter-of-fact clarity, along with some apparent amusement at the state of our national ignorance on what most of the opposition simply scares us into believing merely with the word "socialism".

This is definitely one case (watching this show) where the truth may set you free!

Watch it here:

Excerpt from DemocracyNOW on today's show:

Legendary folk singer, banjo player, storyteller, and political and environmental activist Pete Seeger turned ninety on Sunday. More than 18,000 people packed New York’s Madison Square Garden Sunday to celebrate the man, the music and the movement. The all-star lineup included Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez, Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Ani DiFranco, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Billy Bragg, Ruby Dee, Steve Earle, Arlo Guthrie, Guy Davis, Dar Williams, Michael Franti, Bela Fleck, Tim Robbins, Dave Matthews, Rufus Wainwright, John Mellencamp, Ben Harper, and Ritchie Havens. We speak with some of the musicians, play Seeger’s music and play excerpts from our hour-long interview with Seeger in 2004.

After reporting today's headlines, Amy Goodman devotes the rest of the hour to discussing the history and influence Pete Seeger and others have had on the struggles of America and the world. An ongoing struggle that Pete is still very optimistic about. Interviews, trivia and music are all included here. An inspirational show I highly recommend.

Watch it here:

39 years ago today in 1970, over 20 million Americans publicly demonstrated their support for the first Earth Day. Founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in, a nationwide grassroots demonstration on the environment. This occurred during a time of great concern about overpopulation and when there was a strong movement towards "Zero Population Growth."

Today we have a new President who claims to bring a message of "hope", and we have a new EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson, who also seems to have a genuine concern for our environment. On the EPA web site they have dedicated an Earth Day message to all of us. You can read, view and listen to it HERE.

While looking for Earth Day media I ran across the following video on YouTube. It's from one of our current generation's concerned citizens, and tells a breif history of Earth Day.

I also found this very nice multimedia site from Earth Day Television. A "must-visit" for all you "eco-warriors" out there!

And please visit my other blogs for Earth Day postings.

PatriotRebel

Road Maps

Petition The IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) owns an incredible 3,217 metric tons of gold. At the recent G20 summit, world leaders committed to using funds from selling a small fraction of that gold to help developing countries that are struggling to prevent 53 million people from slipping into poverty by 2010.

The IMF has throughout most of it's history done far more to hurt the impoverished peoples of the world than it has to help them. The historical truth is that the IMF has only helped increase the wealth of the most affluent and immoral few who secretly set the agendas that keep the majority of the world's population in economic slavery. How else could they have managed to accumulate so much gold?

Recently there have been quiet rumors that the IMF is trying to change it's bad behavior. I can only hope this is true and that they will consider doing more to help those who need it most without burdening them with insurmountable and permanent debt..

Join with me in sending a message to Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and urge the IMF to think about our world population as one people on one planet with one purpose and one path. A path that leads to prosperity and equality for all. - "Rollin"

From the online group Mother's Day For Peace:

Did you know that Mother’s Day in America originated as a day to celebrate peace? In fact, it was once known as Mother's Day for Peace, tracing its roots to a mother’s plea for peace after the Civil War.

Lisa Kudrow has teamed up with Ploughshares Fund’s Mother’s Day for Peace campaign to call for a world without nuclear weapons.

Watch the video and visit her web site to find out how you can give a Gift of Peace to the Mother in your life, while helping the world acheive a nuclear-free future.

Link: http://century-club.com/blog2.php/2009/04/10/north-carolina-town-prints-own-currency-

As the economy continues to tank, and the bankers continue to hold our financial system hostage, a small community in North Carolina is taking matters into their own hands.

Amy Goodman of DemocracyNOW is on a 70 city national tour, and while broadcasting from Raleigh, North Carolina, she had the opportunity to talk to local community activist and writer, Lyle Estill, about what's going on in the small town of Pittsboro.

Watch this fascinating and thought-provoking interview:

Excerpt:

Just like their characters from "The West Wing," Martin Sheen, Bradley Whitford, and Richard Schiff care deeply about the struggles of working families.

That's why they came to Washington, DC to help kick off the "Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act" campaign. Check out the video they recorded – then sign the petition!

Amy Goodman on DemocracyNOW interviews Kirstin Downey, author of "The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience"

Excerpt:

The current financial crisis is widely described as the nation’s worst since the Great Depression. With the comparisons to the 1930s has come a renewed focus on the New Deal, the government initiative of social programs and public service jobs launched by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Seattle’s Homeless Population Builds “Nickelsville,” a Tent City Named After the City’s Mayor.

Watch Below