Making Common Cause

[Political Waves]

"Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together."
 ~ Eugene Ionesco

Angusih unites us in Haiti -- here's Noam Chomsky on Haiti's history; a voice that tells unvarnished truth. The dream of a better nation, a better world, unites us as well.  Obama spoke at Vermont Avenue Baptist Church in DC yesterday morning. Listen to it -- Martin would approve the content on his day.

Now -- please allow me a moment for a tizzy fit and to point you in the direction of this generations great challenge to American liberty.

Liberal agenda, liberal agenda -- jeez, I'm tired of hearing that screamed from the rooftops like the echoes of aluminim-hat paranoids babbling in their rubber room. We're so far Right in this nation that handing out bottles of water to suffering Haitian's is considered liberal indulgence. Like good compliant serfs, the folks lost in their list of grievances and easily led by hucksters are working tirelessly to keep their free market feudalism and get us back in the herd.

Let's get this straight. Ted Kennedy, Liberal Lion of the Congress and champion of the little guy for almost forty years, will lose his seat to a Tea Bagger that thinks Obama may be illigitimate and agrees that Martha Coakley deserves a curling iron up her bum.

It isn't ideology that separates the men from the boys, here. It's uninformed tantrum. What kind of political savvy and life script is this:

I'm really furious that Obama's emergency spending didn't make its way into my pocket so I'm going to vote for the guy who doesn't think government should do diddly for me and wouldn't piss on me if I was on fire. Yeah, that'll show 'em.

Me' thinks the Universe is trying to get the Progressive up off their complacent ass and mobilized for the change they want. The only way to impact the situation on the ground is to project a BETTER idea over the outmoded one and allow its success to shift the zeitgeist. If we aren't doing our part to get that new piece is place ... we're doing theirs. They'll win by default.

If we're still invested in Martin's dream, we'd better get busy.

Jude
 

Issues in the Senate race
Stephanie Ebbert, Boston Globe
January 18, 2010
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/01/18/issues_in_the_senate_race/

In the short sprint to tomorrow's special election, Republican Scott Brown and Democrat Martha Coakley have voiced increasingly divergent viewpoints on issues from war and spending to abortion and health care. Here's a look at the stances taken by Brown, a state senator from Wrentham, and Coakley, of Medford, the state's attorney general.

FEDERAL HEALTH CARE PLAN

Brown opposes. Pledges to be the key 41st vote against it. Supported Massachusetts' law expanding health care coverage to nearly all state residents but proposes to let a health board review and reconsider benefits that have been mandated by the Legislature since then.

Coakley Supports. Opposed House amendment that would restrict abortion access but supports Senate version, which would keep funding separate.

ABORTION

Brown supports Roe v. Wade, Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, and strong parental notification law on abortion. Proposed an amendment to a bill requiring hospitals to offer rape victims emergency contraception, allowing health care workers to opt out based on their beliefs. Brown then voted for the bill without the amendment.

Coakley supports Roe v. Wade. Opposes Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. Volunteered as a lawyer to help young women without parental consent get court orders allowing abortions. As attorney general, sued the Bush administration over regulations that would protect health care workers who refuse to provide services or prescriptions on religious grounds.

AFGHANISTAN

Brown supports President Obama's plan to send 30,000 more troops.

Coakley opposes president's plan, saying efforts should be focused on areas where Al Qaeda is now.

ECONOMY

Brown opposes tighter regulation of the financial industry.

Coakley supports new, tighter regulation on financial industry.

ENVIRONMENT

Brown opposes the wind farm proposed off Cape Cod. Opposes a federal cap and trade plan to limit greenhouse gases though as a lawmaker, he voted for Massachusetts to join a similar regional plan.

Coakley supports the wind farm. Supports a national cap and trade program on greenhouse gases.

TAXES

Brown opposes President Obama's proposal to tax large financial institutions to recoup taxpayers' investment in the economic recovery, saying raising taxes will kill jobs. Wants to extend Bush tax cuts for all taxpayers and reduce tax rates across the board.

Coakley supports President Obama's proposal to tax large financial institutions to recoup taxpayers' investment in the economic recovery. Supports letting Bush tax cuts on the top 2 percent of taxpayers expire.

TERRORISM

Brown supports waterboarding to get information from suspected terrorists. Opposes legal representation for alleged terrorists in civilian courts and wants them tried as enemy combatants in military tribunals.

Coakley opposes waterboarding. Supports trials for suspected terrorists in civilian courts, pointing to the consecutive life sentences that shoe bomber Richard Reid is serving after trial in federal court in Boston. ++


"I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington ... I'm asking you to believe in yours."
~ Barack Obama

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