Solidarity!

From the IWW via Oly Mike at the Left Coaster:

That's more like it.
And if you feel the need for an apposite stem winder, see Tommy Douglas clips at You Tube. His Mouseland parable is particularly appropriate for this poster. Funny, if you elect white cats in preference to black cats, they still write very good laws -- for cats. The Us needs us mice to gather and elect mice to govern. Only then will we have a chance to create a progressive society where all care for all, and each can be their best.
--ml

Just a Thought ...

This is my preferred campaign:

The progressive who's policy is:

”... It's simple. Its effective. Its doable. Right Now.”

and makes it so, wins.

Think: "Not Insurance reform -- but medicare for all."
or "This year the Bush tax cuts expire. Today I introduce the Obama tax reform -- one which lowers taxes on 90% of Americans while raising the revenue we need to defend, to leran, to repair and to grow."
or: "To survive, this great nation must be as good as its word. So today I have asked Congress to investigate all questionable actions of the previous administration to assure all of us, the American People and the people of the world, that in America we do not break our oath. And if any do so in our name, they meet prompt, swift, but above all, fair justice."

A different world? Maybe. But one that invites.

Aren't you glad I don't run the zoo?

--ml

Gut Jul!

Happy Solstice 2010!

--ml

Solstice Meditation

DaveJ at Open Left poses a discussion topic:

What are some things that a real, honest-to-goodness "far left" would be agitating for, and why isn't anyone doing just that?
Here's a start:

• Nationalize the oil companies.
• Guaranteed job or income for everyone, put to work on infrastructure investment projects, alternative energy projects, retrofitting buildings to be energy efficient, etc.
• Cradle-to-grave Medicare-For-All.
• Child care for all.
• Eldercare for all.
• 6 week paid vacation for everyone.
• Triple Social Security's payments, lower retirement age to 55.
• Worker representatives on Boards of Directors.
• Limits to the how much of larger companies can be owned by a person or entity.
• When companies reach a certain size they become public entities. (Because they have so much effect on everything.)
• Companies responsible for externalized cost payback.
• A person whose job is replaced by technology receives for life a share of the savings.
• Bring back 90% top tax rates.  (OK I have been agitating for that one.)
• Very very high estate taxes on very large estates.  Maybe up to 99% on estates over $1 billion.
• Freedom from distraction.  We have a right to our own attention, free from advertising and commercialization.  The right to public spaces free from commercialization.

How many of these are even "far left" ideas? I'd agree with most of these.  Basically I'm describing Europe here, not Maoist China.  

I like most of these ideas. They seem somewhat left of center in the real world. Too bad I'm stuck in this one where we're taught to consider these ideas a far radical fantasy of socialism bent so far left its fascism, or something.
Some things I'd add:

• A six hour work day in a four day work week at twice the current pay.
• Political advertising provided free by communications media companies as a cost of their license to use our public airwaves.
• Nationalization of all grids: telephony, power, rails etc. with a mandate to improve and maintain the best technology.

These dreams do not mark me as barmy. I have other signifiers for that. And so does everybody else. But dreams they are. That is my current point: As a Free society dedicated to freedom, equality, and technological progress we must provide a firm foundation to every member of our society. FDR called it the Four Freedoms. Truman called it the Fair Deal. JFK called it the New Frontier. LBJ called it The Great Society. But the point is for society to provide what is necessary to every member of our community so that they are able to contribute their best to our culture.
Now the American dream is a perversion of our national goals. We work harder to maintain less than our parents -- oh so briefly -- had in the fifties and sixties. Our children must accept even less because the surplus we make goes to the 2%.
The American dream requires Freedom. Who is free who is a paycheck away from foreclosure? Freedom begins when one's need for food and shelter are satisfied.  Freedom demands the best infrastructure to furnish basic needs with minimal effort; To provide the tools to make what mind can imagine. Freedom requires a well stocked and cultivated mind in a healthy body.
The American dream requires Equality. Equality does not happen when 2% of the people inherit more than 50% of our assets. It requires free education for all to the highest level they can achieve because that way we all can benefit from their best efforts.

The party that makes policies of these ideals is worthy of votes by the 98%. Any party whose policies increase the 2% primarily -- not so much.
--ml
UPDATE: 12/22/2010 I am reliably informed by The Kid^tm, in the full glow of her newly minted A.B.Hist., that I blew it. (Did not use the in-house fact checker. Am lower than -- Ah-ah! be civil.) Indeed the synapse slipped and are now corrected above. Mr. Truman offered us the Fair Deal. It was the first President Roosevelt who demanded the Square Deal. As the French probably don't say: Chagrin c'est moi.
--ml

Sunday Cats

Bruiser James, aka Diamond Jim, and Smedley Q. Clangweedle await.
Not sure what. Too early for a smackerel of gnosh. The door is too far to be their concern. Still they wait. For something.
--ml

November Sunday

Ozma Mehitabel Tiamat meditates in the watery light of an early November Sunday morning

--ml

Samhain Approaches

Once again the season compels notice of Samhain and the pinnacle of autumn. Here at Dum Luks we like to remember a tale of a haunted house, or retell a second hand story of Bela Lugosi, the fine actor whose talents were most richly rewarded by a bit of romantic tosh called Dracula, a tale, I admit, beloved by all but the most querulous and peevish killjoys. Yet hardly much of a stretch to one of Lugosi's towering abilities.

A click on Samhain among the tag cloud at right will present for your reading pleasure the entirety -- so far -- of Dum Luk's meditations on the season.
As always: for your enjoyment ...
Sweet crabs dance in your cider.
--ml

Shaun Limns the Other Horn

Upper Left: They've warned us…
... and he flourishes forth the other horn of the dilemma as he lists the first ten points of the Tea Party Agenda which the GOP will gladly pursue. Read it and reap that any one could be so blind.
Then read Goldy's piece on dog poop bags to get the reason.

The problem is that in a real world we only consider half the possible solutions to our problems. We need more parties. We need them now.
--ml

My Side Does Misdirection, Too

Steve Bennen:

Asked about his message to struggling families, the V.P. added, "My message is, keep the faith. We are moving in the right direction. We are not going to let you go without food or basic services. That will not happen in this country, in our administration. And secondly, we're creating new jobs that are going to be the kind you can raise your family on."
Maybe I've missed it, but the line about the "Bush Recession" struck me as new. Biden said it casually, as if it were common, but it's generally been a phrase Democrats have avoided.

Indeed it is "Bush's Recession" and a main goal of the plutocrats' drive to the restoration of Pharoah's regime.
So far an excellent point.
So far as it goes.
But it misdirects from the lie.

What I noticed was Biden's assurance that the administration was "not going to let you go without food or basic services". This is the administration that cut the stimulus down from 900 billion when 1.2 trillion was needed. This is the administration that refused to consider a public option for health care reform. This is the administration that called forth the 'cat food commission' to cut Social Security benefits. This is the administration that watched the elimination of federal aid to state governments to keep the jobs of teachers and other state employees without so much as an "Oh, I say...". This is the administration that agrees with the fiscal deficit hawks and moves budget balance to the fore when unemployment exceeds the official 9.7% rate and all signs point to a coming dive for the economy.
Its as if we did get FDR -- but the 1937 vintage instead of the 1933 model we needed.
Alas there is but one thing the Demoralocrats have going for them though it's a corker: the other choice remains a party convinced that the only real people are those with incomes and assets in excess of a couple of million dollars, and that wage slavery is a humane and enlightened version of property slavery because the slave gets to take care of itself. The party that leads us in a merry dance to the bonfire of the objectionable parts of the constitution: e.g: the first and fifth amendments.
But -- as usual -- I'm just some old fart ranting off left. Mere background noise to the hum of traffic in the greatest country the world has ever seen -- now new and improved with more efficient greed and 110% God approval.
Fumpfhff.
--ml

Economics

I can do stuff.
You can do stuff.
Others can do stuff.

But not always
the same stuff.

Sometimes
I want your stuff.
Sometimes
you want my stuff.
Sometimes
We want other's stuff
Or they want ours.

If I have something you want
and you have something I want
We can trade.

But Others can too.

But
If I don't want to trade ...

You can beat me up
And take my stuff.
Or I can do that to you.

Or we can do it to someone else.
Together.

Maybe there are more
Than us
Who make stuff.
Who want stuff.
Who trade stuff.
Maybe there are many.

Not all want to trade
at the same time.
But at some time.
So we have money.

So We can make stuff.

That creates money.
so we can spend money

Later

To buy stuff we want.

Then.

Or I can blow you up.

I don't want to do that.

You better do what I say.

or.

or.

or.


And so it goes.
--ml