Occupy Aurora action, January 21, 2012
by Illinois Media Progressives, posted on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Has the Economic Crisis and Broken Political System Created Room for Justice?
by John Laesch, posted on Tuesday, December 27th, 2011 at 3:53 pmAs corporate ideologues continue to dominate Republican Party primaries and Democrats continue to ignore or brow-beat their base while pushing policies that benefit the wealthy and powerful, many activists and voters are wondering how to restore democracy for the 99%.
Some favor street activism like the Occupy Movement, while others turn to on-line activism like petition signing and blogging. These efforts are worthwhile and represent the birth pains of democracy, but elections matter. Until politicians fear losing their seats, or lose their seats, the 1% will continue to write the laws that the majority of us will dutifully obey those laws. Politically, I have always tried to use my time to work within the Democratic Party to get “better Democrats,” but, as clearly illustrated by the 2010 shellacking, many working people rewarded mediocrity with apathy; choosing not to vote for the lesser of two evils. How would these people respond to something new?
Found Objects for a Friday Afternoon: Tomorrow Is Already Here
by n0madic, posted on Friday, December 2nd, 2011 at 12:00 pmOriginally this set up to serve society
Now the roles have been reversed
That want society to serve the institutions
“Tomorrow Is Already Here,” by Stereolab
from Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996)
Rockford Board of Education Forcing Teachers Strike?
by VideoNewsService, posted on Thursday, November 10th, 2011 at 10:02 pmIs the Board of Ed trying to force a strike to further denigrate teachers and divert more public money to privatization?
See the website: www.teachernegotiations.com
If you can believe it!!
The Board of Education appears willing to blame the teachers and crash the school district in order to preserve a privatization agenda, and fat paychecks for executives in the top heavy administration. 2000 teachers paychecks, cost of living and step and ladder increases have been frozen for 3 years, while the controversy plagued board/administration squirms at questions about missing money, golden parachutes and crony contracts. The district has accused teachers of not acting in good faith.
Say goodbye to Perry’s Presidential aspirations.
by Socialist, posted on Thursday, November 10th, 2011 at 9:18 amWitness This
by Downtowner, posted on Thursday, November 10th, 2011 at 12:31 amThis isn’t a particularly original post. In fact, I first saw this video in this diary on DKos about ten minutes ago. But I think there is cause enough within this video itself for just about every blogger out there to take a moment and post it, hell, for every citizen out there to take a moment and email a link to their acquaintance, to post it to their facebook, to tweet it, to spread it around.
We are all citizen journalists now, each in our own way now; it’s incumbent on us to spread the truth, for I doubt very much that corporate media will.
UPDATE: just saw that according to this AP story this is just a little “nudging” with batons…so no cause for concern about the police delivering unprovoked beatings to young women to see here folks. Who are you going to believe, the Associated Press or your lying eyes?? Share the truth: because corporate media will not.
Durbin Meets Occupy Rockford
by VideoNewsService, posted on Wednesday, November 9th, 2011 at 1:01 pmSenator Richard Durbin speaks with members of Occupy Rockford at the dedication of the new Federal Court House.
Tea Party slogans and stuff
by Socialist, posted on Monday, November 7th, 2011 at 11:17 amPolice brutality against peaceful protesters.
by Socialist, posted on Saturday, November 5th, 2011 at 11:01 pmHere’s a scene of Oakland police using stun grenades on peaceful protesters who were trying to help a War Veteran from the Iraq War who was shot in the face by a non-lethal round by Oakland police [he was seriously hurt].
Klinkhamer Running for Kane County Board Chair
by Downtowner, posted on Friday, November 4th, 2011 at 2:23 pmHate to say I told you so, but Sue Klinkhamer is circulating petitions for the Kane County Board Chair Dem primary. She will have a primary opponent in former Carpentersville Mayor Bill Sarto. I’d give Klinkhamer, a former mayor of St Charles, the edge on that one. Between her regional transportation work, her work in DC lobbying for the City of Chicago, and her stint as Bill Foster’s in-district director, she’s got a lot of contacts and a lot of support throughout the county and beyond.
Either way, nice to see Dem interest in stopping either Chris Lauzen or Kevn Burns continuing the Republican stranglehold on Kane County government - with Elgin and Aurora in the mix, Kane is far from a solidly red county.
Klinkhamer tells me she plans to “test the system” and run an unconventional race…can’t wait to see how that plays out.
The Return of Nathan Thurm
by n0madic, posted on Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 at 8:55 pm
|
|
Well, you’ll pardon me for saying this, but you seem defensive.
I’m not being defensive. You’re the one that’s being defensive. Why is it always the other person that’s being defensive? Ever asked yourself that? Why don’t you ask yourself that?
Alright. This is an affidavit …
I know that.
Let me finish. This is an affidavit from a woman who… Here, read it.
You read it.
Why, I have read it.
So why do I have to read it? …
Occupy the Globe
by Downtowner, posted on Friday, October 7th, 2011 at 12:02 pmThe Occupy Wall Street movement is spreading beyond U.S. borders. I saw a few references to Canadian occupy events earlier this week, but this morning I saw this story on CNN.
It includes references to Occupy events - some of them long-term occupations, some planned as solidarity marches on October 15 - in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth in Australia, London, Hong Kong, Beunos Aires, Madrid, Dublin, unspecified city/cities in Italy. And that’s just in this story.
I can’t find a reference to global events specifically on the Occupy Together website, but could be I’m just missing it. They do say on their website today that there are now Occupy meetups in 890 cities.
Found Objects for a Friday Afternoon: “the banner Progressive district of the United States”
by n0madic, posted on Friday, October 7th, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Aurora, Ill.—Representative Ira C. Copley,
president of the Western United Gas and Electic Co., and director of the Rotary Meter Co., who represents in Congress what is said to be the banner Progressive district of the United States, is making a good campaign for re-election. Two years ago Mr. Copley got a plurality of more than 11,000 votes.
The Gas Age, September 1, 1914, p. 251.
Occupy Chicago
by Downtowner, posted on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 at 11:09 amI’ve been watching the Occupy Wall Street movement for only about the last two weeks or so. While that’s admittedly a long time in their brief history I have to admit I spent much of it shaking my head at their lack of organization or indeed any clear articulation of what it is exactly that they are protesting. I thought the generalized messiness of it meant it was doomed to end “not with a bang but a whimper.”
I’ve changed my mind.
To me, it’s starting to have the feel a movement that has staying power. And I don’t think that’s least because they managed to get 700 people arrested in one day on the Brooklyn Bridge - but I’ll get back to that, because I think it may hold a lesson for the organizers of Occupy Chicago and this post is dedicated to them.
But first I want to get back to the two main reasons I initially conciously discounted this movement: disorganization and lack of clearly stated mission. And I want to acknowledge and address what I am now beginning to suspect was an unconscious objection: the youth and inexperience of those involved in this movement.
The Patriotic Thing to Do
by chef jeff, posted on Sunday, September 11th, 2011 at 2:29 pmOur military heroes will be returning soon to the States, and many of them will be looking for work. Most of them will have a struggle, though, because the jobs they seek simply are harder to find these days. Yes, we could blame one party or the other, but in the U.S., WE, the People are the government.
As President Barack Obama said in his speech on 9-8-2011, the people we elect to Congress work for us. They are servants of the people, and, We, the People demand more than just talk and posturing and political backbiting.
It is long past time that both parties, but in my eyes, especially the Republicans, start to understand that no one can have everything their own way. It is a simple rule of a democracy that you give some and you take some. If it were otherwise, we would be a dictatorship.
Thus far I have seen almost no give and all take from the GOP. I have seen the Democrats give a lot, often in vain, because, as I see it, when they agree to some line in the sand by the GOP, and want something in return, it is not passed because the GOP will not agree to meet them somewhere in the middle.
