Popular Progressive: This is What Democracy Looks Like

Popular Progressive: This is What Democracy Looks Like

Below is a copy of Judith's statement before the Judge at sentencing:

"If I do not act to hold my Representative accountable then I have no claim to Democracy. Democracy exists only when We the People stand up; speak out; and take action. I am proud to have done my part to build and sustain our Democracy by trying to hold Representative Loebsack accountable for his campaign promise to end the war in Iraq. And I encourage others to follow in my footsteps. This IS what Democracy looks like."

This was the statement that a fellow Iowan read to the court while she was being sentenced for her guilty plea of trespassing. I would personally like to see many more people being a pain in the ass to the system, forcing our representatives to see what our wishes are. While everything I've heard about Loebsack has been good, I don't have any problem with one of his constituents keeping the pressure on him.

What really strikes me about this case is that both the Magistrate who sentenced her, and the district attorney both gave the lightest sentence possible under law. They knew that the activist (Judith Pdedersen-Been) was just trying to assert her natural rights to petition her representative.

One thing that comes up with this issue, is that if I petition my government with a letter or phone call, it is just labelled as pro or against a certain issue and a form letter is sent in reply. The representative was not able to just file this person's opinion away and mark her down in a list. The disturbance to his office I'm sure caused him to notice the opinion being expressed.

Blogtalk: Tenets Book - The Caucus - Politics - New York Times Blog

You know, I don't have any issues with what Tenet is doing here, writing an expose and all. The only problem I have with the guy is that he is coming out and admitting how much of a failure he is. Considering the amount of money going into the Federal government, I expect that our intelligence services would actually perform. My personal feelings when the Iraq war started were that if there were any WMD's at all, they had to be old crap from previous wars. I had the picture a little bit more figured out than our national intelligence services I guess. Tenet is a failure, as are all his friends.


Blogtalk: Tenets Book - The Caucus - Politics - New York Times Blog

The Blowjob defense

YouTube - Clinton Got a Blow Job with Visuals

Bringing Iraq Home

The more personal aspect of the war in Iraq can be found in this story from the desmoinesregister:

Susan Jaenke, whose daughter [Jaime] was the first female Iowan killed in Iraq...[has been] unable to access a $100,000 military death benefit to help raise Jaime's 9-year-old daughter, Kayla.

The death-benefit money is meant as a "bridge" paid within 24 hours to help families when a relative dies in the line of duty and their paychecks abruptly stop. But a federal law intended to guard against misuse bars the money from going to grandparents - even if they are the grandchildren's sole care providers, like Susan Jaenke and her husband, Larry.

The rule is a concern in a military with many female single parents, who rely on relatives to care for their children while they are deployed.

Full Article Click Here

I wouldn't be suprised if this sort of "benefit hold up" was happening all over the country, for various different reasons. If I was a military person, I'd be horrified by this. Fight for this country and then have it deny you a beneficiary. I mean, hell, isnt that supposed to be one of the perks? Oh, the military isn't full of perks now that it's broke, eh?

Also, I don't give a rats ass if the grandfather had drunk driving charge in the past, and has been in and out of work. You could say the same thing for mystep dad, but if the article was about him it'd fail to mention that he lives on a sizeable property of land, the charges were over 20 years ago, and he is in and out of work because he's RETIRED.

The article makes the grandparents seem like they're money hungry. As if they're going to take it and say "screw our daughters little girl, thanks for the cash."

"If it hadn't been for strangers sending us money, we would have lost our house," [Susan] said. "It was strangers that helped me, not our government."

Thats because our government isn't really "for the people" anymore.

Fight Reefer Madness

I encourage you to go! This isn't simply about the medicial use of marijuana, it's about all the other benefits such as fuel, paper, oils, clothing, etc. The only reason people can not profit off industrialized hemp (even though it is fact that no one can get 'high' off industrial hemp) is because people are so fixated on the "scare" of some demon drug. It's what we were taught our whole lives.

Methanphetamine is a demon drug. Marijuana isn't. But people get so caught up in the "getting high" part of the plant, they forget that soo much can be done with the plant as a whole. You can't get "high" off stuff that's grown more for it's stalk then it's flowers (marijuana is the flower of the canabis plant). "Ditch weed" sucks because it isn't tended to, it's not given the specific nutrients to form the proper amount of THC (the stuff that gets you high). Industrialized hemp is specifical grown to lessen the amount of THC it creates, making sure that the plant allocates it's growing resources towards the end product that is desired; a thick stock for wood or other fibrous paper products; large seeds for hemp oil and clothing oils. Trust me, even though seeds are in the flowering product of the canibus plant, seeds are not the desired result of someone that grows it to get high. Much is different in the growing stages of the pot (THC) cultivator then it is for the hemp oil cultivator. Any real farmer will tell you that.

Anywho, hope to see ya there!

Thanks to another local blogger for the heads up.

Give a little, Get a little

FreecycleFinder

Freecycle is an awesome group of people on the net that brings together local people that want to give away the stuff they don't want anymore (as opposed to throwing it in the trash), in touch with other people who may want different items. The Des Moines area has a TON of people who are giving and asking for items you may either want to get or get rid of! It's really awesome!

Just in one day, in the Des Moines area, I've seen people giving away furnature, vacuumes, lawn mowers, clothes, and even coupons that other people could benefit from and use! I imagine that if it weren't for this local resource, these items would have otherwise ended up in the trash dump. I'm proud to see the internet working in such a fashion as to help out the local community.

Yuppy Advertising

Junior's pristine nose was revolting at the merest unwanted whiff of something that didn't smell completely citrusy or shower-fresh. Mommy took a moment to grimace at the stench emitted by the bum (Haw haw haw! The sweet-smelling, creative-minded yuppies in the room laughed and laughed!), then she helpfully whipped out her bottle of delicious-smelling chemicals and sprayed it in the air 50 or 60 times. And just like that, the middle-class mom saved her innocent son's virgin nose from the nasty stank of an under-bathed ne'er-do-well! Hurray!

Yeah. Poor people are funny. And just think. We'll have so many more opportunities to laugh at them in the coming years.

Linky to this good snark!

Exit Iraq? Republicans Say "Yes!"

Exit Iraq? Republicans Say "Yes!"

From a recent poll of 600 likely Iowa caucus goers:

QUESTION: Do you favor a withdrawal of all United States military from Iraq within the next six months?

ANSWER: Yes 52% No 39% Undecided 9%

The really bad thing about this poll for our elected officials is that this is a group of 600 republicans that will be going to caucus next year. Ouch!

From Desmoinesregister.com forums

AvgDude:
"In other words, if you spend your youth working hard and getting good grades; grow up to earn a good living by the sweat of your brow; always pay your debts and taxes; live within the law; and generously contribute to your community at large, then you are of equal worth to somebody who spent their youth goofing off and flunking out of school; doing drugs; who grew up to be a welfare case off the sweat of other people's brow; always a deadbeat; with a criminal record; and never spent a moment thinking about anyone but themselves.

This is why I can't stand the democratic party. They are basically half-assed communists, who punish good habits and integrity and reward stupidity and evil."


To address your points:
I spent my youth working hard, got excellent grades, pay my debts and taxes, I live within the law, and participate in my community.

I did not:
Goof off and flunk out of school, do drugs, be a welfare case, be a deadbeat, get a criminal record, or think only of myself.

I still believe that our constitution is right. That all men are equal, and that they should be given a fair chance to live a good life. The key word here is 'fair'...the biggest issue that I have with republicans in general is that they feel that if they can rig the game to work in their benefit, then screw everyone else that didn't rig the game. I was lucky to grow up in a middle class household, have good parents, and make the right decisions. When companies take away benefits for their employees, lower wages, and harm the environment, they are going to harm the people who least can afford it.

For example; Say I grew up on the East side of Des Moines, my dad worked at a factory every day of his life. My mother worked at a retail job and barely made enough to take home more than daycare cost for my younger sibling.

The factory, after giving it's CEO a couple million dollar bonus for achieving appropriate profit margins, finds out that it has to cut employee benefits to keep making these profits. For my father, this translates into a $100 extra that is withdrawn from his paychecks every month.

That $100 is enough to stress both my parents out, my mom ends up working overtime so doesn't have time to give me or my sibling the attention we need to become good citizens, my family is now in a constant state of crisis because we can't meet the bills that govern our life. Connect the dots and you'll see why I end up with an on average lower education level, lower respect for authority, and am more likely to drink or get myself in trouble with the law.




Now throw in a car accident or the father getting hurt at work...you might start to understand why people end up the way they do...they didn't have the LUXURY that you and I did.

So to get to the end of my point, the reason I don't JUDGE people (humans shouldn't judge, only the almighty), is because I had the luxury and luck to be raised the way I was. The humble thing to do is to share that luxury with people who are less fortunate than myself rather than rig the system so that I and my future generations will be able to have easier and richer lives. Share the wealth man!

First Post, YaY!

Just testing out this new fandangled software here on this ole blogspot blog. Please welcome us to the world of webblogging. We are a married couple living in Iowa, who consider ourselves to be both politically and socially progressive. We try to live our lives in an eco-friendly way, realizing we cannot use up all the worlds resources and expect our children to enjoy their future world in the ways that we do today. Actually, we hope the future generations live much more earth friendly, and recognize the fact that they must be taught the necessity for doing so.

So anyways, more to come from us both!