Ghosts of Joe Slovo

Enjoy!




Kick ass and take names.

This one has a link to the ACORN Action Center at the end so people can take action to stop the smears and make sure that everyone who is eligible can get to the polls on Election day.



The other one is over 60,000 views and was the 71st most viewed video on all of YouTube on Wednesday October 21 and the 3rd most favorited in the News and Politics section.

Take a minute and change your link to this one instead so people can fight back as well as learn the truth.

Kick ass and take so very many names.

Who is that handsome devil?

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PASS THIS AROUND TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW! HELP SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE TRUTH.
</shouting>




Kick ass and take names

I didn't know that getting poor people to vote was a Federal case, but apparently I live in something called the 21st century and the Bush Justice Department lives in the 1880's...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VOTER_FRAUD_FBI?SITE=ORROS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Officials: FBI investigates ACORN for voter fraud

By LARA JAKES JORDAN




WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI is investigating whether the community
activist group ACORN helped foster voter registration fraud around the
nation before the presidential election.

A senior law enforcement official confirmed the investigation to The
Associated Press on Thursday. A second senior law enforcement official
says the FBI was looking at results of recent raids on ACORN offices
in several states for any evidence of a coordinated national scam.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Justice
Department regulations forbid discussing ongoing investigations
particularly so close to an election.

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, says
it has registered 1.3 million young people, minorities and poor and
working-class voters - most of whom tend to be Democrats.

Republican accusations about the group were raised during Wednesday's
presidential debate between Democrat Barack Obama and GOP candidate
John McCain.

Some ACORN employees have been accused of submitting false voter
registration forms - including some signed `Mickey Mouse' or other
fictitious characters.

Those voter registration cards have become the focus of fraud
investigations in Nevada, Connecticut, Missouri and at least five
other states. Election officials in Ohio and North Carolina also
recently questioned the group's voter forms.

ACORN has said the "vast majority" of its workers are conscientious,
but some might have turned in duplicate applications or provided fake
information to pad their pay. Workers caught submitting false
information have been fired, ACORN officials say.

ACORN says laws in a number of states require it to submit all
registration cards it collects even dubious ones, so its workers
segregate applications with missing, suspicious or false information
and flag them so state election officials can quickly check them
further.

Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow get it right on ACORN.

You can find out the real truth here: The Real ACORN.


Here's Keith.



Here's Rachel.



Kick so much ass and take so many names.

Jackpot!

McCain attacks us via his new web ad.

This is complete garbage, of course and ACORN will have a response site up over the weekend.

But, for now, enjoy the lies.



Kick ass and take so so many names!

I have now traded e-mails with Robert Greenwald.

That's got to be worth some progressive street cred.

Because, you know, it's all about me.

Here's the latest John McCain video from Brave New Films:




Whee! Now it gets really fun!

Kick ass and take names.

I opened up my LA Times today to the Metro section to see an in-your-face head shot of... smyley!

It's a piece on how folks are using You Tube to fight the fight over CA's Proposition 8, which would create a Constituional amendment to strip queer folk from the right to marry.

You can read it here. Unfortunately without the cool picture.

And, for your viewing pleasure, I'm replaying one of his videos on the subject.





Kick Ass And Take Names

How To Tell If You Are Doing A Good Job

The right wing falls over itself to link you with everything bad, including the finanical meltdown and undermining the integrity of elections.

Latest exhibit: http://stopacorn.org/, a project of NetRightNation.

Best example of crazed insanity:

In response to ACORN’s nationwide track record of voter fraud and coercive high-risk loan activities, StopAcorn.org is calling upon President Bush to take the following actions:

Direct the Secretary of State and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency to investigate the efforts of ACORN International in efforts to undermine democratically elected governments and to determine the full extent of the relationship between ACORN and ACORN International with the governments of Cuba and Venezuela.

What. The. Fuck?

Cuba and Venezuala? The Director of Central Intelligence?

I want what they are eating for breakfast because it it working way better than my homemade granola and yogurt.



Kick Ass and Smoke A Cuban Cigar That I Bought At A Citgo Station In Caracas.

The bailout package agreed to over the weekend, a package carrying the sweet sweet smell of dogshit mixed with battery acid, went down to defeat in the House of Representatives today 205-228. Over 100 R's and almost 100 D's voted no. Bless them.

I don't often find myself in the same corner as the wingnuts, nor abandoned by such progressive stalwarts as Maxine Waters, but on this case the ultimate outcome was good. There is now absolutely no reason for the D's not to craft an actual progressive piece of legislation, which should bring the GOP back to the bargaining table so that they can stop a true piece of leftist legislation from taking shape. This should give the D's more leverage for getting a minimum number of provisions, such as the ability of bankruptcy judge to modify lending agreements, into the final package.

If the Administration wants to leave anything left of the rapidly collapsing infrastructure of this country and salvage whatever hopes McCain has of taking the White House they will need to put everything they have left into twisting the arms of the GOP caucus for something that everyone can live with. The D's had leverage the whole time, but forgot that they actually wield power in the Congress. Now is the time to remember that, force some progressive legislation and get the GOP to either eat shit on a moderate bill with some victories for Main Street or take full credit for the meltdown of the entire economy 4 weeks before a national election.

Kick Ass. The names have been taken.

I'm not sure how smart it is to piss off a guy with one of the top rated late-night talk shows 38 days before a national election in which you are a candidate. Sen. POW's judgement comes through again.





Kick Ass and Rush, Rush I Say, To Be Interviewed By Katie Couric.

OK! Which is more of a hot ghetto mess?

2007 Miss Teen South Carolina's Americans can't locate America on a map and such as?




Or

Sarah Palin's bailout blowout hummana hummana hummana?



Vote in the comments.

Hat tip to claudelemonde for making the And Such As connection for me.

Kick Ass And Such As Hummana

Project Vote blog on how the myth of voter fraud is driving systematic attempts to suppress the vote.

Here's how it starts:

Weekly Voting Rights News Update

By Erin Ferns

"I think the days of ballot box stuffing are more or less gone." - Allen Raymond, former GOP operative

Voter fraud by individuals has been a major partisan debate in recent elections, inspiring multiple states to consider or pass laws that purport to stop it, including "no-match, no-vote" list maintenance procedures and strict voter ID  requirements. Despite federal findings that the act of casting an illegal ballot is exceedingly rare, partisans often cite large scale voter registration drives as voter fraud culprits, and perpetuate the myth of voter fraud by spreading the fear that such votes cancel out legitimate ones. With rising registration rates - particularly among historically underrepresented Americans - it is no surprise that partisans are spreading this myth, and the media often perpetuates the hysteria by printing stories on the small numbers of bad registration cards submitted by large scale voter registration drives (including the 1.2 million submitted by Project Vote voter registration partner, ACORN).

Check out the rest in any of the following diaries. Feel free to leave comments and forward as appropriate, especially to folks you know in battleground states.

This is the most incoherent response to a non-gotcha question I've ever ever ever seen.

I was cringing.

This is embarrassing. How can anyone seriously think this woman is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency? What does this say about Mr. POW's judgement to make presidential decisions, he asked rhetorically?



Kick Ass and Wow... I've got nothing.

She wants to be Vice-President? Really?


Really?




Gulp.

My mom sent this link around this morning. I don't know how long its been around the interweb - not long judging from the footage - but its probably all ove it anyhowr. So I'm doing my small part to get it out there as well.

What I like about this video is the powerful use of images and their connection with the music. Music has been a great adjunct to the Obama campaign's work and this continues that tradition.

And, as a community organizer, I'm a sucker for Civil Rights Movement footage. The entire website is here.



Kick Ass and Say A Prayer.

Wait, what?

You can call "time out" in a Presidential campaign?

McCain thinks that with 41 days to go before a National election and two days before the first debate, you can just say, "Hold it! I need a time out."

Wow. Why don't you just say, "I'm getting pasted and I need to duck the battering before I start pissing blood. The fundamentals of the economy are strong! Strong I tell you! Strong!."

If he shows up and tanks the debate, does he get to call a do-over?

Kick Ass And.. Hey! Do-Over! That's A Do-Over!

My friend smyley, who I know through the Bay Area slam scene, made this video recently concerning the two anti-gay (marriage) propositions on the California and Arizona ballots. Totally worth watching.



Kick ass and take names.

So.

40 days before a significant national election, the US financial markets teeter on the verge of a meltdown small market correction that most experts I trust (Dean Baker, Jared Bernstein) many hysterical socialists say is matched only in the last 100 years by the financial implosion that started the Great Depression. To avert a economic catastrophe that would likely be worldwide in its effects, help a few good people who made a couple of teensy eensy bad decisions, the Bush Administration says that the Treasury needs $700 billion in spending authority to buy the "toxic debt" rotting on the books help out most of the major financial institutions on Wall Street, thus preserving the soundness of the banks while ensuring that liquidity remains, allowing big players to borrow, buy, and invest. In return, we, the taxpayers, get quarterly reports on how our money is being spent.

That's right: we get quarterly reports on an investment that is almost twice the size of ExxonMobile's annual gross income ($404 billion) and pretty much nothing else satisfaction of helping stabilize world financial markets and ensure the survial of capitalism. The executives that led us into this mess, small market corrrection, on the other hand, get to keep the approximately $2.5 billion in bonuses that have been/are being handed out for their stellar performance.

That. Is. Awesome!

I love America! Where else can you screw a pooch the size of an effing brontosaurus, create jobs and new investment opportunties, make everyone else pay for it have it backed up by the full faith and credit of the United States of America, and walk away with millions in your pocket?

What? You can do that in most dicatorships or authoritarian regimes? Oh.

Wait! I bet we're the only so-called "real" democracy where you can get away with this kind of naked, world-scale, thievery brilliant investment scheme! Do you see the British or the French or the Canadians doing this? No! Why not? Because they don't have the kind of vision and gumption that only true red-blooded Americans have. This is why we won the Cold War. To make America and the world safe for the ability to make billions while turning the economy into the biggest fustercluck you've ever seen, navigating a small market correction, ALL WHILE YOU PAY FOR IT backed up by the full faith and credit of the United States of America.! That is what American ingenuity is all about!

Now, I implore you. Please do not call or write or contact in any way the spineless ho-bags noble leaders in the Democrat party who are making timid very loud and scary noises about possibly imposing some miniscule massive and crippling amount of accountability on the people responsible for this gigantic world-wide disco freakout small, necessary market correction. We do NOT want them deciding that they have the public support to implement their Hatred Of Freedom, their desires to Let The Terroists Win, and their incredibly shortsighted Regime Of Death By Regulation.

If you value America and all the beautful freedoms we have here to privatize profits and stick the costs to the suckers hardworking taxpayers, your course of action is clear. You much call House Frau Speaker Pelosi and encourage her to screw her constituents convince her caucus to Let Freedom Ring. The fate of a nation rests in your hands.

Kick Ass and Write A Blank Check The Size Of Montana

Updates at the bottom of the entry...

I've excerpted parts of a fresh post on the Project Vote blog and is an analysis of recent stories from Michigan and Ohio about Republicans using lists of houses in foreclosure to challenge voters' right to vote in November. People are calling this heartless, which I think is a bit tepid. I think "reprehensible", "unconscionable", "Jim Crow-esque", and "sleezy" might start to do it justice, but I think I'm just lacking creativity. There is a particular irony in the GOP's announcement of these attempts to keep folks away from the polls during the week of September 11, when, supposedly, we all come together to celebrate what unifies us as Americans. But then, that comes as no surprise really, given the right's attempt to trademark Sept. 11 and use it against progressives during policy debates and elections.

Here are some of the key parts of the post.

Partisan political operatives in Michigan are taking voter caging operations to depths that would surprise even the most cynical observers of American elections. If their plans are put into action, thousands of Michigan foreclosure victims may find that they will not only have lost their homes this year, but also their vote.

Operatives in the closely contested state, which is home to thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure, are “gearing up for a comprehensive voter challenge campaign,” according to Eartha Jane Melzer of the Michigan Messenger Wednesday. The state allows parties to send election challengers to polls to challenge the eligibility of voters if they “have good reason to believe” a voter is ineligible. In this case, the GOP of Macomb County—a “key swing county” with a foreclosure rate in the top three percent in the nation—has announced plans to challenge the voting eligibility of foreclosure victims based on residency.

“We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses,” Macomb County GOP chairman James Carabelli told the Messenger.

And then this.

“The Macomb County party's plans to challenge voters who have defaulted on their house payments is likely to disproportionately affect African Americans who are overwhelmingly Democratic voters,” Melzer writes. “More than 60 percent of all sub-prime loans – the most likely kind of loan to go into default – were made to African Americans in Michigan...”

Melzer points out that Republican presidential candidate John McCain's regional headquarters is in the office of the state's largest foreclosure law firm, Trott & Trott, whose founder has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the campaign. McCain “stands to benefit from the burgeoning number of foreclosures in the state,” Melzer writes.

Advocates respond.

“At a minimum, what you are seeing is a fairly comprehensive effort by the Republican Party, a systemic broad-based effort to put up obstacles for people to vote,” says [J. Gerald] Herbert [former voting rights litigator for the US Department of Justice]. “When you are comprehensively challenging people to vote, your goals are two-fold: One is you are trying to knock people out from casting ballots; the other is to create a slowdown that will discourage others.” This type of disruption would be expected in areas with high foreclosure rates, particularly the Detroit metropolitan, where one in every 176 households received foreclosure filings during the month of July, according to Melzer.

“You would think [the Macomb GOP] would think, 'This is going to look too heartless,'” says David Lagstein, head organizer for Michigan ACORN, which has registered 200,000 new voters statewide and provides foreclosure-avoidance assistance.

“The Republican-led state Senate has not moved on the anti-predatory lending bill for over a year and yet have time to prey on those who have fallen victim to foreclosure to suppress the vote,” Lagstein says.

If you want to learn more:

“Voter Caging.” Project Vote.

James, Teresa. “Caging Democracy: A 50-Year History of Partisan Challenges to Minority Voters.” Project Vote. September 2007.

Kick ass and protect voting rights.

UPDATE: Also available at DailyKos, MyDD, and OpenLeft.

UPDATE II: In this story in the Michigan Messenger today, the Macomb County GOP is now stating that it has no voter caging plans for the foreclosure list, but that it does expect, "party volunteers to challenge voters in other ways."

When asked whether Michigan Republicans plan to create a challenge list based on returned direct mail, a practice known as “vote caging,” Doster replied, “I think so. I know this has been done in years past … both parties may be doing this.”

Reports of the plan for foreclosure-based challenges have spurredoutrage and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), planned a demonstration today at the Macomb County Republican headquarters.