Environment January 25, 2011

Beyond Fossil Fuels

In his State of the Union speech on January 25, 2011, the President of the U.S. has understandably and rightfully focused on the issue of jobs. But he is not listening to the right people. Not only do we need to snuff out the attitudes and actions on Wall Street and elsewhere that led to the economic crisis in the fall of 2009 but we need to be looking ahead instead of remaining mired in the past when it comes to energy. President Obama has given every indication that he supports the continued use of fossil fuels in the U.S….

State Politics November 25, 2010

NY Governor Paterson’s Budget Protects Wall Street While Inflicting Pain on Main Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard

Hawkins Says Paterson’s Budget Protects Wall Street While Inflicting Pain on Main Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard Calls to Stop Rebating the $16 Billion Stock Transfer Tax, Invest in job creation instead Howie Hawkins, who is considering a run for Governor on the Green Party line, said today that Governor Paterson’s proposed budget was the wrong cure for the economic challenges facing New York. “Paterson acts like the cause of our problems is excessive state spending on education and services, rather than the financial misdeeds of bankers and Wall Street combined with decades of excessive tax giveaways to the…

Supreme Court November 25, 2010

Questions For A Neo-Confederate Justice?

Questions For A Neo-Confederate Justice? An Exposé of Legal Darwinism and Neo-Redemptionist Federalism by Asa Gordon* For Senators who will follow Justice Clarence Thomas’ lead and establish that the President has kept his word, the reason to reject his nominee is a given. President Bush made a campaign promise to nominate a justice in the tradition of conservative Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. The August 4, 2002 issue of The Washington Post Magazine reports in the article “Supreme Discomfort” that Ken Masugi, one of Thomas’ aides at the EEOC in the ’80s, spent many hours discussing ideas and ideology…

State Politics November 21, 2010

Schumer, Democrats & Social Change

Chuck Schumer is the consummate politician. He knows how to play the system. He deals with inside the box, he is pragmatic. Single payer doesn’t have a prayer in Congress and so he isn’t going to expend capitol on changing that. In some ways he is better than someone say like John Hall, who likes to argue that he is progressive and fails to vote because he is worried about the poltiical backlash. I always prefer politicians who speak their version of truth rather than lead us on to think they are our friends who will do what we want. Someone…

State Politics February 27, 2010

Brown Victory

Not A Republican Surge Green-Rainbow Party Says With the surprise victory of Scott Brown over Martha Coakley in Tuesday’s special Senate election the conventional wisdom regarding the dominance of the Democratic Party in Obama-era Massachusetts has been shattered. But in the scramble to understand what the voters said on Tuesday a fundamental lesson is being missed. This was a revolt of progressives against a hijacked Democratic Party – not a sudden conversion of Ted Kennedy supporters to Republican ranks. The polls and the hard vote totals bear this out. Brown benefited from two very strong trends: First a sizable number…