Politics Plus

On this day, more than most, we need to recognize that the labor movement gave us the middle-class.  Therefore, to be generally opposed to labor is to be generally opposed to the middle class.  And, when one political party opposes labor by definition, and causes wealth to gush from the middle class to the rich, covering it with the lie that it will trickle down, that is class warfare.

Jim Hightower hives us an excellent piece on the subject.

America’s corporate chieftains must love poor people, for they’re doing all they can to create millions more of them.

They’re knocking down wages, offshoring everything from manufacturing jobs to high tech, reducing full-time work to part-time, downsizing our workplaces, busting unions, cutting health care coverage and canceling pensions — while also lobbying in Washington to privatize Social Security, eliminate job safety protections, restrict unemployment benefits, kill job-creating programs and increase corporate control of our elections.

It’s said that the poor and the rich will always be among us. But nowhere is it written that the middle-class will always be there. In fact, it is a very recent creation in our society (and an unavailable dream for most people in the world). America’s great middle class literally arose with the rise of labor unions and populist political movements in the 1800s, finally culminating in democratic economic reforms implemented from the 1930s into the 1960s.

Social Security, wage AND hour laws, collective bargaining rights, unemployment compensation, the GI Bill, the interstate highway program, civil rights laws, Medicare, Head Start — and more — provided the national framework necessary to sustain a middle class for the American Majority.

This essential framework was not "given" to us by corporate executives and politicians — indeed, they sputtered, spewed and fought every piece of it tooth and nail. Rather, it came from union-led grassroots movements, organizing for structural change.

This Labor Day, we see corporate executives and their politicians relentlessly dismantling that framework, piece by piece — and we see the middle class disappearing and poverty rising with each dismantled piece. But as labor icon Joe Hill said just before he was executed by Utah authorities for his unionizing activities, "Don’t mourn, organize." It’s time for working families to organize again for the revitalization of the middle class… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Alternet>

I’m a long-time follower of the principles of nonviolence, as taught by MLK.  So to be clear, I am not proposing that we follow the Republican example of instigating acts of violence against our enemies.  There are other ways to fight back, but we need to recognize that this is a war and we are under attack.  That means we need to be as energized and committed as the most vile Republican racist.  That even means that we need to support candidates who fall short of our progressive ideals.  Unless we are willing to do whatever it takes to keep Republicans out of office, we will lose all the benefits that labor has won for us, and you can kiss your sweet class goodbye!

Since Obama took office, he has shown zero tolerance for corruption in Afghanistan.  Since that is the only thing he has done right, where that war is concerned, the worst course of action would be to change that policy.

US military commanders in Afghanistan are developing a strategy that would tolerate limited corruption but target large-scale abuses, The Washington Post reported late Friday.

Citing unnamed senior defense officials, the newspaper said Pentagon officials had concluded that the Taliban insurgency was the most pressing threat to stability in Afghanistan rather than corruption.

They also believe that a sweeping effort to stamp out corruption would create chaos and a governance vacuum that the Taliban could exploit, the report said.

“There are areas where you need strong leadership, and some of those leaders are not entirely pure,” the paper quotes a senior defense official as saying.

“But they can help us be more effective in going after the primary threat, which is the Taliban.”

Graft is a major issue in Afghanistan, which is rated by international monitor Transparency International as second only to lawless Somalia on its scale of the world’s most corrupt countries… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Alternet>

I have repeatedly said that public support is an element without which a COIN (Counter Insurgency) strategy cannot succeed.  I have also repeatedly said that the US cannot achieve public support as long as we continue to support the corrupt energy industry puppet installed by the Texas Taliban.  The decision to ignore corruption is the final nail in the COIN coffin.  If we stay in Afghanistan at all, a bad idea in my view, our strategy should be counter-terrorism in the border region with Pakistan, and cutting off aid to Hamid Karzai.

Here in Oregon, the race for governor is closer than it should be.  Democratic former Governor, John Kitzhaber, has a strong public service record, while former Trailblazers bench warmer, Chris Dudley, has zero experience or qualifications and lived in Washington, when he played here, to avoid paying Oregon Taxes.  The only thing he has going for him is a big pile of corporate cash.  Kitzhaber, an old style politician, tried to run a gentlemanly campaign on the issues, but that’s not how Republicans play.  Fortunately, Kitzhaber is fighting back.

John Kitzhaber’s political career in Oregon was characterized by his unwillingness to go negative against opponents. And just this cycle, he asked the Democratic Governors Association to pull an attack ad against GOP candidate Chris Dudley. But with Charlie Cook moving the race to toss-up category, and Dudley continuing to outpace in fundraising, Kitzhaber seems to be ready to begin defining his opponent. This is a good start…

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Here’s the ad:

I can’t say I like everything about Kitzhaber, but compared to Dudley Do-Wrong, he’s a saint.