Tag: Occupy Wall Street

Right wing turns wonkish committee into political sideshow

January 4, 2012 at 3:13 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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For decades, anyone who pays attention to politics has been forced to endure the tired old pledge from practically every conservative candidate that, upon election, he or she will “run government like a business.” Today, we got to see once again the “business” that North Carolina conservatives are using as their model: Ringling Brothers.

Anyone who doubts this should have stopped by or tuned in via the Internet to today’s meeting of a once venerable House-Senate panel known as the Revenue Laws Study Committee. For decades, Revenue Laws has operated as one of the North Carolina General Assembly’s most wonkish and staid committees — a sober group that focused on technical tax policy matters. This is not to say that the Committee has not tackled large or controversial issues, but through the years it has almost always been run in a way in which the issues were debated seriously and in which more or less even-handed debates regarding substance got at least as much aattention as politics.

Today, however, susbtance tooks a vacation as legislative right-wingers turned the committee’s regular meeting into a circus sideshow. Read More…

America to Dems: Stop worrying about the “class warfare” criticism

December 16, 2011 at 8:55 amCategory:Uncategorized

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Greg Sargent at The Plum Line reports some new and, hopefully, energizing poll results for progressives from Pew Research.

Here’s the lead from the post:

“Pew Research has just released the most detailed polling I’ve seen yet on Occupy Wall Street, economic fairness, rising inequality, and the lack of Wall Street accountability. If these numbers don’t put an end to the nonsense about how Dems risk alienating the “middle of the country” by embracing a populist “class warfare” message, nothing will…”

Click here to read the entire post.

Brad Miller on the Occupy movement

November 8, 2011 at 1:33 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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The North Carolina congressman had an excellent post on the the Daily Kos this morning. Thanks to our friends at Blue NC for the heads up.

Refreshing and encouraging words.

Former DC insider: OWS has left Washington behind

November 1, 2011 at 8:52 amCategory:Uncategorized

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There’s an excellent column in the newest edition of The Nation by a former congressional staffer named Gordon Lafer entitled “Why Occupy Wall Street Has Left Washington Behind.”

I like this part:

Read More…

The very sad and scary world of the foreclosure mills

October 31, 2011 at 12:18 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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In case you missed it, the New York Times ran an opinion piece by Joe Nocera last Friday that exposed the seemy underside of the foreclosure mill industry.

It turns out that employees at one of New York’s biggest foreclosure mills had a big Halloween party in which many people dressed up in costumes and created props that were designed to make fun of the “deadbeats” whose homes their firm has been doing its best to take away. Six amazingly tasteless photos of the shindig are posted in the article.

This morning, Mike Konczal at New Deal 2.0 has a good follow-up post on the matter. Here’s the excellent conclusion:

“Though the Halloween pictures are disgusting, they are a symptom of a larger view of the way the law should work that is even worse — one in which debtor’s protections are mocked, the rule of law is ignored, and shantytowns proudly display their creditor’s name over them. This is the way many elites view the rules when it comes to debt. Thankfully, there is more and more mass opposition to this perversion of the law.”