Where Did They Come From? The Rise of the Tea Party | Common Dreams
The Tea Party does not exist.. it never existed...
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Whither the Tea Party?
Where Did They Come From? The Rise of the Tea Party | Common Dreams
The Tea Party does not exist.. it never existed...
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Tea Partier to Occupier: 'Y'all ought to be joining us' - US news - Life - msnbc.com
Tea Partier to Occupier: 'Y'all ought to be joining us' - US news - Life - msnbc.com
MidSouth Tea Party invites Occupy Memphis activists to discuss the Occupy Movement. Now if the Tea Party really wants to stand up to corporate greed and take back the government from the corporate rich, they should join the Occupy Movement!
MidSouth Tea Party invites Occupy Memphis activists to discuss the Occupy Movement. Now if the Tea Party really wants to stand up to corporate greed and take back the government from the corporate rich, they should join the Occupy Movement!
Friday, November 18, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Tea Party Unfavorability Jumps in New Poll
Tea Party Unfavorability Jumps in New Poll
It seems that the Tea Party's governing style, most clearly on display during the debt ceiling fight in Congress, has taken a toll on Americans' view of the movement. Polls have been showing a drop in its approval, and a new AP/GfK poll shows that its unfavorable rating has seen a sharp rise. 46 percent of those surveyed said they have a negative view of the Tea Party movement, versus 28 who say they view it favorably.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Bush + Tea Party = Rick Perry!
Bush + Tea Party = Rick Perry
Would American voters elect another dumb Texas governor who thinks GOD wants him to be president to preside over the Rapture?
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
The Tea Party Is Coming For Your Medicare (Again)
The Tea Party Is Coming For Your Medicare (Again): "pIf It’s August, The Tea Party Wants To Take Away Your Health Care In August of 2009, the Tea Party tried to run the health care bill off the rails. Flash forward two years and the Tea Party is at it again, but this time they are dead set on pushing through the GOP’s spectacularly unpopular plan to [...]/p"
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Tea Party Wants to 'Educate Americans' About Medicare | Common Dreams
Get ready for the Tea Party's next target--Medicare
Tea Party Wants to 'Educate Americans' About Medicare | Common Dreams
Tea Party Wants to 'Educate Americans' About Medicare | Common Dreams
Monday, August 1, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Norwegian Terrorist Linked to Tea Party
Turns out the "terrorist" behind the Oslo, Norway bombing and mass killings was a White European Christian, with ties to the European nationalist, anti-Islam, anti-Marxist "tea party" movement. He wrote a manifesto calling for a Christian crusade against Islam, Marxism, and multiculturalism... sound familiar?
Anders Behring Breivik: Oslo, Norway Bombing "Necessary"
Norwegian Killer Linked to Tea Party
Tea Party Fear in Europe
Anders Behring Breivik: Oslo, Norway Bombing "Necessary"
Norwegian Killer Linked to Tea Party
Tea Party Fear in Europe
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
ALEC Exposed (Tennessee)
ALEC EXPOSED(TN) See what the corporate backed "American Legislative Exchange Council" has been up to in Tennessee.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Explaining the 'ALEC Exposed' Project | Common Dreams
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
"Justice For All" Rally Seeks to Unify Progressive Causes - WREG
"Justice For All" Rally Seeks to Unify Progressive Causes - WREG
A coalition of progressives groups representative women, labor, immigrants, and the LGBT community, organized a rally Saturday in Memphis to protest recent actions by the conservative Republican Tennessee legislature to restrict the collective bargaining rights of public employees, cut funding for Planned Parenthood, and to rollback and prohibit local laws to prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians and LGBT people.
In addition to anti-gay and anti-labor legislation at the state level, the Memphis City government is considering proposals to privatize sanitation services and destroy the local AFSCME labor union that Dr. MLK came to Memphis to march with to protest low wages prior to his assassination.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Memphis Coffee Party Progressives Joins US Uncut's Movement to Make Corporate Tax Dodgers Pay UPp
Memphis Coffee Party Progressives Joins US Uncut's Growing Movement to Make Corporate Tax Dodgers Pay Up
A group of concerned citizens from Memphis are joining US Uncut groups in more than 50 U.S. cities, with a planned protest at the corner of Poplar and Highland on Saturday (April 16th), to make the connection between corporate tax dodging and the budget cuts in Tennessee.
Activists from Memphis Coffee Party Progressives and Memphis Uncut will confront corporations like FedEx, GE, Exxon & Bank of America over their failure to pay their fair share while citizens of Tennessee suffer huge budget cuts at both the federal and state levels. Inspired by national and international protests to hold corporate tax cheats accountable, the protest will creatively call out these corporations for contributing to budget cuts.
Corporate tax cheats are bankrupting America. Many of America’s largest corporations are making profits in America but barely paying taxes – if at all – due to overseas tax haven abuse and other tax loopholes. Memphis Uncut is a group of citizens who pay their fair share, organized to show corporate tax cheats that there will be consequences for their actions.
KEY FACTS:
• Offshore tax havens cost U.S. taxpayers $100 billion per year. That shortfall costs the average taxpayer $500 a year. (U.S. Senate subcommittee on investigations)
• Two-thirds of US corporations paid no federal income taxes at some point between 1998 to 2005. (Government Accountability Office)
• States collectively face another $100 billion budget gap for FY 2012. Over the next decade, President Obama has proposed nearly $1 trillion in social program cuts; House Republicans recently unveiled a plan to slash $4 trillion, with cuts largely to social safety nets such as Medicare and education. [Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, New York Times]
WHAT: Memphis UNCUT/Tax Protest
WHEN: Saturday, April 16th, 11 AM
WHERE: Poplar & Highland
--
US UNCUT
http://www.USuncut.org
Coffee Party Progressives
http://www.coffeepartyprogressives.com
Monday, April 11, 2011
The Progressive Budget Plan: Tax the Rich, End the Wars, Invest in Jobs
House progressives offer budget plan: Tax the rich, end the wars, slash oil subsidies, invest in jobs
Liberal Dems claim the plan eliminates deficit by 2021
WASHINGTON – As the focus on Capitol Hill shifts [1] to America's long-run fiscal woes, Congressional progressives are one step ahead of the White House and Democratic leaders in offering a counter-proposal to the House GOP approach.
The broad sketch proposes to end the Bush-era tax cuts on high income earners, enact a surtax on millionaires and billionaires, increase the the estate tax and eliminate corporate tax loopholes and subsidies for oil and coal companies. It also aims to create a public health insurance option, end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and invest $1.45 trillion in "job creation," energy, housing and education programs.
The revenue-heavy proposal [2] (PDF) stands in stark contrast to the spending cuts-oriented plan put forth by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) -- and championed by GOP leaders [3] -- that slashes $6 trillion in federal programs (including Medicare and Medicaid) while significantly reducing taxes for wealthy Americans and corporations.
"This budget is transparent, straightforward and realistic about where we are in America right now," Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), co-chair of the progressive caucus, told Raw Story. "The Ryan plan, for all the credit it gets for thinking big, doesn’t reflect the reality of the American economy. It destroys the successful programs that made this country strong, especially Medicare and education, and doesn't even try to explain how it creates jobs. It reflects a faith that making government disappear will somehow create prosperity."
The plan is a nonstarter in the GOP-led House and would have a hard time winning over more than a handful of Democrats in the Senate. But Grijalva and his progressive caucus co-chair Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) wrote a letter urging Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), the top Democrat on the budget committee, to consider their ideas in the Democratic counter-offer this week.
In contrast to the Ryan plan, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says will eliminate the deficit by 2040 [4], the progressive proposal -- which its authors have dubbed the "People's Budget" -- promises to yield surpluses by 2021, though it doesn't provide numbers to back the claim.
"We need an alternative that actually creates jobs, closes corporate tax loopholes, ends wasteful subsidies, protects Medicare and education, and puts this country back on the right track," Grijalva said. "We believe the American people deserve a choice, and that’s what we intend to give them."
While the Ryan proposal is likely to pass the GOP-led House when it's taken up this week, the progressive blueprint is highly unlikely to reflect the official Democratic opening bid. President Barack Obama is poised to unveil his fiscal 2012 budget [5] Wednesday, and it's believed to seek spending cuts while returning high-income tax rates to Clinton-era levels.
Both parties agree on the need to reduce the nation's massive long-term deficits. And the progressive leaders framed their proposal in terms of who will pick up the tab: the wealthy, or struggling Americans. The GOP proposal, they argue, would "tak[e] trillions of dollars from the pockets of the middle class and giv[e] ever more generous windfalls to millionaires and large corporations."
Republicans vociferously oppose increasing taxes -- including on the wealthiest earners and corporations -- warning that doing so would hamper the economic recovery. America's budget problems, they argue, are caused by excessive spending as opposed to a revenue shortage.
URL to article: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/11/house-progressives-offer-budget-tax-the-rich-end-the-wars-slash-oil-subsidies-invest-in-jobs/WASHINGTON – As the focus on Capitol Hill shifts [1] to America's long-run fiscal woes, Congressional progressives are one step ahead of the White House and Democratic leaders in offering a counter-proposal to the House GOP approach.
The broad sketch proposes to end the Bush-era tax cuts on high income earners, enact a surtax on millionaires and billionaires, increase the the estate tax and eliminate corporate tax loopholes and subsidies for oil and coal companies. It also aims to create a public health insurance option, end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and invest $1.45 trillion in "job creation," energy, housing and education programs.
The revenue-heavy proposal [2] (PDF) stands in stark contrast to the spending cuts-oriented plan put forth by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) -- and championed by GOP leaders [3] -- that slashes $6 trillion in federal programs (including Medicare and Medicaid) while significantly reducing taxes for wealthy Americans and corporations.
"This budget is transparent, straightforward and realistic about where we are in America right now," Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), co-chair of the progressive caucus, told Raw Story. "The Ryan plan, for all the credit it gets for thinking big, doesn’t reflect the reality of the American economy. It destroys the successful programs that made this country strong, especially Medicare and education, and doesn't even try to explain how it creates jobs. It reflects a faith that making government disappear will somehow create prosperity."
The plan is a nonstarter in the GOP-led House and would have a hard time winning over more than a handful of Democrats in the Senate. But Grijalva and his progressive caucus co-chair Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) wrote a letter urging Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), the top Democrat on the budget committee, to consider their ideas in the Democratic counter-offer this week.
In contrast to the Ryan plan, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says will eliminate the deficit by 2040 [4], the progressive proposal -- which its authors have dubbed the "People's Budget" -- promises to yield surpluses by 2021, though it doesn't provide numbers to back the claim.
"We need an alternative that actually creates jobs, closes corporate tax loopholes, ends wasteful subsidies, protects Medicare and education, and puts this country back on the right track," Grijalva said. "We believe the American people deserve a choice, and that’s what we intend to give them."
While the Ryan proposal is likely to pass the GOP-led House when it's taken up this week, the progressive blueprint is highly unlikely to reflect the official Democratic opening bid. President Barack Obama is poised to unveil his fiscal 2012 budget [5] Wednesday, and it's believed to seek spending cuts while returning high-income tax rates to Clinton-era levels.
Both parties agree on the need to reduce the nation's massive long-term deficits. And the progressive leaders framed their proposal in terms of who will pick up the tab: the wealthy, or struggling Americans. The GOP proposal, they argue, would "tak[e] trillions of dollars from the pockets of the middle class and giv[e] ever more generous windfalls to millionaires and large corporations."
Republicans vociferously oppose increasing taxes -- including on the wealthiest earners and corporations -- warning that doing so would hamper the economic recovery. America's budget problems, they argue, are caused by excessive spending as opposed to a revenue shortage.
URLs in this post:
[1] shifts: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/09/11th-hour-miracle-congress-strikes-budget-deal-with-minutes-to-spare-before-a-shutdown/
[2] revenue-heavy proposal: http://grijalva.house.gov/uploads/CPC.Budget.112th.Memo.pdf
[3] championed by GOP leaders: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/05/gop-leaders-champion-plan-to-slash-medicare/
[4] eliminate the deficit by 2040: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/06/cbo-republican-budget-ramps-up-medical-expenses-for-seniors/
[5] poised to unveil his fiscal 2012 budget: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/11/will-obama-support-cuts-to-medicare-and-medicaid/
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
43rd Annual March Honoring MLK in Memphis April 4 2011
About 500 people representing several unions join the Memphis AFSCME Local to honor Dr. Martin Luther King on the 43rd Anniversary of his murder in Memphis Tennessee April 4, 1968.
MLK came to Memphis to stand WITH public workers and unions representing sanitation workers in Memphis. It was his last stand for justice and equality.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Tea Party Tries to Kill Medicare in Tennessee!
If the Tea Party has it's way, Medicare Could Be Taken Over by TennCare!
On April 5, this Tuesday morning, the House Health and Human Resources sub-committee will vote on House Bill 0369, Health Care Compact, putting TennCare in charge of your Medicare. In a Compact there are no guarantees of benefits and coverage. It comes with a lick and a promise. "We have seen those promises before," says Beth Uselton, "and over 300,000 Tennesseans lost their coverage under Governor Bredesen." If passed by the sub-committee and by the full House of Representatives, the bill would require Tennessee to join the Health Care Compact. The Compact would withdraw Tennessee from all federal health care programs, including Medicare, and put TennCare in charge. --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
Call members of the House Health Sub-committee - this weekend and again on Monday - Ask them to vote against the Compact bill State Legislators leave Nashville on Thursday at noon and return on Monday afternoon. Members of the House sub-committee need to hear from you. Click here for talking points. Call toll free. Click here to get a list of legislators to call. --------------------------------------------------------------------- |  |
 Read the fiscal note about Medicare by clicking this picture. | "Good God, Tennessee can't even manage TennCare, how do they think they can manage the rest? Please oh please leave my medicare alone!" That is a comment left by a reader of the Knoxville News-Sentinal after the paper ran this article explaining the bill and its effect in Tennessee. The reader has cause for concern. If this bill is passed, TennCare would take over the administration of Medicare for over one million seniors and people with disabilities in Tennessee. --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
What is the Health Care Compact? Interstate compacts create multi-state agreements to address problems such as transportation issues, water rights or environmental protection. Compact agreements, which have to be passed by state legislatures, then approved by Congress and signed by the President, override federal law. Proponents of the state Health Care Compact are using it as a political strategy to try and opt out of the new federal health care law and exempt Tennessee from the requirements of it, including the protections, benefits and new rights to health care afforded to Tennesseans. This strategy is being backed by the Tea Party and pushed by a new front group, the Health Care Compact Alliance. |
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
National Tea Party Warns of "White Extinction"
Right Wing Watch: Tea Party Group Warns of White "Extinction" in America
Tea Party Nation is a major (for-profit) Tea Party organization that gained prominence after its convention last year hosted Republican leaders like Sarah Palin and Tom Tancredo, along with Religious Right figures Roy Moore and Rick Scarborough. TPN’s President Judson Phillips previously denounced the “Marxist” Methodist Church and suggested that President Obama’s campaign was funded by Hamas and China.
This morning, Tea Party Nation sent out an email to its members with the headline “Destroy the Family, You Destroy the Country!” from an article by Dr. Rich Swier, a contributing editor to the anti-Muslim group Family Security Matters. Writing for Tea Part Nation, Swier says that “The title of this column is a direct quote from Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the first leader of the former Soviet Union. Lenin's vision was for the state (Communism) to replace the family as the provider of all things necessary for life and happiness. What Lenin did not foresee was his political policies leading to the eventual extinction of Russian civilization.” Swier goes on to lament the falling birthrate of native-born Americans compared to immigrants, and warns that “American culture” will soon perish since the “White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) population is headed for extinction”:
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
43rd Annual March Honoring the Legacy of Dr. MLK April 4
43rd Annual March Honoring the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King 04/04/11
- Monday, April 4 | 10am – 2pm
- AFSCME L1733r, 485 Beale St, Memphis, TN 38103
- Click Here to visit
- Click Here to visit
- Shelley Seeberg
- AFSCME L1733
- 901 525-2458
The Memphis Coffee Party Progressives is joining the American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees (Local 1733) and the AFL-CIO to honor Dr. Martin Luther King on the 43rd Anniversary of his death. For more information visit the AFL-CIO We Are one Webpage by clicking here.
EVENT DESCRIPTION:
The march will start from L1733 at 10 a.m. to the Memphis Government Plaza, following the march a community BBQ will be held at L1733 from noon to 2 p.m.
Coalition partners are invited to bring banners for the march, also tables are available for those who would like to display or share during the BBQ. Please call L1733 to reserve a table.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Nashville, Tennessee Rally Tuesday March 15th
Rally for Good Jobs, Living Wages and our Public Services
Stand at the Capitol for Good Jobs, Living Wages and Health Care! Stop the Attacks on Public Workers and Our Public Services!
Join community, faith and labor organizations from across Tennessee to demand that Governor Haslam and the General Assembly get their priorities straight. The attacks on teachers, firefighters and all public workers have to end! Tennesseans need jobs, good jobs that pay living wages and Stand at the Capitol for Good Jobs, Living Wages and Health Care! Stop the Attacks on Public Workers and Our Public Services!Join community, faith and labor organizations from across Tennessee to demand that Governor Haslam and the General Assembly get their priorities straight. The attacks on teachers, firefighters and all public workers have to end! Tennesseans need jobs, good jobs that pay living wages and have health care. We need green jobs and jobs that don't discriminate against workers. And now more than ever we need our invaluable public services.
On Monday, March 14, 2011, Governor Haslam will deliver his first State of the State Address. Join us on Tuesday, March 15, 2011, as we lay out a message of our own. From Madison, Wisconsin, to Columbus, Ohio, to Nashville, Tennessee, working people are standing up for our rights and demanding that government respect our right to organize, deliver on our needs and not bend to corporate greed.
For more information, including logistics of parking, drop off locations, et cetera, contact the Tennessee AFL-CIO at 615-269-7111.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Madison Rally Bigger Than Biggest Tea Party Rally | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet
Madison Rally Bigger Than Biggest Tea Party Rally | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet
Police estimated up to 100,000 people turned out in Madison, WI yesterday to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) assault on unions, making it bigger than any protests the city has witnessed, even those during the Vietnam War. The Madison rally is part of a much larger Main Street Movement of average Americans demanding fairness in labor laws, social spending, and taxation that has emerged in Ohio, New Jersey, Florida,Michigan, and elsewhere. But yesterday’s rally in Madison is noteworthy because at 85,000-100,000, it was bigger than the biggest tea party protest, the September 12, 2009 rally in Washington, D.C., which turned out only an estimated 60,000-70,000. A photo of the Madison rally yesterday:
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Let's Remember Real Labor History -- From Madison to Memphis | MichaelMoore.com
Darrell Bouldin is an activist and organizer and the founder of Coffee Party Progressives
Let's Remember Real Labor History -- From Madison to Memphis
Last Saturday February 26th I spoke in Nashville, Tennessee at one of the nationwide rallies to Save the American Dream promoted by MoveOn.org along with numerous other organizations. With a good 400 to 500 in attendance despite the media quoting a lower figure, I'd say that this little planned gathering of people was one of the largest rallies I've seen with such a short notice in Tennessee in the past few years of my progressive organizing here. There were several other speakers as we stood on Legislative Plaza below the Tennessee State Capitol. Before my speech I had been holding the American flag my friend had given me to hold behind the other speakers. Out in the crowd there were two American flags modified with corporate logos instead of stars, sometimes called the Corporate American Flag. When I made my speech I pointed out the corporate flags stating how in ten or even five years that is where we seriously will be, if we are not already.
I felt it was important to speak on the fact that one of the greatest men in history, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been killed in Memphis while there protesting for public workers. Though specifically sanitation workers, these protests helped lead to the little protection public workers have had in Tennessee. Now after all of this effort the conservatives in my state wanted to strip away the right of collective bargaining, and even other union rights. I recently purchased “All Labor Has Dignity”, a book containing a collection of speeches on labor by Dr. King, some previously never published. In this book is Dr. King's speech to the AFSME employees in Memphis. His speech was as prophetic as always, and seems to echo down through history today.
The historic struggles that brought us the protections we are rallying to protect today seem to be echoing through time to our struggle today. Voices calling for us to not give up, to keep on fighting. Tennessee has a long history of struggle, one that is often hidden in history classes. I grew up in a little village up against the foot of the hills where less than 35 miles away the original historic location of Highlander Center in Monteagle, Tennessee stood. My father was living at the foot of these hills as Rosa Parks was being trained, and Dr. King was visiting Highlander Center.
In Nashville a large part of SNCC's activities were coordinated. Here sparked one of the first major lunch counter sit-in movements. Dr. King's well known march with striking sanitation workers in Memphis was a key part of his Poor People's Campaign to highlight the issues facing workers at that time. He had chosen that battle. Even earlier in Tennessee's history in the late 1800s northwest of Nashville in Dickson County the early socialist writer John Ruskin had founded a socialist colony there.
Tennessee as with Wisconsin has had a surprisingly subtle, but important role in the history of the American Left. Perhaps not as deep nor victorious as the union wins in Wisconsin, but Tennessee has been a part of the history of the struggles of the American Left just the same.
Like Wisconsin, Tennessee has recently taken a turn toward conservatism if now only electorally it is showing. Here too the right of collective bargaining is under attack among other union rights, and here too we are preparing our response. I now see some teachers I have previously known to be conservative suddenly finding their voice, and responding to these attacks upon their freedom. A self-proclaimed Republican firefighter spoke at a press conference last month responding to these attacks, and demanding his freedom of collective bargaining.
Across the state it seems there is something stirring, but it remains to be seen if this will manifest a movement in this often sleepy state. It is my hope that at some point the fierce spirit of Tennesseans will awaken, and find their working class roots of struggle. If not there will still be us few progressives holding down the fort steadily beating the drum for justice.
I felt it was important to speak on the fact that one of the greatest men in history, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been killed in Memphis while there protesting for public workers. Though specifically sanitation workers, these protests helped lead to the little protection public workers have had in Tennessee. Now after all of this effort the conservatives in my state wanted to strip away the right of collective bargaining, and even other union rights. I recently purchased “All Labor Has Dignity”, a book containing a collection of speeches on labor by Dr. King, some previously never published. In this book is Dr. King's speech to the AFSME employees in Memphis. His speech was as prophetic as always, and seems to echo down through history today.
The historic struggles that brought us the protections we are rallying to protect today seem to be echoing through time to our struggle today. Voices calling for us to not give up, to keep on fighting. Tennessee has a long history of struggle, one that is often hidden in history classes. I grew up in a little village up against the foot of the hills where less than 35 miles away the original historic location of Highlander Center in Monteagle, Tennessee stood. My father was living at the foot of these hills as Rosa Parks was being trained, and Dr. King was visiting Highlander Center.
In Nashville a large part of SNCC's activities were coordinated. Here sparked one of the first major lunch counter sit-in movements. Dr. King's well known march with striking sanitation workers in Memphis was a key part of his Poor People's Campaign to highlight the issues facing workers at that time. He had chosen that battle. Even earlier in Tennessee's history in the late 1800s northwest of Nashville in Dickson County the early socialist writer John Ruskin had founded a socialist colony there.
Tennessee as with Wisconsin has had a surprisingly subtle, but important role in the history of the American Left. Perhaps not as deep nor victorious as the union wins in Wisconsin, but Tennessee has been a part of the history of the struggles of the American Left just the same.
Like Wisconsin, Tennessee has recently taken a turn toward conservatism if now only electorally it is showing. Here too the right of collective bargaining is under attack among other union rights, and here too we are preparing our response. I now see some teachers I have previously known to be conservative suddenly finding their voice, and responding to these attacks upon their freedom. A self-proclaimed Republican firefighter spoke at a press conference last month responding to these attacks, and demanding his freedom of collective bargaining.
Across the state it seems there is something stirring, but it remains to be seen if this will manifest a movement in this often sleepy state. It is my hope that at some point the fierce spirit of Tennesseans will awaken, and find their working class roots of struggle. If not there will still be us few progressives holding down the fort steadily beating the drum for justice.
$1.2 Trillion: The National Security Figure No One Wants You To See | Common Dreams
$1.2 Trillion: The National Security Figure No One Wants You To See | Common Dreams
Normally, in media accounts, you hear about the Pentagon budget and the war-fighting supplementary funds passed by Congress for our conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. That already gets you into a startling price range -- close to $700 billion for 2012 -- but that’s barely more than half of it. If Americans were ever presented with the real bill for the total U.S. national security budget, it would actually add up to more than $1.2 trillion a year.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Here's Why The Tea Party Republicans Want to Kill Unions
Outside Spending | OpenSecrets
Top Groups Making Outside Expenditures in 2010 Elections, Excluding Party Committees
| Organization | Total | View* | Independent Expenditures | Elec Comm | Comm Costs | Super PAC | 527s† | 501c |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US Chamber of Commerce  | $32,851,997 | C | $0 | $32,851,997 | $0 | x | ||
| American Action Network | $26,088,031 | C | $5,669,821 | $20,418,210 | $0 | x | ||
| American Crossroads | $21,553,277 | C | $21,553,277 | $0 | $0 | x | x | |
| Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies | $17,122,446 | C | $16,017,664 | $1,104,782 | $0 | x | ||
| Service Employees International Union | $15,795,194 | L | $15,692,364 | $0 | $102,830 | x | ||
| American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees | $12,631,170 | L | $11,995,182 | $68,539 | $567,449 | x | ||
| American Future Fund | $9,599,806 | C | $7,387,918 | $2,211,888 | $0 | x | ||
| Americans for Job Security | $8,991,209 | C | $4,406,902 | $4,584,307 | $0 | x | ||
| National Education Assn | $8,746,556 | L | $7,239,105 | $105,724 | $1,401,727 | x | x | |
| Club for Growth | $8,240,060 | C | $8,240,060 | $0 | $0 | x | x | |
 VIEW ALL GROUPS | ||||||||
* C = Conservative, L = Liberal
† Indicates that this organization has a 527 committee registered with the IRS. The committee's 527 spending outside of electioneering communications is NOT included in these totals. Read more about 527s.
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