…that long-dismissed political philosophy that eschews government intervention in favor of individual liberty is again coming into vogue—particularly among young voters. Two issues highlight the growing libertarian strain in the country. The first is legalizing marijuana…The second is same-sex marriage.
more.
Longtime Democratic Congressman Mike Honda now has an upstart challenger to take his seat in California’s 17th District in 2014. Ro Khanna, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce in the Obama Administration, has assembled a team of tech-savvy campaign gurus to challenge Rep. Honda. Many of Khanna’s staff members worked on the Obama campaign, and bring deep experience in using data and analytics to target messages and reach out to voters.
more. plus: it looks like President Obama is going with Honda.
…Combine the extreme partisanship with a series of politically motivated redrawings of Congressional district lines over the past few decades and you get two political parties who are largely preaching to their own base—with almost zero political motivation to do anything else. The ends of the political spectrum grow more populated, the middle less so. And nothing gets done—and people lose faith that government can do anything.
more.
Takoma Park became the first city in the United States to lower its voting age—which was previously 18—to 16. The voting age amendment brought out young residents to an April 8…hearing where they cited their readiness and eagerness to participate in the city’s elections.
boom.
This milestone shows the power of strong, strategic organizing…It also shows what happens when politicians threaten the rights of current and future African American voters. Across the country, we witnessed a variety of attempts by local, state and federal officials to…make it harder for Black Americans to vote. In response, starting a year before election day, we raised awareness of suppression efforts from the statehouses to the courthouses, organized with other faith and civil rights communities, and turned out at the polls to proclaim victory for our hard-won rights.
Minister Leslie Watson Malachi, director, African American Ministers Leadership Council
re
yesterday’s Census report confirming that African-Americans turned out to vote at a higher rate than any other ethnic group for the first time last year.
Ali Haider Gilani…was campaigning in a suburb of Multan… He is a candidate for the Punjab provincial assembly…Gilani had just stepped out of a house in the Farrukh Town neighborhood when he was attacked by a group of unidentified gunmen riding at least one motorcycle and in a Honda automobile. They then opened fire…Mr. Gilani’s personal secretary was shot and killed. It remained unclear if Mr. Gilani himself was shot…Two of Mr. Gilani’s brothers immediately arrived at the scene. Ali Musa Gilani, who is running for a seat in Parliament…warned that unless his brother was set free by evening, he would not allow voting to be held in his constituency…Teary-eyed and sobbing, Ali Musa Gilani said, “I want my brother back.”
more.
Republicans cheered former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez’s Massachusetts primary victory, but Democratic Congressman Ed Markey enjoys tremendous advantages in the special election to replace former U.S. Sen. John Kerry…In Markey, the race pits a longtime liberal politician known for environmental advocacy against Gomez, a…social moderate with a distinguished biography and untested political skills. On paper, it looks like a competitive contest, but Republicans quietly concede that Markey is the strong favorite in a state where only around 11 percent of voters are registered Republicans.
more.
![Superficially, the America of [President] McKinley’s time—a nation of 76 million people dominated by an Anglo-Saxon Protestant elite, in which only a handful of nonwhites and women were even permitted to vote—has little in common with the America of Barack Obama. But the nativist paranoia about alien ideologies and alien religions remains strikingly familiar, as does the quest for “enemy combatants” behind every door and under every sofa. If you ask me, the real enemy combatants, now as in 1901, are right here at home, ready and willing to surrender our remaining rights and freedoms in the name of rooting out the supposedly imported virus of evil.
more.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/7e0e940674049a77a19f5a1bfcfd6ef9/tumblr_mlxtixL30F1qcwnv4o1_500.jpg)
Superficially, the America of [President] McKinley’s time—a nation of 76 million people dominated by an Anglo-Saxon Protestant elite, in which only a handful of nonwhites and women were even permitted to vote—has little in common with the America of Barack Obama. But the nativist paranoia about alien ideologies and alien religions remains strikingly familiar, as does the quest for “enemy combatants” behind every door and under every sofa. If you ask me, the real enemy combatants, now as in 1901, are right here at home, ready and willing to surrender our remaining rights and freedoms in the name of rooting out the supposedly imported virus of evil.
more.
more.
I don’t think the GOP is in that much trouble. (And, twice in 20 years now, we’ve seen how deftly they can disrupt the administrations of the people who beat them.) They’ve locked up the House for the foreseeable future. They’re getting all kinds of laws past in the states that would have been unthinkable even a decade ago. They’ve stacked the courts to the point where the DC circuit can rule against recess appointments, and where it looks like the teeth of the Voting Rights Act are about to be pulled. The entire economic debate is being fought out on ground only a smidge to the left of their own choosing. Sensible gun control turns out to be DOA, at least in part because Democratic politicians are afraid of mighty Republican ad buys in contestable states. Campaign finance is a a dead parrot, and the system in situ is vastly to their advantage. Real action on climate change is utterly stalled. So, with all that, the RNC does a little examination of conscience about why they’ve lost the popular vote in six of the past seven presidential elections, and everybody goes into high-sterics, as my mother used to say.
If you have a senator or a congressman in a swing district who is prepared to take a tough vote—or what they consider to be a tough vote—on immigration reform, or legislation around background checks for guns, I want to make sure that they feel supported and that they know that there are constituencies of theirs who agree with them, even if they may be getting a lot of pushback in that district. If we move aggressively on an issue like climate change—that’s not an easy issue for a lot of folks, because the benefits may be out in the future. And I want to make sure that a congressman, senator feels as if they’ve got the information and the grassroots network that’s going to support them in that effort…I’ve always said that I am representing people, and that change comes about because people are activated, people are involved. People shape the agenda. People determine the framework for debate. People let their members of Congress know what is that they believe. And when those voices are heard, you can’t stop it. That’s when change happens.
“you’re my darlin’ darlin’ baby, you’re my sweet and tender love.”
We’re living in a global police state.
Sweet and happy black Lab Tess, a food loving dog who is obsessed with frisbees!
Vem pra Rua! São Sebastião - SP
Hanging out under the bridge
Don’t trust anyone but...
12x12, acrylic on canvas
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Pretty cool shot of the sky split between a huge rain cloud and sunshine. #houston #clouds #dope
beauty
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