Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to effect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security.
MORNING MESSAGE: Saving The Dream
OurFuture.org's Robert Borosage: "Thousands rally to defend worker rights in Wisconsin, then nearly a million force a referendum in Ohio to repeal a similar assault. Tens of thousands fill congressional town meetings to demand Jobs, not Cuts in August. Over 100,000 join in vetting provisions for a Contract for the American Dream. Nonviolent protestors occupy Wall Street, and stay restrained despite police provocation, and now demonstrations are spreading to financial districts in cities across the country. The press isn’t looking, but there’s a movement building of citizens challenging the gridlocked debate in Washington ... In Washington, this week, over a thousand activists will gather to help plan the next stage for that movement. We’ll discuss plans to demand Jobs, not Cuts out of the Congress, with pressure culminating in a national day of action on November 17. We’ll plan ways to build on Occupy Wall Street’s demands that Wall Street pay us back. We’ll look to run American Dream candidates in races across the country, and to challenge legislators in both parties that vote for their contributors and not their constituents."
Three-Day "Take Back the American Dream" Conference Convenes Today
Full coverage of "Take Back the American Dream" at OurFuture.org including live video streaming from Free Speech TV.
Conference kicks off at 9:15 AM ET with leaders from Occupy Wall Street. Later today, Van Jones, Robert Reich and Katrina vanden Heuvel.
"Take Back the American Dream" conference may answer the question, "Can the Left Stage a Tea Party?" W. Post. E.J. Dionne: "This week, progressives will highlight a new effort to pursue the road not taken at a conference convened by the Campaign for America’s Future that opens Monday. It is a cooperative venture with a large number of other organizations, notably the American Dream Movement led by Van Jones [who] says of the progressive left: 'This is our "Tea Party" moment — in a positive sense.' The anti-Wall Street demonstators seem to have that sense, too. What’s been missing in the Obama presidency is the productive interaction with outside groups that Franklin Roosevelt enjoyed with the labor movement and Lyndon B. Johnson with the civil rights movement. Both pushed FDR and LBJ in more progressive directions while also lending them support against their conservative adversaries."
Occupy Wall Street continues to grow after weekend mass arrest. AP: "The Occupy Wall Street demonstration started out last month with less than a dozen college students ... It has grown sizably, however, both in New York City and elsewhere as people across the country, from Boston to Los Angeles, display their solidarity in similar protests. Moyer-Sims, of Portland, Ore., said the group has grown much more organized ... The protest has drawn protesters of diverse ages and occupations, including Jackie Fellner, a marketing manager from Westchester County. 'We're not here to take down Wall Street. It's not poor against rich. It's about big money dictating which politicians get elected and what programs get funded,' she said."
Documents show "Dream"-killers Koch brothers engaged in bribery and illegal Iran sales, scoops Bloomberg: "A Bloomberg Markets investigation has found that Koch Industries -- in addition to being involved in improper payments to win business in Africa, India and the Middle East -- has sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran, a country the U.S. identifies as a sponsor of global terrorism ... Phil Dubose, a Koch employee who testified against the company said he and his colleagues were shown by their managers how to steal and cheat -- using techniques they called the Koch Method."
Super Committee GOPers Not Budging On Taxes
Top Republicans tell lobbyists, we can't raise taxes for a "Grand Bargain." Politico: "In a closed-door meeting with Republican lobbyists late last week, senior policy advisers representing both Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his chief deputy, Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), who sits on the special deficit panel, said the issue of tax increases may be an insurmountable obstacle in the secretive [Super Committee] talks ... the only way that a grand bargain could pass muster with the GOP, the Senate Republican aides say, is if it were tied to an overhaul of Social Security or the controversial proposal by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to turn Medicare into a voucher-based system for future recipients. And neither plan could pass this Congress, they believe."
Congresspeople tout eliminating tax breaks, except the ones they created. NYT: "The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, for instance, says he is open to ending tax breaks for special interests. But when it comes to a tax break he secured in 2008 for the owners of thoroughbred racehorses, he argues that the measure is essential ... Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, says he too wants to eliminate such breaks, except when it comes to beer. He is one of the main supporters of a proposal that would cut taxes for small beer makers ... And Representative Paul D. Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who leads the House Budget Committee, has privately assured one beer industry group that he would support a second proposed tax break for brewers ... The disconnect between the lawmakers’ words and deeds reflects the political hurdles that Congress and the White House face as they look to cut at least $1.2 trillion from the national debt."
Stateline investigates how cities are barely coping as states slash budgets: "At least local government aid in Ohio merely got lopped in half. In Nebraska, Republican Governor Dave Heineman and the legislature erased state aid to cities and counties entirely ... the GOP-led [Michigan] legislature is considering repealing the personal property tax, about 80 percent of which goes to local governments and the rest to school districts. This move could cost Detroit some $51 million, and other cities and towns anywhere from 17 to 57 percent of their revenues ... 'Obviously, municipalities are on their own now,' says Lynn Rex, executive director of the League of Nebraska Municipalities, in a sentiment echoed by colleagues elsewhere. 'There’s not going to be the kind of partnership that people thought was there.'"
Senate Takes Up China Currency Bill, Maybe Trade Deals Too
NYT's Paul Krugman rallies support for Senate bill to crack down on China currency manipulation: "...right-wing pressure groups, notably the influential Club for Growth, oppose tariffs on Chinese goods because, you guessed it, they’re a form of taxation — and we must never, ever raise taxes under any circumstances. All I can say is that Democrats should welcome this demonstration that antitax fanaticism has reached the point where it trumps standing up for our national interests."
President may send Congress trade agreements this week reports WSJ.
5M Votes May Be Suppressed By GOP Laws
More than five million voters threatened by new GOP laws to restrict voting. NYT: "...a new study to be released Monday by the Brennan Center for Justice ... analyzed 19 laws that passed and 2 executive orders that were issued in 14 states this year, and concluded that they 'could make it significantly harder for more than five million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012.'"
President may emphasize national security and social issues to win re-election despite struggling economy. NYT's John Harwood: "The Democratic shift from defense to offense on those issues stems from evolving public attitudes, intensifying Republican conservatism and the raid that killed Osama bin Laden on Mr. Obama’s orders ... Mr. Obama’s success in using social issues to attract affluent suburbanites will depend significantly on the outcome of Republican primaries."
Breakfast Sides
Foreclosure crisis fueling health crisis, argues Craig E. Pollack and Julia F. Lynch in NYT oped: " In our 2008 survey of 250 people undergoing foreclosure in the Philadelphia area, 32 percent reported missing doctor’s appointments and 48 percent said they let prescriptions go unfilled ... More than one-third of homeowners in our study had symptoms of major depression ... settlement negotiations with the financial services industry over mortgage fraud and abuse should include money for health care."
Potentially historic Supreme Court term begins today. LAT: "The Supreme Court on Monday opens one of its most anticipated terms, in which the justices could strike down President Obama's healthcare law, empower local police to arrest illegal immigrants, and declare an end to affirmative action in colleges and universities."
