The Rich Get Richer as the Middle Class is Destroyed

Ed Schultz, from MSNBC, reports what is going on against unions and worker rights around the country where many Republicans have gained sizable majorities in the state legislatures.  

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Is there any hope left for the American Middle Class?

You better damn well believe!

Progressives, UNITE & FIGHT!

AFL-CIO: Supporting Unions & Worker Rights

Mr. Wahls Goes to Des Moines; His Message Should Also Travel to Baton Rouge & Washington

     February 12th is National Freedom to Marry Day.  Since 2004, as discriminatory constitutional amendments were pushed in numerous states throughout the nation, Louisiana citizens voted for an anti-relationship recognition constitutional amendment which passed and wrote discrimination into Louisiana's constitution. State advocacy groups are working to both repeal such discrimination and end the exclusion of same-sex couples and their families from marriage.  Even before then, the federal government passed in 1996 the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which federally prohibits same-sex marriage.

     But numerous efforts are underway around the country to permanently repeal these discriminatory laws that treat members of the LGBT community as second-class citizens.  Iowa is on the front lines of this civil rights battle.  On April 3, 2009, the Supreme Court of Iowa struck down discrimination against the LGBT community and ruled that 

the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective. The legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification. There is no material fact, genuinely in dispute, that can affect this determination.  We have a constitutional duty to ensure equal protection of the law.

     Yet, that doesn't stop those who have a problem with the LGBT community seeking same-sex marriage.  On February 1, 2011, the Iowa House of Representatives voted 62-37 to approve House Joint Resolution 6, which calls for a referendum on a constitutional amendment recognizing only marriages between one man and one woman.  But their vote was not cast until opponents of HJR6 had a few things to say, like Mr. Zach Wahls.  Wahls is a 19 year old college student, Eagle Scout, small business owner and the son of a same-sex couple.  His upstanding demeanor and articulate defense of same-sex relationships makes a bottom-line case for marriage equality...

"In my 19 years not once have I ever been confronted by an individual who realized independently that I was raised by a gay couple.  And do you know why? Because the sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character."

     As a gay man raised by three heterosexual parents, the sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character.  And neither does sexual orientation have an effect on anyone else's character.  The legal recognition of same-sex marriage throughout the United States is a civil rights issue we all need to defend.  Defending civil rights, including marriage equality for the LGBT community, is a reflection of character.

Do You Seek Progress in Louisiana?

Don't know where to begin with that?  Democracy For America is coming to Lafayette, March 19 & 20, for the Campaign Academy.  This is one way to get started...

What are you going to learn?
Field
• Your Field Plan: Vote Goals, Targeting, and Field Strategy
• Building Your Activist Base
• Voter Contact Tactics and Strategies
• Get Out the Vote (GOTV)

Communications
• Developing a Campaign’s Message
• Working with the Media
• Advanced Campaign Communication: Political Public Speaking

Finance
• Fundraising Strategy and Making the Ask
• Tactics: Events and Call Time
• Budgeting and Finance Planning

Online
• Engagement Organizing and The Theory of Change
• Mastering VoteBuilder
• Advanced Online Organizing: Social Media

Miscellaneous
• Strategic Planning
• Careers in Politics: Getting a Campaign Job

Cost: $70 (regular) / $35 (low-income/student) ($10 more if paying at the door)

So sign up here and get the word out!!  Louisiana needs a few good PeliCANs!  If I weren't in Afghanistan, I'd geaux!  And since I cannot attend, I am making a contribution to someone who can, but doesn't have the necessary funds to make it happen.

Reagan Solicitor General: "Health Care Mandate is Constitutional"

From C-SPAN (February 2, 2011):  Witnesses testified about the constitutionality of the 2010 health care law. The hearing took place two days after U.S. District Court judge Roger Vinson ruled the law was unconstitutional. It was the fourth federal district court to rule on the constitutionality of the law, with two courts upholding the law, and two courts finding parts or all of it unconstitutional. (Click the link to view the entire hearing, 2hrs 44 mins)


Now consider this:  If the Affordable Care Act were to be declared unconstitutional because of the mandate, wouldn't Social Security and Medicare also be struck down because of the mandated taxes by the federal government?  Do you see where the Republicans are going with this?

He Ain't Your "Buddy" After All - AG Caldwell Switches Parties

How many more turncoats and Democratic losses does Louisiana need to endure before we turn our Progressive efforts around?  If someone tells you that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, ask them if Louisiana had passed it, would they then support it.   The answer is likely no, because their disagreement with it is not about the Constitution.  Healthcare Reform is Progress.  Let's turn Louisiana around in the right direction!

From The Times-Picayune:

Attorney General "Buddy" Caldwell has switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.  

Caldwell announced the party switch Wednesday. He says he feels more comfortable with what the GOP represents nationally and locally, citing the federal health overhaul bill as an example.

Caldwell, who is up for re-election this year, becomes the latest in a long line of conservative Louisiana Democrats to leave the party. His departure will leave U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu as the lone Democratic statewide elected official.

As recently as 2004, Democrats held both Louisiana's U.S. Senate seats, as well as six of the seven statewide constitutional offices.

First elected in 2007, Caldwell was the only Democrat to join a federal suit challenging the constitutionality of the new federal health-care law, which was overturned earlier this week by a judge in Florida. A former district attorney in the 6th Judicial District, which encompasses East Carroll, Madison and Tensas parishes, Caldwell has been leading the state's legal efforts in connection with the BP oil spill.

His move follows recent switches by state Sens. John Alario of Westwego and Fred Mills of Parks, and state Reps. Simone Champagne of Jeanerette, Noble Ellington of Winnsboro and Walker Hines of New Orleans.