The New Haberdasher

Occupy and the Tasks of Socialists « Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

I don’t know that I necessarily agree that the socialist left needs to take a more activist role in Occupy.  It is perfectly legitimate work to declare allegience and do parrallel work toward the same goals, working together where it is applicable, and not where it is not.  As far as OWS advancing socialism in the US, we can and should work together.  But the fact is, they are on their own program, and it diverges slightly with the program of socialism, which is and must be abolition of capitalism as the dominant paradigmatic model of our social organization in the US.  And so, as they try to build a new society within the camps, adopting an essentially inefficient and fundamentally dysfunctional government-like apparatus, this is where socialists need to leave them to it, and if they insist on maintaining that this is the only legitimate source of authority within the movement, let them drown with it.  There is a reason that socialists take a dim view of their methods.  It’s because socialists don’t trust anarchists to govern.  Nor should we.

At any rate, this is a nice long article, which has a bit o the old Marxism splattered throughout, and I highly recommend reading it, despite the Marxism.

A sample:

Although the socialist left might see these problems as a vindication of its dim view of modified consensus and Occupy’s decision-making process generally, the task of socialists is not be vindicated but to aid the uprising in overcoming its stumbling blocks with practical solutions arising from the experiences of Occupy participants that utilize the uprising’s existing framework, infrastructure, and terminology. Instead of proposing at a GA or a working group to scrap modified consensus from the outset, a more fruitful approach would be to raise process reform proposals only after building close relationships with fellow activists through joint work.

Read More at the Louis Proyect:  The Unrepetant Marxist

The Rise of the New Confederacy: How America-Hating Right-Wingers Took Over the GOP | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet

Seriously.  It’s like, when the party of Lincoln and TR adopted the Southern Strategy in the late 60’s and early 70’s, they sort of forgot where they came from:  The Party’s first President ran and was elected AGAINST this sort of nonsense.

Today, the currents of victimization, separatism and fatalism coursing through p.d. have spread beyond the true believers to dramatically reshape the GOP. What has recently come to the fore within the Republican Party, but has been building within it for decades as the religious right’s influence has grown, is a new Confederacy: a nation within a nation, certain of the degeneracy of the usurper “United States,” hostile toward its institutions of education and government, and possessing a keen sense of its own identity as a victimized, righteous remnant engaged in spiritual warfare. As Michele Bachmann put it when explaining her position as a tax accountant for the IRS, she took a government job because she wanted to infiltrate “the enemy.”

Read more at the Propaganda Blog Alternet

Rick Perry confirms that individual mandate is a GOP idea - The Plum Line - The Washington Post

And the term “Obamacare” is actually a nice example of Orwellian Newspeak.  Double Plus Good!!!

So there you have it. Perry first confirms that the individual mandate originated as a Republican idea. Then he says that now that Obama has employed it, the question of the mandate’s fate has become nothing less than a referendum on whether “big government liberals” will be allowed to destroy the country.

Read More at the Washington Post Blog

FOX says 'Muppets' are brainwashing kids, for SOCIALISM!!!

Fantastic!  Don’t see the Muppet Movie unless you want your kids to turn into Socialists!

“He suggested that there “should be” Occupy Wall Street Muppets, saying that Occupy protesters “have been indoctrinated literally for years” by TV shows such as 1980s cartoon “Captain Planet” or Nickelodeon’s “Big Green Help,” which focuses on recycling.”

Read more at MSNBC.com entertainment

Sebelius singlehandedly guarantees an increase in teen pregnancy

Sebelius Overrules F.D.A. on Freer Sale of Emergency Contraceptives - NYTimes.com

Looks like the Obama Administration fails on progressive issues once more.  Seriously:  except for the lack of an alternative not bent on sacrificing the very social fabric of our country to Mammon Profit, why would ANYONE vote for this guy?

“In her own statement, Ms. Sebelius said, “After careful consideration of the F.D.A. summary review, I have concluded that the data submitted by Teva do not conclusively establish that Plan B One-Step should be made available over the counter for all girls of reproductive age.” She was referring to Teva Pharmaceuticals, the pill’s maker. She noted that 10 percent of 11-year-old girls can bear children, so they needed to be studied as well.

“Dr. Susan Wood, a former F.D.A. assistant commissioner who resigned in 2005 to protest the Bush administration’s handling of Plan B, said that there were many drugs available over the counter that had not been studied in pre-adolescents and that were far more dangerous to them.”

For another take on the topic, check this article out as well

“It came a day after Sebelius traveled to Kansas on Air Force One with the president, but it is unclear whether the two discussed the decision. An administration official was not aware of any conversations about the pill between the two, and said the decision was Sebelius’s alone.”

In Major Gaffe, Obama Forgets To Dumb It Down | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

All satire is based in truth.

This could very easily be an entirely real story.  From the post:

“Instead of saying, ‘There are many global variables at work here, and unless they all fall into place, we could find ourselves back in a recession,’ he should have just said, ‘Times are hard. We gotta be strong,”

Read more at the Onion.com