Change.org: “Victory against big banks!”

“Score one for a customer rebellion!” — that’s how Diane Sawyer announced on ABC Nightly News Friday night that big banks are backing off debit card fees after 300,000 people signed Molly Katchpole’s Change.org petition against Bank of America’s $5 debit card fee.

Not only is Bank of America revising its $5 debit card fee, but big banks like Chase and Wells Fargo are publicly canceling their plans to charge their customers for debit cards.

You must watch this segment from ABC Nightly News about Molly’s Change.org petition. It’s a truly inspiring story about what’s possible when we organize together.

Molly’s fight against Bank of America isn’t over. While BofA is revising its fee, many customers, including Molly, would still have to pay $5 for a debit card fee even after the bank’s revisions. But, as the Wall Street Journal put it, the “big banks blinked.” 

Ohioans gather almost 480,000 signatures to repeal HB194. Next up is HB319.

Like Wisconsin, Ohioans have united to stop the kind of oppressive laws that Republicans are launching in states where they control the legislature. In Ohio, Gov. John Kasich (R) signed into law HB194 that severely restricts voting rights for Ohioans. Many have described HB194 as a revisit to the Jim Crow laws of the segregated south. The new law:

• Shortens mail-in voting from 5 to 3 weeks and in person voting from 5 weeks to 2 weeks
• Eliminates early voting opportunities in the evenings, Saturday afternoons, and Sundays
• Takes away party identification from third-party candidates on the ballot
• Requires minimum precinct sizes only in municipalities for longer lines in urban areas
• Poll workers are not required to tell voters they are in the wrong precinct
• Stops the county Board of Elections from sending absentee ballot applications to all voters [....]

Fortunately, Ohioans aren’t standing still. Various groups and citizens united together under Fair Elections Ohio to repeal HB194. Their first step was to gather 231,000 petition signatures to put the law on November’s ballot and bring it to a vote for repeal. Despite Republicans best efforts, Ohioans gathered more than double that amount:

Huntsman Daughters create their own “unique” campaign ad blowing bubbles at Cain’s..

Herman Cain’s YouTube ad has gone totally viral with well over a million hits. Late night show hosts have also gone viral on his ad, adding a bit of parody of their own. It seems Jon Huntsman has decided to join the fray. His daughters put together this ad below.

Is this the new Republican Party? Who doesn’t enjoy a good laugh now and then; its good for the heart, soul and one’s health. So when are we going to see something real.

Selling the GOP to Conservative Blacks. Brazen Billboards, Swagger and false prophets.

Provocatively dressed women don't depict Black Christian conservative values

This morning, my local news station reported about an effort to draw black voters into the Republican party by a conservative group, Raging Elephants, (“dedicated to conservatism-libertarianism”) led by Apostle Claver Kamau-Imani in East Austin TX.

Claver is trying a new approach to persuade black voters to join the Republican Party through flashy billboards and advertising. In 2008, he attempted to persuade blacks to vote conservative in this ad that says if you don’t want government telling you what to do, you’re a conservative and you should vote that way. On further perusal of his website, what Claver doesn’t say in that ad is that his group promotes the same kind of extreme conservative ideology put forth by the Tea Party and other extreme rightwing groups, including homophobia, xenophobia, anti-choice, anti-women, etc.

In my opinion, Claver’s billboards are offensive. The billboard above is highly offensive to women in general. The men are wearing nice suits and ties that emphasize their good looks without compromising their dignity. The women or girls, however, are dressed just the opposite. That fact, in and of itself, is a problem. They are wearing skin-tight jeans, revealing

Cain alienates black/brown vote, fumbles the issues. Is his time up?

Republican presidential nominee contender Herman Cain has proven he is a successful business person. He did well at Pillsbury, at Godfather’s pizza and he served on the board of directors in various capacities at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.” [....] But is his business success alone enough experience to run a country, carry out successful foreign policy and diplomacy, take the right steps with regard to war and all the other critical issues that arise on a moment to moment basis in the Oval Office? When asked about foreign policy, Cain often responds that he would consult his advisors. Who are they and what are their credentials?

Running a government is far more complex than running a successful business enterprise; the two shouldn’t be compared. Running a successful presidential campaign is also complex. What can become a growing thorn in Cain’s campaign is the public concern expressed by former campaign staff despite their being asked to sign nondisclosure agreements:

WI Gov. Walker’s “Back to Work” special session and “It’s Working” ads all bogus.

This is an excellent clip from MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show that reveals how the Koch brothers fund ads using fake crowds and videos that claim the “people” in them support Republican draconian budget cuts and anti-union legislation. The ads and videos were purchased from iStock.com. One photo used was not purchased. It was stolen from a 2008 Obama rally in New Hampshire. Maybe the Koch brothers realize if they want to show a large supportive crowd of thousands, the best photos are from Obama rallies.

Maddow also reveals Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s special legislative session entitled, “Back to Work Wisconsin,” is equally fake. Instead of working on jobs, the Republican controlled legislature worked on honoring anti-abortion centers, home-brewed beer, adoption awareness month, the definition of bicycles, and more. Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is rising. No wonder repealing Walker’s anti-union and draconian budget cuts legislation has overwhelming support in Wisconsin.

  

WI Gov. Scott Walker’s “Back to Work” campaign …, posted with vodpod

ColorOfChange and others go after MSNBC Commentator Pat Buchanan.

I like MSNBC. I watch from time to time Hardball, Politics Nation, Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow, the Last Word, Up with Chris and more. The spirit of the station is captured in their tag line, “Lean Forward.” I like that. I also enjoy these shows when they have people from both sides of the issue to give responsible, opposing view points. It allows for a full, and often lively, conversation. That being said, one has to wonder why Color of Change is circulating a petition to MSNBC telling them to fire Pat Buchanan.

Buchanan has said some outlandish things that are not always a political analysis. Sometimes, his commentary is rather racist. On the other hand, there have been a few times Buchanan proved to be a valuable asset to the conversation, especially when he includes vital historical, personal data that his younger counterparts don’t always have. Unfortunately, those times have been too few. So what’s at issue that would cause anyone to want Buchanan fired? It’s his latest book, Suicide of a Super Power: Will America Survive to 2025?, coupled with a history of racist commentary.

Before I read Color of Change’s petition, I did a Google search to find out just what’s in Buchanan’s book. Here’s what the Amazon review said:

America is disintegrating. … The “one Nation under God, indivisible” of the Pledge of Allegiance is passing away. In a few decades, that America will be gone forever. In its place will arise a country unrecognizable to our parents. … This is the thrust of Pat Buchanan’s Suicide of a Superpower.

The author of six New York Times bestsellers traces the disintegration to three historic changes: America’s loss of her cradle faith, Christianity; the moral, social, and cultural collapse that have followed from that loss; and the slow death of the people who created and ruled the nation [white people].

Keeping my sanity while remodeling my kitchen, baths and more.

Over the past year, I’ve been seriously working on redesigning my kitchen and dining room. Before the rooms were gutted, the kitchen and dining room were the traditional set up; two separate rooms. Tucked in a far corner of the dining room, there was one of those old-fashioned swing doors that led to the kitchen. One could easily imagine June Cleaver wearing a starched apron tied perfectly around a tiny waistline, gracefully breeze through the swinging doors with a casserole dish in her hand, ready to serve dinner to her impeccably dressed, well-mannered family.

The wallpaper in the kitchen rounded out this typical Americana scene. It was a fine print consisting of a patriotic pattern of the American eagle surrounded by tiny stars in muted, colonial shades of red, white and blue on a faded out, mustard colored background. The pattern was broken up ever so often with a larger rooster to make sure there was no mistake that this wallpaper was meant for the most important gathering place in the home; the kitchen. Not exactly me.

Repeal of Ohio’s new collective bargaining law has huge lead.

Ohioan’s never give up spirit is paying off. This is a must read story:

Poll: Effort to repeal SB5, Ohio’s new collective bargaining law, has huge lead; support for Kasich drops again | Published: Tuesday, October 25, 2011, 7:29 AM | Updated: Tuesday, October 25, 2011, 8:44 AM | By Reginald Fields, The Plain Dealer  

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s new collective bargaining law appears to be headed for a decisive defeat as an effort to repeal so-called Senate Bill 5 is now favored overwhelmingly by voters, according to  the latest Quinnipiac University poll.

Opponents of Issue 2, the referendum to repeal the new law, now have a comfortable 25-point lead — 57 to 32 percent — with just two weeks to go before the Nov. 8 election. An election that last month was appearing to grow closer all of sudden is again shaping up to be a blowout.

“The opponents had seen their 24-point margin in July close over the summer and early autumn. As we enter the home stretch, however, they have once again taken a commanding lead,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Except for Republicans, just about every demographic group favors repealing the law.”

Romney’s housing fix: “Don’t try and stop the foreclosure process.”

Imagine you and your spouse have good jobs; a teacher and a fire fighter. You have a nice home in a good neighborhood with great schools and your oldest kid is ready to go to college next year. Suddenly, one spouse is laid off. College is out for your oldest, and you don’t know how you’ll be able to keep up the mortgage payments on one salary. In a live interview with Las Vegas Journal-Review, Mitt Romney shared his solution to help you:

ROMNEY: Are there things that you could do to encourage housing? One is: Don’t try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom. Allow investors to buy homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up and let it turn around and come back up. The Obama administration has slow-walked the foreclosure process that has long existed, and as a result we still have a foreclosure overhang.

Fire Dog Lake’s David Daven says it right in his article last week:

Action vs. Rhetoric: Pres. offers relief to struggling homeowners.

While Republicans in Congress push legislation that focuses on ideological issues, such as abortion, and eliminating jobs by going after unions and privatizing education, President Obama and Democrats step up to help struggling homeowners. This is the kind of action we need to see from all of Congress. Come November 2012, we need to make sure we replace those members of Congress who refuse to work with the President with people who will.

Republicans can’t have it both ways: Deny first responder jobs and don’t accept the results.

Recently, Vice President Joe Biden commented with great urgency the need to pass the $35 million part of the American Jobs Act that provides for hiring police officers, fire fighters and teachers. He said that crime was rising in various cities and if Republicans don’t pass at least this part of the American Jobs Act, the loss, particularly of police officers, would cause crime to rise:

“They either are going to figure out how to help those cities the way we want to help them, or some other way. But if they don’t get help, crime is going to continue to go up. It’s that simple,” Biden said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “It’s not an ideological point, it’s not a political point, it’s just a physical reality.” [....]

Biden also included rape and murder when referencing the kinds of crimes on the rise. Jason Matterra (conservative blog) questioned the Vice President, clearly attempting to get him to say that Republicans would cause rape to rise. What Biden said was, “In many cities, the result has been, and it’s not unique, murder rates are up, robberies are up, rapes are up.” [....] This is true, despite whatever political spin Matterra tries to make of it.

BlackCT: The President didn’t fail us; we failed him.

The latest post on BlackCT said:

Many people have the nerve to claim that President Obama failed the people.  The reality is we failed him.  When President Obama was running in 2008 we held parties, wore Obama gear and did what we could to do the right things.  After he was elected “OUR Community” was silent.  Hence, a Republican Congress.  This year, the focus is local elections.  Many people in “OUR Community” are not even aware that there is an election and turnout is expected to be low.  However, the elections will have a more immediate impact on “OUR Community” given the elections are for Board of Education and Board of Finance.

We have approximately two weeks before the November 8 elections.  Please do your part to Get Out The VOTE!  ”OUR Community” can be the deciding votes again this year!

I agree with this post; and it’s not just “our” community that failed the President in the 2011 elections. That was an equal opportunity mishap. With all of the voter suppression laws cropping up in 37 states and counting, each of us needs to go out and vote. Often, voting supplies, poll staff, etc., are determined by the turnout results of any given election cycle. Send a message on November 8, 2011 to those who seek to stop us from voting; go vote! Here’s a list of towns in Connecticut that shows the voting ballot of who is running for office.

Republicans look small crying foul over Iraq war closure.

Republicans wasted no time to use the President’s announcement of pulling out of Iraq to publicly complain about him to diminish his credibility on foreign policy. Their actions served only to make them seem small and desperate. President Obama’s performance in foreign policy is far beyond anything we’ve seen in decades. Bin Laden is gone and Al Qaeda is decimated. Gaddafi is gone, the Arab Spring continues to blossom, and Tunisia hosts their first-ever democratic elections. It’s true that a thirst for equality and democracy growing in the Arab and North African regions long before former Senator Obama became President Obama. I have to say, however, it’s all about timing. In my opinion, it’s no mistake that all of this has come about during President Obama’s watch.

There is something else that gets drowned out by far-right noise, the President manages to get some incredible things done despite Republicans single-minded determination to stop him at every turn. A recent economic milestone is the rebirth of the American industry. Look at what just happened with the auto industry rating; Ford was recently upgraded by two agencies: