Religious affiliation map

This map is quite interesting.  Check it out.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/graphics/pew-religion-08/flash.htm
Oregon and Mississippi provide quite a contrast.

Attempted Coup in Arizona

In an action completely without precedence anywhere in the country, Arizona Republicans have voted to unjustifiably expel the Independent member of the state’s non-partisan redistricting commission, simply because the proposed maps were insufficiently partisan for Republican tastes.

What do we mean by “insufficiently partisan?” The state’s Independent Redistricting Commission drew a map that locks in a 2-to-1 GOP advantage in the congressional delegation and the legislature, but even that wasn’t good enough for Arizona Republicans.

GOP legislators demanded nothing less than an end to all accountability to the voters, but that would never happen through a truly non-partisan redistricting process. So they voted this week to fire the Independent redistricting commissioner on a party-line vote, with almost no notice or debate.

There is only one way to fix this naked, partisan power grab and restore fair redistricting in Arizona: the Independent member of Arizona’s redistricting commission must be reinstated and allowed to finish her job.

This, and only this, will honor the intent of Arizona voters, who spoke loud and clear when they ended politicians’ ability to gerrymander their way to power – or so we all thought.

Sign our petition today demanding that Arizona’s Independent redistricting commissioner be reinstated immediately!

This is the critical moment when we can make sure Arizona Republicans won’t get away with their partisan power grab or repeat it in other states. And you can be a part of it.

Here’s how Newsweek columnist John Avlon described what’s at stake and the difference we can make by speaking out:

One gauge the Arizona politicos will be watching is the level of public outcry. Politicians try this crap because they believe they’ll get away with it. (…) If Brewer gets away with this power grab, it will suddenly appear on the menu of every other governor looking to artificially preserve his or her party’s hold on power, Republican or Democrat. It is nothing less than an attempt to hijack representative democracy. These are the stakes, and that’s why it's time to take a stand in Arizona.

Show Republicans that they won’t get away with this power grab! Help restore non-partisan redistricting in Arizona by signing our petition today!

Mr. Avlon is right - swift and fierce public outcry is the only way we can stop shameless GOP power-grabs like this one from becoming the norm.

Please take a moment and sign the petition today.

Sincerely,

John Winston
National Political Director
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee

Dark Clouds from the Sunshine State

Folks,  I told you the reaction  my madras pants evoked last winter at Friday night Happy Hour in Central Florida, but just to emphasize the point I'm going to make, let me tell you again.  As I arrived at our regular table, one of the men seated there said, "What N.....did you steal those from?" My wife, ready to fight,  glared and hissed, "I can't believe you said that.” The offender shrugged, grinned and went mute. What I didn't tell you, a week or so later, my wife was at her usual north-south table position at the weekly duplicate bridge game in a room whose walls had just been repainted the color of--as she describes it--"spicy mustard."  A seventy-year-old woman sitting east-west, her mouth twisted in disgust, spoke loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear,” That’s an N....color!" I know my Friday night table mate loathes Obama and still expresses his feelings in an unexpurgated stream of malicious anti-Obama cartoons and far-right lies, the birther canard being only one of many.  He also considers himself "sympathetic to the Tea Party."  So are the others at the table. I can only guess, of course, what the bridge lady's politics are but chances are they are similar; an overwhelming number of far right-wingers live where I live in Central Florida. They outnumber Democrats and independents well in excess of a hundred-to-one. How they all migrated to the same place I cannot say with certainty, but I can be certain when I say the ones I know are enthusiastic about the Tea Party. Recently, one of them got so angry when I criticized his party that he now refuses to talk to me.  You'd think I was attacking his religion, and you'd be right; religion and politics are treated on the right with similar fervor. I did say that the Happy Hour fellow now expresses his high regard for Herman Cain.  I wasn't surprised that in this age of political correctness a guy like him would pay lip service to a Cain candidacy in an effort to convince others [and maybe himself] that he is not a bigot. He reminds me of those anti-Semites who used to say, mostly among themselves,  "He's okay for a Jew," or, worse, say to Jews,  Y'know, my best friend is a Jew." The irony is that the reactionaries who hold sway within Republican ranks consider themselves the friends of Israel. In fact, they are. That's because they and Israel share the Arabs as a common enemy.   But trustworthy Jew-lovers they are not. Today, it's popular among right-wingers to blame the media and the bankers for our ills, because "the Jews control the New York Times and Wall Street." The hate signs crop up at Tea Party rallies and on what I choose to believe are strictly the fanatical fringes of the Occupy Wall Street movement whose loose structure accommodates protesters of all stripes. This ingrained mistrust of things they have always hated in my lifetime lies barely dormant today.  Should Herman Cain become the Republican choice to face off against Barack Obama in 2012, I doubt that voters on the extreme right will remain enamored of Cain.  I doubt they will vote for Obama. I doubt they'll vote at all. It's the Republicans of the center right who will conscientiously go to the polls a year from now, but given a choice between a very black Cain and not-so-black Obama, they will opt for bitter coffee that is lightened with a teaspoon of cream. David Allen Tree [Thanks so much for your submission - ed]

Louis Armstrong: the Jewish Link

 "At the beginning of last century, in the emotional hotbed of New
Orleans, a child slave of the ghetto was born of a prostitute mother
and "missing" father.

He somehow stumbled into the attention of a financially poor but
loving Russian Jewish immigrant family, the Karnofskys.  This little
fellow, with an appreciative, magnetic personality, attached himself
to the father, to help him with his horse-and-wagon hauling business.

The Karnofskys loved the child, took him in for dinners, including
Shabbat, and provided more than bed and shelter.
They provided him with the love he needed, and his first musical
instrument that led this confused, hungry youngster onto worldwide
fame - as a jazz performer, music innovator and worldwide ambassador
for humanity. 

Louis Armstrong proudly spoke fluent Yiddish, from his
childhood through his whole life, and always wore a Star of David
around his neck.

[Here is the link to verify -ed]

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/20088/louis-armstrongs-first-influence-jewish-peddlers/

Occupy Seattle Photos

Elizabeth Warren "Nobody get rich on his own"

This is a fantastic link from a speech by Elizabeth Warren on "The Myth of Class Warfare."
Nobody get rich on his own! Click here to view clip.

What Organized Labor Has Accomplished

Let's take a look at what organized labor has accomplished.

• 10 hour day
• 8 hour day
• unemployment compensation
• paid vacations
• sick leave
• minimum wages
• workmen's compensation
• workplace safety
• health insurance
• end to child labor
• right to organize
• equal pay for equal work
• competency standards

If you don't like these things, you are free to move to some Third World country like Botswana, Bangladesh, South Carolina, etc.

See us also on http://progressivenorthwest.blogspot.com

Any more?

Some Cartoons to think about

These are just a few of my favorites.

John’s Glossary of the Far Right

John’s Glossary of the Far Right

Christian                                Republican, conservative (no relation to Jesus’ teachings)

Communist                            anyone who doesn’t agree 100% with us

Compassionate                     one who replaces hanging with lethal injection.

Death panel                           health insurance company adjuster

Death tax                               inheritance tax, estate tax

Fair tax                                   a tax paid by low income people

Founding Fathers                  King George III

Free enterprise                     letting the poor die, child labor

Free trade                              shipping US jobs overseas

Government regulation       meat inspection, traffic lights, medical licensing, building codes

Government waste               any non-military spending that takes place outside my district

Health Care                           Don’t get sick

Illegal alien                           Mexican

Job-creators                          billionaires

Middle class                         those who have inherited wealth, minimum income of $250,000

Minority                                Black Republicans

Muslim                                   terrorist

Obamacare                 A plan where poor people don’t necessarily die of curable diseases

Patriot                                   One who favors unlimited spending on the military

Person                                    Corporation

Progressive Republican      obs. an extinct breed who believed in helping others (see T. Roosevelt)

Pro-life                                   one who favors war and execution

Republican                            Tea Party member, anyone who really believes “W” won the 2000 election

Socialism                    having public roads, police, fire, schools, lighthouses, air traffic control

Socialist                                 anyone to the left of Mussolini; Democrat, African-American, liberal, progressive

Terrorist                                anyone with dark skin

Unemployment                     an opportunity to hire servants on the cheap

War                                        the real test of a macho country

Worthy                                  wealthy white man, big trust fund