Displaying 2,551 To 2,580 Of 3,237 Comments Remarks by the President on the Economy in Osawatomie, Kansas Teddy Gave a Great Speech, and Lost the Election Teddy was not president when he gave this speech. He had been president from 1901 to 1909. When he gave this hallmark speech in Osawatomie in 1910 he was about the launch a bid for the Presidency as the Bull Moose Party candidate. The Oswatomie address was the most radical of his career and openly marked his break with the Taft administration and the conservative Republicans. But Teddy lost in 1912. And that pretty much ended his career. Much of his reformist agenda had to be enacted later by Democratic presidents mostly as a result of the Great Depression…..Sound familiar you survivors of the Great Recession? There are other things worth noting about the TR speech: And then there is the plague of money and the political culture. Roosevelt once gathered together the titans of industry to bully them about one of his initiatives. Imagine Obama doing that? Key contributors in an age of billion dollar races work on Wall Street- they will not be bullied. The power that neo cons and the backers of Tea Party thinking coupled with Citizens United has made leverage from within the government very difficult. And then there is temperament. Roosevelt found it easy and effective to bully. Obama is more likely to lead quietly behind the scenes, use surrogates or delegate leadership to Congress, than seize the spotlight. He plays a very sly game. Let’s face it: seizing the spotlight rarely works any magic these days. It just makes one an easier to spot target. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 6, 2011 @ 5:28 pm A Thanksgiving Tradition – 2011 GIVING THANKS FOR THE PLANET Wishing one and all a Thanksgiving where “Thanks” is the most important dish served and consumed. Things I have Learned about Being Grateful…IT SO…let me say a word about my gratitude for this site, its founders and administrators, and its contributors. Thank you founders and admin team for providing us with a place where we can blog freely and passionately and be supported in that speech by those who may not agree with us but believe in the need for forums like this and work day after day to make it work and to make it better. Thank you contributors (which also includes the founders and admin team) for providing thoughtful articles, interesting comments, intriguing replies, challenging responses….for being serious, silly, funny, profound, angry, sad, compassionate, curious, thought-filled and thoughtful. I AM VERY THANKFUL TO THOSE WHO LED ME TO THE PLANET, I AM HAPPY TO THINK OF MYSELF AS A PLANETEER. I know that if I really want to “take on” a topic in a lively, vibrant community, this is the place to do it. MurphtheSurf3 » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 24, 2011 @ 7:15 am What Republicans Are Thankful For ADLIB….what an awful (and wonderful), malicious (and delicious), nasty (and tasty) morsel to serve up for my Thanksgiving Meal. AND, OH!…the Leftovers. Seriously…this is worth archiving…pass it on…..Woody Allen once explained humor like this as a healthy expression of sadness and anger, an alternative to tears and roars. Thank you for being the creative person you are. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 23, 2011 @ 8:04 pm Occupy Las Vegas, Occupy Congress, Occupy the Vote December 5-9……plans are just forming…oh my God….the energy…. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 18, 2011 @ 6:50 pm Fascinating…. Thanks for sharing this. I was in court two days ago as Occupy St. Louis tried to get its encampment back….judge said no….the group had no standing. We held a candlelight vigil and funeral for the effort that night, but at the end a call went out to join the national movement on Thursday in a rally and march. Thursday, nearly 1000 showed up. We made a full afternoon of it. Occupy St. Louis and Chicago have linked and the tactics in the Second City look like they will work here. Already working on how to get to Occupy Congress. Mayor Bloomberg, his fellow mayors and the cops have done the movement a great favor it seems. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 18, 2011 @ 6:22 pm OWS Episode V: The U.S. Empire Strikes Back Spit out my orange juice. Wonderful! » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 20, 2011 @ 10:34 am Oh MY GOOD LORD…Seurat, Sunday in the Park with Lt. Pike…..Surreal….and hilarious. THANK YOU! A bit of laughter in the midst of anger and pain is healthy. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 20, 2011 @ 10:33 am That sounds awful too. I have heard of those. I have more work to do on this. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 11:15 pm “When you protect the things you believe in with your body, it changes you for good. It radicalizes you for good,” he said. WOW. Just WOW. Cher….you are causing me to choke up again. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 11:14 pm You confirmed my fears. Those officers were pointing those things right at the faces of the protestors. Thanks for the info. This just keeps getting worse and worse. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 10:41 pm Does anyone know what was in the “paintball” rifles being carried by some of the UC Davis police. I am reading that they were just that- paintball….ruins clothing, stings like hell. Others are saying they fire paintballs loaded with mace, or pepper, or ????? I cannot find a definitive source. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 10:12 pm Not alone….yep….one of the things I like here is that there does seem to be a way to actually get to know each other…warts and all. Real people saying real things. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 9:23 pm I find PlanetPOV to be of very great value representing a unique experience for bloggers like myself. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 9:14 pm KQuark…I hear you and accept that much of what you say is so. I have put a number of your complaints on the table before. Perhaps no good will come of the efforts of folks like myself and others but given the size of the HP enterprise and its ability to influence popular opinion I think it is worth the effort. There are alternatives, but the 500 pound gorilla is one I find hard to ignore. I blog at Fox pretty regularly…why? what good will it do? Sometimes it is just important to lay down a challenge that says that there are those willing to do so. I mentioned in another post that this is probably my quixotic nature at work. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 8:55 pm Hi bito- I am sorry this discussion started. I did not intend to initiate such a full- throated discussion. I am very aware that many here have very strong beliefs in regard to AOLHP. I do too. But this discussion started with a reference from the Vox discussion last night in which a number of us were pushing out the UC Davis story to media platforms not running it. My effort was to push HP to advance that story…an effort shared by others. I wish the discussion had remained limited to that. But I have taken points like those you make here very seriously and to heart. I am advancing them in a number of ways. I will continue to do so, but I will also not initiate a HP based discussion as that seems pointless. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 8:44 pm Kilgore..your pool analogy is excellent. I belong to a chess club. I get beaten a lot in my class. I would win most of the time if I competed in a different club especially if I dropped down one level. But I would get no better. I get your point. There are many who participate in the blogging world who I liken to those who play chess at the entry level, but prefer checkers. They expand their knowledge base very slowly, improve their argumentation one small step at a time, approach research from a narrow perspective and consider really alien perspective very grudgingly…..but are of good will. Throw those folks into a master tournament and they walk away. I have been inviting people from other blogs to look over the Planet just as I was invited precisely because it is challenging and demanding. Do I invite everyone, nope, too much for too many. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 8:30 pm Sally….again I think there were many pushing HP to do the right things. I am arguing with them on a number of fronts. For example I, with a group of other frequent commenters have been critiquing the coverage of Obama for months. We have noticed that their “Obama can do nothing well enough” meme seems to have been modified of late. They have added a number of checks on the system which are helpful. Do not stay away. Yours is a value adding presence. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 8:07 pm Kilgore….I accept every critique of HP and I pass them on in my regular critiques of the site. I hate the trivial news crap on the so called humor pages. The ongoing love of celebrity culture drives me crazy. The moderating which so often fails to stop trolls but thwarts progressives is a source of regular indigestion. And recent breakdowns in some of the basic managerial tools have just added to bile, but….I have the same concerns about Daily Beast and Salon where I also post. Frankly, the Planet is the best place of the blogging platforms but it is rarefied environment. Most of those who participate at HP, the Beast and Salon would find the style of engagement here very heavy. While there are many who read the Planet, consider how many actual take part in these conversations. You need to be “in shape” to do it well. So, because I know that the big sites (in terms of participation and readership) are often very flawed, I believe that their power to influence others requires my engagement. I also post at Fox and regularly get censored. I do it because I think it needs to be done. In this I might be quixotically tilting at windmills, but I have long identified with the Man from LaMancha. As always I appreciate the honest of our interchanges. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 7:57 pm Probably for the best. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 7:47 pm You are welcome to your opinion but you might want to check out the discussion last night on Vox before jumping to a conclusion. There was a healthy, vigorous and long discussion about media coverage of the UC Davis events. The coverage being afforded to the event by the various platforms included HP. Ad Lib, and others, joined in that discussion. There is much about HP that bothers me. But I do not agree with your assessment of HP or of its audience as a RW wing/Troll refuge. I do not agree that it should be dismissed as irrelevant. I do not agree that it is not worth my time to consider how that site, the largest of its kind on the internet, can be challenged and exhorted to consider its actions. HP was challenged last night and this morning to face up to its failure to cover the UC Davis events. It did….belatedly but fully. I will continue to push HP’s decision makers to realize that the AOL merger appears to have tainted its coverage and diverted its mission. I will continue to object to HP’s unwillingness to intervene when troll-dialogue overtakes thread conversation. The test of the openness and freedom of expression in any forum is the acceptance that some will make contributions that you do not like. I suggest you not read mine. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 7:35 pm The Chancellor needed to engage the Occupiers and work with them…instead she regarded them as the enemy and sent in her troops who ended up making themselves and her look weak and wrong. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 6:50 pm The united front being put forth by the University lasted about an hour….a full fledged investigation, demands for the resignation of the campus police chief, the VP for Student Life and the Chancellor is ramping up. Lt. Pike looks like some lame character actor from central casting chosen to play the role of the bad cop. Yeah….regret….. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 6:43 pm I know the Activist Hub very, very, very well….yes KMOV is a wholly owned subsidiary of the BIG MONEY, BIG POWER Party in St. Louis. Saw them in court…nasty buggers. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 6:40 pm Now 30,000….words from the Planet pushed this forward as the story progressed from part of the live blog deep in the background, to its own story on that same background page, to the story’s move to the front page, to its move to the top “breaking” spot……A quote from AdLib was esp. powerful. AND, you my friend, BROKE THE STORY HERE…….So kudos, plaudits, and praise to you. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 6:32 pm Easy to be proud of them. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 6:26 pm BTW…love your Best Dressed Occupier List. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 6:24 pm AL…you will be happy (maybe” to know that the quote I lifted from you last night was at the heart of my scolding of HP note to my contacts which was the forwarded up the line. From a part of a running blog, to its own story, to a front page story, to the top breaking story in a few hours….30,000 comments later. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 6:23 pm I thank you for your enthusiasm and accept your kudo as one of many who put pressure on HP to do the right thing. Knowing what I know of AdLib in my short time, I know this fearless member of our Admin team is not happy with HP but I am also quite sure that AL supports freedom of expression and assembly in the actual and virtual world. So….I thought you might have misinterpreted his very well reasoned critique of HP as a suggestion not to hang out there. Then I saw your dialogue with others from the Planet and realized that your statement was tongue in cheek…. Still, I do appreciate your willingness to visit the Huff whose size and impact alone makes worth our attention and insistence that they engage more fully and deeply. Best. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 6:15 pm PEPPER SPRAY NOT THE ONLY THING OWS HAS TO FEAR: ===================================================== ”The proposal was written on the letterhead of the lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford and addressed to one of CLGC’s clients, the American Bankers Association.CLGC’s memo proposes that the ABA pay CLGC $850,000 to conduct “opposition research” on Occupy Wall Street in order to construct “negative narratives” about the protests and allied politicians. The memo also asserts that Democratic victories in 2012 would be detrimental for Wall Street and targets specific races in which it says Wall Street would benefit by electing Republicans instead. According to the memo, if Democrats embrace OWS, “This would mean more than just short-term political discomfort for Wall Street. … It has the potential to have very long-lasting political, policy and financial impacts on the companies in the center of the bullseye.” HERE IS THE UP REPORT INCLUDING A VIDEO OF HAYES’ REPORT » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 6:05 pm It took a lot of badgering, but the short references in a live blog re. all of Occupy re. UC Davis on a back page at HP, turned into a full story on a back page at HP, then into a front page story and then a top of the page story. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/19/uc-davis-police-pepper-spray-students_n_1102728.html 27000 Comments….My Comment There…. THE DAY AFTER REFLECTIONS There were ELEVEN tents at the UC Davis site. A hazard? A obstruction? On a 5500 Acre Campus???? There are concerns from multiple sources regarding the use of pepper spray. Reports from citizens rights groups cite a “pitiful lack of scientific data” about pepper spray and expresses particular concern with…. ~~~spraying people in multiple, large stream bursts ALL OF THIS IS EXACERBATED WHEN SMALL FINGER HELD CONTAINERS ARE REPLACED BY JUMBO CANISTERS OR FOUNTAIN SPRAYS. Police officers play an important role in society. They are charged with protecting us and maintaining law and order. In doing so they are permitted to use appropriate levels of force in relationship to the potential for harm to citizens. Force must be necessary, reasonable and adjusted to fit the circumstances. When cops use too much force…or “excessive” force…with you during an arrest, then it might be time to head to court. That’s exactly what happened with the redwoods protesters in 1997. Court documents from that case make this clear: that the cops in charge could not hide behind the shield of qualified immunity, which protects government actors from liability unless their actions are way out of bounds. Court documents at the district, appeal and supreme courts from that case make this clear: the police in charge could not hide behind the shield of qualified immunity, which protects government actors from liability because their actions were out of bounds. The Ninth Circuit held firm, holding that, “it would have been clear to any reasonable officer that the manner in which the officers used the pepper spray was unreasonable.” Lessons the UC Davis Campus Police need to take to heart. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On November 19, 2011 @ 3:51 pmComments Posted By MurphTheSurf3
His agenda had to wait for the Great Depression
1) America’s place on the world’s economic and political stage was expanding, not contracting.
2) There was virtually no national debt. Taxes paid down all bills (and there were big ones from the Civil War onward).
3) There was no American global military presence. Our first huge international war lay in the future in WWI.
4) Roosevelt had a blank slate upon which to write. His proposals were bold and new and became the foundation for the social safety net. Obama can’t propose that social safety net again; his mission is hold on to the one developed in the years following the Great Depression.
Is a key to good mental health.
Is just good manners.
Is a sign of respect.
Demonstrates that the efforts for the community are noticed.
Indicates that those efforts make a difference.
Encourages those who give to keep on giving.
Encourages us to be the best we can be.
Is something everyone can be and do no matter how active they are.
Creates a more caring and understanding environment.
Is a sign of grace at work in us.
Chris Hayes on “UP” Exclusive on Boehner Allies Effort
to Destroy the Movement through Lobbying….READ ON
A well-known Washington lobbying firm with links to the financial industry has proposed an $850,000 plan to take on Occupy Wall Street and politicians who might express sympathy for the protests, according to a memo obtained by the MSNBC program “Up w/ Chris Hayes.
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~~~spraying people directly in their eyes rather than the lower face
~~~spraying people who are or will be hog-tied and cannot wipe away pepper spray concentrate
~~~spraying people with preexisting medical conditions or generally fragile health
~~~failing to give proper medical care to someone after he or she is sprayed
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