Mosaic
Mosaic's JournalThe problem I have with Occupy
Is that it seems to take its main leadership from Adbusters, an anarchist magazine. I am so saddened by this, I believed it was Progressive for over two months. It does have progressive elements and support, but it keeps the anarchist core. For that I think the establishment is ruthlessly crushing it. Progressives are even in Congress, we would not be abused like that. OWS must morph into the 99% Movement, and we Progressives must firmly control it. Then all will be well, and we will have real power to move the entire country to left where it belongs.
13 Reasons Why Newt Will Never Be the GOP Nominee
Newt Gingrich is flying high. The former speaker of the House has rocketed to the top of the Republican polls, taking a 30-point lead in Florida and giving one-time GOP front-runner Mitt Romney a run for his money in New Hampshire. What's more, the competition around him seems to be collapsing. Herman Cain is history; Romney has slowly but steadily lost support nationwide; Rick Perry is still making fun of himself for a gaffe everyone else stopped talking about last month; Michele Bachmann fell in a crowded primary forest and never made a sound. Gingrich, for one, is ready to declare victory. As he told ABC's Jake Tapper on Thursday, "I'm going to be the nominee."
Well, Gingrich may be on a roll, but he's overlooking the one truly formidable candidate who stands between him and the nomination: former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. He is in many ways the perfect foil for the current GOP front-runner. Here, in 13 episodes, is much of the baggage you're likely to see aired soon in anti-Gingrich attack ads. For him, it won't be Christmas in Iowa.
Read the rest: http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/12/13-reasons-why-newt-wont-win
Reconstituting The Constitution: How To Rewrite It?
Most Americans haven't read the U.S. Constitution in a long time, if ever. They may be able to tell you about the Second Amendment, or the Fifth, maybe even part of the First. But other than that? A lot of blank stares.
Christopher Phillips has been leading what he calls "Constitution Café" discussions with people across the country. He's asking Americans to imagine themselves as framers of our founding document.
The idea of traveling coast to coast to discuss philosophical topics with Americans is not new to Phillips.
Before this reconstituting-the-Constitution tour, the author and scholar conducted a similar exercise, traveling to different states and asking Socratic questions: What is knowledge? What is beauty? What is love?
He led these discussions in schools, parks, homeless shelters and even prisons. Then he wrote about them in three separate books.
Now, he's turned to one of his heroes — Thomas Jefferson — who believed, Phillips says, that Americans should revisit the Constitution every 20 years and rewrite it from scratch.
"His argument was that if Americans weren't vital stakeholders in that foundational document, they would become distanced from governance itself," Phillips explains. "And the politicians from the president on down would become 'like wolves.' "
For several months, Phillips has been asking people to imagine themselves in the role of Constitutional framers. Would we change some things if we could? Or would we leave them the same? He asks people to look over something in the document and rewrite it as an exercise.
Read more, listen to the NPR Story: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/10/143354018/reconstituting-the-constitution-how-to-rewrite-it
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Member since: Thu May 10, 2007, 09:08 PM
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