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How the Left Can Become a True Political Force to Be Reckoned With

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By Bill Fletcher, Jr., Carl Davidson / Alternet / Nov. 13, 2012

The 2012 elections may prove to have been a watershed in several different respects. Despite the efforts by the political Right to suppress the Democratic electorate, something very strange happened: voters, angered by the attacks on their rights, turned out in even greater force in favor of Democratic candidates. The deeper phenomenon is that the changing demographics of the USA also became more evident—45% of Obama voters were people of color, and young voters turned out in large numbers in key counties.

Unfortunately for the political Left, these events unfolded with the Left having limited visibility and a limited impact—except indirectly through certain mass organizations—on the outcome.   [Read more…]

Energy Independence for America Is a Worthy Goal — But It’s a Death Wish If We Do It with Oil & Gas

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By Tara Lohan / Alternet  / Nov. 14, 2012 

Can we drill our way to energy independence? Republicans (and some Democrats) have long proclaimed we can — and now a recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) says the U.S. may be poised to become the world leader in extracting fossil fuels like oil and gas, overtaking Saudi Arabia in the coming decade. The report declares that we could even achieve energy independence in the next 20 or so years.

While “energy independence” may seem like welcome news, it helps to dig a little deeper. “That doesn’t mean we’ll stop importing oil; rather, we’ll be exporting so much coal and natural gas that it will offset our oil imports,” writes Joshua Delaughter at Ars Technica. “Those imports will also be kept in check by a combination of increased fuel efficiency and expanded extraction within the US.”   [Read more…]

Secession Movement Embraced as the Republican War on the Constitution Escalates

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By Joshua Holland / Alternet / Nov. 14, 2012

In the wake of Barack Obama’s decisive victory over Mitt Romney, we are again reminded that there is no greater oxymoron in America’s political discourse than the “Constitutional conservative.” Nobody has less respect for the federalism enshrined in that document than today’s Tea Party Right.

Matt Drudge – who dignified himself during the race with endless scare-stories warning that African Americans would launch a race war if Obama won – has full embraced what he calls the “secession movement” (because a bunch of angry Facebook posts and a petition now qualify as a mass movement).   [Read more…]

Dear Angry White Conservatives Mourning Romney’s Loss: Chill Out

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By Chauncey DeVega / Alternet / Nov. 12, 2012

Dear angry white conservatives who are mourning Mitt Romney’s loss,

If Fox News is any indication, many of you are dismayed, upset, and befuddled by Mitt Romney’s loss to President Obama. Some of these feelings are normal. Politics is tribal. When your team loses, a bit of sadness is expected.

However, some white folks are acting out in some very unhealthy ways. Young white conservatives participated in a near riot at the University of Mississippi, where they hurled rocks at bystanders, used racial slurs, and burned Obama and Biden campaign signs. Other angry white folks used the Internet to send out racist messages and pictures on Twitter as an act of protest and anger at the country’s re-election of its first Black president. I believe that these events are malicious outliers.   [Read more…]

Interview with San Diego Artist Steve Harris of The Styletones

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By Brigitte Taylor

Most San Diego locals are familiar with the soulful funk group, The Styletones, and the lead singer and co-writer Stevie Harris. Harris is also the lead singer guitarist and songwriter of Stevie and the Hi-Staxx and was previously signed by Cargo Records as solo artist, touring with the group Conglomerate throughout the United States and Morocco.

In 2010 and 2011, I collaborated with Steve Harris on a few San Diego shows geared toward highlighting his acoustic work as well as his side project Stevie and the Hi-Staxx. We recently spoke about the future of his music and, since I learned recently that he also paints, I had questions about his art. With that in mind, I asked Steve to show some of his paintings at an upcoming event at The Go Lounge. What follows are insights about his music-related projects as well as his artwork.   [Read more…]

Labor Council Head Lorena Gonzalez: ‘San Diego Progressives Have a Lot to Be Thankful For’

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Passage of Prop 30, Defeat of Prop 32 and Bilbray, Filner and Roberts Victories All Are Cause to Celebrate

By Lorena Gonzalez

San Diego’s progressive community has a lot to be thankful for this November. We passed Proposition 30, defeated Proposition 32, took down Brian Bilbray and elected Bob Filner our next mayor! And for good measure, we elected Dave Roberts as the first Democrat and first fresh blood of any kind on the county Board of Supervisors in two decades.

In the process, we swept through dozens of school board and city council races across the region and elected leaders like Dr. Shirley Weber to continue the good work in Sacramento – now with a supermajority that has the ability to break the stranglehold of Grover Norquist’s no-tax pledge.
  [Read more…]

Sex In San Diego: Inside the New Hipster Megachurch that Tells Modern Women to Submit

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In the nation’s fastest-growing megachurch, Mars Hill Church, faith and feminism don’t mix.

By Alison Sargent / Bitch Magazine via Alternet

When Jess came to the University of Washington as a freshman, she was a feminist economics major whose postcollege goal was to land a position at an organization dedicated to social entrepreneurship. Now in her early 20s and just a few years out of college, she is married, looking forward to a life as a homemaker, and involved full-time at the Seattle-based Mars Hill Church, one of the hippest, fastest-growing, and most conservative evangelical churches in the nation.   [Read more…]

The Fable of Brian Brown or the Great Marriage Non Sequitur

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(Note, 11 Nov 2012: On November 7, the nation’s evolving attitude toward same-sex marriage was demonstrated at the polls in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington, where voters supported the right to marry. And the reaction from Brian Brown, Executive Director of the National Organization for Marriage? We are not defeated. We are not defeated. We are not–. … And, so, my thanks to Brian for providing much of the dialogue and a significant amount of the narrative for the following fable, from the last four year’s of NOM emails, media releases and website content.)   [Read more…]

Letter to a Future Republican Strategist Regarding White People

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By Eric Garland

 We are really quite unimpressed with Congressional representatives such as Todd Akin and Paul Broun who actually serve on the House science committee and who believe, respectively, that rape does not cause pregnancy and that evolution and astrophysics are lies straight from Satan’s butt cheeks.

To whom it may concern regarding the United States federal elections of 2014, 2016 and beyond:

Allow me to introduce myself to you, the existing (or aspiring!) strategist for the Republican Party. My name is Eric Arnold Garland and I am a White Man. Boy, am I ever – you need sunglasses just to look at my photo!

If I read the news correctly, I fit a profile that is of extreme importance to the GOP, as I embody the archetype that fits your narrative of Real Americans. Just how much should my profile interest you? Are you sitting down?   [Read more…]

The American Public Is Doing a 180 on Marijuana Prohibition…How Come the Politicians Aren’t?

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By  Mark A.R. Kleiman / Salon via Alternet / Nov. 9, 2012

The election results this week from Washington, Colorado, Massachusetts and Arkansas demonstrate that public opinion about cannabis has moved much faster than the positions of elected officials. That Massachusetts voters would pass a fairly loosely regulated medical marijuana system isn’t very surprising. But that voters in Arkansas came within a whisker of passing one shows that it isn’t just a hippie-dippie issue anymore. And for Colorado and Washington to take the plunge into full legalization – not just of use or for medical purposes, but full-scale commercial growing and sales – marks an epoch.

There are two “What next?” questions: What happens at the ballot box two or four years from now? And what happens in Colorado and Washington over the next year or two? Neither question has a clear answer, but the political developments may be easier to forecast than the operational ones.   [Read more…]

Wall Street Moguls Whine About How Tough Their Lives Are With Obama Win

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By Andrew Leonard / Salon via Alternet / Nov. 9, 2012

Who is ready to shed a tear for Wall Street? The moguls bet big, and lost. Now, if we are to believe their whining, they are preparing to pay the piper.

“We played the old Beatles song ‘The Taxman,’ on our trading floor this morning,” bond fund uber-manager Bill Gross told Bloomberg on Thursday.

Oh lordy, hard times are coming!   [Read more…]

Populist Revolution? How a Bold New Voter Coalition Can Reshape the Nation

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By Marshall Auerback / Alternet / Nov. 8, 2012

Minorities, independent women, gays, working-class white voters, and younger people overcame through high turnout a fierce social conservative block.

Tuesday’s election will be regarded as a pivotal one in US history. For 30 years the top 1 percent has manipulated the masses to vote against their own interests. It was able to do that because the feelings of the white middle and lower classes about social issues overwhelmed their economic considerations.

But something interesting happened this year: high levels of minority and young voter turnout, together with an increased Obama-tilt among all voters earning less than $50,000 a year, routed the GOP.   [Read more…]

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