This interview describes the causes of the economic crisis and suggests good legislative solutions. I already sent it to Nancy Boyda and Dennis Moore.

Take a look.

October 10, 2008

As Stocks Plummet Across the Globe, Bush to Host Emergency Finance Meeting at White House

In the largest loss since the crash of 1987, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over seven percent on Thursday, closing below 9,000 for the first time in five years. Over the past six trading days, the Dow has plummeted over 2,200 points, or about 21 percent. , , ,

Anti-democratic nature of US capitalism is being exposed

NOAM CHOMSKY

Fri, Oct 10, 2008

Bretton Woods was the system of global financial management set up at the end of the second World War to ensure the interests of capital did not smother wider social concerns in post-war democracies. It was hated by the US neoliberals - the very people who created the banking crisis writes Noam Chomsky

THE SIMULTANEOUS unfolding of the US presidential campaign and unravelling of the financial markets presents one of those occasions where the political and economic systems starkly reveal their nature. . . .

States' Purges of Voter Rolls Appear Illegal
http://www.truthout.org/100908J
Ian Urbina, The New York Times:

Nancy Boyda opposed the first Wall Street bailout on Monday, unlike Dennis Moore who supported it. These bills are a give away of $700,000,000,000 of our money to the very people in the finance industry who caused the current problems with freezing credit and distrust between banks that restricts the flow of money.

Here is her statement:

Boyda: New Bailout No Better
09/29/08
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Nancy Boyda (Kansas Second District) issued the following statement on the plan to bailout Wall Street: 

“I have spoken to so many economists in this past week, . . .

This is a letter from Congressional Progressive Caucus Members to Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress. It lays out the conditions for helping markets while helping regular citizens. It offers real progressive solutions. And they helped stop the Wall Street bailout with their no votes.

Below the letter is an article from the Los Angeles Times that gives the entire roll call for the vote on the Bailout bill on September 29, 2008. Locally, Nancy Boyda and Emanuel Cleaver voted NO for the Bailout Bill. Dennis Moore voted YES.

September 24, 2008

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker
House of Representatives
H-232
U.S. Capitol

Dear Madame Speaker,

We understand the gravity of the financial crisis and profound adverse economic consequences confronting our nation . . .

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121787787575610759.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

What Obama Values in Kansas

August 5, 2008; Page A2
by Gerald F. Seib
Wall Street Journal
Capital Journal

For a sparsely populated state that's often a political afterthought, Kansas has something close to a starring role in this year's presidential drama. Consider:

I think this is a fantastic event for progressives and for Kansas.

Kelly

Kansas Governor Vetoes Plan For Coal Power Plants

Published on Monday, March 24, 2008 by Reuters
by Tom Doggett

WASHINGTON - In a big win for environmentalists, the Democratic governor of Kansas on Friday vetoed legislation that would have allowed a huge coal-fired power plant to expand in the state and spew 11 million more tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year.

The bill, approved by the Republican-dominated Kansas legislature, would have allowed Sunflower Electric Power Corp to add two 700-megawatt units at a facility in western Kansas. (more . . .)

Tuesday, March 25, 2008, Noon, Wescoe Beach

On April 12, 1935, approximately 700 KU students joined 175,000 of their colleagues around the country – as well as thousands more in other parts of the world – in a one-hour strike protesting potential U.S. involvement in war. Meeting on the lawn in front of Fowler Shops (now Stauffer-Flint), student speakers addressed the crowd, denouncing war profiteers. Similar sentiments were heard that day on over 140 college campuses and in 31 countries around the world.

On March 18, 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy opened his presidential campaign with speeches at KU and K-State. The newspaper reported that Kennedy startled his audience by saying, "The more riots that come out of our college campuses, the better the world for tomorrow," a quote he borrowed from William Allen White, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of the Emporia Gazette. Just weeks later, Kennedy was assassinated. Violent clashes over Vietnam and civil rights soon enflamed Mount Oread and the nation. (more . . .)

Body:
Friday evening, Feb. 29 and Saturday, Mar. 1 are the dates for this year's Washington Days conference in Topeka. Come join the Democrats of Kansas and the Progressive Caucus of the Kansas Democratic Party at the Topeka Ramada Inn as we gather together to talk politics, work on upcoming election year issues and elect new KPC Executive Board members.
The convention starts Friday evening and goes through Saturday night. The Progressive Caucus is at 11:10 Saturday morning.
More information can be found at: http://www.ksdp.org/WashingtonDays

I think Paul Street, from Iowa, is one of our most astute progressive thinkers. This article provides a nice summary of his thinking about how to make the best of the situation we find ourselves in as progressives who are out of power. I hope you like this as much as I did.

Kelly

http://www.zcommunications.org/blog/view/1328

On the Elections Tomorrow and Politics More Broadly

By Paul Street at Feb 4, 2008

I’ve been getting a number of e-mail messages pretty much along the following lines: “Dear Paul Street, you intrepid Left political analyst you, I live in a Super Tuesday Primary state and I just don’t know what to do tomorrow.  I know you follow along with Glen Ford and other writers over at Black Agenda Report in describing Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as corporate-neoliberal and imperial-militarist look-alikes.  I know you describe yourself as left of Kucinich but that you and some other hard left writers and activists made some interesting and cogent arguments about why John Edwards’ more ‘populist’ (if ultimately bourgeois) campaign was worth supporting (without radical illusion) in the primaries.  Well, Edwards has already dropped out and Kucinich is long gone. I’m not a Republican, and for better or worse I insist on voting in the primary tomorrow. What should I do?”