Friends,
OK! We're halfway through the week and we're off to a great start. Last week I gave the spineless Dems five friendly suggestions for things they could do on the off chance they were interested in winning the midterm elections on November 2nd:
1. Deliver a blunt, nonstop reminder to the American people about exactly who it was that got us into the mess we're in.
2. Declare a moratorium on home foreclosures.
3. Prosecute the banks and Wall Street for the Crime of the Century.
4. Create a 21st century WPA (hire the unemployed to rebuild America).
5. Pledge that no Dem will take a dime from Wall Street in the next election cycle.
So how are we doing five days later? Not bad! It turns out that at least some of these ideas were so simple even elected Democrats could come up with them!
1. Dems have started running tough, killer ads that have balls and SAY WHAT NEEDS TO BE SAID. Check these out:
In the California Senate race, Barbara Boxer is going after Carly Fiorina on the outsourcing Fiorina did as CEO of HP.
Rep. Tim Bishop of Long Island, New York hits his GOP opponent Randy Altschuler on how HIS business sent jobs overseas.
Richard Blumenthal half-nelsons his Connecticut Senate opponent (and former WWE CEO) Linda McMahon who said we should consider cutting the minimum wage and then lied about having said it.
Jeez, it's like they wanna win! More of these, please -- NOW!
2. Foreclosure Moratorium fever among the Dems has amazingly swept the nation in the last week!
Democratic Attorneys General all over the country are now demanding moratoriums for their states: California (Jerry Brown, now running for Governor), Connecticut (Richard Blumenthal, now running for Senate), Delaware (Joe Biden's son Beau), Massachusetts (Martha Coakley, who probably wished she'd done this earlier since she lost the special Senate race in January to Scott Brown), Illinois (Lisa Madigan), Texas (Greg Abbott -- a Republican!) and Colorado (John Suthers -- another Republican!). And so is Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley (at the urging of Rep. Elijah Cummings, who you may remember from Capitalism: A Love Story).
Meanwhile, the Attorneys General of Iowa, Ohio and North Carolina are opening probes into the mortgage industry. And the banks are feeling the heat -- GMAC, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have already suspended foreclosures in 23 states (with Detroit's Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, calling on them to extend it to Michigan and the rest of the U.S.).
Wells Fargo? Citibank? Are you paying attention? Now's the time to do something good so you can later mention it to the sentencing judge.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona has called for a nationwide foreclosure moratorium, and Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey says that may be necessary.
And it goes on and on. Check the special section on my website that I'm updating every day as more and more Democratic officials announce they will no longer allow banks to kick families out of their homes.
3. Prosecute the bastards! Looks like that's what they're maybe finally going to do. Check out this stunning letter sent to Attorney General Holder yesterday by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and 30 other members of congress (PDF):
"...we urge you and your respective agencies to investigate possible violations of law or regulations by financial institutions in their handling of delinquent mortgages, mortgage modifications, and foreclosures. ... The excuses we have heard from financial institutions are simply not credible three years into this crisis. ... It is time that banks are held accountable for their practices that have left too many homeowners without real help."
According to the New York Times, banks will likely face a "wide range of government investigations" for years. Judges may ask for them to be indicted for perjury or obstruction of justice. The Justice Department could prosecute banks for mail and wire fraud, or for making false statements to the government. And the SEC could open civil investigations.
Now we need to hear the Justice Department announce their investigation.
And look -- Larry Summers is gone. Great move! The people's advocate, Elizabeth Warren, is in -- genius move! If that's the direction Obama is now heading in, then these bankers may be shaking in their Salvatore Ferragamos.
So, not a bad start, Democrats (20 months late)! Just four weeks to go and I'm feeling that maybe, just maybe, we may prevent the All Souls Day Massacre. The pundits, who are essentially tools for the Corporate States of America, may have to eat a lot of crow. And if the Dems escape death's door, they had better not let this nonsense happen again.
So, President Obama and Congress, let's get busy on ideas number four (WPA jobs) and five (pledge to take no further campaign money from Goldman and their friends).
C'mon everybody -- there's at least three million of you reading this (including the 700,000 of you who are my Twitter followers and my 300,000+ close Facebook friends). Let's pressure the Dems to quit cowering and kick some butt -- NOW!
Tell them it's easy and to repeat after us:
Simple!
Do it!
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
P.S. On a different subject... One of the most moving, hopeful and powerful documentaries I've seen this year (or any year) opens at the Quad in NYC on Friday. It's called, "Budrus," and it's about a town by that name in the West Bank. The Palestinians in that town (and many of their Israeli neighbors on the other side of the Wall that's being constructed) come up with a way to totally undo the Israeli Defense Forces: pledge to defeat the occupiers by never firing a bullet, never throwing a stone, never causing any harm to their Jewish brothers and sisters. Whoa! What happens next is so effed up, so incredible, you have to see this movie to believe it. The film is brilliant. It won the top Founders Prize for nonfiction film at my film festival this summer. It will soon be coming to other cities. Do not miss it!!!
UPDATE: Demands that Attorney General Eric Holder investigate criminal actions by banks have been heard in D.C. A few hours ago, the Attorney General announced his Justice Department is in fact investigating if laws were broken by the banks that collapsed the mortgage market. Keep it up, Dems...
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Meanwhile I put together a 10 song compilation for you called "Modern Folk Songs Fr Our Modern Times"
Your work has inspired me and given me the courage to write songs like this that say something about social issues and our economic plight here in the USA.
Download fro free if you like:
http://gilsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/modern-folk-songs-2008-2010
He gets one more chance. And these "agressive speeches" better say volumes when it comes to action. And nix the "progresive lefty" talk. We are your base. We are the reason you got in office. So, Mr. President, start acting like it and quit acting like a Replican. Because I rather vote for a real one that one who's a Republican in disquise. You've brought this country to the far right of center and it's time you knocked off the name calling and do the job we hired you for.
COME ON PA !!!!
they were born without a spine.
obama let all that political capital go down the drain.
reid is the poster child for the demo party.
nancy is all talk.
michael follow the money and you will find out why the demos look so spineless.
they are in bed with the same lobbyists as the repubs.
but they have to pretend they care for main street. ie votes
who obama put into his office to take on wall street says it all about the dems.
he put the foxes in charge of the wall street scam house.
since corporations are now persons I nominate general electric for president.
the day is coming when a corporation will run for president. happy days :-)
and this nation thinks it should not be in a rapid decline to third world status???????
for being a christian nation we sure did not get that what we sow we reap thing.
Let's Be Damned.
Doing things right is all well and good.
Now lets do the right thing.
Dems should aim high and fall right on target.
The definition of good managements ''To create a surplus". Not to say no to good government continiously.
Hint, Hint, This great country of ours is "not" divided 50/50 .It's simple 95% of our wealth is in the hands of 1% rich. 80% of the voters earn $40,000 per year and thats with husband and wife working. 20% of the voters have more than $250,000 per year and don't even work. They just play stocks. Ask Joe the plumber.
look at it this way imagine Obama did not have the votes to get the stimulus packet. and did not fix the bankrupt devastated economy to the Dow over 11 points this weekend.. The jobs complaint would be by now a third word economy as stated in Arianna's book "Third World America". No middle class means war or third world.
Imagine if we did not invade Gaza one week before Obama came into office. Mrs Clinton would have a presentation I'm sure for the yellow brick road to peace. Remember the Anapolis conference and Bush promised peace before he got out of office.Yea right.
It's getting to look like Condi is hiding out with Bin Laden in the cave. Talk about cover up.
That's a good reason, not to give it up, to keep being informed & to keep working for an America that is good for all of us.
That they are good for the economy, that is a different idea.
30,0000 Iranian citizens have been arrested without charges, jailed, tortured or murdered by Iran's tyrannical religious leaders and their goon squads. These Iranian citizens were arrested because they protested in the 100s of thousands when they realized their last election was fraud ridden.
Terror, fear and ignorance are the weapons of all tyrants and worshippers of the gods of the dark side.
Irans next generation will establish a republic in their country if America and Israel mind their own business: one should never forget what happened the last time the CIA overthrew a republic in Iran.
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It is interesting that the two nations most strongly opposed to those two war criminals attack on Iraq was Germany and Japan. The lessons of total war often lead to enlightenment.
If you seriously want change then find and support a third party.
So me thinks you simply don't know what you're talking about ... ;-)
And voting third party today means reinforcing the GOP = actively making things worse.
Moore should eat his words, and butt out. He has done enough damage already.
It says that only Congress has legislative power (= the legal right to write and pass bills), and that Congress is independent from the WH.
That means that if we want a president who signs progressive bills into law, we don't just need a president who likes progressive ideas, we first of all need a majority of progressives in Congress.
Today there are only 10-15 progressives in the Senate. That's not enough AT ALL to be able to get progressive bills on the president's desk ... .
The suckers won't get away with it this time
I'd like to know which progressive bills Obama has vetoed?
Obama learned the lesson and kicked us to the curb the day AFTER the election.
Voting for a third party justs shows you're serious about change.
If the status quo suits you then vote for the Democrats. Things will get worse but not too quickly. The frog will have time to comfortably come to a boil.
If you want to make things much worse, much faster, then vote for Republicans. They will throw the frog directly into the fire, probably after breaking his legs.
Nader is a republican down deep and knows exactly what he's doing.
And Obama has not kicked anyone to the curb. He's a black man and had the worst possible scenerio amaginable to deal with. You can't expect him to grant everybody's wish in the first year. You're just thinking of yourself as THE most important person that helped him get elected. Do you realize how many forces are intently working against him??? He has made great strides. If we keep power and maybe even gain a little ground, no telling what we/he might be able to get accomplished in the second half of his term. What's the alternative? Go back? If you GIVE your vote to a 3rd party instead of a Democrat, you're essentially GIVING your vote to the republican and you'll then get what you deserve. I'm still gonna do good either way.
You have got to be kidding me. The Bush tax cuts will expire, but your buddies the Republicans won't vote for a middle class tax cut. You can't stand by and watch the American people drown, and then say. " It's too bad they drowned, the Democrats should have saved them.