Carnival of Progressive Politics—November 2010 Edition

2010 Election: Senate Results

2010 Elections: House Results

If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.”
—Orson Welles

The story never ends, and it’s the story of our lives and our children’s lives, and so on and so on.  In hopes that it will inspire you to think about the never-ending story of how politics shapes our world, here is the November edition of the Carnival of Progressive Politics.

Civil Liberty

Steven and Debra at The End Times Hoax present If God Says Civil Government is Oppressive and Opt-out Ode to the Beltway TSA.

Madeleine Begun Kane at Mad Kane’s Political Madness offers Pat-Down Put-Down.

Economy

Ella Moss at Zodiac Times comments On Taxes, Unions, Jobs, and Dangerous Politics.

Health Care

Eric Gargiulo at Health Bill News asks Is Obama Health Care reform Entirely Good? and posits that the Multi-state lawsuit to stop Health Care Reform is a Gamble.

Salty at The Salty Blogger presents It’s the Mandate, Stupid!

Politics

Madeleine Begun Kane at Mad Kane’s Political Madness presents Alpha-Political Verse: Election 2010.

New Polity offers A Tribute to Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Systems Thinker thinks about National  Popular Vote.

Ben Harack at Vision of Earth ponders How can you deliberately change your society?

Ophelia Keith presents Breaking News! about the rich, and asks Are We, Too, Not the Sons and Daughters of Revolution?

Race

David W. Trevino at  The Arrow and the Rose gives us From South Carolina, Obama as “President Negro”.

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That’s all for this edition. Future carnivals are on  hold—as is this blog—while this writer pursues a completely different project.

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As always, I do not necessarily agree with all writing on a contributor’s blog. If a post appears here, it is because I consider it worth reading.

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I wish us all happy endings upon happy endings.

Carnival of Progressive Politics—October 2010 Edition

After November 2, 1010, we may need each other even more than we do now. So, let’s bond over these insightful posts, and for the sake of all that is good, let’s vote for Democrats on the 2nd. Here is the October edition of the Carnival of Progressive Politics.

Civil Liberty

Sam at The Devil’s Advocate presents Pot for Thought.

Steven and Debra at The End Times Hoax discuss The Manhattan Trophy Mosque Issue.

Education

Ella Moss at Zodiac Times offers American Education Reform.

2010 Elections

Monika Kocur at Ka-Bloggy is a new carnival participant who says Vote for Me.

Divided We Stand United We Fall maintains that “None Of The Above” kicks ass in Nevada Senate debate.

Michael Wolf at letters2america asks What will the Republicans do to us next?

Darwin’s Money presents I was Diggin’ the Tea Party . . . Until They Went Batshit Crazy.

Environment

Greg Laden enlightens us about Public perceptions of energy consumption and savings.

Ben Harack at Vision of Earth advocates Personal and social change for a green energy future.

Ron Delfs at Environmental Science Degrees lists Presidents with the Best and Worst Environmental Records. This carnival usually rejects “list” posts, but this one contains some useful talking points for your next personal debate about the environment.

Chris at Life As A Human proclaims At Last, a Human Right to Water.

Health Care

Jodie Reed, the Teadrinking Mom, joins the carnival with Health, wealth, and happiness.

Politics

Ella Moss of  Zodiac Times presents Reality Check.

Men of Messages offers The Gossip Empire.

Recurial delivers Tea party vs. evolution.

Madeleine Begun Kane at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog presents Open Limerick To The Anti-Government Crowd and Yet Another Limerick Ode to Christine O’Donnell.

Jodie Reed of Teadrinking Mom tells of Fall-ing Mama Grizzlies.

War

Carl Mitchell at My Humble Opinion asks if The “War is Making You Poor” Act has a chance.

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That’s all for this edition. The next carnival will be posted here at My Political Side on November 21, 2010. Submissions will be due by November 20, 2010 and can be sent via this link.

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As always, I do not necessarily agree with all writing on a contributor’s blog. If a post appears here, it is because I consider it worth reading.

Carnival of Progressive Politics—September 2010 Edition

President Jimmy Carter on the roof of the West Wing in 1979, announcing that solar panels would be installed there.

I keep thinking it’s the 1970s. High school boys have long hair again, just as they did when I went to high school in the 70s, and the clothes in the junior department look like the clothes I wore to high school. But it goes deeper than fashion. Our country is currently embroiled in 70s-like divisions over such social issues, as gay rights, and over energy conservation, as exemplified by the above picture of the solar panels placed in the White House roof by President Jimmy Carter and removed by President Ronald Reagan, whose administration cited cost efficiency as the reason at the time.

Thirty-five years after I graduated from high school, I expect the fashions to return; I don’t expect the bigotry and ignorance of an energy crisis to persist. Bill McKibben recently wrote this about the those iconic solar panels, and National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director Michael Mitchell had this to say today about the GOP’s plan to filibuster the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”:

To the GOP: Enough is enough. There’s political gamesmanship and there’s just plain lying.

Enough is more than enough—with the Muslim-hating, gay-hating, and climate-change-hating. And I could do without the platform shoes again, too.

Now, in all its glory, here is the September edition of the Carnival of Progressive Politics.

Civil Liberty

Divided We Stand United We Fall presents Of Maxims and Mosques and Monticello and Mojo.

New Polity calls for Death to Capital Punishment.

Jordy Clements at Omaha.net brings us Facebook Prompts About-Face, a story about the power of social media.

Economy

Michael Wolf at letters2america writes that we “have to continue to prime the pump, despite the Republican’s hand wringing over a debt that they created most of.”

First, let’s kill all the bankers comes from Steve Snyder at Socratic Gadfly.

Jerry Ashton at Written Off: America and Americans presents Rich Get Richer—Poor Get Poorer.

Immigration

The Concert for Equality comes from Jordy Clements at Omaha.net.

Politics

Safa Samiezade’-Yazd makes an impressive carnival debut with Remembering 9/11 in a Post-Columbine World at Politics for Change.

Michael Wolf advices us to Look to Congressman Weiner at letters2america.

Raithie at Teenage Atheist presents My Thoughts on the Ground Zero Islamic Center.

Barbara Boxer: The Right Choice for California is the message from New Polity.

Madeleine Begun Kane at Mad Kane’s Political Madness gives us  Radical Verse and My Dream for Glenn Beck . . . and America.

Women’s Eye on Media reports that Celebrities Take to Twitter to Celebrate the Overturn of Prop 8.

Red State Progressive presents The Ralph Nader Smokescreen and Progressive Americans.

Steve Snyder at Socratic Gadfly claims Ambinder right on cons, wrong on libs.

War

Andrew at SwiftEconomics.com presents Bringing Back Military Slavery.

Miscellaneous

Scott Neigh writes about how Challenging Masculinity Is About Much More Than “Unloading This Junk” at A Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land.

Susan D. Jones presents The importance of immunization.

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That’s all for this edition. The next carnival will be posted here at My Political Side on October 21, 2010. Submissions will be due by October 20, 2010 and can be sent via this link.

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As always, I do not necessarily agree with all writing on a contributor’s blog. If a post appears here, it is because I consider it worth reading.

Carnival of Progressive Politics—August 2010 Edition

Last August was all about health care reform, and this August is the summer of the Mosque (that isn’t really a mosque) at Ground Zero (that isn’t really at Ground Zero). My opinions about all this hoopla are mirrored by Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek magazine.

How I wish for a “Cone of Rationality”—like the “Cone of Silence” on the television show Get Smart. When issues spiral out of control, as this one has, the cone could drop over everyone involved, and rational thought would occur.

Rational minds would then most certainly agree that:

The Constitution guarantees the right of the Cordoba Initiative to construct a house of worship on private land without any interference from the government, “Muslims” as a whole did not attack “us” on 9/11, Feisal Abdul Rauf is a well-respected, progressive imam with a history of performing outreach for the Bush administration, and even if the project was a “ground zero mosque,” celebrating its construction would demonstrate an admirable commitment to the founding ideals that we are supposedly fighting for Over There. At a time when Islamophobia appears to be on the rise, in part because xenophobia always tends to get louder during periods of economic uncertainty, liberals and progressives should be forcefully making the case for tolerance and liberty.

The above slice of beautiful rationality was written by Alex Pareene for Salon.com.

In keeping with the idea of  “forcefully making the case for tolerance and liberty,” I now present the much-delayed, but worth-the-wait July/August edition of the Carnival of Progressive Politics.

Civil Liberty

This category is perhaps closest to my heart, and so it warms my heart to have a large number of posts to include.

Andrew at SwiftEconomics presents Slipping Gay Marriage Through the Back Door.

Jordy Clements at Omaha.net explores freedom of speech in Funeral Draws Protestors.

Strange Bedfellows in the War on Drugs comes from JP at Veritas Ground Zero.

At ChaosBogey,Nandini Ramachandran presents Via Media, a study of the term “subverting democracy” from a critical media stance.

Sarah Certa at Here & Now declares Good news: Iceland legalizes gay marriage.

William Jones at Libertarian Stoner questions whether Dispensary Owners Actually Support Prohibition.

Woman Tribune presents St. Louis Adds Gender Identity to Anti-Discrimination Protections.

Economy

At a clown who cried in the alley, JS discusses Obama’s Economic Record.

Tim Chen at NerdWallet presents The Durbin Debate, complete with results and “a nifty infographic to spell it all out in pictures.”

Environment

Just 4 the Planet presents Gulf Crisis and Time for the USA to Step Up to the Plate Over Climate Change.

Immigration

On Omaha Event Reviews, Jordy Clements discusses The Concert for Equality.

Politics

Andrew Hall at  Laughing In Purgatory presents Introducing Laughing In Purgatory University!

Joseph A. Pinkley warns of The Evil of Extreme Individualism at Critiquing Humanity.

Madeleine Begun Kane offers The Birth of Lunacy from Mad Kane’s Humor Blog and Refudiating Sarah from Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

From Michael Wolf at letters2america comes a discussion of What would the Christian right do?

Phil for Humanity sets forth The Pros and Cons of Socialism.

War

Andrew at SwiftEconomics presents Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics.

Michael Wolf at letters2america asks Where do we go next in Afghanistan?

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That’s all for this edition. The next carnival will be posted here at My Political Side on September 21, 2010. Submissions will be due by September 20, 2010 and can be sent via this link.

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As always, I do not necessarily agree with all writing on a contributor’s blog. If a post appears here, it is because I consider it worth reading.

Blog Carnival Delayed Until August 21, 2010

Dear Carnival Contributors and Blog Readers,

Technological difficulties and family responsibilities have together conspired to make it impossible for me to generate a July edition of the Carnival of Progressive Politics. The next edition will appear on August 21, 2010 and will include all submissions already received and any received by August 1, 2010.

Thank you for your understanding,

Susan Gaissert

Carnival of Progressive Politics—June 2010 Edition

CCC Camp Worker, June 1937

Bring Back the Civilian Conservation Corps!

Click here to sign the petition.

Publisher’s Note: Since last month’s carnival, I have received many insightful, passionate blog posts from new contributors looking for a place to be heard, and I am very proud to include them here. As Everyday Democracy states on their site, problems are solved by “exploring ways for all kinds of people to think, talk and work together to create change.” That’s what this carnival is all about and, in that spirit, I hope you read something here that inspires you to take progressive action in your little neck of the world.

If you find this carnival helpful, intriguing, annoying—in other words, if it makes you think—please leave a comment. A random commenter will be selected on June 30, 2010 and will receive a copy of The Wrecking Crew, author Thomas Frank’s classic look at “How Conservatives Ruined Government, Enriched Themselves, and Beggared the Nation.” And, keeping that in mind, let’s start talking about creating change . . .

Civil Liberty

There are several exciting new contributors in this crucial category. But first, carnival regulars Steven and Debra Wallace bring us The Homeowner’s Dilemma at The END TIMES Hoax. Thank you, Steven and Debra.

Next up is Liberty Now and Again, from the vibrant graphic site Taking Liberty.

I’m proud to present the writing of Matt Worhach at When Did You Know You Were Straight?. His post, about one of my favorite topics—heterosexual privilege—is titled Controversial.

Eli Horowitz joins the carnival with Francis Beckwith as an orc from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, from his blog, Rust Belt Philosophy. Welcome, Eli.

Economy

Reid Hardaway, another newcomer, presents Worker’s Solidarity at An Elegant Feast.

Eric Gargiulo offers What to Know in Obama Health Care Reform at Health Bill News.

Environment

Just 4 the Planet, another regular here, sends two posts from the UK: President Obama Uses Gulf Crisis and Two Arrested for Confronting Chevron CEO.

Aaron Dinsdale, yet another welcome newcomer, presents The Incompatibility of Going Green and Greed at The Going Green Site.

Politics

The original carnival supporter, Madeleine Begun Kane, presents Off or On the Rand-Wagon? and Hatching Hypocrisy, both at Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

Fabius Maximus joins the carnival with The Feds decide who to lock up for life.

Kaushik makes a first appearance to discusses World Trends at Beyond Karma.

Taking Liberty offers The Brain Party.

Andrew Hall—another first-time contributor—gives us My Jihad Against Traditional Values at Laughing in Purgatory.

Hopey Changey Things comes from Omaha Arts and Culture, where blogger Jordy Clements writes  about “Artists that still think hope and change are ideals, not punchlines.” Thank you, Jordy.

Isabel Rodriguez shares Politics of Revenge from her blog, Trying to Keep an Open Mind and an Open Heart. Welcome, Isabel.

And to close the carnival with another regular contributor, vjack presents Lessons From the Daily Kos/Research 2000 Poll, postedat Red State Progressive.
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That’s all for this edition. The next carnival will be posted here at My Political Side on July 21, 2010. Submissions will be due by July 20, 2010 and can be sent via this link.

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As always, I do not necessarily agree with all writing on a contributor’s blog. If a post appears here, it is because I consider it worth reading.

Carnival of Progressive Politics—May 2010 Edition

Virginius B. Thornton during a sit-down strike at a lunch counter; Petersburg, VA; May 1960

Civil rights is back in the news. Thanks to Rachel Maddow, the racism that hid beneath the surface of Rand Paul’s victorious smile is showing. Arlen Specter will soon be leaving Washington. And there’s a heartbreaking, rage-inducing oil spill that one of the GOP’s beloved corporations can’t seem to stop. That’s what’s happening here in the land of the free-ish as this month’s carnival goes up.

I am very pleased to have new contributors to the carnival again this month. While we all write to write, we also write to be read. I hope that what you read here encourages you to think more deeply, and perhaps even to act.

Civil Liberty

Michael Wolf presents a Letter 2 America, pondering responsible alcohol use, at his blog, Letters 2 America.

Steven and Debra Wallace claim Strategic Defaults: A Misnomer at The END TIMES Hoax.

Economy

Eric Gargiulo offers Federal Health Care Reform To Cost States at Health Bill News.

Environment

Just 4 the Planet sends this from the UK: The Greens Have it in Brighton!

Immigration

Philip H writes about Arizona’s new immigration law at DC Dispatches.

Politics
Our resident political poet, Madeleine Begun Kane, offers Obama’s What??? and Maine Mishigas, both at Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

In another Letter 2 America, Michael Wolf writes about Hillary Clinton.

Carl Mitchell asks, Is President Obama Finally Growing a Pair?, at My Humble Opinion.

Tory Prime Minister Liberal Dem Energy and Climate Secretary comes from across the pond, at Just 4 the Planet.

Steven and Debra Wallace of The END TIMES Hoax return with The Tea Party Elephant in the Room.

David Trevino presents Three Flags Over Georgia at The Arrow and the Rose.

War
vjack at Red State Progressive writes about Preparing the Public for the Next Terrorist Attack.

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That’s all for this edition. The next carnival will be posted here at My Political Side on June 21, 2010. Submissions will be due by June 20, 2010 and can be sent via this link.

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As always, I do not necessarily agree with all writing on a contributor’s blog. If a post appears here, it is because I consider it worth reading.

Carnival of Progressive Politics—April 2010 Edition

courtesy of Racewire.org

It’s exciting to have new contributors to the carnival this month, and it’s fitting that there are five posts in the “Civil Liberty” category. As I see it, our civil liberties are being used as weapons in the battle for white supremacy. The immigration bill that is close to becoming Arizona law, a bill that would allow police officers to detain anyone they suspect of not being a U.S. citizen until they receive documentation, is an example of how ignorance—and its offspring, fear—engender prejudice and encourage regression.

Seth Freed Wessler, on the RaceWire blog, says the bill “suggests that immigration restrictionists who have relied on rhetoric about the threat of crime from immigrants are indeed not concerned with criminality, but rather with immigration itself.” That point reflects the belief of Rinku Sen, director of the Applied Reseach Center, in our 2009 interview about immigration policy. According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, however, “Arizona is directly in the crossfire of the violent drug wars waging in Mexico and the state is the most popular point of entry for illegal aliens who come into the United States.”  But is this the best way to deal with that problem?

Today’s edition of The Arizona Republic contains an article about how the legislation would affect police officers, with police chiefs who oppose the bill saying it contains “no additional funding to train officers in how to judge reasonable suspicion or otherwise enforce federal laws” (a frightening thought, and reminscent of American soldiers at Abu Ghraib) and chiefs who favor the bill saying that “by taking illegal immigrants off the streets, police will be preventing crimes they might commit.”

I wonder if the scores of legal immigrants and native-born Arizonans who will be asked to present their “papers” will do so with a smile, knowing that they are helping to prevent possible future crimes? Or will they feel, as the Center for Community Change attests, in their article,  Arizona’s Terror Era, that they are “in danger of having their human and civil rights obliterated”? In the Arizona Republic article, San Francisco Police Department head George Gascon warns that enforcement of the law would make people  less likely to report crimes in areas where non-citizens gather.  So, a plan that purports to reduce crime will actually increase it and, in the process, make life even tougher for the people who most need help.

To add your name to a petition calling for Arizona Governor Jan Brewer to veto the bill, please click here.

And now, on to this month’s carnival.

Civil Liberty

Gavin R. Putland presents the Worst Drug Criminals are Legislators at OpEdNews.

Eric Michael Johnson presents Ann Coulter, Hate Speech, and Free Societies at The Primate Diaries.

From Sidhusaaheb at I, Me, Myself, we have Some Likely Consequences of Women’s Reservation.

At The Bennett Commentary, David Fryman offers Constitutional Values.

Steven and Debra Wallace present FEDs Boo Hoo Collateral Damage at The END TIMES Hoax.

Economy

David Fryman at The Bennett Commentary offers Personal Responsibility in an Unequal World.

Immigration

Juhem Navarro-Rivera presents Immigration and Representation at The Latinone.

Politics

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Mitt Romney: Constitutionally Confused and Ode To John “Pants On Fire” McCain, both at Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

Philip L. Hoffman gives us Leadership in Washington—Sometimes, you can actually find it! at DC Dispatches.

Bill Jones presents Congress and Money at Liars and Crooks.

Race

Eric Michael Johnson of The Primate Diaries returns with Remembering Malcolm X As We Release His Murderer.

Tariji El-Shabazz closes out this month’s carnival with Hoodwinked??? from Street Talk With Malachi.

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Thank you very much to everyone who submitted a post to this edition. To be a part of the May carnival, please follow these steps.

Note: As host of this carnival, I do not claim to agree with everything posted on each contributor’s blog; I only claim to approve of the posts that are included here.

Blog Carnival Postponed

Due to technical difficulties, the carnival won’t be up today. Please check back tomorrow. Thank you!

Carnival of Progressive Politics — March 2010 Edition

Moving America forward.

“This is what change looks like.”
—President Barack Obama, March 21, 2010

Well, the Senate health care bill passed the House. I feel sad for the Americans who have been persuaded to believe that this portends evil and doom. I feel sad for the Americans who have been persuaded to believe that true change would be easy, and pretty, and unanimously applauded. I feel sad for the people who believed what John Boehner said on the floor of the House on March 21st. I feel sad for the woman I heard on C-SPAN’s call-in show; she sounded very frightened as she said that we now have “socialist medicine” and how could that be, since “we are not a dictatorship.” As I absorbed the depth of her misinformation, I wanted to cry out to her and tell her not to worry. Of course, the C-SPAN moderator did nothing to assuage her fear and grief, but that’s another story. Will the media ever speak truth to ignorance, or do we need a fifth estate?

This week will provide an opportunity for Americans to learn even more about how government works, as the Senate wrestles with the Reconciliation bill. But, as for today, I woke up feeling lighter this morning, knowing that many of my fellow citizens will be better taken care of now. I’m grateful that the people who deal with the mess and the ugliness and the compromises and the anger and the fear that accompany change do the work they do. I’m grateful that President Obama is a calm, determined man with his eye on the future. I think he may very well be the right man for the times. The times are bad: convoluted, corrupt, complicated, and contentious. Utopian goals cannot be reached, but steps can be taken. This health care reform is a step in the right direction, and we haven’t walked that way in a long, long time. I’m enjoying the view on the “right road.”

And now, here’s this month’s edition of my tiny contribution to the spread of progressivism. As always, dissent is welcome; rudeness is not.

Civil Liberty

Ranjita Patra presents Women Calling from India at Breaking News Online.

Economy

Madeleine Begun Kane provides two entries: Ode to GOP Stimulus Hypocrisy and J.D. Hayworth’s Marriage Menagerie, both appearing at Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

Ella Moss presents Flying P.I.G.S., Etc. at Zodiac Times.

Politics

vjack presents Progressives Divided Over Health Care Reform at Red State Progressive.

Frankly My Dear Gaffney, You’re Nuts! and Liz Cheney: Chip Off The Old Crock both come from Madeleine Begun Kane at Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

For our first musical entry, see Limbaugh, O’Reilly & Hannity!, submitted by Jonathan Jensen, who writes, “This is an original song, made into a music video by a very creative videographer.”

Biotunes offers Sociobiology shows us . . . at Bioblog.

From Zhu, we end with Another World Is Possible, posted at Correr Es Mi Destino. To guide your reading, Zhu writes that “In France, ‘liberalism’ has a somewhat negative meaning. It is mostly associated with anything bad capitalism can bring: economic crisis, a certain view of globalization, privatizations, end of welfare-state etc. . . . in North America, being “liberal” is being progressive. But it was quite confusing me for when I first came to Canada.”

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Thank you very much to everyone who submitted a post to this edition. To be a part of the April go-around, please follow these steps.

Note: As host of this carnival, I do not claim to agree with everything posted on each submitter’s blog; I only claim to approve of the posts that are included here.