The Hollywood Liberal

Walker – Lexus Ranger

Obama Waving Grudgingly
New York: “The president is supposed to be a friendly and folksy character, and waving as if he gives a shit helps to foster such an image. Usually, Obama pulls it off just fine, with a big happy grin. But sometimes, he just can’t fake it, and the look on his face reveals how grudgingly and unenthusiastically he is performing this charade for us.”

A Look Inside Obama’s Apartment
The New York Daily News took a tour of President Obama’s former apartment in Harlem which he shared with a roommate while attending Columbia University in 1981.

Confirmed: Union-Bashing Right-Wing Media Stars Hannity, Limbaugh and O’Reilly Are AFL-CIO Union-Affiliated Members
In spite of their criticism of unions in Wisconsin, AlterNet has confirmed that leading right-wing pundits are American Federation Television and Radio Artists union members.

Decades After ‘The Feminine Mystique,’ Many High-Achieving Women Find Satisfaction in Marriage
A new book explains why Betty Friedan might have paved the way for equal marriages by blowing the roof off the feminine mystique.

Wisconsin Uprising Continues Under a Barrage of Disinformation and Dirty Tricks
As the nationwide attacks on state workers continue, protesters in Wisconsin keep up the resistance.

Obama Says U.S. Will Veto UN Resolution Condemning Settlements
The Obama administration is clearly desperate to avoid vetoing the United Nations Security Council Resolution condemning illegal Israel settlements. And it’s not hard to see why. Given the turbulence in the Middle East, and the universal and strong opposition in…

Why We Should Raise Taxes on the Super-Rich and Lower Them on the Middle Class
My proposal to raise the marginal tax to 70 percent on incomes over $15 million, to 60 percent on incomes between $5 million and $15 million, and to 50 percent on incomes between $500,000 and $5 million, has generated considerable…

Big Main Street Movement Protests Planned For This Weekend To Push Back Against Ideologically Driven Cuts
Thousands of people will rally this weekend in several states in opposition to steep, ideologically driven budget cuts. A major labor rally is planned for today in Trenton, New Jersey, where Republican Gov. Chris Christie released a budget this week that “stepped up the pressure to slash [public employees’] health and retirement benefits.” In Indiana […]

Thousands of people will rally this weekend in several states in opposition to steep, ideologically driven budget cuts. A major labor rally is planned for today in Trenton, New Jersey, where Republican Gov. Chris Christie released a budget this week that “stepped up the pressure to slash [public employees’] health and retirement benefits.” In Indiana today, union members and their supporters are rallying against a bill by Republicans in the state legislature that would drastically reduce public employees’ collective bargaining rights.

In New Jersey, public employees clearly see Christie’s cuts as an ideological attack on their ability to organize and influence the political process — by weakening the unions ahead of upcoming elections, Christie may be able to flip the currently Democratic state legislature Republican, thus paving the way for a direct assault on collective bargaining rights:

“I think if there’s a huge Republican sweep, collective bargaining laws for public employee unions could very much come under threat in New Jersey,” said Jeffrey H. Keefe, a professor at Rutgers University’s School of Management and Labor Relations.

Union membership in the state has seen a steady decline since 1983, when 822,000 workers, or 27 percent of the state’s workforce belonged to unions, according to unionstats.com. At the end of 2010, 637,000 workers or just 17 percent of the workforce were union members, according to the website. […]

“We gotta get this guy Christie out of office, he’s killing us,” said John Dunphy of Kearny, a 25-year member of Local 194. “It seems like they’re picking on the little guy more than the big guys.”

In Indiana, though the Republican-controlled legislature says it will not advance a bill stripping public employee unions of collective bargaining rights, state House Democrats have vowed to remain out of state “until the ‘radical attack’ on working Hoosiers is over.” They want other bills on unions and education killed before they return, and union workers will gather at the state capitol for the fifth straight day to protest the legislation “they consider an attack on the working class.”

Over the weekend, MoveOn.org is planning rallies in all 50 states to “Save the American Dream.” MoveOn says the rallies “demand an end to the attacks on worker’s rights and public services across the country. We demand investment, to create decent jobs for the millions of people who desperately want to work. And we demand that the rich and powerful pay their fair share.”

The Main Street Movement protests will also move to Florida in the coming days, where Gov. Rick Scott (R) has proposed dramatic $5 billion cuts to the state budget while at the same time reducing tax revenue by $1.7 billion, mostly for corporations and the wealthy. Labor, civil rights, and Democratic grassroots groups are planning a day of action outside government office complexes and parks in major cities in the state on March 8. The movement began online: “It’s sort of an organic movement started on Facebook,” said one activist. “There’s a big movement afoot to oppose what’s going on in Tallahassee right now.”

The National Journal has a map of union protests going on across the country.

White House names Jeremy Bernard social secretary
WASHINGTON — After two female social secretaries, the Obama White House has hired a man for the job.

Gingrich: If it comes to a shutdown, the GOP should stick to its principles
The Washington establishment believes that the government shutdown of 1995 was a disastrous mistake that accomplished little and cost House Republicans politically.

Little criticism from GOP over Obama’s reversal on Defense of Marriage Act
President Obama has faced little criticism from Republicans over his reversal on the Defense of Marriage Act, showing the complicated and shifting politics of gay rights issues.

Democratic governors criticize Wisconsin’s Walker
With the Wisconsin state Assembly taking the first major legislative step toward enactment of a controversial law to sharply curtail collective bargaining rights of public workers, Democratic governors meeting in Washington offered pointed criticism of the plan’s architect, Republican Gov. Scott …

Pressures Mount to Resume Domestic Drilling

A Spokesman With Little to Say
Dana Milbank, Washington Post

Public Retiree Health Costs Must Be Confronted

The Blinding Clarity of Wisconsin
Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post
The magnificent turmoil now gripping statehouses in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and soon others marks an epic political moment. The nation faces a fiscal crisis of historic proportions and, remarkably, our muddled, gridlocked, allegedly broken politics have yielded singular clarity.At the federal level, President Obama's budget makes clear that Democrats are determined to do nothing about the debt crisis, while House Republicans have announced that beyond their proposed cuts in discretionary spending, their April budget will actually propose real entitlement reform.

No, Liberalism Isn’t Dead
James Piereson, The American Spectator
HAVING WRITTEN AN ARTICLE a year ago on the question “Is Conservatism Dead?” and answering it in the negative, I am now charged with answering the reciprocal question, “Is Liberalism Dead?”I am afraid that, pace my friend Bob Tyrrell, I must also answer this one in the negative. Liberalism is not dead for some of the same reasons that conservatism is not dead. Liberalism and conservatism are more or less permanent antagonisms within our system of state capitalism such that neither is likely to disappear unless or until the system of which they are parts somehow blows up….

Paralyzed Man Given Helper Monkey
“As long as he had a ball and bat in his hand he was a happy kid,” Ellen Rogers says of her son Ned Sullivan. Five years ago, he was a college senior when he had a seizure behind the wheel and crashed, becoming paralyzed from the neck down. A group called Helping Hands Helper Monkeys provides people like Sullivan with monkeys to help with everyday tasks. “She’s a wingman,” he said.