Just a Worker
Spent a life in darkness
Breathing poison
For bread and butter, for his family,
for energy, for you American you
Just a worker, Just an item, replaceable in the eyes of Massey
Not worth the trouble to spend some profits on
His life and safety ain’t worth a dime
Is that true America, is it true?
Just a worker, gone forever
Massey will find others to take his place
to dig the mines , for bread and butter, breathing poison
for you American you
for you and his family, darkness and poison, danger and death
for you American you

©2010, Rochelle Gordon

The poetry of politics

Tea Party Republican Party Tea Party Republican Party Tea Party crusader army of the Republican Party spiritual descendants of inquisitors certain of their righteousness demonizing the rest of us subjecting us to tyrannical tirades tightly wound irrationalism devolution fanatique evoking symbolic ultimatums their way or no way with jack boots, guns, clubs, fire, pillage, the end of America, Tea Party Republican Party Tea Republican Party Republicans Tea Baggers Mad Hatters Party Crappers Tea Party freedom fakers brainless, ignorant, hysterical radical terror seekers race baiters homophobic Nazi Hitler lovers of the KKK, John Birch, haters of anyone and everyone not white extreme makeover Christian tax evaders Tea Party Republican Party tea Party Republican Party

Proud Progressive Coalition

Tea Party members are pissed off! See http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100323/ap_on_re_us/us_health_overhaul_tea_parties

Hey progressives, let's show those tea partiers the power of our numbers and the strenght of our characters. Let's make it clear to them that the tiny microscopic minoirty t'hey actually reprersent, will not be allowed to bully the rest of us.

I have a "name" we can use to brand ourselves - The Proud Progressive Coalition. We stand for for shared prospertiy, intelligent governance, empathy, and compassion. We believe that democracy is not possible where power is vested in the few rather than in the people. We oppose the privatization of core governmental functions, corporate/ private sector rule, and theocracy. We are repulsed by bigots and haters and their threats of violence. We will not be intiimidated by those behaviors individually or collectively.

Conservative Ideology

Conservative economics and ideology have destroyed our nation. It gladly handed over manufacturing jobs to China while looking the other way as that greedy nation manipulated its currency to undermine American competitiveness. It ushered in an era of moral bankruptcy, with its golden rule being caveat emptor. It applauded the denial of health care for insured people as a way of stealing their premium dollars to fatten the paychecks of insurance company executives and their whores - the lobbyists. It used emotional "social" issues to create a seriously dangerous climate of divisiveness that threatens the very unity we need to keep our nation moving forward and safe from complete decline as a world power. It has no regard for truth, preferring instead to replace journalists with propagandists. It is supremely anti-democratic as it advocates for privatization of governmental functions, inclusive of military operations. They have lost their souls and betrayed our nation collectively and each of us as individuals.

Petition to Build Progressive Coalition

Petition of Progressive Individuals to All Progressive Organizations

Build The Progressive Coalition

We cannot afford to let the right wing’s vision of America prevail. We all understand the deadly peril that awaits democracy and the health of this planet should the unthinkable happen. Let me be clear on this. Right now, they are winning and the progressive vision is losing. We must all find a way to work on our shared interests in addition to our seperate interests and constituents and brainstorm both a short term and long- term strategic plan that will give our values a better than decent chance of being embraced by our fellow citizens.

The right of center Conservatives succeeded in having their vision and values become part of the American culture. This is why labor for example is on its deathbed. Shall we allow the struggles of the early fighters for human dignity in the workplace to have been in vain? This is why laze faire, tooth and claw capitalism is now the norm, not the exception. This is why the idea and goal of shared prosperity is fading quickly and the nightmare of poverty spreading like wild fire to more and more of our people, as well as our neighbors in other lands. This is why global warming is well underway and why we will run out of energy and other natural resources. This is why our civil liberties have been compromised and in constant danger of being extinguished.

Accordingly, we, the undersigned progressive individuals, request the Boards of all Progressive Organizations to take action to form The Progressive Coalition. We ask that you do so within the next two months, sooner if possible. We also request that you select individuals from this group of petition signatories to serve on the coalition’s advisory board, and to seek input on the development of the coalition’s mission statement. Finally, it is important to all of us that you keep us informed on the progress of the requests in this petition. We need you to do what you should have done years ago. We pray or hope that it is not too late.

Attn Progressive Movers and Shakers: We Need a Plan

We face a battle that goes well beyond the health care reform issue. The extreme right has succeeded in taking over the Republican party and is convincing rank and file republicans that their thinking about the role of government is good for America. Most rank and file citizens are not overwhelmingly analytic, and thus many republicans are now buying into the extreme right wing's values and beliefs.

The extreme right is essentially the descendants of the John Birch Society along with Libertarians. They not only oppose health care reform and all things from FDR's New Deal, they advocate for a return to Gilded Era policies that pre-date Theodore Roosevelt. I believe progressive citizens and the organizations we rely on for progressive leadership are seriously underestimating the threat we face from this energized extreme faction of the right wing (as if "center" right wing were not bad enough!) The engine being used to prevail in this battle is of course the Tea Party Movement, which is well funded by private interests that include, but are not limited to, global corporatists. These interests have funded the think tanks, the operatives, the right wing propaganda machine, for many years.

Needless to say, global corporatists do not share the protectionist views of Libertarians like Ron Paul. They understand however that the libertarian approach to government is the Ace they need to make corporate rule the law of the land. I will refer to the extreme right wing as Ext-Right (until I can think of a word or phrase more potent and effective at summarizing their fanatical views).

This evening, on my way home from a collective bargaining session, I was listening to Fresh Air on NPR. Terry Gross was interviewing Journalist David Weigel of the Washington Independent. He covered the CPAC conference. The "headline" for this show is aptly titled CPAC, The Tea Party And The Remaking Of The Right. If you did not hear it, I urge you to listen. It really is an important that we understand fully the nature of the battle. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123970180.


I do not know the movers and the shakers in the Progressive world or the extent to which they have formed a coalition that goes beyond specific issues such as health care reform, the wars in Iraq/Afghanistan, etc. I suspect the collection of them battle over their respective turfs. This sort of thing plays into the hands of our enemy, the Ext-right. Likewise, I have no idea whether there are any super rich progressives who are willing to invest their fortunes into the type of apparatus needed to fund meaningful opposition to the Ext-right and its minions, inclusive of the Tea Party and the Oath Takers. See http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/oath-keepers.

Without a well funded coalition that understands long-term strategy, the Ext-right will win the war.

So, if there are any progressive movers and shakers reading this, please do what it takes to mount the defense this war for the soul and future of America and its democracy demands.

Tea Party vs Coffee Club?

I have been trying to come up with a name as catchy as the "Tea Party" for the soon to be energized Progressive populist explosion. The first two ideas were the Coffee Clutch or Coffee Klatch but those simply does not have the right zing to it. Thus I am asking all my talented and clever friends to think of a great name with marketing potential and simply suggest it in a comment. We can then test market the ideas to see which one has the right punch.