Polidoc interviewed Representative Cao (R-LA) on the day of his election last December and snatched a quick interview with him in this video. (this is a revised video from one posted earlier today)
Joseph Cao, Congressional Representative from Louisiana has an independent streak and won’t buckle down to Republican Party rhetoric. As seen in this video on the day of his landmark election in December 2008, this lawyer hopes to represent his community even in areas that aren’t considered Republican today.
On November 7, 2009, Cao, a lawyer and the first Vietnamese Representative in the history of the United States, demonstrated his willingness to break from the Republican Party rhetoric by voting for a landmark healthcare reform bill. While progressives suspect the bill will be a boon to the healthcare industry rather than the reform it had hoped, Cao’s break sharpens points of difference between the teabagging Constitutionalist Party leaning Republicans from more moderate voices who might be willing to consider a different definition of conservative.
Cao, who ran as independent in a previous election, was the first Republican to win this district since Reconstruction. As the Representative of a majority black community, Cao had asked to join the Black Caucus but was denied.
Fun video by Polidoc featuring the Yes Men’s HalliburtonSurvivaballs Escorted down Market Street by “Chevron Minions” during this San Francisco action on November 1, 2009.
Serving up the message of corporate responsibility to San Ramon, CA based Chevron Oil, the YES Men marched down San Francisco streets after the premiere of their activist movie “The Yes Men Fix the World” on November 1, 2009. In conjunction with Global Exchange and other Bay Area environmental and human rights groups, the Yes Men hope to link Chevron’s plan to expand its refinery in the East Bay to human and environmental rights abuses in other countries and part of the United States.
In “The Yes Men Fix the World,” the infamous pranksters, amongst them Andy Bichlbaum, heaps doses of irony to shine a light on the negligence of companies that place profit over people. Clever vignettes, something that crosses between “Ocean’s Eleven” “Pink Panther” and “Get Smart” weave the documentary pieces of their actions together into a great piece of entertainment. This movie now showing across the nation serves up a hopeful and eviscerating commentary on the corporate players of our world.
Progressive Talk Show Host Ed Schultz says that President Obama’s backroom deals are leading to a trigger and denying a public option in which real competition can be created, all in the hopes of attaching a Republican or two to the healthcare reform bill in this video.
Climate Activists Charge the Fence of a Coal Energy Plant in the United Kingdom in a series of protests leading up to the U.N. Climate Convention in Copenhagen in January, 2010.
Saturday marked a day of unprecedented international climate actions by activists in 181 countries who are building momentum to inspire political leaders to take substantial steps towards climate reform at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December.
In the Bay Area of California, cyclists from as far away as Arcadia descended upon Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco in the culmination of the kickoff. City Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, urged people to push their municipal and state legislatures to take aggressive action to reform climate regulation, regardless of what the international community does (or does not) do. A consistent fighter for green legislation in one of the greenest cities in the country, Mirkarimi most notably initiated the anti-plastic bag initiative which has since spread internationally.
The international day was spearheaded by the group 350.org and supported by numerous environmental activist groups, including GreenPeace. The number 350 represents the parts per million of carbon dioxide emissions that the atmosphere can bear if we want to avoid runaway global warming.
Heather Graham embodies an energized and healthy government sponsored public health insurance option in a race with health care insurance company execs who seem to have forgotten the benefits of competition. It’s a very hopeful and funny ad campaign for public option.
“This event is about the only sane thing for the US Chamber of Commerce to do.” defended the bold and theatrical Hingo Sembra, one of the celebrated or notorious Yes Men, depending upon your position, at a Press Club event in Washington, D.C. this morning. The Chamber of Commerce has been criticized recently for holding out against Climate Bill efforts, though a growing number of business have pulled away.
Sembra, a master of political hoaxes started his style of activism pretending to be a DOW chemical company executive and apologizing for the Bhopal disaster on the BBC. Based upon how nervous he appeared in this action, he might be suspecting his poser days are numbered. His new activist movie “The Yes Men Fix the World” premiered in NYC last week, introduced by the Reverend Billy, a political performance activist and Green Party candidate for Mayor of the city. And this last weekend, it had it’s West Coast Premiere at the Bioneers 2009 convention where the audience responded with uproarious laughter and applause.
Governor Joe Manchin of West Virginia has taken a lot of heat these days, all for the love of coal. Protesters in the State’s Capitol insisted that the two-time Governor could arrest the violent surface mining of Coal River Mountain, situated in the South-West of the state, if he wanted to. However, the only thing arrested were the protesters.
Our friend and fellow videographer, “FluxRostrum” posted this video today showing local and student activists with a burning desire to speak truth to power squatting in the Governor’s way.
Manchin has said that he does not have the authority to overstep the federally granted rights of the out-of-state corporations who conduct surface mining in his state. A legal opinion called Dillon’s Law which instituted, the rights of property owners ( read “corporations”) over the right of individuals (read “communities”), provides the necessary veil behind which the Governor can defend his inability to protect his citizens. However, the opinion can be challenged and that would be a strong statement from the pro-death penalty, anti-choice Democratic Governor of West Virginia for his constituents. Where the Governor’s pro-corporate cards may be more apparent is in the lack of prosecution of errant coal and drug companies whose accidents have often cost local communities their survivability and have compromised the health of its residents.
West Virginia residents concerned with demanding local rights within their state may have to model themselves after other communities seeking to dominate local control. In Spokane, WA, a town under the oligarchical control of a few families, a nexus of organization have created Envision Spokane. Guided by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), Envision Spokane has placed an initiative on their November ballot calling for a community bill of rights that could challenge Dillon’s Law.
Lawyers are the new soldiers in the war against environmental degradation, according to Breean Beggs, Chief Catalyst and Counselor for the Center for Justice who spoke at the 2009 Bioneers.
“We have a democracy deficiency in this country.” Beggs said as he addressed an eager crowd that had gathered describing that the lack of democracy is apparent “When the whole status quo system comes after you for putting up your hand and saying, boy, this just doesn’t seem right.”
CELDF Executive director Thomas Linzey said, “The game is up all over the country…A crisis of jurisdiction has to happen.” It is perhaps time for West Virginia communities to consider building its own coalition throughout the hallows.
“The Yes Men Save the World” premiered in NYC last weekend, introduced by Green Party candidate for Mayor of the Great Apple, Reverend Billy Talen. The Reverend has been preaching his philosophy of local community building and anti-credit cards for more than 10 years. In a city where shopping and high finance is a major passtime, he draws a loyal niche crowd. After the screening and a march with the audience through city streets to the immigration detention center, Rev. Billy shared these words: “Once you understand that we’re controlled by clowns, you can be a clown yourself. Once it’s clown versus clown, maybe the best idea can win. And the best idea is compassion.”
