Third Parties in other countries create economic and political boon: RFK, Jr. and Ralph Naderhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5idmt00Sf2Q#polidoc1 day ago
Brazilian Co. spins sugar waste into coal replacement fuel; critiques wonder about supply keeping up with demand http://tinyurl.com/yaeuvhl#polidoc6 days ago
David Sirota at Cody’s bookstore in Berkeley, CA June 12, 2008
This piece we shot of David Sirota back in the summer of 2008 continues to address the problems we see swarming the halls of government that affect our lives. We are pulling it out of the archives as a reminder of the work ahead of citizens to pull the reins of government so that it will perform for the people and not the special interests.
This video interview of author Frank Schaeffer by Rachel Maddow is worth a listen to if you want some insight into the Evangelical power hold over the Republican Party.
It was aired back in September in the lead up to the November election. In it, the former Evangelical turned critic Schaeffer describes the cultish undertow drawing the Republican Party away from what many of us call reality into “La-La land.” Schaeffer says he knows of no Republican brave enough to bark down the mad dogs for whom anything good is bad because they seek negative feedback to reinforce their belief that America is being punished for its “sinfulness”.
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.
