Private Republican campaign fund-raising groups are concealing their donors from the public because the GOP does not trust American voters to handle the information. Republican operatives want to shield voters from knowing who is actually paying for GOP attack ads. The GOP fears the consequences if Americans know the truth – exactly which giant corporations and Wall Street banksters are funding vicious screeds against Democrats because those covert donors believe Republicans will deliver for big business.

Tuesday night, I thought I’d attend The National Journal’s Debate on “Our Fiscal Future” between John Podesta and Douglas Holtz-Eakin with Jim Tankersley moderating at The George Washington University’s Marvin Center. I was interested because Podesta is often thought to be on the left-wing of “mainstream” opinion, and also it is said that he is one of the leading possibilities to succeed Rahm Emanuel as the President’s Chief of Staff. So, I wanted to see if I could find some glimmer of novelty in the point of view he expressed; some indication that he might bring some new thinking into The White House beyond what Obama has been hearing from say, Austan Goolsbee.

Unfortunately, the event filled up too fast and I wasn’t able to go, so I tuned into the live video stream, which is now available at the Center for American Progress web site. By the end of the debate I was very glad I didn’t go. First, because I got to “cover” the debate in my living room, and Second, because I didn’t appear to lose anything in translation, especially since the promised Q & A period was limited to answers to one question, and contained nothing that could possibly embarrass any of “the notables” or make them think twice about what they were saying.

With unemployment so high and middle class job prospects so low, this Labor Day is overcast by gloom. We can surrender to it. We can rant with Glenn Beck and kick the dog. Alternatively, we can join with our neighbors, employed and unemployed, our foreclosed-on children, our elderly parents and together create a grassroots groundswell that gives government no choice but to respond to our needs, the needs of working people.

Originally posted on Citizen Orange.

The “DREAM Now Series: Letters to Barack Obama” is a social media campaign that launched Monday, July 19, to underscore the urgent need to pass the DREAM Act. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, S. 729, would help tens of thousands of young people, American in all but paperwork, to earn legal status, provided they graduate from U.S. high schools, have good moral character, and complete either two years of college or military service.  With broader comprehensive immigration reform stuck in partisan gridlock, the time is now for the White House and Congress to step up and pass the DREAM Act!

A lot has happened as we complete the third week of the DREAM Now Series.  The DREAM Act picked up two new co-sponsors in the U.S. House: Mike Thompson (D-CA-1) and Chellie Pingree (D-ME-1).  Two extremely important and influential organizations have also come out strongly in support of passing the DREAM Act as a downpayment on comprehensive immigration reform: the Center for American Progress and the AFL-CIO.  Finally, a major victory was won in Arizona where the deportation of Marlen Moreno was deferred.  Please express support for the above in anyway possible.  It has all helped build a lot of momentum for passing the DREAM Act, this year. 

Just was we have been busy moving the DREAM Act forward, though, nativists have been busy undermining it.

When it comes to Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke wants to get technical, but only when it suits him. This morning, the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan went on NPR’s All Things Considered to take umbrage with reports, including Brave New Foundation’s latest Rethink Afghanistan video, that the Afghanistan War today supplanted Vietnam as the longest [...]

This is disturbing. Center for American Progress is not only taking credit for what I call the sham ‘repeal’ compromise, they are also crowing about circulating the legislative language two months ago on Capitol Hill — while our primary LGBT national organizations on repeal were still fighting to end discharges right now under a full repeal.

We just finished Liberty Hill’s conference call with former ACORN staff Amy Schur and Peter Kuhns, with assist from Center for American Progress founder and President John Podesta about the lessons to be learned from the attacks on ACORN. A lot of heat was generated around the question: Are Progressives Too Polite?

Lambert, DC Blogger and various commenters at Correntewire report an observed problem at The Wonk Room. Experience, tests, and screen shots indicate that the Wonk Room site is rejecting links to the PNHP and Health Care-Now web sites. Both sites advocate for enhanced Medicare for All, while the WonkRoom and its parent organization the Center for American Progress are advocates for the public option.

Many conservative critics are simply seeking to exploit terrorism for political gain with specious attacks on President Barack Obama. They rely on a presumption that a military response is always the toughest available option, but even former Bush administration officials say these conservatives’ faith in military commissions is misplaced. The facts are clear: Criminal courts are a far tougher and more reliable forum for prosecuting terrorists than military commissions

Okay, this is fun: from the Center for American Progress’s Senior Fellow John Halpin’s “The State of American Political Ideology 2009″ is a wonderful, forty-question quiz that will tell you how progressive you are and compare your progressivity to other groups in America.