Phedippidatons #275

For more from me on running, check out LightFighter's Ramblings, for more on my faith check out My Journey, Thoughts and Reflections. And for more podcasts, listen in to Steve Runner.

Libya

Huge congratulations to the people of Libya for their tenacity and hard work in overthrowing a dictator. While the work is not yet done and there are still many military battles yet to fight, the tide had turned on their struggle and it is clear that they have won.  The international community has also really surprised me in this situation, pleasantly so.  I hope the sacrifices and determination of the Libyan people will be an inspiration to others facing similar situations.  I also hope that this successful and relatively painless experience in assisting a democratic movement within a sovereign country makes future operations by Western governments, when requested, more likely.

What is The Coffee Party USA?

The Coffee Party USA is a grassroots, trans-partisan organization that has the following mandate:

In order to restore democracy and protect America's economic future, we must fight the Cycle of Corruption in three ways:

1. Campaign finance reform.

2. Wall Street reform

3. Tax code reform

How are we different from Tea Party?

1. Grassroots -- Funded, founded, and powered by people everyday Americans (not media empires, hyper-partisan billionaires, or political establishment electioneers)

2. Trans-partisan -- inclusive and diverse politically, culturally, racially

3. Fact-based and solutions oriented -- we check our party affiliation at the door and put the facts first when engaging in the political process.

What a way to run a country...

Washington D.C. is awash in money. Our elected representatives are compromised from the time they take office, or before, by the need to raise millions of dollars for re-election. The money is out there to be had from lobbyists, PAC's, Super PAC's. Unfortunately this money is coming from one primary source, Corporations and Banks. A member of congress has the choice of either taking their money and following their guidance on legislation, or having all that money go to their opponent. This doesn't sound too bad until you take into account the fact that Super PAC's are allowed to take in unlimited amounts of money from corporations that can spend unlimited amounts of money, to influence government. Thanks to the US Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission corporations are considered people and spending money is protected speech.  In effect this says that if you have more money you have more right to speak... or, "Some animals are more equal than others." (George Orwell, Animal Farm)

Here is a brief video describing the situation:


What is needed is a massive, grass roots movement, to give the powers that be no choice but to change this situation.  This government is supposed to be of, by, and for THE PEOPLE.  Not the corporations.  You can help get this movement rolling by getting involved at The Coffee Party USA.   This is a non-partisan, grass roots organization that is not funded by billionaires(unlike the Tea Party).  Take a look around their web site, read what they are working for.  It's time to Wake Up America!