I Want Bernie Sanders for Alaska.
18 10 2009If you are not following Sanders Unfiltered, the new site for Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, start now. If I could kidnap a member of congress and make them my own, this would be the guy. He has teamed up with Brave New Films and is making smart use of the internet to get the progressive message out. Every once in a while, we get a Senator or a member of Congress whose voice speaks not only for his or her home state, but for like-minded individuals across the nation. Senator, if you ever come to Alaska, I may not let you leave. (You can imagine me hugging his ankle as he drags me down the jetway and then springing to action with feet and hands braced against the doorjamb of the plane)
Here’s what he had to say about Sanders Unfiltered.
Now more than ever, we need the kind of robust debate that the Internet makes possible. The right wing has monopolized the AM radio airwaves. The top-ranked cable news channel in the country is a surrogate for the Republican National Committee. A handful of huge corporations own almost all of the networks, cable news channels and major newspapers in the country. Even the alternative weekly newspapers, traditionally a bastion of progressive thought and analysis, have been bought by a monopoly franchise and made a predictable shift to the right in their coverage of local news. [snp]
“Senator Sanders Unfiltered” will allow me to speak directly to you about the major issues facing our country – issues which impact the lives of ordinary Americans but which are often ignored or downplayed by the corporate media.
Senator, have I mentioned that we’ve got some really great fishing up here?
October 18th, 2009 at 6:53 PM
OF topic AKM: Go to Huffington post .
Sarah has registered on LINKEDLN.
Now being and Aussie I know nothing about this site,reading between the lines looks like she is looking for a job. Check it out AKM.
October 18th, 2009 at 6:57 PM
comcast wants to buy msnbc… if they succeed, that’ll be the end of rachel and ko’s shows.
October 18th, 2009 at 6:58 PM
Yes we can! Change happens.
October 18th, 2009 at 6:59 PM
Sen. Bernie Sanders in an Independent, not a Democrat or Republican, for those who aren’t familiar with him yet, but he leans way to the Left. He is so straight-forward and sensible that I rarely find anything to disagree with about him. He’s on the radio every Friday on Air America, it seems like on the Thom Hartmann show, and it’s definitely worth tuning in for. Thanks AKM for bringing him to everyone’s attention. I’m going to go check out the Sanders Unfiltered site now.
October 18th, 2009 at 7:09 PM
“comcast wants to buy msnbc… if they succeed, that’ll be the end of rachel and ko’s shows.” That quote is from comment #2 above submitted by sauerkraut.
I have never heard anything good about comcast, so I’m hoping this isn’t true. Where have you read about this?
October 18th, 2009 at 7:17 PM
Bernie Sanders is the only true Socialist in Congress. He is a transplanted New Yorker and Vermont is lucky to have him, and now we all are as he is working hard for everyone. It is an excellent website and one can also sign up for his newsletter.
Comcast has a very bad rating – out of all commercial and governmental agencies, Comcast is lowest – even lower than the IRS!
The company is constantly in court over one issue or another, but it is hard to know what path they’ll take if they acquire the NBC family. With their current list of holdings, it is difficult to determine just what the lay of the land will be.
October 18th, 2009 at 8:13 PM
Wow, and YES! First the White House denouncing Fake News. Now a brave political leader willing to take it a step closer to the truth about the media situation. I SO hope Murdoch is taken down. It’s not about money for him. It’s about power, control and winning. I tell ya, he and Scarah are two peas in a pod. It’s all about winning.
October 18th, 2009 at 8:36 PM
http://www.relfe.com/media_can_legally_lie.html about faux noise and how they can lie about any news they want to.Media can legally lie about news.out of Florida appeals court I wonder if the Whitehouse knows about this.It proves they are right that fox is an entertainment station not a real news station..I have been pushing this every where I can in hopes that people realize this
October 18th, 2009 at 8:42 PM
Yes this Senator speaks the truth that many do not want to see.Also I have to say this recession,depression ,whatever you want to call it started at least as far back as 2004 our company started going down with week and one day lay offs our customers were going bankrupt and others were cutting back on orders way back them.This has been slowly building till it hit rock bottom,now hopefully we can start to go forward,They do say when you hit rock bottom their is no where to go but up don’t they?
October 18th, 2009 at 8:48 PM
In Washington, DC, I heard Bernie described as “The People’s Senator”. He has consistently spoken truth to power, and his videos are excellent. Everyone can sign up for his weekly newsletters and videos – unlike most senators, he welcomes people from other states. Here’s his Senate website: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/
Although he is a socialist who runs as an independent, he caucuses with the Dems and moves up in seniority in alignment with them, so his power is increasing.
October 18th, 2009 at 8:53 PM
I tried using the Firefox browser instead of Explorer, but wasn’t able to post a comment with that. Anyway, I’ve been listening to Sen. Bernie Sanders on most Fridays when he’s on Air America, I think it’s a regular feature on the Thom Hartmann show. He’s not Democrat or Republican, is officially Independent, but leans way to the Left. He’s very straight-forward and practical, and I just love how sensible and down-to-earth he is. I just signed up on his Sanders Unfiltered website to get his weekly video report.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:18 PM
Ya know, the other day when I was reading about people equating Scarah’s home in AK to some in the lower 48 as no biggy, I got thinking. Sheesh, what does middle class mean these days? If she is representative of mainstreet, then whoa, I thought I was middle class. What happened? The spouse and I certainly don’t make what Scarah and Toad do. Maybe I’m now a part of the poverty class?
Seriously, is the gap widening that much?
And on another rant of mine, does she have any right to say she is not an elitist? Just cuz she can talk like a red neck? yet love what big money buys? Does elitism mean to her folks that have already made it? Is she trying to fool herself and those around her that is exactly where she is trying to head?
Or is her excuse for not being like them or one of them because she doesn’t have the generational family roots originating in wealth and power. I believe so. She doesn’t come from money so therefore she is not one of them. Yet here she is scrambling as fast as she can after those dollar opportunities while the door crack is open.
Well heads up Scarah, it does not matter. You cannot say you are not one of them. You are, and all of them are not selfish, ruthless, awful people. You are not a hockey mom, down to earth regular everyday charming, say it ain’t Joe, tell it like it is person. You are not, so stop trying to portray and play that angle. You love the rock star and autographs, admit it.
Money and the power that comes with it has responsibility. How this responsibility is acted upon makes a difference amongst the wealthy and the well being of the world. I would bet you dream of garnering a piece of the money/power pie as a delusional duty to sway action and public response towards a glorious religious agenda.
I say stop. You know not what you are doing. You are out of your mind, off your rocker, stark raving religiously possessed. Really. Well, in your small realm of reality, in your constrained brain, you probably do ‘believe or think’ you know what you are doing. But outside that narrow minded realm of your church, you do not. So please sit down and shut the F up. Not that I really believe you will, you won’t. You’re not wired that way. So go ahead, self destruct.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:48 PM
Sen. Bernie Sanders is one of the few genuinely good guys on the Washington political scene. I’m glad that he has been consistently voicing a truly progressive point of view. With someone of his credibility and genuine non-partisan stance, he pressures both the GOP and President Obama.
To be sure, the FauxNews sheeple will never watch him, but many people who actually have functioning brains do and it is those people who are listening when Sen. Sanders speaks.
If the GOP does indeed become even more imbecilic and drive out the few remaining sane members of the party, those political nomads could be attracted to a figure like Sanders. If he so chose, he could lead the creation of a third party that could draw fiscal conservatives – true fiscal conservatives, not merely spear carriers for industry lobby money – and social liberals. That could spell the end of the GOP and force the Democrats to grow a spine or risk losing their most liberal members. Without them, the Dems would be reduced to nearly total lethargy.
Go Bernie.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:49 PM
Sanders is openly a socialist, and let’s get over being scared of that word. This is what he said when he won the senate campaign:
“In terms of socialism, I think there is a lot to be learned from Scandinavia and from some of the work, very good work that people have done in Europe. In countries like Finland, Norway, Denmark, poverty has almost been eliminated. All people have healthcare as a right of citizenship. College education is available to all people, regardless of income, virtually free. I have been very aggressive in trying to move to sustainable energy. They have a lot of political participation, high voter turnouts. I think there is a lot to be learned from countries that have created more egalitarian societies than has the United States of America.”
When asked what he meant by “socialist”, he replied: “Well, I think it means the government has got to play a very important role in making sure that as a right of citizenship, all of our people have healthcare; that as a right, all of our kids, regardless of income, have quality childcare, are able to go to college without going deeply into debt; that it means we do not allow large corporations and moneyed interests to destroy our environment; that we create a government in which it is not dominated by big money interest. I mean, to me, it means democracy, frankly. That’s all it means. And we are living in an increasingly undemocratic society in which decisions are made by people who have huge sums of money.”
Vermont’s Bernie Sanders Becomes First Socialist Elected to U.S. Senate http://www.democracynow.org/2006/11/8/vermonts_bernie_sanders_becomes_first_socialist
October 18th, 2009 at 10:04 PM
we Want Bernie Sanders for Alaska too.
October 18th, 2009 at 10:40 PM
Lani and you know he is right our country is being run by big money instead of us the people that elected people to congress.They get in congress and seem to forget why they were elected
IMO a lot more people should read Republican Gomorrah by Max Blumenthal.boy does he stand up for himself and also Crazy for God by Frank Schaeffer.He tells it like it is about the fundamentalist movement and how he got out or almost out with his beliefs.the evangelicals have been calling him every name under the sun for writing this book .It puts a lie to the evangelical movement and what it is all about,Done with Republican Gomorrah and Half way thru crazy for God.
October 19th, 2009 at 1:21 AM
Rachel frequently has Bernie on her show. He’s one of her favorites too. He (and she) are awesome. How bout Papa Bush calling KO & Rachel “sick puppies?” Wow, he sure stepped in that one. Thanks so much AKM! You rock!
October 19th, 2009 at 2:24 AM
No. No. NO!! I want Bernie here in NY, so that’ll be two people hanging on him, one on each ankle. The poor man will have to crawl away from his fans using his fingernails! But he deserves fans and renown. He works hard.
I’ve been listening to Bernie on Thom Hartmann (Fridays, first hour) for years; always a great hybrid of Brooklyn/Vermont common sense. My good friend worked with him in VT a few years back, and has nothing but positive things to say about him. So glad he made the jump to web videos. His own website is a good place to browse, too–interesting reading, especially from those with credit/health insurance problems to report. Bernie is truly a voice for the people!
October 19th, 2009 at 3:28 AM
I also wish that Al Franken were Alaskan. He authored and passed an amendment that would deny contracts to employers who force employees to sign away their right to sue. This stemmed from a gang rape of a KBR employee in Iraq who was then locked in a container to prevent her from reporting the crime. His grilling of the KBR lawyer during the hearing was beautiful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6kiZIlMFto
October 19th, 2009 at 3:55 AM
I *used to* listen to Bernie Sanders an Fridays on the Thom Hartmann program. But sometime last year (only perhaps six months after I discovered we had an Air America channel), the station airing that program (and Stephanie Miller, and a couple others) changed format … to sports! Gack! Like South Fla. needed another all-sportstalk station.
So … pathetic as it sounds, you can hear Rush, Beck, Levine day in and day out and those guys have the nerve to suggest the ’state-run media’ is all in the tank for the left. Insane.
While on our travels last summer, Mr. Terps and I always tried to catch Rachel or KO or both on cable (’cause we don’t have cable here at home – we watch over the InterTubes), but at the places we were staying we couldn’t – not part of the cable package offering.
Granted, Tampa FL, Hemet CA and Santa Barbara/Solvang CA is hardly a scientifically valid statistical sample, but in all those places, Fox News was offered as part of the basic cable package while if you wanted MSNBC, well, you just had to pay more.
As for the Comcast buying MSNBC rumor (I haven’t checked it out, but I will), that is a very serious thing for us all to be keeping our eyes on and starting to think about what we can do about it. I don’t know FCC rules well enough to know if our Congresspeople would have any say about such a takeover.
I thought the USA was all about competition and not takeovers by big monopolies. Isn’t that why Reagan broke up AT and T? And why for years I got bombarded by telemarketers wanting me to join Sprint or this or that or the other phone service, and after all is said and done, twenty years later, who bought up the BellSouth service I used to have? What name am I writing on the “pay to” line on my checks for my phone service? AT and T!
And has the competition driven the costs down? (no) Has the service gotten any better (not particularly – I can add more services if I want to pay more, but I don’t want to). Way to go Ronnie!
I think I’ll go join up to follow Sanders Unfiltered right after I press the ’submit comment’ button.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:03 AM
Bernie’s the real deal. Absolutely incorruptible, and probably with a solid hold on his senate seat as long as he wants it (He won his senate seat 2-1).
It didn’t hurt that Barack Obama came to campaign for Bernie (and Peter Welch). This is a great story of that campaign visit in March 2006, from a blog you’d all enjoy reading, by a UVM English prof who is now running for the state senate. You’ll enjoy wandering through the archives. http://vermontdailybriefing.com/?p=216 (One of the blog’s entris for Oct 16 is titled “LATE BREAKING NEWS: Sarah Palin At #2 On Amazon Bestseller List With Hardly Any Unfair and Infuriating Advantages At All”)
During one of his last campaigns for the house he did the “local people talking about how much my congressman means to me” schtick in commercials, and I remember one woman saying “Bernie’s been saying the same thing from the beginning, and it’s finally making sense to me.” And that’s been a lot of his appeal all over this state (where there’s a general consensus he couldn’t have been elected governor; he’d drive us crazy, and the state is further left in national politics than it is in state politics. so he’s just as much your senator in Alaska as hours) He has relentlessly championed the poor his entire political career. (And, by the way, how many national politicians let their constituents call them by their first name? I think he wants to make sure nobody feels he wants to put himself above them.)
Check out this profile of Congress but really about bernie, in Rolling Stone:
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7539869/four_amendments__a_funeral
October 19th, 2009 at 4:06 AM
Say No to Palin in Politics@12, I agree with you so much, I’m not even sure you AREN’T ME!!! Taking replies over to today’s Open Thread.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:06 AM
as hours? Well at least it sounds the same
October 19th, 2009 at 4:19 AM
1 moseyon Says:
October 18th, 2009 at 6:53 PM
OF topic AKM: Go to Huffington post .
Sarah has registered on LINKEDLN.
Now being and Aussie I know nothing about this site,reading between the lines looks like she is looking for a job. Check it out AKM.
I saw the title but haven’t read it.
What comes to mind -
She’s blown the 11M already, and needs more money. (Thus the new PAC)
Mordock has dumped her as being hopeless
Murdock has his book and doesn’t need her any more strikes me as highly likely. (I kind of like her as a Female Beck on Fox though, – keeps her under the microscope so to speak.)
October 19th, 2009 at 4:41 AM
9 jojobo1 Says:
Also I have to say this recession, depression ,whatever you want to call it started at least as far back as 2004…
I’d take it back further than that. The market was beginning to go down by the end of the Clinton administration. The Bushies stood an watched for over two years.
By late 2002 my investments and gone down by over 75%. That’s when the effect of Enron screwing California on it electric supply gimmik, blew up California’s, and many other state’s economies. And the Bushies still did nothing. The stock market was about to drop below 7000 when it fanally began to struggle back.
There has never really been a recovery except for Wal Street’s [intentional sp] trading in bogus derivatives of various types. Exxon of course is dong great.
Wal Street is playing with their tax payer gimme to gamble on derivatives again and is around 10,000 while the economy is still in the tank.
I believe it is correct that no President other than Duhbya has overseen two almost total economic crashes. Nor, I suspect, has any leader done less to help.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:45 AM
23 lemonfair Says:
October 19th, 2009 at 4:06 AM
as hours? Well at least it sounds the same
What?
You didn’t take the same phonetics spelling class that I did?
Besides most of us are phonetic readers and talkers anyway.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:52 AM
23 lemonfair Says:
October 19th, 2009 at 4:06 AM
as hours? Well at least it sounds the same
To most of us an insult from a Bushie would be a complement if it came from a friend.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:54 AM
Now my oops
17 Kat Says:
How bout Papa Bush calling KO & Rachel “sick puppies?”
To most of us an insult from a Bushie would be a complement if it came from a friend.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:55 AM
Love this guy…get his weekly updates… now with the new film feature…
he speaks for many of us regular folk who cant afford to hire lobbyists
October 19th, 2009 at 5:24 AM
I am so glad that he is talking about this (”news” corporations). Quite frankly, it scares me…..a lot….that all of our “news” is coming from organizations that are looking out for their best interests.
I don’t think most of America thinks about it, but if you aren’t online doing your own research, reading multible sources, and digging, you are being spoon fed news that large corporations want to to hear.
It scares me because we have become the “Corporate States of America”, where corporations control everything (even healthcare debate) and most people are NOT paying attention. Just like the teabaggers and town hall rowdies who are protesting for large insurance companies to keep their profits. Yet, these people have been brainwashed to believe that they are protesting for their own benefit.
Then, Palin has the nerve to slam the integrity of journalism today, and the “liberal” MSM, yet she will only appear with friends of Fox news. Huh? If she is for “real” journalism, she should be willing to appear on any program and accept “real” questions…not scripted questions from faux reporters.
October 19th, 2009 at 8:27 AM
Lani@14: I agree, we have to get over the fear of words. “Socialism” is not the boogeyman. But the low-information crowd gets whipped up by these buzz words, without any thought as to what they actually mean. As Sen. Sanford describes it, we could use a heaping helping of socialism about now.
October 19th, 2009 at 8:40 AM
Yay for Bernie Sanders! As a fellow New Englander, he’s been on my radar for a while now, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say something with which I’ve disagreed, tho I don’t consider myself a socialist. I’m glad he’s getting more exposure now; we need our liberals front and center to be sure the progressive agenda does not get watered down by the pandering “moderates” on the left side of the aisle. (I put moderates in quotes because most of these so-called moderates are really corporate shills, pretending to be moderate when really they are just holding things up b/c they owe too much to the lobbyists who pay for their campaigns.)
October 19th, 2009 at 10:11 AM
We live in northern New York State but right next to Vermont and have followed Bernie Sanders since he was the Mayor of Burlington, VT. We agree with most everything he says and wish he was our representative. He is so sensible and thoughtful and he is not so much a socialist as he is a humanist. The two Senators from Vermont, Leahy and Welch, are quite good also. They are both Democrats.
October 19th, 2009 at 11:19 AM
Sauerkraut,Only part of MSNBC is on the sale block. If sold it will be spun off from MSNBC and operated as a totally separate company. KO and Rachel will remain with the News arm of MSNBC, which is NOT for sale.
October 19th, 2009 at 11:26 AM
Comcast wants ownership of movies and other entertainment media owned by NBC Universal, which is owned by GE.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33111969/
October 19th, 2009 at 2:29 PM
thank goodness,gramian. that’s a relief. KO and Rachel must not go. we haz revolution and chaos. yes. we will…bubs
October 19th, 2009 at 6:38 PM
And this is why Net Neutrality is essential to our freedom. It is the only communication outlet that not only remains open but allows “conversation” rather than “lecture”.
Is it no wonder the internet is becoming a ‘liberal’ refuge? It allows us to participate in logical debate and our conversations can provide citations to support our views.
All of those other media outlets are for the brain dead couch potato to be lectured to, become indoctrinated and then regurgitate talking points with neither understanding nor the ability to intelligently support viewpoints.
Since they’re parroting the viewpoints of others, it’s really no surprising they can’t support their own arguements….they’re not their own.
Net Neutrality must be protected. It will continue to be attacked. Subtle and insidious legislation will continually be added to unrelated bills in attempts to muzzle the internet. We need to be constantly vigilant or we will lose our last refuge for truly free speech.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:44 AM
@Marnie: It was pretty early for me, and probably for you too