The long wait is over, Koch Brothers Exposed is here

Get the DVD

Dear Friend,

Last month we had the World Premiere of our Koch Brothers Exposed documentary in New York City just a few miles from one of the Kochs many homes. Instead of keeping this film in theatres, we are making it available immediately on DVD with an Action Guide so that you can watch with family and friends then do something to make a difference.

Get the DVD now featuring expert interviews, investigative exposés, and extras about what these billionaire brothers are doing to our democracy. After you get the DVD please download the Action Guide which we have created with our partnersGreenpeace, Campaign for America’s Future, NAACP, Democracy for America andAdvancement Project.

We are up against a mega-rich foe with an elitist attitude. Charles Koch is credited as saying, “I just want my fair share, and that’s all of it”. We need your help to combat these billionaires' actions. Sign up to hold a House Screening or go to the Screening page to attend one in your neighborhood. After watching, we encourage you to discuss the film with your family and friends then look through the Action Guide to decide on which actions you can agree to do. With your help we can start to reverse the damage that has been done.

Thank you for being a part of this movement. Together we can make sure that the 1% is not controlling our democracy.

Best,
Robert Greenwald

I invite you to join Koch Brothers Exposed on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Protest News Occupy MN protesters march to the Fed [VIDEO]

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2011/10/occupy_mn_protesters_march_to_the_fed_video.php

Protest News

Occupy MN protesters march to the Fed [VIDEO]

By Jessica Lussenhop Fri., Oct. 7 2011 at 5:33 PM

 

As their numbers increased in the Hennepin County Government Center Plaza this afternoon, more and more chatter rose among the Occupy MN crowd about marching to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. The Fed was the originally planned occupation destination, but organizers worried that arrests could take place as soon as marchers started blocking traffic. "They wanted to just do it," says April Lukes-Streich, one of Occupy MN's organizers. "We were like, 'You guys, don't.'"

Finally word came that if marchers were flanked by Minneapolis police, they could go at 2:30 p.m. The protesters held themselves back until about 2.

A hundred or so marchers made their way down the middle of Washington Avenue to the Fed, and convened briefly in the public plaza outside. They then marched down into the Fed's adjoining park, which is technically private property. Police waited at the bottom of the sloped park.

Check out the march, the park occupation and the police presence below:
Previous coverage:

• Jesse Ventura joins kick-off of Occupy MN [VIDEO]
• Occupy Wall Street protest coming to Minneapolis
• Occupy MN gets law enforcement OK for occupation of Government Plaza
•  

~ The most powerful testimony against cuts to the disabled ~

An eloquent man named Kurt Rutzen, who lives with cerebral palsy, sums up what extreme cuts to public services will mean to disabled people. He’s testifying to the Minnesota Senate, but the same story could be told in dozens of states across the country, and in Washington.



Originally submitted by Brandon W. Found on MNSenateDFL’s YouTube Channel.

LGBT & Handicapped Protest GOP Cuts and Anti-Gay Amendment

Video by Bill Sorem
St. Paul, MN, May 11, 2011. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual (LGBT) groups and Minnesota’s handicapped joined forces at the Minnesota State Senate session to protest the proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and a number of cuts to services as part of the GOP Cuts Only Budget.
The protest against the amendment was very emotional and principled, but the effort failed as the Senate passed the Constitutional Amendment by a vote of 38 to 27. It now goes to the House before it will be placed on the 2012 state ballot. There was no further action on social service cuts, but the senate session was interrupted by noisy acts of civil disobedience in the senate gallery. Four people were removed from the building, but none were arrested. See more : I’d Rather Go To Jail Than Die In A Nursing Home.

Disability Rights Group Briefly Shuts Down MN Senate

By Pat Kessler, WCCO-TV

ST. PAUL (WCCO) — With less than two weeks left before the end of the session at the Minnesota Capitol, the budget is still up in the air. On Wednesday, a small group of people with disabilities came to protest the fact that state senators have been talking about a gay marriage ban instead of dollars and cents.

Wearing red T-shirts and waving homemade posters, protesters from a disability rights group called ADAPT shouted at senators debating the gay marriage bill. 

Health care budget cuts, they say, will take away everything from their eyeglasses to their personal care attendants, and force some of them out of their homes into nursing homes.

The Senate president ordered the Sergeant at Arms and the State Patrol to forcibly remove the protesters, but it posed a problem: Some were blind and some paraplegic.

Members of the group were not arrested, but they were escorted from the building.

ADAPT has been known to use civil disobedience as a way to draw attention to their issues.

Minnesota Change Pays Visit to May 7th Tax Party >< video, Billionaires4Cuts

Adam Miller
We Are Change Minnesota
May 9th, 2011

It was a beautiful Saturday morning as conservatives all over the state of Minnesota gathered for what I call, “The Great American Festival of Ignorance”.

Angry white men abound as calls for lower taxes and the end to Obama-Care were heard for blocks. Yes folks, they’re white, they’re angry and they haven’t the slightest idea why they’re really there!

The insanity of the “Great Muslim Conspiracy” was interrupted only briefly by the calls from a couple groups present who advocated principles like sound money, an audit of the Federal Reserve and the avoidance of complex foreign entanglements. The aforementioned principles that have their roots in Jeffersonian logic couldn’t survive in this environment.

These calls for legislative sanity, unfortunately, were overshadowed by most of the speaker’s pursuit of the war agenda. Apart from the Ron Paul supporters, it seemed the only thing anyone had interest in was taxes and the Muslim/liberal conspiracy.

It seems the rest of the rally consisted of calls by GOP supporters to empty the pool of mounting debt via Dixie cup as opposed to septic pump. Yes it’s true that most present at the rally supported deficit reductions. I’ve never seen such a group so opposed to subsidies. For a moment it was encouraging until we heard the typical calls for increased interventionism in foreign affairs at the expense of social programs domestically, along with the usual calls to ban gay marriage which of course would lead to nothing short of anarchy in the streets!

So, myself and my partner in C.H.A.N.G.E. Sean Wright, hit the ground running in front of the Minnesota State Capitol, asking the attendees about the real issues (or at least something more ‘real’ than gay marriage or Al CIA-duh). We figured we’d keep it simple by asking them questions associated with the Federal Reserve and monetary policy, with little deviance from that topic. The following video covers the events of that day. I hope we all learn something. At very least, I hope we’re not all dumber for having watched it.

Rate and comment on Youtube

Joseph Stiglitz on "Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%" (Vanity Fair) & An...

http://www.rollingstone.com/videos/new-and-hot/cold-war-kids-hang-me-up-to-dry-at-sweetlife-festival-20110502#ooid=t4YWVmMjoMXrTLwANxJN9j29oRT-MysX
I cannot get the source code to work.   Please, please push the link!!

Tom Morello

Nightwatchman's pro-labor anthem 'Union Town'

April 28, 2011

"Union Town," a jaunty pro-labor singalong, is the title cut from Tom Morello's latest release under the name the Nightwatchman. All profits from the EP, which will be available digitally on May 17th and on CD and vinyl on July 19th, will go to the America Votes Labor Unity Fund via SaveWorkers.org. You can visit that site now to join the fight and download the “Union Town” MP3 for free.

Video by Revolution Messaging. Directed and edited by Robin Bell. Tom Morello filmed by Sean Ricigliano. Wisconsin convergence footage by Matt Wisniewski. La Unity rally footage by Chris Kissinger

US Uncut New York City Teach-In at Bank of America (Video)

Monday 2 May 2011
by: US Uncut New York

US Uncut, a new decentralized direct action group, held teach-ins inside two Bank of America branches in New York City on Saturday. The classes were held to discuss the inherently corrupt bank bailouts, the “tax-avoidance” of huge US corporations by which two-thirds of US corporations pay zero taxes and what kind of action we the people can take to stop the massive tax-payer funded transfer of wealth from the poor and to the rich.

The group formed in response to and in solidarity with UK Uncut, a decentralized protest movement which has been sweeping the United Kingdom in response to deep budget cuts and tuition hikes. These reductions in government services are known as “austerity measures.” Despite the political rhetoric, the United States government has begun an austerity program across the country; all the politicians are arguing about is how much to cut and from which poor people. It's time for action.

Uncut groups are springing up across the country. For more on US Uncut, visit the website and find them on Facebook and Twitter.

Hudson/Wolff On Debt and Recession

Michael Hudson and Richard Wolff discuss the theatrics of the debt debate in Washington and why debt does matter

Tax Day Protest in Minneapolis: Media Ghost, videos USuncutMN speaking!

Many MANY thanx Chris @Media Ghost ..

Action Gallery | US Uncut - Montage of events!!

Action Gallery | US Uncut

Videos and pictures.

I noticed a "curious" thing watching this. Most people when expressing how they feel about TAX DODGERS and the social cuts and the REASON for the United States crisis ...

TOUCH THEIR HEARTS WITH HANDS !! Have a watch of nearly any of these videos and you will see it. We are "givers" trying to shame the "takers" - and looking the wonder archive I think you'll agree we are doing a fabulous job !!

Over the weekend over 100 actions were held in large and small towns. The corporate tax cheats were told - there will be consequences for bankrupting our country.

This weekend was a total success.

 Together, we are changing the way Americans think about taxes. More and more people are realizing how corporate tax cheats have avoided paying their fair share while the rest of us face budget cuts.

There's still a long way to go - and we have our work cut out for us. but we are continuing to work together to make change, real change, happen.

We're looking forward to updating you about what's next for US Uncut, and to hearing about how we can work together to keep building this incredible movement.

US Uncut is something special - and we thank all the organizations and individuals working with us.

We sincerely hope that includes YOU.

Madison, WI, Mon Apr 18th 2011

Added on Wed Apr 20th 2011, 2:50am UTC

MORE MORE MORE MORE at the link above. Please watch, look and learn from each other.

I'm loving it!

SF FLASH MOB VIDEO !! USuncut, Ruckus Society and BLO teach BofA a lesson in FUN

US Uncut, in collaboration with The Ruckus Society and Brass Liberation Orchestra (BLO), kicked off Tax Day weekend (Friday afternoon 4/15/11) in San Francisco with a flashmob at Bank of America and told them to "PAY UP!"

Bank of America is the #1 largest bank and the 5th largest corporation in the U.S., but it pays less in taxes than the average American household! If they and their corporate tax dodger friends paid their fair share of taxes (like the rest of us), we wouldn't 'need' to slash community services in the budget.

It's time Bank of America pays their taxes! So we took action to tell them just that.

Dozens of activists took Bank of America employees by surprise downtown San Francisco Friday, by breaking out in a song and dance in the middle of the bank, to the tune of Salt-n-Pepa's classic hit, "Push It", re-mixed as "Pay Up!"

Check out the list of actions against Corporate Tax Dodgers happening around the country this Monday (http://usuncut.org/actions/list) and join a Tax Day action near you!



*Many thanks to our partners at The Ruckus Society for support throughout this action and for this action report!



Video Credits:

Videographers: Regan Brashear, David Martinez, Andy Menconi, Rooz Tahamtanzadeh, Jeff Taylor and Luke

Music: Brass Liberation Orchestra

Editing, Subtitles and Original Lyrics: Leslie Dreyer

SALLY AND FRANK DISCUSS TAXES

by Allen L Roland, Ph.D

Only a animated cartoon can do justice to the absurd reality of our current tax code where General Electric made 14 billion dollars profit and not only paid no taxes but got a 3 billion dollar refund: Allen L Roland

Click on this 3 minute video and enjoy.

http://www.campaignmoney.org/blog/2011/04/14/new-video-how-avoid-paying-taxes

Happy tax day, if you’re not outraged, you’re either GE top management or on life support.

And here are 9 things the financial elite don’t want you to know about taxes.

http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-17350-9_things_the_rich_dont_want_you_to_know_about_taxes.html

This coming Monday, April 18 is Tax Day ~ and that's the day when "we the people" will demand our country back from these corporations in events all across the country.

Allen L Roland

http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/sally-and-frank-discuss-taxes.html

About the Author: Allen L Roland is a Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist.Allen is also available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations. Dr. Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website www.allenroland.com . He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

WA state sleepover to protest budget cuts

{postscript:  there was a video posted of the State hauling out the protestors one by one, as only one reporter remained on the site.  It didn't stream well for me, so I have not tried to embed it here.  We'll watch and see what happens next, as this is a foretaste of things to come and shows how different states are going to have very different actions and results ... Virginia )

The labor movement is alive and growing in Washington State, as thousands slept over for a third night to protest proposed budget cuts:

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Thousands of union members from all over Washington poured into the state Capitol Friday, calling on lawmakers to "put people first" by ending corporate tax breaks and painful cuts to public programs.
The protest was by far the largest of four days of boisterous demonstrations in Olympia over spending cuts legislators are considering in order to help close a looming $5 billion budget deficit for the next two-year cycle.

Buses began arriving at the Capitol hours before the noon rally, carrying musicians, iron workers, firefighters and others concerned about the scarcity of jobs, the rising cost of college and the security of their pensions. The Washington State Patrol estimated 7,000 people gathered outside the main legislative building, while labor group leaders put the figure closer to 12,000.
Protesters said they hoped the demonstration would serve as a powerful reminder to lawmakers of who their decisions are affecting as they work to craft the state's next two-year budget. The House plans to vote Friday or Saturday on a budget plan that includes $4.4 billion in cuts, while the Senate will introduce its own proposal next week.

"We need to remind them that we need changes right now, not later," said Tim Haslett, an electrical worker and father of five from Seattle who has been unemployed for most of the past two years. "I'm trying to do everything I can to pay for my youngest daughter to go to college next year, but I don't know how I'm going to be able to do that if there are no jobs."

"We do not have a budget deficit," Jeff Johnson,

president of the Washington State Labor Council,

one of the rally's main organizers, told the crowd.

"We have a social services deficit, we have

a jobs deficit, we have a revenue deficit,

and we have a deficit of leadership." 

PLEASED with Draconian Cuts, MN Billionaires Thank Legislators!

http://youtu.be/65ubRX1hMVU





The MN Legislature has made lower taxes for the wealthy a top priority. While the Billionaires' effective rate of 7.7% is much lower than the middle class rate of 10.3%, the Legislature would rather balance the budget on the backs of the poor, elderly, disabled and middle class. While Minnesota is facing a $5 billion deficit, legislators are slashing funds for education, mass transit, healthcare, parks, and road repair. They have not approved any bill that would raise taxes on the wealthiest citizens of the state.

Michael Moore: The Rich Are Committing Class Warfare on Us

Michael Moore sat down with Stephen Colbert to talk about the Republican governors and corporate America's assault on the working class in America.

USuncutMN is taught political science @demo !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B508fFCVoNk&feature=player_embedded

~ This is what democracy looks like ~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2xVGkH4HiYo

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US Uncut crashes Bank of America Conference

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjGDueTQ9b4&feature=player_profilepage
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Ever want to yell at 300 billionaires and millionaires who helped wreck the economy? US Uncut did just that.

At Bank of America's first Investor Conference in three years (3/8/11), organizers from US Uncut crashed the event to protest corporate tax dodgers and public service cuts. The room was packed with 300 hedge fund managers, institutional investors, & asset managers.

The video says it all with US Uncut's simple message:

"When corporations like Bank of America don't pay their fair share of taxes, we have to 'cut' teachers, firefighters, and public servants."
"Do you pay your taxes? So do we. Why don't corporations pay their fair share, just like everyone else?"
"Bank of America is Bad for America. Bank of America pockets Billions in profits and bailouts, but $0 in American taxes - that's immoral and un-American."

Join us for Action at www.USuncut.org, on facebook here, and on twitter @usuncut (spread the word: #usuncut).

The revolution will be tweeted, liked, & shared. We the People Win. #epic
www.USuncut.org @usuncut #usuncut