Winning Progressive

For this weekend’s reading list we have articles on the Obama campaign’s tech folks, corporate blackmailing of the American people, the need for Obama to address climate change, the next steps in implementing health care reform, a parody of Tom Friedman’s writing, and a guide to evaluating economic inequality.

When the Nerds Go Marching In – an entertaining and informative look at the technologists who built and ran the database and software that were key to the Obama campaign’s impressive ground game.

The Corporate  Blackmailing of America is Now All the Rage – how Papa John’s is just one of many corporate entities trying to blackmail their employees and the American people into assuming the costs of health care and deficits.

No More Magical Thinking – a call for President Obama to make tackling climate change a primary focus of his second term.

Election 2012: A Win for Health Reform, But Much Work Remains - an overview of the regulations that need to be promulgated, exchanges that need to be created, and hurdles that need to be overcome to ensure the effective implementation of ObamaCare.

The Grenade of Understanding: Winners of the Write-Like-Friedman Contest – the best entries to Rolling Stone’s competition for people to parody the epically bizarre writing style of columnist Tom Friedman.

A Guide to Statistics on Historical Trends in Income Inequality - a thorough report regarding the various ways to measure economic inequality and how all of those forms of measurement are demonstrating that inequality is increasing in the US.

For this weekend’s reading list we have articles on the Chicago teachers strike, charter schools, tax rates and economic growth, social mobility, and taxpayer subsidies to professional sports teams.

Two Visions For Chicago’s Schools – education expert Diane Ravitch details the differences at stake in the Chicago teacher’s strike between the education “reformers’” strategy of charter schools, testing, and busting teacher’s unions, and teacher’s efforts to strengthen our public education system.  For an explanation from a Chicago teacher of why he is striking, check out this article.

Taxes and the Economy: An Economic Analysis of the Top Tax Rates Since 1945 – a study by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service finds no correlation between the top marginal income tax rate or the capital gains tax rate and economic growth, but finds that the top tax rates are correlated with income inequality.

Promoting Social Mobility - a forum debating whether early childhood intervention can help reduce economic inequality and, if so, the best methods and programs for achieving such results.

Charter Schools: Finding Out the Facts – an overview of research regarding the performance of charter schools, which finds mixed results and that, on the whole, charter schools perform no better than the public school system.

In Stadium Building Spree, U.S. Taxpayers Lose $4 Billion – an accounting of how tax free municipal bonds used to finance the construction of a rash of new professional sports stadiums will cost U.S. taxpayers $4 billion while the value of professional teams has doubled over the past decade.

For this weekend’s reading list, we have articles on Romney’s post-1999 role at Bain, economic inequality, Rachel Maddow, gender segregated grade school education, and President Obama’s decision to help improve the transition from welfare to work.

What We Know About Romney and Bain, Explained – a good explainer of the dispute over when Romney led Bain and how responsible he is for Bain’s vulture capitalism between 1999 and 2002.

Amber Waves of Green – an interesting case study of economic inequality profiles the lives of six people at six vastly different levels of the economic ladder.

Rachel Maddow’s Quiet War - a profile of Rachel Maddow and how she is working to focus progressive outrage on policy and the exercise of power, rather than on the theatrics of politics.

The Case Against Single-Sex Classrooms – an essay arguing that there is virtually no evidence behind the claims that gender segregation in grade school is beneficial for either girls or boys.

5 Ways Waivers Will Strengthen Welfare Reform - an analysis of President Obama’s recent decision to give states waivers to institute programs designed to better connect welfare recipients with jobs, and why the GOP’s feigned outrage over this decision is so off-base.

For this weekend’s reading list, we have an in-depth investigation showing that Texas almost certainly executed an innocent person, a report on how a stable middle class encourages economic growth, an article uncovering other organizations promoting corporate conservative state legislation, how Mitt “Severe Conservative” Romney is a servant of the right wing, and how profit-making has led Louisiana to have the highest incarceration rate in the world.

Yes, America, We Have Executed an Innocent Man – an article about the Columbia Human Rights Law Review’s 436-page article Los Tocayos Carlos: Anatomy of a Wrongful Execution which demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that Texas executed an innocent man, Carlos DeLuna, in 1989 for a murder that he did not commit.  The book and all of its supporting documentation are available online at thewrongcarlos.com

The American Middle Class, Income Inequality, and the Strength of Our Economy – a report by the Center for American Progress about the latest economic research demonstrating that a strong middle class is critical to economic growth, while inequality tends to undermine growth.

Mitt Romney, Servant of the Right – an essay arguing that Romney, were he to become President, would not govern as a moderate and instead would do the bidding of the right wing.   Winning Progressive has been making a similar argument, and we have started a new page of questions for Romney about the extreme views of the advisers and organizations that Romney is surrounding himself with.

Louisiana is the World’s Prison Capital – an in-depth assessment of how Louisiana’s system of for-profit prisons and local sheriffs who profit off of them have created an incarceration rate in Louisiana that is twice that of the US as a whole, triple the rate in Russia, and five times higher than the rate in Iran.

Uncovering the Other ALECs – a look at how state government “trade associations” such as the Council of State Governments and the National Conference of State Legislatures work to promote a corporate conservative legislative agenda on issues like school privatization, fracking, tort reform, and other issues

(By Josh Marks, Cross-posted at Green Forward)

Tonight there might be arrests. There might even be violence. But this afternoon in the epicenter of the K Street lobbying corridor, a symbol of what so many Americans believe is wrong with Washington, Occupy DC at McPherson Square made a defiant last stand in a joyous celebration of one of the last remaining encampments inspired by last October’s original Occupy Wall Street protests at Zuccotti Park in New York City.

Yesterday the U.S. Park Police, who have authority over the park, warned demonstrators of a noon deadline today when they would begin enforcing a no camping ban. At about 11:45 a.m., in front of a swarm of media and hundreds of curious onlookers, some of the protestors climbed the statue of Major General James Birdseye McPherson and hung a big blue tarp called “Tent of Dreams.” Then the Occupiers entered the tarp and began chanting and singing and listening to music.

While many downtown office workers looked down from the roofs of their buildings in anticipation of seeing a showdown, it never materialized as the noon deadline passed. There were only a scattering of uniformed police officers manning the corners of the park. So the afternoon instead turned into somewhat of a final hurrah for a phase of a movement that has inspired so many people around the world.

Even for those who dismiss the Occupy movement with harsh words aimed at the lack of organization and singular message, or even criticizing the “aging hippies” and “entitled white kids” that are involved, as many Tea Party trolls angrily comment on news websites, they cannot deny the power that Occupy has had. Income inequality has become a part of the national consciousness and populist rage aimed at money in politics is now being discussed by the mainstream media and politicians. Even President Obama’s State of the Union recently took a page from the Occupy movement by addressing the growing gap between the wealthiest 1% and the majority of Americans and calling for economic fairness.

Tomorrow the tents may be gone and the jails may be full, but Occupy has already won because they have put political and economic justice front and center. And until our economic and political systems start benefiting the 99% instead of just the 1%, then the Occupy message will continue to resonate regardless of whether or not people are physically occupying a public space.

For this weekend’s reading list, we have articles on the historic importance of passing and protecting health care reform, whether Israel will strike Iran this year, President Obama’s populist State of the Union address, a detailed look at economic inequality, and whether the 2012 elections will reflect the will of the people.

If you have any feedback on these articles, or would like to recommend an article for next weekend’s reading list, please let us know at Winning Progressive’s Facebook page.

A Spoonful of Sugar: On the Affordable Care Act – an essay explaining how President Obama’s victory in passing health care reform was especially impressive after decades of failed efforts to achieve national health care, and how repeal of the Affordable Care Act would likely eliminate the opportunity for further reform for decades to come.

Will Israel Attack Iran? – a thorough but disturbing evaluation of tensions between Israel and Iran that concludes that Israel will strike Iran in 2012.  It is critical that we call on the Obama Administration to continue to pressure Israel not to launch such a misguided attack.

A Better Deal – an overview of how President Obama’s recent State of the Union address shows that the President is staking his re-election “on a raw form of populism” and represents a significant change from the more moderate approach Obama took in the 2011 SOTU.

The Issue of Income Inequality – the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ useful 5-part series of slideshow presentations on how our economy has gone from broadly shared prosperity in the 1940s-1970s to extreme levels of income and wealth concentration today

Can We Have a Democratic Election? – an essay asking whether, in light of the rise of Super PACs and conservative voter suppression laws, the 2012 elections will reflect the will of the people, and how we can make future elections more democratic.