Live Tweeting from Occupy CPAC
UPDATE: Metro DC Communications Director Chris Garlock send us this more detailed report from this afternoon’s actions.
Chanting “Whose America? Our America!” as many as 700 labor and community activists turned out in force earlier this afternoon outside the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), shutting down Woodley Rd. with an impromptu sit in and brief takeover take-over of the Mariott Wardman Park Hotel driveway.
Well-heeled CPAC attendees gawked as the huge crowd turned Woodley Road into a multi-hued street festival of “the 99%” The spirited demonstration (click here for a slideshow) lasted over two hours, with many planning to stay on through the afternoon for the second round, dubbed Occupy CPAC: Scott Walker and the Union Busters, planned to start at 5 p.m. focusing on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who’s scheduled to address CPAC tonight.
Union and progressive activists are staging some unique events today at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting in Washington, D.C., the annual gathering of the Who’s Who of the 1 percent, including Mitt Romney, Scott Walker, Newt Gingrich, Paul Ryan, Ann Coulter and Grover Norquist.
You can keep up with today’s Occupy CPAC actions with this live Twitter feed from the Metropolitan Washington [D.C.] Council AFL-CIO and with the hashtag #OccupyCPAC.
Actions are set for noon and 5 p.m. (EST). If you are in the D.C. area and want to jin, head over to the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel (2600 Woodley Rd. at Connecticut Ave. N.W.). The nearest Metro stop is the Woodley Park station.
Occupy CPAC, Summit of the 1%
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The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will get a warm labor union, progressive welcome tomorrow at its annual conference in Washington. D.C., and we will keep you updated with a live Twitter feed ( hashtag #OccupyCPAC ) courtesy of Metropolitan Washington [D.C.] Council AFL-CIO.
The Who’s Who of the 1 percent–like Mitt Romney, Scott Walker, Newt Gingrich, Paul Ryan, Ann Coulter, Grover Norquist and other stars of the extremist rogue’s gallery–will be on hand. But so will representatives of the rest of us, the 99 percent, with big puppets, inflatables, chants, songs and of course tents to Occupy CPAC.
If you happen to be in the D.C. area tomorrow and want to join in the fun, events are set for noon and 5 p.m. (EST) at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel (2600 Woodley Rd. at Connecticut Ave. N.W.). The nearest Metro stop is the Woodley Park station.
Trumka: Newt’s Right, for Once
Newt Gingrich has said some pretty outlandish things over the years—the most recent was his proposal to put poor kids to work cleaning inner-city schools. But as a friend of mine was fond of saying—“sometimes even a blind squirrel can find an acorn.” Newt has an acorn.
During the New Hampshire primary when Gingrich was talking to voters about Mitt Romney’s days as a vulture capitalist—shortly after Romney said he “likes being able to fire people”—Gingrich said Romney “looted” companies and left behind “broken families and broken neighborhoods.” Then he added something that could have been uttered by any progressive or Occupier.
You have to ask the question: Is capitalism really about the ability of a handful of rich people to manipulate the lives of thousands of people and walk off with the money, or is that in fact a little bit of a flawed system?
That got AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka’s attention who says:
Here are words you won’t hear from me very often: I agree with Newt Gingrich. Read the rest of this entry »
Play Match Game 2012, Republican Candidates Edition
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We all know politicians will say just about anything to get elected. But sometimes what they say is so outrageous or strange, even seasoned political junkies are left scratching their heads.
In a takeoff on the classic TV game show Match Game, our friends at AFSCME have assembled some of the more out-there statements about working family issues uttered by Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.
Click here to play Match Game 2012: Presidential Primary Edition. Pick a candidate and then from a multiple choice list, pick the correct answer to what he had to say. To give you a little hint, none of the answers involve the Kardashians.
Trump Joins Gingrich in Call to Put Poor Kids to Work
Newt Gingrich, who says child labor laws are “truly stupid” and wants to put low-income children in poor neighborhoods to work cleaning schools after he fires “all the unionized janitors,” has found an acolyte—Donald Trump.
Billionaire Trump—who most Republican presidential candidates are genuflecting before in hopes of a laying on of hands—endorsed Gingrich’s call to put poor kids to work. He told reporters, “I thought it was a good idea” and suggested they also work for him—as “apprenti.”
Gingrich apparently thinks all poor kids are lazy and says his plan will “get them into the habit of showing up and realizing that effort gets rewarded and that America is all about the work ethic.”
Last week he also inferred that low-income kids are crooks. He said, “They have no habit of ‘I do this and you give me cash,’ unless it’s illegal.”
Gingrich: Poor Kids Only Work at Illegal Jobs
It wasn’t enough for presidential wanna-be Newt Gingrich to push child labor by proposing that poor kids clean schools. Now he says children from low-income families only work when the “job” is illegal. This from CBS News:
“Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works,” the former House speaker said at a campaign event at the Nationwide Insurance offices. “So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of ‘I do this and you give me cash,’ unless it’s illegal.”
As talk show host Stephanie Miller said last night on ”The Ed Schultz Show,” the corporate media has focused a lot on Gingrich’s odious personal behavior. But what hasn’t been given enough attention—and what clearly needs to be—is Gingrich’s extremist policy agenda, one that includes child labor.
DC Union Members Join OWS Marchers from NYC
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| AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker and Don Mathis, executive director of the U.S. Community Action Partnership, rallied to support the Occupy movement in McPherson Square. |
Occupy Wall Street marchers arrived in Washington, D.C., today after walking for 10 days from New York City to deliver the message that Congress should stand with the 99 pecent, not the 1 percent.
Despite the abysmal weather, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker led a contingent of union members to McPherson Square to meet the marchers and rally in support.
Holt Baker joined Don Mathis (left), executive director of the U.S. Community Action Partnership, in sending a message to Republican presidential wannabee Newt Gingrinch, who yesterday said Occupy members should “go get a job after you take a bath.” Gingrich, who has attacked mortage companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, turns out to have raked in at least $1.6 million while under contract to Freddie.
As Mathis’s sign says:
Hey, Newt! I had a bath today. When will you come clean?
Breaking: Senate Set to Vote on Republican Budget Shortly
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Breaking News: Manny Herrmann, AFL-CIO online mobilization coordinator, sends the following.
According to The National Journal, the Senate is expected to vote today on Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget that not only permanently extends the Bush tax cuts—but gives even more tax cuts to Wall Street and the wealthy—and pays for them by slashing services for seniors, children and low- and middle-income working families.
The House Republican budget bill would destroy Medicare as we know it and replace it with underfunded vouchers—a dangerous move even former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich called “right-wing social engineering.” When Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) announced he’d vote “no,” on the Ryan budget, he pointed out his fear that “as health [care] inflation rises, the cost of private plans will outgrow the government premium support—and the elderly will be forced to pay ever higher deductibles and co-pays.”
It’s important to note that Ryan’s tea party-inspired budget bill isn’t a deficit-reduction plan—it’s Robin Hood in reverse. While it includes $4.3 trillion in deep budget cuts—perhaps the most wrenching in our nation’s history—it almost completely cancels out these harsh cuts with $4.2 trillion in tax giveaways that disproportionately benefit America’s top earners.
U.S. Now Lags China in Production; Newt Says Create Jobs in Mexico
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Two recent items on the economy struck home in the past few days. One, the United States no longer is the world’s major goods producer. Our nation has now been eclipsed by China, which ended the United States’ 110-year run as the largest goods producer.
The response by the U.S. Council on Competitiveness to this little-reported shift is as wrongheaded as it is dangerous. Said Deborah Wince-Smith, chief executive of the business lobby:
This shows the need for the U.S. to compete in the future not on the basis of commodity manufacturing but on innovation and new kinds of services that are driven by production industries.
The Shocking Truth: Newt & Co. Lie About Health Care Reform
Pop quiz time. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is making claims about the new health care reform law that are:
- Wildly inaccurate.
- Stemming from a partisan analysis based on false assumptions.
- An outright misrepresentation.
- All of the above.
