The transfer of wealth in America, TO THE VERY, VERY FEW, has hurt our poorest workers and our best and brightest, our students, the most! Banks, businesses, and corporations can, at the very least, refinance, or go bankrupt...NOT OUR STUDENTS!

How do Multinational Corporations use Dark Money, Super PACs, and Citizens United to run our government, and ruin our environment?THIS IS HOW!

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/12/07/3600475/investigation-

energy-firms-attorneys-general-fighting-federal-government/

SO, HOW IS OUR NEW FORM OF GOVERNMENT WORKING?
Our representative democracy has been replaced by an oligarchy, some refer to it as a plutocracy, or a corporatocracy. It is a form of government in which multinational corporations use Super PACs, Dark Money, and Citizens United, to control the messaging, the courts, the Congress, and our elections. SO, HOW'S IT WORKING? Very, very well...............................for the very, very few!

WHO IS IN CONTROL of the United States? Where do we choose to spend our tax dollars?
Overwhelmingly, according to recent surveys, the oldest generation of Americans are satisfied with tax dollar spending as long as it includes increased emphasis on Social Security, while younger American taxpayers want their money to be more focused on job creation and education. All generations want increased emphasis on infrastructure. Can you see why?
....................................................................................................................................
We have more people in our prisons than any country on Earth!
We have more low-paying, poverty jobs, than any major country on Earth!
We have more corporate welfare than any country on Earth!
We have the largest wage gap, with the major concentration of wealth going the top .1% of the most wealthy people on Earth!
We spend more money on our military than the next 13 countries, and 11 of them are on our side! Admiral Mike Mullen, the past Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said: "The single greatest threat to our national security is our debt."
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The U.S. is now spending close to 900 billion dollars, per year, on military spending!  Is this what the people want?  Multinational corporations are not the same as people!  Multinational corporate money is not the same as our free speech!  Citizens United must go! www.htpps://movetoamend.org

THERE IS MUCH TO BE LEARNED BY DEMOCRAT AND REPUBLICAN VOTERS, AND LEADERS, FROM THIS NEW POLL!

This new NBC/WSJ poll conducted November 14-17 provides a post election snap shot of American voter expectations, including their priorities for actions Congress should take. Can you guess how they match up with GOP Lawmaker's priorities? It's a real shocker folks.
The People's agenda for Congress:
1.   Access to lower cost student loans--80% support.
2.   Increase spending on infrastructure--75%
3.   Raising the minimum wage--65%
4.   Emergency funding for fighting Ebola in Africa--60%
5.   Addressing climate change/reducing carbon emissions--59%
6.   Building Keystone Pipeline--54%
Agenda items registering below 50% support were: lowering taxes by closing loopholes; approving U.S. troops to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria; reducing Medicare and Social Security benefits for wealthy retirees; new trade agreements with Asian nations; lowering corporate tax rates; cutting funding for ACA; path to citizenship; and raising Social Security retirement age.
I thought it would be insightful to compare America's priorities with those of our newly elected Congress. According to PolitiFact.com
House Speaker John Boehner and soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have laid out some of their top legislative priorities. It’s a range of issues -- everything from dismantling the Affordable Care Act to passing international trade agreements, and shutting down the possibility of another government shutdown.
Here is PolitiFact's list in the order presented:
1.   Authorize Keystone Pipeline.
2.   Repeal ACA ("Obamacare")
3.   Pass the "Hire More Heroes" (veterans) Act.
4.   Pass Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement with Asia.
5.   Lower corporate taxes.
6.   Thwarting Obama on Immigration Executive Action.
7.   Reign in the EPA and roll back environmental regulations.
In a Wall Street Journal op ed published the day after the election, Boehner and McConnell outline some of their legislative priorities.
Looking ahead to the next Congress, we will honor the voters’ trust by focusing, first, on jobs and the economy. Among other things, that means a renewed effort to debate and vote on the many bills that passed the Republican-led House in recent years with bipartisan support, but were never even brought to a vote by the Democratic Senate majority.
A distillation of the Boehner/McConnell priorities in the order presented.
1.   Repeal "Obamacare."
2.   Authorize the Keystone Pipeline.
3.   Pass the "Hire More Heroes" (veterans) Act.
4.   Restore "traditional" definition of full time work week to 40 hours (see item 1.)
5.   Protect and expand America's energy boom [thanks Obama].
6.   Support charter schools with tax dollars.
Keeping in mind their promise "honor the voters' trust" it is interesting to note that there is only one item in common with the voters actual agenda for Congress, which is #6 on the people's list and #2 on B & M's list. Other than that, these Republican leaders address none of the issues Americans have said are the most important; nothing about student loans or the cost of college; nothing about infrastructure, bridges and roads; nothing about the minimum wage; after all their hysteria before the election, nothing about money to fight the Ebola outbreak; and instead of addressing climate change and reducing carbon emissions they of course want to do just the opposite.
How is that for honoring the voters' trust? It is clear the GOP doesn't trust voters at all, because they will do everything in their power to lower voter enthusiasm and participation, and therefore have no intention of honoring voters' trust by addressing the issues that matter most. The GOP agenda is the Koch Brothers' agenda. It is Sheldon Adelson's, the Walton's and the oil companies' agenda.

I’M ASKING!

TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN!

The coin represents political power.

On one side of the coin is Move to Amend and those in the struggle for real democracy. We believe in people, and if our history teaches us anything, it shows the power of people to right injustice through social movements. We are building a broad and deep democracy movement. 

We are seeking political power to transform government so that we may finally secure a functioning democracy, which:

· Recognizes that all people are people with unalienable rights,

· That corporations are NOT people with Constitutional rights,

· That money is not a protected form of political speech, and

· Is the instrument through which social, economic, and environmental justice will prevail.

On the other side of the coin is the American Legislative Exchange Council(ALEC) comprised of publicly and privately held, often multi-national corporations and elected representatives. ALEC seeks to maintain and expand its already significant political power, which:

· They wield to pass corporate-written legislation,

· Benefits their bottom lines and the re-election campaigns of member legislators,

· Seeks to diminish the rights of “We the People,” and

· Permanently establishes a ruling class of haves and have-nots.

At this crucial moment in our history the coin has been tossed into the air. It is still on its way up, flipping over and over. Will it be heads or tails? Democracy or oligarchy? Move to Amend or ALEC?

Move to Amend's recent Election Day successes are the result of a growing movement, but we cannot rest on our laurels. We must continue to grow to keep winning and building the democracy movement. It all begins with our Motion to Amend petition.

Our goal is 25,000 more signatures on the petition by the end of this year. Will you ask ten friends to sign the petition today?

We may be two sides of the same coin, but the outcome of this coin toss will have serious repercussions for all generations to come. Share this link today to help us reach our goal and grow the movement. http://movetoamend.nationbuilder.com/petition

We cannot afford to lose the great American coin toss.

Yours in the movement,

Daniel Lee, David Cobb, Egberto Willies, George Friday, Jerome Scott, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Laura Bonham, Edgar Franks, Richard Monje, Virginia Rasmussen

Move to Amend National Leadership Team

PS -- Amending the Constitution to put corporations in their place and get big money out of politics is so very important -- please help our movement grow by doing the simple act of recruiting ten of your friends to sign the Motion to Amend http://movetoamend.nationbuilder.com/petition

 by emailing them the link and posting it to social media.

It's time to take our representative form of democracy back!
You can check out, and join, the effort to get our power back at www.https.//movetoamend.org

WHEW! WE CAN BE GLAD THAT'S OVER! I BET NOW THEY WILL ROLL UP THEIR SLEEVES AND GET TO WORK! NOT! AND YOU THOUGHT YOU SAW OBSTRUCTIONISM BEFORE! This is exactly what multinational corporations wanted! Nothing will change. They will continue to be successful beyond their wildest imaginations! After all, their money is now, thanks to Citizens United of 2010, the same as our speech! They don't have to tell who, or what, they supported to get more of the same....GRIDLOCK! Was the public better informed, with all of these added political advertisements? We must Move To Amend! https:www.movetoamend.org

PRESIDENT OBAMA IS THE ONLY PRESIDENT IN THE UNITED STATES WHOSE APPROVAL RATINGS DROPPED A SINGLE POINT, OVER A TEN-MONTH STRETCH AND IT WAS DESCRIBED AS HAVING PLUMMETED!

THE TRUTH IS: President Obama’s lowest ratings are higher than the lowest of any President since John F. Kennedy. That’s right. At President Reagan’s lowest, he was at just 35 percent. President George W. Bush once hit 19 percent!

If you’ve spent any time at all paying attention to the mainstream, or what is often called the “liberal” media, you might be under the impression that the country is turning on President Obama — that his approval rating has never been lower. The only problem with that meme is that it’s simply not true.
The news media reminders arrive almost daily now: President Obama’s approval rating is low and going lower. McClatchy Newspapers highlighted the “dropping approval ratings,” while the Washington Post declared “President Obama’s approval ratings have plunged to record lows.” The Christian Science Monitor noted the numbers have “plummeted.” The Washington Examiner stressed the president’s approvals were “sinking to historic lows,” while an Atlantic headline announced, “Obama’s Sinking Approval Could Drag Democrats Down With Him.”

A plummeting presidential approval rating right before a midterm election definitely adds drama to the news cycle and it has had the effect of scaring Democratic candidates away from the President, but if anyone would actually sit down and look at the numbers, they’d see that Obama’s approval ratings have hardly budged since the beginning of the year. As a matter of fact, they aren’t much lower than they were in October of 2012, right before he was reelected in a landslide.
According to the cumulative ratings posted daily at Real Clear Politics, which averages together an array of national polls to come up with Obama’s composite job approval rating, the president’s approval on January 1, 2014 stood at 42.6 percent. The president’s approval rating on October 30, was 42 percent. So over the course of ten months, and based on more than one hundred poll results in 2014, Obama’s approval rating declined less than one point.
One point!
One can safely say Obama is the only president in U.S. history whose approval rating dropped a single digit over a ten-month stretch and it was described as having “plummeted.”
In the weeks leading to the 2012 election, things weren’t much better. There was a big uptick immediately before the election, probably in the wake of Hurricane Sandy and Mitt Romney’s infamous 47 percent remarks, but before that, the President was only at 44 percent.
No, his approval ratings are not stellar. They’re only 3 percent over his all-time low of 39 percent. Historically, Obama’s lowest ratings are higher than the lowest of any President since John F. Kennedy. That’s right. At Saint Ronnie Reagan’s lowest, he was at just 35 percent. George W. Bush once hit 19 percent.
Back to the present, Congress has an approval rating of below 13 percent, yet somehow, it’s Obama’s approval ratings, at more than triple that, that makes headlines and makes congressional candidates turn tail and run.
You still think the media is in Obama’s pocket?

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS COUNTING ON THREE THINGS DURING THIS YEAR'S ELECTION:

1. That you will have a short memory

2. That you will vote based on your fears – fears that they are doing their best to magnify

3. That you will not vote

A.)Republicans would like you to vote based on a natural fear of Ebola. They are counting on you to forget how Republicans have handled/mishandled diseases of the past. (Think Aids and Reagan.)
B.)Republicans would like you to vote based on the 4 deaths surrounding our Benghazi Embassy. They are counting on you to forget the 13 Embassy attacks, with 66 American deaths, during the Bush Republican administration)
C.)Republicans would like you to vote based on recent American actions in the Middle East- Syria. They would like you to forget how America got involved in this area of the world in the first place. (Think Bush)
D.)Republicans would like you to vote based on the roll out of the Affordable Health Care Act. They would like you to forget how the health insurance industry was dealing with health care before the AHCA and how successful, and affordable, AHCA has actually been in its implementation.
E.)Republicans would like you to think about the seriousness of the 56 straight months of slow economic growth. They would like you to forget about the tailspin our economy was in before President Obama took office.
F.) Republicans would like you to think about the Federal Debt and the Federal Deficit but would like you to forget how we got the debt in the first place and how successfully President Obama has dealt with the deficit, reducing it to 2.9% of the GDP compared to nearly double that when he took office.
G.)Republicans would like you to forget about the successes of the strength of the American dollar, at home, and overseas,  the dramatic increase on Wall Street, the falling unemployment numbers, The highest business profits ever, the lowest inflation rates for any administration in recent memory, the return of the American auto industry, the highest level of consumer confidence in decade, and the turnaround of the housing markets in 50 of the top 50 American housing markets. They would like you to forget about their failed trickle down economic policies.

1. The housing market, in 50 of the top 50 U.S. markets, is now improving the best it has in many years.

2. The United States dollar has remained strong in the United States, and overseas.

3. The United States auto industry is now back to being the number one auto industry in the world.

4. Our United States inflation/cost of living rates remains at the lowest rates they have ever been for any administration in our lifetimes.

5.  The United States is experiencing it’s 63 straight month of economic growth, one of the strongest runs for any presidential administration ever.

6.  The United States is currently experiencing the longest run of private sector job growth (54 straight months) that is the longest in American History.

7.  The unemployment rate has gone from 10.1% to 6.1% since President Obama has been in office.  A conservative estimate is that it may likely be at 5.4% by the summer of 2015.

8.  The United States Stock Market has fully recovered from the near depression and continues to set historically record highs on a very regular basis.

9.  The United States Federal Deficit continues to shrink.  It is now at levels that put it at 2/3 of what it was in 2009.

10.  Spending increases at the Federal level, under President Obama, is the lowest it has been since the Eisenhower Administration.  It is currently at 1.4%, annually.

11. Income taxes under the Obama Administration are lower than they have been in 50 years, for 95% of American citizens.

12.  Domestic oil production is at all-time record highs, while fuel efficiency standards are the best they have ever been, resulting in the least dependence in foreign oil in decades.

13.  Over 7 million Americans now have health insurance compared to 5 years ago.

14.  Children with expensive medical concerns can no longer be refused health care coverage.

15. The life of Medicare has been extended by 13 years thanks to the Affordable Health Care Act, while health care costs are seeing the slowest rise in costs since the 1950’s and 60’s.

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL. IT IS EXPENSIVE. IT WILL GET WORSE! IT MAY NOT BE TOO LATE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! We should not leave this situation to our children and grandchildren. It will be a legacy that none of us can be proud of: "Grandpa/Grandma, why didn't you do anything to stop this?" We should be embarrassed that it has gotten this bad before we forced our leaders to act. This is one of the best sites that can be used to help people understand why the carbon cycle is so important: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/CarbonCycle/
It is a bit detailed but it is critical that everyone, particularly our political leaders, gets a handle, at the very least, on understanding that rising temperatures, and rising carbon dioxide levels, are no hoax. It is no joke! It is not science researchers trying to stay employed. The information is overwhelming! It is real. The data for this graph comes for ice core samples taken from the tops of Hawaiian mountains and is correlated with other data from around the world.
This graph is a compilation of real data. It is information taken over a fairly short period of time, compared to the climate changes that involved past ice ages. The water levels will rise, have been rising, due to melting ice because it is ice that was not floating in the oceans. Some still use their ice cubes floating in their drinks as an example for why melting ice should have no impact on rising sea levels! The added water is from ice that was on land.

Big oil, and big energy, corporations, multi-international corporations, are still out there trying to keep us hooked on fossil fuels. They have billions of tax payer subsidy dollars to use to make their case that the jury is still out, to convince us that all of the evidence to the contrary is trumped up....very similar to the way cigarette companies used to operate in the United States and still do operate around the world.....but...I'll give it a go anyway..........................WHAT EVIDENCE DO YOU HAVE OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE? If someone were to ask you that question, you could answer: "Sea level rise, global temperature rise, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, dramatically increasing carbon dioxide levels, declining Arctic sea ice, glacial retreat, extreme weather events, and ocean acidification are happening, not just predicted, but have already happened! The best source I have found for the support of this information, that details each of these events, is at:http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

This is just the way our new system of government works. It used to be a government of, by, and for, the people, a democracy/representative republic. It is now an oligarchy/corporatocracy, a government of, by, and for, the muti-international corporations of the world. This only took a matter of weeks to happen but the 41 senators who blocked a raise in the minimum wage will have to wait to get another automatic raise until January 1, 2015! We don't even get to vote for those who are actually in control of our government. We don't get to vote for the lobbyists, the CEO's, the banking industry, the Super PACs, that are now handing out the money and controlling who gets elected, and what legislation gets passed. Just listen to the ads to try find out who is now controlling the election process. You can't always tell because they can hide behind the name of their Super PACs. htpp://movetoamend.org

One of the best ways to see what the general public is feeling about how things are going is to ask them! That is, precisely, what the Harris Poll does. The Harris Consumer Confidence Poll has been done every quarter, of every year, for decades and decades. That poll is nearly off the charts for how much confidence people are having in the current administration compared to the past, even compared to a magical 100 rating. Here is a summary of that Harris Poll, from a couple of days ago:

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® Improves Again
26 Aug. 2014
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had increased in July, improved further in August. The Index now stands at 92.4 (1985=100), up from 90.3 in July. The Present Situation Index increased to 94.6 from 87.9, while the Expectations Index edged down to 90.9 from 91.9 in July.
The monthly Consumer Confidence Survey®, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and analytics around what consumers buy and watch. The cutoff date for the preliminary results was August 14.
Says Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board: “Consumer confidence increased for the fourth consecutive month as improving business conditions and robust job growth helped boost consumers’ spirits. Looking ahead, consumers were marginally less optimistic about the short-term outlook compared to July, primarily due to concerns about their earnings. Overall, however, they remain quite positive about the short-term outlooks for the economy and labor market.”
Consumers’ appraisal of current conditions continued to improve through August.
The Source:
August 2014 Consumer Confidence Survey®
The Conference Board
This shouldn't be so surprising, as Democratic Presidential administrations, going back to 1947, have always done better than Republican administrations.

FIREWORKS AT THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR! ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,We plan to visit the MN State Fair again this year. It sounds like one must stop should be the Republican State Fair Booth! The fireworks at the GOP booth continues. In recent years past, it has been Former Republican Senator Rudy Boschowitz, Former Republican Senator David Durenburger, Former Republican Governor Arnie Carlson, and former Former Republican Governor Elmer L. Anderson who were uninvited to their own Minnesota State Fair Booth or their own Republican State Convention. The Republican Party, as it is today, is a far cry from what it once was. They have become a wing of the Tea Party/FOX Party. In Minnesota history, 25 or our governors have been from the Republican Party compared to only 6 for the Democratic Party but the new Republican Party is such a right wing faction of what it used to be! You can bet your money that indicted U.S. Congresswoman, Michelle Bachman, is more than welcome in the Republican MN State Fair Booth! Fireworks at the Minnesota State Fair is something you won't want to miss!

THIS YEAR IN FAIR POLITICS: GOP vs. GOP
By Don Davis Today August 22nd, 2014
ST. PAUL — Political challengers proposed debating incumbents. Incumbents pared down the challengers’ lists. The governor sat motionless as two buckets of ice were dumped on him.

It was a typical opening day at the Great Minnesota (Political) Get-Together, except, that is, that the State Fair also featured Republican officials banning their endorsed Supreme Court candidate from the party’s fair booth.

Michelle MacDonald tried twice to get into the booth, between a radio station’s remote studio and the 99-year-old Ye Old Mill ride.

MacDonald had announced her plans to campaign at the fair booth each day of the fair, but two volunteer security guards greeted her and tried to keep her out of the booth. Elected party officials, including chairman Keith Downey, were not there.

While she eventually was allowed in twice, it was just to look briefly, not to campaign.

MacDonald said Downey told her of the decision by party officials Wednesday to ban her, but she said those officials have a duty to either support their endorsed candidates or resign from party leadership.

The ban came a month before MacDonald faces a trial on a drunken-driving charge and after being ticketed this month on a charge of violating her limited driver’s license.

Michael Brodkorb of politics.mn, a former GOP official, reported that one Republican Executive Council member said the panel would “fully support” MacDonald being arrested if she attempts to enter the Republican Party booth.

She was not arrested Thursday, although law enforcement officers were nearby.

MacDonald told Forum News Service that she plans to return to the booth each day.

Republicans meeting in Rochester, Minn., this spring overwhelmingly endorsed MacDonald to challenge Justice David Lillehaug, who Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton appointed to the high court.

Sen. Scott Newman of Hutchinson, who Republicans nominated for attorney general, announced Thursday that he will support Lillehaug instead of MacDonald.

Longtime politics-at-the-fair observers said they never have seen anything like the MacDonald incident.

More traditional fair politics were also plentiful, especially debates about debates. Fireworks are in the air!

So, economically, how are things going? GREAT!....if you are in the right group!

ON THIS DAY, IN 1776,NEWS REACHES LONDON THAT AMERICAS HAD DRAFTED THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE! It was a declaration of WE THE PEOPLE!
Until the Declaration of Independence formally transformed the 13 British colonies into states, both Americans and the British saw the conflict centered in Massachusetts as a local uprising within the British empire. To King George III, it was a colonial rebellion, and to the Americans, it was a struggle for their rights as British citizens. However, when Parliament continued to oppose any reform and remained unwilling to negotiate with the American rebels and instead hired Hessians, German mercenaries, to help the British army crush the rebellion, the Continental Congress began to pass measures abolishing British authority in the colonies.
THE WORDS "CORPORATION" AND "CORPORATIONS" WERE INTENTIONALLY LEFT OUT OF THE DOCUMENT. CORPORATIONS WERE NOT TO BE CONSIDERED AS PEOPLE AND CORPORATE MONEY WAS NOT SPEECH!

They now control most all of our media as well! They know how to use advertising to keep the factions of the public fighting against one another, leaving themselves to continue their takeover of our country!

The above post is correct but the image is wrong.  Corporation, and corporations were intentionally left out of both documents! While we are on the topic: ________________________________________

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND THE CONSTITUTION! By Jefferson and Madison

The Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, and outlined the reasons why the colonies were seeking independence from Great Britain. The document was written by Thomas Jefferson at the suggestion of the other members of the Continental Congress. He wrote the draft in June of 1776, and his fellow committee members made changes in wording and added additional charges against King George III of England. The document listed the "self-evident truths" and "unalienable rights" of Americans that Thomas Jefferson based on the philosophy of John Locke, and it provided the reasons why the colonies are seeking independence.

The Constitution was written in 1787 and ratified by the 13 states in March of 1789. The Constitution served as the fundamental law of the United States and established the foundation for a republican form of government with three separate branches: the judicial, executive and legislative. The Constitution was influenced by the United States' experience under the Articles of Confederation which was the country's first written constitution. Individual states had been granted too many rights, weakening the federal government. The Constitution strengthened the central government while still maintaining individual liberties. The first ten amendments to the constitution are known as the Bill of Rights, and they became part of the Constitution on December 15, 1791. The Bill of Rights guarantees Americans the rights to freedom of speech, assembly and religion, among others. Corporations are not people! Corporate money is not speech!

What could they do?
How about immigration reform and dealing with the problem of forcing our best, and brightest students to deal with predatory lenders to cover for their astronomical student loans? How about highway and bridge maintenance? Can they do nothing to help better care for our Veterans? Shouldn't campaign finance reform, at least, be discussed? Congress could do SOMETHING about Global Climate Change. Congress could do SOMETHING about the takeover of our government by multi-international corporations! They could quite paving the way for multi-international corporations to dominate everything that used to be controlled by The People. Doing nothing about Citizens United, giving muti-international corporate money the same legal definition as our speech and the corporation the same rights as a person, has resulted in a government takeover, giving corporations the ability to control our economy, our courts, our environment, our media, our prison system, our military system and our ballot boxes.

“In a country as wealthy as the United States, all workers should be able to afford stable housing, healthy food, quality education, and health care. It is also an economic imperative to support our workers if we want to remain competitive globally and boost our economy.
This means increasing wages and labor protections so that every worker, in every industry, can support a family, build assets, and plan for retirement. It also means ensuring that today's workers--and tomorrow's--have opportunities to gain the education, skills, and training needed to move up at work, and become a part of the middle class.
From All-In Nation, here are six things that President Obama and Congress can do right now to put us on the path to economic equity and inclusion:
1. Guarantee Domestic Workers Basic Wage and Labor Protections. Nearly two years ago, President Obama pledged to extend basic workplace rights to our country's 1.8 million domestic workers. While new rules from the Department of Labor extending minimum wage and other basic workplace protections to in-home caregivers have been proposed, they have yet to be finalized.

2. Do Business Only with Companies that Pay Good Wages and Offer Benefits.Every year the federal government spends more than $500 billion on goods and services.

3. Increase the Minimum Wage. As Christian Weller, Julie Ajinkya, and Sarah Treuhaft write in All-In Nation, "raising the minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $10.10 would put $51.5 billion annually in the pockets of affected workers, who are disproportionately people of color, and would create approximately 140,000 new jobs every year." President Obama and Congress have both an economic and moral incentive to make this happen as soon as possible.

4. Train Low-Income Youth and Adults for Good Jobs in High-Growth Industries.Congress should pass the Pathways Back to Work bills proposed by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep. George Miller (D-CA), which would prepare hundreds of thousands of low-income youth and adults for quality jobs in high-growth industries.

5. Strengthen Community Colleges. The Obama Administration and Congress should enact policies like the Community College to Career Fund proposed in President Obama's FY 2013 budget that would train 2 million workers for well-paid jobs in high-demand sectors.

These steps would be a good start to creating an all-in nation and fostering an inclusive, vibrant economy.”
________________________________________
Angela Glover Blackwell is the founder and CEO of PolicyLink.

Actually, they have had time to do some things besides raising money to get re-elected!

WHAT IS THE "WE THE PEOPLE/MOVE TO AMEND" MOVEMENT?
by Virg Boehland (As printed in the June 18th, 2014 Duluth Reader Weekly)
THE "WE THE PEOPLE- MOVE TO AMEND" amendment is a proposal to get 2/3 of the states, individually, to request our federal government to return the power back to the people.
The Move To Amend movement is a grassroots, multi-partisan, movement that has multiple volunteer organizations in every state. Minnesota, for example, has groups in Duluth, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Rochester, and Grand Rapids. Seventeen states have already passed legislation to amend our United States Constitution; the proposal passed the Minnesota Senate during the 2013 legislative session, but came up just a few votes short in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Governor Mark Dayton, in the past, has indicated his support. Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, and Green Party members alike support the "We the People/Move To Amend" amendment. Republican, Newt Gingrich dislike the super-PAC's that are now in control. Ronald Reagan Economic Advisor, David Stockman believes corporate personhood must go. 154 other leading Republicans have supported the elimination of Citizens United. Republican appointed, Justice John Paul Stevens is working to overturn the courts Citizens United decision and John McCain says that Citizens United is the worst Supreme Court decision ever! They join leading Democrats, including President Obama, on this issue. President Obama says that Citizens United is the worst Supreme Court decision in decades and all agree that corporate personhood must go.

WHAT IS THE SPECIFIC WORD OF THE WE THE PEOPLE/MOVE TO AMEND amendment?
(The following is from the national Move To Amend Website)
“Move to Amend’s “We the People” Amendment:
Section 1. [Artificial Entities Such as Corporations Do Not Have Constitutional Rights]
The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons only. Artificial entities established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state shall have no rights under this Constitution and are subject to regulation by the People, through Federal, State, or local law. The privileges of artificial entities shall be determined by the People, through Federal, State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable.
Section 2. [Money is Not Free Speech]
Federal, State, and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures, including a candidate’s own contributions and expenditures, to ensure that all citizens, regardless of their economic status, have access to the political process, and that no person gains, as a result of their money, substantially more access or ability to influence in any way the election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure. Federal, State, and local government shall require that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed.”

WHAT IS CORPORATE PERSONHOOD AND WHAT IS WRONG WITH IT?
“Corporate personhood” commonly refers to the Supreme Court-created precedent of mega- corporations enjoying constitutional rights that were intended solely for human beings. Move To Amend believes this form of “corporate personhood” corrupts our Constitution and must be corrected by amending the Constitution. Many corporations are the backbone of our country. Not all abuse the power they have achieved. Unfortunately, too often the things that keep a person alive, clean air, clean water, and healthy food are the very things that are contaminated in order for some corporations to live. Too often those things harm, and kill people. In those situations, multi-international corporations are the opposite of people. Neither the Declaration of Independence nor the United States Constitution ever mention corporations, nor a corporation, and were intentionally left out of our United States Constitution by our Founding Fathers. Corporations, as we know them today, were illegal for over 100 years after our American Revolution. But thanks to decades of rulings by Justices who molded the law to favor elite interests, corporations today are granted so-called “rights” that empower them to deny citizens the right to full self-governance.
Justices since have struck down hundreds of local, state and federal laws enacted to protect people from corporate harm based on this illegitimate premise. Armed with these “rights,” multi international corporations wield ever-increasing control over jobs, the ballot box, our environment, politicians, even control of judges, and the law.
Move To Amend believes corporations are not persons and possess only the privileges citizens and their elected representatives willfully grant them. The “We the People” Amendment will reverse the Court’s invention of “corporate personhood” and limit corporations to their proper role: doing business.
How did multi-international corporations achieve corporate personhood?
It is only through the court system that the best lawyers, and the best lobbyists, in the world have managed, through Supreme Court decisions such as the 2010 Citizens United, to achieve corporate personhood. According to the First Amendment of our United States Constitution, the judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech.

WHY ALL OF THIS TALK ABOUT DEMOCRACY? ISN'T THE UNITED STATES A REPUBLIC?
According to the national Move To Amend website, our use of the term “democracy” is shorthand for what is technically our political system - a democratic republic with direct election by citizens of other citizens to represent us, We the People. “Democracy” accurately describes, however, the direct ability and power of citizens through education, advocacy and organizing to influence other citizens, the media and elected officials through organizations, campaigns and social movements.
“Democracy” is also an accurate description of the several ways We the People in many states directly govern and bypass elected representatives. These include the initiative, referendum and recall - the power of citizens to create laws, reverse laws and remove elected representatives.
Whether democracy, republic, or democratic republic, they (and we) are all effectively weakened when corporations possess inalienable constitutional rights to influence public opinion, shape public laws, mold public officials and intimidate public communities.

WHY IS THE WE THE PEOPLE/MOVE TO AMEND AMENDMENT IMPORTANT TO US?
Every time multi-international corporations gain more control over our elections, ever time they gain more control over delivering the message that can be used to control the citizens, every time they write and pass legislation favorable to their efforts without the population knowing where that money comes from, the people lose more, and more of their control over their country. “We the people” is becoming “We the multi-international corporations. When it takes 25+ million dollars for candidates to run their political campaigns, as was the case in the District 8 House of Representatives seat for Northern Minnesota two years ago, the individuals ability to control who gets elected is diminished. Corporate interests are drowning out the people’s voices, the people’s votes.https://movetoamend.org/