Do you miss Van Jones?

The last time I saw Van Jones speak was in Washington DC early on inauguration day, Jan. 20, 2009, and the world was going to be all right with him in the White House as the "Green Jobs" czar. We remember how the far right hated the very idea of the black lefty firebrand from Oakland with some authority. Glenn Beck raged, and in not too long a time Van Jones was out. It was one of my early disappointments with the Obama era. How could this happen?

So it was good on Friday to have Van Jones giving the post-breakfast keynote at Netroots Nation, the DailyKos-sponsored bloggers' convention. Bittersweet to hear him say, "In the last two years all my dreams came true, and my nightmares, too."

You can see the whole speech at this link from Netroots Nation.

Keep on watching into his interview done by Ari Melber of The Nation, who asked Van Jones whether Big Ed Schultz had been correct in his fierce speech the night before, when he insinuated there was a "sissy room" in the White House. "This is harder than it looks," Jones said of life in the White House. It's one thing to perform strongly in an election campaign, and another much more difficult thing to have won and then have to govern and legislate and face "a toxic and hostile media environment."

Jones also said that what we're dealing with now is "a ferocious backlash." Yet he tries to keep his sunny personality in good order and urges us to be more beautiful, keep the hope alive. "You have the power to do it."

He was introduced in a recorded video statement by Howard Dean. "Our job," Dean said, "is to keep their feet to the fire in Washington."

To quote Van Jones (from a different context), "This is harder than it looks."

Top 5 on-line journalism stories of the year, and Florida is in the mix

Here's one view of the top five on-line news accomplishments of 2009.



Check out the third entry, which includes a Tampa event in the string of tea parties that right-wing actors performed in.

Read about the list on Daily Kos.

The voice of reason: What's going on in Washington

Our blogging leader, Markos Moulitsas, founder of Daily Kos, was on the tube Sunday morning, and I'm just catching up. Here's his take on where we are, and like Paul Krugman in the NY Times, he thinks the filibuster has to go/change.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/21/817344/-Markos-on-Meet-the-Press

Daily Kos speculates on Crist turning Democrat

With tongue perhaps in cheek, the mighty Kos blogged yesterday that Charlie Crist might as well switch to the Democratic Party in his quest for a seat in the US Senate.

Almost more interesting to me was the Daily Kos polling on the opinions behind the Republicans who favor the outgoing governor Crist or the former Florida House speaker, Marco Rubio, to be nominee for Senate. Turns out – surprise! – a lot of Rubio’s backers don’t think Barack Obama is a US citizen. That has been a quiet front lately. But the birthers are still lurking around the corner from all our polling places, and Rubio bids to be the one to set them loose.  What a strange state we inhabit. We can be certain that the nation and the world will be watching Florida closely through the 2012 election. We started this in 2000.

ASIDE: My first shot at posting this news of the Kos poll didn’t quite come off. It may be nuts for a blogger to confess this, but I was not even to the state of blogging while wearing pajamas at my computer; I was flat in bed browsing news through Google Reader on my iPhone, and tried to post with an email to the magic Blogger address that makes it all happen. But NOW I’m blogging while wearing pajamas at my computer …

For the record, all that was posted on the first attempt was this URL which sort of takes one on a loop to Google Reader and not much further into knowledge of the wider world.

http://www.google.com/reader/i/#stream/user%2F14525197483831170873%2Fstate%2Fcom.google%2Freading-list

FL-Sen: Kos keeps backing Rubio's chances against Crist

All I can say is, read it and ponder. This is the big guy among us bloggers, Markos Moulitsas, founder of Daily Kos, judging that Marco Rubio is going to beat Charlie Crist to be the Republican nominee for US Senate next year. Is it just the similarity of their first names? Both young guys with Latino origins?

I'm assuming Markos wouldn't vote for Rubio, if he were a Floridian. But just to be sure I'm posting a comment to link my recent post on Rubio's appearance  in Key Largo.

Amerijet Strike: Plastic bags are only onboard bathroom

This is what we've sunk to in labor relations after 20 years of Republican administrations out of not quite 29 years. The bosses get away with making their employees pee into plastic bags.

And it's right here in Miami. Yes, you read the sign right. "No bathrooms for air crew."

Here's a recent story from the Miami Herald about the Amerijet strike that started on Aug. 27.

Plastic bags are only onboard bathroom, pilots say - Florida AP - MiamiHerald.com

I went out and spent a short while at their rally and picket line on Labor Day. Over 100 people including family members were there in a festive mood. National and local union officials fired up the crowd. Still, a little fact buzzed up to cause me disquiet: the company has refused to negotiate a new contract for five years. Five Years!

With that in mind, I was glad to read later Monday the Daily Kos post about Labor Day, quoting the next head of the AFL-CIO, Rich Trumka, who's regarded as more aggressive than the outgoing crew. Thank goodness. The following excerpt is from the Washington Post's profile of Trumka.

Trumka's ascent represents a true changing of the guard, ushering in a tone of leadership that will be far more muscular than that of the avuncular [John] Sweeney. Even Sweeney says the time has come for a more assertive approach.

"It's true that he's more aggressive than Sweeney was," he said in his gentle Irish-via-New York lilt, referring to himself in the third person, "but I think that there is a time when you have to be aggressive and only can take so much, when you're getting it from people who are not looking for a way to resolve a problem but are looking for a way to kill the labor movement."

The Kos post seems to be quite a perceptive and balanced report on the outlook for organized labor. Our Miami slice of that appears to be national union support of the Amerijet strikers. Let's hope they soon can enjoy industry-standard pay and working conditions. Click here for Teamsters Local 769 news on the strike.

Some video from Monday's rally:

Pretty crazy: Get the Club for Growth to take out Crist

They're watching Florida again already.

On Daily Kos Monday evening Markos himself has a post urging the Club for Growth to descend upon us and take down any viable Republican candidate for the soon-to-be-vacant U.S. Senate seat now held by Mel Martinez (who, like Arlen Specter of PA, maybe couldn't win a Republican primary).

Remember how Specter blames the Club for Growth for wrecking moderate Republicanism? Let's do it in Florida, too.

And in addition, the photo of Obama and Crist should be displayed all the time to make the Republicans start cheering ABC, ABC, ABC. Anyone But Crist. So says Markos.

That's a Getty Images photo.

Oh, by the way, Crist is supposed to announce on Tuesday. Into the fray with Marco Rubio, for the Republican nomination.

UPDATE: Karen Thurman, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, neatly summarizes all the opportunity that lies in Crist's decision to bail out of Tallahassee and try for the Senate:

His decision creates a once in a generation opportunity for change in Florida and ensures that nothing will be the same after 2010.

In the next 20 months, there will be a fight for the Governor’s mansion, a United States Senate seat, three other statewide offices up for grabs, a number of seats in Congress to fight for, and with at least 9 open State Senate seats and 22 open State House seats that are currently held by Republicans, there will be other legislative races across the Sunshine State – and Floridians will cast their ballots and change the face of our state.

In other words: Democrats, it's time to concentrate on how to win a ton of open seats in November 2010. We can take Florida back.

And in Washington, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee throws cold water on the notion that Crist might be a popular governor because he and his gerrymandering party have done such a good job. Where do we stand after 30 months of Crist?

Florida Has Second Highest Foreclosure Rate. Florida is currently ranked second in home foreclosure activity. Florida recorded 18,946 foreclosures in March, a 33 percent increase from February. [Orlando Business Journal, 4/15/09]

Floridians Facing Job Losses, Foreclosures, Dwindling Bank Accounts. Crist is presiding over a historic collapse of the state's housing market, banking sector and construction industry, and a slowdown in tourism. Floridians struggle with job reductions, home foreclosures and dwindling bank accounts. [South Florida Sun Sentinel, 4/17/09]

Budget Hikes Taxes, Fees, Tuition While Cutting Spending, Including Elderly Care and State Workers’ Pay. Lawmakers in Tallahassee have been wrestling with a $6 billion budget gap. The budget recently passed by lawmakers includes $2 billion in new fees and taxes, pay cuts for state workers, tuition hikes, and cuts to elderly healthcare. [Ledger, 5/04/09; News Herald, 5/08/09]

Down with Socialism!

Found this gem on Daily Kos.

FL-25: Joe Garcia on offensive against smear machine

There is a pretty small vocabulary over there in the Diaz-Balart camp. Their favorite words are pathetic and ludicrous. That's when referring to us. This comes from their pretty small emotional range, which seems stuck on contempt. When referring to us. Now they're even using it on a veteran of the Iraq war, who was brave enough to declare alliance with us. And for his pains, he's branded pathetic by the Mario Diaz-Balart camp.

The Garcia camp is properly aroused and asks us all to pull out all stops to spread the word among District 25 voters. Read more about it on Daily Kos. And please take action. My email network is starting to hum.

Vote for Joe Garcia -- now!

There's a poll on Daily Kos where you can vote for Joe Garcia. Check it out.