Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox

Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox September 29, 2013 GUEST: *PETER PHILLIPS TOPIC: THE FINANCIAL CORE OF THE TRANSNATIONAL CAPITALIST CLASS  Project Censored has just finish a year long study on the people on the boards of directors of the top ten asset management firms and the top ten most centralized corporations in the world. With overlaps there is a total of thirteen firms in our study: Barclays PLC, BlackRock Inc., Capital Group Companies Inc., FMR Corporation: Fidelity Worldwide Investment, AXA Group, State Street Corporation, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Legal & General Group PLC (LGIMA), Vanguard Group Inc., UBS AG, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse Group AG, and Allianz SE (Owners of PIMCO) PIMCO-Pacific Investment Management Co. The boards of directors of these firms, totaling 161 individuals. They are the financial core of the world’s Transnational Capitalist Class.  Collectively, these 161 people manage $23.91 trillion in f

We have been hearing a lot about attacks on Social Security and the Minimum Wage. Labor has not had the proper response. Richard Trumka, the President of the AFL-CIO, hailed Jerry Brown increasing the Minimum Wage in California to $10.00 an hour--- but, we needed to read the small print: $10.00 an hour beginning in 2016! Anyone care to explain exactly what $10.00 an hour will buy you in a state like California with such a high cost of living? And the cost of living will be even higher when this $10.00 an hour kicks in in three years--- 2016. How much does a loaf of bread cost in California? How much is a gallon of milk? How much is a package of hot dogs or a dozen eggs? How much is peanut butter? How much is rent? How much is gas? How much is electricity? How much is college tuition? How much will Obamacare cost? Why isn't anyone placing this $10.00 an hour and the paltry increases in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 in perspective of what a

Although I can’t escape the imperial goings on around the globe — unconditional peace always being my main focus and motivation — I am running for governor of California. However, if California is managed correctly we could easily be a global force for awesomeness (had to say it, since I am a “Valley Girl”). So, lately, I have been spending most of my time focusing on the incumbent — former Moonbeam, Jerry Brown (D). Besides recently signing legislation approving more hydrofracturing in California and giving California’s surplus funds to private prisons to alleviate horrendous overcrowding (instead of releasing non-violent offenders and those with no risk of recidivism), he also recently signed another bill into law which would protect the elite. This is the headline of the article explaining the new law: “ Gov. Brown signs bills aimed at paparazzi. ” The article , which appeared in the September 24th edition of the Los Angeles Times, shows a picture of celeb Br

End the Prison Industrial Complex (EPIC) Campaign For Immediate Release by Cindy for Governor 2014 September 25, 2013 Instead of focusing on Ending Poverty in California and an EPIC push for funding and expanding everyone’s access to high quality education as a human right to reduce the inhumane conditions that are fueled by profound over-crowding in the 33 state prisons operated by California, Jerry Brown wants to reward his large campaign donors by giving almost one-billion dollars of the state surplus to the prisons for profit industry. There is a deep disconnect in a state that spends over 60k per prisoner/year and less than 9k per K-12 student/year. Below is a chart of spending on prisons and schools from California Budget Project (cpb.org):  California Gubernatorial Candidate with the Peace and Freedom Party Cindy Sheehan made this statement: “A Cindy Sheehan administration would make dramatically increasing funding fo

--> Is Jerry Brown out of his Fracking Mind? For immediate release from Cindy for Governor 2014: September 25, 2013 On Friday, September 20 th , Gov. Jerry Brown of California signed a bill (SB-4) to permit hydro-fracturing, better known as “fracking” in California, specifically in the Monterey Shale Formation. Fracking is a method of oil and gas production that involves blasting millions of gallons of water, mixed with sand and toxic chemicals, under high pressure deep into the earth. Fracking breaks up rock formations to allow oil and gas extraction. But it can also pollute local air and water and endanger wildlife and human health. Gubernatorial candidate, Cindy Sheehan of the Peace and Freedom Party had this to say about the recent legislation: Jerry Brown just signed a bill that makes more "fracking" possible in California in our already vulnerable and fragile communities and eco-systems. This is just another way that Brown demo

CINDY SHEEHAN'S SOAPBOX SEPTEMBER 22, 2013 GUEST: KEITH BOLENDER* TOPIC: CUBA UNDER SIEGE    CLICK PIC FOR MORE INFORMATION  For more than 50 years America's unrelenting hostility against the Cuban Revolution has resulted in the development of a siege mentality among island leadership and its citizens. This has affected politics, economics, culture, and nearly all aspects of everyday life. In a vibrant new look at Cuban-American relations, Keith Bolender analyzes, through the voices of the powerful and the common, both the positive and negative of revolutionary society constantly under pressure from the world's greatest powers. Using both historic and current examination, including comparisons with America under siege since 9/11, the work covers the roots of besiegement, the impact it has had on the Cuban people, and how and when the besiegement will end. * Keith Bolender Keith Bolender is a freelance journalist living in Toronto

Join Cindy Sheehan as she takes us on a  tour of her living-space!

EPIC CAMPAIGN “END POVERTY IN CALIFORNIA” “I say there is no excuse for poverty in a wealthy and civilized State like ours.” Upton Sinclair, 1934 Here in California, back in 1933, Socialist author and “crusader” (his term), Upton Sinclair agreed to rejoin the Democratic Party (he was a member of the Socialist Party) and run for governor of California on an EPIC (End Poverty in California) platform. This was right smack in the middle of the Great Depression and although Sinclair approved of FDR’s “New Deal” he rightly believed that it did not go far or fast enough. These are Sinclair's 12 Principles of EPIC, brought up to date a little for the 21 st Century: *The natural wealth of California belongs to all, not a few. *People should seek their own welfare, not that of their masters. *Private ownership of the means of production is a basis for enslavement. *Autocracy in industry cannot co-exist with democracy in government. *When so

--> Cuba Diaries Breathing Room Cuba 4.3 (4 th Trip; 3 rd Day) September 11, 2013 Cindy Sheehan Interestingly on 9/11, I am in a nation that remembers 9/11 as the day when the democratically elected, Socialist president of Chile Salvador Allende was violently removed from office and murdered ushering in the reign of terror of US backed tyrant, Pinochet. It always seems that the US is on the wrong side of the people’s wishes. Besides trying to assassinate, or overthrow Fidel Castro dozens of times; actually did briefly overthrow Hugo Chavez in 2002; Zelaya in Honduras; tried to remove Rafael Correia in Ecuador; forced the plane of president Evo Morales of Venezuela down fearing that Edward Snowden was aboard; all the misadventures in the Middle East, beginning with Mossadegh in Iran which is really when the US slid down that slippery slope to ruin. I don’t have the time, or energy, to list it all. In Cuba today, the delegates (which includes me)

  Cuba Diaries “Tie a Yellow Ribbon” Cuba 4.2 (4 th Trip; 2 nd Day) September 10, 2013 Cindy Sheehan  Rene Gonzalez and his partner, Olga Salanueva Today was a rare day for me being in Cuba, or elsewhere---a day off! I hardly know what to do with myself with free time because it has now become so rare. Every time I have come to Cuba before, my time has been very closely scheduled, but most of the time it’s hardly a chore because the people are so wonderful and they have been struggling on a daily basis since the Revolution and asinine US blockade and I try to do what I can do. After my long trip through Panama to Cuba, I slept well and awoke ready to head down to the breakfast buffet. I try to moderate my calorie intake even more when I am in Cuba because the society almost collapsed in the late 80’s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The people here call that period the “Special Period” when they were literally starving. This was the

Saul Landau and Fidel Saul Landau January 15, 1936 to September 9, 2013 Saul Landau was an internationally known scholar, author, commentator, and filmmaker who worked for forty years on social, political, and human rights issues. Landau produced over forty films, and won several awards, including an Emmy for "Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang" and the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Assassination on Embassy Row , an investigation into the 1976 murders of Chilean Ambassador Orlando Letelier and his colleague, Ronni Moffitt. Landau wrote fourteen books his latest book puplished a month before his passing, "Stark in the Bronx" a murder mystery. He won the George Polk Award for Investigative Reporting, the First Amendment Award, and the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award. In 2008, the Chilean government presented him with the Bernardo O'Higgins Award for his human rights work,