We take a short break from the War on the Poor to discuss the War on the Poor. What do you think you will hear in the President's State of the Union Address? What do you want to hear? What do you think that we, as a nation, SHOULD hear?

 

What can WE do about it?

TBD

Texas State Senator Wendy Davis was interviewed this week by Maria Shriver. She took Shriver to the trailer park where she lived in poverty for some time. I will give the sneak preview of my DailyKOS Sunday essay where I talk about her, from trailer park to potentially the Texas governor.

About ten minutes into the program Mike Stafford, a former Republican Party operative turned independent will be interviewed. He wrote a rather compelling piece titled ‘Michael Stafford: Working class gets a raw deal’. He blew the subject out of the water.

One hopes that he will be a catalyst. He has a Conservative following who would likely hear his message quicker than would be heard from more Progressive voices.

Mike Stafford is the author of the book “An Upward Calling.” It is a solid read.

See the shows blog post here.

Three things are happening in the coming week that mean a lot to me:

Monday, January 20th, is Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Tuesday, January 21st is the fourth anniversary of the Citizens United decision, and

Sunday, January 26th is the fourth anniversary of Annabel Park’s post that spontaneously ignited the Coffee Party.

Our broadcast today is an opportunity to reflect upon, and to share (even promote) how we will be commemorating any and all of these important dates.

READ the full blog post at http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/wherewereyouwhen

Press [1] for Democracy (P1FD) is a Coffee Party Radio show that discusses the political issues of the day in a civil, fact-based, and transpartisan manner.  Transpartisan is quite different from bi- or non-partisan in the fact that we encourage callers to be passionate about their position, but to listen to those with differing opinions with repsect and a true desire to find common ground on which solutions can be built.  

Tonight on P1FD . . .

Priorities: 2014 

English Poet Charles Lamb said, “No one ever regarded the First of January with indifference“.  2013 saw Washington quagmired in dysfunction.  If it was your call, what would your 2014 legislative and executive agenda look like?  To be more specific, please state your top three objectives, in order of importance and tell us why they are as such.  

Tonight on Press [1] for Democracy, we’ll take a deep dive into your priority lists and see if we can gain some consensus on what we, The People, want to see accomplished in Washington this year.

Join us for our end-of-year round up show! 2013 has been a very busy and exciting year for PPTS, and we want you to celebrate with us! 

From political hackery to political drama, and true change we can believe in, 2013 was really a roller-coaster year in the political life of American citizens. Call in to our live show beginning at 2 PM (Central Time) by dialing (646) 929-2495 and sharing our year from YOUR perspective! Join us in our lively chat room, as well and "Let 'er Rip!" with our co-hosts and guests. 

This promises to be a great show, and you can have a real impact on our show, and THe Coffee Party USA with your meaningful input today. So, tell us the one, and most important thing of 2013:

"What Are YOU Going To Do About It?"

TBD

This week’s show

Income Inequality Wrong Message / Writer David W. Shelton

This week was saturated with coverage on Chris Christie. I decided I was not going to get into the fray. Christie’s fate was sealed long before this scandal absent a complete capitulation of the current GOP dynamics. This is unlikely.

The first 10 to 15 minutes of the show will feature a sneak peak of my DailyKOS Sunday essay on why terms like war on poverty, income inequality, and wealth disparity is not a winning message for Progressives.

The rest of the show will be a dialogue with David W. Shelton. He is a  writer, author, publisher, business owner, and activist in the Clarksville, TN area. He is a gay man that was offended like most of us about the Duck Dynasty controversy.  

See the full blog post here.

2014 - Here we come!

Today is Part I of a two-part conversation about 2014. Why two parts? Part I, today, we will be laying the groundwork for OUR plan - yours and mine (or, the Lunch with Louden Brain Trust, as we like to call ourselves) for our personal and collective actions in the coming year.

After the show today, any and all follow up comments and suggestions will be welcome by emailing [email protected], calling the Coffee Party hotline and leaving a voice message at (301) 259 -1869 or commenting on related posts on Facebook at Lunch with Louden or Join the Coffee Party Movement. Your input from today and after will be the building blocks for Part II.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — a trade agreement that will gut the remainder of our manufacturing sector, and with it, any hope of recovery for the middle class.  It will make an end run around the legislative process by putting into force the guts of a SOPA bill that was soundly defeated in Congress.  It will give over U.S. sovereignty to International Tribunals.  And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  What is contained in the rest of this 29-chapter monstrosity?  We don’t have a clue because it’s being negotiated in total secrecy.  Even members of Congress can’t get a look at it!  But guess who does know?  Six hundred (600) corporate “consultants” whose employers are so ruthless in their methods of operation that they make the KGB look like a bunch of Boy Scouts.  The list of co-conspirators includes Monsanto, Wal-Mart, Citigroup, Chevron, and AT&T.  Guess how many of these companies were identified by OpenSecrets.org as big-time donors to President Obama? (spoiler alert: all of them.)