REWIND - A Week of Quotes & Cartoons

SUNDAY

Quote of the Day
June 17, 2012

'As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney endorsed an
aggressive program to reduce the state's greenhouse gas
emissions, pushed to close old coal-fired power plants
and embraced wind and solar power. Then came his bids
for the Republican presidential nomination, first in
2008 and now in 2012. On climate change as on other
issues, he has transformed himself, bit by reactionary
bit.'

Editorial
New York Times
June 17, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/7ywu39s

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/6wm6vrz
Projection 2012
Mike Luckovich

MONDAY

Quote of the Day
June 18, 2012

'If President Obama had really wanted to signal a new
economic agenda, he was in the right Ohio city this
Thursday. Cleveland is home to the largest industrial
co-ops in the country, the Evergreen network, which
includes an industrial laundry that serves the local
university and city hospital. Obama didn't visit or
even allude to Evergreen in his speech on the economy
Thursday, but the Chicago workers are in conversation
with the Evergreen folks. They're learning all they can
from the rise of cooperatives across the United States,
and they're excited about becoming one of the first
unionized industrial cooperatives in the country.

'It's not just about profits, says Macklin, it's about
sustaining communities, keeping jobs in places where
people need them. He's even heard rumors that some co-
ops create credit unions, capable of proffering student
loans to needy families. Helping workers' kids get an
education is not part of a profit-above-all-else
business plan, he agrees, but worker co-ops are free to
devise their own priorities.

'The owners' agenda is always different from the
workers'," he says. "But in a co-op, the workers' and
the owners' are one and same".'

Laura Flanders
on the group of the workers who
occupied the Republic Windows and
Doors factory in Chicago in 2008 and
have now founded a worker-run
cooperative

The Nation | Op-Ed
June 15, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/6oklzlx

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/6m8ka39
Loophole
Signe Wilkinson

TUESDAY

Quote of the Day
June 19, 2012

'Frankly, we are not here to receive lessons in terms
of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy.

'By the way this crisis was not originated in Europe .
seeing as you mention North America, this crisis
originated in North America and much of our financial
sector was contaminated by, how can I put it,
unorthodox practices, from some sectors of the
financial market.'

European Union Commission president
Jose Manuel Barroso on the  opening
day of the G20 summit on Los
Cabos, Mexico

Guardian (UK)
June 18, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/82rabb9

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/7f2pc5c
Long Arms
Dave Brown - The Independent (UK)

WEDNESDAY

Quote of the Day
June 20, 2012

'This is a sad day in the history of the United States
Congress. Today, we see the great lengths to which some
of my colleagues will go in an attempt to discredit the
Attorney General-a member of President Obama's
Administration-as we near the 2012 election. For over
15 months, Attorney General Eric Holder and the
Department of Justice has cooperated with the
Committee's inquiry.  The Obama Administration is now
rightfully asserting executive privilege over the
narrow subset of documents that remain at issue-the
same process President Bush used six times during his
presidency.

'Just yesterday, the Attorney General participated in a
bicameral meeting with Chairman Issa, Chairman Leahy,
Ranking Member Grassley, and Ranking Member Cummings in
a good faith effort to fully satisfy the Committee's
information requests, which Department officials have
been working for months to fulfill, but somehow their
work is not enough. The United States House of
Representatives has never in its history held an
Attorney General in contempt.

'During this critical moment in our nation's history,
the attention of our country's chief law enforcement
officer should be focused on addressing ongoing law
enforcement challenges and championing real issues,
instead of being distracted by manufactured, partisan
political ones. This is an extremely low moment in our
body politic. The cause for civility has been met by an
unnecessary and unfortunate partisanship.'

Chairman Emanuel Cleaver, II

'Congress must exercise its authority responsibly and
in the interest of the American people, not to score
partisan political points. The Justice Department and
Attorney General Holder have provided the Committee
leadership with unprecedented access to the documents
it requested; yet Rep. Issa refuses to be reasonable.
When partisan advantage is the primary motivation, it's
really the American people who suffer.

'Attorney General Holder continues to act in good
faith, but the Republican chairman of the committee has
made a decision to pursue the extreme measure of
initiating contempt proceedings. This is a waste of
time for the Committee, the DOJ and the American
people.'

Chairman Charles A. Gonzalez

'What the American people are witnessing today is
politics at its worst.  As we inch closer and closer to
the 2012 election, Congressional Republicans are trying
to blemish the career of a respected public servant in
an attempt to discredit the Administration.

'Attorney General Holder and the Department of Justice
have already provided thousands of pages of pertinent
documents and testimonies from numerous top officials.
Just yesterday, the Attorney General met with Committee
Members in an effort to meet their requests.  He is,
and has been, cooperating in good faith, despite the
egregious charges being leveled against him.

'Congress has never before held an Attorney General in
contempt, and this situation clearly does not meet the
threshold for setting such a bold new precedent.  The
Attorney General and the U.S. Congress have more
important issues to address, and these political
distractions only leave the American people less safe.'

Chairwoman Judy Chu

Tri-Caucus Chairs Condemn Chairman
Darrell Issa's Partisan Attempt to
Hold Attorney General Holder in
Contempt of Congress

Crew of 42
June 20, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/7jzwk3b

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/79a2xoq
On the Other Hand ...
R.J. Matson -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch

THURSDAY

Quote of the Day
June 21, 2012

'Movements-whether they are civil rights, gay rights or
immigration rights-are built on a foundation of
innumerable small acts of courage. Like the four
undocumented students who marched from Miami to D.C.,
or those who sat in at four of Obama's campaign offices
around the country, immediately before the DHS
announcement last week (risking arrest, and thus,
potentially, deportation), these millions of "Dreamers"
are committed, and organizing. As the anthropologist
Margaret Mead said: "Never doubt that a small group of
thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world;
indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.'

Amy Goodman
TruthDig
June 20, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/6sbyhdz

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/7g5umpl
Women Are the Biggest Losers from Failure to Raise Minimum Wage
Ann Telnaes

FRIDAY

Quote of the Day
June 22, 2012

'In this situation, we should be perfectly clear. We
are not going to allow Mitt Romney, the modern day
Robber Barons and their Tea Party allies to take over
Washington.

'But we aren't going to stop there. If we are going to
build a new foundation for shared prosperity, we can't
accept mass unemployment as the new normal. Or
declining wages and rising insecurity as inevitable. We
are not signing onto a "grand bargain" - partisan or
bipartisan - that uses the current crisis to savage the
vulnerable and to shortchange our future.'

Robert L. Borosage,co-director of
the Campaign for America's Future.
Opening address to the Take Back the
American Dream Summit June 18

CAF
June 21, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/7xto2s4

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/btdg6hz
You're Joking
Pat Oliphant

SATURDAY

Quote of the Day
June 23, 2012

'We are seven days away from thousands of American
workers having to walk off the job because Congress
hasn't passed a transportation bill. We are eight days
away from nearly seven and a half million students
seeing their loan rates double because Congress hasn't
acted to stop it This makes no sense.

'... It's not lost on any of us that this is an
election year. But we've got responsibilities that are
bigger than an election. We answer to the American
people and they are demanding action. Let's make it
easier for students to stay in college. Let's keep
construction workers rebuilding our roads and bridges.
And let's tell Congress to do their job.'

President Barack Obama
June 23, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/77f97hx


Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/7ddhxko
Contempt
David Horsey - Los Angeles Times

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