so sorry the president isn't white - we know that's really what this is all about

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet; so would a sh*t pile.

I apologize ahead of time.  I am so pissed right now that I know this is not going to be a very cohesive post.  So before I forget, here is the original link, or at least one of them.

Regarding the fact that the House Repiglickins have refused to DO THEIR JOB - the one they were elected to do - the one WE THE PEOPLE pay them to do - and show up for a joint session of Congress, the President is not without options. He can use the very Constitution that Republicans claim to revere against them. [For whatever good that would do, srsly.] Article II Section III reads as follows:

“He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them…”

In other words, the President has the Constitutional authority to convene a special session on Congress whenever he damn well thinks it’s necessary. Of course Republicans will probably try to block President Obama from giving his jobs speech. If they can take the un-American action of refusing to let the President speak, what stops them from continuing to block this speech and even the State of The Union Address? Even though The White House has reportedly moved the speech in front on Congress to September 8th, Republicans are continually embarrassing themselves shitting on America by putting their own political racist agenda over the American people. The people want jobs now. They don’t care give a flying fart about what some wing-nut teabag-Republican would do if elected President 15 months from now.  Unlike the repigs,  President Obama has a jobs plan - it doesn’t matter what-the-fck day it is.  At the very least = oh, just for shits and giggles if for no other friggin' reason -  Republicans should respect the office of the Commander In Chief and let President Obama present his plan to the people.

“From 1800 to 1913, presidents chose not to address Congress in person. Since 1913, every president has appeared before Congress at least once during his term(s) in office. Permission to speak in a joint session is given by resolution of the House and Senate, and arrangements are made through the leadership offices of each chamber.”

It has been rumored that President Obama is going to go BIG in his jobs plan - which is apparently what is scaring the shit out of John Boehner et al.  Apparently the GOP also figures it will be upstaged by President Obama - as they should be [upstaged, that is.] It boils down to the fact that the repiglickins think they’re more important than the Commander In Chief. Excuse me?  ANY PRESIDENT should be able to speak before a Joint Session of Congress on WHATEVER DATE he requests. By refusing to grant the request, Congressional Republicans are purposefully disrespecting in contempt of a sitting United States President. Of course, repigs have been "disrespecting" the Office of the President since the day a Black Man took office, so this shouldn’t be a surprise.

I say To Hell With Congressional Republicans.

President Obama should play some hardball of his own and speak to the nation from the Oval Office. In fact, I found a speech he can read that would be perfect for the occasion.  Some of you may have even heard it delivered before.  It goes something like this:

“Hey! If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I'd like Frank Shirley John F*cking Boner, the so-called Speaker of the House, right here, right now. I want him brought from his holiday slumber happy hour over there on Melody Lane Capitol Hill or wherever it is he hangs out with his rich repiglickin donors, and I want him brought right here, with a big orange ribbon on his head, and I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, RACIST group of worm-headed, drooling sack of monkey shit the GOP is!  

Got a question for you, John-boy -- WHERE ARE THE JOBS?"

[[Thank you Clark Griswold for the inspiration.  I could not have said it much better.]]

what can I do to put pressure on the oligarchs?

The following excerpts have been taken from Conceptual Guerilla’s blog [that he writes for the Daily KOS]; the Howard Zinn portion was posted on 6-16-11 and the White Supremacist teabagger portion was posted 07-01-11.  I did not seek or receive permission to repost, and the originals can be found here and here.  But I humbly appreciate of Mr. Guerilla’s writing style and his ability to cut through the bullsh*t.  Enjoy:

“I do not suggest for one minute that you should happy about all of those items on the Progressive Agenda that remain undone.  I am personally disappointed about a number of things . . . including not closing Guantanamo Bay, not including a "public option," and not allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire.

I merely state the Progressive Agenda is BIG . . . and in the present capitalist oligarchy with little democratic representation . . . it is extremely difficult to do a fraction of what we want.  It is impossible in 2 1/2 years.

So I'm saying stop attacking the President, and start helping the President.

How, you ask?  By doing all the "direct action" stuff some commenters have discussed.  FDR famously told a group talking about Social Security "go out and make me do it."

Don't attack the President . . . attack the forces who have the President hemmed in.  Stop blaming the President, and instead start asking "what can I do to put pressure on the oligarchs?"

Two years ago the teabaggers hit the streets to oppose healthcare reform.  Where were our – the progressives -  rallies in support of it . . . in support of single payer . . . in support of the public option?  I don't remember them.  They rallied . . . and then last November they showed up and voted.

And now you want to know why the President isn't doing more to fight the oligarchs?  What are you doing to help him?  What are you doing to fight them?  If you're thinking about staying home from the polls next year . . . because Obama isn't sufficiently "progressive" to suit you, you might want to consider the consequences of a GOP victory next year. 

 If Republicans control the White House and Congress:

1.  They're going to privatize Social Security and Medicare.

2.  They're going to repeal the minimum wage.

3.  They're going to undermine if not outright destroy, public education.

4.  They're going to repeal the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

5.  Once that is accomplished, Republican controlled state legislatures are going to bring back literacy tests.

For those of you who doubt this agenda, they're already doing it.  They are passing restrictions on access to the polls as we speak, even as Paul Ryan proposes his voucher plan for medicare.  Presidential hopeful Michelle Bachmann says people need to be "weaned off" of Social Security and Medicare, and says that eliminating the minimum wage would create jobs . . . a claim for which there is zero evidence.

As for specifically repealing the voting rights act, that subject is already being discussed. The Tea Party is now lobbying against the voting rights act.  You will see more and more of this.  Why?  They are going to repeal it . . . and bring back things like literacy tests.

Since the early 1950's, even before Buckley founded the National Review, conservatives have been defined by xenophobic paranoia.  The list of "alien others" is long:  Communists, socialists, liberals, "fellow travelers," blacks, "minorities," "radical feminists," dirty hippies, atheists, the Russians, "secular humanists," and most recently Mexicans, and radical Islamists.  "Did you know they want to establish a caliphate over the WHOLE WORLD, and impose SHARIA LAW on America?  I hear they've already started."

This is the expression of something very simple and easy to understand.  When you cut through conservative rhetoric bullshit and get to the bottom line, what you find is nothing more [or less] than the defense of "WHITE PRIVILEGE" -- a privilege that has been steadily eroding since the early '50's with the advent of the civil rights movement.

The ugly demographic truth is that white folks are losing political power as their population declines relative to blacks and Hispanics.  If you are motivated by preserving "white privilege," you are destined to lose . . .

. . . unless you DO something about it.

At this point, there is exactly one strategy open to the teabaggers:  they have to shrink the non-white electorate, though even that might not be enough.  Non-white America must be kept in check using the age old weapons of poverty and ignorance.  An educated, increasingly prosperous non-white population will not tolerate being denied access to the voting booth.

Rush Limbaugh, Neal Boortz, and every teabagger in America knows this.  Re-segregation is their only hope . . . and they're going to try it.  That's what happened after the Civil War.  The forces of WHITE PRIVILEGE managed to keep the south an oppressed, impoverished back water for 100 years.  The people bigots pushing this agenda today are the great-grandchildren of the very same people bigots who did it back then.

So . . . . if you are planning to stay home next year, because President Obama isn't sufficiently “progressive”, and isn't “doing enough” to suit you, you might want to consider the alternative.  

It isn't pretty . . . and the baggers already doing it in states they won last year.