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The We Campaign is an effort launched by Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection to promote solutions to the climate crisis. It's an urgent issue, but the climate crisis is also solvable if we work together and unite our leaders around solutions like renewable power and enhanced energy efficiency. We can leave the next generation a healthy climate. Please add your voice by joining the We Campaign today:

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My name is Asher Heimermann and I am the host of a live internet radio broadcast show called "Asher Speaks Live". My show brings; authors, elected officials, candidates, and local celebrities "on air" as special guests to talk about their life and current events.

Asher Speaks Live attracts about 200 and 300 listeners each month. We discuss the latest national and political news as well as topics such as; news, sports, weather, and much more. Asher Speaks Live is a new innovative approach.

Noted guests on Asher Speaks Live include Larry Nelson, George Phillies, Kat Swift, and Judy Stock, just to name a few.

Archives of Asher Speaks Live can also be heard on my official website that is located at www.asherheimermann.com as well as my profile on MySpace, which can be found at www.myspace.com/aheimermann.

Please feel free to contact me for more information or to inquire about booking to be a special guest on the Asher Speaks Live radio program. You are welcome to visit my website to learn more about me and my radio show.


Mr. Asher Heimermann
asher@asherheimermann.com
http://www.asherheimermann.com
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/asher

I have officially endorsed Senator Barack Obama. I have posted my endorsement on my blog, which is is located at www.ASHERHEIMERMANN.com and click on Blog.

Please feel free to comment on the endorsement and to vote for the Senator in the 2008 Presidential Poll that is on the right side of the blog.

If you have any questions, please e-mail me at asher@asherheimermann.com. Comments should be left on the blog.

I would like to wish you and your family a joyous holiday season. I was pleased to meet so many of you this year, and I could not be more proud of the successes we enjoyed in 2007.

As we gather together with our family and friends, let us all take a moment to reflect on the meaning of this season, and to recommit ourselves to keeping the holiday spirit alive. And most of all, for peace on Earth.

From myself and everyone at Asher For America, we wish you a Happy Holidays and a joyous New Year!



Mr. Asher Heimermann
Independent for America
www.ASHERHEIMERMANN.com

TSA is going to allow disposable lighters back on planes.

This is completely moronic, and everyone should contact TSA to stop it.

TSA says they want to allow screeners to spend more time searching for actual threats, such as... well, see today's story about people testing the system using blocks of cheese and wires. That's fair, but lighters may be crucial in igniting a bomb. That threat hasn't just gone away. Remember that Richard Reid was stopped from blowing up his shoes because he was dumb and tried to do it with matches. If he had used a more reliable Bic, he would have succeeded.

TSA also brings up the fact that they confiscate over 22,000 lighters A DAY. And that it runs over $4 million to dispose of them.

But I have a solution for the government to this problem that allows us to continue to keep lighters off planes, ends the senseless disposal of these lighters, and may please smokers (at least in a small way):

Continue to confiscate lighters. Instead of disposing of them, make them available to the public/passengers as they leave their destination airport. So you lose your $2 lighter at Dulles to security, but when you're making your way out of the airport to grab a cab in Miami, you pick up a lighter that was left at that airport.

I can't see how it couldn't cost less to have someone man a lighter give-away booth near airport entrances/exits at major airports around the country than it does to simply dispose of 11,000,000 lighters a year. Certainly it's better for the environment as well to keep so many full lighters out of landfills.

The Progressive Democrat Newsletter grew out of the frustration of the 2004 election. Originally intended for New York City progressives, its readership is now national. After much pressure from readers, this email newsletter is now going the blog route. I update the blog once a week focusing on both national issues and issues of interest to particular regions or states. In general, NYC, New Jersey (corrected!), Virginia and the Midwest get special attention simply because those are the areas where I seem to have the most readers. Get me more readers in your area (and let me know about it!) and I will focus there too.

This week I want to discuss, among other things, a six point plan to renew America that I would like to see the Democrats get behind. As usual, I also have links to many progressive groups throughout the nation, broken down geographically. Enjoy!

A SIX-POINT PLAN TO RENEW AMERICA

In a previous issue I wrote about a talk I heard in November by Hank Sheinkopf, a political consultant, formerly a member of President Clinton's re-election media team, and a panelist on a local TV station's roundtable discussion. Sheinkopf is the ultimate Democratic insider and he came to discuss the 2006 election victory with us.

The core of his talk was that Democrats need to focus on just one message, and it was the message that ALWAYS works for Democrats since the 1920's: economic populism. Actually, I would use the term "progressivism" because that is how Theodore Roosevelt described it when it was Republicans who were the economic populists. But economic populism is a good term for it as well.

It's STILL the economy, stupid! That's the message.

Sheinkopf argues that it is the blue-collar vote that determines national elections. He narrowed it down to 500,000 white, male Catholics...but I suspect that you could use other groups as the key demographic as well. This group is often socially conservative, but when faced with bread and butter issues, they vote for economic populism. They will only buy into the wedge issues Republicans run on if they don't see the Democrats offering them economic populism. He suggests that the key to Democratic victory in 2008 lies in only four states: Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania. I would broaden this list considerably and I still support Dean's 50-state strategy because it has been working well in getting state legistatures and House Reps. for the Democrats, but these four states are unquestionably important and we can focus on issues that would play well in these four states AS WELL AS many other states.

Not too long ago I wrote my own suggested national plan for Congressional Democrats. I want to revisit some of this specifically with Sheinkopf's comments in mind, because it seems to me that we really are on the cusp of some very good policy shifts that would be extremely popular among blue-collar Americans and would help the American economy considerably. The following should be the centerpiece of the Congressional agenda and with your help, we can get them to do it. Doing so will help ensure victory in 2008.

DEMOCRATIC ECONOMIC POLICY SUGGESTIONS:

1. First and formost, raise the minimum wage. The minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 an hour since 1997...it hasn't even kept up with inflation. That means working Americans at the bottom of the pay scale are slipping further and further behind even as corporate profits of companies like Exxon/Mobil are reaching an all time high. We MUST help working Americans by raising the minimum wage.

2. Restore America's Infrastructure: Republicans have neglected our roads, our levees, our wetlands, all the things that keep American cities safe and the American economy moving. It is time to restore America: restore our wetlands and levees to protect our cities from disasters like Katrina. Restore our roads and railroads to keep our economy moving. And restoration of infrastructure also provides good, solid union jobs for working class Americans.

3. Education: good education correlates well with better income, reduced crime and reduced drug use. Many studies have shown that increased funding for education SAVES MONEY IN THE LONG RUN because government later spends less on dealing with the problems of drugs, crime and unemployment. More money for education. Increased testing is fine, but ONLY if schools are given the monetary resources to deal with deficiencies that are discovered by testing. Bush has FAILED as the Education President. It is time for the Education Congress.

4. Fair Taxes: Under Bush's tax breaks the top 1% got an unfair advantage over the vast majority of working Americans. And many giant corporations making record profits evade taxes altogether. It is time for the tax burden to be shifted off of lower and middle class Americans and time for giant corporations and America's richest to pay their fair share.

5. Energy Independence Part I: Restoration of America's manufiacturing From Michigan to Pennsylvania, our industrial heartland has been hurting for years. We need to find NEW solutions to restore our manufacturing heartland. The government should help retool the closed factories of Detroit, Flint, Pittsburg and all our blue-collar cities to produce new technology. Wind power, solar power, hydroelectric power, geothermal power...all of these require America to build the machinery to produce these new sources of energy. This is a way to jump start BOTH energy independence and a revival of America's industry. Why is Denmark the nation that provides the world with much of its wind power machinery? America has an opportunity here to provide blue-collar jobs throughout America providing America and the world with the machinery for clean, efficient and local energy production.

6. Energy Independence Part II: Local Energy means Local Jobs and Cleaner Air Our oil and coal based energy economy means energy resources must come from abroad or from across the nation. I recently wrote about a controversy in Nevada where a company wants to build a polluting coal powered plant, bringing coal across the country to burn in Nevada to fuel California while locals want to build cleaner power plants that use LOCAL resources like geothermal and wind. Local energy means local jobs and cleaner air. Geothermal and wind and hydroelectric are CURRENT technologies we can RELY on now to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce pollution and create local jobs ALL OVER THE NATION. Wind power and biofuels production are already benefitting farmers in Iowa, for example. The Great Plains states represent one of the world's best wind power producing areas, something that would benefit states whose economies really need help. Together with my suggestion #5, we could create a huge number of much needed American jobs right now, reduce our massive trade deficit by reducing our need to import oil, and clean up our air in the process.

Please write your local media, and your Congress Critters to urge them to take this 6 point plan to restore America's economy. We could be the start of a real revival of not only the Democratic Party, but the American economy as well.

Here's the rest of the Newsletter:

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

SCIENTIFIC FRAUD IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION

HALLIBURTON CORRUPTION BRINGS A CONVICTION

MARY CHENEY BABY GIFTS (Humor)

NY STATE FOCUS: Corruption in Albany

NYC GROUPS AND EVENTS

MIDWEST GROUPS AND EVENTS


CALIFORNIA GROUPS AND EVENTS

VIRGINIA GROUPS AND EVENTS

NEW JERSEY GROUPS AND EVENTS

I thought I would post this for everyone to look at. Obviously this is far off in the future (cannot act on it until six months prior to convention), but I thought the more people familiar with it, the better.

Cheers,
Rachael

Carl Levin fof President. Is there a better candidate for the dems? Blue Dog(will capture purple voters)+Senator from Michigan(Swing State)+30 years expierence+Born in Detroit+Chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee+big fundrai$er=PERFECT CANDIDATE

Volunteering to fight for the economic future of the middle class!   Read More »

How does one go about making an introduction on an outlet such as this? My personal quirks are going to prove substantially insignificant if I manage to correctly do what it is I have set out to accomplish with this blog.

I support neither big government nor small government, but rather what you might call Net Government if you were going to reduce it to a talking point. This is local, county, state, and federal resources woven together to create a translucent government which supports a large populace by evenly distributing the economic pressure of social needs.

What exactly that means, and our best options for moving towards this "perfect storm" of functional, people-oriented goverment, is something that you and I shall discuss heavily in the days to come.

Yesterday evening while sweating away on the elliptical machine at the gym I was plugged into one of the screens broadcasting CNN. In between stages I looked up to see Dick Cheney at a press conference. Uncle Dick was doing his usual monotone rambling when a reporter asked him a question similar to this;

"Mr. Vice President do you still stand by your statement from last year that the Iraqi insurgency is in its last throes?"

I noticed the usual smirk on his face when Cheney is pressed to answer a question. It's the same smirk that say's I have to fart and if you keep bothering me I will just let a big greasey one rip and you will just have to suffer thru it because damn it I'm Dick Cheney.   Read More »

This sounds like an excellent idea - from MoveOn.org:

Gas prices are off the charts, the situation in the Middle East is
unstable, scientists are warning that global warming is at a tipping
point, and last month, MoveOn members decided that "clean, sustainable
energy" should be one of our key goals. That's why we're launching a major
push for an "Oil-Free Congress."

This is going to be a big campaign for us. Together, we'll spend the next
month exposing the ties between oil companies and politicians in
Washington and pushing Congress to go "oil-free." A critical part of our
strategy is spreading our message to folks when they're feeling the
effects of oil-dependence the most--at gas stations.   Read More »

Renowned science scholar Naomi Oreskes and science producer Gene Rosow discuss how Hollywood and the news media portray global warming and what responsibility scientists have to educate the public about global warming.

Series: "Frontiers of Knowledge"
(forum at UC San Diego)

Click here to see the video

This is an excellent video and well worth watching. It's about 57 minutes.

ExxonMobil believes that registering and voting, keeping informed on political matters, serving in civic bodies, and campaigning and office-holding at local, state, and national levels are important rights and responsibilities of the citizens of a democracy.

Corporate Contributions
Where permitted, the Corporation makes lawful political contributions in the United States to political candidate committees and political parties, associations and other political organizations. These contributions are reported to governing agencies where required by law.

A summary of U.S. corporate political contributions for the past three years is set forth in the table below.



This graph is straight from Exxon Mobils website:

National Political Organizations 2003 2004 2005
Republican Attorneys General Association1 25.0 50.0 50.0
Republican Governors Association 50.0 50.0 50.0
National Republican Legislators Association 10.0 - -
Republican Legislative Campaign Committee1 - 25.0 25.0
Republican Lieutenant Governors Association1 - - 5.0
Subtotal   Read More »

May 28, 2006
Oakdale, MN
Backyard BBQ

Nothing feeds my need to debate and argue politics like a gathering of people, a few beers and 90+ degree temperatures. Conditions were right over the recent Memorial Day weekend at an annual event hosted by a friend of mine. I never intend to go off the deep end (well maybe not) but I often cannot help myself.

A discussion of college education led to a discussion of education in general. A couple I did not know (one Dem and one "liberal Rebublican" what ever that means) were discussing what they were going to do with their child's education. The Democratic mother wanted to put the kid in private school and the Republican father disagreed saying public school was the way to go. While discussing the reasons with them it became clear to me what my point was. There needs to be a buy in. People have to buy in to public education for it to work.

As I moved throught he crowd offending as many people as I could contact before their mate told them it was time to leave, I realized this principle applied to many other topics as well. Transportation, medical service, environmental concerns, welfare, human rights, foreign policy etc. etc. People have to buy in; they need to be invested.

Republicans have spent the last several decades driving people apart and individualizing everything. It is about me, not we. It is us versus them. When you take this approach it is easy to cast off any policy or position that may cost you something but does not directly benefit you. There is no buy in, no investment, no feeling that we should succeed.

Am I really the Socialist I always claimed to be (just to drive the stakes of the debate higher)? I was mentally taking stock of the arguments I could use to defend myself and found a few that come, not from liberal talking points but from corporate America.

Management classes tell us that you get more out of employees if they are invested in the success of the company. The idea is that people do not work for money as hard as they work for a goal. Workers would rather point with pride to a product they helped create that point to a pile of money they earned doing some menial job. Make them feel invested in the success of the business and they will work like a dog for you (and themselves).

What about the idea that the market should dictate everything and that Adam Smith was the second comming? The argument goes that if the market supports mass transit or parks or public schools then they are worthy of being. If not then, they have to go. The problem here is that for the freee market to function the playing field needs to be level. There needs to be a floor of security to help mitigate the risk of going in to business.

The basis for my 1st ring suburb manifesto is becomming clearer. We must agree that investing in basic social services like schools, and transport, and enviromental stewardship is the rising tide that lifts all boats. Once everyone is floating then we can begin the regatta.

The tone and logic and basis for the existance of government needs to change. Government is not the adversary of the people, it is the people. The people need to hear from leaders that public investmewnt is a good thing and it benefits them. Leaders need to get Americans to buy in, both figuratively and literally to our local, state and federal government and see the value of their efforts.

I would love to see a candidate stand up and voice a point of view that is hopeful and positive and not devisive BS.

I feel much better now. Thanks.

A couple of days ago my fellow co workers and I were standing around the proverbial American water cooler chatting up the recent news topics when someone brought up the subject of the communication companies handing over our phone records to the NSA. Some one said, " I don't understand why everyone is so upset about their phone records being turned over to the government?", soon others added, "Yeah..I have nothing to hide", "They can have my records if they want to know who I am talking to".

Of course I tried biting my tongue but alas I could no longer help myself. Since most of us at the water cooler were in our late thirties to early fifties I reminded them with, "remember when we were children and our teachers and parent's would condemn the evils of a communist government by saying the people who lived in the USSR had no personal freedoms unlike our citizens?". I looked around and I did manage a few positive nods of this little history reminder. I followed with, "imagine you have a neighbor that every time a car parked in your driveway or a visitor knocked on your front door this neighbor would write down the name, date and time of your visitor and hand it over in to the Federal authorities? Or once a month a black sedan would pull into your driveway and after a quick solid knock you opened the door and were greeted with, "I am agent Smith and I am here to collect the phone records from the recording device in your phone". I told everyone, "imagine if that would occur?".

Still some shook their heads in disbelief, "that would never happen here" someone said. I shouted, "BUT IT HAS HAPPENED HERE, WHAT IS DIFFERENT?"

Finally a young man in his early twenties said, "its like we have an American KFC". Since we all assumed he meant the "KGB" we started laughing at his incorrect but insightful comment. The young man was quite proud of himself for adding to the high level water cooler chat then chided, "that reminds me its lunch time".

I guess the buzz on Bush's presidential library is going to heat up as the glorious final day to his "presidency" comes ever closer. It just seems odd that a man who as far as I can tell has never penned a letter in his life, has complete disdain for written reports and his speeches seem to be a fill in the blank variety would need a depository for his collected works. He could probably fit all of his personal correspondence in a shoe box. But who want to see a box? He will need a supreme marketing advantage to get people to see his box and since a talking lizard is already being used and because George is a man of action (and a war time president) he would probably suggest opening a lemon-aid stand at the edge of the Crawford ranch. After sipping on your powdered lemon-aid an additional 25 cents would allow you to peer into George's box with all of his stuff. It is my guess that his Texas Ranger baseball card collection would probably draw the most interest from all those thirsty sightseers.

If the lemon-aid stand is a little to simplistic for a US president than perhaps an exhibit at the McGinley Memorial Library in McGregor TX? As far as I can tell Crawford doesn't have a public library or any private libraries for that matter. It occurred to me that George is going to need a large wall for his library (or should we call it a storage depot?). This wall is going to have to be probably 100 FT in length by probably 30 FT in height and be the central focus of the storage depot. Of course, like most people and things in his presidency, this wall doesn't have to be a load bearing structure. Can you imagine the wall with a huge banner hanging from it? Fingers pointing and slight audible laugh's as everyone reads and whispers the words back..."MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"

Wonder where the flight suit will go??

Dear Mr. Chavez,
While I don't agree with all of your policies I will be the first to stand up when I see an injustice being committed. It has to my attention that the US State Dept and Mr. Donald Rumsfeld are trying to block your attempts to legally import AK-47's into your country. Fortunately in the United States our Congress decided it was in our citizen's best interest that the assualt weapons ban not be renewed because it is our God given right in the Second Amendment of our Constitution to bear arms of all types and I see no reason why this same priviledge can not be extended to you and your citizens. As a US citizen we have the right to walk into any gun store or pawnship and purchase an AK-47 or similar weapon. While the weapons we purchase may only be legally sold in a semi-auto fire mode any qualified gun smith can adjust it to be fully automatic. With this historical East Bloc weapon and a couple of legally purchased 30 round clips or a 50 round drum magazine you too can have the best in home defense.

I recognize that it may be a problem for you to contact a US Congressman or Senator for help in this matter. However there exists an orgnization in the USA that has more clout than any single elected representative. That organization is the National Rifle Association (NRA). Because of your stature I am confident that you can directly contact the CEO of the NRA Mr. Wayne LaPierre, and explain to Wayne the issues you are facing in legally importing your rifles. Also of interest to you is that the NRA is giving leather jackets ($200 value) with the purchase of any lifetime membership of $850. This would be a fantastic opportunity for the NRA to not only help American citizens but also people around the world fulfill their dreams of gun ownership. The possibilities are limitless.

As a further note. I would suggest leveraging your buying power by purchasing the rifles thru a US broker, since our domestic arm's dealers on a annual basis probably import more than the 35,000-40,000 rifles you are requiring. Also as a further recommendation the purchse of a US mfg firearm for your country's armed forces may help ease the resistance you are encountering from Washington. However, I would still recommend joining the NRA.

There is an interesting item on the BBC website today about the goals of government. The full text can be seen here. I have selected a few quotes and have a few observations.

"The best society is that where the people are happiest, and the best policy is the one that produces the greatest happiness. So argued the great 18th century thinkers like Jeremy Bentham, and their admirable views did much to inspire the social reforms of the century that followed. "

and

"In Britain and the US the number of people who believe that "most other people can be trusted" has halved in the last 50 years, and this reflects the growth of an individualism which makes personal success more important than almost anything else. "

This pinpoints something I have been thinking for some time now. Our country is misguided in its policies becuase we have mistaken wealth for well-being. Nearly all discuccion of public policy and government actions revolves around money. Christmas and Easter have become more about money than religion. We consume and work and consume and work in a vicious cycle, searching for happiness.

There is much talk on the right about the erosion of family values and loss of moral context in society. In the context of a rant from James Dobson or Rush Limbaugh I cannot disagree more. However in the context of an examination of moeny and life in America, i think this may be correct. We worship at the alter of the almighty dollar.

Look at a few issues in the abstract and then look at them in the context of American's lust for money.
- Environmental protection. In the abstract I cannot imagine many Americans would say we should pollute the air. If you change the question to include business (economic) concerns I think the answer changes dramatically.
- Social Safety Net. In the abstract American's would likely agree with the statement that all people deserve a safe place to live, safe water, access to food, medical care, and the opportunity to pursue their lives as they see fit (check the US Constitution). If you ask people if they want to help pay for these things there is a different result, I expect.
- Intellectual freedom. People deserve the right to an education and the right to read, write, and live by their personal beliefs. If you add in the cost of ideoligicall oriented education (private schools, college education, etc) Americans are reluctant to pony up any money.

American in the 21st Century is focused too much on the economy and too little on the citizenry. In the BBC report it is noted that Scandinavian countries always rank high on quality of life and hapiness. They also always rank high on taxes paid. The money is taken from individuals and given to the group to use on common goals. Here in America we like to believe there is no we, only a me. This drives indiviualism and distrust of others. The cycle continues; we distrust more and more and become more individually oriented.

This cultural reality fuels the conservitive agenda of hate, fear, and lower taxes. This approach can only move us toward more of the same. Americans need to be more invested in the America economy. Not in the financial economy but in the American Social Economy.