Art offers his perspective as a movement progressive activist.

We have good news in Wisconsin. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has started recall of Governor Walker. The:

.. effort will be led by several grassroots organizations that have formed over the last year in opposition to Walker’s policies, such as United Wisconsin, Defend Wisconsin, Defending Wisconsin, Autonomous Solidarity Organization and We Are Wisconsin. According to its website, the United Wisconsin political action committee already has more than 202,000 people who have signed “pledges” to recall Walker. Those are not the same as official petition signatures.

Public officials in Wisconsin are not eligible for recall until they have served at least one year of their current term in office. Walker was inaugurated on Jan. 3, 2011, meaning recall petitions cannot be filed until Jan. 3, 2012.

Recall offices will be opening beginning Oct. 24. With the effort beginning Nov. 15, all petitions would be due would be Friday, Jan. 13, according to the Democratic Party’s recall website.

The number of signatures needed to trigger a recall election for Walker is 540,208, or one-quarter of the 2,160,832 votes cast in that race in the November 2010 general election.

We may have a do or die election for progressives in early 2012 if enough signatures are collected. I sure hope Feingold reconsiders and runs if recall is enacted.

Curtis Roosevelt ponders the Occupy Wall St movement and how Obama has a prime opportunity. Recall FDR and Eleanor gave support to the Bonus Marchers in 1932. Eleanor went to the Bonus camp even and gave them emotional support.

Matt Stoller has said this OWS essentially is a primary against Obama and status qou. Obama must somehow manage this new element rising. FDR did with great success. Curtis:

The president has acknowledged the relevance of the discontent that protesters have expressed in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Boston, and other cities. How will he follow up? They are demonstrating for us. Some political pundits have seen the light. Jonathan Alter, writing for Bloomberg, thinks that maybe “it’s the beginning of something consequential.” Krugman and Reich both agree in their columns this week.

Franklin Roosevelt usually fitted together in a pragmatic way what was morally right and politically useful. Can Barack Obama do the same? He can see beyond the action of marching in the streets and the limitations of shouting slogans. He can appreciate the timeliness of this action, this blast against the power of the financial world. And he knows how it could work for him. By showing more support for what the demonstrations represent he would not only be doing the right thing but also improving his chances for re-election.

But will he? I like to hope and dream that he will. But my more realistic friends are likely to smile indulgently and comment, “Dream on, old man.”

Al Gore gives full throttle support for OWS in the NYT and on his blog:

From the economy to the climate crisis, our leaders have pursued solutions that are not solving our problems; instead they propose policies that accomplish little,” Gore wrote on his blog Wednesday night.

“With democracy in crisis, a true grassroots movement pointing out the flaws in our system is the first step in the right direction. Count me among those supporting and cheering on the Occupy Wall Street movement.”

All three free trade pacts passed this week. Most Dems voted against all three. Even Pelosi voted against the pact with union murdering Columbia. The Tea Party went right along in votes where they could have swung the outcome. Yep, the GOP establishment just has to wait the tea crowd out.

The Obama admin has caved on Ted Kennedy’s CLASS Act, a low cost life insurance program that would have taken care of you if you paid into it for 5 years. The cost per month was as low as 5 dollars. A last law by Ted Kennedy is now in smokes as the Obama WH scraps it saying it might not be financially sustainable. And the GOP is thrilled. Note:

The Congressional Budget Office had scored CLASS as achieving $86 billion in savings over the next decade, because it would have collected premiums for five years before paying any benefits. In a conference call with reporters, Assistant Secretary for Aging Kathy Greenlee said the Office of Management and Budget would “likely reduce” the baseline budget for 2013 by taking CLASS out of the mix.

The administration claims they cannot find a sustainable path for this vital new program but most say that is simply not true. It can be a wonderful program saving the government a fortune:

..actuarial groups who were critical of the program said there were still plenty of ways to change the program so it could pay for itself — like extending the vesting period, narrowing the eligibility so people would have to be more severely impaired to get benefits and adding penalties for people who enroll late.

The GOP is so thrilled it has another scalp. Look at what some have to say:

“The Obama administration today acknowledged what they refused to admit when they passed their partisan health bill: The CLASS Act was a budget gimmick that might enhance the numbers on a Washington bureaucrat’s spreadsheet,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wi) declared that “the smoke and mirrors that the Democrats employed to sell their health care overhaul are finally falling away, one broken promise at a time. … Now it is time for Congress to do the responsible thing: Repeal the disastrous new law and replace it with true, patient-centered reforms.”

Robert Reich nails it on CLASS. If it is not sustainable due to it being a voluntary program and not mandatory like Medicare, then how does this bode for ACA? Pretty badly he says. If the administration is already saying CLASS is not sustainable due to a lack of mandate, then what if the Supreme Court strikes down the mandate? Reich ponders the foolishness of not going with Medicare for All from day one instead of the hated notion of making everyone buy private insurance. He asks:

Why, oh why, didn’t the Obama administration make life easy for itself and for Americans by choosing the simplest and most efficient system for both primary and long-term health insurance — Medicare for all?

It didn’t because it wanted to get Republican votes. It got almost none. And now the Republicans are enjoying the prospect of the law being dismembered piece by piece, starting today.

400 Jewish organizations fought to get CLASS passed. It had to be ACA to get key Jewish groups to back the bill. Now Obama has yanked it. You want to talk about trouble with the Jewish community in time for the election? This move is nothing but inflammatory. Read what every Jewish organization wrote to the WH in 2009 about CLASS. Now imagine the fallout.

A bad omen for the debt committee deal In November and the 2012 budget for sure. And once again the people lose because this WH won’t stand up to the GOP, further digging their own political grave as the Dem base grows demoralized.

Not demoralizing is having a progressive take a House seat away from the Tea Party. In Colorado this may jus t happen as a federal court is expected to draw new congressional maps with a more Dem friendly set of lines. Liberal state rep. Miklosi is running against nut Congressman Mike Coffman. There is irony that:

..the stars may be aligning for a pro-choice, pro-gay rights progressive to take over a seat once held by ultra-conservative Rep. Tom Tancredo, who became a nationally known figure for his hard-line positions on immigration.

“The irony of me taking the seat over, the Latino community is just incredibly enthused,” Miklosi told The Huffington Post.

“The district would go from an 8 to 22 percent Latino population” under the Democratic plan, he said. “I’m a Dream Act sponsor. Coffman votes with Tancredo.”

A national Democratic official called it “a big deal” that Miklosi’s district is likely to lean more Democratic after redistricting. In addition, said the official, Coffman made himself much more vulnerable to a Democratic challenger recently by calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme — a message that won’t sit well with the district’s senior citizens.

Now that is a seat I want!

Nut watch: Hey, these Tea Party loons who run Florida have a new aim and it is not jobs. Nope it is a bill to execute those sentenced to death via firing squad. This is madness. It is 1880 America:

Saying it’s time to stop letting convicted killers “get off that easy,” a Florida state lawmaker wants to use firing squads or the electric chair for those on death row.

Rep. Brad Drake filed a bill this week that would end the use of lethal injection in Florida executions. Instead, those with a death sentence would choose between electrocution or a firing squad.