Edit~ Neoliberals/Neocons, what's the difference?

Absolutely nothing IMHO.

Who/What is a neo liberal you ask? 

They are blue dog/conservatives/moderates/former republicans posing as progressives/liberals/democrats.

They support non progressive candidates who pander to the right at the expense of the traditional democratic base (women minorities, labor, teachers, working class, poor) and the democratic agenda.

They are anti labor/teachers unions.

They support so called new school politicians over traditional, old school leaders and civil rights organizations.

The democratic party has been infiltrated by neo liberals just as the republican party has been infiltrated by neo conservatives.


Check out Neo-liberalism and the assault on public education. H/T JZ via The Black Commentator.com

Neo-Liberalism is an ideology that calls for
"limited government" and a market-driven economy. This
project is being carried out on the federal, state, and
local levels, while targeting publicly-financed K-12
schools and higher education.

Some of the objectives for restructuring public
education include:

1) shifting the cost of education on to students, while
increasing their debt burden to the benefit of banks;

2) promoting the expansion of privately-managed charter
schools;

3) deepening the access to public educational resources
for corporate-interests;

4) smashing teacher unions, thus weakening the
political power of those unions, and cutting the cost
of teachers; and,

5) eliminating multicultural, revisionist, inter-
nationalist, and critical perspectives from the school
curricula.

Speaking of neo liberals, I would like to take this opportunity to respond to some 0f the post over at my former sandbox, LeftinAlabama. For some strange reason I can't seem log on to comment but thank goodness I have my own sandbox. :) Funny how they are bragging about readers and contributors from around world but banning contributors right here in the USA but I digress.

Resident conservative OP wants to play the blame Obama game and say the Gulf Oil spill is President's Obama's Katrina.

There appears to me to be some eerie similarities between the oil spill and Katrina.

HELL to the NO. The loss of human life and suffering which occured in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was much worse compared to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. President Obama didn't fly over the gulf coast and look down on thousands of people suffering and dying from his Presidential airplane then proceed to the White House and do nothing for five days. President Obama didn't ignore the warnings the levees would break. President Obama is not responsible for the oil leak any more than George W. Bush was responsible for Hurricane Katrina. There are some who say Dick Cheney's secret energy policy meetings are more to blame than President Obama. Maybe now the the concrete heads who are yelling drill baby drill will get the message. Maybe now President Obama will rethink his decision to open off shore drilling. But then again, maybe not.

In response to countrycat's disbelief any democrat would defend Parker Griffiths defection, I must say I find the double standard troubling. Should we have all sent Artur Griffith, I mean Davis flowers and campaign contributions after he voted against the Health care reform bill, the hate crimes bill, and other Democratic initiatives? What's the difference between Grimsley playing both sides of the aisle and Artur Davis voting with republicans against his party? Does Artur Davis really strike you as an asset to the democratic party?

mooncat continues to bash AEA and promote Artur Davis by asking what is the Alabama Education Associations 2010 strategy.

It seems to me that AEA is kind of like Bradley Byrne -- they know what they don't want, but they aren't sure what they do want. They know they don't want Byrne, who has been running against AEA for several years (news flash: Paul Hubbert and AEA won't be on the ballot, Bradley) but they don't want Artur Davis either because he's running on shaking up the Montgomery power structure. So the strategy is to attack Byrne directly and fund Davis' primary opponent, but why the money to Bill Johnson? That $87K looks like money down a rat hole any way you look at it, and the Sparks money doesn't look much better.

Artur Davis is running on shaking up the teachers union and privatizing public education by replacing public schools with charter schools. Artur Davis is the power structures candidate (see assualt on education post above). As you say, the people with the money make the rules and as you're fond of pointing out, Artur Davis has the most money.  Terri Sewell has the most money too.

piggieheart says he can't decide if Bishop E.W. Jackson is more homophobic or racist. I say he's more homophobic and prejudiced. There is a difference between being prejudiced and being a racist. Prejudice must have power to be racist. In other words prejudice without power is no nothing. Bishop E.W. Jackson doesn't have the power to deny our gay and lesbian sisters and bothers anything, all he can do is promote white,I mean right wing spin with a black face on right wing TeeVee.

What if Congressman Artur Davis had actually read the health care bill instead of counting the number of pages in the health care bill?  DrApston has an excellent series explaining the benefits and deficiencies of the health care reform bill. What if Congressman Davis had someone like this on his staff advising him instead of the Kool Aide kids? Would he have voted against the health care reform bill if he knew exactly what the benefits were to Alabamians?

“Regardless of whether you supported the health care reform bill or not, you cannot argue with the benefits for Alabamians and their families,”

Among the most important of these benefits, the health reform package will strengthen and improve the Medicare Program. Under the health insurance reform plan, the life of the Medicare Trust Fund will be extended by nearly a decade. Currently, 763,000 Alabamians depend on Medicare for health care.

The health reform package improves access to primary care doctors, and primary care doctors will receive bonuses for treating people covered by Medicare.

Beginning in 2010, preventive care, such as screenings for cancer and diabetes, is provided free of charge. You will no longer have to pay out of pocket for preventive care services.

The Health Reform Package will also help older Alabamians struggling with the high cost of prescription by closing the "doughnut hole" in prescription drug coverage.

ivan is upset with the leadership of the Alabama United Auto Workers and State Senator Hank Sanders  for their endorsement of Ron Sparks over Artur Davis for Governor. But I say what Hank Sanders said;

When Congressman Artur Davis, who is African American, announced his intentions to run for Governor of Alabama, I knew victory was a long, long shot. After all, Senator Barack Obama, now President Barack Obama, received just 39% of the vote in Alabama. The only state that gave him a lower percentage was Oklahoma. No African American statewide candidate has topped 46% in the last 15 years. Yet, I was open to his long shot. I am no longer open. I must say, “no” to him out of love for our children, our people, and for him. And it hurts me.

In response to herding old cats post about the 5th districts glorious past, let me say I don't believe the democratic candidates are running on the past as much as they are trying to define who they are and what they stand for. Remember that old saying about the apple not falling from the tree? Two of the candidates are relatively new to politics and none have run for public office before so they don't have a record to run on so to speak. They are asking voters to judge them by the records of the company they keep.

I may no longer be welcome in the LiA sandbox, but you are welcome to play in my sandbox anytime. We can debate/discuss/disagree about politics without being disagreeable. Don't be skeered. :)