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The Coffee Party Newsletter Is Out!

• NATIONAL COFFEE PARTY WEEK KICKS OFF MONDAY
  Local organizers seek accountability through public awareness [MORE]
   
• WISCONSIN RECALL
  Craig Dunigan says the historic recall of Gov. Walker is a collective refusal to let go of the Wisconsin way of life [MORE]
   
• BE THE MEDIA
  Eric Byler invites you to speak your truth through on of the largest "99 Percent Media" microphones in the nation — you know: the one you helped us build.[MORE]

   

• WE ALL DIE A LITTLE
  Cheryl Hatch, Jeanene Louden, and Debilyn Molineaux reflect on the meaning of Memorial Day. [MORE]
   
• HOW WALL STREET MANIPULATES GAS PRICES, CHEATS OUR FAMILIES, AND HURTS OUR ECONOMY
  Jessica English interviews Tyson Slocum of Public Citizen on how the price of oil is manipulated by Wall Street speculators, and what We the People can do to stop them.
  [MORE]
   
• THREE REASONS WHY CONSERVATIVES SHOULD JOIN THE COFFEE PARTY
  by Michael Charney [MORE]
   

This January we turned in a petition with nearly one million signatures, asking to exercise our constitutional right to recall an elected official.  On Tuesday, Wisconsin will go to the polls and choose whether or not to replace its governor.  Many will see this election as the culmination of what has become known as the Wisconsin Movement.  However, I think this is bigger than Wisconsin, and bigger than just this election.  Much bigger.

Please take 15 minutes to listen to this report by Guy Raz of NPR's All Things Considered.  The richest 100 people in America are providing 80% of the money going to Republican Super-PAC's, and, this constitutes 80% of all the money being spent by these lawless electioneering entities.  This report implies but does not come out and say that the "Citizens United" decree was a direct response to the advent of social media and crowd-funding, which made it possible for We the People to have a larger say in, for instance, who is elected president. 

At least 105 people are very, very worried about this development.  100 of them are spending millions of dollars to counter it, and 5 of them undermined the Constitution and destroyed their legacies as Supreme Court justices in order to help them.  America's plutocracy is spending so heavily this year because they feel they need to entrench their power so deeply that our votes (and the will of the People) will never matter again. 

Please listen to this and share it with your friends. —Eric Byler

Outside Money Making The Race A Rich Man's Game

Hotshot political consultant Matt Machowiak is a rising star in the very lucrative world of political consulting. His firm, the Potomac Strategy Group, helps Republicans win elections, but he's not working with Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign this election year.

People who are part of Machowiak's tribe — the strategists, the opposition researchers, the pollsters — are discovering that they can have a much bigger impact working for outside groups that can raise unlimited amounts of money, unencumbered by the rules that restrict what a presidential campaign can do.

These political money men are already changing the way elections are won and lost.

"That's one of the interesting things about this," Machowiak says. "These outside groups are playing an outsized role on the campaign right now. Campaigns and candidates themselves have less control over the narrative, less control over the media, less control over the story — and you now have this finance system that's unlike any we've ever seen."

The Supreme Court's 2010 decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission allows outside groups to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to advocate for a particular issue or even candidate.

Now strategists and donors are going where the money's going, and growing evidence suggests that this election year — not just on the presidential level, but also for congressional races — will be dominated by superPACs.

Right now, more than 80 percent of the money raised by superPACs has gone to pro-GOP groups. And, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, 80 percent of all the money raised by these groups has come from just 100 individuals — the wealthiest people in America. People like Texas billionaire Harold Simmons.  [MORE]

by Jessica English

My guest today on The Bottom Line is Tyson Slocum (click to see him on Colbert), one of the nation's leading experts on Wall Street profiteering in the energy industry, and, how to stop it. 

It is Memorial Day Weekend - a holiday weekend to honor our fallen soldiers, and for many Americans, an opportunity to hop in the car for the first road trip of summer.  I traveled from St. Paul to Wisconsin this weekend for a wedding, and like a lot of you, the price of gas is often on my mind and eating through my meager wages.

But we are going to do more than just complain about gas prices today (I heard enough of that from Uncle Ron). 

WRITE TO CONGRESS to tell them to enforce our laws
and protect the American consumer.

by Jessica English

Here's what we've got going on my show today:

1.  G8 Protests Live!

Sunday on The Bottom Line with Jessica English we bring you live coverage, first-hand and in-depth accounts of the big rallies and anti-war march in Chicago!

Our Guest: Lisa Luinenburg (with the group MIRAc), will be boarding her bus in Minnesota at 10pm Saturday night and riding all night long to join us after the marches to fill us in on the events.

What do you think of these anti-NATO demonstrations in Chicago and the anti-G8 rallies near Camp David? Are they good for our democracy?How do you feel about the protest some of our veterans have scheduled? Did you travel to Chicago or Maryland? What is all the protesting about? Please listen and/or call in:

THE BOTTOM LINE with Jessica English
Sunday, May 20, 5-7pm ET
Call: (646) 929-2495