Statement on Kenneth Quinnell and the Florida Anti-Progressive Coalition

Vers 2.0 (posted Weds morning) with new section "Why I am Shrill and Angry"

Comrades, I write you this morning banned and in exile in the swamps of far southern Florida. Like Obi Wan Kenobi struck down by the Evil Darth Quinnell in Episode I, I shall now only grow more powerful. We shall overcome. Shalom. Today I have torn up my Democratic Party voter registration card and shall register Monday with the Florida Green Party. I urge all of you do the same, but support genuine progressive Democrats (genuine, not all the fake progressives) and temporarily re-register Dem if you find one to vote for in a given election.

If you are new to the current controversy, the background is in the immediate posts below.

The immediate issue is that the so-called Florida Coalition Blog and Radio (which would more accurately be called the “Kenneth Quinnell Democratic Party Networking and Career Promotion site”), when it could have been a genuine force for a progressive reformation of the Democratic Party, instead is a Democratic Party Establishment, business as usual, more of the same, nothing will change, power elite propaganda organ with no serious critical examination of the domination of the party by conservative-big business-militarist forces whose control is facilitated by amoral consultants and political operatives such as KQ. I urge everyone at the FPC and its mysterious and no-contact-info-on-file board to make the FPC fully independent of any political party and its corrupting influences and the corrosive political career ambitions of any individuals. Since that ain’t gonna happen as it is now so clear that KQ will throw any individual, constituency or cause that interferes with his ambition for power under the bus, I call on all of you to work for the formation of an independent statewide Left blog and radio network to give voice to the social and economic justice and anti-war movements and their electoral counterparts in Progressive
Democrats of America, the Florida Green Party and the scattered individuals in the Democratic Party clubs.

Furthermore, I caution all of you that the FPC is every much a Mainstream Corporate Establishment media outlet as the MSM we all keep harping about. Don’t read it. We would all be better off it fades away, which it probably will once KQ lands his big power job. Find alternatives such as the Florida PDA and Green Party sites among others and attend at least one
of their meetings. You will be amazed at the higher level of political and moral awareness you find with them than from KQ and the FPC. FPC subtly corrodes and shapes your mind to support the interests of the ongoing Democratic Party power elites, which are not yours in the same way the Republican Party apparatus uses dumb people to Tea Bag and demonstrate against their own values and middle class interests, although it not so crass a way.

“Dear Ken,

I don’t love you anymore; you’re part of the problem.

You are a party hack, a careerist and a sycophant with a shockingly low level of political and moral awareness. But I don’t single you out. There are thousands like you in the Democratic Party in this country who are the problem. There is nothing unique about your own personal attributes in this regard and all of us are fortunate that this isn’t the typical petty egotistical
bitch cat fight that breaks out between activists. We can focus on the fundamentals. Nor does any of what I say here have to do with your snuffing out our show and voices. I realized two years ago what you are doing. I just didn't speak out because I didn't want you kicking me off the blog. Tee hee.

I call on you to end your conflict of interest as the manager of a blog of supposedly independent thinking of all progressives while serving as a paid internet campaigner for Kendrick Meek. Come clean and tell us who leaned on you to cancel our show. Those of us who know KQ know that to his great credit and integrity he has allowed us commentators complete freedom of
expression. Not once did KQ ever censor a word of my controversial thoughts. Tell us KQ, we deserve to know who controls the FPC. This a “teachable moment”. We all need to know how power works in the Florida blogosphere. Is the FPC really caught up and a tool of the Kendrick Meek-escalate-the-war-in-Afghanistan campaign? It was your boss Steve Schale, right? What did he tell you? Did you resist his demand? Did you two argue? Was it heated? Did you put up a fight, and then cave? Or just cave since it’s your ticket to a U.S. Senate staff job. Did he threaten to fire you? Or was it the henchman for the aggressive Ted Deutch, my other prime suspect? Deutch shut down Dennis Kucinich’s keynote, why not go after me too? Tell us KQ, it’s great for our ratings. This thing needs to go national.

(KQ has responded: “For the record, no one from any campaign or party requested this or suggested it, this was my decision.” I have no reason to doubt him on this. His decision must have been proactive thinking on how this was affecting his Meek job and political ambitions.)

Furthermore, I call on you to show some integrity and leadership and resign from the Meek for Senate campaign in protest over his endorsement of an escalation of the war in Afghanistan and the deployment of thousands more troops, just as Matthew Loh did from Sec. of State Hillary’s (whose resignation I now call for) pro-war, pro-30,000 more troops State Department. Instead of shilling for every god damned cheap politician out there you can glam onto, think of the national impact you could have as a key staffer quitting a U.S. Senate campaign. Just think what you could have accomplished actively recruiting an anti-war candidate for Senate. You could be a major factor in stopping the war instead of perpetuating it for years.

The simple reason YOU are the problem, Kenny, is that you promote rightwing Democrats (or maintain complicit silence regarding their rightwing side, or are oblivious to it) and you promote the party above all other values, above issues and even objective reality. Nothing you are doing is changing anything. You are perpetuating a decrepit rotten party. It’s just more of the same, more new asshole Democrats replacing the old asshole Democrats every election.

For two years I often got heart pounding angry reading your stuff and the conservative assumptions and thoughtless party shilling that ebbs and flows just beneath your writing. I realized all this two years ago. I just didn’t speak out about it. Thank you for freeing me to do so. Thank you for this teachable moment for all of us.

The single issue that towers above all your offenses to me, is promoting, even working for, people who are pushing to escalate the Afghanistan war debacle. At a critical moment in our history when there is a desperate need for an anti-war voice in the senate race, there is not a single one. And you are shilling for the pro-war guy. Kenny, you outrage me. I personally hold you responsible for the continuing and increasing death and maiming of so many of our young people in the armed services. You are destroying their lives for no good reason.

When you should be loudly denouncing how the party bosses have set up yet another uncontested farce of a primary election next year with Alex Sinking and Meek Kendrick already nominated, you are actually campaigning for one of them. If you really have to wonder why I am angry and shrill, a big reason is that your corrupt party bosses continuously muscle competition and genuine progressives out of races, kick them off blogs and radio shows and force their backroom picks down the throats of the sheep herd of Democratic primary voters.

“Extreme rhetoric”? Give us a fucking break Kenny. You’re either disingenuous or dumber than I thought. On the same page that you falsely accused me of this, you’re posting about the rightwing “trolls”. And the “award winning” and 2009 (Democratic Party) Netroots “Best Florida Internet Radio Show” Blast Off! With Sinfonian that has been second to mine in the ratings counts most of the year, regularly uses all kinds of “extreme rhetoric”. Okay, maybe it is extreme, maybe sometimes we go a word too far and we should reconsider, but it’s the blogosphere and to accuse me while you and Sinfonian…. But see folks, it’s just Kenny’s canard. His problem is I use the rhetoric against his fucking rightwing “allies”. (By the way, what do the rightwingers think of this whole tiff? I haven’t heard a peep out of them on this one. We may have them dumbfounded and speechless, a great position to have them in. One of the surprising things about my show and commentaries, the ones that bash Obama and the Democrats, is I’ve gotten repeated feedback from “conservatives” who initially go, “Cool man, he’s bashing Obama. I thought this was progressive radio.” And they’re listening and they start to scratch their heads and think, “Hey, wait a second, this guy’s bashing them for being conservative!” I fuckin’ love it. I’m actually considering doing a conservative format niche show where I emphasize the few conservative issues I agree with coupled with Democrat bashing.” Might create a whole new
talk radio genre – conprog or progcon.

WHY I'M SHRILL AND ANGRY

Forget for now that Sinfonian is shrill and angry too, as are many of us. I know I'm hard to take. Mark Weaver is hard to stomach, and you have spit me out. But I can't help it. One must focus on what makes me shrill and angry. When I use "extreme rhetoric" I am only emotionally describing the actions of rightwing Democrats. I'm just reflecting who they are, what they stand for. And I'm channeling the suffering of the people they are hurting, killing and oppressing. Let me tell you a short story. Several years ago I had a "tiff" with my evangelical Christian Republican, Love Bush and Cheney neighbors. I told them I held them directly responsible for the destruction of Iraq launched by Bush, particularly of its Christian community. I had to go back recently and apologize to them for having put Gore-Lieberman and Kerry-Edwards signs on my front yard (never again) and I denounced the Democrats for taking over the destruction of Afghanistan and expanding it to Pakistan. I told them I'm no longer a Democrat and that I'm now Green Party. I don't like being put in that position of hypocrisy by the Democratic Party.

I am shrill and angry because I am aware. I am aware of the suffering of our armed forces sent into absurd wars, the suffering of Muslims in our society who are now harassed as a result of America's war on Islamic fundamentalism, the suffering of societies and civilians being destroyed by America's militarism, the suffering of the people under horrific Israeli blockade in Gaza, the Israeli police state in the West Bank, the ongoing theft of Palestinian lands (900 more new homes announced yesterday) and homes never authorized by the UN creation of the original State of Israel, the suffering of the people of Sderot, who are victims as Palestinians shower them with rocket attacks in a desperate attempt to stop the theft of their lands and the brutal blockade that maintains an 80% unemployment rate and hunger. I am shrill and angry because I aware of their pain and I am channeling it.

I am aware that all of these policies are being pushed by most Democrat politicians, and Florida's are among the worst. I am pissed at the insidious role the Democratic Party and its operators play in election after election serving up unacceptable candidates who do not offer any meaningful alternative to the Republican assholes on the most fundamental issues of war and peace and the Big-Corporate domination of our economy and politics. Forgive me for using the term assholes. I am shrill. I am angry. I got the idea from Matt Taibi, the brilliant Rolling Stone contributing editor who invokes the word in his pieces to good effect.

I am shrill and angry that the Democratic Party bosses in this state, following the lead of the anti-progressive Bill Clinton, who needs to stay out of this state, are staging an uncontested Senate primary in which the herd of Democratic Party voters trot to the polls and, duh, vote for ..... Kendrick Meek. Kendrick Meek who is advocating escalation of the Afghanistan war when an overwhelming majority of Democratic voters in this country want the war ended; who is advocating an escalation of a war that countless experts are pointing out is utterly pointless; who is advocating sending thousands more of our young men and women to die for nothing except, on the advice of his amoral political consultants, to win a few red neck votes in the panhandle, and promote his cynical fucking political ambitions using the lives of our armed forces. Cindy Sheehan knows what I mean. And so should you. Yet your party promotes Kendrick Meek.

Kendrick Meek, who instead of joining the Progressive Caucus, joined the Pro-Big Business caucus, the House update of Bill Clinton's old DLC. Just take a look at the deluge of his campaign contributions coming from the financial services and health industries, especially after he stood on the House floor and rescinded his lip service support of single payer. Kendrick Meek who did nothing to push full public funding of congressional campaigns and other reforms, the single most important issue in our country, after I handed him a pamphlet about them with my phone number and email written on the title page. Kendrick Meek, who shamelessly parrots AIPAC talking points every time radical rightwing Israeli governments launch massive assaults on civilians, infrastructure and UN buildings in Lebanon and Gaza (which Bill Moyers desribed as 'state terrorism' and the UN Human Rights Council now calls war crimes.); Kendrick Meek, who just voted to bury the Goldstone UN investigation documenting the war crimes.

Kendrick Meek, who is going to be ground up by Marco Rubio. Kendrick Meek isn't' just wrong on major issues, he is running such a pathetic standard Democratic Party consultant DSCC rote text book campaign the party uses over and over and over again and is stuck in, that he's going to lose. He isn't even good politics. We're going to end up with Senator Marco Rubio because the Democrats couldn't field a clear and strong alternative to him. As Kenneth Quinnell himself has pointed out, Democrats don't win when they copycat Republicans. Yet that is the kind of campaign Meek, under the influence of his cynical political operators, is running. KQ is right that voters innately prefer authentic politicians. Meek is patently not one and that's why Charlie is tanking and going to lose the primary. He's so unauthentic he's a clown. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio. Meek the copycat is handing Rubio the election. Now I'm really angry!

I'm pissed that the Democratic Party cannot even produce a Leftish candidate in any election, the way the Republican Party generates authentic, principled if despicable candidates. I'm pissed that Democratic Party bosses such as Rahm muscle real progressives out of races and back conservatives. The amoral Democratic Party operators are just as responsible for bringing us Blue Dogs as Big Business and the Blue Dogs are themselves.

DEMOCRATS' INSANE CLOWN RIGHTWING POSSE

Promoting Democratic party rightwingers, aka insane clown posse, while snuffing out the voices and activism of those of us on the Left. Shame on you. If I could for a moment, elaborate on my concept of the insane clown posse. It’s not “extremist rhetoric”, though a bit tongue in cheek, but each of those words has great meaning for me. It’s my version of what you call “trolls” or “crazy wingnuts” and other variations. Except that it’s the people in your decrepit party, people
who are a serious threat to this country. I came up with the word “insane” when I started thinking about how these rightwing Democrats often espouse downright stupid public policies, in the same way the Republican wingnuts do, just to maneuver for electoral advantage or satisfy some other perverse political grinding ax of theirs, policies that prima facie make no sense. They are insane. The nonsense is compounded when these policies have only minority public opinion
support and in some cases are downright widely unpopular. The most egregious examples of this are support for the “public option”, which should have been framed as the “discount insurance plan”, and poll after poll showing majority support for getting out of Afghanistan. Yet we have your man Meek, under the influence of the cynical political operator Steve Schale and the other DSCC “consultants” (hasn’t anybody watched Robert Redford’s The Candidate lately?) campaigning against not only what a majority of the public wants but what a huge majority of Democrats want. It’s insane.

Yours untruly,

Mark Weaver Show

Mark Weaver Kicked Off Florida Progressive Coaltion and Radio by Kenneth Quinnell

After 26 months, this was a long time coming and I will be commenting here in blistering length in a few days. Frankly, it had become an embarrassment for me to be associated with Kenneth Quinnell and his misnamed Florida Progressive Coalition (Democratic Party front) Blog and radio show because of his and others sophomoric commentaries, naivete and ceaseless thoughtless promotion of a Democratic Party that is dead wrong on so many issues. However, I bit my lip many a time, though not enough, in an effort to co-exist, which I am still willing to do, but of course those craven for power are not.

The FPC blog and radio were so compromised and lacking integrity they had become a joke. Quinnell is a paid staffer for the Kendrick Meek campaign, advising the netroots campaign operation. I have been unrelentingly critical of Meek's not-progressive, pro-corporate positions, but most of all his calls for escalating Afghanistan troop levels. Go figure. In addition, the phoney (Florida Democratic Party) Netroots Awards only recognize the blogs, writers and radio hosts who shill the best for the Florida Democratic Party business-legal-power elites, not any sort of deep independent thinking. Though I did not criticize the awards, many others did, pointing out most egregiously that Kendrick Meek, who was a netroots blip on the screen a year ago, swept many of the awards because his own web operation flooded the voting.

I am suspending the radio show for a couple of weeks to take a long needed break and to do some Florida camping and strategize on a new and better basecamp for The Mark Weaver Show.


The single issue that really brought things to a head for me over the last several months was watching Florida Democrats backing the escalation of the Afghanistan war. As they escalated, my analysis, anger and militancy escalated. But this is what happens when America goes to war, the war is also fought out between us here at home.

As I shall explain, this incident is a revelatory milestone in the development of Florida real-progressive politics as it lays bare how the Democratic Party and its power seeking sycophantic shills think, operate and repress those who oppose their vile use of power.

My commentary that broke the Democratic camel's back is the post in the next window below: "Florida Dems' Insane Clown Rightwing Posse."

Kenneth Quinnell's statement was:
http://quinnell.us/sspb/?p=6994

I have removed Mark Weaver as a member of the Florida Progressive Coalition blog and radio station. The primary reasons for this are that Mark is working at direct odds with the endeavors that myself and others are working on, he is unwilling to work as part of a team, he has engaged in the use of extreme rhetoric against people who are allies and supporters of the blog and in his most recent post, he engaged in language that could easily be considered libel against a private citizen. This confluence of actions, over a period of time, led me to decide to no longer allow Mark to post at the blog whose url bears my name.

I’m not a big believer in censorship, so I won’t be deleting any posts or radio shows featuring Mark. He is welcome to continue commenting on posts that others write and call in to shows on the FPC radio station if the host(s) of those shows allow it. I encourage Mark to set up his own blog and radio station and I will add him to the blogroll and include him in regular round-ups where appropriate.

I hold no ill-will or emnity against Mark, but he is harming efforts that I am pursuing on the blog that I created. While he has the freedom to do what he thinks is appropriate in the realm of politics, it is inappropriate for him to pursue those things on this blog.

KQ

Read more on Florida politics at the Florida Progressive Coalition blog (http://flaprogressives.org) and the Florida Progressive Coalition Wiki (http://quinnell.us/sspb/wiki/).

Florida Democrats' Insane Clown Rightwing Posse

FLA Dems’ Insane Clown Rightwing Posse

Written by Mark Weaver on 10 November 2009 — Leave a Comment

Over the past week plus, several incidents have illustrated the depravity of the Florida Democratic Party and the need for genuine principled, issues and values progressives, not the Party hacks, to get it together and take control of the party from these clowns who in some combination 1) are vicious rightwing shadow Republicans using the Democratic Party for cover, 2) are espousing stupid if not venal public policies opposed to the interests of most of their constituents, 3) advocating policies that the majority of the public rejects, 4) cynically maneuvering to advance their own political careers by following the “advice” of amoral, unprincipled political operatives like Steve Schale (who helped bring us Obama and the growing Afghanistan debacle) trying to score cheap election wins by pandering to mis-labeled conservative, moderate and independent voters because these candidates and operatives are too rudderless to assertively advocate a vision that could appeal to such voters.

The latest configuration of this insane clown posse consists of Kendrick Meek, Ted Deutch, State Rep. Kevin Rader, Palm Beach commissioner Burt Aaronson, Debbie Schultz, Alcee Hastings, Suzanne Kosmas and Allen Boyd (the usual suspect). If we include the mob cheering them in the street we would have to include the entire Florida congressional delegation, with a provisional pass for Kathy Castor and Alan Grayson.

Each of these incidents was egregious in its own way, but let’s quickly dispatch with Kosmas and Boyd, who couldn’t even vote for the watered down, health industry-protection racket reform bill that is nevertheless a marginal improvement in the current dysfunction and neglect. (Yes, I’m finally endorsing it, despite the hemorrhaging nightmare that it is.) Boyd is not news, but one would have hoped that the freshwoman Kosmas would have been part of a change in the Democratic Party. On issue after issue she’s been voting like a rightwinger. We all have to examine how a woman like this was allowed to come through the ranks and win a Democratic nomination for high office. It was great to see that 60 party activists picketed her last week. Right on, guys. Those 60 should have been recruiting and backing a good progressive to run in New Smyrna two years ago and actively vetting and blocking Kosmas. By being so spineless and politically inept, Kosmas deserves to lose next year. Let’s hope the 60 can field a strong primary challenge to her!

More disturbing is the emergence of the vile Ted Deutch as successor to Robert Wexler. Deutch has been the leading purveyor in the state legislature of the Iran lies, sponsoring the AIPAC inspired Iran sanctions resolutions with a long list of whereases which are riddled with exaggerations, distortions, mischaracterizations, falsehoods, omissions and downright lies demonizing Iran. Deutch is one of the leading figures pushing bombing and war with Iran, among other vicious rightwing Middle East policies and it is a symptom of the sickness within the Democratic Party that he is allowed to succeed Wexler WITH NO RESISTANCE, ACCOUNTABILITY OR EVEN AWARENESS of where he is taking us, which endangers the people of Israel, not to mention the lives of countless Iranians, Palestinians and Lebanese. All we read is the clueless amoral party hacks celebrating what great fundraising he is doing (through the AIPAC extremist network) and his impressive old-line establishment endorsements.

Deutch really revealed his true colors last week when he, and fellow travelers State Rep. Kevin Rader and County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, who called the selection of Kucinich “an absolute horror” and said he would refuse to share the podium with him (the sentiment is probably mutual), boycotted the selection of Dennis Kucinich as keynoter at the Palm Beach Democratic Party’s annual fundraiser, forcing Kucinich off the bill. Deutch, lying as he does with the Iran resolutions, said Kucinich is “someone whose position on Israel stands in total opposition to the conscience of this community.” The only truth to such a statement would be if the conscience of the community really does endorse the war crimes committed by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza as documented the Goldstone investigation, about which more shortly.

Legitimate policy differences with Kucinich aside, what is so enraging about Deutch, Rader and Aaronson is their tea bagging thuggery and intimidation in shutting down discussion of foreign policy alternatives. Kucinich would not even have addressed Middle Eastern issues in his talk, given its keynote nature, and would have focused on health reform. The lack of civility alone by these three is grounds for their censure and expulsion from the Democratic Party. They can run as Republicans. I urge every Floridian to call Palm Beach chairman Mark Alan Siegel (561.433.1112) and support him in his booking and defense of Kucinich and his level headed take on Kucinich and AIPAC and request a vote of censure of Deutch, Rader and Aaronson. Maybe that’ll take some of the steam out of Deutch’s coming special election and anointment. Meanwhile, Wexler, who never met a war he couldn’t back while in Congress, has given Deutch a glowing endorsement.

Next up we have Kendrick Meek, Debbie Schultz and Alcee Hastings signing a letter with 53 Democrats nationwide (and Bill Nelson separately) trying to take the steam out of the bipartisan push to end the travel ban to Cuba, which is refreshingly, finally on the verge of passing. There are several problems with this. First, the single most important thing we can do to bring democratic change to Cuba is to open up travel to Americans. Can you imagine the effect it will have? Americans telling their stories to Cubans in Cuba. Talk about fomenting a velvet revolution. But no, Meek, Nelson, Schultz and Hastings are too, too, what is the word for it? They’re not stupid, or are they? I guess they have some insane rationale for pandering to the fading hardline Cuban exile community. But according to the latest credible poll, A MAJORITY OF CUBAN AMERICANS NOW SUPPORT AN END TO THE TRAVEL BAN. It doesn’t even make sense, for a Democrat, but this is the corruption and depravity of the party I keep talking about. Furthermore, what they are espousing is just wrong. It’s oppressive and anti-freedom. It’s arrogant, audacious, venal, and on and on an on. Think about it. Meek, Nelson, Schultz and Hastings are telling YOU that you cannot go to Cuba for their own twisted ideological and vote-calculating reasons. They are denying you your freedom. On top of all this, it is just idiotic politics. Does Meek and his crass operator Schale really think that Meek can win votes campaigning through all of Florida (outside a couple of square miles of west Little Havana and the state’s millionaire enclaves, which will vote Republican anyway) telling people that he wants to take away their freedom and that they can’t visit the beautiful beaches, hills, mountains and Spanish-colonial cities of Cuba? The final outrage, I swear my head is going to fucking explode right now, is this: while we have this crazy extremist Republican party that blocks all sort of progress, the one moment where we actually have a bipartisan coalition come together around a progressive reform, 53 Democratic Party assholes step in to kill it. Do you see what I mean about the pervasive, nonsensical corrupt rot of the Democratic Party? They have become the Soviet Communist Party of 1985.

Finally, we have the entire Florida delegation voting to reject and deny the Goldstone report documenting Israel’s numerous war crimes in Gaza resulting in the deaths of 1,400 Gazans while Hamas’ crude rockets killed 7 Israelis around Sderot. Every single fucking Florida Dem (except Kathy Castor and Alan Grayson) cosponsored the resolution, which Goldstone himself rebutted point by point, twelve of them, proving as if in a court of law, each of them to be falsehoods. Castor and Grayson deserve at least a shred of credit for not allowing themselves to be herded by AIPAC. The disingenous positions these people take are “see no evil, hear no evil.”

Do you see what I mean about this insane clown posse?