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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/09/29/van_jones_were_going_to_build_a_progressive_counterbalance_to_tea_party.html Van Jones, president of the progressive organization Rebuild the Dream, joins The Last Word to discuss what Washington should be doing about jobs. Jones calls the US' deficit problem "phony" and made up. "Hold on to your hats, we're going to have an October offensive to take back the American dream and rescue America's middle class," Jones told MSNBC's "The Last Word." Jones warns of an "American Fall" like there was an Arab Spring. Jones was President Obama's "green jobs czar" until he resigned in fall of 2009.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Congratulations, Internet haters! Well done, keepers of the one-true-way-to-talk-about-race! If we don't tamp down the backlash against Starbucks "Race Together" campaign, I fear that no major corporation will even try to talk about race again -- for maybe 10 or 20 years. Is that really what we want? Look, I get it. Asking baristas to hold conversations about race is a lot to demand of already hard-working employees. Not to mention, the topic should probably be called "systematic racism," not just "race." And there are legitimate questions about what Starbucks could realistically hope to accomplish, here. But for crying...

Curious how many Democrats live on your block? Just download the Obama campaign's new mobile app. The app, released last week, includes a Google map for canvassers that recognizes your current location and marks nearby Democratic households with small blue flags. For each targeted address, the app displays the first name, age and gender of the voter or voters who live there: "Lori C., 58 F, Democrat." All this is public information, which campaigns have long given to volunteers. But you no longer have to schedule a visit to a field office and wait for a staffer to hand you...

Bryan, check out this list of ways Senate Republicans have proposed to pay for keeping student loan rates at 3.4%, and see if you can spot the pattern: - Gut a preventative health care program - Limit how many years students are eligible for loans, making college far more expensive for part-time students - Force middle-class federal workers to pay more for their retirement - Scale back the number of folks using Medicaid1 You see it? A generation is drowning in debt for having the audacity to get an education, and these people are only willing to help if they...

In a speech with racist overtones given at the Hawaii Capitol Tuesday evening attended by Governor Neil Abercrombie (D), former Obama appointee Anthony K. "Van" Jones spoke at a rally to promote so-called economic justice and fairness by legislating a green energy State Partnership Bank about his being glad that (according to Jones) the'great white suburbs' of the American dream are 'dying.' Jones' speech was reported by Malia Zimmerman of The Hawaii Reporter: In his keynote, Jones did not directly address the bank legislation or other legislation pending in Hawaii. Instead he spoke of the dream being “under threat.” “Not...

Occupy Protesters Consider Political FutureBy Don Gonyea Thu., December 1, 2011 3:45am (EST) **SNIP** One who has been watching the Occupy movement closely is Van Jones, an activist who once worked in the Obama White House, and who now heads an organization called Rebuild the Dream. Jones has spoken at Occupy encampments and met with those working on the next steps. He thinks that the movement can work on multiple fronts. Protests and demonstrations are important, Jones says, but so too are elections. "There's no reason to do an either or here. This can be one of the biggest movements...

Liberal organizations and unions are frustrated that President Obama has not aggressively pushed a new jobs stimulus agenda, and they are offering up a consolidated fall agenda for Democrats to embrace as an alternative to austerity. Representatives of MoveOn.org, Rebuild the Dream and the Center for Economic Policy and Research joined Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) on Tuesday to launch a progressive “Contract for the American Dream” to urge the administration and Congress to turn away from budget cutting and focus on job creation.

Liberals outline stimulus agenda in 'Contract for the American Dream' By Erik Wasson - 08/09/11 10:57 AM ET Liberal organizations and unions are frustrated that President Obama has not aggressively pushed a new jobs stimulus agenda and they are offering up a consolidated fall agenda for Democrats to embrace as an alternative to austerity. Representatives of MoveOn, Rebuild the Dream and the Center for Economic Policy and Research will join Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) on Tuesday to launch a progressive “Contract for the American Dream” to urge the administration and Congress to turn away from budget cutting and focus on...

Dear MoveOn member, "Can liberals start their own tea party?"1 That was a Washington Post headline on Friday—and it's a good question. Last week, green jobs visionary Van Jones introduced a new organization focused on progressive economic solutions: Rebuild the Dream. Rebuild the Dream is joining with organizations including MoveOn, the AFL-CIO, SEIU, the Campaign for Community Change, and many more, to launch a new effort to build up a people-powered movement to counter the influence of the tea party. The first step for this emerging American Dream movement is creating our own blueprint for fixing the economy—an all-new Contract...

Well, according to AFL-CIO president Rich Trumka, only the American “labor movement” is all about the “real” American Dream. I guess that means the rest of us haven’t got a clue. Opening with Van Jones’ “American Dream” mantra, Trumka announced his pledge of 12 million union laborers and their families to support Van Jones’ “Rebuild the Dream” movement. Trumka then goes on to explain that the real American Dream is not about a few of us having a lot, but about all of us having a “fair portion.” “The American Dream is not that a few of us will get...