Dave is the lead blogger at Seeing the Forest. He is a featured contributor at Huffington Post and writes at many other sites including MyDD, AlterNet, Common Dreams, DailyKos and Speak Out California.
Dave has over 20 years of technology industry experience and has previously held positions including CEO, and VP of Sales and Marketing. He specialized in grassroots "viral" marketing, direct mail, and Internet applications. More recently Dave helped co-found Carbon Tracing, Inc., the company developing the desktop systems to validate carbon trading in the US.
Monday, August 29, 2011 Three Charts To Email To Your Right-Wing Brother-In-Law (91 comments)
Your right-wing brother-in-law is plugged into the FOX-Limbaugh lie machine, and keeps sending you emails about "Obama spending" and "Obama deficits" and how the "Stimulus" just made things worse.
Friday, July 22, 2011 The Hostage-Taking Just Keeps Coming - This Time The FAA Shuts Down (9 comments)
Conservatives refuse to fund the FAA unless the Senate agrees to block airline and railroad unions from being able to organize. Result: the agency shuts down at midnight tonite.
Friday, July 1, 2011 The Not-So-Loyal Opposition (6 comments)
...it is looking more and more like Republicans are deliberately sabotaging efforts to recover the economy and create jobs, as a strategy to turn voters against President Obama in the coming elections.
Thursday, June 2, 2011 Jobs Fix Deficits (2 comments)
If the American Majority is much more concerned about jobs than deficits, will the Republican strategy of making things worse now to make things better for Republicans later really work?
Thursday, May 19, 2011 See WHY Austerity Can't Reduce The Deficit (2 comments)
Austerity -- cutting government benefits and services -- is not the path to fixing deficits. In fact, economists warn that trying to fix a sluggish economy by cutting government spending will just make things worse. Worse yet, this approach can have damaging effects that last into the future.
Saturday, May 14, 2011 Actually, "the Rich" Don't "Create Jobs," We Do (6 comments)
When all the money goes to a few at the top everything breaks down. Taxing the people at the top and reinvesting the money into the democratic society is fundamental to keeping things going.
Thursday, November 25, 2010 3 Things You Can Do to Keep the Deficit Fearmongers From Looting Social Security (2 comments)
This is full-on Shock Doctrine, wait for an emergency like the terrible recession so people are in shock and want solutions, and then change everything so fast they can't respond while telling them how this is good for them.
Sunday, November 7, 2010 Tea Party Betrayed Already? (2 comments)
Now that the election is over, we're all just waiting for what we think is coming, and asking: What will Tea Party members do when their politicians betray them?
Thursday, November 4, 2010 A Look at the Military Budget through Social Security Eyes
Republicans don't want to pay for Social Security because they are too busy getting rich on wars. Just think how many wars they could have with the trillions in the Social Security trust fund!
Monday, August 9, 2010 Tax Cuts Are Theft (1 comments)
Tax cuts are theft because they break a long-standing contract.
The American Social Contract: We, the People built our democracy and the empowerment and protections it bestows. We built the infrastructure, schools and all of the public structures, laws, courts, monetary system, etc. that enable enterprise to prosper. That prosperity is the bounty of our democracy and by contract it is supposed to be shared and reinvested.
Sunday, August 1, 2010 The Strengthen Social Security Campaign (2 comments)
A coalition of 60 organizations has formed to fight the latest attempt to kill Social Security.
Friday, April 16, 2010 A Tax Trick That Forces Companies to Close Factories (2 comments)
There are no natural limits to the destructiveness of corporate competitiveness. If our government "encourages" companies like Whirlpool to make decisions which are destructive to American communities, they will do so in their pursuit of profits. We & Congress on our behalf must establish rules regarding a fair competitive environment.
Friday, January 22, 2010 How To End Corporate Domination Of Government - And Our Lives (1 comments)
There is a way to stop companies from influencing our politics and our lives. Just make it clear that company funds must be used to operate the company.
Thursday, September 3, 2009 Who Opposes American Manufacturing? (10 comments)
Why do conservatives want to send our factories - and jobs - out of the country? Is it because they are receiving foreign funding?
Thursday, March 19, 2009 Stop Corporate Lobbying With Taxpayer Money (3 comments)
Taxpayer dollars should not be used to influence our government. We, the People should be telling them what to do, not the other way around.
Thursday, February 12, 2009 Government (1 comments)
In a democracy we jointly make decisions about the best way to manage our affairs. So saying that corporations do things better is really an anti-democracy message -- that organizations run by a few wealthy elites telling everyone else what to do, with the benefits of everyone's work mostly going to those few at the top, is a better way to manage society than to have everyone making the decisions and sharing in the results.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 Tax Brackets (5 comments)
Beginning a discussion of taxes, this starts to explain some basics and clear up some misunderstandings.
Sunday, December 14, 2008 Progressive Infrastructure (5 comments)
What is progressive infrastructure and why do we need it?
Sunday, November 30, 2008 Protectionism Means Protecting Ourselves (3 comments)
Protectionism literally means protecting ourselves. It does not have to mean shutting off trade.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 Post-election at the Election Protection Wiki
As policymakers look back at the 2008 election they will need well-
researched sources of background information. The Election Protection
Wiki serves as a hub where they will either find the information
directly or be directed to the organization or site that has it.
Here are ways that you can help:
Thursday, October 16, 2008 Call Out For Election Protection Wiki Help
The Election Protection Wiki needs more tipsters and volunteers to help build our library of reports of voter suppression, questionable voting machines and the like before Election Day!
Saturday, September 20, 2008 THROW Them Out Don't Bail Them Out (4 comments)
Everything I have read about this massive bailout proposal sounds like they're going to try to treat the symptoms of a sick and failed system instead of the causes and instead of reforming or replacing the failed system itself. Nothing I have heard addresses the CAUSES of the problems!
I say THROW the system out and start building one that WORKS for US, don't bail the failed, corrupt system out.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Republicans Just Lie -- It's What They DO (3 comments)
Never mind the consequences: war, ten trillion dollars in debt, the financial system breaking down, the ice caps melting, people losing pensions and health care and houses and jobs... Look away! Never mind that! Obama tried to force kindergartners to take sex education --- even if he didn't.
Sunday, August 3, 2008 McCain's Ad Says Obama Anti-Christ? (8 comments)
SOME parts of the religious right are serious about this idea that Obama is the "anti-Christ." McCain's new ad reinforces this. Is it intnetional?
Saturday, August 2, 2008 Why Conservative Policies Dominate (5 comments)
Why does the public flock to conservative / corporate policies that generally run against their own interests? Take tax cuts for the rich, or the current offshore-drilling campaign as examples.
Monday, July 21, 2008 "Who Sent You?" -- The Coming Attack on Obama (7 comments)
A new smear attack is bubbling up on the right in ways reminiscent of the Swift Boat attack on Kerry.
Monday, July 7, 2008 The Spying Started Before September 11 -- That's The Whole Point (4 comments)
In response to LA Times article, "A Good-Enough Spy Law," and its claim that telecom aided surveillance was in response to the aftermath of Sept. 11, writer Dave Johnson reminds us that this spying started shortly after Bush took office. A fact that the MSM can't seem to grasp.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008 Watching Freedom's Watch: A Classic Front Group (1 comments)
Just as John O'Neill received $50,000 in August 2004 from the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth and Admiral Roy Hoffman's foundation received $100,000 in early 2005, the people working for Freedom's Watch are not tireless grassroots advocates, they are paid professionals.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007 Such Is The Power of Propaganda
Something that "everyone knows" is also called "conventional wisdom." Once something becomes "conventional wisdom" it is extraordinarily difficult to shake people from believing it, true or not.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007 Is Your Money Safe? (2 comments)
Pay attention to this: The "mortgage meltdown" and "credit crunch" could mean that you can not get your money out of money-market funds. It already means that for some.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007 Is The Constitution Worth It? (2 comments)
Last week I asked Speaker Pelosi "what Congress is prepared to do to re-assert the rule of law..."
Sunday, June 24, 2007 Tell Me What You Think Of John Kerry (13 comments)
Should John Kerry run again - or should we support the new primary challenger?
Monday, June 4, 2007 Messiah-Candidate Thinking (2 comments)
No one candidate is going to lead us out of the wilderness. We still have a lot of work to do.
Friday, April 27, 2007 Candidates All Flubbed The ONLY Question. (2 comments)
None of the candidates understood how the right-wing narrative on "strong defense" works
Tuesday, March 20, 2007 The Reach Of Blogs (2 comments)
Progressive blogs reach progressives. Right-wingers are part of a noise machine that reaches the general public.
Monday, February 26, 2007 A Far Too Convenient $mear: Part One (7 comments)
They're smearing Al Gore for using electricity - even though he pays extra for solar and wind energy.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 How the "Pelosi 757" Lie Was Spread
This article researches how - and why - the right spread the lie that Speaker Pelosi "demanded" use of a "luxury jet."
Monday, February 5, 2007 Long-Term Strategic Narrative: Liberals Hate Christians (4 comments)
Using a right-wing piece claiming liberals hate Christians as an example, this post discusses how conservatives tie current events into a larger strategic narrative to influence the public.
Progressive should learn from this. They should learn to "always add the 'because.'"
Thursday, January 25, 2007 How Long DID The Right Let Us Love Obama? (7 comments)
They destroy our leaders. Barak Obama appeared at the top of a favorability poll. Withing days nasty smears began to circulate.
Saturday, January 20, 2007 She's In (2 comments)
Hillary is running. Does she have "baggage?" But remember that Kerry was "electable." By the time of the election we hated him. The right's $mear machine makes us hate our leaders.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007 Marketing Conservatism and Corporatism (3 comments)
"Conservatives and their ideas are good, liberals and their ideas are bad." You hear the message repeated a thousand different ways, over and over, every day. It is a strategy, an organized marketing campaign to create demand for conservatives, their policies and their candidates. Over time and unanswered, it sinks into the brain.
Friday, January 12, 2007 Funding The Progressive Movement (1 comments)
Sure we won an election. But can we sustain it without a funded infrastructure of supporting organizations - like the Right has?
Thursday, January 11, 2007 The Escalation (1 comments)
Surge is a focus-group word, designed to sell an escalation of the war. It is ALWAYS about appearances and political strategies not reality or the good of the country with this crowd.
Friday, January 5, 2007 Surge Protection For Our Men And Women In Uniform (4 comments)
This article discusses the Bush "surge" strategy and how it is really a marketing rather than a military strategy. It discusses the traps for Democrats as they try to respond.
