We’ll never have the resources of an MSNBC — we don’t have an attached global armaments dealer. We’ll never even have the resources of a Huffington Post — we don’t have the luxury of a cushy divorce settlement driving us into the arms of a soft and lazy internet provider.

But we have one luxury no one else has: we have the most committed membership and the most responsive organization. So get on board. Don’t let Firedoglake get left behind. More important, don’t get left behind yourself.

Become a member of Firedoglake now.

I come from a family of academics who are actually intellectually intimidating.

Over two years into the “recovery” and less than a quarter of the lost jobs from the Great Recession have been returned.

So while Christine Lagarde cautions political leaders against too much belt tightening, we see House Majority Leader Eric Cantor proclaiming that any hurricane or earthquake relief funds must be offset by other spending cuts.

What are we going to do about this? We need jobs and we need lots of them. We need jobs and we need training to make sure that the people out there can do the work that needs doing.

Sure seems like we need a whole heckuva lot of investment to make that happen. Ideas, people?

It’s almost the end of the FDL membership drive. I know you’ve put off actually signing up. Yeah, I’ve been there. So now, when the fight to protect civil liberties, to tell the truth about war and torture and corporate attacks on the poor, working, and middle classes, only comes down to pennies a day, why put it off any longer? Becoming a member of FDL carries some nice benefits, sure. But it also is a statement, an intervention in and of itself, joining a community that cares, and is not afraid to put itself out there for what is right.

Become a member of Firedoglake now.

I spent 53 hours in Washington, DC lock-up after being arrested for participating in a nonviolent civil disobedience action at the White House on the morning of Aug. 20. Sixty-five of us sat in front of the White House protesting the Keystone XL Pipeline that President Obama alone has the ability to approve or stop.

Do these women’s experiences, struggles, and guilts echo our own? Are they typical of women writers today? What questions do our guests and the audience have that can help us arrive at answers, and more writing? A few we might consider:

How difficult is it for women to write today? Has it gotten easier or harder in contrast with former generations/decades? How do we manage to write with all the roles we feel we must play? Once we’ve achieved a “room of our own”—physically or mentally—what’s the process like for us? How hard is it to “shut the door”?

I am so excited about the opportunities that the membership program is offering to us.  It’s providing a conduit to talk with each other directly, to get together in regular town hall webinars where we share ideas, discuss our concerns and learn together. And now it’s entering its next phase, where members join together in working groups that they manage, organize and drive.

If that sounds exciting to you, and you are not yet a member, please JOIN NOW.  We need your energy, your enthusiasm, your ideas and your passion.

Click here to join at our exclusive Firebaggers level for $65/year and get an official Firedoglake Firebaggers T-shirt.

Like a bunch of happy pigs rolling around in the mud, conservatives are really reveling in their anti-government fanaticism this week. After Marco Rubio (R-FL) explained how the Great Society and New Deal made the United States a nation of weaklings, Ron Paul (R-TX) declared that we don’t need FEMA and that things were like, way better in 1900. But amidst all this crazy, one particularly wingnutty remark stands out.

The Fed can’t help you. The Obama Administration doesn’t even feel your pain. The Congress hates you. But, it’s your fault if you can’t get to the sunny side of the street to join their only real constituents.