Government

A Plutocracy Ruled By Self-Centered Jerks?

August 28, 2013 Joshua Holland, www.billmoyers.com Educate! Government

Hayes took data from the Annenberg Election Survey — a massive database of public opinion representing the views of 90,000 voters — and compared them with their senators’ voting records from 2001 through 2010. From 2007 through 2010, U.S. senators were somewhat responsive to the interests of the middle class, but hadn’t been for the first 6 years Hayes studied. The views of the poor didn’t factor into legislators’ voting tendencies at all. As Eric Dolan noted for The Raw Story, “The neglect of lower income groups was a bipartisan affair. Democrats were not any more responsive to the poor than Republicans.” Hayes wrote that his analysis “suggests oligarchic tendencies in the American system, a finding echoed in other research.” Hayes’ study is consistent with earlier research, including Princeton University scholar Larry Bartels’ 2005 study of “Economic Inequality and Political Representation.”

At Least 163 House Members Say Obama Needs Approval From Congress On Syria

August 28, 2013 Rebecca Shabad, www.thehill.com Organize! Corporatism, Government, Wars and Militarism

More than 100 lawmakers, including 16 Democrats, have signed a letter that says President Obama would violate the Constitution by striking Syria without first getting authorization from Congress. A total of 107 lawmakers had signed the letter as of 3 p.m. Wednesday, highlighting bipartisan interest and growing momentum in ensuring a role for Congress in any decision to use force in Syria. “Engaging our military in Syria when no direct threat to the United States exists and without prior congressional authorization would violate the separation of powers that is clearly delineated in the Constitution,” states the letter, spearheaded by Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.).

Get Out Of Big Banks Now!

August 27, 2013 Randy Langel, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Corporatism, Finance and the Economy, Government

In other words, you may walk into your bank one day and instead of getting cash for a withdrawal request, you will receive a stock certificate and it will be your responsibility to convert it to cash. This legal seizure of your money will most likely happen in just one night in a process called “overnight sweeps.” Bottom line – you immediately need to move all your funds from big banks to other institutions or investments. Assets in J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America are especially vulnerable. Sound unbelievable? Doubt this could actually happen? Think again – it already has. In March 2013, Cypress became the first nation to experience this new policy formally referred to as “Resolving Globally Active, Systemically Important, Financial Institutions" (translation – procedure to save big banks in lieu of a government-taxpayer Bail-Out).

Be Wary – AFL-CIO Joins Effort To Stop The TPP

August 27, 2013 Staff, aflcio.org Organize! Corporatism, Energy, Environment, Finance and the Economy, Food and Agriculture, Fracking, Government, Health Care, Solidarity, TPP, Worker Rights and Jobs

Corporations are trying to manipulate the Trans-Pacific Partnership—a free trade agreement being negotiated right now that would be bigger than NAFTA—to increase their power over the global economy, so they have a say in everything from your rights at work to the prices of your prescriptions and the safety of your child’s toys. Watch the video below to learn more and share it with your friends. Then send an email to trade representatives for all the countries involved to tell them to create a trade agreement that works for working families.

‘Outing Corporate Evil,’ One City At A Time

August 26, 2013 Sarah Lazare, www.commondreams.org Resist! Austerity, Finance and the Economy, Government

Rolling summer protests against devastating sequestration and austerity policies made their first stop in Chicago Thursday when hundreds flooded the downtown headquarters of General Electric then marched to the office of so-called progressive Illinois Senator Dick Durbin to demand corporations pay their fair share. The boisterous protest was one of 10 sweeping U.S. cities this week, from Bangor, Maine to Los Angeles, California, organized by economic and racial justice group National People's Action. Under the banner 'Outing Corporate Evil,' these actions go after tax-dodging mega-corporations like GE and Verizon and the politicians who back their interests, to demand a people's budget based on preserving vital services, ahead of the September deadline for the federal budget.

Yes, Black Is The New ‘Transparency’…Cass Sunstein On NSA “Review Board”

August 26, 2013 Justin Raimondo, www.antiwar.com Educate! Government, NSA

A week or so later he made some appointments to this panel: former Counter-Terrorism Czar Richard Clarke, former special assistant for economic policy Peter Swire, former CIA Deputy Director Mike Morrell – and Cass Sunstein, a very close friend and confidant of the President. Sunstein formerly headed up the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: now a Harvard law professor, he has made something of a name for himself as an outspoken advocate of government spying. Being one of those really highbrow types, he calls it "cognitive infiltration." Sunstein wants paid government agents to penetrate ostensibly subversive “conspiracy minded” social networks: in other words, he wants to set up a police state system of government spies and provocateurs.

Texas Opens Up Public Officials’ Communications

August 25, 2013 Alisha Green, www.sunlightfoundation.com Create! Government, Transparency

This move, indeed a first of its kind from what we can tell, seems poised to set a new precedent for how public officials' communications are regarded and disclosed, giving Texans an important level of insight into the decision-making process between official proceedings. It also opens up options for the decision makers, who had previously been banned from communicating among each other between official meetings. It's an experiment that, if successful, we hope more states will examine, as most online accessibility to state legislative proceedings is spotty, at best. Of course, the strength of a policy, transparency-related or otherwise, lies in its interpretation and implementation, and we’ve seen plenty of cases in other states where government officials have tried to thwart public records requirements by communicating about public matters on personal email accounts. Thankfully, Texan lawmakers were paying attention, too.

Feinstein Wants To Limit Who Can Be A Journalist

August 25, 2013 Eric Boehm, www.watchdog.org Educate! Democracy, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Government, Media

The most recent congressional threat to the free press in the United States comes from California Democrat U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. In a proposed amendment to a media shield law being considered by Congress, Feinstein writes that only paid journalists should be given protections from prosecution for what they say or write. The language in her proposal is raising concerns from First Amendment advocates because it seems to leave out bloggers and other nontraditional forms of journalism that have proliferated in recent years thanks to the Internet. “It rubs me the wrong way that the government thinks it should be in the business of determining who should be considered a journalist,” said Ken Bunting, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition at the Missouri School of Journalism.

Zapatista School: Democracy Is Not About Elections Or Candidates

August 19, 2013 Andrea, www.interoccupy.net Educate! Democracy, Government, Zapatistas

“For us, democracy is not about election season and candidates’ campaigns. It’s not about money, and a person telling us how he/she is going to do it when he/she gets elected. Democracy is at any moment, at every level of our life. Even our children are learning democracy. They don’t even know it’s democracy, but they implement it all the time among them. ‘What are we going to play today? Basketball or Football?’ they ask and take a vote. When their teacher sees them tired, he/she asks: ‘Would you guys take a break?’ and he/she takes a vote, or like we call it: they reach an agreement,” said the Zapatista teachers on the last day of the Freedom School.

Glenn Greenwald’s Partner Detained 9 Hours

August 18, 2013 Staff, www.theguardian.com Educate! Glenn Greenwald, Government, NSA

The partner of the Guardian journalist who has written a series of stories revealing mass surveillance programmes by the US National Security Agency was held for almost nine hours on Sunday by UK authorities as he passed through London's Heathrow airport on his way home to Rio de Janeiro. David Miranda, who lives with Glenn Greenwald, was returning from a trip to Berlin. "This is a profound attack on press freedoms and the news gathering process," said Greenwald. "To detain my partner for a full nine hours while denying him a lawyer, and then seize large amounts of his possessions, is clearly intended to send a message of intimidation to those of us who have been reporting on the NSA and GCHQ. The actions of the UK pose a serious threat to journalists everywhere. But the last thing it will do is intimidate or deter us in any way from doing our job as journalists. Quite the contrary: it will only embolden us more to continue to report aggressively."

Moral Monday Marches On With Dr. King In Mind

August 18, 2013 Sue Sturgis, www.southernstudies.org Organize! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Government, Human Rights

On Aug. 28 -- the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom demanding civil rights for African Americans -- 13 Moral Monday gatherings will take place in each of North Carolina's 13 Congressional districts. These are being billed as the "Taking the Dream Home" rallies. And if some North Carolinians get their way, also speaking at the Washington march will be Rev. Dr. William Barber, president of the N.C. NAACP, the leading force behind the Moral Monday movement. People who've been involved in Moral Mondays have launched a petition at Change.org calling for Barber and U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the sole surviving speaker from the 1963 March on Washington, to address the 50th anniversary event.

NSA Spying: The Three Pillars of Government Trust Have Fallen

August 17, 2013 Cindy Cohn and Mark M. Jaycox, www.eff.org Educate! Government, NSA, Surveillance

With these three pillars of oversight in place, the argument goes, how could the activities possibly be illegal or invasive of our privacy? Today, the Washington Post confirmed that two of those oversight pillars—the Executive branch and the court overseeing the spying, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA court)—don't really exist. The third pillar came down slowly over the last few weeks, with Congressional revelations about the limitations on its oversight, including what Representative Sensennbrenner called "rope a dope" classified briefings. With this, the house of government trust has fallen, and it's time to act. Join the over 500,000 people demanding an end to the unconstitutional NSA spying.

Movie: The 99% Occupy Everywhere

August 16, 2013 http://world2be.com, www.world2be.com Educate! Environment, Finance and the Economy, Government, Human Rights, Video, Wars and Militarism, Worker Rights and Jobs

This award winning film documents how private money in politics has undermined democracy and transferred income from 99% of Americans to multinational corporations and the wealthy. Through personal stories of a diverse cross section of Americans, the film highlights how the 99% sparked Occupy Wall Street into a global movement. The film, narrated by Lou Reed, sheds light on the breadth and depth of the Movement documenting diverse Occupiers including a 22 years old business graduate, a Marine veteran, a web designer, a 92 years old grandmother and a police Captain as the Movement addresses critical issues of our time including income inequality, jobs, debt, the environment, gun safely, access to affordable health care and education as well as the lack of accountability of banks that committed the massive fraud that led to the economic crisis.

Censorship Backfire: Surge Of Interest In Zinn’s ‘People’s History’

August 15, 2013 Andrea Germanos, www.commondreams.org Resist! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Government, Human Rights

"But since his "anti-Howard Zinn witch-hunt" has been exposed, Zinn's People's History has become "a hot read at libraries" in the state, the South Bend Tribune reports. St. Joseph County Public Library, for example, which only had one copy of Zinn's People's History just weeks ago, has now upped the number to 19 due to patrons' interest, but even that wasn't enough. They're all checked out now, and there are 10 people on a waiting list. "

New Report: Wal-Mart Destroys Local Economy

August 14, 2013 Bill de Blasio, www.pubadvocate.nyc.gov Educate! Finance and the Economy, Government, Worker Rights and Jobs

The opening of a Wal-Mart in New York City would likely eliminate more jobs than it creates, result in the loss of independently owned small businesses, and create an increased burden on taxpayers. “The history of the last decade tells us that Wal-Mart stands to be our City’s Trojan Horse,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. “Wal-Mart’s record of driving small businesses out of town and paying below-poverty line wages to its employees will only exacerbate the current decline of New York City’s middle class. We must do everything we can to spur job creation in New York City, but that does not include opening our doors to a proven job-killer.” “Studies from all across the country show that Wal-Mart's arrival does not bring the increase in jobs and retail spending that the company promises,” said Brian Paul, Center Fellow and Masters of Urban Planning Candidate at Hunter College.

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