Politics

Rahm Emanuel, Face Of Democratic Fascism, Deserves To Lose

March 12, 2015 William Boardman, www.readersupportednews.org Educate! Chicago, Democracy, Elections, Politics

Chicago’s mayoral election may look like a local event, and the media mostly cover it as a local event, but the presence of a large, diverse, and energized opposition demanding change on basic issues of fairness and justice gives the city’s local result a potentially important, totemic meaning for the country. The outcome of the April 7 runoff election, which includes 40% of the city council as well, may signify whether peaceful change is possible, or whether the suffocating status quo will grow more stifling. There is another way of gauging the April vote: is Chicago yet ready to reject the police state practices of its local government? Is Chicago ready to reject a mayor who seems content to allow police state behavior to go unexamined and unpunished?

We The People Have A Few New Ideas About Governance

February 26, 2015 Kosmos Staff, www.kosmosjournal.org Create! Democracy, Governance, Participatory Democracy, Politics

It might surprise you to know that most states do not emphasize civic education, which includes learning about citizenship, law, and governance. So it is not surprising many US citizens believe government is something far removed from ‘real life’. Even some of the Founding Fathers said ‘common man’ couldn’t be trusted to run the country. Somewhere along the line, the governance of We the People became the domain of They the Few. We the People are not satisfied. Many have lost confidence in the national political process and are appalled at the wars waged in our names, at the broken justice system, our horrendous record on the environment, the lack of respect for teachers, and so on. That does not mean we have lost our faith in governance.

Students Lobby Against Fracking In Maryland

February 25, 2015 Grace Toohey, www.diamondbackonline.com Educate! Climate Change, Environment, Politics, Student Activism

College students across the state convened in Annapolis yesterday afternoon to fight for stricter state environmental regulations. About 45 college students — including about 25 from this university — lobbied representatives to vote in favor of a bill that would prevent any hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the state until 2023. They also showed their support for a bill that would increase the state’s use of renewable energy sources, said Maya Spaur, a member of the Student Government Association Sustainability Committee. The group was brought together primarily by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, a nonprofit organization fighting global warming in this state, Washington and Virginia. “I’m really worried with Gov. [Larry] Hogan in the office,” said Spaur, a sophomore environmental science and technology and government and politics major.

NY Towns Threaten Secession Over Gov. Cuomo’s Ban On Fracking

February 23, 2015 Christopher Mathias, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Environment, Fracking, New York (NY), Politics

Fifteen New York towns that are upset at Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to ban fracking have threatened to secede from the state and join neighboring Pennsylvania, where fracking is allowed. The towns, all members of the Upstate New York Towns Association, have expressed interest in secession, Conklin Town Supervisor Jim Finch told The Huffington Post. The association is compiling a report to assess the feasibility of joining Pennsylvania. “We're in the Southern Tier of New York,” Finch said, referring to localities in Broome, Tioga, Sullivan and Delaware counties. “There are no jobs. The economy is terrible. There's nothing going on.” He decried Cuomo’s recent decision not to bring a casino to the region, and noted that Conklin and the 14 other towns in the Southern Tier sit on the Marcellus Shale, which is rich in natural gas.

‘Don’t Frack Denver’ Urges Immediate Moratorium On Fracking

February 17, 2015 Anastasia Pantsios, www.occupy.com Resist! Denver, Environment, Fracking, Politics

Today a coalition of environmental activists, labor and community groups, health workers, and faith and business leaders launched a campaign called “Don’t Frack Denver,” designed to push back against the efforts to bring fracking to the city and the surrounding South Platte River Basin. Following a press conference in front of the Denver City and County Building, the group visited Mayor Michael B. Hancock’s office to deliver a letter urging the mayor and city council to keep fracking out of Denver. “We need to put a moratorium on fracking in Denver to make sure that my family and thousands of others like mine don’t live in fear for our health, safety and property,” said Ronda Belen of the Green Valley Families Against Fracking, one of nearly two dozen organizations and businesses that participated in the action.

TTIP Negotiations Give Corporations Power Over Legislation

February 14, 2015 Failed Evolution, www.failedevolution.blogspot.gr Educate! Corporatism, Europe, Greece, Politics, TTIP, usa

Since December 2013, NGOs, social movements, and politicians have harshly criticised the European Commission's (EC) proposal on 'regulatory co-operation' 1in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). They argue that a position paper, leaked back then, suggested the Commission was opening the door to massive influence by big business over future laws. Now, a leaked document shows the Commission is maintaining its course – nothing suggests it is taking civil society concerns into account. In a previous document from December 2014, the EC goes even further, suggesting limiting the policy space of municipalities and local authorities – though this idea is under fire and might not be part of the EU position, it is a sign that regulatory co-operation could prove to be not only very comprehensive, but outright dangerous to democracy.

CEO: Politics Are Bigger Problem For Fracking Than Prices

February 13, 2015 Robert Grattan, www.fuelfix.com Organize! Energy, Fracking, Oil & Gas, Politics

While cheap prices might be slowing production of natural gas, it’s political fights that are really hurting the midstream sector, said Williams Co. chairman and chief executive officer Alan Armstrong. The decline in prices hasn’t changed the need for pipelines, as the continued position of natural gas as a cheep feedstock for electricity generators and other producers has offset any slowdown in drilling, Armstrong said in an interview with FuelFix. Instead, he said, it’s political hassles and complex regulation that make moving natural gas from the wellhead to the market more uncertain and expensive.

Rolling Monday Mourning Protests Begin At Mayor’s House

February 11, 2015 Rebecca Rivas, www.stlamerican.com Resist! Art, Ferguson, Michael Brown, police brutality, Politics

Carrying a coffin and tombstones with the names of those shot and killed by police, protestors led a funeral procession down Mayor Francis Slay’s street in South St. Louis at 6:45 a.m. on Monday, February 9. They left the coffin on his doorstep, rang the doorbell and began making loud mourning cries in front of his house on the 3800 block of Robert Avenue. Frederic Chopin’s Funeral March played in the background, as the group of about 25 – all dressed in black – stuck the fist-shaped tombstones in Slay’s front lawn. “This is Monday Mournings,” said Elizabeth Vega, leader of the activist group called the Artivists. “We are here because the mayor has repeatedly locked us out of City Hall. So we know need to come to his house. This is putting all people in power on notice.”

Obama To Veto KXL Pipeline

February 10, 2015 Laura Barron Lopez, www.thehill.com Educate! Environment, Keystone XL, Law, Obama, Politics

President Obama is just days away from issuing the biggest veto of his tenure, with Republicans poised to send him legislation that would authorize construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Obama’s veto — just the third of his presidency and the first since 2010 — is expected to come with little fanfare, with even opponents of the pipeline arguing the White House should avoid further angering Democrats and unions who want Keystone to be built. "We just want to see it get it rejected. Our work doesn't end with the veto, we need to make sure votes are there to sustain that veto," said Melinda Pierce, Sierra Club's legislative director.

Protest Blocks Suburban St. Louis Court

February 7, 2015 Mariah Stewart, www.huffingtonpost.com Resist! Law, Politics, Poverty

Dozens of demonstrators briefly blocked access to a municipal court in this tiny, troubled St. Louis suburb on Thursday night, protesting a local government that relies heavily on revenue from traffic tickets and municipal code violations to survive. The city of Pine Lawn, which sits on just over half a square mile of land about 10 minutes from Ferguson, has around 3,000 mostly black residents, nearly a third of whom live below the poverty line. Pine Lawn does not have enough of a tax base to survive without extracting hundreds of thousands of dollars per year from residents and drivers passing through the city. The number of warrants generated in 2013 alone surpasses the entire population of the city, and police that year issued seven tickets for every resident, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Protestors: De Blasio Neglected NYPD Issues In State Of City Speech

February 6, 2015 Ross Barkan, www.observer.com Resist! New York (NY), NYPD, police brutality, Politics

They called it a “glaring omission,” an insult to who they are and what they do. Anti-police brutality activists blasted Mayor Bill de Blasio this afternoon for neglecting yesterday to mention race and policing issues in his annual State of the City address. Mr. de Blasio, straining to balance the demands of protesters with unrest in the NYPD, ignored the issue entirely in favor of ambitious affordable housing and transportationproposals. “Yesterday there was a glaring omission–we thought this mayor was committed to this issue. He ran on this issue, in the first few months he dealt with the issue, and now it seems he’s gone silent,” said Michael Skolnik, an activist with the protest group Justice League NYC.

Partial Victory In Penn., No Fracking In Public Lands

January 30, 2015 Sarah Lazare, www.commondreams.org Resist! Fracking, Law, Pennsylvania, Politics

New Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed an executive order on Thursday reinstating a moratorium on new fracking leases in Pennsylvania's public parks and forests. The move is being heralded by residents as an important step but still short of the state-wide ban they say is needed. The development came just days after hundreds of people rallied at Wolf's inauguration, under the banner of the coalition Pennsylvanians Against Fracking, to demand a complete ban on the controversial drilling practice. Local grassroots networks, from the American Indian Movement in Lancaster County to Marcellus Outreach Butler in Butler County, have led the opposition against the industry's aggressive drilling expansion in the state, including the construction of nearly 8,000 wells in recent years.

$5 Million For Co-op Development In Madison

January 29, 2015 Ajowa Nzinga Ifateyo, www.geo.coop Create! Labor Unions, Politics, Worker Cooperative

Soon after that conversation, Soglin initiated Madison’s Capitol Improvement Plan, “Co-operative Enterprises for Job Creation & Business Development.” This plan would authorize the city to spend $1 million each of five years starting in 2016 to fund “cooperative/worker-owned business formation for the purposes of job creation and general economic development in the city.” The Madison Common Council, known as city councils or commissions in other cities, approved the initiative on Nov. 11, 2014. This allocation is the largest by a U.S. municipality. Earlier last year, New York allocated $1.2 million to help worker cooperative development.

The European Union May Be On Verge Of Regime Collapse

January 28, 2015 John Feffer, www.truth-out.org Educate! Europe, Finance and the Economy, History, Politics, Social Change

And yet, for all this success, the European project is currently teetering on the edge of failure. Growth is anemic at best and socio-economic inequality is on the rise. The countries of Eastern and Central Europe, even relatively successful Poland, have failed to bridge the income gap with the richer half of the continent. And the highly indebted periphery is in revolt. Politically, the center may not hold and things seem to be falling apart. From the left, parties like Syriza in Greece are challenging the EU’s prescriptions of austerity. From the right, Euroskeptic parties are taking aim at the entire quasi-federal model. Racism and xenophobia are gaining ever more adherents, even in previously placid regions like Scandinavia.

Syriza’s Historic Win Puts Greece On Collision Course With Europe

January 27, 2015 Ian Traynor and Helena Smith, www.theguardian.com Educate! Elections, Greece, Left, Politics, Syriza

Voters handed power to Alexis Tsipras, the charismatic 40-year-old former communist who leads the umbrella coalition of assorted leftists known as Syriza. He cruised to an eight-point victory over the incumbent centre-right New Democracy party, according to exit polls and projections after 99% of votes had been counted. The result surpassed pollster predictions and marginalised the two mainstream parties that have run the country since the military junta’s fall in 1974. It appeared, however, that Syriza would win 149 seats – just short of securing the 151 of 300 seats that would enable Tsipras to govern without coalition partners. “The sovereign Greek people today have given a clear, strong, indisputable mandate,” Tsipras told a crowd of rapturous flag-waving party supporters.

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