World-News: USA

USA

Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, Democracy Now!: "Today marks the one-year anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, that opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending on election campaigns. We speak with Bob Edgar, the president of Common Cause, which has filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Justice urging it to investigate whether Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas should have recused themselves from the case last year because of a conflict of interest."

http://www.truth-out.org/on-anniversary-citizens-united-ruling-common-cause-calls-justice-dept-investigate-scalia-and-thomas

Corporations, Unions and the Value of Opposition

Ellen Dannin, Truthout: "Why have unions? Because the persistent problem of unlimited corporate power requires an effective counterbalance. The need for such a counterbalance is clear. We saw the effect of increasing corporate power in the 2010 elections. We see it in virtually every law considered by Congress and state legislatures. And we saw it in the period leading up to the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression. As corporations grow mightier, they are able to amass even greater power. Then, just as now, Supreme Court decisions made corporations unaccountable to their societies by removing limits on corrupting and destructive power wielded by corporations."

http://www.truth-out.org/corporations-unions-and-value-opposition67023

Court and Chevron's "Crude" Attacks Continue

Michael Winship, Truthout: "Joe Berlinger's back is against the wall. Last week the independent filmmaker, already facing crushing debt from legal bills, was dealt a major blow in his continuing fight against the third-largest company in America: Chevron. It's a battle that epitomizes the hardship individuals face trying to challenge corporate giants that punch back with a knockout force of high-powered lawyers and unlimited cash. What's more, Berlinger's struggle continues to raise serious First Amendment issues and - as we approach the first anniversary of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision - throws yet another spotlight on the increasingly pro-business stance of the nation's legal system."

http://www.truth-out.org/court-and-chevrons-crude-attacks-continue67014

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"Legalize Democracy!" Demand Activists Rallying Nationwide to Overturn Lawless Citizens United Ruling
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/01/21-3

One Year Later, Movement Is Growing to Overturn 'Citizens United'
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/21-12

Happy Birthday, Citizens United!
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/21-2

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Is America Too Corrupt to Keep Up?

By David Sirota

Patriotism may play well with voters on the campaign trail, but corporate cash ultimately rules the day in our nation's capital.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27321.htm

Justice for Sale

Corruption at the Supreme Court

By Don Monkerud

Tea Partiers, Republicans, and protectors of public morality are right about corruption in government. The only problem is they are looking in the wrong place.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27370.htm

http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=patriotism
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=DoJ
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Republicans
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Tea+Party
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=legal+system
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Supreme+Court
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Scalia
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Clarence+Thomas
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Federal+Election+Commission
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Citizens+United+Ruling
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=corporate+power
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=corporate+spending
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=election+campaign
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=pro-business
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=corporate+giant
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Chevron
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=corrupt
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Great+Depression
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=workers
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bob+Edgar
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Joe+Berlinger
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Amy+Goodman
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Juan+Gonzalez
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Ellen+Dannin
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Michael+Winship
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=John+Nichols
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Robert+Weissman
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jamin+Raskin
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=David+Sirota
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Don+Monkerud
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Starmail - 22. Jan, 05:28

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Does "Democracy" Still Mean Anything?

(And in Case It Does, What Is It?)

Zygmunt Bauman, Truthout: "Henry A. Giroux wonders how one can possibly explain 'the electoral sweep that just put the most egregious Republican Party candidates back in power?'... One is the successful creation of 'punitive justice and a theatre of cruelty' as the political formula accepted (or at least acceptable) by the majority of Americans. The other is the accelerated pace of 'social amnesia': The most outrageous misdemeanor of the rulers, not so long ago a cause of public outcry, is pushed aside or forgotten altogether in time for the midterm elections. But there is another possibility as well, one that is perhaps too gruesome for the future of democracy to be seriously broached. It is the possibility - nay, the likelihood - that the link between public agenda and private worries, the very hub of the democratic process, has been broken, with each of the two spheres rotating by now in mutually isolated spaces, set in motion by mutually unconnected and un-communicating (though certainly not independent!) factors and mechanisms."

http://www.truth-out.org/zygmunt-bauman-does-democracy-still-mean-anything-and-case-it-does-what-is-it66923

http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Republicans
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=punitive+justice
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Henry+A.+Giroux
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Zygmunt+Bauman
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Starmail - 22. Jan, 05:21

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Federal Prisoners "With Unpopular Political Beliefs" Isolated, Abused

William Fisher, Truthout: "If you are unlucky enough to be doing time at one of the federal government's two 'experimental prisons' - which it calls Communications Management Units (CMUs) - you are categorically banned from any physical contact with visiting friends and family, including babies, infants and minor children. Severe restrictions are also placed on your access to phone calls and letters, as well as work and educational opportunities..... Two federal prisons are being used as CMUs and overwhelmingly hold Muslim prisoners and prisoners with unpopular political beliefs. Opponents charge they are practicing religious profiling, retaliation and arbitrary punishment."

http://www.truth-out.org/lawsuit-federal-prisoners-with-unpopular-political-beliefs-isolated-abused66991

http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=prisoners
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=abuse
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=profiling
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=retaliation
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=arbitrary+punishment
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=William+Fisher
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Starmail - 22. Jan, 05:14

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Goldman Sachs-Partner sahnen ab

Die rund 860 Partner der weltgrößten Investmentbank haben seit dem 1999 erfolgten Börsengang 20 Mrd. Dollar aus Aktienoptionen eingenommen - zusätzlich zu ihren "normalen" Gehältern und Bonuszahlungen.

http://www.heise.de/tp/blogs/8/149120

http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Goldman+Sachs
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=bonus
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Starmail - 22. Jan, 05:08

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Freitag, 21. Januar 2011

Against state idolatry and the mystical view of the state

Downsize DC Downsize DC
by Perry Willis

01/20/11

The State is not a mystical entity possessed of magical powers. At best, it's merely a service provider, like Walmart, Exxon, and Microsoft, and it should be evaluated in the same way. But that's not how most of us think about The State. Instead, we think of it as being some mystical entity with magical powers...

http://tinyurl.com/67vmw6o

Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=idolatry
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Perry+Willis
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Starmail - 21. Jan, 10:23

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