Thursday, February 4, 2010
In his article, How to Get Our Democracy Back, Professor Lawrence Lessig argues that if you want change, you have to change Congress. He proposes a three-part solution to the crisis facing our democracy: Publicly-financed elections; a 7-year ban on former members serving as lobbyists, and, in the wake of the recent Citizen’s United v FEC Supreme Court [...]
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The recent Supreme Court decision to allow unlimited corporate spending in politics just may be the straw that breaks the plutocracy’s back. Pro-democracy groups, business leaders, and elected representatives are proposing mechanisms to prevent or counter the millions of dollars that corporations can now draw from their treasuries to push for government action favorable to [...]
You might not have heard, because almost nobody reported it, but new clean-energy projects attracted more global funding in 2008 than fossil-fuel projects did. For the first time ever, investors put more money in solar, wind, geothermal, and hydropower than in fuels that must be burned, according to a U.N. report. And when venture-capital funding [...]
Democracy requires at least three parts: Important decisions are made in the open. The public and its representatives have an opportunity to debate and influence them. And those who make the big decisions are accountable to voters. But these principles are in retreat. The Troubled Assets Relief Program began with a virtual blank check from [...]
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Senator Patrick Leahy criticizes the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC to overturn precedent and strike down limits to corporate financing of political advertisements in campaigns.
I’ve been thinking a little more about the Supreme Court’s decision. This ruling gives foreign powers more rights than U.S. citizens. Imagine that! Aramco, a corporation owned by the Saudi Arabian government (whose citizens attacked the U.S. on 9/11/2001 from their base in Afghanistan), will have enormously more influence in choosing your senator than you [...]
Filed in News Blurbs
|
Also tagged Arlen Specter, Citizens United v FEC, Congress, Corporatism, Courts, Dick Durbin, House, John Roberts, Law, SCOTUS, Senate
|
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Five Supreme Court Justices stabbed at the heart of democracy, our electoral system. They overturned over 100 years of statute and precedent, and declared that corporations can spend all the money that they want to buy elections. In fact, these five men in robes declared, they have a constitutional right to do so. A SINGLE [...]
Saturday, January 23, 2010
In a decision that might actually have more dire implications than “Dred Scott v Sandford” the Supreme Court of the United States in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission declared that because of the alchemy of its 19th Century predecessors in deciding that corporations had all the rights of people, any restrictions on how these corporate-beings [...]
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Congressman Alan Grayson (FL-8) has introduced legislation to prevent a corporate takeover of government in America. His “Save Our Democracy” Reform Package (H.R. 4431-4435) aims to stave off the threat of “corpocracy” arising from today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision. “The Supreme Court in essence has ruled that corporations can buy elections. If that happens, democracy [...]
Saturday, January 23, 2010
In case you missed it, the Supreme Court yesterday decided 5 to 4 to roll back campaign finance laws that limit corporate spending. Oof. The Times calls it “a sharp doctrinal shift” that “will have major political and practical consequences. Specialists in campaign finance law said they expected the decision to reshape the way elections [...]
Filed in Green Living, News Blurbs
|
Also tagged Big Ag, Big Chemical, Big Coal, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Climate Change, Corporate Spending, Corporatism, Elections, Energy, Environment, SCOTUS
|
Listening To
