A new study from Congress’ Joint Economic Committee (JEC) debunks the prevailing conservative notion that Unemployment Insurance (UI) dissuades people from looking for a job. “On the contrary,” the report finds, “beneficiaries of federal UI benefits have spent more time searching for work than those who were ineligible for UI benefits.”
Citizens United is but the latest battle in the class war waged for thirty years from the top down by the corporate and political right. Instead of creating a fair and level playing field for all, government would become the agent of the powerful and privileged. . . We have already amended the Constitution twenty-seven times. Amendment campaigns are how we have always made the promise of equality and liberty more real. Difficult? Of course; as Frederick Douglass taught us, power concedes nothing without a struggle. To contend with power, Clements and his colleague John Bonifaz founded Free Speech for People, a nationwide nonpartisan effort to overturn Citizens United and corporate rights doctrines that unduly leverage corporate economic power into political power.
Wake up Europe, [and, until the OWS movement , the politically apathetic U.S.]
and smell the treachery.
If ever there was a life that embodied the spirit that is driving the Occupy Wall Street movement it is that of Emma Goldman, who went to jail in 1893 for having stood on a soap box in Union Square in the midst of one of America’s worst depressions and, pointing at the mansions on Fifth Avenue, implored 3,000 unemployed men and women to ask the ruling class for work. “If they don’t give you work,” she cried, “ask them for bread. If they deny you bread, take it!” These words made those listening to Emma erupt in thunderous cheers; they also made J. Edgar Hoover describe her in 1919 (when he was urging the government to deport her) as The Most Dangerous Woman in America.
Article By SALLY KOHN, Political Commentator
The GOP primary is an eight ring circus. So why shouldn’t Donald Trump play ring master for a night?
The Republican presidential candidates are doing everything they can to distract from the fact that their party’s policies put our economy in the dumpster and, if elected, they will all just do more of the disastrous same. The American voters see that the economy is, slowly but surely, getting better and backs President Obama’s plans to make it stronger while bucking at continued Republican obstructionism.
Voters and Democrats want America to succeed and can tell that Republicans–in Congress and in the campaign–only want Obama to fail, even if it means America fails, too. The dazzling side shows of the GOP primary are entertaining the voters, but they can tell the distinguish farce from the best interest of the future of our nation.
Still, with the always-entertaining Herman Cain out of the race and Newt Gingrich now trying to look more like a candidate than a curmudgeon, the clowns are running out of gags. Perfect timing for a man with implausible hair to preside over a debate with implausible political candidates.
Bring on the show! Every candidate should join in. American voters will no doubt tune in to see how many GOP candidates can fit in the clown car as they aim to drive our economy and our political system off a cliff.
Found here in U.S. News & World Report, dated December 8, 2011
Mayors and police around the country have pretended public health is the reason for shutting down Occupy protests, but their actions belie their words. . . Michael Ratner [president of the Center for Constitutional Rights] noted that the idea of protesters being unclean has a long history in this country, that various generations of immigrants were described as dirty, as outsiders, as not really American. “What it does is it paints the protesters as a dangerous infection in america that has to be cut out, it’s like saying they’re a cancer or radioactive, that’s saying they’re not part of our country, not part of our tradition of protest.” . . . Instead, it seems that the real contagion is community, as Fagin said, but more than that, the very idea of fighting back. Whether it’s a mayor shutting down an occupation in his or her city or a businessman complaining that his workers want to collectively bargain, the idea that people might work together appears to be, itself, a hazard.
The Israelification of America’s security apparatus, recently unleashed in full force against the Occupy Wall Street Movement, has taken place at every level of law enforcement, and in areas that have yet to be exposed. The phenomenon has been documented in bits and pieces, through occasional news reports that typically highlight Israel’s national security prowess without examining the problematic nature of working with a country accused of grave human rights abuses. But it has never been the subject of a national discussion. And collaboration between American and Israeli cops is just the tip of the iceberg. . . Revelations like these have raised serious questions about the extent to which Israeli-inspired tactics are being used to suppress the Occupy movement. . . the Israelification of American law enforcement appears to have intensified police hostility towards the civilian population, blurring the lines between protesters, common criminals, and terrorists.
Always Question Authority 