Posts tagged ‘U. S. Supreme Court’

We’re all going to die and no-one’s talking about it

by , posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2012 at 4:15 pm

from The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann (RT)

The Human Race may very well die out – and no one is talking about it. The fact that we’ve now gone through three Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates – and not once has global climate change been brought up – should be, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, an “Alarm bell in the night” for all of us. Especially because this last September was the hottest September ever recorded in the civilized history of the human race. Not only that – this last September produced the smallest amount of Arctic ice ever recorded in the civilized history of the human race.

Our planet is rapidly changing – scientists across the world are freaking out – farmers are getting hysterical and, in many countries, committing suicide in mass numbers – and yet our two Presidential candidates are fighting about who’s going to pump more carbon pollution into the atmosphere: That would have been the perfect time for Candy Crowley to chime in an say – “Hey, guys what about the climate change crisis that’s being worsened by all of this drilling?” But she didn’t – and then Romney bashed the President over not approving the Keystone XL pipeline…Actually the President DID approve the Keystone pipeline – at least a large portion of it – and he’ll likely approve the rest if he wins a second term.

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Heroes on the Streets of Kane County

by , posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2012 at 8:05 am

Dogged. Indefatigable. Diligent. Determined. Steadfast. And oh my gosh, just plain heroic. The four-dozen or so Kane County residents who circulated petitions to stop special interest money from buying favors from our politicians are my heroes. They were headed by Kaye Gamble, and were part of the national Move to Amend effort.

For days on end, they endured 90 to 100 degree heat. They asked the same question, “Are you a Kane County registered voter?” hundreds and hundreds of times. And when people were willing to stop and talk with them, they explained the same thing over and over and over again. With enthusiasm and patience. They listened and they responded with accurate information.

When people stopped to hear what the petition was about, most people signed it. But sometimes it was difficult to get peoples’ attention. Some passers- by believed the group was trying to register voters or take an opinion survey and didn’t want to get involved. But when people did stop to hear the issue, just about everybody signed the petitions, Gamble said. Some were so enthusiastic they brought their spouses, friends, and voting age children over to sign. All were thankful of the group’s efforts.

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Group Working to Make Democracy Safe for Middle Class Again

by , posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2012 at 8:00 am

“We’ve never seen this many petitions!” Suzanne Fahnestock, Kane County Director of Elections said with a broad smile as she accepted the tall pile of petitions presented by Kaye Gamble, coordinator of the Kane County Move to Amend effort.

The group of about fifty Kane County citizens spent untold hours standing in record-breaking summer heat collecting signatures in a petition drive to place an advisory question on the ballot this November. Nearly fifteen thousand citizens signed those petitions.

The petition requests this question be placed on the Kane County November ballot– “Should the United States constitution be amended to limit the use of corporate, special interest, and private money in any political activity, including influencing the election of any candidate for public office?”

Gamble’s group is part of the national Move to Amend effort to amend the constitution in order to nullify the 2010 Supreme Court ruling of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. This ruling created Super PACs and Hybrid Super PACs, overturning decades of limits to political contributions and opening up unlimited floods of undisclosed corporate, private, special interest and foreign money into politicians’ election campaigns.

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Hultgren long on spin, wrong on facts, empty of solutions

by , posted on Thursday, June 28th, 2012 at 7:00 am

Representative Randy Hultgren (R IL-14) showed typical Republican spin at his Oswego Town Hall meeting recently. When asked direct questions regarding taxes, healthcare, social security, and Citizens United, he was long on spin, wrong on facts, and empty of solutions.

One frustrated attendant who tried to get a direct answer on healthcare, commented after the meeting that Hultgren “…seemed detached and unfeeling. His voice was just so syrupy and sweet he appeared unbelievable and unconcerned.”

His comments on Social Security were a surprise but shouldn’t have been, given the Republican Party’s relationship to corporate money and financial companies wanting to gamble with social security investment money.

“I’m not planning on Social Security,” Hultgren said. “Most people my age aren’t planning on Social Security.”

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Margaret Flowers: Obamacare Doesn’t Go Far Enough

by , posted on Wednesday, June 27th, 2012 at 10:15 am

from GRITtv with Laura Flanders

Margaret Flowers of Physicians for a National Health Program sees one major flaw in President Obama’s Affordable Care Act: It did not go far enough. The only solution, Flowers argues in this conversation with Laura Flanders, is to push for universal healthcare by expanding medicare so that it covers all Americans.

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What the Supreme Court’s Ruling on Arizona’s Immigration Law Means

by , posted on Tuesday, June 26th, 2012 at 9:27 am

from the Center for American Progress

Angela Kelley and Marshall Fitz of the Center for American Progress’s Immigration Policy team, discuss what the Supreme Court’s ruling on Arizona’s immigration law, S.B. 1070, means for Arizonans, other states and Latino voters.

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Ralph Nader: 30 Million Workers Would Benefit From Raising Minimum Wage to 1968 Level

by , posted on Friday, June 15th, 2012 at 6:50 pm

from Democracy Now!

In 2008, Barack Obama pledged to raise the minimum wage every year once elected, but the hourly rate of $7.25 hasn’t increased since 2007. Low-wage workers now make far less than they did four decades ago. Last week Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. introduced The Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2012. It draws its name from the idea that the federal minimum wage would be $10.55 an hour now if it had kept up with inflation over the past 40 years. While the bill has about 20 co-sponsors so far President Obama has yet to endorse it. We speak to longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader.

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How Mandatory Sentencing Laws Are Sending Juveniles to Prison for Life

by , posted on Thursday, May 10th, 2012 at 5:16 pm

from The Nation

In 1976, when Trina Garnett was 14 years old, she accidentally started a housefire that ended up killing two boys. Now, thirty-five years later, Trina is fifty years old and still in prison. Why is a first-world country imprisoning its children for life? The Nation‘s Liliana Segura explains.

See also: “Throwaway People: Will Teens Sent to Die in Prison Get a Second Chance?” by Liliana Segura, The Nation, May 28, 2012.

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Three Ways Ending Obamacare Will Hurt Women

by , posted on Friday, May 4th, 2012 at 5:38 pm

from the Center for American Progress

Obamacare is under threat by the Supreme Court and conservatives in Congress. If the law were struck down or repealed, it would have dire consequences for the millions of women who benefit from it. Jessica Arons, Director of the Center for American Progress’s Women’s Health and Rights Program explains.

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Three Reasons the Supreme Court Should Reject Arizona’s Immigration Law

by , posted on Friday, April 20th, 2012 at 8:29 pm

from the Center for American Progress

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