August 9, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is being sued for allegedly formulating policies that led to the torture of multiple American citizens, at the hands of American military personnel in Iraq. Now, for the second time this month, in two distinct cases, a federal court has found that Mr. Rumsfeld does not enjoy any immunity for actions occurring either during his service as Secretary of Defense or in a war zone.
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July 30, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
List of Legislative Riders on H.R.2584, The Interior & Environment Approps bill for FY12 39 provisions in the bill specifically eliminate environmental protections in service of big polluters and GOP campaign donors *In order as they appear in the bill, with section numbers cited. Blocks Endangered Species Act Designations [Language on page 8]: Prohibits funding for [...]
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July 27, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Wisconsin’s governor Scott Walker has signed into a law a controversial requirement that voters present photo ID in order to exercise their right to vote. Now, he has announced plans to close as many as 16 motor vehicle offices, every one of them in districts that favor Democrats. What’s more, Walker’s plan includes expanding hours [...]
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March 10, 2011 :: The Editors :: Comments Off
Last night, the Republican party is Wisconsin decided to shirk the law, ignore a direct warning from the Assembly minority leader that their actions were a flagrant violation of the law, ignore established process and pass a fiscal proposal as if it were not a fiscal provision. The Senate majority leader, responsible for staging and carrying out this maneuver, said openly that the ban on collective bargaining was intended to make it more difficult for Pres. Obama to win re-election.
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March 10, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
In Wisconsin last night, the Republican state Senate stripped public employees of nearly all collective bargaining rights in a hastily called vote, in a dubious parliamentary maneuver. They did not notify the public or the minority party of their actions with adequate time for debate, and in just 13 minutes, they erased 50 years of progress on labor rights in Wisconsin.
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March 10, 2011 :: The Editors :: Comments Off
The majority leader of the Wisconsin state Senate, Scott Fitzgerald, admitted today on FOX News that the radical budget plan he and his brother and Gov. Walker are trying to force on the people of Wisconsin is a deliberate strategy to cripple the Democratic party in 2012 and make it harder for Pres. Obama to win the state of Wisconsin.
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March 9, 2011 :: staff :: One Comment
The governor of Michigan is trying to force through the legislature a bill that would establish emergency rule, LITERALLY. Gov. Snyder is seeking emergency powers that would enable him to 1) unilaterally declare a “financial emergency”, 2) disincorporate entire municipal governments, 3) dismiss elected officials with no replacement election to follow, 4) seize control of local civil services, 5) hand taxpayer money, services and POWERS to private, for-profit firms.
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February 28, 2011 :: The Editors :: Comments Off
Wisconsin’s Republican governor, whose attack on the rights of public servants has sparked the most persistent and widespread public protests seen in the state’s history. After two weeks of protests, the governor’s abject refusal to negotiate in any way with opponents to his bid to strip public workers of their rights has brought over 100,000 peaceful demonstrators to the state capitol complex this weekend. Gov. Walker is now seeking to bar any further protest in a desperate bid to impose his will on the people.
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February 26, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
Last week, a man pretending to be oil billionaire David Koch, one of the major Republican donors thought to be behind the concerted operation by Republican governors to strip public employees of collective bargaining rights, spoke with Gov. Scott Walke by phone. During the conversation, Gov. Walker revealed much about his own thinking in relation to using the claim of a “budget crisis” to impose massive cuts on public servants’ compensation and to strip them of basic workplace fairness rights.
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February 26, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
On Friday, Republicans in the Wisconsin state Assembly used unusual rules to push through legislation stripping public servants of collective bargaining rights, at 1:00 am. Opponents and Democrats chanted “Shame! Shame! Shame!” at the Republicans as they filed unceremoniously out of the chamber. The vote has been assailed by critics as a political assault on groups and individuals who don’t support the Republican party. Even FOX News has reported that the bill is “pure politics” and that the so-called “budget crisis” is a false claim being used by Republicans to attack their opponents.
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February 19, 2011 :: staff :: 3 Comments
The advocacy group Common Cause has found evidence that Clarence Thomas’ office appears to have lied about his participation in a retreat hosted by the Koch brothers, three years ago, and that Thomas appears to be concealing a gift from the oil billionaires, due to the conflict of interest it suggests. It now appears Thomas reported his appearance at the event, at which his office said he “made a brief stop-by”, as an all-expenses-paid four-day trip to Palm Springs.
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January 10, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
Tom DeLay has been sentenced to three years in prison, on conviction for charges of conspiracy and money laundering. The former House majority leader, known in his heyday as ‘The Hammer’, is accused of having committed these crimes as part of a coordinated manipulation of the Texas state-level electoral process aimed at handing Republicans control of seats held by Democrats in the US House of Representatives.
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January 10, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who has been targeted by opponents and conservative critics who have put her in gunsights in campaign advertisements and talked of taking her out, has raised ire across the nation for the mounting campaign of extremist rhetoric that over the last four years has seen repeated violent threats against members of Congress, candidates for public office, minority groups and people favoring healthcare reform. Now, the Tea Party Express is raising money, using the shooting and its aftermath as motivation, saying it will not allow anyone to tone down this extremist rhetoric.
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January 4, 2011 :: Denver Lessing :: Comments Off
Capping a season of lavish fundraising events where Republican members of Congress raised huge sums from lobbyists, corporate donors and special interests, one Republican freshman is holding a major bash, at $2,500 per person, complete with live performance by Leigh Ann Rimes, $50,000 all-inclusive package deals and luxury suites at the W hotel. Despite Tea Party opposition to corrupt corporate-interest politics, Rep. Jeff Denham is openly positioning himself to be the go-to rainmaker for fellow Republicans.
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January 3, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
One of the diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks shows George W. Bush’s ambassador to France advised the White House to launch a military-style trade war against any EU nation that opposed the implementation of genetically modified seeds. Despite widespread, credible scientific concern about the possible harm to human health or to the environment or food supply from the use of genetically engineered crops, the Bush administration appears to have used diplomats as sales agents for Monsanto and other major corporations.
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October 31, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Amid allegations the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is using membership dues and donations from foreign firms to wage an all-out ad-war against Democratic politics, at least 275 members are demanding the group cease its “punitive campaign” against anyone who supported the Affordable Care Act and reveal their sources and methods of funding the ads.
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June 1, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The US Attorney General Eric Holder has announced a criminal investigation into the events leading up to, surrounding and following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig, and BP’s response. The investigation will look into the possibility of criminal wrongdoing or fraud in BP’s dealings with regulators and in connection with the information it gave the government to help craft a response to the disaster.
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May 3, 2010 :: staff :: One Comment
Every time a major issue arises, we’ve come to expect that an army of lobbyists will descend on Capitol Hill in the hopes of tilting the laws in their favor. That’s one of the reasons I ran for President: because I believe so strongly that the voices of ordinary Americans were being drowned out by the clamor of a privileged few in Washington. And that’s why, since the day I took office, my administration has been taking steps to reform the system. Recently, however, the Supreme Court issued a decision that overturned decades of law and precedent – dealing a huge blow to our efforts to rein in this undue influence. In short, this decision gives corporations and other special interests the power to spend unlimited amounts of money – literally millions of dollars – to affect elections throughout our country. This, in turn, will multiply their influence over decision-making in our government.
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February 14, 2010 :: Denver Lessing :: Comments Off
Newsmax, the ultra-right-wing political propaganda outfit that calls itself a news service, is once again using its news pages to push financial get-rich-quick schemes on its customers. While railing against any politician who happens to be a Democrat and who is struggling to fix the problems 30 years of Republican de-regulation of wrought on the American economy as anti-American, Newsmax has routinely sought to push its readers into risky foreign currency trading schemes. Now, it’s pitching financial services directly.
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February 12, 2010 :: Eva Scherson :: Comments Off
Let down your guard for five seconds, and you will likely find some emanation of the pseudo-conservative hostility market explaining that Pres. Obama is deliberately plotting the destruction of the United States of America, that his administration is lazy and incompetent, and that terrorists are about to seize control of the homeland. Those propagandists, who expect you will not notice their absurd claims are in fact lies, are the ones who are, very deliberately, trying to ruin America.
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February 6, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: 6 Comments
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has been revealed to be placing a “blanket hold” on 70 of Pres. Obama’s nominees, while demanding an estimated $40 billion in earmarks for his state. The revelation, published yesterday in CongressDaily, is being called one of the most flagrant examples of political corruption in recent memory. According to CongressDaily’s reporting, “While holds are frequent, Senate aides said a blanket hold represents a far more aggressive use of the power than is normal.”
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January 26, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
This video is a talk given by Dr. Eugene McCarraher, at Villanova University, on the subject of corporate personhood. He explores the many problems related to the development of the legal principle that corporations can be granted the actual rights that law assigns only to persons. He reveals the stunning historical roots of corporate personhood in the “legal fiction” of the “metaphysical body” of medieval kings.
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January 22, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: 3 Comments
The ONLY way to make any argument of the kind that alleges the economic difficulties of 2009 are Obama’s fault is to operate absolutely and without exception on the premise that George W. Bush left Obama with a perfectly healthy, well-oiled functioning economy and zero debt. In fact, not only is that rosy picture not the case; the polar opposite is true: Barack Obama took office while the United States was experiencing its worst economic decline since the Great Depression, including near total paralysis of the banking system, unprecedented government debt, and an ethically deficient backlog of hidden borrowing that would cause deficits to escalate by as much as 1,000% in just one decade.
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December 22, 2009 :: Denver Lessing :: Comments Off
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is alleging “back-room dealmaking” and what he believes to be a misuse of office in Sen. Ben Nelson’s securing additional federal funding for his state’s Medicaid program, which is facing a severe budget shortfall. He wants the attorney general of his state to investigate whether anything unconstitutional was done in the dealmaking process. But Graham was part of numerous “dealmaking” sessions in the Bush-era Senate, in which corruption was not only alleged but was more or less publicly demonstrable.
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October 27, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Healthcare Reform :: Two Senate Democrats have pledged not to aid Republicans in blocking a full Senate vote in healthcare reform legislation. That moves the Democratic majority closer to the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster and bring the bill to a floor vote that will require only 50 votes plus one. This means the public option is now far mor likely to enter into the final legislation, as majorities in both houses support it.
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September 10, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
The United States Supreme Court has returned to open session to hear a case in which a corporate-funded film was barred from being aired in the weeks prior to an election, because it was intended to serve as a campaign advertisement against then Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), who now serves as Secretary of State. The Court will decide whether to overturn laws that restrict the way corporations can spend money to influence election outcomes.
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September 4, 2009 :: Webb Tisch :: Comments Off
In an interview with the McAlester News-Capital newspaper, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) —the senior senator from his state— strung together one lie after another, in an apparent effort to slander Pres. Obama and derail healthcare reform. There are no softer words for Inhofe’s incessant lies and fabrications. He has apparently pledged his time and energy to the hard labor of being an inveterate and unapologetic professional slanderer.
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August 28, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
While Republicans have been celebrating the rhetorical chaos seen at some town hall meeting events to discuss comprehensive healthcare reform, it is conservative “blue dog” Democrats who have been holding up passage of the reforms outlined by Pres. Obama and fashioned by Congressional leaders. Now, a study from the non-profit Center for Public Integrity finds that the Blue Dog coalition’s members have been taking more financial contributions from the healthcare industry than any other group.
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June 29, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff has received the legal maximum 150-year sentence for a fraud in which over $65 billion were stolen or lost. Madoff’s investment business was revealed to be the largest pyramid scheme ever created; his lawyer said today his business handled as much as 10% of all transactions on Wall Street at one time. 9 of Madoff’s victims testified during today’s sentencing, one of them saying she now has to sift through garbage to collect bottles in order to pay the bills.
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May 15, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Norm Coleman, who is still locked in a long and hotly contested recount and lawsuit process for the 2008 Minnesota race for the US Senate, has become involved in an FBI investigation into the dealings of a “longtime benefactor”, Nasser Kazeminy. Kazeminy is being investigated for fraud in relation to his management of a company called Deep Marine Technology.
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April 20, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
After one Republican senator committed the extremely dangerous act of openly calling for a run on the banks, something that could literally bankrupt the nation and lead to massive economic collapse, one would expect the national party to ignore, disavow or directly oppose the idea. But the national party is so drunk with the lust to sabotage Barack Obama’s presidency, it has endorsed the idea.
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January 30, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
The US economy is reported to have shrunk by 3.8% in the 4th quarter of 2008, the worst performance in nearly 3 decades. The news has some worried that markets will react negatively and the recessionary spiral will lead to even greater losses and the possible self-fulfilling prophecy of economic depression. Gov. Rod Blagojevich was [...]
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January 27, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
US-Iran: The new US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, has said the Obama administration will engage in “direct diplomacy” with Iran, but only once Tehran suspends uranium enrichment, in keeping with UN Security Council resolutions that aim to curb the proliferation of nuclear weapons. ICC: The first man to be tried by the International [...]
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December 24, 2008 :: Denver Lessing :: Comments Off
Since the announcement of Gov. Blagojevich’s shocking insinuations, on recorded wiretaps, that he could or intended to sell the appointment to the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Obama, there has been speculation about whether any members of the transition team had contact with Blagojevich or might appear on the tapes. No allegation of any kind was made against any member of the transition, and the only “evidence” that had been included in the prosecutor’s court filings was that Blagojevich was angered by the unwillingness of anyone around Obama to participate.
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December 9, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
Rod Blagojevich, the current governor of Illinois, has been arrested in connection with a federal corruption probe. He was charged in federal court today, and has been released on bond. US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said of the indictment “The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering”. The most prominent allegation being made against Blagojevich is that he attempted to sell the appointment he is to make to fill the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
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November 19, 2008 :: Denver Lessing :: Comments Off
US vice president Dick Cheney has been indicted by a Texas grand jury for crimes related to an alleged prison-profiteering scheme, including but not limited to charges of “at least misdemeanor assaults”, due to his investments in certain firms. Former US attorney general Alberto Gonzales was also indicted, along with 5 other individuals. The indictment is connected to the dealings of an investment company, involving privatized federal prisons in Texas.
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November 3, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: 4 Comments
An electronic voting machine made by Premier Election Solutions (Diebold) has been found to flip votes repeatedly to Republican candidate John McCain. A local election official in Adams County responded to the complaint by halting the machine’s use and sequestering it, so it could be examined for evidence of tampering and/or persistent malfunction.
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November 2, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: 4 Comments
Any individual, be they low-level election officials, state governors, or non-state actors, who participates in an effort to deprive legitimately registered or entitled-to-be-registered voters of their vote, should be prosecuted. The denial of Constitutional rights is not just a civil liberties issue, not simply a matter of accidental incompetence, and when it involves the actual election process, it is an assault on the government of the United States, which is ultimately supposed to be led by the will of the voter.
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October 6, 2008 :: staff :: One Comment
The presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) this weekend shifted aggressively to personal attacks on Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) character, openly announcing that they intend to sow doubt in voters’ minds and move the political debate across the nation away from economic issues. McCain’s running mate, Alaska governor Sarah Palin, began attacking Obama’s character, trying to link him to BIll Ayers, a onetime member of the group the Weather Underground. The Obama campaign has responded by putting together a documentary linking Sen. McCain to the savings and loan corruption scandal of the late 1980s.
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July 30, 2008 :: staff :: Comments Off
The longest serving Republican member of the US Senate, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), called by some the “king of pork” for his success in bringing federal money to his state, has been indicted for not reporting, under penalty of perjury, gifts he received from at least one oil firm, totaling as much as $250,000. The gifts are allegedly related to a home-renovation project and assistance obtained through his connection to an oil firm.
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January 9, 2008 :: staff :: Comments Off
Sibel Edmonds was a translator at the FBI when she overheard, in taped wiretaps, conversations that involved US officials at high levels organizing and taking bribes in exchange for dealing nuclear secrets to the black market. The Sunday Times, a London-based Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper, has now broken the story, after years of Edmonds being turned away by the US press, due to an unprecedented “state secrets privilege” gag order. The world press is taking note, while US media outlets continue to keep quiet or not investigate.
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