Jane Hamsher: Schneiderman Victims, Share Your Thoughts on the Settlement

Jane-zilla ..

As former Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Kouril said on FDL this morning, “The court system will be permanently corrupted by forged and perjurious documents…This settlement is an incredible breach of the social contract between the government and the governed.” We are especially disappointed in the “Justice Democrats” — particularly Attorney Generals Eric Schneiderman and Kamala Harris — whose complicity proves that any faith in their moral fiber or independence was misplaced. When Timothy Geither and the Obama White House pressed them to fold, they did so. At a time when America needs leaders to fight for justice and accountability, they chose to advance their own careers by protecting the corporations and bankers of the oligarch class — hoping that a few press releases filled with platitudes echoed through an expensive propaganda machine will fool a credulous public. It won’t.

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Thursday, February 9, 2012

Obama’s Guiding Principle: Leave No One Accountable

Scarecrow at Firedoglake on the bank settlement ..

The Obama Administration has followed a predictable pattern we now recognize. It has consistently functioned like criminal defense counsel, whose mission is to get their criminal clients, the major corporations and executives who fund their elections, off with no admission of guilt, no forced resignations, and as little harm to their reputation, or that of the counsel, as possible. To do this, they neutralize anyone with an ounce of public purpose in their veins. Its role is then to convince the public that whatever you thought or feared was going on in America, and whoever you believed had caused the collapse of America’s economy, caused millions to lose their jobs, their homes and their retirements and continued to loot the country, it’s time to look forward. Because everyone who matters — and that’s not you — now agrees, they say, to function in the public interest, even though it’s a bald face lie, since nothing has changed and the looters and their complicit overseers are still in charge

plus Marcy Wheeler is calling today "Bank Bailout Day" - mab .. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Thursday, February 9, 2012

Marcy Wheeler: I Always Hated Pink, Anyway

Wheeler ..

Komen just pretended to reverse its decision defund Planned Parenthood’s cancer screening services (it promises only to consider Planned Parenthood applications in the future, not to fund them) .. But now that everyone has become aware of Komen’s sleaziness, it’s time to look at what they – and the cancer industry – do more generally. They fund efforts to diagnose and find a cure but they work against things like prevention. They also tend to push back against research that shows we’ve been over-diagnosing and over-treating breast cancer .. We ought to use this scandal to examine more closely where cancer money gets spent – on treatment, turning cancer patients into customers – and rarely on prevention. While I appreciate the gesture, pink ribbons to me have come to symbolize cancer patients as profit centers, both for consumer goods capitalizing on an association with the goodwill (and Komen), as well as for ungodly expensive drugs that don’t always provide better outcomes

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Saturday, February 4, 2012

Marijuana Again Dominates President Obama’s Online Forum

Jon Walker at Firedoglake ..

So far every attempt by Obama to directly reach out to young voters through some form of online question and answer system has resulted in young adults overwhelming voting to confront the President with questions about our government’s marijuana policies. It happened with his transitional website Change.gov, his first Youtube townhall and with the White House’s new “we the people” petition site. Marijuana reform is an issue young voters across the ideological spectrum care deeply about. While marijuana legalization is rarely talked about in our mainstream political discourse, at every opportunity regular Americans use the internet to try to make legalization an issue Obama can’t ignore.

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Monday, January 30, 2012

Matt Stoller: Lanny Breuer, Task Force Leader, Doesn’t Bother Showing Up For Mortgage Fraud Press Conference

Stoller in nakedcapitalism ..

.. the FBI has assigned 10 agents and analysts to work with the group immediately. In the coming weeks, another 30 attorneys, investigators, and support staff from U.S. Attorneys’ Offices will join the Group’s work. So that’s a total of 55 people, 10 of whom are FBI agents. Let’s do a few comparisons. During the Savings and Loan crisis, Bill Black reminds us that there were about a thousand FBI agents working on the various cases. That’s one hundred times the number of people working on a scandal that is about forty times larger and far more complex

in a related story, Matt Taibbi asks "Is Obama's 'Economic Populism' for Real?" - short answer: No - mab .. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Saturday, January 28, 2012

Adbusters Tactical Briefing #25: In the Tradition of the Chicago 8 | #OCCUPYCHICAGO | May 1 – Bring Tent

Adbusters ..

Against the backdrop of a global uprising that is simmering in dozens of countries and thousands of cities and towns, the G8 and NATO will hold a rare simultaneous summit in Chicago this May. The world’s military and political elites, heads of state, 7,500 officials from 80 nations, and more than 2,500 journalists will be there.

And so will we.

On May 1, 50,000 people from all over the world will flock to Chicago, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and #OCCUPYCHICAGO for a month. With a bit of luck, we’ll pull off the biggest multinational occupation of a summit meeting the world has ever seen

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Friday, January 27, 2012

Markos Moulitsas: Occupy owns the Republican nominating contest

Kos ..

Iowa and New Hampshire were disasters for Newt Gingrich, relegated to also-ran status. At that moment, he made a decision .. It was a populist call to arms by someone claiming to represent the 99 percent, against the 1 percent. Rush Limbaugh and the Club for Growth, among others, got the vapors. How dare Newt criticize the free market system? It was an attack on capitalism itself! Heck, much of what Gingrich was saying could've been heard at any Occupy encampment around the country! .. It's a stunning turn of events. Last summer, all the Beltway press wanted to talk about was deficits and the Catfood Commission. Today, even the Republican nomination contest is revolving around Occupy's themes of rogue capitalism and income inequality. That's why Gingrich has stayed on the attack over Bain despite a mass GOP establishment backlash. Because, quite clearly, it's working

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Wikipedia blackout: Why even supporters question anti-SOPA move

Posted by Harry Sifton, Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Nathan Schneider: Occupy Wall Street’s new-year resolve

Schneider on Waging Nonviolence ..

Whenever there was a break, someone would jump up on a chair and start telling radical jokes. Why do anarchists only drink coffee? How many feminists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Somebody else would already know the punchline and shout it out, while others burst into laughter until they could hardly breathe. This was not the mood one would expect to find in a bygone movement. Nor would one expect the litany of upcoming actions reeled off by a woman named Tammy, who, as part of the Interoccupy project, was helping to coordinate occupations nationwide .. On January 20, Move to Amend would be organizing actions throughout the country against corporate personhood. There was Occupy Education on March 1, a global day of action on May 12 and actions against the G8 and NATO summits in Chicago later that month. Other people added more: an Egypt solidarity march on January 21, a day recognizing violence against women on February 14 and a mobilization in DC marking King’s assassination on April 4.

Nathan also has a great article in Harpers about the lead up to OWS (no link, you have to go buy the mag .. its the Feb issue) - and OWS is Occupying Congress today! - mab .. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Tuesday, January 17, 2012

FDL: Colbert SuperPAC Goes on the Air in South Carolina

David Dayen @ Firedoglake (w video of Colbert and Stewart making the announcement) ..

This caps off one of the most brilliant pieces of performance art in quite some time. Colbert is “running” for President now as an evolution of his show-don’t-tell critique of the Citizens United decision and what it has meant for campaign finance in America. His SuperPAC has run ads in Iowa, used candidate Buddy Roemer in spots that technically didn’t “coordinate” with the candidate because they were considered issue ads, and tried to purchase naming rights to the South Carolina primary, adding a referendum to the ballot asking voters whether corporations are people or “only people are people.” .. As satire, this goes light years beyond the March to Restore Sanity. Colbert is displaying every single problem with the Citizens United decision, and the mess of our campaign finance laws, by showing the practical application of them in the real world

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Sunday, January 15, 2012

Glenn Greenwald: NYT’s Arthur Brisbane and selective stenography

Glenzilla ..

The New York Times‘ Public Editor Arthur Brisbane unwittingly sparked an intense and likely enduring controversy yesterday when he pondered — as though it were some agonizing, complex dilemma — whether news reporters “should challenge ‘facts’ that are asserted by newsmakers they write about.” .. While reporters typically react with fury over the suggestion that they are stenographers, Brisbane was essentially posting that this is all they are, and then earnestly wondering aloud whether they should be anything more than that, as though it was some sort of exotic or edgy suggestion

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Saturday, January 14, 2012

Hamilton Nolan: Piss on War

Nolan in Gawker (of all places) ..

Do you know what is worse than having your dead body urinated upon? Being killed. Being shot. Being bombed. Having your limbs blown off. Having your house incinerated by a drone-fired missile that you don't see until it explodes. Having your children blown up in their beds. Having your spouse killed. Having your hometown destroyed. Being displaced. Becoming a refugee. Having your entire life destroyed as a consequence of political forces far, far beyond your control.

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Friday, January 13, 2012

125 Year Old Woman Claimed Smoking Pot Everyday Was Her Secret to Long Life

from Cafe Vale Tudo ..

A 125-year-old woman, said to be one of the oldest women in India, died at her home in Orissa, her family said Sunday. Fulla Nayak claimed that smoking cannabis every day was her secret to long life .. Fulla was known for her love of smoking ganja and cigars and palm juice. She also loved steaming hot tea. She had never suffered any debilitating ailment throughout her life

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Thursday, January 5, 2012

Warren Buffett’s Plan

You may have seen this before. I have been trying to get a link. Unable, so I submit the most recent version. For your consideration. It sounds like a good plan to me.
Posted by Michael Butler, Sunday, January 1, 2012

Urging Obama to Stop Rush to Iran War | Consortiumnews

Posted by Michael Butler, Sunday, January 1, 2012

Occupy Supply State of the Occupation: 67 Encampments on 12/26/2011

Jane Hamsher @ Firedoglake ..

FDL has updated the Occupy Supply working list of encampments across the country. We count 67 occupations as of 12/26/2011, up from 63 on December 22 .. Added Occupy East LA College, Occupy Weber State U. Occupy Everett also goes on the list, although they’ve voted to take down their personal tents and put up a community tent. What that means in terms of overnight campers is uncertain, but for the moment we’re considering them in the same category as Occupy Cleveland which still maintains sleepers at their tent in Public Square. If it turns out they will no longer have sleepers, they will move to the “Occupations with Daytime Tents or Booths” list .. Donate $10 or more to the Occupy Supply fund and help us continue to support over 70 occupations across the country with cold weather gear, meals, shelter and more. 100% of which will be used to purchase and distribute union and American-made goods to the growing number of occupations we serve

whats that Mark Twain quote? - "the report of my death was an exaggeration" .. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Tuesday, December 27, 2011

A Christmas Message From America’s Rich | | Rolling Stone Taibbi

Posted by Michael Butler, Friday, December 23, 2011

Occupied Bishop: Occupy 2.0

Yesterday was another eventful day for OWS -- Trinity Church (of the Episcopalian order) has been denying OWS an encampment space on an empty lot they own on Canal St and 6th Ave. We arrived yesterday for an all day gathering adjacent to the space at Duarte Park just in time to see this old guy in a purple robe climb a ladder that OWS had set up on the chain link fence that guards Trinity's empty lot, and occupy the police-protected space along with 50 or so supporters. 15 minutes later the guy in the purple robe was arrested. I later learned that his name is George E. Packard, a retired Episcopal Bishop (!!) who is supporting OWS in their fight with Trinity Church. Bishop Packard has a blog called "Occupied Bishop" with a subtitle that reads ..

I didn't start out to be so in retirement. How frantic can you get walking the dog and taking out the garbage? But while bringing water to Zucotti Park I was arrested by officer Byron and my world changed. Occupy Wall Street has brought us this realization: once the truth dawns your days will never be the same

he hasn't posted yet on his blog since yesterday, but his wife posted this account of his arrest ("I am heartened to know he looks pretty happy in the paddy wagon!") on the Occupied Bishop blog. While filming his arrest she was kneed in the chest by a policeman - mab
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Sunday, December 18, 2011

India and Afghanistan

An unusual perspective from our 'communicator', Marjolaine, with the UN in Afghanistan. Another facet of the 'Great Game'. mb
Posted by Michael Butler, Saturday, December 17, 2011

Firedoglake: US Holds Formal Ceremony Ending Iraq War

David Dayen in FDL ..

The US still has around 4,000 troops in the country, all of whom are scheduled to leave by the end of the month. But then the US embassy will house over 16,000 American personnel undergoing diplomatic missions, guarded by a massive mercenary Army. And it’s likely that some number of military personnel will remain in Iraq to train the Iraqi security forces on new equipment they purchased from the US, as well as assisting in future arms sales. And you could see a negotiation open as early as next year on returning more trainers. Incidentally, these troops are still being attacked every day, according to the military, so despite the rhetoric about leaving with our heads held high, we’re actually leaving under some duress

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Thursday, December 15, 2011

The Occupy 17 Who Were Targeted, Arrested & Jailed by NYPD are Freed

Kevin Gosztola @ Firedoglake ..

New York Police Department officers arrested seventeen people at an Occupy Wall Street flash mob action in Brookfield Properties’ Winter Garden yesterday. Those seventeen people each have something in common: they all are somehow involved with media. At the action, they were taking photos, video and tweeting out updates on the action. And, now, more than thirty-six hours later, they have finally been released from jail

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Is Newt’s Teabag Too Big to Burst?

Firedoglake ..

With the Iowa caucuses only a few weeks away there’s not much time left for Newt Gingrich — the latest standard-bearer for tea-party Republicans’ tangled fantasies and resentments — to self-destruct. So Mitt and his establishment GOP backers have finally come off the sidelines in hopes of doing the job themselves .. [Romney's attack] ad dredges up Newt’s old global-warming spot with Nancy Pelosi — the visual evidence of consorting with the enemy being far more central to the ad’s theme than any supposed climate heresy. At some point, the GOP nomination race will likely boil itself down to this festering core. The ever-more-explicit McCarthyesque accusation will be, “Do you now or have you ever held a rational or cooperative belief?” And the ultimate winner’s answer will have to be, “No… every ounce of my body and soul is consumed by primitive tribal loyalties and hatreds!”

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Saturday, December 10, 2011

Glenn Greenwald: Wes Clark and the Neocon Dream

Glenzilla ..

this is how Clark described (video link) the aspirations of the “coup” being plotted by Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and what he called “a half dozen other collaborators from the Project for the New American Century”: "[right after 9/11] I saw [an] officer .. He said: “I just got this memo from the Secretary of Defense’s office. It says we’re going to attack and destroy the governments in 7 countries in five years – we’re going to start with Iraq, and then we’re going to move to Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran.” .. [Clark then] recounted a conversation he had had ten years earlier with Paul Wolfowitz — back in 1991 .. “one thing we did learn [from the Gulf War] is that we can use our military in the Middle East – and the Soviets won’t stop us. And we’ve got about 5 or 10 years to clean up those old Soviet regimes – Syria, Iran, Iraq – before the next great superpower comes on to challenge us.” [snip] .. The current turmoil in the Middle East is driven largely by popular revolts, not by neocon shenanigans. Still, in the aftermath of military-caused regime change in Iraq and Libya, with concerted regime change efforts now underway aimed at Syria and Iran, with active and escalating proxy fighting in Somalia, with a modest military deployment to South Sudan .. it is worth asking whether the neocon dream as laid out by Clark is dead or is being actively pursued and fulfilled, albeit with means more subtle and multilateral than full-on military invasions

Wes Clark is always fascinating + revealing - like he's itching to say more - mab .. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Sunday, November 27, 2011

Jeremy Kessler: Occupy Wall Street’s coordinated chaos at the Stock Exchange

Kessler at Waging Nonviolence ..

The unpredictable movements and the “diversity of tactics” employed by the Occupiers [on Nov 17 day of action] .. frequently cause police, spoiled by total compliance, to become panicked or enraged. The result is violent overreaction .. On Pine and Nassau, night-sticks and bawled fists were deployed against a troop of green-clad and leaf-covered pixies; later, on Broad and Beaver, after their initial retreat in the face of an unexpected dance party, some creative officers transformed a metal barricade into a plow, using it to sweep up or knock down protesters. Slightly earlier, police had shouted at a group of protesters twirling umbrellas, telling them to holster their rain gear. When the protesters refused to do so, an officer reached into the crowd and pulled one young, umbrella-bearing man to the ground; a circle of police formed to stomp on and then arrest him. A minute later and a few feet behind the scrum, another officer found himself standing with the offending instrument. He pondered the medium-sized accessory for a few seconds and then, as if for the first time realizing what it was, collapsed the umbrella, tossing it—not ungently—aside, as you would upon arriving back home after a hard day’s work

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Saturday, November 26, 2011

Glenn Greenwald: OWS-inspired activism

Glennzilla ..

Nothing highlights the validity of the movement’s core grievances more than watching a piggish billionaire Wall Street Mayor — who bought and clung to his political power using his personal fortune — deploy force against marginalized citizens peacefully and lawfully protesting joblessness, foreclosures and economic suffering. If Michael Bloomberg didn’t exist, the Occupy protesters would have to invent him.

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Saturday, November 19, 2011