Hartmann: It’s time to Occupy the Courts
OPS_admin | Nov 01, 2011 | Comments 0
With Occupy Wall Street in full swing – it’s time to begin a new occupation…of our nation’s court system. Today we learned that corporations are spending millions and millions of dollars meddling in judicial elections around the nation. In fact – a new report by the Brennan Center for Justice, the NYU School of Law, and other independent judicial watchdogs – finds that just three corporate lobbyist groups – the Ohio Chamber of Commerce – the Business Council of Alabama – and the Illinois Civil Justice League – have outspent the ENTIRE labor movement in judicial elections around the nation. Those groups alone spent over $3 million last year making sure that corporate-friendly justices find their way onto benches everywhere. There’s long been a debate over what kind of judge is best – one elected by the people as most state judges are – or one appointed by the President as most federal judges are. But the truth is – now that corporations are allowed to spend unlimited amounts in our elections – both types of judges have been corrupted – transformed from professional jurists into corporate shills.
Full Story Here: Hartmann: It’s time to Occupy the Courts – YouTube.
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If we don't change our ways soon...
A new report by the Royal Society, chaired by Nobel prize-winning biologist Sir John Sulston warns that world population must be stabilized and consumption in wealthy nations must be reduced or the entire planet is in big trouble. As the report reads: "The number of people living on the planet has never been higher, their levels of consumption are unprecedented and vast changes are taking place in the environment. We can choose to rebalance the use of resources to a more egalitarian pattern of consumption... or we can choose to do nothing and to drift into a downward spiral of economic and environmental ills leading to a more unequal and inhospitable future."This is the same warning that President Jimmy Carter gave Americans back in the 1970's - but it was ignored when Ronald Reagan came to power with a "more positive" message basically telling Americans we can do whatever we want. And then after 9/11 - Bush told us all we should go shopping and consume ever more.And now with corporations calling the shots in Washington - long-term sustainability of the planet takes a back seat to short-term profits. If we don't change our ways soon - and embrace clean, alternative energy and educate women around the plant - then we all could be headed for a rough century.-Thom(Is there any chance we will learn in time? Tell us here.) -
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" We the corporations" On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. __________
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The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. 
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