Daily Archives: 11/04/2013
Purjury – Chevron
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Having virtually all the money in the world often means you can buy silence, you can buy time, and you can buy lies. Chevron has demonstrated this time and again in its decades-long battle to evade accountability for deliberately dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into the Ecuadorian Amazon. The problem is that this time what Chevron has bought is a bag of lies in the form of false testimony from a thoroughly disreputable source, and they aren’t able to hide the price tag… |
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America & Poverty
http://www.booktv.org/Watch/14942/The+American+Way+of+Poverty+How+the+Other+Half+Still+Lives.aspx
“The American Way of Poverty: How the Other Half Still Lives”
Sasha Abramsky
About the Program
Sasha Abramsky talks about chronically poor and the working poor in America and discusses how their lives have changed since 2008. He says that the level of inequality in the U.S. today hasn’t been seen since the 1920s. During this event host by the Open Society Foundations in New York City, Mr. Abramsky is in conversation with former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert.
About the Authors
Sasha Abramsky
Sasha Abramsky is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Nation, New York magazine, and Rolling Stone. His books include “Inside Obama’s Brain” and “Breadline USA.” For more, visit: sashaabramsky.com.
Buy the author’s book from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
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Bush is Gone, But His Judges Are Here to Stay
Filibuster Wars Return
Following a brief detente over executive branch nominations over the past few months, Republicans yesterday went back to their same old obstructionist ways.
First, Republicans used the filibuster to block an up-or-down vote on Rep. Mel Watt, who has been nominated to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, an important agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This is the first time since the Reconstruction Era that a sitting Member of Congress has been denied confirmation. Watt is also the first African-American FHFA nominee.
Republicans then filibustered the nomination of Patricia Millett for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, despite her sterling credentials as one of the most well-respected members of the Supreme Court bar, previous experience in both Democratic and Republican administrations, and the support of conservative legal luminaries like Ken Starr and Ted Olson.
The D.C. Circuit is second only to the Supreme Court in importance. It hears cases involving key national security issues and federal regulations like environmental and labor rules. During the Bush administration, all 11 seats on the court were happily filled by Republicans. But now that three vacancies have opened up, they are refusing to allow votes on President Obama’s nominees.
It’s no secret why — conservatives currently have a stranglehold on this important court and Republicans want to keep it that way. Of the eight current judges, four were appointed by Republicans and four were appointed by Democrats; however, five of six semi-retired senior judges who still hear cases were appointed by Republicans.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) indicated that Obama’s nominees will be voted on again and not-so-subtly threatened to change the filibuster rules if Republicans continue their blockade.
Why Courts Matter
The last 24 hours have provided important reminders about why the courts — and federal appeals courts in particular — matter.
In Texas, a three-judge panel of conservative Bush-appointed judges overruled an earlier ruling and reinstated Texas’ draconian new restrictions on abortion. The restrictions forced about one-third of Texas abortion clinics to close. Today.
And then this morning, D.C. Circuit Judge Janice Rogers Brown, one of Bush’s most radical appointees, issued a ruling against the Obamacare mandate that requires insurers to offer no-cost birth control.
Both of these vital cases will likely head to the Supreme Court, which also continues to be controlled by Republican-appointed justices, where they will face an uncertain fate.
BOTTOM LINE: The courts matter and it’s important that President Obama be allowed to exercise his constitutional duty to fill vacancies on the D.C. Circuit, other federal appeals courts, and district courts. Unless more progressive judges make it on to the bench, radical judges appointed by Bush and other Republicans will continue to try and drag the country backward and undermine hard won progressive victories.
Had enough? Click HERE to tell your senators that enough is enough and it’s time to allow a vote on the president’s nominees.
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the Pledge to America … deceptive and or failed promises
Below is the Pledge Republicans made and posted on their website – First posted in 2/11/2011 … just a reminder
America is more than a country.
America is an idea – an idea that free people can govern themselves, that government’s powers are derived from the consent of the governed, that each of us is endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. America is the belief that any man or woman can – given economic, political, and religious liberty – advance themselves, their families, and the common good.
America is an inspiration to those who yearn to be free and have the ability and the dignity to determine their own destiny.
Whenever the agenda of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to institute a new governing agenda and set a different course.
These first principles were proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, enshrined in the Constitution, and have endured through hard sacrifice and commitment by generations of Americans.
In a self-governing society, the only bulwark against the power of the state is the consent of the governed, and regarding the policies of the current government, the governed do not consent.
An unchecked executive, a compliant legislature, and an overreaching judiciary have combined to thwart the will of the people and overturn their votes and their values, striking down longstanding laws and institutions and scorning the deepest beliefs of the American people.
An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many.
Rising joblessness, crushing debt, and a polarizing political environment are fraying the bonds among our people and blurring our sense of national purpose.
Like free peoples of the past, our citizens refuse to accommodate a government that believes it can replace the will of the people with its own. The American people are speaking out, demanding that we realign our country’s compass with its founding principles and apply those principles to solve our common problems for the common good.
The need for urgent action to repair our economy and reclaim our government for the people cannot be overstated.
With this document, we pledge to dedicate ourselves to the task of reconnecting our highest aspirations to the permanent truths of our founding by keeping faith with the values our nation was founded on, the principles we stand for, and the priorities of our people. This is our Pledge to America.
We pledge to honor the Constitution as constructed by its framers and honor the original intent of those precepts that have been consistently ignored – particularly the Tenth Amendment, which grants that all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
We pledge to advance policies that promote greater liberty, wider opportunity, a robust defense, and national economic prosperity.
We pledge to honor families, traditional marriage, life, and the private and faith-based organizations that form the core of our American values.
We pledge to make government more transparent in its actions, careful in its stewardship, and honest in its dealings.
We pledge to uphold the purpose and promise of a better America, knowing that to whom much is given, much is expected and that the blessings of our liberty buoy the hopes of mankind.
We make this pledge bearing true faith and allegiance to the people we represent, and we invite fellow citizens and patriots to join us in forming a new governing agenda for America.
Be a Seed for Change 
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