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Oklahoma Senators Jim Inhofe, Tom Coburn, Face Difficult Options On Disaster Relief

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Christina Wilkie - May. 21 (News Analysis) - Sens. Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn, both Republicans, are fiscal hawks who have repeatedly voted against funding disaster aid for other parts of the country. They also have opposed increased funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which administers federal disaster relief. Late last year, Inhofe and Coburn both backed a plan to slash disaster relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. In a December press release, Coburn complained that the Sandy Relief bill contained "wasteful spending," and identified a series of items he objected to, including "$12.9 billion for future disaster mitigation activities and studies."

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Meet the Senate's Powerful and Progressive Policy Wonk, Ron Wyden

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Joe Conason - May. 21 (Special Report) - Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden has established a reputation as one of the Senate's more serious and diligent members. Over the years on Capitol Hill, he has watched the Republican Party veer constantly further rightward, and yet he continues to believe against all evidence that bipartisan legislative cooperation is possible -- even likely.

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Billionaires Now Own American Politics

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Andy Kroll - May. 20 (News Analysis) - Billionaires with an axe to grind, now is your time. Not since the days before a bumbling crew of would-be break-in artists set into motion the fabled Watergate scandal, leading to the first far-reaching restrictions on money in American politics, have you been so free to meddle. There is no limit to the amount of money you can give to elect your friends and allies to political office, to defeat those with whom you disagree, to shape or stunt or kill policy, and above all to influence the tone and content of political discussion in this country. Today, politics is a rich man's game. Look no further than the 2012 elections and that season's biggest donor, 79-year-old casino mogul Sheldon Adelson . He and his wife, Miriam, shocked the political class by first giving $16.5 million in an effort to make Newt Gingrich the Republican presidential nominee. Once Gingrich exited the race, the Adelsons invested more than $30 million in electing Mitt ...

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The money swamp created by Citizens United: Dark Money, corporate shell games, and SuperPAC plutocrats

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Hightower Lowdown - By Jim Hightower - May. 19 (Special Report) - Forty years later, however, CREEP is back. Thanks to 2010's disastrous Citizens United ruling by a handful of raging corporatists on the Supreme Court, the moneyed elite can again buy as much political power as they want, without disclosing who's doing the buying.

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The 4 Big Ways That Insatiable Corporate Hunger for Profits Has Devastated American Life -- and the World Along with It

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Paul Buchheit - May. 19 (Special Report) - In this dream world of global capitalism, young people are going from zero income on the farm to a few dollars a day on a 12-hour factory shift, and as a result, based on the World Bank's poverty threshold of $1.25 per day, they're no longer "in poverty." So the media piles on praise for free markets. The Economist proclaimed that "poverty is declining everywhere." The Washington Post gushed that "a billion people have been lifted from poverty through free-market competition."

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Honey Bee Die-Off Caused By Multiple Factors Including Pesticides

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

billmoyers.com - By Therisa Riley - May. 19 (News) - A federal study released today attributes the massive die-off in American honey bee colonies to a combination of factors, including pesticides, poor diet, parasites and a lack of genetic diversity. Nearly a third of honey bee colonies in the United States have been wiped out since 2006. The estimated value of crops lost if bees were no longer able to pollinate fruits and vegetables is around $15 billion.

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Genetically Modified Democracy: Monsanto and Congress Move to Stomp on States’ Rights

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

nationofchange.org - By Ronnie cummins - May. 18 (News Report) - the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) that Monsanto has begun secretly lobbying its Congressional allies to attach one or more “Monsanto Riders” or amendments to the 2013 Farm Bill that would preempt or prohibit states from requiring labels on genetically engineered (GE) foods.

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Popular Resistance Is Percolating Across the Country -- Inspiring Activism That the Corporate Media Always Ignores

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Kevin Zeese, Margaret Flowers - May. 18 (News Report) - The heart of the conflict faced in the United States is the inequity of an unfair economy supported by a corrupt two party system. This week there was a very creative protest in New York City against the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim of Mexico. He’s made his billions with the help of government allowing a monopoly on phone service resulting in Slim gouging the public.

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How the IRS’s Nonprofit Division Got So Dysfunctional

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

ProPublica - By Kim Barker, Justin Elliott - May. 17 (Investigative Report) - The IRS division responsible for flagging Tea Party groups has long been an agency afterthought, beset by mismanagement, financial constraints and an unwillingness to spell out just what it expects from social welfare nonprofits, former officials and experts say.

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"The Other IRS Scandal": David Cay Johnston on Dark Money Political Groups Seeking Tax Exemption

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - May. 16 (News Analysis) - While the IRS targeting of tea party groups has made headlines for days, far less attention has been paid to the roots of the crisis. After the 2010 landmark Supreme Court decision Citizens United, there was a spike in new political organizations seeking tax-exempt status under tax code Section 501(c)(4). The court ruled these groups could raise unlimited corporate money without disclosing donor information. Several groups have claimed to be social welfare organizations while spending tens of millions of dollars on political operations.

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Joe Biden’s Productivity Piffle

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

FactCheck - By Eugene Kiely - May. 16 (Fact Check) - Vice President Joe Biden falsely claimed that U.S. workers “are three times as productive as any worker in the world.” He’s not even close. By the standard measure for productivity, American workers ranked third in the world behind Norway and Ireland in 2011. Biden also stated that the U.S. economy … More >>

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Blame Citizens United for the IRS scandal

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Jared Bernstein - May. 15 (News Analysis) - the problem here isn’t the president. It’s the Supreme Court’s Citizen United decision and subsequent tax law written by Congress that gives these groups tax exempt status (under rule 501(c)(4)) as long as most of their activities are primarily on educating the public about policy issues, not direct campaigning. Of course, the ambiguities therein are insurmountable. Many of these groups, especially the big ones, spend millions on campaign ads mildly disguised as “issue ads,” and under current law they can do so limitlessly and with impunity.

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Obama’s unfortunate scapegoat

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Alex Seitz-Wald - May. 15 (News Analysis) - Miller is a scapegoat in the most pure and classic sense. The acting commissioner was not running the IRS at the time employees improperly targeted Tea Party groups — that would be Bush-appointee Doug Shulman, who resigned as commissioner last year — and Miller’s name isn’t mentioned a single time in the Treasury Department inspector general’s report. Indeed, there is no evidence that Miller was in any way responsible, involved or even aware of the inappropriate targeting of conservative groups by underlings. He is falling on his sword for something he did not do. But why Obama made this decision is easy to understand: The political pressure to fire someone — anyone — was deafening, and the president literally didn’t have other options.

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Meet the group the IRS actually denied: Democrats!

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Joan Walsh - May. 15 (News Report) - Everyone agrees that the IRS shouldn’t have targeted groups with “Tea Party” or “Patriot” in their names for special scrutiny in awarding tax-exempt status. NBC News reports two agents have been disciplined for doing so, and the Justice Department announced a criminal probe. But so far no one has identified a single conservative group that was denied status in the controversial review, though some faced bureaucratic hurdles and had their tax-exempt status delayed. In fact, the only known 501(c)(4) applicant to have its status denied happens to be a progressive group: the Maine chapter of Emerge America, which trains Democratic women to run for office.

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The Real Scandal: Official Washington Goes Nuts Over IRS Doing Its Job

Tue, 14 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Steven Rosenfeld - May. 14 (News Analysis) - The IRS was doing its job. Its staff was overwhelmed by the thousands of obvious political groups that sought the cover of being designated as charities in the 2010 and 2012 elections; so they could raise money and hide their donors names. Some IRS employees spent far too much time or were assigned to spend time on lowest-hanging fruit—political amateur groups from the Tea Party movement—and not enough on the bigtime players, such as Karl Rove, who was lawyered up. And the IRS still has not ruled on the tactics and likes of the Roves ( Crossroads GPS), Koch brothers ( Americans for Prosperity) and the pro-Obama groups ( Organizing for America and Priorities USA) that put millions into thepresidential election via groups pretending to be charities.

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Large Corporations Seek U.S.–European 'Free Trade Agreement' to Further Global Dominance

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Andrew Gavin Marshall - May. 13 (Special Report) - A corporate world order is emerging, and like any parasite, it is slowly killing off its host. Unfortunately, the "host" happens to be the planet, and all life upon and within it. So, while the extinction of the species will be the end result of passively accepting a corporate-driven world, on the other hand, it’s very profitable for those corporations and their shareholders.

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Obama, Cameron Promote Trade Deal Granting Corporations Political Power

Mon, 13 May 2013 22:44:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Zach Carter - May. 13 (News) - President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday pledged to pursue a broad trade agreement between the U.S. and European Union, amid growing domestic unrest with the Obama administration's plans to include new political powers for corporations in the deal.

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Casinos Are Booming Thanks to State Governments' Need to Exploit Gambling Addicts for Revenue

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Alyssa Figueroa - May. 13 (Special Report) - Today, however, state governments work with casino managers in the name of revenue, which they justify by allotting the money to projects that are meant to enhance communities. In reality, however, governments’ partnership with casinos ultimately harms communities. Unlike other “sin taxes,” like those on tobacco, alcohol and, in the near future, possibly soda, which act to discourage destructive behavior, casino taxes are collected with the government’s encouragement, through partnership and advertising.

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Who Is Profiting From Charters? The Big Bucks Behind Charter School Secrecy, Financial Scandal and Corruption

Sat, 11 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By kristin Rawls - May. 11 (Investigative Report) - Studies shows that charter schools don’t typically outperform public schools and they often tend to increase racial and class segregation. So one must wonder, what exactly is motivating these school “reformers”? And why have they pushed for more and more closure — and new charter schools — at such an unprecedented rate in recent years?

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Post Office Lost $1.9 Billion Over The Last 3 Months

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Sam Hananel - May. 10 (News Report) - the Postal Service continues to lose money at a rapid pace due to a decline in mail volume and a congressional requirement that it make advance payments to cover expected health care costs for future retirees – something no other federal agency does.

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Why the TransPacific Partnership is a Scary Big (Trade) Deal

Thu, 09 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

yesmagazine.org - By Kristen Beifus - May. 09 (News Analysis) - It was hard for the Japanese journalist to believe me when I explained that there is little awareness of the TPP here in the United States, because our media has hardly covered the subject. The corporate powers granted in the TPP can override domestic laws on environmental health and safety, and labor and citizens’ rights. Not only that, but multinationals can claim that those domestic laws hamper free trade and sue member countries for millions of dollars. The TPP is in many ways an attempt to revive the stalled expansion of the World Trade Organization.

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Chicago Workers Open New Cooperatively Owned Factory Five Years After Republic Windows Occupation

Thu, 09 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - May. 09 (News Report) - Workers at the New Era Windows Cooperative are celebrating the grand opening of their new unionized, worker-owned and operated business. Almost a year to the day after their window factory closed, a group of former workers have launched their own window business without bosses. They successfully raised money to buy the factory collectively and run it democratically. In 2008, some of the workers were involved in a famous six-day sit-in after Republic Windows and Doors gave workers just three days’ notice before closing the factory. The sit-in drew national attention and union workers reached a settlement where they each received $6,000 each. About 65 workers occupied the factory after their jobs came under threat again in 2012. We speak to two worker-owners of the just-opened New Era Windows Cooperative and a labor organizer who helped with their fight.

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10 Reasons Austerity Is a Crock

Wed, 08 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Stephanie Kelton - May. 08 (News Analysis) - When we allow our economy to operate below full employment (as now), we are sacrificing trillions of dollars in lost output and income each year. We can never go back and recover it. It is gone forever. You’ve seen the debt clock? Here’s the lost output clock.

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Krugman Exposes the Hypocrisy of Fiscal Conservatives

Tue, 07 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

TruthDig - By Tracy Bloom - May. 07 (News Analysis) - In his latest column for The New York Times, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman writes that the case for economic austerity has collapsed, though that hasn’t stopped the pro-austerity faction from continuing to push for deep spending cuts.

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Obama Embraces Plutocrats Again With His Billionaire Commerce Secretary Choice

Tue, 07 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Steven Rosenfeld - May. 07 (News Analysis) - her record as a businesswoman shares similarities with Mitt Romney’s. Her massive wealth is kept in tax-avoiding offshore accounts. Her family’s best-known business, the Hyatt hotel empire, is known for bitter and ongoing disputes with labor unions. Her resume includes running a bank that pioneered high-interest subprime loans and then failed miserably, leaving uninsured depositors with losses averaging $6,000.

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