NewsTrust - Law - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

This week in the War on Women: Damn broads are greedy, lying whores

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Kos - By rss@dailykos.com (Kaili Joy Gray) - May. 20 (Opinion) - Praise great Gaia for the awesome perks of being a woman! Sure, we women may have once been second-class citizens, but ever since the radical feminists destroyed the patriarchal structure of our society and totally ended sexism forever, usurping all the levers of power in the public and private sector, it's been a non-stop gravy train of government handouts and free rides, as we enjoy our superior status in society by lording it over the oppressed menfolk. Am I right? No, of course not, but that's the mindset of the Republican Party, as it continues to wage war against women's rights and privileges. Damn broads have too many rights nowadays, and those excessive rights infringe on the more-important-rights of Catholic bishops who think women's health care restricts their religious liberty; the rights of men who abuse their wives and girlfriends because sometimes that's the only way to keep them in line; and the rights of Republican taxpayers to ensure that their money is not spent on ...

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A vital (and unlearned) lesson from Julius Caesar

Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Glenn Greenwald - May. 08 (Opinion) - Julius Caesar then stood and noted that Roman law forbids the execution of Roman citizens even for heinous crimes, and that executing the conspirators would thus require the creation of a radical and dangerous precedent: dangerous because to vest the power in the State to kill its own citizens, even if justified in the specific case where it is first done, would be to vest the power generally and thus ensure its inevitable abuse. Thus, even as Caesar professed his boundless contempt for the traitors (“I consider no tortures sufficient for the crimes of these men”), he vehemently argued against allowing passions to lead the Senate to embrace punishments “foreign to the customs of our country” — not primarily on moral grounds but on pragmatic ones:

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George Zimmerman Had More Legal Authority To Shoot And Kill Than Our Troops Do At War

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Think Progress - By Jon Soltz - Apr. 11 (Opinion) - One fact stands out in my mind: The “Stand Your Ground” law in Florida, which may let George Zimmerman off the hook for the killing of Martin, gives more leeway to shooters than our own military gives to soldiers in war.

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3 Corporate Myths that Threaten the Wealth of the Nation

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By William Lazonick, Ken Jacobson, Lynn Parramore - Apr. 06 (Opinion) - We need to confront some powerful myths of corporate governance as part of a movement to make corporations work for the 99%. To start, we have to recognize these corporations for what they are not. • They are not “private enterprise.” • They should not be run to “maximize shareholder value.” • The mega-millions in remuneration paid to top corporate executives are not determined by the “market forces” of supply and demand.

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Greatest Country in the World, or Biggest Joke? TN Educators Can Soon Teach Students Total Nonsense

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By BooMan - Apr. 05 (Opinion) - They've taught evolution in Tennessee for my entire life, and I'm 42 years-old. I guess they're still going to teach evolution in Tennessee's schools, but now they are also going to teach whatever the hell they want, including that evolution is a pile of b.s. Their moronic governor is going to sign a new law

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Capitalism's Dirty Secret: Corporations Don't Create Jobs, They Destroy Them

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Lynn Parramore - Apr. 03 (Opinion) - For the last four decades, U.S. corporations have been sinking our economy through the off-shoring of jobs, the squeezing of wages, and a magician’s hat full of bluffs and tricks designed to extort subsidies and sweetheart deals from local and state governments that often result in mass layoffs and empty treasuries.

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Industry Whistleblower Wendell Potter: However Court Rules on Healthcare, Solution is Single Payer

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Mar. 28 (Interview) - As the Supreme Court examines whether Americans can be penalized if they lack medical coverage, we're joined by health industry whistleblower, Wendell Potter. A former spokesperson for CIGNA and Humana Insurance, Potter is the author of "Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans." "I, myself, am somewhat agnostic and detached from the outcome of what the justices decide," Potter says. "We eventually have to get the for-profit insurance companies out of providing coverage, and need to move toward a system or systems like in the other developed countries, that don't permit for-profit companies to run their healthcare systems." [includes rush transcript]

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Illegal to Kill Dogs But Not Black Kids in Florida

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

care2.com - By Paul Canning - Mar. 22 (Opinion) - The growing outrage over the killing of Trayvon Martin has not stopped the National Rifle Association (NRA) from pushing for more states to pass so-called 'Stand Your Ground' laws.

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Guatemala: Speaking Out on the Genocide of Indigenous Women

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Global Voices - By Juliana Rincón Parra - Feb. 22 (Opinion) - The 36 year civil war (1960-1996) that ravaged Guatemala left more than 200,000 people dead and at least 100,000 women raped: most of the victims were Mayan. Only recently have women started speaking out about the violence they suffered in hands of the Army and paramilitaries and finally, the sexual violence perpetrated against Mayan women is being investigated as part of the genocide proceedings taking place in Spanish tribunals.

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"Gasland" Director Josh Fox Fires Back at Republicans After His Unfair Arrest

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Ed Schultz - Feb. 02 (Interview) - Gasland director Josh Fox, ... was arrested this week, in violation of his first amendment rights, while covering a Congressional hearing on fracking. In the interview, Fox fires back at the Republicans who have been targeting him

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Mano Singham's Web Journal: Book Review: With Liberty and Justice for Some by Glenn Greenwald

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

blog.case.edu - By Mano Singham - Dec. 25 (Review) - The subtitle of the book How the Law is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful pretty much says it all. He points out that equality before the law is one of the bedrock principles upon which the US was built, and indeed is seen as the basis for any just society, but that ideal has been dramatically undermined in the last four decades

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The Christmas War on Atheism: What's the Religious Right Whining About When It's Really Non-Believers Who Are Under Attack?

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Alex DiBranco - Dec. 23 (Opinion) - It’s that time of year when, if you tune into Fox News or right-wing talk radio, you’re sure to hear the phrase “war on Christmas” repeated ad infinitum. Perhaps you’ve also seen Rick Perry’s new war on Christmas ad, which gives the added gift of rabid homophobia, while absurdly accusing President Barack Obama of leading a war on religion. But in reality, this year, like most years, it's right-wing Christians who are waging a war on the right of non-believers to avoid having religion shoved down their throats. Say “Merry Christmas” -- or Else

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Don't Break the Internet

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

stanfordlawreview.org - Dec. 19 (Opinion) - Two bills now pending in Congress—the PROTECT IP Act of 2011 (Protect IP) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House—represent the latest legislative attempts to address a serious global problem: large-scale online copyright and trademark infringement.

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When the World Outlawed War: An Interview with David Swanson

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Bruce Levine - Nov. 27 (Interview) - For those who know war only through television, criminalizing it sounds like proposing to criminalize government. But there was a time when the masses made war illegal.

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Bob Edgar: 'Impartial' Supreme Court Justices Raise Money for Opponents of Health Care Law

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - Nov. 15 (Opinion) - Suppose you were party to a lawsuit and you learned that the judge handling your case was hobnobbing with lawyers on the other side and helping to raise money for a group dedicated to defeating you in court?

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Supreme Court ponders constitutionality of 24/7 GPS tracking

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Ars Technica - Nov. 08 (Opinion) - On Tuesday, the government told the Supreme Court the Fourth Amendment allowed it to conduct 24/7 tracking of anyone's car—even those of Supreme Court Justices—without a warrant.

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Special Investigation: Who’s Behind the “Information Attacks” on Climate Scientists?

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Think Progress - By Climate Guest Blogger - Nov. 01 (Opinion) - by Sue Sturgis, in an Institute for Southern Studies repost This week, in a courtroom in Prince William County, Virginia, a hearing will take place that could have implications for the privacy rights of scientists at colleges and universities across the country. It’s part of a lawsuit brought by the American Tradition Institute, a free-market [...]

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Why Parents Help Tweens Violate Facebook's 13+ Rule

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Danah Boyd - Nov. 01 (Opinion) - "At what age should I let my child join Facebook?" This is a question that countless parents have asked my collaborators and me. Often, it's followed by the following: "I know that 13 is the minimum age to join Facebook, but is it really so bad that my 12-year-old is on the site?" While parents are struggling to determine what social media sites are appropriate for their children, government tries to help parents by regulating what data internet companies can collect about children without parental permission. Yet, as has been the case for the last decade, this often backfires. Many general-purpose communication platforms and social media sites restrict access to only those 13+ in response to a law meant to empower parents: the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This forces parents to make a difficult choice: help uphold the minimum age requirements and limit their children's access to services that let kids connect with family and friends OR help their children lie about their age to circumvent the age-based restrictions and eschew the protections that COPPA is meant to provide.

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“Deadly Monopolies”: Medical Ethicist Harriet Washington on How Firms Are Taking Over Life Itself

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Harriet Washington - Oct. 31 (Interview) - One of the major themes raised by the Occupy movement is the increasing power of large corporations over more and more aspects of our lives. We spend the hour looking into the issue of the corporate control of life itself. Our guest, Harriet Washington, is a medical ethicist and has just published a book that examines the extent to which what she calls the medical-industrial complex has come to control human life. In the past 30 years, more than 40,000 patents have been granted on genes alone — many more patents are pending. Washington argues that the biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies patenting these genes are more concerned with profit than with the health or medical needs of patients. Her new book is called, “Deadly Monopolies: The Shocking Corporate Takeover of Life Itself — And the Consequences for Your Health and Our Medical Future." [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Noam Chomsky on Israel-Palestine Prisoner Exchange, U.S. Assassination Campaign in Yemen

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Noam Chomsky - Oct. 18 (Speech) - MIT Professor Emeritus Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned linguist and political dissident, spoke Monday night at Barnard College in New York City about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, just hours before Israel and Hamas completed a historic prisoner exchange. "I think [Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit] should have been released a long time ago. But there’s something missing from this whole story. There’s no pictures of Palestinian women, and no discussion, in fact, in the story of—what about the Palestinian prisoners being released?

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Rand Paul Wants Koch Brothers Thrown in Jail!

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Brad Blog - Sep. 24 (Opinion) - Lee Fang at Think Progress offers devastating coverage in response to Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)'s recent claim to The Street's Mallory Factor (video here) that those who pollute streams with benzene should be thrown in jail. "I don’t want to pollute the water. I don’t want to pollute streams," said Paul, ...

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Can Big Companies Pick Which Laws to Obey?

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Stan Sorscher - Aug. 12 (Opinion) - Citizens are expected to obey laws, and we all get nervous when laws are ignored or swept aside, particularly at the insistence of someone who is wealthy or powerful. We are witnessing a case in point, in the recent investigation by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which charges that Boeing threatened and intimidated its unionized workers in Washington State. The intimidation and punishment are well documented. Boeing executives repeatedly threatened to move assembly work for the new 787 airplane from Washington State to South Carolina, pointing to strikes over the years by the Machinists' union. In labor law, this is a textbook example of "runaway shop." It is illegal.

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Tea Party Rep: Bank Should Have Known I Wouldn't Be Able To Repay $2.2 Million Loan

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Talking Points Memo - By Jillian Rayfield | - Aug. 11 (Opinion) - Tea Party aligned Georgia Rep. Tom Graves (R), who castigates Washington for fiscal irresponsibility, reached an out of court settlement Wednesday after he was sued for defaulting on a $2.2 million loan -- which his attorney argued is the bank's fault for lending him the money in the first place.

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I Counseled All My Clients To Plead Insanity

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - By Christopher Cooper - Jul. 29 (Opinion) - if Breivik is crazy, a great many Americans and most of the big boys in D.C. Are crazy. But if the Norwegian shooter-bomber is sane, and culpable and should be tried and sentenced (and most would suggest executed, I imagine), then we had better get started drafting juries and hiring judges because our list of mass-murderers is a long and bipartisan one.

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WikiLeaks Sues Credit Card Companies Over U.S.-Backed "Economic Blockade"

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jul. 06 (Interview) - During a July 2 discussion in London moderated by Democracy Now!, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange discusses a new lawsuit WikiLeaks filed against Visa and MasterCard for what he calls an "economic blockade" against his whistleblower group, preventing them from collecting credit card donations online. Mastercard, Visa and other financial giants cut off payment methods to WikiLeaks following the release of secret U.S. diplomatic cables last year. "It is an extraordinary thing that we have seen, that Visa, MasterCard [and other companies] are instruments of U.S. foreign policy," Assange says.

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