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Van Jones: Bank Settlement: $25B Down, $675B to Go

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

readersupportednews.org - By Van Jones - Feb. 12 (News Analysis) - 'We must not forget the more than 14 million homeowners (one in five) whose homes are underwater, beneath a crushing total $700 billion in negative equity. We must not forget the more than 4 million families who have lost their homes.' Van Jones, Reader Supported News

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CPAC Panel: ‘Celebrate’ Citizens United Ruling

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

nationofchange.org - By Michael Beckel - Feb. 11 (News Report) - Anonymous political speech. Foreign money in U.S. elections. The proliferation of super PACs. How grave a threat do any of things pose to American democracy? Not much, according to a panel of conservative attorneys, who gathered Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. The high-profile legal minds on the CPAC panel largely agreed that the changes to the campaign finance landscape are grounds for celebration.

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Taibbi: Mortgage Fraud Settlement is More Like a Bailout Than Justice

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Kristen Gwynne - Feb. 10 (News Analysis) - Tabbi says that as more of the banks' bad behavior is exposed, it will become obvious that they must shut down to pay for their crimes, because the reparations necessary would bleed them dry. This settlement, he says, is a "kewpie doll" for victims of banker greed, and won't "stem the tide or turn the tables for these people."

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I Will Not Be Pinkwashed: Komen's Race Is For Money, Not Cure

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Emily Michele - Feb. 05 (News Analysis) - I don’t know about you, but I would never expect directors of a charitable “non-profit” organization to make more than most doctors, lawyers, or even politicians. Their CEO and president, Hala G. Moddelmog, made $531,924, plus $26,683 in change. That's more than President Obama makes.

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57% of Republicans Should Just Be Democrats

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

readersupportednews.org - By Andrew Belonsky - Feb. 04 (Poll) - 'The White House hopeful should really consult with his party's less fortunate members: according to a Pew Research poll, 57% of lower-income Republicans - families that make less than $30,000 annually - think the government does 'too little' for their ranks.' Andrew Belonsky, Death and Taxes

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Romney’s 1 Percent Nation Under God

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

nationofchange.org - By Amy Goodman - Feb. 02 (News Analysis) - Although Mitt Romney has yet to win a majority in a Republican primary, he won big in Florida. After he and the pro-Romney super PACs flooded the airwaves with millions of dollars’ worth of ads.

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6 Shocking Ways Capitalism Is Failing Working America

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Les Leopold - Feb. 01 (News Analysis) - Capitalism is coming apart at the seams and the middle-class is paying the price.

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Breasts Yes, Vaginas No? Race for the Cure Group's Bizarre Capitulation to Right-Wingers (And How to Hit Them Where it Hurts)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Amanda Marcotte - Feb. 01 (News Report) - Despite Komen’s lame attempts to claim otherwise, it was widely understood that this was about Komen aligning itself with the anti-choice movement, despite the anti-choice movement’s long history of opposing not just safe and legal abortion, but also access to contraception and even the prevention of cervical cancer through the use of the HPV vaccine.

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In Florida Romney Trounces Competitors, But Gingrich Steals Thunder With Bizarre Speech

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - Feb. 01 (News Analysis) - After citing remarks made by President Abraham Lincoln at the 1863 dedication of a Civil War cemetery, Gingrich, a highly compensated historian, contended that he would continue to fight for the nomination by waging "a people's campaign -- not a Republican campaign, not an establishment campaign, not a Wall Street-funded campaign..." With those remarks, Gingrich effectively declared war on the Republican Party.

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Inside the Bacchanalian Wall Street Fraternity Party of Billionaire Bankers and Hedge Fund Predators

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Bill Moyers, Michael Winship - Jan. 31 (News Report) - They got together at the St. Regis Hotel off Fifth Avenue to eat rack of lamb, drink and haze their newest members, who are made to dress in drag, sing and perform skits while braving the insults, wine-soaked napkins and petit fours – those fancy little frosted cakes — hurled at them by the old guard. In other words, a gilt-edged Animal House, food fight and all.

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Panel: Start now to replace Nevada nuke site

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

tri-cityherald.com - By Matthew Daly - Jan. 28 (News Report) - The Union of Concerned Scientists said construction of an interim storage facility for nuclear waste poses a stiff political challenge and could distract from the more important goal of finding a permanent repository site.

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New Report Shows Big-Money Politics and Broadcast Media Are Undermining Democracy

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

FreePress.net - Jan. 26 (Special Report) - On Thursday, Free Press released Citizens Inundated, a report that follows the money trail from big-spending political donors to the bank accounts of the nation's largest broadcast companies.

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Mitt Romney Tax Returns Released: Paid Just 13.9% Rate In 2010, Had Swiss Bank Account

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Steve Holland, Kim Dixon - Jan. 23 (News Report) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released tax records on Tuesday indicating he will pay $6.2 million in taxes on a total of $42.5 million in income over the years 2010 and 2011.

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Key Senator Abandons The Protect IP Ship

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Zach Carter - Jan. 18 (News) - Home to the Disney World and Universal Studios theme parks, Rubio's Florida may be the most Hollywood-centric state outside California, and Rubio had been one of the first senators to sign on in support of Protect IP when Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) introduce

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Why Is Public Education Being Outsourced to Online Charter Schools?

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Rania Khalek - Jan. 09 (News Report) - Virtual charter schools, which offer classes online instead of in a classroom, have become the fastest-growing segment of the charter school industry. And while data on their effectiveness is scarce, state legislators across the country are passing laws to expand cyber schools at the behest of privatization advocates and online education companies at an alarming rate, with little regulation.

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SHOCK: Meet The New Face Of San Francisco's Most Liberal Talk Radio Station

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - Jan. 06 (News Report) - When listeners of Bay Area progressive talk radio station Green 960 tuned into to host Stephanie Miller's weekday morning drive-time radio program on Wednesday, they...

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Citizens United Backlash Grows From Cali. to NYC Urging Congress to Overturn Corporate Personhood

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jan. 05 (News Report) - Adding to a growing nationwide backlash against the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, California lawmakers have introduced a resolution that calls on Congress to "propose and send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United." The New York City Council has just passed a similar resolution, echoing measures passed in Los Angeles, Oakland, Albany and Boulder. We speak to Public Citizen President Robert Weissman; California Assemblymember Bob Wieckowski, who introduced the state's Citizens United resolution; and New York City Councilmember and measure co-sponsor Melissa Mark-Viverito. "I think it taps into the sentiment we're seeing around the country regarding Occupy Wall Street, where people really feel that government is disconnected from the vast majority of the population... because of [corporate] influence," Mark-Viverito says. [Rush transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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'Citizens United' Backlash: Montana Supreme Court Upholds State's Corporate Campaign Spending Ban

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - Jan. 05 (News Report) - The Montana Supreme Court has put itself on a collision course with the U.S. Supreme Court by upholding a century-old state law that bans corporate spending in state and local political campaigns. The law, which was passed by Montana voters in 1912 to combat Gilded Age corporate control over much of Montana's government, states that a "corporation may not make ... an expenditure in connection with a candidate or a political party that supports or opposes a candidate or a political party."

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Super PAC Disclosure Requirements Hot Topic Of Conversation Among GOP Candidates

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Sam Stein - Jan. 05 (News Report) - The rapid rise and far-reaching impact of super PACs -- the well-financed non-party groups that helped carry former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to victory in the Iowa caucuses -- have persuaded some prominent Republicans that restrictions of some sort on the groups' activities may be in order.

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As States Take on Citizens United, Lawrence Lessig Offers Bold Plan to Get Money Out of Politics

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jan. 04 (News Report) - California and New York City lawmakers are introducing measures today calling for a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United, the controversial 2010 Supreme Court ruling that characterizes political spending as free speech and opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending on election campaigns. Similar measures have passed in Los Angeles, Oakland, Albany and Boulder. We speak with Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig, author of a new book that examines how money buys results in Congress and fuels campaigns that put the powerful in office. Lessig argues that both De

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Barack Obama's campaign says it doesn't accept lobbyist donations

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Louis Jacobson - Jan. 04 (Fact Check) - In late December, President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign made a fundraising pitch that, among other things, touted the measures his campaign is taking to distance itself from lobbyists: "We don't take a dime from D.C. lobbyists or special-interest PACs -- never have and never will." A reader pointed out this claim and asked us if it’s true. First, we checked with the Obama campaign, and a spokeswoman confirmed that the campaign does not accept money from federally registered lobbyists, either making direct donations themselves or serving as "bundlers" who solicit and package donations from others. To enforce that policy, the campaign continually reviews the federal lobbyist registry. On the surface, the Obama campaign’s claim seems plausible. But we think it’s important to add some context about how this pledge is phrased. A key issue is how you define the word "lobbyist."

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Super PACs, Occupy Iowa Protests and a Surging Rick Santorum: Iowa GOP Caucus Begins 2012 Race

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jan. 03 (News Analysis) - Iowa is awash in millions of dollars of negative campaign ads funded by so-called Super PACs as voters head to their caucuses in the first real test of the 2012 election. “If you want to see the future of politics in America, turn on the television in Iowa,” says John Nichols, correspondent for The Nation magazine. “If it is this kind of overwhelming flood of negative ads, literally flipping on a dime to take down any candidate who rises in opposition to the mainstream, or kind of core Republican contender with the most money — it’s a pretty scary picture. And it is one that suggests that if we don’t get serious about addressing Citizens United [v. Federal Election Commission], we’re going to end up with a much uglier, more destructive politics."

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Nobody Understands Debt

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

readersupportednews.org - By Paul Krugman - Jan. 02 (News Analysis) - 'In 2011, as in 2010, America was in a technical recovery but continued to suffer from disastrously high unemployment. And through most of 2011, as in 2010, almost all the conversation in Washington was about something else: the allegedly urgent issue of reducing the budget deficit. This misplaced focus said a lot about our political culture, in particular about how disconnected Congress is from the suffering of ordinary Americans. But it also revealed something else: when people in D.C. talk about deficits and debt, by and large they have no idea what they're talking about - and the people wh

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It's the Inequality, Stupid

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Dave Gilson, Carolyn Perot - Jan. 01 (News Analysis) - How Rich Are the Superrich? A huge share of the nation's economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244.

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10 Ultra-Rich Congresspeople Who 'Represent' Some of the Most Financially Screwed Districts

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Sarah Jaffe - Dec. 28 (News Analysis) - According to a Washington Post story this week, “Between 1984 and 2009, the median net worth of a member of the House more than doubled, according to the analysis of financial disclosures, from $280,000 to $725,000 in inflation-adjusted 2009 dollars, excluding home equity.”

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