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

Who's Buying Your Election? New FCC Ruling Requires Broadcasters to Post Data On Ad Purchases

Fri, 04 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - May. 04 (Interview) - We speak with Robert McChesney, co-founder of the national media reform organization Free Press, and Justin Elliott, a reporter at ProPublica working on a project called "Free the Files," that asks people and journalists across the country to visit TV stations, acquire paper data on political ads, and then post the files online at ProPublica.org.

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A Love Song for Paul Ryan [Cartoon]

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Zina Saunders - Apr. 09 (Cartoon) - Mitt Romney woos Paul Ryan with a rendition of Judy Garland's "You Made Me Love You" from the film "Broadway Melody." What else is a flip-flopping Republican candidate to do when he needs some right-wing credentials?

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HBO’s ‘Game Change’ Goes Easy on Sarah Palin, John McCain in 2008 Saga

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

The Daily Beast - By Michelle Goldberg - Mar. 10 (Review) - If you're a fan of Sarah Palin, or if you just haven't followed the recriminations from John McCain staffers in the wake of the 2008 campaign, you will likely find Julianne Moore's portrayal of her in the HBO movie Game Change to be sexist. It's not just the depiction of her shocking ignorance""*at one point, she has to be told that the Queen of England doesn't conduct that country's foreign policy, while at another, she is confused to hear that Saddam Hussein was not behind the September 11 attacks. She's also absurdly vain, going on the...

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What's the matter with white people?

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Salon - By Joan Walsh - Mar. 04 (Opinion) - Both the right and left suddenly have a lot of complaints about white people, particularly the so-called white working class. In “Suicide of a Superpower,” Pat Buchanan describes white Americans contemptuously at times, as an endangered species obliviously collaborating in its own demise by tolerating liberal multiculturalism. Charles Murray, the man who in the 1980s blamed government for encouraging sloth and single-parenthood in the black community, is now saying the same thing about the white lower class: they’re suffering from declining wages and higher unemployment not because of a changed economy, but because they’ve come to prefer slacking and shacking up to hard work and marriage. But white rich people are a problem, too: Murray’s book “Coming Apart: The State of White American 1960-2010″ indicts the white uber-class for refusing to impose their own traditional values, which he believes are the foundation of their economic success, on their lazy, out-of-control lessers.

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The Sad Race for Bottom on the Loony Right

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Robert Reich - Feb. 28 (Opinion) - even if they lose the presidency on Election Day they’re still likely to be in charge of at least one house of Congress as well as several state legislators and governorships. That’s a problem for the nation.

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Stop Being Cynical About Corporate Money in Politics and Start Being Angry

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:53:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Bill McKibben - Jan. 05 - My resolution for 2012 is to be naïve—dangerously naïve. I'm aware that the usual recipe for political effectiveness is just the opposite: to be cynical, calculating, an insider. But if you think, as I do, that we need deep change in this country, then c

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On Your Marks

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

otherwords.org - Jan. 02 (Cartoon) - Voter I.D. Laws

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With Republic, Lost, Lawrence Lessig Takes Center Stage

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By John Wellington Ennis - Dec. 30 (Interview) - In this pivotal year of public uproar over the consequences of money in politics, Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig has attracted considerably more attention to his work in devising a constitutional road map for reform.

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Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress--and a Plan to Stop It

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

edmaysproductions.net - By Lawrence Lessig - Dec. 17 (Speech) - In an era when special interests funnel huge amounts of money into our government-driven by shifts in campaign-finance rules and brought to new levels by the Supreme Court in "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission-"trust in our government has reached an all-time low. More than ever before, Americans believe that money buys results in Congress, and that business interests wield control over our legislature. With heartfelt urgency and a keen desire for righting wrongs, Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig takes a clear-eyed look at how we arrived at this crisis: how fundamentally good people, with good intentions, have allowed our democracy to be co-opted by outside interests, and how this exploitation has become entrenched in the system. Rejecting simple labels and reductive logic-and instead using examples that resonate as powerfully on the Right as on the Left-Lessig seeks out the root causes of our situation. He plumbs the issues of campaign financing and corporate lobbying, revealing the human faces and follies that have allowed corruption to take such a foothold in our system. He puts the issues in terms that nonwonks can understand, using real-world analogies and real human stories. And ultimately he calls for widespread mobilization and a new Constitutional Convention, presenting achievable solutions for regaining control of our corrupted-but redeemable-representational system. In this way, Lessig plots a roadmap for returning our republic to its intended greatness. While America may be divided, Lessig vividly champions the idea that we can succeed if we accept that corruption is our common enemy and that we must find a way to fight against it. In REPUBLIC, LOST, he not only makes this need palpable and clear-he gives us the practical and intellectual tools to do something about it.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders: Corporations Are Not People and They Shouldn't Be Allowed to Buy Our Elections | News & Politics

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Bernie Sanders - Dec. 11 (Opinion) - Bottom line: Corporations should not be able to go into their treasuries and spend millions and millions of dollars on a campaign in order to buy elections.

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Committee In Support of the Proposed Udall Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

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

Huffington Post - Nov. 08 (Opinion) - Over the past 10 years, the influence of corporations and special interests in political campaigns has exploded. Each time a regulation is put in place, special interests circumvent the rules through legal loopholes or use the courts to strike down the l

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Something More Than Polarization

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Lawrence Lessig - Oct. 25 (Opinion) - We can't afford to simply indulge the passion of our differences. Not anymore. The challenges we face as a nation are just too great. It is time for us to practice a politics that doesn't fit the business model of Fox v. MSNBC.

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Racial Dilution of Voting Records

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Black Box Voting - By Bev Harris - Sep. 29 (Opinion) - In Shelby County, precincts are racially polarized; some are mostly Black, some almost all White, and some are "in play", meaning they are mixed enough that it's anybody's guess which party will win. If votes were simply flipped so that Republicans got the Democratic votes and vice versa, it would be immediately seen in a county with known racially-related political preferences and concentrated ethnic populations. If you wanted to flip the counts, you’d need to either (1) dilute the reported racial demographic or (2) create a precinct-specific vote flipping method, or both. Both of these factors exist in Shelby County.

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"Granito: How to Nail a Dictator": New Film Tracks Struggle for Justice After Guatemalan Genocide

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Juan Gonzalez, Amy Goodman - Sep. 15 (Review) - A new documentary links Guatemala’s turbulent past with those who are active players in its present.

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Bad Business Under John Huntsman

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Stephanie Mencimer - Sep. 13 (Opinion) - As governor of Utah, Huntsman helped boost an industry that preys on victims with pyramid-scheme-like practices. If being a good governor means serving as a cheerleader and chief booster for local industry, then Utah's former chief executive, Jon Huntsman

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Ron Paul: DC Miser, Galveston Porkmeister

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Josh Harkinson - Jul. 22 (Opinion) - On a gritty street in Galveston, Texas, a few blocks from the Gulf of Mexico, stands a prime example of the largesse of Republican Congressman Ron Paul. Workers here are putting the finishing touches on a new home, one of about 180 that will be built, at taxpayer's expense, for residents who lost their abodes to Hurricane Ike back in 2008. The money for this project came from a federal Community Development Block Grant that the libertarian-leaning congressman helped direct to Galveston, the seat of Galveston County, and the most populous part of Paul's district. "Federal dollars are key," city spokeswoman Alicia Cahill tells me as a trailer arrives with boxes of new appliances. "Not only to help rebuild these homes, but also for so many infrastructure projects." Thanks for the digs, America! Photos by Josh Harkinson As a libertarian, Paul says he opposes federal disaster relief, but one of Paul's staffers told me that his office has shepherded hundreds of FEMA claims, ensured the reconstruction of the county's seawall, and won federal funding for an extensive beach nourishment project. Indeed, between 1999 and 2009 (the most recent year available), federal spending in Galveston County quadrupled to more than $4 billion. In 2009, the county received $14,707 per resident, topping average per-capita federal spending in 46 of the 50 states. Paul earmarked some $60 million for projects in and around the city that year. These local projects illustrate a central irony of Ron Paul's career: Even as the 12-term Congressman has become the Cassandra of governmental overreach, he has enabled a deepening dependence on the federal government at home. Paul, who last week announced that he will retire at the end of 2012, will on one hand be remembered as "Dr. No," the politician who always voted "nay" on new spending, and on the other, as "a politician like all the rest," as Galveston GOP precinct chair Josh Daniels described him to me last week, noting that Paul's Janus-faced approach to federal spending "just doesn't sit well with me." For better or worse, Paul has always cauterized his anti-government views with old-fashioned cronyism. Knowing that most appropriations bills will pass despite his nay vote, he often loads them with earmarks. In this way, he has managed to please both small-government conservatives and pork-loving constituents. From 2008 through 2010, Paul won nearly $125 million in earmarks, most of them for spending in his district. Last year, he was one of just four House Republicans who refused to abide by their party's voluntary earmarks ban. Trying to justify his projects in a 2009 Fox News interview, Paul said, "If they are going to allot the money, I have a responsibility to represent my people." Asked to elaborate on Paul's position, his spokeswoman pointed to a statement on Paul's website arguing that eliminating earmarks "would further consolidate power in the already dominant executive branch and not save a penny." Welcome to Galveston County GOP headquarters.Over the years, being Ron Paul has not gotten any easier. Take, for example, the window of the Galveston County GOP headquarters, a squat building along Interstate 45 south of Houston, where a campaign sign reads, "Ron Paul: The Taxpayers' Best Friend." Less than a block away is the site of a future Park and Ride facility, courtesy of Paul's $750,000 earmark—never mind that Paul claims to oppose public transportation. Of course, Paul isn't entirely a hypocrite. He has long advocated privatizing NASA, a major employer in Galveston County. Obama is now doing just that; the only problem is that there's another sign in the window of GOP headquarters, reading: "Save NASA, Stop Obama." For Paul's would-be successors, inhabiting his political wheelhouse is about as desirable as living on Saturn. None of the Texas Republicans vying for to replace him in Congress—school administrator John Gay, politically connected attorney Michael Truncale, and state legislator Larry Taylor (who on Wednesday announced he would drop out of the race)—consider themselves libertarians. When I met Truncale at a GOP social hour at a yacht club in Kemah, an affluent resort town on Galveston Bay, he told me that a number of Paul's positions "may be a bit extreme for me." And Gay gripes that Paul wants to shrink government to the point that it's "almost like no government." In fact, nobody I met at the club described themselves as full-fledged Ron Paul supporters. Part of Paul's duality may stem from his district's shifting political landscape; this year, the Texas Legislature redrew the district to include a swath of Democratic-leaning Jefferson County and larger parts of Galveston County. Paul's turf, once predominately rural, now must draw more conservative votes from the metastasizing Houston suburbs around League City, where billboards advertise new subdivisions with names like Tuscan Lakes and Trails at Bay Colony. Many voters in those places look to the government to provide quality roads, public schools, and law enforcement. "Growth in League City is mainly Republicans," says Daniels, the Galveston County precinct chair. "A lot of the core libertarian voters are not in that district." To be sure, Paul still has plenty of loyalists. At Smithart's Downtown Grill in Lake Jackson, where he used to stop in for the signature half-pound burger, I found Sandra Smithart standing barefoot behind the counter, her toenails painted bright red. She told me that everyone knew Paul because, in his former career as a physician, he'd delivered thousands of babies around the county. "I like his honesty," she said, after calling out an order for a big man named Bubba. "He's a politician who won't ever vote for anything he doesn't believe in." Yet on the leafy streets around Paul's old ranch-style home, yard signs in support of his presidential campaign were hard to come by. "He's just not that popular around here," explains retired engineer Jim Struthwolf, stepping off his riding mower to talk. Though Struthwolf has seen Paul speak at the Lions Club and his wife worked with Paul's wife on the Girl Scouts 20 years ago, he doesn't consider himself a supporter. "He went off a different way when he became a libertarian." If all politics are local, as the famously liberal House Speaker Tip O'Neill liked to argue, then the Ron Paul Revolution may be destined to fizzle. Back home, Paul never fully walked his libertarian talk. Struthwolf recalls Paul's early days in Congress, when he lambasted O'Neill for riding around Washington in an expensive, state-issued Lincoln Town Car. Well, the last time Paul showed up at his house, Struthwolf tells me with a chuckle, he showed up in, yes, an official Lincoln Town Car. (Paul's spokeswoman said the Towncar could have belonged to someone else). "Tip O'Neill," Struthwolf says, "is probably laughing in his grave." Comments | Post Comment

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Dan Bongino challenges Sen. Ben Cardin

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Maryland Reporter - By Megan Poinski - Jul. 19 (Interview) - MarylandReporter.com editor and publisher Len Lazarick interviews Dan Bongino, a Republican candidate to unseat U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin in 2012. Video shot and produced by On the Hill Media.

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The Battle For Baltimore's 7th

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

Mobtown Shank - Jul. 06 (Opinion) - The race for Baltimore City's 7th District just got a lot more interesting with former HCC President Allen Hicks running against incumbent Belinda Conaway.

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Rikki Spector will face a challenger in the primary election

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Charm City Current - By Adam Meister - Jul. 04 (Opinion) - For the first time since the 2003 primary Rikki Spector is going to have at least one Democrat challenge her in the 5th district. A man named Scott M. Carberry has registered to run against her in the primary.

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The Glover Report: WBAL TV 11 Reported 100th Murder of 2011 in Baltimore Tuesday is same number as 2010

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

BMORENEWS - By Doni Glover - Jun. 30 (Opinion) - If you believe crime is less – given that WBAL TV 11 reported last night on the 100th murder Tuesday evening – right on target with this time last year, send Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake back to City Hall.

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Will a mayoral candidate drop out and run for council president?

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Charm City Current - By Adam Meister - Jun. 29 (Opinion) - The Mayor made her official campaign announcement in front of her childhood home (while other mayoral candidates prepared for a debate that hardly anyone knew about) on Monday. She is a mayor without any major controversy and with many connections that could lead her to higher positions in the future.

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Top Five Future Republican-Inspired Election Day Robo-Call Messages Targeted at Baltimore Voters

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

City Paper - By Ben Claassen III - Jun. 22 (Cartoon) - When you go to vote, remember your passport or you will be arrested by Homeland Security and deported to Mexico. No exceptions!

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Cut city spending and then lower property taxes

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Charm City Current - By Adam Meister - Jun. 19 (Opinion) - The mayor is the only legitimate candidate running for mayor who is not talking about lowering property taxes. She says Baltimore will need more citizens if it wants to lower property taxes. She brings up a valid point without fully explaining what she means.

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Otis Rolley: The Right Choice for Baltimore

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Slumlord Watch - By Slumlordwatch - Jun. 15 (Opinion) - After having a chat with him, reading his plans for the city, and listening to a podcast of today’s interview with Dan Rodricks on WYPR, I’ve decided to vote for Otis Rolley — Baltimore City’s next mayor.

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GOP Debate's Biggest Loser: George W. Bush

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Ryan Lizza - Jun. 14 (Opinion) - 'I have no idea who 'won' last night's debate, and it doesn't really matter anyway, because historically these early forums have almost no relevance to the final outcome of the following year's nominating season. But there was a clear loser last night: George W. Bush.' Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker

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