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Indiana Election Chief Found Guilty Of Voter Fraud

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

Huffington Post - By Charles Wilson - Feb. 04 (News Report) - Indiana's top elections official could lose his job and his freedom after jurors convicted him of multiple voter fraud-related charges on Saturday,

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Latitude: Possible Change in Lebanon's Electoral System Is Move to Address Sectarianism

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Elias Muhanna - Jan. 17 (Opinion) - The president's move to introduce proportional representation to Lebanese elections is a bold step toward dismantling political sectarianism.

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Global Internet Voting Firm Buys U.S. Election Results Reporting Firm

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Black Box Voting - By Bev Harris - Jan. 13 (News Analysis) - In a major step towards global centralization of election processes, the world's dominant Internet voting company has purchased the USA's dominant election results reporting company. When you view your local or state election results on the Internet, on portals which often appear to be owned by the county elections division, in over 525 US jurisdictions you are actually redirected to a private corporate site controlled by SOE software, which operates under the name ClarityElections.com.

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Top three revel in their New Hampshire primary victories

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By Robin Abcarian, Seema Mehta - Jan. 11 (News Report) - 'We made history!' winner Mitt Romney tells his cheering crowd. Second-place Ron Paul touts a win 'for the cause of liberty,' while Jon Huntsman, in third, strikes a jubilant pose.

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Rivals' Attacks on Romney's Corporate Record Display Occupy Wall Street's Wide Reach

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jan. 11 (News Analysis) - The New Hampshire primary brought fewer than 50 percent of voters to the polls. The candidates are "addressing issues that aren’t really connecting with a whole bunch of Americans, especially blue-collar Americans," says Dale Kuehne, a New Hampshire political science professor. "I don’t know that they see a whole lot of reason to go out and vote for either Obama or out to vote for Romney or some of the others."

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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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Voter Photo ID Laws Hit Older Americans Hard

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

AARP Bulletin - By Marsha Mercer - Jan. 05 (News Analysis) - Having a driver's license or photo identification card is commonplace for most Americans, but about 11 percent of adult citizens — more than 21 million people — lack a valid, government-issued photo ID, according to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

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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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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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Iowa: The Meaningless Sideshow Begins

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

Rolling Stone - By Matt Taibbi - Jan. 03 (Opinion) - The 2012 presidential race officially begins today with the caucuses in Iowa, and we all know what that means … Nothing. The race for the White House is normally an event suffused with drama, sucking eyeballs to the page all over the globe. Just as even the non-British were at least temporarily engaged by last year’s royal wedding, people all over the world are normally fascinated by the presidential race: both dramas arouse the popular imagination as real-life versions of universal children’s fairy tales. Instead of a tale about which maiden gets to marry the handsome prince, the campaign is an epic story, complete with a gleaming white castle at the end, about the battle to succeed to the king’s throne. Since the presidency is the most powerful office in the world, the tale has appeal for people all over the planet, from jungles to Siberian villages.

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The Slush Funds of Iowa

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

New York Times - Jan. 03 (Editorial) - Turning on the television in Iowa recently has meant getting hit by an unrelenting arctic blast of campaign ads stunning in volume and ferocity. Residents here say they have never seen anything like the constant negativity in decades of witnessing the quadrennial combat of the state presidential caucuses. The ads have transformed the Republican race for a simple reason: a new landscape of unlimited contributions to “independent” groups that was created by the Supreme Court.

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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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Wave of Restrictive Voting Laws Prompts Federal Probes, Grassroots Activism Ahead of 2012 Elections

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 15 (News Analysis) - "When people move on their fears, they make bad law," says NAACP CEO Ben Jealous, co-author of a new report that argues the new laws amount to a coordinated and comprehensive assault on minorities’ voting rights at a time when their numbers in the population and at the ballot box have increased. Students, former felons and elderly voters may also be impacted. On Saturday, the NAACP helped organize a voting rights march in New York, starting at the offices of Koch Industries in order to highlight how billionaire conservative financiers David and Charles Koch have financed the push for voter ID laws.

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Russian Journalists Axed After Tough Election Coverage - New York Times

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Michael Schwirtz - Dec. 13 (News Report) - MOSCOW—A high-ranking editor and a top executive from one of Russia's most respected news publications were dismissed on Tuesday after an apparent conflict over coverage that appeared to highlight widespread anger with the results

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Sanders Files "Saving American Democracy Amendment'

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

Op Ed News - Dec. 11 (News) - The first constitutional amendment ever proposed by Sanders during his two decades in Congress would reverse the narrow 5-to-4 ruling in Citizens United vs. the Federal Elections Commission. In that controversial decision almost two years ago, justices gave corporations the same First Amendment free-speech rights as people.

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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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Gingrich Describes Palestinian People as 'Invented'

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Fox News - Dec. 10 (News) - Newt Gingrich declared in an interview that Palestinians are an invented people, though his campaign afterward claimed the candidate still supports the establishment of a Palestinian state.

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Jailing Opposition Leaders, Russia Moves to Quell Election Protests

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Ellen Barry, David M. Herszenhorn, Michael Schwirtz - Dec. 06 (News Report) - A day after thousands of Russians denounced election fraud by the governing party, two prominent opposition figures faced criminal charges on Tuesday.

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Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Takes Early Lead in First Post-Mubarak Elections

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Juan Gonzalez - Dec. 01 (News Report) - Early results from Egypt's first post-revolutionary elections indicate the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party will emerge as the biggest winner. We speak with Democracy Now! special correspondent Anjali Kamat, who has just returned to the United States after reporting in Cairo since the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak. Anjali describes how Egypt's elections take place against the backdrop of economic insecurity and renewed street clashes between pro-democracy demonstrators and security forces that have left more than 40 dead and thousands injured. She also discusses Egypt's use of U.S.-supplied tear gas to quell massive demonstrations, and a photo she took of police dragging protesters injured by rubber bullets and live ammunition, then leaving them in piles of garbage. [includes rush transcript - partial]

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Egypt Holds Historic Election As Military Council Resists Calls To Transfer Power To Civilians

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Sharif Abdel Kouddous - Nov. 29 (News Report) - Egypt is in the second day of its first elections since the ouster of longtime president Hosni Mubarak earlier this year. On Monday, Egyptians waited in long lines across the country to choose their first ever democratically elected parliament. The elections are being held in the wake of fierce clashes between protesters and police last week that left at least 42 people dead and more than 3,100 wounded.

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Pro-Recall Group Outs Facebook Page That Boasts About Destroying Signatures

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

patch.com - By Denise Lockwood - Nov. 25 (News Report) - One Wisconsin Now calls on all recall supporters to be vigilant, but only one instance of actual recall destruction found.

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In Campaign Financing, More Money Can Beat Big Money

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Lawrence Lessig - Nov. 17 (Opinion) - A public funding system would stop the influence of big money in politics.

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