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 U.S. Supreme Court to hear case on corporate privacy The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case over whether AT&T records obtained by the federal government in an investigation of billing practices should be made open to the public. 1  |
Sheila Samples: 8 Words That Could Save Our Country
A rogue Supreme Court seems hellbent on establishing a corporate oligarchy. Congress can't stop it. Every time Congress or state legislatures tries to curb the power of billionaires or mega corporations the Court slaps them down. |
Joan Brunwasser: Citizens United Bill Next Week? Corporate Forces Attack
Van Hollen spokesman Doug Thornell told The National Law Journal, “It's not really surprising that powerful special interests based in Washington would be throwing temper tantrums over efforts to curb their influence and increase transparency so the American people know who is spending money on our elections.†|
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Sheila Samples: Democrats rush to curb corporate election spending before Nov. vote
Democrats are hoping to fast-track a set of sweeping new campaign finance regulations to prevent the Supreme Court's landmark Citizens United decision from affecting the November midterm elections. |
The Web: Grayson to Pelosi: 'We are 200,000 strong' Over 205,000 people have signed petitions to support our initiatives to restrain corporate money and save our democracy. On Friday, I delivered your petitions to Speaker Pelosi. She knows that our democracy is in peril, and she now knows that you will support her if she delivers forceful reforms. 4 |
Joan Brunwasser: The Don Siegelman Travesty: How Neocons Corrupted the Justice System
If this is the kind of justice we can look forward to now,it is unthinkable what will happen now after the Supreme Court decision that will allow corporations to basically elect their own judges or officials who will appoint the judges they want. These corporations have extremely important matters pending before the courts,liability suits for hundreds of millions of dollars for damages to public lands or to large populations |
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Kathleen Wynne (With Contributions By Karen Renick): How The American People Can Defeat Unlimited Corporate Money and Influence in Elections
Not surprisingly, citizens of all political persuasions are already protesting the Court's decision because they can so clearly see the impending danger to the People's role in elections. In stark contrast, it has been so incredibly difficult for citizens to readily grasp that our right to know for certain that the persons truly chosen by the people have been elected has been stolen from us. 2 |
William Cormier: 41 industry leaders call on Congress to halt corporate "bribery', RAW Story
"Signatories include current and former high-ranking corporate executives of enterprises such as Playboy Enterprises, MetLife, Ben & Jerry's, and Delta Airlines, among others." Hasbro is also on the list. Those business that aren't in the ruling class know that oil will spike, heath care will cost more, and their profits will be devoured by the larger corporations. The outrage is building - fear is rising. Enough is enough. |
Amanda Lang: Maine Town Passes Ordinance Asserting Local Self-Governance and Stripping Corporate Personhood
Today the citizens of Shapleigh, Maine voted at a special town meeting to pass a groundbreaking Rights-Based Ordinance. This revolutionary ordinance give its citizens the right to local self-governance and gives rights to ecosystems but denies the rights of person hood to corporations. This ordinance allows the citizens to protect their groundwater resources, putting it in a common trust to be used for its residents. 1 |
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Better World Order: Murdoch's Newsday Deal Is Bad News for New York
According to numerous press reports, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is close to completing a $580 million deal to purchase the Long Island daily Newsday from Tribune Company. S. Derek Turner, research director of Free Press, made the following statement: |
Amanda Lang: US Admits Suez Canal Killing
An Egyptian citizen was killed when a US navy-contracted ship fired warning shots at approaching motor boats in the Suez Canal, a statement from the US embassy in Cairo has said. 1 |
Rob Kall: David Cay Johnston Shows That the Rich Are Getting a 'Free Lunch' -- and Guess Who's Picking Up the Tab?
here is no such thing as deregulation. What you have is new regulations. And the new regulations, in many cases, take Adam Smith's "invisible hand of the marketplace" and handcuff it. They diminish competition. They insulate businesses from bad decisions. They drive prices up, not down. |
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Rob Kall: Supreme Court Rolls Back Key Anti-Trust Rule
Striking down an antitrust rule nearly a century old, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that it was not automatically unlawful for manufacturers and distributors to agree on minimum retail prices.
The decision will give producers significantly more, though not unlimited, power to dictate retail prices and to restrict the flexibility of discounters. |
Joan Brunwasser: The bottled water lie
In fact, many times bottled water is tap water.Contrary to the image of water flowing from pristine mountain springs, more than a quarter of bottled water actually comes from municipal water supplies. The industry is dominated by three companies, who together control more than half the market: Coca-Cola, Pepsi,and Nestlé.Both Coke and Pepsi exclusively use tap water for their source, while Nestlé uses tap water in some brand... 3 | |
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Amanda Lang: Repealing the Paris Hilton Tax: So Not Hot
The estate tax (or, The Paris Hilton Tax) was "first adopted in the 19th century to fund various wartime govt revenue shortfalls" (much as we have today), and "has been on the books continuously since 1916" when reformers were grappling with how to deal with the Gilded Age's growing income inequality. Sound familiar? 3 |
Amanda Lang: Corporate fraud alive and well in U.S.
U.S. losses from fraud rose to an estimated $638 billion in 2005 — up from $600 billion in 2002 and $400 billion in 1996, according to the Assn of Certified Fraud Examiners, a trade group of accountants called in when fraud is suspected or discovered. 3 | |
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JERRY TENUTO: I'LL HAVE A SIDE OF KARMA WITH THAT
Jerry Tenuto: OUT OF THE BLUE -- We've have more than our fair share of bad Karma in the USA since December, 2000. It's high time we spread good and shed ourselves of evil. |
Jon Korein: How Congress Benefits From Corporate Flights
It was a busy weekend last November for the flight crew of BellSouth's corporate jet. Over three days, they crisscrossed the Southeast, ferrying six U.S. senators, two of their wives, a trio of political consultants and two of the company's Washington lobbyists to Republican and Democratic fundraising events. 3 |
Jon Korein: Fastow Says Skilling Wanted to `Juice' Enron Earnings
Enron Corp.'s former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow testified today that his boss, Jeffrey Skilling, told him to use off-the-books partnerships to ``give me all the juice you can'' on earnings.
Fastow's remarks, in response to prosecutors' questions, were the first attempt to show Skilling, the former chief executive officer, and former Chairman Kenneth Lay, were participants in an accounting fraud that drove Enron i... 3 |
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Jim Prues: Fastow looms large at Enron trial
Former finance chief’s testimony is highly anticipated 3 |
Amanda Lang: Warren Buffett's Company Chooses His Successor
Warren E. Buffett, the folksy multibillionaire whose business holdings range from Geico insurance to Dairy Queen restaurants, announced yesterday that his successor has been chosen.
He just won't say who it is. 3 |
Amanda Lang: Are Corporate Tax Breaks Illegal?
Every year, U.S. companies collect billions of dollars worth of tax breaks from states and cities anxious to lure jobs and investment to their regions. Now a good chunk of this largesse may be threatened by a
U.S. Supreme Court case coming up for a hearing on Mar. 1. The suit involves investment tax credits Ohio granted Chrysler (now DaimlerChrysler) (NYSE:DCX) in 1998 to build a Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio. The state's taxpay... 3 |
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Amanda Lang: Former Enron Exec's Testimony Rocks Court
Former Enron Corp. Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling told other top executives "they're on to us," when a small analyst firm produced a research note critical of the company's sales to partnerships run by then-Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, a former top executive testified in a bombshell revelation Thursday.
Minutes before that, Skilling said at the May 2001 meeting attended by company founder Kenneth Lay that he had... 3 |
Amanda Lang: Domino's Pizza Magnate Seeks to Build a New Catholic-Governed Town in FL
If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan has his way, a new town being built in Florida will be governed according to strict Roman Catholic principles, with no place to get an abortion, pornography or birth control. The pizza magnate is bankrolling the project with at least $250 million and calls it "God's will."
Civil libertarians say the plan is unconstitutional and are threatening to sue. 3 |
Joan Brunwasser: Action Alert: Tell the FCC to crack down on big radio payola
The concentration of radio ownership has ushered in a new age of payola. Huge recording labels pay off radio conglomerates to play their most bankable performers. Commercial "talent" is pushed to the top of playlists nationwide, shoving local artists off the airwaves. When labels pay big radio to play their most mainstream acts, independent music suffers and radio choice turns into a mind-numbing race to the bottom. 3 |
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Joan Brunwasser: 'beer qoute' pulled from MSNBC Cheney hunting party article
An article at MSNBC's Website was edited to remove references to alcohol, that may have been available at a picnic, which preceded the accidental shooting of a 78-year-old lawyer by Vice President Cheney last Saturday, RAW STORY has learned.
The change to the article was quickly noticed by a number of liberal bloggers, and their readers, many of whom have been following this much discussed story very closely for the last fe... 3 |
Joan Brunwasser: Bush's oil giveaway to obscenely cash-rich oil companies
Based on the administration figures, the government will give up more than $7 billion in payments between now and 2011. The companies are expected to get the largess, known as royalty relief, even though the administration assumes that oil prices will remain above $50 a barrel throughout that period. 3 |
Joan Brunwasser: Blowing Smoke Rings
How the tobacco industry duped both academic journals and the media. 3 |
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General News |
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