The U.S. Should Require All Citizens to Vote - Norman Ornstein. But if it won't, here's one possible incentive: Your voting receipt could become a Mega Millions lottery ticket. Counting ballots in Melbourne. (Reuters) One of the major problems contributing to the extraordinary dysfunction of the American political system is the series of voting processes that gives immense influence to the extreme, ideologically driven bases of the two major parties. In today's base-driven elections, party strategists try to maximize the turnout of their own base -- usually by frightening them to death about the consequences if the "enemy" prevails -- while minimizing the turnout of the other side by any means necessary and available.
In my view, the best way to ameliorate this malign dynamic is to find ways to enlarge the electorate in primaries and general elections -- to move our politics to where persuadable voters in the middle have more impact. For more than 70 years in Australia, registered voters have been required to show up at the polls on Election Day. Dr. Martin Luther King assassinated by US govt: King Family civil trial verdict - National Nonpartisan.
From my 6-part series: Occupy This: US History exposes the 1%’s crimes then and now “What then is, generally speaking, the truth of history? A fable agreed upon.” - Napoleon Bonaparte [69] Anyone who wants the most important history of the Vietnam war, and American history, must be briefed of this stunning and game-changing “current event”: Dr. The King family’s attempts for a criminal trial were denied, as suspect James Ray’s recant of what he claimed was a false confession was denied. The US government also denied the King family’s requests for independent investigation of the assassination. Therefore, and importantly, the US government has never presented any evidence subject to challenge that substantiates their claim that Mr.
US corporate media did not cover the trial, interview the King family, and textbooks omit this information. For comparison, please consider the media coverage of O.J. “Media coverage of the Simpson trial, which began in January 1995, was unlike any other. GOP Brags About Tactics That Lose Them The Vote, But Win Them The House. If you had any doubts about the Republicans rigging elections, a recent report released by the Republican State Leadership Committee should lay all doubts to rest.
Unfortunately, we can’t complain to any of the election monitoring organizations that observe elections in third world countries like ours: The GOP’s massive gerrymandering of congressional districts back in 2010 is perfectly legal, albeit ridiculously over-the-top and transparently manipulative. Entitled How a Strategy of Targeting State Legislative Rages in 2010 Led to a Republican U.S. House Majority in 2013, the report — described in Scott Keyes’ Think Progress article as “shockingly candid” — the document describes in lurid detail how the RSLC spent “$30 million in the 2010 election cycle to sweep up low-cost state legislature races in blue states like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.”
Here’s the video: But wait! Things might get even worse. Larry Correia refutes the gun controllers once and for all. The Real Cuban Missile Crisis - Benjamin Schwarz. Everything you think you know about those 13 days is wrong. Customers in the electronics section of a department store watch as JFK addresses the nation, October 22, 1962. (Ralph Crane/Time-Life Pictures/Getty) The Cuban Missile Crisis in American Memory By Sheldon M. Stern Stanford On october 16, 1962, John F. Every sentence in the above paragraph describing the Cuban missile crisis is misleading or erroneous.
Scholars, however, have long known a very different story: since 1997, they have had access to recordings that Kennedy secretly made of meetings with his top advisers, the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (the “ExComm”). Reached through sober analysis, Stern’s conclusion that “John F. In the 1960 presidential election, Kennedy had cynically attacked Richard Nixon from the right, claiming that the Eisenhower-Nixon administration had allowed a dangerous “missile gap” to grow in the U.S.S.R.’s favor.
George Packer: The Political Isolation of the American South. The New Year’s Day vote in Congress that brought a temporary truce to the fiscal wars showed the Republicans to be far more divided than the Democrats, and the division broke along regional lines. House Republicans from the Far West and from the Northeast favored the Senate’s compromise bill by large margins, and Midwesterners were split; but in the South, Republican opposition was overwhelming, 81–12, accounting for more than half of the total Republican “no” votes. In other words, Republicans outside the South have begun to turn pink, following the political tendencies of the country as a whole, but Southern Republicans, who dominate the Party and its congressional leadership, remain deep scarlet.
These numbers reveal something more than the character of today’s Republican Party; a larger historical shift is under way. For a century after losing the Civil War, the South was America’s own colonial backwater—“not quite a nation within a nation, but the next thing to it,” W. J. Blogs - Adam Curtis - SAVE YOUR KISSES FOR ME. Impressions de Gaza. NOAM CHOMSKY était en visite à Gaza du 25 au 30 octobre 2012 : « Une seule nuit en prison suffit à donner une idée de ce que veut dire le fait de se trouver sous le contrôle absolu de la même force extérieure. Et il faut à peine plus d’une journée à Gaza pour commencer à apprécier ce à quoi doit ressembler de tenter de survivre dans la plus grande prison en plein air du monde... ... où un million et demi de personnes, dans la région la plus densément peuplée du monde, sont constamment soumises à la terreur générale, souvent sauvage et aux châtiments arbitraires qui n’ont souvent pour but que d’humilier et avilir, ainsi que de faire en sorte que les espoirs palestiniens d’un avenir décent soient anéantis et que soit réduit à zéro le soutien mondial majoritairement favorable à un arrangement diplomatique censé accorder ces droits.
L’humiliation intentionnelle n’est pas nouvelle non plus, bien qu’elle adopte continuellement de nouvelles formes. Et c’est ainsi que vont les choses. The Self-Destruction of the 1 Percent. There is no such thing as redistribution. The blogosphere is ablaze with discussions of redistribution: who redistributes to who, how much redistribution is happening, and so on. As it is, the discussion is not particularly lopsided. The right-wing can claim we are redistributing to poor folks because of government programs. The left-wing can claim we are redistributing to rich folks because of copyrights, patents, and various forms of protectionism for high-income jobs.
In a more basic sense, it is clear what all these points are really getting at: ill-gotten gains. But calling it redistribution really just muddies the water. The word “redistribution” implies that there is a distribution that is default, and that we redistribute when we modify the distribution away from it. These are very basic examples, but literally every single institutional choice that is made surrounding the economy sets the stage for the distribution that results.
So there is no baseline default distribution against which we can measure redistribution. Failed_War_On_Drugs1.gif (GIF Image, 640 × 3645 pixels) "Public Health versus Private Freedom?" by Peter Singer. Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space PRINCETON – In contrasting decisions last month, a United States Court of Appeals struck down a US Food and Drug Administration requirement that cigarettes be sold in packs with graphic health warnings, while Australia’s highest court upheld a law that goes much further.
The Australian law requires not only health warnings and images of the physical damage that smoking causes, but also that the packs themselves be plain, with brand names in small generic type, no logos, and no color other than a drab olive-brown. The US decision was based on America’s constitutional protection of free speech. The court accepted that the government may require factually accurate health warnings, but the majority, in a split decision, said that it could not go as far as requiring images. Underlying these differences, however, is the larger issue: who decides the proper balance between public health and freedom of expression?
Revolt of the Rich. It was 1993, during congressional debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement. I was having lunch with a staffer for one of the rare Republican congressmen who opposed the policy of so-called free trade. To this day, I remember something my colleague said: “The rich elites of this country have far more in common with their counterparts in London, Paris, and Tokyo than with their fellow American citizens.”
That was only the beginning of the period when the realities of outsourced manufacturing, financialization of the economy, and growing income disparity started to seep into the public consciousness, so at the time it seemed like a striking and novel statement. At the end of the Cold War many writers predicted the decline of the traditional nation-state. Some looked at the demise of the Soviet Union and foresaw the territorial state breaking up into statelets of different ethnic, religious, or economic compositions. Lasch wrote that in 1995. Five things government does better than you. When Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan and other hard-line conservatives talk about cutting the government’s budget, their primary rationale is that individuals can make better decisions with their own money than the government can.
As Ryan himself said to an audience at Georgetown University, “We put our trust in people, not in government. Our budget incorporates subsidiarity by returning power to individuals, to families and to communities.” It sounds reasonable—of course we want individuals to have power, and of course we want communities to take care of their neediest members. And since conservatives have done a fine job of portraying the government as full of heartless, inept bureaucrats, allowing people to make their own decisions sounds better than the alternative. Since the 1930s, Social Security has protected Americans by providing a cushion against poverty in old age. Health Care In fact, that’s how modern health-insurance programs started. Addressing Poverty Disaster Relief. James Fishkin | Deliberative Democracy - Most People Are Rationally Ignorant. The European: In a nutshell: What is so interesting about deliberative polling?
Fishkin: I am interested in what the public would think if it was thinking about an issue in good, controlled conditions. We have balanced briefing materials that include the pros and cons of different choices, we have a representative sample of people, we have extensive confidential questionnaires and small-group discussions. It’s a scientific approach to debates about public issues. We organized two deliberative polling events in Brussels with people from all 27 EU countries, speaking 22 languages.
That’s probably as close as anyone has gotten to the idea of a European public sphere! The European: One powerful argument against deliberative democracy is that discussions don’t necessarily yield the best results. A small group of experts might reach more insightful conclusions that a large group of people. The European: Germany has tried to experiment with online polling and liquid democracy. Ryan, Romney and the Veil of Opulence. The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers and other thinkers on issues both timely and timeless.
More than 40 years ago the philosopher John Rawls, in his influential political work “A Theory of Justice,” implored the people of the world to shed themselves of their selfish predispositions and to assume, for the sake of argument, that they were ignorant. He imposed this unwelcome constraint not so that his readers — mostly intellectuals, but also students, politicians and policy makers — would find themselves in a position of moribund stupidity but rather so they could get a grip on fairness. Rawls saw clearly that principles of justice like the golden rule or mutual benevolence, are subject to distortion. The idea behind the veil of ignorance is relatively simple: to force us to think outside of our parochial personal concerns in order that we consider others. What Rawls saw clearly is that it is not easy for us to put ourselves in the position of others. Ivan Krastev: Can democracy exist without trust?
Pussy Riot V. Putin: A Front Row Seat At A Russian Dark Comedy. On the morning of February 21, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, and Ekaterina Samutsevich walked up the steps leading to the altar of Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, shed their winter clothing, pulled colorful winter hats down over their faces, and jumped around punching and kicking for about thirty seconds. By evening, the three young women had turned it into a music video called “Punk Prayer: Holy Mother, Chase Putin Away!”
Which mocked the patriarch and Putin. (“The head of the KGB is their patron saint,” they sang, by turns shrieking and imitating a church choir.) The video went viral: it was two weeks before the presidential election and Putin, facing a wave of unprecedented protests, was feeling shaky. Three days later, a warrant was issued for the girls’ arrest. Last week, on the day before the trial began, Petr Verzilov, Tolokonnikova’s husband, and I met for coffee. And that’s where the loftiness ended and reality began to disintegrate. The question was struck.
Texas GOP Declares: "No More Teaching of 'Critical Thinking Skills' in Texas Public Schools" Textbooks, which are assigned and shared, in a classroom at Hutto High School in Hutto, Texas, April 5, 2012. (Photo: Ben Sklar / The New York Times)The Republican Party of Texas has issued their 2012 political platform and has come out and blatantly opposed critical thinking in public schools throughout the state.
If you wonder what took them so long to actually state that publicly, it is really a matter of timing. With irrationality now the norm and an election hovering over the 2012 horizon, the timing of the Republican GOP announcement against "critical thinking" instruction couldn't be better. It helps gin up their anti-intellectual base. The Texas GOP's declarative position against critical thinking in public schools, or any schools, for that matter, is now an official part of their political platform. It is public record in the Republican Party of Texas 2012 platform.
Read more: The Public Intellectual This thinking is not new. IDEA Public Schools It Doesn't Stop There Summary. The Secret Online Weapons Store That'll Sell Anyone Anything. Southern Europe Plagued by Corruption and Political Mismanagement. Marcello Bartolotta, a surgeon from the Sicilian town of Messina, has hit the jackpot. He has just been granted a seat in the regional parliament as a replacement for a parliamentarian from his party who recently died. The assembly will be dissolved in October ahead of regional elections. That, though, is hardly a problem for Bartoletta.
After all, for the three or four remaining sessions he will attend until then, he will get some €40,000 ($49,000), in addition to expenses. That, though, is if Sicily doesn't go bankrupt first. And there is a chance it may. Bartolotta's 89 fellow lawmakers and their 400 assistants have already been told that their July salaries won't be paid out punctually. The problem isn't just that they receive a monthly net salary of €10,000 to €15,000 -- more than members of the national assembly in Rome get -- without working terribly hard.
Too Many Public Sector Jobs The politicians have proven particularly adept at finding public service jobs for their friends. The racism of the respectable. House Panel Seeks To Silence Journalists. The 6 Most Popular Crime Fighting Tactics (That Don't Work) Dreaming of a World Without Intellectuals - The Chronicle Review. The Loudest Person at The Citibank Was the Undercover Cop that Arrested the Woman Outside. Can Americans Escape the Deception? Uganda Welcomes Oil, but Fears Graft It Attracts. A new role for the 1% Mark Twain's Radical Liberalism - Jeffrey A. Tucker. » Bob Barr Files Lawsuit Against TSA Over ‘Drudge’ Controversy Alex Jones. 8 Lies Republicans Want Us To Believe. JFK Speech on Religion and Politics Part 1: Separation of Church and State (1960) Leaked docs: Heartland Institute think tank pays climate contrarians very well (updated) Barbara Ehrenreich: Preying on the Poor. So then Who in the Hell Are We? How Wall Street Killed Financial Reform | Politics News.
May 05th to May 12th, 2012 Poverty is not an accident. - Nelson Mandela. The Great Capitalist Heist: How Paris Hilton’s Dogs Ended Up Better Off Than You. Copyright kings are judge, jury and executioner on YouTube. Bringing 'political intelligence' out of the shadows - Feb. 17. Leave room for the unbelievers. Will multinational corporations someday end up owning all our land?
If this country is so free, I can burn your flag wherever I please. GlobalResearch.ca - Centre for Research on Globalization. The Inside Story on Climate Scientists Under Siege | Wired Science. Constitution.jpg (JPEG Image, 720×720 pixels) ‘Not on my watch’: applies to banks and the navy. Private Prison Corporation Offers Cash In Exchange For State Prisons. The Joy of Quiet. North Korean Labor Camps | VICE News. An 18th Century Quote Defines Today's Truth. Agence Global-Article. 100 Things You Can Say To Irritate A Republican. Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide' - The Chronicle Review. The Common Sense Coalition. North Korean Film Madness | The VICE Guide to Film. President, Senate, House Updated Daily. Koch-Fueled Americans For Prosperity Plans Protest Against 'Extremist' Kids Flying Kites In Support Of Wind. Stop-and-Frisk and New York’s Freedom Deficit | uscop.org. How Bryan Fischer is Making Mitt Romney More Conservative.
PICS THAT DON'T SUCK!!! D: USAnonreligion. Jonathan Chait on Liberal Disappointment. Police Oust Occupy Wall Street Protesters at Zuccotti Park. NATO in Chicago: Congratulations for subversively preventing free speech and the right to peacefully assemble. How Broccoli Became a Symbol in the Health Care Debate. Obama Trade Document Leaked, Revealing New Corporate Powers And Broken Campaign Promises. Should Christians be Anarchists? Congressmen Seek To Lift Propaganda Ban. Why working-class people vote conservative | Society. Why Private Equity Firms Like Bain Really Are the Worst of Capitalism | Josh Kosman | Politics News.
Not Letting The Facts Get In The Way of Attacks on Candidates and Whistleblowers. Quebec: the Empire Strikes Back. Authorities define “violence” as any restriction of capital flows. Americans Are Horribly Misinformed About Who Has Money - News. Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult. What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets. Glory days: A pundit's rosy view of the Pax Americana—By Andrew J. Bacevich. Norman Solomon’s Quest for Congress. Victoria Grant. Phillip Knightley: When is a terror threat not a terror threat? Let's ask a man called Felix... - Commentators - Opinion. Stephen King: Tax Me, for F@%&’s Sake! Unexceptionalism - A Primer. Albena Azmanova: Critical Political Judgement. Sofia Gatica, Argentine Activist, Faced Anonymous Death Threats For Fighting Monsanto Herbicide. Stephen Kinzer on US-Iranian Relations, the 1953 CIA Coup in Iran and the Roots of Middle East Terror.
What to do about the rich? As Occupy Arrestees Arraigned, Iris Scans Affect Bail. The Vice Guide to Congo | VICE News. Why I Don’t Support “KONY 2012″ | Laci Green. Which Makes More Sense? Budget cuts: Choices, choices. Rich People Are Unethical, Here's The Proof. George_orwell_with_quotes.jpg (JPEG Image, 648×500 pixels) Warren Buffet versus Ayn Rand.