democratic government 'slippage'- implosion
NDAA NSA
Rose quits LiberalDemocrats in protest at secret courts
Dinah Rose: 'I just cannot see what purpose is served by the party, if it is prepared to support the bill. I have therefore decided, with great regret, to resign my party membership' One of the country's leading human rights barristers is to resign her membership of the Liberal Democrats to express her outrage over the coalition government's backing for secret courts. Dinah Rose QC successfully represented the British-resident Guantánamo detainee, Binyam Mohamed , in his battle to establish that British intelligence services were complicit in his "cruel and inhuman" treatment by the United States. Citing her experience of secret hearings, she described Nick Clegg 's support for the government's justice and security bill as a betrayal of the party's guiding principles. Rose said her decision to resign had not been "taken lightly or without great sadness".
A conflict of interest ( COI ) occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in another. The presence of a conflict of interest is independent from the execution of impropriety. Therefore, a conflict of interest can be discovered and voluntarily defused before any corruption occurs.
Conflict of interest
Nearly half in Congress are millionaires, study finds
Largely insulated from the country’s economic downturn since 2008, members of Congress - many of them among the “1 percenters’’ decried by Occupy Wall Street protesters - have gotten much richer even as most of the country has become much poorer in the past six years, according to an analysis by The New York Times based on data from the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit research group. Contact us for help Phone 617-929-2233 Mon-Fri 8:00 a.m.- 6 p.m., Sat-Sun 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. Chat Start a chat Mon-Fri 7:00 a.m.- 6 p.m., Sat-Sun 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. E-mail support@bostonglobe.com
GAO Finds Serious Conflicts at the Fed
October 19, 2011 WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 - A new audit of the Federal Reserve released today detailed widespread conflicts of interest involving directors of its regional banks. "The most powerful entity in the United States is riddled with conflicts of interest," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said after reviewing the Government Accountability Office report. The study required by a Sanders Amendment to last year's Wall Street reform law examined Fed practices never before subjected to such independent, expert scrutiny.
The Great Transformation (book)
The Great Transformation is a book by Karl Polanyi , an Austro - Hungarian political economist . First published in 1944, it deals with the social and political upheavals that took place in England during the rise of the market economy. Polanyi contends that the modern market economy and the modern nation-state should be understood not as discrete elements, but as the single human invention he calls the "Market Society". [ edit ] General argument Polanyi argued that the development of the modern state went hand in hand with the development of modern market economies and that these two changes were inexorably linked in history. His reasoning for this was that the powerful modern state was needed to push changes in social structure that allowed for a competitive capitalist economy, and that a capitalist economy required a strong state to mitigate its harsher effects.
Under Siege: How Government Centralization and Expansion Puts Democracy in the Service of Special Interests
In its first full year of business in 1998, the 99 Cents Only store in the north Los Angeles city of Lancaster did over $5 million in sales. This was welcome news to the city, given the space had been vacant ever since the new “Power Center” shopping development, where 99 Cents was located, opened ten years earlier. Almost immediately, however, 99 Cents’ next door neighbor, Costco, told the city it needed to expand. The owner of the center offered Costco optimal space behind 99 Cents, but Costco insisted that the city use its power of eminent domain to condemn 99 Cents’ business. If the city refused, Costco threatened to relocate to neighboring Palmdale, who surely would use every tool at its disposal to attract the lucrative big box store’s business. To seal the deal, Costco issued an additional threat: not only would it relocate to Palmdale—it would leave its existing store shuttered and vacant as an economic deadweight on the city’s key commercial center.
Dear Internet: It's No Longer OK to Not Know How Congress Works Dec 19, 2011 Clay Johnson This weekend I read a post titled " Dear Congress: It Is No Longer OK To Not Know How the Internet Works ."
Dear Internet: It's No Longer OK to Not Know How Congress Works
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Occupy Wall Street Makes Official Call To Amend Constitution
By Nike Sachs Posted: 1/6/12 12:43 PM ET http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/06/citizens-united-constitutional-amendment-occupy-wall-street_n_1189373.html Efforts to amend the Constitution to declare that corporations are not people and money is not speech gained support in two notable New York forums this week. The New York City General Assembly of the Occupy Wall Street movement on Tuesday officially called for a constitutional amendment to overturn a controversial Supreme Court decision from 2010 .Corporatocracy: Living in the UCA (United Corps. of America)
This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com . To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com . As intense protests spawned by Occupy Wall Street continue to grow, it is worth asking: Why now? The answer is not obvious.
How the Rich Subverted the Legal System and Occupy Wall Street Swept the Land
As multiple episodes demonstrate, a belief that elite immunity is both necessary and justified became the prevailing ethos in the nation’s most influential circles. In countless instances over recent years, prominent political and media figures have insisted that serious crimes by the most powerful should be overlooked— either in the name of the common good, or in the name of a warped conception of fairness according to which those with the greatest power are the most entitled to deference and understanding. This is what makes the contemporary form of American lawlessness new and unprecedented. It is now perfectly common, and perfectly acceptable, to openly advocate elite immunity. And this advocacy has had its intended effect: the United States has become a nation that does not apply the rule of law to its elite class, which is another way of saying that the United States does not apply the rule of law. . . .
Glenn Greenwald: With Liberty and Justice for Some
In July 2010, Martin Joel Erzinger, a hedge fund manager for extremely wealthy investors at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, was driving his car near Vail, Colorado, when he hit a bicyclist from behind and then sped away. The Vail Daily reported that the victim, Steven Milo, suffered "spinal cord injuries, bleeding from his brain and damage to his knee and scapula," which left him facing multiple surgeries. The newspaper's account of the incident makes clear that Erzinger should have been prosecuted for this incident. Milo was bicycling eastbound on Highway 6 just east of Miller Ranch Road, when Erzinger allegedly hit him with the black 2010 Mercedes Benz sedan he was driving. Erzinger fled the scene and was arrested later, police say. Erzinger allegedly veered onto the side of the road and hit Milo from behind.
Glenn Greenwald: Too Big to Jail (Book Excerpt)
Corporatocracy to Democracy
In the Era of Occupy Wall Street Obama Relies on Wall Street to Fund His Re-Election
President Obama and his aides are increasingly making common cause with the Occupy Wall Street protestors angry about the greed and influence of the nation’s financial powerhouses. That’s a sensible move for a chief executive searching for some populist appeal. This is a president, after all, who helped bail out the banks, did not press to punish or prosecute the titans who created the financial crisis, hired Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary, and spent much of his term negotiating with Republicans who habitually, in his own words, leave him at the altar. And yet expressing sympathy with those who are demonstrating against obscene Wall Street profits is a bit tougher when your campaign is tapping that very street for loads of cash.manufacturing consent -theoretical-
corporation
tax havens / tax evasion = money NOT invested in public domain
MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren't Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought
Reinforcing the fact that Chris Dodd really does not get what's happening, and showing just how disgustingly corrupt the MPAA relationship is with politicians, Chris Dodd went on Fox News to explicitly threaten politicians who accept MPAA campaign donations that they'd better pass Hollywood's favorite legislation ... or else: "Those who count on quote 'Hollywood' for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who's going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don't pay any attention to me when my job is at stake," This certainly follows what many people assumed was happening, and fits with the anonymous comments from studio execs that they will stop contributing to Obama, but to be so blatant about this kind of corruption and money-for-laws politics in the face of an extremely angry public is a really, really, really tone deaf response from Dodd.Consumer group accuses Hollywood of 'threatening politicians' - The Hill's Hillicon Valley
Consumer group Public Knowledge on Friday accused the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and its head, former Sen. Chris Dodd, of trying to intimidate lawmakers into supporting a pair of controversial anti-piracy bills. In recent days, Dodd and other top Hollywood figures have threatened to cut off campaign donations to politicians who do not support their effort to crackdown on online copyright infringement.tell congress to say NO to indefinite detention
inside job: banks & academia
Demise of journalistic independency & access to Uni / HE Media
STOP PRISON FOR PROFIT
space corporate~private ?
more