Study: Wealth Inequality In America May Be Worse Than It Was In Ancient Rome By Travis Waldron on December 19, 2011 at 1:50 pm "Study: Wealth Inequality In America May Be Worse Than It Was In Ancient Rome" The 99 Percent Movement effectively changed the American political debate from debt and deficits to income inequality, highlighting the fact that income inequality has increased so much in the U.S. that it is now more unequal than countries like Ivory Coast and Pakistan. In the United States, the top 1 percent controls roughly 40 percent of the nation’s wealth. Their target was the state of the economy when the empire was at its population zenith, around 150 C.E. Of course, the millions of Romans at the bottom of the empire’s class structure — the conquered and enslaved, the poorest Romans, and the women who had little civic or economic empowerment — would probably disagree with the study’s conclusion.
BP accuses Halliburton over Gulf of Mexico oil spill | Environment BP has accused Halliburton of destroying damaging evidence relating to last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill. In a court filing, BP has alleged that the US oil services firm of intentionally destroying evidence about possible problems with its cement slurry poured into the deep-sea Macondo well about 100 miles (160 km) off the Louisiana coast. An oil well must be cemented properly to avoid blowouts. Also in the documents filed in a New Orleans federal court, BP accuses Halliburton of failing to produce incriminating computer modelling evidence. BP asked a US judge to penalise Halliburton and order a court-sponsored computer forensic team to recover the modelling results. Halliburton has told media outlets that the accusations are untrue. Also involved are Anadarko Petroleum and Cameron International. The first trial over the disaster is scheduled to start 27 February in New Orleans.
Journalists obstructed from covering OWS protests New York, November 15, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by today's reports of New York City police mistreating and detaining journalists and obstructing them from covering events at the Occupy Wall Street protests. "We are alarmed by New York law enforcement's treatment of journalists covering the eviction of Occupy Wall Street today," said Carlos Lauria, CPJ senior coordinator for the Americas. "Journalists must be allowed to cover news events without fear of arrest and harassment. At least seven journalists were arrested in New York today, according to press reports. Jared Malsin, reporter for the East Village community blog The Local, wrote that he had been arrested at the protest after identifying himself as a journalist using a press pass he said "had been issued for an unrelated assignment by the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit of the United Nations in September." Some of the journalists described being handled roughly by law enforcement.
Pullen Baptist takes a stand for gay marriage - Religion Editor's note: Reader comments have been disabled on this story because of numerous violations of our comment policy. The full congregation of Raleigh's Pullen Memorial Baptist Church voted Sunday to prohibit the church pastor from legally marrying anyone until she can legally marry same-sex couples under North Carolina law. The congregants said in a formal statement that current North Carolina law - and the language proposed for a vote next year on an amendment to the state Constitution - discriminates against same-sex couples "by denying them the rights and privileges enjoyed by heterosexual married couples." "As people of faith, affirming the Christian teaching that before God all people are equal, we will no longer participate in this discrimination," the church's statement says. The vote was unanimous and brought tears to the eyes of some of the 100 or so members who stood to vote in favor of the "statement on marriage ceremonies." Holy union only Congregation's will
New Mexico House Votes 65-0 To Move State's Money To Credit Unions, Community Banks New Mexico's House of Representatives voted Monday to pass a bill that allows the state to move $2 billion - $5 billion of state funds to credit unions and small banks. The municipal funds bill was approved 65-0 (roll call - PDF), and is subject to a vote by New Mexico's Senate. Governor Bill Richardson told the bill's sponsor that he supports the legislation. Credit Union Times, spoke to one banker who believes that the bill got a boost from Huffington Post's Move Your Money campaign: The altered view of New Mexico lawmakers in favoring local control of state funds, officials said, follows national mention of the New Mexico effort in the "Move Your Money" campaign of New York pundit Arianna Huffington in her online Huffington Post columns. "I think Huffington gave this bill a little traction," said Juan Fernandez, vice president of government affairs for the Credit Union Association of New Mexico Pledge to Move Your Money!
Rep. Deutch Introduces OCCUPIED Constitutional Amendment To Ban Corporate Money In Politics By Zaid Jilani on November 18, 2011 at 1:00 pm "Rep. Deutch Introduces OCCUPIED Constitutional Amendment To Ban Corporate Money In Politics" Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) is tackling corporate money in politics head on. In one of the greatest signs yet that the 99 Percenters are having an impact, Rep. Deutch’s amendment, called the Outlawing Corporate Cash Undermining the Public Interest in our Elections and Democracy (OCCUPIED) Amendment, would overturn the Citizens United decision, re-establishing the right of Congress and the states to regulate campaign finance laws, and to effectively outlaw the ability of for-profit corporations to contribute to campaign spending. “No matter how long protesters camp out across America, big banks will continue to pour money into shadow groups promoting candidates more likely to slash Medicaid for poor children than help families facing foreclosure,” said Deutch in a statement provided to ThinkProgress.
Reporters For Right-Wing Publication Daily Caller Beaten By NYPD, Helped By Protesters By Zaid Jilani on November 17, 2011 at 1:20 pm "Reporters For Right-Wing Publication Daily Caller Beaten By NYPD, Helped By Protesters" The Daily Caller's Michelle Fields faced abuse from the NYPD and help from protesters. The right-wing Daily Caller website has been anything but kind to Occupy Wall Street, even going so far as to condemn the protest movement as generating riots, murder, and arson. But when a couple of Daily Caller employees were at Occupy Wall Street this morning, it was the very protesters they had been demonizing who ended up helping them out. “Direna had a camera in her hand and I had a microphone, and we were being hit,” she said. Fields says that protesters right now are effectively “barricaded” in Zuccotti Park, which was the spot from which they were ousted from on Tuesday. Update The Daily Caller has now added video of Fields being assaulted by police.