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Economy, Green Party, National Politics, Social Justice March 7, 2014

The Stone that Brings Down Goliath? Richmond and Eminent Domain

The Web of Debt  by Ellen Brown March 3, 2014 In a nearly $13 billion settlement with the US Justice Department in November 2013, JPMorganChase admitted that it, along with every other large US bank, had engaged in mortgage fraud as a routine business practice, sowing the seeds of the mortgage meltdown. JPMorgan and other megabanks have now been caught in over a dozen major frauds, including LIBOR-rigging and bid-rigging; yet no prominent banker has gone to jail. Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of all mortgages nationally remain underwater (meaning the balance owed exceeds the current value of the home), sapping…

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Economy, military budget, National Politics, peace March 3, 2014

Budget Realignment Reflects Pentagon’s Vision of Covert and Endless War

by Brian J. Trautman The Pentagon’s budget proposal for next year was announced last week by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. In an interview with The New York Times, Hagel argued that to meet today’s national security needs, the Department of Defense (DoD) must shift its focus and capabilities away from “fighting grinding ground conflicts” and towards “new arenas of combat.” To achieve these ends, the budget calls for a realignment of the military that would reduce the total number of ground troops to its lowest level since 1940 and discontinue some military equipment deemed obsolete or unnecessary. According to…

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Democracy, occupy, Social Justice February 18, 2014

Celebrate World Social Justice Day – February 20

by Brian J. Trautman In one of his most famous writings, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said of injustice, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” In other words, the very existence of injustice has implications for us all. Thus, we each have a responsibility to actively challenge unjust power structures wherever they should surface. According to the United Nations, “the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. have never…

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Health Care Reform, National Politics, Single Payer February 17, 2014

The Affordable Care Act keeps insurance companies as middleman between patients and doctors

Ursula Rozum syracuse.com February 16, 2014 I honestly can’t remember my last doctor visit. Like many in our country, I find the prospect of interacting with the United States medical industry anxiety inducing and depressing. This month I finally signed up for a health care plan on the New York State exchange. Choosing an insurance plan on the exchange required trying to predict what kind of scary health emergency I might have and how to make sure that if misfortune strikes, I’d take the mildest financial hit. Since none of the plans seemed very good, I decided to sign up…

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campaign reform, Democracy, Green Party, National Politics, Third Party February 14, 2014

If Bernie Sanders Runs in 2016: Dem, Indy, or Green?

by Scott McLarty firedoglake February 13, 2014 A Democratic or Independent Sanders campaign for the White House won’t ignite a “political revolution.” But a Green Sanders campaign might. Should Sen. Bernie Sanders (Ind.-Vt.) run for president? The creeping realization that the next Democratic nominee may be Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has already picked up $400,000 in speaking fees (i.e., unofficial campaign contributions, i.e., bribes) from Goldman Sachs, is making a progressive alternative increasingly attractive for 2016. Sen. Sanders is mulling the idea and a few Draft Sanders efforts are underway. By progressive, I mean favoring an immediate shutdown of Guantanamo…