Saturday, June 15th, 2013
ALAN SUDERMAN and BEN WIEDER, - Mother Jones
Stephan: Yet another chapter in the corruption of all our governmental institutions. The same process by which the U.S. Congress was suborned, and neutered, is now playing out at the State level, particularly in the Red value states.
Notice the prominence in this report of North Carolina, which I see as a laboratory state for Red Values. This is the state whose legislature passed a bill demanding no consideration of climate change, in spite of the state's vulnerability. All the Theocratic Rights' fantasies are playing out in North Carolina, as well as Mississippi, Louisiana -- the usual list.
One effect of the corruption of state judiciaries is that it will further the Great Schism Trend, even as it degrades one of the pillars of our democracy -- the judiciary. Read this remembering the piece I did in Friday's edition on the bias for donors that arises in judicial decisions, and correlates with donations. It almost goes without saying that this is largely financed by the Koch brothers and their ilk, and is being carried out through the auspices of the Republican Party.
You need to be on the lookout for this happening in your state, and organize against it. Otherwise our judicial system will be forever compromised. We are in parlous times. Choices are being made now that will shape the trajectories of the states and the country as a whole, for generations.
Sam Ervin IV must have been feeling pretty good about his chances of winning a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court last fall.
He had name recognition-his grandfather was the legendary senator who led the Watergate investigation-and a poll released less than a week before Election Day showed him leading his opponent, incumbent Justice Paul Newby by 6 points, 38-32.
But on the Friday before the election, ‘Justice for All NC’-an independent political committee whose funding came mostly from out of state-dropped a TV ad depicting a scowling Ervin and asking: ‘Sam Ervin. Can we trust him to be a fair judge?’
Ervin lost the race by 4 points, 52 percent to 48 percent.
‘As far as I know,’ says Ervin, ‘there had never been an attack ad in a North Carolina judicial race.’
North Carolina’s supreme court election was arguably decided by groups like Justice for All-secretive nonprofits, unaffiliated with a candidate, whose money came from out of state.
Independent groups accounted for at least $2.59 million in spending to influence North Carolinians’ supreme court vote with more than half the total ultimately coming from groups outside the state, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis.
And North Carolina is not alone.
The Center for […]
No Comments
Saturday, June 15th, 2013
MICHAEL RILEY, - Bloomberg
Stephan: Here we see the bridge whereby the emerging non-geographical states directly link into their vassal governments. This is why you should assume everything you say or write that is digital is being collected in some manner.
Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence, four people familiar with the process said.
These programs, whose participants are known as trusted partners, extend far beyond what was revealed by Edward Snowden, a computer technician who did work for the National Security Agency. The role of private companies has come under intense scrutiny since his disclosure this month that the NSA is collecting millions of U.S. residents’ telephone records and the computer communications of foreigners from Google Inc (GOOG). and other Internet companies under court order.
Many of these same Internet and telecommunications companies voluntarily provide U.S. intelligence organizations with additional data, such as equipment specifications, that don’t involve private communications of their customers, the four people said.
Makers of hardware and software, banks, Internet security providers, satellite telecommunications companies and many other companies also participate in the government programs. In some cases, the information gathered may be used not just to defend the nation but to help infiltrate computers of its adversaries.
Along with the NSA, the Central Intelligence Agency (0112917D), the Federal Bureau of Investigation and branches of the U.S. […]
No Comments
AMELIA MARTYN-HEMPHILL, - The Atlantic
Stephan: Finally, perhaps because the Boomers are beginning to die, or are dealing the the death of a parent, or older sibling, we are beginning to think about how we die. Having gone through this with my late wife, Hayden, I support the approach in this report in the strongest terms.
As Seigan Glassing walked down the sterile, white hospital corridor, he thought of a poem written by well-known Zen master Kozan Ichikyo shortly before his death.
Empty handed I entered
The world
Barefoot I leave it
My coming, my going —
Two simple happenings
That got entangled.
Seigan paused outside one of the identical doors of the neurological unit, marked only with a number. He mulled over the words of the poem, letting them mingle, listening to their rhythm, refocusing. He was tired but not exhausted, nearing the end of his hospital shift. He straightened his dark scrubs and ran his hand over his clean-shaven head before adjusting his glasses.
As he entered the room he met a scent of flowers. The night lights of the city spilled in through the window and 57-year-old Cleo (as she was named in her hospital transcript), her head heavily bandaged, held out her hand to greet him. Her long, dark hair was streaked with grey and she lay propped up in her hospital bed.
‘You’re the Buddhist chaplain aren’t you? I’ve been […]
No Comments
DYLAN MATTHEWS, - The Washington Post
Stephan: Further evidence, if such were needed, of how corporate money like a cancer is devouring the integrity of all three branches of government and the Fourth Estate.
Click through to see the many charts that accompany this report.
You’re probably pretty familiar with the way the federal government picks its judges. The president selects a nominee, the Senate confirms or rejects the nominee (or else declines to bring them up for a vote), and if the Senate confirms, then the pick gets to serve as long as he or she likes. If they serve for 15 years and make it to age 65, and aren’t on the Supreme Court, they can even enjoy a genteel form of semi-retirement known as ‘senior status,
No Comments
ELIZABETH MENDES and JOY WILKE, - The Gallup Organization
Stephan: The results of this survey by Gallup reveal the present state of the Congress. It should be obvious how corrosive this is the a healthy democracy, and that it is a measure of how corrupted this central institution of our government has become. Only voting will change this.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ confidence in Congress as an institution is down to 10%, ranking the legislative body last on a list of 16 societal institutions for the fourth straight year. This is the lowest level of confidence Gallup has found, not only for Congress, but for any institution on record. Americans remain most confident in the military, at 76%.
I am going to read you a list of institutions in American society. Please tell me how much confidence you, yourself, have in each one — a great deal, quite a lot, some, or very little? June 2013 results
Small business and the police also continue to rank highly, with 65% and 57% of Americans, respectively, expressing ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a lot’ of confidence in these institutions. Joining Congress at the bottom of the list are Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and organized labor. Congress’ low position is further underscored when one looks at the percentage of Americans who have little or no confidence in each institution. The slight majority of Americans, 52%, have this level of confidence in Congress, compared with 31% for HMOs.
Americans’ confidence in several institutions measured in the June 1-4 Gallup poll has shifted since last year. […]
No Comments
