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George Lakey, Op-Ed: Campaigners can become obsessed by the "They," learning more and more about them and complaining bitterly about their machinations. Others focus on the slice next to the "They" that might include the police, and forget about the rest. That's a good recipe for defeat. When activists embrace their full power and dare to look at the whole picture, multiple opportunities for movement growth show up. |
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Suzanne Merkelson, News Analysis: Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) cited Citizens United and the DC Circuit Court of Appeals' decision on SpeechNow v. FEC as the two cases most directly responsible for the rise of super PACs. "But our campaign finance system was hardly a model of democracy before these opinions," he said. "We have been on this dangerous path for a long time. The Citizens United and SpeechNow decisions may have picked up the pace, but the court laid the groundwork many years ago." |
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Peter G Cohen, Op-Ed: "Scientists tell us that climate change threatens civilization as we know it, and that the sooner we act, the better chance we have of preventing worst disasters. We must not pass on to our children a world of violent storms, destructive floods, advancing deserts, and life-threatening shortages of food and water. While the U.S. may be better able to withstand these threats than some less-developed nations, scientists say that recent climate disasters are only an introduction to what lies ahead, if we do not act." |
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Steve Horn, News Analysis: The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is in the midst of hosting its 39th Annual Meeting this week in Salt Lake City, Utah. ALEC is appropriately described as an ideologically conservative, Republican Party-centric "corporate bill mill" by the Center for Media and Democracy, the overseer of the ALEC Exposed project. 98 percent of ALEC's funding comes from corporations, according to CMD**. |
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Froma Harrop, Op-Ed: Last winter, the Journal reported on a new trend in living big: "trophy basements." Homebuyers demanding opulence now covet vast underground living spaces. (Badgers know all about underground living.) For example, an architect in Beverly Hills designed a 14,000-square-foot basement with a grand ballroom and 50-seat theater. Builders say that buyers of immense spaces seek room for such luxuries as collection galleries, shooting ranges and morning bars. |
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Jay Walljasper, News Report: "People on bikes everywhere feel more safe and comfortable on busy streets with a physical barrier between them and motor vehicles. In some places it's a plastic post or line of parked cars. In others it's a curb, planter or slightly elevated bike lanes. But no matter what separates people on bikes from people in cars, the results are hefty increases in the number and variety of people bicycling." |
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Lois Beckett, News Analysis: "Dark money groups are also quietly expanding their online advertising efforts, using sophisticated targeting tactics to send their ads to specific kinds of people. Online advertising companies have amassed vast quantities of information on what individual people read, watch, and do on the Internet. They collect this data using small files called cookies, which allows them to track Internet users as they move from site to site." |
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Amy Goodman, Video Report: "I think Françoise put it best in pointing a finger at the enormous amount of work yet to be done and the importance of not resting on the laurels—there was far too much of that, many of us felt—but the need to recognize that you do have 33 or 34 million people who will have to be on treatment, you do have this two-and-a-half million children who are not being treated now and are between the ages of six and 15, you have hundreds of thousands of children still being born HIV-positive every year." |
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Richard (RJ) Eskow, Op-Ed: The Republican proposal for taxable estates doesn't change life for ordinary households but, as the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities documents, rich kids inheriting their parents' money would receive an average $1.1 million in tax breaks - while parents working to support their children or put them through college would pay more. The GOP proposal is nothing less than an all-out assault on any but the wealthiest children, closing the door to every struggling generation's dream of a better life. |
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Josh Israel, News Report: While this would appear to be a victory for disclosure, a review of the new electioneering communication reports filed since that time reveals that outside groups have stopped making these types of decisions entirely. Dark money groups like Crossroads GPS and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that had previously spent heavily on electioneering communications have instead circumvented the ruling by running "independent expenditures" that are more explicitly for or against federal candidates and, ironically, do not require donor disclosure. |
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Special Coverage: "As we enter Day 314 of the Occupy movements the protests have spread not only across the country but all over the globe. Thousands of activists have descended on Wall Street these past weeks as part of the #OccupyWallStreet protest organized by several action groups. What follows is a live video stream and live Twitter feed of this event." |
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