This is why Elizabeth Warren is one of my heroes

Elizabeth Warren is doing exactly what she was hired to do--speaking up for ordinary Americans:

Banks and brokers have sold deceptive mortgages for more than a decade. Financial wizards made billions by packaging and repackaging those loans into securities. And federal regulators played the role of lookout at a bank robbery, holding back anyone who tried to stop the massive looting from middle-class families. When they weren't selling deceptive mortgages, Wall Street invented new credit card tricks and clever overdraft fees.
This is more than I can say for Barack Obama. He should be taking full advantage of his bully pulpit and cranking on Wall Street and the financial "services" industry, but he is only giving lip service. This makes me wonder why he isn't using that silver tongue week after week to shame Congress into enacting reform. And he shouldn't wait for the banks and Congress to give him support for reform. Screw the banks, and enact reform. Don't wait for the banks to get in line. We need credit card agreements that people can read and understand, for starters. We are more than a year into Obama's Presidency and nothing significant is happening to clean up our corrupt financial system. This young President needs to go read his campaign speeches to remind himself of what he needs to do. And if Congress is so corrupt that none of his campaign promises can be accomplished, then shame Congress, week after week.

Continue ReadingThis is why Elizabeth Warren is one of my heroes

Exhibit A regarding Congressional dysfunction

How is it that one senator can stifle government function? Tim Rutten of the LA Times explains:

In the face of these daunting issues, what was it that preoccupied the Senate on the eve of its long weekend recess? The legislative drama du jour is the standoff between the White House and Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), who has put a personal hold on more than 70 executive branch appointments until the Obama administration agrees to fund a couple of pork-barrel projects he has earmarked for his state. One involves tens of millions of dollars for an FBI laboratory focusing on improvised explosives -- something the bureau doesn't think it needs. . . . Unless the administration agrees to give Shelby what he wants, he intends to invoke an archaic senatorial privilege that allows him to prevent the chamber from considering any of the administration's nominees to executive branch vacancies, no matter how crucial. Without the 60 votes to force cloture -- another archaic convention -- there's nothing the Democrats or the White House can do.

Continue ReadingExhibit A regarding Congressional dysfunction

Wikileaks struggles to stay alive

Wikileaks has shut down, hopefully temporarily, for lack of money. Here's what you'll see if you visit the site:

The Sunshine Press (WikiLeaks) is an non-profit organization funded by human rights campaigners, investigative journalists, technologists and the general public. Through your support we have exposed significant injustice around the world—successfully fighting off over 100 legal attacks in the process. Although our work produces reforms daily and is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the 2008 Economist Freedom of Expression Award as well as the 2009 Amnesty International New Media Award, these accolades do not pay the bills. Nor can we accept government or corporate funding and maintain our absolute integrity. It is your strong support alone that preserves our continued independence and strength.
To help out, visit Wikileaks and make a donation. I just donated, because Wikileaks has proven itself to be a critically important resource for allowing us to really know what is going on and I wanted to do my part.

Continue ReadingWikileaks struggles to stay alive

The Politics of War Crimes

I sometimes can't shake the feeling that everything is wrong. Down is up, wrong is right, war is peace, and lies are truth. Take, for example, the issue of torture. We as a society have regressed to the point where we find it acceptable to use torture. We use it explicitly, openly, without any concern for the consequences. Of course, some of the consequences (like increasing terrorism) are inevitable, whether we choose to be concerned with them or not. But that's really beside the point-- the simple point that I am amazed by right now is that we torture people. That, and the fact that it's not a major controversy. The Land of the Free, the Home of the Brave, with tyranny and torture for all. Since the usual arguments against our torture policy have proven ineffective, I want to elaborate a bit. The usual arguments involve questions of efficacy-- that is, whether torture is effective or not. (It's not). In fact, the CIA officer who argued that waterboarding was so effective that it cracked hardcore terrorists the first time (and within 30 seconds!) has now recanted his story. When he came out with the story of how waterboarding worked so well, he was called the "Man of the Hour", but now hardly anyone is mentioning that it was all lies. Go figure that a CIA guy would lie to his own countrymen, right? In any case, the issue of waterboarding, or any of the various "enhanced interrogation techniques", is a red herring. The truth is that we are engaged in far worse abuses.

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Corporations as persons? Pigs get fat; hogs get slaughtered. Or do they?

Today, five members of the United States Supreme Court had their fun pretending that their hands were tied and that they were forced by objective reasoning to rule that corporations have the same right to participate in the political process as natural persons. I strenuously disagree. Today's ruling of Citizen's United v. Federal Election Commission is extremely dangerous to our democracy. Many commentators are burning up the Internet with their written thoughts. I had previously posted on this case, citing to comments by the lawyers representing the two sides. I'll make some more comments today, based upon the written opinion. I have not read the entire opinion, but I have read enough to understand the basic contours of the ruling. What is the basis for today's ruling in Citizen's United? The majority argues that media corporations already had the practical power to say whatever they wanted, so it wouldn't be fair to deny this same power to other types of corporations. Time to throw upon the doors! The majority argues that corporations would get around campaign laws anyway, so why keep trying? The majority naively argues that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.

Continue ReadingCorporations as persons? Pigs get fat; hogs get slaughtered. Or do they?