A Study In Movement

curiositycounts:

Filmmaker Temujin Doran, of The Art of Protest and Market Maketh Man fame, on how politicians use historical revisionism as a tool for campaigning.

sunfoundation:

Independent Spending Totals

Since the start of the presidential campaign, independent groups have spent at least $29.7 million asking voters to elect or defeat candidates through television advertisements and other means. The most active groups have been “super PACs,” which can raise unlimited money from individuals, corporations and labor unions. Although these groups cannot legally be tied to a candidate, several of the most-active ones are run or advised by former associates or campaign staff; those are noted below with the picture of the candidate.

Disgusted.

House Republicans Reject Payroll Tax Cut Deal - NYTimes.com →

Major takeaway for me: Republicans want to tax everyone except the 1% and corporations.

Is the Use of the Military Designed for the Occupy Movement? | Truthout →

This makes me shudder.

Robert Reich: The Most Important Economic Speech of His Presidency  →

robertreich:

The President’s speech today in Osawatomie, Kansas — where Teddy Roosevelt gave his “New Nationalism” speech in 1910 — is the most important economic speech of his presidency in terms of connecting the dots, laying out the reasons behind our economic and political crises, and asserting a…

Robert Reich adding layers of context to Obama’s economic speech.

The top 1 per cent have the best houses, the best educations, the best doctors, and the best lifestyles, but there is one thing that money doesn’t seem to have bought: an understanding that their fate is bound up with how the other 99 per cent live Throughout history, this is something that the top 1 per cent eventually do learn. Too Late.” Joseph Stiglitz

— The class warfare the rich don’t understand - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

The demonstrations are treated as if they’re presumptively criminal,” she said. “Instead of looking at free speech activity as an honored and cherished right that should be supported and facilitated, the reaction of local authorities and police is very frequently to look at it as a crime scene.

— U.N. Envoy: U.S. Isn’t Protecting Occupy Protesters’ Rights

Corporations drop bills off at one end, and they come out the other, stamped with the imprimatur of a nonprofit, “nonpartisan” group of state legislators. Among other things, ALEC is a bill laundry.

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Pssst … Wanna Buy a Law? - BusinessWeek

Fascinating read.

(via taylordavidson)

Insanely disturbing.

The Koch Brothers - People & Power - Al Jazeera English →

A disturbing read about the power and influence the .1% can exert in political, economic and social power.

As the US itself became more like Europe - more industrialised, more urbanised, less composed of small farmers and more composed of urban workers - the resistance to learning from European advances became increasingly irrational, and at odds with American pragmatism. Our political system lagged behind as well, lacking the fluidity and inventiveness that made parliamentary systems the dominant form of democracy elsewhere around the world.

This perverse refusal to learn from others who have been inspired by us in the political realm is strikingly at odds with Americans’ grassroots improvisatory traditions. From food to music to everything in between, Americans have always adopted diverse influences, mixed them together and made them their own, based on the sole criteria of what works.

Yet, with far too few exceptions, we Americans have spectacularly failed to do this in the realms of economics and politics, where powerful elites have emerged to repeatedly stifle the US’ spirit of ingenuity. Not only that, they have successfully blinded us as well.

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American deceptionalism - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Great article. The lack of journalism like this in U.S. sources is pathetic.