democracy (small "d")

by Tony De Renzo ( potony [at] comcast.net )
Tuesday Mar 13th, 2012 11:20 AM

Civil liberties advocates from the San Francisco 99% Coalition stage a protest in front of city hall to urge the Board of Supervisors to join the growing nationwide resistance to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) The San Francisco 99% Coalition

Lawrence Lessig & Jack Abramoff

Jack Abramoff is a former lobbyist who pleaded guilty in 2006 to charges of fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy to bribe public officials. Abramoff also worked as businessman, movie producer and writer. Abramoff's lobbying and the scandals and investigation are featured in a documentary movie "Casino Jack and the United States of Money" and a political satire movie titled "Casino Jack".

Lawrence Lessig is a law professor at Harvard. He has been the lead counsel in important cases concerning copyright laws for digital content. His current work concerns institutional corruption.
Source: Lawrence Lessig interviews Jack Abramoff

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Dear Honorable Senator Steinberg,

On December 31, 2011, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), codifying indefinite military detention without charge or trial into law for the first time in American history. It could permit the president – and all future presidents – to order the military to imprison indefinitely civilians captured far from any battlefield without charge or trial. The breadth of the NDAA’s worldwide detention authority violates the Constitution and international law because it is not limited to people captured in an actual armed conflict, as required by the laws of war. The law does not require even an allegation that a detained person caused any harm or threat of harm to the United States or to any U.S. interest. Mere allegation of membership in, or support of, an alleged terrorist group could be the basis for indefinite detention. Under the American justice system, we don’t just lock people up indefinitely based on suspicion.

Lawrence Lessig

Lawrence Lessig joins Bob McChesney to talk about institutional corruption. Lawrence Lessig is a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. His current work concerns institutional corruption and the economy of influence that weakens the effectiveness of an institution, or weakens public trust.
Source: Lawrence Lessig joins McChesney on Media Matters with Bob McChesney

President Andrew Jackson

Where did the U.S. debt come from? What happened the one time the U.S. paid it all off? Why did the U.S. Congress created the debt ceiling in the first place? A short review of the legend of the national debt. This podcast doesn't explain why people fear what they don't understand.
Source: When The U.S. Paid Off The Entire National Debt (And Why It Didn't Last)

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Steve Horn of Truth-Out recently interviewed Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein. I have compiled below some compelling excerpts from it.

But first, some biographical background on Jill Stein:

Dr. Jill Stein is a mother, housewife, physician, longtime teacher of internal medicine, and pioneering environmental-health advocate.

She is the co-author of two widely-praised reports,  In Harm's Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development, published in 2000, and Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging, published in 2009.  The first of these  has been translated into four languages and is used worldwide. The reports promote green local economies, sustainable agriculture, clean power, and freedom from toxic threats. ...

Jill has appeared as an environmental health expert on the Today Show, 20/20, Fox News, and other programs. She was also a member of the national and Massachusetts boards of directors of the Physicians for Social Responsibility. ...

Jack Abramoff

Are members of the U.S. Congress using inside information to get rich? Mike Pesca talks about dirty politics and big money with a panel including former super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Source: Dirty Politics And Big Money

Lawrence Lessig

Lawrence Lessig talks to Charlie Rose

Lawrence Lessig of Harvard University is the author of the book "Republic, Lost; How Money Corrupts Congress—and a Plan To Stop It"
Source: A conversation with Lawrence Lessig

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Gareth Porter

Scott Horton Interviews Gareth Porter

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses the expansion of U.S. drone strikes. Initially the strikes were limited to Al Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban but now they include groups allied with the Pakistani military. He states that U.S. economic conditions will force military budget cuts and curtail the empire of bases and he asks for a citizens’ movement to end war and empire.
Source: Scott Horton Interviews Gareth Porter

Anand Gopal

Scott Horton Interviews Anand Gopal

Independent journalist Anand Gopal discusses the American creation of an unsustainable Afghanistan that’s guaranteed to collapse when U.S./NATO money stops flowing. He reminds us of the fact that Afghan corruption gets worse as foreign aid increases.
Source: Scott Horton Interviews Anand Gopal

I must confess that I have my own views of the Muslim world. Like most countries they want self-determination. That is the process by which a country determines its own statehood and forms its own allegiances and government. Self-determination is an idea that can't killed with bombs or bullets or autocratic leaders.

Robin Wright

Robin Wright talks with Charlie Rose about the Islamic world
Source: Robin Wright

Al McCoy

SubordiNations

Al McCoy talks about how empires are maintained, why the U.S. empire is in decline, and what the consequences might be depending on how we respond to that decline. Al McCoy is a professor of history at the University of Wisconson–Madison, and author of 'Policing America's Empire: The United States, the Philippines and the Rise of the Surveillance State,'
Source: TomCast for April 24, 2011: SubordiNations

Robin Wright talked about the recent Middle East uprisings and she responded to telephone calls and electronic communications.
Source: Rock The Casbah

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I recommend opposing the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2012. The U.S. is not at war with any country. Nor is U.S. threatened by any group of criminals. Therefore, the U.S. does not need a war-time budget. The only defense needed is a few ships on each of the coasts. Veterans must get the best possible treatments for physical and mental injuries. I support job training for all Americans unable to find work.

The U.S. military is not a global police force. No country can possibly afford to pay for this useless manifestation of arrogance. Any secret provisions of this bill directly violate the Constitutional requirements to spell out all government expenditures. Detention of suspects without a public and fair trial also violates the 5th amendment of the Constitution. The excessive military expenditures by the U.S. government threatens the future economic viability of the U.S. economy.

The only expenditures needed for Iraq and Afghanistan are those needed for a speedy and safe exit by all U.S. personnel. These recommendations will be opposed by all who equate military might with the mission of the U.S. to shape the world. They can not see the foolishness of such a conceit. Americans expect their elected officials to put the health and wealth of their country ahead of useless and self-defeating projections of power

Scott Horton Interviews Francis Boyle

Francis Boyle discusses how in 2004 the FBI and CIA tried to make him an informant to betray his Arab and Muslim legal clients. His refusal landed him on several terrorism watch lists and guaranteeing him a lifetime of harassment when traveling. He asks if we are already living in a police state, which will become a military dictatorship after one more major terrorist attacks. Currently Professor Boyle lectures on international law at the University of Illinois College of Law.
Source: Scott Horton Interviews Francis Boyle

Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader talks with Bob McChesney

Ralph Nader was named by The Atlantic as one of the 100 most influential figures in American history, and by Time and Life magazines as one of the hundred most influential Americans of the twentieth century. Nader has organized millions of citizens into more than 100 public interest groups to advocate for solutions. His efforts have helped create laws, regulatory agencies, and federal standards that have improved the quality of life for generations of Americans. Because of Ralph Nader we drive safer cars, eat healthier food, breathe better air, drink cleaner water, and work in safer environments.
Source: Ralph Nader on Media Matters with Bob McChesney

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OKAY, THE “ESTABLISHMENT” IN MANY CITIES IS GETTING IMPATIENT WITH THE ANTICS OF THESE ANNOYING CITIZENS OF CONSCIENCE AND IT IS TIME TO BRING OUT THE BIG GUNS! LAST NIGHT IT WAS NEW YORK CITY’S TURN.

According to Corey Kilgannon and Colin Moynihan in this morning's New York Times:

The mayor’s office sent out a message on Twitter at 1:19 a.m. saying: “Occupants of Zuccotti should temporarily leave and remove tents and tarps. Protesters can return after the park is cleared.” Fliers handed out by the police at the private park on behalf of the park’s owner, Brookfield Properties, and the city, spelled out the same message.

Several hundred protesters are said to occupy the Park on the overnight. I wonder how many hundreds of cops were on overtime last night and early this morning to SHOCK AND AWE the occupiers? I wonder if the Mayor did any negotiations, seriously, with the Occupiers? I’m guessing he ricochets his messages to them faux-paternally and condescendingly via the media doing his bullshit act of “tough love” for anyone so unenlightened to take issue with the the direction of his ferocious political will.

Andre Damon of wsws writes;