July » 2011 » Michelle Tackabery

Center for Media and Democracy | ALEC and “Tort Reform”

July 31, 2011 clips

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The Center for Media and Democracy has obtained copies of more than 800 model bills approved by corporations at ALEC meetings (some of which are “tort reform” bills), analyzed and marked-up those bills, and made them available at the Center’s newest resource, ALEC Exposed.

While “tort reform” is allegedly premised on the notion of “individual responsibility,” the real theory behind the effort is “individual responsibility for you, but not for corporations.” The ALEC “tort reform” bills help ALEC corporations escape responsibility for wrongdoing, help ALEC insurance companies limit payouts (and increase profits), and prevent Americans wrongfully injured or killed from receiving just compensation.

via prwatch.org

He with the most money funds the most rhetorical arguments against safety and civil rights. Your legislators are owned by corporations, and corporations are now people. They’ve been voting for more than 25 years.

No end to US civil rights violations? – Andy Worthington

July 31, 2011 clips

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As with the case of Khairullah Khairkhwa, the wrong questions are still being asked. Rather than asking whether these men can legitimately be held, what those who are disturbed by the ongoing existence of Guantánamo need to be asking instead is why the courts are justifying the ongoing — and possibly indefinite — detention of the Guantánamo prisoners, when that is inappropriate.

The majority of those still held were soldiers, who should be able to argue now that the conflict in which they were seized was finite, and cannot be an endless “War on Terror,” and the rest, accused of involvement with terrorism, should be tried for their alleged involvement in criminal activities.

via google.com

Naureckas: Puffing Petraeus | FAIR Blog

July 31, 2011 clips

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As for U.S. troops and their non-Afghan allies, 705 of them were killed in the 13 months Petraeus was in charge of Afghanistan—as opposed to 725 in the 13 months before that. Other than that, I’m sure he had a great war.

via fair.org

Richard Reeves: Murdoch: The Emperor Has No Clothes | Truthdig

July 22, 2011 clips

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So I watched the hearing with experienced fascination. I was particularly fascinated with the endless line of “I was not aware of that.”

Murdoch, father and son, were aware. I have gone down this trail many times, usually in politics. President Kennedy was “not” aware that much of the U.S. government was trying to assassinate Fidel Castro. Give me a break! The top guy knows or is a fool. John Kennedy was no fool. Then there was Ronald Reagan, who could not remember a single thing about American efforts to channel weapons through Iran to the contras in Nicaragua. Right! If you believe that, as they say, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn.