Month: January, 2015
Bernie Sanders Files A New Constitutional Amendment to Overturn Citizens United
| January 21, 2015 | 8:43 pm | Bernie Sanders, National, political struggle | Comments closed
By: Jason Easley
Source: PoliticusUSA
Wednesday, January, 21st, 2015, 12:30 pm
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is renewing his efforts to rid the country of Citizens United by introducing a new constitutional amendment that would overturn the Supreme Court’s decision.
The amendment states:
SECTION 1. Whereas the right to vote in public elections belongs only to natural persons as citizens of the United States, so shall the ability to make contributions and expenditures to influence the outcome of public elections belong only to natural persons in accordance with this Article.
SECTION 2. Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to restrict the power of Congress and the States to protect the integrity and fairness of the electoral process, limit the corrupting influence of private wealth in public elections, and guarantee the dependence of elected officials on the people alone by taking actions which may include the establishment of systems of public financing for elections, the imposition of requirements to ensure the disclosure of contributions and expenditures made to influence the outcome of a public election by candidates, individuals, and associations of individuals, and the imposition of content neutra limitations on all such contributions and expenditures.

  SECTION 3. Nothing in this Article shall be construed to alter the freedom of the press.
Sen. Sanders had to propose a new amendment because legislation that isn’t acted on by the previous Congress expires at the end of the session. Since Congress didn’t act on the amendment the last time Sanders filed it, he is bringing it back in the new Congress.
The key section of the amendment is Section 2. The second section would halt the Supreme Court’s money is free speech interpretation of the Constitution. The first section of the amendment deals directly with the idea that corporations are people, but the second section overturns the 1976 Buckley v. Valeo Supreme Court decision that money is speech. The second section of the amendment would throw out the entire basis for the Supreme Court’s rulings in campaign finance cases.
When Sen. Sanders introduced this amendment in 2013, he said, “What the Supreme Court did in Citizens United is to tell billionaires like the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson, ‘You own and control Wall Street. You own and control coal companies. You own and control oil companies. Now, for a very small percentage of your wealth, we’re going to give you the opportunity to own and control the United States government.’ That is the essence of what Citizens United is all about. That is why this disastrous decision must be reversed.”
President Obama endorsed the Sanders constitutional amendment in 2012, and explained the rationale behind it, “Money has always been a factor in politics, but we are seeing something new in the no-holds barred flow of seven and eight figure checks, most undisclosed, into super-PACs; they fundamentally threaten to overwhelm the political process over the long run and drown out the voices of ordinary citizens. We need to start with passing the Disclose Act that is already written and been sponsored in Congress – to at least force disclosure of who is giving to who. We should also pass legislation prohibiting the bundling of campaign contributions from lobbyists. Over the longer term, I think we need to seriously consider mobilizing a constitutional amendment process to overturn Citizens United (assuming the Supreme Court doesn’t revisit it). Even if the amendment process falls short, it can shine a spotlight of the super-PAC phenomenon and help apply pressure for change.”
The point of the constitutional amendment isn’t passage. The point is to bring attention to the issue of what Citizens United continues to do to our electoral process. The most likely path to overturning Citizens United remains a Democratic presidential victory in the 2016 election. Two of the conservatives Justices who made up the majority in the Citizens United decision are 78 years old. The odds of one or both justices serving the last two years of President Obama’s term and another eight years under another potential Democratic president are slim. (It also wouldn’t be surprising to see the 81 year old Ruth Bader Ginsburg retire before President Obama leaves office.)
The Supreme Court is due for a generational change, and if Democrats control the White House, that change could result in a 5-4 liberal leaning court.
In the meantime, Sen. Sanders is leading the fight to inform the American people about the toxic nature of unlimited money in their electoral process. The movement to overturn Citizens United needs and educated population, because outside of the Supreme Court, public pressure is the best way to get the billionaire dollars out of our elections is to have tens of millions of voices demand it.
Charlie Hebdo: Pretext for a new crusade?
| January 19, 2015 | 9:46 pm | Analysis, International | Comments closed
While France mourns its dead, the institutional and neo-Nazi extreme right rubs its hands in anticipation for the fear campaign.

Author: Iramsy Peraza Forte | internet@granma.cu

January 15, 2015 19:01:00 A CubaNews translation.

Edited by Walter Lippmann. http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs4259.html

Paris has become the “world capital” against jihadist terrorism. After the attack on the satirical weekly Charlie Hedbo, where 12 people were murdered, French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, told the National Assembly that his country was at war against terrorism, stressing that the fight is against jihadists and Islamic radicals. Valls also clarified that the battle is not against Islam and that increased surveillance of suspected terrorists was needed, as well as more education to make clear the dangers of radicalization.

It was precisely the war against terrorism –the banner of the Bush administration– which caused two wars: in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are still latent today, and have caused thousands of deaths, secret prisons and the implementation of systematic torture by the CIA.
France launched an internal security operation where more than 10,000 military were deployed throughout the country. In this context, the reactions of the French and European political and media classes predict a rise in Islamophobia and hatred against Muslims.
This mistaken association of Islam, the Muslim world and the population of the Arab countries with groups and militias that practice fundamentalist terrorism is an ideology that gained momentum, especially after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Since the fateful last January 7 the tensions around Islam have increased considerably as if all its faithful had shot the newspaper cartoonists. While France still mourns its dead and nearly four million people, including leaders from nearly 50 nations, take to the streets to condemn the slaughter, the institutional and neo-Nazi extreme right rubs its hands in anticipation for the campaign of fear.

After the Charlie Hebdo massacre, extreme-right organizations in Germany, the USA and France, promoted racist rallies directed against Muslim communities in these countries. Such initiatives now tend to multiply. Right-wing parties across Europe have taken advantage of the shock created by the attack to channel even more racist feelings against the followers of the Prophet Muhammad. Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front, said before the cameras of France 2 television that his country should declare war against fundamentalism. He also proposed a series of measures related to border control, strengthening of police security and denial of French citizenship to immigrants.

This radicalization against the Islamic world, whether terrorist or not, is shared by several members of the French parliamentary right.

From Germany, the German extremist movement Pegida (European Patriots against the Islamization of the West), under the pretext of solidarity with the victims of the terrorist attack on the headquarters of the magazine, held a demonstration against the “Islamist expansion and conquest” in Europe. Behind the facade of condemning the Paris attack, European far-right and anti-immigration parties –calling themselves “anti-Islamization”– disguise openly xenophobic and racist proclamations. This declared war against fundamentalism was also seconded by attacks on mosques across France. Most Muslims and their places of worship have been the target of anger triggered by a group of terrorists who believe they speak for all of Islam, while in fact represent only a tiny minority.

The terrorists responsible for the attack on Charlie Hebdo are specific individuals belonging to a particular Takfirite organization: the Al Qaeda network in Yemen, which claimed responsibility for the attack in a video. Extending the blame toward religions, ethnic or national groups promotes injustice and barbarity.

 

Charlie Hebdo, ¿justificación para una nueva cruzada?

Cuando Francia aún llora a sus muertos, la extrema derecha institucional y neonazi comenzó a frotarse las manos gracias a esta campaña de miedo

Autor: Iramsy Peraza Forte | internet@granma.cu

15 de enero de 2015 19:01:00

Francia puso en marcha una operación de seguridad. Foto: AFP
París se ha convertido en la “capital mundial” contra el terrorismo yihadista. Luego del atentado contra el semanario satírico Charlie Hedbo, donde murieron asesinadas 12 personas, el primer ministro francés, Manuel Valls, señaló a la Asamblea Nacional que su país está en guerra contra el terrorismo, subrayando que la lucha es contra el yihadismo y los islamistas radicales.
Valls también aclaró que la batalla  no es contra el Islam y que se necesitaba una mayor vigilancia de los sospechosos de terrorismo, pero también más educación para dejar en claro los peligros de la radicalización.
Precisamente la guerra contra el terrorismo fue la bandera de la administración Bush, que provocó dos guerras —en Irak y Afganistán— que hoy siguen latentes, y causó miles de muertos, cárceles secretas y la implementación de tortura sistemática por parte de la CIA.
Francia puso en marcha una operación de seguridad interior donde más de 10 000 militares se desplegarán por el país. En este contexto, las reacciones de la clase política y mediática francesa  y europea hacen augurar un auge de la islamofobia y del odio contra los musulmanes.
Esta mala asociación del Islam, del mundo musulmán y la población de los países árabes  con los grupos y milicias que practican el terrorismo fundamentalista es una ideología que cobró fuerza sobre todo luego de los ataques del 11 de septiembre del 2001. Desde el fatídico 7 de enero pasado las tensiones alrededor del Islam han aumentado considerablemente como si todos sus fieles hubieran disparado contra los caricaturistas del periódico.
Cuando Francia aún llora a sus muertos y casi cuatro millones de personas salen a las calles para condenar la masacre, incluidos líderes de casi 50 naciones, la extrema derecha institucional y neonazi comenzó a frotarse las manos gracias a esta campaña de miedo.
Organizaciones de extrema derecha en Alemania, EE.UU. y Francia, promovieron manifestaciones racistas dirigidas contra las comunidades musulmanas de estos países en nombre de la masacre. Tales iniciativas ahora tienden a multiplicarse.
Partidos de derecha de toda Europa han aprovechado el shock creado por el ataque para canalizar aún más un sentimiento racista contra los confesionarios del profeta Mahoma.
Marine Le Pen, líder del Frente Nacional, dijo ante las cámaras de la televisora France 2 que su país debía declarar la guerra al fundamentalismo. También propuso una serie de medidas relacionadas con el control de las fronteras, refuerzo de la seguridad policial y privación de la nacionalidad francesa a los inmigrantes.
Esta radicalización contra el mundo islámico, terrorista o no, es compartida por varios diputados de la derecha parlamentaria francesa.
Desde Alemania, el movimiento extremista alemán Pegida  (Patriotas Europeos contra la Islamización de Occidente), bajo el pretexto de solidarizarse con las víctimas del ataque terrorista a la sede de la revista, convocó a una manifestación contra la “extensión y conquista del Islam” en Europa.
Tras la fachada de condena al atentado de París, los partidos europeos de extrema derecha y antinmigración, autodenominados “antislamización”, disfrazan en la mayor parte de los casos proclamas abiertamente xenófobas y racistas.
Esta guerra declarada al fundamentalismo ha sido secundada, además, por ataques a mezquitas en todo el territorio francés. La mayoría de los musulmanes y sus lugares de culto, han sido el blanco de la ira desencadenada hacia un grupo de terroristas que cree hablar en nombre de todo el Islam, mientras en realidad representan apenas una ínfima minoría.
Los terroristas responsables del atentado contra el Charlie Hebdo son personas concretas, que pertenecen a una organización takfirita concreta: la red Al Qaeda en Yemen, que reivindicó en un video la autoría del ataque. Extender esa culpa hacia religiones, etnias o grupos nacionales supone fomentar la injusticia y la barbarie.

http://www.granma.cu/mundo/2015-01-15/charlie-hebdo-justificacion-para-una-nueva-cruzada

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Venezuela: Nicolás Maduro saluda al pueblo tras gira internacional
| January 18, 2015 | 6:52 pm | International, Latin America, political struggle, Venezuela | Comments closed

Bernie Sanders on Budget Committee Priorities
| January 18, 2015 | 6:44 pm | Bernie Sanders, Economy, political struggle, Social Security | Comments closed

MLK, Jr. on the humanity of jazz
| January 17, 2015 | 8:38 pm | African American Culture, African American history, National, Struggle for African American equality | Comments closed

JANUARY 20, 2014

http://kalamu.com/neogriot/2015/01/17/history-video-martin-luther-king-jr-on-the-humanity-of-jazz/

 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

On The Humanity

Of Jazz

 

by: 

In the speech he gave before the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington in August 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., employed the refrain, “Now is the time.”  Was he inspired by Charlie Parker’s, “Now’s the Time,” the original blues that Bird recorded on his Savoy Jazz debut in 1945?  As evidenced by his introductory remarks for the Berlin Jazz Festival the following year, King had a profound appreciation of jazz.

(Mahalia Jackson, wearing corsage, looks over at MLK speaking at the March on Washington.)

In September 1964, as the guest of Mayor Willy Brandt, King spent two days in (West) Berlin.  During the whirlwind visit, he gave a sermon to a crowd of 20,000, visited the Berlin Wall, and attended a memorial concert for President Kennedy.  It’s also long been reported that he gave the keynote address to the inaugural Berlin Jazz Festival, but in recent years that’s been disputed by Bruce Jackson and Professor David Demsey of William Patterson University.  Whether spoken or merely written for the festival’s program, King offers genuine insight about the role that jazz musicians played as they “championed” the search for identity among African Americans. “Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of ‘racial identity’ as a problem for a multi-racial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls,” King wrote.  (Read the complete text below.)

Duke Ellington composed “King Fit the Battle of Alabam,” for his 1963 musical, My People.  It was staged in Chicago for the Century of Negro Progress Exhibition celebrating the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation.  Alas, it never got to Broadway, but some of the music was later incorporated into the Sacred Concerts.  “King Fit the Battle…” celebrates MLK, lunch counter sit-ins, freedom riders, and satirizes the notorious Birmingham, Alabama Sheriff Bull Connors.  While he was in Chicago, Ellington met Dr. King in a meeting that was arranged by Marian Logan, wife of Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s friend and physician, Dr. Arthur Logan.

One senses that Dr. King would have understood what Stanley Crouch meant in his 2009 Daily News column lamenting the absence of jazz in the public rituals of the Obama administration.  “Jazz predicted the civil rights movement more than any other art in America…Jazz was always an art, but because of the race of its creators, it was always more than music. Once the whites who played it and the listeners who loved it began to balk at the limitations imposed by segregation, jazz became a futuristic social force in which one was finally judged purely on the basis of one’s individual ability.” Or, as King famously put it, “Judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Speaking of Birmingham, here’s the John Coltrane Quartet playing “Alabama” on Ralph J. Gleason’s public television series, Jazz Casual.  Coltrane composed the elegy in commemoration of the four girls murdered in the fire-bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham on September 15, 1963.  Trane first recorded the piece on November 18; this was taped on December 7.)

Humanity and the Importance of Jazz

“God has brought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create – and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations.

“Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life’s difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. This is triumphant music.

“Modern Jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument.

“It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of “racial identity” as a problem for a multi-racial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm
that which was stirring within their souls.

“Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down. And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith. In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.”

 

>via: http://nepr.net/music/2014/01/20/martin-luther-king-jr-humanity-jazz/

Morales Government Generates Massive Jobs Growth in Bolivia
| January 17, 2015 | 8:24 pm | Analysis, Economy, International, Latin America, political struggle | Comments closed

TeleSUR English, January 15, 2015

Since being elected, Bolivian President Evo Morales has carried out policies to create employment throughout the country. 

Bolivian Minister of Labor Daniel Santalla announced Wednesday that Bolivia has generated a half a million jobs in both the private and public sectors since 2006.

“There was major increase in employment throughout the country since 2006, according to the data we have, in both the public and private sector have created more the 500,000 jobs in the country,” he stated.

Santalla attributed the increased employment levels to the policies carried out under President Evo Morales’ administration, which has aimed to expand employment opportunities, especially for economically marginalized communities.

However, the minister also noted that the creation of jobs must also include the generation of “decent and dignified” forms of labor in which workers should receive benefits from social security.

Since 2005, the Bolivian government has made considerable progress in terms of improving labor legislation, including:

• Prohibiting unlawful firings
• Legalizing strikes
• No longer allows employers to fire women with children less then a year old
• Allows women to have paid day to go the gynecologist
• Providing three months of paid benefits after a worker is fired or resigns

Most importantly, from 2005-2013 Bolivia has achieved an increase in real minimum wage of 104 percent, higher than any other Latin American country, according to the International Labor Organization.

 

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Morales-Government-Generates-Massive-Jobs-Growth-in-Bolivia-20150115-0032.html

Woman Shocked to See Brother’s Mug Shot Used as Police Target Practice
| January 17, 2015 | 8:22 pm | National, police terrorism | Comments closed

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/01/woman_shocked_to_see_brother_s_mug_shot_photo_used_as_police_target_practice.html

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