Prison Profiteers

by Chris Hedges from Truthdig

If, as Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote, “the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons” then we are a nation of barbarians. Our vast network of federal and state prisons, with some 2.3 million inmates, rivals the gulags of totalitarian states. Once you disappear behind prison walls you become prey. Rape. Torture. Beatings. Prolonged isolation. Sensory deprivation. Racial profiling. Chain gangs. Forced labor. Rancid food. Children imprisoned as adults. Prisoners forced to take medications to induce lethargy. Inadequate heating and ventilation. Poor health care. Draconian sentences for nonviolent crimes. Endemic violence. 

Corporations: The Real Welfare Queens

Ken O’Brien

Profitable corporations are supposed to pay a 35 percent federal income tax rate on their U.S. profits. But many corporations pay far less, or nothing at all, because of the many tax loopholes and special breaks they enjoy. A new report by Citizens for Tax Justice documents just how successful many Fortune 500 corporations have been at using these loopholes and special breaks over the past five years.

Conservatives and Tea Partiers constantly bemoan “Obama’s Socialist Welfare State” and cut unemployment benefits, food stamps, fuel assistance, education and other programs that benefit our neediest citizens in an effort to reduce the Federal deficit and the national debt. Simultaneously they turn a blind eye to the true beneficiaries of government largess – the biggest and most profitable corporations. 

I'll See Your Citizens United Case and Raise You Montana

Ken O'Brien

A surprisingly little noticed tremor rocked the legal world on the Friday before New Year's.

It came from of all places the big sky country of Montana. Montana, one of only a few states with more U. S. Senators than representatives in the U.S. House.

On a five to two vote, the Montana State Supreme Court challenged the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case.

For those who need refreshing on that landmark case, I provide the following summary taken from Wikipedia:

Occupy Wall Street Goes Mainstream

Ken O'Brien

On Tuesday night the Los Angeles City Council went on record as the first major city passing a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are not persons and that money is not speech.

The Examiner.com reported, "Thanks to ground work by the U.S. Green Party, the wave of Occupy Wall Street empowerment and Human Rights Alert, today, Los Angeles became the first major U.S. city to vote against corporate personhood and call for a Constitutional Amendment asserting corporations are not entitled to constitutional rights and that money is not free speech. The vote was unanimous."