Tag: Supreme Court

Jan 23 2010

The Battle of America’s Deep

An allegory in four parts

Part I: The Warning of the Dirty Fucking Hippies

The power of the Enemy is growing.  The corporations will use their puppets, the Republicans, the media, and the Blue Dog corporatists and centrists, to enslave the people of America.  Fascism has been unleashed.  The eye of the corporations now turn to the last free people of America.  Their war on this country will come swiftly.  They sense the ring is close.  The strength of the Democrats is failing.  In their hearts, progressives being to understand, the quest will claim their freedom — all their freedom.  It was the risk we all took.

In the gathering dark the will of the Ring grows strong.  It works hard now to find its way back into the hands of Congressmen.  Congressmen who are so easily seduced by its power.  The young Captain of America has now but to extend his hand, take the Ring for his own, and the world will fall.

It is close, now, so close to achieving its goal.  For the corporations will have dominion over all life in America, even unto the ending of the world.

Do we leave America to its fate?  Do we let them stand alone?

Jan 22 2010

US Supreme Court abolishes restrictions on big business political spending

Original article, by Tom Carter, via World Socialist Web Site:

In a profoundly anti-democratic decision with far-reaching implications, the US Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a law limiting the ability of corporations to spend money in support of political campaigns.

Dec 27 2009

Let Our Better Angels Guide Us

Inky99 has everyone riled up with his chart-topping post denouncing Obama’s recent embrace of torture.  In “3/5 of a President,” Inky99 declared,

“The United States is now legally free to torture whomever it wants, thanks to the Supreme Court of the land, and the political power weilded (sic) by Barrack Hussein Obama.”

So angry was Inky99 that he took the opportunity to post a racist picture and declare, “I hate Obama…because Obama IS Bush,”.  Much invective ensued.

Inky99 badly misrepresented what actually occurred.  I followed the path back to the beginning, reviewed the actual sources, and will explain below the fold why Inky99 is wrong about what happened, and is also wrong to be angry about what actually did happen.

I will then suggest that this kind of false hysteria reflects poorly on us as blogging community, and keeps us off the path to making real change.

Sep 06 2009

Do the Public Airways Really Belong to the Public?

The Current Media System favors the Representation of Corporate Interests by our Politicians.

Since the Media Airtime costs so much, Politicians generally have little choice but to give Corporate Speech an Audience, in order to get Elected. … Helloooo Corporate Lobbyists!

Click to Enlarge Flowchart A

Aug 28 2009

First Amendment Friday 16 – Lovell V. City of Griffin

Happy Friday and welcome to the 16th in the Dog’s First Amendment Friday series. This series is following the syllabus for the class called The First Amendment and taught at Yale Law School by Professor Jack M. Balkin. As with the Friday Constitutional series this is a layman’s look at the Law, specifically the Supreme Court opinions which have shaped the boundaries of our 1st Amendment Protections. If you are interested in the previous installments you can find them at the links below:

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“

Aug 21 2009

First Amendment Friday 15 – Gooding V. Wilson

Happy Friday and welcome to the 15th in the Dog’s First Amendment Friday series. This series is following the syllabus for the class called The First Amendment and taught at Yale Law School by Professor Jack M. Balkin. As with the Friday Constitutional series this is a layman’s look at the Law, specifically the Supreme Court opinions which have shaped the boundaries of our 1st Amendment Protections. If you are interested in the previous installments you can find them at the links below:

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“

Aug 20 2009

State Killing: Scalia Doesn’t Care Whether You’re Innocent, You Get Executed Anyway

In the middle of Justice Scalia’s dissent in Troy Davis’s case, a dissent that Clarence Thomas joined in, we have this remarkable, astonishing, shocking sentence:

“This court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a court that he is ‘actually’ innocent.”

I cannot believe that they wrote this in a Supeme Court opinion.  And I’m not alone in thinking I would never, never, never see something like this in a published opinion.

Aug 07 2009

First Amendment Friday 14 – New York Times V US, The Pentagon Papers.

Happy Friday and welcome to the 14th in the Dog’s First Amendment Friday series. This series is following the syllabus for the class called The First Amendment and taught at Yale Law School by Professor Jack M. Balkin. As with the Friday Constitutional series this is a layman’s look at the Law, specifically the Supreme Court opinions which have shaped the boundaries of our 1st Amendment Protections. If you are interested in the previous installments you can find them at the links below:

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“

Jul 31 2009

First Amendment Friday 13 – Nebraska Press Assoc. V Stuart

Happy Friday and welcome to the 13th in the Dog’s First Amendment Friday series. This series is following the syllabus for the class called The First Amendment and taught at Yale Law School by Professor Jack M. Balkin. As with the Friday Constitutional series this is a layman’s look at the Law, specifically the Supreme Court opinions which have shaped the boundaries of our 1st Amendment Protections. If you are interested in the previous installments you can find them at the links below:

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“

Jul 24 2009

First Amendment Friday 12 – Landmark V. Virginia

 Happy Friday and welcome to the 12th in the Dog’s First Amendment Friday series. This series is following the syllabus for the class called The First Amendment and taught at Yale Law School by Professor Jack M. Balkin. As with the Friday Constitutional series this is a layman’s look at the Law, specifically the Supreme Court opinions which have shaped the boundaries of our 1st Amendment Protections. If you are interested in the previous installments you can find them at the links below:

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“

Jul 17 2009

First Amdendment Friday 11 – Bartnicki V Vopper.

Happy Friday and welcome to the 11th in the Dog’s First Amendment Friday series. This series is following the syllabus for the class called The First Amendment and taught at Yale Law School by Professor Jack M. Balkin. As with the Friday Constitutional series this is a layman’s look at the Law, specifically the Supreme Court opinions which have shaped the boundaries of our 1st Amendment Protections. If you are interested in the previous installments you can find them at the links below:

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“

Jul 15 2009

GOPers, Sotomayor and the Soft Bigotry of…Soft Bigotry

Yvette Melendez from Glastonbury, Conn., who is sitting in the nominee’s VIP section in the hearing room, said she winced inwardly when Sen. Tom Coburn said, “You’ll have a lot of ‘splainin’ to do.” But Melendez says she didn’t feel offended. “I personally did not think it was appropriate,” she told me in an interview. “But I’m sure he said it as a joke.”

link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/…

And looking at the clip it feels that Yvette Melendez from Glastonbury, Connecticut is pretty much spot-on:

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