Mr.
Matt
Spangler

Supreme Court Rejects Campaign Spending Limits

One of the most insidious and disheartening articles I have read in a while.

via soupsoup:

Supreme Court Rejects Campaign Spending Limits

The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations may spend freely to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, easing decades-old limits on their participation in federal campaigns.

The court on Thursday overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said corporations can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to pay for campaign ads. The decision almost certainly will also allow labor unions to participate more freely in campaigns and threatens similar limits imposed by 24 states.

The justices also struck down part of the landmark McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill that barred union- and corporate-paid issue ads in the closing days of election campaigns.

Back to business as usual, your vote can again be bought. The Supreme Count rules that Cash Rules Everything Around Me. The RZA (Roberts), The GZA (Ginsberg), Old Dirty John Paul Stevens, Ghostface Sotomayor, and The M’alito Man.

Open Mouth and Insert Foot

via stever:

Stephen Hawking both British and not dead

“In perhaps the most amusing effort to discredit President Obama’s plan for nationalized health care - if not the most ridiculous - US financial newspaper Investor’s Business Daily has said that if Stephen Hawking were British, he would be dead.”

The right-wing nutjob who wrote the Investor’s Business Daily editorial did not know that Hawking is a UK citizen who lives in the UK. Furthermore, the writer didn’t know that Hawking has been cared for by the National Health Service for over 40 years. I did wonder how he could have assumed that Hawking is American. Then I read a comment somewhere that pointed out that Hawking’s synthesised voice has an American accent. I’d never heard of the Investor’s Business Daily before, but it must be staffed by idiots.

Gatesgate

I could care less about this debate, although I definitely fall on the ‘cop abuse of power’ side of this argument.  That being said one thing I’m happy about - by calling this issue “Gatesgate”, the usage of ______gate as the term for a media shitstorm has completely jumped the shark.  Put it to bed people.

via spiers:

Good Radley Balko piece on Gatesgate here . (Dek: “Put the race talk aside: the issue here is abuse of police power, and misplaced deference to authority.”)

By any account of what happened—Gates’, Crowleys’, or some version in between—Gates should never have been arrested. “Contempt of cop,” as it’s sometimes called, isn’t a crime. Or at least it shouldn’t be. It may be impolite, but mouthing off to police is protected speech, all the more so if your anger and insults are related to a perceived violation of your rights. The “disorderly conduct” charge for which Gates was arrested was intended to prevent riots, not to prevent cops from enduring insults.

“The Henry Louis Gates Teaching Moment” [Reason]

Hugo Chavez on Frontline

The Frontline profile of Hugo Chavez is a must see.  Great journalism that is unbiased and eye-opening.  Chavez’s “Alo Presidente” show is something I had no concept of prior to viewing it and it plays such a huge role in the history of his presidency and how he controls the propaganda around his “Revolution”.

At the end its a sad summary that in the last 10 years, he has gotten little accomplished for the people who lifted him to power.