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Citizens United decision: a legal recipe for perpetual bailout of corporations "too big to fail"

After this US Supreme Court decision, maybe the corporations will buy Sarah Palin the White House just because they can.-- eds.
 
1-21-10
Leagle.com
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission: The Stevens Dissent
Opinion of STEVENS, J.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 08–205
CITIZENS UNITED, APPELLANT v. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION
ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
January 21, 2010

Facts beneath our feet

Last Sunday, I listened to a roundtable of learned talking heads on Meet the Press instantly agree with the assertion one of them made that of course the federal government could not actually create jobs.
Later that afternoon, I went out for a walk in Merced. It is difficult to walk anywhere in my neighborhood without seeing the familiar stamp in the sidewalk that reads either "WPA 1940" or "WPA 1941."

Agribusiness Giant Westlands Moves to Kill Salmon...Dan Bacher

Indybay
Agribusiness Giant Westlands Moves to Kill Salmon...Dan Bacher...2-1-10  
Westlands Water District, the "Darth Vader of California water politics, is requesting a federal judge to order lifting restrictions on the operation of huge delta water pumps and canals from February through May, according to a news release from the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations and Water4Fish.

Checkmate

 
1-08-10
Asia Times 

 Russia, China, Iran redraw energy map...M K Bhadrakumar
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/LA08Ag01.html
The inauguration of the Dauletabad-Sarakhs-Khangiran pipeline on Wednesday connecting Iran's northern Caspian region with Turkmenistan's vast gas field may go unnoticed amid the Western media cacophony that it is "apocalypse now" for the Islamic regime in Tehran.

State banks

In the Democratic Party primary race for governor of Oregon, former Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury is proposing a state bank modeled on the Bank of North Dakota. Historically, Oregon has provided good ideas to its sluggish southern neighbor, for example recall, initiative and referendum.
Badlands JOurnal editorial board
1-20-10
KATU.com
Bill Bradbury dreams of a Bank of Oregon
http://www.katu.com/news/local/82197232.html

A raptor rescue

1-15-10
Stockton Record
Look out below...Alex Breitler
http://blogs.esanjoaquin.com/san-joaquin-river-delta/2010/01/14/look-out-below/
Golfer Kyle Bowers of Stockton got a birdie Thursday. But not the kind he wanted.
Bowers had just arrived at the sixth hole of The Reserve at Spanos Park early Thursday afternoon when he ducked into the bathroom, a Porta Potty-like facility with a tank.

Bankrupt and borrowing for unemployment insurance

ProPublica's Unemployment Insurance Tracker reveals that California is the largest among 25 states in the category of bankrupt unemployment insurance funds. Currently, according to ProPublica, the state has borrowed $6.5 billion from the federal government, has $113.8 million in the trust fund now and ProPublica predicts the state will be insolvent in six months. No other borrowing state has borrowed more than $1.5 billion (Indiana).

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