How Deregulation Foretold Nuclear Disaster In Japan

There will be a postmortem to determine the cause of the nuclear accident in Japan at Fukushima, and all the usual suspects will be rounded up for interrogation. One, however, will get a nod and a wink without any serious investigation: deregulation. It’s the linchpin of the problem, but it will get nary more than a cursory examination.

In the neoliberal world economy, deregulation and free markets are the Holy Grail on the altar at which we’re all forced to worship. Speaking badly about deregulation is like talking about someone’s mother; it’s simply not done. However, to exclude it from the discussion condemns us to another such tragedy. It’s time this thorny issue be addressed and resolved, once and for all, for the good of every living creature on the planet.
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Why The Battle For Wisconsin Is The Future Of America

Most people will experience the political overreach and push-back happening in Wisconsin only once or twice in their lifetimes. It’s creating a fundamental ideological shift of formerly entrenched constituencies, and although it takes time for a ship the size of the US to reverse course, that’s exactly what’s happening.

Wisconsin is just a harbinger. After 30 years of “austerity politics,” Republicans have only grandmas, the poor, and school teachers left to attack. Combined with an increased understanding that current tax rates are grossly unfair, Americans are beginning to wrest back their rights in the face of corporate-dominated politics.

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Why Cutting The Military Budget Is Essential To America’s Future

The waiter puts your plate of food on the table, and you comment that there’s no vegetable. He hands you a bottle of ketchup and says, “Here’s your vegetable,” and walks away.

Sound ludicrous? That was the opening salvo fired by Ronald Reagan in his war on the underprivileged and disadvantaged in his inaugural year as President in 1981. To save money on those wasteful school lunch programs for the needy, Reagan and his budget director, David Stockman, suggested ketchup be considered a vegetable rather than a condiment. While roundly ridiculed and unsuccessful, this wasn’t Reagan’s last assault on the impoverished, just his first.

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The Police Are Not Your Friend

You’re face down on the pavement with one guy kneeling on your neck and the other kicking you with his steel toed boots. You wish somebody would call the cops, but what do you do if it’s the cops that are kicking you? An increasing number of Americans are becoming aware of the extent of police brutality and misconduct, but they don’t know what to do about it.

Billy Rork, a criminal defense attorney in Topeka, KS for more than 30 years is fond of saying, “The police are not your friends unless you’re six years old and lost.” It’s even on his business card. Given the events of the last decade, it’s hard to argue against his sentiment. While police brutality has been an issue the entirety of my lifetime, it’s progressed to a frightening level.

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The Injustice Of The Death Penalty In America

John Edward Green Jr. is on trial in Houston, charged with fatally shooting a woman in a 2008 robbery. Harris County Judge Kevin Fine, a Democratic judge in Republican Texas, has stated his decision whether to allow prosecutors to request the death penalty will “boil down to whether or not an innocent person has actually been executed” in Texas. Texas has a treasure trove of innocent people who’ve found themselves on death row. The problem isn’t those who’ve been exonerated, it’s those who haven’t.

Cameron Todd Willingham and Claude Jones are names that supporters of the death penalty don’t want to hear. Both were executed in Texas after trials left more questions than answers with evidence uncovered after both executions showing that both were likely innocent.
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