There is a playbook with a collection of tools and strategies conservatives use to erode democracy and strip mine the treasures, assets and strengths of the USA. They are almost always masked as changes aimed at serving democracy, the constitution, rights or capitalism. They are not separate. They are not coincidental. Naomi Klein described a systemic approach to strip mine nations and weaken freedoms in he ...

By Michael Collins Rebekah Brooks is a witness for her own prosecution and that of Jeremy Hunt  based on her testimony last Friday before the Leveson Inquiry on the relationship between press and politicians.  Criminal charges against the Rupert Murdoch insider and favorite may be a prelude to looming charges arising out of Brooks' testimony before the Leveson Inquiry last week. Crown Prosecution Services c ...

by Peter Phillips Sonoma State University has announced that philanthropists Joan and Sanford Weill will be recognized as the 2012 honorary degree recipients at SSU’s graduation ceremony May 12. The Weill’s recently have donated $12 million to the Green Music Center Fund. This donation enabled SSU to complete the main concert hall, the adjoining lawn and commons performance venues, officially named the Joan ...

By Kathleen Barry The work of the US military is to kill, its pretext – defense of the homeland. It has succeeded in training soldiers, mostly young men, to kill without remorse, that is until they leave the military with flare-ups of psychological trauma or PTSD. But neither the military nor the White House has convinced a war weary American public to accept men returning home from war in caskets or deeply ...

By Peter Phillips Dozens of Students and Faculty stood quietly and turned their backs when Sonoma State University President Ruben Armiñana presented the former CEO of Citigroup, Sanford (Sandy) Weill, with an honorary doctorate during commencement May 12, 2012. Andrew McGuire, Honorary SSU Doctorate receipent in 1996, stated, “Weill should be shunned, not honored… he's a criminal who robbed people with a f ...

By Michael Collins Wall Streeters, big banks, and their proxies in political office are all reaching for the Xanax tonight. The Greek left, led by Alexis Tsipras, is saying that there's no obligation to pay back the rotten deal handed down to the Greek people. (Image: Oneiros) "After accepting a mandate to create a multiparty administration following inconclusive elections, Alexis Tsipras sent shock waves t ...

By Elaine Leeder For the last fifteen years, I have been running self-help groups and classes for prisoners in a number of California and New York State prisons. When I first entered, I was struck by the glaring racial and ethnic disparity among inmates, with blacks and Latinos being the predominant groups that I encountered inside. The racial divides manifested by this disproportionate number of people of ...

As I watch the 2012 election campaign unfold, and listen to the pundits on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC and FOX, I recall Henry David Thoreau's statement that, "[t]here are thousands hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."  This observation results from my being a Nam Vet, my more than 34 years of federal litigation, my having served in various White House appointments in both the ...

  Readers might remember the distasteful case of gun-for-hire, former Superintendent of the Philadelphia School District and New Orleans School District, Paul Vallas and his erstwhile dismantling of New Orleans’ school district after Hurricane Katrina.  Vallas was on hand to help fire the entire New Orleans unionized teacher’s labor force and impose conservative, Paul T. Hill’s dreadful disaster capitalist ...

On April 19, 2012 Reuters news service reported the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating certain Apollo Company share sales by company insiders. Apollo is the parent company of the for-profit college, University of Phoenix . The insiders being investigated were not named. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/19/us-apollogroup-idUSBRE83I12C20120419 As reported at Dailycensored.com, John Spe ...