Buying Democracy = Bribe $1 Gets $760 Back
Commerce, Corruption, Government
For Every Dollar Spent Influencing US Politics, Corporations Get $760 Back
The first time we read the recent analysis by the Sunlight Foundation in which it combed through 14 million corporate records, including data on campaign contributions, lobbying expenditures, federal budget allocations and spending, in order to determine the “rate of return” on lobbying and spending to buy political goodwill, we were left speechless.
When it comes to the rate of return on lobbying, the rates are simply staggering, and range anywhere between 5,900% for oil subsidies, to 22,000% for multinational tax breaks and even higher for America's legal drug dealers.
Continue reading “Buying Democracy = Bribe $1 Gets $760 Back”
Mongoose: Change Presidential Debate Rules? Cosmetic Deception!
Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government
This is theatrical — not a real reform at all.
New group calls for changes in presidential debate rules
Philip Rucker
Washington Post, 17 March 2015
A group of political elders, concerned that the American public is losing faith in the presidential election system, is pushing for changes to general-election debate rules to make it easier for independent candidates to gain traction.
The group, called Change the Rule, recently wrote a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonpartisan organization that runs general-election debates, urging it to eliminate the rule requiring non-major-party candidates to average at least 15 percent in public polling to participate.
Continue reading “Mongoose: Change Presidential Debate Rules? Cosmetic Deception!”
Sepp Hasslberger: 3D Printing is Sci-Fi Cool
Design, Hardware
Here is a real advance in 3D printing No longer is the object made of layer deposited above layer, it's grown continuously speeding up the process and making the final object more “real”
Incredible New 3D Printing Technique Looks Like Sci-Fi
You've never seen a 3D printer like this
Jean Lievens: Open Networking In, What Next?
Design, Hardware
Now that networking's open, what's next?
Open-source hardware and software from Facebook's Open Compute Project offer new options, but most enterprises won't use them for years
. . . . . . .
Skorupa expects a third of all IT shops — including the Web-scale players — to adopt open networking. Another third will stick with the tried and true, and the other third may go either way, he said. Read more.
Open Power: Revolution Now! Non-Violently — for Electoral Reform Act of 2015 in Time for 2016
Access, Design, Governance, P2P / Panarchy, Politics
Revolution Now – Non-Violently – for Electoral Reform in 2015
Want an Honest Government Of, By, and For We the 99%? Here’s How.
Robert David STEELE Vivas (Native-Born Bi-Lingual Pissed-Off Latino Activist)
I cannot stress this enough: whatever your issue, however righteous and important it might be, it will never get a fair hearing as things now stand.
The ONLY way any issue might receive a fair hearing is if we FIRST achieve Electoral Reform and restore integrity to our government.
SHORT URL: http://tinyurl.com/Rev-USA-2015
Chris Hedges: The Most Dangerous Woman in America – a City Council PhD Socialist in Seattle
Civil Society, Ethics
The Most Dangerous Woman in America
SEATTLE — Kshama Sawant, the socialist on the City Council, is up for re-election this year. Since joining the council in January of 2014 she has helped push through a gradual raising of the minimum wage to $15 an hour in Seattle. She has expanded funding for social services and blocked, along with housing advocates, an attempt by the Seattle Housing Authority to allow a rent increase of up to 400 percent. She has successfully lobbied for city money to support tent encampments and is fighting for an excise tax on millionaires. And for this she has become the bete noire of the Establishment, especially the Democratic Party.
