THE HEADLINES: JULY 24, 2010

 

EVER WONDERED WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE UNITED STATES ALLOWED ISRAEL TO LAUNCH AN ATTACK ON IRAN? BRACE YOURSELF...

Juan Cole explores the consequences of a unilateral Israeli strike on Iran, a very real possibility in the very near future now that a third of Republicans in the House and many Democrats in Congress have signed onto efforts urging President Obama to "let" Israel "defend itself."

 

FINAL REPORT FROM OBAMA'S BANK PAY CZAR IS OUT! THE SHOCKING RESULT? FINANCIAL COMPANIES GAVE BILLIONS IN UNMERITED BONUSES TO EXECUTIVES EVEN AS TAXPAYERS WERE "BAILING" THEM OUT, BUT NO ONE CAN DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

With public outrage over compensation for Wall Street CEO's raging, President Obama appointed Ken Feinberg as his "pay czar" to conduct an investigation into the details of bonuses paid out by banks during the height of the financial crisis, when any companies were receiving billions in taxpayer-funded "bailouts" from the government. Feinberg found, to no one's surprise, that hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses were handed out to executives at failing banks with virtually no accountability. And what can the federal government do about it? Nothing. Feinberg had no power to recoup any of the squandered public money or change the pay system going forward, and the recent "financial reform" bill leaves out any specifics of reigning in executive pay. Wall Street gets off scot-free...again.

 

ANTI-IMMIGRANT FRENZY, STIRRED UP IN ARIZONA, HITS THE MIDWEST.

In a development met with far less publicity than the firestorm over Arizona's controversial SB-1070, Fremont, Nebraska voted in June to implement a sweeping law meant to virtually ban anyone suspected of being in the country "illegally" from working or residing in the small town. Now, only days before the law was scheduled to go into effect, lawsuits from a host of Hispanic advocacy groups and the ACLU may delay the strict new law, which would force "suspected" undocumented residents to prove their legal citizenship before being allowed to rent property or get a job.

 

HAS MONEY BECOME A LIABILITY IN RACES FOR ELECTED OFFICE? IT HAS IN SOUTH FLORIDA.

Florida has been at the head of a national trend where "self-made" multi-millionaires are making bids for office as "populist" candidates seeking to tap into the anger with incumbent officeholders and Washington "insiders." Jeff Greene, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, and Rick Scott, a conservative Republican "Tea Party" activist in the race for governor, have based their campaigns around their identities as "outsiders" and not "career politicians," despite their collective tens of millions in personal wealth that dwarf average incomes in Florida. Now some Sunshine State voters are fighting back, with a public rally held in Palm Beach protesting Greene and Scott for their wealth, turning the personal profits that had been an advantage into a political liability.

 

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

Nothing we are doing is illegal and I'm not afraid, but I'm uncomfortable about my country turning into a fascist state. The Israeli authorities are trying to intimidate Israelis who engage in political dissent. We present no security threat. But the line between political activism and security is becoming increasingly blurred by the authorities who are trying to criminalise dissent.

Yonatan Shapira, member of Combatants for Peace, group of former Israeli soldiers and former Intifada fighters.

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MISSION

The Sun State Activist is a website for all Floridians of progressive political leanings---that is, all those who believe that, through intelligence, commitment and concerted action we can make a difference toward realizing a humane world, country, state and local community. In many of its dimensions the site will be of benefit to progressives outside Florida.

ORGANIZATION OF THE SITE

The website divides the universe of progressive interest into some 95 topics and sub-topics and provides website and other links to organizations and events related to each topic as well as a source of information from various publications, websites and electronic media.

TOPIC DESCRIPTIONS

  1. GENERAL PROGRESSIVE ACTION deals with those organizations and individuals who have broad agendas of progressive social action; with progressive organizations such as the Green Party and Progressive Democrats of America; with progressive magazines like The Nation and on-line outlets such as Common Dreams.Org; with connections to alternative radio, television, book and film outlets.  

2. PEACE AND WAR is the website of the peace activist and those seeking to understand the causes of war and militarism. It deals with large peace initiatives like a proposed Department of Peace; with the imperialist foreign policy of the United States, including the Iraqi/Afghan war; with 9-11 and the “war on terror;” with the influence of the military/industrial complex on foreign policy and with military recruitment and procurement; with weapons both conventional and nuclear and weapons in space.  

3. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES deals with the conservation and enhancement of natural resources; control of pollution of our land, waters and air; with environmental regulation and the destruction of environmental habitats with economic development; with animal rights; with natural disasters (their causes and with public responses to them.)  

4. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT deals with the effort to compromise the needs of economic development with the “human” need for relatively small-scale enterprises; with agri-business and big box stores as symptoms of unbalanced development; with the development of alternative energy sources that do not destroy our environments and ways of life.  

5. CIVIL RIGHTS deals with a wide range of groups of people who suffer discrimination or denial of their constitutional rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; among others, with blacks, Latinos, Asians, indigenous peoples, gays and lesbians, children, elderly, convicted felons who have served their sentences, immigrants, “terrorism” suspects.  

6. ECONOMIC JUSTICE deals with the issue of inequality of opportunity among different groups of people; with poverty, wages and unemployment; with worker’s rights to organize; with affordable housing and the homeless; with taxation and budgets; with globalization and corporate dominance; with retirement security.  

7. MEDIA ISSUES deals with the integrity of our media in their coverage of issues of progressive interest, including elections and issues that arise in the course of decision-making; with the related issue of corporate control of the media, including the issue of consolidation of media ownership.  

8. ELECTORAL ISSUES deals with how and whether our political processes are actually democratic in that they allow the will of the people to be expressed; with electronic voting systems and their effects on election outcomes; with manipulations of the voting system like re-districting schemes designed to benefit vested interests; with alternate voting systems better designed to reflect the will of the people in voting outcome.  

9. CRIMINAL JUSTICE deals with issues concerning the effects of incarceration, the death penalty, mandatory sentencing and other harsh sanctions on the kind of society we are trying to develop; with drug policy and other issues of criminalization; with due process in encounters of suspects with police and courts.  

10. ETHICS: GOVERNMENTAL, CORPORATE, PROFESSIONAL deals with political scandal, especially as it relates to the influence of money and corporate power on political decision-making; with efforts at campaign finance reform; with issues of corrupt corporate officials whose practices compromise the interests of their employees and the public.  

11. HEALTH CARE deals with issues of quality and delivery of medical facilities to whose needing them; with inequality in same;