New Populist Moment

An excellent summary and analysis of the current political climate and the prospects for impacting change. One of the keystone items is a constitutional amendment that clarifies that corporations are not persons who are eligible for civil rights. 
http://www.truth-out.org/new-populist-moment68816

Worst Political Campaign Speech Ever

This is hysterical, from YouTube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVsl6r5d-ds

Supreme Court may strike another blow to campaign finance laws

Another disappointing development in efforts to reform campaign finance laws.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/blog/entry/3086/

The WikiLeaks News & Views Blog for Monday, Day 121

Greg Mitchell has been providing weekly updates on WikiLeaks-related developments. They provide a great resource for those interested in following the story despite Mitchell plugging his upcoming book on Pvt. Manning.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/159513/wikileaks-news-views-blog-monday-day-121

Wisconsin stops collecting union dues, starts charging more for health care

The Walker-led Republicans are moving to implement their union-busting law despite the fact that the Secretary of State says it is not yet in effect. A court hearing on the matter is set for Tuesday.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/118775974.html

Meanwhile, Indiana House Democrats have returned to the state after securing concessions from Republicans in the legislature.
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/28/134932285/indiana-democrats-end-boycott-return-to-capitol?ft=1&f=1001

Big Solar's Death Panels

This is an interesting piece on the conflict between installing renewable energy capacity and preserving the ecosystem. Alas, it's going to be complicated and litigious every step of the way!
http://motherjones.com/environment/2011/03/solar-panels-desert-tortoise-mojave

Weekly Standard Publishes Hagiography To Koch Brothers, Doesn’t Disclose Financial Ties To Kochs

The ever-vigilant site ThinkProgress reports on the undisclosed conflicts of interest of the Weekly Standard and its reporters, and their misleading and disingenuous story.
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/28/koch-weekly-standard/

Radioactive water spilling into tunnels beneath Japan's quake-damaged nuclear plant

None of the news coming out of Japan is very encouraging.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-sci-japan-reactor-damage-20110328,0,2784682.story?track=rss&utm_

Fukushima may end up as a concrete-encased ghost plant, says expert
http://www.grist.org/article/2011-03-28-fukushima-will-end-up-as-a-concrete-encased-ghost-plant-says-exp

American Thought Police

Krugman weighs in of the Wisconsin GOP's attempt to silence Professor Cronon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/opinion/28krugman.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

The American Historical Association Deplores Effort to Intimidate Professor Cronon.
http://blog.historians.org/news/1293/aha-council-deplores-recent-intimidation-efforts-aimed-at-cronon

The Fate That Geraldine Ferraro Didn't Deserve

I remember being outraged at the press reviews after the Vice-Presidendial debate with Bush I. I thought Geraldine had kicked ass...
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/democratic_party/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/03/26/geraldine_ferraro

Paul Stamets On 6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save The World

This is an incredible video from TedTalk of a lecture by mycologist, Paul Stamets. It's fascinating, both technical and historical in nature, and he demonstrates the power of these natural organisms to clean up toxins in six case studies. 
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html

Below is a link to The Nuclear Forest Recovery Zone - a plan developed by Stamets to remediate the radiation damage at Fukushima in part by planting mushrooms that use radiation as an energy source. Here are a few words thoughts from Stamets on the situation:
"The tragedy in Japan has brought into focus, for me, what we could do to help heal the ecosystem. I suggest a novel mycoremediation strategy: The Nuclear Forest Recovery Zone. This approach would be to utilize the abundant wood debris, chipping it, and placing the chipped wood over the most contaminated landscapes. Thereupon, trees with mycorrhizal mushrooms, native to Japan, would uptake and hyperaccumulate radioactive metals, a phenomenon brought into focus after Chernobyl where one mushroom, Gomphidius glutinosus, concentrated 10,000 x the background, ambient levels of cesium 137."
http://coalitionforpositivechange.com/stamets-fallout-mycoremediation.pdf

End Tax Breaks for Profitable Corporations

Bernie Sanders calls on Corporate America to pay their fair share of taxes and for the government to stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas. Hopefully we will hear more and more about this until the laws are finally rewritten.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/end-tax-breaks-for-profit_b_841173.html

Ten Big Corporate Tax Breaks, and Who Benefits
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/02/09/10-Big-Corporate-Tax-Breaks.aspx

In Lawless Fitzwalkerstan: A Constitution Officer Refuses to Bend to a Royal Governor's Dictate

The Secretary of State, Doug LaFollette, restores some of the dignity that once was a hallmark of Wisconsin statehood.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/159511/lawless-fitzwalkerstan-constitution-officer-refuses-bend-royal-governor’s-dictate

Justice For Sale in Wisconsin

The Citizen's United ruling that allows unlimited contributions from corporation in political races had the effect of overturning a ban on corporate election spending that was enacted back in 1905. Now, the GOP is opening the floodgates to help their conservative candidate win the crucial April 4th election.
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/25/wisconsin-justice-for-sale/

Fukushima Update: Situation Still Does Not Warrant Optimism

Greenpeace provides a technical update on the ongoing nuclear disaster at Fukushima.
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/fukushima-update-situation-does-not-warrant-o/blog/33957

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Suffers Historic Defeat in Referendum on Nuclear Energy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/27/germany-merkel-nuclear-vote_n_841163.html