Topic “Thom's Blog”

All eyes are on Chicago this weekend – where an annual NATO Summit is going up against the Occupy Movement.  Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected to attend this weekend’s marches and rallies, calling for peace and economic fairness.  Chicago police have already spent more than a million dollars on riot gear and high-tech crowd dispersal technology like long-range acoustic devices to use against the peaceful Occupy demonstrators. 

The highly-controversial indefinite detention provision signed into law by the President at the end of last year has been ruled unconstitutional by a U.S. District court judge in New York. The provision allows the military to detain anyone indefinitely if they are suspected of associating with terrorists – whether they realize it or not.

House Republicans plan to vote on House Resolution 568 – which calls on the President to take our nation to war should Iran even become capable of building a nuclear weapon - without building one.  The resolution also takes containment – like sanctions and diplomacy – off the table as an adequate response to a nuclear Iran – leaving military action as the only possibility. 

So, despite U.S.

The organization Common Cause filed suit today against the United States Senate claiming current filibuster rules are unconstitutional.  In a statement released today – Common Cause President Bob Edgar said the abuse of the filibuster by minorities on both sides of the aisle – especially Republicans – is, “an affront to our democracy and not the way the Senate was supposed to work.”

Citing a previous Supreme Court decision ruling t

Europeans stocks are tumbling and investors around the world are keeping a close eye on Greece as the Euro crisis enters a new phase.  On the heels of elections that ousted the pro-austerity government in Greece – new anti-austerity parties have – so far – been unable to form a coalition government.  Greek President Karlos Papoulias is desperately trying to bring together party leaders for a meeting today in hopes of finding a coalit

Last week – the Vermont House and Senate passed legislation outlawing the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, which poisons ground water and leads to earthquakes. Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin is expected to sign the bill into law when it reaches his desk.

On the same day that President Obama and the nation took a major step forward toward marriage equality – Republicans in the House of Representatives tried to drag the nation backward.  Hours after the President’s endorsement of marriage equality – House Republicans passed a measure in support of the discriminatory Defense Against Marriage Act – known as DOMA – which is a federal ban against same-sex marriage. 

The Republican

No more war! That’s the message the American people are sending as approval for the Afghanistan war has now dropped to an all-time low.  A new AP poll shows that only 27% of Americans support the war – that’s a ten-point drop from one year ago. 

On the flip-side two-thirds of Americans are opposed to the war – and 40% say they are “strongly opposed” to the war.  So far – 1,834 U.S.

Americans are getting screwed at the gas pump.  But it has nothing to do with supply and demand or instability in the Middle East.  Instead – it has to do with corruption.  As investigative reporter Lee Fang at the Republic Report uncovered – a slew of lobbyists are working on behalf of Wall Street to shoot down regulations intended to curb oil speculation. 

Bart Chilton, a commissioner with the Commodities Futures