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posted by martyb on Tuesday December 08 2015, @02:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the new-normal dept.

Paul Buchheit reports via AlterNet

While Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning and John Kiriakou are vilified for revealing vital information about spying and bombing and torture, a man who conspired with Goldman Sachs to make billions of dollars on the planned failure of subprime mortgages was honored by New York University for his "Outstanding Contributions to Society".

This is one example of the distorted thinking leading to the demise of a once-vibrant American society. There are other signs of decay:

  • A House Bill Would View Corporate Crimes as "Honest Mistakes"
  • Almost 2/3 of American Families Couldn't Afford a Single Pill of a Life-Saving Drug
  • Violent Crime Down; Prison Population Doubles
  • One in Four Americans Suffer Mental Illness; Mental Health Facilities Cut by 90 Percent
  • The Unpaid Taxes of 500 Companies Could Pay for a Job for Every Unemployed American ...for two years ...at the nation's median salary of $36,000 ...for all 8 million unemployed.

Citizens for Tax Justice reports that Fortune 500 companies are holding over $2 trillion in profits offshore to avoid taxes that would amount to over $600 billion. Our society desperately needs infrastructure repair, but 8 million potential jobs are being held hostage beyond our borders.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 08 2015, @06:20PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 08 2015, @06:20PM (#273533)

    "old, irrelevant constitutional compromises"

    Seems relevant to me. Even current. Topical, in fact.

    The real question is the degree to which the result relates to the intended compromises. For instance, the founding fathers knew damn well that when you count votes, populations with few votes would be railroaded with tiresome monotony. This is why states have two senators each (and it's funny that the senate is so close to well balanced, on average). The legendary filibuster-proof majority isn't at all a given.

    If you don't like the districting scheme, by all means change it. Multiple states already have, and require either bipartisan or nonpartisan agreement on districting. But that's the House for you. And yeah, the current republican-dominated House of Representatives is at least partly a creature of the prior, widely loathed democrat-dominated House of Representatives. So obviously a particular electoral outcome isn't predestined. The pendulum can, and does swing.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by ikanreed on Tuesday December 08 2015, @06:29PM

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday December 08 2015, @06:29PM (#273540) Journal

    Oh, yes, I'm sure the state legislature of my state that made the most unbalanced districts in the nation, while simultaneously cutting voting rights is interested in my petition for reforming that process.

    I'm noise-making because it's among the biggest issues of the era and the apathy people have towards it compared to relatively minor things means all I can do is agitate.

    • (Score: 1) by redneckmother on Tuesday December 08 2015, @07:04PM

      by redneckmother (3597) on Tuesday December 08 2015, @07:04PM (#273574)

      Dammit! I had a finger-check on the moderation - please excuse me!

      --
      Mas cerveza por favor.