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Transit
The U.S. automobile industry is on the verge of collapse. It is caught in the web of long-term costs for its retired and current employees, especially the uncontrollable cost of health care (discussed below). Further, the auto industry has to move toward the new green economy, instead continuing to build SUV's rather than hybrids. If the auto industry wants U.S. tax dollars, one of the requirements should be that it build cars consistent with a new energy economy. The industry needs to commit to a rapid transition to electric cars that can make use of cleanly generated and solar energy sources. This transition can spur the auto industry production and sales and create an economic engine in the industrial Midwest. A review of transit needs should be conducted and part of the auto industry may need to transition to mass transit, i.e. subways, maglev trains, bullet trains and light rail.

Move forward on infrastructure projects that have already been planned. For two decades U.S. infrastructure has been neglected and the American Society of Civil Engineers reports that the failure to invest in infrastructure would undermine the U.S. economy. Beyond the existing projects rebuilding infrastructure should be consistent with the new energy economy, i.e. building infrastructure to efficiently move renewable energy across the country, building mass transit so Americans can break their dependency on cars and airlines, putting in place a network of battery exchange stations for electric cars.


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• Once again the president and congress are not including any discussion of the only real solution to America's health care problems - expanding and improving Medicare to cover everyone in America. On February 25th, the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care will be holding a "Sidewalk Summit for Improved Medicare for All" outside the Blair House in Washington, DC before the Democrats and Republicans have their session. If you are able to be in Washington, DC meet us at 9 AM at the White House. Specific meet up details will be announced as the event gets closer. Find out how an improved Medicare for All system will meet Preident Obama's goals for a health care system that works for the American people.

• Our "democracy" looks more like a party for the mega-corporations and conglomerates. At this moment, the big banks are successfully gutting consumer protections from a bill in Congress that is supposed to fix the problems leading up to the economic crisis. Fight corruption!

• Money is not speech, and human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights. Sign the motion to amend the constitution

"Citizens United" Disaster Spreads, Resistance Builds

By David Swanson
Free Speech for People

The damage from the Supreme Court's decision in "Citizens United v. FEC" continues to spread as feared. Newly emboldened corporations are suing to overturn state laws that restrict corporate spending on politics:

"A pro-natural resource development group [how's that for spin?] and a Bozeman painting company asked a Helena District Court on Monday to strike down Montana’s 1912 ban on corporate donations and expenditures to political campaigns to comply with a January U.S. Supreme Court ruling."

Free Speech for People, Not Corporations!

Marylanders are responding to the shocking new Supreme Court ruling that corporations, for the first time, can spend unlimited funds to influence any local, state or federal political campaign, a ruling the state Senate president called "offensive" and "devastating to democracy."

Cities Prepare for Life With the Electric Car

By TODD WOODY and CLIFFORD KRAUSS
NY Times

SAN FRANCISCO — If electric cars have any future in the United States, this may be the city where they arrive first.

The San Francisco building code will soon be revised to require that new structures be wired for car chargers. Across the street from City Hall, some drivers are already plugging converted hybrids into a row of charging stations.

Reps Edwards, Conyers Introduce Constitutional Amendment to Block Corporate Election Dollars

Congresswoman Donna Edwards has just introduced a Constitutional amendment, together with Congressman John Conyers.

HTTP://FREESPEECHFORPEOPLE.ORG

Watch this brand new video:
http://freespeechforpeople.org/edwardsvideo

PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS APPLAUD REP. DONNA EDWARDS FOR FILING CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BILL TO OVERTURN US SUPREME COURT RULING ON CORPORATE MONEY IN ELECTIONS

HOUSE JUDICIARY CHAIR JOHN CONYERS, JR JOINS FILING

"Free Speech Rights Are For People, Not Corporations"

An Electric Boost for Bicyclists

By J. DAVID GOODMAN
NY Times

SHANGHAI — Jiang Ruming, a marketing manager, owns a van, but for many errands, he hops on a futuristic-looking contraption that lets him weave rapidly through Shanghai’s messy traffic. He rides an electric bicycle.

Half a world away, in San Francisco, the president of that city’s board of supervisors, David Chiu, uses an electric bike to get to meetings without sweating through his suit.

China Leading Global Race to Make Clean Energy

By KEITH BRADSHER
NY Times

TIANJIN, China — China vaulted past competitors in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United States last year to become the world’s largest maker of wind turbines, and is poised to expand even further this year.

China has also leapfrogged the West in the last two years to emerge as the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels. And the country is pushing equally hard to build nuclear reactors and the most efficient types of coal power plants.

12 Innovations From the '00s That Could Save Us

By Sarah van Gelder
YES! Magazine

With climate disruption, war, and a faltering economy, the '00s were tough. Still, seeds were sewn for a more green and egalitarian 2010s. And peoples movements offer the power to make real change happen.
— tags: copenhagen

In my last column, I listed nine crises of the ‘00s.

High-speed trains get green light

"There's no reason why other countries can build high-speed rail lines and we can't," President Obama said Thursday in announcing $8 billion in grants for high-speed-rail projects.

By Larry Copeland
USA TODAY

The USA took a first step toward building a national high-speed rail network when the Obama administration announced the winners of $8 billion in grants for rail-building projects Thursday.

Obama calls high speed rail funding a 'down payment'

"Making investment in infrastructure is a 'two-fer,'" the president says. "We create jobs immediately and lay the foundation for a vibrant economy in the future."

By TED JACKOVICS
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Mind the gap. That announcement warns passengers boarding Amtrak's high speed trains in the Northeast to the mini-chasm between the platform and Acela rail cars.

Obama Announces Major High-Speed Rail Initiative in State of the Union

The white whale of mass-transit is a centerpiece of the jobs-creation package Obama announced in the State of the Union

By Cliff Kuang
Fast Company

Transcript of State of the Union

Remarks of President Barack Obama
The State of the Union
Wednesday, January 27, 2009
Washington, DC

Madame Speaker, Vice President Biden, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:

Corporate Power Affects All Issues

The Source of Corporate Power

By Robert C. Koehler

Tribune Media Services

“If the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech.”

Obama to announce high-speed rail plan post-speech

Obama to follow State of the Union with high-speed rail funding billed as jobs creator

JULIE PACE
AP

A day after delivering a State of the Union address aimed at showing recession-weary Americans he understands their struggles, President Barack Obama intends to award $8 billion in stimulus funds to develop high-speed rail corridors and sell the program as a jobs creator.

GE profit tops Wall Street forecasts

By Scott Malone
Reuters

BOSTON (Reuters) - General Electric Co's

Link to Supreme Court Decision Striking Down Campus Finance Rules

On January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court struck down longstanding rules on corporate and organized labor spending in elections.

In a 5-4 decision, the court struck down elements of campaign finance law, ruling that independent expenditures by such groups in elections is protected by the First Amendment.

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf

Obama on the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

With its ruling today, the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics. It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans. This ruling gives the special interests and their lobbyists even more power in Washington--while undermining the influence of average Americans who make small contributions to support their preferred candidates.

Statement of Ralph Nader on Supreme Court Decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

Today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission shreds the fabric of our already weakened democracy by allowing corporations to more completely dominate our corrupted electoral process. It is outrageous that corporations already attempt to influence or bribe our political candidates through their political action committees (PACs), which solicit employees and shareholders for donations.

"We the corporations"

"We the corporations"

On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions. The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule.

We Move to Amend.

We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:

Supreme Court Gives Corporations, Unions Power to Spend Unlimited Sums on Political Messaging

By Michael Beckel
Open Secrets.og

Corporations, trade associations, unions and nonprofit groups still aren't allowed to make direct contributions to federal politicians, but today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such groups may now spend unlimited amounts of money advocating for or against politicians.

In doing do, the Supreme Court, led by Justice Anthony Kennedy, tossed out the distinction between individuals and corporations and their ilk when it comes to independent expenditures.

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