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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."

Analysts fear Beijing's move may suggest a loss of faith in American government's economic policy
 
By Tania Branigan  and Heather Stewart
The Guardian
 

By SUBHADIP SIRCAR
Wall Street Journal

MUMBAI -- The use of the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights facility as an alternative reserve currency to replace the U.S. dollar is remote in the near term, heads of several central banks said Saturday.

China has ordered managers of its vast currency reserves to withdraw from risky dollar assets and retreat to core debt guaranteed by the US government, a clear sign that Beijing is battening down the hatches for fresh trouble on global markets.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Daily Telegraph

A Communist Party directive leaked to the Chinese-language edition of the Asia Times said dollar reserves should be limited to US Treasuries or agency mortgage debt such as Freddie Mac that enjoys Washington's implicit backing.

By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ
NY Times

Rising demand for foreign goods in the United States caused the trade deficit to widen more than expected in December, the government said Wednesday, suggesting that American businesses and consumers were growing more confident about spending.

The gap between the value of imports and exports was $40.2 billion in December, up 10.4 percent from November. Wall Street analysts had expected the deficit to grow to $35.8 billion.

By KEITH BRADSHER
NY Times

HONG KONG — China said Wednesday that its exports climbed 21 percent in January from a year earlier, while imports surged 85.5 percent, the latest sign that world trade is starting to recover from the global financial crisis.

By Chris Buckley
Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) - Senior Chinese military officers have proposed that their country boost defense spending, adjust PLA deployments, and possibly sell some U.S. bonds to punish Washington for its latest round of arms sales to Taiwan.

World

The calls for broad retaliation over the planned U.S. weapons sales to the disputed island came from officers at China's National Defence University and Academy of Military Sciences, interviewed by Outlook Weekly, a Chinese-language magazine published by the official Xinhua news agency.

By ARTHUR BEESLEY
Irish Times

The US government has initiated a diplomatic offensive against threatened moves by MEPs to block a deal that gives American intelligence agencies direct access to European bank data.

Less than a month after MEPs forced the withdrawal of Bulgaria’s first nominee to the incoming EU Commission, the US campaign underscores the increasing power of the European Parliament.

Socialist, Green and Liberal opposition to the agreement means it is likely to be rejected when MEPs vote in Strasbourg next Thursday.

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
Counterpunch

Is the financial crisis over? Is the recovery for real and, if not, what are Americans’ prospects? The short answer is that the financial crisis is not over, the recovery is not real, and the U.S. faces a far worse crisis than the financial one. Here is the situation as I understand it:

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"

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:

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.”

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

By Zachary Roth
TPM

One of the biggest winners from this morning's Supreme Court decision on campaign finance: the Chamber of Commerce. And that's not just because the court's ruling gives the corporations that make up the business lobby's membership an even greater voice in the political process than they've enjoyed until now.

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.

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"

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: