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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."

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."

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.

Reuters

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Reuters) - Thousands of Floridians demonstrated against moves to allow offshore oil drilling on Saturday along the east and west coasts of the state in a protest dubbed "Hands Across the Sand."

Organizer David Rauschkolb said about 80 demonstrations took place at beaches from Pensacola on the northwest coast of Florida to Key West in the south and Jacksonville in the north.

By MATT JOYCE
The Associated Press

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- A proposal in Wyoming to impose the nation's first state excise tax on wind energy production is generating debate over how the state should handle the arrival of massive wind farms to its wind-swept plains and plateaus.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal made the wind energy tax a centerpiece of his legislative agenda, drawing surprise and alarm from some in the state's fledgling wind industry. The proposal cleared its first hurdle Thursday when the state House voted to introduce the bill.

Abell Foundation says turbine operation could generate jobs, too

The Abell Foundation report envisions three types of turbine: monopile, which rests on a single pile driven into the ocean floor; jacket, which would be built on a broader base; and floating. The turbines would begin outside a visual exclusion zone of 8 nautical miles.

By Timothy B. Wheeler
Baltimore Sun reporter

By Fredreka Schouten
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The recession has battered the U.S. economy, but the lobbying industry is humming along in the nation's capital, even for companies that have shed thousands of jobs in the past year.

The 20 trade associations and companies that spent the most on lobbying increased their spending by more than 20% in 2009 to $507.7 million, up from $418.2 million a year earlier, according to a USA TODAY analysis of reports compiled by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.

By Halimah Abdullah
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and high-ranking administration officials met Wednesday with Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and the governors of other coal-producing states and announced a series of sweeping "clean coal" proposals in the hopes of shoring up support for the White House's beleaguered energy policy.

The EPA gives corn ethanol a larger share of the renewable-fuels markets, and the administration moves to speed the development of technologies that reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants.

By Jim Tankersley
LA Times

Reporting from Washington - The Obama administration gave a boost to the corn and coal industries Wednesday, announcing a series of moves to accelerate biofuel use and deploy so-called clean-coal technology on power plants.

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"