Kickbacks exploit inmates’ families
In Cook County jails, prisoners are charged as much as $15 a call to be in touch with their relatives. The exploitive rates can force families — already struggling with the burdens of having a loved one locked up — to choose between supporting their loved one or paying for heat or food. An Illinois study found that the price of phone calls from prison was one of the two most significant barriers to family contact during incarceration.
Why are the most captive and vulnerable being charged such brutal rates for a phone call? Because they can be. They have no choice in provider. The prison system cuts a deal with a telephone company that pays the state a “commission” — what the New York Times calls a “legalized kickback” — that ranges from 15 to 60 percent of the revenue. Thus, as a report by the Prison Policy Initiative details, state prison systems have no incentive to select the company with the lowest rates. Instead, the correctional departments gain the most by selecting the company that provides the highest commissions.
Why are the most captive and vulnerable being charged such brutal rates for a phone call? Because they can be. They have no choice in provider. The prison system cuts a deal with a telephone company that pays the state a “commission” — what the New York Times calls a “legalized kickback” — that ranges from 15 to 60 percent of the revenue. Thus, as a report by the Prison Policy Initiative details, state prison systems have no incentive to select the company with the lowest rates. Instead, the correctional departments gain the most by selecting the company that provides the highest commissions.
Radioactive waste now a mountain 70 years high: Energy Department must consider hardened on-site storage
TAKOMA PARK, MD - December 2nd will mark 70 years since scientists achieved the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, without knowing then, or now, what to do with the radioactive waste it would generate. That very first waste was generated by the Enrico Fermi team at the University of Chicago in 1942 as part of the Manhattan Project. Next month, a special nuclear waste conference of experts will be held at that same site, December 1, 2 and 3, both to observe the date and to deliver panels and plenaries that cover every aspect of the radioactive waste challenge, from uranium mining through nuclear weapons production, nuclear energy generation and the unsolved waste “disposal” problem. The conference is hosted by Nuclear Energy Information Service and Beyond Nuclear. (See details at end of press release).
Defunding Planned Parenthood
Dear Editor:
Women’s rights are a quintessential part of political decisions,which could not have been more clear in the recent presidential election. Women all over the country voiced theiropinion in support of reproductive health care.
Why is it that Ohio politicians are interested in eliminating thisprogress? Each woman is capable of making her appropriate health care decisionand should not be limited by legislation from a large group of malepoliticians. The voters spoke, but too many of our representatives in Columbusare not listening. What will it take for our message to be heard?
I am an Ohio college student and I personallyrely on Planned Parenthood for my own reproductive health care. As an aspiring medical student I spend mytime in the classroom, the lab, and on campus studying, leaving no time for ajob on the side. Therefore, I rely onthe services provided at the local Planned Parenthood to maintain properhealth. In addition, I have many peers withsimilar lifestyles and share the same concerns regarding the defunding ofwomen’s health care.
Women’s rights are a quintessential part of political decisions,which could not have been more clear in the recent presidential election. Women all over the country voiced theiropinion in support of reproductive health care.
Why is it that Ohio politicians are interested in eliminating thisprogress? Each woman is capable of making her appropriate health care decisionand should not be limited by legislation from a large group of malepoliticians. The voters spoke, but too many of our representatives in Columbusare not listening. What will it take for our message to be heard?
I am an Ohio college student and I personallyrely on Planned Parenthood for my own reproductive health care. As an aspiring medical student I spend mytime in the classroom, the lab, and on campus studying, leaving no time for ajob on the side. Therefore, I rely onthe services provided at the local Planned Parenthood to maintain properhealth. In addition, I have many peers withsimilar lifestyles and share the same concerns regarding the defunding ofwomen’s health care.
Dysfunction at Maricopa County Elections department disenfranchises tens of thousands
We saved hundreds of votes across the state, but there were not enough concentrated in any of the close races to claim that we saved any races. In 2008 we looked at close races to see if Maricopa County's 30,000 uncounted provisional ballots would have made a difference in any of them and we concluded they would not have changed the outcomes of any races.
Romney may have lost, but the voting system is still broken
Two weeks have passed since the night of the Rove meltdown and Romney's electoral loss. Like the days after a major sports championship, everybody has an opinion on two things: why victory was achieved this time and how victory can be achieved the next time. However, political reality is quite different than sports. Democracy is more than a game. And if our current democracy is a game, the people lost in 2012.
America is at best a minimal democracy. It functionally has two parties, one more than a dictatorship. It allegedly grants one person one vote each election, although this is not constitutionally guaranteed. Our elections fail to meet even minimal standards by allowing the racist suppression of votes that we thought was outlawed in 1965. What this election has made clear is that more than a small minority seek to erase 140 years of struggle from Andrew Jackson to Lyndon Johnson to secure and defend these most basic tenets of democracy: the right to vote.
America is at best a minimal democracy. It functionally has two parties, one more than a dictatorship. It allegedly grants one person one vote each election, although this is not constitutionally guaranteed. Our elections fail to meet even minimal standards by allowing the racist suppression of votes that we thought was outlawed in 1965. What this election has made clear is that more than a small minority seek to erase 140 years of struggle from Andrew Jackson to Lyndon Johnson to secure and defend these most basic tenets of democracy: the right to vote.
Review: Mrs. Kennedy and Me
Mrs. Kennedy and Me
Clint Hill with Lisa McCubbin
Gallery Books
Few people remember that when JFK was running for president, he and his top advisors thought it best to keep Jacqueline Kennedy in the background. She was too exotic, too enamored of French culture and expensive clothing, and shy to the point of being almost icy. Yet the few forays she made during the campaign–she was pregnant and having lost two babies was forbidden to campaign–showed they need not have been concerned. She was well received by perspective voters. The admiration of and interest in Mrs. Kennedy exploded when she delivered John F. Kennedy, Jr., the first baby born to a president-elect, just weeks after the election; by the time she stepped out of her N Street home to attend the Inaugural Gala, resplendent in a pure white creation by her official couturier Oleg Cassini, she was a star in her own right.
Clint Hill with Lisa McCubbin
Gallery Books
Few people remember that when JFK was running for president, he and his top advisors thought it best to keep Jacqueline Kennedy in the background. She was too exotic, too enamored of French culture and expensive clothing, and shy to the point of being almost icy. Yet the few forays she made during the campaign–she was pregnant and having lost two babies was forbidden to campaign–showed they need not have been concerned. She was well received by perspective voters. The admiration of and interest in Mrs. Kennedy exploded when she delivered John F. Kennedy, Jr., the first baby born to a president-elect, just weeks after the election; by the time she stepped out of her N Street home to attend the Inaugural Gala, resplendent in a pure white creation by her official couturier Oleg Cassini, she was a star in her own right.
The Free Press asks for your support
I am extremely proud of our pre-election activism. Andrew Kreig at Justice Integrity Project (Did Expert Witness, Activists Thwart a Rove Ohio Vote Plot?) speculates that we (freepress.org) may have prevented another stolen election. Art Levin at Huffington Post agrees as does Brad Friedman at Bradblog.
We need your support! The Free Press went into the red in this effort. We do not send emails asking for money before we get started, instead we get to work and ask for help later :). As a result, we need to ask our friends and supporters to contribute what you can to support what has already been done.
If you saw the Karl Rove meltdown on Fox News on election night, you might have been unaware that the Secretary of State AND the Cuyahoga County websites went off-line at approximately the same time as Rove's meltdown. Deja Vu, election night 2004.
What we sometimes refer to derisively as "establishment" media validated our reporting efforts.
We need your support! The Free Press went into the red in this effort. We do not send emails asking for money before we get started, instead we get to work and ask for help later :). As a result, we need to ask our friends and supporters to contribute what you can to support what has already been done.
If you saw the Karl Rove meltdown on Fox News on election night, you might have been unaware that the Secretary of State AND the Cuyahoga County websites went off-line at approximately the same time as Rove's meltdown. Deja Vu, election night 2004.
What we sometimes refer to derisively as "establishment" media validated our reporting efforts.
Honor and Rape
Here’s one take on U.S. militarism and the culture of domination:
“Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight.
“. . . Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win all of the time. . . . That’s why Americans have never lost nor will ever lose a war; for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American.”
Here’s another:
“I can’t sleep without drugs. But even then, I often wake up in the middle of the night, crying, my mind racing. And I lie there awake in the dark, reliving the rape, looking for a second chance for it to end with a different outcome, but he always wins.”
“Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight.
“. . . Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win all of the time. . . . That’s why Americans have never lost nor will ever lose a war; for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American.”
Here’s another:
“I can’t sleep without drugs. But even then, I often wake up in the middle of the night, crying, my mind racing. And I lie there awake in the dark, reliving the rape, looking for a second chance for it to end with a different outcome, but he always wins.”