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By Richard Schickel
$12.13
$18
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“60 Minutes” digs into the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and more specifically the government’s decision not to prosecute the managers of the failed investment bank or its accounting firm.
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AP/Dima Gavrysh
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By Robert Scheer — The men most responsible for the collapse of the American dream are heaped with honors at the highest levels of society.
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Kap, Cagle Cartoons, La Vanguardia, Spain —
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AP / Haraz N. Ghanbari
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By Robert Scheer — Bribes from billionaires? Let’s just dip our fingers in purple ink and pose for photos.
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One invented Creative Commons, the other occupied the commons. Together, they talk about strategies for ridding our democracy of corrosive corporate dollars.
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Doug Wilson
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An analysis by Public Campaign reveals that between 2008 and 2010, 30 of America’s most profitable companies, including Verizon, Wells Fargo, FedEx, GE and Mattel, spent more money buying influence in Washington than they did paying taxes. (Full list after the jump.)
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Pat Bagley, Cagle Cartoons, Salt Lake Tribune —
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Kevin H. (CC-BY)
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By Lawrence Weschler —
In places like Uganda, corruption often arises out of desperation. But in America, as W.E.B. Du Bois noted toward the end of his life, “We let men take wealth which is not theirs; if the seizure is ‘legal’ we call it high profits. And the profiteers help decide what is legal.”
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Bob Jagendorf (CC-BY)
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By William Pfaff — The theme of most political and social commentary is that things are more complicated than you think. For once, I wish to write that things are simpler than you think.
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Flickr / Sallam
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At least 16 people were killed when troops opened fire with anti-aircraft guns on anti-government protesters peacefully massed around a state television building and government offices in the Yemeni capital on Sunday, according to witnesses. (more)
Posted on Sep 18, 2011
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AP / Gurinder Osan
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Activist Anna Hazare has agreed to end his nearly two-week-long hunger strike on Sunday morning after India’s finance minister announced that the general sentiment in parliament is to support the strict anti-corruption policies Hazare is demanding. (more)
Posted on Aug 27, 2011
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AP / Gurinder Osan
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Social activist and anti-corruption proponent Anna Hazare, whose arrest sparked huge protests across India this week, is our Truthdigger of the Week.
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Flickr / babasteve (CC-BY)
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Mumbai’s famous dabbawallas, who pick up and deliver more than 200,000 hot, homemade lunches to office workers in the Indian commercial capital each day, have announced they will strike for the first time in 120 years to support the efforts of anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare.
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Flickr / RamyRaoof (CC-BY)
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The criminal trial of Hosni Mubarak, televised for all the Arab world to see, began Wednesday with the once-powerful, longtime autocratic ruler of Egypt denying all formal charges against him of corruption and of complicity in the killing of protesters. (more)
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U.S. Marine Corps / Lance Cpl. Adam J. Root
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By Amy Goodman — “War is a racket,” wrote retired U.S. Marine Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler, in 1935. That statement, which is also the title of his short book on war profiteering, rings true today.
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AP / Kiichiro Sato
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There might well have been a time when former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich imagined that he was above the law, but his conviction on 17 corruption counts made a strong statement to the contrary Monday.
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Randall Enos, Cagle Cartoons —
Posted on Jun 27, 2011
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Flickr / Esparta
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For the future of unchecked global capitalism, look to the savagery of the drug war in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, says The Guardian’s Ed Vulliamy. (more)
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Paresh Nath, Cagle Cartoons, The Khaleej Times, UAE —
Posted on Jun 6, 2011
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Brave New Films sent us this must-watch primer on the big business (to the tune of $5 billion annually) of immigrant imprisonment. Watch and connect the dots between shady right-wing lobbyists, state legislators and private dungeons.
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Kap, Cagle Cartoons, Spain —
Posted on Apr 16, 2011
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AP / Khalil Hamra
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Life isn’t all peachy in Egypt, even with Hosni Mubarak gone. The Egyptian army went after protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, killing one and injuring dozens, as the military tried to clear demonstrations calling for prosecution of Mubarak and family members.
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It’s taken 15 years to get this far (which is to say not very far at all), so what’s the rush for former French President Jacques Chirac to stand trial for corruption charges stemming from his time as the mayor of Paris? Well, he’s 78 years old, for one ...
Posted on Mar 7, 2011
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sco.ca.gov
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A hospital executive pulling down $875,000 a year? How about a water official collecting $600,000? Those are among the salaries contained in a new round of public compensation disclosures by the California state controller in the wake of the pay scandal in Bell.
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Wikimedia Commons / Agência Brasil
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Following a long-standing tradition of creative Italian resistance, activists are planning to adorn Silvio Berlusconi’s villa with condoms, as well as performing parodies set to the soundtrack of “Grease,” to protest the prime minister’s most recent alleged sexual escapades.
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While ruling on cases near and dear to the hearts of his wife’s clients, for 13 years Justice Clarence Thomas failed to report spousal income from conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation because, he claims, he misunderstood the disclosure forms.
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AP / Rodridgo Abd
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Justice is coming to Guatemala, as former President Alfonso Portillo has gone on trial in Guatemala City, accused of embezzling a cool $15 million.
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Wikimedia Commons
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In a transformation befitting of Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol,” Haiti’s former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, now back in his homeland after years in exile, wants to lay his hands on millions of dollars, he says, to help rebuild his catastrophe-ridden homeland.
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YouTube / Christine4Senate
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Christine O’Donnell raised a record $7.3 million in her 2010 bid to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate, but allegations about how she spent that money and funds from previous campaigns have led to a criminal investigation by federal prosecutors and the FBI. ... (more)
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AP / Louis Lanzano
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The cash pot available to compensate victims of Bernie Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme has grown by $7.2 billion after a settlement was reached with the estate of a Palm Beach client of the Wall Street shyster.
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Wikimedia Commons / Agência Brasil
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Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi’s political rap sheet is already quite appalling, from alleged under-age sexcapades to anti-Semitic jokes. But new allegations by state prosecutors have added another blotch on the billionaire’s bill: He’s accused of buying votes to stay in power.
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AP / Antonio Sierra
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While it may just prove what we already know, WikiLeaks’ gold mine of information has birthed yet another gem. It seems the U.S. is worried about the prospects of Mexico’s fight against its rampant drug trade, describing the army there as “risk averse” and official corruption as widespread.
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White House / Karen Ballard
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Before he was vice president, Dick Cheney ran oil giant Halliburton, a subsidiary of which once dropped $180 million in bribes on Nigerian officials. Now Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency plans to charge Cheney over the affair.
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AP / Susan Walsh
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The health industry spinmaster-turned-whistle-blower says the consumer is funding the industry’s smear campaigns: “A big portion of what we spend or pay in premiums is skimmed off to operate and conduct these fear-mongering and anger-mongering campaigns.”
Posted on Nov 30, 2010
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AP / Susan Walsh
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The health industry spinmaster-turned-whistle-blower says the consumer is funding the industry’s smear campaigns: “A big portion of what we spend or pay in premiums is skimmed off to operate and conduct these fear-mongering and anger-mongering campaigns.”
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By Amy Goodman — Health insurance executives at an industry strategy session on how to respond to Michael Moore’s 2007 documentary “Sicko” thought they may have to implement a plan “to push Moore off a cliff,” says whistle-blower Wendell Potter.
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AP / Jeff Widener
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By Chris Hedges — There is no hope left for achieving significant reform or restoring our democracy through established mechanisms of power. We must take to the streets, armed with the tiny acts of truth and kindness that throughout history have exposed the oppressor’s cruelty.
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Rep. Charles Rangel via Flickr (CC-BY)
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Rep. Charlie Rangel may as well have stuck around for the full hearing. An ethics subcommittee convicted the veteran lawmaker Tuesday of 11 counts of naughty, having to do with fundraising, cheap rent and taxes. Rangel’s colleagues could decide to give him the boot, but he’s likelier to get off with just a reprimand.
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AP
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By Chris Hedges — The country suffers an impoverishment of ideas and analysis at a moment when we desperately need radical voices to make sense of the corporate destruction of the global economy and the ecosystem.
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Flickr / Tracy O (CC-BY-SA)
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Much has been made of the $4 billion spent in the midterm elections, including $140 million of Meg Whitman’s own money, but spending, as Ms. Whitman found out, does not equal victory. Sharron Angle spent more per voter than any other candidate—about $97—and still lost.
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By David Sirota — At the end of this $4 billion We-Didn’t-Start-the-Fire-worthy vaudeville known as the 2010 election, what do we have to show for it?
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By Joe Conason — In New York, there is a traditional name for the kind of anonymous cash now cascading into the American electoral process.
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The Guardian is reporting that some of Europe’s biggest polluters, including everyone’s favorite oil company, have given $240,200 in campaign donations to U.S. senators who, coincidentally, helped defeat climate change legislation.
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Today on the list: How did outside groups manage to spend $3.6 million on one Colorado race in one day? And what the hell happened to Randy Quaid? Plus: The future of books, music and your democracy, after the jump.
Posted on Oct 26, 2010
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — If you travel any place where there is a contested race for the House or Senate, you are bombarded with attack ads, almost all against Democrats, paid for by groups that do not have to reveal where their money comes from.
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