President Obama calls the San Francisco Giants to congratulate them on their World Championship. The Giants take the opportunity to ask him to throw out the first pitch in next year’s season opener. The President said he’ll see if he can fit it on the schedule.
Campaign Cash Watch
by Zach Carter, Media Consortium
Today is the first election in American history in which corporations have been allowed to spend their own money to buy political favors. This legalized corruption comes courtesy of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which injected massive amounts of corporate cash and unprecedented levels of secrecy into American politics.
And all of this crazy corporate spending will not be restricted to elections. That’s right. As Jesse Zwick reports for The Washington Independent, two front-groups founded by GOP strategists Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie plan to keep running ads attacking Democrats well after the elections are over.
As Zwick emphasizes, this is actually a way to help keep one of the organizations, known as American Crossroads GPS from breaking the law. Many groups that spend money on elections register as 501(c)(4) organizations, which must devote no more than half of their activity to political operations. In return for limiting their political activity—advocacy or condemnation of specific candidates—they don’t have to disclose who their donors are. So groups like American Crossroads GPS plan to run “issue ads” focusing on the budget deficit and immigration reform this fall to balance out the ads directed at specific candidates that they’ve already run.
Under the Citizens United ruling, so long as corporations or wealthy elites launder their political expenditures through a front-group, they can give as much as they want without ever being held publicly accountable. But the high court’s decision also allows these front-groups to keep their actual expenditures secret as well. It’s not just that we don’t know who is funding them—in many cases, we also don’t really know what they’re funding.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s foreign dues
The secrecy surrounding anonymous donors may very well extend to foreign corporations. As Harry Hanbury emphasizes in this video for GRITtv, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce—a lobbying front-group for the largest American corporations—is facing heavy scrutiny over is foreign contributions. Nearly $900,000 in annual dues to the Chamber come from foreign firms, and the Chamber aggressively courts foreign donors who might benefit from weak U.S. laws—particularly environmental laws. The Chamber insists that it’s playing by the rules, but Hanbury catches them lying twice about the nature of the group’s foreign funding.
California’s environmental laws for sale
Corporations aren’t just targeting federal elections to influence public policy. As Tara Lohan explains for AlterNet, big oil companies have financed a campaign to repeal California’s carbon emission reduction law. Two major polluters—Valero and Tesoro—have spent a combined $7 million boosting the repeal, while Koch Industries—a major Tea Party funder—has kicked in about $1 million as well. A full 70 percent of the $10.7 million that has been spent to bolster the anti-environment ballot initiative has come from out-of-state sources.
We often hear about how stockholders demanding a return on their investment drives the greed on Wall Street, which drives the short sightedness of corporations who can’t see beyond the next quarter.
Where does the money to drive this cycle of destruction come from? More than likely you. If you have money in a 401(k) or mutual fund you likely own a chunk of some of the largest corporations in the world.
Does that make you feel a little queasy? Do you feel those multi-nationals line up with your morals, standards and ethics?
There is another way to invest your money – socially conscience companies like the ones we’ve been profiling from SOCAP 2010. But how do you do that? Rob Thomas from Social(k) tells us how his company helps out.
The idea of microlending or microfinancing has been around for awhile now. Kiva is one of the better known companies that allows people to make small loans to impoverished areas to help turn them around. A company called The Hoop Fund is focusing that concept on microlending to people who make products you like such as chocolate, coffee or sweaters. We caught up with Hoop Fund CEO Pat Donohue at SOCAP 2010 and asked him to explain how it all works.
Related Links:
Social Capital:Doing Good And Making Money
What does the future look like? How can we design it so it works for 100% of humanity without ecological offense? The Buckminster Fuller Institute is exploring those questions today in San Rafael, California during the Bioneers conference. Some of the best design minds from around the world will be there and you get to look and listen in live here. Starts 11am CT/ 9am PT.
Related Links:
Architecting the Future Live Blog
Architecting the Future Live blog in a pop up window
Buckminster Fuller Institute: Architecting the Future schedule
There are some problems that neither pure capitalism nor charity can solve. Social capital is a new way of looking at solving those problems. This month, people from all over the world came to SOCAP10 in San Francisco to talk about social capital, and put their money where their mouths are.
Over the next several days we’ll be posting stories about companies that have what is called a “triple bottom line” — where they measure results not just in profit, but also in the business impact on people and the planet.
Our first video focuses on just what the social capital movement is about. We talk with people who run social capital companies such as Firefox maker Mozilla, people who are seeking funding for their businesses, and journalists who are covering the social capital movement.
Related Links – Learn more about the people and companies in the video:
With Firefox, technologists around the world pitched in to break the Microsoft browser monopoly and re-spark innovation on the web. Now, Mozilla is encouraging media makers to pitch in too. The plan: 1) grab hold of tools like HTML5 video; 2) create, innovate and reshape cinema, news, etc. and 3) make the web more awesome (and open) as we go.
Mark Surman – Executive Director, Mozilla Foundation Mozilla uses mass participation to move markets and keep the web open. He made this presentation at the Socap 2010 conference in San Francisco as part of the “Embrace Disruption” mini conference.
Salon Media Group Chief Executive Officer Richard Gingras has been with the company since it started in 1995, making it the oldest “new media” company on the face of the planet. Salon, old media companies and new media companies are all facing the same problem/opportunity. New ways for people to get news such as Facebook and Twitter are disrupting the revenue models for media. So how do you embrace that disruption? That was the focus of “The Future Of News” discussion at SoCap2010 in San Francisco.
Also speaking were Vice President, General Manager of Link TV, Wendy Hanamura and The Media Consortium’s Project Director Tracy Van Slyke. Hanamura explains what Link TV is doing to take advantage of the changing media environment. Van Slyke explains how The Media Consortium helps many independent media organizations navigate the changing media scene.
Related Links:
Link TV’s “Future Of News” Vision- Video
What is the Media Consortium – Video
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Senator Al Franken announces the “Understanding The True Cost Of College Act” that would require colleges to use easier to understand language in their financial aid package offers to students.
Hindia Ali, Youth Leadership Development Coordinator at Somali Action Alliance is a delegate the the 2012 National Democratic Convention, the first Somali-American to be a delegate.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday, President Obama ripped into Republicans for their lack of compromising and for the first time mentioned his likely Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, by name.
Minnesota women in healthcare predicaments met with with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Sen. Al Franken, Rep. Betty McCollum and Governor Mark Dayton on Friday — the two year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.
President Obama says many of the factors that are driving up gas prices are out of our control such as unrest in the Middle East. However, he points out there are some things that are in our control such as fraud and manipulation that can cause prices to spike even further.
President Obama talks about an all-of-the-above American energy strategy at a Daimler manufacturing plant in North Carolina that’s making trucks that run on natural gas.
Senator Al Franken is used to close elections. This time he didn’t beat his opponents, but had to settle for a tie with Representative Chip Cravaack in the second annual Minnesota Congressional delegation hotdish cookoff.
President Obama would like to reform taxes so we reward companies that invest in the US, not ones that send jobs overseas. But there are some barriers, such as Congress.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu uses his photo op with President Obama today to talk up how the US and Israel are united against Iran, which is suspected of trying to create a nuclear bomb.
President Obama warns that “loose talk” of war was only helping Iran, while pushing back against charges from GOP presidential contenders that he has been less than a loyal ally to Israel.
Somali women and men gather to discuss the many aspects of female infertility with medical and social experts.
3M shareholders at annual meeting were asked to stop all corporate contributions to political campaigns and to disclose corporate political lobbying efforts. As expected, the resolutions were voted down, but the activists pledged to continue efforts.
Occupy backed homeowner successfully re-negotiated her loan with MN based US Bank.
After the six-week US-Dakota War of 1862, 38 Dakota men were hung in one of the largest mass executions in US History. Many argue that the trials were a sham, that is was the largest injustice in the nation’s history. Today, Representative Dean Urdahl, Chair of the Legacy Committee in Minnesota and the Civil War Task Force, seeks to, “rub a little salve in the wound,” by seeking a pardon for one of those warriors who was hung on that fateful December day. His name is Chaska.
Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL) decides to support the Vikings stadium because of the jobs it will create.
The Minnesota House and Senate have each approved different versions of a Vikings stadium proposal. So now it is up to a conference committee to reconcile the differences.
Principle or politics? On Friday, Governor Mark Dayton went heavily with principle and imperiled the politics of his top legislative priority — thousands of jobs from building a new Vikings football stadium.
A bill that would give business owners a tax cut is hailed by Senator Geoff Michel (R-Edina) as the “best piece of legislation” to be considered his year. Senator John Marty (DFL-Roseville ) counters it deserves a “smoking’ hot veto pen” because it isn’t paid for.
A Minnesota Senate attempt to override Governor Mark Dayton’s veto of a bill expanding the kinds of fireworks that can legally be sold in Minnesota fails to get the 2/3rds majority needed.
Several thousand Minneapolitans joined the hundreds of thousands around the world celebrating May Day, International Workers’ Day, on May 1, 2012 with a march down Lake Street to Powderhorn Park.
Occupy backed homeowner successfully re-negotiated her loan with MN based US Bank.
Nearly a year after the tornado that ripped through North Minneapolis, opinions vary greatly on what the poverty-stricken community needs most from local and state government. Should the City introduce “pie in the sky” ideas or focus on more immediate problems?
Representative Bobby Jo Champion talks about the challenges facing some of his constituents in North Minneapolis almost a year after a devastating tornado.
Rebuild It Right, an organization made up of architects and designers from Minneapolis, is helping homeowners advocate for quality design in the wake of the May 22nd Tornado.
The Vikings stadium deal got the support of Minneapolis City Council members. Council member Don Samuels says that this is a good deal for his constituents. It will provide jobs to a part of the city that has the highest rate of unemployment.
Local, Minneapolis non-profit Urban Homeworks works with banks and other community organizations to fight foreclosures.
Embattled homeowner Monique White took one more step Friday toward what could become an improbable victory that would let her stay in her North Minneapolis home. Judge Mark Labine will decide on Monday whether White will get a jury trial in District Court.
The Northside Economic Opportunity Network works with small businesses and micro-businesses in North Minneapolis to help them achieve success.
As we’ve been reporting for the past six months, many tornado victims who need help still haven’t gotten it.
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