Save American Democracy, or What's Left of It

This is the first election after the Citizens United decision which gave corporations complete freedom to spend as much money as they want to influence the outcome of elections.

Citizens beware.  Citizens get active.  Citizens get organized. Our fragile democracy is at grave risk.

We've seen in Obama's time in office (and before) how corporations dominate Washington, DC.  The health care "reform" turned out to be a re-enforcement of the insurance-company-dominated health care industry.  And finance reform had to get the approval of Wall Street and the Federal Reserve before moving forward. Corporate welfare to the weapons, coal, nuclear and oil industries have continued or even grown under Obama. The housing crisis, which should have ended with the bailout of Wall Street, is getting worse, with record foreclosures last month. But that is not enough for the oligarchs who control government through concentrated corporate power.  They want more, and they are using massive spending on elections to get it.

A coalition of organizations has come together to expose groups spending hundreds of millions on the mid-term elections in secret, unlimited donations that avoid campaign finance laws.


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Bollywood Superstar Aamir Khan Shines the Spotlight on What's Caused an Estimated 150,000 Farmer Suicides in India

By Sonali Kolhatkar
Uprising Radio, via Alternet, Aug 11, 2010
Straight to the Source

A tangible consequence of India's shift to a neo-liberal economic model has been the flood of suicides among farmers. The vast majority of the world's second most populated country still farms for a living, but are caught between deep debt and the erratic nature of seasonal change. Lured by the promise of greater production, farmers are pressured into mortgaging their farms to purchase genetically modified seeds, pesticides, and fertilizer from American companies like Monsanto. Since GM seeds are patented by Monsanto, their repeated use each year requires constant licensing fees that keep farmers impoverished. One bad yield due to drought or other reasons, plunges farmers so deep into debt that they resort to suicide. One study estimates that 150,000 farmers have killed themselves in the past ten years.

A new feature film written and directed by Anusha Rizwi and produced by Bollywood megastar Aamir Khan, called Peepli Live, tackles head on this grim topic. The story is set in an Indian village named Peepli where one young debt-burdened farmer named Natha is talked into taking his own life after he learns that his family will be financially compensated through a government program created to alleviate the loss of farmers taking their own lives. What unfolds is a dark comedy of errors when a media circus descends on the tiny village, followed by corrupt politicians wanting to make use of the planned tragedy. Khan's credits as an actor and producer include Lagaan, the 2001 Oscar-nominated film about Indian resistance to the British occupation. His latest film 3 Idiots released last year became the highest grossing film in Indian film history.

Text of Sonali Kolhatkar's interview follows (with video and more information about Khan's film at the bottom of the article):



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