Hannah Stevens will be speaking at the AAUW, American Association of University Women. The title of her speech is Women in the Shadow of Men, talking about the roll of first ladies throughout history, the impact and contributions they have made to our country and our society, and the difficulty of being in that role and problems some have faced. And she will be asking what the role should be, should they be paid along with the president.
Hannah Stevens
SCOTUS hands down new ruling for campaign finance
Justice Robert’s Supreme Court narrowly approved new rules for federal campaign spending on Thursday in a 5-4 ruling with Justice Anthony Kennedy writing for the majority, “Our nation’s speech dynamic is changing, and informative voices should not have to circumvent onerous restrictions to exercise their First Amendment rights.”
Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the dissenting opinion saying, “In a democratic society, the long-standing consensus on the need to limit corporate campaign spending should outweigh the wooden applications of judge-made rules.”
President Obama spoke out. “The Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics,” Obama said. “It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”
Conservatives lauded the ruling saying that it was long overdue.
“The Supreme Court’s decision today is a victory for the First Amendment and the right of all Americans to participate in the political process,” said Theodore Olson, who successfully argued the case for the conservative Citizens United.
This ruling overturns century old laws and radically alters the campaign landscape, giving greater spending power to for-profit corporations and non-profit organizations alike and will allow special interest money to flow into and certainly color the outcome of elections to come. This also nullifies the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.
Laws attempting to regulate campaign finance began back in 1867, but were not successfully enforced until 1972 when the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) which required candidates to disclose all campaign contributions and spending. In 1974 this law was amended and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) was created attempting to regulate individual contributions to $1000, called soft money and money from Political Action Committees to $5000, labeled hard money.
In analyzing the law, the Supreme Court is looking at Corporations and other special interest groups as individuals, which certainly they are not. A corporation, of which there are many kinds, is a legal entity, with management and possibly employees, answering only to shareholders. A corporation may or may not pay income taxes, depending on the corporation’s address. This gives these entities unlimited power with unlimited funds to color the opinions of the electorate and potentially change the outcome of our elections in their favor. Individuals, on the other hand have little to fight back with. But we may see more people banding together, like the Tea-Party group, to promote their own special interest groups. And how will this affect our democracy? We will likely find out this fall as these laws take affect for the 2010 mid-term elections.
How Hillary Clinton Became One of the Best Diplomats in the World
How Hillary Clinton Became One of the Best Diplomats in the World
By Tito King
Ever since Barack Obama became the first ever black president of the United States, he has made Hillary Clinton the top international diplomat. She has become so successful that a lot of diplomats are emulating her success. For example, she went to Zurich to discuss and reconcile the Armenian and Turkish problem. Also, a Gallup poll has indicated that she is more popular in the United States than the current president.
Here are three reasons why she is so good:
1. She uses soft power. Unlike the previous administration, she tries to talk to other nations in a peaceful and relaxed manner. For instance, during the Russia talks about Iran’s nuclear program, she visited human rights advocates and toured the schools to talk to the children.
2. She delegates power to other people. This gives her more time to focus on more important work and let others do the things she’s not an expert in like the policy-making process. Hillary Clinton is very good with women’s issues and human rights. If she doesn’t know something, there’s always her husband who is an ex-president for advice.
3. She plays the ‘inside game’ well. She doesn’t need to bully people or scream in the white house to gain the president attention. Instead, she built alliances and listened to others in the white house for advice. She is also good at communicating with the public. Her media appearances are well orchestrated and are televised around the world. When she talks, millions of people hear her.
Tito King is an Author living in Sydney, Australia. He is interested in reading and creating websites. His latest website is about discounted lipstick and finding the best cover girl lipstick on the web today.
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