15-Year-Old Girl Faces Life in Prison for a Miscarriage

Alternet: Why Conservatives Are Criminalizing Pregnant Women - Rennie Gibbs is accused of murder, but the crime she is alleged to have committed does not sound like an ordinary killing. Yet she faces life in prison in Mississippi over the death of her unborn child.

Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4 1776

The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Georgia Demonstrates Outcome of Texas' Anti-Immigrant Sanctuary Cities Bill

Update Wednesday June 29, 2011 @ 8:30am
Sanctuary cities legislation is dead for this special legislative session?

Gov. Rick Perry released a statement blaming Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, for the death of the sanctuary cities bill, which the governor added to the special session call.

"Unfortunately, SB1 Conference Committee Chairman Robert Duncan ultimately refused to allow language related to the ban of sanctuary cities into the final version of Senate Bill 1," Perry wrote in his statement. "Because of this action, the special session will not provide our peace officers with the discretion they need to adequately keep Texans safe from those that would do them harm.”

This morning, Senate Republicans and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst also released a statement blaming around on the House for killing the sanctuary cities legislation.

"The Senate passed SB 9, the sanctuary cities bill, with unanimous Republican support two weeks ago, and nothing has happened," Dewhurst said in a statement. "If the House really wants to pass sanctuary cities, they should pass it today."

Original Post Saturday June 25, 2011 @ 2:34am

BOR: Perry's All Koch-ed Up

Burnt Orange Report Austin: On Sunday, Gov. Perry traveled to Colorado to speak at a shadowy conservative gathering hosted by the Koch brothers.

Perry spokesman Mark Miner described the Colorado summit as a "private gathering of business leaders". The guest list was kept secret and organizers wouldn't say where the four-day retreat was held beyond describing it as in the general vicinity of Vail.

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"It's not entirely clear how Perry got to Colorado, but a plane owned by aircraft dealer Goldsmith Team LLC flew from Aspen to Georgetown on Sunday, flight records show," the Austin American-Statesman's Jason Embry reports. Goldsmith Team LLC made more than $25,000 worth of in-kind contributions to Perry's 2010 re-election campaign.

This is how Rick Perry operates. He owes huge favors to the corporate interests that fund his campaigns. It makes complete sense that these corporate overlords want to check in to remind Perry who he really works for. And Perry heeds their call like an obedient dog.

The Koch brothers are the conservative agenda-setters in American politics. They are the Tea Party's main sponsors - without them, there would be no bus fleets for rallies, coordinated media strategies or funds for advertisements. The ingenious Koch's routinely buy politicians through campaign donations and influence with the right-wing media, locking them into a radical anti-government agenda. Perry is undeniably part of the Koch brothers' plan to end regulations, kill social services and solidify America as a nation run by and for the wealthy.

This month, Huffington Post exposed the Koch brothers' "Saturday Evening Club" in Manhattan. In April, the Club met with Tea Party star Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN). In attendance were dozens of lobbyists representing the financial, health care and automotive industries. Members of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. press were there, as were several high-profile GOP donors. Pence's office billed the meeting as "a meeting of journalists, opinion makers and business leaders."

Which staffers did Rep. Pence bring along? The director of his political action committee, a GOP pollster and his chief counsel.

Like Rep. Pence, Gov. Perry is not really a politician. He is a cog in a radical corporate machine designed to gut America of all that makes it a land of opportunity. Tit for tat, Perry supports this radical agenda in exchange for campaign cash.

When asked, Americans do not support shadowy organizations influencing their government, and they definitely don't support the Koch agenda.

But is the American electorate now so numb to government corruption that a Koch candidate like Perry could pass their radar? We'll soon know.

Social Media Voters More Influenced by Facebook Friends Than Evening News

A research study released this month by digital agency SocialVibe found that 94% of voting-age social media users are more likely to watch an entire political message viewed online, and then 39% will share it with an average of 130 friends.

According to the study social media users are more likely to share persuasive political information with friends and colleagues in a matter of seconds from their computer or mobile device as opposed to making phone calls or canvassing. For that reason, social media users are more likely to be influenced by Facebook “friends” than the evening news.

The study also found that an investment of $25,000 in a campaign that engages social media users could spread the content online to people of voting age in all 50 states within 24 hours. That’s a lot of bang for the buck.

The SocialVibe study also indicated that political ad campaigns continue to shift more advertising budgets to online and mobile advertising. But it gets a little tricky because the campaigns have the challenge of presenting political messages in such a way that supporters want to share the information.

The key is to facilitate the users or political supporters to share messages or campaigns. Thus, the campaigners will need to become more creative in order to engage and develop loyalty to persuade others such as “friends” to be engaged as well.

The study indicates five key messages for the 2012 political season: Use Facebook and campaign Web sites to engage supporters, supporters carry social media message, go mobile, remember social email, and build loyalty through engaged advertising.

All in all, politicians will have a unique challenge of honestly connecting with people one on one as a personal experience. Approach them online in a conversation with a message that is convenient and beneficial for the social media user.

“Most people like to share personal views and beliefs. Allow people to engage with and personalize messages: This is what drives sharing,” concludes Jay Samit, CEO SocialVibe.

Pew Report: Looking For Voters? Find Them On FaceBook

Pew Internet and American Life Project: Nearly half of all U.S. adults use some kind of social-networking site, from Facebook to LinkedIn, and these people are more likely to vote and be politically active.

The Pew report found that 79 percent of U.S. adults use the Internet, and 59 percent of these Internet users also use social networking. This is nearly twice as many as in 2008, and they are getting older, the report found.

“Among other things, this means the average age of adult social networking site users has shifted from 33 in 2008 to 38 in 2010,” the report states. “Over half of all adult SNS users are now over the age of 35. Some 56 percent of SNS users now are female.”

And despite LinkedIn’s stunning IPO last month, Facebook rules when it comes to social networking, with 92 percent of people who use social networking on Facebook, 29 percent on MySpace, 18 percent on LinkedIn, and 13 percent on Twitter.

Social networking can be a powerful tool for political organizing, the report finds.

Obama's 2012 New Media Campaign

After President Barack Obama launched his 2012 earlier this year his campaign sent emails, tweets and Facebook messaging, including Facebook ads to ask nearly 13 million followers supporters from his 2008 campaign contact list to declare on Facebook "I'm In!" for Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.

Emails to supporters seek small-dollar donations in exchange for campaign coffee mugs or a chance to win dinner with the president. The campaign's website helps supporters find local events, plan meetings and raise money while its digital team develops the next big thing.

If Obama broke new ground in 2008 using email, text messages and the Web to reach voters, Obama version 2.0 campaign strategy plans to take the new media Web campaign to the next level – by taking advantage of the expansive roles that the Internet and social media are playing in voters' lives.

"The successful [2012] campaign is going to be one that integrates all the various elements of the digital channel – email, text, website, mobile apps, and social networks – together as one digital program and also mixing the digital program together with the offline reality of field organizations," said Joe Rospars, the Obama campaign's chief digital strategist.

"In the end," Rospars said, "all the digital stuff is in service of the offline organizing to ultimately persuading voters and turning them out."

• More People Rely On The Internet Than Newspapers For News
• Pew Report: Generations Online

Obama took advantage of a strong Internet campaign in 2008 to raise an estimated $500 million online while regularly communicating with supporters through text messages, an email list estimated at more than 13 million and content on his 2008 My Barack Obama campaign website:

• Political Campaign Opportunities in the Digital Age
• Obama's 2008 Presidential Win Changed Political Campaigning

When Obama was close to announcing his vice presidential selection of Joe Biden in August 2008, the campaign encouraged supporters to find out by text message, a move that prompted more than 2 million people to voluntarily give their cell phone number to the Obama campaign.

Three years later, social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter have exploded, smart phones and apps are more prevalent, tablet computers are on the rise, and most Americans are online. When Obama announced his presidential campaign in 2007, Facebook had fewer than 20 million users worldwide. That number has now surpassed 500 million.

"There's no online and offline organizing. There's organizing," said Jeremy Bird, Obama's national field director, during a session at Netroots Nation in Minneapolis.

When Campaigns Manipulate Social Media

Since young voters discovered they could friend Barack Obama on Facebook during the 2008 election, social media has become ingrained in the way we think about political discourse. Politicians and tech evangelists alike see it as the key to a new type of politics: Campaigns and candidates can better engage citizens, facilitate grassroots organization, and craft legislation with the direct input of a Tweeting electorate. The inevitable results, optimists argue, will be a sort of "digital democracy," defined by a closer, more coherent relationship between the elected officials and their constituents.

But social media, like any tool, can be used to erode democratic practices as well.

The Atlantic by Jared Keller: A few days before the special election in Massachusetts to fill Senate seat formerly held by the late Edward Kennedy, the conservative American Future Fund (AFF) conducted a "Twitter-bomb" campaign against Attorney General Martha Coakley, the Democratic candidate.

Texas to Convert Medicaid To Block Grants And Defund Planned Parenthood

The Texas Legislature approved a bill Monday that would both compel the state to push the Obama administration to convert Texas’ Medicaid program into a block grant and defund Planned Parenthood.

The omnibus health bill also includes a number of other controversial provisions, including plans to save $400 million over the next year by increasing the use of Medicaid managed care.

The legislation now goes to the desk of Gov. Rick Perry, who has been generally supportive of both the Medicaid reforms, as well as anti-abortion language.

When previously asked about Senate Bill 7, Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed would not speak specifically to pending legislation, but did comment on the governor’s broad support for block grants.

Governors like Rick Perry (R-TX), Rick Scott (R-FL), Scott Walker (R-WI) and Haley Barbour (R-MS) are touting block grants — capped allotments of money — as the solution to cut spending on their respect state Medicaid programs. However, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) shows that block grants come with financial risks and costs to the states, as well as cuts to Medicaid eligibility and benefits. Additionally, providing states with block grants for Medicaid would fundamentally change how the program is funded and would ultimately undermine the Affordable Care Act.

Block Grants Fundamentally Change How Medicaid Is Funded

Distressed Oceans Lead To Mass Extinction

Pollution and global warming are pushing the world's oceans to the brink of a mass extinction of marine life unseen for tens of millions of years, a consortium of scientists warned Monday.

Dying coral reefs, biodiversity ravaged by invasive species, expanding open-water "dead zones," toxic algae blooms, the massive depletion of big fish stocks -- all are accelerating, they said in a report compiled during an April meeting in Oxford of 27 of the world's top ocean experts.