This is a great tool to get a quick glimpse of the effect of money in state legislative races. What did Bob DeLeo need $895,000 for? Well, it’s one way to funnel money around to your Democratic buddies who do your dirty work. And it’s sure gotta be nice to have $446k in the bank.

From the Green-Rainbow Party

4/29/2011

Dear GRP supporters and activists,

Please join us at the hearing Thursday, May 5, anytime between 10:00 AM & 3:00 PM, State House Gardner Auditorium, Boston. Come tell the Governor and legislature to stop slashing critical health, education, social and environmental services in order to protect billions in useless corporate tax give-aways and subsidies for the massive, needless health insurance bureaucracy!

Raise the bar for a better budget and real tax reform. As a first step, we’re also supporting “An Act to Invest In Our Communities” (SB1416 / HB2553) at the hearing. Supporting this revenue bill is one part of our commitment to stop the cruel, & unnecessary cuts that the governor and legislature are proposing.

In addition to asking the rich to pay their fair share, the GRP is also calling for single-payer Medicare-for-all health care and the elimination of unjustified and ineffective corporate subsidies – saving at least $2.5 billion a year. The Green-Rainbow Party alone brings it all together into a “Better Budget,” which will not only prevent new budget cuts, but will allow us to restore essential public services that have been severely compromised over the past decade.  

{Note: it appears that this subpoena was served on David House of Cambridge, who was detained last year in connection to an investigation of WikiLeaks.}

FBI serves Grand Jury subpoena likely relating to WikiLeaks

Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com

Wednesday, Apr 27, 2011

In the wake of a massive disclosure of Guantanamo files by WikiLeaks, the FBI yesterday served a Grand Jury subpoena in Boston on a Cambridge resident, compelling his appearance to testify in Alexandria, Virgina.  Alexandria is where a Grand Jury has been convened to criminally investigate WikiLeaks and Julian Assange and determine whether an indictment against them is warranted.  The individual served has been publicly linked to the WikiLeaks case, and it is highly likely that the Subpoena was issued in connection with that investigation.

Notably, the Subopena explicitly indicates that the Grand Jury is investigating possible violations of the Espionage Act (18 U.S.C. 793), a draconian 1917 law under which no non-government-employee has ever been convicted for disclosing classified information.  The most strident anti-WikiLeaks politicians — such as Dianne Feinstein and Newt Gingrich — have called for the prosecution of the whistle-blowing group under this law, and it appears that the Obama DOJ is at least strongly considering that possibility.  

Exciting news coming out of the Green-Rainbow Party, generating serious momentum towards local initiatives. Check out this note from GRP Co-Chairs Jill Stein and John Andrews:

Wow. There was electricity in the air from the start.  And by the end of the day, we knew for certain that something new and exciting had appeared on the scene.

Thirty-five activists met Saturday at the Green-Rainbow Party’s “Initiatives Summit” in Worcester to plan a new future for Massachusetts and beyond.  One by one they rose to tell of their experiences, their hopes, and their vision.  They were tired of the betrayals of a government in which politicians routinely sold out to special interests and big money.  Tired of seeing our men and women – and civilians in far off lands – maimed and killed in wars for oil while arms merchants grew rich. They were tired seeing their neighborhoods ravaged by unemployment and foreclosures while a well-placed few grew ever richer through financial manipulation. And they were tired of seeing their democratic rights eroded by insider deals cut by the Democratic and Republican Parties.  

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Watch US Uncut, The Ruckus Society and the Brass Liberation Orchestra drop some tax day love on Bank of America:

“You can’t spoil a system that is spoiled to the core.”

–Ralph Nader

As the Los Angeles Times reports, key Democrats are beginning to embrace the no-holds-barred arena of corporate influence on political elections, in which disclosures of funding are not required by law.

Democrats putting together new independent political organizations for the 2012 campaign are embracing a model that will allow them to conceal their donors – the very tactic for which they criticized Republicans in 2010.

Majority PAC, a new group aimed at electing Democrats to the Senate, and American Bridge 21st Century, which will serve as a research hub, are being organized as so-called super political action committees that can raise unlimited amounts of money from contributors whose donations are reported to the Federal Election Commission. But both are also affiliated with nonprofit 501(c)(4) social welfare groups that can raise money from undisclosed donors and give money directly to super PACs.

The same dual structure is being considered by Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney, two former White House aides who are likely to launch their own independent expenditure effort in support of President Obama’s reelection, according to people familiar with the plans.

As a spokesman for Obama, Burton repeatedly hammered Republican groups for their lack of transparency in 2010. He declined to comment.

If you think what’s happening in Japan can’t happen here, think again. The map below shows the reality of what’s at stake:

Actually, what’s at stake is even more troubling, considering that the Quabbin reservoir sits just about 30 miles south of Vermont Yankee, which is known to have been leaking Tritium into the Connecticut River.