{"id":26929,"date":"2012-01-20T11:14:38","date_gmt":"2012-01-20T18:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/?p=26929"},"modified":"2012-01-20T11:14:38","modified_gmt":"2012-01-20T18:14:38","slug":"activists-occupy-the-courts-as-south-carolinas-gop-primary-field-is-narrowed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/2012\/01\/20\/activists-occupy-the-courts-as-south-carolinas-gop-primary-field-is-narrowed\/","title":{"rendered":"Activists Occupy the Courts, as South Carolina’s GOP Primary Field is Narrowed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Listen to the extended interview here <\/a> | entire program<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"\"While GOP candidates spend today stumping for votes in tomorrow’s South Carolina presidential primary, activists will be gathered on courthouse steps nationwide to protest the 2010 Supreme Court ruling known best as Citizen’s United. Today is the 2nd anniversary of the controversial 5-4 decision in Citizen’s United v. the Federal Election Commission that defined independent spending toward elections as a form of free speech that can not be restricted. Instantly, Political Action Committees funded by corporations and deep pocketed individuals sprang-up. The super PACs unleashed a torrent of attack ads during the 2010 mid-term elections, credited to anonymous committees that are actually backed by political heavy hitters, like Crossroads GPS that is tied to Karl Rove. This year in South Carolina alone PACs and candidates have spent a record $11.3 million on ads. One TV station manager told the Huffington Post,” [c]andidates themselves…spent less than in 2008, but those super PAC’s… [are] raising money levels above what it was in 2008.” <\/p>\n

The power of PACs to dominate an election through unaccountable donors has sparked outrage, and satire. They are a target of comedian Steven Colbert, who months ago started his own PAC, Making a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and recently transferred ownership of it to friend and fellow comedian John Stewart so Colbert could launch a tongue-in-cheek presidential campaign. Last week Colbert, a South Carolina native, reportedly polled higher than the fledgling GOP candidate John Huntsman, a source of embarrassment for Huntsman who suspended his campaign shortly after. Hunstman left the race on Monday and immediately endorsed Mitt Romney calling him, “the candidate best equipped to beat Barack Obama.” Romney’s campaign was jarred yesterday by two pieces of news that knocked him from first place. Iowa Caucus officials announced that Rick Santorum, not Romney, won the Caucus on January 3rd. Also, polls show Romney is now in a dead heat with Newt Gingrich, each supported by about 34% of Palmetto state voters. Gingrich received the endorsement of Texas Governor Rick Perry when Perry bowed out of the race yesterday, but at the same time was hit with controversy when his second wife told ABC News that Gingrich asked her for an open marriage so he could be romantically involved with the woman who is now his third wife.<\/p>\n

GUEST: David Cobb, one of the founders, and the National Spokesperson, for the Move To Amend Coalition. He was the Green Party Candidate for President in 2004; Today he joins us from the steps of the US Supreme Court where he is MC’ing the Occupy the Courts action; Amanda Terkel, Senior Politics Reporter at the Huffington Post<\/em><\/p>\n

Visit movetoamend.org\/occupythecourts<\/a> for more information and details about nationwide actions. <\/p>\n

Los Angeles area action: <\/strong><\/p>\n

Mock Funeral Procession will Mark the \u201cDeath of Democracy\u201d in the United States \u2013 and a Plea for its Revival \u2013 on the Second Anniversary of the Citizens United Decision<\/p>\n

Marking the second anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United v. FEC, a coalition of local activists and supporters will be protesting in a mock \u201cFuneral for Democracy\u201d on Saturday at the Federal Building in Westwood. The tongue-in-cheek protest and performance art event will raise public awareness about the absurd ruling, which deems corporations as people and ostensibly deserving of the same \u201cfree speech\u201d protections. <\/p>\n

Speakers will include L.A. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, veteran human rights activist Blase Bonpane, media personalities, military veterans, and others. For more information on the campaign to reverse the Citizens United ruling, go to: www.united4thepeople.org. <\/p>\n

WHO: Coalition members and supporters from organizations including Move to Amend, Common Cause, People for the American Way, Public Citizen, and MoveOn.org. <\/p>\n

WHAT: A \u201cfuneral\u201d procession and protest, featuring a coffin for Uncle Sam to be carried by U.S. military veterans. Great visuals!<\/p>\n

WHEN: 10:30am to 12:30pm, Saturday, January 21, 2012 <\/p>\n

WHERE: Starts at the Bank of America at Wilshire and Midvale and proceeds to the north lawn of the Federal Building, at 11000 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024.<\/p>\n

RAIN OR SHINE THE EVENT WILL GO ON.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen to the extended interview here | entire program While GOP candidates spend today stumping for votes in tomorrow’s South Carolina presidential primary, activists will be gathered on courthouse steps nationwide to protest the 2010 Supreme Court ruling known best as Citizen’s United. Today is the 2nd anniversary of the controversial 5-4 decision in Citizen’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}