In 1971, Lewis F. Powell, then a corporate lawyer and member of the boards of eleven corporations, wrote a memo to his friend Eugene Sydnor, Jr., the director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, titled “Attack of [sic] American Free Enterprise System.” The memorandum was dated August 23, 1971, two months prior to Powell’s nomination…

Peter Shumlin, Governor of Vermont stated this morning: “I find it extraordinary that so many political leaders won’t actually talk about the relationship between climate change, fossil fuels, our continuing irrational exuberance about burning fossil fuels, in light of these storm patterns that we’ve been experiencing.” For over a week, people from across the country…

ABBY RAPOPORT, rapoport at texasobserver.org Rapoport is a reporter with the Texas Observer. She said today: “Once upon a time, Rick Perry was all about public education. In his 2006 re-election campaign, he devoted an entire ad to his commitment. ‘I’m proud of Texas schools,’ he says to the camera as he wanders through a…

The Washington Post reports: “Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who is leading foreclosure settlement negotiationswith the nation’s largest banks on behalf of all 50 states, abruptly removed New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman from the coalition’s executive committee Tuesday, saying he had “actively worked to undermine” the group’s efforts in recent months.

JARED BALL, freemixradio at gmail.com Ball is an associate professor of communication studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore and is the author of I Mix What I Like! A Mixtape Manifesto. He just wrote the piece “The Corporate King Memorial and the Burial of a Movement,” which states that the newly unveiled MLK Memorial…

The Washington Post is reporting that a 5.9 magnitude earthquake “rattled Washington. Buildings across the capital are evacuated after quake strikes 87 miles southwest of Washington. An official with the U.S. Geological Survey says there could be aftershocks.” ROBERT ALVAREZ, kitbob at starpower.net Available for a limited number of interviews, Alvarez is a former senior…

NASEER ARURI, naruri at aol.com Aruri is chancellor professor emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and chair of the Trans-Arab Research Institute. He said today: “The impending collapse of the Qaddafi regime is part and parcel of an ongoing re-colonization of the Arab world by the United States and the…

ABBY RAPOPORT, rapoport at texasobserver.org Rapoport is a reporter with the Texas Observer. She said today: “Don’t assume a gaffe or two means Rick Perry doesn’t have an excellent campaign strategy. The Texas governor rewrote the playbook on political organizing back in 2010, when he created an expansive grassroots network. No mailers, no yard signs,…

Starting this weekend people from across the country will gather in Washington D.C. to oppose the Keystone XL, a 1,700 mile pipeline that would carry tar sands oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. The protest will continue for two weeks. BILL MCKIBBEN, bill.mckibben at gmail.com, http://www.tarsandaction.org McKibben is the author of…

THOMAS FERGUSON, thomas.ferguson at umb.edu Ferguson is professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and a senior fellow of the Roosevelt Institute. He recently wrote the piece, “Memo to New York Times: Data Shows That ‘We’ Are Not Responsible for D.C. Deadlock.” It states: “After this summer’s exhausting budget and debt ceiling…