Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/22-0

The most politically partisan—and politically activist—Supreme Court in modern American history has already assumed that, when it comes to electioneering, corporations have pretty much the same rights as human beings. Indeed, the High Court’s Citizens United ruling has given corporations unprecedented flexibility to act on their own behalf to influence election campaigns and results.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/22-1

Over the past few days, The New York Times has published several terrifying reports about New Jersey’s system of halfway houses — privately run adjuncts to the regular system of prisons. The series is a model of investigative reporting, which everyone should read. But it should also be seen in context. The horrors described are part of a broader pattern in which essential functions of government are being both privatized and degraded.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/06/22-8

Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL – On Friday afternoon, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development convened. Dubbed Rio+20, the conference was the largest UN summit ever held and marked the 20-year anniversary of the original Earth Summit also held in Rio.

Link: http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/breaking-addiction-incarceration-weekly-highlights-25

Today, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. With over 2.3 million men and women living behind bars, our imprisonment rate is the highest it’s ever been in U.S. history. And yet, our criminal justice system has failed on every count: public safety, fairness and cost-effectiveness. Across the country, the criminal justice reform conversation is heating up.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/jun2012/pers-j22.shtml

It is now coming on close to four years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the autumn of 2008. The events of the past several months underscore two fundamental features of the crisis that emerged out of the subsequent financial collapse: 1) that it is systemic, not temporary; and 2) that it is global, affecting every country in the world. Globally integrated capitalism has created a globally integrated catastrophe.