October 21 2011 at 10:08 AM
Beyond the Network: October 21, 2011
Every two weeks we take a look at some of the news and happenings from beyond the Midwest, and beyond the issues that we normally cover. Read on for some interesting conference calls and stories in this week’s Beyond the Network
- The Campaign for Stronger Democracy will be hosting its next round of Democracy Exchange phone calls in November and December. November’s topic is the Latino Community and Democracy Reform, and December’s topic is The Assault on Voting Rights. Read more about each of these topics, featured speakers, and how to sign up on the Campaign’s website.
- In an interview with Rolling Stone, professor and author Lawrence Lessig talks about his new book Republic, Lost, and how money corrupts Congress. He also speaks about how to get money out of politics, going so far as to propose a Constitutional convention.
- This week’s edition of the PBS program Frontline looked closer at President Obama’s record on immigration, and notes that the current administration has deported a record number of immigrants. Watch the episode, called “Lost in Detention,” on the PBS website.
- This piece by Dan Froomkin in the Huffington Post talks about Occupy Wall Street and how some organizations (including Public Citizen, Public Campaign, and Common Cause) are more optimistic about the issue of money in politics being discussed by the public, though they are still pessimistic about whether money-in-politics related legislation will get passed.
- The New York Times has a handy guide to political donations, showing the different ways in which people can donate money to candidates, and how, depending on the way you choose to donate, different limits (or no limits) apply.
- Governing Magazine covers state by state poverty rates using data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Poverty went up in every state with the exception of Montana and New Hampshire. Nationally, the number of people in poverty increased by one percentage point between 2009 and 2010.
- The National Conference of State Legislatures has compiled current state-by-state unemployment rates for the month of September, 2011.
