Tag: Ron Wyden

TPP Fast Tracking Off the Rails; Activists Remain Cautious

Story and photos by Pete Shaw What a difference a month makes. Back on January 9th when Senators Max Baucus and Orrin Hatch, and Representative Dave Camp introduced legislation that would give President Obama “Fast Track” authority over trade negotiations, it seemed a pretty good bet that it would breeze through Congress and be signed…

A Competitive Race to the Lowest Wages

Story and photos by Pete Shaw “Protecting a competitive race to the lowest wages is crucial,” said Tom Chamberlain, President of the Oregon AFL-CIO. After a confused pause, Chamberlain restated himself, replacing “protecting” with “preventing.” It was a slightly awkward moment at this strange gathering billed as a “Listening Session on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)”.…

Transition from “Listening” to Action on Coal

By Nicholas Caleb Senator Ron Wyden held a “listening session” in Portland on Monday to discuss the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest in a line of sneaky, corporate, anti-democratic policymaking. Although the US Trade Representative is currently keeping all the details of negotiation secret from the public and most of Congress, we know (from leaks)…

#Occupied: Reports From the Front Lines

This story is from the Occupied News Wire.  It originally appeared in the Occupied Wall Street Journal. YOUR WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF OCCUPY MOVEMENT NEWS By Jennifer Sacks This week in Occupy, the Cruz family was rebuffed by PNC Bank, Rio + 20 was mic-checked and #occupied, Egyptians took to the streets to demand an election and…

Ron Wyden Challenges Obama on Surveillance

Wired’s Threat-Level blog reported on Thursday, March 15 on the efforts of Oregon Senator Ron Wyden and Colorado Senator Mark Udall to urge President Obama to release information about Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court (FISA), which they say has over-interpreted the Patriot Act, creating the most expansive surveillance powers for the Federal government yet. The…