Mary Bottari is the Director of the Center for Media and Democracy’s Real Economy Project and editor of the BanksterUSA.org site for bank busting activists. She is an experienced policy wonk and public interest advocate. For the last ten years she has served as a senior analyst for the Washington, D.C.-based consumer group Public Citizen in its Global Trade Watch division. She has investigated and documented the impact of international trade agreements on public policy including in the areas of financial services, health care, toxics regulation, food safety, and the environment. Prior to her stint at Public Citizen, Mary was press secretary for U.S. Senator Russ Feingold and worked for many years in the Wisconsin State Senate. She has an M.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her family. Her favorite Wisconsin cheese is Prairie Ridge Reserve.
"Won't Back Down" Film Pushes ALEC Parent Trigger Proposal
Well-funded advocates of privatizing the nation's education system are employing a new strategy this fall to enlist support for the cause. The emotionally engaging Hollywood film "Won't Back Down" -- set for release September 28 -- portrays so-called "Parent Trigger" laws as an effective mechanism for transforming underperforming public schools. ...
Will Scott Walker Be Given a Pink Slip, an Orange Jump Suit or a Second Chance?
Madison -- Since September of 2010 the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (MJS) has been detailing an ongoing "John Doe" criminal investigation being run out of the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office involving Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's former staff and associates. The wide-ranging investigation has included allegations of campaign finance malfeasance, embezzlement ...
Is "Right to Work" Next on Walker's Agenda?
Many are wondering if making Wisconsin a "Right to Work" state is next on Governor Scott Walker's agenda if he wins the recall election on June 5. Right to Work laws weaken unions by allowing members to opt out of paying dues. Workers get the benefit of working in a ...
On Anniversary of Prank Call the Real David Koch Wants to "Stop Union Power" in Wisconsin
One year ago this week, blogger Ian Murphy of the Buffalo Beast pranked Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker by posing as billionaire David Koch on a phone call. As the crowds at the Capitol protesting Walker's bill to end collective bargaining were increasing in size and volume, the fake Koch inquired ...
Scott Walker’s Plutonomy: An Economy for the One Percent
While volunteer after volunteer from each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties marched into the state’s election board to deposit over one million signatures for the recall of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Walker was nowhere to be found. At the hour petitions were being deposited on January 17, Mother Jones revealed that ...
Break Up Bank of America Before it Breaks Us
On Monday, Bank of America (BofA) stocks briefly traded for under $5. Yes, you could buy a share of BofA for less than the noxious debit card fee they tried to force down your throat. BofA is massive, with assets equivalent to 15 percent of U.S. GDP. So why is ...
FOX News, OWS, Banksters, and Bombs
Last week, tragedy was averted when savvy security at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, spotted a suspicious package and sequestered a letter bomb intended for the DB CEO. This was the second time Deutsche Bank was attacked in this manner. In 1989, their CEO was killed by a bomb later ...
Robin Hood Tax Gains Ground at the G-20
The G-20 meeting in Cannes got underway this week. The sunny beach resort, playground to movie stars and media moguls was an odd choice for a somber G-20 meeting. As President Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner touched down in Air Force One, the Greek government was on the verge ...
Positive Policing From Wisconsin's "Original Occupation"
After two tours of duty in Iraq, 24-year-old Wisconsin native Scott Olsen managed to escape unscathed and with seven medals for valor. But Olsen was critically injured in an Occupy Oakland march last week by a police projectile. According to eyewitnesses, Olsen was acting as a human barrier between unarmed ...
Chicago to Wall Street: Pay US Back!
While the Occupy Wall Street movement is sweeping the country and peaceful arrests are mounting, Chicagoans took to the streets this week to hold the big banks accountable for crashing the economy and to demand city, state and federal policies that work for working families. For many, the goal was ...
The Occupation Is On The Move, Find a Big Bank Protest Near You
U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone used to say "sometimes you have to pick a fight to win one." Now Occupy Wall Street has picked one, right in Jamie Dimon's backyard. But it won’t stay contained in Zuccotti Park. While Brookfield Properties called the park a "public sanctuary" in 2005, they have ...
Consumer Bureau Launches in Shark-Infested Waters
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) throws open its doors to consumers this week, officially starting its mission to safeguard Americans from overly complex financial products and malignant banking practices. The bureau is the culmination of a national grassroots effort to hold the big banks accountable for the 2008 economic ...
ALEC Exposed: Milton Friedman's Little Shop of Horrors
Although he passed away in 2006, states are now grappling with many of the toxic notions left behind by University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman. In her groundbreaking book, The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein coined the term "disaster capitalism" for the rapid-fire corporate re-engineering of societies still reeling from shock. ...
Women’s Groups Call on Judge to Step Down Pending Investigation into Choking Incident
In the wake of allegations that Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser placed fellow Justice Ann Walsh Bradley in a chokehold in her office, women’s rights organizations and elected officials across the state are calling for him to step down until investigations are complete. Tense Confrontation Over Collective Bargaining Ruling ...
Wisconsin Judge Declares Walker’s Collective Bargaining Bill “Null and Void”
Today, Wisconsin Judge Maryann Sumi ruled Governor Scott Walker's "budget repair bill," which would eviscerate collective bargaining rights for most public workers in the state, "null and void." Sumi ruled that lawmakers clearly violated the state's open meetings law in their rush to pass the bill at the height of ...
Robin Hood Storms Chase Castle and M&I Execs Get Piggish
On Tuesday, the shareholders of Marshall and Ilsley (M&I) Bank of Wisconsin “voted” to give $71 million in bonuses to failed executives as part of an acquisition deal. “Voted” may not be the right word, since CEO Mark Furlong opened and closed the meeting within the span of five minutes, ...
Big Bank Backlash: From Coast to Coast People are Moving their Money
As the economy continues to stutter and new unemployment claims surge to an eight month high, it hasn't escaped the notice of people on Main Street that the folks on Wall Street are back in the black. According to FORTUNE magazine, profits of the 500 largest U.S. corporations have surged ...
Fire Fighters Turn off the Spigot
Remember when the fight broke out in Wisconsin over the right to collectively bargain and President Obama and a phalanx of national democratic leaders spread out across the country fighting for the rights of American workers? Right, we don't remember that either. As unions battled for their very existence, the ...
Sarah Palin: The Koch Brother’s Union Maid
Tax Day was approaching and the righties were out to denigrate government workers and government spending. Sarah Palin, former Governor of Alaska, who quit her job in 2009, headlined a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, bought and paid for by the front-group Americans for Prosperity (AFR), but billed as a “grassroots” ...
Court Race Throws a Spanner in the Works of Wisconsin Wingnuts
While Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan prepares to shut down the federal government to prove that government is bad, analysts say the radical agenda of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker suffered a major set back today as his good friend incumbent Justice David Prosser was defeated for Wisconsin Supreme Court. The AP ...
Have You No Decency, Scott Walker?
William Cronon is a professor of history, geography and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the prize winning author of many books such as Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England, which revolutionized the study of environmental history. He is known as ...
Will “Bitches” and “Turds” Decide the Fate of Wisconsin?
The reign of lawlessness continues in Wisconsin. Last week, a local court issued a stay temporarily blocking the implementation of Governor Scott Walker's radical proposal to do away with most collective bargaining rights for public workers and cripple labor's ability to collect union dues. The court put a halt to ...
WI Firefighters Spark "Move Your Money" Moment
On the day that the bill passed the Wisconsin Assembly effectively ending 50 years of collective bargaining in Wisconsin and eviscerating the ability of public unions to raise money through dues, a new front opened in the battle for the future of Wisconsin families. Bagpipes blaring, hundreds of firefighters walked ...
Scott Walker Down the Rat Hole with the Palace Guard
The Wisconsin State Capitol has erupted in a torrent of lawlessness this week that schoolchildren will be reading about for years. No, I don't mean rowdy protests resulting in mass arrests. Even though some 300,000 people have visited the capitol in the last two weeks, the crowds have been peaceful ...
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September 21st, 2012
"Won't Back Down" Film Pushes ALEC Parent Trigger Proposal
Well-funded advocates of privatizing the nation's education system are employing a new strategy this fall to enlist support for the cause. The emotionally engaging Hollywood ...
June 4th, 2012
Will Scott Walker Be Given a Pink Slip, an Orange Jump Suit or a Second Chance?
Madison -- Since September of 2010 the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (MJS) has been detailing an ongoing "John Doe" criminal investigation being run out of the ...
May 30th, 2012
Is "Right to Work" Next on Walker's Agenda?
Many are wondering if making Wisconsin a "Right to Work" state is next on Governor Scott Walker's agenda if he wins the recall election on ...
February 23rd, 2012
On Anniversary of Prank Call the Real David Koch Wants to "Stop Union Power" in Wisconsin
One year ago this week, blogger Ian Murphy of the Buffalo Beast pranked Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker by posing as billionaire David Koch on a ...
January 25th, 2012
Scott Walker’s Plutonomy: An Economy for the One Percent
While volunteer after volunteer from each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties marched into the state’s election board to deposit over one million signatures for the recall ...
December 21st, 2011
Break Up Bank of America Before it Breaks Us
On Monday, Bank of America (BofA) stocks briefly traded for under $5. Yes, you could buy a share of BofA for less than the noxious ...
December 12th, 2011
FOX News, OWS, Banksters, and Bombs
Last week, tragedy was averted when savvy security at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, spotted a suspicious package and sequestered a letter bomb intended for ...
October 12th, 2011
Chicago to Wall Street: Pay US Back!
While the Occupy Wall Street movement is sweeping the country and peaceful arrests are mounting, Chicagoans took to the streets this week to hold the ...
November 4th, 2011
Robin Hood Tax Gains Ground at the G-20
The G-20 meeting in Cannes got underway this week. The sunny beach resort, playground to movie stars and media moguls was an odd choice for ...
March 4th, 2011
Scott Walker Down the Rat Hole with the Palace Guard
The Wisconsin State Capitol has erupted in a torrent of lawlessness this week that schoolchildren will be reading about for years. No, I don't mean ...
March 12th, 2011
WI Firefighters Spark "Move Your Money" Moment
On the day that the bill passed the Wisconsin Assembly effectively ending 50 years of collective bargaining in Wisconsin and eviscerating the ability of public ...
July 20th, 2011
ALEC Exposed: Milton Friedman's Little Shop of Horrors
Although he passed away in 2006, states are now grappling with many of the toxic notions left behind by University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman. ...
July 23rd, 2011
Consumer Bureau Launches in Shark-Infested Waters
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) throws open its doors to consumers this week, officially starting its mission to safeguard Americans from overly complex financial ...
May 7th, 2011
Big Bank Backlash: From Coast to Coast People are Moving their Money
As the economy continues to stutter and new unemployment claims surge to an eight month high, it hasn't escaped the notice of people on Main ...
'Dirty Wars' by Jeremy Scahill
Why have you started a comedy festival in northern Michigan in the middle of winter?
Because if you were here in the dead of winter in the middle of nowhere (which is actually somewhere to us), you'd need a few laughs too ... Continue Reading
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