WASHINGTON — Businesses may use standard-form contracts to forbid consumers claiming fraud from banding together in a single arbitration, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday in a 5-to-4 decision that split along ideological lines.

This short cartoon by the folks at Story of Stuff gives a good history of why corporations have so much power and what it does to our democracy.

"Judicial activism" is way too tame a phrase for what Chief Justice Roberts & Co did here. This was a coup -- a plotted overthrow to enthrone corporate political interests. 

Jim Hightower has included Move To Amend in his list, "8 Ways We're Making America a Better Place -- in Spite of the Disasters Coming out of Washington."

The year 2010 will not be remembered as a halcyon year for progressives. But in such years the truest believers and battlers stand out all the more clearly, and patterns are set for the victories of the years to come. Here, then, are the Most Valuable Progressives of 2010: