With no limits on campaign financing, corporations will take over the government

Jan. 21: In a Special Comment, Countdown’s Keith Olbermann envisions a future United States in which today’s Supreme Court ruling permitting unbridled corporate campaign spending purchase all the power greed can afford

SPECIAL COMMENT
By Keith Olbermann
Anchor, ‘Countdown’
hat tip: msnbc.com

Finally tonight, as promised, a Special Comment on the Supreme Court’s ruling today in the case titled “Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.”

On the cold morning of Friday, March 6th, 1857, a very old man who was born just eight months and thirteen days after the Declaration of Independence was adopted; a man who was married to the sister of the man who wrote “The Star Spangled Banner;” a man who was enlightened enough to have freed his own slaves and given pensions to the ones who had become too old to work read aloud, in a reed-thin voice, a very long document.

In it, he ruled on a legal case involving a slave, brought by his owner to live in a free state; yet to remain a slave.

The slave sought his freedom, and sued. And looking back over legal precedent, and the Constitution, and the America in which it was created, this judge ruled that no black man could ever be considered an actual citizen of the United States.

“They had for more than a century before been, regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far unfit, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

Watch the video and read more…

by: Kyle Berlin
hat tip: t r u t h o u t
Thursday 21 January 2010

In a 5-4 Supreme Court decision that portends massive changes in campaign finance, corporations will no longer be banned from spending money on presidential or Congressional elections.

The conservative wing of the court, with Anthony Kennedy joining, overruled two long-held precedents in reaching the decision, which said that corporations have the same right to use their own money to fund campaign ads as individuals do.

Kennedy, in his opinion for the majority, wrote that “the Government may regulate corporate political speech through disclaimer and disclosure requirements, but it may not suppress that speech altogether.”

The ruling also overturned a segment of the McCain-Feingold Act, which bans the broadcast of ads that mention a candidate for federal office 60 days before a general election or 30 days before a primary or caucus.

Justice John Paul Stevens, speaking for the court’s liberal wing, including Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Stephen Breyer, read part of his dissent out loud in the courtroom.

In his dissent, he wrote, “although they make enormous contributions to our society, corporations are not actually members of it.”

Campaign finance experts say the decision will allow freer participation by organizations like labor unions, though direct contributions by corporations to candidates are still prohibited.

Read more.

Hat tip: www.opednews.com
by amicus curiae

Monsanto is now suing the German government (and, by that, the people) to force them to grow their GM Corn. Monsanto files suit against Germany over GM ban:

MON810 maize is genetically engineered to produce Bacillus thuringiensis, which is toxic to the corn borer pest. Permitted in Europe since 1998 for animal feed, it is marketed as a way to save farmers money on insecticides and other pest controls.

However German agriculture minister Ilse Aigner claimed last week that she had “legitimate reasons” to believe the maize to be a danger to the environment – and believes the Environment Ministry to agree with the view. Although MON810 has been permitted in Germany since 2005, she scrapped plans for 3,600 hectares (8,892 acres) to be planted in the eastern states for this summer’s harvest.

Now the biotech giant has hit back, according to a Reuters article, filing a lawsuit against the Germany government in the administrative court in Braunschweig, northern Germany.

The wire quotes a spokesperson for Monsanto as saying the ban is “arbitrary”. A clause in EU law does allow member states to impose such a ban, but Monsanto claims they can only do so once a plant has already been approved if new scientific evidence has come to light.

If the outcome of the lawsuit is in Monsanto’s favour, the cost to the German government has been estimated at between €6m and €7m….

France also invoked the clause on new scientific evidence that cast doubt over its safety last year….

Other countries to implement bans are Hungary and Austria. Last month European ministers voted – for the fourth time – against forcing these countries to lift their bans, despite EFSA’s view.

Read more.

by Jon Faulkner

www.opednews.com

The U.S, for the last few decades, has been seriously hurt by the leadership Americans chose. Obama will very likely be defeated in 2012 by a landslide victory of the G.O.P. The new ultra rightist government will renew its attacks upon the U.S. Constitution, and whatever still exists of the Constitutional protections once afforded Americans will be further diminished. Social programs, including the big one, Social Security, will be dissolved and whatever is left of the trust fund will be handed over to private investors. Old folks should be making plans for other health and living arrangements. The U.S. will descend into true Third World status, and its influence in the world will diminish further. Unless that is, the rightist government begins a new era of imperialist aggression beginning with any nation unable to defend itself.

The question will be how much the world will allow U.S. imperialism to advance before a collective effort, probably led by Russia and China, is launched to contain the U.S. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been too profitable for U.S. Corporations to ignore future adventures in foreign lands. Evildoers are remarkably easy to find, particularly when one looks for them. Bush prepared the ground when he informed the nation that endless war was necessary.

“It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.” … James Madison

What was once the world’s strongest economy is now drowning in debt, and the corporations with their magical free market wizards are being rewarded with vast amounts of taxpayer dollars for sinking the economy. It’s provident for them that American taxpayers didn’t get the same tax breaks they did. Otherwise there would be little money to give them. The big banks, investment firms and insurers are busy, with full political support, finishing off what little is left of the U.S. economy. Obama knows what is necessary to fix the nation’s headlong plunge into economic oblivion, but he hasn’t the courage or the political support to fix a flat tire, never mind the economy.

The American people have been the victims of their own self righteous morality. They have been lazy and guilty of unbelievable ignorance. The warnings were everywhere, but they were far too comfortable with their baseless opinions to see them. The “We Report, you Decide” crew did a fine number on them, and they’re still being jerked around like a marionettes on a string.

“Capitalism has defeated communism. It is now well on its way to defeating democracy.” … David Korten

Read more.

Editor’s note: What he said…

By Chuck Baldwin

Self-proclaimed “conservatives” love to tout themselves as ardent supporters of the “free enterprise” system. In the name of “capitalism,” they support any and every piece of legislation or governmental decision that caters to business—especially Big Business. Favorite policies of these folks include anything and everything that calls itself “free trade.” Furthermore, these same “conservatives” will support just about anything and everything that is said to advance the so-called “global economy.”

Needless to say, in the name of “free trade” millions of American jobs and thousands of American manufacturing plants have been outsourced to foreign countries and interests. And leading the charge for “free trade,” outsourcing, and the “global economy” is the international cabal known as Big Business. But Big Business does not play this game alone. Joining Big Business is its pernicious partner, Big Government.

Together, Big Business and Big Government form a tyrannical tandem that is squeezing the breath out of our once-great republic. In fact, people need to understand that what is passing for “capitalism” in America today is nothing more than “Corporatism.”

Read more.

“We Can’t Make it Here”

Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing, both hands free
No one’s paying much mind to him
The V.A. budget’s stretched so thin
And there’s more comin’ home from the Mideast war

We can’t make it here anymore

That big ol’ building was the textile mill
It fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors

We can’t make it here anymore

Read more.

By Paul Craig Roberts
February 16, 2009

The Bush/Obama bailout/stimulus plans are not going to work.

Both are schemes hatched by a clique of financial insiders. The schemes will redistribute income and wealth from American taxpayers to the shyster banksters, who have destroyed American jobs, ruined the retirement plans of tens of millions of Americans, and worsened the situation of millions of people worldwide who naively trusted American financial institutions. The ongoing theft has simply been recast. Instead of using fraudulent financial instruments, the banksters are using government policy.

Read more.

by Sherwood Ross

Global Research, January 26, 2009

If the cable and phone companies that transmit Internet data are allowed to charge higher rates to some producers for faster service the result will be “a ten pin strike against political freedom,” a prominent legal authority warns.

That’s because the change will enable the wealthy to “quickly take over the high speed transmissions (for their trash commercial content) just as they completely monopolize radio and TV, and just as their incredibly greedy profit-seeking has had a very deleterious effect on print journalism,” writes Lawrence Velvel, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover.

Velvel’s plea for “internet neutrality” comes in his new book “An Enemy of The People,” subtitled “The Unending Battle Against Conventional Wisdom(Doukathsan).” Essentially, he writes, the proposed change is an “attempt by the wealthy to make the internet into yet another repository of their power…”

Read more.

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Monday, December 15, 2008

Frighteningly accurate trends forecaster Gerald Celente says that America will see riots similar to those currently ongoing in Greece and that the cause will be a hyper-inflationary depression, leading to the inevitable use of troops and mercenaries to deal with the crisis as Americans are incarcerated in internment camps.

As we have highlighted before, Celente’s accuracy is stunning – he predicted the 1987 crash, the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the “panic of 2008,” and is routinely cited even by mainstream news networks as highly credible.

The cause of the riots would be a hyper-inflationary depression, Celente told interviewer Lew Rockwell, causing Americans to revolt in similar circumstances that we have witnessed recently in Iceland and Greece. The trouble would be sparked off by Obama declaring a “bank holiday” whereby people won’t be able to withdraw their money.

“What’s going on in Greece with these riots has nothing to do with a 15-year-old boy being killed, that was only the spark that ignited the pent up, really hatred and disdain, people have for the scandals and corrupt government and the same thing is going on in this country as well,” said Celente.

Celente reiterated his prediction of a revolution and riots in America, and said that the first signs of it could even emerge before the end of the year.

Read more.

by martinweiss
www.opednews.com

Figure it out, people.

CEO’s are making millions while children starve.

You will give your life to work that will leave you exhausted and destitute.

Your money will go to the connected and your work will generate value, but your life will be worthless. After your life is spent working, your children will not have the money to go to college without signing usurious loans. Meanwhile, children are still starving to death, being denied medical care for lack of money. The military is building fighters and bombers for billions. A car costs more than an auto worker makes in two years. No carpenters can afford to build a house. People cannot afford to heat their homes in the winter. Few can afford dentistry or medical care without insurance which denies benefits to anyone needing it. The cycles of inflation, deflation and debt dispossess anyone who works for wages.

Paul Craig Roberts

The prospects of a government rescue for the foundering American automakers dwindled Thursday as Democratic Congressional leaders conceded that they would face potentially insurmountable Republican opposition,” reported the New York Times last Friday.

Wow! The entire country is steamed up over the Republicans bailing out a bunch of financial crooks who have paid themselves fortunes in bonuses for destroying America’s pensions.

Why do Democrats want to protect Republicans from further ignominy by not giving them the opportunity to vote down a bailout for workers? Quick, someone enroll the Democratic Party in Politics 101.

GM’s divisions in Canada and Germany are asking those governments for help. It will be something if Canada and Germany come through for the American automaker and the American government doesn’t.

Conservative talking heads are saying GM is a “failed business model” unworthy of a $25 billion bailout. These are the same talking heads who favored pouring $700 billion into a failed financial model.

Read more.

Despite actions of police and local courts, higher courts have ruled that Americans citizens have a right to travel without state permits.

by Jack McLamb

(from Aid & Abet Newsletter)

For years professionals within the criminal justice system have acted on the belief that traveling by motor vehicle was a privilege that was given to a citizen only after approval by their state government in the form of a permit or license to drive. In other words, the individual must be granted the privilege before his use of the state highways was considered legal. Legislators, police officers, and court officials are becoming aware that there are court decisions that disprove the belief that driving is a privilege and therefore requires government approval in the form of a license. Presented here are some of these cases:

CASE #1: “The use of the highway for the purpose of travel and transportation is not a mere privilege, but a common fundamental right of which the public and individuals cannot rightfully be deprived.” Chicago Motor Coach v. Chicago, 169 NE 221.

CASE #2: “The right of the citizen to travel upon the public highways and to transport his property thereon, either by carriage or by automobile, is not a mere privilege which a city may prohibit or permit at will, but a common law right which he has under the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Thompson v. Smith, 154 SE 579.

It could not be stated more directly or conclusively that citizens of the states have a common law right to travel, without approval or restriction (license), and that this right is protected under the U.S Constitution.

CASE #3: “The right to travel is a part of the liberty of which the citizen cannot be deprived without due process of law under the Fifth Amendment.” Kent v. Dulles, 357 US 116, 125.

CASE #4: “The right to travel is a well-established common right that does not owe its existence to the federal government. It is recognized by the courts as a natural right.” Schactman v. Dulles 96 App DC 287, 225 F2d 938, at 941.

sherry clark

As someone who has literally “partied for a living,” (in special events) I claim this with absolute authority:

The. Party. Is. Over.

It’s time to turn off the music, turn up the lights, present the bill, “gather up your jackets and move to the exits” and if necessary–and it obviously is necessary–call the cops. And yeah, I remember the number. It’s 9/11.

The Republicrats need to go home, and don’t even get me started about a third party–because what this country really needs is a second one.

“Chase recently received $25 billion in federal funding. What effect will that have on the business side and will it change our strategic lending policy?”

It was Oct. 17, just four days after JPMorgan Chase’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, agreed to take a $25 billion capital injection courtesy of the United States government, when a JPMorgan employee asked that question. It came toward the end of an employee-only conference call that had been largely devoted to meshing certain divisions of JPMorgan with its new acquisition, Washington Mutual.

Which, of course, it also got thanks to the federal government. Christmas came early at JPMorgan Chase.

The JPMorgan executive who was moderating the employee conference call didn’t hesitate to answer a question that was pretty politically sensitive given the events of the previous few weeks.

Given the way, that is, that Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had decided to use the first installment of the $700 billion bailout money to recapitalize banks instead of buying up their toxic securities, which he had then sold to Congress and the American people as the best and fastest way to get the banks to start making loans again, and help prevent this recession from getting much, much worse.

Inscribed on the Liberty Bell is, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof” (Lev. 25:10). The next verse reads, “It shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possission, and ye shall return every man unto his family.”

As our government reaches ever further into our wallets with corporate buyouts and printing even more money, greater burdens are heaped upon our collective backs. American taxpayers will now carry the debt loads of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, making us slaves of debt we never agreed to pay.

If we were to view our government optimistically, we could view it as leading by example, reminding us that forgiveness is the only way out of the failed obligations of others. Yet it is radical — is it not — that our leaders actually called for the forgiveness of debt? On the other hand, as a nation that professes to be Christian, that is exactly what Jesus taught his followers to do.

The Lord’s Prayers says, “… forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors…” This passage is reverently spoken by most Christians–ostensibly 85% of the American population, and reminds them to forgive those that lie, steal, hurt, cheat, kill and to forgive even the worst of sins: choosing to serve power and money over God. In other words, the Lord’s Prayer is a reminder that we are called to forgive even the people who run our government.