Opinions and Letters

End Corporate Rule; Legalize Democrary - move to amend

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Justice Stevens, in dissent, was compelled to state the obvious:

. . . . corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires. Corporations help structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be sure, and their “personhood” often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of “We the People” by whom and for whom our Constitution was established.

One and the Same: Great new DNC web ad.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: "America . . must never be on it's knees before Corporate Power!" (C-SPAN video)

This is a very powerful speech.  This sums up the damage done by decades of deregulation and worshiping at the altar of greed and profit.  I have always been impressed by Sen. Whitehouse, but this..... wow.   This says it all. 

Mr. President, we have watched with horror the unfolding disaster in the Gulf. We have seen precious lives lost; hard-earned livelihoods hammered; treasured ways of life imperiled. We have seen the largest deployment of resources ever against an environmental disaster. We have seen astonishing corporate negligence. But we have seen something else too-something that ought to be a lasting lesson from this catastrophe: we have seen the revolting specter of an agency of government subservient to - captive to - the industry it is supposed to regulate. ... ...What lesson of history, if left unlearned after this disaster, are we condemned to repeat? I hope that the lesson we learn is this one: that we can never, never, never again let agencies of the government of the United States of America fall so far under the influence of the corporations they are supposed to regulate.... ...This American government of ours should never, never be on its knees before corporate power, no matter how strong. It should never be in the thrall of corporate wealth no matter how vast. This American government of ours should never give the American citizen reason to question whose interests are being served. Never.... ...We must act in defense of the integrity of this great government of ours, which has brought such light to the world, such freedom and equality to our country. We cannot allow this government - that is a model around the world, that inspires people to risk their lives and fortunes to come to our shores - we cannot allow any element of this government to become the tool of corporate power, the avenue of corporate influence, the puppet of corporate tentacles.

Please make the time to watch the entire video (click below).   The transcript is also <<here>> with commentary added by MinistryOfTruth.

PFAW: Tell Congress to Restore Our Rights Over Corporations'

From a PFAW email forwarded by Rich Piper:

In Citizens United v. FEC, the 5-4 conservative majority of the Roberts Court gave corporations nearly identical rights as you and I to participate in elections. As I wrote in a piece published on the Huffington Post last month, I have always been a fierce advocate for the First Amendment, but giving corporations unlimited ability to influence our elections is not an expansion of free speech -- it's a mockery of it.

I've spoken out since this disastrous Supreme Court decision in January to say that action is needed to undo the damage of Citizens United and close the floodgates on the corporate cash that threatens to upend our democracy. Last week, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced the DISCLOSE Act, a strong first step in doing just that.

Join People For the American Way and me in taking action to pass these necessary reforms now.

Email your members of Congress and demand that they sponsor and support the DISCLOSE Act.

Judge H. Lee Sarokin: Senator Hatch's Whale Warnings Are All Blubber

What Senator Hatch and conservatives do not want are judges who render decisions with which they do not agree. Those judges are the "activists" to be feared. The Roberts Court for the first time in the history of the republic has ruled that every citizen has a right to own a gun under the 2nd Amendment and every corporation has the same free speech rights as individuals under the 1st Amendment. No cries of activism or demands for impeachment arose from the right.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

I think this piece very nicely sums up the Republican/conservative message on Supreme Court nominees, and on everything is "do it our way". Their approach is to ignore the fact that they lost the election and to show their base that they can get their way and RULE from the minority.

Unfortunately, it is working all too often.

Wanda Schwerer, club member