(2:00M EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)
The Decision
by Alan Grayson — Thu Jan 21, 2010
In a 5-to-4 decision today, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that corporations have the “right” to spend an unlimited amount of money to influence and manipulate federal elections. The decision overturns more than a century of law and precedent.
[…]
“The Supreme Court has decided to protect the rights of GE, Volkswagen, Lukoil and Aramco, at the expense of our right to good government,” Grayson added.
[…]
Today, Rep. Grayson called for immediate action on his Save Our Democracy bills. “If we do nothing, then before long, there won’t be Senators from Oklahoma or Virginia, there will be Senators from Citibank and WalMart. Maybe they will wear insignias on their $500 suits, like NASCAR drivers do.”
Question is, do our Legslators have the guts to make use of our Constitutional “Checks and Balances”?
Can the Legslators actually pass laws to reel in the excesses of the Corporate Rights enabling Court?
Alan Grayson is one such Legislator, with the guts to stand up for the Rights of the People, over the Rights of the “Corporate Person”. Grayson’s proposed bills will put some serious brakes on the recent “Corporate Empowerment” ruling of the Supreme Court — IF passed.
Legislator have a responsiblity to apply such Brakes — Question is, do they have the Guts, to do so?
Or would they rather, just quietly let Corporations, continue to underright their Re-Election Campaigns … and Hope no one notices.
Exactly what is in Grayson’s Save Our Democracy bills?
Grayson introduced a handful of bills on Wednesday — the Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act, the Corporate Propaganda Sunshine Act, the End Political Kickbacks Act, and two other measures.
The Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act:
would impose a 500 percent excise tax on corporate contributions to political committees and on corporate expenditures on political advocacy campaigns.The Corporate Propaganda Sunshine Act:
would require public companies to report what they spend to influence public opinion on any matter other than the promotion of their goods and services.The End Political Kickbacks Act:
would restrict political contributions by government contractors.The other measures would:
apply antitrust regulations to political committees
and bar corporations from securities exchanges unless the corporation is certified in compliance with election law.
Arthur Delaney, Huffington Post
Those restrictions on Corporate Speech, sound reasonable enough. We the mere citizens of this country have to abide by similar constraints with regards to influencing Campaigns — our contributions are disclosed publicly, our contributions are capped.
Is it too much for “fictitious” Corporate Persons, to face similar Sunshine provisions, to be limited in how much they can spend to get their “Nascar Driver”, back in the Race?
If they don’t have ANY “Checks and Balances” to curb their enthuasiam, If they don’t have any Brakes applied to limit their Race to the Finish Line, well we can expect a non-stop sequence of exposes, ala “Hillary the Movie”.
And the Movie Producers of such fare, care more about Results, than Accuracy. … and now the Sky is their Limit, let the fabricating begin —
Unless brave Legslators, like Alan Grayson, can apply some Brakes, before those “super-charged” Races even get out of the chute.
Sign the Petition to Save Our Democracy
and Thanks.
This is still OUR Democracy, This is still OUR Constitution, for now anyways.
If we don’t fight back now however, we may soon end up with a hundred Senators of UnitedHealth Group and Walmart and Exxon — instead of the handful of such bothersome Senators, that we have to endure now.
Imagine “Highway Robbery” that we will face then, when we finally become the United States of Corporate America — flat out, bought and paid for by Corporate Sponsors. (No Charade about it at all — imagine the Fund-raising Dinners then — “Seats at the Table” will just go to the Highest Bidder — Period!)
On that Day, something precious will have died. The right of a People to self-goverment.
The right of We the People to determine our own destinies.
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See, one problem with our corporations, who are oh-so-gifted as to be legal persons, is their personhood has benefits with none of the drawbacks of being a person and facing consequences for their actions.
I’d like to see a corporate death penalty for violating these kinds of laws.
The Federal government would seize all assets and divide up the corporation into chunks and sell the pieces back to the public. All its officers and board members and the CEO would be sent to prison for lengthy (>10 years) prison terms.
Not that I don’t agree with every last one of Grayson’s proposals, but one problem is it’s just money.
Corporations have over the years gotten very good at hiding assets, dodging taxes, and exploiting every last loophole in the law. But this makes it very difficult to use money or taxes as punishment. And if they violate U.S. law, they can just incorporate elsewhere or move their operations offshore.
No more. To operate here at all, or with any U.S. entity overseas, they should have to obey our laws. At the very least.
We also need to ensure that, for one thing, corporations operating in this country can’t possibly evade taxes, and if they try .. the “death penalty” applies.
a court decision which has been evident all along anyway?
Why get mad at the further exposing of blatant Satanically inspired totally unAmerican legal decisions when “Globocorp” has funded both sides of wars, both parties and owns the media thus owns the allowable public perceptions of issues,events,history and polls of not just the US but every nation said Globocorp operates in.
Turn such things around. Be Massachusetts and tell corporate to fuck off. The US should not be the embarassment of the world so obsessed with “security” that they can’t distribute aid to Haiti. It truely is not the land of the free if I have to bend over to get on an airplane.
The “Illuminati” is showing themselves to the world here as something not worthy of human compassion, support and the proper path toward the good, true and manifest destiny of all mankind. It is the American Gandhi thing even if we lack the supreme spiritual leader. I don’t need a 60 inch TV to be happy. I don’t need a cell phone to be happy. I don’t need TV to tell me what to do, how to think, what I should ask my doctor for.
I want to know who we are. Where did we come from. How come I don’t have my George Jetson flying car. Why if Obama cares so much about me does he need a six thousand dollar custom built by General Dynamics encrypted Blackberry when I won’t use such a thing cause I think the radiation causes brain tumors.
Do I care if the rumors are true or not, should I just get some meds, learn to “conform and be normal”. No. What do I loathe. The very few exploiting the many.
IMPEACH HIM!!
With the recent ruling he’s shown he isn’t the Chief Justice, nor Supreme Court Judge, for the People and the Constution, he’s a corporate shill doing what he feels they want done, or is told to, to further their reach into control of the United States!!