( – promoted by buhdydharma )
Crossposted at Daily Kos
Thanks to the Supreme Council Court, meet your new Corporate Masters!
Say hello to Saudi Arabia!
Saudi Arabia has already signaled that the progressive effort to build a clean energy American economy is its “biggest threat”:
Saudi Arabia’s economy depends on oil exports so stands to be one of the biggest losers in any pact that curbs oil demand by penalizing carbon emissions. “It’s one of the biggest threats that we are facing,” said Muhammed al-Sabban, head of the Saudi delegation to U.N. talks on climate change and a senior economic adviser to the Saudi oil ministry. […] Climate talks posed a bigger threat, Sabban said, and subsidies for the development of renewable energy were distorting market economics in the sector, he said.
It’s good to be the King of Saudi Arabia!
More below the fold
Got that? All of the green jobs, manufacturing jobs and infrastructure building that America is depending on to resurrect our fallen economy is not in Saudi Arabia’s interest. In fact, it is their “greatest threat”. Good thing their American subsidiaries have the full right to free speech and unlimited money to buy it with, cause if not, that just wouldn’t be freedom like our founding fathers envisioned, right Chief Justice Roberts?
Right?
WRONG!
(T)he National Journal reported today that corporate lobbyists representing foreign corporations are already organizing to defeat such a proposal (offered by Alan Grayson, Chris Van Hollen and Chuck Schumer ). The Organization for International Investment, a trade group representing foreign banks, oil companies, and other foreign corporations operating in the United States, “lashed out” at Van Hollen’s proposals. “The concern over foreign influence in our political system is a red herring,” said Nancy McLernon, the head of OFII.
McLernon – who previously worked for Citizens for a Sound Economy, a stealth “grassroots” corporate lobbying group now known as Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks – is wrong to assert that the danger of foreign lobbying is simply a distraction.
editorial changes and bold text added by the diarist
Of course McLernon is wrong to call this a distraction. McLernon makes his living by selling out Americans so that multi-national corporations can have their will even when it is not in America’s interests.
I call that treason, but Neo-Cons call it freedom. The better to eat you with.
And of course, teabagger sponsors at FreedomWorks are just salivating over those BIG teeth that little red American voter riding hood just happened to notice.
Rob Jordan, vice president for federal and state campaigns at the conservative FreedomWorks, said his Washington-based group could reap particular benefits from a portion of the ruling that threw out restrictions on running political ads in the weeks leading up to an election.
“We expect to have upside potential in the multimillions, and we expect to be major players,” Jordan said of his group’s plans for the midterms. “This will probably put ads on our radar screen more than they would have been.”
Astroturfing I can handle. It sucks, but it is part of the game. A fool and his money will soon be parted, they say. I guess the same is true of a fool and his vote.
But when it comes to allowing foreign corporations and foreign special interests the right to subvert our American Democratic process there is only one word I can find to express my thoughts. That word is TREASON.
Article III, Section 3, U.S. Constitution
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
Though Saudi Arabia has not officially declared war on the United States their native son Osama bin Laden has. 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were Saudi Arabian. It is easily imaginable that the same Saudi wealth that will soon influence American voters will also go to finance future terror attacks against America. In an age America declares war against ideas instead of nations how do we define treason? In recent decades America has declared war on terrorism, drugs and poverty ( I’m pretty sure the poor lost that one ).
If our definition of war has changed, should we not also revisit the definition of treason? Of course, if we refer back to the US Constitution, the power of interpreting US law goes to the Supreme Court. But what happens if treason is committed by the Supreme Court itself? What happens if the Supreme Court creates an environment where treason can take place? How do we make sure that the Supreme Court does not interpret laws in such a way that makes it more possible for treason to take place? Will the Supreme Court ever have such a sense of accountability that they hear a case that accuses one of their own members of treason?
Checks and balances indeed.
So it seems to be up to the Legislative Branch of the United States Government to hold in check the Judicial powers of the Supreme Court in ceding to multinational corporations the power to hold power over the Government of the U.S.A. Will they do so when the power of unlimited money/speech can be used by America’s potential enemies to influence American policy in such a way that undermines what is in America’s best interests? I hope so, because all of those green jobs, manufacturing jobs and other jobs that are so necessary to America’s prosperity and strength are about to be astroturfed away, and not by our own domestic corporate overlords, but by the oligarchs of other nations, nations whose own interests might be counter to our own or even hostile to our nations well being. Imagine if King George could buy influence in the fledgling Senate of our founding fathers. How long do you think our nation would have lasted?
“Do you really want the Chinese or any other country to be able to spend money on our elections?” Van Hollen asked.
I don’t. I imagine many, if not all, who are reading this right now do not. As for the right wing of American politics, let it suffice to say that the silence is truly deafening.
If you love our American sovereignty, if you value America’s independence, if you are not a blatant sellout of the American people who seeks to make a profit by selling our independence to the highest foreign bidder, you must oppose this massive betrayal of America’s interests. Of course, if you couldn’t care less about the Citizens United ruling, if you are unaware of the cozy relationship between Saudi Oil interests and American politcians, or if you are more worried about immigrants invading your country for slave wage jobs than you are about America’s potential enemies subverting our independent nation, you are probably a Republican.
Good thing our media is still independent. I mean, wouldn’t it be awful if foreign interests started to misinform Americans about what is in their best interests?
Oh yeah, I forgot, a Australian billionaire and a Saudi Prince already did that.
So how deep down the rabbit hole does this attack on American independence go? If we don’t fight like hell to make sure it stops here and now, we may never know.
Crossposted at ProgressiveElectorate.com
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how can anyone dare call themselves an American patriot and not be outraged by this bullshit Corporatist act of treason?
…. donors in all of their bullsh*t state amendment and initiatives to derail equality rights in this country. NOM = National Organization for Marriage aka National Organization of Mormons….. look at the donations for the recent veto#1 in Maine, just chunks of thousands of dollars, not attributed.
This is how former Republican Rep. ex Congressperson in CA 04 John Doolittle got into trouble. His wife, Julie, was not only taking a cut of each donation as a “fundraising fee” but she was working for pseudo non profits set up by Abramoff and other lobbyists (ex aides of fmr House Leader Tom Delay) that were funded by foreign companies probably funded by foreign governments, (Malaysia) using oil company profits. Doolittle hid his stock in Chevron from being on his yearly financial disclosures until he was forced to amend them – why hide it unless you are hiding something else. And in turn, Doolittle was an ardent war hawk, and Bush and Cheney went out of their way to protect him.
This is has been an ongoing source of exasperation for me that the Obama Dept of Justice muffed up the Kevin Ring (Abramoff buddy lobbyist) trial so badly that the jury deadlocked, as the Doolittles were named as un indicted co conspirators.
The Republicans aren’t going to play nice with this bipartisanshipthingee. The Saudis and Dick Cheney must be laughing right now. Bush probably just had another beer.
The Oil Companies will encourage more price manipulations to get their point across by the summer of 2012. My prediction. That induced inflation should cause another nice financial wreck.
in the Santa Clara case about 130 years ago that Corporations were Persons. And now, they can legally
buy elections. Isn’t it great that the Corporation is now not only protected by the 14th Amendment to our Constitution, but also the 1st?
And I’m sure this is just what the poor farmers who fought in the Revolutionary War, and the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who died in the Civil War, and the hundreds of thousands who died in WWI and WWII, expected. Great wars to save Democracy my f*****g ass————
Well, at least it’s clear now how the three branches work.
And it’s sure not for the American People. Is there any more proof that’s needed now that it’s in the open.
I’m getting more and more pissed as I write this: The Corps get to spend all they want to influence elections, while the American people are mandated (I hope the bill dies) to buy their products. And don’t forget, we already are forced to financially support a war/s that a majority of the people don’t want———I’m out of here!!!!!!!