We the People proposed Amendment

This proposed Constitutional Amendment from We the People Amendment is loaded with good ideas:

Section 1. [Artificial Entities Such as Corporations Do Not Have Constitutional Rights] The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons only. Artificial entities established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state shall have no rights under this Constitution and are subject to regulation by the People, through Federal, State, or local law. The privileges of artificial entities shall be determined by the People, through Federal, State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable. Section 2. [Money is Not Free Speech] Federal, State, and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures, including a candidate's own contributions and expenditures, to ensure that all citizens, regardless of their economic status, have access to the political process, and that no person gains, as a result of their money, substantially more access or ability to influence in any way the election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure. Federal, State, and local government shall require that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed. The judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment.

Continue ReadingWe the People proposed Amendment

FBI coordinated crackdown on Occupy Protests

According to Naomi Wolf, the coordinated arrests and violence against protestors were not coincidentally timed.

It was more sophisticated than we had imagined: new documents show that the violent crackdown on Occupy last fall – so mystifying at the time – was not just coordinated at the level of the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and local police. The crackdown, which involved, as you may recall, violent arrests, group disruption, canister missiles to the skulls of protesters, people held in handcuffs so tight they were injured, people held in bondage till they were forced to wet or soil themselves –was coordinated with the big banks themselves.

Continue ReadingFBI coordinated crackdown on Occupy Protests

Insanity and Rights

Doubtless whatever I say, someone will find fault, take offense, withdraw into positions, place guard dogs at the gates and lookouts in the towers. We are a people enamored of the idea of violence.  We like the idea that when it gets down to the proverbial nitty gritty we can and will kick ass and take names.  Americans are tough, not to be messed with, ready to exact justice by knuckles or 9.mm. . . .

Continue ReadingInsanity and Rights

Ten Principles of Romneyism

Robert Reich has distilled ten principles of Romneyism. I think he's compiled and articulated these accurately. Whether they SHOULD be guiding principles for the United States is an entirely separate question. Here are the ten:

1. Corporations are the basic units of society. 2. Workers are a means to the goal of maximizing corporate profits. 3. All factors of production -- capital, physical plant and equipment, workers -- are fungible and should be treated the same. 4. Pollution, unsafe products, unsafe working conditions, financial fraud, and other negative side effects of the pursuit of profits are the price society pays for profit-driven growth. 5. Individual worth depends on net worth -- how much money one has made, and the value of the assets that money has been invested in. 6. People who fail in the economy should not be coddled. 7. Taxes are inherently bad because they constrain profit-making. 8. Politics is a game whose only purpose is to win. 9. Democracy is dangerous because it is forever vulnerable to the votes of a majority intent on capturing the wealth of the successful minority, on whom the economy depends. 10. The three most important aspects of life are family, religion, and money.

Continue ReadingTen Principles of Romneyism

The bank’s police at work

Here's what happened to a group of people protesting a foreclosure. Note the extreme militarization of the police. They looked nervous, and they should have been, because they were surrounded by ordinary people fighting a fucked-up system by uttering truths to the police-soldiers. Amazing that it's coming to this.

Continue ReadingThe bank’s police at work