I wonder

Will I live to see the American corporatocracy turned back to a democracy?

Frankly, I doubt it. I want to believe that what I have witnessed in my lifetime is not the death of constitutional democracy but I fear that I have.

And we have "conservative" policies to thank for it. Worship at the altar of business, deregulate, screw the working public, convince everyone government is evil and incompetent (and prove it when you are in power)... this is where it leads.

Sigh.

Blogger is run by Google. May I just say, fuck Google and Verizon. They have no right to tell the FCC what it can or cannot do.

Hey, FCC! Grow a set and tell the telecoms what they may and may not do. That's your job, in the interest of the public.

--the BB

Booms will only collect 15% of spilled oil

God bless Representative Capps from Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Oxnard.



She asks why there have been no improved technologies since the 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara. In all these decades nothing better than what was done then, and that was totally inadequate.

Translated into rudespeak, she's saying, 'Y'all have done diddly, you irresponsible bastids." Only she does it like a lady.

Rape and pillage is all they know.

H/t to emptywheel

--the BB

Pecunia Rex (updated with additional graphic)

As Watertiger puts it:

So much for Scalia's "strict construction" of the Constitution. SCOTUS just handed down its decision in FEC v. Citizens United, and it's the most blatant piece of judicial activism you'll read.

Nice Republic we had. Shame something happened to it.

Adam B has a nice post up at Daily Kos on today's decision. You may read it all here. In a nutshell:

In a long-awaited 5-4 decision today, the Supreme Court of the United States has overturned its 1990 decision in Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce which had allowed states to ban corporations from using treasury money to support or oppose candidates through independent expenditures. [Bans on direct corporate contributions to candidates were not at issue in this case; you'll have to wait a few years on that one.]

Arthur Delaney also writes about it at Huffington Post. The President was not amused.

"With its ruling today, the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics," said President Obama in a statement. "It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans... That's why I am instructing my Administration to get to work immediately with Congress on this issue. We are going to talk with bipartisan Congressional leaders to develop a forceful response to this decision."

Rep. Alan Grayson is fighting back. His bills have blunt, humorous titles but that makes for clear concepts and the intent is serious.

As Randi Rhodes has said on several occasions, when corporations have colonoscopies we can start considering them persons.

Bush succeeded in creating the most "business-friendly" Supreme Court in history. For "business-friendly" you may read "friendly to the corporatocracy."

Put another way, the corporations can haz all ur chezeburgers. The American People can suck eggs.


--the BB

Don't expect me to take off those crankypants anytime soon

Look, we all know that certain large corporate groups own the country, much as a handful of families have long owned our neighbor to the south.

By own I mean they control the money, the levers of power, and the flipping gummint. I.e., they own enough members of Congress that they can do whatever they damn well please with no accountability to the collective well being of the citizens of this nation.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We, the People of the United States of America, need to take back our country.

Am I talking class warfare? Hell yes! Class warfare has been waged steadily for a long time and it's the wealthy and powerful waging it against the rest of us. Fight back!

Molly Ivins, peace be upon her, kept telling us that nothing in government would be fixed without campaign finance reform. Can you see the truth of her warning as we ponder how much, say, Max Baucus, has received from the health care industry? Just sayin'.

How about forcing the Congress, by vocal political opinion of the People, to do what is right, to insist on a public option so insurance companies have to compete (I mean, Jesus H. Christ, people, ain't capitalism about competition?), and to return regulation to this nation so the ordinary folk are not screwed at every turn?



--the BB

The invisible candidates

I get furious with the American media for ignoring... well, lots of things. What goes on in the world that may be important to the globe but isn't fixated on the U. S. Substantive issues. Concepts that take more than a soundbyte to explain. Context. And damned near anything that might conceivably threaten the corporations that own the media.

I also get upset over their trying to shape campaigns instead of reporting them or helping us understand them. Eliminating candidates from debates, for instance. Or acting as though it is only about A or B, while ignoring C, D, E, etc.

I have already admitted that, with Gore out of the picture, I have a preference for John Edwards. I may be very white collar professional but my roots are entirely blue collar. I know what it feels like to try to scrape by while wondering how to keep some semblance of health care, and struggling to decide which bills to pay this time around. I have lived close to the edge far too many years of my life (and am still far from financially secure). So when Edwards speaks of "two Americas" and the need to disempower those who profit from the misery and insecurity of the many while continuing to accumulate more power and wealth in the hands of the very few, I cheer him on. One may argues parties and ideologies but for my money, Edwards has targeted where some of our thorniest and most intractable issues lie, the ones that actually affect us daily. So, my bias here is right up front, where it should be.

Now, sit back and enjoy the video. John who?




h/t to the Vagabond Scholar, who has more on this, including a nice graph to help one visualize the issue, and to FranIAm who pointed me to the video and to the Invisible Scholar.
--the BB