Posts filed under ‘Corporatocracy’
New Mexico: Corporations Are Not People
I’m about to crawl in bed because I have The Cold That Won’t Quit that everyone seems to have these days, but I want to put this up first:
New Mexico calls on Congress to overturn Citizens United ruling
The New Mexico state legislature has approved a resolution that urges the U.S. Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. FEC.
“This marks a major victory for the constitutional amendment movement to reclaim our democracy,” said John Bonifaz, director of Free Speech for People, a coalition of groups that oppose the controversial ruling.
“The Citizens United ruling presents a direct and serious threat to the integrity of our elections, unleashing a torrent of corporate money into our political process,” he added. “The ruling is also the most extreme extension yet of a corporate rights doctrine which has been eroding our First Amendment and our US Constitution for the past 30 years. As with prior egregious Supreme Court rulings which threatened our democracy, we the people must exercise our power under Article V of the Constitution to enact a constitutional amendment which will preserve the promise of American self-government: of, for, and by the people.”
If my memory serves, I think this is the first time a state legislature has passed a resolution opposing Citizens United. A number of city and county councils have passed amendments and/or resolutions but I think this is first state-wide resolution ever.
Bravo New Mexico.
Let’s keep this ball rollin’ people!
Good News On the Housing Front
WHILE the economy remains stubbornly sluggish and home sales nationwide continue to sag, Manhattan’s real estate market has largely stabilized, with apartments in some neighborhoods selling for prices not seen since the headiest days of the boom.
But on the road to recovery, one segment of the market has outpaced the rest: ultraluxury, which analysts roughly define as properties costing $7 million and up. At these lofty heights, there was only the slightest of hiccups after the crash, and in the ensuing years, values have soared, with some apartments doubling in price.
Normally, that news would mean rising prices in every other segment of the market, from the tiniest starter studios to family-size four-bedroom co-ops. But that is not happening, even with interest rates at record lows and prices considered reasonable by Manhattan standards.
Image via WeSellSarasota.com
“There is a greater disconnect between the very top of the market and everything else than I have ever seen in my 25 years in the business,” said Jonathan J. Miller, the president of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel.
That last sentence is remarkable: A guy with 25 years “in the business” has never seen such a disconnect between the “very top of the market and everything else.” Seems to me that’s quite the visual aid when it comes to imagining the 1% versus the 99%.
Rick Berman, Millionaire Lobbyist, Gives We the People The Finger
Rick Berman gives us all a big freakin’ finger:
Big-time lobbyist Rick Berman creates nonprofit front groups to push corporate interests. Now he’s in an anti-union ad pretending to be an auto mechanic.
(Via.)
This is how brazen the corporatocracy is getting. They’re buying elections and they don’t care if we know it because we can’t do anything about it. They have the money and we don’t. Period. We’re on the outside looking in. Welcome to Campaign 2012!
(With special thanks to the activist Republican judges on the Supreme Court who brought us Citizens United.)
Obama to Propose Cutting Corporate Taxes
OMG. Is this Obama talking or is this Obama under the influence of Citizens United talking?
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama, who has angered businesses with his plans to close corporate tax loopholes, is expected to call for cutting the top 35 percent corporate tax rate as early as this month, according to two sources close to the administration.
The president is likely to propose a rate close to an average of peer nations, the sources said.
Good thing it’s Friday. This is the kind of news that makes me want to take my head off and set it down for a while.
Rupert Murdoch is Insane
Our Tweet of the Day: This is what billionaire Rupert Murdoch envisions for us peasants (while he hides behind an army of guards in a compound on an island somewhere):
No words.
Chamber of Commerce Launches 2012 Ad Campaign — in February!
Almost nine months prior to Election Day 2012, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has launched its “voter education” brainwashing ad blitz:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a multi-million dollar ad blitz in House and Senate races across the country on Thursday.
The launch marks the earliest start ever to the Chamber’s biennial ad campaigns in congressional races. The ads back Republicans in 11 House races and eight Senate contests. The group is supporting one Democrat: Rep. Jim Matheson of Utah.
“We’re engaging earlier and more aggressively than ever to educate constituents about which leaders recognize the role free enterprise plays in leading our economic recovery,” Chamber President Thomas Donohue said in a statement. “It comes down to a simple question: is big government or free enterprise the solution to our country’s economic problems?”
The Chamber is the largest lobbying power in Washington, representing the common interests of a broad array of businesses with millions in spending each quarter. The trade group is also one of the biggest spenders on U.S. elections, doling out over $50 million in the 2010 midterms.
Stay on top of the Chamber’s, ahem, “2012 Voter Education” ads here.
New Hampshire Republicans Hope to Eliminate Lunch Breaks
Photo: dylizi.blog.com
Do you think every single business can be trusted to give their workers a lunch break without it being mandated by law? You know, out of the goodness of their heart? Republicans in New Hampshire do: New Hampshire Republicans Propose Bill To Eliminate Workers’ Lunch Breaks.
Folks, if you think there are” too many government regulations” and that those regulations are strangling businesses, vote Republican, because this is what they mean when they say they want to undo those “job killing regulations.” They want to make it so businesses can do anything they want, including screw you out of a lunch break.
You think corporations run things now? Just wait.
About The Republican Reaction to Obama Taking Super PAC Money
This would be our Tweet of the Day, which pretty much sums up what Republicans are saying today about President Obama’s decision to take super PAC money:
Jon Huntsman — Back to the Gilded Grindstone
Ah yes. When a millionaire trust fund kid has to find something to do, this is what he does:
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman says he’s ruling out another political bid this year but is leaving open the possibility of a future run.
In his first public comments since abandoning his presidential race, Huntsman told The Salt Lake Tribune that he plans to serve on some corporation boards [calling all companies who want to expand their business into China], do some volunteer work and go on a speaker circuit as well as possibly taking some yet-to-be-named news media gig [hey, Fox could claim he's their "liberal"]. But, for now, he’s taking a break from the political scene.
Amazing. This is a former presidential candidate who told us he had a passion for changing/helping/reforming the country and he’s going to spend his down-time serving on corporate boards [easy as hell money], raking in thousands of dollars on the speaker’s circuit and bloviating on teevee [he could play a liberal on Fox!]?
What a fraud.
GE Lies — Super Bowl Ad Claims They’re “Revitalizing Manufacturing”
GE lied big time in an ad it ran tonight during the Super Bowl – on NBC, which is owned by GE — and gosh golly, NBC, an alleged “news” organization, let it go without noting the inaccuracies:
You gotta love the “liberal media.”
The Gas Industry May be its Own Worst Enemy
Looks like the gas industry’s exuberance and greed — fracking, fracking, fracking everywhere — may be its undoing:
Photo: People Magazine
Natural-gas prices are on the floor. Could they go negative?
The probability that wholesale gas prices will drop below $2 per million British thermal units, from today’s almost $2.50, is rising. Gas hasn’t closed below $2 since September 2009. Today’s market shares one critical similarity to then: bulging gas inventories. This overhang of excess supply could crash prices even further this spring.
University of Colorado Regents Approve a $7 Million Scoreboard for Folsom Stadium
A few weeks ago the citizens of Colorado learned that tuition at the University of Colorado could soar as much as 15.7% next year. That would be on top of tuition increases of “between 8.8% and 9.3% each of the last four years.”
Fast forward to today, and we hear that the University of Colorado Board of Regents has approved “a $7 million scoreboard project in Folsom Stadium.” A $7 million scoreboard for Folsom Stadium, when students can barely afford books and tuition? Really? Really?
This is the scoreboard at Folsom Stadium:
It’s fine.
Puhleez. Let’s screw our heads on straight around here folks.
House Republicans Protect Gas Industry, Arrest Director of Gasland at DC Hearing
This is horrifying. Welcome to police state USA folks:
In a stunning break with First Amendment policy on Capitol Hill, House Republicans directed Capitol Hill police to detain a highly regarded documentary crew that was attempting to film a Wednesday hearing on a controversial natural gas procurement practice. Republicans also denied the entrance of a credentialed ABC News news team that was attempting to film the event.
Josh Fox, director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary “Gasland” was taken into custody by Capitol Hill police this morning, along with his crew, after Republicans objected to their presence, according to Democratic sources present at the hearing.
[...]
“Gasland” received strong critical acclaim and takes a critical eye toward the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a process in which several tons of highly pressurized water and chemicals are injected into the ground, allowing valuable natural gas to escape.
[...]
Fox had hoped to film Wednesday’s hearing for a follow-up to “Gasland.”
Fox did not have formal Capitol Hill credentials, but such formalities are rarely enforced against high-profile journalists. … The right to a free press is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Documentary crews are almost never denied access to public meetings of elected government officials.
A separate ABC News crew, which did have official Capitol Hill credentials, was also denied access to the publichearing.
Republicans to all journalists and to America: Fuck the First Amendment. I mean seriously. This was a public hearing being held in the United States Capitol, a building owned by We the People, and the hearing was being conducted by people who We the People elected and who work for us! What the hell is going on around here?
If this isn’t a form of terrorism I don’t know what is.
Mitt Romney Campaigns For His Millionaire Donors
Who is Willard Mitt Romney campaigning for? You? Me? No. He’s campaigning for the folks who give to his SuperPAC, Restore Our Future, Inc.
Restore Our Future Inc.? A more appropriate name would be, Restore Rich People’s Future Inc.
Details here
Corporate Logos Already Seared into the Brain of a 5-Year-Old
This is both adorable and disconcerting.
The undeniable power of advertising: “A fun Sunday project with my daughter on brand logos.”
(Via.)
Kim Kardashian’s Millions — She Makes Tweeting What it Would Take Me 1,063 Years to Make
New York Magazine is out with an article about how Kim Kardashian makes $10,000 per tweet:
The weirdest thing about the rumor that Kim Kardashian gets paid $10,000 for a Twitter endorsement is that it’s true. (Recent plugs have been for ShoeDazzle.com and CVS.)
As of 1-29-12 at 9:27 p.m. ET, Kardashian has sent 10,208 tweets:
Assuming she’s been paid $10,000 per tweet since Day One, and assuming — generously — that only half of her tweets are endorsements (5,104), that means Kardashian has made $51,040,000 simply by sending tweets.
Given my family’s income, it would take us 1,063 years — working full-time — to make that much money.
Poor, Suffering Chevron
This would be our Tweet of the Day:
Poor thing.
By the way, those subsidies come out of We the People’s pocket, as in Our Tax Dollars. We pay Chevron because, according to our screwed up tax code, it can make $51,00o every minute of every day of the year and still claim it needs our tax dollars to stay alive and be a “job creator.”
Abolish Corporate Regulations
If you think corporations are being hamstrung by government regulations, you’ll see these guys as heroes who bucked the system:
Two executives of a family meat company in Kansas City, Kan., were indicted Wednesday on charges of selling misbranded and adulterated poultry products across the country.
Craig Cunningham of Leawood was listed as general manager of the Hitchin Post Steak Co., 1101 S. Fifth St., and his son, Jason Cunningham of Olathe, as vice president.
[...]According to an indictment returned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., the Hitchin Post received slaughtered animals and processed them into parts for shipment to customers across the country. Beginning in 2008 the company operated primarily as a poultry processor.The indictment says the two conspired to sell adulterated poultry products, meaning they were “unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome or otherwise unfit for human food” or were prepared under unsanitary conditions. Products were misbranded because they allegedly were processed outside the approved hours of USDA inspection. The two are also charged with unlawful use of a USDA inspection mark.
Yummy. Nothing like chicken with feces and rat hair mixed in. Get the government out of our food!
It’s No Wonder the United States is Imploding
A quickie here as a follow up to the posts I’ve put up about “American exceptionalism” of late:
Let’s burn this image into our brains. Is it any wonder our society is collapsing from within (see link above) given it spends so much money on the military relative to the rest of the world?
We’re letting everything else go — bridges, schools, housing, medical care — but hey, we can bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran!
Oh, on that note:
Iran’s is not a big enough proportion of world arms spending to show up on this graph, which doesn’t show countries that are lower than 2% of the global total.
American Exceptionalism is a Thing of the Past
On Monday I posted about how the good ol’ USA! USA! USA! is number one…number one in teen pregnancies that is.
Today we have more sad evidence that the idea of American exceptionalism is something we should probably put on a shelf somewhere until we get our act together.
This is not for the faint of heart.
First (bear with me), this is the mission statement of Equality Trust:
Compelling new evidence shows that large income inequalities within society damage the social and the quality of life for everyone. The Equality Trust campaigns to gain the widest public and political understanding of the harm caused by inequality.
The Equality Trust has released 10 graphs that reflect specific types on income inequality in the developed nations, but the folks over at The Society Pages.org have consolidated the graphs into an easier-to-read format.
That said you can view the graphs at either sight. They all show — all of them – that due to the dramatic income inequality in the United States (put simply, the 99% versus the 1%), the US leads the pack amongst the developed world in these areas:
Societies with more income inequality have higher infant death rates than other societies
Societies with more income inequality have higher rates of mental illness than other societies
Societies with more income inequality have a higher incidence of drug use than other societies
Societies with more income inequality have a higher high school drop out rate than other societies
Societies with more income inequality imprison a larger proportion of their population than other societies
Societies with more income inequality have a higher rate of obesity than other societies
Individuals in societies with more income inequality are less likely to be in a different class of than [sic] their parents compared to other societies
Societies with more income inequality have higher rates of homicide than other societies
Societies with more income inequality give less in foreign aid than other societies
Children in societies with more income inequality do less well than children in other societies
Again, check out the graphs. We are in a world of hurt folks.
Romney Paid Half the Taxes Obama Paid in 2010
President Obama paid nearly double the tax rate of Mitt Romney in 2010, despite earning only a fraction of the income.
The president paid 25 percent of his gross income in federal tax, compared to Romney’s 13.7 percent.
The Obamas’ gross income was $1.8 million and they paid $454,000 in federal taxes. The Romneys reported earning $21.7 million and paying $3 million in taxes…
Colorado Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Koch) to Boycott State of the Union
From the Denver Post:
We were surprised and disappointed by the laconic press release that Colorado Rep. Doug Lamborn sent out Monday announcing that he “will not attend today’s State of the Union Address” because “Congressman Lamborn does not support the policies of Barack Obama.”
We hadn’t noticed that the Colorado Springs Republican was particularly supportive of the president’s policies in 2009, 2010 or 2011, either, yet that didn’t stop him from attending those State of the Union speeches. What would propel him into a one-man boycott this time?
After all, if every Republican who “does not support the policies of Barack Obama” decided to stay home, the chamber would end up half empty and the address would amount to a partisan Democratic rally. Surely basic professional courtesy, not policy consensus, induces most Republicans to pencil in attendance, whatever their personal opinion of the comander in chief.
The same of course holds true when a Republican resides in the White House. President George W. Bush was reviled by many Democrats, yet by and large they were willing every January to accord him the formal respect that Americans expect from the opposition on such occasions.
Note that Mr. Lamborn was awarded an A+ by the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity because, like a marionette, he votes exactly the way the richest brothers in the world tell him to. Maybe by boycotting the State of the Union, he’s hoping for an A++, and who knows how many more thousands in campaign contributions.
Don’t Like Citizens United? Turn the TV Off
Antonin Scalia is a simple-minded asshat unworthy of the position he’s in:
Photo: Adm Golub / The San Francisco Chronicle
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia has a simple solution for people who don’t like all the political advertisements unleashed by the court’s decision two years ago that ended limits on corporate contributions in political campaigns – change the channel or turn off the TV.
Scalia was asked about the [Citizens United] decision during a presentation before the South Carolina Bar on Saturday, exactly two years after the court handed down the 5-4 decision in the case that led to the rise of Super PACs. They are outside groups affiliated with candidates that can take in unlimited contributions as long as they don’t directly coordinate with the candidate.
“I don’t care who is doing the speech – the more the merrier,” Scalia said. “People are not stupid. If they don’t like it, they’ll shut it off.”
Yo Tony, people are stupid. They don’t turn their TV off. They watch and they get brainwashed.
(Hear me screaming now?)
I’m going to bed. I’m walking people through a food bank tomorrow.
Colorado News Channel: Sonogram Shows Baby Tebowing
Say it ain’t so already:
You expect to find out if you’re having a boy or a girl, but you might not expect what one local family saw in their sonogram this week. It showed their baby boy “Tebowing” in the womb.
“I think it really hit us kind of when we came home and looked at it because we had just got this on Tuesday; and the weekend before we were all ‘Tebowing,’” Elizabeth Vigil said. She added that the baby is already a part of her Broncos family.
“You’re born into the Broncos when you’re born into my family, pretty cool,” her husband, David Vigil, said.
(Via.)
What with so many things happening in the world that the corporate media would rather not touch, I guess you’ve got to fill the time any way you can.
Easter Candy at the Grocery Store!
Just got back from the grocery store. Guess what I saw there. Four displays of
Easter Sunday is April 8. APRIL 8, and they’re already selling Easter candy.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!
On Strike
Write Congress Now!
NOT IN THE US? PETITION THE STATE DEPARTMENT HERE
Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian on CNBC: “Why is it that when Republicans and Democrats need to solve the budget and the deficit, there’s deadlock, but when Hollywood lobbyists pay them $94 million dollars to write legislation, people from both sides of the aisle line up to co-sponsor it?”
Battle Royale Brewing in Wisconsin
Scott Walker Recall: Organizers Collect 1 Million Signatures, Far Exceeding Number Required
Democrats needed to collect 540,208 signatures to trigger a gubernatorial recall election against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R). On Tuesday, they announced they had far exceeded that number, collecting more than one million signatures.
Tuesday was the deadline for recall organizers, led by the group United Wisconsin, to turn in their petitions. The number collected is 185 percent of the signatures required to force a recall election. Organizers also collected enough to trigger a recalls of the lieutenant governor and four Republican state senators.
[...]
While Democrats were announcing the results of their efforts in Wisconsin, Walker was on the East Coast. He has a New York City fundraiser scheduled that costs at least $2,500 per person to attend.
Here’s more on that fundraiser Walker attended today:
Tuesday’s Walker fundraiser, first reported by the New York Daily News, is hosted by no less than Hank Greenberg, the former CEO of American International Group, the global insurance corporation that needed $150 billion in bailout funds in 2008 and 2009 from the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve.
Here’s a copy of the invitation:
And this is how Fox is portraying the whole thing — from a Walker-as-victim perspective, of course:
Walker is owned by the Koch Brothers (and now, apparently, by I-love-Socialism-as-long-as-it-means-bailouts-for-the-rich-Maurice Greenberg (as in the above)) so this is going to be a vicious battle between the 1%ers who pay to put stooges in office who will do their bidding, and the rest of us.
The Language of the Unheard
Martin Luther King, Jr.:
I would be the first to say that I am still committed to militant, powerful, massive, non-violence as the most potent weapon in grappling with the problem from a direct action point of view… But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard.
Something to think about as we head into an election year during which the voice Washington will hear is the voice that “speaks” with money.
We’re all unheard now.
Do the Koch Brothers Own Your Senator or Representative?
Last week, “Americans for Prosperity” the Tea Party group founded and funded by the Koch Brothers, released its “112th Congress Mid-Term Review Key-Vote Scorecard.” The review, “ranks Members of Congress based on their votes on the most important free market issues,” meaning it ranks members of congress based on votes that will benefit the billionaire Koch Brothers.
