tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-302468657806961412024-03-12T19:30:43.112-07:00Create Real DemocracyThis blog is dedicated to issues and concerns of "Real Democracy." What is "Real Democracy"? Description in profile section below.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger410125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-57020518151573516252013-07-30T19:16:00.003-07:002013-07-30T19:17:53.065-07:00New Blog Site I've migrating my blog to wordpress.<br />
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Go to <a href="http://createrealdemocracy.wordpress.com/">http://createrealdemocracy.wordpress.com/</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-37339130662026777622013-07-25T06:30:00.001-07:002013-07-25T06:30:17.911-07:00Colbert on Billionaire-Funded Super PACsAnd, of course, the trend will forever and ever and ever get worse until we collectively say "Enough" and demand an end to money being treated as "free speech" in our elections via a Constitutional Amendment.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-43859112061377351482013-07-25T02:37:00.002-07:002013-07-25T02:41:10.545-07:00After Cuyahoga council kills campaign finance reform, what’s next?I provide several reflections in this piece...<br />
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<img alt="Cleveland Magazine Politics" height="76" id="Header1_headerimg" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_6hvWfRaFgL8/S9b1a7UXNgI/AAAAAAAAARw/p4wyFVS8NxQ/S1600-R/CM_Politics_Header.gif" style="display: block;" width="320" /><br />
<b>After Cuyahoga council kills campaign finance reform, what’s next?</b><br />
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http://clevelandmagazinepolitics.blogspot.com/2013/07/after-cuyahoga-council-kills-campaign.html</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-8180815638055372082013-07-24T10:58:00.002-07:002013-07-24T10:58:25.057-07:00Small Business Owners and Corporate "Free Speech"<br />
A whopping 66% of small business owners think Citizens United is bad for small business by giving large corporations too much freedom to spend money to influence elections. Only 9% felt the reverse.<br />
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Small business owners get it: giving mammoth corpses greater "free speech rights" amplifies their voices while drowning out the voice of small business owners -- not to mention the rest of us.<br />
http://mainstreetalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/CitizensUnitedpollreport-Jan-2012.pdf<br />
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Reversing Citizens United, and ending never-intended constitutional rights for corporations and the doctrine that money equals speech is one way to expand self governance.<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-35938316438050951802013-07-08T13:04:00.003-07:002013-07-08T13:05:41.474-07:00NE Ohioans join movement against idea that the Bill of Rights applies to corporations<i>Plain Dealer (Cleveland)</i> / July 9, 2013<br />
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Letter to the Editor</div>
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<a href="http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2013/07/ne_ohioans_join_movement_again.html">http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2013/07/ne_ohioans_join_movement_again.html</a></div>
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While many Northeast Ohioans celebrated the Fourth of July holiday week with picnics and parades, citizens in Mentor, Lakewood and Cleveland Heights celebrated by launching or completing citizen initiative petition campaigns declaring their independence from corporate rule and big money in politics.</div>
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The three citizen initiatives are part of the Move to Amend campaign (movetoamend.org), a national coalition that's coordinated the passage of 400 resolutions and citizen initiatives asserting that only human beings, not corporations, possess constitutional rights and that money is not speech. Brecksville and Newburgh Heights voters passed similar ballot measures last November, while city councils in Athens, Oberlin, Fremont and Barberton have enacted similar resolutions.</div>
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Ohioans are doing our part to support this growing movement to end the bizarre legal doctrines that the Bill of Rights apply to corporations and that political money is equivalent to political speech. Many of the political and economic problems we face are at their root problems of corporations and/or the wealthy few having greater power and rights than the vast majority of We the People.</div>
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While parades and picnics are fine ways to celebrate our independence, (re)claiming the authority to govern ourselves free from the wealthy few and corporations is even better.</div>
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Greg Coleridge, Cleveland Heights</div>
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Coleridge is director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee and coordinator for Ohio Move to Amend.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-65019169630419568362013-07-08T13:02:00.001-07:002013-07-08T13:02:09.088-07:00Seeking open discussionFrom the Akron Beacon Journal<br />
July 4, 2013<br />
http://www.ohio.com/news/seeking-open-discussion-1.410657<br />
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<b>Social change</b><br />
<b>a group effort</b><br />
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<b><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7MOXCXSdQJs/UdsagiC7F1I/AAAAAAAAAOk/Bj4UnwJZEV4/s1600/fourth-bw-coleridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7MOXCXSdQJs/UdsagiC7F1I/AAAAAAAAAOk/Bj4UnwJZEV4/s1600/fourth-bw-coleridge.jpg" /></a></b></div>
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Name: Greg Coleridge.<br />
Age: 53.<br />
Hometown: Cleveland Heights.<br />
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Role: Director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in Cuyahoga Falls, which often arranges public hearings, protests and educational events on political issues such as the federal budget and campaign finance reform.<br />
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“I have been inspired by a lot of people who have come before me. ... They are committed to bringing about change from the bottom up. Significant social change in this country has always occurred via social movements.”<br />
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“With the Fourth of July, independence wasn’t gathered from the top. It was struggling for improvements for liberty, for sovereignty, the wider notion of ‘We the people’ to be sovereign. If it really means something, we have to make sure that our people in office, our Constitution, allow it to happen. The only way that is assured is people at the grass roots making sure democracy is a verb and not a noun.”<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-15709090618629284692013-06-26T13:29:00.000-07:002013-06-26T13:29:03.750-07:00The System Isn't Broken, It's Fixed<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><i>by Greg Coleridge</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">University of Toledo Law Review, Spring 2013</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></span>
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A description of the problems connected to the existence of corporate rights and large political contributions from a wealthy few and why an amendment to the U.S. Constitution declaring that only human beings, not corporations, possess constitutional rights and that money is not speech would expand democracy.</div>
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<a href="http://www.afsc.org/document/system-isnt-broken-its-fixed">http://www.afsc.org/document/system-isnt-broken-its-fixed</a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-52444868676201384032013-06-25T13:00:00.001-07:002013-06-25T13:01:37.419-07:00ACTION ALERT: Tell Ohio Legislators to Cut Increased Corporate Access Provision in Budget BillAMENDMENT TO STATE BUDGET BILL WOULD PERMIT UNLIMITED CONTRIBUTIONS FROM CORPORATIONS AND WEALTHY TO CAUCUS COMMITTEES<br />
Tell your State Senator and Representative to Oppose this Amendment<br />
Find your Ohio Senator at <a href="http://www.ohiosenate.gov/index">http://www.ohiosenate.gov/index</a><br />
Find your Ohio Representative at <a href="http://www.ohiohouse.gov/index">http://www.ohiohouse.gov/index</a><br />
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An 11th hour amendment to the Ohio biennial budget bill would exempt business corporations and wealthy individuals from existing campaign finance laws (ORC Section 3517).<br />
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Specifically, the amendment allows direct contributions (or investments) by corporations and wealthy individuals to legislative campaign funds or caucuses for expenses not directly related to elections — for office rent, equipment, supplies, and operating costs. Such contributions would be redefined as "gifts" and, thus, would be exempt from existing state campaign finance laws — which are already among the highest levels in the nation. <br />
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The legislative campaign funds or caucuses that the exemptions would apply to are the House Democratic Caucus Fund, Ohio House Republican Organizational Committee, the Ohio Senate Democrats and the Republican Senate Campaign Committee.<br />
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Though the amendment applies to all artificial legal entities (which includes unions and non-profit corporations), the reality is that business corporations already spend more on elections that other artificial entities under current state campaign laws. Providing exemptions simply permits those with the most money (both corporations and wealthy individuals) to contribute/invest even more money in our political system — further corrupting the political system.<br />
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Contact your State Senator and Representative. Ask them:<br />
Why was this amendment added to the budget bill and not a stand alone piece of legislation? <br />
What does this amendment have to do with the state budget? <br />
And why was the amendment added just days before the entire 2 year budget is to come to a final vote?<br />
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Tell them to remove this amendment.<br />
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Thank you. <br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-6243544593027037532013-06-04T07:59:00.001-07:002013-06-04T08:01:16.692-07:00Support Democracy by Opposing the TPP <br />
Thoughts after reading the piece (at bottom) in Sunday's New York Times…<br />
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The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), like NAFTA, WTO and other so-called trade agreements, isn't really about trade at all, be it free (touted by conservatives) or fair (promoted by liberals). Like all others, it's at root about corporate governance — shifting decision making away and beyond citizen control and definition. Just as our oil and gas friends in Ohio and elsewhere ran to the state government to escape municipal authority over fracking, multinational and transnational corporations run to the international level to escape what semblance of public control that exists at the nation-state level — all in the name of "harmonizing" laws (short for race to the bottom).<br />
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Historically, corporations have escaped democratic control for more than a century in one of three ways. Corpses have sought to shift decision-making…<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>From one level of government to another (more to less accountable): local to state, state to nation. TPP is simply the latest effort to shift decision-making from the nation-state to the global level where there are even fewer pressure points given the rigged pro-corporate decision making process.<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>From the legislative to judicial arena. Judges are often appointed and, thus, easier to influence by the corporate crowd. There are fewer judges to influence and legislators. Legislators are the closest elected officials (at least on paper) to the public.<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>From the legislative to regulatory arena. Regulatory bodies shield public officials and corpses between the public and themselves, providing a wonderful foil where the public receives their obligatory 3 minutes to testify. Regulatory bodies are often about the business of "regulating" vs prohibiting harms — prohibitions are what legislators do. Regulatory decisions, when they do go against the public, can still be appealed to courts. Historically, regulatory agencies were used to counter widespread calls for publicly owned enterprises. They still are. [For an enlightened view of this dimension, read "Gaveling Down the Rabble: How Free Trade is Stealing our Democracy", by Jane Anne Morris. Her shorter article, "Help I've Been Colonized and I Can't Get Up: Take a Lawyer and an Expert to a Hearing and Call Me in a Decade." also lays out the charade that is often the regulatory process].<br />
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My understanding is that the difference with the TPP is that the agreement permits corpses to bring a challenge directly against a country over trade "barriers" (what we know of as environmental, law and consumer protections) without needing a nation-state to do their bidding. The conflict goes through a "dispute resolution" process that of course bypasses any courts or juries of any nation — stacked with no doubt corporate friendly panelists.<br />
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We might be best served, given that only 5 of 29 of the proposal's chapters deal with actual trade, to reference it as a Corporate Governance Proposal or Corporate Power Proposal. For me, it's much more accurate.<br />
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[Note: Another element of the TPP would either ban or severely limit the ability to set up public banks, all the craze these days in many states…and some municipalities as an alternative to the Too Big to Fail banks that are pushing for its inclusion].<br />
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We need to oppose TPP hard. Who's at the table during the negotiations…and who's not…is basically all one needs to know about how much it promotes justice. It's an opportunity to unify people of many issues across the political spectrum on issues of protecting/expanding self-governance.<br />
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OP-ED CONTRIBUTORS<br />
<b>Obama’s Covert Trade Deal</b><br />
By LORI WALLACH and BEN BEACHY -- NYT<br />
Published: June 2, 2013<br />
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/opinion/obamas-covert-trade-deal.html?_r=0<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-73536935071904989862013-05-12T13:24:00.000-07:002013-05-16T16:51:38.859-07:00Banking Political Influence<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Greg Coleridge</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sunday, May 12 / Fixing Our Monetary System
sponsored by the American Monetary Institute<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Cooper Union Foundation, New York City<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; mso-pagination: none; padding: 0in; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><i>Permitting banking
corporations to create our nation's money supply not only increases their
financial wealth, but also their political influence over lawmakers. This has
resulted in the avoidance of criminal prosecution and regulatory controls and
the continuation, if not expansion, of too-big-to-fail protections, financial
speculation, consolidation, and the license to create our nation's money
supply. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; mso-pagination: none; padding: 0in; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Today just isn’t
Mother’s Day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s also the one-year
anniversary of the discovery of a missing piece of the Mayan calendar -- proving
the Mayans didn't believe 2012 would be the end of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The current power
and influence of banking corporations over our monetary system is for many
complicated, if not mysterious. Many believe it’s always been this way. That
it’s inevitable. That it’s "TINA" – There Is No Alternative. That to mess with
our monetary system would be the end of the financial world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But the rules and
laws governing our monetary system are not due to physical or natural causes –
shifting of tides, gravity, Halley's comet, or the annual return of swallows to
Capistrano. Nor to mystical reasons –ouija boards, ghosts, or even “invisible
hands.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The laws and rules
of our monetary system are conscious, deliberate, intentional, and strategic.
They are designed to consolidate and expand power – both political and economic.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is a
symbiotic or interdependent relationship between the economic and political
power of banking corporations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Banking
corporations need the economic resources generated from their money creation
and factional reserve lending to shape political laws and rules favorable to
them and banks need political laws and rules favorable to them to perpetuate
their license to create and distribute money and for fractional reserve
lending. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Lobbying and Campaign Contributions/Investments<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“</span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Pay to play,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“what you get is what you pay for,” and
“legalized bribery” are different ways to describe how the spoils of
government work. “</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The best return on assets is always a political contribution</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">," </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">says economist William Black. On the later
point, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">the trillions in dollars handed over to banking
corporations for bailouts and subsequent purchasing of smaller competitors and </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">lack of a vigorous Congressional
investigation and indictments by the Obama administration of the banking
industry following the 2007-8 financial implosion simply affirms Senator Dick
Durbin’s observation: “</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">And the banks -- hard to
believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks
created - - are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly
own the place.”<sup><o:p></o:p></sup></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The FIRE (Finance, Insurance & Real Estate) sector
spends huge sums lobbying Congress and federal agencies. The sector spent (or
better term, “invested”) $4.7 billion on federal lobbying between 1998 and
2011, employing several thousands of lobbyists. This was larger than any other
sector except health, which spent just $3 million more during the 13-year
period. Political campaign “investments” to federal candidates since 1990 from
the FIRE sector total $2.8 billion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What did all this
lobbying and contributions/investments buy over the last two decades? The money
industry’s leveraged buyout of our political system resulted in passage of
certain laws and blockage of others – all of which contributed to the 2008 Wall
Street crash and global economic recession. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; tab-stops: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 4.5pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; tab-stops: 4.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -4.5pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">These included:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -4.5pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Passage of the </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Financial Services
Modernization Act in 1999 which repealed the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act
prohibiting commercial banks from providing investment banking and insurance
services.</span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -4.5pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Rejection of regulation of
financial derivatives advocated by the federal </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)</span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> and its head Brookley Born.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -4.5pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Blockage of a law
forcing banks to disclose money-losing or “toxic” assets to their investors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -4.5pt;">
<br />
Passage of the Commodities
Futures Modernization Act (CFMA) in 2000 which exempted financial derivatives,
including credit default swaps, from any regulation.<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -4.5pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Enactment of a
rule by the Securities and Exchange Commission permitting investment banks to
set their own debt to capital ratio. It had been no more than 12:1. Afterwards,
some banks went as high as 40:1.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -4.5pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Failure to prevent
predatory lending.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Federal preemption
of state consumer protection laws.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -4.5pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Making it easier
for banks to purchase, bundle and sell subprime loans without fear of liability.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -4.5pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Forcing Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac to divert from purchase prime housing loans to risky
subprime loans from financial institutions. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -4.5pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Massive
mergers and concentration in the financial sector.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 0in 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -4.5pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Passage of the Credit Rating Agencies Reform Act of
2006 reducing the ability of the SEC to oversee credit rating agencies that
were giving high marks to financial entities engaged in risky investments.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 0in 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -4.5pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Bank bailouts in the trillions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 0in 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -4.5pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And, of course, continuing to permit banking
corporations to create and circulate money rather than We the People as
authorized in the Constitution – freely without a revolution or coup.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Banks and other financial institutions,
which caused the 2008 financial and housing crisis, were first in line to
receive billions in federal bailout assistance. </span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">US commercial banking corporations with political ties were
more likely to receive federal bailout money under the Troubled Assets Relief
Program (TARP). </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Among the largest recipients were Bank of America ($45 billion),
Citigroup ($45 billion), JP Morgan Chase ($25 billion), and Wells Fargo ($25
billion).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Banks that spent more money on political lobbying were more
likely to receive TARP bailout funds. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Wall Street pulled
out all stops to neuter the Dodd-Frank </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Restoring American Financial Stability Act, the so-called financial
“reform” bill passed in 2010.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
started out as a legitimate effort to “rein in $600 trillion in derivatives,
create a giant new federal agency to protect financial consumers, open up the
books of the Federal Reserve for the first time in history and perhaps even
break up the so-called ‘Too Big to Fail’ giants on Wall Street” achieved little
permanent change as the nation’s biggest banks unleashed over 2000 paid
lobbyists and showered key Congressmen and Senators will campaign contributions/investments.
Wall Street spent $251 million on lobbying connected to the bill during the
first half of 2010. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Nineteen of the twenty-two
members of the Senate Banking Committee, which dealt with the proposal, receive
donations from Wall St in 2009. Each of those up for reelection in 2010
received at least $180,000. Former Senate Banking Committee chair Chris
Dodd received over $12 million in his career in political contributions from
the FIRE sector. Barney Frank, former Chair of the House Financial Services
Committee, raised about $1 out of every $3 over his career from the FIRE
sector. The FIRE sector invested $42 million in the Obama campaign in 2008.
John McCain raised, by comparison, $31 million. Obama received far less than
Mitt Romney in 2012, but the FIRE nevertheless hedged their bets. <sup><o:p></o:p></sup></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #212121; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sen. Sherrod Brown co-authored the Brown-Kauffman amendment that
would have broken up the big banks, but failed to pass during Dodd-Frank. Bank lobbyists
killed the bill. The FIRE industry spent $658 million in political investments
in 2011-12 – far and away the largest amount of any interest group sector.
Brown is currently working </span><span style="color: #212121; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">with Senator David Vitter (R-La.) on a new bill to help combat the Too Big To
Fail banks. Public education and organizing is the only chance it has for
passage given the avalanche of political campaign investments. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Political lobbying
is particularly effective for the banking and other sectors during the rule
making process following passage of any legislation for several reasons. The
public, for one, is usually not actively engaged lobbying for their interests,
as most citizens believe nothing more can be done once a bill is passed. For
another, lobbyists engage with bureaucrats or congressional staffers instead of
elected officials at this stage in closed door meetings – bureaucrats and
staffers who are often enticed with employment as a lobbyist, consultant or
strategist if they play ball. Bank funds are used to hire former government
employees. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The money
industry’s political investments also bought freedom for those responsible for
the financial and housing crisis. Despite evidence of fraud at the major banks,
no major bank executive has gone to jail. "If you go back to the savings
and loan debacle, we got more than a thousand felony convictions of the elite...”
according to William Black who was deputy director of the National Commission
on Financial Institution Reform, Recovery and Enforcement. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">No one of note has been indicted for the 2008
financial implosion. <span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; tab-stops: 27.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So what do we do? How to we “fix” (as in repair) this “fixed” (as in
rigged) system?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; tab-stops: 27.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; tab-stops: 27.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We educate and
organize…strategically. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; tab-stops: 27.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Since “corporations are
persons” and “money is speech” in our current constitutional system, banking
corporations (like all corporations) can use their corporate revenue exercising
their political “free speech” on behalf of and in opposition to issues, ballot
measures and political candidates. The combination of these constitutional
“rights” and virtually unlimited corporate resources thanks to money creation
and fractional reserve banking means the political voices of banking
corporations drown out the political voices of people who aren’t corporate CEOs
or otherwise personally wealthy. This profoundly threatens what remains of our
democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The solution, thus, must be two
tracks: real monetary reform AND real political reform. Democratizing our money
system… along with ending corporate personhood and money as speech as called
for by the <a href="https://movetoamend.org/wethepeopleamendment"><i>We the People</i> Amendment</a> to the U.S. Constitution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s symbiotic.
Interdependent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is no missing piece like
the Mayan calendar of the social change puzzle. The overall blueprint is clear.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must acquire, refine and apply
organizing skills to create institutions, campaigns, coalitions and movements. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But also required from us are
smarts, commitment, dedication, organizing and love of people and justice…a
love almost as much as we love our Mothers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-55092037809893441222013-05-09T19:47:00.000-07:002013-05-09T19:47:08.031-07:00127th Anniversary of Corporate Constitutional Rights<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b>127 Reasons Why Reversing Citizens United is NOT Enough</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">Greg Coleridge</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">OpEd News / </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">May 9, 2013</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/127-Reasons-Why-Reversing-by-Greg-Coleridge-130509-202.html">http://www.opednews.com/articles/127-Reasons-Why-Reversing-by-Greg-Coleridge-130509-202.html</a></b></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-55620453807849519212013-05-08T12:33:00.001-07:002013-05-08T12:33:12.205-07:00Democracy Convention<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">The first of these was 2 years ago, also in Madison. It was outstanding. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"></span><br />
August 7-11, 2013 ~ Madison, Wisconsin<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FrkONVpaA7g/UYqobQMerzI/AAAAAAAAAOA/BePqoR2KFJA/s1600/capitol_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FrkONVpaA7g/UYqobQMerzI/AAAAAAAAAOA/BePqoR2KFJA/s1600/capitol_0.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
If you want to strengthen democracy where it matters most — in our communities, our schools, our workplaces and local economies, military, government, media, constitution — you will find something inspiring in Madison in August, 2013. Democracy is coming . . . to the U.S.A..<br />
<br />
THE DEMOCRACY CONVENTION: Nine conferences. One movement.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><a href="https://democracyconvention.org/democracy-convention-nine-conferences-one-movement" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span>https://</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span><span>democracyconvention.org/</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span><span>democracy-convention-nine-confe</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>rences-one-movement</a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-83689573487531334372013-04-15T06:09:00.000-07:002013-04-21T09:19:30.357-07:002013 TAX INFORMATION: How and Where Federal and Political Dollars are Spent - By the Numbers <br />
Proposed 2014 military budget by the Obama administration: <b>$640 billion</b> (1)<br />
<br />
Number of US military bases and installations world-wide: <b>over 1000</b><br />
Number of US military bases in Germany alone: <b>268</b><br />
In Japan: <b>124</b><br />
In Iraq: <b>100</b> (2)<br />
<br />
Cost of the F-35 airplane program (the most expensive weapons program in U.S. history): <b>$1.5 trillion</b><br />
Cost of providing every unemployed person in the U.S. a $50,000 job for the next 4 years: <b>$1.5 trillio</b>n<br />
Total cost of 1 F-35 plane: <b>$610 million</b><br />
Total cost of providing 8,000 university scholarships, 1,300 elementary school teachers, 1,100 police jobs, 14,000 Head Start slots, 18,000 Pell Grants, and 12,000 health care slots for veterans: <b>$610 million</b> (3)<br />
<br />
Political campaign contributions from military corporations and employees of military corporations in 2010 and 2012 election cycles: <b>$51 million</b> (4)<br />
<br />
Proposed cuts to Social Security by Obama administration:<b> $130 billion</b> (5)<br />
Proposed cuts to Medicare by Obama administration over the next 10 years: nearly <b>$400 billion </b>(6)<br />
<br />
Amount of taxes corporations are not paying yearly because of loopholes in the US tax code: <b>$90 billion</b><br />
Amount the average US tax filer would need to pay to make up for this lost revenue: <b>$615</b> (7)<br />
<br />
Amount US big banks receive annually in US government subsidies (bailouts, guaranteed loans, deposit insurance, paid interest): very conservative estimate of <b>$220 billion </b>(8)<br />
<br />
Political campaign contributions from U.S. banking, insurance and real estate sector in 2010 and 2012 election cycles: <b>$979 million</b> (9)<br />
<br />
Amount of taxes unavailable following Fiscal Cliff decision to make 82% of Bush tax cuts (mostly to the very rich) permanent: <b>$2.77 trillion</b> (10)<br />
<br />
2010 political donations and % of all donations by the top 1% of the richest 1%: $<b>774 million / 24</b> (11)<br />
<br />
<b>Call the President (202-456-1111), Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman and your Congressman. (US Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121). Tell them your tax and spending priorities. The only way to counter organized money (campaign contributions/investments from the very rich and corporations) is organized people.</b><br />
<b>Join Move to Amend (www.movetoamend.org) -- a national coalition working for a constitutional amendment to declare that corporations are not people (and therefore can be regulated) and money is not speech (and therefore can be regulated).</b><br />
<br />
<b>More information/get active: Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee</b><br />
<b>330-928-2301 or http://afsc.org/akron</b><br />
<br />
SOURCES<br />
(1) http://www.cato.org/blog/obamas-2014-military-spending-request<br />
(2)http://www.ccun.org/Opinion%20Editorials/2010/July/27%20o/1,000%20US%20Military%20Bases%20Around%20the%20World%20The%20Arrogance%20of%20American%20Power%20%20By%20Paul%20J.htm<br />
(3) http://afsc.org/resource/stop-f-35<br />
(4) http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/totals.php?cycle=2012&ind=D<br />
(5) http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/reality-check-obama-cuts-social-security-and-medicare-by-much-more-than-the-gop/274919/<br />
(6) http://www.medpagetoday.com/Washington-Watch/Washington-Watch/38433<br />
(7) http://www.uspirg.org/reports/usp/picking-tab-2013<br />
(8) http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/03/top-banking-analyst-subsidies-to-giant-banks-exceed-780-billion-year.html<br />
(9) http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/totals.php?cycle=2012&ind=F<br />
(10) http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3880<br />
(11) http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2011/12/13/the-political-one-percent-of-the-one-percent/<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-13423306906736248832013-04-14T19:16:00.002-07:002013-04-15T08:23:31.205-07:00Taking stock of our taxation and spending priorities<div>
Letter to the editor</div>
<div>
Plain Dealer (Cleveland)</div>
<div>
<i><a href="http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2013/04/taking_stock_of_our_taxation_a.html">http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2013/04/taking_stock_of_our_taxation_a.html</a></i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
April 15 isn't simply a day to grumble about our private income being taxed for public purposes. It's also an annual opportunity to take stock of who pays taxes and what they are used for.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
While virtually no one likes paying taxes, the reality is that it's one of the prices that must be paid to create the essential physical and human "infrastructures" needed for civilizations.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Grumbles are transformed to outrage, however, when taxes are imposed unfairly and wasted or spent on programs that simply don't work or appear to benefit only a few.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Permanent George W. Bush-era tax breaks (most benefiting the very rich) totaling $2.77 trillion, a proposed 2014 Pentagon budget of $526 billion and corporate tax loopholes amounting to $150 billion, according to U.S. PIRG, are examples of unequal, ineffective and inefficient tax and spending priorities. Overarching all of this is the fact that the entire political system is rigged via political campaign contributions (or investments) favoring the very rich and huge corporations.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
More sane and humane taxation and spending priorities can occur only when people committed to such priorities amass more political power and rights than corporations and the wealthy few.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Greg Coleridge, Cuyahoga Falls</div>
<div>
Coleridge is director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-21045288047266488312013-04-01T19:59:00.002-07:002013-04-01T19:59:25.104-07:00April Fool's<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">It's April 1. Guess that must mean corporations ARE people and money IS speech.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-88369198077970007822013-03-25T08:36:00.003-07:002013-03-25T08:37:46.695-07:00Rush to limit direct democracy<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"><b>Letter to the Editor</b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"><b>Akron Beacon Journal</b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"><b>March 22, 2013</b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"><i><a href="http://www.ohio.com/editorial/vop/letters-to-the-editor-march-22-1.383359">http://www.ohio.com/editorial/vop/letters-to-the-editor-march-22-1.383359</a></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;">Why was Senate Bill 47 fast-tracked through the Ohio legislature? Under the guise of “fairness” and “uniformity,” the bill would reduce the number of days citizens could collect signatures during initiative and referendum campaigns. This reduces direct democracy.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;">A simple alternative to eliminating the ability of citizens to collect signatures during the period when their initial signatures are being validated, which may take varied amounts of days, is simply to set a uniform number of days at a high end for signatures to be verified. Problem solved.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;">The larger question is why S.B. 47 proponents believe the current rules regarding petitions require such immediate and urgent attention.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;">Where are their fast-track proposals addressing the enormous and growing unfairness and inequality of access to our public officials by the very wealthy and corporations?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s clear that the current political system in Ohio and nation isn’t broken but fixed — rigged to benefit the very wealthy and corporate interests.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;">Whether massive political campaign contributions by a wealthy few and cash-flush corporations, lobbyists representing these same special interests with unlimited access to policymakers or appointed corporate agents overseeing agencies charged with regulating the very corporations these agents come from, the political system is truly rigged against people without money having their voices heard and their communities helped.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;">Where is the legislative urgency to address this growing crisis of democracy and, relatively speaking, infinitely greater problem of political fairness and access?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;">Instead, S.B. 47 seeks to weaken the few remaining democratic avenues citizens possess.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, Trebuchet, Verdana, 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;">Greg Coleridge</span><br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-17404393439988789642013-03-24T07:52:00.000-07:002013-03-24T08:02:38.130-07:00More Than About Fracking - About Corporate Rights<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal;"></span></span></div>
<div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The March 20 court decision in Pennsylvania, <i>Hallowich v. Range Resources</i>, ordering documents unsealed in a case involving contaminated water from fracking was much more than simply about health or the environment. </span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was about whether corporations possess constitutional rights. </span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Common Please Court Judge Debbie O'Dell-Seneca stated in her ruling that Range Resources Corporation and other natural gas drilling corporations failed to make the case that unsealing records would cause harm to their trade secrets or reputation.</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Stephanie and Chris Hallowich, whose water was polluted and who suffered physical harm when gas was released into the air, brought the suit against Range Resources Corporation, the first natural gas driller and one of the most active in the Pennsylvania. Unsealed records were also requested by the media and health groups.</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In her decision, O'Dell focused on the core issue -- do corporations have privacy "rights," a main pillar in the argument of the defense. </span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">O'Dell said under the Pennsylvania Constitution (the case was heard in a county court), they do not. </span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">She said: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"There are no men or women defendants in the instant case; they are various business entities. ... These are all legal fictions, existing not by natural birth by operations of state statutes. ... Such business entities cannot have been 'born equally free and independent,' because they were not born at all."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This thinking is consistent with the views of Ohio courts over many decades -- before the bizarre notion that corporations possess inalienable constitutional rights became embedded in federal court decisions. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As Ohio courts affirmed, corporations do not possess rights. Only people can grant corporations powers, privileges and protections. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">Here are a few examples. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span></div>
<div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Corporations have such powers, and such only, as the act creating them confers; and are confined to the exercise of those expressly granted, and such incidental powers as are necessary for the purpose of carrying into effect powers specfically conferred. In no state of the Union have these principles been adhered to with more unyielding tenacity than in this.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Elias Straus and Brother v. The Eagle Insurance Company of Cincinnait</i>, 5 OS 60 (1855)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Corporate existence, and the right to exercise the power of eminent domain, can only be derived from legislative enactment.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Atkinson v. Marietta & C.R. Co</i>., 15 OS 21 (1864)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In granting corporate franchises, a state has reserved to itself the right to enact police laws necessary to secure the lives and property of its citizens. These corporations owe their existence and the right to exercise their franchises and privileges to the principle that the state may employ such agencies as it may deem proper to promote the public welfare.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Lake Shore & M.S.R. Co. v. Cincinnati, S. & C.R. Co.,</i> 30 OS 604 (1876)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The corporation has received vitality from the state; it continues during its existence to be the creature of the state; must live subservient to its laws, and has such powers and franchises as those laws have bestowed upon it, and none others. As the state was not bound to create it in the first place, it is not bound to maintain it, after having done so, if it violates the laws or public policy of the state, or misuses its franchises to oppress the citizens thereof.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>The State ex rel. v. The C.N.O. & T.P. Ry. Co., The State ex rel. v. The C.W. & B. Ry. Co.</i>, 47 OS 130 (1890)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The only absolutely essential attribute of a corporation is the capacity to exist and act within the powers granted, as a legal entity, apart from the individual or individuals who constitute its members.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Andrews Bros. Co. v. Coke Co.,</i> 10 Ohio F. Dec. 306 (1898)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When a corporation asserts that it is clothed with a given power, the burden rests upoin it to show whence such power and rights are derived.</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Mannington v. Hocking Valley Ry. Co.</i>, 183 F. 133 (1910)</span></div>
</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-79912417209265738212013-03-22T08:21:00.000-07:002013-03-22T08:21:06.262-07:00At Least One Judge Understands Corporations are NOT People<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;"></span><br />
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Here's one judge who understands the difference between human and corporate persons..</div>
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<br style="line-height: 1.22em;" />"There are no men or women defendants in the instant case; they are various business entities. ... These are all legal fictions, existing not by natural birth by operations of state statutes. ... Such business entities cannot have been 'born equally free and independent,' because they were not born at all."</div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br style="line-height: 1.22em;" /><a href="http://pipeline.post-gazette.com/news/archives/25102-washington-county-judge-orders-marcellus-shale-development-settlement-records-unsealed" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 1.22em;">http://pipeline.post-gazette.com/news/archives/25102-washington-county-judge-orders-marcellus-shale-development-settlement-records-unsealed</a><br style="line-height: 1.22em;" /></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-90059390598098101392013-03-19T12:35:00.000-07:002013-03-19T12:35:10.817-07:00TESTIMONY ON SB 47<br />
Policy and Legislative Oversight Committee, Ohio House of Representatives<br />
March 19, 2013<br />
Greg Coleridge, Director, Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee<br />
<br />
The American Friends Service Committee educates, advocates and organizes for justice, peace and self-governance. We’re concerned not simply about creating justice and fairness on various issues but also about just and fair governing rules – that is, laws and constitutional decisions permitting We the People to have the power to decide what takes place in our communities, state and nation.<br />
<br />
This is especially important given the current crisis of credibility of our political and economic systems. People increasingly believe our political institutions aren’t broken but fixed – as in rigged to benefit the very wealthy and corporations.<br />
<br />
The ability of citizens to be heard by their public officials, to gain authentic access to political representatives and to have real political influence playing by the rules we’ve been led to believe exists in our representative democracy has never been weaker than today.<br />
<br />
Whether massive political campaign contributions (or investments) by a wealthy few and cash-flush corporations, lobbyists representing these same special interests with unlimited access to policy makers, or corporate agents appointed to oversee agencies charged with regulating the very corporations these agents come from – the political system truly is rigged against people without money having their voices heard, their needs met, and their communities helped.<br />
<br />
Citizen petitions for initiatives, referendums and recalls are examples of direct democracy. There’s no middleman or woman to interpret what people want or don’t want. Citizens can decide for themselves. These are sacred principles. Public officials who truly represent We the People should commit themselves to expanding, not contracting, these tools of direct democracy.<br />
<br />
The goals of “fairness” and “uniformity” of petition campaigns by proponents of SB 47 are noble. How they are reflected in legislation is the issue.<br />
<br />
The litmus test for evaluating any reform of these sacred direct democratic principles should be this: Does the proposal make it easier or harder for citizens to govern themselves? In other words, does it narrow or widen direct democracy?<br />
<br />
As proposed in the current form, SB 47 would make it more difficult for citizens to petition their own government -- especially for groups that don’t have paid staff and hundreds of thousands of dollars to spent and need every day they can get to gather signatures from their fellow citizens.<br />
<br />
In the spirit of fairness and uniformity, I support the elimination of signature gathering during the verification period if and only if extra days are added, say 30 extra days to the current 90, to collect signatures to place a citizen referendum on the ballot. This would expand the direct power of citizens.<br />
<br />
In the same spirit of fairness and uniformity, I also call on supporters of SB 47 to likewise, fast track legislation that addresses the enormous and growing unfairness and inequality of political access by the very wealthy and corporations to public officials. It’s clear that the current political system is rigged through political campaign contributions and lobbyists to benefit a few at the expense of the many here in Ohio.<br />
<br />
Such additional legislation would serve as a powerful testament to your noble goals of fairness and uniformity not simply in citizen petitioning but also in public elections and governance. <br />
<br />
Thank you.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-12417443952196672472013-03-18T10:01:00.001-07:002013-03-18T10:35:33.887-07:00Public Hearing on Reducing Citizens’ Right to Petition – Tuesday, March 19<br />
Call your State Representative TODAY<br />
[<a href="http://www.blogger.com/Find%20your%20District%20Rep.%20at%20http://www.ohiohouse.gov/index">Find your District Rep. at http://www.ohiohouse.gov/index</a>]<br />
<br />
A public hearing on SB 47 will be held tomorrow, Tuesday, March 19 before the Policy and Legislative Oversight Committee of the Ohio House of Representatives. The hearing will be at 2:00 pm in Room 115 in the State House building.<br />
<br />
SB 47 would reduce the number of days citizens could gather signatures on petitions to place an issue on the Ohio ballot for voter consideration. SB 47 reduces our ability as citizens to petition our government to either create a new law (initiative) or reverse a law passed by the legislature (referendum).<br />
<br />
The right of direct democracy that citizen initiatives, referendums and recalls (to remove an elected official from office) represent goes back to the 1912 Constitutional Convention in Ohio. These democratic tools were intended for citizens to bypass corrupt public officials captured by corporations and the wealthy few.<br />
<br />
What was true in 1912 remains true in 2013. Corporations and the wealthy few still possess disproportionate influence over public officials and public policy via political campaign donations, lobbyists, and access to regulatory agencies compared to the vast majority of Ohio citizens.<br />
<br />
SB 47 is being peddled as seeking “fairness” and “uniformity.” Details of the argument are contained in a recent Plain Dealer news article at<br />
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2013/03/ohio_bill_on_referendums_bring.html<br />
<br />
SB 47 is on a fast track for passage, despite lack of evidence that the current rules have been unfair. Reducing the days to collect signatures only makes it more difficult to collect the necessary signatures to qualify for the ballot. Citizen initiative or referendum campaigns are already enormously challenging undertakings. They can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and a huge time commitment.<br />
<br />
Is our democracy better off by reducing the opportunity for citizens to collect signatures? Or is this simply yet another means to limit the ability of citizens at self-rule?<br />
<br />
If lack of fairness and uniformity in elections and politics is of concern to proponents of SB 47, where are there fast track legislative proposals to reduce the political access and influence in our elections of corporations and the super wealthy?<br />
<br />
Passage of SB47 is an assault of what’s left of direct democracy in Ohio.<br />
<br />
Call your State Representative TODAY<br />
[<a href="http://www.blogger.com/Find%20your%20District%20Rep.%20at%20http://www.ohiohouse.gov/index">Find your District Rep. at http://www.ohiohouse.gov/index</a>]<br />
<br />
Thank you.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-47107046886932520182013-03-14T12:15:00.002-07:002013-03-14T12:15:26.416-07:00Politicians Want to Reduce the Power of Citizens<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Tell your Ohio House Member to Vote NO on SB 47</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
The 101-year old Constitutional right of citizens in Ohio to directly create laws (via citizen initiatives) and undue laws (via citizen referendums) is being threatened.</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
The Ohio General Assembly is considering a bill that would make it harder for citizens to petition our own government. The bill would shorten the amount of time citizen's groups have to collect signatures to place a grassroots issue on the ballot for voters to decide…on any issue coming from any group for any reason.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Send a letter to your Ohio House member by going to <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/c/227/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=5899">http://act.aflcio.org/c/227/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=5899</a></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
<b>Tell your Ohio House Member to Vote NO on SB 47.</b></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
Is the problem in our state that we have TOO MUCH grassroots democracy? Or is it that we don't need to rely as much on grassroots petitions because We the People without money have GREATER INFLUENCE THAN EVER BEFORE over public officials? </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
Of course not.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
So exactly what "problem" is this "solution" addressing?</div>
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<br /></div>
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At a time when…</div>
<ul style="font-size: 14px;">
<li>Wealthy people and corporations have greater access to public officials,</li>
<li>Lobbyists virtually camp out in our public buildings,</li>
<li>The appearance, if not reality, exists that large political campaign contributors buys political influence, and</li>
<li>Average citizens without money increasingly feel their voices are not heard by those we elect,</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
…do we really need a law introduced by politicians to REDUCE the ability of citizens in any way to petition our own government?</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
Of course not.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
Send a letter to your Ohio House member by going to <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/c/227/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=5899">http://act.aflcio.org/c/227/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=5899</a></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
<b>Tell your Ohio House Member to Vote NO on SB 47.</b></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
At some point, if the growing grassroots movement across Ohio calling on Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to end corporate personhood and money as speech continues to spread, there will be a grassroots statewide initiative calling on Congress for the same. This effort will be move difficult if SB 47 passes. </div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
<br /></div>
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Please act now. Spread the word</div>
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<br /></div>
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Thank you. </div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
p.s. There are likely to be public hearings on SB 47 next week or soon thereafter. So contacting your state representative ASAP is very important</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-52051505672482454812013-03-07T06:13:00.001-08:002013-03-07T06:13:27.565-08:00Petition to Revoke Corporate Charters<br />
This letter was sent yesterday...<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></span><br />
<div>
Ohio State Senator Mike Skindell</div>
<div>
Ohio State Senator Shirley Smith</div>
<div>
Ohio State Representative Bob Hagan</div>
<div>
Ohio State Representative Mike Foley</div>
<div>
Ohio State Representative Nickie Antonio</div>
<div>
Ohio State Representative Zack Milkovich</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Greetings!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Attached please find a petition being delivered today, March 6, to the office of Attorney General Mike DeWine. It calls on him to initiate charter revocation (called "quo warranto") proceedings against the corporations owned by Ben Lupo.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You may know that Mr. Lupo, d/b/a one or more of as many as 20 corporate fronts, apparently instructed his employees to dump as much as 250,000 gallons of waste materials from unconventional horizontal hydraulic fracturing into the City of Youngstown's storm sewer system, knowing or having reason to know that the system was connected ultimately and directly to the Mahoning River.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The attached petition calls on Attorney General DeWine to respond not with a fine or revocation of a permit, but a revocation of his corporate charter(s) -- a common response used by our forebears in Ohio in response to corporations acting beyond their authority as defined in their corporate charters. Quo warranto proceedings were once used routinely as a democratic tool by Ohio legislatures and courts to affirm the sovereign power of We the People over corporate, which are, after all, creations of government. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The petition to Attorney General Mike DeWine is offered in the spirit of affirming that We the People and our elected representatives possess and should utilize this democratic tool to ensure that corporations are ultimately subordinate to us. It is also a legal means for elected officials and the courts to protect the health, safety and welfare of citizens. Please consider urging the AG to initiate such proceedings. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ohio Revised Code (Chapter 2733) describes quo warranto. It identifies the Ohio General Assembly as another state entity which can commence a quo warranto proceeding. This may be an option you may wish to consider if the Attorney General fails to fulfill his duty.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Thank you kindly for your consideration.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Respectfully,</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Greg Coleridge</div>
<div>
Director</div>
<div>
Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee</div>
<div>
[a Quaker social action organization]</div>
<div>
Address: 2101 Front St., #111, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221</div>
<div>
Phone: 330-928-2301</div>
<div>
Fax: 330-928-2628</div>
<div>
Email: <a href="mailto:gcoleridge@afsc.org">gcoleridge@afsc.org</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
Here's news coverage of it...<br />
http://www.ohio.com/blogs/drilling/ohio-utica-shale-1.291290/petitioners-seek-to-have-ben-lupo-s-corporate-charters-revoked-1.378918Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-13507990166989501042013-03-05T08:42:00.005-08:002013-03-05T08:44:12.974-08:00URGENT: Ohio Senate Vote TODAY on Limiting Citizens Initiative and ReferendumOur Constitutional Rights to "Do Democracy Directly" via citizen initiatives and referendums is under assault in Ohio. A vote is scheduled at 4:00 pm TODAY by the Ohio Senate Government Oversight Committee. Please don't put it off. Please ACT RIGHT NOW. The link below allows you to quickly find and send an email to your State Senator. <br />
<br />
If we ever reach the point of initiating a Move to Amend citizens initiative campaign in Ohio, we must protect these 101 year old rules empowering citizens the right to "Do Democracy Directly."<br />
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<a href="http://statevoices.salsalabs.com/o/62/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=525">http://statevoices.salsalabs.com/o/62/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=525</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-36091410754247246112013-02-26T11:30:00.004-08:002013-02-26T11:35:58.403-08:00Democracy Day Testimony<i>This was testimony provided last night during the first "Democracy Day" in Brecksville, stipulated as part of their citizens initiative passed by voters last November. The community forum lasted 4 hours. Dozens of people testified. Pictures of the event are <a href="http://brecksville.patch.com/articles/look-huge-turnout-for-democracy-day-in-brecksville#photo-13470905">HERE</a></i><br />
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Good evening. My name is Greg Coleridge. I’m the director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee and Coordinator of Move to Amend Ohio. Both groups have Brecksville supporters concerned about the issues explored tonight.<br />
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I want to thank Brecksville citizens who in November voted to “keep democracy alive by voting YES on issue 25.”<br />
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Sadly, a growing number of Americans, including those in Brecksville, feel what’s left of our democracy is in peril. <br />
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People who believe our country isn’t broken, but fixed…as in rigged…to benefit the super rich, corporations, and/or unions. <br />
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People who believe that We the People is more myth than reality.<br />
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Your prophetic law calls on the city to ask Congress to pass a constitutional amendment declaring that only human beings, not corporations, possess inalienable constitutional rights and that political money is not equivalent to political speech. Corporations here includes for-profit, not-for-profit and union entities.<br />
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Inalienable constitutional rights were intended by our nation’s founders to apply solely to human beings. Corporations are government creations. They were originally subordinate to We the People. They didn’t possess constitutional rights, only publicly granted protections and privileges. <br />
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Since corporations are our creations, we have the democratic duty to set their limits. This constitutional amendment would reassert our original democratic authority to define corporate political boundaries – through the democratic process of councils, assemblies and congresses. <br />
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Nor is money speech – the second part of the proposed constitutional amendment. If money is speech, then those who have the most money have the most speech. That’s not a definition of democracy, but of plutocracy – a pretty accurate description of our current political condition. <br />
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Money from corporations and the wealthy few harms democracy and the citizens of Brecksville in 5 ways:<br />
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First, it limits viable candidates. Individuals with good ideas, significant experiences, and/or strong personal integrity who desire to run for public office to represent Brecksville residents are deterred if they don’t have money or unable to raise the money it takes to be viable.<br />
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Second, it distorts political agendas. The requirement to attract major dollars to be viable means candidates will only address issues major political contributors or investors approve. This means Brecksville voters didn’t hear the positions of federal candidates last November on a host of issues. It also means those without money in Brecksville and elsewhere have a tough time having their political views heard.<br />
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Third, it corrupts public policy. "The best return on assets is always a political contribution," says economist William Black. This includes actual financial benefits (such as tax cuts for the wealthy or bailing out Wall Street banks). It includes laws shielding certain people (such as incompetent union employees). And it includes what government actions are not taken (such as criminal prosecutions of Wall Street bankers for the financial collapse) – all of which affects citizens here. The political pay-to-play system of legalized bribery results in higher taxes for most citizens, less competition, more inefficiencies, and encouragement of those who profit from their political investments to politically invest even more.<br />
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Fourth, it distorts political news. As more political money is raised, more is spent. Much of it is on media advertising, which is very profitable. News organizations have less incentive to provide real news coverage of elections to citizens in Brecksville and elsewhere if they know huge dollars will be spent on their stations for Super PAC-funded one-sided ads. <br />
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Finally, big money from the wealthy and corporations furthers depoliticalization. Has an explosion in political money resulted in an explosion of participatory democracy? No. People are turned off by the increasing negativity of political messages, the evolution of elections into political spectator events, and the inability of citizens to meaningfully engage in public policy formation.<br />
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Brecksville has taken a powerful stand in support of a real democratic fix to our broken and rigged political system.<br />
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Thank you Brecksville.<br />
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Happy Democracy Day!<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30246865780696141.post-84621591523508743362013-02-11T11:53:00.001-08:002013-02-11T11:59:14.927-08:00Move to Amend's Proposed 28th Amendment to the Constitution<i>Here's the Amendment. It was introduced today.</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>WE THE PEOPLE AMENDMENT</b></span><br />
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<strong>Section 1. <em>[Artificial Entities Such as Corporations Do Not Have Constitutional Rights]</em></strong><br />
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The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons only.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<strong>Section 2. <em>[Money is Not Free Speech]</em></strong><br />
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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.<br />
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Federal, State, and local government shall require that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed.<br />
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The judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment.<br />
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<i>To read the press release, click <a href="https://movetoamend.org/press-release/constitutional-amendment-introduced-congress-ensuring-rights-people-not-corporations">here</a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0