Corporate sovereignty is trumping national sovereignty, representative democracy, and civil society around the world, with ill effects. It transfers sovereignty from individuals and governments to transnational corporations (TNC's). As a result, relationships between civil societies and governments and between many governments and TNC's have deteriorated. "Free trade" instruments are replacing the rule of law with unaccountable and inaccessible trade group laws and treaties, changing government functions from serving the public to serving the corporations. This new regime is the marketocracy. Currently, 18 to 20 somewhat successful strategies have been deployed to counter the marketocracy, including litigation, legislation, and overthrow of governments. But the resolution lies in new global forms of governance.
Dear Senators and Congressmembers reading this blogsite:
Here is a quote from Riverbend in Baghdad, crossposted at Tomdispatch.com. After reading it, please tell me what the fuck you morally exhausted representatives of a once free people think you're doing funding our occupation of Iraq? And when will you please pull the funding plug, and let us start to heal the wounds of the world that you have permitted with our money?
In case you missed it, John Dean's latest post at Findlaw is headlined "Senators Kyl and Graham's Hamdan v. Rumsfeld Scam: The Deceptive Amicus Brief They Filed in the Guantanamo Detainee Case".
We've seen that "Hands Off The Internet" ad and many folks have pointed out that the truth is not in it. I've wondered how the people who made it, paid for it, ran it, could get away with it. It seems that perhaps they have broken the law. I wonder if anyone wishes to research this a little further with an eye to offering to litigate. Here are some of the rules:
The National GOP has so much interest in this race they sent RNC chair Ken Mehlman to the District this past Friday night, where he duly praised far-right Republican state House Speaker John Gard as "a great candidate." The Democrats have 3 candidates in the race, and the primary is not til September 12. Below are some funding facts and analyses.
The following has come to me from Ken Mehlman, RNC Chair.
Dear ___,
As you plan your summer road trip, you've had to budget for rising prices at the pump. President Bush is focused on providing practical solutions to energy prices: fair prices at the pump, increased supplies of gasoline, greater fuel efficiency, and new alternative fuels. When it
comes to lowering energy costs, all Democrats offer is hot air designed to conceal their long record of supporting higher energy costs for America's families.
As you probably know, Buyblue will be giving a Yearly Kos workshop on How to Vote With Your Wallet. We're going to talk about Net Neutrality, and in preparation, we're researching the campaign contributions of telecommonsters to members of the relevant House and Senate committees. Those committees include House Energy and Commerce, the Telecommunications subcommittee, House Judiciary, Rules, Senate Commerce.
A friend has just sent me a link to a KCRA news story headlined "Chevron Memo Raises Suspicion." The story, datelined May 5, Sacramento, starts "A Chevron memo is raising suspicion that oil executives intentionally reduced refining capacity in an effort to boost profits. The 1995 memo, obtained by Consumers Union, reads:
"If the U.S. petroleum industry doesn't reduce it's refining capacity, it will never see any substantial increase in refinery profits."
Based on money, voter registration, voter intimidation, and black box voting, the GOP could take 1 seat from the Democrats; the Democrats will probably take 7 seats from the GOP, and 9 seats are too close to call. Of those 9 too close to call, 1 is the potential GOP pickup from the Democrats, Illinois 08, Melissa Bean, incumbent challenged by David McSweeney, Republican. If the too-close-to-call 9 seats all went Democratic, that would sum to 16 Democratic pickups, giving the Speaker's gavel to Nancy Pelosi.
I have come into temporary possession of the front page of the October 1955 edition of "Packinghouse Worker." Most of it is about Carl Braden's being convicted and sentenced to 15 years for sedition for selling a house in Louisville to a black family.
But an adjacent article tells about a bedspread mill in Dalton Ga. firing employees because they belonged to a fundamentalist Christian church that favors unions, Church of God.
We understand that PoliPointPress has released a book entitled The Blue Pages: A Directory of Companies Rated by Their Politics and Practices. This publication has nothing to do with BuyBlue.org. We at BuyBlue did not research this book, nor write it. But we do believe that our proprietary rights have been violated and we intend to pursue our lawful remedies against PoliPointPress.
Buyblue is researching the PAC contributions of select 2006 Senate and House races. We're setting up teams of volunteers to do online research at the FEC website. We're following 18 Senate races, and 34 House races. This is an update post and a call for volunteers.
Buyblue is gearing up for the 2006 election campaigns. We will be following 18 Senate races and 30 House races in 2006. We'll be researching the corporate contributors to these races, and posting the data. This diary is an invitation to Kosacks to join the research gang.
I have just faxed the following letter to Senator Robert Byrd, D-WVA.
VIA FAX 202-228-0002
Senator Robert Byrd
The United States Senate
Washington, D.C.
Re: Confirmation of Mr. Samuel Alito, filibuster, the United States Senate
Dear Senator Byrd,
I'm writing to ask you to reconsider your position on Mr. Alito, and to ask you to consider joining a filibuster against the confirmation of this man. I ask you this because I believe that you understand the profound and world changing significance of this moment in history. From the perspective of what follows from this decision, from the point of view of those who come after us, this is a moment when we must live so that 100 years from now, someone will be proud of us for having saved the nation. Your power in this matter is central. And Mr. Alito is ultimately ignorant and disrespectful of the processes of citizenship and democracy.
I can't be the only American sitting in my bathrobe at dawn wondering what to do. I don't want to live in a nation more fascist than the United States is now. If Alito gets to the bench the nation will be sufficiently more fascist than I want it to be. The nation's airwaves, political finances, executive, legislative and judicial branches, and large parts of the public, have become more right wing than I am comfortable with.
The below is excerpted from a press release I received from the Center for Justice & Accountability (San Francisco, CA):
Moira Feeney, (415) 544-0444 x302, mfeeney@cja.org
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has upheld a $54.6 million jury verdict against Generals Jose Guillermo Garcia and Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, two former Ministers of Defense who oversaw the worst period of human rights violations in El Salvador's history.
Some damn fool keeps trying the "Christmas is under attack by the liberal elite" bait. William Rivers Pitt counsels us to "deny the premise." That may be too difficult for O'Reilly and Limbaugh and those of their intellectual level. But. .
