To say I was freaked out by Thursday’s Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission would be a gross understatement. I have literally lost sleep over it. Even President Obama said that he could not "think of anything more devastating to the public interest." Essentially the victors argued that corporations should be treated the same as "natural persons" thereby granting them first amendment rights. The conservative leaning Court, led by neo-con GWB appointee Chief Justice John Roberts joined together to invalidate a longtime ban on corporate money in federal elections by a margin of 5-4. I don’t see how this was a first amendment battle. Nobody has ever stopped corporations from voicing their opinions. This was about financially tilting the playing field to political hopefuls that are willing to do the corporations bidding. This court has made what is quite possibly the most radical “activist” decision ever by the Court. They ripped away 107 years of laws and previously upheld challenges. There is now no limit on how much any corporation can spend to support, or worse, to destroy a political opponent. I’m really truly afraid that this will eventually lead to one party rule and fascism. Think about this in the broadest sense of all; not just Democrats vs. Republicans although we know which party always puts big business ahead of the citizens. How many of these corporations here are wholly U.S. owned? How much foreign money will be coming in to influence our elections? Apparently Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg questioned opening the door to "mega-corporations" owned by foreign governments. Olson stated that Congress might be able to prohibit foreign corporations from making donations, but he thought any such restriction a bad idea! Now this is something the teabaggers should be upset about if they want their government to work for the people. Guess what? The night-time stars at Fox have not even mentioned it even though you know they're excited about the prospect of conservative fascism. Clearly they're not sure how their little teabagging flock will respond since the teabaggers "want their country back." Theoretically, this should unite progressives and teabaggers with a common interest towards untold corporate influence and abject greed. However, it won't because the teabag movements are just fake "grassroots" efforts led by far right organizers Dick Armey and David Koch. They aren't smart enough to realize the Democrats and the black guy aren't their biggest problem. Want a little bit of in your face irony? I recently lauded attorney Ted Olson for partnering with David Boies to challenge the Proposition 8 decision in California. He was the man who successfully argued the case for Citizens United. Talk about a slap in the face. Tara Malloy, attorney with the Campaign Legal Center of Washington D.C. says corporations will now have more rights than people. Only United States citizens may donate or influence campaigns, but a foreign government can, veiled behind a corporate treasury, dump money into ballot battles. Malloy also noted that under the law today, human-people, as opposed to corporate-people, may only give $2,300 to a presidential campaign. But hedge fund billionaires, for example, who typically operate through dozens of corporate vessels, may now give unlimited sums through each of these "unnatural" creatures. I would like to give a thumbs up to the four sane and just Justices: Justice John Paul Stevens, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice Stephen G. Breyer and Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Next I'll name the dark side of the Court, who appointed them and their age: John G. Roberts (GWB age 55), Samuel A. Alito, Jr. (GWB age 59), Clarence Thomas (GHWB age 61), Anthony Kennedy (Reagan age 73) and Antonin Scalia (Reagan age 73). Given that these are lifetime appointments, we're screwed.
I’m not generally a huge Ralph Nader fan, but I’d like to share his OpEd with anyone who hasn’t seen it. He obviously knows more than me and did give me a glimmer of hope that we might be able to at least contain this disaster. I’ll provide the first paragraph with a link to continue…
Yesterday's 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission shreds the fabric of our already weakened democracy by allowing corporations to more completely dominate our corrupted electoral process. It is outrageous that corporations already attempt to influence or bribe our political candidates through their political action committees (PACs), which solicit employees and shareholders for donations.
On Monday, those opposed to gay marriage won a temporary halt of the planned video coverage of the San Francisco trial of California's Proposition 8. The trial is over the constitutionality of the proposition, which banned same-sex marriage in California during the November 4, 2008 elections. Are they all of a sudden afraid of having their hateful ignorant faces all over You Tube? Are they also afraid that many people will look at the gay couples testifying sympathetically, and realize they’re just like them? Evidently the justices became concerned that witnesses opposed to gay marriage could face harassment if they were shown on YouTube. I guess harassment of bigots is something the court takes seriously, harassment of gay folks? Not so much.
Ted Olson who is leading the challenge to Proposition 8, urged the justices to stay clear of the dispute. He noted that Charles Cooper (who is leading the defense of Proposition 8) and his paid witnesses had stepped forward on their own to appear at the trial. In the end, the high court issued a brief order overruling U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's (a Republican, believe it or not) order and barring, at least for now, any outside video coverage of the trial. It's a sad day when judges have concerns of harrassment for the bigots who have probably done some harrassing at times, when the people on the other side, who have been harassed their entire lives in some cases were willing to put their face with their stories for all to see. I dare the defense to present a legitimate argument, not based in religious beliefs that same-sex marriage will destroy hetero-marriages. The proposition was placed on the ballot with millions of dollars in funding from the Morman Church and put up for vote by CA citizens. So much for seperation of church and state. It’s also ridiculous to let the majority vote on the rights of a minority. If that was the case, you’d still have slavery; you wouldn’t have inter-racial marriages; in essence no one except white males would have any rights, just the way Pat Buchanan wants it.
Same-sex marriage has legal recognition in 7 countries, all but one of them have a very peaceful nature: Belgium, Canada, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain and Sweden. Twenty others have civil unions and registered partnerships, and five others are performed in some jurisdictions. In the U.S., we have a few evolved states: Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. Recently the territory known as the District of Columbia joined the group. Funny, God’s supposed wrath hasn’t struck any of those areas. He seems to be taking out his anger in the "Bible Belt" if you believe in that kind of stuff. If your soul is so weak, your ignorance so strong, your education so poor, your hatred so deep, that you feel the need to deny a minority their equal rights to propel your own self-worth, you deserve pity not praise. Let’s hope when this trial ends, there will be true equality for all Americans in California and beyond. Get religion out of government as it has never belonged there, and do it now!
UPDATE: A little more than an hour after I posted my article, Rachel Maddow had guest attorneys, David Boies and Ted Olson on her program. They are best known as adversaries from the Bush v Gore debacle, but have now joined forces to oppose the constitutionality of the ban on same-sex marriage.
Since Sarah Palin is making her debut tonight on Bill O'Reilly's Fear Factor, I thought I'd share the following "interview" with "the Quitter" from my friend DallasDon over at HuffingtonPost. Posting someone else's work is not something I will normally do, but I found it amusing and I hope you will as well...and also, too! (Reprinted with permission and encouragement)
DD: How long does it take you to watch "60 Minutes"? SP: An hour and a half? DD: Have you seen "20/20"? SP: Oh no Honey. I wear glasses. See? Alrighty then. And also too! DD: What are your thoughts on euthanasia? SP: I like kids everywhere, youth in Asia are our future. DD: What about the controversy with the Mexican border? SP: Just like renters everywhere, the Mexican boarder has to pay rent also. And too. DD: What are your thoughts on abstinence programs? SP: They work. Abstinence makes the church grow fondlers. DD: Your feelings toward Barrack Obama? SP: I wish him and all Kenyans a happy and safe New Year. DD: And for the American people? SP: It's baby Jesus's birthday you know. Malaki 2:3 says, "Behold I will corrupt your seed and spread dung upon your faces." You betcha!” DD: Okay. I think we're done here. Come on fellas, let's get outta here. SP: Hey! Merry New Year to all y'all "NOT" "REAL" Americans! I'm a maverick goin' rogue here! Buy my book, y'all hear now! Alrighty then.
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