Corporate Tentacles
By louisehartmann
Rhode Island Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, just after Rep. Joe Barton's "off the wall" apology to BP, laid out how deeply "corporate tentacles" have reached into our regulatory agencies in Congress. He said, "The scope, the extent, the insidious nature of corporate influence in regulatory agencies of government--this question of regulatory capture--is something we should attend to here. It is the lesson, and it raises the question beyond the Minerals Management Service: How far does this corporate influence reach into our agencies of government? The wealth of the international corporate world is staggering. The five biggest oil companies just this quarter posted profits of $23 billion--that is a 23 with 12 zeroes behind it--in just one quarter." And now that the Supreme Court has ruled that these foreign companies have full human rights under the First Amendment here in the USA, they're free to drop billions into the upcoming or 2012 elections. Meet your new government - corporate rule.
Comments
#2
New government? Alas, corporate rule seemed to be established decades ago and its solidly entrenched by now. With the corporate media surrounding the putocracy like walls, moat and a cone of silence it takes mass manslaughter and the destruction of billions of acres of the biosphere to wake people up. Maybe this time, maybe even the Tea Partiers will wake up to the real problems with our government of/by/for the natural people.
#3
Unless Sen. Whitehouse has somehow become British, 23 billion is a "23" with nine zeros behind it.
#4
I just saw the movie Gasland on HBO. It is a must see for everyone. Drilling for gas using hydraulic fracturing is poisoning our water and our air, and the EPA (and Congress) is doing nothing about it. It appears that there are still bought-and-paid-for Cheney cronies in the EPA that Obama hasn't replaced. It's easy to see just how important it is to have really good people in government agencies. If Obama had gotten rid of the Bush cronies from the MMS, we might not be having this oil spill problem right now. And oh, yes...there remains the Bush appointees in the Attorney General's office...still there doing who knows what?
So now Obama is stuck trying to clean up an epic mess with Bush's good ol' boys hard at work behind the scene still trying to dance a Corporate tune. The Corporate strangle-hold is getting down-right scary. What more can we do to educate the masses to move them off their asses?
#5
The Russian Judicial System executed those who watered down their beloved Vodka. The Chinese Judicial System executed those who sold poisoned Baby Formula. The Muslim Judicial System may cut off the hand of a thief. The American Judicial System is manipulated to keep certain segments of society in line. Once upon a time, employees of city, state, and federal government were not allowed to receive gifts in the performance of their duties. Maybe the difference lies in employee vs. elected official. Employees are layed-off and fired. Elected officials become millionaires by way of Lobbyist. President Obama said he would remove the Lobbyist from Washington. He made a lot of promises. They were descent of him. However, I don't believe he knew where he was going. He ended elsewhere. HIs Israeli friends should school him on David and Goliath. Give him some stones , a slingshot, and send him back to Washington by way of Africa. Stones and slingshot from Israel combined with that Old Black Magic should send the Republicans and Lobbyist running and screaming for their lives through the streets of Washington, D. C. I'm hoping he won't disappoint all the millions of people who supported him with their faith, time, and money. Maybe he should stop preaching to the sinners and preach to his choir. They are those who will stand with in battle or at the gallows.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
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As a result of latest Scotus decision, if a foreign corporation wants to donate all the money they want to a conservative political candidate, then that's protected free speech; but if I want to send Hamas five dollars to help them rebuild Gaza, then I land in jail. Could the hypocrisy of the plutocrat-loving Scotus be more blatant? Free speech for billionaires, and jail for us concerned citizens.