dagblog - Comments for "Supreme Court Rules Corporations are King"

Greg Palast of AlterNet

acanuck — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:52:41 +0000

In reply to Supreme Court Rules Corporations are King

Greg Palast of AlterNet brings up another aspect of this issue that the Supreme Court ruling simply glosses over: even if you grant corporations all the freedom-of-speech rights you give to people, you shouldn't be treating them as citizens.

Money has no citizenship -- and, as it's proved over and over, no national loyalties. It goes where it wants, does what it wants. Which is why this is incredibly scary:

http://www.truthout.org/the-supreme-court-just-handed-anyone-including-bin-laden-or-chinese-govt-control-our-democracy56332

What are you some kind

Michael Wolraich — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 22:12:37 +0000

In reply to Are corporations really

What are you some kind Anti-Corporite? Just because corporations don't look like me and you doesn't meant that they don't have feelings.

Are corporations really

Tom Degan — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:22:50 +0000

In reply to Supreme Court Rules Corporations are King

Are corporations really persons?

Do corporations think?

Do corporations weep?

Do corporations fall in love?

Do corporations grieve when a loved one dies as a result of a lack of adequate health care?

Do corporations have loved ones?

Are corporations even capable of loving?

Do corporations sometimes lose sleep at night worrying about disease, violence, destruction, and the suffering of their fellow human beings?

Do corporations feel your pain?

Is a corporation capable of having a sense of humor? Is it capable of laughing at itself? (EXAMPLE: "So these two corporations walk into a bar....")

If a corporation ever committed an unspeakable crime against the American people, could IT be sent to federal prison? (Note the operative word here: "It")

Has a corporation ever walked into a voting booth and cast a ballot for the candidate of its choice?

We all know that corporations have made a mountain of cash throughout our history by profiting on the unspeakable tragedy of war. But has a corporation ever given its life for its country?

Is a corporation capable of raising a child?

Has a corporation ever been killed in an accident as the result of a design flaw in the automobile it was driving?

Has a corporation ever written a novel or a dramatic play or a song that inspired millions?

Has a corporation ever risked its life by climbing a ladder to save a child from a burning house?

Has a corporation ever won an Oscar? Or an Emmy? Or a Tony? Or the Nobel Peace Prize? Or a Polk or Peabody Award? Or the Pulitzer Prize in Biography?

Has a corporation ever performed Schubert's Ave Maria?

Has a corporation ever been shot and killed by someone who was using an illegal and unregistered gun?

Has a corporation ever paused to reflect upon the simple beauty of an autumn sunset or a brilliant winter moon rising in the horizon?

If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a noise if there are no corporations there to hear it?

Should corporations kiss on the first date?

Could a corporation resolve to dedicate its vocation to being an artist? Or a musician? Or an opera singer? Or a Catholic priest? Or a Doctor? Or a Dentist? Or a sheet metal worker? Or a gourmet chef? Or a short-order cook? Or a magician? Or a nurse? Or a trapeze artist? Or an author? Or an editor? Or a Thrift Shop owner? Or a EMT worker? Or a book binder? Or a Hardware Store clerk? Or a funeral director? Or a sanitation worker? Or an actor? Or a comedian? Or a glass blower? Or a chamber maid? Or a film director? Or a newspaper reporter? Or a deep sea fisherman? Or a farmer? Or a piano tuner? Or a jeweler? Or a janitor? Or a nun? Or a Trappist Monk? Or a poet? Or a pilgrim? Or a bar tender? Or a used car salesman? Or a brick layer? Or a mayor? Or a soothsayer? Or a Hall-of-Fame football player? Or a soldier? Or a sailor? Or a butcher? Or a baker? Or a candlestick maker?

Could a corporation choose to opt out of all the above and merely become a bum? Living life on the road, hopping freight trains and roasting mickeys in the woods?

I realize that this is pure theological speculation on my part but the question is just screaming to be posed: When corporations die, do they go to Heaven?

Our lives - yours and mine - have more worth than any damned corporation. The Supreme Court's decision on Thursday was beyond wrongheaded. Not only was it obscene - it was an insult to our humanity.

http://wwww.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

I couldn't have said it any

Xtian Gunther — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:20:33 +0000

In reply to Dred Scott and Bush v. Gore

I couldn't have said it any better. We're more fucked than ever, if that's possible.

Dred Scott and Bush v. Gore

acanuck — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 06:51:58 +0000

In reply to Supreme Court Rules Corporations are King

Dred Scott and Bush v. Gore are pretty good candidates for worst decision of all time but, yeah, this ruling is right up there. Did five justices actually look around and say, "You know, our political system could really benefit from an increase in the impact of corporate money?"

What I don't understand is if corporations are now considered citizens and can spend whatever they want on "free speech," how can there be any limits on any individual's contributions to political campaigns? All they have to do is set up or donate to "non-partisan" corporations that promote the same campaign themes as their favored candidate, and he or she doesn't even have to declare it as a campaign contribution. You'll really get the best candidates money can buy.

Incredibly, the American political system just got more fucked.