Corporations have First Amendment rights now

Well, now the Chinese government can start a corporation in the US and have unlimited Freedom of Speech to influence our campaigns. Bin Laden can start a US corporation and influence politics. Sure they could have done it before, but with guidelines. Now they can do as much as they want. Israel already knows this as AIPAC is the most influential lobbying group in Washington. How much power will they have now?

As each Presidential election becomes more expensive than the last election, money clearly is influencing politics in the country. A country that was founded on giving the People the right to vote, now is governed not by the vote, but by money. Now, the one with the most money wins, not the one with the most votes. Sure, the one with the most money eventually gets the most votes. If not, they can buy the company that counts the votes and throw the election.

If corporations are given the rights of human beings, then when they merge is that same sex marriage? When they put another corporation out of business, is that murder? Obviously, no. They are not human beings. Corporations are merely a legal construct designed to give a human being some additional perks, like limited liability, etc. But no corporation has ever been born, they are incorporated. No corporation can go to jail. No corporation can get married. No corporation can eat or have sex. No corporation can die, they are merely dissolved. No corporation can serve our country and enter the military or send their child to the military.

Also, if the rich person running a corporation has enough money to influence politics, aren't they given an unfair advantage that the person without money. Most of the People are poor and getting poorer. How will their voice be heard now as the ones with the money control the TV and other news sources.

Corporations have First

Haiti

I cannot believe the American government's response to Haiti.

Soldiers swarming in with guns. They are too afraid to move until more guns show up. Food and medicine sitting at the airport behind the guns. Doctors not being allowed to land at the airport by the American's. The American military wants to land more guns instead.

There is virtually no reports of security issues. There will be security issues if the American troops keep hiding behind their guns.

It makes our troops look like cowards. They are afraid to put down the guns and go help people. I imagine the troops are afraid of poor, black people. Are they afraid they will rise up against their oppressors? The troops are trained to kill and not to help. I guess it is not their fault.

Put up the money and I will put together an army of people that can get the food and medicine to the people of Haiti without guns. Guns are not needed. Put down the guns and pick up some shovels, move some medicine around, and move the food.

MLK Day

Today I remember two things from MLK Jr.:

1. "...the US is the largest purveyor of violence on the planet..." I'm quoting from memory, so it might not be exact...but I just listened to it again today.

2. He said something about Gandhi embodying the teachings of Jesus like no one else has. I don't have the exact quote.

Thank you MLK for being such a huge example of bravery for us all to attempt to emulate. It would take me a life time to try and be as brave as you were in making just one of your many speeches. I can only hope that others will be brave enough to say what needs to be said, despite the consequences.

What are Republicans offering?

Hey, I'm no fan of Democrats, but what is going on with Republicans these days?

They say the weirdest things and don't offer any real action plans or constructive alternatives. They seem to just say no to everything, except for defense spending and favors for the elite, ruling class.

They say they want less government and they still think that tax breaks will create opportunities for a majority of the People. Yet their actual plans create more barrowing...which translates to more taxes for future Americans...and more government through more policing, security and military. They have had so much power for so long that it is obvious that their policies have failed the nation.

Now, the Democrats are just doing the work that Republicans used to do. I'm really not a fan of them either. But, at least with them, they aren't as racist.

What is this push for more government intrusion

There seem to be some in the media that want America to become some sort of a theocracy...by media, I mean the corporate media, like Fox and any large news business. By theocracy, I mean that they wish our laws and behaviors to be based on their religious views.

I am talking about a particular brand of conservative evangelical Christian, although I have seen similar behavior in a localized setting with Mormons. What I mean is that some people have a particular view on how one must behave. It is mostly justified with religious beliefs. However, there seems to be a lot of hypocrisy in their beliefs, so it is hard to figure out the logic to their rules sometimes.

They honestly think that if all of the People behaved as they said, there would be some sort of religious revival on a national scale and all the problems in our country would go away.

I think they want to go back to a day when us whites had even more privileges than we do today.

The problem here is that they are really recommending that certain behaviors be outlawed based on their views. Not on views created by democratic process. This will require massive government intervention to enforce.

I mean look at our prison system. The largest of any country on the planet. All across the US, more and more people are arrested for marijuana usage. Most of them are just using pot and not even selling or growing. Has this record amount of arrested stopped the usage? No. Has it turned public opinion against pot? No. Are more and more people saying that we should make pot legal? Yes.

So, these wacky "Christians" want our government to start policing people to act certain ways. Soon, homosexuality will be illegal and the police will be breaking down doors looking for gay behavior.

It is also these same people who seem to be the ones affraid of everything. They don't feel good unless they are hiding behind some guns and tanks. They insist on larger and larger armed forces and more and more government.

These are also the same people who usually say we need less government. They mean they don't want to hand out social service due to the inability of our economy to support a large portion of our population.

But really, they are asking for larger and larger government. More military...larger government. More police....put people in jail for things like using scatological language or if women vote or if a child exercises any free will.

Anyway, why do they want such a large, intervening government? Do they want thought police next...what if we act like they want but secretly don't believe in their weird beliefs?

And who will decide the right "Christian" values to legislate?

Three children killed by US troops per day in Afghanistan

Over 1000 Afghan children from the civilian population were killed in 2009 by US troops. This averages out to three children being killed per day in Afghanistan by US soldiers and mercenaries ("contractors") using US made weapons. Obviously, they are funded by the US government. They probably assume that the People know about what is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq. Therefore, the People are to blame for the suffering they must endure.

How does this make America safer?

How can American pundits and politicians claim any sort of moral superiority?

I hear frightened, immature, privileged and racist talking heads (on TV, the Internet and radio) going on about Muslim extremists and terrorist. Who is the terrorist of these children and their families in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Avatar is considered by some to be a story about what is happening today in Iraq and Afghanistan.