NEW ROBES FOR THE SUPREME COURT JUDGES

A PICTURE THAT SAYS A TRILLION WORDS!

NEW ROBES FOR THE SUPREME COURT JUDGES.

THIS SAYS IT ALL!

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The Corporate Takeover of U.S. Democracy
By Noam Chomsky February 3, 2010

Jan. 21, 2010, will go down as a dark day in the history of U.S. democracy, and its decline.

On that day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government may not ban corporations from political spending on elections–a decision that profoundly affects government policy, both domestic and international.

The decision heralds even further corporate takeover of the U.S. political system.

To the editors of The New York Times, the ruling “strikes at the heart of democracy” by having “paved the way for corporations to use their vast treasuries to overwhelm elections and intimidate elected officials into doing their bidding.”

The court was split, 5-4, with the four reactionary judges (misleadingly called “conservative”) joined by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. selected a case that could easily have been settled on narrow grounds and maneuvered the court into using it to push through a far-reaching decision that overturns a century of precedents restricting corporate contributions to federal campaigns.

Now corporate managers can in effect buy elections directly, bypassing more complex indirect means. It is well-known that corporate contributions, sometimes packaged in complex ways, can tip the balance in elections, hence driving policy. The court has just handed much more power to the small sector of the population that dominates the economy.

Political economist Thomas Ferguson’s “investment theory of politics” is a very successful predictor of government policy over a long period. The theory interprets elections as occasions on which segments of private sector power coalesce to invest to control the state.

The Jan. 21 decision only reinforces the means to undermine functioning democracy.

The background is enlightening. In his dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens acknowledged that “we have long since held that corporations are covered by the First Amendment”–the constitutional guarantee of free speech, which would include support for political candidates.

In the early 20th century, legal theorists and courts implemented the court’s 1886 decision that corporations–these “collectivist legal entities”–have the same rights as persons of flesh and blood.

This attack on classical liberalism was sharply condemned by the vanishing breed of conservatives. Christopher G. Tiedeman described the principle as “a menace to the liberty of the individual, and to the stability of the American states as popular governments.”

Morton Horwitz writes in his standard legal history that the concept of corporate personhood evolved alongside the shift of power from shareholders to managers, and finally to the doctrine that “the powers of the board of directors “are identical with the powers of the corporation.” In later years, corporate rights were expanded far beyond those of persons, notably by the mislabeled “free trade agreements.” Under these agreements, for example, if General Motors establishes a plant in Mexico, it can demand to be treated just like a Mexican business (“national treatment”)–quite unlike a Mexican of flesh and blood who might seek “national treatment” in New York, or even minimal human rights.

A century ago, Woodrow Wilson, then an academic, described an America in which “comparatively small groups of men,” corporate managers, “wield a power and control over the wealth and the business operations of the country,” becoming “rivals of the government itself.”

In reality, these “small groups” increasingly have become government’s masters. The Roberts court gives them even greater scope.

The Jan. 21 decision came three days after another victory for wealth and power: the election of Republican candidate Scott Brown to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the “liberal lion” of Massachusetts. Brown’s election was depicted as a “populist upsurge” against the liberal elitists who run the government.

The voting data reveal a rather different story.

High turnouts in the wealthy suburbs, and low ones in largely Democratic urban areas, helped elect Brown. “Fifty-five percent of Republican voters said they were `very interested’ in the election,” The Wall St. Journal/NBC poll reported, “compared with 38 percent of Democrats.”

So the results were indeed an uprising against President Obama’s policies: For the wealthy, he was not doing enough to enrich them further, while for the poorer sectors, he was doing too much to achieve that end.

The popular anger is quite understandable, given that the banks are thriving, thanks to bailouts, while unemployment has risen to 10 percent.

In manufacturing, one in six is out of work–unemployment at the level of the Great Depression. With the increasing financialization of the economy and the hollowing out of productive industry, prospects are bleak for recovering the kinds of jobs that were lost.

Brown presented himself as the 41st vote against healthcare–that is, the vote that could undermine majority rule in the U.S. Senate.

It is true that Obama’s healthcare program was a factor in the Massachusetts election. The headlines are correct when they report that the public is turning against the program.

The poll figures explain why: The bill does not go far enough. The Wall St. Journal/NBC poll found that a majority of voters disapprove of the handling of healthcare both by the Republicans and by Obama.

These figures align with recent nationwide polls. The public option was favored by 56 percent of those polled, and the Medicare buy-in at age 55 by 64 percent; both programs were abandoned.

Eighty-five percent believe that the government should have the right to negotiate drug prices, as in other countries; Obama guaranteed Big Pharma that he would not pursue that option.

Large majorities favor cost-cutting, which makes good sense: U.S. per capita costs for healthcare are about twice those of other industrial countries, and health outcomes are at the low end.

But cost-cutting cannot be seriously undertaken when largesse is showered on the drug companies, and healthcare is in the hands of virtually unregulated private insurers–a costly system peculiar to the U.S.

The Jan. 21 decision raises significant new barriers to overcoming the serious crisis of healthcare, or to addressing such critical issues as the looming environmental and energy crises. The gap between public opinion and public policy looms larger. And the damage to American democracy can hardly be overestimated.

——————————————————————————–
Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor & Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the author of dozens of books on U.S. foreign policy. He writes a monthly column for The New York Times News Service/Syndicate.

Please sign this very important petition “demand question time”
(of our political leaders) HERE...
We really need more dialog from those at the top…
The Republicans have got to be made to realize they can’t hide behind “NO”
any longer! thinkingblue

Scientists Unravel Mysteries of Intelligence

FRIDAY, Feb. 26 (HealthDay News) — It’s not a particular brain region that makes someone smart or not smart.
Nor is it the strength and speed of the connections throughout the brain or such features as total brain volume
Instead, new research shows, it’s the connections between very specific areas of the brain that determine intelligence and often, by extension, how well someone does in life. MORE HERE

What Makes A Brain Smart?

I have always pondered as to what makes a human being intelligent (or the lack thereof)? This article reveals a bit of the reason why some brains excel in intelligence while others are inferior. IQ may simply be a matter of brain [sic]liaisons (lesions – thanks to Ezekial) (the injury or damage to tissue within the brain as in Alzheimer’s disease). So the next time you hear someone talking gibberish, especially if he/she is seeking a position of power, try to imagine what is causing that gibberish… there may be a brain “lesion” lurking behind that wide forehead. Maybe that imagery will be enough to convince us to vote for the smart guy. Now if we could only solve the riddle of why one man/woman’s gibberish seems like rationale and eloquence to some while another man/woman’s rationale and eloquence seems like gibberish to others. Solve that and we will all live together harmoniously. (Believe that and I’ve got some swampland to sell you.)
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The Hour: Interview with Richard Dawkins PART 1

Also here:

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Please sign petition. http://stopkennedysmears.com/ History Channel was one of my favorites but no longer. Presenting this fictional garbage as history, they have now become just another right-wing propagandist like “Fox UCALLTHATNEWS?”… it can’t get any worse than that! The History Channel has now become “The UCALLTHATHISTORY? Channel”. What will they attack next? School text books? Oops, the right-wing-nuts are already doing that!

“Texas to revise history textbooks: liberals out, Limbaugh and Gingrich in” http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/21/texas-history-gingrich/

If we, who worship honesty and truth just sit around and allow this to take place, the evolutionary process of the human mind will go the way of the DODO BIRD! thinkingblue

(The dodo has been extinct since the mid-to-late 17th century. It is commonly used as the archetype of an extinct species because its extinction occurred during recorded human history, and was directly attributable to human activity.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodo

Make the GOP and The History Channel Accountable Sign Here

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Please sign this very important petition “demand question time” (of our political leaders) HERE... We really need more dialog from those at the top… The Republicans have got to be made to realize they can’t hide behind “NO” any longer! thinkingblue

Wearing a tinfoil hat because… CLICK HERE

Let’s keep our heads, while we continue to watch THE
THEATER OF THE ABSURD!!!

“A SEARCH FOR TRUTH WILL FIND INJUSTICE.”
thinkingblue

THE NEW POOR who will be counted?

Click Here To Read The Article “The New Poor” by Peter S. Goodman
Monday, February 22, 2010

Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits. (MORE HERE)

THE NEW POOR who will be counted?

There’s so much sadness in the air today, caused by an economic philosophy, coined Reaganomics. {The economic policies of Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. President, which called for widespread tax cuts (for the rich), decreased social spending (for the poor), increased military spending (for the wars) and the deregulation of domestic markets (for the meltdowns).}

It took almost 30 years for this convoluted mindset to take us to the place we are today… 30 years of bubbles and bursts where the few got filthy rich and the many, fell into a class baptized “The New Poor”. 30 years is not a long time in the scheme of things but for the New Poor it’s a lifetime. All the King’s Experts and his men…  knew this was happening but they did nothing because the wealthy were making billions… So the sadness in the air will continue for years to come and the ranks of the New Poor will grow, and like Humpty-Dumpty they’ll never be able to climb back up on that middle-class wall again! thinkingblue.blogspot.com

How the wealthiest American make money off the poor-1 of 2

THE NEW POOR who will be counted?

Please sign this very important petition “demand question time” (of our political leaders) HERE... We really need more dialog from those at the top… The Republicans have got to be made to realize they can’t hide behind “NO” any longer! thinkingblue

Wearing a tinfoil hat because… CLICK HERE

Let’s keep our heads, while we continue to watch THE
THEATER OF THE ABSURD!!!

“A SEARCH FOR TRUTH WILL FIND INJUSTICE.”
thinkingblue

Scientists Come One Step Closer To ‘WHY?’

Please read the science article below.

When I see anything new about the happenings in the great beyond, my brain cells do a quantum leap into a state of awe. We humans know so little of life’s “WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT ALFIE?” question. That’s because our species spent umpteen years figuring out how to survive using only our brains. We weren’t equipped like other hunters in this kingdom called Earth; NO claws, NO sharp teeth, little hair or fur. NO keen eyesight to spot movement afar, hearing so-so, sense of smell fair, all we had was the ability to think which enabled us to develop tools. In just a small amount of time we’ve learned more than we knew for 1000’s upon 1000’s of years and modern knowledge is accelerating faster than the speed of light. Maybe in the future as we open more doors to knowledge, we as a living entity, will develop insights to help us receptive beings, end suffering, achieve nirvana (state of being free from suffering), and escape what is seen as a cycle of suffering and rebirth. YA THINK? thinkingblue.blogspot.com
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Origin of key cosmic explosions unraveled

Thu Feb 18, 3:31 am ET

CHICAGO (AFP) – Astronomers who have long used supernovas as cosmic mile markers to help measure the expansion of the universe now have an answer to the nagging question of what sparks the massive stellar explosions.

“These are such critical objects in understanding the universe,” lead author Marat Gilfanov of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany said Wednesday in describing his team’s study.

“It was a major embarrassment that we did not know how they worked. Now we are beginning to understand what lights the fuse of these explosions.”

Most scientists say Type 1a supernovae are formed when a white dwarf star — the collapsed remnant of an old star — becomes unstable after it exceeds its weight limit.

Instability could come from the merging of two white dwarfs or accretion — a process in which the gravity of the star draws in enough material from a sun-like companion.

Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, Gilfanov and his team studied the supernovas in five nearby elliptical galaxies and the central region of the Andromeda galaxy.

More here
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Supernova explosion.

Black hole destroying a star

Please
sign this very important petition “demand question
time” (of our political leaders) HERE... We really need more
dialog from those at the top… The Republicans have got to be
made to realize they can’t hide behind “NO” any longer!
thinkingblue

Wearing a tinfoil hat because… CLICK HERE

Let’s keep our heads,
while we continue to watch THE

thinkingblue

Read this article: Left and right united in
opposition to controversial SCOTUS decision

For the past 30 or 40 years, politics in this country has been
one long lollapalooza of a fracas; causing a split right down
the middle of the Main Street voters.

If polls reflected every American’s opinion, the results would be different, more like a 70% lean to the left and 30% leaning towards the Corporate Right (but that’s beside the point).

It’s the people who vote who count because they are the ones who elect the leaders who are either for “WE THE PEOPLE” or, are for “The United Corporations of America”. But now since SCOTUS ruled that Corporations are people and because of that, can manipulate elections with their billions of $$ in profits made off the backs of the “WE” and can buy our politicians (like so many
pieces of candy, in a candy store) people are starting to realize who is getting SCREWED and believe me… IT AIN’T BIG DADDY! thinkingblue.blogspot.com
Corporate Personhood – The Floodgates were Opened Today

FIGHT BACK! Move to Amend!

We, the People of the U.S. of A., reject the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to: http://www.movetoamend.org/
Are Supreme Court Vacancies on the Way? Fri Feb 5, 2:31AM PT – ABC News – President Obama’s lawyers are preparing for two possible Supreme Court vacancies – See video here: http://news.yahoo.com/video/politics-15749652/17990753

Please sign this very important petition “demand question time” (of our political leaders) HERE... We really need more dialog from those at the top… The Republicans have got to be made to realize they can’t hide behind “NO” any longer! thinkingblue

Wearing a tinfoil hat because… CLICK HERE

Let’s keep our heads,
while we continue to watch THE

thinkingblue