Politics Plus

Corporations are NOT people!  Money is NOT speech!

Oregon Representative Kurt Schraeder has introduced a Constitutional Amendment to Counter the criminal Citizens United decision by the Extreme Court.  It addresses the second half of my mantra.

…

Article

Section 1. The Congress shall have power to prohibit, limit, and otherwise regulate the contribution of funds or donation of in-kind equivalents to candidates standing for election to a federal office in the United States and to prohibit, limit, and otherwise regulate the expenditure of funds or donation of in-kind equivalents used to support or purchase media advertisements intended to influence the outcome of an election for federal office in the United States.

Whenever Congress should exercise such power, it must apply equally and uniformly to all individual persons recognized as citizens of the United States.

Whenever Congress should exercise such power on associations of citizens of the United States, it must apply equally and uniformly to all associations of citizens of the United States.

Section 2. Each of the several States shall have power to prohibit, limit, and otherwise regulate the contribution of funds or donation of in-kind equivalents to candidates standing for election to public office in the State and to prohibit, limit, and otherwise regulate expenditure of funds or donation of in-kind equivalents used to support or purchase media advertisements intended to influence the outcome of an election for public office or plebiscite in the State.

Whenever a State should exercise such power, it must apply equally and uniformly to all individual persons recognized as citizens of the State.

Whenever a State should exercise such power on associations of citizens of the State, it must apply equally and uniformly to all associations of citizens of the State.

Section 3. No person who is not a citizen of the United States, association of persons not citizens of the United States, foreign governments, or persons acting as agents thereof may contribute funds or donate in-kind equivalents to candidates standing for election to public office in the United States or otherwise expend funds or donate in-kind equivalents in a manner intended to influence the outcome an election for public office or plebiscite in the United States.

The Congress shall have exclusive power to enforce this section by appropriate legislation.

Section 4. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. [emphasis original]

Inserted from <Blue Oregon>

I do not expect this to be ratified, but it does define the issue and serves to help separate progressives from pigs.  Bravo!

That link from Diane is a gift that keeps giving.  Here’s an analysis of what went wrong.

Bad wiring and a leak in what’s supposed to be a "blowout preventer." Sealing problems that may have allowed a methane eruption. Even a dead battery, of all things.

New disclosures Wednesday revealed a complex cascade of deep-sea equipment failures and procedural problems in the oil rig explosion and massive spill that is still fouling the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and threatening industries and wildlife near the coast and on shore.

The public also got its first look on Wednesday of oil gushing from the broken pipe that rests nearly a mile under water as BP PLC, the well’s operator, released a video taken by a remotely controlled camera. Oil flowing from a break in the yellowish pipe becomes lighter in color as it mixes with natural gas. Over the past 21 days more than 4 million gallons of oil have been released.

A litany of worrisome events and findings that were at play on the night of the well explosion and pipe rupture was described in internal corporate documents, marked confidential but provided to a House committee by BP and by the manufacturer of the safety device. Lawmakers released them at a House hearing.

A senior BP executive, Lamar McKay, cautioned, "It’s inappropriate to draw any conclusions before all the facts are known." But the documents established the firmest evidence to date of the sequence of catastrophic events that led to the explosion and worsening spill, a series of failures more reminiscent of the loss of the space shuttle Challenger than the wreck of the Exxon Valdez.

Like the 1986 Challenger disaster, the investigation into the Gulf spill may well show that complex and seemingly failproof technical systems went wrong because of overlooked problems that interacted with each other in unexpected ways. In the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, a captain simply ran his ship onto a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, spilling nearly 11 million gallons of oil.

The April 20 BP rig explosion 40 miles off the Louisiana coast killed 11 people. Oil continuing to flow into Gulf waters threatens sensitive ecological marshes and wetlands and the region’s fishing industry.

Congressional investigators revealed Wednesday that a key safety system, known as the blowout preventer, used in BP’s oil-drilling rig in the Gulf had a hydraulic leak and a failed battery that probably prevented it from working as designed.

They said that BP documents and others also indicated conflicting pipe pressure tests should have warned those on the rig that poor pipe integrity may have been allowing explosive methane gas to leak into the well.

"Significant pressure discrepancies were observed in at least two of these tests, which were conducted just hours before the explosion," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., at a House hearing on the rig fire and oil leak, citing documents his committee had received from BP.

Asked about the tests, Steven Newman, president of Transocean, which owned the drilling rig, and Lamar McKay, president of BP America told the committee the pressure readings were worrisome.

They indicated "that there was something happening in the well bore that shouldn’t be happening," said Newman. McKay said the issue "is critical in the investigation" into the cause of the accident.

The well explosion unleashed a massive oil spill that after three weeks remains uncontained.

But Waxman said important elements of what went wrong were beginning to surface.

While "we have far more questions than answers," it appears clear that there were problems with the blowout preventers before the accident and confusion almost right up to the time of the explosion over the success of a process in which cement is injected into the well to temporarily close it in anticipation of future production… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <The Bay Ledger>

To clarify, the purpose of the pressure testing was to affirm the integrity of the cementing operation Halliburton had just performed.  Here’s Keith Olbermann with more:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I won’t comment on the Lieberman-Kerry Bill here, because two I posted an Action Alert to oppose it two pieces down.

Keith reported that the rig workers did not know a blowout preventer had been modified and because the modification did not show in their engineering documents, but did not say why.  I revealed  that BP was falsifying their engineering reports on May 4, nine days ago.  Two days ago, I posted that all the companies are pointing fingers at each other.  All the finger pointers are right.

One more thing.  The chemicals that BP is pumping into the gulf to disperse the spill are lethal to coral.  The loss of Florida’s reef system, one of the most diverse habitats in the world.  Its loss would be an unprecedented ecological disaster, not to mention that many of our most advanced medicines are harvested there and available nowhere else.

Corporations are NOT people!  Money is NOT speech!

I would expect this from Traitor Joe, but Kerry should hang his head in shame!

In the midst of what appears to be the worst offshore oil disaster in American history, U.S. Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) will today put forth a draft climate bill that will not solve the problems of global warming and continues pandering to the fossil fuel industry — including expanded offshore oil drilling — that created the problems in the first place.

The proposal, leaked one day before its official release, reflects months of back-room negotiations between the senators, major polluters, and other Washington insiders, and would:

• provide only a fraction of the greenhouse gas pollution reductions scientists have said are necessary to avoid catastrophic climate disruption;
• ban successful Clean Air Act programs from reducing greenhouse pollution;
• ban existing state and local efforts to tackle climate change;
• catalyze increased oil and gas drilling — including offshore drilling; and
• subsidize dangerous and costly nuclear energy.

In response, Center for Biological Diversity Executive Director Kierán Suckling urged rejection of the proposal unless these problems are addressed. He issued the following statement:

"The climate proposal put forth today by Senators Kerry and Lieberman represents a disaster for our climate and planet. This proposal moves us one baby step forward and at least three giant steps back in any rational effort to address the climate crisis.

"The senators’ proposal would entrench our addiction to fossil fuels by offering incentives for increased oil and gas drilling just days after what appears to be the worst offshore oil disaster in American history. Large domes, small domes, golf balls, garbage, chemical dispersants, fire — none have succeeded in stopping the enormous flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Clearly, there are no ‘safeguards’ Senators Lieberman and Kerry could put into this bill to make offshore oil safe… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Common Dreams>

If you’ve been reading awhile, you know that I am not an absolute thinker.  I see shades of gray and am often willing to accept a ‘the best we can get’ compromise over nothing at all, often to the chagrin of some of my more purist friends.  This is not one of those times.  There is no gray here.  There is black and deeper black.  This bill, unless drastically modified through the amendment process, leaves us worse off that the already unacceptable status quo.  I urge it’s defeat

You can contact your Senators here.

The giant telecom companies aren’t going to quietly give up their plans to control what you are allowed to see and hear.

Net neutrality, a guiding principle for preserving a free and fair Internet, means that Internet service providers are not allowed to discriminate based on content for its customers. However, telecommunications firms — like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and others — are firmly against net neutrality because they would like to increase their profits by deciding which websites customers can see, and at what speed. The telecom industry has dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into a lobby campaign against net neutrality. As the FCC now takes up net neutrality rule making, the industry is pushing an “outside approach” of hiring front groups and astroturf operatives.

This morning, representatives from various front groups launched a new coordinated campaign to kill net neutrality. Speaking on Capitol Hill, these front groups took turns decrying the evils of the principle of a fair and unbiased Internet. LULAC, which is funded by AT&T, called Net Neutrality “Obamacare for the Internet.” Americans for Prosperity — a corporate front group founded by oil billionaire David Koch but also funded by telecom interests — unveiled a new ad smearing net neutrality as a “government takeover” (the initial ad buy is $1.4 million [corprocon delinked] dollars). And Grover Norquist, representing his “Americans for Tax Reform” corporate front group, said net neutrality is like what China does, “putting policemen on every corner, on the street or on the Internet.” Watch it:

 

ThinkProgress has obtained a PowerPoint document which reveals how the telecom industry is orchestrating the latest campaign against Net Neutrality. Authored by representatives from the Atlas Network — a shell think tank used to coordinate corporate front group efforts worldwide — the document lays out the following strategy:

– Slides 7-8 calls for the campaign to target “libertarian minded internet users and video gamers” and “social conservative activists” with anti-government messages and a rebranding of net neutrality as “Net Brutality.”

– Slide 9 calls for a strategy of creating a Chinese blog to compare net neutrality to Chinese government censorship, outreach via social networking platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

– Slides 10-11 detail how representatives met at Grover Norquist’s infamous “Wednesday morning meeting” to orchestrate the new campaign. Norquist is known to use his Wednesday meetings to plot strategy and conservative coalition building towards lobbying goals.

The PowerPoint was created on April 14th, shortly before the campaign website officially launched. The “Net Brutality” [corporocon delinked] website relies heavily on Americans for Prosperity sources, as well as a website called NetCompetition.org — which is openly funded ][corporocon delinked] by the American Cable Association, At&T, Comcast, and the US Telecom Association.

During the Jack Abramoff investigation, Norquist was exposed for selling support from his front groups to corporations. In one damning e-mail, Norquist is promised $50,000 dollars in exchange for providing his Americans for Tax Reform support to one of Abramoff’s clients. Today, Norquist was not only parroting the PowerPoint talking points at the press conference, but he also brought in other key conservative movement leaders and Republican lawmakers to the event.

In addition to the front groups, the loudest voice against net neutrality is still Glenn Beck, who has smeared free Internet proponents as Marxists and Communists, and has adopted the attack that net neutrality constitutes a “government takeover.” However, it is important to realize that even Beck is being fed with opposition research dug up by operatives at Americans for Prosperity. This research document, compiled by Americans for Prosperity staffers, lays out point by point the attacks Beck has used in the past few weeks to disparage net neutrality supporters. If Beck picks up this new outreach to video game enthusiasts and the false comparison to Chinese censorship, then the impact of the “Net Brutality” PowerPoint will be even more apparent… [emphasis original]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

If you need a better understanding of why Net Neutrality is so important to keep, I explained it on May 6.  Be sure of this.  If the giant telecoms has an honest explanation for their position, they would not be planning a phony Chinese blog to deceive you.  This is a fight we must win.

Corporations are NOT people!  Money is NOT speech!