Note-- The symbol ^ denotes that that article can be read in full at the link. Articles with titles in italics are from a recent issue.

Note | Valentine Vacation Days on Homosapiens.ki until February 18. Lotsa stuff here. Msrk this page and return as suits your schedule.

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CBC Hourly News
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CBC World at Six News - "What's Going On Out There?"
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Democracy Now with Amy Goodman
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Music to accompany you on your cyber-visit
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The Fascist Corporate State Comes to America

US | The Corporate Takeover of U.S. Democracy
In These Times - 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.
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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.

Congress Takes Action
Backbone Campaign / Eboldening Citizens and Leaders to Stand Up for Our Future
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It's official! There is now a bill before Congress to amend the Constitution permitting Congress and the States to regulate the expenditure of funds by corporations engaging in political speech. House Joint Resolution, H.J.RES.74 submitted by progressive Congresswoman Donna Edwards

The Submitted Bill

H.J.RES.74

Title: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States permitting Congress and the States to regulate the expenditure of funds by corporations engaging in political speech.
Sponsor: Rep Edwards, Donna F. [MD-4] (introduced 2/2/2010)
Cosponsors: (1 - Conyers)

Status: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States permitting Congress and the States to regulate the expenditure of funds by corporations engaging in political speech.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

Article

Section 1. The sovereign right of the people to govern being essential to a free democracy, Congress and the States may regulate the expenditure of funds for political speech by any corporation, limited liability company, or other corporate entity.

Section 2. Nothing contained in this Article shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press.

Citizens Take Action

Call your Representative TODAY and ask them to co-sponsor this effort to defend representative democracy.
(202) 224-3121 or Toll Free 1-877-762-8762

Sign the Move to Amend Motion Petition

We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:

Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our vote and participation count.

Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate "preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments.
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Sign the Free Speech for People Petition here. >
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Video | Papantonio: The Supreme Court's Five Circus Midgets
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Is It Just Corporate Free Speech?
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Video | Is Ron Paul Right that Corporatism is Soft Fascism?
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Video | Ron Paul: Corporatism - not free markets
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Video | Ron Paul : Don't tread on me
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Video | Ron Paul : When in the course of human events...
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Ron Paul : Our Way
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Video | Ron Paul : Stop Dreaming
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Video | Ron Paul Destroys Michael Moore On Larry King
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Video | Ron Paul : We Should Never Be Fearful Of The Truth!!!!!
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Ron Paul : This Belief Is A Dream That Will Become A Nightmare For All Americans!
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Ron Paul : Obama Preparing for Perpetual War
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Video | Peter Schiff : Remember I Supported Ron Paul
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Video | 9/11: Total Proof That Bombs Were Planted In The Buildings
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Video | President Eisenhower - Total Proof of the New World Order
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Democrats Mull Changes In Campaign Rules
Under the Influence - By Sarah Jerome - February 2, 2010
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Democratic senators took turns blasting the Supreme Court today in the first Congressional hearing examining potential legislative options for curtailing fallout from the Court's ruling last month on Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission which will permit independent election spending by corporations. Held at the Senate Rules Committee, chairman Charles Schumer, D-NY, condemned the Court's willingness to overrule precedent. "The Roberts Court turned its back on stare decisis," he said.

Schumer's colleagues jumped on the critizing bandwagon. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., said the Court "harmed its own integrity;" Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., pointed to Chief Justice John Roberts' statement during his Senate confirmation hearings that he would be an impartial umpire on the Court. The recent decision, Durbin said, "makes it clear he is an umpire on steroids;" and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said the decision would allow the election system to be "tilted inexorably toward those who have the most money."

Video | Corporate Personhood - The Floodgates were Opened Today Along With A Constitutional Crisis
By Tom Hartman
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Video | Lessons for all time - The historical context of the coming of democracy to ancient Athens after a period of abusiive political power by an undemocratic ruling elite
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Video | The corporation - The USA Is A Private Corporation - LINK ^

Video | The Corporation - History of Its Birth
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Video | Corporate Personhood - The Floodgates were Opened Today Along With A Constitutional Crisis
By Tom Hartman
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Editor - Folks, this is now absolutely constitutional law unless our congrssmen man the bulwarks and defend our former democratic form of government from this attack to the heart of our nation. Yes, you have now today, thanks to the decision of five Republicans in black robes - what else - a different form of government which Mussolini labeled 'corporatism' - the control of a state or organization by large interest groups. The rumble of political consequences, including impeachment, is now surfacing in the land.

The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them. — Patrick Henry

Video | Supreme Court Sanctioned Murder Of Democracy
Keith Olbermann - Special Comment
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Video | Supreme Court Treason - Court's Decision Opens Door for Foreign Interests to Influence the Outcome of Our Elections - Unfavorably
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Video | Lessig on Supreme Court Campaign Finance Decision: Change Congress - LINK ^

Video | Freedom Under Fire
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US | Opinion - Our Incredible Shrinking Democracy
"It seems as if more and more decisions that should be made democratically are being shunted off somewhere to a few people who make them in back rooms."
Alternet - By Robert Reich - January 2, 2010
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Robert B. Reich has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He also served on President Obama's transition advisory board. His latest book is Supercapitalism.

Video | The Corporation - A Legal "Person"
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Video | The Corporation - Externalities
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Video | Psychopathic Corporations Love Our Supreme Court
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Trailer | The Corporation - What Is It?
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Campaign 4 Corporate Harm Reduction
The Corporation.com
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THE CORPORATION has been stunning audiences with its revelations of an out of control business model that mandates the pursuit of profit without regard for anything, or anyone, else. Navigating a moral slippery slope that would be challenging for the best of us (let alone the Halliburtons and Walmarts of the world), the corporation is growing in size and influence. But what can we do about it?

Trailer | Film - The Corporation
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The Film
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Corporation isis a 2003 Canadian documentary film written by Joel Bakan, and directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott. The documentary is critical of the modern-day corporation, considering its legal status as a class of person and evaluating its behaviour towards society and the world at large as a psychiatrist might evaluate an ordinary person. This is explored through specific examples. The Corporation has been displayed worldwide, on television, and via DVD, file sharing, and free download. Bakan wrote the book, The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, during the filming of the documentary.

Join HelloCoolWorld and the makers of The Corporation as we develop our campaign to uncover and unleash alternatives to corporate misrule!

We are collecting stories about the impact of the film. Tell us what you did, or something you've heard about as a result of the film. For example, Grade 8 students in Essex, Ontario are using The Corporation as part of their school curriculum. In the US, citizens have successfully lobbied their county and state governments to revoke corporate personhood (see this article in the November/December 2006 issue of MotherJones).

About the Film

WINNER OF 26 INTERNATIONAL AWARDS! 10 Audience Choice Awards including the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. The film is based on the book The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power by Joel Bakan.

Buy the DVD
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Video | The Corporation - Case Histories
Editor - Guaranteed, you will not be happy after viewing this film-documentary. Whether you do anything about it is up to you. 'Nuff said,
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Video | Corporate Basic Training of the Child for Consumption
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Video | Documentary | A Corporate Mind'set on Species Destruction, including Humanity
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Video | The Corporation - Unsettling Accounts with Monsanto - LINK ^

Video | The Corporarion - Seizing Ownership of life sustaining water
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Video | The Corporation - Psycho Therapies
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Video | The Corporation - Monstrous Obligations - LINK ^

Video | The Corporation - Advancing the Front Into the Ownership of Your Genes
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Video | Buy, Buy American Pie
Courtesy Subscriber Mope
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Video | Paul McCartney - Strawberry Fields Forever - Give Pease a Chance - LINK ^

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United States Government

Angus Reid Public Opinion Poll on Court That Brought You Bush
PBS / Moyers Jpurnal - February 5, 2910
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The Supreme Court's January 2010 decision of the Citizen's United v. Federal Election Commission on campaign finance regulations has caused a stir around the political spectrum. A poll from Angus Reid Public Opinion found that 65 percent of people surveyed disagreed with the Supreme Court's decision — 67 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Republicans, and 72 percent of independents.

Libertarian journalist Nick Gillespie says all that worry is misplaced in a much-watched video "Three Reasons Not to Sweat Citizens United." "If you want to get bent out of shape about something, direct your ire at a massive and constantly growing government that has its hands in virtually every aspect of economic and social life in America," Says Gillespie.

Harvard legal scholar Lawrence Lessig disagrees, viewing the ruling as a another step in the takeover of democracy by big money. In an article for THE NATION entitled "How to Get Our Democracy Back: If You Want Change, You Have to Change Congress," Lessig calls for a constitutional convention to make public financing of campaigns the law of the land, "What both sides must come to see is that the reform of neither is possible until we solve our first problem first — the dependency of the Fundraising Congress."

Commentary | Break the CIA in Two
Yruthout - By Ray McGovern - December 23, 2009
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After the CIA-led fiasco at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, President John Kennedy was quoted as saying he wanted to “splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds.” I can understand his anger, but a thousand is probably too many. Better is a Solomon solution; divide the CIA in two. That way we can throw out the bath water and keep the baby.

Covert action and analysis do not belong together in the same agency — never have, never will. That these two very different tasks were thrown together is an accident of history, one that it is high time to acknowledge and to fix. The effects of this structural fault became clear to President Harry Truman as he watched the agency at work in its first decade and a half. He was aghast.

Like oil on water, covert action fouls the wellspring of objective analysis — the main task for which Truman and the Congress established the CIA in 1947. The operational tail started wagging the substantive tail almost right away. It has done so ever since — with very unfortunate consequences.

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Activism at the Ground Level

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." -- Mark Twain

The people's history reading list for Activists
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As part of the project of bringing his autobiography You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train to the screen, Howard Zinn provided a comprehensive reading list for activists interested in making their own history.

The petition says: "Bailed-out companies shouldn't be allowed to waste money on bonuses until they've paid back their debt in full."Bankers in other countries have already gotten the message that their behavior is unacceptable. England and France have imposed heavy surtaxes on outrageous banker bonuses.2

Constitutional snd Legal Issues

US | Corporations, Political Spending, & the Supreme Court
This week on his JOURNAL, Bill Moyers spoke with legal experts Zephyr Teachout and Monica Youn about the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling last week on the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
PBS - Bt Bill Moyers - January 29, 2010
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In a 5-4 decision, the Court cited the First Amendment to strike down laws that restricted corporations and unions from spending funds from their general treasuries on political communications in periods shortly before elections and primaries. The decision has aroused passionate reactions from observers across the political spectrum about corporate influence on elections and whether money spent on political advertising should qualify as free speech protected under the First Amendment.

Economy and Finance

Bloomberg Economic News
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Bloomberg Current Worldwide Financial News
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Rounding up the 'God-given' gifts of the planet
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Video | Trading and Profiting on 9/11
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The altruism in economics
Ode Magazine - Jeremy Mercer - May 2009 issue
Standard economic theory states that people are interested only in their own material gain. But new insights from behavioral economics show that altruism rather than avarice is our primary motivation.
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US | Time banks thrive in the midst of the recession
Ode Magazine - By Leah Dobkin and Carmel Wroth - Sept/Oct 2009 issue
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Even in the midst of the recession, Portland, Maine, has a bank that's generating an unusual amount of wealth. It's a time bank called Hour Exchange Portland (HEP) and the wealth is an alternative currency called "time dollars." Spend an hour doing something for somebody else; deposit an hour into your time bank account as a time dollar. You now have one time dollar to spend on having someone do something for you. It's a simple idea that can help neighbors weather the recession while building stronger communities.

Politcal Issues

Real cleat Politics Daily Rundown
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Science & Technology

Bloomberg Index of Current Science News
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Social Issues

Commentary | Reclaiming Public Values in the Age of Casino Capitalism
Truthout - By Henry A. Giroux - December 23. 2009
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This is a difficult time in American history. The American people have every right to demand to live in peace, enjoy the comforts of economic security, have access to decent health care, be able to send their children to quality schools and live with a measure of security. And yet, at a time when public values are subordinated to the rationality of profits, exchange values and unbridled self-interest, politics and the institutions and culture that support it become corrupt, devoid of agents and reduced to empty rituals largely orchestrated by those who control the wealth, income, media and commanding institutions of American society.

As we have just witnessed in the debate on health care reform, the interests of the vast majority of American people for a public option and the extension of Medicare have been totally lost on a Congress that has been corrupted by power and its comfortable and shameful relations with those who control the military-industrial-academic complex. Public values, public spheres and the notion of the common good are viewed by politicians of both major parties as either a hindrance to the goals of a market-driven society or they are simply treated as a drain on the society, viewed as a sign of weakness, if not pathology. Ethical considerations and social responsibility are now devalued, if not disdained, in a society wedded to short term investments, easy profits and a mode of economics in which social costs are increasingly borne by the poor while financial and political benefits are reaped by the rich.

Unchecked self-interest and ruthless, if not trivial, modes of competition now replaces politics or at least become the foundation for politics as complex issues are reduced to a friend/enemy, winner/loser dichotomies. The crass social Darwinism played out on reality television now finds its counterpart in the politics of both the Democratic and Republican Parties.

For instance, the Republican Party's only identifying ideology is that it is against anything that supports the common good and undercuts the profits of corporations and the rich. At the same time, Democrats have given up any vestige of a progressive politics and vision, aligning their ideals to conform to the interests of the lobbyists who now represent the not-so-invisible shadow government.

Music Video | "Democracy Is Coming to the USA"
Leonard Cohen
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Sound and Fury

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Sound off at Carrumpah-Lobo - The Homosapiens.ki Blog
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