Speech to Text Free Images I found:
“free speech wall”
Image by xaotica
student commentary on the anti-abortion stuff put up around campus
FREE SPEECH FOREVER 1945
Image by roberthuffstutter
When Corporations Rule the World
Image by elycefeliz
This book was published in 1995; it not only was accurate then but his evaluations and predictions have become even more acute in the last 10 years.
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Capitalizing on a growing sense of public uncertainty and fear, political deagogues and opportunists are now having a field day.
In the United States, they are attacking big government and environmentalists while calling for tax cuts, government down-sizing, the restoration of family values and individual responsibility, the elimination of restrictions on natural resource exploitation, increased defense expenditures, a tougher stand on crime, market deregulation and free trade.
Posing as conservatives committed to protecting ordinary people from the abuses of big government, they play simultaneously to the self-reliant, who are distrustful of government; to the economically burdened, who seek tax relief; to workers in resource-based industries, who fear environmental restrations; and to corporate interests, which are eager for greater freedom to increase profits by externalizing costs.
. . . Few of thgeir proposals will contribute to restoring the values of family, community and self-reliance. To the contrary, they allow the world’s largest corporations the free to colonize still more of the world’s markets and resources to the benefit of the already rich, shift tax burdens from those best able to pay to those least able to pay, and enlarge the police powers of the state to stem the resulting social unrest.
The opportunists and demagogues of corporate libertarianism have linked corporate money and power with populist interests to advance an agenda that results in placing corporate interests above human interests.
. . . The time is ripe for a realignment of political alliances, which is likely to come into full flower only when the true populists realize that their enemy is not only big central government but also the giant corporations that owe no allegiance to place, people, or human interest.
~ When Corporations Rule the World
www.pcdf.org/corprule/corporat.htm
www.desmogblog.com/when-corporations-rule-world-thanks-su…
With its ruling in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Supreme Court has granted corporations even further unfettered access to destroy the fundamental Constitutional protections against corporate control of government. The Chamber of Commerce and ExxonMobil must be thrilled.
. . . Corporations, Wall Street and other special interests can now spend as much as they want on commercials and literature to call for the victory or defeat of federal political candidates.
Consider the power corporations already have over our democracy. For instance, the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate Industries spent over 2 million on political contributions to presidential candidates in the 2008 election. THat was one industry sector, one race, 2 million. Sure, it was a presidential race, so the stakes were high. But consider that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent 3 million lobbying the federal government in 2009, with no presidential race in sight. That was before the Chamber pledged to wage its "most aggressive" election fight ever in 2010, and put out the call to Big Business to pony up 0 million to do it. The Chamber already spends upwards of 0,000 per day on lobbying.
How many individuals could match that kind of spending power? And now that the limits to this largesse have been removed, how will We The People ever compete with corporations to choose our leaders?
. . . On the flip side of the coin, look at the elation of Republican corporate lapdogs like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY):
“For too long, some in this country have been deprived of full participation in the political process. With today’s monumental decision, the Supreme Court took an important step in the direction of restoring the First Amendment rights of these groups by ruling that the Constitution protects their right to express themselves about political candidates and issues up until Election Day. By previously denying this right, the government was picking winners and losers. Our democracy depends upon free speech, not just for some but for all.”
“First Amendment rights?”
The System Implodes: The 10 Worst Corporations of 2008
