THINK IT THROUGH: POWER FROM THE PEOPLE

Here I present the argument that when it comes to government, we have to make our calls on civic grounds, not merely financial grounds. and that living in America carries with it certain ethical obligations whose value becomes obvious with just a little historical context. Short-term thinking may be understandable for a corporation struggling to meet short-term stock-market expectations, but there is no place for it in Government. I ask that we take a longer view of history.

I know I'm swimming against the tide here, but bear with me... and think it through.

Monday, November 29, 2010

POWER FROM THE PEOPLE

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Corporations now have 1st Amendment rights, which means they can contribute directly to political campaigns. More accurately, the individuals who direct their political contributions have the right to make contributions in the Corporation's name, using the Corporation's money (while remaining anonymous themselves). Thereby the electoral and legislative impact of the 1st Amendment exercises of all living breathing people is diluted, if not dwarfed.
Who directs a corporation's political contributions? It's Board of Directors. Now they can do it in secret.
How much stock would a "sovereign equity fund" have to buy to elect their own slate of Directors? ONE SHARE. One share permits them to gather proxies from the required 50% of the voting shares. When done through a third party offering shareholders a bigger dividend, it's not hard to do. Ask Carl Icahn.

For more on the subject see my post of FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2010, MY MOTHER, THE CORPORATION.

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The House of Representatives voted 333-79 Thursday to censure Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel, the most severe punishment the House of Representatives can dole out to one of its own, short of expulsion.

A special trial-like ethics subcommittee panel in the House last month found Rangel, 80, guilty of failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and assets, improper use of several rent-controlled apartments in his Harlem district, questionable fundraising efforts for a City College of New York center that bears his name, and failing to pay taxes on his Dominican Republic property.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/02/1954736/as-house-censures-rangel-333-79.html#ixzz176UAPhOw?1

While Enron CEO Ken Lay concealed the truth about billions in losses his corporation was racking up, he was selling his own employees the stock, and repeatedly assured Enron's workers, customers and investors that the corporation was stronger than ever – five weeks before it failed. When the nation’s 7th largest corporation collapsed into bankruptcy in 2001, Lay walked away, by his own estimate, with $20 million. By contrast, Enron’s 4,000 workers and creditors left with debts. The employees lost their jobs and pensions, and the creditors lost $65 billion.

Lay cooked the books. A jury, and a judge in a separate case, convicted him of it in 2006 – finding him guilty of fraud, conspiracy and false statements. He obscured Enron’s massive losses with accounting hocus-pocus then lied about it so pervasively and persuasively that in February of 2001, ten months before the bankruptcy, Fortune magazine awarded Enron first place for innovation and second for management quality.

from http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/131621-political-corruption-gop-embraces-the-ken-lay-way

Lay was sentenced to prison but allegedly died while free on bail. Some have disputed this... but Elvis is still spotted regularly, too, and a clean getaway would make for a better story. Without one, this is just a tragedy and a shame.

His CFO Kenneth Skilling fell on his sword and took the fall, sort of.

No further inquiry is underway, and so the extent of the involvement of Lay's secret conspirators on Wall Street (who, armed with Lay's phony financials made guaranteed money on the way up, and, as the first to know the truth were the first to short the stock, made guaranteed money on the way down) may never be known.

THAT'S a clean getaway, just not for Lay.

Democrat Rod Blagoyevich.

As Governor of Illinois, he tried to sell a vacant US Senate seat.

His defense amounted to "What's wrong with that?"

How supposedly informed and educated American voters could unwittingly elected a man who doesn't know, speaks volumes about the show-pony state-of-the-art in election campaigns.

Somebody giving this man a network television show afterwards speaks volumes about the corrosive power of profits upon prosecution-as-deterrence to future crimes. Conviction for public corruption should be followed by exile from the public eye. What's next, a show for Charlie Manson?

OJ Simpson Trial witness and disgraced LAPD Officer (and FOX News Analyst) Mark Fuhrman, the man who claimed to have found the bloody glove, then used it as probable cause to search Simpson's ex-wife's home without a warrant.

"On July 5, 1996", California Attorney General Dan "Lungren announced that he would file perjury charges against Fuhrman and soon thereafter offered Fuhrman a plea bargain. On October 2, Fuhrman accepted the deal and pleaded no contest to the charges. He was sentenced to three years' probation and fined $200. As a result, Fuhrman is a convicted felon. Although he retired from the LAPD well before the plea, he is prohibited from ever serving as a police officer in most states again. As of 2010, he is the only person to be convicted of criminal charges related to the Simpson case." source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Fuhrman#Role_in_O.J._Simpson_murder_trial

No Jury has wholly believed a police witness since. By his actions and words, Fuhrman did more to complicate police work than the Miranda ruling ever did. How he ever becomes a darling of the right is incomprehensible.