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POPSNew Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor questions corporate personhood Wow. What a fantastic thing it would be to have the whole "corporate personhood" thing reexamined. Especially since "corporate personhood" arose via dictum in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad — it was never argued as a legal matter before the court, it was merely asserted as an "oh, by the way".
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POPSU.S. Ranked 36th Freest Press in the World 
Who Controls the U.S. Media? For the most part, the media spreads a lot of misinformation and corporate propaganda. This is not at all surprising considering that Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch's News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, Viacom (formerly CBS) and General Electric's NBC are the top owners of the entire media industry, which includes everything you read and hear in newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations, books, records, movies, videos, wire services and photo agencies. In the last 15 years alone, your sources for news have shrunk drastically. Whereas in 1983, 50 corporations ruled the U.S. news media, by 2004 this number decreased to a minuscule six corporations! As you might imagine, with just six corporations deciding what’s worthy of news and what’s not, you end up with sensationalized tragedies, celebrity features, and anything else that will capture people’s attention. There is virtually no competition in the media market today whatsoever, and this s
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POPSLiving On Less, While Banks Thrive On Excess I hold corporations & government to the same standards I hold myself. I make sure there is enough money in my checking account to pay my bills. If I create a bill, I pay it. If I cause an accident, I admit it, apologize, and pay for it. It's the right thing to do.
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POPSHow To Dismantle Corporate Fascism Definition and examples: http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/DD6E3476-DCCD-48A0-9DDB-733FB51E31C8/ Measures to dismantle it: 1) Take away corporations' freedom of speech. It is a right for citizens, not artificial entities. They should not be involved in mass media and in funding television programs for their own benefit. 2) Take away corporations' ability to control government. Prohibit lobbyists from having access to Congress. Prohibit their campaign funding of political candidates.
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POPSPOLITICAL AFFILIATION BY SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS If one’s mind-set is rooted in the new liberalism, one tends not to be materialistically successful. If one is unsuccessful, one is likely to support intermedling state authority in the hope that through government management, he or she will be provided for by economic-leveling. Those who support "progressive" government, hope to escape their personal ineffectiveness. Those who are intellectually advanced, do not support the advancement of centralized power that encroaches upon, and diminishes their liberty.
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POPSUnited States Pushing International, Mandatory Copyright Laws. Guilty Until Proven Innocent! "* * Mandatory prohibitions on breaking DRM, even if doing so for a lawful purpose (e.g., to make a work available to disabled people; for archival preservation; because you own the copyrighted work that is locked up with DRM)" Now that is a worriying development. Let see the Teabaggers chew on this. Nah, it's a pro-corporate treaty which enforces American will on the REST of the world, so it doesn't set off the NWO alarm bells.
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POPSPhotoindustrial Professional industrial photographer in Rio de Janeiro,São Paulo and Porto Alegre, Brazil.
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POPSU.S. Offshoring and Multinational Corporations Perhaps the ultimate expression of capitalism results in the export of jobs to lowest-cost countries to enable what used to be “American companies”, now multinational corporations that have the sole goal of maximizing their corporate profits. The ultimate political expression has evolved to a sector of the world that is, in effect, ruled by multinational corporations. What is worse is that these multinationals fail to realize that ultimately they are undercutting their own profits and shrinking their own market by underminding their own profit center in formerly prosperous prime economies. The bonus from offshoring can only last so long and is highly subject to proper application and use within a given multinational corporation. Offshoring is not a cure-all for corporate profits, nor a real solution for long-term benefit to anyone. No government contracts should be given to multinational corporations, ever!
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POPSBeck says Net Neutrality would 'destroy the free market that created the Internet'. Oh really? 
The origins of the Internet reach back to the 1960s when the United States funded research projects of its military agencies to build robust, fault-tolerant and distributed computer networks. This research and a period of civilian funding of a new U.S. backbone by the National Science Foundation spawned worldwide participation in the development of new networking technologies and led to the commercialization of an international network in the mid 1990s, and resulted in the following popularization of countless applications in virtually every aspect of modern human life. Meanwhile, Beck has yet to explain how regulations constraining the mega-corporations that provide our Internet infrastructure from deciding what content we can and can't access would actually take the system "out of the private hands of private business". Maybe Beck can explain to us why Comcast was attacking peer-to-peer file sharing on its network system.
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POPSApproved by White House ~ Reform Media.Transform Democracy
Is Dissent ‘Legitimate’? Not According to Campaign Finance Laws by Bert Gall and Robert Frommer -- Pajamas Media After the administration decreed that Fox is not a “legitimate news organization” and that people shouldn’t watch it, more people than ever are tuning in to see Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly fight back. Fundamentally, it’s because the administration’s media war against Fox is but a minor display of the tremendous power the government has to stifle speech it views as illegitimate. Much of this power is the result of long-standing “campaign finance” laws. These laws impose all sorts of restrictions on political speech, and it’s no coincidence that the most draconian of these restrictions are targeted at those who can speak the most effectively against a politician’s reelection. The most effective speakers tend to be those who can spend the most money. Corporations, many of which have lots of money, receive particularly harsh treatment under
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POPSWhy does Joe Lieberman oppose healthcare reform? Ask his wife
But her stint at Hill & Knowlton was merely one episode in a professional lifetime devoted to the corporate health sector. For most of the past three decades, Hadassah Lieberman has been employed by either pharmaceutical companies or the lobbying firms that represent them -- starting with nearly a decade in the "public affairs department" at Hoffman-LaRoche from 1972-81, followed by stints at Pfizer, where she spent four years as "director of policy, planning and communications," and APCO Associates, a major lobbying firm where she served as a "senior associate" in its large healthcare division before retiring in 1998. She went back to work when she joined H&K, an outfit that became notorious for its billion-dollar defense of the tobacco industry. Not long after her contract began, Sen. Lieberman introduced legislation vastly extending patent protection for pharmaceutical companies -- notably including GlaxoSmithKline, a top client of his wife's firm.
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POPS Charles Krauthammer :: Fox Wars only disburses more than $3 trillion every year but is extending its reach ever deeper into private industry -- finance, autos, soon health care and energy. Think twice before you run an ad on Fox. At first, there was little reaction from other media. Then on Thursday, the administration tried to make them complicit in an actual boycott of Fox. The Treasury Department made available Ken Feinberg, the executive pay czar, for interviews with the White House "pool" news organizations -- except Fox. The other networks admirably refused, saying they would not interview Feinberg unless Fox was permitted to as well. The administration backed down. This was an important defeat because there's a principle at stake here. While government can and should debate and criticize opposition voices, the current White House goes beyond that. It wants to delegitimize any significant dissent. The objective is no secret.
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POPSBill and Melinda Gates pledge 120 million to boost African, Indian farmers Oh noez. Corporate America, Bill Gates, is dropping 120 million to help Africa and India. So liberals, this must horrify you right? Because corporations are "evil" in your nightmares or did you confuse it with an episode of "Fringe". Moan for me libs. Moan about America and whine because Americans, Bill and Melinda Gates, just blew your mind. Where's that fatty Michael Moore-on anyway? Probably sitting in Krispy Kreme or Dominoes Pizza stuffing his fat face. I know this news isn't as important as the Christians eating fried chicken at the Baptist Church, but who could compete with a horror show like that. Waaaaahhhhhh corporations......waaaaahhhhhh Christians........wahhhhhhh Rush Limbaugh.......waaaaaahhhhhhhhhh. Boohoo. Cry me a river.
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POPS"The Family" - Fundamentalism, Friends In High Places Headquartered in Washington, D.C. at a place known as the "C Street Center" or "Fellowship House," this 1890 townhouse, located behind the Madison Annex of the Library of Congress and near the United States Capitol, has 12 bedrooms, nine bathrooms, five living rooms, four dining rooms, three offices, a kitchen, and a small "chapel". The property is exempt from real property taxes because it is classified as a "special purpose" use. District of Columbia law exempts from taxation "buildings belonging to religious corporations or societies primarily and regularly used for religious worship, study, training, and missionary activities" and "buildings belonging to organizations which are charged with the administration, coordination, or unification of activities, locally or otherwise, of institutions or organizations entitled to exemption."
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POPSThose that helped cause this mess. Once again, UK media looks further than their advertisers to explain the truth. Interesting read. But, just like our "experts", totally ignoring the millions of good paying jobs off shored for higher tax revenues from mega-corporations and cheaper socks for sheeple.
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POPSA terminally ill girl is back with family and friends - thanks to FedEx
I don’t mean to use a human tragedy for political message purposes, but this had me crying with pride and sympathy – it is just touching. Sadly, it fits all too well with the current debate over government control vs individual choice (and responsibility). This giving part of America is poised to be snuffed out by Obamacare. Companies can decide on their own when it is time to just fill the need and forget the bottom line, as Fed Ex did in this case. I have no doubt a US Post Office manager or worker would jump into the breach and do the same if they could. But the difference here is a government run entity is bound by libraries full of regulations. They cannot make an exception, they cannot redirect resources. They cannot perform the simple act of human charity without permission. This little girl’s family did not have time for a waiting list like the long one in Canada. And the evil private company (for profit) stepped in and made it happen. Waaaahhhhhh corporations....wahhh
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POPSDesk-Bound Journalists Blow Hopi and Navajo Green Stories It is sad to see what damage can be done when some journalists take to rewriting company PR. The hard work of Hopi and Navajo people to save their land and heritage is easily overlooked and set back by those who have degrees in journalism process but no on-the-ground knowledge about anything or the gumption to get at all sides of a story.
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POPSFinal word: Democrats are Worse Than Republicans It has been argued that the Democratic party is only about two degress left of the Republican party. Even is it is true, it is only true in a politically useless way. Their point of view on reproductive rights depends on if they are talking to religious bigots or progressives. Obama panders to the right-wing on health care for undocumented workers, who are, as usual, good enough to work for slave wages and pay into the system, but not good enough to receive benefits. On the issue of the war there could not be any clearer expression of the operational similarities between the Democrats and Republicans. This country is sorely in need of an independent, working class oriented, political movement that relentlessly attacks exploitation and oppression everywhere it rears its head. And the first step toward that is to lose all illusions in the Democratic Party, and stop providing any kind of left cover for them.