The Foreign Takeover Will Be Televised

So here's an interesting take from The Center For Public Integrity. Say a foreign-owned corporation decides they want to influence American political processes. All they have to do is...

...write a check or three:

One prominent examples is CITGO Petroleum Company — once the American-born Cities Services Company, but purchased in 1990 by the Venezuelan government-owned Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. The Citizens United ruling could conceivably allow Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has sharply criticized both of the past two U.S. presidents, to spend government funds to defeat an American political candidate, just by having CITGO buy TV ads bashing his target.

How's that for protecting state sovereignty? Teabaggers, are you listening?

And it’s not just Chavez. The Saudi government owns Houston’s Saudi Refining Company and half of Motiva Enterprises. Lenovo, which bought IBM’s PC assets in 2004, is partially owned by the Chinese government’s Chinese Academy of Sciences. And Singapore’s APL Limited operates several U.S. port operations. A weakening of the limit on corporate giving could mean China, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and any other country that owns companies that operate in the U.S. could also have significant sway in American electioneering.

Think about it, though it may be painful. Don't worry, we'll donate some ibuprofen for you. Since corporations have full personhood now, just like you or I, they will be able to advocate directly on behalf of any candidate they wish, with as much dinero as they want to spend. So if our friend Hugo (who I don't find as odious as a lot of other people do) decided to influence our electoral process, all he would have to do is direct the state-owned Citgo Corp. to make some payments for airtime, etc.

If you for even a second think that we have a more even playing field now, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'm happy to accept bids on.

Democracy died yesterday. R.I.P.

Full article here:Will the Citizens United Ruling Let Hugo Chavez and King Abdullah Buy U.S. Elections?

SCOTUS says we can outright buy politicians (instead of doing it secretly)

Now that the Supreme Court has decided money equals free speech, I'd like to suggest that Congresscritters, now legally purchased by corporations, adopt a new dress code. Something like these:




Now THAT'S transparency!

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

Remember, remember the 5th of November,
the gun powder treason and plot.
I know of no reason the gun powder treason
should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes Night (or "bonfire night") is a UK Holiday (also takes place in other countries throughout the world) held on the 5th of November every year. Guy Fawkes was seriously on crazy Mofo, who, w/ accomplices tried to blow up the of British Parliament in 1605, with King James I, and the entire Protestant and most Catholic aristocracy and nobles inside! Can u say, "CRA-ZEE?!?!"

The term/word, "Guy" is derived from his name!

Below, is an intro to the beginning of one of his Wiki entries, and the link to it. I HIGHLY recommend the uninitiated explore this crazy person and his plot. You'll also get an insight, on just how the Brits penalized criminals back then: I can assure you, what they attempted to do to Guy (who actually escaped some of the more extreme torture) and his followers, made Vlad the Impaler's torture-choices seem almost acceptable!

This real-life event also inspired one of my personal favorite movies of all-time, "V for Vendetta." Its in my top 10, probably top 5, ever. If you haven't seen it, please check it out. At it's core, it's a movie about justice and doing what's right; a love story as well; a big time action-drama, and mystery, filled w/ art, wit, spectacle, humor, big surprising twists, and unbelievable cinematography. Orwellian to a degree. Here are a few quotes from it:

Delia Surridge: [V gives her a rose] Are you going to kill me now?
V: I killed you 10 minutes ago [shows her hypodermic needle], while you slept.
Delia Surridge: Is there any pain?
V: No.
Delia Surridge: Thank you. Is it too late to apologize?
V: Never.
Delia Surridge: I'm so sorry [and she dies].

V: Would you... dance with me?
Evey Hammond: Now? On the eve of your revolution?
V: A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having!

Creedy: [desperately shooting at the approaching V] Die! Die! Why won't you die?... Why won't you die?
V: Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.

Wiki intro:

Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of Roman Catholic restorationists from England who planned the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Their aim was to displace Protestant rule by blowing up the Houses of Parliament while King James I and the entire Protestant, and even most of the Catholic, aristocracy and nobility were inside. The conspirators saw this as a necessary reaction to the systematic discrimination against English Catholics.

The Gunpowder Plot was led by Robert Catesby, but Fawkes was put in charge of its execution. He was arrested a few hours before the planned explosion, during a search of the cellars underneath Parliament in the early hours of 5 November prompted by the receipt of an anonymous warning letter.

Guy Fawkes Night (or "bonfire night"), held on 5 November in the United Kingdom and some parts of the Commonwealth, is a commemoration of the plot, during which an effigy of Fawkes is burned, often accompanied by a fireworks display.

for entire wiki entry (one of many), click here.

Naked, Sore, Bruised and Bleeding: Alleged U.S. Contractor Rape Victim Fights for Day in Court

Naked, Sore, Bruised and Bleeding: Alleged U.S. Contractor Rape Victim Fights for Day in Court
Senate Passes Amendment to Stop Contractors From Forcing Employees into Arbitration
by: John R. Parkinson
ABC News
Oct. 7th, 2009

Jamie Leigh Jones was a 20-year-old young woman working her fourth day on the job in Baghdad for contractor Halliburton/KBR in 2005, when she says she was drugged and gang-raped by seven U.S contractors and held captive by two KBR guards in a shipping container. But more than four years after the alleged crimes occurred, Jones is still waiting for her day in court because when she signed her employment contract, she lost her rights to a jury trial and, instead, was forced into having her claims decided through secret, binding arbitration.

Today, the Senate listened to her story before approving an amendment by a vote of 68-30 that would prohibit "the Defense Department from contracting with companies that require employees to resolve sexual assault allegations and other claims through arbitration."

"I didn't even know that I had signed such a clause, but even if I had known, I would never have guessed that it would prevent me from bringing my claims to court after being brutally sexually harassed and assaulted," Jones, who told her story to ABC News' Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross in an award-winning 20/20 story, testified at the Senate committee meeting on the issue. "I had no idea that the clause was part of the contract, what the clause actually meant, or that I would eventually end up in this horrible situation."

read rest of insane, tragic and almost-unbelievable story here

torture, suffering and death for protestors in Iran

Those protesting and fighting for reform and all that is right in Iran are going to pay. Big time. - sj

Saeed Mortazavi: butcher of the press - and torturer of Tehran?

from the Times Online - UK
June 25th
Jenny Booth & James Hider

The Iranian regime has appointed one of its most feared prosecutors to interrogate reformists arrested during demonstrations, prompting fears of a brutal crackdown against dissent.

Relatives of several detained protesters have confirmed that the interrogation of prisoners is now being headed by Saaed Mortazavi, a figure known in Iran as “the butcher of the press”. He gained notoriety for his role in the death of a Canadian-Iranian photographer who was tortured, beaten and raped during her detention in 2003.

“The leading role of Saeed Mortazavi in the crackdown in Tehran should set off alarm bells for anyone familiar with his record,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch.

As prosecutor-general of Tehran since 2003 and as a judge before that, he ordered the closure of more than 100 newspapers, journals and websites deemed hostile to the Establishment. In 2004 he was behind the detention of more than 20 bloggers and journalists, who were held for long periods of solitary confinement in secret prisons, where they were allegedly coerced into signing false confessions.

Mr Mortazavi has also led a crackdown in Tehran that has seen women arrested for wearing supposedly immodest clothing.

Earlier this year he oversaw the arrest and trial of Roxana Saberi, the American-Iranian journalist sentenced to eight years for spying, and his name has appeared on the arrest warrants of prominent reformists rounded up since the unrest started, such as Saeed Hajarian, a close aide of Mohammad Khatami, the reformist former President. With more than 600 people now having been arrested, including dozens of journalists, many fear the worst.

Mr Mortazavi became notorious for his role in the death of Zahra Kazemi while in Iranian custody on July 11, 2003. Kazemi, a freelance photojournalist with dual Iranian-Canadian nationality, was arrested while taking photographs outside Evin prison, Tehran, during an earlier period of reformist unrest in the city, also ruthlessly repressed.

The first news of what happened to Kazemi, 54, came in a statement from Mr Mortazavi, which said that she had died accidentally of a stroke while being interrogated.

Two days later a contradictory statement was issued, saying that she had fallen and hit her head.

On July 16 Mohammad Ali Abtahi, the Vice-President, admitted that Kazemi had died of a fractured skull after being beaten.

Mr Abtahi, who is no longer in office, was also arrested in the round-up of hundreds of dissidents and reformists overseen by Mr Mortazavi last week.

FINALLY: Prosecutors Will Question Karl Rove on US Attorney Firings

About time. I sincerely hope we can get to the bottom of this mess someday. There is no doubt in my mind Rove/Bush broke the law when it came to these firings. There is so much more to this story than most people are aware of. The 'magically-missing' emails had to do with these firings, and the real reason behind the firings is quite disturbing: some of the fired prosecutors claimed they thought the real reason they were fired, was because they were not pursuing and prosecuting voter fraud in their states. Here's the rub: there was no voter fraud in those states. Bush, Rove, other top dog scum corrupt republicans were forcing prosecutors to 'find' voter fraud cases and trump them up by the dozens, so they would have a good foundation and argument/reason to pass anti-voter fraud legislation; legislation, which (based on whatever myriad of ID-ing mandates implemented) would disenfranchise a great many democrats from voting (minorities, elderly, the less-educated, et al). If this prosecution heats up, I will be posting much more on this story. I have lots of well-sourced information backing up this claim. - sj

Prosecutor To Interview Rove Today, Sources Say

By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 15, 2009

Karl Rove will be interviewed today as part of a criminal investigation into the firing of U.S. attorneys during the presidency of George W. Bush, according to two sources familiar with the appointment.

Rove, a former senior aide to Bush, will be questioned by Connecticut prosecutor Nora R. Dannehy, who was named in September to examine whether former Justice Department and White House officials lied or obstructed justice in connection with the dismissal of federal prosecutors in 2006.

Robert D. Luskin, an attorney for Rove, declined to comment. Tom Carson, a spokesman for Dannehy, also declined to comment.

Dannehy has operated mostly out of the public spotlight, issuing subpoenas for documents through a federal grand jury in the District. But in recent weeks, she has interviewed other government aides, including former White House political deputies Scott Jennings and Sara Taylor.

Dannehy also has reached out to representatives of former senator Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) and his chief of staff, Steve Bell, to determine whether New Mexico U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias was removed improperly.

The firings were the focus of a lengthy report released last fall by the Justice Department's inspector general and the department's Office of Professional Responsibility. Investigators there uncovered improper political motivations in the dismissal of several of the nine fired federal prosecutors.

But the department's own probe was thwarted in part because its investigators did not have the authority to compel testimony from Bush White House advisers and lawmakers.

Legal experts say that a particular source of interest for Dannehy will be statements that officials made to the inspector general and to Congress about the episode, which could lead to charges of perjury or obstruction of justice. Outcry over the firings contributed to the departure of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, his chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, and Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty.

The prosecutor firings also are the subject of intense interest from the House Judiciary Committee, which sued former Bush aides Harriet E. Miers and Joshua B. Bolten for access to testimony and documents. Rove is also tentatively scheduled to provide closed-door testimony to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and other members of the panel next month.