On Jan 22, 7:33�am, Joe from Kokomo wrote:
On Jan 22, 2:57 am, bpnjensen wrote:
Well, whatever else they've done - they have handed the elections and
thus, the lawmaking machinery, to the wealthiest corporations in
America. �
Stevie Nichts wrote:
First, "the wealthiest corporations" include unions,
environmentalists,
and other left-wing special interests, and there's no point in
pretending otherwise.
Well, yeah, you're right -- kinda, sorta.

What you overlook is the simple fact that the Big Corporations have TONS
and TONS of money, waaay more than any union or "other left-wing special
interests" could ever hope to scrape up.

Stevie Nichts wrote:

Y'know, I keep hearing about this boogeyman, but I've yet
to see stats to back it up.

What boogeyman and what stats? It is pretty much intuitively obvious to
the casual observer that Big Business has more money than the Unions
because a) the unions have been decreasing in strength for years and b)
most (if not all) of the money the union has comes from dues of their
*blue collar* members, by definition not the richest people in the
neighborhood.

And what YOU overlook is the
simple fact that unions and other left-wing special interests
(why the scare quotes? Do you seriously doubt they exist?)

Um, Stevie, nothing to do with doubting their existence. If you look
closely, I put it in quotes because, well, I was *quoting YOU*. Please
try not to punish someone for the -proper- use of punctuation.

have the ear of the national media to a far, FAR greater extent
than BigRichEvilKorporations.

Yes, I agree they may have the media's 'ear' but the
BigRichEvilKorporations have the MONEY -- and as we all learned from
Johnny Z. years ago, "Money talks and bull**** walks". (Quote marks used
because I am directly quoting John Z. DeLorean, late of GM).

And if you see no problem with letting large corporations have all that
power, IMHO you are dumber than you look.

So the choice is between Big Brother dictating how, when,
and where we can engage in political free speech versus
trusting that Americans are intelligent enough to deal with
all that free speech? Your contempt for the American voter
is palpable, possibly eclipsed by your elitism and arrogance.

Sadly, I believe it has very little to do with free speech but has
EVERYTHING to do with getting the best politicians that money can buy.

Please answer me this:
If I recall correctly, there used to be a limit on how much of a
political contribution could be made, possibly $2500. And I seem to
further remember that occasionally, some tried to donate more than that,
got caught and was prosecuted. Please tell me how anything over $2500
used to be bad and now they can donate 25 MILLION or 125 million, the
sky is the limit. Again, everything to do with buying politicians,
damned little to do with your red herring of free speech.

Furthermore, I really was not alluding to the intelligence of the
American voters, but seeing as you read that into it, let me comment...

First, it's no secret that the American educational system has been
falling apart for years, *many* books having been written on the dumbing
of America.

Finally, the dumbing (and numbing) of the populace as alluded to in
'1984' and 'Brave New World' seems to be coming frightfully close to the
mark.

Don't forget to take your Soma pill tonight...and don't forget to read
"Hoodwinked" by John Perkins (also the author of "Confessions of an
Economic Hit Man"). The first half of his book explains much more
eloquently than I could ever hope to, the evils of the Corporatocracy.