Here’s just a couple of links (well, three actually) I came across today:
SURPRISE SURPRISE…ANOTHER VICTORY FOR MONSANTO — if for some reason you don’t like the site that is found on, here’s an alternative: Judge Sides With Monsanto: Ridicules Farmers’ Right to Grow Food Without Fear, Contamination and Economic Harm
USA Number 1? 40 Embarrassing Things That America Is The Best In The World At
Now to be honest, that last link is from a site that frequently comes out with lists of that type, most of which I ignore, and I don’t always agree with everything on those lists. Also, I don’t think it’s healthy to spend a lot of time dwelling on negativity. But I just think it is so very wrong that the large corporation have been able to basically take over our government and seriously degrade our quality of life. There was a time when we arguably were the best country in the world, even if things were never quite as rosy as some revisionist historians (like those that write many high school history textbooks) would like you to believe.
I recently read the results of a survey of people around the world, that rated each nation on how happy its citizens were. Canada was #10 and the USA was #23, but even people in places like Iceland, the Bahamas, and Austria (that’s AUSTRIA, not AUSTRALIA – no kangaroos in Austria unless they’re in zoos) are happier than our people, and the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, and Sweden) were all in the top 7. The country that came out on top was Denmark — people in Denmark apparently feel they are the happiest people on earth at this point in time. And yet, if you read the Wikipedia entry on Denmark, you see that there are a lot of things about that country that many Americans would not like at all (especially those Americans with a conservative bent). However, it stands to reason that if the people in the Scandinavian countries are so much happier than the people of the United States and Canada, maybe it would behoove us to take a look at their system and see if we couldn’t make a few tweaks to bring us closer to what they are doing. The one thing I am sure of is that they are not letting large corporations “run the show” in those countries, and they probably aren’t appointing corporate lackeys as judges, either.
I am hopeful that things can change here — we aren’t THAT far from the top of the list. All we have to do is pass one or more constitutional amendments that emphatically declare that corporations are NOT people and that they do not have the right to use their size and wealth to harass or sue ordinary citizens. I’d like to see an amendment that reverses Citizens United, to be sure, but I think that alone is only going halfway. We need to make sure that corporations can never again use their power and wealth to force ordinary citizens into submission to their will. Just as we no longer let churches hold mock trials and burn heretics at the stake, we now need to figure out how to stop corporations from abusing the legal process simply because they can afford to do so. Declaring that they are not persons, and don’t have the rights that persons do, would be a huge start, but let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that alone will be sufficient.
Related articles
- Dr Mercola: Bill Gates: One of the World’s Most Destructive Do-Gooders? (And Monsanto and GMO Foods) (jhaines6.wordpress.com)
- Another Blow to Organic and non-GMO farmers (foodstate.org)
- Occupy Monsanto Demo and Arrests (thefreeonline.wordpress.com)
- Monsanto protest in DC part of “Shutdown the Corporations” (coolrevolution.net)
- Champions of Capitalism (elizainkwell.wordpress.com)
- 300,000 Organic Family Farmers in lawsuit against Agribusiness Giant Monsanto (stillisstillmoving.com)
- Willie Nelson and 300,000 Other Activists Sue Monsanto (musicians4freedom.com)
- Monsanto Wins Lawsuit While Food Justice Advocates ‘Occupy’ Food System | Common Dreams (2012indyinfo.com)
