Guys, the war on Edwards is real: Big Business: F**k "Kumbaya"

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/8/154916/3338/281/432971
by occams hatchet

the world starts to look different.

Edwards is the man to tear the corparatists a new asshole.

how can you tear an asshole an asshole?

Edwards to a large degree is still driving the conversation

The evidence is overwhelming. One would expect Clinton and Obama to dominate, but Edwards surprise strength in Iowa given how much he was outspent is pretty newsworthy; yet you can hear the Crickets chirping.

The powers that be fear an Edwards Presidency most.

Edwards came in second in Iowa. And yet, when I watched Gwen Ifil, reporting from NH for the News hour on Tues night, it was all about Obama and Clinton. It was as if even uttering his (Edwards') name might remind the voters that there were more than two Democratic candidates running.

I have no doubt, at this time, that the media have their marching orders and will dutifully skew the American public's opinions in the way that best serves the PTB.

It's so easy!! Baa-a-a-a-a-a

> > > >

Where is that bar graph that shows the "mentions" for each candidate? Says it all!

Obama won, and Clinton lost. EXCUSE ME!! What about that guy who came in second???

The media is pulling the same shit in New Hampshire. The corporatist media is ignoring Edwards and thereby hoping that all the voters will do the same.

I'm so sick of the fatcats!

"you can choose anyone you want as president, as long as we approve them first!"

:puke:

We don't need "hope" anymore.We need action and a fighter not a negotiator!

Put Corporate America back in it's place.... Below 'We The People,' instead of merged with our government.

but rather is against corporate greed and corporate influence on Washington needs to start being heard louder and louder. He made that distinction in the last debate.

Shame on President of the US Chamber of Commerce. A lot of small businesses belong to the Chamber.

Go, Johnny, GO!!!

to keep him from getting elected. That's why I find it so odd that some progressive Dems would consider a corporate friendly candidate like Obama a good choice.

Obama will be so indebted to big businesses that he will end up governing like a Republican, doing whatever they ask for. Obama will know that they "made" him and that they can "break" him.

He'll serve as president about as well as the Dem leadership in Congress fights the GOP - not at all.

oh whew baby the fur would fly wouldn't it?

Go Edwards!

message. We the people does not mean shit anymore.

"a cataclysmic fight to the death" doesn't that sound like a vague threat?

Deregulation has brought about more hazards to workers and consumers while sucking the wealth upward to the top .5% even faster than before.

Outsourcing makes us jobless, and insurance-less. Plus, less payroll taxes to support the infrastructure we all use.

To save pennies per item on production, we have poisons in foods and toys.

Wages keep spiraling down while real cost of living goes up up up. To make the numbers look better, they keep adjusting the items indexed.

Ditto cooking the books on real unemployment figures. Just don't count the unfortunate workers whose benefits run out. See! Lower numbers!

Lie about jobs created. Decent job with living wage and benefits lost is NOT made up for by a not-quite full time slave wage job with no benefits. But, they count them the same. See! Higher numbers.

Lower the standards for clean air and water. Oh, and let mega corps buy aquifers up all over the globe.

Pass laws abroad that prohibit subsistence farmers from saving seed. Make them BUY seed for multi-national corporations.

Pass laws that it's OK for Monsanto GM crops to be grown near other crops, then let Monsanto sue farmers out of existence for having their genetic materials in fields without paying.

They have been at war with us for DECADES. Hell, yes, it is bloody well time we hire some leaders who will fight for us.

ROBBER BARONS

and with verve.

You should translate that into an OP. Start a thread (as I'm sure you have before), this can't be heard enough.

I am the mother who tells people to eat their veggies and take responsibility for what they say/do. Most don't wanna hear it. ;)

edited to add: do visit my journal. I try and keep some of my thoughts there, but I have been so depressed about how people are letting the circus distract lately, I have forgotten to post there lately. I did add that post to it, since you thought well of it.

pretty handy for them. :(

would be torches & pitchforks.

The global take-over of governments by corporations is just about done. It IS fascism and we really are at war with it, for our very existence.

I'm a bit like Patrick Henery. Liberty or death. It is a war I shall not live to see completed at my age, but it is one to fight in, with hopes that someday, people will be in charge of their lives again.

Posted on Youtube.com in 23 chapters. See the links to all the Youtube chapters here:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=FA50FBC214A6CE87

I have been screaming about the corporate take over and coming 'Third World-ization' of America for decades now. I am tired of being Cassandra. Appreciate the help getting people to notice what is being done to them and future generations.

Don't buy their shit!

Don't spend your money at their big boxes...or their car dealers...or their fast food joints...

Organize with your neighbors to support and re-create your local economy...

Starve the corporate capitalist beast!!!


And for DOG'S SAKE -- don't believe that any of these damn politicians or the corporate owned and managed "electoral" system will do SHIT for you!

LOVE when greedy douchebags like this guy bare their 'robber baron' souls.

They BUY our legislators, who then allow the corporate lobbyists to write legislation that creates the laws WE have to abide by.

their MONEY speaks louder than any of our piddly votes..

the congressman we send to DC, will always need campaign money..more than "we" can afford to pay, so the corporations are always happy to "help out".. They buy legislators of BOTH parties, so they always get their way..

What they do is send someone who is interested in the process to speak to their representative with a few ideas, conveniently written up in the form of a bill for easy reading, and discuss the possibility of contributing to the community through legislation based on those ideas; then, as a matter of respect for the office, leave a campaign donation with the representative's executive assistant.

Would you call that 'buying' the legislator?

I wouldn't.

It's more like 'renting'.

and yes I AM cynical. I have seen too many legislators for too many years, who seem to be interested in the "little people" when they first get elected, but once they get the sticker shock of the cost of remaining in office, they soon toss us to the curb...until they need our votes the next time..

We keep "fighting for" the same things over and over and over, and yet we never seem to get what we all say we want and need.. how is that possible if WE are the ones "in charge"?

It's all so frustrating to look back and to see all those years just wasted..all those promises unkept..and the money thrown down the shithole is beyond comprehension..and we still have no universal health care..our schools are still 2nd rate (some worse)..and we still waste most of our money on our military, so they can stick their noses into everyone else's business..

Get 500 corporate executives together and get them to each donate 2300/person. You can generate 1,150,000 from that 500. Try getting 500 working class folks to donate that kind of cash. You'd need several hundred to several thousand working class folks to match that kind of buying power. It's more difficult than simply lobbying 500 rich people.

We have a candidate (or two) that refuses to be bought. Oddly enough, they are the most marginalized ones.

I know. I've experienced it.

It is all indirect, because to do so directly is illegal, but everybody knows that to advance, you must be a "team player". When the CEO likes Hillary (or Obama) the WORD goes out which TEAM you had better be playing on. The bizarre thing is that most "good team players" give this up voluntarily. :shrug: and become the little career oriented robots that advance. They really don't care who they vote for. Pleasing The Boss and being a team player becomes their identity. The greatest aspiration of most of these people, especially in Middle Management, is to become the perfect Stepford Employee. Donations are made, names are noted, idle conversation monitored.


Not ALL corporations are like this....only MOST of them.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/scorecard/#D

That many so far...quid pro quos ?

than his single vote. It's worth thousands of votes.

:grr:

... how Obama made a point of bring the Health Care lobbyists to the table in Illinois, which basically ended up killing any chance for Universal Healthcare in the state.

Edwards is much smarter than to play that game.

When they threaten one of us, they threaten us all.

I just sent in $250.00 for membership last week, and I am going to ask for a refund.

The bottom will have to live with what the top has wrought.

:applause::applause::applause::applause::applause:

One of my former lawyer friends is now working for a retail store. She simply can't get a better job. These guys have sat on their hands for seven years. Let's ask them what they have done for Americans since the Bush coup.

A law degree is not worth the paper it's printed on anymore. Mine is large, beautifully matted and framed and can be used as a placemat. :)

I know. Too many lawyers and not enough jobs. The Chamber of Commerce can kiss my ass and call me Doctor.

You simply CAN'T!!!! This is a war that has been declared, and we need to make sure that they LOSE this war and make no mistake that they've been put in a corner we don't want them getting out of after we've won. THEN we'll work with the real diversity of opinions of the different groups of PEOPLE in this country, not the so-called "Korporate people" proxies for this elitist scum that has been tearing our country down for way too long!

Frederick Douglass, 1857.

Unity! Its stop one when you want to take on corporate power. The old community organizer running for President understands that.

PUNISH THE Chamber of Commerce

I used to think the Chamber of Commerce was just a harmless and somewhat sleepy old-timely center of local boosterism. But that was before I began noticing its name everywhere that awfulness was afoot -- from deregulation, to CAFTA and the Trans-Texas Corridor, to attempts to gut Social Security and Medicare.

I think there have may have been a change in 1997, when Thomas J. Donahue -- the guy cited in the OP -- became its president. Here's what the CoC itself says (and read the fine print closely -- it'll curl your hair):

http://www.uschamber.com/about/management/donohue.htm

Thomas J. Donohue is president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Since assuming his position in 1997, Donohue has built the Chamber into a lobbying and political force with expanded influence across the globe. . . .

The Chamber’s lobbyists, policy experts, and communicators have helped secure many legislative victories, including major tax cuts, more sensible workplace and environmental regulations, and increased funding for transportation. The Chamber has advanced the business argument on outsourcing and the need for balance in applying new capital markets and accounting rules, among other issues.

On the international front, the Chamber has become a leader in knocking down trade barriers, winning new free trade agreements, and fighting protectionism both at home and abroad. Under Donohue’s leadership, the Chamber has also emerged as a major player in election politics, helping elect congressional pro-business candidates through financial support and voter activism and turnout generated through the Chamber’s grassroots organization, VoteForBusiness.com.

The National Chamber Litigation Center, the Chamber’s law firm, has become more aggressive in challenging anti-business measures in court, setting a new record for cases entered in each of the last six years and securing 48 court victories in 2006.

The Chamber of Commerce often partners in these matters with the National Association of Manufacturers -- which has had an unsavory reputation since early in the last century, when its first president was Samuel Bush, W's great-grandfather -- and the Business Roundtable. For example:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Coalition_for_the_Modernization_and_Protection_of_America's_Social_Security

The Coalition for the Modernization and Protection of America's Social Security (COMPASS) is a coalition backing President George W. Bush's plan for private Social Security accounts. The group was formed in 2002 by the Business Roundtable and the National Association of Manufacturers.

"COMPASS is acting as an umbrella group for Washington-based organizations, including the manufacturers association, the National Restaurant Association, the Business Roundtable and the Financial Services Forum, which is a group of chief executive officers of major banks, insurance companies and securities firms," Bloomberg News reported. Other members include companies such as The Boeing Co., Pfizer Inc. and Fidelity Investments.

The Washington Post reports, "The Coalition for the Modernization and Protection of America's Social Security, will conduct a nationwide television and grass-roots pressure campaign costing $15 million to $20 million. COMPASS has hired OnPoint Advocacy to conduct grass-roots lobbying and Apco Worldwide Inc. for public relations. . . .

COMPASS also sponsors Generations Together, a website created in February 2005 by Democracy Data & Communications.

The PR firm mentioned just above, Democracy Data & Communications, is particularly notable for its provision to businesses of a special type of astroturf strategy, which involves setting up websites for various industries and corporations which "guide" employees on how to vote for the benefit of the industry, provide online forms for messages to Congress members, and solicit donation to their PACs.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Democracy_Data_%26_Communications%2C_LLC_(DDC)

Based on posts left on newsrack blog, Thomas Nephew reported August 22, 2006, that Democracy Data & Communications (DDC) was in the astroturfing business and had been involved "sotto voce in Bush administration P.R. campaigns for its Medicare and 'No Child Left Behind' education initiatives."

In the February 28, 2006, Daily Kos, Mark G. Levey wrote: "Democracy Data & Communcations is a big player in the astroturf community. They host the website for the Grass Roots Roundtable, and they co-chair it with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The board of directors is a regular Who's Who of American industry. They're a big player at the Public Affairs Council, and they've earned a reputation as the place to go for astroturf campaigns."

Levey first came across DD&C LLC in October 2005, "when they were putting pop-up ads against John Edwards in AOL Instant Messenger. This was for their The Truth About Trial Lawyers site for the November Fund ... a tort-reform astroturf campaign bought and paid for by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (Yes, the government was running ads against the Democrats. ...) ... A quick google on their name brought up their site, and a May 2004 post by Mark Kleiman on a very similar campaign on behalf of No Child Left Behind."

There is very nasty business afoot here. These guys are already active behind the scenes -- they may be one reason John Edwards can't get traction in the media -- and especially if the GOP loses much of its clout after the 2008 elections, they're going to emerge the principal obstacle to genuine progressive reform. If we don't study up on them and their tactics right now, we are only asking to get blindsided when they role out the heavy guns.

these people are not true capitalists: they promote socialism for the wealthy fatcats. Worse yet, military socialism like that which preceded Hitler's Germany. They live for government contracts and Republican favoritism. Let's get their attention!

Any ideas?

but the House and Senate will be fully packed with C of C clones...

Edwards would not be allowed to get shit through their gauntlet...

you bleed"said chamber President Tom Donohue said.

The only candidate with a proven record of fighting these monsters is John Edwards.

I keep hoping for miracles from them, I guess. Like voting for the only obvious one that actually tells you the reason you don't have health care and that you can't make nice with evil fucking big business. HINT: THEY CARE MORE ABOUT MONEY THAN LIFE

They have ruined this country. George Will calls Edwards a Trotsky-basically a COMMUNIST on ABC. Any threat to the powers that be and they act like it's a REVOLUTION. I fucking wish.

But as usual, Americans are told whom to vote for and they comply. I keep expecting somebody to wake up. But I know it's just a dream for them, and I have to be awake.

And that New Hampshire: SO INDEPENDENT. Is that a code word for Republican and neo-Republican? The Republicans along with much help from the status quo Democrats have ruined this country. McCain and Hillary are not any defintion of independent in my world.

If you're for Edwards tell people that. Wear a lapel button, slap a sticker on your car, put a sign in your yard. If they're going to pretend he doesn't exist we need to remind the everyone that he's out there and he's on our side. We have to be his advertising and the best way to do that, I think, is to continue to refuse to get involved in the mud slinging, to emphasize the positive change we believe Edwards will bring for middle class America. We can do this.

was that it was almost like the hosts were instructed NOT to say Edwards' name unless they absolutely had to. Totally and completely down played. What a crock of sh*t!

First of all, welcome to DU! :hi:


On MSNBC for the first two hours I watched, all they showed for results on the Dem side was Clinton and Obama. For republicans they showed all candidates, vote totals, percentages... took two screens of graphics - three candidates on one screen, three candidates on the other.

... but for Dems, one screen, with ONLY two candidates.

:wtf:

:nuke:

Edwards complains about the amount of political power that big business has and their response is to threaten to flex that power. They don't even try to hide how abusive they are.

What gives them the right to "punish" candidates? What gives them the right to spend tens of millions of dollars to influence the political process rather than letting the people have their say? Just who the hell do they think they are?

They take away people's pensions. They send jobs overseas. They fight vociferously against any kind of meaningful health care reform (indirectly causing the deaths of who knows how many people). They fight against pollution laws. They fight against consumer protection laws. They fight against workers' rights.

Then, when the people threaten to rise up and fight back - oh my, they're being picked on, we need them, how dare we vote against their noble desires. They must punish us wayward children!

Assholes. :mad:

Anti-corporate rhetoric will be punished.

"We plan to build a grass-roots business organization so strong that when it bites you in the butt, you bleed," chamber President Tom Donohue said.

"We must take this country back from these economic royalists" FDR.

Maybe update it to ECONOMIC ROYALTY?

And why don't we use the term ROBBER BARON anymore?

We need to upgrade The Lexicon.

He didn't campaign or begin his presidency by presenting the New Deal. Businessmen (bankers, mine owners) thought he was just going to bail them out (sounds familiar).

I've given money to Edwards and I'm still on that bandwagon, but I'm concerned about that he's being shut down and pushed aside because he starts out on an anti-Big-Business footing. But he can't lie and pretend to be one of them, either, so I don't know how we win this one.

(And I emphasize Big, because I've pro-business, just not pro-Corporatist)

I thought he did campaign on his ideas for the New Deal, even though the specifics weren't hashed out until after the election.

but it's not really black-and-white. He surely wasn't a Conservative, but he wasn't exactly all that Liberal either.

The point was, he didn't campaign as an "anti-corporatist" as our boy Edwards is doing.

http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/06/specials/davis-fdr2.html

"When he came into office, Roosevelt brought with him no clear-cut program, certainly no intellectual readiness to undertake the Keynesian economic measures that would mark his Presidency. It's even doubtful that he quite understood Keynesianism. (''A second-class intellect,'' said old Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes of Roosevelt, ''but a first-class temperament.'') Roosevelt's social inclinations were, at first, ''profoundly conservative,'' or so at least Mr. Davis judges them, and if by ''conservative'' we mean a wish to shore up the capitalist system when it was in very deep trouble, then I think he is right. Only the shrewder minds in the financial and business establishments, those whom the sociologist C. Wright Mills would call ''the sophisticated conservatives,'' understood that the bitter pills Dr. Roosevelt prescribed had in them a life-preserving medicine. No sooner was he in office than Roosevelt launched his ''Hundred Days,'' a frenzy of activity serving brilliantly to ease public fears but doing rather little to cope with underlying problems. Not so easily could Humpty Dumpty be put together again, and sensing as much, Roosevelt settled for the externals of motion and decisiveness. At least, people said - I remember this from childhood - at least he's doing something."

/I'm not a historian, dammit, just a market researcher!

Thanks for the reccs -- even though I'm a chick (and a Quaker at that), I enjoy well-written military history (read the Trulock biography of Joshua L. Chamberlain this summer)

Butler is a local boy - from West Chester, PA (which I know only because there was a Butler Building at Penn State)

And while we're talking about great Generals and local boys -- Winfield Scott Hancock, from Norristown, PA, was another one of those "don't make 'em like this any more". I've followed his steps on several Civil War battlefields.

but he saved their asses...

Most of the corporate capitalist masters didn't know it but they had no better friend in the 30s and 40s than FDR...

He was and remained probably the cleverest of all of that class.


On edit: the selection of 1932 bears remarkable similarities to the selection of 2008... Hmmmmm...

:scared:

...don't assume that it's just a figure of speech.

he won 36% of the vote.

Like it or not corporations are part of the county, BUT they do not need to RUN the country.

Edward's talk about death to corporations resognates with the 36% of the voters. But that is it.

That's friggin Texas.

I don't really see Texas being any more representative of the the nation at large as Massachusets or California. I seriously doubt it was the anti-corporate message that lost him his position, more likely it was his opponents shifting the debate to street crime, drugs, violence, and immigration.

The argument and the fight can still be made against the corporate masters in the ballot box and if they are unwilling to concede defeat I suppose there is always the ammunition box.

Not only will they fight to the death against Edwards and his message but they will not allow a Democrat to retake the White House....Another stolen election that may not look so obvious when they use those phony poll numbers leading up to the November election..We cannot underestimate their power.

D's & R's matter not, whoever will best carry their water recieves the bounty of the Money Party.

The greedy corporations are ruining this country & anywhere else they get let into, they are bloodsuckers profiting off the backs of humanity. Yeah, there's a few good ones, but the stink from the majority is sickening & life draining.

K & R for Edwards! Fight these bums, send John money. If he's going to win this it's up to all of us!
:kick:

This makes it clear that if you don't vote for Edwards then you are voting for the enemy. Corporations have taken over our country. If you don't vote for Edwards then lets change -we the people to -we the corporations.

let's adjust the concept of taxation for representation. We're not being represented, so why are we paying taxes? Why do we have a House of Representatives? Let the corporations have their own House with their own representatives. Make it official.

Second, I have no problem with business - of the Mom & Pop variety that usually drives the Chambers; so, I'm not sure of the Chamber's complaint.

Finally, the "war" on Edwards now is nothing. Were he to get the nomination and the press began really comparing what he says to what he did - and found out he did NOTHING like what he's saying - then the real "war" would begin.

Progressive Democrats are going to have to wake up at some point. Edwards has never been, IS NOT and will never be a Progressive Democrat. He's a corporate creature no better than Clinton or Obama.

If you honestly think that the $8 million he has gotten from legal firms represents purely personal donations, you are quite obviously deluded. Law Firms take money from their corporate clients and launder it into nice, shiney, clean personal political contributions. This is what they DO. This is how they have behaved for GENERATIONS. Sickening, but true.

Look at the PERCENTAGE of his total contributions that comes from Insurance/Banking/HealtCare/Pharma/Legal/etc...the PERCENTAGES correspond pretty evenly to that of Clinton/Obama...

Look at his relationship with hedge fund management firm Fortress Investments. Do you honestly believe that they paid him $459,000 (+$150,000 in political contributions) to do nothing more than "learn about the industry?" Do you believe that he invested $16 MILLION (half his net worth at the time) WITHOUT KNOWING that they specialized in leveraging sub-prime lenders? This is what Edwards wants you to believe...Actually, I'm sure he would prefer it if you forgot all about it.

Look at his Senate voting record, folks! Pro-WAR, Pro-CORPORATION, Pro-POLICE STATE!!! THAT is ALL you can take to the bank! Why do you think he's NOT RUNNING ON HIS RECORD???

Look at his Health Insurance Plan. I'd like to call it a Health CARE plan, but IT ISN'T. Single Payer, not for profit? In your freaking DREAMS, folks! It's a Health INSURANCE Plan, PERIOD.


On the other hand, he's white, male, Xian and from the South - hence "electable." ECH.

I would LOVE to see him as the attorney General.

That's why we must fight harder for John to win!

He's not getting any help, just strong opposition from
the MSM.

not to mention that they just don't f-ing GET IT on the environment, labor, growth, etc etc etc.

to defeat the corporate stranglehold on this country. One person easily gets knocked down for this policy. In my opinion it would take a whole group of people working together to get this done--and getting in the WH is only the beginning of the story.
Edwards. Kucinich, Clark, and Gore (for example) plus all the other powerful legislators must stand together and collectively work to first win this election by saturating the media. Once in, to even start reversing the damage done to the US, it would take work on civil rights, military, legislative, judicial, infrastructure, envronmental and healthcare fronts, all at once.
We do need a new FDR-- a New Deal for this century. What we need I believe cannot physically be done by one person, they are TOO VULNERABLE. This takes a team--before the election.
Just my thoughts this day.

The bidness lobby has been running things for the last seven years and they've got everything they wanted, from relaxing of media consolidation rules, to rollbacks on consumer protections, to freedom to pollute. This is a declaration of a war that's been ongoing for a while now and you need someone who can fight. While Obama's optimism is refreshing, I think it's also slightly naive and the bidness lobby will (metaphorically) shiv him every time. Hillary (assuming her policies are similar to Bill's) is pro-corporate through and through. You need Churchill, not Chamberlain. Edwards ain't Churchill but he's the only one I think could fight like that.

Fuck their threats.

The mom and pop businesses aren't my concern. That's why I used "bidness", to make the distinction between them and the kind of corporate insider, old-boy-network that effectively runs things right now.

Corporate control and influence is a far greater threat to the American way of life than these so-called "Islamic Fascists". Anyone less than a John Edwards will be a disappointment to me.

"I'm concerned about anti-corporate and populist rhetoric from candidates for the presidency, members of Congress and the media," he said. "It suggests to us that we have to demonstrate who it is in this society that creates jobs, wealth and benefits -- and who it is that eats them."

Arrogant, lying piece of shit. Without Labor there can be no Capital. There is no compromising with these bastards.

The problem is not corporations, but that corporations have taken over our representation. We're not anti-corporation, because corporations are groups created to make money, and Edwards isn't recommending a Chinese takeover ala corporate America's good bidness buddies. Edwards is recognizing that ordinary people in this country are suffering because corporations have a stranglehold on political dialog and policy. It is an effort to revitalize the same Constitutional government the Right has been waiving flags about. Edwards is currently leading a populist movement that seeks to restore the people's right to self government.

Also, anyone who thinks the Chamber is benign should consider some of their foreign endeavors such as the Azerbaijan Chamber.

the big businesses behind all this are against competition. They would prefer to have a select few big monopolies, just as they have dominating the M$M. The Communist Chinese form of corporatism seems to work ideally for them, and they are sneaking it into America. When corporations are indistinguishable from government, the consumer and the average person have no say in the matter. They are dominated by fear-mongering and have to resort to begging for scraps.

When the GOP got into bed with China, they said China would become more democratic. The opposite has happened: we've become more like them. George, Sr. spent a lot of time in China. As far as I'm concerned the BFEE is just opening up world franchises.

The corporations do what they do because that's what they're supposed to do, the subverting and control of government is part of the business plan. Corporations are the highest, most efficient form of Capitalism, not an aberration.

To me it doesn't matter so much whether Edwards means what he says or if he would be able to do what he says he wants to do. What matters is that he's saying it, that he's energising the working class against our common enemy. To a degree, Huckabee is doing the same.

Sure hope it gets out of hand.

For a long time the corporations could consolidate power by confusing the Right into thinking they were on the same side. Now the working class and middle class of this country know that we're going to be fighting for our economic lives.

when the Democrats coopted William Jennings Bryan from the Populists as their nominee and the GOP nominated McKinley.
That was the election when bosses told their workers "if Bryan wins, the (factory) gates will not open on Wednesday."

and OVER! And it's going to take something close to a REVOLUTION on our part! WE just can't sit by and be "one" who fights, we need to gather together SOMEHOW to make THE WHORES listen!

I don't know HOW to get it started, but I feel in my bones that IT IS what NEEDS to happen!!

I do (and why the FUCK isn't there a LABOR Section in the paper? Rhetorical Question...)...

They're very honest and blatant about their strategies, tactics and political leanings there...

You want to know what your enemies are up to -- check the "business" section...





Come On, Dennis -- re-register Green!

as John Perkins puts it in, "Confessions of An Economic Hitman," and his latest book on American Empire.

This is about the previously-unheard-of corporate greed of the huge, multinational corporations, which think that they are above leaders, nations, and peoples (and my hubby had that stated to him when he was in the oil and gas industry).

Many of us operate small, family-owned corporations, and these very entities are being attacked by the huge multinationals.

These corporatocracy thinks nothing of destroying entire environments for a buck.

They ARE above governments and "we, the people" and governments seem only too willing to collude in it. The British comedian Mark Thomas compares them to battered wives loyally standing by their men ("you don't understand, Capitalism's not like this when we're together").

HeeHee - I'm laughing in a very ironic way.

It's a sad day in America when business is equated with corporatism.

Just because you have hi-jacked our government, it does not mean you fucking own us!

I'll still cast my vote for the Edwards' because I know where there heart is,...with THE PEOPLE.

There IS class-warfare going on in the Country RIGHT NOW. And WE, THE PEOPLE, are losing, because our Democratic Party "leadership" is are not FIGHTING BACK hard enough against it.

I support John Edwards, because I think he will be the most tenacious fighter FOR the middle class. As Edwards said



Obama needs to be asked - point blank - about his vision for a "Purple America." If he means that he can work with the majority of middle-class Republicans who (whether they know it or not) SHARE OUR ECONOMIC INTERESTS - like the need for affordable, universal health care - that is one thing.

On the other hand, if he means he is going to change things by working with ultra-rich class warriors, like the President of the Chamber of Commerce - "Kumbaya" as you call it - Obama may, indeed, too naive to be President.

They will not let him hold the office because he will not play with their dirty money.

distribute nationwide somehow.

HEY, SYMBOLMAN!!!!!!! CAN YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS?

:hi: