Supreme Court Says Corporations Can Do No Wrong

A trio of decisions this summer from the Supreme Court makes it crystal clear: the judicial system offers nothing to workers or consumers and exists to only protect corporations.

Slate tracks the cases in this article, noting:

"Slowly but surely, the Supreme Court is giving corporate America a handbook on how to engage in misconduct. ... When you obliterate the very possibility of civil litigation, you are, by definition, helping big business screw over the little guy. But when you teach big business precisely how to screw over the little guy, and how to do it faster, cheaper, and without detection … well, that's not even an illusion of justice anymore. It's enabling."

The Court backed the rights of a company - any company - to bypass all due process in favor of arbitration (usually held in secret, in a forum where a company's arbitrator has total control). A worker or consumer must sign agreements offered by a company which holds that a worker or consumer has no legal rights to challenge a company. Ever.

The Court backed the bizarre claim that a company can set up a subsidiary PR firm yet never, ever can the parent company be held accountable for any false or illegal claim their PR firms make.

The Court also ruled that if a corporation insures that if decisions to discriminate are spread widely enough, employees have no rights to file class action suits.

In other words, shut up and be happy for whatever a corporation offers you. Their rights trump yours.

Meanwhile, a growing legal challenge is being made to totally reverse the "corporate personhood" status.

Independence Day 2011 and Beyond

This is a holiday I make sure to observe - I must, as I take most seriously the ideas spawned by the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted on July 4th 1776. (Sadly, a recent survey reveals a portion of the American public is deeply confused and unaware of what the document and the day signifies - though, it could be said the fundamental claims of humanity's self-determination and freedom is of significant size and scope as to overwhelm the minds of 1776 and those of today as well.) The survey's results reveal that "Only 58% of residents know that the United States declared its independence in 1776. 26% are unsure, and 16% mentioned another date."


It was and it is a Revolutionary Document.

The claims it makes are as challenging to the status quo today as they were when it was issued. The second sentence, considered as the opening of the Preamble, marks a unique moment in human history - it claims and expresses a powerful idea, that no one person has rights greater than another, but that each of every person has not only rights but that this fact is indisputable to the point it does not require any proof from those who claim it. It's beyond bold - it is inspiring and will continue to be for the rest of human history.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

It was clear to me when I read that as a young boy there were unintended realities here, since the men who signed the Declaration had slaves, and that they considered women as having less rights - but the truth claimed by that sentence provided rights to every human born, and that truth is as powerful today as it was then.

No king or queen, no landowner, no religious leader, no master, no one is born above or below one another, and that idea continues to shake the foundations of society today.

Thomas Jefferson, who wrote much of that document, said in a letter in 1825 that the document " ... was intended to be an expression of the American mind."

The document also contains a basic reality about government too - that it exists as an agreement between the governed and the government, and that the governed have the right to create and remake government as they see fit. And it's that reality, that we create the social systems which we deem as the best guardians and protectors of our basic, individual rights, which we are constantly reviewing and reconsidering and places authority in our hands, not in the hands of others who can never be questioned or challenged. And also, it is worth noting that the claim of rights isn't really limited to simply Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, but that there are other rights too, which we, as free men and women, will and can claim with absolute certainty. Even today, some 235 years after this document was presented, humans struggle still to claim just those three basic rights.

Yet, still, our Declaration has altered the world which we live in, and when we understand the ideas expressed, we become better - for it provides not just for ourselves, but for all humans, now and in the numberless years of life ahead for all. It remains a document which can educate and enlighten us all.

So I hope you, dear readers, pause to consider the vast ideas in our claims of Independence and share them and celebrate them and even explore what those ideas mean.

Happy Independence Day!

Camera Obscura: Barbie Van Gogh, Dracula Dolls , Frankenstein Redux, and 'Plot Device'

Time to dig through the Pop Culture Trash Pile. (A word of warning - most of the names of the famous folk, both real and fictional, which follow are about people long born before 1998, so relevance is limited and I don't care 'cause I am an Ancient Creature born in the last century.)

1st Find - Marketing wizards of the Barbie-doll Empire turn to the world of Art for their inspirations with the release of a series of "collectibles", featuring the Mona Lisa Barbie. My favorite is the "Van Gogh Barbie" - which, really, should be a Ken doll, with one ear, a beard, and be wearing ratty clothes. Instead, this doll is just a generic glam doll wearing a dress that looks like a mangled "Starry Night" canvas. A Picasso Barbie would be fun to see - and should have a face that looks like this.

2nd Find - Director Francis Ford Coppola is headed to the San Diego Comic-Con in July with his newest movie, "Twixt", which he describes as "one part Gothic romance, one part personal film, and one part the kind of horror film that began my career". Starring Val Kilmer and Bruce Dern, it remains to be seen if it dredges up memories of Coppola's "Dementia 13" or the horror known as "Godfather Part Three". (Maybe we can convince Coppola to produce a George Romero version of "Night of the Living Dead Barbie Dolls."

3rd Find - Speaking of dolls and monsters, I was far more interested in the report that a new series of "collectibles" (don't say dolls!) in homage to the Hammer horror films set for release. We get Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Ingrid Pitt. Nerd Swoon!





4th Find - So, Frankenstein returns. This latest incarnation features actor Haley Joel Osment as one Victor Franklin, who seeks to reanimate the dead, in a film version of the graphic novel "Wake the Dead" and is being produced by former Guns 'n Roses guitarist Slash.

And if you are up early Saturday morning (or very late Friday) check out the broadcast on Turner Classic Movies of "Frankenstein Created Woman" starring Peter Cushing and one-time Playboy playmate Susan Denberg. While Susan plays several roles here in this bizarre sci-f reinvention, her voice was dubbed by another uncredited actress. Lots of background on the movie here.

TCM is also playing a rather sad Boris Karloff movie called "Frankenstein 1970", which was made in the 1950s and never makes clear why the year 1970 was part of the title. I suggest instead the rather fascinating "Dracula A.D. 1972" with Cushing and Lee once again facing off in the modern go-go dancing world of 1972.

5th Find - While reading about the oddity of singer Lou Reed's musical salute to Edgar Allan Poe, titled "The Raven" from 2003, I discovered a new movie about Poe is headed to the big screen next year starring actor John Cusack as Poe in a movie called "The Raven". The story follows Poe's last days as he trails a serial killer who mimics Poe's stories. It's being directed by James McTeigue, who made "Ninja Assassin" and "V For Vendetta".

6th Find - Something from this year and this week - a short film rips into the tired tropes of filmmaking and storytelling in "Plot Device". Enjoy!

Plot Device from Red Giant on Vimeo.