Citizens United v. FEC: A Country for Old Men

[waldopaper]

“I need you to get out of the car…”
--Chief Justice Anton Chigurh

Some background information: Nike v Kasky, 2003

"...is commercial speech entitled to reduced First Amendment protection or noncommercial speech entitled to traditional free-speech protection." (California... "free speech" vs. "commercial speech")

The "landmark" case is Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission. The opinion is supposedly here... good luck trying to open the accursed pdf file: it's always a pain in the ass to try to get the text of a recent opinion:

This might be easier:
Who ARE these people?
no... REALLY...
hmmmm... "Excellentia Inc., "a company specializing in marketing to conservatives and Christians"

hmmmmmmm... me smells BULLSHIT "IDEOLOGY." Well... now the slurry gets really thick... for ME at least... because most of the "conservative Xians" I have met, I consider neither "conservative" nor "Christian."

To me, they are simply (what Bob Altemeyer calls) "authoritarians."

Bullet-heads are defending the status quo... because the fatties who are making out on the status quo TOLD them to do it. The bullets think status quo is some kind of medical term... but they don't like the way things are. And the key word here is "marketing," as in "marketing to conservative Xians."

Of course the problem (or solution) is not the volume. That would make sense only to people who think they win "arguments" or "debates" (witness the teabaggers and their dip-dunk "healthcare debate" at the "town hall meetings") because they yell louder. Then there's compartmentalization: "it's not fascism when WE do it." Or better yet. the quote of the year: "get your government hands off my medicare."

The problem is abject flat-fuck stupidity... which makes victims vulnerable to memes constructed as simple and virulent as virus or prions. Look at:

"Change you can believe in" "Yes we can"
Can what? peas? corn? hash? change from what to what? In what... the can? And of course the Dumbodips are being paid by the fats to change NOTHING...but LOOK like they are changing SOMETHING.

And Dick Armey just came up with a winner for the Pubicrums:
"the American people are more interested in shrinking unemployment than expanding government,''

Well of course they are... whoever they are...whatever THAT means. But the Pubicrums have never done either. Stocks go up for the fatties when there are layoffs... and thanks to St. Ronzo and his drooling acolytes, whatever "government" is has become larger, more dangerous and more intrusive since it threw the "murikan peeple" overboard thirty fucking years ago.

It's all packaging... like shrink-wrapped pork...for the "murikan peeple" whose last critical thought was diaper rash. Of course Mr. Astroturf is celebrating the SCOTUS decision... a victory for the advertising industry... because whoever yells loudest DOES win an "argument" before a population that's brave as a box of cupcakes.... especially if there is no "argument" to begin with.

The Punch and Judy politic puppets keep the "peeple" entertained... they twist their Maggie-Simpson voting wheel furiously to the "left" and "right." There's a "landmark" up ahead.

Their cattle-car "country" rolls merrily toward the stockyard.

[pan]

Santa Clara County v. Southern Pac. Railroad

[waldopaper]

Yup. Korporat personhood came outta the same judicial neighborhood. But they really don't need the pretext of "law" any more. I'm not sure the fats ever did. It was just cheaper to keep up the scam that we had some kind of hand in our own destiny. Day-to-day,,, we do. And that's enough, I guess.

It better be... because this ship's goin' down... and the fats took all the gear and grub and splashed away on anything that could float.

When I get the next "take action" spam from moveon or any of the other "activist" groups I joined years ago... asking for money (i don't have any) or sign a this-or-that... and I don't have the heart to just flag it as spam... well... I think I'll pop a fucking beer and forget about it.

And I get this shit all the time... "what... you're just GIVING UP?" Son... I "gave up" 40 years ago... before you were born. "Take our country back?" Daughter... we never HAD a "country."

What we DO have is this day... and our brains. Best to enjoy them both while we have them.

[BO]

Maybe it's not surprising that Air American should cease operations a few days after the Supreme Nazi's judgement to allow corporations to run the country.

Guess what, folks? Fascism is official here. You don't have to look ambivalent anymore when you use the term to describe the US. Use it with confidence.

Mussolini's cadaver must be having orgasms.

[pan]

From Veterans Today

Their ruling has made it legal for foreign controlled corporations to flush unlimited money into our bloated political system to further corrupt something none of us trust and most of us fear. The “corporation/person” that the 5 judges, the “neocon” purists, have turned the United States over to isn’t even American. Our corporations, especially since our economic meltdown are owned by China, Russia and the oil sheiks along with a few foreign banks. They don’t vote, pay taxes, fight in wars, need dental care, breathe air, drive cars or send children to school. Anyone who thinks these things are people is insane.

[pan]

Not that petitions do anything.....Here is a link to Alan Grayson's petition