"The revolution will NOT be televised" by Trinityjoi Cooper

you can no longer sit by and watch

make excuses and avoid the reality

of the world around you

and truth has come to light....

this revolution will not be televised

you will not see it on your television

the nightly news, handheld devices and smartphones

like the casey anthony murder trial, and what the lawyers had for lunch.

the millions fighting the corrupt system

for a better future while you sit there

watching dancing with the stars

signing away your rights

without the slightest clue...

this revolution will not be televised.

big banks stealing from the rich to give to the richer

while children starve in the streets of

the richest nation in the world

families losing their homes to greed of politicians...

this revolution will not be televised

when the mischief makers of the world unite

to stand up and fight for YOUR rights

flying in the face of authority to secure your future

while you sit by and watch

this revolution will not be televised

when millions of soldiers stand up and refuse to do what

is against theit conscience and creed, honor and duty

this revolution will not be televised.

when all come together for a greater cause

and demand recompense from the authority  that

 tramples their rights 

this revolution will NOT be televised.

it is up to you

the people

to spread the word

inform your family, friends neighbors

that they truly hold the power

its up to you to record these events

for future generations so they might learn

and continue to fight the fight

this revolution MUST be televised!!!!

All lies

Many corporations are presenting themselves as leaders in environmental protection:
"A corporation leader in ozone destruction takes credit for being a leader in ozone protection. A giant oil transnational embraces the "precautionary approach" to global warming. A major agrochemical manufacturer sells pesticide so hazardous it has been banned in many countries while implying that it is helping to feed the hungry. A petrochemical firm uses the waste from one polluting process as raw material for another, and boast this is an important recycling initiative. A logging company cuts timber from a natural rain forest, replaces it with plantations of single exotic species, and calls the project "sustainable forest development"  Jed Greer and Kenny Bruno, "Greenwash: The reality behind corporate environmentalism."
Why would they do it? Because it is in right now and it does keep most people happy and quiet. We will hear about the self-regulation of the companies, about how we do not need any environmental policies because the corporations will just do it. People demand it so they will do it. Really? Lets look into one example. In order to comply with German regulation, the Polaroid Corporation needed to reduce a packaging for their new camera. The packaging reduction lead to change in the camera design to make it more durable thus enhancing its quality. Would have they done it without the pressure of the regulation? Maybe, most likely not. Companies now days are not interested in developing durable products. To keep the economy growing, they need people to buy new cameras ever so often. In the end, they did profit from the change because they could market it as environmental friendly product and this is what many people like to hear and see.
The bottom line is, we all are being greenwashed, big time. And the sad reality is, that we just do not care about it. It does make us feel better, like we have an influence on the way how the corporations do their business. All lies, nothing more.

Freedom

"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, pull back the curtains, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater."
-- Frank Zappa

Well, this is my bottom line, I could not say it any better. Are you really free? If your answer is "Yes", think again and think hard, because when you see the brick wall, it will be to late.

Some numbers of our world. Forest and soil

I like numbers. They can show more clear the bottom line than anything else. And by this bottom line I do not mean profit ;).

Since 1950 we have lost nearly half of the world's original forest cover, some 3 billion hectares. Some are talking about destruction of up to 80% of the ancient forest (Image of forest destruction). Each year another 16 million hectares are cut, bulldozed, or burned. If we keep up with this rate of deforestation, by 2025 the demand will exceed the limits of sustainable consumption by 25%. But when all trees are gone the intricately linked ecosystem will be destroyed, and with it all life as well.
How?
Forests absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, anchor soils, protect against erosion, regulate water cycle and provide a habitat for millions of species.
Lets talk about soil and erosion, because as we all know, without soil there is no food and without food there are no people.
In the world we lost already one-fourth of our top soil and one-fifth of our farm land (Image of soil degradation)

"We stand, in most places on earth, only 6 inches from desolation, for that is the thickness of the topsoil layer upon which the entire life of the planet depends.”1

“Land degradation and desertification may be regarded as the silent crisis of the world, a genuine threat to the future of humankind."2

Securing food production can have a strong impact on efforts to slow down the flow of  environmental refugees inside countries as well as across national borders. The UN reports that soil degradation affects 2/3 of the countries in the world, more than 4 billion hectares of land, and more than a billion people. By 2020, an estimated 135 million people may be driven from their land as a result of soil degradation.

The soil needs death and life to sustain its quality. The soil’s living component includes the biomass (from the single-celled bacillus to earthworms, arthropods, and mammals that live in the soil). But all organisms, including plants and humans, are connected to the soil in many ways. Leaves that fall from trees, plants, animals leaving residues contribute to the system of the cycle. Most of these residues fall into the dead category. They not only provide energy and food for numerous organisms but also contribute to the development of humus, the very dead. 
The trees hold soil in place, they supply cover for animals, without trees the whole cycle is destroyed. Trees also protect the soil from being washed away in rainstorms. The run off water leads to soil erosion. The soil erosion lowers the productivity of the land and eventually leads to deserts development. The probably most devastating example of what can happen after server deforestation is Haiti. This Satellite image shows the border between Haiti and Dominican Republic. In 1923, over 60% of Haiti's land was covered with trees; by 2006, less than 2% was .

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio

Nearly a billion people are severely malnourished or starving. Many of them due to soil erosion and desertification that follows short after.
When I look at the image above I wonder, what have to happen, for us to wake up and realize, that if we do not change how we live, our culture of limitless consuming and money as a most important idol, we will end up on the dead planet.

The Bottom Line is simple:
"Only when the last tree is dead, the last river poisoned and the last fish caught, you will notice that you can not eat money."

1: Sampson, R. 1981. Farmland or Wasteland: A Time to Choose. Overcoming the threat to America’s farm and food future. Rodale Press
2 August 30, 2007. More food needed now than in all recorded history. Restoring Soils vital to feed world, forestall climate change: experts. OneWorld.net http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/152674/1/3319

The Corporation, Part 1

Today I watched the movie, that everybody should take time to watch: The Corporation (movie), and decided to do some more digging about the issues shown there. In the first part of this post I will try to find out more about how the corporation became to be a person. A person? really?

First lets find out what is a definition of a corporation.
In a Business Dictionary I read that "a corporation is a legal entity, chartered by a state or the federal government, and separate and distinct from the persons who own it, giving rise to a jurist's remark that it has ‘neither a soul to damn nor a body to kick.' Nonetheless, it is regarded by the courts as an artificial person; it may own property, incur debts, sue, or be sued. It has four chief distinguishing features: (1) limited liability (owners can lose only what they invest); (2) easy transfer of ownership through the sale of shares of stock; (3) continuity of existence; and (4) centralized management. Other factors helping to explain the popularity of the corporate form of organization are its ability to obtain capital through expanded ownership, and the shareholders' ability to profit from the growth of the business."

What happened in the time between the declaration of independence from England in 1776 and the time when the corporation became this person in 1886 (Santa Clara County v Southern Pacific Railroad) ?
Corporations were forbidden from attempting to influence elections, public policy, and other realms of civic society and were limited exclusively to a business role. At this time the privilege of incorporation was granted only to enable the activities that benefited the public. The states also implemented conditions like these:
* Corporate charters were granted for a limited time and could be revoked promptly for violating laws.
* Corporations could engage only in activities necessary to fulfill their chartered purpose.
* Corporations could not own stock in other corporations nor own any property that was not essential to fulfilling their chartered purpose.
* Corporations were often terminated if they exceeded their authority or caused public harm.
* Owners and managers were responsible for criminal acts committed on the job.
* Corporations could not make any political or charitable contributions nor spend money to influence law-making.
Also because of public opposition  only few corporate charters were granted and always after the public debate.
But in 1819 the U.S. Supreme Court extended the protection of the Contracts Clause of Article I, section 10 of the Constitution to corporate charters, treating them as contracts between the state and entrepreneurs. Some sources are saying that Dartmouth College Case prevented arbitrary state interference with charters, thereby giving some security to investors. But in the same time this ruling took the sovereignty of the citizens away to decide how they want to rule their local, state economy. In the following years, many new laws were written and re-written to amended states constitutions to make corporate charters subject to alteration or revocation by their legislatures. In 1855 the Supreme Court reaffirmed state's powers over "artificial bodies" (Dodge v Woolsey).
But the corporations were pushing their agenda. Winning this contest meant to have control over labor, resources, community rights, and political sovereignty.
One of the most severe blows to citizen authority arose out of the 1886 Supreme Court case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad where Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite stated that corporations were “persons” within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause
( Fourteenth Amendment )
After this ruling corporations increased control over resources, jobs, commerce, politicians, even judges and the law. Another instance of constitutional protection for the "artificial person" called corporation came in First National Bank v. Bellotti (1978), where the Court extended the First Amendment's protection to corporate political speech ( First Amendment ).

Well, this is the bottom line: corporations are artificial persons with neither a soul to damn nor a body to kick. They have all the constitutional protections that a real person has, but without any real responsibility. By law, the corporation can only consider the interests of their shareholders. It is legally bound to put its bottom line before everything else, even the public good. Which means, that the only value those "persons" are representing is profit, nothing more nothing less.

PS.: The film is based on the book "The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power" by Joel Bakan (Book ).