"They say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time."
— Banksy
Two years ago today, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Citizens United vs FEC. They effectively ruled that corporations have the same unalienable rights as you and I, protected by the constitution, which grants them the right to free speech. Well, money talks and they are no longer limited in the amounts of money they can dump into politics. They can also due so virtually anonymously, withholding the revelation of identities until after the election has finished. The Declaration of Independence, of which this country was founded, states that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” Religious beliefs aside, they were talking about people. Corporations are entities, considered persons in only the most elaborate rhetoric, for the intent of making contracts and suing over copyright infringements. They should not have a voice in our election process.
The fight against SOPA and PIPA this Wednesday was astonishing, the biggest protest in online history. Never has a protest swayed votes so fast. We need to see more advocacy from today’s youth, it’s how we keep democracy going. Let’s get corporate money out of politics and let’s get our voice back.
Visit http://www.amend2012.org, sign the petition, and find out how you can get involved.
I hate censorship, point blank. My government, telling me what I can and cannot see. Why can’t I make that choice?
"If someone says “I love you” and you don’t want to say it back, just say “I love Youtube” really fast."
— Will Ferrel
I’m back
The 26 members, who each pay $500 a month for a desk, are mostly engaged in independent projects in unrelated fields, and have no practical reason to work together. But as the new media pundit Clay Shirky said at the South by Southwest conference in March, “we systematically overestimate the value of access to information and underestimate the value of access to each other.”
