this is a piece sent me from a friend thought you would enjoy

Our Hidden History of Corporations in the United States

When American colonists declared independence from England in 1776, they also freed themselves from control by English corporations that extracted their wealth and dominated trade. After fighting a revolution to end this exploitation, our country’s founders retained a healthy fear of corporate power and wisely limited corporations exclusively to a business role. Corporations were forbidden from attempting to influence elections, public policy, and other realms of civic society.

Initially, the privilege of incorporation was granted selectively to enable activities that benefited the public, such as construction of roads or canals. Enabling shareholders to profit was seen as a means to that end.

The states also imposed conditions (some of which remain on the books, though unused) like these:

* Corporate charters (licenses to exist) 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.

Oh those were the days

Read More@    http://reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate_accountability/history_corporations_us.html

“The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.”

The U.S. Constitution empowers the Congress to carry out the census in “such manner as they shall by Law direct” (Article I, Section 2). The Founders of our fledgling nation had a bold and ambitious plan to empower the people over their new government. The plan was to count every person living in the newly created United States of America, and to use that count to determine representation in the Congress.

Enshrining this invention in our Constitution marked a turning point in world history. Previously censuses had been used mainly to tax or confiscate property or to conscript youth into military service. The genius of the Founders was taking a tool of government and making it a tool of political empowerment for the governed over their government.

http://2010.census.gov/2010census/why/constitutional.php

Inkwell to the Internet

But most importantly is the cultural recording of Human Beings existence and history. Witness the Tiano people of the caribean who were considered extinct through a genocide brought about by Columbus and the european spainish conquest.

“but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

AS WELL AS:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”

The opening line to the first Amendment.

These two passages from our Constitution are not mere moments of dowdy reflections, or casual cause for consideration, but critical dictates required for the sustainable continuation of this nation. History is replete with the descending of people of one religious belief upon another, present world events most dramatically in point with terrible conflicts and acts of atrocity being fomented by most major religious followers, individually and through their governments.

I am lost and destitute to comprehend the utter  wanton and mindless acts perpetrated  upon millions of human beings and their lands because of a religious self righteousness that permeates  the heart, mind and soul of  “We the People”. I have of late entertained the thought that such mindless and reckless stupidity would best be served if the fount of that grievance (Religion) should  be consigned to the deepest depths of our oceans thus releasing us from it’s barbaric grip.

However, when all hope is lost a really great voice of reason comes to the fore to present a wonderful possibility to release us from our ignorance and fear to enlightenment. Daniel C. Dennett suggests to us that rather than fear each others faith, we embrace it through an organized study by our children of all religions as a core curriculum program in our schools.

HALLELUJAH

Perhaps through knowledge of each others beliefs we can be released from our prejudices bound to us by ignorance. My own personal journey from growing up Catholic, caring and sharing through the Unitarian church community , praying, studying and singing in synagogue, Native American sweat lodge, Australian Aboriginal and New Zea land Maori community experiences has built a great strength and commitment to a hopeful future for humanity.

In each of these experiences I have found a common thread of humanity’s desire to be in community all the while exhibiting a diversity  in songs, prayers, languages and dance that if respected lead us to a more loving and caring future. I therefore submit for your consideration:

Daniel C. Dennett, Co-Director Center for Cognitive Studies@ Tufts University:

http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/incbios/dennettd/dennettd.htm

being interviewed by Bill Moyers on the Charlie Rose show.

“Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

By Daniel C. Dennett

Philosophy,Atheism, Religion Daniel Dennett 1/5

Philosophy,Atheism, Religion Daniel Dennett 2/5

Philosophy,Atheism, Religion Daniel Dennett 3/5

Philosophy,Atheism, Religion Daniel Dennett 4/5

Philosophy,Atheism, Religion Daniel Dennett 5/5

One of the many interesting things embodied in the Constitution of the United States is reasoned openness of the phrasing used throughout. The first three words on one hand clearly define the object and focus as human beings, not artificially created entities, such as corporations. On the other hand it leaves open the proposition that includes all people regardless of status, though it took many years and great suffering for this to apply to  the non-white and non-male of the United States. I would add we still have a long  way to go for that equality to be applied when you consider the institutionalized inequality that still prevails today in terms of Economic, Educational, Health Care, Food, Clothing and Shelter RIGHTS.

While searching through You Tube I came across another category of Human Being whose rights must be recognized.

EIGHTEEN OR UNDER

Amendment XIV

1:  All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.  No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

This amendment was required to establish the definition of Citizenship omitted from the Articles of the Constitution. It clearly establishes the ownership and thus the same responsibilities required of all Citizens from birth as some might want to consign ONLY to those 18 and older. I would submit that to in anyway impede a citizens (be they 0 to 18) efforts to speak freely or engage in anyway political way the responsibility to preserve and protect the inalienable rights all Human Beings is Unconstitutional thus illegal.

We know the Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing

Author of ‘Stuffed and Starved,’ Raj Patel was kind enough to provide us with a short interview on the relation between women rights and food sovereignty.

This last video was from

Dig In!

www.cban.ca/digin

a collaborative project started by the

Canadian Biotechnology Action Network www.cban.ca

Check Your Head www.checkyourhead.org

the National Farmers Union Youth

www.nfu.ca

Check out  or email info@cban.ca for more information and to get involved

From

fora.tv

http://rajpatel.org

the following biography is from the Nobel Peace website

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1992/tum-bio.html

Biography

Rigoberta Menchú was born on January 9, 1959 to a poor Indian peasant family and raised in the Quiche branch of the Mayan culture. In her early years she helped with the family farm work, either in the northern highlands where her family lived, or on the Pacific coast, where both adults and children went to pick coffee on the big plantations.

Rigoberta Menchú soon became involved in social reform activities through the Catholic Church, and became prominent in the women’s rights movement when still only a teenager. Such reform work aroused considerable opposition in influential circles, especially after a guerilla organization established itself in the area. The Menchú family was accused of taking part in guerrilla activities and Rigoberta’s father, Vicente, was imprisoned and tortured for allegedly having participated in the execution of a local plantation owner. After his release, he joined the recently founded Committee of the Peasant Union (CUC).

In 1979, Rigoberta, too, joined the CUC. That year her brother was arrested, tortured and killed by the army. The following year, her father was killed when security forces in the capital stormed the Spanish Embassy where he and some other peasants were staying. Shortly afterwards, her mother also died after having been arrested, tortured and raped. Rigoberta became increasingly active in the CUC, and taught herself Spanish as well as other Mayan languages than her native Quiche. In 1980, she figured prominently in a strike the CUC organized for better conditions for farm workers on the Pacific coast, and on May 1, 1981, she was active in large demonstrations in the capital. She joined the radical 31st of January Popular Front, in which her contribution chiefly consisted of educating the Indian peasant population in resistance to massive military oppression.

In 1981, Rigoberta Menchú had to go into hiding in Guatemala, and then flee to Mexico. That marked the beginning of a new phase in her life: as the organizer abroad of resistance to oppression in Guatemala and the struggle for Indian peasant peoples’ rights. In 1982, she took part in the founding of the joint opposition body, The United Representation of the Guatemalan Opposition (RUOG). In 1983, she told her life story to Elisabeth Burgos Debray. The resulting book, called in English, I, Rigoberta Menchú, is a gripping human document which attracted considerable international attention. In 1986, Rigoberta Menchú became a member of the National Coordinating Committee of the CUC, and the following year she performed as the narrator in a powerful film called When the Mountains Tremble, about the struggles and sufferings of the Maya people. On at least three occasions, Rigoberta Menchú has returned to Guatemala to plead the cause of the Indian peasants, but death threats have forced her to return into exile.

Over the years, Rigoberta Menchú has become widely known as a leading advocate of Indian rights and ethno-cultural reconciliation, not only in Guatemala but in the Western Hemisphere generally, and her work has earned her several international awards.

Women War Peace: The Politics of Peacebuilding

I wrote the following response on a wonderful blog written by Dr. Edrene McKay from Arkansas which you will find the link to below as well as my response to her latest entry:

“Don’t Demonize Individuals, Demand Systemic Change”

the following is the last part of her entry.

Ron Paul and I probably wouldn’t agree on the role of government. He tends to see limited government as the answer, but our world has become so complex and there are so many powerful interests (e.g., monopolistic insurance companies) that a government that is willing to take vigorous action on behalf of the people, when it is impossible for them to act efficaciously on their own, is clearly necessary. What we need is a set of principles to guide our actions. Ron Paul suggests going back to the Constitution. I think a better starting point would be the Declaration of Independence, but this time we have to mean it:

“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. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.”

Perhaps it’s time for another revolution. I don’t mean Minute Men and muskets, but a complete overhaul of our governance system. The incentives need to make it possible, desirable, and even necessary to serve the public interest and impossible to serve powerful special interests. How will that happen? A vigilant public that analyzes the underlying faults in the system, without demonizing individuals, and demands reform. A more vigilant press would help too.

http://history-you-live.blogspot.com

Dear Edrene

What a great blog and I hope you will become inspired to write more often, you have a gift for it.

Your focus on the Declaration is quite spot on in illuminating the dream.

Van Jones is quoted as saying:
“Dr. King didn’t get famous giving a speech that said, “I have a complaint.” It’s time for us to start dreaming again and invite the country to dream with us. We don’t have any “throw away” species, nations, or children. We must birth a global green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.”

The Declaration of Independence was and still is that dream waiting to find its way into the heart and conscious of the People of America.
That dream of “Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness” was given a real meaning of commitment on the bloody battlefields of the American Revolutionary War and codified in the ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America.

The journey of that dream has been long, arduous and at times extremely violent. New members of the Human family have continued to be added to that dream, but only as we all come to live it with a respect to all.

I have come to find the hope of that dream in the Constitution, the rule of just law. It was the final parting gift to “us and our posterity” that would keep alive the “Dream”. A final substantive act to preserve and protect the dream enshrined in the preamble beginning with “We the People” not Me the Person.

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts and insights for it has helped me to reestablish my relation to this foundational document “The Declaration of Independence”

Sincerely,
Joe