If you are concerned about this, I recommend checking out this site--The Alliance for Democracy. It's time to get the power back to the people. Did you know that all attempts at campaign finance reform have been thwarted by the Supreme Court's contention that a corporation is a "person", and that limiting their campaign contributions is a violation of the "persons'" right to FREE SPEECH? Gimme a break. It's basically legalizing bribery, don't you think?

http://www.afd-online.org/index.htm

-- jumpoff joe a.k.a. Al K. Lloyd (jumpoff@ekoweb.net), March 15, 2000

Answers

Response to Did you know that, thanks to our country being run by the WTO, and others, for the benefit of huge international corporations, our democratic way of life is threatened? Indeed, * The combined assets of 358 billionaires equal the combined assets o

Joe,

I agree 100 per cent sorry fake e-mail these days ya gotta be careful. LOL.

-- slick (whatever@why.com), March 15, 2000.

Glad you posted this jj. What this country needs to be worrying about is corporations; that's where the real power is.

In the Spring 2000 issue of "The Amicus Journal," there is an excellent article on the WTO fiasco, by Paul Hawken, who is a business man, an author, and an environmentalist. He was there, was pepper sprayed, saw it all, and tells the whole story.

For you who keep bashing Clinton about Monica, you are missing the boat on his real atrocities. This is from the article: "One recent example of the power of the WTO is Chiquita Brands International, a $2 billion corporation that recently made a large donation to the Clinton Administration. Conincidentally, the U. S. filed a complaint with the WTO against the European Union because European import policies favored bananas coming from small Caribbean growers instead of the banana conglomerates. The Europeans freely admitted their bias and policy; they restricted imports from large multinational companies in Central America (plantations whose lands were secured by U.S. military force during the past century), and favored small family farmers from former colonies who used fewer chemicals."

Here's another interesting tidbit from the article: "After the protesters had been subdued and the delegates had convened, it was a heated and rancorous ministerial, and the meeting ended in a stalemate, with African, Caribbean, and some Asian countries refusing the support a draft agenda that had been negotiated behind closed doors without their participation."

I tried to find the article on the NRDC site, but I don't think they've put it on yet. I'll keep looking.

Be sure and check out Granny D's website. She's the 89 year old woman that just completed her walk across America to protest the power of the corporations. Also, read David Korten's, "When Corporations Rule the World."

If the public got as worked up about corporations and their endless power, as they do about Teletubbies and Monica, maybe some of their power could be restrained.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), March 16, 2000.

Sorry, folks; the title of this post got cut off. It was supposed to say, "The combined assets of 358 billionaires equal the combined assets of almost half the world's population?

Doesn't seem quite fair to me...

Gilda, thanks for a great post. Granny D is my hero! I've been following her progress for several weeks. I hope I have the moral and physical strength to walk the breadth of the country for a cause I believe in when I'm ninety years old!

Hell, how about when I'm 55?

-- jumpoff joe a.k.a. Al K. Lloyd (jumpoff@ekoweb.net), March 16, 2000.

Response to Did you know that, thanks to our country being run by the WTO, and others, for the benefit of huge international corporations, our democratic way of life is threatened? Indeed, * The combined assets of 358 billionaires equal the combined assets o

jj:

You might enjoy reading "Harrison Bergeron" by Vonnegut. Efforts to "equalize" results rather than opportunities *always* violates the Law of Unintended Consequences.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), March 16, 2000.

Response to Did you know that, thanks to our country being run by the WTO, and others, for the benefit of huge international corporations, our democratic way of life is threatened? Indeed, * The combined assets of 358 billionaires equal the combined assets o

JJ - if you want things to be fair, you'll vote democratic. they're quite willing to redistribute your assets, as well as everyone elses.

-- david moore (davidmoore01@excccite.com), March 16, 2000.

Flint, I thought I'd read all of his books, although I've not read any in quite a while, so maybe it's written after my Vonnegut phase. Thanks, and the point is well taken, if not necessarily followed.

David, you're right about the Demos. But you can substitute the word "Republican" for the word "democratic" without losing the veracity of your statment. They talk a different talk, but they walk the same path.

-- jumpoff joe a.k.a. Al K. Lloyd (jumpoff@ekoweb.net), March 16, 2000.