Latest Developments

Jeff Clements at Orion magazine blog: “Louder Than a Dollar”
Posted on

Our co-founder and President, Jeff Clements, wrote the following on Orion magazine’s blog, including a touching tribute to the recently deceased Executive Director at the Rainforest Action Network, Becky Tarbotton.

Louder Than a Dollar
January 11, 2013, by Jeff Clements

Here’s a number from the November elections: 0.5.

That’s not a victory margin; it’s a measure of how bad things have gotten in our democracy.

Read More

Calling on President Obama to support a Constitutional Amendment in his State of the Union address.
Posted on
Democracy Amendments

We’ve just launched a petition on the White House’s official petition site asking President Obama to include a call for a constitutional amendment in his State of the Union address, which is coming up in just a couple of weeks.

Click here to sign the petition: http://wh.gov/P9j7

Here’s the language:

We petition the Obama administration to:

Use the State of the Union to call for a constitutional amendment to get big money out of politics.

Read More

Using a corporate “person” to qualify for the carpool lane.
Posted on
Democracy Amendments

Here’s a novel twist on the notion that corporations are people: a man in California is arguing in court that corporate papers in his car should count as a human passenger, qualifying him to drive in the carpool lane.

U.S. News / NBC News has the story. Here’s an excerpt:

California man says he can drive in carpool lane with corporation papers

By Isolde Raftery, NBC News

Read More

NY Times compares NRA carrying water for gun makers to corporate claims of constitutional rights.
Posted on
Democracy Amendments

The New York Times has an editorial today castigating the National Rifle Association for doing the bidding of gun manufacturing companies, rather than its members. It cites NRA members’ support for background checks before sales are made at gun shows, which the NRA has opposed, as an example.

The editorial also appropriately places the gun makers’ efforts to sell more of their product, without regard to public preferences or safety, in the context of the fight we’re leading to end the fiction that corporations have constitutional rights:

Read More

Legal Ethics Forum and The Nation look at the National Rifle Association’s corporate ties & outside political spending
Posted on
Democracy Amendments

People are starting to take a close, critical look at the National Rifle Association, in the wake of the tragic shooting in Newtown, CT on Friday.

The website Legal Ethics Forum points out some salient statistices from OpenSecrets.org:

First Amendment Political Speech, the Second Amendment and the Best Gun Laws Money Can Buy

Read More

US Court to Big Pharma: “Make any claim you like.”
Posted on
Corporate Abuse of Power

In America, we have the Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.) to ensure that the food we buy is safe to eat, and that drugs do for our health what their makers say they do.

A U.S. Court recently tossed much of that premise out the window, saying pharmaceutical companies and their employees can not be prevented from making claims about health effects that are un-verified by the F.D.A. In effect, the decision gives drug makers the green light to make up any claim they please, to make the sale.

Read More