Major Romney Bundler is Agent of a Foreign Government

Image from source, Think Progress

Here is the fatal flaw in the Citizens United Supreme Court decisions to equate money with speech, and corporations with people. Foreign interests can influence a vote, essentially. I heard a defender of the Citizens United case on the radio today, saying that "Americans aren't so stupid" that they could be overly influenced by saturation advertising. Really? I wouldn't call them stupid (necessarily), but if this advertising weren't effective, what would be the point of buying it?

• Corporations are not people. The individual people in a corporation already have a voice and a vote. They shouldn't be able to collectively have another voice. 
• Money isn't speech. If it is, the person with the most money gets the most speech. Does that sound like the American way to you? Biggest pocketbook wins?
• Foreign interests and non-citizens shouldn't get a vote, and shouldn't be able to financially support advertising for candidates, or candidates themselves. Certainly, not without complete transparency.

Do any of those points above sound liberal to you? They sound like common sense, and I can't quite understand how a conservative could refute them.

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EXCLUSIVE: Major Romney Bundler Is Agent Of Foreign Government 

Ignacio E. Sanchez is a lobbyist at DLA Piper, an influential global law firm and a major bundler for the Mitt Romney campaign. A ThinkProgress review of public records reveals Sanchez is also a registered foreign agent representing the interests of the United Arab Emirates and a former president of the Dominican Republic. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Rachel Maddow Interviews Larry Flynt About Rep. Weiner's Wiener

Rachel Maddow refreshed my memory about a couple of earlier sex scandals, and Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt's $1 million challenge to out philandering elected officials. Flynt could be dismissed as a mere pornographer of course, but he's also a free speech advocate, and a hypocrisy-fighter. And I really haven't got anything against pornography, provided it's all consenting adults. And really, when it comes down to it, virtually nobody is really outraged by Anthony Weiner's "Weinergate" scandal. They're amused. They're intrigued. They're maybe a little saddened, now that he's practically broken down publicly, found out his wife is pregnant, and apologized to the odious Andrew Breitbart. But who's outraged?

Anyway, the discussion of other politicians caught with their pants down is worth going over again, particularly the case of Sen. David Vitter. Vitter was caught in the DC Madam sting, and apparently liked hookers to treat him like an "adult baby," complete with diapers. Vitter broke the law, actually had sex (as far as we know, Weiner didn't), and he is still a sitting Senator. He even got a standing ovation from his colleagues! Why the fuss over Weiner's wiener, if people like Vitter get to keep their jobs?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

"Legal Weed" Beer Not Legal Anymore

There's something vaguely creepy about this story. The government can tell you what you can and can't name your beer? It just seems wrong somehow.

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Calif. brewer ordered to stop using 'Legal Weed' bottle caps

Vaune Dillmann thought the wording on his bottle caps was just a clever play on the name of the Northern California town where he brews his beer — Weed.

Federal alcohol regulators thought differently. They have ordered Dillmann to stop selling beer bottles with caps that say "Try Legal Weed. . ."

Read more at: International Herald Tribune

Ask Laura Bush a Question, Go to Jail!

Photo from source, Prison Planet

Perhaps that headline is a gross simplification of the story. You can read below to see the details. But it does point to a trend in our country. Instead of free speech, we have free speech zones. There are now specific times and places where you are permitted to ask high government officials (or first ladies) questions. And then, you must be careful what questions you ask.

Now, I'm sure you could argue that people like the ones in the story below are rabble-rousers, irritating, obnoxious or whatever. The Secret Service has to do some things to protect VIPs, and the line from obnoxious to dangerous might be difficult to discern. But it's starting to seem a lot like our elected officials (and their wives) are some kind of royalty. We're expected to be respectful, polite and deferential. And if we're not, WATCH OUT!

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We Are Change Members Arrested For Asking Laura Bush A Question

Two members of We Are Change were arrested in New York last night for asking Laura and Jenna Bush a question. Reporter Matt Lepacek was dragged out during Laura Bush's speech and physically assaulted by police, according to Luke Rudkowski.

News of the incidents has not been reported by the corporate media as of this morning. . .

Read more (with video) at: Prison Planet

Thanks to Stupid Monkey Planet for the tip.

"I Approve This Message" Can Now Legally Include Lies

Oh, this is just terrific. If we thought campaign ads could be negative in the past, we may have seen nothing yet. They used to have to at least have an air of "truthiness," even if they distorted or misdirected. Now, they can just throw caution to the wind, and say whatever the hell they please. Ridiculous.

Does this mean that "truth in advertising" violates the free speech rights of corporations? Can food labels for Twinkies now claim that they are 100% natural earthy goodness?

Yeah, this was only Washington State, but I think we can be sure this sort of idea is gonna catch on like wildfire. Good grief.

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Wash. High Court: Campaign Lies Are Protected Speech

A sharply divided state Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a law which bars political candidates from deliberately making false statements about their opponents violates the First Amendment right of free speech.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court affirmed a state Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the law. The measure was enacted by the Legislature in 1999, a year after a similar ban on false statements involving initiatives and other ballot measures was thrown out by the state Supreme Court. . .

Read the story at: EditorAndPublisher.com

Rush Limbaugh Scrapes Bottom

Photo available all over the web, this one from ThinkProgress.org

No, he didn't injure his ass. . .it came that way. I'm talking about scraping the bottom of the talking points barrel.

I often catch Limbaugh's "Morning Update," a 90-second clip on the radio. It happens that it comes on right before the news, so if I'm in the car at the right time, there he is. I am often astonished at how many distortions, exaggerations and flat-out lies can be contained in a minute and a half. But, I rarely catch his actual show.

Apparently, Limbaugh has disparaged the reputations of any service member who doesn't toe the Republican line on the war. Support the troops, indeed. He's a pig.

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Limbaugh: Service members who support U.S. withdrawal are "phony soldiers"

During the September 26 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh called service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq "phony soldiers." He made the comment while discussing with a caller a conversation he had with a previous caller, "Mike from Chicago," who said he "used to be military," and "believe[s] that we should pull out of Iraq." Limbaugh told the second caller, whom he identified as "Mike, this one from Olympia, Washington," that "[t]here's a lot" that people who favor U.S. withdrawal "don't understand" and that when asked why the United States should pull out, their only answer is, " 'Well, we just gotta bring the troops home.' ... 'Save the -- keeps the troops safe' or whatever," adding, "[I]t's not possible, intellectually, to follow these people." "Mike" from Olympia replied, "No, it's not, and what's really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media." Limbaugh interjected, "The phony soldiers." The caller, who had earlier said, "I am a serving American military, in the Army," agreed, replying, "The phony soldiers."

Read the rest (with transcript and audio) at: MediaMatters.org

Couple Arrested for Anti-Bush Shirts Get $80K

Awwwright! Chalk one up for the good guys! After all of the "free speech zones," and Cindy Sheehan being hauled out of the Capitol for the message on her shirt, and all the countless other similar incidents, finally, it comes down to this.

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Feds pay $80,000 over anti-Bush T-shirts

CHARLESTON, W.Va. --A couple arrested at a rally after refusing to cover T-shirts that bore anti-President Bush slogans settled their lawsuit against the federal government for $80,000, the American Civil Liberties Union announced Thursday.

Nicole and Jeffery Rank of Corpus Christi, Texas, were handcuffed and removed from the July 4, 2004, rally at the state Capitol, where Bush gave a speech. A judge dismissed trespassing charges against them, and an order closing the case was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Charleston.
Read more at: Boston.com

Police Powers: A Threat to Free Speech?

Remember all the talk of "free speech zones" and arrests for political t-shirts during the 2004 Republican campaign for President? As far as I know, this didn't happen on the Democratic side (I could be wrong--let me know if I was). It always seemed a little more than un-American to me, and it's heartening to see that others are starting to agree.

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Secrets of the Police

Published: August 8, 2007
The city of New York is waging a losing and ill-conceived battle for overzealous secrecy surrounding nearly 2,000 arrests during the 2004 Republican National Convention. Yesterday, for the second time in three months, a federal judge ordered the release of hundreds of pages of documents that detail the Police Department’s covert surveillance leading to the convention. People who were detained, some for days and without explanation, may finally begin to get some answers.

If the decision by Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV stands, the documents may figure in scores of lawsuits challenging police tactics that included the heavy-handed: rounding up suspects on the streets, fingerprinting them and putting them in holding pens until the convention was all but over. That such a police action happened in New York, and during the large, democratic show of a political nominating convention, was troubling.

Read more at: NewYorkTimes.com