Yearly Archives: 2014


As if the amount of money that politicos take from corporate donors wasn't bad enough, now they don't have to report paid junkets anymore either

As if the amount of money that politicos take from corporate donors wasn't bad enough, now they don't have to report paid junkets anymore either?

Congress has been criticized for many things in recent months — fumbling on immigration reform, failing to pass basic bills for state services, leaving the long-term unemployed without help — you…


My former colleague and all-around amazing photographer Drew Phillips was at Pikes Peak last weekend

My former colleague and all-around amazing photographer Drew Phillips was at Pikes Peak last weekend?

A photo gallery of the Ford Mustangs competing at the 2014 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb


A Corporation Has No Inherent Right to Exist

Supreme_Court

A corporation is a legal entity organized through a set of arbitrary rules defined by people for the purpose of meeting some business aim. The concept of a corporation is a relatively recent one in human history and there is nothing about one of these organizations that should make it eligible for the protections that we ascribe to humans through laws like the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The people that comprise the organization that we call a company or corporation have those rights as individuals. Those people also have responsibilities that are part of the social contract that makes it possible for us all to coexist as a group.

The individuals that own, run or are employed by a corporation have the right to believe in whatever faith they want. Like an increasing percentage of the population, individuals are free to not believe. Those are personal choices that cannot and should not ever been imposed on anyone else.

The corporation on the other hand is nothing more than arbitrary legal and the people that run the company must follow the rules that apply to all companies. The organization has no right to impose the beliefs of its owners or managers on others.

This is not a question of freedom of (or from) religion. Every American has the right. If a business is going to take advantage of the privileges granted to it under the law, it must also respect the rights of employees and customers. If the business owner or manager cannot deal with this concept, the corporation should lose those privileges.

The US Supreme Court has been wrong about corporate personhood for nearly two centuries. We must not grant human rights to an arbitrary organization that can spring up or be dissolved on a whim. The corporatocracy is winning and rapidly consuming what is left of American democracy. It’s time to reverse course before it’s too late, although I’m afraid that time may have already passed us by.


The conservative wing of the Supreme Court has made another colossally stupid ruling that may well come back to bite us all in unexpected ways

The conservative wing of the Supreme Court has made another colossally stupid ruling that may well come back to bite us all in unexpected ways

"Approving some religious claims while deeming others unworthy of accommodation could be 'perceived as favoring one religion over another,' the very 'risk the [Constitution's] Establishment Clause was designed to preclude."?


Anyone that still thinks Barack Obama is a socialist or even a liberal has clearly not being any attention to his actions

Anyone that still thinks Barack Obama is a socialist or even a liberal has clearly not being any attention to his actions

While many of Obama's words over the years have created the impression that he is some kind of liberal lefty, virtually all of his actions place him far to the right of most of the people that voted for him. 

In addition to his support of drone warfare, NSA spying, letting big banks off the hook, he is backing up his selection of cable lobbyist Tom Wheeler to run the FCC with a staunch opponent of patent reform and pharma executive to run the US Patent and Trademark Office. I strongly urge you call your senators and ask them to block the nomination of Phil Johnson if it comes to pass. ?

Summary: The Obama Administration’s expected choice to lead the Patent Office is a Johnson & Johnson lawyer who has been a key figure in blocking attempts to reform the patent system.