Corporations do not eat. They do not sleep, nor need water, air, shelter,
companionship, clothing, nor any of the basic human needs. They do, however,
pollute air, water and soil, monopolize, price-gouge, and move whenever they
see a better deal. They also require humans, as raw, disposable resources.
When they can do without some of the human employees at their disposal, they
lay them off, to fend for themselves, and claim a worker productivity increase
for the survivors.
This is a human society, not a society of corporations, but through the greed of
those who profit mightily from the corporate culture - high-level executives,
the self-absorbed wealthy who have more than any town could ever need, and
their bribed politician lackeys - we have made the corporation the dominant
pseudo-life form. Anyone who has seen Roller Ball knows where we are now
headed. But it is you, the people, the human corporate fodder, who are
ultimately responsible. Over and over you voted for those with the most
money. Where do you think it comes from? If you were still viewed as useful by
the corporate culture, you, and millions like you, earned that money for the
culture. In turn some small percentage was used to persuade you to vote
against your own best interests. Every need you have had has been turned into
a way to pump your hard-earned funds back into the culture to be used, again,
against you.
We need to define, by Constitutional amendment, that a corporation is not a
human equivalent and, therefore, not deserving of the protections of the Bill of
Rights. This shouldn’t be necessary, but the powers that be - high-level
executives, the self-absorbed wealthy, and their bribed politician lackeys -
have decided to interpret the Constitution, which never mentions corporations,
as saying that these non-eating, non-sleeping, non-breathing, non-drinking
collections of the wealthy’s fiscal interests are equivalent to people, with all the
same rights. The required amendment is simple. If we do not pass it, despite
the inevitable overwhelming howling and funding of the powers, we will be
cursed with an even more dedicated crew of corporate-interested politicians
passing laws to govern us. Government of the people, by the politicians, for
the corporations.

Amy, I enjoyed your article, because it is truth.  Exxon has gotten away with murder and I do mean murder. The 11,000+ workers who sprayed toxic chemicals to clean the beaches, which was authorized by Exxon, have been suffering for 20 years with different health problems, http://www.silenceinthesound.com/stories.shtml 
Many have died. We are much more than just Exxon’s collateral Damage.  How does a corporation get away with using toxic chemicals in a work place?
http://www.silenceinthesound.com/valdez-oil-spill-workers-vs-exxon.shtml

RE ElDuderino: “These bourgeois citizens of course could never have imagined what would become of this idea, and EXXON certainly does not fall into this category of public welfare.” 

Thanks, for the information. There seems to be a number of double standards when it comes to corporations like EXXON, which is really puzzling.

This business of being able to take a tax “write off” on a fine they’ve received for criminally negligence behavior is ludicrous.  When individuals are involved in criminally negligence behavior not only do these individuals receive jail time, their assets and property are often seized as well. If we can seize the assets of criminals like Madoff, why can’t the assets of corporations be seized when they behave criminally and/or negligently?

I greatly appreciate this effort:

According to the AP, lobbyists are irate about the Obama administration’s restrictions against lobbyists trying to get a piece of the stimulus package, which bars them from speaking to administration officials but instead forces them to issue their statements in writing:

“What disqualifies lobbyists from exercising their First Amendment rights?” said J. Keith Kennedy, a top lobbyist for the Washington firm Baker Donelson.

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=03&year=2009&base_name=lobbyists_strike_back

1. My brother worked for Exxon for 20+ years, including the time of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He drank from the Exxon Kool-Aid and would point out how minor the spill area was when compared to vastness of Alaska. He spoke of the media hype surrounding the incident and I suspect most at Exxon/Mobil continue to this day to believe the incident was minor and that greedy Alaskans conived to pick the deep pockets of their oil company.

What he and others miss is that despite the vastness of the area, nature is in an incredibly delicate balance there…it’s a very unforgiving region. Everything takes longer to heal - man’s footprint lasts longer, travels deeper and does more harm in what many dismiss as a barren wasteland. An environmental “event” in these regions can carry far more impact than elsewhere. 

2. Last year I was on a cruise to Alaska and a Naturalist was on board holding seminars and talks thoughout the trip. During one talk she held up a jar of what looked like brown muck. She announced that the sample she held was taken from a beach some 50 miles from the oil spill. It wasn’t recovered in 1989. She’d picked it up off the beach 4 days earlier…almost 20 years after the event.

This is why drilling off the coast of Florida anywhere near the Everglades is insane.  A spill of this size would finish what development and sugarcane almost have, and wipe out the most important fish hatchery on the southern Atlantic Coast.

Lessons learned?

The number one lesson learned here is that our government is a total failure. It lacks the political will, and the moral fiber to act in the public’s best interest, but insteads stumbles forward like a blind man in a coma.

Dreaming of the benefits, praying for the riches, and staffing our government from the wealthy classes, it no longer serves the people, but has become a burden to them.

Instead I propose a Committe for Public Safety, to begin by collecting names and addresses of those responsible. Robespierre would approve.

Re Amy Goodman: “People who break laws can be locked up; when a corporation breaks the law—even behaving criminally negligently, causing death—rarely are the consequences greater than a fine, which the corporation can write off on its taxes.”

The U.S. Internal Revenue Tax Codes also makes a clear distinction between Individuals and Corporations. Individuals are taxed under Section 1 of the IRS Code and corporations are taxed under Section 11.  If ExxonMobil is legally a “person,” why is it taxed differently from other “persons?”

Section 1 imposes the Federal income tax on the “taxable income” of individuals:

For individuals, section 1 divides income earners into categories depending on whether they are married individuals filing jointly, married individuals filing separately, unmarried individuals, surviving spouses, or heads of households. Section 1 sets forth the formula for what amount of taxable income must be paid to the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_Revenue_Code_section_1