¶ The Paragraph

Since U.S. states abandoned their old laws that curb corporate power, many corporations have become dinosaurs — huge beasts that have outlived their time, but that keep on stomping through the world.¹ One type of dinosaur is the big oil company, whose products feed disastrous global warming climate change. Such companies should cut back production as the world limits greenhouse gases. Instead, the largest of them, ExxonMobil, has spent many millions to cast doubt on the scientific facts of climate change.²+³ Another type of dinosaur is the for-profit medical insurance company, whose kind controls the gates to health care, shutting out many millions, and canceling the policies of many who need a costly treatment.⁴+⁵ Such companies should bow out of the basic medical insurance business, and let Congress improve and extend Medicare to all. Instead, they have hired former government officials to lobby for keeping control, while getting millions of new, healthy customers at taxpayer expense.⁶ A third type of dinosaur is the Wall Street bank, whose kind sold lousy bonds as AAA-rated, sold vast amounts of bets against those bonds, and sold more bonds backed by those bets — before crashing the economy in 2008.⁷ Such banks should have gone bankrupt, letting smaller, well-run banks pick up the slack. Instead, those banks deemed “too big to fail” got government bailouts, and are now working on the next bubble and crash, while their lobby — the biggest in D.C. — works to thwart Congress’s tries at stopping them.⁸+⁹ All of these corporate dinosaurs have spent much money to skew policy for themselves and against the public. But among the old state laws are those that totally ban corporations from the public policy arena. If the U.S. Congress would pass such a law, it could at last send the corporate dinosaurs stomping into history, where they belong.

Here is an example from Wisconsin in 1905 of a law banning corporate influence on public policy:¹⁰

No corporation doing business in this state shall pay or contribute, or offer consent or agree to pay or contribute, directly or indirectly, any money, property, free service of its officers or employees or thing of value to any political party, organization, committee or individual for any political purpose whatsoever, or for the purpose of influencing legislation of any kind, or to promote or defeat the candidacy of any person for nomination, appointment or election to any political office.

Penalty: Any officer, employe, agent or attorney or other representative of any corporation, acting for and in behalf of such corporation, who shall violate [this act] shall be punished upon conviction by a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the state prison for a period of not less than one nor more than five years, or by both … and if the corporation shall be subject to a penalty then by forfeiture in double the amount of any fine so imposed … and if a domestic corporation, it may be dissolved, … and if a foreign or nonresident corporation, its right to do business in this state may be declared forfeited.

Similar Ohio Law, 1908

Section 1, That no corporation doing business in this state shall directly or indirectly pay, use or offer, consent or agree to pay or use, any of its money or property for, or in aid, of any political party, committee or organization, or for, or in aid of, any candidate for political office or for nomination for any such office, or in any manner use any of its money or property for any political purpose whatever, or for the reimbursement or indemnification of any person or persons for moneys or property so used.

Section 3. Every corporation which violates section 1 of this act shall be punished by a fine of not more than five thousand nor less than five hundred dollars… Any officer, stockholder, attorney, or agent of any corporations which violates section 1 of this act who participates in, aids, or advises any such violation, and any person who solicits or knowingly receives any money or property in violation of this act shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year or a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or both at the discretion of the court.¹¹

Other Wisconsin Laws

From research by Jane Anne Morris:¹

• corporations were required to have a clear purpose, to be fulfilled but not exceeded.
• corporations’ licenses to do business were revocable by the state legislature if they exceeded or did not fulfill their chartered purpose(s).
• the state legislature could revoke a corporation’s charter for a particular reason, or for no reason at all.
• the act of incorporation did not relieve corporate management or stockholders/owners of responsibility or liability for corporate acts.
• as a matter of course, corporation officers, directors, or agents could be held criminally liable for violating the law.
• state (not federal) courts heard cases where corporations or their agents were accused of breaking the law or harming the public.
• directors of the corporation were required to come from among stockholders.
• corporations had to have their headquarters and meetings in the state where their principal place of business was located.
• corporation charters were granted for a specific period of time, like 20 or 30 years (instead of being granted “in perpetuity,” as is now the practice.)
• corporations were prohibited from owning stock in other corporations in order to prevent them from extending their power inappropriately.
• corporations’ real estate holdings were limited to what was necessary to carry out their specific purpose(s).
• corporations were prohibited from making any political contributions, direct or indirect.
• corporations were prohibited from making charitable or civic donations outside of their specific purposes.
• state legislatures set the rates that corporations could charge for their products or services.
• all corporation records and documents were open to the legislature or the state attorney general.

All of these provisions were once law in the state of Wisconsin. And similar ones were on the books in most other states.

Sources

Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s global warming is unique among the Earth’s warm periods. The rise in average world-wide temperature (0.7°C over the past 100 years) is much faster-paced than the warming after an ice age (4 – 7°C over 5000 years).⁹⁰ And the rise of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere (80 parts per million (ppm) — up 27% — over the past 100 years) is much, much faster-paced than the rise of CO2 after an ice age (about 80 ppm in 5000 years). Since CO2 is the main greenhouse gas, and since there has not been much rise in solar radiation over the past 100 years, we are left with the greenhouse effect as the only explanation for today’s warming.⁹¹⁹² Scientific models show that the greenhouse effect has indeed caused today’s warming.⁹³⁹⁴ And data shows that the burning of fossil fuel has mainly caused the rise in CO2, giving another unique feature to today’s warm period: it is caused by the activity of an animal species — the human.⁹⁵

For comparison, here is a look back at other warm periods:⁹⁶

• The Medieval Warm Period (900-1400 A.D.) brought more warmth to northern Europe and some other regions of the Northern Hemisphere, but did not much raise average world-wide temperature. The highest average Northern Hemisphere temperatures during this period were about those of the mid-20th century.

• The Mid-Holocene Epcoh (6000 years ago) marked the peak warmth of the current natural inter-glacial period. Since then, the Earth should be gradually and naturally cooling towards the next ice age in 50,000 years or so. But today’s warming climate change has halted that trend for a while, and may even — with continued fossil fuel burning — cancel the next ice age.⁹⁷⁹⁸

• The Eemian Stage (120,000 years ago) was the prior inter-glacial period. Regular wobbles in the Earth’s orbit cause the coming and going of the Earth’s ice ages on about a 100,000 year cycle. The orbital wobbles affect the amount of solar radiation hitting the planet. When the solar radiation on the continents strengthens, it triggers the inter-glacial warming. After hundreds of years of warming, CO2, having maybe been flushed from the deep ocean, rises in the atmosphere, which amplifies the warming, driving the glaciers back towards the poles.⁹⁹

• The Pliocene Epoch (5.3 – 2.6 million years ago) was the last warm period before the glacial cycles started. Northern Hemisphere ice sheets had not yet formed, as high atmospheric CO2, the Earth’s orbital state, and constant El Nino winds and ocean currents likely kept them at bay.¹⁰⁰

• The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (55 million years ago) was a big warming climate change (5 – 8°C over a few thousand years) from an already-warm climate. Somehow, a huge amount of greenhouse gas got up into the atmosphere, as clathrates in the ocean may have melted to free trapped methane, or a massive volcano may have heated up vast swaths of coal.¹⁰¹

• During the Mid-Cretaceous Age (120 to 90 million years ago) the Earth was very different. Rolling back 100 million years of continental drift, we find the continents clumped together, giving very different ocean currents and climatic rhythms. CO2 levels were at least twice today’s, and it was so warm that the tropical breadfruit tree likely grew in Greenland (55°N).

Each warm period has its own story, but today’s is not yet finished. The effects of today’s climate change could put heavy stress on human and other life that has gotten used to the more-or-less regular climate since the last ice age.¹⁰² As more CO2 is added to the atmosphere, the outlook for future life becomes more dire. Now, it is up to the human species to muster its social sense and clever wit, and stop the rise of CO2 in the atmosphere that it started.

Sources

Read the rest of this entry »

“[I]t’s quite extraordinary to grant government agents the statutory authority to secretly break into Americans homes,” said Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) last month at a Judiciary Committee hearing on the PATRIOT Act.⁸⁰ A month after 9-11, with half its members shut out of their offices due to anthrax-powdered letters, the Senate passed the PATRIOT Act by a vote of 98-1 — the lone “nay” vote cast by Feingold.⁸¹ The stated purpose of the PATRIOT Act was to help stop terror attacks, but there is little to show it has done that.⁸²⁸³ However, the PATRIOT Act has boosted federal snooping.⁸⁴ For instance, sneak-and-peak — the “authority to secretly break into Americans’ homes.” that Feingold mentioned — went from a seldom-used tactic to 760 warrants issued in 2008, but with only three warrants sought for terrorism cases.⁸⁵ Now, Feingold and nine other senators are sponsoring a bill — the JUSTICE Act — to rein in the PATRIOT Act’s broad and easy search and seizure powers.⁸⁶ Under current sneak-and-peek, a federal agent can get a secret warrant just by showing the judge that a regular, served warrant might “seriously jeopardiz[e] an investigation,” but with the JUSTICE Act, the agent would have to show that a secret warrant was needed for a solid reason, such as preventing “flight from prosecution” or “destruction of … the evidence sought,”⁸⁷ Under current sneak-and-peek, an agent could extend the term of the secret warrant just by showing a judge “good cause,” but with the JUSTICE Act, the agent would again have to show a solid reason — the same criteria as for getting the warrant in the first place. Last week, after many members attended a classified Justice Department briefing, the Judiciary Committee, though having a 12-7 Democratic majority, sent out a bill with very few of the JUSTICE Act’s safeguards. Said Feingold:

I hope to work with [Chairman Leahy] and other members of this committee to make further improvements as this bill goes forward. In the end, however, Democrats have to decide if they are going to stand up for the rights of the American people or allow the FBI to write our laws. For me, that’s not a difficult choice.⁸⁸

Feingold: “We’re not the Prosecutor Committee”

JUSTICE Act Senators

The senators sponsoring the JUSTICE Act are:

• Russ Feingold (D-WI)
• Daniel Akaka [D-HI]
• Jeff Bingaman [D-NM]
• Richard Durbin [D-IL]
• Robert Menendez [D-NJ]
• Jeff Merkley [D-OR]
• Bernard Sanders [I-VT]
• Jon Tester [D-MT]
• Tom Udall [D-NM]
• Ron Wyden [D-OR]

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Sources

Read the rest of this entry »

Last month, Dr. Phil Wilby’s crew drew a picture of a belemnite — a Jurassic squid — with its own ink.⁷⁰ “We felt … it would be the ultimate self-portrait,” Wilby said. From Dr. Wilby, and other scientists, we can tell a story of how his crew may have gotten the ancient ink:

155 million years ago, algae bloomed in a shallow sea, poisoning thousands of creatures.⁷¹ The belemnite came to feed on the dead creatures, and met the same fate. It sank into a sea floor rich in phosphorus, which within days — before the body could rot — mineralized in and around the body parts and saved the belemnite’s image.⁷² Somehow along the way, the ink sac came loose from the body, and the somewhat acidic water reacted with the melanin in the ink to make it solidify, and hold its full spatial shape inside the forming rock.⁷³⁷⁴ As the earth churned through the ages, the area of sea floor became the Oxford Clay in the south of Great Britain. In the 1840’s, railroad builders cut into the clay and came across the rich fossil bed. Many fine fossils were taken to London, where they were shattered by bombing in World War II.⁷² Through the years, with overgrowth and flooding, the location of the fossil bed became lost to scientists and the public — until Dr. Wilby’s crew went looking for it. They drilled here and there around Christian Malford, until they pulled up a core sample with a fossil.⁷⁰ Over ten days, they gathered many fossils, and cracked open one rock to find the belemnite’s ink sac.⁷⁵ The scientists took a piece of the solidified ink and mixed it with an ammonia solution to liquefy it for the “ultimate self-portrait”.

Nearly all animal fossils are rock impressions of the slower-to-rot hard body parts, like bone and shell, and there are only a few fossil beds in the world with impressions of soft body parts. And it is rarer still to find fossil original material — like cephalapod ink — from an organism. “It’s absolutely incredible to find something like this,” said Dr. Wilby — and the story made quite a stir. But such a story also made a stir in the nineteenth century, as was noted in 1884 in The standard natural history:⁷³

The ink is not readily decomposed; on the contrary it is occasionally found fossil in the rocks along with the remains of the animal which produced it. So well has it been preserved that in one celebrated instance a naturalist drew the portrait of a fossil squid with the sepia derived from its fossil, but not fossilized ink-bag.

the fossil ink sac — BNPS

Fossil belemnite with fish in grasp. — Palaeo News Files

Artist’s conception of belemnites on the prowl — BNPS

Wilby’s crew strikes paydirt in an ammonite fossil. — British Geological Survey

Sources

Read the rest of this entry »

In 1936 & ’37, workers sat down in Chevrolet plants in Flint, Michigan, and fought to stay there for 44 days, until they won the right to have their union bargain for them.⁶⁰ Soon after that union victory, a wave of sit-downs swept the country and union rolls swelled. The next year, Congress set the standard of a 40-hour work week with time-and-a-half for overtime. By 1947, one-third of U.S. workers belonged to a union, and a strong middle class was rising.⁶¹ That trend went on till the early 1970’s, when both union membership and wages began to fall.⁶²⁶³

For a terse telling of the Flint sit-down strike story, click this link: Flint Workers Sat Down and U.S. Middle Class Rose Up.

Sources

Read the rest of this entry »