corporate influence

Jamie Oliver, TV’s the naked chef, famously campaigned for healthier school meals in the UK after discovering the unhealthy nature of the meals and being disgusted by the severe lack of healthy alternatives. He created a successful British TV show which documented his efforts as he took over the cooking for a school in Greenwich. Surprisingly, the campaign was successful and changed the types of food British schools offered.

He later tried to do the same thing in here in America, but received roadblock after roadblock and eventually his TV show, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, was canned.  

Cross-posted from the Institute for Southern Studies.

Number of model bills and resolutions crafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council -- a nonprofit that promotes state policies advancing conservative causes -- that were released last month by the watchdog Center for Media and Democracy: over 800

Year in which ALEC was founded by a small group of conservative state lawmakers and free-market advocates: 1973

Number of state legislators that currently belong to the group: about 2,000

Number of corporations that are members: about 300

Truth to power, baby:

The attackers, or sponsors, are those who run some outfit called Americans for Job Security. It's one of a multitude of groups doing political business these days as professional gunslingers for big business interests that essentially oppose regulation and common-sense accountability rules protecting American taxpayers from free-wheeling greed exercised in the name of free enterprise.

This is not a byline piece, folks; it's an Editorial Staff article, and one of the strongest I've read in quite some time. And it's incredibly important for our Democracy that mainstream media have these conversations with their audience.

Now that corporations can buy elections, do you think they'll establish a "returns" policy in case the purchased candidate doesn't perform as expected? When a rich guy spends a hundred grand on an unknown nobody who turns out to be a lecherous drunk, surely a refund would be in order.

This is a statement that I released to the press with regards to the Supreme Court ruling from earlier today.

- Ken Lewis

By a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court today issued a dangerous ruling that will allow big business to take control of our elections. Huge corporations can now spend unlimited amounts of money to elect their friends and to defeat candidates who stand up for the interests of regular Americans. Big corporate polluters, huge health insurance companies, predatory lenders, and large Wall Street banks all will be able to tighten their stranglehold on elections in our country.

In an arrogant display of judicial activism, the court threw out its own precedents and almost a century of settled law to reach its disturbing ruling. Justice Stevens was right when he wrote in his dissent, 'The court's ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions around the nation.'

has just come true

This evening at 6:30, we're planning to experiment with something new. BlueNC Radio. You're welcome to join us.

At first blush, it seems pretty simple. We line up an informed guest, you follow this link and it takes you to the BlueNC BlogTalkRadio page. Then we all have a good conversation. You can listen through your computer, chat, or call in live to talk. If you don't have free long distance on your cell phone, email me or use the BTR chat function.