When I said “maybe we should have a three-strikes law for corporations who are ‘recidivist felons’” a few weeks ago I was joking, but it looks like this is on track to become a reality :

A “three strikes” bill that would prohibit companies with multiple convictions from doing business in California was launched in the senate on Tuesday.

Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) said her plan would provide a new level of safety for the public from corporate crimes in the same way that the state’s three-strikes law makes citizens safer from other types of criminals.

Democrats on the senate Judiciary Committee agreed. On a 5-2 vote over Republican opposition, they sent the bill (SB 335) to the full senate, where its passage is expected.
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Revoking a company’s ability to do business in the nation’s most populous state would be a powerful deterrent against breaking the law. “Most people in California understand the phrase ‘three strikes.’ Why should white-collar crimes be enforced less seriously?” she said.

Call me a pessimist, but I doubt this will ever go anywhere. It’s hard enough to get a corporation convicted of one crime, much less three. Considering the economic complications that would result if a huge corporation was ever forced out of business, I have a hard time seeing this being enforced for the big companies that deserve this the most.

Why is it that the U.S. keeps siding with the “bad guys” on human rights issues?

The United States sided repeatedly with Iran and other repressive regimes at the annual session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women last month. The commission’s agenda was to address women and technology, and violence against women.

The first topic wasn’t controversial. The second was.

The American delegation joined with Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Libya and others in efforts to delete a phrase - included in previously agreed-upon UN statements dating back a decade - that calls on countries to condemn violence against women and “refrain from invoking any custom, tradition or religious consideration” to avoid the obligation to stop the violence.
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The alliance isn’t new - it took root when the Bush administration took over. But it is often unseen. The United States has frequently sided at the UN with countries such as Algeria, Libya, Sudan, Iran and Iraq - when it was still controlled by Saddam Hussein - in battles over language involving women and children’s rights.

So, to figure out why our adversaries are sometimes allies, here is a good rule of thumb. They are members of the axis of evil when they endanger our geopolitical interests. But not when they endanger women’s lives.

A month ago, I wrote about the Middle East Television Network, which is being set up by the State Department to send pro-American messages to the Arab world. Yesterday is was revealed that the network will be broadcasting from Grace Digital Media, a studio that is “controlled by fundamentalist Christians who are rabidly pro-Israel”. One of GDM’s primary ventures is the Grace News Network :

According to its web site, Grace News Network is “dedicated to transmitting the evidence of God’s presence in the world today.”

“Grace News Network will be reporting the current secular news, along with aggressive proclamations that will ‘change the news’ to reflect the Kingdom of God and its purposes,” GNN proclaims.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors, who produces the Middle East Television Network, claims that Grace Digital Media’s input is on the production side only and that “Grace will have nothing to do with the editorial side of the news broadcast”. I’m sure they’re probably right. I don’t expect them to have stories about Allah being a false prophet or anything like that, but shouldn’t the government be a little more concerned about the message they’re sending?

According to Thomas Spencer of History News Network, some Republicans in Missouri want to levy a masturbation tax. That’s as brilliant as the Iowa man who wants to outlaw lying and the Florida mayor who issued a proclamation to banish the devil from her small town :

Be it known from this day forward that Satan, ruler of darkness, giver of evil, destroyer of what is good and just, is not now, nor ever again will be, a part of this town of Inglis. Satan is hereby declared powerless, no longer ruling over, nor influencing, our citizens.

In case you missed it, here’s a link to The Daily Show’s hilarious debate between Gov. George W. Bush and President George W. Bush. While you’re there, The Daily Show Rocks is also very funny (not “laugh out loud” funny, more like a “cry youself to sleep again” funny).

Whoah, this sounds like it’s the equivalent of the Patriot Act for the Pentagon :

Brace yourself. The Defense Secretary is pushing a 205-page bill through Congress that would — take a deep breath:

* Strip Defense Department employees of their unions, whistleblower protections, annual pay raises, and rights to appeal disciplinary actions;

* Let the Defense Secretary dole out no-bid, no-oversight, no-accountability contracts worth billions (one observer calls it “the Halliburton Bill of Rights”);

* Exempt the military from environmental and wildlife protection rules on more than 23 million acres of American lands;

* Free the Pentagon from dozens of requirements it report to Congress.

Dissing Congress seems only fair. As long as the Pentagon is offering contempt to taxpayers, the environment and its own workers, why should it pretend it respects our elected representatives? Especially since Congress doesn’t respect itself: Rumsfeld’s bill is moving up Capitol Hill with a bullet. It was being discussed this morning at a House subcommittee hearing, and soon could make its way into the front pages.

The American Federation of Government Employees has more about Rumsfeld’s plan here. They’ve got sample faxes to send to your Representative or Senator as well as a flyer. If you’d like to email your representatives in Congress, click on the links to the left under “Complain”.

There are at least two campaigns right now to revoke Michael Moore’s Oscar :

Bowling for Columbine violated the Academy’s own rules. These limit the documentary competition to nonfiction films. Bowling isn’t nonfiction. Whenever it was necessary to his theme, Moore invented facts, fabricated events, staged scenes, or doctored the depiction of what actually happened.

Have these guys even read the Academy’s rules?

An eligible documentary film is defined as a theatrically released non-fiction motion picture dealing creatively with cultural, artistic, historical, social, scientific, economic or other subjects. It may be photographed in actual occurrence, or may employ partial re-enactment, stock footage, stills, animation, stop-motion or other techniques, as long as the emphasis is on fact and not on fiction.

Since revoketheoscar.com begins with a condemnation of Moore’s film as “a nasty bit of anti-American propaganda”, it’s hard to believe that they’re concerned about the integrity of the documentary as an art form or that somehow the Academy has tainted its legacy by awarding an Oscar to a film that contains numerous half-truths. Any film lover will tell you, the Oscars rarely go to the films that deserve it the most. Hell, they gave Forrest Gump an Oscar over Pulp Fiction. (I thought Roger and Me was much better than Bowling for Columbine).

Corporate synergy invades the pope’s upcoming visit to Spain :

So, although Jesus managed to feed the 5,000 with a handful of loaves and a couple of fish, the Spanish bishops have turned to McDonald’s. Those who buy top-price tickets will have not just lunch, but also dinner provided by the burger chain. The meals are to include “a burger, fries, soft drink and an ice-cream or baked apple pie”, according to the You Will be My Witnesses website.

The tie-in between McDonald’s and the church comes at a time when both need help. McDonald’s last year said it was to shut 175 restaurants worldwide. Madrid’s Cardinal Rouco Varela, meanwhile, said recently that while most Spaniards are still nominally Roman Catholic, fewer than 40% follow the church’s doctrine.

Also, the Pope’s sermon will be an examination of God’s commandment “thou shalt not steal” with a demonstration by Grimace and the Hamburglar.

Tom Tomorrow points out this L.A. Times story about Cincinnati county commissioner Todd Portune’s lawsuit against their NFL team :

In a lawsuit filed earlier this year, Portune alleges that the Bengals conspired to “shake down” the citizens of Hamilton County by demanding a new stadium in the mid-1990s, and then failing to deliver a winning team. He accuses Mike Brown of creating a “false crisis” by claiming that he didn’t have enough money for quality players ? when, in fact, the National Football League’s salary cap would have prevented him from boosting his payroll significantly, no matter how much cash was rolling in.

Harvard law professor Paul Weiler goes further, calling public subsidies of sports stadiums “truly, truly evil” because the owners pocket most of the profits, leaving taxpayers with little economic benefit and often, not even a winning team. “It’s totally a lie when anybody says a city or county is getting a good deal [from building a stadium],” said Weiler, who has written a book on the topic, “Leveling the Playing Field.”

Public money subsidizing a sports team? None of the profits going back to the city? Why does this all sound so familiar?

Here’s a scary story from my home state :

The U.S. government was preparing for germ warfare by secretly spraying biological agents on its own citizens. The tests were conducted in 239 cities, including one of Oklahoma’s most prominent communities.

“Among the hundreds and hundreds of tests that the army did, Stillwater, Oklahoma was targeted,” said Cole, an expert on the Army’s development of biological weapons. In some cities reports indicate Americans actually died because of the testing.

Government records show florescent particles of zinc cadmium sulfide were released in Stillwater in 1962.

There was no medical monitoring of the population exposed to the particles and Payne County health officials have no records to show the affect, if any, on the people in the Stillwater area.

What they forget to mention is that Stillwater is a small town with the second largest college in Oklahoma. Assuming they did expose a large number of people, 75% of those affected were probably from other towns in Oklahoma or out of state. Simply looking at cancer rates in the town wouldn’t necessarily show the overall affect of the testing, especially if they released the chemicals near the dorms. Then again, maybe that’s why they chose to experiment with a college town in the first place.