On July 4, declare independence from corporate rule!

What are you doing this July 4th? Need inspiration?

On July 4, 1997, AfD founder Ronnie Dugger and Al Krebs, a former AfD national council member and a great defender of family farms, stood side by side in front of the Liberty Bell. Each read his own version of a "Declaration of Independence from Corporate Rule."

Now, nearly 15 years later, we are still trying to keep "the big corporations and the centimillionaires and billionaires" from turning the halls of government into their private clubhouse, and still building the real democracy we need.

Do your bit! It's not too late to get together with fellow activists and plan your own July 4 action. Check out the ideas sent in by groups and individuals and posted here on the Move to Amend website. Dress as a Supreme Court "In-Justice." Be as outrageous as the idea that corporations are entitled to the same constitutional rights as real people.

Bring along copies of this "Declaration of Independence from Corporate Rule" that Nancy Price, AfD liaison to Move to Amend, helped to write. You can print out a large version or a two-to-a-sheet flier from the Move to Amend's organizing resources, or a four-to-a-sheet version on our "Tools for Organizing" page.

Thanks for all you do for democracy, and have a great 4th!

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Move to Amend--mapped!

Move to Amend has mapped its local affiliates--find one near you, or start one up! Tips on outreach and what to do below the map!

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Panel at Netroots Nation considers corporate power in elections post Citizens United

This year's Netroots Nation, featured a panel discussion on energizing voters and activists to take on issues surrounding election funding, corporate power, and how to challenge the influence of big money on public interest-based governance. "After Citizens United: Combating Corporate Power in Elections" featured Jay Harris introducing the sponsoring groups, as well as John Nichols, Laura Flanders, Amanda Terkel and Leo Gerard. Netroots Nation organizers are posting panel discussion videos online; we'll keep an eye on the site and link to the video when it's available--from reports, it was a very popular and energizing discussion.

Netroots Nation also saw the launch of the United for the People web portal, a site with links to lots of groups working on issues surrounding corporate personhood, political bribery, democratic governance, and your political participation. The portal is a project of People for the American Way. Check out all the sites and get active!


Finally, here's some good good words by blogger April Lukes-Streich, an activist working in the banking industry in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She writes for ethecofem on gender, class issues, and local politics. In the excerpt below, the emphasis is ours.

The third session was After Citizens United: Combating Corporate Power in Elections. Like many of the panels I attended, money was a central focus of the discussion. The solution offered by the panelists here was, perhaps surprisingly, a constitutional amendment ending corporate personhood. Many people think that such an amendment would never pass, as it’s been quite some time since we’ve amended the Constitution; on the other hand, the support is behind the spirit of the amendment. It was mentioned that we often perceive the fact that there are so many grassroots, progressive non-profits that are working toward the same thing as an indication of factions within the progressive movement; this is not necessarily true. On the contrary, these groups are fighting for the same end goal and are mobilizing their communities. As is another frequent theme of Netroots this year, starting small and coming together to effect real, nationwide change is key to progressive victory. Simple measures work best, as Laura Flanders of GritTV noted: contact local media, local candidates who they are accepting donations from, be present at as many open forums and townhall meetings as you can manage. We can make a difference if we’re willing to be persistent.

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AfD Monterey County sponsors US Uncut actions

Sue Hubbard, of AfD's Monterey County chapter, sends the following:

Alliance for Democracy Monterey County has sponsored four US Uncut actions locally - two against Bank of America, one against Fed Ex and one against Apple.

We support US Uncut's message that corporations need to pay their fair share of taxes and if they did pay we would not have to have all the cuts in services which are hurting so many people.

We have our own Facebook page (US Uncut Monterey) and post our actions on the US Uncut website - we have had new people attend each event and good turnouts even though it rained on two of our actions.

At Apple and Fed Ex we left the street and entered the store with our signs and made some noise before leaving. The verdict was that doing this was fun and we plan to continue working with US Uncut to put pressure on tax-dodging corporations.

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Mother Earth Water Walk, from Maine to Wisconsin

by Chris Buchanan, AfD's Defending Water in Maine campaign

Native peoples representing the five tribes of the Wabanaki Nation of Maine and Canada gathered on May 7 at a sacred site in Machiasport to begin the Eastern Directions ceremonial walk to Bad River, Wisconsin, where they converged on June 12 with walkers from the North, South and West for a great ceremony. The mission was to raise awareness of the sacred and critical role of healthy water to all life.

As an organizer with Defending Water for Life in Maine covering this region, I supported the walkers by spreading information, organizing overnight stays in Ellsworth, Etna, Athens, and Stratton, being the primary contact for Maine walkers and supporters, coordinating safety of the walkers with local police, providing guidance on the route, and by participating in the ceremony as a walker.

The Water Walk has been one of the most powerful experiences I have had. There is something incredible about focusing all of your energy and intention on praying to water, healing water, and acknowledging the critical presence of water in everything… It was an amazing opportunity.

Grandmother Irene handing over the water to Grandmother
Josephine. In Maine, the walkers covered some 60 miles
a day, starting at 3:30 a.m. and ending around 7 p.m.

The mission of the Anishinawbe Grandmothers that started this walk in 2003 is so aligned with the mission of our project, Defending Water for Life in Maine. We want people to be aware of water in everything. We want people and ecosystems to have the right to healthy water in their communities. Never should water be mined and sold for profit by a private corporation like Nestle. Being driven by dollars, they will never have the best interests of the community, the people, or nature in mind.

Before the Walk started this year, one of the lead walkers said, “We are doing this walk on our own beliefs within our own aboriginal culture and values of the importance of our waters. [Water] is very precious and sacred to our being, as it is one of the basic elements needed for all life to exist.” The walk is, “a prayer for the water, for Mother Earth, for the animals, the birds, the insects, the trees and for us, all two leggeds. Together the walks were one prayer for life.”

For more information on the Mother Earth Water Walk, please visit the website, www.motherearthwaterwalk.com. I would also be happy to share my experiences with anyone who is interested in chatting!

You can read more at the Defending Water in Maine website, here.

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July 4: Declare your independence from corporate rule

As a member of the Move to Amend coalition, we're passing on this alert and we strongly urge our members and supporters to get out and organize actions for Independence Day. And, of course, let us know what you're planning and we'll help publicize it--and send us pictures afterwards!

Join Move to Amend this 4th of July as we Declare Our Independence from Corporate Rule in communities across the nation! Let's educate our fellow citizens about the corporate threat to our democracy, and get them engaged in the movement to take back our country!

View yesterday's Take Action Webinar for details and tips to organize the creative ideas listed below, and more! Need some  inspiration for what to do? How about... an I Miss Democracy pageant, complete with swimsuits, tiaras and sashes, and a talent competition showcasing all the things that corporate persons are really good at. Or pick another way to be visible--and don't be afraid to be as outrageous as the idea that corporations have the same kind of constitutional rights as human beings!

• Dress as corporate judges and corporate "persons" and dance and sing about the takeover of our democracy in your local 4th of July parade
• Host a Corporate Personhood picnic
• Stage a human-corporate mock wedding
• Organize a birthday party for Democracy. Read this "Declaration of Independence from Corporate Rule".

And more!

Find tips and ideas for these events and more on our website... or invent your own creative ways to educate your community about Corporate Personhood and the Move to Amend campaign.

Don't have a Move to Amend affiliate group in your community yet? Start one up! The 4th of July is a great time to spread the word and expand the movement.

Help us collect signatures and grow the number of local Move to Amend groups across the country. Americans of all political persuasions are fed up! Let's offer them an opportunity to join our cause.

Yours for democracy,
Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap
Move to Amend Executive Committee & Field Organizing Coordinator

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Thinkprogress: How The Kochs Built An Oil Speculation Empire

Don't believe the hype from anyone or any organization that tells you that all we have to do to bring gas prices down is drill everywhere the oil and gas industries want to sink a well. Wheeling and dealing is responsible for a big chunk of what we are paying at the pump--and Koch Industries has played a big role in siphoning part of your energy budget off to Wall Street speculators.

by Lee Fang. Posted June 6 on Thinkprogress.org

The Koch Industries front group Americans for Prosperity is preparing a tour across America “aimed at trying to put the blame for high gas prices on the Obama administration.” The tour will feature multiple campaign-style rallies, a website, and radio and television advertisements. The tour will demand that Obama increase domestic drilling — even though domestic oil production is at an all time high and further drilling will do nothing to affect prices.

Koch’s relaunch of Drill Baby Drill appears to be a crass attempt to distract Americans from a true driver of high prices: oil speculation, coming from companies like Koch. In fact, a new ThinkProgress investigation of Koch’s oil speculation business reveals that Koch is perhaps the most important player in distorting oil markets for private profit.

Our report highlights:

• Koch’s role in inventing modern oil derivatives.
• Koch’s alliance with Enron and the Gramm family in deregulating oil speculation, first in the early ’90s then again ten years later.
• Koch’s participation in unregulated exchanges, and the ways in which it uses its political power to allow excessive oil speculation to continue.

Experts contacted by ThinkProgress pin the blame for sky-high prices and record volatility on excessive oil speculation, the oil market corrupted by unregulated Wall Street traders who buy and hold onto oil futures contracts with no interest in the actual delivery of oil. Koch Industries — generally known as an oil pipelines and refining company — is also on the forefront of speculating on oil for profit.

Even Goldman Sachs concedes that at least $27 of the price of crude this year has been a result of rampant speculation, not supply and demand. Other experts contacted by ThinkProgress have said the number is closer to fifty dollars. To read our report about Koch Industry’s long and sordid history in the oil speculation business, click here.

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Hey, Colorado!

The Colorado Move To Amend group's e-newsletter is online here. Highlights include info on monthly meetings in Arvada starting June 9, a screening of "The Corporation" part II in Denver, a possible public bank for Colorado, and links to good videos.

Check it out here.

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AfD National Council member on war, health care, and the central issue of corporate personhood

AfD national council member Rick Staggenborg, MD, who is also founder of Soldiers for Peace International, speaks to Dan Shea, of Veterans for Peace chapter 72 in Portland, OR, about corporate personhood and the sorry state of democracy, especially as it affects veterans.

Rick has formed a new national work group for Veterans for Peace on the abolition of corporate personhood and will ask to introduce a resolution at this year's VFP national convention in Portland, OR calling for an amendment to restore constitutional rights to people. Chapter 72 has scheduled discussion of the issue and the work group at their next meeting.

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What you can do to protect renewable energy development in Oregon

Thanks to strong citizen advocacy and progressive political leadership, Oregon is deservedly known as a national leader in the response to climate change and the transition away from fossil fuels for electricity generation.

All that is now at risk due to proposed state budget cuts, cuts that will drastically impact Oregon's Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency funding. But with your help, we can stop these short-sighted cuts to our renewable energy programs.

Oregonians for Renewable Energy Policy (OREP) is working to preserve this funding. Join with OREP's efforts from now through the end of the legislative session in mid-June to continue Oregon's progress toward a sustainable energy future. And support OREP today with a donation, to keep its advocacy strong.

How bad are the cuts? The Tax Credit Subcommittee of Ways and Means and Senate and House leadership want to put a $10 million cap on all types of tax credits. They plan to:

• Cut the available Residential Energy Tax Credit by 97%, from $34 million to $1 million.
• Cut the Business Energy Tax Credit more than 99% (from $300 million for renewables alone in 2009-11 to $2 million to cover both renewables and conservation in 2011-13).

To find out more, read "BETC Facing Massive Cutbacks" here.

Our elected officials need to hear from us NOW!

Short term savings on renewable energy tax credits will cost Oregonians and their economy more in the long term:

• more for oil--including the costs of military actions to secure overseas supplies
• more for public health damaged by air pollution and climate change
• more for climate-related damage to our environment, agriculture, fishing, and forests
• more job loss in our growing green jobs sector

It's time to let your legislators know that support for clean energy is a priority, not a luxury. Fossil fuel is not our future, and the "innovative" extractive projects now underway, like the Alberta Tar Sands, create far more pollution, corruption, and destruction.

OREP has long advocated for a more stable and cost-effective financing method for renewable energy and conservation programs. They still do. It is the same funding tool Germany so successfully used to become the world’s leader in solar energy and is the reason why it can now confidently declare it will shut all its nuclear plants by 2022. Ontario, Canada is also using the guaranteed pricing structure tool (aka feed-in tariff) to shut down all its coal plants by 2014. Use of this policy tool has also created hundreds of thousands of good jobs.

Maintaining a reasonable level of maintenance funding until we have an alternative in place will preserve our prior investment. So severely de-funding the programs that built Oregon’s reputation sends the wrong message to Oregon’s citizens, to our children and the entire nation, who look to Oregon for leadership.

Responsible leadership requires a measured transition to a more stable financing mechanism while not losing our prior public investment.


What you can do!

• Write letters and follow up with phone calls to your state senator and representative asking them to preserve Oregon's commitment to a clean energy future. Also contact House Co-Speakers Arnie Roblan and Bruce Hanna, Senate President Peter Courtney, Senate Majority Leader Diane Rosenbaum and Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli. Address: 900 Court St. NE, Salem, OR 97301 PH: 503-986-1000.
• Call Governor Kitzhaber and ask him to play an active role in the State Legislature to retain Oregon's leadership position on clean energy (Comment line: 503-378-4582 )
• Become a Facebook friend to OREP and share these action items with your network
• Support OREP’s work with as generous a donation as you can. OREP’s groundbreaking work on the state’s Feed-In Tariff program has led to real progress in development of local, small-scale solar electric production—“democratizing the grid” to ensure a cleaner, and fairer, energy future. For more information on OREP, please visit their website, OregonRenewables.com

Only the voice of Oregon's citizens demanding responsible leadership will preserve our clean energy future. Please take action now to keep Oregon's renewable energy programs a model for the nation, and to preserve our environment, our economy, and our public health.

Thank you,
Nancy Price, AfD Co-chair
David e. Delk, AfD Co-chair

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