Why no universal personal responsibility?

at least a corporation cannot take away your rights? pffft!! i take it that you haven't heard of the Trans-Pacific Partnership? SOPA, PIPA?

go conduct some research:
https://www.eff.org/action

big pharma practically shaped the ACA ffs!
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303830204577446470015843822


i don't have all the answers here, but one of several alternatives that would be better than the status quo is a government that is actually managed by its citizenry:
http://www.idea.int/vt/countryview.cfm?id=197


the problem is that americans have let their government run amok through apathy:
http://www.idea.int/vt/countryview.cfm?CountryCode=US

a country full of consumers (rather than activists) gets the government it deserves.

 

I know about these things. The point is it doesn't matter. This country is in decline, the general population is getting dumber as time goes on, and the government views everyone as a suspect with surveillance of everything.

The best you can do is go numb and accept it. We are all bricks in a wall. Read 1984. It is coming to life.

 

"at least a corporation cannot take away your rights? pffft!! i take it that you haven't heard of the Trans-Pacific Partnership? SOPA, PIPA?"

How exactly can a corporation take away my rights?

 

I am guessing he will reference infowars.com

 

Yeah, Alex Jones and his ilk, make me sick. It's all conspiracy theories and no proof of anything. It's all about the world is ending, but no solutions on how to stop it. He is about the biggest fucking joke ever.

 

It is entertaining to listen to his diatribes though. His speech pattern and hyperbole make me laugh at times.

 

http://www.corporatepolicy.org/issues/constit.htm
The U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and subsequent Amendments do not explicitly mention corporations. Nevertheless, under U.S. law corporations have obtained substantial rights through key court decisions that have established particular legal doctrines and provided corporations some of the same rights as human beings.

Although we believe there are legitimate reasons and instances where corporations and other institutions should be protected from government intrusion, it is also the case that corporations have used their claims to constitutional rights to expand their power, restrict the rights of individual people (esp. employees), trample the public interest (e.g. overturn regulations protective of public health) and undermine democratic decision-making processes, especially at the local level.


http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11314
CorpWatch: Non-profit investigative research and journalism to expose corporate malfeasance and to advocate for multinational corporate accountability and transparency. We work to foster global justice, independent media activism and democratic control over corporations.

We seek to expose multinational corporations that profit from war, fraud, environmental, human rights and other abuses, and to provide critical information to foster a more informed public and an effective democracy.




http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/business-and-human-rights
Profit at What Price?

Privatization and economic globalization have given companies unprecedented access to new territories, and expanded their reach across national borders.

But all companies, no matter where they are, have a direct responsibility to respect human rights in their own operations.
Amnesty International believes that the business community also has a wider responsibility - moral and legal - to use its influence to promote respect for human rights.


http://ccrjustice.org/corporate-human-rights-abuse
CCR pioneered the prosecution in U.S. courts of human rights abuses committed abroad—and some of the worst perpetrators have been corporations. From the murder of activists, to the degradation of the environment in countries ranging from Nigeria and Vietnam to the Occupied Territories in Palestine and South Africa, corporations must be held accountable when torture and killings are committed to further profits. CCR also fights to hold domestic companies accountable for injustices committed against those who can least afford them, from the families of prison inmates to sub-minimum wage workers.



http://www.hrw.org/news/2007/04/30/us-wal-mart-denies-workers-basic-rights
Wal-Mart’s relentless exploitation of weak US labor laws thwarts union formation and violates the rights of its US workers, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

In the 210-page report, “Discounting Rights: Wal-Mart’s Violation of US Workers’ Right to Freedom of Association,” Human Rights Watch found that while many American companies use weak US laws to stop workers from organizing, the retail giant stands out for the sheer magnitude and aggressiveness of its anti-union apparatus. Many of its anti-union tactics are lawful in the United States, though they combine to undermine workers’ rights. Others run afoul of soft US laws.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTv1Dmu5CYc
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

-Dylan Thomas

 

Other than WalMart, none of your examples take place in America. Our Constitution has nothing to do with foreign countries. Also, Walmart has no requirement to be part of a union and individuals have no requirement to work at WalMart.

 

Stop stating fact and making sense, his head will explode.

 

since when did you become the new corporate relations spokesman for walmart as well as the corporate apologist for human rights violators?

are you on the payroll?

 

what is not factual or nonsensical about the content that poster provided above?

 

nope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1lZMTCqf8
George Carlin

 

You gotta love it... if someone states facts that don't coincide with your position, that means you are a "corporate apologist"? Sorry, but I live in a place called reality, not liberal dream-world.

 

if someone counters with statements to dismiss as irrelevant facts about corporate malfeasance and violations against individual liberties / human rights, then of course that someone gets labeled as a corporate apologist.

do you deny that?

 

Your statements, not facts, are irrelevant. You talk about The US Constitution, then talk about foreign countries.... That is irrelevant.

You talk about Unions and then act like every corporation is required by The Constitution to be unionized... That is irrelevant.

If a corporation breaks the law, then punish them. Which US individual liberties or human rights are being violated in America, and by which companies?

 

actually no, my friend. re-read the above thread. the scope of discussion includes, but is not limited to, the united states and the constitution. sorry, but the world doesn't revolve around 'murica.

if want to focus purely on domestic examples, then Walmart is a very relevant example. go do the full reading on the topic regarding how they treat their employee's right to freedom of assembly. i only gave you a teaser excerpt from the link. your continuing denial of the facts indicate one of two things (or both): poor reading comprehension competency and/or walmart apologist.

here are two more examples of companies violating human rights in the united states:

http://cesr.org/article.php?id=1123
This preliminary report examines violations of women workers' human rights in the Choe factories, located in the heart of New York City and supplying garments for Donna Karen.


http://www.multiwatch.ch/cm_data/2007_Nestles_Water_Wars.pdf
In addition to the important social challenges that citizens’ groups here in Europe are raising about the operations of Nestlé --- whether that be the ongoing battle over infant formula or the struggles against the violation of human and labour union rights in Columbia or the
unfair trade practices affecting the commodity prices of coffee, cocoa and milk --- I want to draw attention to the role that the company is playing in stimulating various kinds of water wars in North American communities.


http://stopnestlewaters.org/about
Why are we targeting Nestle Waters?
Because Nestle’s predatory tactics in rural communities divide small towns and pit residents against each other.
Because Nestle reaps huge profits from the water they extract from rural communities – which are left to deal with the damage to watersheds, increases in pollution and the loss of their quiet rural lifestyle.
Because Nestle has a pattern of bludgeoning small communities and opponents with lawsuits and interfering in local elections to gain control of local water supplies.
Because the environmental consequences of bottled water on our atmosphere, watersheds and landfills are simply too big to ignore.


and now, i'll expand the scope beyond corporations. i'm an equal opportunity discriminator. your own government and its institutions violate your fundamental human rights on a daily basis:

http://cesr.org/downloads/USA%20Web%20final.pdf

https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/timeline

 

Wait, which country protects "human rights" better than the US?

So the US is comparable to Mexico and Turkey for child poverty???
Are you f'ing serious? There is no other country in the world where I would rather be poor than the US. The biggest problems for the "poor" in the US are having only one car and only a 40" plasma tv and maybe a little childhood obesity.

Your links are pure garbage.

 

+1 for the humor. nice try, but try again.
<your brain is the part of the equation which is garbage, and so i would be calling customer service for an upgrade or a refund if i were you.>

the data is sourced from OECD and World Bank, which are authoritative for such metrics and comparisons. you also need to bear in mind that the comparison is only made amongst OECD countries. countries like pakistan, afghanistan, and all the other really poor countries aren't in the OECD and therefore not included in the data set.
http://www.oecd.org/general/listofoecdmembercountries-ratificationoftheconventionontheoecd.htm


and yes, the US only lags Turkey, Mexico, and Poland when it comes to the % children living in poverty. that is pretty damn sad for a so-called #1 super-power.

 

http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/ArchitecturePlanning/discover/centers/CYE/Publications/Documents/outcasts.pdf
Although counting the exact number of homeless children is difficult, a consensus is emerging among researchers. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, 1.2 million children are homeless on any given night. Supporting this figure are estimates from the U.S. Department of Education that report almost 400,000 homeless children were served by the nation's public schools last year. Since more than half of all homeless children are under the age of 6 and not yet in school, a minimum of 800,000 children can be presumed to be homeless. On the basis of these data, the National Center on Family Homelessness
concludes that more than one million American children are homeless today.