Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Sunday, January 31, 2010

A New Emancipation Proclamation

By John Ballard



Evan Robinson put this up.
I presume it is original.
It is absolutely worth repeating and spreading around.



A Proclamation.


I, Barack Obama, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Chief Executive and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States in time of war, declare that all corporations within the confines of the United States are legally not persons and have no rights granted them by virtue of their alleged personhood. The rights of corporations are those specified by law and not any of those specified in the US Constitution.






  • All corporations shall mean each and every corporate entity which meets at least one of the following criteria:

  • is headquartered within the territory of the United States;

  • does business within the territory of the United States;

  • has bank accounts of any kind at any banking institution with a branch within the territory of the United States;

  • contributes to any political organization, PAC, political campaign, or other organization which spends money to influence elections or voting within the territory of the United States or of any corporation specified herein;

  • owns any real or intellectual property within the territory of the United States or registered with the US Government offices tasked with registering intellectual property;

  • owns any portion of any corporate entity described above



By virtue of their incorporeality, all corporations are not persons within the definitions of the Constitution and US Federal Law, and the rights of such corporations shall be limited to those specified by law explicitly describing their effect upon corporate entities and not physical human entities. Constitutional rights do not apply to corporations.



Upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity and in defense of our democratic form of government, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.



In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.


Done at the City of Washington, this first day of February, in the year of our Lord two thousand and ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred thirty-fourth.



By the President: BARACK OBAMA


Since last week's SCOTUS decision I have puzzled over two other differences between corporations and real people.
When found guilty of criminal conduct how come they don't go to jail? (Not just a handful of token humans, the whole corporation.) (In other words, How come their individual human components can be found criminally or civilly responsible, but the corporation is not?)
And unlike people, corporations are in theory immortal, and have the capacity to create offspring overwhelming voters to an undemocratic mathematical advantage.

Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. ZifnabFebruary 1, 2010 at 5:36 AM

    You know, call me crazy but last I checked Corporations aren't "born" either. Or, at least, if they are "born" they don't adhere to any of the laws we have for minors.
    And even if you could argue that they are "born" on the date that they are founded, they don't have parents, much less natural born citizen parents.
    Could it be then, that, all corporations - as persons - are illegal immigrants? Has the INS explored this at all? When will Republicans make a point to address all these foreign illegals appearing in our country and taking all our jobs?

    ReplyDelete
  2. cheflovesbeerFebruary 1, 2010 at 6:30 AM

    When was the last time you saw a corporation get the death penalty?
    or
    If Osama Bin Laden creates a corporation does he have the same powers as almighty god?
    Perhaps the right wing catholics on the bench should be asked that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Don SinFaltaFebruary 1, 2010 at 2:02 PM

    I guess the last shoe to drop will be when corporations get the right to vote. Since there is no limit in principle to how many corporations can be created, this will end the fiction that actual people have any influence at all over their governance other than by virtue of the amount of money they have. And there'd be no point to talking about a revolution after people finally realized their irrelevance. After all, you can't shoot, hang, or even tar and feather a corporation.

    ReplyDelete

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