Portland Mayor Sam Adams went to the annual US Conference of Mayors gathering last week, introduced 4 resolutions, and all four passed unanimously!

One of those was titled: ESTABLISH AS A POSITION OF THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF MAYORS THAT CORPORATIONS SHOULD NOT RECEIVE THE SAME LEGAL RIGHTS AS NATURAL PERSONS DO, THAT MONEY IS NOT SPEECH AND THAT INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES SHOULD BE REGULATED

Read the full resolution here.

The second resolution advocated for on-site treatment of radioactive waste where it is produced instead of shipping it elsewhere, especially Hanford.  It was titled: REQUIRE THAT THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY FOCUS ON THE TREATMENT AND STORAGE OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE ON-SITE WHERE APPROPRIATE TO MITIGATE HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS OF TRANSPORTING LOW, HIGH AND MIXED LEVEL WASTE TO OFFSITE TREATMENT FACILITIES. 

Read this full resolution here.

Read the blogposting by Mayor Adams here and take a minute to comment, thanking him for his leadership on these matters. 

You can read about the other two resolution there as well.

Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state is in danger of being designated a national nuclear waste dump site in spite of vast quantities of nuclear waste already on site which is leaking into the Columbia River.

Should this happen, 20,000 to 30,000 truck loads of nuclear waste could start traveling on Oregon highways carrying the waste for storage at Hanford. A US Department of Energy study concluded that over 800 death would result. However, we know that the number would be much higher as they used the average adult male to obtain the figure. Women and children would die at a higher rate than adult males.

Beyond the danger from leaking radiation, accident or terrorist attacks could happen. If that happened on a freeway in Portland, hundred of square miles would need to be evacuated, economic activity would be disrupted up and as many as 1000 people could die.

The state of Washington could say no to the plan. They have the right to refuse shipments of chemical wastes at Hanford. Nuclear waste is not pure but is a toxic stew of nuclear and chemical waste and therefore subject to regulation by the State of Washington.

The Washington Dept. of Ecology will hold a public hearing at which you can comment. The meeting date/time is Wed. May 16th at 7 PM at Red Lion Jantzen Beach. Heart of America NW will hold a pre-hearing learning session starting at 6:15. They are the main advocates for clean-up of Hanford.

Additional information is available at the Alliance for Democracy website at www.afd-pdx.org, including two 5 minutes YouTube videos containing good talking points.

Join David Cobb,

Chief Spokesperson for Move to Amend, for a rousing evening because .....

It is time to change the rules.

The Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling is just the latest - and most blatant - example that corporations have hijacked our government.

In a further assault on first amendment rights, the American Congress approved H.R. 347: Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011. When it comes to civil liberties, all to often the Republicans and Democrats stand together to place new and unconstitutional restrictions on the right of people to speak and to assemble. Note that in the House, all of Oregon's congressional delegation except Suzanne Bonamici voted in favor; in the Senate there was a voice vote by Unanimous Consent and no record was kept. Rep Bonamici voted yes on the measure which adopted the Senate version of the law, thereby allowing the House to vote. She did not vote on the final bill. The bill has gone to President Obama for his signature.

Two events coming up this Wednesday and both worth attending and participating in.
1. Sen Merkley town hall
2. Town hall on Free Trade Agreements, especially the TransPacific Partnership, aka NAFTA of the Pacific.

Mayor Sam Adams will present to the city council a resolution dealing with corporte personhood and making clear that money is not speech. While the resolution is pretty good, changes need to be made to it to remove the references to the constitutional amendments which have been proposed by Sen. Merkley as well as Rep. Schrader.

Please sign the petition addressed to Mayor Adams and the Commissioners at http://www.change.org/petitions/city-of-portland-to-congress-we-the-peop...

"Establish as a position of the Portland City Council that corporations should not receive the same constitutional rights as natural persons do, that money is not speech and independent expenditures should be regulated."

Thus reads the first sentence of a new proposed resolution for the City of Portland.

Earlier in the week Mayor Adams proposed a resolution regarding corporate personhood and money as speech. You can read his proposal here. The resolution would establish official instructions for the city's lobbyists to work on these issues as part of the 2012 Federal Legislative Agenda for the city.

The Resolution needs changes.    Read more ...

Move to Amend, the national advocacy group for end corporate personhood and making clear that money is not speech, has unveiled their proposed constitutional amendment. Simple, straightforward and containing no loopholes, unlike the various proposals which have been introduced in the US House and Senate recently by Sen. Udall/Merkley, Rep. Jim McGovern and Rep. Deutch. These proposed amendments address either only one issue or leave large loopholes. The Move to Amend language follows.

Amendment

Section 1. Corporations are not people and can be regulated.

The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons only. Artificial entities, such as corporations, limited liability companies, and other entities, established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state shall have no rights under this Constitution and are subject to regulation by the People, through Federal, State, or local law. The privileges of artificial entities shall be determined by the People, through Federal, State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable.

Section 2. Money is not speech and can be regulated. 

Federal, State and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures, including a candidate’s own contributions and expenditures, for the purpose of influencing in any way the election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure. Federal, State and local government shall require that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed. The judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment.

Section 3. Nothing contained in this amendment shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press.

Good Jobs for All! No Cuts!
March from Portland to Vancouver
Saturday, Oct. 22 at 11 am

Meet at the field just off I-5 Exit 308 to Jantzen Beach* to march across the I-5 bridge for a Noon Rally at Esther Short Park* in Vancouver

In what was not a surprise, Congress passed the So. Korea, Panama, and Colombia "Free" trade agreements today in what is being described as a victory for bi-partisanship and the White House.

The votes, in part, were 278 - 151 in the House on the So Korea agreement. In the Senate, the votes were 83-15 So. Korea, 77-22 Panama, and 66-33 Columbia.

Even so, the votes among Democrats in the House was lopsided in opposition. From The Hill, "All three agreements had broad Republican support, while they divided House Democrats. Only 31 Democrats supported the deal with Colombia, while 59 Democrats backed the deal with South Korea and 66 supported the Panama agreement."

President Obama introduced three NAFTA-style "Free Trade Agreements" into Congress today. These are with Panama, Colombia and So. Korea. These agreements had been negotiated by Pres. Bush, and now, like Pres Clinton did with NAFTA, our Democratic party President is moving these Republican negotiated agreement ahead.

These agreements must be defeated. Each agreement signed using the NAFTA template is another nail in the coffin of democracy. "Free Trade Agreements" allow corporations to sue in secret international trade tribunals when they think that future profits will be threatened. Recently the WTO in two cases ruled against laws passed by the US Congress and signed by the US President . A third decision is pending. The two laws (1) allowed a Dolphin Safe label on canned tuna and (2) restricted the import of clove flavored cigarettes. The cigarette restriction was enacted as clove cigarettes are regarded as an entry-level cigarette to hook young people on smoking.

Such rulings on the part of the WTO undermine our democractic processes; they steal our sovereignty. We cannot pass more of these agreements and still call ourselves a self-governing people.