They lose no rights at all. A Corporation is not "freedom of assembly". It is a commercial company which has no rights of citizenship, including voting. I maintain that they are inherently promoting special interests, which is fine as long as they don't come between me and my representative with special access and various legal bribes. Let the special interests buy TV time and lobby the citizens directly and we'll tell our representatives what to do.
No money from anyone but individual citizens to politicans. Corps and unions along with pacs can buy tv time to promote a candidate but not give money directly. Shorten the election campaign to four months for all elections. No adds by candidates before then but corps , unions and all others could whenever they want to. This would take lots of the corruption out of politics. That is how I would fix it.
i am not gonna debate whether the mb has ties to libyan rebels. i have not read anything either way, and i dont know. however, this is not a group of old men that sit around being kindly. the islamists are quietly taking over middle eastern countries by paying off the poor in ways that advances and perpetuates extreme conservative islam, and islam that in many ways is unislamic. the mb is behind these payoffs and "incentives". payoffs such as payments for men to take additional wives. in more modern arab countries, paying the male heads of poor families for each woman in the family that completely veils. and on and on. they are quietly gaining control of educational institutions and undoing rights for girls and women. the erosion of these rights also includes sanctioned violence against women. in muslim societies, women are the bellweather of sorts for how fundamentalist the society is turning. laws that are passed that are draconian in how women are treated, are an indicator of how much of a foothold the islamists are gaining. and the mb is behind a lot of it. they also support, financially, other social organizations that do advocate positions such as being against any peace with israel, fundamentalist propoganda, etc. my source is a very good book written by a journalist who traveled through the middle east and wrote a book on how women were treated in each country, how islam in each of those countries treats women, and the greater and greater trending towards suppression and degradation of women by the islamists as they make strides in each of the societies. the author interviewed women of all walks of life, and men also, including highly placed mullahs. red, if you can read the book and tell me you do not think the mb is a threat, then i will respect that is your opinion. however, my opinion, from reading the book multiple times now, is that the mb does not have to take up arms to be a threat. they are a threat, imo, in their advancement of extreme fundamentalist ideals and social policies that are helping islamists take over countries. even if not toppling governments, they are gaining the loyalty of the masses towards supporting extreme islamist and ideals. the same islamists that do advocate the physical violence against those that do not agree with them. one does not have to participate in physical violence directly to have a hand it it. the book is "price of honor" by jan goodwin. i encourage anyone who has an interest in what goes on in the middle east, how women are treated, or the islamists movement, to read it.
I don't defend the muslim brotherhood. They are stuck in the 16th century, which is why I don't think they will gain much traction with the young revolutionaries. These have been secular Arab revolutions, not jihads. There will always be fundamentalist muslims just like there are fundamentalist Christians (Westboro). But they aren't running these revolutions . . . not even in Egypt.
probably not, but we dont know who is running them, or who is tied in giving aid, financial aid, etc, setting themselves up to get a firmer grasp and control after a revolution. the actual revolution is just the first phase of it all. sorting it out after and setting up new governments, etc is gonna be very telling. bottom line, i think that the mb and islamists have been setting themselves up for this, whether or not they are doing the overthrowing. but the book i references is very good, and very informative!
Obama on tv tonight to explain all of this Libya mess to the American people. What will he say? I am looking forward to seeing how the press spins this. If this was G. W. the press would have trashed him. Let's see how they treat Mr. Obama. Here is a link to Dick Morris discussing the Powell doctrine as it applies to Obama and the Libyan military action OBAMA The Powell doctrine says that military force must be used when you have a clear mission and equally clear exit strategy. Questions that must be asked of this president are 1) does he have a clear mission. He says we must protect lives. Can you protect those lives without removing gaffi? ( intended disrespect ) If gaffi stays and imprisons all rebels and their families do we fail? Can lives be saved by airpower alone? 2) Is turning this mess over to NATO our exit strategy? When is it over? Is it over when gaffi wins and crushes the rebels? How about when he is replaced? Does he have to die or be replaced for the mission to end? Democrats loved to throw the Powell doctrine out there when bush was president. How does Libya and Obama meet the Powell doctrine?
