SCOTUS | Occupy World Writes

Soybeans and corn fields. Photo by Dwight Burdette (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Soybeans and corn fields. Photo by Dwight Burdette (Own work) CC-BY-3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Over a million individual farmers, growers and organic agriculture professionals were recently sent the message by the US Supreme Court that Monsanto has more rights than they do, under the laws and courts of the United States. The high court refused to hear the appeal in the case of Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, et al., v. Monsanto Company, et al. Supreme Court Case No. 13-303, filed in 2011.

The decision means that the courts, whose rulings are based on limited understanding of farming practices and issues, will not hear enough evidence to fully understand the plight of the American farmer. Monsanto retains their right to sue farmers, but farmers do not have the right to sue Monsanto.

Monsanto has no shame in their handling of the issue. On their website, they claim “The vast majority of farmers who are presented with facts showing infringement admit the violation and pay a settlement.” Interpretation: We intimidate with fear and heavy handed tactics until the farmer admits we’re bigger than they are – then we make the farmer pay.

They continue with “Since 1997, we have only filed suit against farmers 145 times in the United States. This may sound like a lot, …but it’s really a small number. Of these, we’ve proceeded through trial with only eleven farmers. All eleven cases were found in Monsanto’s favor.” Interpretation: We’ve actually filed suit on 410 farmers and 56 small farm businesses in 29 states, and intimidated over 4,500 farmers into out-of court settlements. We just don’t want you to know. about any of that, as we want the number to look small. We got all but 11 of the cases dismissed, but we are bigger than them, we have more money and highly paid attorneys and have ~~bribed~~ lobbied more branches of government than the average farmer even knows exists. Undefeatable, we will win every time, so we don’t really need to care. (See CorpWatch and Center for Food Safety reports.)

What can we do? On May 24, 2014, March Against Monsanto is organizing a global action with rallies in most major cities of nearly all nations.
Write or call your state and national representatives, telling them your opinion that favoring a corporate giant over a small farmer is not acceptable. Putting the nation’s food supply at risk is not acceptable. GMO foods are not accepted in most foreign markets, also risking the jobs and economic stability of those farmers growing export foods – this is not acceptable.

Tell everyone, spread the word and GET INVOLVED!

Corporations are not people. Money is not speech.

Image By BarackObamaLongFormBirth Certificate.jpg: State of Hawaii derivative work: TUFKAAP (BarackObamaLongFormBirth Certificate.jpg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Every citizen of the United States is issued a social security number in order to work, live, conduct business, pay taxes and enter into agreements recognized by legal authorities. To obtain this social security number, a certificate of live birth must be provided to the government that validates the individual identity of each of its citizens.

When the 2010 SCOTUS decision of Citizen’s United declared that corporations are people, no provision was made for these “corporate personhoods” to provide the American people with a copy of their LIVE BIRTH CERTIFICATE that distinguishes them as a valid citizen with all the rights and privileges afforded them through the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Most corporations have a document called an Article of Incorporation, which serves as a set of policies and legal requirements whereby the officers in a corporation are guided toward a common goal or purpose. One of these things is not like the other.

This is the 6th year of Barack Obama’s two-term presidency. In the background noise of the country’s conversation, we still hear those that deny his birth certificate to be valid. Why are the American people not asking to see the live birth certificates of corporations? When were they born? Where? Who were the parents? Who delivered them? Were there any witnesses (birth certificates require two signatures to be valid)? What county jurisdiction retains those records, and when were they filed? How do we know they were not falsified if we do not ever see the original? If these are all questions we can ask in relation to the office of the president, and questions we are obligated to answer as citizens, is it not discriminatory to exclude one sect of the “population” from these requirements?

Occupy World Writes encourages all Americans to ask these questions not only of the corporations, but also of their state and national representatives and, most pointedly, of the Supreme Court of the United States members who wrote favorable opinions in the Citizen’s United decision. We do not expect to actually see any birth certificates, but we do believe the validity of the argument speaks for itself when combined with critical, reasonable thought.

SCOTUS has not made that illegal – yet.

Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Tag Archives: SCOTUS

Patented Crops of Court Rulings

Papers, Please…