Today’s post is for every person reading this blog who is working to help the dead be heard.
Whether you’re working at a domestic violence shelter and you work for each woman who is murdered before she can leave for good, or perhaps you’re working at an environmental nonprofit that helps people cut down on environmental toxins before they become ill, or even if you’re working to help people with a particular disease, this post is for you.
Greig, 13-years old, and her mom, Jacqueline, were burnt to death when a gas pipeline exploded under their home in San Bruno, California. Our investigation reveals that “PIGs,” pipeline inspection robots, were deliberately mis-programmed to under-report dangerous pipeline cracks …all so gas and oil companies can save a couple bucks on repairs. The Greigs died because pipeline companies lied. And now the PIG-jackers want to build a new pipeline from Canada to Houston.
. . .
For a decade, Goldman Sachs worked a scheme with Greek politicians to manipulate currency reserves to hide big deficits. The fraud netted Goldman a secret fee of over a quarter billion dollars; and netted the Greek people, when the scam blew up, a destroyed economy and a debt––to Goldman and cronies––of $14,000 per year per family. When the debts bankrupted fruit-seller Petrakis, he committed suicide.
Paraphrasing Terry Pratchett:
“Who will listen to the dead?
We who died demand justice now. These are the crimes of Goldman Sachs, Chase, Bank of America, British Petroleum, Shell: Theft, embezzlement, breach of trust, corporate murder
There was no safety. There was no pride. All there was was money. Everything became money, and money became everything. Money treated us as if we were things,and we died.
Blood oils the machinery of the financial system as willing, loyal people pay with their lives for congress’s culpable stupidity, unaware of the toll that is being taken. What can we say of the men that caused this, who sat in comfort around their table and killed us by numbers?
We want Justice. We who died demand this of you.”
To those who know this system is broken, to those who Occupy, don’t give up. We are winning.
How do you know we are winning?
Los Angeles became the first major city to vote out Corporate Personhood on December 7th, 2011. Boulder Colorado also voted to end corporate personhood in November, 2011.
Representative Ted Deutch and Senator Bernie Sanders introduce House and Senate constitutional amendments for Campaign Finance Reform
Martha Coakley, Massachusetts Attorney General sues for fraudulent foreclosures and robosigning, against Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial.
Money moved in October 2011: More than 5 Billion And who knows about November? Probably at least that amount.
“Since the Move Your Money project began, we have been blown away with the response. A year and a half into our campaign and over 4 million accounts have moved away from the nation’s largest Wall Street banks, with an additional 7 to 9 million accounts predicted to move by the end of 2011, according to Michael Moebs, CEO of Moebs Services (UPDATE: new numbers suggest nearly 10 million have moved since 2010). In 2010, Bank of America lost 400,000 accounts alone, as customers grew weary of ever-increasing fees, a lack of personalized service and an overall distaste with the largest bank’s abusive practices.” -From MoveYourMoney.info
Take action.
Check out a movement about the New Bottom Line in your state
More pictures of inflatable protest signs from Mother Jones