Are Corporations Now Hulking Behemoth Pets of the Rich, After Sibelius vs Hobby Lobby Decision?

A little history for you. I promise- it will be brief.

Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission

In 2010, “The United States Supreme Court held that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting political independent expenditures by corporations, associations, or labor unions. This followed a line of decisions starting with Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976) interpreting freedom of speech to include spending money. The case has remained intensely controversial for increasing the influence in elections that money can have, in contrast to most other developed countries where limits are imposed on all election spending.” -Wikipedia

Meaning: First- money talks, literally. Spent money is the same thing as the spoken word. Second, that corporations are people.

Scared yet? No?

Fast forward to Monday, June 30, 2014. The Supreme Court rules on Sebelius vs Hobby Lobby. The case is built around the owners of Hobby Lobby wishing to counter the Obamacare literature stating that they are required to give their employees insurance with contraceptive protection up to and including the “morning after” pill. The Supreme Court rules in Hobby Lobby’s favor, stating that “closely-held corporations” cannot be forced to pay for their employees’ birth control.

As written by Justice Samuel Alito, and reported by Mother Jones online: "[W]e must decide whether the challenged…regulations substantially burden the exercise of religion, and we hold that they do. The owners of the businesses have religious objections to abortion, and according to their religious beliefs the four contraceptive methods at issue are abortifacients."

So. Corporations now hold religious rights, too? I mean, granted, we told them they are people right? One question, if they are people, why can’t a corporation vote yet? Maybe that’s next on the agenda.

I have nothing personal against Hobby Lobby not giving out abortionist contraceptives to their female employees. Not outright. Not because they are a corporation and certainly not because the owners (can a corporation have owners, if they are people? Slavery?) are Christian in their beliefs. I have doubts that Hobby Lobby has any serious intent to harm society with the new decision. Not if they are truly Christian…

Author's Edit: Having discovered Hobby Lobby holds investments including a pharmaceutical company who MAKES ABORTIONIST "MORNING AFTER" PILLS, I am inclined to suggest that yes, even Hobby Lobby is just another corporation who will do whatever it wants, regardless of whom it hurts. I also want to say that, given the judgement affected only female employees, that the Supreme Court's decision is unconstitutional as it only affects a portion of the population, not the population as a whole. Morality aside (I don't agree with abortion), the law is supposed to be equal to all peoples, non-discriminatory based on SEX, RELIGION, SEXUAL PREFERENCE, ETHNICITY, ETC. Hobby Lobby's claim being religion based is a sham. 

"Turns out that Hobby Lobby’s 401(k) employee retirement plan, according to documents filed with the Labor Department and written about by Mother Jones, is heavily invested in the very pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the products the company refuses to cover for its employees." -Washington Post

No, my issue with the decision is what it can now lead to. Corporations are legally people and have been since 2010. Now, our government is granting them ever greater layers to practice their “humanity,” and not all corporations are interested in the common man and woman’s good. Not all of them are Christian. From Facebook, here’s an image of what we could have to look forward.

Can you honestly say that, in your opinion, no corporation would even try to abuse these new legal freedoms?

At the end of the day, if you look at America without beer/patriotic/blind eyes, we are essentially being attacked from two fronts. Who is we? The common man, that’s who. We are being bullied by big money, big corporations, and big government. From one end, the President is literally trying to force you to live a “better” life by regulating you. From another side, corporations are becoming humanistic and allowed to, at least legally and figuratively, live and breathe as an organism. And remember, people are not naturally good. Our survival instincts are first, our moral code built. Corporations (and our government) have already shown us what their moral character is made of…and it’s not to protect or make life better for the no-longer-existent Middle Class.

We are just Poor people, with a very few rich people and now great hulking behemoths, walking over us. God bless America.

Transformers: Age of Extinction is More Than Shrapnel in Your Eye

WARNING: Could contain mild spoilers.

I wasn’t expecting to see Transformers: Age of Extinction until long after all the reviews had been written and nobody cared anymore. Thanks to a friend who really wanted to see this movie, that expectation was shattered. Now, I have something to say about it…and it starts with this:

Anybody who has said TAoE is just a bunch of robots punching each other…again… you’re WRONG. 

I went into this movie expecting far less than I received. I expected to just see robots hitting each other and leaving shrapnel in their wake. While that did happen, there was much, much more going on between the wakes of destruction.

There was story. What is the mystery behind Optimus Prime being a knight? Why does it sound like Knight should be capitalized? How does inventor Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) stay so fit when he’s spending all his time inventing?

 With only one character in the entire movie being wasted (Jack Reynor as Shane Dyson) because the movie demanded a non-robot who could drive fast and do stunts, the human elements return to being a strongpoint in AoE.

Even the bad guys are less cardboard cutouts than full-blown characters with intricacies and needs. Perhaps the greatest trick Michael Bay ever pulled in this movie is that the bad guys aren’t the giant robots blowing each other to smithereens. The bad guys are human, too.

Kelsey Grammer puts in one top-notch performance as the indelible Harold Attinger, who starts off hiding behind computer screens streaming drones’ footage to him, until he is forced to join the action himself. And he does, with a vengeance I have seen more on TV than in movies of late. While he comes off as a bully in many scenes, it works. He is the main baddie after all.

Stanley Tucci plays billionaire scientist Joshua Joyce, who is determined to set the bar for generations to come after coming to understand how to use the material the Transformers are made of. He gets a chance at redemption, and once again, it works within the confines of this movie.

Cade Yeager’s daughter, Tessa Yeager is played convincingly by Nicola Peltz. Between having to show concern and disgust with her father’s choices…and later love for boyfriend Shane Dyson and/or Cade, Nicola shows us a little too much teenage angst…and a talent for being truthful in her portrayal of that angst. That the relationship between her and Shane never becomes believable is not a fault on Nicola’s part…that lies squarely on Jack Reynor remaining cold and disingenuous toward both her and Mark’s characters throughout all 150 minutes of AoE.

As you can see, there is a lot happening on the human front, a refreshing distraction from the ‘splosions we got used to seeing in the last two movies of the franchise. So what of the Autobots and Decepticons? There just isn’t a lot of the traditional faction tension we are all so used to.

 The movie almost ignores Decepticons out of hand. We are led through a story of the Autobots facing extinction. Humans no longer trust Transformers after the Chicago disaster five years prior. Not only that, but we are learning how to make our own. For reasons I won’t reveal here, the Autobots are being targeted and hunted, leading Optimus Prime down a dark path we haven’t seen in the franchise before. He no longer believes in the good of humans. He wants nothing more to do with us, and only Cade is there to try and convince him otherwise.

And then Dinobots. Dinobots!  Did I mention freakin’ Dinobots? While not used extensively in the movie, they are used well, and every second they are on screen one finds them self helplessly staring, wishing, if only I could be there for that!

Ultimately, the story of AoE makes sense, all the way through. From start to inevitable finish, nothing is so fantastic that it just couldn’t be. Everybody’s choices make sense, helping keep characters from feeling stiff and cardboard-y. There are amazing visuals. There are dinosaur Transformers. There is a human element on both polarizing sides that you can identify with. There’s social commentary on what’s going on here in America right now…some blatant, some subtly mixed into everything else. This is a summer blockbuster with heart. With soul. And the characters reinforce the fact that huge robots can still be modern and matter in today’s seen-it-all-already culture.

All pictures, names, and copyrighted material are owned by Paramount Pictures, Hasbro, or other respective contributors.

Hi. I’m James Neal. Thanks for reading today. Enjoy what I have to say? Follow me on Twitter or Like me on Facebook. If you enjoy webcomics, please consider giving my (still small) comic, Mandy and Murder-Bear a shot.

Nia Sanchez: WHY Miss Nevada's Self Defense Answer Wasn't Stupid

WARNING: Trigger Word- Rape

A beautiful, smart addition has been added to the ranks of Miss Nevada as of Sunday, June 8, 2014. Before being crowned, Nia Sanchez was asked a random question that just so happened to be about the approximately 18% of campus women who are raped or sexually assaulted. Her answer (in part)?

“More awareness [of the issue] is very important so that women can learn to protect yourself.”

“You need to be confident and able to defend yourself.”

Twitter exploded with women angry at this assertion that a woman is responsible for taking care of herself. Just explore the following hashtags from Sunday night: #YesAllWomen, #MissUSA, #MissNevada, #rapeculture

Plenty of articles are published about the outrage. I’d like to take the discussion deeper than Ms. Sanchez’s words. I’d like to present some reasons WHY what she said is completely fine, and why her words don’t place blame on victims just for the sake of placing blame on victims.

Random fact: “55% of women involved in date rape had been drinking or using drugs.”

Unfortunately, rape culture is a real thing in modern America, and the world around us. The term “rape” is used far too nonchalantly, far too comfortably, in online forums, chats, and even online games, where users have no real face and probably have never dealt with the nightmare of being unable to stop a person from abusing them. It’s sick, disgusting, and scary. And we tend to blame victims only far too often.

However…

Proponents of reducing rape culture often place all of the blame on anything that isn’t the victim. Look at the random fact above again, I’ll wait. I’m not saying you don’t have the right to drink, and drugs can be found anywhere; but if you’re going to go do these things and NOT have a protection plan of action, you ARE taking a self-decided risk. One that, if you look at statistics, isn’t proving your own intelligence. What I’m really saying here, is that one must be willing to accept responsibility for their actions BEFORE the assault comes into play. You can’t be drunk, by yourself at a party where you don’t know anybody, and say that you should have been completely and utterly safe. Saying so is at least inane, almost stupid.

That’s like saying a person should be able to enter a foreign country during a war and not worry about getting shot or blown up. It’s like saying a four-year old child should be able to walk home alone and not worry about ever being kidnapped. Yeah, that’s how it should be, in a perfect world, but the world isn’t perfect. You can’t pretend it is for everybody else when the situation suits you. There are certain situations that most people will avoid just because something could happen. Why? Because avoiding those moments are sane. Or, better yet, if you have to go into said situations, at least be prepared for the worst to happen. Y’know, like soldiers training before going overseas? Like a four-year old having a friend (preferably older) leading him or her home from school? Like a woman taking a group of trusted friends with her into a new, unknown party situation?

I keep hearing that “men should just learn not to rape.” True story. We should. And most of us don’t even think about performing such an act. MOST of us just want to hold your hand, have great conversations, and when both sides are ready, enjoy the hidden paradise. Evil exists in the world though. Bad men are going to do bad things.

So yes, please. Continue educating, continue changing the way we use language, and continue advocating men acting less the beast and more the gentleman.

But why in the hell would you refute the obvious advantage of being able to defend yourself?

In the eighties, it was hip for women to take martial arts classes. Why? Because it became highly likely that they would be attacked by thugs wanting an easy payday. While not all these women took martial arts classes specifically, they did find self-defense classes…which you can find if you look hard enough.

Do I expect all women to become the next Bruce Lee? No. Do I expect women, and men, to realize their responsibility in getting into bad/unknown situations? Absolutely. I don’t blame you for getting assaulted sexually, or raped. That act is in the other person’s hands 100%. But you do have a choice in where you go, and who you go with. Be smart, be prepared, and watch what the people around you are doing. If you get a bad feeling about somebody, stay away. Finally, stop saying that being able to protect yourself won’t go a long way as a prevention strategy.

Nia Sanchez isn’t an idiot for her words. She’s willing to take responsibility for her destiny. That’s nothing but respectable.

EXTRA: Good Reasons for Martial Arts

-        Only 30 million Americans are estimated to have even taken a martial arts class. Of those, less than 1/2000 achieve black belt status. That’s 0.3% of Americans who have taken a class. Realize that includes men AND women. If you achieve even one or two belts, you’re several bars above the average Joe.

-        Personal Discipline: Martial arts is all about disciplining body and mind. This can help you in your personal, business, and spiritual life.

-        Knowledge: If you keep up with your martial arts training, you’ll learn about how the body works, anatomy, and even other cultures.

-        Health: The natural effect of learning martial arts is hardening your body to be a weapon. You’re heart, brain, circulatory system, muscles, bones, and more will become healthier if you perform your martial art with conviction.

-        Self-Respect: Being able to defend yourself, and knowing you are capable, are strong motivators to holding onto self-respect. Your discipline will shine, even outside the dojo, and succeeding at anything gives anyone a boost to mood.

Nia Sanchez photo found at: http://ouniversodosconcursos.blogspot.com/2014/04/miss-nevada-usa-2014-nia-sanchez.html