I’m one of the lucky ones – lucky because I’ve had the good fortune to share the past ten years of my life with the person I love, despite the fact he’s a Mexican citizen, and I’m an American citizen. I’m lucky because, in 2001 when we met, I had the resources, ability, and the option to move to Mexico and establish a business and a life with Luis. I’m lucky because Luis and I built a rich and rewarding life together.  We enjoy the love and support of both our families, we have a wonderful circle of friends, and we’ve been able to give back to our Mexican community in ways that have been incredibly satisfying. Unfortunately, the past two years have shown us just how fragile that luck has been. My business, a small resort hotel catering to LGBT vacationers to Puerto Vallarta, has suffered greatly since the U.S. economy took its nosedive in late 2008. In 2009, Mexico was the epicenter of the H1N1 flu scare – it nearly shut down the tourism industry for a couple of months. And mounting concerns over the safety and security of travel to Mexico due to drug cartel violence has further decimated the tourism industry and my once-thriving business, despite the fact that the violence is enormously hyped by U.S. media and is mostly localized in a few cities far from Puerto Vallarta. Times are hard. The economic realities of a struggling business in Mexico have compelled me to return

Read More...

Since the early 19th century, the Supreme Court has ruled numerous times on the issue of "personhood" for corporations. That is, they have given corporate entities of all types the legal and political standing of a breathing human being. Some of those rulings were just and fair. Others have had the, perhaps unintended, consequence of subverting the democratic processes of our Representative Republic.   We talk much about how corporate interests have hijacked our legislative process, but the fact is that corporate wealth has always been used to influence our judicial processes in ways that have allowed these "special interests" to legally overrun the legislative branch.   Consider: There were 150 Supreme Court cases involving the 14th Amendment prior to Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. (That nefarious case established the legal standing of "separate but equal.") The 14th Amendment ensures due process of law in legislation, equal protection under the law, etc. It was intended mainly to bring freed slaves into American society. Of these 150 cases heard by the Court, however, only 15 involved freed African-American slaves (and of those 15, they only won one case!). But 135 cases involved corporations or business entities. Corporations, under an expansive legal view of the 14th Amendment, have used it as a shield against regulation and taxes at both the federal and state level.   Corporations have used the 14th Amendment to consolidate their power in the U.S. and the world. They have gained many of the inalienable rights of humans guaranteed

Read More...