Dear Renata,
I forgot to mention you folks, my apologies! And I believe you all were the
first to get into community rights.

All the best,
Fred

On Aug 18, 2016 12:26 PM, "renata sack" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Donna, we here have been working on it and were successful in having the
> Black Hawk County Supervisors sign a resolution to the effect of
> Corporations are not persons, etc…….
>
> We have more work to do with the individual communities, but we had new
> mayors come in and now have to regroup an approach.
>
> Renata Sack
> Waterloo.
>
>
> On Aug 18, 2016, at 11:30 AM, Donna Buell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Thanks, Fred.  This is interesting.  Lots of good info.
>
> I have heard of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (celdf.org).
> My understanding is that they want these ordinances in place to assure that
> a legal challenge can be brought through the court system (some
> multinational will challenge the local ordinance as a violation of the U.S.
> Constitution).  And a challenge again and again, if we need.  In the hopes
> that the U.S. Supreme Court will reverse itself.  Is this your
> understanding of the work of the CELDF?
>
> I think that’s great and I will get on the celdf.org mailing list.  But.
> But, the issue runs deep and wide throughout our legal system after a
> hundred years of SCOTUS fallacy.  I believe we need the court challenges —
> and we also need the Constitutional Amendment to take us all the way back
> to 1886 and reverse a pattern of court behavior that has corrupted the 1st
> Amendment, the 4th, the 5th, and the 14th Amendments too.
>
> In other words, we need a backup plan should SCOTUS decide to do less than
> what is needed.
>
> Thanks for the info!
>
> Best,
> Donna
>
>
>
>
> On Aug 18, 2016, at 10:59 AM, fred rosenberg <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> Dear Donna, and any others listening,
>
> There are several groups in Iowa working on what we think is a better,
> more direct way to fight the corporate dominance that has overtaken our
> country and world.  This is called the Community Rights strategy.  By now,
> over 200 communities around the country have passed these very carefully
> crafted ordinances that have directly and boldly (and legally) asserted
> that the rights of the local community supersede corporate rights. Period.
>  and that even the natural ecosystem must have legal rights to exist in
> their pure state. Most of these ordinances still stand. A few have been
> fought back, or the ordinance pulled back.
>
> There is a group in Iowa City (100 grannies) that has been investigating
> this, and also here in Fairfield. There is some interest in the quad cities
> and elsewhere in Iowa.
>
> This approach bypasses the need to 'beg' regulatory agencies and/or
> state/federal government officials to do the right thing. which is both
> time consuming, expensive, and often futile. (witness the Bakken Oil
> Pipeline situation for instance.)  It does however require the local
> citizens to rise up and understand their true political power. (see quote
> from the Iowa constitution bill of rights, at bottom.)
>
> Here are several links, for those who are interested in learning more! Or,
> feel free to write if you have questions.
>
> First, a link to the founding organization,  The community environmental
> legal defense fund. www.celdf.org. their founder Thomas Linzey has been
> here to Fairfield twice. he spoke to full house audiences, and indeed his
> initial talk was the inspiration for the Jefferson County Community Rights
> Network.
>
> Second, below is an excerpt from this article
> <http://paulcienfuegos.com/community-rights-movement-and-arc-nonviolent-social-change>
> by Paul Cienfuegos from a couple of years ago. Paul has been to Iowa 3 or 4
> times, and is coming again in the next month or so. he is a quiet, gentle,
> powerful speaker and advocate for 'we the people.' (Also, here
> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Prylnj4NQ8> is a great youtube video of
> him being interviewed.)
>
> kind regards,
> Fred Rosenberg
> Fairfield
>
> A. excerpt
> The rapid growth of the Community Rights movement over the past decade is
> a powerful example of a new form of nonviolent civil disobedience never
> before attempted in this country, and which is literally changing the
> playing field under our feet. Municipal and county governments are passing
> new-paradigm laws <http://celdf.org/section.php?id=39> that are
> themselves "collective acts of municipal civil disobedience", as Community
> Environmental Legal Defense Fund <http://www.celdf.org/> Director Thomas
> Linzey calls them. Each of these new ordinances (and home rule charter
> amendments) intentionally challenges existing law, because those existing
> laws are themselves a violation of We The People's inherent right to govern
> ourselves.
>
> Claims of state pre-emption and corporate constitutional so-called
> "rights" are used to legalize the corporate plunder of our communities, so
> in response we act through local law-making to obstruct that violence. We
> choose to step outside of conventional law, and to exercise our right of
> self-government. We consider it our duty to amend, alter, or abolish unjust
> laws. 150 communities in seven states and climbing - there's no denying
> that a powerful new form of nonviolent civil disobedience is being born and
> tested in front of our eyes.
>
> Core to the strategy of what we are attempting to accomplish is to force
> the powerholders - in this case elected state officials - to come out of
> hiding and choose sides. Are our elected state officials defending the
> rights of We The People? Or do they prefer to defend the so-called "rights"
> of corporate legal fictions? Regardless of how the powerholders respond, we
> win, IF we can sustain and build momentum at the local level, and
> ultimately af the state and federal levels as well. This kind of direct
> challenge is at the heart of powerful nonviolent action. (For more examples
> of creating dilemmas for powerholders, click HERE
> <http://wagingnonviolence.org/2012/03/how-to-create-a-dilemma/>.)
>
> B. excerpt from the Iowa Constitution
>
> *ARTICLE I. - Bill of Rights*
>
> *...*
>
> *Political power.* Section 2. All political power is inherent in the
> people. Government is instituted for the protection, security, and benefit
> of the people, and they have the right, at all times, to alter or reform
> the same, whenever the public good may require it.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 18, 2016 at 9:58 AM, Donna Buell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Who is organizing around a Constitutional Amendment to clarify that
>> corporations are not natural persons and that spending money is not the
>> equivalent of free speech?  I know of a few organizations — but, for
>> example, Move to Amend does not have an Iowa state page….  Are there people
>> — natural persons — on this list working the issue?  Need some help?
>>
>> Thanks much.
>>
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> Donna
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>
> Renata E. Sack
> 414 Sunset Road
> Waterloo, IA 50701 USA
>
> 319 235 7395
> 319 240 4591
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
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