Just when you thought America's progressives were funny, Bolivia raises the bar.

[werepossum]

http://www.canada.com/news/world/do...r+Earth+same+rights+humans/4597840/story.html

UNITED NATIONS — Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving "Mother Earth" the same rights as humans — having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country.

The bid aims to have the UN recognize the Earth as a living entity that humans have sought to "dominate and exploit" — to the point that the "well-being and existence of many beings" is now threatened.

The wording may yet evolve, but the general structure is meant to mirror Bolivia's Law of the Rights of Mother Earth, which Bolivian President Evo Morales enacted in January.

SNIP

Bolivia is a country with a large indigenous population, whose traditional belief systems took on greater resonance following the election of Morales, Latin America's first indigenous president.

In a 2008 pamphlet his entourage distributed at the UN as he attended a summit there, 10 "commandments" are set out as Bolivia's plan to "save the planet" — beginning with the need "to end capitalism."

SNIP

The UN debate begins two days before the UN's recognition April 22 of the second International Mother Earth Day — another Morales-led initiative.

SNIP

I'm a huge conservationalist, but this in a nutshell is why I and so many like me are so turned off by the environmentalist movement. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the environmentalist movement has become the refuge of those whose main aim is to destroy capitalism and replace it with communism or socialism. Personally I enjoy my motorcycle and my computer, and I've no wish to see either relegated to the small minority of the enlightened whilst the rest of us wallow in Bolivia's benevolent squalor.

 

[wuliheron]

It's their religion stupid, in other words, its a conservative idea. In the US we give corporations the same rights as individuals, they want to give them to the earth. I'd say they have the better idea.

 

[theeedude]

You almost had it, but then you lost the plot and went on your red-baiting rant.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

My wife has a saying "it smells like Bolivia." She's taken several research trips there, so she would know.

 

[Argo]

We don't care about proposals coming from countries that we cannot locate on the map...

 

[wuliheron]

We don't care about proposals coming from countries that we cannot locate on the map...

Is that why so many Americans hate Washington? Because they can't find it on a map?

 

[yllus]

Lots of dumb things get put forward as drafts before the UN. What else are they supposed to do over there?

My favourite to date: Make it a criminal offense to criticise or 'defame' Islam

A powerful bloc of 57 Islamic states is again pushing for the UN to make it a criminal offense to criticise or 'defame' Islam. In a new resolution circulated at a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 11, a paper entitled "Combating Defamation of Religions" was circulated ahead of the Council's next meeting on March 26-27, when the resolution will be voted on.

Though the 57 nations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a bloc which also dominates the UN's Human Rights Council, have been lobbying for the move since 1999, the signs this time are that the resolution could well be made binding. While the resolution calls for protection against "defamation" of all religions, it only mentions Islam by name.

The resolution deems offending Islamic sensitivities a "serious affront to human dignity" which could lead to "social disharmony", "violations of human rights" and "incitement to religious hatred in general and against Islam in particular".

If passed, the resulting binding resolution would find its way into various UN documents all of which would require that UN member states at "local, national and international levels" start restricting the free speech of citizens to prevent public criticism of religious beliefs, particularly Islamic belief.

 

[Double Trouble]

It's time to get rid of the stupid UN, the inmates are running the asylum, no need to throw our money away. A sham of a worthless organization is one thing, but when these things start conflicting with basic tenets of American freedom of expression (like is the case with the islamo nutcase resolution), its' time to get rid of the UN.

 

[RedChief]

Without capitalism, governments get a much freer hand to subjugate the citizens. Coutries run by leftests such as Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Cuba, etc, don't see their people as citizens but as subjects. A poor uneducated serf is much easier to command and to control then a prosperous educated freeman.

 

[Bowfinger]

[ ... ]
In the US we give corporations the same rights as individuals, they want to give them to the earth. ...

That was my first thought as well. Yes, it's a goofy idea ... but no goofier than the idea that corporations have the same rights as individuals. Yet here we are.

 

[wuliheron]

That was my first thought as well. Yes, it's a goofy idea ... but no goofier than the idea that corporations have the same rights as individuals. Yet here we are.

At least the earth is alive and you can make a case that if we kill it, which is looking increasingly likely, even the corporations will die not mention the rest of us. If people are going to insist on using legal expediencies such as defining corporations as individuals then I can't see any reason not to use the same strategy for saving the environment.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

At least the earth is alive and you can make a case that if we kill it, which is looking increasingly likely, even the corporations will die not mention the rest of us. If people are going to insist on using legal expediencies such as defining corporations as individuals then I can't see any reason not to use the same strategy for saving the environment.

So there is no one in the US who has incorporated themselves and corporations are not made up of individuals or groups of individuals? Interesting opinion you have there.

 

[wuliheron]

So there is no one in the US who has incorporated themselves and corporations are not made up of individuals or groups of individuals? Interesting opinion you have there.

The whole point is that legally corporations are supposed to be separate and distinct entities not to be confused with the people who start them, own them, or work for them. You can't have it both ways. Either the corporation has a life of its own or it doesn't. I can't think of any reason why a corporation cannot be completely automated with no stock holders, no employees, no volunteers, and a dead founder.

 

[Bowfinger]

So there is no one in the US who has incorporated themselves and corporations are not made up of individuals or groups of individuals? Interesting opinion you have there.

Nice straw man. Did you pull it straight from corporate-propaganda.com, or did you get it from an e-mail chain?

Organizations are not people; the Constitution does not proclaim We, the Corporations of the United States. The people who form a corporation or who work in a corporation retain their individual liberties and rights. There is no rational justification for also granting those liberties to a legal invention, especially since organizations do NOT have the same accountability and liabilities that true individuals have.

By the way, yes, I think the same principle applies to other organizations like unions, churches, civic & charitable groups, etc. The Constitution and Bill of Rights were intended to recognize the rights of human beings, not organizations. The legal fiction that companies are people too is half the reason Washington is so corrupted today. (The other half being the nonsense that money == speech.) Do away with both and we'd be a lot closer to restoring a government of the People, by the People, and FOR the people.

 

[Steeplerot]

The Bolivian People's tank is coming for Glenn Becks ass. Lookout righties!

-I would suggest calling in the big boys to help, maybe Canada can loan you their tank to ease your fears?

 

[DucatiMonster696]

Nice straw man. Did you pull it straight from corporate-propaganda.com, or did you get it from an e-mail chain?

..snipped drivel..

Nice Ad Hominem.

The USSC disagrees but be sure to let me know when you get those laws changed to reflect your opinion.

 

[Zebo]

Need details... We are conservation minded too with limits, seasons and such set by state biologists. Probably more than anyplace in South America too. I went to Brazil a couple years ago fishing and they just threw dynamite in the lake to get peacock bass out and left everything else to rot. Savages. They could use some conservation.

 

[boomerang]

"Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving "Mother Earth" the same rights as humans — having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country."

Can we assume antibiotics will be banned also? Don't bacteria have rights too?

 

[Bowfinger]

Nice Ad Hominem.

Thanks. Doesn't change the fact that your "argument" was a straw man, and an exceptionally lame one at that. Would you care to make an intelligent argument instead?

The USSC disagrees but be sure to let me know when you get those laws changed to reflect your opinion.

I didn't think so. The Supreme Court is composed of people, people who are fallible. It has made many bad decisions, often due to partisans who put ideology ahead of the Constitution. The nonsense that corporations are people too is one of their worst, and most damaging.

 

[werepossum]

"Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving "Mother Earth" the same rights as humans — having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country."

Can we assume antibiotics will be banned also? Don't bacteria have rights too?

Probably, but it hardly matters. Get rid of capitalism and antibiotics become superfluous unless you start running short of people, just let some die off and make the others work harder to support government.

It's amusing too that lefties who regularly attack religion seem to have no problem with Bolivia's aboriginal religion, primitive as it is, as long as Bolivia's religion is advocating the elimination of capitalism.

 

[jonks]

See, absurdly whacko progressive ideas make you feel cute and fuzzy. Meanwhile, absurdly whacko conservative Uganda wants to execute gay people and those who don't report people they know are gay. Forced to choose the extreme, I'll take the hippies, man.

 

[Bowfinger]

Probably, but it hardly matters. Get rid of capitalism and antibiotics become superfluous unless you start running short of people, just let some die off and make the others work harder to support government.

It's amusing too that lefties who regularly attack religion seem to have no problem with Bolivia's aboriginal religion, primitive as it is, as long as Bolivia's religion is advocating the elimination of capitalism.

There you go making up shit again. I guess it's a lot easier than forming responsive, cogent arguments, especially when your own "positions" seem to be nothing more than the usual vapid talking points.

 

[LumbergTech]

Probably, but it hardly matters. Get rid of capitalism and antibiotics become superfluous unless you start running short of people, just let some die off and make the others work harder to support government.

It's amusing too that lefties who regularly attack religion seem to have no problem with Bolivia's aboriginal religion, primitive as it is, as long as Bolivia's religion is advocating the elimination of capitalism.

in recent days you seem increasingly delusional ......your paranoia about progressives is starting to mess with your head

 

[Theb]

I'd like to make a trip to Bolivia. I'm getting the impression their drugs are far superior to ours.

 

[werepossum]

See, absurdly whacko progressive ideas make you feel cute and fuzzy. Meanwhile, absurdly whacko conservative Uganda wants to execute gay people and those who don't report people they know are gay. Forced to choose the extreme, I'll take the hippies, man.

Forced to choose between those extremes, I too will take the hippies. But I reject that choice. I'm going to go way out on a limb and say categorically that we can keep capitalism without necessarily murdering gay people.

in recent days you seem increasingly delusional ......your paranoia about progressives is starting to mess with your head

Considering that my paranoia has apparently led progressives to introduce motions within the UN to destroy capitalism, deny parents the right to feed their own children within the mandated public schooling in liberal-dominated Chicago, and claim that any changes to Medicare except higher taxes equals destroying it, I'd say that makes me a pretty powerful fellow. You should fear me. You should send me tribute, so that I don't invade your puny mind and make you too do stupid stuff.

Those smart enough to realize and honest enough to admit that progressives are doing these things without pressure from (or even knowledge of) my paranoia should feel free to continue not fearing me. Don't stop the tribute though.