First things first. Sum of Us helps you tell Canadian mining corporation Nevsun to stop supporting slave labor in Eritrea. Slave labor at Nevsun mines in Eritrea, that is -- though the Eritrean government calls it "national service," which will make me think less benignly on the term the next time John McCain calls for it. "National service" in Eritrea doesn't just mean forced labor, it also means rape, torture, and execution. But Nevsun pays over a billion dollars a year in royalties to the Eritrean government, meaning they're likely making a lot more, so when they tell us that the U.N. report exposing their role in Eritrean slave labor didn't rely enough on Nevsun's own assessment, you could be forgiven for thinking they might have some self-interest in saying so. Also, they claim it's out of their hands, because the workers are "subcontracted." That's some cojones right there: slavery as "subcontracting." And again: "national service" by working as a slave for foreign corporations! There may be something less popular in the world, but I'm having trouble thinking of it right now.
Meanwhile, Common Cause helps you tell the IRS to close loopholes allowing superhuge political groups to hide their donors, which action will help us find out who's paying out the wazoo to influence our elections. How do groups like Crossroads GPS keep their donors' identities a secret? By calling themselves non-profits, which, by law, must spend most of their money on "social welfare," not political advocacy. But the IRS may well define "political activity" more precisely, so that (hopefully!) the unscrupulous are less able to argue that such activity is really "social welfare" activity. Republicans, naturally, think all of this infringes on "free speech." How many times must I tell these pimps! Money is not speech -- money is property, and laws can regulate property. And, again, this is disclosure we're talking about, which Great and Awesome Real American Super-President Mitch McConnell used to support, until disclosure looked like it might happen, when he started calling it "bullying." Disclosure is really not too much to ask.
Finally, if you've missed previous opportunities to tell Congress to support S. 1709, the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act, which would force banksters to either provide traditional banking services or engage in casino-economy speculation but not both, then Americans for Financial Reform still helps you do that. Why? Because banks hold your money, and if we allow them to indulge in hifalutin "securities" with your money, they will be far less careful with your money, which exemplifies a conflict of interest. So what do you say when some pedant says "the repeal of Glass-Steagall didn't really cause the financial meltdown, because the Treasury Department had already broken down that wall"? You say, banks hold your money, and if we allow them to indulge in hifalutin "securities" with your money, they will be far less careful with your money, which exemplifies a conflict of interest. Yes, I copied-and-pasted that, because you don't need to go through a lot of trouble to smack a pedantic argument down.
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