Are corporate takeovers hostile or friendly

[cornermouse]

when half of the nation's voters put them into office (senators and representatives)?

Because I really feel like I watched a formal corporate takeover of America in November.

And due to the extensiveness and wealth of their financial empire and not coincidentally, lack of spiritual empire (in my opinion), should Falwell, Robertson, and Dobson also be considered corporations?

[whistle]

1. The Dominionist Corporation...

<snip>
Saturday, 18 December 2004, 7:31 pm

DOMINIONIST DEMENTIA: WHAT'S JESUS GOT TO DO WITH IT?
By Carolyn Baker

<snip>
Dominionist teaching is ostensibly based almost entirely on a literal interpretation of the bible. To justify virtually every position, they argue that "the bible says.." I always enjoy encountering them face to face because when I hear "the bible says," I cheerfully reply,

"And which bible would that be?" By that I mean that throughout the history of the Christian church, endless writings in the Christian tradition were eliminated, for a plethora of reasons, from the final canon of what is now called holy scripture. The decisions regarding which writings to include or omit from the canon were largely based on politics and gender. Reading the so-called "spurious" or "heretical" writings eliminated from the canon is most revealing for the light they shed on beliefs which the church fathers and popes found intolerable and which did not fit neatly into the political ends of the ecclesiastical establishment.

Were Jesus with us today, he would be an enormous problem for the Dominionists, and we can be certain that he would be perceived by them not unlike a homeless street person or an antiwar protestor. Jesus and his followers would be marginalized, arrested, and imprisoned. Contrary to the Jesus contrived by the Dominionists, the historical Jesus did not perceive himself as a savior of anyone. Whereas today's fundamentalist Christian insists that one must accept Jesus as one's "personal savior," Jesus never taught this concept. Rather, he was a spiritual mystic and an activist on behalf of human rights and social justice. <more>

<link> http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0412/S00212.htm

[cornermouse]

2. I agree with that.

They'd hate the real Jesus if he showed up as he originally did; one of us, regular everyday working, low wage, tax paying, little people.

[rman]

3. corporate government isn't democratic

it's supposed to be government of, for and by the people - not of, for and by corporations.

[cornermouse]

5. Yeah, but that's not what it is now.

[Dr.Phool]

4. Yes, and they should be taxed

I moved to Florida from Cleveland 2 years ago. I never saw so many churches! But in the case of both, they sit on some of the most prized and valuable real estate around. All tax-free.

The Church of Scientology owns half (no exageration) of downtown Clearwater. When Robertson, Falwell etc, form businesses, they're all under the umbrella of their church, and are tax-free.

And my taxes are raised to pay for their free ride.

[cornermouse]

6. I thought they should be paying taxes prior to Bush's

"faith-based initiative". Now that they've allowed themselves to become an unofficial arm of the government, they really should be paying taxes.

I honestly think that we are basically underwriting their building programs. Possibly that's Bush's solution to a bust in the new home building market? I don't know.