June 8, 2011

The battle against the effects of the Supreme Court’s game-changing [1] Citizens United decision [2], the ruling that ripped down the wall between corporations and American elections, is gathering steam among an unlikely group: investors. With Congress unable to pass new legislation [3] and the Obama administration so far unwilling to fix the dysfunctional Federal Election Commission [4], it’s corporate shareholders who are increasingly on the front lines [5] of the effort to foist accountability on the new Wild West of political spending.

On Thursday, the shareholders of Home Depot, the country’s largest home-improvement store, will have their own chance to chip away at Citizens United when they vote on a strongly worded resolution [6] urging the company to disclose all political campaign spending—past and projected, to candidates and third-party outfits—to elect or defeat candidates running for office. The resolution would give shareholders the chance to vote for or against Home Depot’s campaign contributions and make the firm’s top brass study whether the company’s political spending would damage Home Depot’s value and image. “The shareholders are the owners of the company,” says Julie Goodridge, CEO of NorthStar Asset Management of Boston, a socially active investment firm that introduced the measure. “They need to be voting on these kinds of contributions.” (A Home Depot spokesman referred Mother Jones to the company’s response to NorthStar’s resolution [7], which the company opposes, saying it already provides ample disclosure of its political spending and doesn’t believe the resolution “would provide shareholders with any more meaningful information.”)

A Brave Woman

So the other day I read an obituary in the New York Times:

ROSALYN S. YALOW, NOBEL MEDICAL PHYSICIST, DIES AT 89.

… Dr. Yalow was the co-discoverer of a process called: radioimmunoassay, which was, according to The Times, “an extremely sensitive way to measure insulin and other hormones in the blood”. Without going into the details, her discovery led to great advances in the research and treatment of diabetes and various other hormonal diseases.

That discovery, in itself, makes her one of those rare humans who, by virtue of innate genius, great will, and a desire to help her fellow sufferers—on what Clarence Darrow once called ” this graveyard planet”—achieved something truly good in the world.

We can throw most of the Kings, Presidents, Generals and Captains of Industry (save for the ones who actually invented something useful) right into the trash— But to have discovered and made practical a way to save millions of people from terrible suffering and from an early death— Well, that’s about as good as it gets in this world.

But it wasn’t her great discovery that impressed me when I was reading the obituary; it was the fact that Dr. Yalow was the first woman to graduate from Hunter College in New York City (in 1942) with a degree in physics–and she was only nineteen!

A Brave Woman

So the other day I read an obituary in the New York Times:

ROSALYN S. YALOW, NOBEL MEDICAL PHYSICIST, DIES AT 89.

… Dr. Yalow was the co-discoverer of a process called: radioimmunoassay, which was, according to The Times, “an extremely sensitive way to measure insulin and other hormones in the blood”. Without going into the details, her discovery led to great advances in the research and treatment of diabetes and various other hormonal diseases.

That discovery, in itself, makes her one of those rare humans who, by virtue of innate genius, great will, and a desire to help her fellow sufferers—on what Clarence Darrow once called ” this graveyard planet”—achieved something truly good in the world.

We can throw most of the Kings, Presidents, Generals and Captains of Industry (save for the ones who actually invented something useful) right into the trash— But to have discovered and made practical a way to save millions of people from terrible suffering and from an early death— Well, that’s about as good as it gets in this world.

But it wasn’t her great discovery that impressed me when I was reading the obituary; it was the fact that Dr. Yalow was the first woman to graduate from Hunter College in New York City (in 1942) with a degree in physics–and she was only nineteen!

Podcast Powered By Podbean Download this episode (right click and save) World Peace Diet with Dr. Will Tuttle Dr. Will Tuttle is an award-winning speaker, educator, author, and musician. His music, writings, and presentations focus on creativity, intuition, and compassion. He is the author of The World Peace Diet which …

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