There has been a big debate within the USDA as to whether or not contracts can supersede the PSA. Of course this has been the mantra of recently missing JoAnn Waterfield, former Secretary of GIPSA (Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards Aministration). As an attorney for the USDA and then acting director of GIPSA, JoAnn Waterfield has been accused of gross mismanagment of that regulatory agency in a recent audit of her agency.
The question comes as it is cited by GIPSA management as an excuse for inaction in regulating the meats industry.
Does the right to contract supersede the economic protections in the federal law, the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921?
A litteral interpretation of the law would unequivically say "no". In fact, it would seem that it is specifically prohibited by the operative section of the PSA, Section 202. The use of such contracts could easily be seen as a "deceptive device". So deceptive that they fooled the judge in the case as well as the 11th circuit court of appeals.
Indeed, this interpretation of the law is not limited to the meats industry. In their amicus brief in the attorney generals of 20 states argue the definition against the main players in the Enron fraud.
(See next posting for source).
As the amicus breif points out, the main players behind the fraud are liable for the fraud personally and can not be hidden behind the "corporate veil".
After reading the decision of the 11th circuit court, one would have to ask how in the world did they take such a corporatist view in interpreting the law.
The answer can probably be found in the Senators sitting on the committees with oversight authority of these branches of government. Namely, Arlen Specter, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, John Cornyn, Senator from Texas, and others who have allowed the incompetence or corruption of those who sit on the court. The Agriculture Committee chairmans and members on those committees in the House and Senate are also on the hook for oversight authority and the abuse of justice.
One does not have to look far to see the ties and the money that has been paid to members of these committees of industry oversight. What does it cost to buy an industry or two? Who do we hold accountable for the frauds we all live with? These are the questions now being asked all across America's heartland of their Congressmen and in courts across the nation. The answers to these questions will determine whether or not the U.S. is a nation of laws or a nation of corporations and of political corruption.
Are corporations above the law of the land?
We are all waiting to see how the leaders of our nation, in the Judiciary, and in the Congress, as well as the President and the Executive Branch, answers this question.
The question comes as it is cited by GIPSA management as an excuse for inaction in regulating the meats industry.
Does the right to contract supersede the economic protections in the federal law, the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921?
A litteral interpretation of the law would unequivically say "no". In fact, it would seem that it is specifically prohibited by the operative section of the PSA, Section 202. The use of such contracts could easily be seen as a "deceptive device". So deceptive that they fooled the judge in the case as well as the 11th circuit court of appeals.
Indeed, this interpretation of the law is not limited to the meats industry. In their amicus brief in the attorney generals of 20 states argue the definition against the main players in the Enron fraud.
(See next posting for source).
As the amicus breif points out, the main players behind the fraud are liable for the fraud personally and can not be hidden behind the "corporate veil".
After reading the decision of the 11th circuit court, one would have to ask how in the world did they take such a corporatist view in interpreting the law.
The answer can probably be found in the Senators sitting on the committees with oversight authority of these branches of government. Namely, Arlen Specter, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, John Cornyn, Senator from Texas, and others who have allowed the incompetence or corruption of those who sit on the court. The Agriculture Committee chairmans and members on those committees in the House and Senate are also on the hook for oversight authority and the abuse of justice.
One does not have to look far to see the ties and the money that has been paid to members of these committees of industry oversight. What does it cost to buy an industry or two? Who do we hold accountable for the frauds we all live with? These are the questions now being asked all across America's heartland of their Congressmen and in courts across the nation. The answers to these questions will determine whether or not the U.S. is a nation of laws or a nation of corporations and of political corruption.
Are corporations above the law of the land?
We are all waiting to see how the leaders of our nation, in the Judiciary, and in the Congress, as well as the President and the Executive Branch, answers this question.
J4wCfakn40J:www.oag.state.tx.us/notice/061002enron.pdf+%22deceptive+device%22&hl=en&client=firefox-a
