The Fifth Letter

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Free eBook of “The Fifth Letter”–Who Is A Person?

September 5, 2015 By Vivian Carpenter

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Who is a person with inalienable rights in America?

I recently got an unsolicited email for a presidential campaign contribution that began, “We The People.”

By opening our Constitution with these three simple words,the Founders made it clear that in America, the citizens would be the center of power.”

Is this still true today?

If you really want to understand this critical public issue, you should read The Fifth Letter now!

Throughout The Fifth Letter the political issue: Who is a person in America with inalienable rights is fully examined.

If you want to understand what “Corporate Personhood” is and how it evolved, this is an entertaining way to get a sound lesson in American History on this critically important topic and you will come to understand who has superior rights in American.

Superior rights in America are not based on race.

Today, superior rights in America are not based on gender.

Superior rights in America are not determined by national origin.
A class of persons with superior rights to all of us was created in 1919 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Without the Congress. Without the President.

And that just isn’t right.

We The People need to fix it!

Find out why by reading “The Fifth Letter”.

To spark your interest, I’ve decided to give the ebook edition of “The Fifth Letter” away on Amazon until Sunday, September 6th.

Click below on the Amazon link now. The price of the ebook is $0.00 today.

This is a short window of opportunity.

Act now!

While getting it is a sure thing.

Just click on the Amazon button now, to download the ebook of “The Fifth Letter” for free through Sunday, September 6th. So don’t delay.

But if you missed the free download of the ebook, you can still enter the Goodreads Giveaway of a signed hard cover copy of “The Fifth Letter” by clicking on the picture below.

Make today your lucky day by clicking on the Amazon link or the Goodreads picture below. Your Choice.

But you can lick on both of offers, if you’re in time.

Good Luck!!!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Fifth Letter by Vivian Carpenter

The Fifth Letter

by Vivian Carpenter

Giveaway ends September 14, 2015.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Filed Under: Corporate Personhood, Promotions, US Supreme Court

Failure Is Simply A Stepping Stone To Success

August 29, 2015 By Vivian Carpenter

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Failure Is Not The Opposite Of Success, It Is The Stepping Stone To Success Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post

If a baby just sat on the floor and cried after trying to take its first step—and never tried again—would the baby ever walk? No. The baby’s muscles would never grow to be strong enough to support his weight, if his mother carried him from that point on. No loving mother would say, “Baby, don’t try again.”

But too many people in the world today have given up, beaten down by their failures and indifference by others to their plight in the world.

Hopeless. They don’t try again. But we need everyone to try again.

What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? A lot. If something didn’t work, you would try again. You would set big goals. You would approach all problems in your life without fear. You would be great. Your name would appear in the history books. The next generation would know your story, just like we know the stories and names of George Washington, Martin Luther King, Henry Ford and Nelson Mandela.

They all faced tough circumstances in the world and had to conquer their fears and emotions to find success in life. They had failures. Many times. Henry Ford said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”

Yet, some of us stop when we meet failure. We give up. Why?

Because we fear meeting failure again.

We lose our hope, then our vision of what we — and the world — can be.

I believe it is the fear of failure that keeps us from reaching our greatest potential as human-beings. As we look at the problems confronting us today, too many of us feel overwhelmed and powerless to change our circumstances.

So we sit back, complain and do nothing.

We find fault in the actions of others. We criticize. We believe the lie we told ourselves. The lie that holds us back: I’m powerless.

Have you failed in your efforts to get what you want out of life?

That’s okay. It’s just a part of gaining the wisdom you need to be successful.

You should think of every failure as a stepping stone to your goal.

It’s nothing more than that.

Many of my successes in life have been spectacular because I’ve kept trying in the face of repeated failure and push back from others.

I knew I was okay when others saw me on the edge of a cliff.

I think failure is a perquisite to achieving high levels of success in life. That’s been my experience. So I expect failure to show its face, especially when I’m trying to reach another one of my unreasonable goals in life.

When I’ve faced failure, I’ve always looked for the inherent lesson.

Then I’ve tried to accelerate my rate of failure. I’ve thought, “Let’s hurry up and get these failures over with.” I try again and again, hour after hour, day after day and even year after year to break through to successes.

I know I’ve had many more failures than successes in my life.

That’s just how it works.

What’s important is to keep the faith through the many dark nights required to become an overnight success. Understand this point.

Don’t be discouraged. Be persistent. Be resilient. Be of strong mind.

There’s also a wisdom lesson associated with every failure.

Wisdom is what we get from our life experiences when we pay attention.

So pay attention!

When I look at my failures, I always assume there’s something I didn’t do right or take into consideration. There’s always something to learn.

I’ve always held myself accountable for my failures. That way I can avoid becoming a victim. If it’s not my fault, I can’t fix it.

So take ownership of your problems and find the solutions that work.

Listen to your critics. The criticisms of your enemies, bosses, family and friends always contain seeds of truth, even when delivered to you in a harsh way. Get the lesson. Come up with a new strategy.

Then execute again and again. Failure is just feedback. Try again.

Many feel that they are failing to reach their goals. Are you one of them?

If you are, don’t just complain.

Decide what you can do to make a positive impact in your community or company now. The truth is: You are not powerless.

What would you do, if you had no fear of failure?

That’s what you should be doing today.

Need help?

Put it out there and see who will join you.

Allow the organizing power of the universe to amaze you.

Make a plan for your positive development as a human-being.

What can you do?

Filed Under: Overcoming Fear, Social Justice Tagged With: Social Justice

Legal Reality Check: Tom Fox Post Relating The Fifth Letter To Current Events

August 4, 2015 By Vivian Carpenter

Carpenter’s book portends today’s lesson for the compliance practitioner

I recently received a review copy of the book The Fifth Letter by fellow University of Michigan grad Vivian L. Carpenter. It is a rollicking good read which touches on areas of constitutional law, inalienable rights in the US, the complexities of racial relations in the South up to this day, an all-knowing/all seeing cabal which runs things from behind the scenes all wrapped up in the politics of modern day Washington DC. As a lawyer I greatly enjoyed the scenes that occurred in, around and about the US Supreme Court, the Senate’s advise and consent process for Supreme Court nominees and even a civics lesson in amending the Constitution. As a maven of thrillers I enjoyed the non-stop ride lead by the all-knowing/all-seeing cabal (who I like to call the Omnipotent ‘they’) who the protagonist, Katherine Ross, must face down and defeat. If you enjoy any of this, I would suggest you check out The Fifth Letter on Amazon.com or at your local bookstore. It is one of those rare books that is a great read, a roller coaster of a good ride and one from which you will learn quite a bit, all wrapped up into one book.

I thought about how well Carpenter tied all these seemingly disparate events, strands and concepts together in her work of fiction as I was reading a recent article in the Financial Times (FT) about the ever-increasing scope of the Petrobras corruption investigation in Brazil. In an article entitled “Petrobras scandal turns spotlight on Odebrecht” Joe Leahy, John Paul Rathbone and Andres Schipani reported on the arrest of Marcelo Odebrecht in the wake of the ongoing Brazilian corruption investigation dubbed “Operation Car Wash”.

The reporters noted that the investigation has shifted “in the latest sign of how Brazilian business and politics is being reconfigured by the Petrobras scandal, Mr Odebrecht is being held without bail in a sparse cell in the southern city of Curitiba. There, the billionaire member of a class that traditionally considers itself above the law, reportedly has to sleep on a concrete bunk and share a communal shower.” They quoted Professor Sérgio Lazzarini of São Paulo’s Insper business university who said, ““We are in a kind of different story now,” It [the investigation] is changing the perspective of many businessmen.”

Odebrecht is “president and chief executive of Odebrecht — the Brazilian multinational that is Latin America’s largest construction company but also, because it is privately held, one of the world’s biggest companies that most people have never heard of.” “With $41bn in revenues, 181,000 employees and businesses that include building football stadiums and nuclear submarines, his company operates in 23 countries, from Angola to the UK and most of Latin America.” Moreover, it “almost acted as the corporate handmaiden of Brazilian foreign policy, managing complex infrastructure projects in strategic locations that had caught the eye of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.”

This confluence of public influence for private benefit, a hallmark of Carpenter’s novel, is also present in the Odebrecht investigation as former President da Silva is “being investigated on separate allegations that he improperly used his connections to help Odebrecht win international contracts. Mr Lula da Silva and Odebrecht vehemently deny any wrongdoing. The yearlong probe, now aided by the Swiss attorney-general’s office and Portuguese and Latin American prosecutors, promises to illuminate the shadier side of Latin American business practices.”

As a company Odebrecht is privately held yet has $61bn in assets, which the article notes are largely held in joint venture (JV) with Petrobras. In 2014 the company had sales of $41bn but only profits of $210MM. The company says that it is due to its “razor thin margins” but it seems to me the money could be running out to others with profits that slim on such revenues. Unfortunately for the company, the arrest of its President has led to concerns from financial analysts. The article noted, “Moody’s, the rating agency, has warned the case could jeopardise some of Odebrecht’s $34bn backlog of construction contracts, including $3bn of Colombian projects.” Luis Fernando Andrade, head of Colombia’s infrastructure agency, said, “[If] proven guilty in Brazil, that could generate inabilities [for the company] in Colombia.”

Odebrecht is well known as an international construction company, with a particularly strong reputation for the “ability to operate successfully and manage relationships in countries with “significant levels of political risk”, as it noted in a recent bond prospectus. That includes building Tripoli’s airport — until work was disrupted by the 2011 Libyan military intervention — and Panama, where Odebrecht won $8.5bn of projects under former President Ricardo Martinelli, who is currently being investigated for corruption. A 2.8km viaduct built around Panama City’s old town for $782m had a cost per kilometre surpassed in the US only by Boston’s infamous “big dig”, according to official US statistics cited by local environmentalists.”

Such kudos would seem to indicate that the company plays in a very high-risk market. When you have high-risk, it is incumbent that you manage that risk appropriately. With the well-known proclivity for corruption in the international construction business perhaps the imbroglio that the company now finds itself is not too surprising. Yet the article noted “Many say that even if Mr Odebrecht proves his innocence, the scandal marks a watershed for Brazil’s construction companies, much like the partial humbling of banks after the global financial crisis.”

The article also details the trail of alleged money payments made by the company to Petrobras officials. It shows payment through known money laundering havens on its way to the bank accounts of Petrobras officials in Switzerland. The officials alleged to have received these monies are Renato Duque, Pedro Barusco and Paulo Roberto Costa. It is further alleged that some of this money was passed onto officials from Brazilian political parties.

I think Carpenter’s book portends today’s lesson for the compliance practitioner; which is re-emphasized by the FT article. For any US or UK company which has been doing business in Brazil for at least the last 10 years, you need to look very hard at who you did business with and how you did business with them. You need to see if there were any suspicious payments that could tie your company to not only Petrobras but also other Brazilian companies caught up in this scandal. You can be certain if the Brazilian prosecutors turn up evidence of involvement by a US company, they will turn it over to US prosecutors. You definitely want to a head off any letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about your accounting provisions or any raids by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or Department of Justice (DOJ) looking for evidence of corrupt payments.

You can purchase a copy of the book The Fifth Letter on amazon.com by clicking here.

This publication contains general information only and is based on the experiences and research of the author. The author is not, by means of this publication, rendering business, legal advice, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such legal advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified legal advisor. The author, his affiliates, and related entities shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person or entity that relies on this publication. The Author gives his permission to link, post, distribute, or reference this article for any lawful purpose, provided attribution is made to the author. The author can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com.

© Thomas R. Fox, 2015

 

 

Filed Under: Guest Blog

Guest Post: Is The Fifth Letter A Vehicle For Change?

August 4, 2015 By Vivian Carpenter

A long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT, and raise at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason. Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

Books can be used to open the doorways of our minds. They can shape and redefine the consciousness of its readers.  That’s what happened in 1776.

And that’s what needs to happen today to claim our constitutional rights.

The truth is simple: We The People are human-beings!!!

We The People should have equal rights under the law.

That’s a Natural Law concept.

That’s also Common Sense thinking.

Classic texts tend to be literary works that have the power to change society by exposing the reality of the current state of affairs with words that chisel away at accepted societal norms that are based on false assumptions of power and privilege.

Think of John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Years ago, Steinbeck showed the power of the corporation over individual rights. It was in my reading of The Grapes of Wrath, while writing The Fifth Letter that I came to realize that We The People share a common struggle against the collective interests of corporations. This issue is not really Black vs. White. It is about all of us defining our inalienable rights as individuals. Therefore, I would argue that The Grapes of Wrath has been a vehicle for change in America because it changed my thinking.

While writing The Fifth Letter, I embarked on a path to become a creative writer. I studied classic texts. I sent an intention into the universe to create a work of fiction that would have impact on the world. I prayed. I paid attention to coincidences. I researched. I wrote. I prayed for guidance. I rewrote. Again and again. I cut. I learned to meditate.

At first, I wanted to do too much in one novel. I was urged to do less and focus.

I was challenged to find the legal issue that had the power to make a united whole of The Fifth Letter. I discover it was a ripe constitutional issue that requires attention today: Who is a person with inalienable rights in America? The message and purpose of The Fifth Letter emerged as I matured as a writer, valuing all constructive critical comments–even when given with strong words.

I searched for a powerful message that would resonate to all. I searched for truth. I read many powerful words in classic texts that unlocked the way I viewed the world. This experience, in turn, influenced my writing. The Fifth Letter became a vehicle for my personal development and transformation as an Individual. It changed me. It’s motivated me to speak out at what may be a critical point in our history.

Can it change the thinking and actions of others?

I believe books can ignite courage to stand up for what’s right. Think of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense that inspired the Thirteen Colonies to fight for their independence. Will The Fifth Letter ignite the citizens in America to stand up for our individual rights and fight the socially constructed reality of Corporate Personhood?

With this legal fiction, we’re headed in the wrong direction. It’s time for change. This issue should have been dealt with in the U.S. Supreme Court case Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission. But it wasn’t.

Now, We The People must take on the issue of Corporate Personhood to protect our freedoms from foreign interests who are posed to slay us in the economic arena.

We The People do have the power to make things right in America.

I didn’t start out writing The Fifth Letter with the goal of making it a vehicle for change. I simply wanted to explore the roots of my family history and complete a mission that my late uncle, Charles Lincoln Thomas had begun. I started with a one-page summary of a pivotal event in the Thomas family history that I did not believe could be proven today. So I decided to write a fictional story with that one-page of explosive family history as the inspiration for my initial research.

I decided to build The Fifth Letter on a solid platform of research. I visited the sites that were scenes of violence in Georgia that had occurred so many years ago, letting myself feel emotions that flowed from my research. Taking in the energy of sites that I visited. Letting my mind tell me stories about what might have happened during Jim Crow in the South. I had conversations with possible distant relatives who shared Thomas family history, discovering links to our collective family history.

I attended Writer’s conferences, meeting many who helped me learn the craft of creative writing, especially the now defunct Maui Writers Conferences. I had the good fortune to meet New York Times Best Selling Author William Martin during a writing conference in Fiji and hired him as my main editor. With the guiding editorial hand of William Martin, I searched for the legal issue that would run through The Fifth Letter, providing it with a spine. It was late in the writing process when I discovered it was the “Who Is A Person?” question that ran through The Fifth Letter.

I believe The Fifth Letter is a story that has power that should resonate with everyone because it is a hero’s journey: the journey of Justice Katherine Helena Ross wresting against the corrupting forces in the world. She is an individual struggling against evil forces to create positive change in America. It is a story of her personal transformation. During my writer’s journey to create The Fifth Letter, I discovered personal transformation is the only way to create change in our society.

Out of the many, one. E Pluribus Unum.

This is the motto on the Great Seal of The United States Of America. If The Fifth Letter is to become a vehicle for change, it must pass the test of time, like Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, transforming the thinking of one person at a time. It must be widely read. The people who read it and are influenced to do something to create change in the world must promote it. That process is just beginning. It’s too early to judge.

The Fifth Letter must pass the test of time.

Like Common Sense.

Revised Guest Post By Vivian L. Carpenter For We Read That Too website.

Filed Under: Corporate Personhood, Public Advocacy

The Supreme Court and Affirmative Action

June 16, 2015 By Vivian Carpenter

This is was intended to be my first blog. But it took me a year to launch The Fifth Letter website from this initial writing. Since the information is still timely for public debated and political action, I decided to let this post stand as food for thought and a motivator for political action to create change in America.

As many of you know last year, the U..S. Supreme Court kicked the matter of Affirmative Action in public higher educations back to the states for a political resolution in a 6 to 2 decision. Justice Sotomayor defended Affirmative Action, but she’s just one vote.

It takes five justices to make the laws in America.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to deal with he issue of racial injustice in public education.

That’s what they always do with tough issues when the people show no will to face the confront extreme injustice.

Thus it still seems fitting that I would address the Affirmative Action issue as one of my first efforts to enter the national debates on topics that matter as we move toward unity as a nation and improving our economic competitiveness in the world. What I can do today is add my voice to the debate.

The U.S. Supreme Court took up the issue of Affirmative Action again in October 2013 as one of their first cases of the new term.

And, again The University of Michigan is in the middle of the battle.

In 2003, the Supreme Court held up the University of Michigan’s Law School Affirmative Action policy. The opponents launched a statewide referendum, called Proposal Two to bar all admissions to the university based on race, gender and national origin–amending the state’s constitution.

The ban passed by 58 percent in a racially charged campaign.

The Supreme Court should not allow the majority in any state to oppress the rights of its minorities granted under the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The Court shouldn’t make another Dred Scott decision, ignoring the reality of racism in this country and the failure of our public education system to provide equal access to quality education to all. In Michigan, the wealth of the local school district determines the level of state funding for public education, resulting in vast funding differences.

That outdated funding practice does not lead to equal educational outcomes for the majority of Blacks locked in Detroit Public Schools. Is racism part of Detroit’s problem? Yes.

In a 2007 Opinion, Chief Justice Roberts said in Parents Involved v. Seattle School District, “The way to stop discrimination on race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

Well at this point in time, the evidence is suggesting Chief Justice Roberts needs to carefully reconsider his position. Since the passage of the 2003 Michigan ban on Affirmative Action and the abandonment of the use of race, gender or national origin to promote diversity in its colleges and universities—minority enrollment has plummeted. Why?

The historical effects of racism and sexism still impacts opportunities in America.

As a case in point, The University of Michigan’s College of Engineering has seen the representation of underrepresented minorities drop from 14 percent in 2003 to 7.7 percent in 2013 and that counts foreign-born students who represent themselves as African Americans without challenge by the University.

The number of American-born African Americans and women enrolled in the College of Engineering has take a nose drive—while the number of foreign students has increased by the corresponding decrease in underrepresented minorities. Now foreign students are the majority of students in the graduate program at Michigan’s College of Engineering.

If things continue as is, it won’t be long before international students are the majority in the undergraduate program too.

Let’s hope that the Supreme Court looks at the data and understands that the competitiveness of this country depends on being able to education U.S. citizens from diverse backgrounds. We need to have a diverse student body that includes international students from all over the world—not just Asia. Great universities needs student bodies that represent all cultures and takes the best intellectual insights from all.

Nobody knows where God planted a great intellect.

It could be buried in Detroit Public Schools. All students trapped in failing public educations systems should have a fair chance to make it in America.

The elected Regents at University of Michigan and the state’s other colleges and universities should be allow to manage the state’s interest as they did before the out-of-state interests decided to expend huge sums of monies to trick Michigan voters into voting for something that wasn’t in the state’s collective best interest. It should be recalled that the states Republican Gubernatorial candidate, Dick DeVos, cited unintended consequences as the reason he opposed Proposal Two.

At the end of the statewide campaign, the out of state agitators played the race card.

Nobody paid attention to the fact that the Blacks didn’t hold enough seats to really make a difference at The University of Michigan. Consider: Who were the big winners?

Maybe that’s who had the economic incentives to fund the primarily out-of-state financed Proposal Two campaign. This wasn’t about Michigan citizens coming up with an issue on their own.

It was about out-of-state people fanning racism in Michigan to divide its citizens.

Since 2003, qualified Michigan residents who could perform at The University of Michigan—both Black and white—have been denied admission because of the Affirmative Actions ban. If Michigan residents can’t educate their qualified children at its great state institutions, how does Michigan regain its position as the manufacturing capital of the world?

Racism isn’t the only issue that needs to be considered in the Michigan Affirmative Action case. It is politically correct to make provisions to educate our citizens so America can protect its economic interests. Everybody needs to wake up before we lose this great institution and only a minority of our children will be able to gain admission because certain interests rubbed our racial wounds before they had time to heal.

We need enlightened self-interest to arrive at the right result for our country.

I had hoped the Supreme Court justices would see the wisdom in making a way for all groups of its citizens to gain access to this country’s great educational institutions, regardless of the circumstances of their birth and their zip codes. But since they didn’t have the courage to rule for the weak, do we have the courage to take on the issue in the political arena? That’s the only way we’re going to create educational opportunities for all. We must create political pressure using peaceful means to create lasting change. We must increase understanding. We must have compassion.

What do you think?

Filed Under: US Supreme Court

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  • Free eBook of “The Fifth Letter”–Who Is A Person? September 5, 2015
  • Failure Is Simply A Stepping Stone To Success August 29, 2015
  • Legal Reality Check: Tom Fox Post Relating The Fifth Letter To Current Events August 4, 2015
  • Guest Post: Is The Fifth Letter A Vehicle For Change? August 4, 2015
  • The Supreme Court and Affirmative Action June 16, 2015

About the Fifth Letter

What happens when a U.S. Supreme is caught between political expedience? The Fifth Letter. International Intrigue. Assassination. Lost love. Understanding the legal fiction--Corporate Personhood. A compelling political thriller built on a platform of solid research by an academic scholar.

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