This Is How Huge and Obscene Big Money Is In Our Politics

To show how really awful and insidious the big money is in our politics, political system and government, check this out:

Rep. Jolly: Fundraising is the Main Business and First Priority in Congress

And note a few things about this, too.

First, the person saying it is a Republican, of all things. It's not a Democrat or an Independent or even a Libertarian. It's someone from the one political party that, more than anything, stands up and fights for the already-wealthy and corporations, time and again. The one political party that is more in the pocket of these people than any other.

Second, the news source on this is Fox. You know, the bought, sold and paid for media wing of the Republican Party. Even the people getting the money realize it's horrible and needs to end.

A little from the article:

Rep. David Jolly, (R-Fla.), discussed his proposed legislation to stop direct solicitation by members of Congress Monday on the FOX Business Network. Congress members reportedly spend as much as 30 hours a week making fundraising calls in an effort to raise at least $18,000 per day.

“We all know about the amount of money in politics. This is about the amount of time it takes to raise that money and the fact that you have a part-time Congress in a full-time world spending all their days shaking down the American people for money and not doing the job they are there for,” Jolly told Stuart Varney.

Jolly says it is a bipartisan issue that needs to be addressed.

“It is the only thing Republicans and Democrats agree on in Congress; that fundraising is the main business and the first priority.”

We couldn't agree more, Representative Jolly.

We must overturn the Citizens United ruling, end campaign contributions and at long last 

Get the Big, Ugly Money Out of Our Election System and Government.

If we don't do these, nothing will change. Nothing will change for the better, for the people, for the nation. The entire nation.

Quote of the Day -- On Business and Government

What Socialism Is and Isn't

Get the Big Money Out

Get the Big Money Out

We must overturn Citizens United and we must end campaign contributions, both, period. We have to get the big money out of our election system and government.

Go here, if you would, and sign the petition:

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/get-the-big-money-out.fb49?source=c.fb&r_by=342229

We must get the corrupting money of the wealthy and corporations out of our election system and government, on the Federal and state levels, both.

We must get our nation back for the people. Until we do these, nothing will change. It will remain government representatives, their legislation---our legislation--our laws and our government all for them, the wealthy and corporations, not the people, not the nation.

Thank you, in advance.

Link:  Get the Big, Ugly Money Out of Our Election System and Government

The Fight to Get the Money Out of Our Government Has Begun

These people are running a fake candidate for Congress in Kentucky.



Their goal is to get Americans talking about the corruption in our government, due to campaign contributions. While I personally share their goal of getting the corruption out and ended, I believe the Mayday group  is more effective because they're running actual candidates. They also have big names, big political and even social names--and money--behind this second group and their efforts.

The great thing is that things seem to be happening and people are becoming aware, aware of the corruption and more agreed that we can and should do something about it. Even that there are things we can, in fact, do to get our government back for the people and not just for the wealthy and corporations.

At least, at long last, it looks like we have begun. I'm thankful for that.

Quote of the day -- on speaking up

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More insanity from our Federal Government

This headline:

Government Hands More Than $1 Trillion to Wealthy While Deficit Is $642 Billion

Just a couple of notes from it:

According to the report, lots of 1%ers will pay no taxes at all this year, while the country cuts jobs and services in the name of cutting the deficit.

“Ten major tax breaks that together total more than $750 billion in tax savings in 2013 are tilted heavily in favor of the top income earners; according to the Congressional Budget Office, 17% of the benefits from these major tax breaks go to the top 1% of households. In fact, according to the Tax Policy Center, nearly 1.2 million taxpayers in the top 1% will owe no income tax at all in 2013, thanks in large part to tax breaks that help them reduce their tax liability down to zero.”

Two of the key findings in the report tell the story:

• Corporate tax breaks will total $108 billion in FY2013 – more than 1.5 times what the U.S. government spends on education funding. Between 2007 and 2013, the revenue lost from U.S. corporations deferring taxes on income earned abroad rose 200%, going from $14 billion to $42 billion.
• All tax breaks for individuals will exceed $1 trillion this year, with about 17% of the biggest individual tax breaks going to the top 1% of earners. In fact, many individual tax breaks disproportionately benefit wealthy households.

Further proof, as if we needed it, of why we need to demand an end to campaign contributions so we can get our government and country back.

For the people.

Big money in our government

It's why we have to fight to end campaign contributions, folks, I say again.

We have to get the big, ugly, corrupting money out of our election system so the corporations and wealthy don't keep buying our legislators, their legislation and so, our laws and finally, our government.

And it has to come from us.

We have to demand it.

Related link:  Government Hands More Than $1 Trillion to Wealthy While Deficit Is $642 Billion

Want our government back for the people?

Fight to end campaign contributions. 

When we get that, we'll get government back for the people.

Ladies and gentlemen, your US Congress

The following productivity--or, rather, lack of it--comes to us all courtesy of our own US Congress:

 

This, among other things, is what campaign contributions and splintered, uncooperative political parties and politicians get us, as a nation, as a people.

 

And we must put an end to it.

 

We must fight to end campaign contributions.

 

As soon as possible.

Republicans "unserious about governing"?

There is a terrific article out today at the Washington Post blog, saying just that about the current Republican Party today:

Today's GOP is fundamentally unserious about governing

Naturally, they are mostly speaking of the national Republican Party, specifically as it applies to Washington and the federal government.

But what better place represents this as fact than Kansas right now, what with the drug out and long-delayed and even expensive session going on which their Governor Brownback stepped out on last week?

What state better exemplifies the irresponsibility and demagoguery and inability to or interest in compromising with the opposing party?

I can't think of one.

The crazy thing, however, about Kansas is that they--the Republicans--don't have one figure they can conveniently continue to block as they do in Washington with Kenyan/Socialist/Communist/Whatever-they-come-up-with-next President Obama. Far from it.

In Kansas, they have the Senate and the House and the Governor's mansion, all,  and they've made clear they want to raise the sales taxes on the middle- and lower-classes while lowering taxes on the already-wealthy and corporations.

Fortunately, to date, they haven't been able to make that stick, in spite of the Governor's political pushes. Something about answering to the people back home, I think.

In the meantime, check out this additional article, this time from the LA Times:

Less conservative America poses challenge to Republicans

A bit from the article:

WASHINGTON – Although the controversies dominating political headlines eventually might undermine PresidentObama's standing with voters, a longer-term reality – a declining number of people who identify themselves as conservatives – could cause much more trouble for his Republican opponents.

Republicans won big in the 2010 midterm election, taking control of the House and numerous state legislatures. That victory corresponded with a significant increase in the percentage of Americans calling themselves conservative, particularly on economic issues. Since then, however, the percentage has steadily declined, according to an annual "values and beliefs" survey conducted by Gallup.

The latest version shows a further drop, with 41% of Americans calling themselves economic conservatives, down from just over 50% at the 2010 peak. On social issues, the share identifying as conservatives has dropped slightly and is now just more than 1 in 3.

On social issues, the big gain has come among those who call themselves liberals, whose ranks have increased from 22% of adults in 2010 to 30% now. On economic issues, gains have mostly come among those calling themselves moderates, with the percentage of liberals holding relatively steady.

So all I can say is, Republicans, keep it up, please, by all means. You're falling apart and people are running away from you, your party and your ideology and in the meantime, you learn nothing whatever.

I love you, Republican Party.

That said, I and all the rest of us Americans would love you even more if you would come back to reality, do what's best for most Americans, not just the wealthy and corporations, and compromise with the other political party for the betterment of the entire nation.

It's not that much to ask.

It's how things used to work.

Yet more on buying and selling our government

What I've said all along--our representatives and their legislation are all, both, bought and paid for, as if you didn't need telling:

9-month-old Florida firm donates $140,000 to Scott and state GOP, gets $52 million state deal

Not only that but our government representatives, their legislation and so, our laws and finally, our government is all bought at exceptionally low rates and the benefits the corporations and wealthy get are exponentially larger, as this shows, above.

Disgusting.

From the file "Why We Need to End Campaign Contributions"

And as soon as possible.

We have to fight this, folks. We have to end campaign contributions. And it has to come from us, the people, so we get our government back.

Happy birthday, Ronald Reagan

Click on picture for better, easier viewing/reading:

But everyone's pissed at the black guy.

Right.

Wonderful.

Happy birthday, Ronnie.

You got away with it.

You got away with it all.

Just as Dubya' did, years later.

On America and "Big Oil"

Additionally? We, the people, you and me, all the working class stiffs in the nation give "Big Oil", the oil companies like Exxon-Mobil and Shell and BP and all of them? We give them tax deductions and subsidies. Yep. The wealthiest and most profitable companies and industry in the nation and the world and we give them--they get--tax breaks.

We just aren't very smart.

Don't like long, seemingly unending elections?

Keep this quote in mind, then.

If you don't like these interminably long elections or the obscene corporate money in our election system and so, our government, keep this in mind.

It's all this way because we allow it.

Want shorter elections?

Do something about it.

Raise heck with your Senators and Representatives in Congress. Email them. Post as much on their Facebook page.

Don't just sit there and gripe.

Do something.

We can still fix this political mess that is America but it will take work.

And it has to come from us.

Chinese ignorance and hypocrisy in full flower

Last weekend, Sunday's New York Times had two full-page advertisements in it, I noticed.

One was from, by and for Saudi Arabia, so we'd like them more and, I'm sure, so our business people would invest more in their country.

The second was for the same reasons and was by and for China.

It struck me as interesting at the time and I very nearly wrote about the two ads just because I thought it interesting and unusual.

I got busy and now I write about one of them--the Chinese one--for completely different reasons that happened to break late yesterday. This is it:

China Blocks Web Access to Times After Article

While this is the article they're blocking:

Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader

It is unclear how much Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who has staked a position as a populist and a reformer, knows about the $2.7 billion in assets his family has amassed. (Links at bottom)

How ironic--and even hypocritical--is that?

First the Chinese are spending what I'm sure is big money to impress us Americans to invest in their country and think of them differently and then this. They shut down a report on the possible or even likely corruption of one of their leaders.

Considering this, that there is no freedom of the press--or, likely, any real freedom there--and that businesses can be and sometimes are taken over by the government, no questions asked, how can they advertise to us like that?

You want us to invest in your country why?

And how?

Link: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=new+york+times+china+news&btnK=

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/business/global/family-of-wen-jiabao-holds-a-hidden-fortune-in-china.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20121026

Further proof of why we need to kill campaign contributions

I write, repeatedly, on the many, many reasons why we need to kill campaign contributions, not least of which so we can get the big, ugly, corrupting money from the wealthy and corporations out of our election system and government.

This article from International Businsess Times is just more proof:

30 Major U.S. Corporations Paid More to Lobby Congress Than Income Taxes, 2008-2010

"By employing a plethora of tax-dodging techniques, 30 multi-million dollar American corporations expended more money lobbying Congress than they paid in federal income taxes between 2008 and 2010, ultimately spending approximately $400,000 every day -- including weekends -- during that three-year period to lobby lawmakers and influence political elections, according to a new report from the non-partisan Public Campaign."

As if that isn't sick and crazy enough, it goes on:

"Despite a growing federal deficit and the widespread economic instability that has swept the U.S since 2008, the companies in question managed to accumulate profits of $164 billion between 2008 and 2010, while receiving combined tax rebates totaling almost $11 billion. Moreover, Public Campaign reports these companies spent about $476 million during the same period to lobby the U.S. Congress, as well as another $22 million on federal campaigns, while in some instances laying off employees and increasing executive compensation."

This, above, is a reason why this is possible, too, of course:

"Of the 30 companies analyzed in the report, which include corporate giants such as General Electric, Verizon Communications, Wells Fargo (WFC), Mattel (MAT) and Boeing (BA), 29 of them managed to pay no federal taxes from 2008 to 2010."

These companies have access to our markets and must have our infrastructure--our highways and streets and sewer systems and airports and police, etc.--in order to function yet they pay NO TAXES?

There are so many reasons why we need to kill campaign contributions. Surely most Americans would agree. We need to begin this work.

It will only happen, we will only get campaign contributions (read: bribes) out of our nation if it comes from us, from the people.

We need to get started.

Links--

Original article: http://publicampaign.org/sites/default/files/ReportTaxDodgerLobbyingDec6.pdf

Original report: http://publicampaign.org/sites/default/files/ReportTaxDodgerLobbyingDec6.pdf

Missouri bank bailout money not repayed

I just found this video last evening:



Yikes.

Let's put pressure on this clown. Here's the link:

http://paybackthebailout.com/

Good news for Missouri and our Senator Roy Blunt!

Senator Roy Blunt and his staff must surely be celebrating as it was announced today that he is not, this year, on the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington list of The Most Corrupt Members of Congress (as he was in the past):

http://www.crewsmostcorrupt.org/mostcorrupt

Yeehaw!

I know I'm happy about it and I'm just a constituent.

You want unfettered, deregulated business?

For anyone who still clamors for unfettered and unregulated business--yeehaw!--take yourselves to our good friend's country of China. They give us yet one more example of how great an idea unregulated Capitalism really is right now:

China’s Bridges Are Falling Down

Early Friday morning, just before dawn, four trucks were driving on a 10-month-old ramp to a bridge in Harbin, a major city in northeast China, when the deck suddenly tilted and collapsed, sending the trucks crashing to the pavement almost 100 feet below.
Three people were killed, and five were injured. Photos of the accident indicate that the trucks were carrying heavy cargoes, including stones, and were likely overloaded. But accounts by journalists and photos from the scene also suggest serious problems with the bridge itself. Some images show that key structural components were stuffed with sticks, pebbles and bags of unidentified materials.

Nobody in China was surprised by this. Since 2007, China has experienced at least 18 bridge collapses resulting in 135 deaths and untold economic hardship, according to records aggregated by the South China Morning Post, the leading English-language newspaper in Hong Kong. These are not mere footbridges: They are major, expensive spans connecting key corridors. The almost 330-foot-long section that collapsed on Friday, for example, is part of the more than 9-mile-long, nearly $300 million Yangmingtan Bridge, a span that connects the two banks of Harbin, a city of 10 million people.
What is causing this epidemic of collapse? In Harbin, some authorities were quick to blame the overloaded trucks and then -- in an act of revealing bureaucratic cowardice -- to claim that they couldn’t locate the contractors responsible for the span (statements subsequently denied by higher-ups).

China’s netizens, accustomed to bureaucratic double-talk, were hardly inclined to believe the local government’s explanation, no matter what it was. Instead, they turned to what is almost uniformly the explanation for everything that goes wrong in China these days: corruption. “Every time I walk down the street and see a new project about to break ground, I know that several billionaires are about to be made,” wrote Li Chengpeng, a well-known blogger and agitator, on Monday (as translated by Tea Leaf Nation, an English-language blog). “In this country, the completion of an infrastructure project lays the groundwork for the beginning of an anti-corruption project.”

So there's your answer, all you Tea Partiests and Libertarians. China. Unfettered Capitalism, no Environmental Protection Agency--everything you'd want in a country and government.

But nothing the people want.

And if you want no government at all, take the now-old suggestion and move your sorry body to Somalia.

You'll love it there.

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-29/china-s-bridges-are-falling-down.html