Quote of the Day -- Poignant Sunday Edition

Enjoy your Sunday and holiday, y'all.

How Bad Are Trump and the Republican Party?

This bad.

Even old, rich white guys are bailing now.

First this one.

Money Talks. Will the G.O.P. Listen? 

Seth Klarman was once the biggest donor to the Republican Party in New England. This year he’s giving some $20 million to Democrats.

Not done there, this is today.

Wealthiest Republican supporter in Ohio 

quits party 

The wealthiest supporter of the GOP in Ohio said Thursday that he is no longer a member of the Republican Party.

"I just decided I'm no longer a Republican," L Brands CEO Leslie Wexner said during a panel discussion at a leadership summit, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

Wexner, who said he's been a Republican since college, added...he "won't support this nonsense in the Republican Party" anymore.

Note, too, these two articles both came out just this week, in the last two days.

I tell you.

It's enough to give a person hope.

(That said, VOTE!! And VOTE BLUE!! #BLUEWAVE )

Eric Greitens and a No-Bid Contract?

Our own Star newspaper printed and published what I think is an important story this week on our new, pretty boy, Republican Governor Eric Greitens that every Missourian should read and be aware of.

Editorial: Gov. Eric Greitens is behaving just like those ‘corrupt career politicians’

Remember his political campaign to become governor when he railed against those--his words--"corrupt career politicians"?

It didn't take him long to throw all that in a waste bin. 

For starters, he wants our state to issue a no-bid contract. 

How that is remotely in the people's best interests, I can't imagine. What happened to those "free markets" and Capitalism those Right Wingers and Republicans love so much and that they say bring us all lower costs?

Second, not to be done there, he wants to issue this no-bid contract to a business that gave him a "...$25,000 campaign donation in December..."

So two things become very clear from this.

First, it only costs any wealthy person or corporation a paltry $25000 to buy this Governor Greitens of ours.

Second, it only took 7 months for this same guy--again, this Republican--to go from supposedly fighting for the people down here to taking in money and working and fighting for, again, the already-wealthy and corporations.

He;s got a low price and a quick turn around, both, this Eric Greitens.

I wonder what he'll sell us out on next.

Can you imagine how much screaming we'd be hearing at this time from Republicans in this state if a Democratic governor pulled such a stunt, pretty boy or no?

Finally, importantly, on any every government level, from the city to county to state, all the way to the Federal level, why are no-bid contracts even allowed?   Why are they legal?

Links:

Greitens complains of lack of coverage, but won't talk with reporters

Robberson: Governor Doublespeak does Orwell proud

Quote of the Day -- On Republicans and What's Wrong With America

From Missouri's own St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in a letter to the editor:

Republicans pick ideology over sensible economics 

“As Thomas E. Mann and Norman Ornstein in their terrific book It's Even Worse Than It Looks have said:

‘Let’s just say it. The Republicans Are the Problem. The Republican Party has become an insurgent outlier-ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime; scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.'"

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.

What Socialism Is and Isn't

A Brief History of Money Buying American Elections

It wasn't always this way.

How The One Percent 

Reshaped Democracy

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

Links:  The Powell Memo: A Call-to-Arms for Corporations

 The Ring of Fire

On Big Money In Our Elections and Government

Senator Elizabeth Warren, speaking in Congress, about the obscene money in our political elections and government, buying that government.



Senator Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders are the only two, I believe, speaking up and out from Congress on this ugly, corrupt situation.

We have to overturn the Citizens United ruling and end campaign contributions. If we don't do these, nothing will change for the better, for the people. And the change must come from us.

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

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

We Must Get the Big Money Out of Our Elections and So, Government

We must fight to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision which opened up the financial coffers of the wealthy and corporations. It made it possible to pour unlimited amounts of money into election campaigns in the nation.



Additionally, we must fight to end campaign contributions, completely, totally. We must fight to Get the Big, Ugly Money Out of Our Election System and Government.

If we don't do these things, nothing will change. We won't get our government back for the people.

And this must come from us.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day -- Thomas Jefferson

Happy birthday, Mr. President, born this day, 1743.

I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

--Thomas Jefferson

We can't say we weren't warned.  And we risk failure by not acting.

What Campaign Contributions Are

Let's face it, we all know this. This is what campaign contributions have become. They are legal bribes.

We have to fight these things. We have to get the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling overturned and then we need to end campaign contributions totally. Unless or until we do this, nothing will change. It will still be legislation and government for the wealthy and corporations first and for the rest of us a distant second, if at all.

And it has to come from us.

What Hope Looks Like

From Robert Reich



In spite of a Republican Congress in the new year, here's to hope.

That Pentagon, Defense budget?

Yeah, that one. The biggest share of the budget, bar none. Watch this:

And if that's not enough:

When are we going to stop plowing so much money and treasure into war and bombs and planes and the sort, instead of into people and even infrastructure for the people?

Questions for Missouri Representative Billy Long

Having seen this from Missouri blogger The Turner Report:

Contributors buy $40000 in meals for Billy Long in 2013

It begs the question--how do you take and eat $40,000 in meals in one year?

Think about it.

With 365 days a year and 3 meals a day, that's 1095 meals per year.  For $40,000, that's $36.529 for every breakfast, lunch and dinner he had all year. 

Did he NEVER eat at home in 2013?

And how do you eat a $36.52 breakfast every morning for a year? Well, unless you're in New York City or some European city, anyway, right?

I mean, I know he's a big boy but geez.

How is he not to think, heck, to know we see he's being bought?

And keep in mind, this is just his food bill.  This is just ONE thing he got money for from the wealthy and corporations last year.

Not pretty, Billy. Not a pretty picture at all.

 Like your picture above, it surely doesn't look good.

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.

Yet more reasons we need to end campaign contributions

As though there aren't already enough reasons to end the obscenity that is the campaign contributions of our election and government system--a lot I've written of here--yet more:

Leftover Loot: More Leave Congress With Lots of Campaign Cash

Members of Congress spend much of their careers chasing campaign cash and struggling to boost their war chests to fight off the next rival. When their careers are over, and there are no more rivals, many quickly dispose of what little cash is left by donating it to charity, returning it to donors or transferring it to party committees.
 

But not all. An increasing number find themselves sitting on flush bank accounts. 

 

A Center for Responsive Politics analysis shows that the number of former members of Congress who have campaign committees holding more than $100,000 has dramatically increased. In the 1998 election cycle, there were just 18 former members with war chests of that size. The number rose and fell slightly over the years until 2010, when there were 21. By 2012 there were 37. Now, the campaign accounts of 52 ex-lawmakers hold more than $100,000 in cash -- and eight have more than $1,000,000.

 

For some, this creates an opportunity to continue to play a role in politics or to support politicians they like. But several told OpenSecrets.org that with so many charities and politicians asking for a cut of the action, having a lot of leftover campaign cash becomes something of a burden.

__________________________

 

We need to stop this nonsense.

 

We need to demand an end to campaign contributions in our elections so we can get our government back.

 

For the people.

 

 

 

Want our government back for the people?

Fight to end campaign contributions. 

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

A report all voting Americans need to read

But so few will:

A BAGFUL OF CASH: 

How the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Orchestrated a Corporate Takeover of Government

The US Chamber of Commerce-- a 101 year-old organization formed as corporations’ first union—is the chief agent behind Congress’ kowtowing to corporate interests, the Supreme Court’s favorability to corporations in its rulings, and presidents of both parties’ insistence on accommodating the wishes of multinational corporations at the expense of working-class people all over the world. This report outlines how the Chamber first formed, their blueprint for ultimate success as revealed in the confidential Powell Memo, how that blueprint has been realized in the 40 years since its writing, and the devastating effects of that agenda on small business. Despite the US Chamber purporting to be pro-jobs, pro-small business,and pro-growth, they have consistently lobbied for policies that kill jobs, stall economic growth, and take competitive advantages away from small businesses to enrich their corporate members. The Chamber of Commerce’s unchecked power over government will only continue to worsen unless the American people build a movement to mobilize against them.

Download the full, 28-page report here. http://shutthechamber.org/news/bagful-cash-how-us-chamber-commerce-orchestrated-corporate-takeover-government

I've said it before, I'll say it again--if we don't get the big, ugly, corrupting money of the wealthy and corporations out of our election system and government, nothing will change. It will remain legislators and representatives and their legislation and so, our laws and government, for those same wealthy and corporations first, with us second, if even then. We have to end campaign contributions.

Link to the organization's site:  

Shut the Chamber | End Corporate Pollution. End the U.S. Chamber ...