Oregon becomes 16th state to call for amendment overturning Citizens United. Kill Bill. Tom Edsall on politics inside and outside of Washington. United Republic, a liberal-leaning campaign finance reform organization dedicated to reducing the influence of money in American politics, recently produced a striking graphic that illustrates how corporate America wins huge breaks from Congress at very little cost. According to statistics United Republic assembled, the prescription drug industry spent $116 million lobbying for legislation to prevent Medicare from bargaining down drug prices — legislation that enabled drug companies to make an additional $90 billion annually.
That amounts to an extraordinary 77,500 percent return on investment. Oil companies, in turn, had a return on investment of 5,900 percent, and multinational companies, 22,000 percent. While the general public may be angered by these reports, the lobbying industry loves them: what could be better publicity for attracting new clients? Fig 2. It is also the case that opportunities come all of a sudden as well. Worst Congress money can buy.
If you want to see why the public approval rating of Congress is down in the sub-arctic range — an icy 15 percent by last count — all you have to do is take a quick look at how the House and Senate pay worship at the altar of corporations, banks and other special interests at the expense of public aspirations and need. Traditionally, political scientists have taught their students that there are two schools of thought about how a legislator should get the job done. One is to vote yay or nay on a bill by following the will of his or her constituency, doing what they say they want. The other is to represent them as that legislator sees fit, acting in the best interest of the voters — whether they like it or not. But our current Congress — as cranky and inert as an obnoxious old uncle who refuses to move from his easy chair — never went to either of those schools.
And how else to explain why corporate tax breaks have more than doubled in the last 25 years? Just so. Exposed: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement. Working out of an nondescript brick rowhouse in suburban Virginia, a little-known organization named Donors Trust, staffed by five employees, has steered hundreds of millions of dollars to the most influential think tanks, foundations, and advocacy groups in the conservative movement. Over the past decade, it has funded the right's assault on labor unions, climate scientists, public schools, economic regulations, and the very premise of activist government. Yet unlike its nearest counterpart on the progressive side, the Tides Foundation, a bogeyman of Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly, Donors Trust has mostly avoided any real scrutiny.
It is the dark-money ATM of the right. Founded in 1999, Donors Trust (and an affiliated group, Donors Capital Fund) has raised north of $500 million and doled out $400 million to more than 1,000 conservative and libertarian groups, according to Whitney Ball, the group's CEO. Donors Trust is not the source of the money it hands out. Annabel Park: Replying to my pro-gun friends. Dear friends who can't tolerate anyone bringing up gun control: You're not going to intimidate me with your !!!! S, ???? S, WORDS IN ALL CAPS, namecalling, and threats to unfriend. I am going to speak my mind regardless of your protestations. I just wish you loved the First Amendment as much as your reading of the Second Amendment. Respect that America needs to talk about this massacre considering many factors including gun control.
Dear friends who say that calling for better gun laws is like calling for a ban on cars: First of all, cars are not designed to kill people. Jim Sanches writes, "If they're going to use the car analogy, fine, let's regulate them as well as we do cars then. Dear friends who say that Newtown is about mental illness and we should only discuss improving healthcare for the mentally ill: This is like saying drinking and driving is about alcoholism and we should only discuss treatment for alcoholism and not discuss how to prevent drinking and driving.
Washington’s Revolving Door: As Old as Lincoln | On Democracy. Last week, we talked about the infernal revolving door between government and big business and how one person in particular, Liz Fowler, has spun through it so many times she may need to take something for motion sickness. Which makes it a good thing that she’s going back to work as a lobbyist for the health care industry, where presumably she can get a prescription filled. Fowler used to be a lobbyist with the health insurer WellPoint. Then she went to Capitol Hill as Senator Max Baucus’ health care reform architect followed by some time at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Obama White House. Now she’s headed back to the private sector, going to bat for the medical giant Johnson & Johnson where no doubt her deep insider knowledge of Washington will be worth every dollar. We were reminded of the revolving door again when Bill spoke with Tony Kushner, the screenwriter of Lincoln, on this week’s edition of Moyers & Company.
Fang: Are you going to become a lobbyist? Here’s A Crazy Graphic To Share With Those Judgmental People Who Go Off About Poor People. Why the GOP Should Fear a Romney Presidency - Jack M. Balkin. At best, he would be hamstrung by the conflicting demands of a radicalized party. At worst, he would wreck the Reagan coalition. Brian Snyder/Reuters What kind of president would Mitt Romney be? And what should we expect from Barack Obama's second term?
To answer these questions, I'll draw on the work of Yale political scientist Stephen Skowronek, who has argued that presidents' fortunes depend on how they establish their political legitimacy in the particular circumstances under which which they assume power. In this essay, I'll discuss the prospects for a Romney presidency; in the next, I'll discuss the second term of an Obama presidency. Reconstruction or Disjunction? When new presidents take office, they face not only the country's existing domestic and international problems but also the political regime created by their predecessors. A president who has the good luck to run in opposition to a political regime that is falling apart is in the best possible position politically. We pledge: No More Stolen Elections! | No More Stolen Elections 2012. Mitt Romney Considering Infamous Ex-Merrill Lynch CEO To Replace Geithner.
Mitt Romney is considering appointing a man who oversaw the implosion of a major Wall Street firm and got himself a $35,000 toilet while doing it as Treasury Secretary. John Thain, the former CEO of Merrill Lynch, is on Romney's short list of possible Treasury Secretary picks, the Wall Street Journal reports. He paid his executives massive bonuses before selling Merrill Lynch to Bank of America during the height of the financial crisis with the help of government bailout money. He tried to snag a $10 million bonus for himself as the firm was collapsing, and he even spent $1.2 million on remodeling his office -- including on a $35,000 toilet -- as Merrill Lynch was imploding. Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis pushed Thain out in January of 2009. Buying Merrill Lynch has saddled Bank of America with massive mortgage losses, as well as legal costs. Current Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is unlikely to stay in his job past January no matter who wins the election.
(Hat tip: ThinkProgress.) Gang of 8 plots secret retreat - John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman. President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will crisscross the country during the next month offering different visions for how to fix the country’s fiscal mess. But in Washington, the senators in the Gang of Six — plus two newbies — will have a secret retreat next week hosted by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) to start cobbling together a plan to avoid the looming fiscal cliff. Continue Reading For this round of talks, the bipartisan group has added Sens. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who has grown close to Obama as he tries to capture Colorado this election season. Senate insiders confirmed the upcoming session, although the group will not disclose its location. “This group continues to meet and work toward a bipartisan solution,” Warner spokesman Kevin Hall said.
Other Gang of Six members include Sens. The group came together in the summer of 2011 to try to hammer out a deal to solve the debt ceiling crisis but failed to reach an agreement in the end. Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball. House 2018: Less Than a Year Out, Race for Control Is a Coin Flip 25 ratings changes, mostly in Democrats’ favor Kyle Kondik, Managing Editor, Sabato's Crystal Ball November 30th, 2017 In the aftermath of the 2014 midterm election, when the party that didn’t hold the White House (the Republicans) gained ground in the House for the 36th time in 39 midterms since the Civil War, I wrote the following in the Center for Politics’ postmortem on the election, The Surge: Practically speaking, though, House Democrats might have to root for the other party in the 2016 presidential race.
We didn’t see many House Democrats rooting for Donald Trump to win the general election in 2016, but the simple fact of his election made a Democratic House takeover much more likely in the 2018 midterm just because of the longstanding trend for the presidential party to lose ground in the House. . — The economy seems to be doing decently. Table 1: Crystal Ball House ratings changes Table 2: Crystal Ball House ratings. 2012 Elections, House Projections - Election Projection. Ohio voters face challenges from tea party groups - Page 2. President Obama greets supporters at Bowling Green State University in… (Jewel Samad, AFP/Getty…) CINCINNATI — Lori Monroe, a 40-year-old Democrat who lives in central Ohio, was startled a few weeks ago to open a letter that said a stranger was challenging her right to vote in the presidential election. Monroe, who was recovering from cancer surgery, called the local election board to protest. A local tea party leader was trying to strike Monroe from the voter rolls for a reason that made no sense: Her apartment building in Lancaster was listed as a commercial property.
"I'm like, really? Seriously? " Monroe said. "I've lived here seven years, and now I'm getting challenged? " Monroe's is one of at least 2,100 names that tea party groups have sought to remove from Ohio's voter rosters. "We're all about election integrity — making sure everyone who votes is registered and qualified voters," said Mary Siegel, one of the leaders of the Ohio effort. The Rev. Stop A Couple Of People From Voting Republican This Year. Just Share This Hilariously Eye-Opening Video.
If You Loved ‘The West Wing’, Watch This. Now. What We Already Knew About The Tea Party And ‘The Newsroom’ Finally Said Out Loud. Paul Ryan To Fox News: 'I Don't Have The Time' To Explain How We Will Pay For Our Tax Plan. By Adam Peck on September 30, 2012 at 10:39 am "Paul Ryan To Fox News: ‘I Don’t Have The Time’ To Explain How We Will Pay For Our Tax Plan" For much of the general election, the Romney campaign has avoided any discussion of specifics, especially when it comes to the tax plan that he and Paul Ryan have put forward. On Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace gave Ryan an opportunity to finally talk about the details of his plan to a national audience, how much it will cost and how the Romney administration would pay for it. Instead, Ryan said he didn’t have time to get into the nuts and bolts of the proposal: WALLACE: So how much would it cost?
Watch it: Ryan has been the Republican vice presidential nominee for nearly three months, and has still not found the time to explain how a Romney administration would fund its tax plan of 20 percent deductions across the board. A Canadian’s View On Our Disrespect Of President Obama’s Presidency. My mother just sent me this Canadian article in an email and after reading it I felt compelled to find the source. Give it a read. It is enlightening in how some outside of our country see our politics our President Obama disrespect. It really gave me pause because his sentiments are mine exactly. The President Obama disrespect is so pathetic. I have heard so many articulate this special hate for our president but he said it best. He noted most importantly that we use to rally around the President after elected irrespective of party. We definitely rallied around Kennedy, Reagan, Daddy Bush, and for a time Baby Bush.
LIKE My Facebook Page – Visit My Blog: EgbertoWillies.com By William ThomasThere was a time not so long ago when Americans, regardless of their political stripes, rallied round their president. Comments comments. US health care: It's officially a mess, institute says. By Maggie Fox, Senior Writer, NBC News If banking were like health care, it would take days to get money out of an ATM because the records would be lost.
If airlines were like health care, pilots would decide on their own which safety checks to make, if any. If shopping were like health care -- well, you get the picture. It’s a mess, the Institute of Medicine says in a report released on Thursday. The U.S. health care system wasted $750 billion in 2009, about 30 percent of all health spending, on unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, fraud, and other problems. As many as 75,000 people who died in 2005 would have lived if they got the kind of care provided in the states with the best medical systems, the Institute found. The report, issued just as candidates for Congress and for president make health care reform a central part of the national debate, doesn’t pull any punches.
But there's hope. What’s missing, the report says, is coordination. Some ways to get there? Slide Show: The Fifty Most Influential Progressives of the Twentieth Century. Virginia Republicans Call for Armed Revolution if Obama Wins in November. By: Rmuse August 20th, 2012 see more posts by Rmuse The author of the Declaration of Independence is often quoted by opposing groups to support their own agenda, but there are few who accurately apply some of his oft-repeated statements.
During the healthcare reform debate, angry teabaggers cited Jefferson’s line that “ ,” as proof that revolution against government tyranny was advocated by a Founding Father as an option in 2009, and that sentiment has not diminished three years later heading into a general election. The groups claiming President Obama is a tyrannical leader have never given one example of tyranny, but they, with the GOP’s assistance, have whipped themselves into frenzy and openly called for armed insurrection against the United States government.
First, it is important to put Jefferson’s statement that “ ” in its proper context. All of the threats of armed revolution have as their basis one simple fact; the President is not a white man. Editor’s Note: Introducing SignOn.org: Your Petition + MoveOn’s 7 Million Members = Brilliant. The Lord Is Not on Trial Here Today | Connecting the Dots, What Matters Today. With the separation of church and state so much in the news these days — whether Rick Santorum’s “makes me want to throw up” attack on John F. Kennedy’s 1960 speech before the Greater Houston Ministerial Association or the current debate over reproductive rights and varying interpretations of religious freedom — perhaps a little history lesson’s in order.
Which is just what’s provided by an award-winning documentary, The Lord Is Not on Trial Here Today, currently making the rounds of public television. Different PBS stations have aired the film over the last year but it’s getting a re-launch on Friday, March 16, as part of Women’s History Month. Go to the documentary’s website to see if it’s being telecast in your area. Written, produced and directed by Jay Rosenstein, and narrated by David Ogden Stiers (of M*A*S*H fame), The Lord Is Not on Trial Here Today is the story of McCollum v. Vashti McCollum smiles as she reads of her victory before the U.S. After what Mrs. VAWA and the Republican hard turn to the right. Wonkbook: Why the Republican budgets make the poor pay. Michele Bachmann's Holy War | Politics News. IRS May Make Political Groups Pay Dearly for Keeping Donors Secret -- And Out Them. Key Abortion Restrictions in the States.
Utah Senate passes bill banning contraception education. Thom Hartmann: Day in the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican. Rush Limbaugh and three evangelical blind spots. Murkowski: GOP Has Spun Out Of Control On Contraception. Albert Mohler Weighs-in on Limbaugh Apology. Conservatives get support from the darndest places. Santorum and the Sexual Revolution. SC County GOP: If You’ve Had Pre-Marital Sex, You Can’t Be A Republican. Cato Institute and Koch in Rift Over Independence. The Billionaire Koch Brothers’ War Against Obama. How Conservatives Silence Critics of Religion | Digg Politics. Agenda for the Dark Ages: GOP Frontrunner Rick Santorum's 5 Most Extremist Themes | Election 2012. List of Rush Limbaugh Show Sponsors: BOYCOTT NOW! Coffee Party News. Moyers & Company. Flackcheck.org. FactCheck.org | A Project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center.
The Scariest Gay Marriage Chart Ever. O, how the mighty have swollen! - Roger Simon. Center for American Progress. The Cook Political Report | The insider's choice for election analysis. David Catanese Blog: Essential intelligence from the campaign trail. (37) Washington Post Social Reader on Facebook. Did Clint Eastwood Really Just Say This About Gay Marriage?