Which do you suppose came first? The undermining of the republic’s principles by those elected? Or the election of those most willing to undermine the republic’s principles? If the end game is keeping the status quo---how does it make a rat’s a-s bit of difference?
When all the Obama hoopla was in its zenith I explained to many new to the political process that it was all--- well--- just hoopla. No one who is---no kidding---determined to change anything about the status quo is going to be allowed to win any election. If by some outrageous quirk of fate that change agent should win---they won’t serve out their term of office. That is a promise.
People with too little knowledge of the issues, others with a great deal of knowledge and thereby a vested interest direct the process. Alexander Hamilton referred to the folk as The Beast. He feared them (the wisdom of the collective---notwithstanding). Of course the oligarchs (the Unseen Hand) whose vested interest is and has been for at least the last thousand or so years to hold on to power are the man behind the curtain pulling the levers, turning the knobs and toggling the switches---much to my chagrin.
You know who really has the power when newspapers print stories about it, PBS and NPR do endless stories on the subject of special interests (the money---aka the oligarchs), a couple of senators write laws against it, would-be elected representatives pontificate on it and swear off it---but the supremes okay it and in the end those elected take the money with both hands and sometimes a wheelbarrow.
Government brought to you by the letter K Street and the number $X billion?
Bill Moyers has spent years digging into the complex and controversial relationship between money and politics in America. As JOURNAL guest Robert Kaiser, author of SO DAMN MUCH MONEY, THE TRIUMPH OF LOBBYING AND THE CORROSION OF AMERICAN GOVERMMENT, noted: "There's a wonderful quote about it from Bob Dole, from 1983 or '2. Where he says, 'you know, poor people don't contribute to campaigns.' And there it was. You know, 30 years ago, the whole story is right in that phrase."
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/lobbying/index.html
Hasta Siempre,
More:
Bexar County: Elections 2010 Another election, Tea Party Notwithstanding, just more bootlickers
http://www.examiner.com/bexar-county-elections-2010-in-san-antonio/bexar-county-elections-2010-another-election-tea-party-notwithstanding-just-more-bootlickers
Unseen Hand (political science)
The Unseen Hand or the Hidden Hand are metaphors describing the secret and veiled power group(s) that control a government or manipulate public opinion in order to achieve a specific agenda. These terms connotate conspiracies in that these groups attempt through subterfuge to affect designs not overtly popular or known. Moreover, another connotation of these phrases also refer to what may be called "shadow government", "invisible government" or a government within a government. Many observers have noted that historical events hardly ever happen by chance but more often than not occur by deliberate planning.2
http://www.wikinfo.org/index.php/Unseen_Hand_(political_science)
Bill Moyers on Plutonomy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSoglDcRbAg
George Carlin describing facts about this plutocracy/Oligarchy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1iXXKmq58g&feature=related
Which set of liars to believe? What’s a voter to do?
With Obama address, Democrats revive specter of GOP threat to Social Security
Reviving a political tactic that Democrats have used before, President Obama said in his radio address Saturday that "some Republican leaders in Congress" want to privatize Social Security -- even though few GOP lawmakers today support the idea.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/14/AR2010081400858.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
The Republican war on Grandma
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/?akid=114.1585955.HFrKJ5&t=2
Anti-Incumbent? Yes, But Maybe Not So Much
Ninety-eight percent of all incumbents who decided to run again for office have been renominated so far this campaign season, Sabato notes. Only Specter and Bennett and four incumbent members of the House have seen their re-election bids die in party primaries or state conventions.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129156089&sc=nl&cc=ph-20100815
and your taxdollars are paying for it most likely….
Israel to buy world's most advanced warplane
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100815/wl_mideast_afp/israelusdefenceweaponslockheed
APNewsBreak: Arabs lobby US on anti-Israel vote
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100815/ap_on_re_eu/eu_nuclear_agency_israel
Is Portugal's Liberal Drug Policy a Model for US?
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/is-portugals-liberal-drug-policy-a-model-for-us/19591395
U.S. steps up fingerprint program along border, in other areas
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/10/AR2010081006218.html?wpisrc=nl_fed
Smile! Aerial images being used to enforce laws
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. – On New York's Long Island, it's used to prevent drownings. In Greece, it's a tool to help solve a financial crisis. Municipalities update property assessment rolls and other government data with it. Some in law enforcement use it to supplement reconnaissance of crime suspects.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100814/ap_on_hi_te/us_eyes_in_the_sky
....a war every 20 years or so, one for each generation…just not the Jeffersonian revolution….
Daniel Elsberg: the pentagon papers
http://www.hereandnow.org/#5
Toxic legacy of the Vietnam war
http://english.aljazeera.net/video/asia-pacific/2010/07/201072251513743646.html
witnessed this on the USAF Physical Evaluation Boards, too…..
Hundreds of PTSD soldiers likely misdiagnosed
WASHINGTON – At the height of the Iraq war, the Army routinely fired hundreds of soldiers for having a personality disorder when they were more likely suffering from the traumatic stresses of war, discharge data suggests.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100815/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_soldiers_wrongly_discharged
WikiLeaks says it won't be threatened by Pentagon
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/afghanistan_wikileaks
Public Policy: why is it so popular to demonize liberals? Part 2
http://www.examiner.com/public-policy-in-san-antonio/public-policy-why-is-it-so-popular-to-demonize-liberals-part-2
And don’t forget w wanted for you to put your social security money in the funds that just melted away…you hadn’t forgotten that had you?
Obama claims GOP trying to destroy Social Security
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100814/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_social_security_1
At Ramadan dinner, Obama defends plans for Ground Zero mosque
President Obama on Friday forcefully joined the national debate over construction of an Islamic complex near New York's Ground Zero, telling guests at a White House dinner marking the holy month of Ramadan that opposing the project is at odds with American values.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/13/AR2010081304357.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
Money and Democracy:
It's All About The Money: Bennet-Romanoff Race Waged Over Corporate Cash
Colorado primary race had corporate influence theme
Which candidate is least beholden to corporations? That was the theme in the Colorado Democratic primary race for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. Bennet's challenger, former statehouse Speaker Andrew Romanoff, refused to take political action committee money for this race and criticized Bennet for taking corporate money. Bennet countered that Romanoff took PAC money for much of his career and even ran his own PAC. In the end, Bennet won the primary.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/09/its-all-about-the-money-b_n_676497.html
Public Citizen
Issue #25 • August 13, 2010
http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=183
William Kunstler’s Children save money while shooting PBS film about him
http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/06/18/william-kunstlers-children-save-money-while-shooting-pbs-film-a/
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