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ORIGINAL: Owner59

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ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY

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ORIGINAL: Epytropos

The sooner you quit trying to force everything into a dem/rep dichotomy the sooner the world will begin to make sense.

The dichotomy is bankster/victim.

After that and then do the different parties come in, according to who`s work`n for who.

We know where the con`s symathys lay and we know where the dem`s sympathys are.

One party is with wallstreet and the banksters and one is with the little guy who`s been hurt most,the victims.

Why are you cons for instance, so against Elizabeth Warren?

See? There,is the dichotomy......bankster and bankster supporter,....... against banker victim and bankster-victim sympathizers.

Wealthy revolving-door banker Peter Orszag epitomizes everything Obama ran against. Orszag was Obama's budget director until the 2010 elections at which point he cashed out to bailed-out megabank Citigroup. A Citi executive touted Orszag's "key ... government experience" and "his expertise in economic policy." In other words, Orzag has monetized his public service and sold it to Citi, which, like all big banks, counts on favorable government policy for its profits.

Apparently feeling fairly plush after nine months at a Wall Street salary, Orszag cut a $35,800 check last month to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that divides its funds between the official Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee. To sum up: Orszag gained inside knowledge and connections on the taxpayer dime, put them to work for a big bank, then used his salary from this bailed-out bank to give the maximum contribution to the man who hired him in the White House.

Orszag's tale may be the most unseemly, but revolving-door influence peddlers are common at Obama fundraisers. Kathy Brown is Verizon's senior vice president for "public policy development and corporate responsibility." The telecom giant's website says she is "responsible for federal, state and international public policy development and international government relations for Verizon." Like Orszag, Brown's a revolver, having leveraged her time at Bill Clinton's Federal Communications Commission (which regulates Verizon) into a K Street lobbying job before taking over Verizon's lobby shop. Brown has given $17,900 to the Obama Victory Fund.

Rasky Baerlein is a lobbying firm based on both K Street and Boston's Beacon Hill. Chairman Lawrence Rasky and President Joseph Baerlein both gave big to Obama last quarter, with more than $35,000 to the Obama Victory Fund between them. Their firm's federal lobbying clients include drug maker Eli Lilly, wind-power company First Wind (which has received at least $115 million in stimulus grants), and a handful of health care companies.

David Wimsatt is CEO of Bold Concepts, a firm that pledges to assist "small businesses participating in Federal Government programs." The firm's website touts its "carefully nurtured" relationships with federal agencies ranging from the Pentagon to the National Zoo. Part of that "nurtur[ing]," presumably, is CEO Wimsatt's $30,000 to the Obama Victory Fund last quarter.

All of these men and women -- and dozens more like them on Obama's donor rolls -- are lobbyists, as the word is commonly understood. They are paid to influence government policy, either on behalf of their clients or on behalf of their employers.

So how do they skate around Obama's "ban"? They are not currently registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, and so they don't meet the Obama campaign's definition of "lobbyist." Of course, Obama's self-imposed fundraising rules are far stricter than other campaigns -- Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, for instance, are happy accepting money from registered or unregistered lobbyists. But allowing money from Orszag, Rasky and Baerlein while prohibiting gifts from, say, the lobbyist for the Boys & Girls Club of the Chattahoochee Valley, suggests cynical posturing rather than actual concern for clean politics.

Under federal law, anyone who spends at least 20 percent of his or her time on "lobbying activities" is supposed to register. There is almost no enforcement of this registration requirement, as proving a violation would require knowing how an unregistered individual spends all his time. The biggest effect of Obama's restrictions on lobbyists, regarding giving and serving on boards, has been mass deregistration of lobbyists.

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ORIGINAL: Kirata

No, you don't have to go on, I think that sums it up nicely.

So here's an idea. Protest the legal fiction that corporations are "persons" with any of the rights attendant thereto.

If corporations want to influence legislation, let them have to convince the electorate to call their Congressmen because what they're asking for is good for the country, instead of cutting the People out of the loop by sending suits down to Washington with bags full of money.

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ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY

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ORIGINAL: Owner59

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ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY

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ORIGINAL: Epytropos

The sooner you quit trying to force everything into a dem/rep dichotomy the sooner the world will begin to make sense.

The dichotomy is bankster/victim.

After that and then do the different parties come in, according to who`s work`n for who.

We know where the con`s symathys lay and we know where the dem`s sympathys are.

One party is with wallstreet and the banksters and one is with the little guy who`s been hurt most,the victims.

Why are you cons for instance, so against Elizabeth Warren?

See? There,is the dichotomy......bankster and bankster supporter,....... against banker victim and bankster-victim sympathizers.

Despite 'ban,' fat-cat lobbyists bankroll Obama

Extract:

Wealthy revolving-door banker Peter Orszag epitomizes everything Obama ran against. Orszag was Obama's budget director until the 2010 elections at which point he cashed out to bailed-out megabank Citigroup. A Citi executive touted Orszag's "key ... government experience" and "his expertise in economic policy." In other words, Orzag has monetized his public service and sold it to Citi, which, like all big banks, counts on favorable government policy for its profits.

Apparently feeling fairly plush after nine months at a Wall Street salary, Orszag cut a $35,800 check last month to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that divides its funds between the official Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee. To sum up: Orszag gained inside knowledge and connections on the taxpayer dime, put them to work for a big bank, then used his salary from this bailed-out bank to give the maximum contribution to the man who hired him in the White House.

Orszag's tale may be the most unseemly, but revolving-door influence peddlers are common at Obama fundraisers. Kathy Brown is Verizon's senior vice president for "public policy development and corporate responsibility." The telecom giant's website says she is "responsible for federal, state and international public policy development and international government relations for Verizon." Like Orszag, Brown's a revolver, having leveraged her time at Bill Clinton's Federal Communications Commission (which regulates Verizon) into a K Street lobbying job before taking over Verizon's lobby shop. Brown has given $17,900 to the Obama Victory Fund.

Rasky Baerlein is a lobbying firm based on both K Street and Boston's Beacon Hill. Chairman Lawrence Rasky and President Joseph Baerlein both gave big to Obama last quarter, with more than $35,000 to the Obama Victory Fund between them. Their firm's federal lobbying clients include drug maker Eli Lilly, wind-power company First Wind (which has received at least $115 million in stimulus grants), and a handful of health care companies.

David Wimsatt is CEO of Bold Concepts, a firm that pledges to assist "small businesses participating in Federal Government programs." The firm's website touts its "carefully nurtured" relationships with federal agencies ranging from the Pentagon to the National Zoo. Part of that "nurtur[ing]," presumably, is CEO Wimsatt's $30,000 to the Obama Victory Fund last quarter.

All of these men and women -- and dozens more like them on Obama's donor rolls -- are lobbyists, as the word is commonly understood. They are paid to influence government policy, either on behalf of their clients or on behalf of their employers.

So how do they skate around Obama's "ban"? They are not currently registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, and so they don't meet the Obama campaign's definition of "lobbyist." Of course, Obama's self-imposed fundraising rules are far stricter than other campaigns -- Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, for instance, are happy accepting money from registered or unregistered lobbyists. But allowing money from Orszag, Rasky and Baerlein while prohibiting gifts from, say, the lobbyist for the Boys & Girls Club of the Chattahoochee Valley, suggests cynical posturing rather than actual concern for clean politics.

Under federal law, anyone who spends at least 20 percent of his or her time on "lobbying activities" is supposed to register. There is almost no enforcement of this registration requirement, as proving a violation would require knowing how an unregistered individual spends all his time. The biggest effect of Obama's restrictions on lobbyists, regarding giving and serving on boards, has been mass deregistration of lobbyists.

Firm

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ORIGINAL: Owner59

One party is with wallstreet and the banksters and one is with the little guy who`s been hurt most,the victims.

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ORIGINAL: Owner59

Are you going to provide the secret decoder ring so that we can figure out why that`s relevant?

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ORIGINAL: erieangel

Firm, OWS is also against those revolving doors. 

Obama vowed when he went into office that no lobbyists would work in his administration.  He lied. 

See, I voted for the man and I am still able to voice my discontent. 

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ORIGINAL: Owner59

So we now can put the disaster Iraq,the treason,the torture and needless deaths/maimings of our GIs on you rediculously shameless cons and you`ll help?

Thanx!

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However, republicans are best at circling the wagons and not shooting at each other......of that there is no doubt.

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ORIGINAL: thishereboi

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However, republicans are best at circling the wagons and not shooting at each other......of that there is no doubt.

You don't watch a lot of political ads, do you?

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ORIGINAL: EmilyRocks

Because the banks own them too.

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One party is with wallstreet and the banksters and one is with the little guy who`s been hurt most,the victims.

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So here's an idea. Protest the legal fiction that corporations are "persons" with any of the rights attendant thereto.

If corporations want to influence legislation, let them have to convince the electorate to call their Congressmen because what they're asking for is good for the country, instead of cutting the People out of the loop by sending suits down to Washington with bags full of money.

Because except in fucking Wonderland, a corporation isn't a "person" and bribery is still bribery.

I'd camp out for that one. With or without a bong.

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ORIGINAL: Arpig

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One party is with wallstreet and the banksters and one is with the little guy who`s been hurt most,the victims.

Been hitting the bong a little early O59? Both parties are equally in the pockets of the Corporations. It takes so much money to buy an election, and don't kid yourself...they are bought not won, that an aspiring politician has no choice but to sell out. His only choice is who to sell himself to and what his minimum price is.