For all of you not familiar with this bill, passed in 2002 and signed by then President Bush, here’s the Cliff Notes version. It was first called the Bi-partisan Campaign Reform Act in 1995. Introduced by Republican Senator John McCain and Democrat Senator Russell Feingold. It went through some revisions and became McCain-Feingold. It addresses two key elements “soft-money” contributions and political ads. Soft-money are contributions that come from groups and organizations rather than political campaigns or parties. The issues advertisement provision was designed to curtail ads specifically design to manipulate voters rather than inform them exactly where the candidate stood on issues. That is why every ad ends with “Paid for by Group A” or I am ______ and I approve this message. (H/T wisegeek.com). Earlier this year the Supreme Court, correctly in my opinion, struck a blow to McCain-Feingold and upheld the First Amendment. The following is from the New York Times:
WASHINGTON — Sweeping aside a century-old understanding and overruling two important precedents, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections.
The ruling was a vindication, the majority said, of the First Amendment’s most basic free speech principle — that the government has no business regulating political speech. The dissenters said allowing corporate money to flood the political marketplace will corrupt democracy.
“If the First Amendment has any force,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority, which included the four members of its conservative wing, “it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech.”
First of all, New York Times, what is that century old understanding? Second, I am tired of the left standing behind the Supreme Court as a governing body and not the Constitution which is the governing document of the United States. Anthony Kennedy is right in is majority opinion. On one side, we get this is a victory for the First Amendment. On the other side we get this:
“With its ruling today, the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics. It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans. … We are going to talk with bipartisan congressional leaders to develop a forceful response to this decision.”-Barack Obama (http://bigjournalism.com/fross/2010/01/21/supreme-court-drop-kicks-mccainfeingold-scores-victory-for-1st-amendment/
And the President is right. Well in his wordbending sort of way. It does open the doors to a new stampede of special interests. These are commonly refered to as 527′s Here’s a definition: A tax-exempt group organized under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code to raise money for political activities including voter mobilization efforts, issue advocacy and the like. Currently, the FEC only requires a 527 group to file regular disclosure reports if it is a political party or political action committee (PAC) that engages in either activities expressly advocating the election or defeat of a federal candidate, or in electioneering communications. Otherwise, it must file either with the government of the state in which it is located or the Internal Revenue Service. Many 527s run by special interest groups raise unlimited “soft money,” which they use for voter mobilization and certain types of issue advocacy, but not for efforts that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a federal candidate or amount to electioneering communications. (opensecrets.org) For the sake of brevity I can not list all the 527′s. If you want to see them all go herehttp://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtes.php. But these 527′s include the usual suspects SEIU, UFCW, NEA, and then some nice sounding groups like Citizens for Strength and Security, Coalalition to Defend the American Dream. Now these are liberal supporters and there donations go 99%-1% to Democrats. In some cases 100% to Democrats. In an attempt to seem fair, Swift Vets and POW’s for Truth appear near the top of the list based on contributions.
My point of bringing this up is not to turn this into an endless promotion of left-wing 527′s. It is to show that while the President is complaining about corporations and special interests influencing an election. It appears that the liberals pounced on this opportunity to influence the outcome of elections. To Obama’s other victors, big oil, Wall Street Banks, and health insurance companies. He doesn’t take money from these entities because he can’t. Nice job of wordbending. The 1907 Tilman Act prohibits direct contributions. However, Obama has accepted more than $213,000 from individuals who work for companies in the oil and gas industry and their spouses. And two of Obama’s bundlers are top executives at oil companies and are listed on his Web site as raising between $50,000 and $100,000 when he was the presidential hopeful. And he gave bailouts for the heaviest of hitters on Wall Street. And the healthcare bill benefits the biggest on Wall Street and K-Street. So what the President is complaining about when McCain-Feingold took the hit was that the people that disagree with his party now have a chance to get more information.
My plea is this. Leading up to November 2nd, do your own research. Google(tm) the organizations that are putting on ads for and against your favorite candidate. Find out where they stand on other issues and weather or not the “facts” can be objective. Because here in Colorado there were some 527′s allegedly using money to support Dan Maes to assure a victory by John Hickenlooper. So based on some of the things I have read, left-wing groups are supporting canidates that they THINK can be defeated by Democrats. The only way to defeat those who pervert our system is to ignore the well-edited “out of context” sound bites and vote on the ISSUES you care about. If a candidate you support is for smaller government, cut-spending, and upholding the Constitution, then why care if they were late on a mortgage payment 15 years ago or if they “dabbled” in witchcraft 25 years ago. The people that bring this stuff up are usually losing and have paid a 527 group to dig it up. My rule usually involves the Ann Coulter rule: “If you want to know what your doing right, see how the left is attacking you” (My apologies to Ms. Coulter if I got that wrong).
Well, I was watching a Popeye cartoon the other day, and a thought popped into my head. I thought, “Hey, Olive Oyl reminds me of someone.” And that someone is the independent voter. Some independents are like Olive Oyl. They always seem to be fickle and never stick with one person/party. And in most cases, they always choose the one that impresses them the most, whether by beliefs, records, good looks, ect., much like Olive Oyl being impressed by Bluto’s biceps, size, ect. Now that I think about it, Obama seemed just as determined to woo independents and other voters with his charm, personality, broken promisies, and good looks at all costs, like Bluto does with Olive Oyl. But, their plans seem to backfire a lot. When Bluto starts acting rough and greedy, Olive quickly changes her mind and wants to be saved. When Obama doesn’t do his job properly and creates controversy, most(if not all) independents quickly change their minds and want to be saved. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I think there’s a stunning resemblance between Olive Oyl and independent voters. I don’t know if this will flip a lib, but I just wanted to post something that I thought was interesting. But, if you don’t agree with at least one particular thing about this post, please tell me. I would love to hear what you think about this post. That’s all. Thanks, and God Bless! BTW there are a few “political” themed popeye cartoons out there.
36 Days (as of this writing) and there are still people I run into that either aren’t registered to vote or say “well I am only one person. You can’t fight city hall.” This infuriates me. Are you not a Patriot? Do you like what is going on? Do you feel represented? I am only one person. I have inspired 18 people who have never voted before to come with me on November 2nd. I donated to a candidate that “had very little shot of winning the primary” and he won. (Vote for Ken Buck in Colorado). I engage people all the time in the public square that approach me to sign things that I don’t agree with. I attended 2 Tea Parties, joined Right to Work. Joined and contributed to Americans for Prosperity. The same Americans for Prosperity that is the number 1 kick boy of Obama. I supported candidates like Christine O’Donnell once her own party was attacking her. She was over 8 points behind at that point and she won.
Now am I implying that Ken Buck won because I got involved? The same for O’Donnell? And did Americans for Prosperity become the most hated group of the left because I am a member. Of course I claim no such thing. But what I can claim is that I am doing what I can to fight for what I believe and are doing it with other like-minded individuals. Are you? Are you motivated to vote against every single Democrat that gave us the disaster that is Obamacare? Are you motivated to vote against the Democrats that would allow a victory mosque to be built at ground Zero? How about trying to repeal laws that use your tax money to fund abortions? How about voting against Democrats that want a day set aside for Michael Jackson, but can’t put the word Christmas on any calendar? How about a government that took your money and gave it to Unions? Don’t Unions bargain for their own wages and benefits and are better than ours? Now the government took your money and gave them more? I could go on, but a few weeks ago I heard the following speech or at least one similar on the Mark Levin Show on KNUS 710. Michael Berry of Houston was sitting in for him. Well thanks to Facebook (and YouTube) I have found the audio and could do no better. The would just be echoing the following remarks: (H/T Newsradio 740 KTRH):
While preparing my morning coffee I noticed a cartoon had appeared on my TV. I am watching network TV now as I am in a transition that requires my connection with the real media be put on hold. That has to change soon. This cartoon is on ABC. I noticed the lack of American diversity in this series. I am noticing a lack of Anglos and or other Americans is becoming the norm. Now don’t get me wrong. I am not in any form or fashion any type of white supremacist or a racist or bigot. I am just the opposite. I love all people and believe we should all work together. Unfortunately I am starting to feel other groups of non American origin don’t share this feeling. I have heard by 2040 the white population will be the minority. This is concerning sense I am noticing an anti U.S. movement from other ethnic groups that have banded together to push Americans out along with our freedom and liberty based way of life.
I did a search on the internet to determine the origin of these exclusive non Anglo looking characters. They are from a time gone by in an Incan society. In other words they are from Central America. No big deal right? In itself…. a cartoon about a group of people from another culture is not a big deal. I am for equality and love all of Gods people. I can see from the political climate and the leftist movements that the God loving are a threat to each of these non traditional American groups. Just a footnote, To me a traditional American come from descendants of the founders, Native Americans, descendants of slaves or legal immigrants that embrace our way of life not determined to destroy it.
We are Americans. America is a diverse Judea/Christian nation. If you are not a Judea Christian we still accept you. That being said we were founded as a Judeo Christian society and we have been blessed and have become the police for freedom around the world. We have crumbled tyrants that abuse and destroy their own people. If you don’t believe what we believe that is fine, however try to change us to anything but that and you will have trouble.
We are seeing our laws slowly undermine our way of life over the years. What people fail to see is that laws don’t have as much power as our voice. If you don’t like the decline of jobs in the U.S. then don’t buy anything made in another country. Even if a law or trade agreement encourages the availability of foreign made goods and services our voice can make them disappear. If we don’t buy them they won’t be able to make them. Another threat to our freedom is others from anti American groups. Have you noticed many businesses are being dominated by non Judeo/Christians? If these businesses do well so will their encroachment. If these anti Judea/Christian anti freedom loving people are successful will they employ you or will they bring others from back home here to work. Ever notice the Oriental restaurants thrive as the traditional ones are boarded up? Why is that? There are many reasons. One is they work harder and they work together. Another reason may be that they cheat. As a young man I had married a supposed legal immigrant. She was employed at a local restaurant on the Gulf Coast. She was being sexually harassed by an illegal immigrant who worked in the kitchen. I learned the owner had many illegal’s working for the restaurant. He did this to save payroll. The workers were well under paid. The workers also lived together in a house set up for the purposes of housing multiple illegals. The illegals were not going to complain about the low pay and the poor living conditions. They were from a third world nation and were used to worse. They also knew after working hard and paying some dues they too could become a business owner and could in turn practice illegally and then be successful in our country.
The biggest expense in this type of business is usually labor. If you had a restaurant that abides by the laws and zoning you would easily go out of business. Ever eat at an exotic restaurant and wonder how they charge so little for their meals?
Another unsavory tidbit is the thought of these lawbreakers and cheaters preparing my food. Will they cheat when it comes to cleanliness and infection control? Will they cheat on the ingredients? Are you eating what you ordered or is it mystery meat. I have heard stories that would make you ill but I won’t repeat them until they are verified. My point is this. It is far-fetched that an obvious lawbreaker and selfish businessman would play by all the rules except labor, housing, and immigration laws.
As an installer for home medical alert systems I had the chance to speak to an older gentleman who was forced out of the dry cleaning business. He was in competition with an immigrant from India. The Indian opened shop and lived in on the premises. This was illegal. The Indian businessman was violating the zoning laws. Living in the store gave the immigrant a clear advantage over the American owned cleaners. The Indian could charge less than the hard working law abiding competitor. The American complained to his local authorities about the violation . After spending money and time trying to stop the illegal unfair business practice the American Dry Cleaner was ignored and eventually closed his doors as the Indian continued to prosper.
There is an assault on this country by immigrant businesses. Perhaps they are just trying to feed their families and pay their bills. Unfortunately they have learned that crime pays. Our dollars are rewarding bad behavior and punishing law abiding citizens.
You may feel you cant afford to support law abiding ethical businesses. That may be true until you look past your nose. It was reported recently on the Mike Savage show that a high ranking Chinese authority was asked if China would ever attack the U.S. His answer was shocking. He is reported to have said, it was inevitable. He went own to say that the China would also have to commit mass genocide because we would not accept their form of government.
We have would be hard pressed to determine which businesses play fast and loose with the rules. It would also be sad that some innocent proprietors may suffer for our lack of patronage. Unfortunately the alternative is destroying our nation. If the immigrant population wont police themselves what choice do we have?
I have to look at where I spend my money like this. If I drive chances are I won’t wreck, but bI wear my seat-belt just in case. In everyday life chances are that I won’t be robbed, but I lock my doors just in case. When I buy goods or services I don’t know for sure if I am subsidizing illegal’s, lawbreaking, zoning violations, an anti Judea/Christian agenda or terrorism, but I steer clear of foreign owned or immigrant businesses just in case.
I don’t want to do this but until the nontraditional businesspeople don’t police their counterparts I must. You see there is a high price to pay for low cost.
As the late Adrian Rogers said, “you cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”
This man is truly a genius!
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama’s socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama’s plan”.
All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A…
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
Could not be any simpler than that. (Please pass this on)
Remember, there is a test coming up. The mid-term election in 2010!
The ________ act of ___________. This billed was passed on August 10th 2010. Well now that it is passed we can find out what is in it. Because as we have found out from our “great” leaders they don’t have time to read the bills or “put them on line 72 hours before they are voted on so everyone can read them”. Remember that promise? This was a $26.1 Billion (with a bailout of the teachers Union. You know, to have teachers for the children. When you see italics on this site sarcasm is intended(on this post rather)( inserted by flipalib editor). I don’t get why we had to borrow more money on an already over-extended credit card for this. Let me illustrate.
When we extended Food Stamps benefits to those who will always be on Food Stamps we budgeted $54 Billion extension. Well as luck would have it, only $20 Billion was needed. So there is a surplus of $34 Billion. $12 Billion of that went to the teachers Union. What? That money was to go to mothers struggling to feed their families in the recession caused by Bush. How could the post-Bush President give money that was for the children to a Union? The $867 Billion Stimulus package had to be passed right now so we could save the jobs of 100′s of teachers. Stop.
We passed a Stimulus Bill to save the teachers. We funded their Union with a $20 Billion surplus from Foodstamps and now we need to pay $26.1 Billion more to save their jobs? I can’t follow this Administration at all. Maybe because the Stimulus Package that was passed to save “their” job did not do that at all. WOW! That would shock me. The President lied. I Contend that $367 Billion of that $867 Billion has left to be spent. Why not take it from that slush fund to fund education? Or are you saving it for the following:
$700,000 to buy a robot that tells jokes. Bet it doesn’t tell this one. Why did the chicken cross the road? To get away from Socialism. Hilarious right? Or 3.4 million dollars for a turtle tunnel under FLorida roads. Or 1 Million dollars so you can quit smoking by receiving a Blackberry. Or 2 million dollars to dead people. Or 7.5 Million to airport upgrades to an airport that serves 72 people a day. And last but not least, because I have joked about this for two years. The only person that got any money from Obama was the one employed to make signs here in Colorado. $247,000 of YOUR FEDERAL tax money going to signs telling us which projects are being paid for with stimulus money. DO YOU FEEL STIMULATED ECONOMY?
If I were President and someone came at me with these and there are many more I would say what are retarded? I don’t think I am allowed to say that! ACLU e-mail me with your law suit after you are done attacking the cross in the Mojave Desert. My point is this, there is soooooooooooo much waste in the Federal Government, but yet they want more. And where are they going to get it from? YOU! Why does everyone go to the tax-break for the rich mantra to support why they vote Democrat. When the Democrats believe that because you live in America you are the rich?
It’s true, and this past week has been no exception. Recently, two of Sarah Palin’s choice endorsements, Todd Tiarht and CeCe Heil, have faced a narrow defeat in their state’s primaries. Some folks say Sarah’s endorsing helps candidates, while others say that it doesn’t matter at all. Sometimes I can’t help but feel disappointed at the results. But then again, everyone has their choice candidate that they want to vote for, with or without Palin’s help. The impression I get is that some folks like Sarah and what she’s doing as far as endorsing goes, but all of them have probably already made their decisions before she had the chance to announce her endorsement choice. Overall, I’m sure that some folks prefer to vote based on who they like rather than who chooses to endorse them, while others are wary with choosing certain candidates that happen to inspire her. For example, when I first heard that Sarah chose Carly Fiorina as her endorsement choice, I was happy because she wanted to help out a GOP senate candidate in my state! But, it stirred up some controversy, mainly with the Tea Party. So, before I made my decision, I decided to check out Carly and what she stood for. I liked what I saw. I liked Chuck DeVore too, but I thought that a former female CEO would have a better chance of taking on Barbara Boxer and helping out with the economy rather than a former assemblyman that was mainly a Tea Party favorite(that’s just my opinion). So, I voted for her, and she won! And as of now, she seems to be growing more popular against Boxer. So, what do you folks think? Do you agree with my personal thoughts of Palin’s endorsment activity?
bailout of the teachers Union. You know, to have teachers for the children. When you see italics on this site sarcasm is intended(on this post rather)( inserted by flipalib editor). I don’t get why we had to borrow more money on an already over-extended credit card for this. Let me illustrate.
