Obama endorses overturning Citizens United
By louisehartmann
The movement to amend the Constitution and overturn the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision just got its biggest endorsement yet – from President Barack Obama. During an online question and answer forum on Reddit.com – the President was asked to do something about the corrupting influence of money in politics post-Citizens United. He responded by calling for the DISCLOSE Act to be passed – and then went further saying, “Over the longer term, I think we need to seriously consider mobilizing a constitutional amendment process to overturn Citizens United (assuming the Supreme Court doesn't revisit it). Even if the amendment process falls short, it can shine a spotlight of the super-PAC phenomenon and help apply pressure for change.”
Senator Bernie Sanders already has that amendment ready to go – as do many Democrats in the House. Now it’s up to we the people to get out in the streets to move it forward. Go to MoveToAmend.org.
Comments
#2
Big Unions can hardly compete with the greedy capitalist monsters who have effectively bought out nearly all politicians. And the greedy, rapacious, corporations have managed to pretty much destroy any decent representation of workers...the Unions...leaving the workers to suffer.
I believe you had said that you live in Alberta, Canada where, although they call your government "conservative" it looks more like a progressive one: Universal healthcare...$16,977 personal tax exemptions (compared to $3700 in the US)...a fairly equal personal vs corporate tax rate of roughtly 20% (the US pushes the tax burden to those who can least afford it while letting many corporations get away with paying no taxes).
#3
Gordon Gekko & Eddie Munster
VS
Obama & Biden
#4
Labor Unions have been dying for years thanks to 30 yrs of Reagan Walker GOP devious efforts Union money is scant when compared to secret money unleashed by Citizens United . You like millions have been misinformed likely by Fox Hannity Rush & 100's of Rush wannbees on con talk radio. Did you know labor unions fought hard for fair pay and benefits- safe work place - child labor laws, equal pay - vacation pay- unemployment -sick pay and more Are you ready to give all that up Are women ready to let GOP ban birth control- tell us how to plan our families- tell us what the real meaning of rape is ? If so Vote for MITT / RYAN
#5
Well Said
#6
Our corporate rate is 15% but personally we can pay up to 48%. We don't have national health care like your Government is proposing it is provincal (state) so I am lucky I live in Alberta. I some areas of Canada you can wait up to 2 years for a hip operation. I can't beleive you guys want this. If you think health care is expensive now wait until its free. My Canadian whiskey is $58 here and only $12 in Scottsdale, AZ (Canadian made) . You if you smoke take out a mortagage on your house.
By the way our Conservative government is making massive cuts to all government departments and has an action plan that replaced all the jobs we lost a few years ago. Maybe the Romney/Ryan are on the right track. You could all have jobs too.
#7
Where have all of you been for the past two years, including Thom and his staff. I have been trying to get people involved in the Popular Amendment Movement and the two proposed constitutional amendments posted at www.faircampaignreform.us since early August 2010. If you haven't been to the website to get involved, then do it today so that we can try to remedy this disaster before the 2014/2016 elections.
Petition for US Constitutional Amendment For Election Reform
We, the undersigned US citizens, duly registered voters in our respective states/territories, do hereby petition for our state to approve the following amendment to the United States Constitution by the method noted below.
Election Reform:
1. Abolish the Electoral College (Repeal Amendment 12)
2. ONE NATIONAL primary date to be held on the Tuesday eight (8) weeks prior to the General Election day for Congressional offices and for the President. Candidate petitions must be filed with the local/state elections boards 60 days prior to the Primary Election date. Federal election petitions shall be uniform in every state and shall include a “contract with the voters” that spells out clearly what that candidate stands for on all issues that they may have to address in elected office. They shall be held accountable in court for breach of that contract if elected and any/all terms are not met.
3. NO campaigning allowed for any elective federal office more than 60 days prior to the National Primary Date.
4. NO campaign contribution shall be donated to any candidate of more than $200 from an individual or $500 maximum from a family (spouses/children living in the same household.) No donations shall be made to a candidate more than sixty days prior to the primary date. No candidate shall contribute from their own funds more than 60% of the total donations from other private individuals.
5. NO campaign contribution from any PAC, corporation, union, non-profit organization, special interest group, etc. shall be allowed for any elected federal office.
6. NO third party campaigning (separate PAC ads, corporate ads, etc.) for/against any candidate shall be allowed at any time during or before the election season.
7. NO party conventions shall be held to select the presidential candidates. The selection must be done at the ballot box in the primary election.
8. The One Man/One Vote Supreme Court ruling shall be enforced by this Amendment, namely that NO federal candidate selection shall be by any means other than the ballot box on Primary/General Election Dates.
9. National Party Organizations shall NOT raise money for or donate to specific candidates of their party prior to the dates outlined above.
10. PAC’s shall NOT be granted tax-exempt status by the IRS, and any non-profit organization who uses their funding for political purposes shall lose their tax-exempt status.
11. All lobbyists shall be outlawed from influencing Congress at all times.
This amendment shall be approved ONLY by State Constitutional Conventions to be called within 90 days of this petition being submmitted to a state’s Secretary of State. A minimum of 25% of the registered voters in each state shall be required to further this petition to the respective Secretary of State.
Name Signature State Address
Petition for US Constitutional Amendment For Congressional Term Limits
We, the undersigned US citizens, duly registered voters in our respective states/territories, do hereby petition for our state to approve the following amendment to the United States Constitution by the method noted below.
Term Limits for Congress:
1. Representatives to Congress shall serve no more than two two-year terms in the House.
2. Senators shall be elected to no more than two six year terms in the Senate.
3. No elected official shall serve more than six terms in office in any combined elected offices (House/Senate/Presidency.)
This amendment shall be approved ONLY by State Constitutional Conventions to be called within 90 days of this petition being submmitted to a state’s Secretary of State. A minimum of 25% of the registered voters in each state shall be required to further this petition to the respective Secretary of State.
Name Signature State Address
#8
The slaves in ancient Egypt had jobs too...question is what kind of jobs would we get under a Romney/Ryan administration? When someone says he wants a job it doesn't mean he wants minimum wage, no health benefits, 80 hour a week...no paid overtime, no vacation, no safe workplace. And with Romney/Ryan you would be lucky to even get that as they will more than likely ship all jobs overseas. They have a reputation for destroying jobs...you know?
And I'd sure love to wait 2 years for a hip operation, if I needed one, if the alternative was not to get one at all. And that is the only reality for most of the people in the US who can't afford the very risky health insurance companies who often will try to blame the hip problem on some pre-existing condition. Then you would not only have wasted all of your money on those very, very expensive monthly premiums to the insurance companies but you also would have to pay for the entire hip operation, anyway....not cheap and way beyond the means of most people. So, you are very lucky to have to wait just 2 years for a hip operation.
Since I don't drink or smoke...I am not worried about the prices of those non-necessities. And since those two things cause more health-related issues...it is a good thing that they are so costly...it helps keep people healthy. I'd like to see the prices of those two non-necessities skyrocket to absolutely unaffordable by everybody.
But as food and oil prices will soon shoot up to totally unaffordable to many (gas: $15/gal; food: $200+/bag) by April of next year we may have a totally unrecognizable country by then.
"... food prices have a direct link to the tipping points of unrest and upheaval.
The authors also criticize the deregulation of commodities markets in the US as contibuting to the rise in food prices.
The authors issued a stern warning that if food prices remain high, disturbances will continue. Averting further crises this year and next requires quick and concerted action by policy makers, they added."
http://necsi.edu/research/social/foodcrises.html
I know every time I go food shopping, or fill up at a gas station, I get very "unrestfull"... in my mind, anyway...which migrates to my lips with something very unhumbling to say about the Wall Street bandits, who, through their speculation, drives up the prices. But, as history shows most other people, who may be hurting a great deal more, may translate that into physical actions. And it will likely happen by at least the first quarter of 2013.
#9
$6 billion! Think what that could fix just in the United States! Imagine what it could do to fund education, research and development, feeding the hungry (I think it would just about cover that) and provide shelter for the homeless. What a shame. What a waste! And much of it is spent on lies, especially clear as we endure this expensiv e convention this week.
As for the guy with the hayseed in his teeth, corporations and businesses and conservative PACs like Rove's and American Enterprise and Crossroads outspend unions 15 to 1! Think about it. I wonder why so many people seem to think we'll go broke because of unions and overpaying public workers.
#10
BIG unions represent BIG numbers of people.......it's called DEMOCRACY.........SINGLE billionaires represent themselves........it's called OLIGARCHY! Why would anyone except a billionaire want no one else to have a say in how life and the workplace jerk them around?
#11
It is both rare and difficult to amend the Constitution, and there will be many vested interests against it, but perhaps it can be done. The need is there, though clearly so is the opposition. One thing that worries me is that the anti-abortionists might say, "Okay, if you want to define a person as a living being then we insist you specify that occurs from conception." Anti-immigrant groups may also try to use their wording to redefine citizenship through this. But if such distractions can be avoided, then I say go for it.
#12
Dylan Ratigan Live on MSNBC in March of 2012 just before leaving MSNBC
DR: Today, we are getting closer to exposing the greatest con and cover-up in the history of this country. It involves the banks, the Federal Reserve, our Congress, and of course, you and me.
First off, think of the Fed as the godfather in this economy. The role of the godfather played by former Fed Chief Alan Greenspan denying that he ever knew what he helped perpetrate... because Greenspan was working for ALL the banks...against you. The bankers, of course, are the unrepentant con men being supported by the Federal Reserve. So good getting that money for free! ..and getting away with it!
Here's how the con went down. The bankers were operating under an implicit guarantee from the godfather, the Federal Reserve, in the form of guaranteed low interest rates...guaranteed cheap money, exclusively, for the con men. Then, chairman Greenspan, the godfather, would agree to hold those rates at, say, 2% for as far as the eye could see. The banks, the bankers, the con men, would borrow that money from the Federal Reserve at, say 2%, and then turn around and lend it back to you at, lets say, 6%. That encouraged the patsies...you and me. And here is exactly where the con comes in...as you and I both know the banks have no money. They are getting it from the Federal Reserve...it's funny money...it had no capital to back up their lending. But that did not matter because they also had no risk in the lending. If the lending paid off...they win. And they won big when they did that because they did it with leverage. Top Manhattan executives paid themselves $121 billion in bonuses in the first part of the decade. (2000-2006)
Now mind you, when the bank loans failed, they knew they were "too big to fail" so the rest of us, you and me, would have to bail them out. The ignorant electorate, if you will, were patsies. They had no idea...and still don't understand how badly they are being conned by our government and our banks. Once the banks, however, realized that there was no losing, the question was...how do we make the con bigger? How do we get more money through this crazy machine so that we can get richer?
The answer, of course, is simple...make more loans...make more credit card loans. Think of all of the credit card loan offers that were sent to you in the mail over the past 10 years. More car loans..it's the reason why General Motors went upside down...it wasn't the cars..its because they were running a financing scheme. Home loans? You know the narrative! So, the people most hurt by this con...the home buyers, the cops, the teachers, pensioners who were suckered in by the bait of low credit and high returns in exchange for buying worthless toxic assets manufactured by the bankers. That's why your pension fund was wiped out. That's why the interest rate on your savings, to this day, remains around zero. If you're a retiree, you know what I'm talking about. It's also why, if you're drowning in a mortgage on a house that's worth far less than the mortgage that you owe...because the bankers were happy to lend you money that they did not have...to drive up the price of that house (low interest rates and liars loans)...because they knew..the more loans the better..but no down sides for them.
So, what's next? Higher taxes for us. Higher interest rates for us..to pay for the bail outs...while our government that was, theoretically, trusted by us, refuses to cover the money stolen by the con men or fix the system that allowed for them to continue to perpetrate the con against you and me. The cost of the financial reform legislation proposed by our government would give the godfather, the Federal Reserve in this case, even more to regulate the game. The con men, represented by the Wall Street Bankers, of course, giving our Congress a cut in the action, $344 million, so far, to lobby against the bill, second only to health care. And we saw how well it worked out for special interests on health care. Homerun! They got a guaranteed cut from a basic no reform. I'm sure the bankers will do pretty well, as well. All of this, of course, while assuring our law makers, many of whom do not even understand how the con works in the first place, that the financial crisis has been fixed. Of course, with an infinite supply of your money...
After all, just check out the stocks over the past year. We are back over 10,000 on the Dow thanks to that blank check from the Federal Reserve. So now, as we, finally, head toward Congress debating financial reform, in our country, the question must be asked. Does it make sense for our government to give more power to a Federal Reserve and to banker con men who, unrepentantly, caused this crisis...and make money at your expense, on the pension side and on the credit side? That's the current plan...give them more power.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kDgDoXO4WA
Very low interest rates and liars loans and other creative "foot in the door" ways of "qualifying" potential home buyers increased sales, and increased prices. As home sales skyrocketed, the mortgage lenders..the banks..real estate brokers/agents all getting a piece of the pie all willing to do whatever it would take to pull in buyers. The propaganda used against unsophisticated buyers was: "buy now while you still can", "prices will never again be this low", "never a better time to buy", "piece of the American dream...get it before it is too late"...and so many people, who really couldn't afford it, were suckered into helping these real estate and bankster maggots get richer. The bankster maggots knew it was all a matter of time and the bubble would pop. But they didn't care because they already robbed their victims.
#13
Again he has proven himself a day late and a dollar over. Very convenient to introduce a hint to legislators on an idea whose time has come, (long long ago), at a time that the legislation will never affect him other than through some possible positive PR. Snake.
The legislation is a good idea, but the timing speaks of the nearly uniform culture of corruption in D.C.
We really need to send them all home, let the States govern their people, and begin the Federal experiment anew with our acquired knowledge and updated foresight. The status quo so enjoyed by both sides of the aisle has been very quickly leading to the destruction of America. We would simply look ridiculous to the rest of the World, if we weren't so dangerous to ourselves and to the rest of the World.
How can we just sit back and watch D.C., through greed and power megalo-mania, legislate the "Fall of Rome", (i.e America). Are we victims of mass hypnosis or just plain stupid?
#14
That would be interesting...all states secede from the Union simultaneously.
#15
A brief comment on my last comment. One might say, 'That sounds like some kind of utopian nightmare". And it is. The cancer that is Big-controlling/Corporate money; Bank usuary and the derivatives Casino; Government overlordship largely via mandates, the Federal grants system, as well as over-reaching legislation, and the War on Terror (i.e everyone), has left us all with no easy options. The States will clamour: We simply cannot afford all the Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food assistance, Schools, Highways, Welfare, Emergency preparedness, and the multitude of other programs that we are faced with. We will be bankrupt within a week.
We are already bankrupt. If all the individual rooms in a house are bankrupt, then the house as a whole, or household is bankrupt.
I say the States must individually fight to get our money back from the banksters and penalize companies that have off-shored for personal profit and tax avoidance at the expense of America. This can lead to substantial proceeds that can be divided per capita, and exclude any personally based criteria such as age or wealth or financial need, or legal status (i.e. incarcerated, etc.).The person must be a living individual, not a corporation, and be a U.S. citizen. The monies discussed above would be issued directly to the States, to meet their community needs. And if companies and the wealthy balk at the give back, so be it. If they leave, then goodbye, but be aware that in this legislation, you have by default renounced your citizenship in The United States of America. Your assets will be frozen until taxes have been paid in full which will include a full tax audit of the previous ten (10) years of business operations and/or non-corporate income. Additionally a displaced worker re-employment/retraining fee has to be paid in full, directly to the State(s) in which the workers resided. Not to the State of corporate origin unless the worker physically lived in that State more than 50% of the previous year and on a pro-rated basis, based on residency. All of the above prior to the unfreezing of your assets.
By the way big wealthy corporations, if you jump ship, ten or twenty local small/medium companies will fill the void that you leave. Bye bye.
Want to see the Roaches scramble? Then let's go.
#16
If you have Oracle Java 7 (that's version 1.7, update 0 thru 6) on your computer, you'd better either uninstall it or disable it in whatever browser you are using. Big, Big hole in Oracle Java 7 that spans various OS platforms...Windows, Apple, and Linux (but Ubuntu has it's own Java and is not vulnerable). Metasploit and Black Hole Rootkits are already exploiting this security vulnerability. Check out the Security Now show #367...which may not even be on the GRC.com website yet. http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm
More than 3 billion users have Java installed but only about 1 billion have Java 7 installed...and they are at risk (actually, since July 28, 1011) although the exploit was just discovered last week and could have earned someone as much as $100,000 if they had sold the exploit to the underworld criminal organizations. No one knows if this exploit was previously secretly known (before last week) and being used by hackers. There is mounting evidence that it had been used in corporate espionage and that had some fingerprints that indicated possible Chinese origins.--
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/08/java-exploit-leveraged-two-flaws/
But the fact that Oracle left open this hole doesn't seem very reassuring about Oracle.
Usually, you won't have Java on your system unless you purposely installed it...but there are cases where some other app that you downloaded depends on Java and may have installed it for you. OpenOffice or Freemind uses Java.
This exploit will allow hackers to download anything and run anything on any system.
This version of Oracle Java Allows modification of OS security system..gives unrestricted permissions to read and write admin files. No fix yet from Oracle and their normal update cycle is not for some time (October) and they have not indicated that they will do an out of cycle update.
www.isjavaexploitable.com , a metasploit website, will check to see if your computer is exploitable.
www.krebsonsecurity.com will tell you how to remove Java or disable any Java in the browsers.
Looks like the newest Firefox version 15 will deal with the newest Java exploit.
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/view/27880/firefox-15-fixes-16-vuln...
http://blog.mozilla.org/security/2012/08/28/protecting-users-against-jav...
#17
Thank you for the heads-up. I will check immediately.
Sure enough Java 7 update 5 was there, and is now gone. Do you know if JavaFX 2.1.1 is also exploitable. I am ditching that too, for now.
Third and final edit (update). I found out from Krebs on Security that JavaFX 2.1.1 is packaged together with the Java 7 update 5, and was released Tuesday. In any event, I plan to avoid Java altogether.
I also got a warning from Zone Alarm when I was updating Foxit Reader today. Zone alarms new "Advanced heuristic" test for executables prior to "Run" is what picked it up. It said this program is potentially malicious software, because it can silently run executables. I have contacted Foxit and am awaiting their reply.
#18
You're welcome. It looks like Oracle did put up an update to Java 7 update 7 (Java SE 7u7 that has bundled Java FX 2.2 with the JDK) which is supposed to take care of the security concerns. So, it looks like Oracle is on top of it. Great! There have been a number of previous exploits in Java in the past and unless you really need Java...as Krebs and Steve Gibson of Security Now recommends to just not even have it installed unless you really need it. I used to have Zone Alarm but not for many years..sounds like it is worth looking in to.
#19
Yes reform, though, trust but verify. Those three words are fundamental regulation. Which is something called quality control that any good business operation implements. Ronald Reagan said this, and is quoted over again many times. All this a confused noise of the Republican GOP convention not once considered what the French connection really was. The French are recognized for centuries of regulations especially fine wine and cheese through government parliament controls. For me to know what the Romney menu was during that difficult tour as a missionary was left out ? Perhaps a Kobe rib eye for dinner only $2,800 per serving. Or perhaps madam would like the slum dog this afternoon, Samundari Khazana, the World’s Most Expensive Curry – $3200 a pop.
A good sound analysis of this noise would show a totally warped concept of “We built it” the meaning, taken from Elizabeth Warren’s description of all America chipping into, like paying taxes, to the Common Wealth, and president Obama’s support of the ideal. Of course in most respects Romney tapped the system till the middle class is skewed left as far as they could go. Yes, hitting it out of the ballpark is exactly what happened. Romney pitched the Taguchi's fast ball right to over sea’s manufactured goods. Taguchi is a statistical principal used in manufacturing goods. Motorola used it to build the first micro tac cell phone. I know I helped implement it. Or maybe he uses another one. Just thinking about it makes me laugh because of Romney’s disclaimers likely had those sweeteners in little tiny teeny whinny letters you and I cannot see, legal ease, sort of like the loaded eighty inch television screen that has the commercial with Henry Winkler in the reverse mortgage that displays a disclaimer with what looks like hundreds of little words hard to see in about two seconds or less. I don’t think Evelyn Wood reading dynamics could get one to read that fast.
There are so many characteristics to talk about, especially Clint Eastwood’s empty chair skit. Here is Clint skillfully towing the conversation with the empty chair. I didn’t see it but there must have been a string connecting the chair, working Eastwood’s jaw. It had to be Richards Feynman’s applications in sting theory Hollywood style. Eastwood finally became the Pinocchio we love. Like a little kid pulling a Hollywood jack wagon train. I was expecting Joan Rivers to appear, to sell some energy drinks, or perhaps to help Eastwood blow the horn. LOL.
And of course Jeb Bush, saying with exclaim, don’t blame my brother for America’s grief, the displaced Persians of the middle east, the wounded and death in the wars, the money lost and likely the gold that disappeared from the treasury, riddling the healthcare laws, women with no rights. Because of Obama’s short fall in fixing the economy in free fall. I can picture Isaac Newton saying while holding the caduceus staff of health care “who thou is ith this serpent, dashing out our peoples health care, stealing the treasury and screwing up two wars, Guards arrest that man?”
Yes, for I totally agree to stop blaming George Bush, your brother. Now admitting that you are an accomplice, complicit, and likely scrubbed the flight records of the Arabs fleeing from Florida, and of course scrubbing all those third party Cayman Island Florida investment firms that flipped real-estate faster than a bank check through the Rockefeller clearing house. Yes we all know Greenspan’s lovely wife has a cut in it too, to keep you, your dad, your brother out of the slammer.
Yikes, the show just began, De Novo, if Bush and Cheney had the simple analysis that is given, Romney, and Obama they would also have to run from the notion of committing a felony. From my view they are felons and our Congress and Senate are complicit.
Thank you for reading this for I appreciate the first amendment right to free speech. I don’t have a lot of money there is nothing in this for me but to build an honest America that we will never have till this 911 fraud is completely exposed. I will say this for Michelle Obama, when watching parts of the GOP convention it rings true “That is part of America that I am not proud of either.”
#20
There are more people officially unemployed in the US than there are in private sector unions - maybe than belong to unions in total. Certainly there are more people actually unemployed than there are in unions. Unions have become a red herring in this arena.
======================
Let's be clear about what he actually said:
Quote President Obama:Over the longer term, I think we need to seriously consider mobilizing a constitutional amendment process to overturn Citizens United (assuming the Supreme Court doesn't revisit it)."
So he is basically saying wait for it, wait for it... wait for a new SCOTUS and then we should think about it. The Supreme Court has already quashed Montana's challenge so we do have to wait for a new SCOTUS to have an expectation of any real revisitation of CU FEC. Plus he is only calling for thinking about CU FEC , not the bastardization of popular democracy that is created by corporate political rights.
Obama has that amazing political touch to say things that are bland enough that people hear what they want to hear but not so bland that everyone catches on. In the meantime he does have a super PAC and a billion dollar contribution goal.
Move To Amend has the strongest amendment regarding corporate rights. There are several other amendments that address money in politics more directly. A complete solution will require more than abolishing corporate personhood. I note that the Congress that will overturn corporate personhood and the Powell doctrine (money has speech rights) with a constitutional amendment will just as easily impeach Scalia and Thomas. However, I do not think that is what President Obama had in mind.
#21
HEY, KIDS! In 2008 with Obama was taking his vainglorious Grant Park victory lap I instead was advocating (blogging at thewashingtonpost.com) that with 'banksters' in desperate need of a government bailout there was maybe a window-of-opportunity for a Constitutional Amendment seperating cash from politics, and (by necessity) moving U.S. elections away from expensive 'analog' campaigns (meaning extensive travel and advertising) to digital 'e-democracy'. Now however, with corporations richer and thus seemingly more politically powerful than ever, that window looks (to Tom Brokaw, for example) to be shut tight...But hey, if you want meat, ya' gotta keep pluckin' that chicken.
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Ya, only big unions should be able to control corrupt politicians and the media with large donations. Next thing you know they will want right wing tv stations and the left will not be able to control the media. Oh to late, Fox News has already started. What next governments will not be able to spend more than they have. My God what would we do.