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My main criticism of the F.E.C. would be that its existence seems to preclude investigation by any other law enforcement agency.
But there's a problem with the setup too. Since 2 members of the 6-person commission are supposed to be replaced every 2 years, Obama should have replaced all the Bush appointees already. (Going through the list of previous members on Wikipedia, it looks like there have always been 6, not 7.) But since Republican obstruction wouldn't let Obama nominees through, 4 Bush appointees are still serving on the commission.
The law and the rules of the Senate should be changed to eliminate the possibility of obstruction that keeps such commissions from having complete membership, but also to make sure that when terms expire, the members cannot continue to serve.
I've been annoyed at the titling of Presidents as "Mister" since the mid-90's, which is basically as soon as I was aware of politics. It's actually quite normal for the press to do, but I'm still annoyed by it, because there's a superseding title to use. And in Obama's case, he should be titled "Doctor", since he has a JD.
Good point Chuck. I was thinking of candidates, not ballot measures. We only had two binding, and about 5 non-binding ballot measures here. I didn't see any ads for any of them. To sum up the last five months of political ads I've seen: Bruce Rauner (R) is rich and got that way be screwing over old people, and Pat Quinn (D) is a failure at governing.
CWA - I saw that too. I wasn't sure if it counted for the judges too. Failing to vote is a vote of "no" for retention. Probably not. Otherwise we'd have no judges, because so many people, like myself, skip that part. I don't know enough about them, care enough about them, or have the time or desire to learn about them.
I don't know about in DuPage Country, but here in Cook, about half of the local elections were uncontested Democrats. Not even a third-party option.
Odd thing when voting this morning (FYI: DuPage County, IL)
Advised (for first time) any non-votes will be counted as NO
(for the various referendums / i.e. Min. Wage increase, Birth Control as part of health insurance, nominal tax inc for incomes over 3 million dollars to be allocated towards schools by attendance, etc.)
Never heard of this in the past.... would REALLY appreciate input from Thom or others, why the change and is this a fair way to gauge public opinion?
In reporting of poll results: big diff between 30% for 20% against 50% non-vote vs. 30% for 80% against.
BP is above law just as corrupt Wall ST bankers broke laws but never went to jail Taxpayers suffered great harm. CEO's got more millions after 2008 crash . US laws & polices favor large corps & billionaires , are killing off the working class Fair Wages & pensions are getting rare . MY husband worked so hard , walking the factory for years ,all the way up to Plant Supt The plant closed and his pension was slashed. Why is that even legal ? Because Corp & billionaires run our country .
No, the main-stream media could not care less.
Stagger, there was no "Daily Topics" post like there's supposed to be, and I couldn't let the drive-by drop-off of bad information stand.
(It looks like replies to previous comments aren't marked as such, perhaps the webmaster could look into that.)
Chi Matt -- One can work for the defense industry and protest. I never was fired.
Chi Matt RE#14 -- There is significant polling data that shows those ads are effective. I gave on example at the beginning of my blog comment. That is, the reversal of 1.4 to 1 to 1 to 1.3. Another example is the GMO labeling proposition in California. The polls showed that 72% of the public supported labeling of GMO products. After a barrage of anti-labeling ads, the proposition lost. One of the most nauseating of those anti labeling ads was the factual statement that it would increase the cost of the product (not necessarily the price or least it was never mentioned). Of course, the increase in cost was something like 0.1 cents.
RichardofJeffer RE#17 -- There is a Consumer Union and they do most of things you think they should do. See the following link:
http://consumersunion.org/about/
You need to discuss with them why they cannot accomplish as much as you think such an organization should.
Each of the three corporations involved in the oil spill should be convicted for the death of the personnel who lost their lives in the explosion. If corporations are "people" then the punishment should be equivalent to what any serial murdeerer would get. The equivalent woiuld be for the eintire capital and property of the corporations should be confiscated, equivalent to the death penalty for a human being so convicted.
The stock holdesr of the corporations would be made aware of the moral problems when corporations do not perform for the public good.
I liked that reminder of the French Revolution. Off with their heads! (Those of the corporate masters, that is).
Thom, Consumer Unions could be an affective model for a democratic institution that could punish BP, without having to beg our "representatives" in Congress to act as servants to the will of the people, instead of acting as paid employees of large corporations. Imagine, if an organized national Consumer Union collectively boycotted BP and then, imagine a bit more, if there was a International Consumer Union calling for boycotts around the world. Then democracy would be in the hands of the people, and the ruling class would final have a reason to fear the unbridled heard.
First to answer Thom's rhetorical question: if we weren't living under corporate fascism, BP would be history by now. Under our current system, laws are only in the books to keep us peons in line, while it's open season for kleptocrats.
Reply to #13: Great to have ya back, Marc! Excellent points! You could have taken many of those words right out of my mouth. Like you, I tend to vote the opposite of what those prime-time ads tell us. Here in Oregon we’ve been bombarded with Monsanto’s ads telling us to vote against GMO labelling. Yeah right. They might as well be telling us to step up as volunteers, and be Monsanto’s unpaid guinea pigs… and in a country with no universal healthcare! Downright insulting.
I’ll admit, I’ve been a little distracted by some of those threads on the side bar… like that one titled “Mysticism”. Hoo-we! If you visit that one, be ready to duck! Whole lotta mud slingin’ goin’ on… Gee, I thought spirituality was supposed to bring out the best in us! - AIW
I wonder if youtube tracks how many people "skip" the political ads in front of videos, versus how many people "skip" other ads. I'll bet that even the people behind the political ads know that they have little affect on anyone, but they don't want to admit it, because it would cost them their job. The biggest effect the ads have, besides annoying the shit out of people, is to reinforce the positions people already had about their candidates.
I think Direct TV and Dish Network can also track how many people fast-forward through ads.
My friend proposed something call a "P" chip. It's like a "V" chip, but instead of filtering out violence, it filters out political ads. I'd buy it.
As bad as it is here, I can only imagine what it would be like to live in a swing state. Those of you that do live in one, you have my pity.
chuckle8 ~ Thanks for pointing all that out. Great job! Well said! I have a simpler way of reading the ads. If I see a bunch of expensive, prime time ads telling me how to vote, I make a note and tend to vote the opposite way. Let's use a little commons sense here. Do those people who have your interest and mine at heart have that much money to blow on all those ads just to 'help' us out? No, they don't, do they? The people behind a massive ad campaign are investing money in order to make money. Money that is probably intended to come out of us. People just don't spend that kind of money without a return on that investment. Let the listener beware! The voices you are hearing are helping you make a decision. Make the opposite decision! Those commercial campaigns are NOT in your best interest.
I find the secularization of Halloween and St. Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day, all Catholic holidays, mildly annoying. At least with Christmas and Easter, most people know they are celebrating Christian holidays. But ask the average teenager who we're celebrating on St. Valentine's Day, and they won't know. I don't celebrate any of those three holidays really. Fortnuately, my wife doesn't mind.
Anyway...
"I really don't care how futile of a fight that is. The fight is all that is important to me. The only thing more important is the fact that I am fighting on the right side. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
Suppose there were two people who both had Progressive ideals. One spent their life fighting the Military-Industrial Complex: protesting at G8 summits, supporting Progressive candidates, etc. The second person went to work for a defense contractor, and used the money he made there to raise his family, give to charity, support the economy, etc. I'd say both people are equally moral.
I'd also say the second guy is smarter, because if he didn't take that defense contractor job, someone else would have.
Perhaps had I been around in the 60s, I would think differently. To me and my generation, protests have always been these marginal freak shows, not actual movements that made any difference in the long run. During the G8 or IMF (One cancelled, but I forget which one) meetings in Chicago two years ago, there were just as many police as there were protestors. In fact, if their goal was to reduce the military-industrial complex, it backfired. It gave the city a reason to buy more military gear for the police. Perhaps if those people put their money and energy into something else, like organic food or solar panels, they'd get better results. But honestly, I feel like most of the protestors I see are there just to "be a part of something". The same reason people celebrate sports teams when they win the championship. Even if they aren't fans, people like being part of a crowd.
But I'm probably just a jaded, middle-aged guy.
Get lost troll!!!
I agree with the death penalty for corporations so long as we throw in the Cock Brothers. Apply the death penalty then confiscate our trillions.
While we are at it, let's apply the death penalty to Haliburton, Chevron, Bank fo America, Comcast, Direct TV, Verizon, Fox Not News.
Why can't we apply the death penalty to red states? They are very unamerican. We could start with Texas, Shitzona, Utah, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Lousyana, Kentucky, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Let me know if I missed one.
I just read in the LA Times of April 2, 2014 (I am slow) that the label of "deporter in chief" is a distortion. If you are an immigrant living in the US, there is much less chance of you being deported by the Obama Adminstration, than the bush administration. The distortion comes from the fact that more people are being caught at the border. When caught they are deported. This is how the numbers of deportees is increasing under Obama.
If you think , drive right by bp
And remember those who died on that rig and the uncalculable damage to the gulf
And everything that lives there or should i say lived there.
Then vote tuesday for the envirnmentaly concerned politician.
Right on ! All the republican do is create out of thin air, issues that are not issues. They don't work for us they work only for there Masters.
The only voter fraud that exists, is the Republican voter fraud. It has been shown nationally, there is not actual voter fraud. 1/10 of 1% fraud, in which most have been charged, is not even an issue with voter fraud. The republicans created this issue, and as always, another republican, out in out lie and fraud.