kpete
kpete's JournalMOYERS & CO: Koch Brothers would be shamed & hurt publicly if people knew what that money was doing
Who’s Buying our Midterm Elections?
March 21, 2014
BILL MOYERS: This week on Moyers & Company, the corrupting influence of money in politics.
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BILL MOYERS: So are you suggesting-- is it feasible that the Koch brothers or anybody is putting all this money into this labyrinth because they would be ashamed or hurt publicly if people knew what that money was doing?
ANDY KROLL: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think in a few rare cases, we have seen I.R.S. forms sort of accidentally released that include a list of donors. And it's been sort of a who’s who of--
KIM BARKER: Fortune 500--
ANDY KROLL: Fortune 500 corporations. I mean, there was a tax filing from the early 2000s for the group Americans for Prosperity. Which is founded and funded by Charles and David Koch. And it had a whole roster of major corporations, name brand corporations. And they give to these organizations specifically so that they don't have their name out in the public. And they can sort of quietly push, you know, this issue or that issue, but not have their brand out there. And they want to have their cake and eat it too.
BILL MOYERS: So that would explain why when the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United said transparency, disclosure will be the cleansing agent here, Mitch McConnell and others in Congress made sure the disclosure bill that would implement that transparency didn't pass. The Disclose Act.
KIM BARKER: Yeah, yeah, and you really-- so I think that the-- either the Supreme Court was naive about how campaign finance really works. Or maybe just prescient. Maybe they knew what was going to happen. But their whole idea of using disclosure as some sort of cleansing mechanism and the internet as a way for people to figure out what was actually going, naive, you know?
You look at some of these groups, Americans for America, ad paid for by Americans for America, and you say, "I'm an American. I can get behind that idea. I can get behind America." You know? And you really have no idea, though, where the money is coming from. And you have to do the level of research-- I mean, I think Andy and I can spend months on a story. And you still get to the end of it. And I can say, "I know someone's controlling this network from behind the scenes. But I can't tell you who it is."[/b]
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http://billmoyers.com/episode/whos-buying-our-midterm-elections/
Has Paul Ryan Been Plagiarizing Stories Again?
RYAN:
We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work, and so there is a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/protesting-too-much.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/03/18/paul-ryan-poverty-dog-whistles-and-racism/
http://www.ibtimes.com/paul-ryan-says-poor-children-shouldnt-get-free-school-lunches-plagiarized-story-cpac-1559999
Why They're Telling Us We've Already Lost in November
FRI MAR 21, 2014 AT 01:53 PM PDT
Why They're Telling Us We've Already Lost in November
byLittle Lulu
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I only believe the trad-med claptrap as long as my fellow Democrats simply accept it as a fact and don't show up in November to vote the bull shit into the dumpster. In fact, I believe the reason this claptrap is being spewed on a daily basis is in order to convince the general public that the election is already over and done and Rethuglicans will be trampling our rights in lockstep and destroying the economy on a daily basis until 2016, with their debt ceiling crap and budget cliffs to jump off, as well as the daily votes to deny us affordable healthcare, deny women the right to choose, deny the LGBT community civil rights, fight for the 1% to get even more tax cuts in the form of tax "incentives" and deny a living wage to full time workers, with only Barack Obama's veto power to stop them. That is their obvious agenda and yet they expect to WIN BIG IN NOVEMBER on that platform.
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GET OUT THE VOTE IN NOVEMBER AND CLEAN THESE FUCKERS' CLOCKS!!!!!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/21/1286512/-Why-They-re-Telling-Us-We-ve-Already-Lost-in-November
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Alternatively, Democrats could give midterm voters something to believe in
by David Atkins
.....................the problem isn't that voters are frustrated that nothing gets done in Washington. Voters are frustrated that nothing good is possible in Washington. Those are two very different things.
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For a young voter or voter of color, voting for Democrats isn't a matter of hope for a better future. It's basically a defensive crouch to prevent the insane sociopaths from taking over. To provide real hope, Democrats would have to start pushing for a $15 minimum wage, for basic universal income, for single-payer healthcare, for a green jobs Apollo Program, for student loan forgiveness, and similar policies..
...........there's no way Democrats are going to solve their midterm problem without providing a real, positive vision for the country. If even hardcore activists like me see voting as a defensive rather than an offensive weapon, it's no surprise that many more apolitical people can scarcely be bothered to care.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/alternatively-democrats-could-give.html
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[font color=red]FDR and the Democratic majority of the 1930s-40s are not a myth, like Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance. They were actual human beings, not so different from us. They saw what was necessary to do, they had the opportunity to do it, and they took advantage of the opportunity. Humans did it before. We can do it again.
It won't be easy, but it's not impossible. But when our opportunity comes, we have to be ready to use it.[/font]
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/1286524/52961852#c53
She couldn't stop crying and hugging everyone in sight . . .
FRI MAR 21, 2014 AT 03:24 PM PDT
by Old Redneck
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One of the people he assisted was a single mother of three -- husband killed a few years ago in an industrial accident. She works a part-time cashier's job and cleans houses; her mother and sister take turns keeping the kids. Of course she has no medical insurance and doesn't remember when she or any of the three children saw a doctor.
The Navigator found her a policy that pays 95% of her medical costs, has lots of free stuff (mainly regular exams and check-ups for her and the kids), and with subsidies will cost her $51 a month.
She couldn't believe she didn't have to pay the Navigator. She didn't believe she did not have to promise to vote for Democrats. She didn't believe it when the Navigator printed her insurance card on the spot. When the fact of what she had done finally sunk in, she couldn't stop crying and hugging everyone in sight. Neither could the rest of us.
Episodes such as this make me proud to be a Democrat and make me realize how fortunate I am to have Medicare and TriCare For Life. And it makes me want to punch out the next dozen or so Republicans I hear spreading bullshit about the ACA.
MORE:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/21/1286537/-She-couldn-t-stop-crying-and-hugging-everyone-in-sight
Longview TX to pay Ted Nugent $16,000 to stay away from their 4th of July celebration
Ted Nugent's appearance at upcoming Longview festival canceled by city
Posted: Mar 21, 2014 9:25 AM PDT
Updated: Mar 21, 2014 9:47 AM PDT
By Whitley Walden - email
LONGVIEW, TX (KLTV) - A controversial classic rocker was scheduled to perform at an upcoming Longview festival, but the city decided to cancel the singer's appearance.
The City of Longview is preparing to hold its second annual Fourth of July festival. Planning for the festival includes musical acts performing at the Maude Cobb Convention Center. Event organizers reached out to several artists in hopes of booking them to perform. One of those artists was rocker Ted Nugent.
Maude Cobb staff had reached a verbal agreement with Nugent to perform at the festival. Amid the controversy surrounding Nugent's appearance with Texas gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott, organizers decided to cancel the singer's appearance.
Nugent's guaranteed performance fee is $32,000. In order to cancel with him, the City of Longview paid the singer $16,000 out of the Maude Cobb's annual budget not to appear.
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http://www.kltv.com/story/25038839/ted-nugents-appearance-at-upcoming-longview-festival-canceled-by-city
Liar, Liar: TPM Catches Drudge With His Pants Down
There's just one problem: Americans don't pay a penalty for not having health insurance until they file their 2014 taxes -- in 2015. So either Drudge is lying or he paid a huge penalty a year earlier than he needed to.
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MORE:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/drudge-individual-mandate-liberty-tax?utm_content=buffer3fee5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Why don't you want to wear a party hat when everyone else is wearing one?
From the book of bad arguments:
really wonderful find:
https://bookofbadarguments.com/
http://boingboing.net/2014/03/21/bad-arguments-great-illustrat.html
DO NO EVIL? Google Sued For Data-Mining Kids' Emails in Its Education App
March 20, 2014 |
Google has been rocked by another scandal - this time, it's our children's privacy under attack. The company is facing a lawsuit over data-mining student emails in a bid for advertisements in the company’s Apps for Education tool suite for schools, Info Docket reported.
The U.S District Court for the Northern District of California is currently hearing the complaint, in which nine plaintiffs allege the data-mining practices behind Google’s Gmail electronic messaging service violates federal and state wiretap and privacy laws. Gmail is a key feature of the Google Apps for Education which is used by schools and institutions of higher education through the world for free, boasting some 30 million users worldwide.
Google admitted in a sworn statement that it scans millions of students’ email messages to compile keywords for advertisements, despite not displaying any visual ads on its app. The company has also come under fire for allegedly using information from the scans to build “surreptitious” profiles of users that could be used for such purposes as targeted advertising.
The new developments raise major concerns about the compatibility between US child protection laws and “big data,” Education Week reported prompting major calls for the company to be more open about its policies.
http://www.alternet.org/education/do-no-evil-google-sued-data-mining-kids-emails-its-education-app
To Mr. Paul Ryan: "Take your privilege and shove it, man."
Zandar on Rand Paul's trip to Berkeley:
To recap, it takes a lot of balls to be a white guy who would have voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act and believes business owners have the right to discriminate against customers based solely on race, creed, religion and/or sexual orientation to be speaking to the first black POTUS this way. And now he is suddenly worried about black people and doesn't understand why we haven't turned against Obama over the NSA? No.
He picked Berkeley as an ideal place to test out his message on a group of new potential supporters, he said, because the issue of domestic spying has deeply upset many liberals and turned many of the president’s loyal constituents on the left against him.
His message of course being "You people are stupid to not vote for me even though I'm clearly trying to manipulate you and split the left, leaving Republicans in charge of everything so we can abolish nearly all of the social and civil rights advances made in the last 80 years."
And we're not buying it, especially whenever President Obama does acknowledge race in America, he's immediately portrayed by Republicans as divisive. Race doesn't matter unless it's a situation where Rand Paul thinks it should matter?
Take your privilege and shove it, man.
http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2014/03/rand-paul-lectures-us-again.html
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