Test your gag reflex with this headline from MSNBC's front page.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

I want my fucking country back.

:grr:

[Bluzmann57]

1. Unfortunately, that headline is true

It isn't right, but it is true. I agree with you, I want my country back. I'm old enough to remember when the people actually had a say in how government was run. No more.

[WePurrsevere]

2. And what do "WE the PEOPLE" reap except: higher prices, lower saving,

more debt, less ways to get out of it or get help, less jobs due to companies either closing or outsourcing the jobs, higher pollution, less customer service, etc, etc, etc.

<snip>

The Carmen Group Inc., a mid-size lobbying firm, is so proud of its performance that it annually publicizes its clients' costs and compares them to the benefits they receive. In 2004, the latest year available, Carmen said, it collected $11 million in fees and delivered $1.2 billion in assistance to its clients -- a ratio of less than 1 to 100. The payoff is large but fairly typical of modern-day lobbying, said David Carmen, the firm's president.

<snip>

Congressional critics complain that average voters are left out when private lobbyists rush in.

<snip>

Such outsize returns are made possible by the immensity of the federal government -- with its nearly $2.8 trillion annual budget -- and the willingness of Congress and the Bush administration to dispense that money widely. The ability of lobbyists to operate effectively in such a climate has made their work "a relative bargain," said Joel Jankowsky, the longtime head of the government relations practice at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

<snip>

Watchdog groups also worry that the broad public loses out to the corporations, labor unions and interest groups that can afford lobbying fees. "Lobbying is cost-effective only for those who can pay for lobbyists," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "Those with an opposing view won't be heard as well as those with lots of money."

Hey, BushCo and Republicans... remember: "Government OF the PEOPLE, By the PEOPLE, FOR the PEOPLE...?" Well guess what you ANTI-American, UN Patriotic elephant turds... WE do, WE want it back and WE the PEOPLE someday WILL persevere. :patriot:

[annabanana]

3. It's good to have it "out there"

Most people are NOT big corporations... Most people don't have lobbyists to press their suit. I read the article and thing. "what about ME?".. and I'll bet that plenty of other people have that reaction, even if they don't spend hours trying to educate themselves as to how Washington works.

For me it crystallizes in this one sentence, further down in the article:

"No one on Capitol Hill is suggesting a ban on lobbying, a change that would run counter to the First Amendment to the Constitution."

If corporations are going to insist that they are legally "people", then they had better face the same penalties as I would for theft and fraud and murder.

[PassingThrough]

4. Great headline.