Mods - From a subscription newletter, so no link. Just came in. Couldn't find another source, but there should be some shortly.
Two months after the Supreme Court rejected a law limiting corporate spending on political campaigns, the nation's second-highest federal court unanimously decided today to overturn the $5,000 limit on individual contributions to political committees. The ruling by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in SpeechNow.org v. FEC is among the first ripples spreading across campaign finance law after the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC. It could result in fatter bankrolls for "political committees," such as 527 groups, which can advocate on issues as long as they do not coordinate with candidates or political parties. They just had to get a personal opinion in there, didn't they?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/26/2010 13:14 ||
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#1
Good. Individuals should be able to give as much as they like, with full reporting of donations. Corporate persons (a legal fiction) should not be able to give money to politicians in any way shape or form. The individuals that comprise the corp, sure, but not the corp itself.
Me, I'd lock out "NGO's" as well, but I'm a notorious hard-ass.
#2
Here's a link to Professor Volokh's report on it.
(Working, so don't have much time to root around for more.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/26/2010 14:10 Comments ||
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#3
Agree with mojo. No contributions except from natural persons who are citizens of the US. All contributions, regardless of size, must be disclosed & posted on the internet. If you spend money you can't account for, you go to jail.
Andrew Breitbart is offering $10,000 for evidence that it was used at the Tea Party rally in D.C.:
If we let them get away with Saturday's stunt — using the imagery of the Civil Rights era and hurtful lies to cast aspersions upon the tea party whole — then they really will have won the day.
It's time for the allegedly pristine character of Rep. John Lewis to put up or shut up. Therefore, I am offering $10,000 of my own money to provide hard evidence that the N- word was hurled at him not 15 times, as his colleague reported, but just once. Surely one of those two cameras wielded by members of his entourage will prove his point.
And surely if those cameras did not capture such abhorrence, then someone from the mainstream media — those who printed and broadcast his assertions without any reasonable questioning or investigation — must themselves surely have it on camera. Of course we already know they don't. If they did, you'd have seen it by now.
THOUSANDS OF TIMES.
Rep. Lewis, if you can't do that, I'll give him a backup plan: a lie detector test. If you provide verifiable video evidence showing that a single racist epithet was hurled as you walked among the tea partiers, or you pass a simple lie detector test, I will provide a $10K check to the United Negro College Fund.
#1
Evidence? The Dems don't need no steenkin' evidence!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/26/2010 16:07 Comments ||
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#2
There is no evidence. I thought the whole thing was made up from the git go to discredit the Tea Party movement. Look for more of this crap as we move towards November and the Donks get more and more desperate to hang on to power. It is the radical left's playbook; the ends justify the means.
#3
Think about it. Rep. John Lewis and members of the BCC walk high-diddle-diddle right through the middle of the Tea Party crowd and up the capital steps, police escort and bodyguard cell phone cams aided at the crowd.
Even if racial slurs were hurled at Lewis, how does one prove it wasn't someone the dems planted in the crowd?
#7
With all the security and cameras they would have had them arrested. They did not, Lewis lied, and all his group of taunting morons lied. Send the money to the JAL.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/26/2010 22:27 Comments ||
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#8
All this noise about NAME-CALLING!?
I thought maybe he was stealing and reselling cancer meds or something...
After running through an obstacle course of Republican amendments and procedural objections, the Senate on Thursday afternoon approved of a package of changes to the Democrats' sweeping health care overhaul, capping a bitter partisan battle over the most far-reaching social legislation in nearly half a century.
Republicans, raising procedural challenges, identified flaws that struck out minor provisions to the bill. Because of those changes, it now goes back to the House for one more vote, though passage seemed virtually assured.
Democrats said they were confident the measure would soon be on President Obama's desk for his signature.
The vote, just after 2 p.m., was 56 to 43, with the Republicans unanimously opposed. Senators cast their votes standing individually at their desks, a ceremonial gesture reserved for historic occasions. Three Democrats opposed the measure, Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Senator Johnny Isakson, Republican of Georgia, was ill and did not vote.
The bill, a budget reconciliation measure that the Republicans could not filibuster, also included a broad restructuring of federal student loan programs to pay for billions of dollars in school initiatives -- a centerpiece of Mr. Obama's education agenda that has been overshadowed by the larger health care fight.
With both sides girding for a last round of parliamentary challenges, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. arrived in the chamber to preside over the session in his role as president of the Senate. Mr. Biden served for 36 years as a senator from Delaware, making him intimately familiar with the chamber, its rules and precedents, and the main combatants on the floor.
As Senator Judd Gregg formally made the procedural challenges, Mr. Biden twice replied, "The point of order is sustained." Then, he added, "Both provisions are stricken."
Once the roll call was completed, Mr. Biden said, "There are 56 yeas and 43 nays, the bill as amended is passed."
The vote came after Senate Democrats defeated more than 40 Republican amendments aimed at delaying or derailing the legislation, including proposals related to insurance coverage of erectile dysfunction drugs for convicted sex offenders, the legality of gay marriage in the District of Columbia, and gun rights.
As the Senate worked into the pre-dawn hours of Thursday morning, the parliamentarian told lawmakers that he would strike out some provisions related to the education portion of the bill because they violated the complex budget reconciliation rules.
One provision sought to prevent any annual decrease in the maximum amount of Pell grants for students from low-income families. Democrats said they would omit the disputed provisions, and advance the legislation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
amendments aimed at delaying or derailing the legislation
No, that was not the purpose, as they knew that was a lost cause. The amendments were introduced to force the Dems to cast votes which could be used against them in future campaigns.
President Obama declared that the new health care law "is going to be affecting every American family." Except his own, of course.
The new health care law exempts the president from having to participate in it. Leadership and committee staffers in the House and Senate who wrote the bill are exempted as well. A weasel-worded definition of "staff" includes only the members' personal staff in the new system; the committee staff that drafted the legislation opted themselves out. Because they were more familiar with the contents of the law than anyone in the country, it says a lot that they carved out their own special loophole. Anyway, the law is intended to affect "ordinary Americans," according to Vice President Joe Biden (who - being a heartbeat away from the presidency - also is not covered), not Washington insiders.
Mr. Obama frequently tossed around the talking point that the new law gave people the same type of coverage as Congress enjoyed. In his March 20 health care pep talk to wavering Democrats on Capitol Hill, the president said one of the advantages of the health care legislation was that "people will have choice and competition just like members of Congress have choice and competition." At yesterday's signing ceremony, Mr. Obama said Americans will be "part of a big pool, just like federal employees are part of a big pool. They'll have the same choice of private health insurance that members of Congress get for themselves." But the American people will have a public pool; the executive branch and congressional staffers kept their country-club pool private.
Last year, Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, spearheaded efforts to have all Americans included in the plan, but he ran into heavy opposition from unions representing federal workers - the same unions that were pro-Obamacare stalwarts. In September, the Senate approved a scaled-down amendment that covered members of Congress and their staff. When this provision later emerged from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office, the leadership and committee staff loophole had appeared. A move in December by Mr. Grassley and Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, to close this loophole and to extend the law to senior members of the executive branch - including the president, vice president and Cabinet members - was blocked by Senate Democratic leaders.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
As much as I cant stand that son of a bitch, he is our president. His health care must be better than the rest. Thats how we are supposed to treat our presidents, like him or not.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/26/2010 0:38 Comments ||
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#2
49 Pan, no. Other than whats required for the office (e.g. security) he should be treated no better than any GS equivalent, or General Officer (As CINC).
He's not a prince or a king, and should be treated no better. Same goes for his family.
#4
I agree with Old Spook.
In my opinion the biggest single problem with our political system is that we have created a political 'class' which is no longer a part of the 'people'.
#5
ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.
Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer— except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs.
The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which. - Animal Farm, George Orwell.
#7
The representatives and individuals that the American People send to the office are to insure that the people's liberties are protected. That individual is not to secure the best for "him/her" and demand everyone else to settle for less. If it isn't good enough for him, it is clearly not good enough for any one else.
In America the people used to put individuals in office that lead by example. Individuals that would not ask others to do or accept what they would not do or accept for themselves.
Those days have vanished. We now have the worst of the worst in office. And it is going to be harder than you think to get these selfish personalities out of there.
If the 4 representatives from Georgia who voted yes to health care would have voted no....the bill would have been killed. Instead of a 219 to 212 vote, the vote would have been 215 to 216. (yes voters from GA were Sanford Bishop(2), Henry Johnson(4), John Lewis(5), and David Scott(13)).
Besides being dems, anyone wish to hazard a guess as to what these fellows all have in common with Barry? Remember the power of a few votes and make sure you vote in November.
#9
Betsey Markey flipped form No to Yes. She is gone come November. Politically speaking, she's dead man walking right now. She did not enjoy the pink slips we handed to her staff, nor the tar and feathers (5 gal bucket) left at her office. 66% of her district opposed this bill.
#11
Doesn't Markey represent Fort Collins, an area dependent on liberal CSU? I know she came up to Estes Park last summer and was welcomed by 100 or so tea party members, but the majority of EPC's citizens are ultra liberal. I think she wins again.
#12
Oh, geat so the muzzies can get out of it as well.
My last note on presidential health care. We have to take care of our leaders better than any other nation. They deserve to have doctors on staff and direct access to the top hospitals. They are the leaders of the free world. Having to go wait in line and spend time filling out forms is a waste of their time, and their time is our time. We elect a president to run the country, not fill out health car forms. And as far as getting special treatment after, I am still for it. We still need to take care of them. Are they special and do they deserve to be treated that way, yes. Its not that we are any lesser class or being ruled by a king, we did however elect a world leader and we should take care of him in that manner for his efforts.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/26/2010 11:26 Comments ||
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#13
We did not elect a "world leader". You are clearly a product of todays liberal public education system. Until now, the US had the best medical system in the world. All Americans had access to any doctor they chose to access. You have been duped into saying that the "ruling class", which is now being established should have access to those doctors and that others should take the lessor qualified doctors that the new Socialist Healthcare care system will ALLOW them. You, Pan, are a Marxist.
#14
I pretty much agree Pan - problem is that Congress has extended that to themselves and their favorites (Unions).
Congresscritters do not need this special provision - they are not 'national leaders'. Just as Queen Nancy has no right to 'Represent the United States' (in spite of what she thinks herself) - she was only elected by a small portion of U.S. wackos Citizens and only represents _them_.
And congress have also extended that to the Unions.
#15
We need to require that our congresscritters, the Washington bureaucracy, and yes the president all live by the rules which they make for everyone else. Otherwise what they do is merely an abstraction and what they do to us defines tyrrany. I am beginning to think the only thing worse than taxation without representation is taxation with representation.
Yes, Markey represents Colorado CD4 centered in Fort Collins. The district leans right. That's why they let her vote 'no' the first time around. Now she's toast, unless the R's implode, of course.
#21
Ductus Exemplo - "leadership by example" the motto of USMC OCS....meaning - in the field your troops eat first, the officers eat last, you share their hardships, you do w/less, etc. Understandably rank will have certain priveledges, healthcare ought not to be one.
The gallows humor we used to say for non-hackers was "duck the example". Obama would fit perfectly in the latter.
#22
A Marxist product of our public education system??? WT, you are either new to the burg or have fallen off your meds. The next time you want to call someone a Marxist you might want to pull your head as far out of your ass as possible before making that kind of a comment. You might find that just because I do believe our President is the single most powerful man, maybe second to the pope, on earth and he should have nothing but the very best does not make me a God Damned liberal or a fucking Marxist. It makes me a man with an opinion, one I guess you don't agree with. And Yes, you did call one thing right, I am a victim of the public education system, grade school, high school, state college, and US military. I apologize to no one for not having the money to attend some ivy league college. You on the other hand, should have learned in what ever school you attended that baseless name calling does nothing for the discussion and is an indicator to the rest of us of a limited intellectual capacity by the name caller.
You assumed wrong that I am a supporter of this bill that going to destroy our economy and health care system. What I said was I support the president, all of them, that they get the very finest health care we can give them, they deserve it in my opinion.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/26/2010 16:38 Comments ||
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#23
CD-4 also has Weld county and the very conservative suburb areas around Lafayette and Louisville, as well as the eastern plains, and hyperconservitive Larimer county. And re-read the poll numbers. 66% opposed this bill. 42% "strongly oppose". Its been republican for a long time, until the state GOP didn't have the sense to replace Marilyn Musgrave with a viable candidate.
Cory Gardner will win this (hit his website as linked and help him out).
Same goes for Ryan Frazier running in the far more closely divided (i.e. gerrymandered) 7th CD. I personally know Ryan, young Navy vet, Intel enlisted guy, up by his own boostraps story. Having worked with him on some classified projects well before he got noticed, he is exactly the kind of person Rantburger's would want in DC. Please donate and help - even a $20 helps. He is going up against Ed "Perlosi" Perlmutter, who voted with Pelosi 97% of the time. If we can get Ryan the money, he can win the race. We need to get his face and message out across a very spread out district, and its going to take money to do that. Please help.
Full Disclosure: Im a member of Vets for Frazier, as well as one of the first contributors to his campaign.
Time to step up people. Even just $20 to each of these guys now will make a difference.
On the whole, we have just yapped in the past - and see where it got us?
Time to walk the talk.
Pony up now -- or pay later for your failure to sacrifice when its still relatively easy and cheap.
#24
You seem to have lost sight he is supposed to be a PUBLIC SERVANT, not a MASTER.
49pan, let me get this straight - the president deserves the very best we can get him by virtue of his office? Better than is available for, say, a GS-12 IRS supervisor, or a VA Doctor?
And better care for Congress than us average joes, after all their jobs are "more important" than ours since they affect so many people and the nation as a whole. Your reasoning supports that case.
So then better care for Generals than privates would also be your standard? Seems to be that's justifiable under your thinking.
I think now you can see that you are simply wrong. He deserves nothing more than the standard care we would give the equivalent PUBLIC SERVANT or military service member.
#27
Cute OS, I'll give ya that one! And yes, our president's health is more important than a GS12 tax collector, a VA doctor, and mine. We can get sick, call in sick, or be down for a weekend and the system will continue to function without us, and in my case probably better! Our president, by virtue of his office, can not. He can not be down sick, he has to be able to function at 100% for his tenure, our nation depends on it. As far as the staff and congress go, they should be forced into TRICARE or the GS employee equivilant.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/26/2010 17:19 Comments ||
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#29
As far as I'm concerned, the more time the bastard spends filling out forms for health care or anything else, the less time he has to wreck what's left of my country.
#30
As much as dislike Obama I have to agree with 49Pan. It doesn't matter who the President is, whether George Bush or Barak Obama he needs to be able to function at or very near 100%.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/26/2010 20:23 Comments ||
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#31
No No, he's not king yet so he has to have what we peasants have, right Marie Antoinette Pelosi?
#32
Yeah, right. This president who is on the Golf Course far more than any former President needs much better care than the grunts in the trenches in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thats right. This President that is responsible for insuring that twice as much "stimulus" money goes to the Democrat areas of the country than Republican areas needs the best possible health care so he can be 100% when he makes those calls. Thats right. The same President that needs to be the best medical care possible so he can be 100% when he insures that by law we pay to abort unborn children in hospitals all across this country. You really have to have the best doctors on the staff to make sure that you are 100% (even though you smoke) so you can refuse to show up until weeks later to visit the troops you are commander in chief of who were shot by Hasan.
I can think of far better people in America who deserves the best medical care for doing far more for this country than Big Zero.
#33
I cant agree more with you on your disgust for Zero. I did not vote for him and his name is not allowed to be spoken in my house. Like a bad infection on the ass of the US, this guy will leave office someday, America will heal, and I hope he rots in hell. But more importantly I hope the American voters learn something from him and pay better attention in the future. All my comments pertain to the office of the president, not the current slime in it. We must be very careful to insure the office is not detroyed by the disgust for the ass thats currently holding it.
49 Pan-AKA Mikhail Suslov
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/26/2010 21:28 Comments ||
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#34
49Pan, that is the professionalism I expect from our military officers. I admire it in my retired-military husband and in our friends and colleagues still in uniform.
May the day never come when that professionalism erodes for it is one of the bedrocks of the Republic.
#35
This president who is on the Golf Course far more than any former President needs much better care than the grunts in the trenches in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Perhaps it might be clearer if "Office of the President" was used. Do not confuse that with the current office-holder.
Then again, you can continue with the knee-jerk reactions. Emphasis on the 'jerk'.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
