Compare and contrast headlines

This FOX News’ Dr. Ablow Wants Male Veto Over Reproductive Rights

I believe that in those cases in which a man can make a credible claim that he is the father of a developing child in utero, in which he could be a proper custodian of that child, and in which he is willing to take full custody of that child upon its delivery, that the pregnant woman involved should not have the option to abort and should be civilly liable, and possibly criminally liable, for psychological suffering and wrongful death should she proceed to do so.

to this: She, the decision maker.

In a significant decision, the Punjab and Haryana High Court last week ruled that the right to abort a pregnancy in a marriage rests with the wife and not husband. “A woman is not a machine in which raw material is put and a finished product comes out. She should be mentally prepared to conceive, continue the same and give birth to a child. The unwanted pregnancy would naturally affect the mental health of the pregnant woman…” said the court.

This Why Iceland Should Be in the News, But Is Not

What happened next was extraordinary. The belief that citizens had to pay for the mistakes of a financial monopoly, that an entire nation must be taxed to pay off private debts was shattered, transforming the relationship between citizens and their political institutions and eventually driving Iceland’s leaders to the side of their constituents. The Head of State, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, refused to ratify the law that would have made Iceland’s citizens responsible for its bankers’ debts, and accepted calls for a referendum.

to this: Factbox: Greek austerity and reform measures

Greece's cabinet approved late on Saturday 325 million euros ($428 million) of extra austerity measures needed to complete a 3.3 billion euro package of cuts -- the price demanded from Athens for a new EU/IMF bailout. 

This: In a 325-Page SEC Letter, Occupy's Finance Gurus Take on Wall Street Lobbyists

Yesterday, a group affiliated with Occupy Wall Street submitted an astounding comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Point by point, it methodically challenges the arguments of finance industry lobbyists who want to water down last year's historic Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms. The lobbyists have been using the law's official public comment period to try to kneecap the reforms, and given how arcane financial regulation can be, they might get away with it. But Occupy the SEC is fighting fire with fire, and in so doing, defying stereotypes of the Occupy movement.

to this: Thomas Frank Talks With Truthout on How Wall Street Doubled Down on Trashing America's Economy 

It is the absurd theme that runs throughout "Atlas Shrugged," where the main character, who has organized a strike of the billionaire class, describes himself as "the defender of the oppressed, the disinherited, the exploited - and when I use those words, they have, for once, a literal meaning." That's right, in one of the most popular novels in recent history, billionaires are said to be - insisted to be! - the "disinherited" and "exploited" class.
Understanding how conservatives get themselves to this point is slightly trickier. They merely understand "elitism" in a different way than you and I. The true powers of society are not the rich, but the professionally-credentialed and the government-connected. Conservatives basically invert the populist categories of yore. Instead of blue-collar workers or farmers being the exploited producer class, it is entrepreneurs, who work so hard and have to comply with regulations and pay taxes and put up with the whining of their tattooed hipster employees. And it is the rest of us who are the real parasite class. 

We really are in the Era of Stupid, aren't we?

Started about 2000 and is building up steam ...

24 percent of Americans believe Obama was born outside the U.S.

Josh Marshall on the Supreme Court ruling:

....Thursday's Supreme Court decision that could have a big effect on future public corruption cases and will quite likely end up letting a good number of convicted public officials out of prison

Starbucksgate: CREW Calls for Investigation of White House

The allegations suggest that the Obama administration may be flouting the same recordkeeping laws that the Bush administration did: the federal and presidential records acts (FRA and PRA). Both laws require that White House staff retain records—including emails—related to their daily work. By using private email accounts to schedule coffee shop meetings with lobbyists (an apparent attempt to prevent these sessions from appearing in White House visitor logs), Obama officials can bypass normal email archiving procedures and "avoid the creation of any record that would memorialize those meetings." Since emails scheduling meetings with lobbyists would almost certainly be the type of emails that the FRA and PRA require White House officials to preserve, the Obama team is "in violation" of the FRA and the PRA, CREW writes.

Krugman:

We are now, I fear, in the early stages of a third depression. It will probably look more like the Long Depression than the much more severe Great Depression. But the cost — to the world economy and, above all, to the millions of lives blighted by the absence of jobs — will nonetheless be immense.

And this third depression will be primarily a failure of policy. Around the world — most recently at last weekend’s deeply discouraging G-20 meeting — governments are obsessing about inflation when the real threat is deflation, preaching the need for belt-tightening when the real problem is inadequate spending.

The G20 as Naomi Klein sees it:

As thousands protested in the streets of Toronto, inside the G20 summit world leaders agreed to a controversial goal of cutting government deficits in half by 2013. We speak with journalist Naomi Klein. "What actually happened at the summit is that the global elites just stuck the bill for their drunken binge with the world’s poor, with the people that are most vulnerable," Klein says.

Endless war, a recipe for four-star arrogance

Trying to forget who caused the deficit.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Fossil Fueled

The Onion: 8-Year-Old Accidentally Exercises Second Amendment Rights

All this doesn't matter though. We're all doomed anyway.

What could possibly go wrong?

Virginia gun lobby pushes for right to drink alcohol while carrying a gun in public.

Name and shame

If politicians can ever feel shame that is....

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Who will fight for these poor folks?

Save the Rich!

SavetheRich is documenting efforts by Fox News Network, their media personalities, and a handful of conservative millionaires to deceive the press and the American public with these so-called "Tax Day Tea Parties."

Stupid doesn't begin to cover it

What the fuck is he thinking?

How can anyone in their right mind think this is a good move?

A House subcommittee wants to legalize payday loans with interest rates of up to 391%. Lobbyists from the payday industry bought Congress' support by showering influential members, including Chairman Luiz Gutierrez, with campaign cash. The Congressman is now playing good cop, bad cop with the payday industry, which is pretending to oppose his generous gift of a bill.

Lobbyists?

Yeah, McCain, THESE LOBBYISTS.

Continuing the fine Republican tradition

Of declaring support for democracy, mother, apple pie and flag lapel pins, yet doing absolutely anything for money:

John McCain's chief strategist Charlie Black isn't losing any sleep about his firm's involvements with some of the worst dictators and human rights abusers in the world. Responding to a MoveOn video seeking to have Black removed from McCain's campaign, the lobbyist-turned-adviser had this to say:

"I'm not ashamed of anything the firm did," McCain adviser Charlie Black says of his days as the principle in one of Washington's most influential lobbying firms. "If they want to use it to fire up the left wing, well, that's fine."

Black is referring to a campaign by liberal watchdog and political groups to pressure McCain into dumping Black, now a top McCain campaign strategist. Today, MoveOn's political action fund released a video accusing Black of lobbying "for some of the world's worst tyrants."

[snip]

But despite renewed scrutiny, the new policy is unlikely to to cut short the career of McCain's chief political adviser Charlie Black, who is a notorious lobbyist with connections to several unsavory dictatorships. Campaign Money Watch has penned an open letter urging the removal of three lobbyists/adivsers, including Black, who have or currently represent regimes know for committing human rights abuses. Meanwhile, MoveOn.org has published a short video of his most nefarious clients, and is seeking Black's ouster from the McCain camp.

John McCain says we're fighting in Iraq to plant "the seeds of democracy," but the firm of his "chief political adviser" Charlie Black made millions lobbying for the world's worst tyrants...


...Ferdinand Marcos, who executed thousands of his own citizens in the Philippines...

...Zaire's Mobuto, who publicly hanged his opponents and looted his country's vast mineral wealth...

...and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, a mass murderer, who covered Angola with landmines.

Charlie Black said he didn't do anything wrong. John McCain should tell Black he did. Call John McCain and tell him to fire Charlie Black.

Straight talking directly into dictatorships

Led by McCain's straight talking lobbyist staffers:

Frank Rich

Assures us the Democrats are not unraveling over the silliness of flag pins, Pastor Wright, nor bittergate, and that McBush should be careful not to get complacent:

Mr. McCain is not only burdened with the most despised president in his own 71-year lifetime, but he’s getting none of the seasoning that he, no less than the Democrats, needs to compete in the fall. Age is as much an issue as race and gender in this campaign. Mr. McCain will have to prove not merely that he can keep to the physical rigors of his schedule and fend off investigations of his ties to lobbyists and developers. He also must show he can think and speak fluently about the domestic issues that are gripping the country. Picture him debating either Democrat about health care, the mortgage crisis, stagnant middle-class wages, rice rationing at Costco. It’s not pretty.

Last week found Mr. McCain visiting economically stricken and “forgotten” communities (forgotten by Republicans, that is) in what his campaign bills as the “It’s Time for Action Tour.” It kicked off in Selma, Ala., a predominantly black town where he confirmed his maverick image by drawing an almost exclusively white audience.

The “action” the candidate outlined in the text of his speeches may strike many voters as running the gamut from inaction to inertia. Mr. McCain vowed that he would not “roll out a long list of policy initiatives.” (He can’t, given his long list of tax cuts.) He said he would not bring back lost jobs, lost wages or lost houses. But, as The Birmingham News reported, this stand against government bailouts for struggling Americans didn’t prevent his campaign from helping itself to free labor underwritten by taxpayers: inmates from a local jail were recruited to set up tables and chairs for a private fund-raiser.

The Democrats’ unending brawl may be supplying prime time with a goodly share of melodrama right now, but there will be laughter aplenty once the Republican campaign that’s not ready for prime time emerges from the wings.

I'm ready to laugh!













crossposted at SteveAudio

I guess I'll get to use this pic a lot

Senator John McCain has staked his campaign for the presidency in large part on his reputation as a reformer intent on curbing the influence of money in politics.

But an examination by The New York Times of a list of 106 elite fund-raisers who have brought in more than $100,000 each for Mr. McCain found that about a sixth of them were lobbyists. The list of “bundlers” was released on Friday by the McCain campaign.

The sizable number of lobbyists, who are outnumbered on the list only by those working in the financial services industry, offers another example of the balancing act that Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, is having to strike as he campaigns for the presidency and seeks to maintain his reputation as a reformer.

The McCain campaign’s disclosure on Friday of its top bundlers of contributions was part of its efforts to furnish a sense of financial transparency to the public, in keeping with Mr. McCain’s past focus on overhauling campaign finance and his criticism of the influence of special interests in Washington.

[snip]

But the McCain campaign, which struggled over much of the past year in raising money, is now seeking to emulate the record-setting money machine that powered George W. Bush to victories in 2000 and 2004, bestowing special titles upon bundlers who exceed certain financial targets.

Instead of “Pioneers” and “Rangers,” as President Bush’s top fund-raisers were called, Mr. McCain is dubbing the 73 people so far who have brought in $100,000 or more “Trailblazers,” while the 33 who brought in $250,000 or more are being called “Innovators.”

Campaign finance watchdogs criticized the Pioneer and Ranger system for establishing an elite class of donors, many of whom went on to ambassadorships and other political appointments. But Mr. McCain’s advisers believe the system offers the best chance for the campaign to encourage as many people as possible to raise large amounts of cash for him.

Mr. McCain has badly trailed both Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in fund-raising — in March, for example, he brought in $15 million, compared with Mr. Obama’s $40 million and Mrs. Clinton’s $20 million. While Mr. McCain’s Democratic counterparts, especially Mr. Obama, have enjoyed much success in harvesting small-dollar donations over the Internet, Mr. McCain has not built an effective Internet fund-raising machine, forcing him to depend on a circle of wealthy donors.

And how can you talk about transparency when you try to pretend your wife doesn't have 100 million in unknown investments? Transparency? Like how he's trying to ignore the rules on public financing for campaigns and actually breaking the law?

Practicing his love on lobbyists

All the way to the bank:

Critics on Tuesday questioned whether Sen. John McCain catered to special interests when he aggressively threw his support behind a $35 billion Pentagon contract for a European plane maker.

McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, played a crucial role in blocking the deal to build air tankers from going to U.S.-based Boeing, instead paving the path for EADS to score the loot. He framed his decision as an example of political integrity; Boeing has previously been exposed of contract abuse. But a review of campaign finance donations and lobbying records suggests that money and personal lobbying may have also been in play.

On January 15, 2007, McCain appeared at Alabama Gov. Bob Riley's gubernatorial swearing in ceremony and formally called for multiple bidders in the tanker deal. The push for an open process had only one true beneficiary, however, and that was the Northrop Grumman/EADS consortium, which was poised to be Boeing's sole competitor.

A day after McCain made his proclamation, the contributions began to flow. [snip]

All told, as documented earlier by CQ PoliticalMoneyline, McCain received more than $15,000 from EADS and its subsidiary, Airbus North America. Not only was this the highest amount received by any federal candidate, but prior to 2006, not a single employee from EADS had ever contributed to McCain. Two Airbus employees did donate nearly $4,000 for his 2000 run at the White House.

[snip]

But there are myriad signs that EADS curried up to the Arizona Senator. And it wasn't just the money. According to an Associated Press report published on Tuesday, the McCain campaign currently employs individuals who just last year were lobbying on behalf of EADS.

"Two of the advisers gave up their lobbying work when they joined McCain's campaign," the AP wrote. "A third, former Texas Rep. Tom Loeffler, lobbied for the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. while serving as McCain's national finance chairman."

One of those advisers, John Green, left Ogilvy Government Relations to become McCain's congressional Republican liaison shortly after the EADS deal was announced.

"They never lobbied him related to the issues, and the letters went out before they were contracted" by EADS, McCain campaign spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker told the AP.

In the end, McCain may have received more than just campaign contributions in return for his support of the EADS contract. Parts for the refueling tankers are slated to be built in Mobile, Alabama. And just days after the deal was finalized, the state's governor, Bob Riley -- a long holdout in the presidential process -- finally offered his endorsement of McCain's candidacy.

How many is that now? 60? 61?

McCain hires another lobbyist:

Two this week alone. Maybe his plan to get the Washington lobbyists away from Congress is to hire every single one of them. Then, if elected, they can have nice spots in the White House, instead.

He already has 59 of them working for him. What's two more?



crossposted at American Street

Only 59 lobbyists on his staff

And all of them honorable and trustworthy ... lobbyists. Riiiiiiiiiight.

When in doubt

Hire a lobbyist firm... Heck, hire two...three:

Controversial private security firm Blackwater Worldwide “has ramped up its lobbying representation on Capitol Hill” by hiring the law firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice to “lobby the government on contracting and other issues.” “Womble Carlyle is the third lobbying firm to be hired by Moyock, N.C.-based Blackwater since October.”

What do mercenary lobbyists lobby for? More wars?

Remembering Jack Abramoff

Bill Moyers:

Look, you complete dopes,

Being elected, being in government does NOT mean a free wallow in the trough, no matter how fun the Republicans made it look.

Accountability. When those who are elected get to answer to those who elected them. Repeat after me: investigations, cover-ups, denials, exposure, confessions, jail time, shame.

We're planning to hold you guys accountable, too. Via Marshall, the Guardian:

House Democrats are suddenly balking at the tough lobbying reforms they touted to voters last fall as a reason for putting them in charge of Congress.

Now that they are running things, many Democrats want to keep the big campaign donations and lavish parties that lobbyists put together for them. They're also having second thoughts about having to wait an extra year before they can become high-paid lobbyists themselves should they retire or be defeated at the polls.

The growing resistance to several proposed reforms now threatens passage of a bill that once seemed on track to fulfill Democrats' campaign promise of cleaner fundraising and lobbying practices.

We've seen what absolute power does to those who are corruptible, thanks to Bush. Maybe we should just make a fourth branch of government, the special prosecutor's office?