Since the Reagan's 1980s, the National US Chamber of Commerce has worked hard to ship jobs overseas. Justices Roberts, Alito, Scalia, Thomas, and Kennedy voted this year to change a Campaign Finance Law that has been in place for 100 Years. They claim they are not activists and claim they follow the Constitution. The original Constitution was designed to give the vote only to landholders (Rich Men), did not allow women to vote or hold property, and slaves got a 3/5 vote but were not allowed to vote. They made Amendments to the Constitution extremely difficult to get requiring 2/3 of congress and 3/4 of the states.
I have a 3 in. by 5 in. booklet of the Constitution. The original is only 19 pages and the Amendments 15 pages. Fortunately or Unfortunately the rich men who put together the Constitution wanted to preserve their wealth and provide mechanisms to enhance their wealth and keep the peasants in their place. Benjamin Franklin walked out of Constitutional Convention when they put in two Houses, one representing the people and the other representing special interests by specifying that each state must have equal number of senators! The rules put in place are made to make it even more difficult to pass laws to change the original intent of the Rich Men who designed the Constitution.
President Andrew Jackson, the only populist President, even with his serious human faults did side with the people. I intend to read the recent book about his life, warts included. Jackson abolished the Federal Reserve run by Big Fat Bankers who cater to corporations and the rich.
Billionaires and prominent corporations are donating money to The Republican Party or to The Chamber of Commerce to hide their donations from the public. The following article gives us a good idea from excess members fees paid before the Supreme Court Corporate Ruling on Citizen’s United where the Justice Roberts decided to expand the case before the court to include Campaign Finance Laws. The case was about whether a film against Hillary Clinton could be used during the 2008 campaign on commercial television. It was not about Campaign Finance!
The Republicans have deliberated allowed Whites against other races campaign to win the election by suppressing minority voters including Asians, Blacks, Latinos, and Democrats. Part of anti-Democrat campaign is run by media polls which can be easily distorted earlier in the campaign when it is generally believed not to be accurate with some off by 30 points such as the Alaska Republican primary race. Yes, even MSNBC except Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann at MSNBC 9:00 PM ET, 6:00 PM PT and 8:00 PM ET, 5:00 PM PT respectively. Websites of the program can be seen the next day at http://rachel.msnbc.com and http://countdown.msnbc.com
Angle (R-NV) got $14 million dollars in the last quarter of outside money and she got a large boost in the polls from lying and distorted ads against Harry Reid who is not a good campaigner. When people get emotional as it is in today’s election, their ability to think is turned off. I hope they think about what is in their best interest before they vote.
The polls become more accurate, the closer we get to the election. The pollsters do not call cell phones, only phone for those under 35. So if they come out, it will really help Democrats who are not as susceptible to race baiting now going on as a strategy to win.
Don’t try to chance the minds of friends but tell them why you are voting the Democratic Ticket.
Jim Kawakami, October 22, 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com
Revealed: More Corporate Donations To The U.S. Chamber’s Partisan Attack Fund
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/22/more-corporate-chamber/ Today, the New York Times builds on research published by ThinkProgress by noting that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is mostly funded by a small group of large corporations. The Chamber has tried to lie about its identity for years, absurdly telling the media that it represents 3 million businesses. Then after being caught with no proof of such membership, it modified that number to 300,000 — but then claimed small businesses were the true driver of the Chamber’s member rolls. But the Times correctly points out that in 2008, the Chamber received the bulk of its donations from only 45 companies, including firms like Goldman Sachs, Edward Jones, Alpha Technologies, Chevron Texaco and Aegon.
Many corporations pay regular dues to the Chamber, but pitch in more during election cycles or particular lobbying campaigns. For instance, on top of its regular $100,000 commitment of yearly dues, health insurance giant Aetna joined other health insurers to funnel $20 million to the Chamber to kill health reform. Similarly, Fox News parent company News Corporation gave an additional $1 million to the Chamber for its attack campaign this midterm election.
While ThinkProgress forced the Chamber to acknowledge that it receives foreign funds to its 501(c)(6) account used for attack ads, the Chamber refuses to disclose any of its other donors or how exactly it funds its nasty attack ads. Using public corporate records, ThinkProgress has found more dues-paying members of the Chamber. The numbers below reflect a bare minimum, and in many cases these corporations have paid ten times the amount of their regular dues to the Chamber in the past two years:
– Microsoft’s corporate disclosures state that the company paid the Chamber up to $999,999 in 2009 and up to $999,999 in 2010 in its minimum dues.
– Proctor and Gamble paid the Chamber $3.2 million in 2009.
– Outsourcing giant CSC, which specializes in IT outsourcing, paid the Chamber at least $100,000 in 2009 and $100,000 in 2010.
– Intel paid the Chamber at least $100,000 in yearly dues ($100,000 in 2010, and what appears to be $100,000 in 2009).
– Drug company Merck paid the Chamber $234,000 in 2008, and still counts itself as a dues-paying member of the Chamber.
– Utility company Dominion Resources gave the Chamber $100,000 in 2009.
– On the Chamber’s Egypt Business Council website, Apache Corporation, British American Tobacco, The Blackstone Group, The Boeing Company, Cargill USA, CitiGroup, The Coca-Cola Company, ExxonMobil, Google, Microsoft Corporation, PepsiCo, Intel Corporation, Monsanto Company, Pfizer Inc, Philip Morris International combined committed an additional $375,000 to the Chamber for 2009-2010.
Earlier this year, U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue admitted to ThinkProgressthat CitiGroup, a bailed out financial conglomerate that still has not paid back taxpayer TARP funds, is a dues-paying member of the Chamber. Many bailed out banks are in fact dues-paying members of the Chamber. A Huffington Post crowd-sourced study of the Chamber found that there are dozens of other large corporations that have indicated membership in the Chamber, but have refused to confess their level of involvement. The Chamber has shilled for BP, and Donohue said after BP’s spill that taxpayers should pay for the clean up. Indeed, BP admitted membership, but has not disclosed how much they pay to the Chamber.
As a ThinkProgress investigation found, at least 80 foreign businesses have been paying the Chamber at least $885,000 in yearly dues for the last two years. The money went directly to the Chamber’s 501(c)(6), the same account the Chamber is now using to run a $75 millionattack campaign against Democrats. As we have shown, many of the foreign corporations have a direct stake in American public policy; for instance the Chamber has been the most vigorous lobbying operation in DC to promote outsourcing of American jobs. Of course, many other corporation join the Chamber to benefit from its right-wing corporate lobbying campaign, like keeping corporate tax loopholes open (Chamber members CitiGroup, ExxonMobil and Bank of America already paid no corporate income taxes last year) and maintaining the status quo on energy policy so the fossil fuel industry can emit carbon pollution free of charge.
Koch Brothers Convened Right-Wing Meeting in June
New details have emerged on the right-wing groups spending tens of millions of dollars to influence the upcoming midterm elections. The website ThinkProgress reports the billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch held a secretive meeting with influential right-wing figures in June to plot their election strategy and lobbying activities for this year. The 210 attendees included executives from the oil industry, coal companies, health insurers, banks, right-wing pundits including Glenn Beck, and officials from the US Chamber of Commerce. The gathering was the latest in a series of bi-annual gatherings organized by the Koch brothers, who have quietly helped bankroll the Tea Party movement and dozens of other right-wing causes.
45 Donors Account for Half of Chamber’s Funding
The New York Times meanwhile reports that nearly half of the $140 million raised by the US Chamber of Commerce in 2008 came from just forty-five donors. Many of the donations coincided with lobbying campaigns that potentially benefited the donors. The Chamber claims to have over 300,000 members.
Swift Boat Donor Spending $13M on Midterm Elections
The New York Times also reports today that the donor behind the Swift Boat Veterans attack ads against John Kerry in 2004 is pouring millions of dollars into this year’s election. The donor, Texas home developer Bob Perry, has given over $13 million to Republicans and right-wing groups for this election cycle. The Center for American Progress Action Fund meanwhile reports that thirteen right-wing groups have spent over $68.5 million on advertising this year to undermine clean energy legislation.
