Campaign 2010

Countdown to Congressional Elections


The most effective way to restrict democracy is to transfer decision-making from the public arena to unaccountable institutions: kings and princes, priestly castes, military juntas, party dictatorships, or modern corporations.
Noam Chomsky, M.I.T. emeritus Professor of Linguistics

The Rise of Corporate Freedom of Speech

(Surpassed 2008 total on August 18)

See Weekly Spending Totals

$2.9 Billion Spent in 08
on Congressional Race
See Major Contributors

Corporate money in politics is bad enough. Secret corporate money is intolerable.


Primary Election Results
(UPDATED: August 25, 2010)






"The Great 2010 Incumbent (Non-)Revolt"

Senate Primary’s
Incumbent Democrats
1 Loss; 6 Wins of 13
Incumbent Republicans
1 Loss; 9 Wins of 12

House Primary’s
Incumbent Democrats
2 Loss; 182 Wins of 245
Incumbent Republicans
2 Loss; 140 Wins of 158

General Election Candidates

Senate

House of Representatives

Visual Facts

Hover to Pause.
Click Image for Larger Size.

National Debt Clock

Hover to Pause

WHEN Did You Become Fiscally Responsible?
BEFORE Obama or AFTER Obama??
January 20, 2009
$10,838,758,414,164.46 - ↑90%
Discretionary Spending at 48.6%

January 20, 2001
$5,719,124,940,098.04 - 36%
January 20, 1993
$4,192,107,025,882.17 - 62%
January 20, 1989
$2,601,104,000,000.00 - 189%
January 20, 1981
$909,041,000.000.00

Click Image for Full Size


Debt by President

Are You A Tea Party Hyprocrite??

(Click for Debt Details)

United States of Corporations

Thanks to the GOP's Supreme Court
(Click Flag for Full Size)
Corporate Bill of Rights

Quotes and Links

Hover to Pause
(Look for the Listings)

The Decade When the U.S. Lost Its Way

Where Have All the Neocons Gone?

From Neocons to Crazy-Cons

America Builds an Aristocracy

Supreme immodesty: Why the justices play politics

The Biggest Medicare Fraud Ever

Enough Right-Wing Propaganda

Tax Rate for Richest 400 Taxpayers Plummeted in Recent Decades, Even as Their Pre-Tax Incomes Skyrocketed

"The financial reform bill will determine whether Wall Street’s banks will serve the American economy or whether the American economy will continue to serve Wall Street's banks."

"While the economy doesn't function for most of us ordinary workers, it yields considerable reward for those at the top."

Republicans Are Locked in a Passionate Embrace with a Corpse and Won't Let Go

"The most important thing Republicans think is that if there are Americans who can't afford the insurance policies that private insurers are willing to offer, then that's their problem."

"It should tell you everything you need to know that, in lobbying to retain its bank supervisory powers, the Fed's allies include the big Wall Street banks."

"[Texas Republican Jeb] Hensarling told a Texas-size whopper — and then tried to claim Republican credit for Bill Clinton’s budget surpluses."

"The Supreme Court's 5-to-4 decision last week giving American corporations the right to unlimited political spending was an astonishing display of judicial arrogance, overreach and unjustified activism."

"It was wrong because nothing in the First Amendment dictates that corporations must be treated identically to people."

"They backed the truck up to Fort Knox in broad daylight. They emptied it out, we rescued them and they get $150 billion in bonuses."

"A huge, unregulated boom in which almost all the upside went directly into private hands, followed by a gigantic bust in which the losses were socialized."

So You Just Squandered Billions . . . Take Another Whack at It

Banks 'Too Big to Fail' Have Grown Even Bigger

Bankers' bonuses Beat Earnings as Industry Imploded

U.S. Rescue May Reach $23.7 Trillion

The Bank Bailouts — Corporate Welfarism

New Evidence Cheney Swayed Reaction to Leak - Valerie Plame

Once Again, The More You Watch Fox The Dumber You Are

"Over the past year, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury have injected trillions of dollars into frozen financial markets, snapping up unwanted bonds, extending guarantees to banks and slashing interest rates."

Building a Better Capitalism

The End of Supply Side Economics

The Great Wealth Transfer

The Richer

Who Rules America? Power, Politics, and Social Change

Proponents of Estate Tax Repeal Are Resurrecting Old Misconceptions

Income Gaps Between Very Rich and Everyone Else More Than Tripled In Last Three Decades

Ending Plutocracy: A 12-Step Program

Our Gilded Age

The Rich and the Rest of Us

GOP's "Small Government" Talk is Hollow


Distortions, Hypocrisy & More

"I'm not upset that you lied to me; I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you"
Friedrich Nietzsche
[Hover to Pause]

Today is

April 10, 2009

Politics Is Politics, But Money Is Money

April 10, 2009

The Facts

governor-mark-sanfordMark Sanford, Republican governor of South Carolina, has been among the most vocal critics of President Obama’s stimulus package. In fact, he has been front and foremost in his criticism, and seized upon every opportunity to face the cameras with his “outrage” over the package. Sanford is one of about a half dozen Republican governors who initially said they would not accept any monies from the stimulus package, but eventually narrowed that to only unemployment benefits in mid-March of this year.

All the other Republican governors that stood on national television and decried the stimulus package as wasteful spending of taxpayer money had already swallowed their political pride and filled out the necessary paper work to get their share. Governor Sanford was the last hold-out. The New York Times recently published this article saying “South Carolina will apply for most of its stimulus money”, which is $2.8 billion.

My View

When it comes to free money, it appears politics has to take a back seat — but only after maximum political mileage is gained. On the other hand, political ideology is not to be sacrificed when it comes to helping the working class, free money or not. The only money Sanford and the other outspoken Republican governors are refusing to accept is the funds earmarked for unemployment benefits. In Sanford’s case, that’s $700 million.

Sure, they’ve allowed that by accepting the money the cost to the states would eventually increase. But that doesn’t seem to bother them on other issues. Even so, I seriously doubt it would eventually cost them more money — that’s just an excuse. A very simple “when the $700 million runs out, the additional benefits will run out” would have sufficed just fine. And any wording otherwise within the stimulus bill could have easily been defeated with the separation of states rights from the federal government. But that wouldn’t have served their purpose.

Sanford and the others have done nothing more than confirm their hypocrisy by accepting the stimulus money after their high profile attack on the program and their double standards when it comes to the working class. It seems where the commoners of this country are concerned, the Republicans willingly and anxiously lead the Democrats in picking up the baseball bats and axes. Anyone remember yesterday’s news when the Republicans insisted that Detroit break the union contracts before they, the Republicans, would be willing to grant bailout money to the automakers? But heaven forbid breaking the banker’s bonus contracts.

Bookmark and Share

Leave a Reply

 

 

 

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>