Represent dot us has interesting ideas, questionable board of advisers

Felon Jack Abramoff with
Former U.S. President George W. Bush
Jack's on
Represent us Board of Advisers

“End government corruption.” Absolutely! The sooner the better, but with unsullied activists, advisers, leaders

Excerpt, minor edit, brief comment by 

Carolyn Bennett

W

hile the ideas and stated concerns of this group or movement self-labeled “Represent dot us” seem well and good, what I found  particularly telling was the makeup of its board of advisers. The members are limited essentially to the two entrenched, sullied U.S. political parties. Advisers' work histories are the “same ole” attachments to technology, finance,

More foxes?

investment, entrenched government office holders, past and present, some are even felons. And of the 21 advisers, only two are women. 

Thus begging a similar question I have asked often about the “Take back America” folks ─ “Who really is the ‘us’?”

Entrenched
Corrupt
Bipartisan

Their stated ideas

Across the United States of America, citizens are disappointed in their government. While the nation grapples with historical debt, a recession, energy dependence, inflation, terrorism, and unaffordable wars ─ U.S. politicians are asleep at the wheel.

The system is broken.

Government is corrupted by money.

America needs Members of Congress engaged in solving the nation’s problems, out raising money for re-election.

The country is run by lobbyists - fighting on behalf of sundry industries, companies, professional clubs, unions: Big Oil, Big Pharma (pharmaceuticals), defense/military materiel/contracting, labor, lawyers, insurance, Big Ag (food corporations), and the like.

Though the United States may never rid its elective office and elections’ processes of lobbyists and big financial donors, Americans generally agree that citizens should come first.

Government in the United States is corrupt.

We need to fix it.

We have a plan.

We need everybody’s help.

Thus ─ the “American Anti-Corruption Act”

W

HAT it does

Executive BranchFor sale

Shines a light on dark money groups and their secret donors

Outlaws members of Congress from taking donations from the entities they regulate

Closes the revolving door between Congress and K Street so that politicians (and their staffs) are not trading their power in exchange for cushy jobs when they leave office

Fosters small-donor contributions through citizen-funded elections (Shut out all the corrupting money, enable clean money; … it costs money to run for public office)

Legislative Branch
For sale

Stops Super PACs and dark money groups from coordinating with campaigns

 Disempowers Super PACs, while protecting free speech rights of America’s people

Expands the definition of lobbying to include all types of influence peddlers

Judicial Branch
For sale

“American Anti-Corruption Act”

W

HY it works

It goes beyond piecemeal reforms: as comprehensive legislation of historic proportions, it completely reshapes the current system to eliminate undue influence of money

Millions of people are ready to rally behind the same proposal, including all of the issue groups being beaten by big money lobbyists

This movement is neither progressive nor conservative. It is American. From Occupy to the Tea Party, Democrats to Republicans to Independents; more than 80 percent of Americans (indentified as liberal, independent and conservative) want to get money out

Not asking politicians to fix the problem, the movement forces their hand ─ this only way to force the fox (politicians) out of the henhouse or clamp a lock on it (the cache of campaign corruption): oppose the movement, lose seat in office.

  

Sources and notes

“Represent Us, Not the Money ─ Support the Act”

“Represent.Us is a fresh campaign to support the American Anti-Corruption Act: a law that would overhaul campaign finance; impose strict lobbying and conflict of interest laws; and end secret political money. We are mobilizing millions of Americans — conservatives and progressives, young and old, every issue group fighting K Street, online and offline — to join this campaign.”

“Represent dot us Reshape American Politics”

“Represent.Us is not just building a movement in support of the American Anti-Corruption Act; we are going to use our collective power to stand against those who stand for corruption. If it becomes law, the Act will completely reshape American politics and policy-making and give people a voice.”

W

All men and women are
created equal
Who is the
"us"? 

hile the ideas and stated concerns of this group or movement, “Represent dot us,” seem well and good, what I found  particularly telling was the makeup of its board of advisers: the members are limited essentially to the two entrenched U.S. political parties; their work histories are the “same ole” attachments to technology, finance, investment, entrenched government office holders past and present; some are even felons; and of the 21 advisers, only two are women.

Represent dot us Board of Advisers

1. Trevor Potter: Former Chairman, Federal Election Commission: Mr. Potter served as General Counsel to John McCain 2008 and 2000 presidential campaigns. He also served as Deputy General Counsel to the George H.W. Bush 1988 campaign. He is the founding President and General Counsel of the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington, D.C.- based nonprofit that focuses on campaign finance issues in the courts and before the FEC. Mr. Potter now represents Stephen Colbert and his SuperPAC and 501C-4. He advises Mr. Colbert on campaign finance issues on The Colbert Report. 

2. Theodore Roosevelt IV: Investment Banker: Theodore Roosevelt IV is a prominent Republican conservationist, the great-grandson of former President Roosevelt; and serves on boards of the Alliance for Climate Protection, the Wilderness Society, the American Museum of Natural History (Trustee), and the World Resources Institute. He is the chair of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. 

3. Lawrence Lessig: Harvard Law School Professor: Professor Lawrence Lessig is the director of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics at Harvard University as well as a professor of law at Harvard Law School. He is founder of Rootstrikers, an organization dedicated to ending corruption in government; and sits on advisory boards of the Sunlight Foundation and Americans Elect. 

4. Richard Painter: Former Ethics Advisor to former President George W. Bush: Professor Richard Painter is a Professor of corporate law at the University of Minnesota. He served as the chief ethics lawyer for George W. Bush and has also been active in law reform efforts aimed at deterring securities fraud and improving ethics of corporate managers and lawyers. 

5. Cecelia Frontero: Occupy Wall Street: Cecelia Frontero is an active participant in the Occupy Wall Street movement with a focus on ending the undue influence of special interests in politics. She is an accomplished actor with credits that include numerous theater, television and audio book productions and recordings. 

6. Buddy Roemer productions: Former Governor of Louisiana: Buddy Roemer (R-LA) is a former four-term U.S. Congressman and one-term Governor of Louisiana. He is the CEO and President of Business First Bank and a former GOP candidate for U.S. President. 

7. Tom Whitmore: DC Tea Party Patriots: Tom Whitmore is the head of the D.C. Tea Party Patriots; a retired C.E.O. of three small businesses now working to create an environment that encourages new activists to step up and become involved in the electoral process. 

8. Hadi Partovi: Investor: Hadi Partovi is an entrepreneur and angel investor. As an entrepreneur, he was on the founding teams of Tellme and iLike. As an angel investor and startup advisor, Hadi’s portfolio includes Facebook, Zappos, Dropbox, OPOWER, Flixster, Bluekai, and many others. The Harvard graduate is a strategic advisor to numerous startups including Facebook, Dropbox, OPOWER, and Bluekai. Hadi Partovi serves on the board of TASER International and is also an active angel investor with a wide range of investments. 

9. Jack Cogan: Jack Cogan is a former chairman and managing partner of Hale and Dorr (now Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP) and a former chairman of that firm’s Corporate Department. Cogan remains active in the financial services industry as non-executive chairman of Pioneer Investment Management USA, Inc., and as president of the Pioneer Family of Mutual Funds (USA). He is a vice president and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a life-trustee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and chairman emeritus of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Cogan previously served as trustee of Boston Medical Center and was a chairman of University Hospital (Boston). 

10. Douglas E. Schoen: Democratic Campaign Consultant: Douglas E. Schoen is an influential campaign consultant with a client list that includes Bill Clinton, Michael Bloomberg, Evan Bayh, and AT&T. He was a founding partner and principle strategist for Penn, Schoen & Berland, and is widely recognized as one of the co-inventors of overnight polling. Credentialed by Harvard Law School and Oxford University, Schoen has authored numerous books and is a regular contributor to the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and FOX News. 
    

11. Todd Dipaola: Co-founder of Vantage Media and its CFO and VP for Strategy. During his tenure, Vantage became #31 in the Inc 500 list. In addition to angel investing and new online ventures, he serves on several public interest boards. He is credentialed by UC Berkeley and the Goldman School. 

12. Mark McKinnon: GOP Strategist: Mark McKinnon has been helping to solve complex strategic challenges for causes, companies and candidates, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong and Bono. McKinnon has helped engineer five winning presidential primary and general elections. He co-founder of No Labels, a non-profit organization dedicated to bipartisanship, civil discourse and problem solving in politics, and is co-chair of Arts+Labs. He serves on the boards of the Lance Armstrong Foundation and Change Congress. 

13. Dennis M. Kelleher: Better Markets: Dennis M. Kelleher is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Better Markets, Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that promotes the public interest in the U.S. and global financial markets. He has held several senior staff positions in the United States Senate, most recently as the Chief Counsel and Senior Leadership Advisor to the Chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. 

14. Jack Abramoff: Former Lobbyist:  Jack Abramoff is a former Washington super-lobbyist who became a master of exploiting the lobbying system, and later served three years for breaking lobbying laws. Abramoff authored Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth about Corruption from America s Most Notorious Lobbyist and continues to make media appearances to ‘educate’ citizens on the corrupt practices in government. 

 Brandeis University graduate
Jack Abramoff

[Profiting from his crime]

Further notes not cited by “represent.us”: Brandeis University graduate Jack Abramoff is a convicted felon who was involved “The Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal,” “a United States political scandal relating to the work performed by political lobbyists Jack Abramoff, Ralph E. Reed, Jr., Grover Norquist and Michael Scanlon on Indian casino gambling interests for an estimated $85 million in fees. Abramoff and Scanlon grossly overbilled their clients, secretly splitting the multimillion-dollar profits. In one case, they were secretly orchestrating lobbying against their own clients in order to force them to pay for lobbying services. In the course of the scheme, the lobbyists were accused of illegally giving gifts and making campaign donations to legislators in return for votes or support of legislation. Representative Bob Ney (R-OH) and two aides to Tom DeLay (R-TX) have been directly implicated; other politicians have various ties. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Abramoff_Indian_lobbying_scandal

Fox in Henhouse

15. Nick Penniman: Fund for the Republic: Nick Penniman is the executive director of Fund for the Republic, a catalyst fund bringing new resources to efforts that confront the undue influence of moneyed interests over U.S. politics. Before working with Fund for the Republic, Penniman was Executive Director of the Huffington Post Investigative Fund; and was a publisher or editor of several good-government magazines and newspapers and blogs on the issue of money in politics. 

16. David Levine: American Sustainable Business Council: David Levine is co-founder and CEO of the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC), a growing coalition of business networks and businesses committed to advancing a new vision, framework and policies that support a vibrant, equitable and sustainable economy. Founded in 2009, ASBC and its organizational members represent more than 150,000 businesses and more than 300,000 individual entrepreneurs, owners, executives, investors and business professionals across the United States. 

17. Susan McCue: Progressive Strategist: Susan McCue is a political strategist and President of Message Global LLC, a strategic public affairs firm founded to advance progressive campaigns, global non-profit advocacy, grassroots activism and corporate social responsibility. McCue served as the Chief of Staff for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. She later became founding President and CEO of The ONE Campaign and elevated ONE into a national force. GQ Magazine named her one of the 50 most powerful people in Washington. Washingtonian Magazine named her one of the 100 most powerful women in Washington. 

18. Albert Wenger: Partner, Union Square Ventures: Albert Wenger is a partner at Union Square Ventures, a venture capital firm that specializes in internet/tech ventures. He is also founder or founder of five companies and has managed a broad range of technology projects. 

19. Ethan Beard: Until recently Ethan Beard was Director of the Facebook Developer Network. Before that he was Director of Business Development at Facebook and led the team responsible for creating and managing strategic partnerships. Ethan joined Facebook from Google, where he was Director of Social Media and Director of New Business Development. Prior to Google, he spent several years as Director of Business Development for MTV Online. He is credentialed in Economics by the Wharton School of Business and in business by New York University. 

20. Joe Greenstein: Co-founder and CEO, Flixster: He is co-founder and CEO of Flixster. Previously he was part of a startup team and head of product management at Edusoft, bought by Houghton-Mifflin in 2003. He is credentialed in computer science by the University of Pennsylvania and in economics by the Wharton School. 

21. Jonathan Haidt: Professor, NYU: Professor Haidt is a social psychologist whose research examines the foundations of morality. His most recent book and New York Times bestseller is The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are divided by Politics and Religion. The book helps explain the American culture war between left and right. Professor Haidt is credentialed (Philosophy) by Yale and (Psychology) the University of Pennsylvania. http://represent.us/about/ 

Bryant’s American Anti-Corruption Act: Bryant wants support for a new law co-authored by Democrats and Republicans, designed to fix our political system and end corruption.

American Anti-Corruption Act; info@represent.us

 855.585.8100 x29, P.O. Box 60008, Florence, MA 01062 http://unitedrepublic.actionkit.com/event/cosponsor/8889/

http://represent.us/

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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy

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Decades’ old CIA breakdown needs intelligent, independent, experienced leadership ─ Goodman

U.S. CIA
drone wars
killling by remote

 An agency blinded by ideology, politics; rogue empire, old ruins

Editing, excerpting, brief comment by 

Carolyn Bennett

Sixty-five years ago U.S. President Harry S. Truman created the CIA to produce intelligence free from bias of the policy process ─ particularly the military process. As he searches for a successor, Melvin A. Goodman wrote late last year, “President Barack Obama should keep this in mind.”

Experienced civilian leaders could demand reform. The former Central Intelligence Agency analyst said President Obama has an opportunity to name a director who will ─

 

[r]e-establish the CIA’s commitment to objective and balanced intelligence and rebuild the Office of the Inspector General, which has been severely weakened by the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.

BREAKDOWN

“The role of strategic intelligence has deteriorated during the past decade with major failures including the lack of premonitory [early-warning] intelligence for the terror attacks of 9/11 and for the Arab Spring, as well as the false intelligence to justify the Iraq War in 2003,”  Goodman said. “There were major operational failures in Afghanistan in 2009, when eight CIA officers were killed, and in Libya, where the U.S. ambassador lost his life.”

Moral Bankruptcy

T

he politicized intelligence for the Iraq War, as well as CIA secret prisons and use of torture, revealed moral bankruptcy at the CIA …

“The CIA’s Inspector General has not investigated any of these failures since its examination of the 9/11 failure.

Incest, entrenchment, nepotism blinds

Civilian leadership, Independent analysis needed

Agency careerists, like the current acting director of the CIA, Goodman says, lack the stature for the job and military officers lack the background and often the intellect.

E

xperienced civilian leaders could demand a reform process to correct the flawed processes of the analytical and operational directorates and assure that the CIA strengthens independent analysis for the strategic needs of high-level decision-makers.

Decades' old BREAKDOWN

A new director, Goodman said, “must make sure that the CIA [has an Inspector General with the character of] a junkyard dog [aggressive, no-nonsense] as that statutory position requires.” 

Goodman says the CIA needs leaders “who understand the role of strategic intelligence.” His choices for the job (though not without linkage to established, entrenched, recycled Washington) are these men:

Former U.S. Senator from Nebraska (1997-2009), Charles Timothy (Chuck) Hagel (b. 1946)

Former U.S. Senator from Nebraska (1989-2001) and 35th Governor of that state (1983-1987), Joseph Robert (Bob) Kerrey (b. 1943)

Former U.S. Senator from New Jersey (1979-1997) and former candidate for U.S. presidency (2000), William Warren (Bill) Bradley (b. 1943)

Retired U. S. ambassador, formerly posted as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1989-1992), Senior Vice President for International Relations at Boeing (ending in 2006), Thomas Reeve (Tom) Pickering (b. 1931)

Current U.S. diplomat, former U. S. Ambassador to Russia (2005-2008) then acting U. S. Secretary of State (January 2009 HR Clinton stand-in), current Deputy Secretary of State, William Joseph Burns (b.1956)

Extrajudicial(lawless)
killings

Is it possible to move beyond old ruins?

T

hough the men suggested by Mel Goodman might be wonderful to head the Central Intelligence Agency, I expect there are even better suited, more qualified potential candidates [not Brennan] for the positions of Chief and Inspector General who do not rise from the pit of Washington’s ruined: the entrenched, the recycled, descendant old sons of nepotism.

Today’s News from Senate Committee Hearing: “[Obama-nominee] John Brennan CIA confirmation hearing interrupted by protesters” – Guardian UK Live

President Obama's
man for CIA chief

• Brennan grilled by Senate intelligence committee
 
• Floor cleared as anti-drone protesters interrupt session

Sources and note

“Restore Reliability and Accountability” (New York Times, December 3, 2012 Article by Melvin A. Goodman), http://www.ciponline.org/research/entry/restore-reliability-and-accountability; http://www.ciponline.org/research/entry/restore-reliability-and-accountability

Mel Goodman

Melvin A. Goodman is Director of the National Security Project at the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C., and adjunct professor of government at Johns Hopkins University.

Earlier he was a Soviet analyst at the CIA and the U.S. Department of State for 24 years; and a professor of international relations at the National War College for 18 years. He served in the U.S. Army in Athens, Greece (three years); and was intelligence adviser to the SALT delegation (1971–1972).

In addition to articles in a variety of news source, Goodman is author of Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA; National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism; Gorbachev’s Retreat: The Third World; The Wars of Eduard Shevardnadze; The Phantom Defense: America’s Pursuit of the Star Wars Illusion; and Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neoconservatives are Putting the World at Risk

http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100245480&fa=author&person_id=16690

Center for International Policy

Founded by former diplomats and peace activists (1975) in the wake of the Vietnam War, the Center for International Policy, according to its website, is a nonprofit research that “advocates a U.S. foreign policy that promotes international cooperation, demilitarization and respect for human rights.”

The Center’s advocacy and policy research promotes transparency and accountability in U.S. foreign policy; and provides policy recommendations and analysis to decision makers in government, the private sector and civil society.

“Washington insiders with an outsider’s agenda,” they call themselves, a group of former senior government officials, journalists, academics and activists with programs focusing “on long-term policy questions ─ examining policy implications of important issues such as the drug war, military budget, global financial integrity, climate change ─ while quickly responding to breaking news.”

Programs have grown and expanded: In the late 1970s, the Indochina program promoted the normalization of relations between the United States and Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia; in the 1980s, CIP turned its focus to Central America; in the 1990s, the focus expanded to reform of the U.S. intelligence agencies. Then to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and illicit financial flows; continually programs focused on issues and events’ impact on human rights and national security; and the role of money, money defining policy: in Washington, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. http://www.ciponline.org/about-us

President Barack Obama chooses soiled for CIA chief

“John Brennan CIA confirmation hearing interrupted by protesters” – live, February 7, 2013, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/07/john-brennan-senate-hearing-cia-nomination-live-blog

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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy

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Duck’s lame more of same ─ 112th morphs into 113th Congress

Citizens United
v.
Federal Election Commission

Besides a hangover, what follows frenzy?

Editing by Carolyn Bennett

 “Progress Waddles forward: Risks and Opportunities in the Lame Duck Session” [Public Citizen’s Claypool] “U.S. elections leave House and Senate balance nearly unchanged” [WSWS’s Martin]

The 112th Congress this coming Tuesday begins its “Lame Duck” Session offering Americans an inkling of whether the 113th Congress will match its predecessor’s plague of rabid tribalism: “partisan obstructionism.”

Citizen beware

“

Lame duck lawmakers,” Rick Claypool writes, “are notoriously unpredictable. They no longer need to worry about raising money for reelection so they are freer to stand up to corporate lobbyists and other moneyed interests; however, because they are not seeking reelection, they are also less accountable to their constituents. Even worse than that:

They are vulnerable to offers of cushy jobs at lobbying firms where former lawmakers all-too-often receive six-figure salaries in exchange for doing Corporate America’s bidding and perpetuate Washington’s ‘revolving door’ problem.

The 112th Congress’s lame duck session, scheduled to extend from November 13 through December 14, “is fraught with opportunities and threats,” Claypool says; and Public Citizen has laid out its positions for and against critical issues and action.

For forty years Public Citizen has been standing up to corporate power and holding government accountable.

Public Citizen supports

Final passage of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (H.R. 3289, S. 743)

The Wall Street Trading and Speculators Tax Act (H.R. 3313, S. 1787),  a tiny (0.03 percent) tax on Wall Street’s risky high-speed speculation, to help stabilize the financial system and raise more than $350 billion over 10 years

An end to taxpayer subsidies for fossil fuel corporations

Laying groundwork for major reform in the 113th Congress to fight corporate money flooding and de-legitimizing U.S. elections

Top priorities include restoring accountability and transparency with the DISCLOSE Act and Shareholder Protection Act, an executive order requiring government contractors to disclose political spending; continuing to grow support for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

Public Citizen opposes

Any attempt to cut or weaken Medicare, the popular and successful program providing universal healthcare for seniors [the qualifying age for Medicare should actually be lowered, not raised, so that everyone can benefit from this single-payer system]

The Independent Regulatory Agency Analysis Act (S. 3468), which would give Wall Street-friendly members of any White House administration the power to impede independent regulators such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Bills that would deregulate parts of the derivatives market: H.R. 1838 would explicitly allow bailouts for bad swap deals while H.R. 3283 would remove U.S. regulations for U.S. swaps conducted abroad

An attempt to give banks legal immunity ─ even when they push predatory loans they know consumers will not be able to pay back

An attempt to undermine patients’ rights by letting the medical industry go virtually unpunished when patients are harmed or killed by the industry’s negligence or recklessness.

A

 fter the frenzy, what?

What will the 113th accomplish when winning the White House outstripped resources to win the Congress, a resulting situation that, according to Patrick Martin’s article today at the World Socialist Web Site, “perfectly suits the right-wing purposes of the reelected Obama White House to have a Republican-controlled House serve as its political partner and, in the face of opposition from below, give the Obama government an excuse to ─

Cut social programs cuts,

Hand out tax breaks to corporate America,

Continue militarism and attacks on domestic and international human and democratic rights

Bipartisan hold to status quo, leveraged against “We the people”

P

opular sentiment, Martin writes, played little role in the 2012 U.S. elections outcome, which were dependent largely on which of two domineering political parties controlled a U.S. state’s redistricting process ─ the power to draw district boundaries, and thus rig election results.

U.S. House ─ November 6’s vote did little to change the picture in the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives. Republicans will hold a sizeable majority: once all the seats are decided, perhaps 235-200.

U.S. Senate ─ The two-seat gain in the U.S. Senate “shifts the Democratic caucus further to the right ─ as many of the victorious Democratic candidates openly rejected liberalism and pledged themselves to fiscal austerity and bipartisan collaboration with the Republicans: among them

Indiana’s conservative Democrat Joe Donnelly and Maine’s Independent expected to vote with Democratic Party Augus King

Incumbents Jon Tester (Montana), Dianne Feinstein (California), Bill Nelson (Florida), Robert Casey (Pennsylvania), Tom Carper (Delaware), Joe Manchin (West Virginia), Claire McCaskill (Missouri)

Newcomers Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota) and Tim Kaine (Virginia)

Sources and notes

“Progress Waddles forward: Risks and Opportunities in the Lame Duck Session” (Citizen Vox, Rick Claypool), November 9, 2012, http://www.citizenvox.org/2012/11/09/progress-waddles-lame-duck-risks-opportunities/

Citizens United

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations and unions.

The decision reached the Supreme Court on appeal from a July 2008 decision by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

The nonprofit group Citizens United [had] wanted to air a film critical of Hillary Clinton and to advertise the film during television broadcasts in apparent violation of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (commonly known as the McCain–Feingold Act or ‘BCRA’). In a 5–4 decision, the Court held that portions of BCRA §203 violated the First Amendment. Wikipedia

Rick Claypool

Rick Claypool is an online organizer in Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division. Before joining the staff at Public Citizen, he assisted with outreach and organizing at a grassroots anti-hunger organization in Pittsburgh, wrote advocacy and investigative stories for an alternative newsweekly in Toledo, Ohio;  and in northwest Ohio, he taught courses in cultural theory and analysis. http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=2875

Although contributors to PC’s blog are staff members of Public Citizen, their views are their own, “those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of Public Citizen.”

Public Citizen

Public Citizen is a national nonprofit organization that has been standing up to corporate power and holding government accountable since 1971. It fights for:

Openness and democratic accountability in government

Right of consumers to seek redress in the courts

Clean, safe and sustainable energy sources

Social and economic justice in trade policies

               

Strong health, safety and environmental protections

Safe, effective and affordable prescription drugs and health care

Public Citizen, http://www.citizenvox.org/about-2

“U.S. elections leave House and Senate balance nearly unchanged” (Patrick Martin, November 10, 2012, http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/nov2012/cong-n10.shtml

Profile briefs

Joe Donnelly: elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Tenth Congress and to the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 2007-present); was not a candidate for reelection to the House of Representatives but was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 2012 for the term ending January 3, 2019, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=D000607

Angus Stanley King Jr.: fills the seat vacated by retiring Senator Olympia Snowe, elected in 2012 to the U.S. Senate as an independent representing Maine; widely expected to caucus with the Democratic Party. King served as Maine’s 72nd Governor (1995 to 2003). Wikipedia

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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy

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Rocky Anderson says [we're] not done yet ─ Just beginning

People
Social movements

 A proposal to the people of the United States from 2012 (former) candidate for the U.S. presidency: 

Excerpt, minor editing by Carolyn Bennett

“I ran the race to heighten awareness, to inspire people toward effective action,” Rocky Anderson says in a memo dropped in my inbox today.

Third-party presidential debates 2012

“As demonstrated by third-party candidates in the past …, a third-party effort ─ helping to catalyze a persistent, broad-based democratic movement for real change ─ can win far more than an election.

“

Our campaign was a call for the people of the United States to take charge – they must be the leaders and we must build a broad-based powerful movement ─ if we are to: 

Rocky Anderson

overthrow the plutocracy – government that is up for sale to the highest bidder 

end the imperial presidency 

restore the rule of law, and the most fundamental freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States 

end the two-tiered economic and justice systems, and achieve a republic where no one is above the law 

respect civil and human rights ─ here and abroad 

Only the people

end the empire-building serving only the interests of multi-national corporations and plutocrats 

end poverty in a nation where presidential candidates will not even discuss poverty 

end corporate cronyism that has caused economic devastation for the vast majority of American people 

end the deprivation of basic health care for tens of millions of people 

finally, bring an end to the strangle-hold the two corporatist, militarist political parties have on the U.S. electoral system and our government. 

 

“

Rocky Anderson after November 6

Join other engaged citizens in this continuing movement for economic, social, and environmental justice. If you are interested in working with me and others in carrying this movement forward,” Anderson says, “send a note, including contact information” to him at: rockyanderson.justice@gmail.com.

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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy

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U.S. democracy eulogized awaits mass struggle, truly “new” leadership

Mass Struggle
against
U.S. and EU austerity

Joseph Kishore’s “Class issues in 2012 elections”

Excerpt, editing, re-reporting, commentary by Carolyn Bennett

Because of the “anti-democratic election laws” in the United States of America (often requiring tens of thousands of signatures just to get on the ballot), Kishore writes, Socialist Equality Party candidates for the U.S. presidency are blocked from full participation as a voter choice in today’s sham elections.

Socialist Equality Party candidates (president) Jerry White and (vice president) Phyllis Scherrer’s names appear on the ballot in only three U.S. states: Wisconsin, Colorado and Louisiana; and in several other states under “official write-in certification.”

Louisiana and Wisconsin: White and Scherrer on the ballot and identified as the candidates of the Socialist Equality Party.

Colorado: White and Scherrer’ names listed on the ballot with the party designation SEP, full name of the party not spelled out.

California: write-in procedure depends on whether you vote by mail or cast a ballot at the polls on November 6. White and Scherrer were included on a list of qualified write-in candidates made available October 26 to voters. (Other instructions apply)

Michigan: voters must write the names of the candidates on the ballot card in the space indicated for write-in candidates. Jerry White and Phyllis Scherrer are official write-in candidates and votes for them will be tabulated and reported by the state election division.

New York: the procedure for casting a write-in vote varies depending on whether your precinct has machines with mechanical levers or optical scanning.

Illinois: counting of write-in votes is a function of the county election authorities, not the states, votes for White and Scherrer will be recorded in Cook County and the city of Chicago; Dupage County (suburban Chicago); and Rock Island County.

 

Kentucky: write-in space appears on the ballot under the heading “President and Vice President of the United States.”  In all other states, supporters must write in the names of White and Scherrer as a “class conscious statement of support for the socialist alternative to the two parties of big business.”

Americans who bother to consider voting, millions don’t, seem caught up in a frenzy of Republican-Democratic tribalism as in the throes of some cult or religious madness and as such are blinded, blissfully oblivious, to loss of the whole critical establishment of law and liberty. 

The establishment of rights under law, the establishment of a more perfect union.  The establishment of liberty. The establishment of democracy ─ this republic for which we stand (or do not stand). 

A republic is not a tribal construct: Democratic, Republican; conservative, liberal; pink, brown; blue, red. These are the false flags in which the people, too many people, blindly cloak themselves.

Loss of faith in crucial institutions

At a level higher than the combined ballots cast for these Democratic and Republican candidates for the 2012 presidency, an astonishing “58 percent” of U.S. eligible voters will sit out today’s general election. This means that whoever wins will have been voted into office by less than one fourth of eligible voters. The shame of it all. This is not "democratic" either in process or participation (electorate or contenders).

Is it any wonder that a group calling itself “Attack the System,” referenced today in a Press TV story, holds the belief “that the existing U.S. system is basically illegitimate.”

B

ut Joseph Kishore’s thoughts are better articulated than mine. 

Veterans for Peace

“Under conditions of global economic crisis,” Kishore writes, United States militarism erupts and leads “inexorably to world war with catastrophic consequences.”

One piece of evidence of the undermining of the establishment of liberty and its possibility in democratic rights is that on this long, multi-million-dollar slog to Election Day, the exclusive Republican and Democratic Party candidates cleverly avoided discussing murder by remote: the U.S. government’s global policy of extra-judicial assassination of foreigners and U.S. citizens.

Far-reaching
Unconscionable
Consequences

The officials in the government of the United States, Kishore writes, have “jettisoned the core democratic principle of due process” yet this fact never rose in the "debates"; and it “was virtually ignored by the media on the Right and on the Left.”

Moreover, he says, “by any objective legal standard, the president of the United States should be subject to impeachment proceedings—but his principal opponent and the entire media and political establishment are complicit in the crime.”

Mass Struggle
Wisconsin, USA

Layered crises awaiting mass struggle, incorruptible leadership

  

Mass Struggle
Egypt

 “In the backdrop to these elections is a global crisis of capitalism,” Kishore writes. “All around the world, the corporations and banks are demanding that the working class accept a historic reversal in its living conditions.

Mass Struggle
Montreal, Canada

“Capitalism holds out to the population of the United States and the world a future of poverty, unemployment, war, dictatorship.”

Mass struggle “transformed into a conscious revolutionary movement against capitalism” is imperative, Kishore says. And for this to happen, truly new leadership must be born.  

Mass Struggle
Greece

Maybe the movement will begin taking shape after the frenzy. Kishore takes the view that the “ruling class” is delusional if it believes it can continue to pursue oppressive policies (globally and domestically) without provoking mass struggles. In fact, he observes, these struggles “have already begun to erupt.”

Sources and notes

“The class issues in the 2012 elections” (By Joseph Kishore), November 6, 2012, http://wsws.org/articles/2012/nov2012/pers-n06.shtml

“How to vote for SEP candidates Jerry White and Phyllis Scherrer,” November 1, 2012,

http://wsws.org/articles/2012/nov2012/vote-n01.shtml

“58 percent of eligible US voters boycott presidential election,” Press TV November 6, 2012,

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/06/270729/58-of-eligible-us-voters-boycott-polls/

Today in 1860, Abraham Lincoln won election to the U.S. presidency.

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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy

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