Uncorrupting the System

Koch brothers $$$ behind The Pledge

In pondering the question of the Grover Norquist problem I have been getting closer to seeing the bullying as something that is larger than the money he represents.  I mean, he IS all about wielding that wad of cash to “Primary” those running for elected positions.  As he says, he doesn’t directly threaten them (the politicians), he just notes that if those running either don’t sign on to his pledge or go against what his pledge stands for he will carry the message to the voter so that the voter may act.  He said something like this on CBS's 60 Minutes with a smirk on his face and his ego stuck way out in front of the camera.

The first problem is I don’t like bullies.  The second problem is that Norquist represents everything bad that money has done to our political system.  The idea that one person can so thoroughly subvert the system is the opposite of what democracy is and what it stands for.  By extension, it means also that we (this country) no longer have the moral high ground to tell other countries about democracy.  This also means that old boy Grover has access to OUR representatives that normal people do not have.  That he can threaten is a large problem and will not, has refused to, release our elected officials when they have asked him to release them.  To say that, forever, there is no need to raise revenues through taxes is absurd on its face.  Some of these pledges date back to the early 1990’s!!  Over twenty years have come and gone and to imply that nothing has changed… simply stupid.

It hit me recently that what is needed is a short cut to release our politicians from this absurd burden of enforcement by Americans for Prosperity and Grover Norquist.  It’s simple, really, we declare victory and go home… well not exactly.  What The Grover and his ego holds over each politician is money.  He tells them that if they veer from the pledge in even the slightest degree his organization will “Primary” the politician.  It is the ability to use his hidden money to put up opposing candidates of the same party against the incumbent representative.  Here I mean to say that the money is hidden because Norquist’s organization does not have to disclose where the funding comes from!!  That’s right, there is NO disclosure.  The threat would be meaningless if we could GET THE MONEY OUT OF POLITICS.

There is a massive movement afoot to have ONLY publicly funded elections.  If that becomes law and there are penalties, felony conviction assured, for any who either give or take, money or trade outside of the public funding then Norquist goes poof and disappears.

In the meantime here is a release for any who have signed onto and come to regret that decision to join the Norquist pledge:

Pledge for the American Process

Date: ________________

I, ______________, have determined of my own cognizance that the group Americans for Prosperity and specifically Grover Norquist has misled the country through its pledge to accept no present or future tax increases.  This pledge has crippled the political process and debased the people elected to represent their constituency.  As such, I, ________________, do hereby renounce and rescind my former pledge to the Americans for Prosperity.  As a free agent in the process of democracy I now re-pledge my fealty to my constituents and my country.  I agree to pursue the best interests of the United States of America and to listen to and work for those individuals who elected me.

Signed: ______________________

With a Sense of Protest:

This linked story is a straightforward indication of a low information person in a position of authority.  A lot of shame goes to those who hired Lt. Pike (& his ilk) to be anywhere near the young people of this nation.

Lt. Pike gets the A$$hole of the Year Award

Seriously, the U C Davis police force deals with students every day and THIS is what they came up with?  Lt. Pike should resign and await his criminal prosecution and civil claims.  Beyond stupid.

Flavor of the Month & Thought of the Century.

If you look at the field of Republican Candidates the latest to rise in the polls (sort of) is Newt Gingrich.  Here's a little story about this guy and his rather bizarre past (never have liked him much):

Newt as a wasteland.

Beyond that there is this thought; a very dangerous thought.  What may be needed to dig us out of the political morass we are in is a Constitutional Convention (CC).  It is something that is allowed (even called for in some circumstances) to correct large ills should our system ever encounter problems it cannot fix otherwise.  I submit that we may well be at that juncture now.

Before we call for this action we need to understand that once called for the sky is the limit on what can happen.  That is, there may well be multiple ways in which this process can be manipulated and corrupted just as the current system has been.  We might well need a form of internet voting for the CC so that we have a direct voice in this process.  This following TED talk is an example of what is possible that cannot be tampered with:

eVoting without Fraud

We need this to change the process and fix a few things that are seriously broken. A CC can then take up as many suggestions as we can create and tear down the problems to be rebuilt as we wish.

Here are some thoughts on what we can change:

1.  Corporations are not people.  A person is a Natural Person and can never be a corporation or other than a Natural Person.

2.  All elections are publicly financed, period.  Any contributor or recipient stepping outside of this system (by contribution of either cash or trade) is subject to arrest for a Felony and can be jailed (mandatory) for long periods of time in regular (not special) prisons.

3.  All politicians are subject to recall at anytime after their third (or sixth or ninth) month in office.

4.  There would be a National Initiative process available once a year (or X years) and that wording for that initiative must undergo scrutiny by a select panel that must adhere to strict rules for clear understandability and no intent to subvert the intent of the initiative.  The number of signatures required to have an initiative on the ballot must be X% of all eligible voters on a State by State basis.

5.  Reinstate Glass/Steagall and, perhaps, other regulations (broadcast Fairness Doctrine comes to mind) as is deemed helpful in keeping factual content in our news sources.

6.  There are no corporations that are too big to fail.  A death penalty for corporations can be imposed through some legal proceeding that reviews pollution, fraud and other offenses.  Officers of corporations have only limited immunity from prosecution for their acts and the acts of companies they run.

7.  Make a Constitutional Convention mandatory every 30 or 50 years. 

The list can be very lengthy but not all ideas would probably pass.  In fact. I have lots and lots of ideas on what might be included but by now you get the idea.  Pick the things that are broken right now and save others for later via the regular but fixed process. 

The conversation needs to be national in scope and there needs to be a time limit on how long it would go on before items would be brought to a vote (via internet) of the People (not by Representatives).  Get the money out of politics and get the lobbyists out of the process.

Occupy the City Council

In Portland, Oregon and across the river in Vancouver, Washington occupiers have noticed something.  The city governments have contracts with Wells Fargo bank for services.  That is, both cities store their (our) money in the bank and write checks every day from those accounts.

The light has gone on and the protesters have begun a move to demand that governments put the money with regional banks and credit unions.  This massive control, because of the way the banking world works and is intertwined, would not completely keep the money out of the banks BUT it would keep it all on a short leash.  It would also show the cities how much control they have on and over the bank's policies.

In pondering this idea I have to admit that there IS a huge attraction to it.  Occupy the City Councils and demand monetary change that is controlled locally.  I guess I am okay with that.

Use Your Imagination

So, imagine your 84 year old mother or grandmother was supportive of the Occupy Movement and decided to visit the closest Park;

Seattle woman, 84, is pepper sprayed.

Joining the Occupy Movement should not be putting your life or health on the line but it is until the Occupy Movement takes down the Oligarchy and gets fair treatment by the system.

Get the money out of politics.  Get the lobbyists out of Washington.  Get the justice system back to non-activist judges.  Take down the barriers to economic fairness.

Protest in Song

Often it is the artists who get it and come forward with the message... this is such a case.

The Uncertainty Principle

For months now the Republican Party has been pounding the table with their collective shoe and shouting that the reason we aren't creating jobs is that business leaders are uncertain about the future.  Together they are trying to point to a perceived lack of confidence to invest in new jobs.  It has been a major talking point (to quote Herman Cain, "I don't have facts to back this up...") for so long surely we must all believe it.  Once I learned that big business was sitting on $2 trillion in cash reserves I had doubts about this talking point but needed a logic to go with that.  I mean, withholding that much cash from the economy was bound to have a consequence or two.  To not circulate is a decision that a central bank might do to slow an economy and $2T is an amount to contemplate for such a move.  So what was driving this decision?

It turns out that individuals have indeed bought into the scare tactic by the Republicans.  Further withholding cash from the system.  It is, in part, what keeps credit from the system.  When individuals keep cash as deposits in a checking account the banks do not have long term money to lend.  Sure enough, if you compound the big business decision to sit on cash and combine it with cash being held off shore (another $2T) because big business doesn't want to be taxed on it if they bring it home in addition to individual decisions to keep to cash (about $350B) more accessible you take the wind out of the sails of the economy.

Where the money went.

With the Republicans acting to stop government stimulus spending at all cost it seems we have a perfect storm to keep us in a repressed state.  The party of, "NO!" has brought about what a central bank would have a tough time undoing.  It is no accident that big biz is sitting on the cash and it is not uncertainty that is driving it.  Supply-siders have had it all wrong for 30 plus years but as a talking point tool they have found a way to keep the middle class down through this perfect storm.

To reignite the country we need to spend; we can't spend what we don't have the confidence to spend.  The uncertainty is with the smallest group, consumers.  Not big Biz.  Concern for having jobs has driven a large part of this connundrum.  As well it should... we are extremely vulnerable to a more serious crash.

Moving cash from the banks to credit unions has the effect of keeping local control on the money.  We still need that cash to be partially in savings accounts at the CU's to give the cash for the CU's to lend but with local control there is a stronger likelihood that the much needed stimulus will find its way into our economy... and not fall under the influence of the GOtPers saying, "NO!" all the time.

Occupy: Phase Two

 From OWS

There comes a time when the Occupy camps have to step back and reconsider their tactics.  With the police sending the homeless, the drug addicts and mentally ill to the camps the Occupiers have come to see the sense of community has all the challenges of being a community.  In the early stages there were families among the residents but they cleared out as things got more complicated and the children exposed to other, less desirable, elements of the movement.

Pressure to close OWS Camps

This nexus was bound to come about. OWS has built a great community but with all the problems of community. As the homeless, the mentally ill and police drifted into the camps the fact is OWS was not fully prepared to deal with the problems people bring with them. It's really okay though.

We can consider a restructur­e of the movement. Move, cooperativ­ely, out of the camps. Clean up as we go to minimize any damage done. Take with us the lessons of long term occupation­. Get to know the community resources better so that in the coming spring/sum­mer we can come at this again with a better organizati­on.

It would be a good time to productive­ly keep the discussion going, by way of an on-line Occupy, perhaps. Come back at this in the spring with a general strike, marches and more occupy. We need a cooperativ­e police discussion and a better community mic system. GA's need to be more accessible­... and so forth. Removing our camps lets the world seem "normal" for those craving some form of normal. It does not mean anything is normal however. The life of this movement is the continuati­on of protest... full on, non-violen­t protest and a discussion about the problems of keeping a camp safe for all and a ways to keep the agitators within the rules of non-violen­ce.

Anyway, this would hone the process, make us more prepared; it is a form of guerrilla protest. 

There is also that problem of holding on to the values that brought on the movement.  For a look at that I recommend the following link.

Controlling the Asshole Problem

Corporate Personhood

This morning I was going through the FaceBook feed and saw my Righty friend, Mike, had posted this video with the comment about not making this a Republican v. Democratic idea.  I almost fell out of my chair.  This argument is at the core of the 99%'s issue set.



The center of the argument is to stop money in the political system.  Public financing of elections is just one part of what we need.  There needs to be a part of the law that says there is a way to have a corporate execution for severe wrong doing.  Sell all the assets and take down the leaders of the company legally and cart them off to jail.

Too strong you say?  Think about it.  A corporation takes capital over a long period of time and builds itself creating income for the investors without concern for anyone.  It, the corporation, owes affinity for the investors but, for the most part only has allegiance to itself and its needs.  Some corporations have the idea held at the highest levels that it is above the law because it has specific needs... and nobody goes to jail.  It took me a long time to get this.  Operating ethically and legally a corporation can only go so far before those operating only in their own sociopathic interests take them over in our current system.  There have been lots of examples in the last ten or twenty years.  Enron comes to mind.

Oh, Herman...

 From Huffington Post

So, Herman Cain has some media trouble that he is trying to spin into an attack from... somewhere.  He tried to say it was Rick Perry's fault, then wondered aloud if perhaps it was Mitt Romney's camp that let the "cat out of the bag."  Eventually he settled on, "It must be the liberals, the progressives." 

What a hoot! 

Also along the way he first denied any and all forms of sexual harassment, then back peddled in several stages until he finally landed on the idea that this accusing person just had an axe to grind and it might be because he is a black man.  This guy told more lies along the way to this position and reversed himself several times.  Yawn.

All that has been a distraction form the real issues regard this buffoon.  After all for the liberals, the progressives, we welcome (Koch)Cain as a candidate!!  There isn't anyone who would be easier to defeat in a general election.  He is a pretty good and entertaining speaker but his political theories are so time worn and fallacious that there isn't any real debate to be had there.

His claim that he is/was a successful businessman is far more entertaining, actually.  Here's a little fact finding trove that got summed up by a commenter on an article in the Huffington Post:

"The Refudiator on HP

The Squirminat­or, Hermann Cain, criticizes the current economy and jobs results trying to draw attention for his "issue". Lets see how he did while managing God Fathers Pizza shall we?

Cain took over the fourth largest Pizza company in America with no debt and a great promising future and in nine years turned it into the eight largest pizza company in America, one with so much debt, it could not be sold.

911 stores before Cain, 530 stores after Cain.

Adjusting for inflation in 1985 to 1994, to compare it to the last year, 1995, that he was a full time CEO at Godfather’­­s, $325 million equals $448 million. Thus the drop was from $448 million (in 1995 dollars) to $265.5 million. This is a drop of about 41%. Adjusted for inflation, sales dropped by about 41% in the ten years that Herman Cain ran the company as CEO.

What a turn around.

So 999 means Nine years, Nine Fails, Nein Growth."

Now THAT is entertaining!!

Debt and Sense

We are not broke; we are broken.




There is no way that I can buy into the theory the Republicans are trying to fly these days.  Debt, debt, debt they cry but then are bankrupt in correcting the real problem.  Cuts with revenues will fix that.  We have seen that movie before multiple times in history.  Get over it.

Fix the political system by getting the money out of the process.  Public financing of the electoral process would help a lot.

Get control and re-regulate the banks.

Get control of the personhood of corporations.

That's the general direction we need to move toward.

Jobs Act... which one is real?

To date the republicans have offered no Jobs bill.  That's right, none.  What they have said is that we should rely on the old Reaganomics of Trickle Down economics to fix our recession woes.  To do this the suggestion is to cut taxes on the rich and have the middle class take the brunt of new taxes.  This is NOT a plan.  It is a tired and fallacious way to fix anything.  By having taken over the House of Representatives the R's have found a way to block any progress.  They are offering up a batch of crazies as potential Presidential candidates that are repeating the same line, the same old same old.  Make no mistake about it... these candidates are not serious about the problems of the country, they are liars, for the most part, repeating the non-plan of inaction.

Pick the Plan That Works.
   
Just listening to the buffoons drives me further and further left.  Just finding the middle any more is a difficult task given how far the right of right the Republicans have gone.  The substandard field of candidates is a symptom of a disingenuous party, willing to say almost anything, to get a cheer from the far, far, far right.  If any of the current batch of Representatives took the problem of  the economy seriously then one or two of them would be speaking up and offering a real counter plan to the American Jobs Act... but they are completely silent on this. 

From the Whitehouse.gov blog:

Protest Music

From the Arab Spring this artist came up with one of the first songs I have heard thus far:

JasonZ - Man On Fire

Written in honor of Mohammed Bouazizi, Man On Fire is intended to inspire everyone around the world who is trying create positive change because their government is corrupt and/or inept. 100% of the profits from this song will be spent to remove corporations ability to dictate the priorities of our government through "contributions".

It may not be completely applicable to OWS but it is interesting.