American Politics Thread 2013: I'm a cool Rodham grandma in the USA

lobbyists often write legislation, dont really know the specifics, saw it in a michael moore film

totally gave a fuck as a lurker briefly in late 2001. passionate times man. first strokes album, not another teen movie. heady days.

*removes bookmark*

Z S this goes all the way back to early september so it's old news to the ball lagoons but you might be interested

http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed

o wow why are you lumping me in im totally innocent

no one is innocent

wow just wow

http://www.eatthecorn.com/dossiers/pics/influences/jfk_2.jpg

"The first post-2001 result for username "balls" was on thread Someone's O has go to GO: The NE@DAL 5-0 week 6 thred on board I Love NFL on Oct 12, 2007:

TENN
CHI
JAX
CLE
BAL
WASH
KC
PHIL
ARI
SD
NE
SEA
ATL"

I've been banging on about ALEC barging its way into British politics on some other threads, but an American could be forgiven for not going there...

i'm afraid of americans
and balls

haven't really found a pre-ALEC organization that's comparable. i suppose there's the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), which was founded in 1975 (2 years after ALEC), but all state legislators are automatically members of NCSL, so it's not a partisan group, or funded by corps. then of course there's the US chamber of commerce - but do they actually draft legislation, and push it at the state level? presumably their lobbyists see national legislation in progress and grimly nods Yea or Nay while tapping a baseball bat against their hand, but it seems more insidious to actually provide the model legislation and then distribute it across the country to GOP-controlled state legislatures.

trilateral commission

http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/fraternalism/images/stonecutters_2.jpg

While the Trilateral Commission is only one of many similar think tanks on the right and left, many notable conspiracy theorists believe the organization to be a central plotter of a world government or synarchy. As documented by journalist Jonathan Kay, 9/11 conspiracy theorist Luke Rudkowski gained notoriety in April 2007 by interrupting a lecture by former Trilateral Commission director Zbigniew Brzezinski and accusing the organization and a few others of having orchestrated the attacks of September 11th to initiate a new world order.

this shit goes even deeper than i feared...*puts shades on*

ZS legislation is always written/co-written by the activists/lobbyists. they're the ones who actually have the time to do that

http://iaanhughes.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/obey4-they-live.jpg

well, at least trailblazer Phillip Steel managed to draft an ordinance without someone else doing it for him

a conservative counterweight to the mainstream National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), ...

"I always look at what the enemy is doing and, if they're winning, copy it," ALEC founder Paul Weyrich said a decade ago.

http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/What-Makes-Alec-Smart.html

great article, thanks for posting it curmudgeon.

the defense offered by the ALECers - "Members of ALEC reply that their group is simply one more forum among many in which they can meet with like-minded colleagues and listen to the concerns of businesses and other groups that they would hear from anyway, even if the organization never existed." - is reasonable enough. and of course what they're doing is not illegal, just depressing for the prospects of democracy. i understand that legislation is often (always? really?) drafted by companies and lobbyists, but the audacity of doing it so transparently, like ALEC, combined with the near-total lack of interest from the public is a bummer of a combo

i'm sorry, but use of the word 'audacity' is no longer acceptable

http://the-gaggle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/george-michael-arrested-development.gif

i'm ready to just retire to the ranch, hook up a whiskey IV and mutter "wahl hawrse-sheeit" every time some new relative wanders near and tries to talk to me

it's ok, it's not just you

there's some td waterschwab ad that's all like 'if you have the *audacity* to think that your broker works for you . . .' and that simply won't do

Just another day in the Senate yesterday

In blocking Judge Robert L. Wilkins's nomination, Senate Republicans on Monday denied President Obama his third pick in recent weeks to fill a vacancy on the nation's most powerful and prestigious appeals court.

Really Canadian but whatever

http://www.splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/i-don-t-pop-molly-i-rock-rob-ford

Republicans pushing their ideas to solve poverty (from a fluff piece on Paul Ryan):

Ryan’s new emphasis on social ills doesn’t imply that he’s willing to compromise with Democrats on spending more government money. His idea of a war on poverty so far relies heavily on promoting volunteerism and encouraging work through existing federal programs, including the tax code.

...

At the Capitol last week, the conservative Heritage Foundation held a day-long anti-poverty forum to examine the historic rise in food-stamp dependency since the recession and methods of prison rehabilitation. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who led the push to defund Obama’s new health-insurance initiative, gave the keynote address, arguing for a revival of “civil society,” volunteerism and charity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/paul-ryan-gops-budget-architect-sets-his-sights-on-fighting-poverty-and-winning-minds/2013/11/18/5c024888-4da8-11e3-9890-a1e0997fb0c0_story.html

Volunteerism and charity in the US:
http://media2.wptv.com//photo/2013/11/18/walmart-food-drive_20131118151448_640_480_20131118155920_320_240.JPG

I'm sure Paul Ryan will rationalize the idea that Walmart employees need such help

Poor people don't vote in great enough numbers to be other than a marginal force. The GOP understands that the real battle is convincing the middle class that cutting social programs for the poor is really the most enlightened way to help them "succeed"... and cutting taxes is just an added benefit of the scheme.

the barrier btwn the middle class and poor is getting more palpably porous

Morbs otm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/11/19/harry-reid-is-set-to-go-nuclear/

bout time

xp
Yes, and the subtext of the GOP appeal is that the envisioned tax cuts will offset the erosion of middle class earnings and make them 'whole' again. Which is crap, but seductive crap.

palpably poor-ous

So the GOP finally looked at the Tories and thought "hey that's our way out", despite "The Big Society" being a massive disaster.

Sounds like a great plan Harry, assuming you're not worried that the Republicans could ever capture the Senate again.

well if/when they do, they'll have a shitload of open appointments to fill if harry doesn't pull this

oh hey we've got our next scandal

http://nypost.com/2013/11/18/census-faked-2012-election-jobs-report/

scandal-in-scare-quotes if it turns out to be bullshit

yeah limbaugh was all i toldja, liberalism has never actually won an election in american history, etc

that story is so fucking weak

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/19/unemployment-rate-faked_n_4302907.html

not that obama haters will be derailed by you know facts and stuff

a couple right bloggers tweeted at me today "will you update your article on jack welch," "is jack welch owed an apology" etc

an anonymous source told the NY Post

Pretty sure what's going to happen is we are going to further expand the definition of middle class so that it includes most poor people.

Sounds like a great plan Harry, assuming you're not worried that the Republicans could ever capture the Senate again.

― Deuteronomy 23:1 (dandydonweiner), Tuesday, November 19, 2013 4:45 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the last time republicans had the senate and the presidency they threatened to do exactly what reid says hes gonna do until a last minute compromise was put together that neither side would filibuster judicial noms unless theyre were like crazily extremely opposed to them, an agreement on which the republicans have now reneged, so basically the republicans already threw the judicial filibuster out the window and will for sure do it again given the opportunity and reid has nothing to lose here and a lot to gain

this is it should be mentioned not eliminating the filibuster altogether but just for judicial nominations

and of course the filibuster shd be thrown out altogether and if a party wins all the elections they shd be able to enact their agenda because democracy

the last time republicans had the senate and the presidency they threatened to do exactly what reid says hes gonna do

uh yeah that's what I was driving at--that if Reid goes through with this you might as well start assuming that the Republicans will be ball breakers on this issue if they ever get the Senate back.

guy they already effectively did it of course they are going to to it again the democrats lose nothing by doing it first

"effectively did it" = opinion

changing rules with simple majority = fact based meme that has legs