Dear Sen. Cornyn,
In your reply to my petition regarding the Citizen's United case, you said:
"I agree with the Supreme Court's decision to strike down a law that violates the intent of the First Amendment, which reads: "Congress shall make no law...abridging the Freedom of Speech, or of the Press."
The Disclose Act bill will require full disclosure by corporations and labor unions who exercise their new found right to control American elections by buying up the media channels and campaigning for, or against, individual candidates. This right was defined by our activist conservative Supreme Court in the case of "Citizens United v FEC" a few months ago. The Disclose Act does not go near far enough to prevent corporations and labor unions from owning election outcomes. It is however, an important first step in the right direction.
One Congressman says worriedly to another, walking briskly down to the House Floor, "Is my face red? I spent the whole morning in session with our Chinese lobbyist. Great deal. But, God, I hope it doesn't show."
National Journal reports in an article entitled, Under The Influence, that during the year of the Health Care Reform debate 2009, "The Chamber [of Commerce] spent $123.3 million on all lobbying activities, compared to $62.3 million in 2008, according to lobbying disclosure forms."
I received my Census form yesterday, filled it out in under 5 minutes, and dropped it in the outgoing mail. When it arrived, I gave a moment's thought to whether it was important enough to take the time then to complete it, or not. I immediately recognized the importance of the census to a democratically elected government which is supposed to serve the interests of the people of the nation. To do that, the government needs to know how many people there are and where they are located, and a few particulars. I took the time and got it out of the way.
If folks stowed their money away in fixed rate investments during the latter part of the Bush economy, and then reallocated that money into stock investments for the Obama economy, those folks have to be pleased at having saved as much as a 50% loss at the end of the Bush economy, and approaching as much as a 50% gain during this Obama economy, starting in March of this year.
Of course, President's don't control the stock markets. Myriad factors, most knowable, some not, play roles in the direction of market investments. The trick is to acknowledge and accept the trends without prejudice, political or otherwise. As far back as 2006 and 2007, there were clear indications the Bush economy was going to implode.
Some Republicans are calling for Term Limits of those in Congress. When you are done laughing your arse off, please continue reading. Term Limits were in the Contract With America, offered by Republicans in 1994. As soon as Republicans acquired the majority in government to enact term limits, the entire issue was never spoken of by the GOP again. Until now, that is. Now, that they are the diminished minority, again.
The House narrowly passed what has long been considered to be an impossible bill to push through during a recession. It was bi-partisan in its passage, as 8 Republicans voted for it, and 44 Democrats voted against it. However, this sweeping energy innovation and climate protection bill, faces a short life as it heads to the Senate later this year.
Congress is working on reforms to be applied to the credit card industry. Good. They need it. But, when it became clear that the government was going to bail out floundering corporations, did credit card companies begin to make themselves insolvent in order to get in line for tax payer dollars? With a few exceptions, the credit card companies did not begin to shut down consumer credit until government handouts were known to be coming and the recession underway.
Deficit spending by the federal government, (spending beyond the budget year's revenues), has at various times in our history been essential and necessary. Necessity has been defined as insuring the integrity of the nation, as in World War 2, or, insuring humane conditions for the American people, as in the Great Depression or Dust Bowl era. Defining essential and necessary deficit spending is not difficult. Defining non-essential and unnecessary spending is a highly improbable endeavor for our American system of government. Therein lies the economic threat going forward. A potential solution sits idly in Congress.
On Jan. 8, U.S. Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) and U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wi) introduced the Weekend Voting Act in the Senate and House in an effort to increase voter turnout. This is only 60 years late in coming. Sensing however, that there is a new Sheriff in town who reiterates that he will sign bills that make sense for America, not just bills that make sense for his party, some of the more responsible Representatives in our Congress are going to seize the opportunity to make political reforms never introduced before, but, long overdo, like this one.
