tagged w/ Lawmakers
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PLEASE WATCH THE ENTIRETY OF THIS VIDEO AS IT CONTAINS CRITICAL INFORMATION YOU NEED TO KNOW to prevent websites like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook etc. from being shut down as they operate today! The fate of video game playthroughs, music videos, karaoke, pictures, and censorship in general is at stake! Check out the link to see more information. Share with everyone and their moms! Contact your Congressman, Senator, etc.PLEASE WATCH THE ENTIRETY OF THIS VIDEO AS IT CONTAINS CRITICAL INFORMATION YOU NEED... more
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Posted on 09.29.11
By David Edwards
Categories: Featured, Nation
Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Wednesday that he would be willing to pay for drug tests for the Florida lawmakers who voted to drug test welfare recipients.
“Interestingly, the governor’s pee-in-the-cup mandate doesn’t apply to the one bunch that whizzes away more tax dollars than anyone else — the legislators who pass such useless laws,” Hiassen wrote in a recent column. “I say line up all 160 of ‘em for a patriotic whiz-fest at the Capitol clinic. You think more than 2.5 percent might test positive? Let’s find out. And I’ll pay for it out of my own pocket. Seriously.”
Welfare repents were “an easy target,” he explained during an interview with Maddow Wednesday. “This is class warfare. This is picking on the folks who happen to be unemployed, especially the ones with children. And they are testing at such a lower rate than the general population. The most recent federal drug survey shows national drug use at about 8.9 percent — almost nine percent. These people are living like monks compared to them.”
“If you get a majority — close to a majority [of lawmakers] saying yes, I would please like to be there along with a camera crew if you don’t mind,” Maddow said.
“Yeah, but the deal is all or nothing,” Hiaasen remarked. “That’s what they do to the applicants for the welfare fund. It’s all or nothing. Everybody’s got to do it. So, all 160 of these folks have to stand there with their little cup and do the deed. And if the lab sends me a bill, I’ll send a check.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/09/columnist-offers-to-fund-drug-tests-for-florida-lawmakers/
"I would be willing to contribute to this cause, how about you folks??? Maybe we can do it Nation Wide!!!"Posted on 09.29.11
By David Edwards
Categories: Featured, Nation
Miami... more
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KB723
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Howard Beach, Queens - Tired of seeing their criminal gains decline due to a shrinking economy and legislative indifference, the leading organized crime families in America have joined forces to take over the US government.
“Youse won’t be hearing about government gridlock any more,” said Johnny “Sweet Toes” Baducci, the new Speaker of the House.
“That’s why they call us organized crime,” Baducci explained. “We keep things in order so everything goes okay, and everybody gets what’s coming to them. The people we replaced weren’t doing that. I guess you can call them disorganized crime.”
More…Howard Beach, Queens - Tired of seeing their criminal gains decline due to a shrinking... more
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LOLOLOLOL! THE PEOPLE WIN IN CALIFORNIA!
Our state legislature is notorious for its month-long budget standoffs and, while social service programs come to a stop, contractors go unpaid, and people lose their jobs, the legislators continue to get paid, just like clockwork.
Well, the people of California passed a measure where, if the budget isn't passed by June 16, the legislators' paychecks stop.
Our state controller, John Chiang, is enforcing it, too.
LOLOLOLOL! TAKE THAT, you assholes.
With all the bad news about the government increasing its control over the citizens, isn't it GREAT to hear about the citizens successfully fighting back?
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latimes.com/news/local/la-me-legislature-pay-20110603,0,3349292.story
latimes.com
CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS WILL LOSE PAY IF BUDGET ISN'T PASSED BY JUNE 15, STATE CONTROLLER SAYS.
John Chiang, California's chief accountant, says he will invoke the provisions of a new law requiring him to dock legislators' pay unless they approve a balanced spending plan on time.
By Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times
June 3, 2011
Reporting from Sacramento -- California lawmakers will start losing their pay in two weeks if they don't complete a balanced budget, state Controller John Chiang announced Thursday.
Chiang, the state's chief accountant, said a ballot measure passed in November requires him to dock legislators' pay unless they approve a balanced spending plan by the June 15 deadline specified in the California Constitution.
His interpretation of the measure differs from that of lawyers in the state Senate, who recently said that a budget bill lawmakers passed in March — which left the state with a nearly $11-billion shortfall — met the conditions to keep salaries flowing. But Chiang issues the checks.
"In passing Proposition 25 last November, voters clearly stated they expect their representatives to make the difficult decisions needed to resolve any budget shortfalls by the mandatory deadline, or be penalized," Chiang said in a statement. "I will enforce the voters' demand."
Legislative leaders expressed support for the controller's decision, despite earlier hedging and statements from their staff that lawmakers were entitled to collect their pay regardless of whether any further action was taken on the budget.
"The controller's decision resolves any questions about the Legislature's obligations under Proposition 25," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said in a statement. "I support the controller's conclusion."
Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) said in a statement: "I do not believe we should even be talking about loopholes or ways to get around that provision, because our focus needs to be on doing our job and passing a balanced budget."
The controller's announcement comes amid legislative gridlock on a spending plan....
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[FULL ARTICLE AT URL, ABOVE]LOLOLOLOL! THE PEOPLE WIN IN CALIFORNIA!
Our state legislature is notorious for... more
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Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) is off to quite a start, isn't he? We learned recently that Kasich, a former congressman, Wall Street executive, and Fox News personality, has picked 22 officials for his cabinet -- 17 white men and 5 white women.
Though he says he offered two posts to African Americans who declined the offers, the result is the first Ohio governor from either party to have a cabinet lacking any racial or ethnic diversity in a half-century.
A week later, Kasich refused to attend the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Gala -- despite being in town -- and his office issued a statement on Martin Luther King Day celebrating St. Patrick's Day.
This week, Kasich made matters just a little worse.
[Thursday], the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus held a press conference to express their waning patience with his dismissive attitude and "implore[] Kasich to make better strides to diversify his Cabinet." But according to State Senator Nina Turner (D-OH), this time Kasich's response was a bit more blunt. According to Turner, when the caucus offered him help in finding qualified minority applicants, Kasich told Turner, "I don't need your people."
Now, I can appreciate the need for caution on a line like this. "I don't need your people" is what Turner said Kasich said, and second-hand quotes can be tricky.
But Kasich's spokesperson confirmed that the governor said exactly that. "What he meant was, 'Your people are Democrats, we don't need them on our cabinet,'" the spokesperson said yesterday.
Maybe that's what Kasich meant; I wasn't there and I can't speak to his frame of mind. But there's room for skepticism -- he was meeting with a lawmaker who was urging him to expand the diversity of his team and offered to help by presenting lists of qualified Ohioans. Her point, obviously, had nothing to do with party and everything to do with the governor having a diverse team that reflected the makeup of a diverse state.
By responding, "I don't need your people," Kasich couldn't have come across much worse.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_01/027752.phpOhio Gov. John Kasich (R) is off to quite a start, isn't he? We learned recently... more
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The rest of the country is still struggling with high unemployment amid a sluggish-at-best economic recovery -- but the wealthiest members of Congress are in high cotton. Indeed, the top 50 wealthiest lawmakers saw their combined net worths increase last year, according to the Hill's annual analysis of financial disclosure documents.
Combined, the 50 lawmakers were worth $1.4 billion in 2009 -- an $85.1 million increase over their 2008 total -- the Hill reports. The members' total combined assets depreciated by nearly $36 million last year -- but Congress' well-to-do set also reduced their debts by a combined $120 million.
The list of 50 lawmakers spans both parties (27 Democrats and 23 Republicans) and both chambers of Congress (30 House members, 20 senators), the Hill reports.
Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts topped the list for the second year in a row; Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas made his debut in the top 10.
Here are profiles for the 10 most flush Hill power-and-money brokers:
1. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.): $188.6 million. Kerry's worth, which grew by $20 million in 2009, stems from his wife's assets. Teresa Heinz Kerry, of the Heinz ketchup family, inherited hundreds of millions upon the death of her previous husband, Sen. John Heinz.
2. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.): $160.1 million. Issa actually saw his minimum net worth drop by $4 million, partly due to the poor performance of a single investment fund. Issa's fortune stems from investments he and his wife made in the electronics market. Their company eventually became the largest producer of car anti-theft devices in the country. They sold the business in 2000.
3. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.): $152.3 million. Harman is married to audio-equipment mogul Sidney Harman; stock holdings from his company, Harman International Industries, helped Harman's net worth grow by $40 million last year. Sidney Harman is in the process of purchasing Newsweek; the magazine's massive debts will presumably drag down Harman's 2010 disclosure numbers a bit.
4. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa.): $83.7 million. No surprise here: The Rockefeller family name has for generations been a byword for fabulous riches. (Rockefeller's great-grandfather John Rockefeller was an oil magnate; inflation-adjusted figures still peg the founder of the Rockefeller fortune as the wealthiest man in history.) But the senator's uptick in personal wealth last year came mainly from his wife's investments.
5. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas): $73.8 million. McCaul saw his net worth double last year, mostly owing to stocks held by his wife. McCaul's father-in-law founded the radio empire Clear Channel Communications.
6. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.): $70.2 million. Warner made millions through investments in the cell phone industry, including the Nextel company.
7. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.): $56.5 million. Before his 2008 election to Congress, Polis made a fortune in online enterprises, transforming his family's greeting card company into BlueMountain.com and founding ProFlowers.com.
8. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.): $53.5 million. Buchanan grew wealthy as the owner of multiple auto dealerships in Florida.
9. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.): $49.7 million. Lautenberg co-founded a payroll services company in the 1950s that became one of the industry's global leaders.
10. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.): $46.1 million. Most of the California lawmaker's wealth comes from real-estate holdings and investments made by her husband.
You can review the full list here... http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/116491-the-hills-50-wealthiest-list-slideshowThe rest of the country is still struggling with high unemployment amid a... more
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KSirys
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^dji,^gspc,^ixic,brk-a,brk-b,gs,xlf&sec=topStories&pos=9&asset=&ccode
Even a cynic can find Washington's hypocrisy shocking at times. The Wall Street Journal reports today a House bill that would force lawmakers to make greater disclosures on financial transactions and disallow them from trading on nonpublic information is going nowhere fast.
That's right. Members of Congress are currently allowed to profit on insider trading!
The bill, which has been languishing in the House for four years, would require elected officials "to make their financial transactions public within 90 days of a purchase or sale" and "prohibit lawmakers from trading in financial markets based on nonpublic information they learn on the job," the WSJ reports.
It seems they're above the transparency they've been calling for on Wall Street.
This comes a day after the same newspaper reported several lawmakers profited by betting against the housing and stock market in 2008. And some did it using derivatives they've recently been railing against.
As our colleague Henry Blodget wrote Tuesday, "If you're going to complain about how awful short-selling is and how evil and venal people are for doing it, you should probably abstain from the practice yourself."^dji,^gspc,^ixic,brk-a,brk-b,gs,xlf&sec=topStories&pos=9&asset=&ccode... more
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Several state lawmakers in Louisiana are ramping up their calls for the state and the federal government to relieve BP of its authority in the Gulf oil spill cleanup.
The three week-old environmental crisis took on new urgency last weekend as oil moved west of the Mississippi River and threatened Barataria, Terrebonne, and Atchafalaya bays, as well as the wetlands of Jefferson, Lafourche, and Terrebonne parishes – among the state’s most fertile fisheries.
Under current official structure, BP is directing operations to contain the slick while it also works to stop the gushing oil well 50 miles offshore and nearly a mile below the ocean surface. Each coastal parish is drawing up its own plan to defend its coastline, but it needs final approval from BP and the Coast Guard. BP is also in charge of supplying the effort with containment materials such as boom, which is becoming increasingly difficult to find.
"We’re at the point where we’re going to have to break some rules to save ourselves,” says state Rep. Sam Jones of St. Mary Parish, which includes Atchafalaya Bay. “We’re relying on a private company that seems to be overwhelmed.”
The solution, he says, is obvious: “We need to handle this like a hurricane, with the governor’s office in Baton Rouge in charge.”
Local officials declared states of emergency as Gulf water areas in Jefferson, Lafourche, and Terrebonne parishes were closed to harvesting fish, shrimp, and oysters. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted landfall for oil along Grand Isle and Port Fourchon by Tuesday, but the oil slick remains several miles offshore. So far, no oil has been spotted on area beaches.
The bid to prevent oil from coming ashore in the parishes continues.
READ MORE AT LINKSeveral state lawmakers in Louisiana are ramping up their calls for the state and the... more
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Corporations and unions would have to identify themselves on political ads they bankroll, and the CEO or top official would have to make "I approve this message" statements under legislation being introduced in Congress Thursday.
The measures are a direct response to a 5-4 ruling by the Supreme Court in January that upheld the First Amendment rights of such groups to spend money on campaign ads — a decision greatly enhances their ability to influence federal elections.
"At a time when the public's fears about the influence of special interests were already high, this decision stacks the deck against the average American even more," Sen. Charles Schumer told a news conference on the steps of the Supreme Court building.
The New York Democrat was joined by other Democrats, including campaign finance legislation veteran Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, who said the ruling in the Citizens United case was "one of the worst decisions in the history of this distinguished body."
The bill had no Republican sponsors, but Schumer said Democrats were talking to GOP lawmakers and "a good number" were favorably disposed.
A House group led by Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, a member of the Democratic leadership, and two Republicans, will hold a similar news conference later in the day.
Opponents of the ruling say it overturned established law and that it dangerously tilted the power balance away from individual candidates and voters and in the direction of deep-pocketed corporations and unions. Supporters argue that in addition to abridging the freedom of speech, those seeking to limit campaign spending are serving the interests of better-funded incumbents.
President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address last February, said the ruling "reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections."
The proposed bill would also bar foreign-controlled corporations and government contractors from spending money on elections, and prohibit political spending by companies that received government bailout money.
The top financier of an ad would be required to record a stand-by-your-ad disclaimer message to prevent organizations from funneling money through shell groups to hide their identity. Corporations and unions must also disclose campaign-related spending on their websites and report that spending to shareholders and members.
Schumer said he expected the case to be a factor in considering Obama's pick to replace retiring John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. "The next nominee must be someone who will understand how the court's decisions affect people in the real world. Because, in the Citizens United case, the current court didn't."
The lawmakers say their goal is to have the legislation enacted by July 4, in time for it to be put into effect before the November election. They said the measure could significantly reduce the anticipated flood of special interest spending on ads.
"There will be no hiding," Schumer said. "Once sunlight occurs they shrivel up and don't do them."
"We expect a major battle," said Fred Wertheimer, president of the campaign finance watchdog group Democracy 21.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said it will "fight any and all attempts to muzzle and or demonize independent voices from the election discussion," and the Republican leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has long been a fierce opponent of putting limits on campaign spending.
But Wertheimer said the Supreme Court was clear that laws requiring greater disclosure are constitutional. "We think we have a powerful case," he said.Corporations and unions would have to identify themselves on political ads they... more
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News you probably already know... delivered by guys you probably don't know.
This week's headlines include spoiled politicians, crack dealing city employees, and bridge improvements. Plus our anchor Aaron Smith flips out on the teleprompter guy. If you have any ideas for headlines for next week's episode please suggest them by commenting below, and hopefully by then Aaron will have made parole.News you probably already know... delivered by guys you probably don't know.... more
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A California congressman may use campaign funds to pay for security improvements at his house in response to threatening visits from a man who has repeatedly violated a restraining order, the Federal Election Commission has ruled.A California congressman may use campaign funds to pay for security improvements at... more
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House lawmakers on Wednesday accused the Securities and Exchange Commission of impeding their probe into how the agency failed to uncover the alleged $50 billion fraud perpetrated by Bernard Madoff.House lawmakers on Wednesday accused the Securities and Exchange Commission of... more
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A Congressional panel grilled five of the world's richest and most powerful hedge fund managers Thursday as lawmakers sought to understand how much blame they could assign the little-understood hedge fund industry for the global economic collapse.
The managers testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform included John Paulson, George Soros, Philip Falcone, James Simons and Kenneth Griffin, a group that made on average more than $1 billion in 2007.
Committee Chairman Henry Waxman said his reasons for holding a hearing were twofold: He wanted these men, "some of the most successful and knowledgeable investors in our financial markets," to discuss how to nurse the financial system back to life. And he wanted the committee to examine how hedge funds contributed to the current financial crisis, whether they pose a systemic risk to the financial system, and how best to regulate the industry, which is now subject to very little oversight.
Noting that we are in the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, George Soros told the committee: "The salient feature of the current financial crisis is that it was not caused by some external shock... The crisis was generated by the financial system itself."A Congressional panel grilled five of the world's richest and most powerful hedge... more
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Interesting connections between Barack Obama and Robert Blackwell Jr.
Business relationships between lawmakers and people with government interests are not illegal or uncommon in Illinois or other states with a part-time Legislature, where lawmakers supplement their state salaries with income from the private sector.
But Obama portrays himself as a lawmaker dedicated to transparency and sensitive to even the appearance of a conflict of interest.
We see here there may be a discrepancy.Interesting connections between Barack Obama and Robert Blackwell Jr.
Business... more
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A watchdog group critical of pork barrel spending released its latest findings Wednesday targeting the top Congressional "porkers."
Some of the biggest pork projects, according to the group, include a Lobster Institute; the Rocky Flats, Colorado, Cold War Museum; and the First Tee, a program to build young people's character through golf.
Members of Congress requested funds for all these pet projects and thousands of others last year, according to the latest copy of the annual "Pig Book" released by Citizens Against Government Waste.
"Congress stuffed 11,610 projects" worth $17.2 billion into a dozen spending bills, the group said in the report released Wednesday.
The "Pig Book" names dozens of what the citizens group considers the most egregious porkers, the lawmakers who funnel money to projects on their home turf. A watchdog group critical of pork barrel spending released its latest findings... more
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