Delay/Abramoff is only a beginning

[rumpel]

of the clean-up.

The "Machine" will continue chugging on if we all do not realize the mechanism of it.
In order to stay in absolute power these people will do anything, including what I consider blackmailing corporations.
Albeit I certainly do not condone the actions of corporations willingly particpating with greed.

Interesting, though is that GM is in trouble, which is a direct result of what Nicholas Confessore writes in his article:

snip

But the flip side of the deal is that trade associations and corporations are expected to back the party's initiatives even on occasions when doing so is not in their own best interest. When Bush's recently passed dividends tax cut proposal was first announced, the life insurance industry complained that the bill would sharply reduce the tax advantage of annuities sold by insurance companies, potentially costing them hundreds of millions of dollars. The industry's lobbyists were told to get behind the president's proposal anyway--or lose any chance to plead their case. So they did. In mid-March, Frank Keating, the head of the industry's trade group and a close friend of Bush's, hand-delivered a letter to the White House co-signed by nearly 50 CEOs, endorsing the president's proposal while meekly raising the hope that taxes on dividends from annuities would also be included in the final repeal (which they weren't). Those firms that didn't play ball on Bush's pan paid the price.

Please read my earlier post :
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x81038

or just straight to the article
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0307.confessore.html

and here is one that needs our attention. If I heard it correctly, Blunt wants to be the next leader.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/16/AR2005051601334_pf.html

Unless we clean up the poop, the stink will be allowed to further rot and linger.

[JohnnyRingo]

1. I don't want them to clean up in '06

I want them to clean out.
Their desks, their offices, and their bank accounts.

[rumpel]

2. We can not let this wonton disregard of ethics, the rule of law, this

hostile takeover of this country be burried on page 28 of some obscure paper again. Now that DeLay and Abramoff make front page, we have to keep this problem on the front page.

[rumpel]

3. Humbolt County CA has a great first step of taking back the country:

http://www.votelocalcontrol.org/

The Humboldt County Ordinance to Protect Our Right to Fair Elections and Local Democracy will prohibit outside corporations from participating in Humboldt County elections.

Local corporations would still be allowed to contribute money to local elections. Local corporations are defined as those whose owners and employees live and work here in Humboldt County and are not owned by another corporation from outside our county.

Large outside corporations are targeting communities like ours. These companies are trying to rewrite local laws and elect people who will work for their corporate interests instead of what is best for the community.

This ordinance is necessary to protect the integrity of Humboldt County's elections and our local democracy. We are seeking to place this initiative on the ballot for the June 2006 election.

Here are three reasons why we need to pass the Fair Elections and Local Democracy Ordinance...

The Wal-Mart Corporation has spent millions of dollars trying to wipe away the local zoning protections in many communities across the United States. These campaigns attempt to turn over laws passed by elected city councils and planning commisions. The communities are then forced to fight back with costly campaigns to preserve their own laws.

In 1999 the Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Corporation spent $235,000 on an initiative to change Eureka’s zoning laws. Eureka residents had to raise $41,500 to protect their town. At the time this was the most expensive political campaign in Humboldt history.

In 2004 the Texas-based Maxxam Corporation spent more than a quarter million dollars in an attempt to recall our District Attorney shortly after he took office. Humboldt citizens had to raise over $250,000 to defend ourselves agaist this attack. Though the recall was defeated, the potential chilling effect on other public officials is a grave concern. In the future will our elected officials think twice before enforcing the law against other large corporations?

[chat_noir]

4. Maxxam = Charles E. Hurwitz

In 2004 the Texas-based Maxxam Corporation spent more than a quarter million dollars in an attempt to recall our District Attorney shortly after he took office. Humboldt citizens had to raise over $250,000 to defend ourselves agaist this attack. Though the recall was defeated, the potential chilling effect on other public officials is a grave concern. In the future will our elected officials think twice before enforcing the law against other large corporations?

read about Hurwitz/Maxxam here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x79776

[rumpel]

5. Thanks. And * is privatizing the jobs of the National Forrests.

[Imagevision]

6. I agree, the proverbial sh*t hasn't even hit the fan yet>

Let's get beyond the Nay indictment coming very soon perhaps this week.