Tag: Political Reality

The Leader Of A PAC

No I am not nostalgic for the early ’60’s tunes…..

WE have Dark Matter….dark Energy….and Dark Money.

Ever thought about running a political campaign?

If so you need an education on where the real money lies for such an endeavor…..Dark Money.

money donated to politically active nonprofit organizations or anonymous corporate entities, which spend this money to influence political campaigns or other special interests but are not required to reveal their donors.

Source: Dark Money – Definition

Now that you have an idea what it is….you will need a course of action to get into the field……and I can help…….

Dark Money refers to political spending meant to influence the decision of a voter, where the donor is not disclosed and the source of the money is unknown. Depending upon the circumstances, Dark Money can refer to funds spent by a political nonprofit or a super PAC. Here’s how:

  • Political nonprofits are under no legal obligation to disclose their donors. When they choose not to, they are considered Dark Money groups.
  • Super PACs can also be considered Dark Money groups in certain situations. While these organizations are legally required to disclose their donors, they can accept unlimited contributions from political non-profits and “shell” corporations who may not have disclosed their donors, in these cases they are considered Dark Money groups.

Source: Dark Money Basics • OpenSecrets

Now you have a working knowledge of dark money and how it is used….so go out and have fun with your newly acquired knowledge…..see just how sleazy you can be.

Here Come The Liberals

I read then posted a piece on McCain the liberal…..utter BS but I thought about a piece I read the other day and just had to throw it into the mix…..I am guessing that my conserv friends will take exception with the findings but……whatcha gonna do?

Now for about a decade we liberals have been bad mouthing conservs and the conservs have gotten even by insult the liberals……to the point that you would think that there is truly deep hatred on both sides….a hatred that sounds like it could result in massive violence…..

Recently there was a huge study, I believe it was NBC/Wall St. Journal poll, that found that most of us are really centrists…..that poll was a bit of a BS outing in my opinion…….according to this poll I am a centrist………what they call a ‘pick-up populist’…..I answered the questions as I always do and about a decade ago the result was I was so far Left that I almost fell off the chart…..but now I am a centrists?  Can you explain that?

Anyway……..I have some bad news for my conserv brethren……..

More Americans are calling themselves liberal today than at any point since Gallup started measuring in 1992, according to a new Gallup analysis—though conservatives still far outnumber them. The ranks of self-identified liberals swelled to 23% in 2013, according to the analysis, which collected data from 13 polls spanning more than 18,000 people. That leaves liberals 15 points behind conservatives (38%), tying the narrowest margin ever. Those new liberals appeared to come at the expense of moderates, who declined to 34%—their lowest point ever, down 9 points from Gallup’s first analysis in 1992. Liberals have always been at the bottom of the totem pole. Why the recent gains? It could simply be that the term “liberal” is now more acceptable, the pollsters write, or it could indicate that the Democratic Party “is increasingly dominated by those from the left,” as the Republican party is by the right.

Personally, I think polls and surveys are CRAP!  People will lie and mislead……the question can do the same thing…..but if there is any accuracy in this latest Gallup then my conserv friends need to worry for their future…..

Name Change!

Do not panic!  You are at the right place Info Ink is changing!

My blog started off entitled “Studies And Observations” named after the group I worked with in Vietnam and then I went to Info Ink, named after a company I started back in the Compuserve days and now I have decided to re-name it yet again to “OPUS CIVIS”………Basically it is Latin for “Citizen’s Work”…..because that is what I am doing….I try to teach my fellow citizens about what is going on with our beloved political system…..I am hoping that the people soon get excited about what is going on with our country…it needs help!  If we cannot work together for better or worse then it is doomed.  Name calling and saying NO to everything will NOT make this country a better place!

It worries me that few people seem to care what is happening in this country…..I feel like I am wasting my time….the old “when you teach pigs to dance you waste your time and piss off the pigs”………Few people nowadays do not seem to want a conversation….just the opposition is somehow brain dead or has some sort of mental illness….that accomplishes NOTHING.

Opus Civis is the same content as Info Ink…hopefully the name change will generate more hits from people that want to fix our national problems and leave the bullshit insults for lesser minds.  It is a disappointment that too Americans do not search for the truth but rather repeat the spin and slogans of disingenuous politicians….Americans are better than that!

If change is what we search for then it is the citizen’s work to make change possible as well as inevitable.

When Would Enough Be Enough?

Today is Black Friday and I would imagine readership will be in the toilet….but some of us just cannot seem to take a break….I know….it is a sickness….LOL

There comes a time in everyone’s life when certain things become overwhelming and a limit has been reached and something has to change….but (there is always a but) when does one arrive at that point in one’s life?

My question is for those within the GOP….they have flirted with everybody that has entered into the fray but Mitt…..and sad to say…they need to wake up and realize that Mitt will be their candidate to face Obama in November….but there is reasons why their flirtation with the others is short lived…..

1. The endless debates expose everyone’s flaws
The Republican presidential candidates are slugging it out in an unprecedented series of debates — “10 so far, with another 12 scheduled,” says Ewen MacAskill at Britain’s Guardian. All that exposure has “changed the dynamic of the nomination race, making and breaking candidates.” Rick Perry’s poor debate performances sunk him. On TV, every weakness is amplified. Millions of viewers tune in to every installment of this new brand of reality TV, where they can curl up on the couch, “enjoyably awaiting the next gaffe.”

2. Intense media scrutiny reveals their shortcomings
Republicans like Perry and Cain have more than conservatism in common, says Adam Silbert at Politico. They’re also “newcomers to the national political stage.” And once a candidate emerges from the cellar and starts rising in the polls, says Jennifer Rubin at The Washington Post, suddenly he starts receiving more scrutiny. That means “sharper questions” and “more barbs” from opponents. Most of these guys just couldn’t handle the pressure. Now, “with time running out before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses,” Silbert says, “a frustrated Republican Party seems willing to revisit its customary formula of nominating” a known candidate who has “paid his dues and waited his turn” — the “smart, familiar Gingrich.”

3. Clearly, the media is trying to help Obama
“The mainstream media keep pushing alternatives” to Romney because “they are terrified of running against him,” says Ann Coulter at Townhall. Liberal journalists just want to keep Republicans fighting. It’s obvious now that they’re trying to sell us Gingrich, the former House speaker who had an affair while trying to impeach Bill Clinton and called “Paul Ryan’s plan to save Social Security ‘right-wing social engineering.'” Conservatives need to stop being purists and get behind Romney, because he’s “the only Republican who has a shot at beating Obama.”

4. The GOP field is just abysmal
There’s no mystery about why every conservative flavor-of-the-month has gone down in flames, says Markos Moulitsas at The Hill. Bachmann’s baggage was her “craziness”; Perry’s was his “utter failure to string two sentences together”; Cain’s fatal flaw was his “comically bad” handling of sexual harassment allegations. The only reason Republicans are embracing Gingrich, whose pile of negatives made them laugh him off before, is that “it’s late in the game and they’re desperate.” Really, “there’s no greater indictment of the GOP field than the fact that while voters might be desperate for a Romney alternative, no permanent host can be found.

I do not know if you will agree with the list or not….but there are the reasons that could explain why there has been so many flash in the pan in the GOP search for a candidate…Repubs need to wake up and stop looking for that red meat…..your candidate will be plain vanilla (to quote Herman Cain)….

I will admit that all this up and down makes great fodder for the MSM….but to the rest of us it is just plain silly……when everyone knows that the only hope that the GOP will have in November is with Mitt.

Education: Our Bright Future

Today the boys and gals are back to work, all 3 days a week, that is, Washington will be a buzz of health reform, cap and trade, investigations and, you guessed it…..education.

The smug egocentric media is all a tither with a week or two a year pushing the pros of the education system…their biggy is the “charter school” experiment that is having some good results…..however, the truth is that it is a lottery and we are betting on the roll of a white bingo ball…sounds like an excellent plan for our children’s future…..wouldn’t you say?

The first humorous thing is the the media types that are so gung-ho send their children to private schools and none of the stuff they are championed concerns them…..they spend time telling us the good things that the country is doing and the practices that we should continue….once again, the problem is …..we have this moments every year and every year our educational system gets worse….but this year with this Congress everything will be better…..(pause here for raucous laughter)……..

The president will do his part…….

President Obama is ready to turn education reform into the new priority for his administration and will outline his goals during the State of the Union address. “But trouble signs are already emerging,” reports the Associated Press. There has been lots of talk in Washington lately about how education might offer the White House the best chance for bipartisan legislation, but a number of issues could end up derailing the efforts. Democrats want a full overhaul of No Child Left Behind and insist it has to be done this year, before the 2012 campaign takes over the political agenda. Republicans, on the other hand, favor an incremental approach and insist they will not approve any new spending.  “I like the piecemeal approach,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican from California. “If you do it in bite-size pieces, you can tell what needs to be tweaked as you go.”

Once again the education in this country will be NOT as important as it should be…..and just as usual our children will pay the price of a DO NOTHING government……

Oh Boy! Here We Go Again!

2010 Mid-term Election Series

Lecture #11

Just as the election of 2008 was about change….so was the 2010 mid-terms…the American people impatiently wanted change and did not get it quick enough and they once again voted for change…..will they be disappointed yet again…..you bet your butt they will!

If you are a Repub I would not be thumping my chest like some sex crazed primate…..why?  As pollster Charlie Cook has said…..the GOP were not winners, but rather beneficiaries…….the people did not vote for them in particular, but rather voted against the ones in power at the time……

So….what can we expect from the new Congress in January of 2011?  They will work 3 days a week and spend  the other four raising money for their next election….they will work about 14 months total in that 2 year time frame…they will spend time on their knees in front of special interests begging for cash……so far not much change has come with the new crop of veggies…..

Today’s vote shows such promise, but the promise that the 2008 election showed was just the typical illusion of American political activity.  After the voting there will be the same song and a slightly altered dance in Washington….the GOP will be looking at 2012 and the general election….so the politics will be about securing a win for the GOP and the country will just have to wait another two years for it to be important anough for actions coming out of Washington.

If you think the the last two years have been silly or absurd……then you will just love the next years for partisanship and obstructionism will be all the rage…..the only difference will be that the Dems will have someone they can actually run against…..John Boehner  and his colleagues foolish promises will they push….it will be intersting to see how many jobs the GOP can pull out of its butt….

As I have said….”Here we go again”!

Going Once….Going Twice….Sold!

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  American Government/Politics/

Lecture #3

This is a continuation of my corporatism post of yesterday……….

For many many years I have been bitching about the possibility that the government is up for sale to the corporate interests….something I like to call “auction politics”….that is that the government is up to the highest bidder in the form of donations….which in turn gives them special access to the wheels of government and with that access comes unimaginable influence on the direction of the country.

SCOTUS recently filed a decision that has made this situation even more likely””

landmark decision, approved by a 5-4 margin, could unleash a torrent of corporate and union cash into the political realm and transform how campaigns for president and Congress are fought in the coming years.

The new ruling blurs the lines between corporate and individual contributions in political campaigns. It also strikes down part of the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance law that banned unions and corporations from paying for political ads in the waning days of campaigns.

“The Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics,” Obama said in a statement. “It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”

All this is just reinforcing the belief that the government is up for sale to the highest bidder…..the recent “successes” of the Obama admin shows how the influence of cash has turned out……the FinReg was so watered down that it is impotent….health reform is so watered down that it is a joke, at best…….two major issues that have been influenced by money from corporations…..

Americans!  You government and your country are being sold to the highest bidder….your vote means nothing after the election…no matter which party you think is the best…neither are on your side!  Rethink your vote, please, for the sake of your family and the country….RETHINK your vote!

Scott Brown–New Style Politician

From the VOMITORIUM

Remember the day the Scott Brown won the special election in Massachusetts to replace the dead Sen. Kennedy?  He was the Tea Party candidate that was gonna change Washington….he was this new style politician….a true moderate that would do what he promised and in turn would change the way business was being done in Washington….

The media was all a flutter with his election to the Senate, especially the conservatives on the air….he was a new God to be worshiped because he bucked the system and won the election……

That was then…this is now!

When Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown addressed supporters after his upset victory in January, he declared there would be “no more closed-door meetings or back-room deals by an out-of-touch party leadership.”

After private talks with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd and other top Democrats, Brown scored a series of exemptions from the “Volcker rule” — which would bar certain forms of proprietary trading — a provision pushed by big Massachusetts banks and financial firms, including State Street Corp. and Mass Mutual.Brown insists the changes he sought that would benefit Massachusetts firms were also national in scope, so they would not amount to a carve-out for a special interest back home.

More than a few of his colleagues grumbled at the freshman Republican’s outsize influence over the final stages of the financial reform talks. And several suggested that Brown’s deal making wasn’t very different from what Republicans had lampooned during the health care debate.

A new style politician?  Kinda smells like the same fecal matter that is ALWAYS present in Washington….there you go……change you can believe in….and you were easy enough to believe the crap….happy now?
I have yet to hear the media cover this….that would mean that they would have to admit that they were WRONG…..about Brown and his politics…..and about the vague promise of change…..

Open Letter To The US Congress

Daily Agitation

Note:  This is a letter that I have sent to every member of Congress…as I will show…I have had enough…..

To the members of Congress:

After a year of this bickering, the partisan BS, most Americans are sick of it.  We voted for change and we got the same garbage that we have always had in the Congress….partisan bickering over wording or thought or whatever lame excuse you want to give the American people.  I want it to be understood that I am not singling out one party…it is the same regardless of the party in “power”.

Americans are DYING….let me say that again…DYING!  And the best you guys and gals can do is bicker over the misinformation and out right lies….btw, they come from both sides of the aisle.  You use the tired premise that it will cost too much to give people adequate health care, but you voted overwhelmingly for a war…no two wars…without so much as an explanation.  Basically, you “people” have a problem with saving American lives, but have no problem with sending American to die.

Keep in mind, we voted for your lame butts and we can change that at anytime!

Soon we will have this attack mode revved up for the energy bill…oh goody…we have something to look forward to…more misinformation, more lies and more BS…more partisan fighting….more of the same manure we have had for 15+ years.

We send you to Washington as a “representative” of the people….but instead we got a “representative” for special interests, this has not changed in a generation.  You people have no idea what the people you represent go through daily to keep their heads above water….if you do have an idea, then you ignore their plight in the pursuit of funds to run your campaigns….either way you are LYING top the American people….you represent NOTHING that they are concerned about.

Just look at the polls on your job approval…at best you get 30%…that is a t best and that would be a stretch.  You do NOT represent the people anymore…..if you people had an ounce of dignity you would be more concerned with the suffering the American people are going through and stop the lame, small minded games that you play daily.

Enough is enough!  Either do the job you were elected to do or get out of the way and let real representatives go to Washington; people who want to act in the best interest of the people of this country.  We have had enough of the games and enough of your lack of concern…..we want our country back!

Personally, I would not hit a pig in the butt with any of your so-called “representatives”…..you are a dysfunctional group of millionaires that needs to go away.

Please, in the name of God, do the right thing!

Meghan, My New Crush

Anyone who has been a regular reader of Info Ink knows that I gave Sen. John McCain a really hard time during his primary run and then his presidential run.  I was a very strick and outspoken opponent to his campaign.

With all that said I would like to go on record stating that he has fathered my newest political crush, Meghan McCain.  Not only is she absolutely gorgeous she has an style that I can respect.  Normally I avoid blonds, but in this case I will make an exception to my rule.  I may not agree with her political ideology, but I will definitely agree with the way she handles her political critics.

Meghan McCain sat down with the ladies of “The View” Monday, railing against Laura Ingraham’s insult about her being “plus size,” commenting on her parents’ visit to the show last year and speaking about her father’s feeling of vindication at Obama calling some fundamentals of the economy strong.

McCain, who said she’d never even heard of Ingraham before the “plus sized” comment, called it “terrible” and added, “When Tyra Banks went on her show in a bathing suit and said ‘kiss my fat ass,’ that’s what I feel like. Kiss my fat ass!” McCain has blogged and Tweeted about the subject over the last week.

I am waiting for some insult from “Manne Coulter”, who Meghan called out recently also.

Meghan McCain’s recent criticisms of Ann Coulter as “offensive” and “radical” haven’t made her any friends among other female conservative pundits who have by turns criticized her weight and her lack of “fixed ideological principles.”

You go girl!