[Vision2020] (no subject)

[keely emerinemix]

The "people are corporations" decision that resulted in these SuperPacs has lead us to become a nation of political whores, pimps, and a poor, marginalized and disenfranchised people.  And it looks like the whores and pimps have won the game.  

Thanks, Deco

Keely
www.keely-prevailingwinds.com


Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:37:12 -0800
From: art.deco.studios at gmail.com
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] (no subject)




   
   


February 23, 2012

Donors With Agendas

 


 

    
The presidential primary season is being brought to you by a handful of 
multimillionaires and companies who have propped up the candidates with 
enormous donations to their “super PACs.” Just two dozen or so individuals,
 couples and companies have given more than 80 percent of the money 
collected by super PACs, or $54 million, according to disclosure forms 
released on Monday.        

Freed of nearly all regulations or good sense by Citizens United and 
other court decisions, the super PACs are raising money in ludicrously 
large sums. The $10 million from Sheldon and Miriam Adelson to Winning 
Our Future, which has sustained Newt Gingrich’s trailing campaign, is 
the biggest single donation to a candidate. But every candidate now has 
his own millionaire supporter, and the concentration of wealth in the 
campaign is growing.        

The people writing these outsize checks are committed to defeating 
President Obama, but their interests don’t stop there. Many are involved
 in businesses or ideological causes that have clear policy agendas with
 the federal government. Their huge influence on individual candidates 
demonstrates the potential for corruption inherent in the super PAC era.
 Among the biggest givers:        

¶Harold Simmons, a billionaire corporate raider, has given $1 million to
 Mr. Gingrich’s political action committee, $1.1 million to Rick Perry’s
 PAC, $100,000 to Mitt Romney’s PAC, and $10 million to American 
Crossroads, the super PAC advised by Karl Rove that is supporting many 
Republican candidates. Mr. Simmons’s companies make metals, paints and 
chemicals, among other things, and have gotten into trouble over lead 
and uranium emissions from previous decades. He also runs a radioactive 
waste dump in Texas that has clashed with environmental regulators over 
its proximity to a nearby aquifer. He controls Waste Control 
Specialists, which has contracts to clean up federal hazardous waste 
sites, including emissions from other companies he controls.        

¶Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and an outspoken libertarian, gave $2.6 million to Ron Paul’s PAC. In 2009, he wrote
 that the 1920s were the last decade when one could be optimistic about 
American politics, lamenting the subsequent rise of the welfare state 
that he blamed in part on giving women the right to vote.        

¶Foster Friess, who gave $1 million to Rick Santorum’s Red White and 
Blue PAC, is a mutual fund manager who recently declared that aspirin 
used to be an effective contraceptive when women put it between their 
knees. He is a former president of the Council for National Policy, a secretive club
 of some of the country’s most powerful conservatives, which opposes 
unions, same-sex marriage and government regulation.        

In addition, six-figure checks were given to Mr. Romney by seven 
executives at hedge funds or investment firms. Leaders of this industry 
are interested in fewer regulations and a low tax rate for their type of
 income.        

President Obama’s super PAC, Priorities USA Action, received only two 
seven-figure checks last year, one from the Service Employees 
International Union for $1 million, and one from the movie executive 
Jeffrey Katzenberg for $2 million. (Mr. Katzenberg said last month that 
he was disappointed with Mr. Obama’s opposition to antipiracy 
legislation but would continue to raise money for him.)        

Until a few weeks ago, the president might have credibly campaigned 
against the undue influence of special interests on his Republican 
rivals. He can no longer make the case because, after his PAC received 
only $58,816 last month, Mr. Obama invited donors to give without 
limits. And all but the most privileged Americans will pay the price if 
the nation’s wealthiest can buy elections.        




	







-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com


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