then why are they allowed to contribute so much more money to a campaign than the rest of us "individuals"?

You are the official Memorial Day Bug squatter. I Hope You are Obsessive Compulsive Disordered.

Check public barns for bugs on the hay bail seats. No spiders, and no squeaking shrill shouts.

Sit down. First check all seats for bugs~bah. bah is OCD. No sit on any bugs. Please check the

seats with care.

Sit on bah~bugs?

Protect from germs.

No Forget to Sneeze?

Wash after shaking bah's wings.

...you're my favorite bug bop.

~ i'm off to ol home place.

tootle loo,

bah.

Can you teach me how to do that, bah? If so, I'd be forever in your debt. GC! keeps trying, but I've always been slow....

'... yes only love can break your heart, try to be sure right from the start.' (*neil young's crazy horse.)

love,

bah.

@LWM

Good lobbying, on the other hand, requires no such larger contextual explanation. It is a cherished First Amendment right -- necessary, like the others, to protect a free people against overbearing and potentially tyrannical government...

Oh, C'mon, LWM, if you ever spent any time in Santa Clara you would know that corporations are people, too!

-- Derbig Mooser

I think you misunderstood him Derbig. He implicitly agrees with with the stance that lobbying = freedom. He must, no? That is the route, at least in part, he has chosen himself. My understanding is that he and a "well connected" friend are fighting "the good fight" via lobbying. The the Republican Governer of California has their number on speed dial don'cha know.

Come to think of it, most all of you who write and beg your congresswhores to see things your way are engaging in just such a system, albeit on a much smaller scale and with less money involved. Am I missing something or wouldn't this whole Carney thing be considered some form of lobbying? Let's see... a PAC was formed -> money was solicited and used for the cause (did they take him to dinner?) -> those involved cajoled and negotiated with their target congresswhore...

I dunno, it sure sounds like lobbying to me.

I think LWM was probably using that op-ed to remind us of the virtues of lobbying. After all, what other options are there but to play the game?

It’s too late to speak up and ask for a different target. What you did today in showing the trail of corruption from former congressman and their staffers to lobbyists to former colleagues is outstanding. When the public can see the specific trail for a specific corrupted bill, the danger of lobbyists becomes more clear and threatening.

But if the money against Carney would have been used against McShameful McSame, the impact could’ve been much larger. Showing how Black is directly implicated with a current bill and how McSame had to back down from even his pretend solution, would be very effective. Just one major one-page ad in the NYT or WaPo or WSJ would soon start a round by round slugfest between McSame and Obama. That would then force the M$M to have to go more deeply into FISA and all the Busheviks lies. It could become a continuing campaign subject because it is a microcosm of the entire mess that Glenn has been exposing and Obama wants to fix. Why not make McSame the next target?

Well, you're not dumb. Evil, maybe, but not dumb. ;-)

Well argued, even though I don't agree, at least not with your interpretation of the implications.

But if the money against Carney would have been used against McShameful McSame, the impact could’ve been much larger. Showing how Black is directly implicated with a current bill and how McSame had to back down from even his pretend solution, would be very effective. Just one major one-page ad in the NYT or WaPo or WSJ would soon start a round by round slugfest between McSame and Obama. That would then force the M$M to have to go more deeply into FISA and all the Busheviks lies. It could become a continuing campaign subject because it is a microcosm of the entire mess that Glenn has been exposing and Obama wants to fix. Why not make McSame the next target?

$80,000 dropped into a single Congressional district makes a huge splash. The same amount dropped into a national presidential race is akin to throwing a tiny pebble into the ocean.

"Another campaign against a different, politically vulnerable enabler of telecom amnesty and warrantless eavesdropping will begin soon after this one."

We need to go after the big guys who are pushing amnesty, not just those who are "politically vulnerable." Steny Hoyer needs to feel the heat. Lets show the House leadership we mean business. Run the ads againt Hoyer!

It’s too late to speak up and ask for a different target. What you did today in showing the trail of corruption from former congressman and their staffers to lobbyists to former colleagues is outstanding. When the public can see the specific trail for a specific corrupted bill, the danger of lobbyists becomes more clear and threatening. -- Retired Military Patriot

It would not be advisable to redirect the ad campaign. Rep. Carney is betting that the small percentage of his district who might turn against him over these revelations are not enough to outweigh the numbers who either don't care or who are in favor of the ever-increasing surveillance state we live in today.
He may or may not be right about that. It would be great if the ad campaign was sufficiently covered in the national media that it put northeast PA back on the national map for a little while. Like upstate New York, it's a part of America that's been ignored for too damned long. And broader attention would not be in Carney's interest. If people from the Tri-state area who vacation in the Poconos are talking about it as a hot issue with the the local guy who shotcretes their pool, whose family is from just outside Scranton..... you get my drift?

I haven't been in eastern PA since 2002-3 when my brother and sister-in-law lived in Lehigh. However, even 5 years ago, people were moving out of the Tri-state area to live in some of these smaller cities because of unreachable real estate prices in NY & NJ. The cultural divisions between the old protestant country people and the catholic whites from the mill towns did not seem very strong anymore. They mix together on the rural-exurban fringes of these cities. A lot of them have bonded together over talk radio propaganda, but that generation won't dominate forever. Also, unlike the central South -- the current administration's cowboy hat shtick doesn't sell much there. There is more changing in that region than many coastal people could imagine.

Carney can't take his district for granted.