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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
The Disneyfication of the nation
Factory assembled
From generation to generation
*Accesories not included
Buy your own unique sense
Of self delluded..
On a related note, the Canadian PM and his Conservative party are apparently trying to eliminate public financing of political campaigns as part of the new budget.
"I hope no one ever ever bails you out of jail.You need to be ignored. You a Pulitzer prize.
You always get too drunk on 7- Up and burp.
You eat Kentuckians, Floridians, and stray cat.
You consume 3- wheel bikes, and sing a ABC?
You need to be heard burping catsup backwards.
I hope you get a Toll Fee for inferior bogs awards."--GoodCelery!
I love you, too!
link at sig
... Malia Jackson (nee Obama) looks like a shoo-in for the House. As daughter of a former two-term President and a sitting Senator, she won't be able to miss.
It's also looking like Jenna Bush will become third successive female president, succeeding President Chelsea Clinton who staged the first Vice Presidential coup when veteran ex-President Hillary Clinton declared war on Canada for the third time in the same week.
Reps. Mary Bono (R-Calif.), Lois Capps (D-Calif.) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) are widows appointed to finish their spouses terms
Rep. Nancy Pelosi is the daughter of former Baltimore mayor Thomas D'Alessandro Jr. and the sister of former Baltimore mayor Thomas D'Alessandro III
Jerry Brown, former governor of California, is the son of the late governor, Pat Brown.
Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), is the wife John R. McKernan Jr. who was Maine governor.
Senator Chris Dodd is the son of the late Senator Thomas Dodd
Senator Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah) is the son of a senator
Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) is the son of a senator.
Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV's uncle was Vice President Nelson Rockefeller
Oddly, there is not much information to be found about the nepotism in Congress and its relation to Lobbying. If there is fault or collusion to be found in political nepotism this is where it will lie. Harry Reid has relatives that made over $2 million lobbying Congress. Tom DeLay while active, had family members that probably made even more.
I found the following article by Dick Morris of all people, but it sums up the problem nicely:
“When his dad became Speaker of the House, Joshua Hastert, son of Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), moved to Washington, closed his record store back home and joined a lobbying firm. He found latent skills at lobbying members like his dad that he never knew he had. Google, recognizing these mythical abilities, hired him as their lobbyist. The Democrats went crazy criticizing abuses like these.
Now that Sen. Harry Reid (Nev.) is the Democratic floor leader, he has not just one but three sons — and a son-in-law — who are lobbyists. One of Reid's sons, and his son-in-law, has lobbied in Washington; a second son lobbies for the same interests in Nevada; and a third son is an attorney who litigates for them in court. Reid's lobbyist-sons worked to promote federal land swaps, mining interests and the University of Nevada at Reno.
Not to be outdone, House Minority Whip Roy Blunt's (R-Mo.) wife, Abigail Perlman, is director of federal government affairs for Altria — the former Philip Morris corporation. Their relationship is one that was hatched in lobbying. While Blunt was dating Abigail, he quietly drafted language to benefit Altria/Philip Morris and tried to sneak it in the bill that established the Department of Homeland Security — without alerting the Republican leadership. Blunt's mission was to minimize the sale of cigarettes on the Internet, a thorn in the side of Altria/Philip Morris. Fortunately, Hastert killed the amendment.
Of the 100 senators, the sons, daughters, husbands or wives of 20 of them are registered as lobbyists, whose job often boils down to lobbying Mom or Dad. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is typical of the conflicts that can arise in such a situation. His son Scott Hatch lobbied for the makers of ephedra while his father sponsored legislation to exempt the diet supplement from federal regulation. Scott got paid $2 million in lobbying fees, while Dad got more than $137,000 from the diet supplement industry.”http://tinyurl.com/6xkemx
So a full fifth of the Senate have relatives that lobby. I cannot find information about the House, the Supreme Court, or the White House, but I suspect influence peddling will be there somewhere on a scale we will be ashamed to find. It will be most interesting to see what impact a President Obama will have on this, his opposition to lobbying is well known.
If there is an upside to the coming economic downturn, it would be really nice to see lobbyists in the unemployment lines for a change. Perhaps the public will get a long awaited break after all.
I know that just using the word "women" in today's climate is considered incendiary but I am only attempting to describe what I have witnessed. If you're offended I'm sorry, but I've yet to have a girlfriend who didn't like being called "Princess" or didn't like being treated like a "Princess".
You need better girlfriends, sir!
ehillesum:
Look back at the past 35 years or so. From Roe v Wade forward, the left has been using the courts--the least democratic of the 3 branches of government, to accomplish its ends.
Glenn:
You mean like the way the Left went to court to have invalidated laws governing things like gun control, campaign finance, domestic violence, integration, guns in schools, and eminent domain?
Perhaps he means the way Al Gore filed an equal protection claim in federal court to circumvent the lawful Florida recount in 2000?
Oh, wait...
Well done. I nominate thee this generation's Nostradamus. Be prepared to make lots 'o cabbage on the History Channel when they run "scholarly" programming examining your prognosticative skills (in between shows asking that imponderable question "How did Hitler become such a staple for the History Channel?").
~
I'll 'hit' if you have pleasant background music?
How about:`Palestrina. `Pope Marcellus Mass?
Mass means to adore and worship, but silently.
Play: `Agnus Dei 1. It always makes me misty.
But, in a cheerful way. I may go to a mortician?
No. I act too silly. Too much/mulch honeycomb.
It's so sweet. Octagon shape. Bee wax cubes. Ay.
So much joy? Too much sweet honey? No angers.
O Athens say:`Embrace one's anger. Hold gently.
Do Ya ever feel so sad that a dirge can cheer Ya?
Maybe see if you (Jebbie) can find Copland's A.S.
Who doesn't love The Appalachian Springs? Vars.
It's a old silent version: "Tis the gift to be simple."
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
