So this means that we can’t even pretend not to notice that we don’t count. It’s just too f’n in your face blatant.

holy moley – pretty forking stupid indeed.

Yep.

So can we get a guest list of who wants to lobby Nancy? By the way just why is lobbying not bribery money changes hands in both cases and nobody forces the politician to vote a certain way.
However there is certainly an expectation of how a politician will vote once they take the cash.
And whether its a bribe or lobbying cash the politician has an expectation of what will happen to him if he takes the cash and votes the opposite of what the people paying him want.

Our political system is corrupt and totally dysfunctional. Until we fix the finance aspect of politics we are screwed.

Do they think no one will notice?

Her laugh at the progressives turning down any crumbs of healthcare Congress is willing to dole out pretty much summed up her contempt.

Sheesh! if she waited a couple more weeks she could have doubled her money from those leeches probably. and i thought she was “tough” tsk tsk tsk

You know what kills me, if I tried to get an appointment with her, it would be impossible to get even 5 minutes of her time.
If we don’t get a grip on public finance of elections we are eternally screwed.

That’s a joke, right? Right?

I think I’m going to write nasty note to Madame Speaker. This is a bad joke.. not intentional, I’m sure, but someone in her office has to have the good sense to understand what this looks like.

SCOTUS is sure to fix that shortly. Unrestrained corporate pay and play.

Is there enough time for Code Pink to drag out the mattresses to the Connecticut Ave. address?

Anyone surprised by Pelosi?

That ship has sailed, thanks to David Sirota.

Now that we’ve noticed, what will Nancy do?

(Steve Elmendorf, an OpenLeft commenter reminds, is the brilliant strategist who told John Kerry to ignore the SwiftBoatVeterans as August silly-season stuff, sure to blow over by the actual fall campaign.)

Does anyone know whether Douglas Elmendorf, the head of the CBO whose
cost estimates for HR3200 are controversial, is related to Steve Elmendorf?

Well, isn’t that special!

They have drunk so much industrial strength corporate kool-aid, Nancy, et al., have seemingly lost their capacity for shame.

The U.S. Congress: A wholly-owned subsidiary of people much richer than you.

This bill has become a nightmare. Democrats should be doing what the right wing did to Bush when he proposed a bill they did not support, we should be killing this thing, and telling Democrats to start again. Seriously, watching people who went from pushing for a Medicare-style option for all takers become just sort of sad and angry that they are getting sold out, and haplessly clinging to a puny PO that barely moves the needle anyway, is extremely frustrating. It’s like watching a slow moving train wreck.

Someone here made the suggestion that, since SCOTUS believes that corporations can be treated as persons, individuals should have the ability to set up dummy persons in the Cayman Islands for the purpose of evading taxes, just as corporations do.

Sounds fair to me.

Hi, y’all.
Now, if only I could come up with a clever one-liner, I’d be in. It’s kinda early for this kinda stuff, isn’t it?

You have got to be kidding me! For the love of all that is holy…

I honestly don’t care what they call it in the bill. As long as it forces the private insurance companies much needed competition to force their prices lower, I’m fine with whatever they call it. Maybe they should call it the “American Option” that way the crazies might back off from all the “fear” the ‘public option’ creates inside them all?

I left you a comment downstairs. Would appreciate a reply. If you have time.

It’s like watching a slow moving train wreck.

Well said, mass.

Elmendorf…Elmendorf…that name is vaguely familiar.

call it Patriot Act II.

hey demi.

Good catch, Teddy.

Ms. Pelosi’s got thirteen days of splainin’ to do

You are under the mistaken impression that she cares, or that your opinion will affect her in any way. She doesn’t, and it won’t.

And if you use abusive language in that note you are going to send her (read vulgarities) they will cut you off.

No offense to you, but you must know that. It does feel good occasionally to blow off steam though.

It’d be funnier than hell if the dems took top dollar from the insurance industry and voted for the public option en masse.

Miss Betsy, how ya doin’? I’m so glad it’s the weekend. Gots lotsa stuff to do.

keep dreaming my friend

Gosh, what a kooky coincidence, eh?
Heaven forfend anyone should get the wrong optics as a takeaway from this. I’m sure there’s a perfectly innocuous explanation, suitable for low-information ratepayers – Now, let me think…

;>)

i got lotsa relaxing to do.

texteen just told me that i look tired and should go to bed early. no telling what he is contemplating …. oy!

They’re adding rooms left and right downstairs, not having luck finding your comment. Which thread? I got bounced out of one earlier today, so if it’s that one I won’t be able to reply.

Have you no shame, Ma’am?!?

I love the way you keep current, db!

Tea and Kabuki anyone?

I suspect that the Kool-Aid is being replaced by teatime,don’t you think?

Check out what’s brewing on Wall Street:

Truthdig – Ear to the Ground – Insurance Stocks Rise After Obama …Sep 10, 2009 … Insurance Stocks Rise After Obama Speech. … Remember President Obama’s reference during his health care address to “Wall Street’s …
http://www.truthdig.com/…/20090…..ma_speech/ – Cached – Similar

Wall Street sees few surprises in Obama speech | Markets | Hot …Sep 10, 2009 … Obama called for quick action on a broad overhaul in his prime-time address on Wednesday night. … But Obama said he had “no interest in putting insurance companies out of … Oil above $72, rises fifth day after IEA ups outlook … Short Stocks:Bets against Ford ease in August on clunker sales …
http://www.reuters.com/…/hotSto…..1P20090910 – Cached – Similar

Hell, they should be doing that all the time! What will the lobbyists do about it, demand the money back? Good luck with that.

In my mother’s mansion, there are many rooms.
Thread is the President Von Something. Last thread at FDL. Comment #13. Coincidentally.

When is the shunning begun?

It isn’t stupid. Pelosi doesn’t give a shit what we think. She never has. Remember her remark about how she leads and we advocate? The Democrats aren’t us. They do not represent us. Pelosi’s constituency is Steve Elmendorf. She didn’t run out after Obama’s speech to meet with progressives. She went to Steve Elmendorf’s to roll in the dough and receive instructions.

This is why I say we need to break with the Democrats. They do this kind of garbage with us every single time. Enough should be enough.

First you need to prevent Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, one of Barack Obama’s closest friends and political allies, from acquiring the power to appoint an interim Senator to replace Ted Kennedy pending a full elction. He’s certain to appoint a person who will vote with Obama on just this issue.

Second, you need to negotiate with the GOP. Apparently. liberals and progressives are no longer welcome in the Democratic party so not unlike the reality television show “Survivor” our wing will have to find some common ground with the GOP.

I really don’t see another choice if liberals and progressives want political relevance, odd as they might sound.

vey!
My son wouldn’t dare say that to me. He knows how hard I work and why I’m tired, when I am.
Smack him for me, would ya?

David Sirota got the scoop — someone forwarded him the invite and he published it at OpenLeft (first link in my post).

Nancy needs to drop this hot potato — NOW.

PS, I’ll relax when I’m dead.

I remember that trick from forty years ago! “Take a nap, mom, you should really lie down….”

Par-tay

Nay, I’m a throwback to another time, dear Loo Hoo. Positively hoary with my old-fangled moral distinctions.

;>)

Um, they could stop clinging to public option fantasies and actually oppose this POS.

Right, like she’s not going to notice a party. What was she taking? I might need some.

I think I need to nap right in front of the front door.

Too bad I’m on the opposite coast; I think that organizing a protest in front of the event would be an excellent idea.

…need to negotiate with the GOP

Would that be anything like the negotiation that Mr Obama is trying to accomplish?

I remember saying when the democrats took both houses that it would not take long before they corrupted themselves

we got absolutely nothing progressive accomplished for all our effort and now the democrats are what the republicans were

We had very quiet parties sometimes.

Found it. Working on a reply.

You! I don’t want or need to know the details. I have a great imagination. Yikes. Under your own roof!

I’m nostalgic for the time that I used to believe they actually gave a shit and that they were just waiting for Cheney and Bush to get out of power…

you’re kidding?

the democrats HAVE tried “negotiating” with the gop, the gop gets the democrats to give them shit then they vote against the bill and renew at the lower more corporate bar, rinse and repeat

the public option IS the compromise, barack is an incredibly BAD negotiator and he has proven he is a solid corporatist

funny this barack, if he had run as a republican with the positions he’s taken now in office he would have won their nomination

I don’t use bad language. My note’s going to be very diplomatic.

Lobbyists are nothing if not arrogant and ballsy. Ms. Pelosi would seem to be stupid beyond belief if she attends or fails to stop this misuse of her name.

What does it say about the Beltway’s insularity that Congressional Democratic leaders consorting so openly with health industry death lobbyists is regarded as nothing special, just routine, m’am?

Pelosi’s constituency is Steve Elmendorf

American citizenry (except top 3%) made up of CINOs (”constituents in name only”).

This is exactly the kind of fundraiser Rahm made the insurers guarantee if he let the Blue Dogs kill the public option, right?

Nice that Nancy has decided to go along with Rahm’s plan to deny the GOP that sweet cash.

tk1200, you must be joking. Yes, the Democrats are deeply disappointing, but finding common ground with the GOP? They want to destroy us. There’s no common ground to be had.

Third parties are useless as well: the system is stacked against them: it’s a two-party duopoly. That leaves only one option: take over one of the major parties, and it has to be the Democrats, because while the leadership is corrupt, the good guys that are in politics are all either Democrats or allied with Democrats. There are no Republicans in the Senate who can be worked with, and the number in the House isn’t much higher.

I remember the post

there are two problems, neither are attractive;

first, alito and roperts are corporatists not individualists, they will allow laws that prevent individuals from participating and even from incorporating, they will make whatever rule they choose so corporations can have their best deal

second

these are libertarians, these are federalists, these are robber barons, they give not a hoot if government programs collapse so they might even invite individuals to find a method of avoiding taxes

then they will privitize the country as the only solution

Well, I’ve been unable to answer my question in #16, but here’s a blast from the past:

“The bloggers and online donors represent an important resource for the party, but they are not representative of the majority you need to win elections,” said Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic lobbyist who advised Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. “The trick will be to harness their energy and their money without looking like you are a captive of the activist left.”

You can Digg this post right here, to give it some more visibility.

And/or Reddit here.

Thanks!

Here’s where non-constituents can write to Pelosi, by the way: AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov

Second, you need to negotiate with the GOP. Apparently. liberals and progressives are no longer welcome in the Democratic party so not unlike the reality television show “Survivor” our wing will have to find some common ground with the GOP.

Damn, I think we’ve discovered the next Lenny Bruce!

;>)

I was wondering where Rahm is in all this. He’s got to be mixed into this debacle somehow.

ya, not a bad point but it makes a huge mistake’

we are not the left we are the center, we are portrayed as the left but our principles are center the principles of most people in this country

bed, g’night all

Of course it is perfectly fine to be a captive of the insurance industry about which you are drafting legislation.

Business Week magazine, which proclaimed recently that “The Health Insurers Have Already Won” reported that the CEO of UnitedHealth, Stephen J. Hemsley, met with the President half a dozen times.

http://www.counterpunch.org/nader08182009.html

In August 2007, the company {united healthcare] hired Sommer, who previously headed global lobbying for Goldman Sachs (GS). He quickly built a new Washington team of former congressional aides and other K Street operatives. One key acquisition: Cory Alexander, former chief of staff for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) The company spent more than $3.4 million on in-house and outside lobbying in the first half of 2009.

Tom Daschle, the former Democratic Senate Leader, advised UnitedHealth in 2007 and 2008 and resumed that role this year. Among the services Daschle offers are tips on the personalities and policy proclivities of members of Congress he has known for decades.
http://www.businessweek.com/pr…../co…

If that’s not incestuous enough,just Google Goldman Sachs and United Health….hoo boy!

Not working with the Republicans but the whole idea of the House progressives having the power to torpedo a bill rests on the assumption that the Republicans will vote en bloc against it, which would give the progressives the balance of power to kill it if they so choose.

Night, perris.

If Pelosi has bowed to Insurance Execs then so has the New Health Care Bill which will be submitted for review soon. HR3200 IS DEAD. What are they crafting now???
Contact Pelosi and tell her to say NO to Insurance Influence in the Health Care Bill!
http://speaker.house.gov/contact/

You’re really going to bed this early? Okay, well, sleep tight.

StreetInsider.com – Goldman Sachs Upgrades UnitedHealth (UNH) to BuyGoldman Sachs upgrades UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) from Neutral to Buy. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated provides healthcare services in the United States …
http://www.streetinsider.com/…/…..74987.html – Cached – Similar

Goldman Sachs Is Bullish on Bipartisanship – Prescriptions Blog …Aug 28, 2009 … “Goldman Sachs advised investors that a stalemate [on health care] … keeps rolling for the future CEO’s of United Healthcare–as it has for …
prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/…/goldman-sachs-is-bullish-on-bipartisanship/ – Cached – Similar

United Health Group Encouraging Employees To Lobby Politicians …Aug 20, 2009 … In August 2007, the company {united healthcare]
crooksandliars.com/…/united-health-group-encouraging-emplo – Cached – Similar

This is Steve Elmendorf’s outfit:

http://www.elmendorfstrategies.com/

I think we can realistically expect more fund raisers. So far, they’re paying off.

Aetna, Wellpoint and UnitedHealth, the 3 biggest, have all “seen double-digit gains in the last three months as the prospects for a large government insurance program diminished. Obama’s address Wednesday didn’t change investor’s sentiment.”

CONTACT PELOSI:
http://speaker.house.gov/contact/

Anybody remember Hillary’s “Gas Tax holiday “that ran out of gas,last fall?
Elmendorf figured prominently in that,as a lobbyist for Shell Oil .

Here’s a TPM excerpt:

Elmendorf: Poster Child for Clinton’s Corporate Lobbyists

By Scott Crawford – May 4, 2008, 5:15PM

In talking about the Clinton/McCain gas tax holiday proposal yesterday, Obama mentioned a Shell oil lobbyist as the surrogate advocating this idea.

, Senator Clinton had to send out a surrogate to speak on behalf of this plan, and all she could find was, get this, a lobbyist for Shell Oil to explain how this is going to be good for consumers. It’s a ’shell game,’ literally….said Obama.

Obama’s campaign confirmed that he was referring to a CNN appearance Wednesday by Steve Elmendorf, whose lobbying firm earned $420,000 from the Shell Oil from 2006-2008.

Steve Elmendorf

When Obama talks about running against “Washington” and special interest lobbyists, Elmendorf puts a face to it. He’s a prime example of a so-called Democrat who works on behalf of corporations against the interests of labor, the netroots and progressives in general.

In January 2006, Elmendorf notoriously said of the netroots:

“The bloggers and online donors represent an important resource for the party, but they are not representative of the majority you need to win elections. The trick will be to harness their energy and their money without looking like you are a captive of the activist left.”

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsme…..men…

I HOPE EVERYBODY READS THAT LAST PARAGRAPH VERY CLOSELY.

Douglas Elmendorf of CBO is what relationship to Steve Elmendorf? Any?

Does anyone know of a source for the email. Any evidence that it is legit?

I don’t care what party you are, if we the people do not remove the lobbyists this shit will continue to happen to the american people.

Sirota is supposed to be on Rachel Maddow soon>

Thanks

from WordBloom’s link, a Politico article citing Elmendorf’s hiring of Jimmy Ryan, former staffer for Harry Reid.

Receiving job inquiries last year, Ryan said it quickly became clear that demand was high for lobbyists with a background in Senate Democratic leadership.

Pelosi – check
Reid – check

got their bases covered…

@86

I saw it over at Beltway Blips,too.

STILL researching….

HOWEVER, Who runs gov website has a VERY informative entry about Doug Elmendorf.

Valuable insight regarding Pelosi and selection of D. Elmendorf.

Wow, so terribly coincidental.

remove the lobbyists

If only it could be so. U.S. government is starting to look more like a perpetual motion machine of money interests. Who would have guessed?

Eventually, who knows, maybe it will end up like the Roman Catholic Church, where the Pope appoints the Cardinals, who in turn elect the next Pope.

We still have the popular vote, but money owns the media, which does everyone’s thinking for them.

“money owns the media, which does everyone’s thinking for them”

YOU LIE! ;)

Yup, and yup, eagleye and JasperJ.

The only hope, I think, is making noise about Justice Kennedy’s role in Gore v. Bush, and how he ought to think twice about his already tarnished legacy.

“The bloggers and online donors represent an important resource for the party, but they are not representative of the majority you need to win elections… The trick will be to harness their energy and their money without looking like you are a captive of the activist left.”
Steve Elmendorf

IT BEARS REPEATING!

In case you haven’t seen this video by ANP it’s one that everyone should watch and send along to friends and family. Talk about lobbyists and their money. Pelosi and the rest of them, they are all in it up to their necks.

http://americannewsproject.com…..s-all-time

Like I said in another Post earlier to day to Jane.Pelosi has no intention of bringing a bill with a PO.It has always been a sham.The whole Dem congressional leadership & Prez are just going through the motion folks.Sad but true,we are/were being played.

Morning headlines should read: Dems Reap Payoff Money Bonanza. Hand profit health insurance taxpayer jackpot.

Good news and lotsa bucks for Nancy, tough noogies for the rest of us.

Does anyone plan on showing up at

2301 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C.

on

Thursday, September 24, 2009
6:30pm ~ 8:00pm

Maybe with a camera?

Whatever happened to “No More May To Play?” upon which Oba campaigned?

Some interesting tidbits about lobbyist Steve Elmendorf

In January 2006, Elmendorf was criticized vehemently by some left-wing Democratic bloggers when he was quoted in a Washington Post story as saying, “The bloggers and online donors represent an important resource for the party, but they are not representative of the majority you need to win elections. The trick will be to harness their energy and their money without looking like you are a captive of the activist left.” Markos Moulitsas, head of The Daily Kos blog, replied: “Here’s notice, any Democrat associated with Elmendorf will be outed. The netroots can then decide for itself whether it wants to provide some of that energy and money to that candidate. There’s nothing ‘extreme left’ with demanding Democrats act like Democrats, no matter how much these out-of-touch and self-important beltway insiders think it is.”[3]

Also in 2006, Elmendorf gave his support to U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman’s independent re-election bid after Lieberman lost the Democratic primary. Elmendorf was listed on Lieberman’s campaign Web site as part of the “national chapter” of “Dems for Joe”[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Elmendorf

The Congress is back in session and doing the dirty work for the Medical Industrial Complex.

mcconnell $3.3M, hatch $2.9M, baucus $2.8M, grassley $2.7M,
lieberman $2.6M, burr $2.4M, ensign $2.4M, cornyn $2.2M, kyl $2.1M,
conrad $2.1M, cantor $1.8M boehner $1.7M, coburn $1.2M, j wilson 800K
were paid by the Medical Industrial Complex to kill Health Care Reform.

Citizens for Tax Justice pointed this out. The tax legislation enacted under President George W. Bush from 2001 through 2006 will cost $2.48 trillion over the 2001-2010 period. This includes the revenue loss of $2.11 trillion that results directly from the Bush tax cuts as well as the $379 billion in additional interest payments on the national debt that we must make since the tax cuts were deficit-financed. Over the upcoming decade (2010-2019), the costs of the health care proposals approved by three committees in the U.S. House of Representatives are projected to be around $1 trillion and deficit neutral(that means they’re paid for). In 2010, when all the Bush tax cuts are finally phased in, a staggering 52.5 percent of the benefits will go to the richest 5 percent of taxpayers. The Bush tax cuts were deficit-financed, which increased the national debt and resulted in greater interest payments on that debt. They never even tried to pay for their tax-cuts. So, for the price of bush’s tax-cuts for the wealthiest 5%, we could have had Health Care for every American. Instead Americans got bupkus and cheney/bush’s republican buddies got filthy rich off of the Blood Money from No-Bid, Cost-Plus Federal Contracts.

12 Million Americans were denied Health Care Coverage by the Medical Industrial Complex because they had a Pre-Existing Medical Condition. 12K Americans lose Insurance Coverage everyday. Over 18K Americans die each day because they lack health insurance. (Source: WaPo Article 05′ by Harvard Prof. E. Warren)

Follow the Money: Link

Call Congress and demand, Single-Payer Health Care for All!

Sign Single-Payer Petition: Link

Don’t let the Medical Industrial Complex steal your Health Care from you and your family by donating huge sums of money to Crooked Politicians in order to maintain the Status Quo. Keep up the good fight.

SEMPER FI!

I sent an email to her office, copying the text of the invite, informing her of the millions who want a govt run public option while the health care industry likes the present broken system. I asked “have you no shame?”

If there was ever a time to turn on the third-party action machine, it’s now. If neither establishment party has a majority, we win.

PELOSI CAN BE REACHED AT:
http://speaker.house.gov/contact/

Exactly right.

You are absolutely correct. It does not matter if you are Liberal or Conservative the Democrats and Republicans in DC are corrupt to the core. I may disagree on your policies but totally agree on the fact that Corruption runs deep in DC. Congress is bought and paid for regardless of all the campaign speeches that they give you when they are at home.

I am an Independent and felt that the Senate Republicans sold out on the Cloture vote on Cass Sunstein because it was being rushed through. I am sure that you have similar sell out stories on the Democrats.

Both parties want to keep We the People fighting each other so that they can keep their culture of corruption going on both sides of the aisle.
With the Republicans special treatment went to Halliburton and with the Democrats special treatment is going to GE. Both are big and powerful companies with high paid lobbyists.

Both parties are in bed with special interest and We the People are the ones getting screwed.

They do not want us to be civil in our disagreements with each other, they want us to become emotional so we loose sight of the real corrupting factor, Congress. Their goals is not to serve their constituents but to get elected and stay elected.

I am not for government run health care but am 100% for reform. I am a cancer patient and know a lot about insurance, discounts, pre-existing conditions etc.
I think that everyone should be allowed to have a pre-tax medical savings account, I cannot because I am 61 and retired. For those who can’t afford a pre-tax account there should be grants from the government based on income for those less fortunate to have medical savings accounts.
Pre-existing conditions need to be eliminated. We should require truth in billing so that we know what procedures cost and not the hocus pocus that doctors give us based on whether we have health insurance, what type of insurance, or no insurance at all.
Everyone should have at least catastrophic insurance and once again the government should set up a grant program to make up any difference in payment based on income.
Once I have to go on Medicare it will not pay for one of the test that was used to determine how to treat my rare type of cancer. Also, the type of cancer that I had shows up in 20 year olds and less than 1% of the cases show up in 58 year olds like I was when detected. I an afraid that I would have been written off as not cost effective based on age.
I truly believe that if an average bunch of citizens from all political perspectives could sit down together and discuss the health needs in the country we could probably come up with something better than the Bought And Paid For Congress.

I hope there are protesters outside this event.

I know we’ve got a Constitutional right to assemble and free speech and all that, or at least we did at one time… is a permit required to picket an event like this out on the street in front of the building?

thanks Teddy – sorry I missed the thread in real time -

here’s how cynical I am about these folks and their ‘world’ – The Speaker may have done this not so much for her personal fundraising needs, but as a ‘favor’ to Elmendorf as payback for something he’s done for her in the past – proof to the big boyz that he’s got what it takes – whatever

I’m not excusing her – just clumsily making the point that when it’s all about incumbency protection, taking care of a fellow racketeer is what ya do – circle of life doncha know

oh and p.s.

has anyone been regularly reading Slink’s diaries over at Dkos ?? anyone seen the $$$$ some of our ‘best, most reliable friends’ are raking in and how they’re doing it ???

eye opening to me that so many of the so called ‘contributions from individuals’ are lobbyists – representing the Stakeholders – so handy they don’t have to list Stakeholder names on the FEC forms

Karmic coincidence that this invite was sent out the same day (9/11)that “lobbyist extraordinaire Jack Abramoff’s” aide, Kevin Ring’s, trial began?

According to early reports of yesterday’s testimony it will be worth quite a few threads here.

I hope so.

Abramoff Associate Was a ‘Corrupter,’ Not a Lobbyist, Prosecutors Tell Jury(Kevin Ring)
Source: WaPost

Federal prosecutors told jurors Friday that Kevin Ring, an associate of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s, lavished meals and tickets on lawmakers and public officials in the hopes of illegally influencing them.

“He was a lobbyist in name but a corruptor in reality,” said Nathaniel B. Edmonds, a Justice Department prosecutor. “Ring is the sugar daddy, giving out the goodies to public officials over and over again.”
Ring, 38, of Kensington, went on trial Friday in the District’s federal court on conspiracy, fraud and obstruction of justice charges tied to the Abramoff lobbying scandal. His attorneys say he did nothing wrong.

“He pushed the envelope where Congress purposefully left the lines blurry,” said his attorney, Andrew Wise. “Kevin Ring played by the rules of lobbying and government in a broken and sometimes ridiculous system.”

But prosecutors said witnesses and Ring’s e-mails will prove the lobbyist stepped well beyond legal limits in seeking to influence lawmakers, their staff members and government officials.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/…../20…

The people get screwed again! It’s time to wipe them all out of office.

Better yet, if the SCOTUS overrules legal precedent limiting corporate contributions to politicians, it will be time to LEAVE THIS COUNTRY EN MASSE.

THE UNITED STATES OF FASCISM!