Do Republicans shun lobbyist?

I am hearing all the time that lobbyist are running Washington. I hear about the vast amounts of money they are spending influencing members of Congress and their staff. I am hearing there are more lobbying groups in Washington then there are the 535 members in the entire Congress. On one occasion or two, I have heard lobbyist in Washington wield more money then the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of some countries.

When the President proposes a bill and Republicans say it is Dead on Arrival (DOA), I can not see lobbyist who favor passage of the bill wasting time going to the offices of a Republican. It would not make sense if they do. The Republican leadership will have already publicly pronounced the bill DOA.

And then there are the few Democrats who say they want to support the Presidents' bill but vote against it with Republicans.

Does this mean lobbyist un-favorable to the Presidents' bill have paid successful visits to the offices of those few Democrats? Are lobbyist pounding and knocking down their doors armed with fistful of money to influence their votes? Is this a behind closed doors “What’s in it for me?” thing with Democrats? Is this the reason Democrats do not vote as a block as do Republicans? Are there more wealthy Democrats than Republicans or do they get sent back to Congress more often?

In other words, is the public being lied to as to the influence of lobbyist in Washington or does it simply boil down to party leadership? Color me confused.

The 50-50 vote came in relation to a motion to simply take up the bill and fell well short of the 60 needed to break a filibuster. Democrats Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut broke with Obama on the vote. Two Democrats who voted with the president, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, however, said they couldn't support the underlying Obama plan unless it's changed.

And
"For the second time in two weeks, every single Republican in the United States Senate has chosen to obstruct a bill that would create jobs and get our economy going again," Obama said in a statement after the vote. "Every American deserves an explanation as to why Republicans refuse to step up to the plate and do what's necessary to create jobs and grow the economy right now."
Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/20/obama-jobs-bill-first-responders-teachers-senate_n_1023229.html

As always,
BB

A funny thing happened on the way to the American Dream

We Blacks got in the way.

I heard many years ago that America was never supposed to be a non-white country. The rationale was to bring Blacks here to clear a country, build a nation and send us back home to Africa.

To have an all white nation was tried in Australia, Apartheid South Africa and more recently, in Israel with each country replete with sky-scrapers of horror stories.

In America, to put people of all walks of life to work so all of them can enjoy a full quality of life is contrary to the nerve conductors in the brains of our collective Oligarchy and their hand picked minions. The fallacious paths of their nerve conductors will not and can not change: The notion that America will somehow become a white country keeps them in a fallacious rapture. The song says, “You have to be carefully taught to love and hate”.

The America Oligarchy has been carefully taught. We see evidence of it each and every day on our television, in books we read, in our newspapers and hear re-enforcements of equal strength on our radios 24/7. “Our country would be so much better if you Blacks(sp) were not here” is their creed and we whites would be so much happier.

In America of today, we all know too well the results of Blacks beating their chest with cries to the Oligarchy, “Give me liberty or give me death”. The Oligarchy will gladly accommodate us with justifiable death.

I have yet to hear Pres. Obama or any member of his administration telling us why we can not have a Marshal Plan here in America or a second version of the CCC camps which was the brainchild of the FDR administration. Blueprints are there. Testimonies are there. There would be no need to re-invent the wheel and no need to conceive and develop positive ideas when trying to put people to work. It was successful before. Find the blueprints, dust them off and use them.

What do we get? We get a complicated 150 page doom-laden document from the President masquerading as a bill to get Americans back to work.

In my most fervent opinion and due to nerve conductors of the Oligarchy, America will never be a country again wherein all can pursue and enjoy the American dream in comfort.

I am mindful Bill Krystol, founder of The Weekly Standard has already pronounced the wedge that Occupy Wall Street is an anti-Semitic movement. What’s next?

We would have to be closely associated with the neve centers of Tim Geithner et al to really understand why Elizabeth Warren did not get chairmanship of the newly form citizens’ advocacy agency. I do believe there is a relationship between that chairmanship and jobs for the masses. All roads lead to Wall Street.

As always,
BB
P.S. American racism is very difficult to write about. There are so many interlocking facets but I do know it when I see it.

Who will be Wall Streets’ sacrificial lamb?

One may be perfectly correct in thinking bosses of Wall Street are shaking in their boots while hiding in office closets, under desks and behind skirts of their secretaries as Occupy Wall Street protesters gain world wide momentum. Their fears are justified.

If history is correct in repeatedly telling us there is a law of the jungle and only the strongest survive, we are soon to see more than a few Wall Street barons thrown to the lions.

In my opinion, it is un-natural to further protect them. There is that saying of seeing the handwriting on the wall coupled with the laws of self preservation.

There may already be secret talks with Eric Holder who is following up on various ‘anonymous’ tips.

In this present politically and economically dysfunctional environment, all roads lead to Wall Street. We’ll see.

As always,
BB
P.S. There is this Lone Ranger joke:
- Tonto, the Indians have surrounded us! They are going to kill us!
- What do you mean “us”, Kemo Sabe?

The Volcker Rule and Occupy Wall Street
By Ted Kaufman
Excerpt:
That's how it turned out for the next 50 years. The country prospered with no major financial crises. Then, in the late 1980s and into the 1990s the Federal Reserve under Alan Greenspan -- over the objection of previous chairman Volcker -- began easing Glass Steagall restrictions. In 1999, with the support of key Clinton administration officials, Congress passed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Glass Steagall was entirely rescinded and commercial banks were again allowed to engage in investment banking. It took only ten years for the perhaps inevitable result -- the financial meltdown of 2008.
Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sen-ted-kaufman/the-volcker-rule-and-occu_b_1016053.html

Don Lemon, a Black guy and a White guy

Yesterday, CNN anchor Don Lemon had as his guest a Black Guy and a White Guy discussing U.S. President aspirant Herman Cain.

I say Black Guy (BG) and White Guy( WG) because in the old days you would see the names of the person talking staying on the screen for a long time. In the TV world of today, that practice is all too rare and in many cases, gone with the wind.

BG was expressing his feelings as to why he is finding Mr. Cain an embarrassment and WG was disagreeing that Mr. Cain is a buffoon due to the fact he has held CEO positions in the private sector and that he has literally pulled himself up by his boot-straps to become a wealthy man and is presently running for the Presidency of the United States of America.

BG didn’t want to hear any parts of the positive. He was now trapped in what could be called his Crabs in a Barrel Syndrome. Once he realized where he was as articulated by WG, he may have wanted to get out of his reverie but lacked the appropriate skills: Too late! WG was already over the finish-line and Mr. Lemon concluded the interview.

What touched me so much about the exchange between the two of them was the role reversal. It was WG extolling the virtues and worthiness of a Black man while BG was doing the opposite. It was not difficult to visualize why white Republicans voted for passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and members of the Democratic party did not think we Blacks were ready to have full citizenship. The exchange between BG and WG was, to me, very moving and very personal.

My world is not going to come tumbling down because of anything Mr. Cain says. He has his views of life and I have mine. If he feels a close affinity to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as he articulates, why in hell should I care?

Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-SPAN and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB

The world wants *'enry 'iggins 'ead!

The movement Occupy Wall Street has gone world-wide. In my opinion, prosecution and jail time for the Wall Street Banksters would be the only mechanisms that could be used to quail escalating disturbances.

It there is one thing irritating to most people it is an un-punished crime. It both angers and eats at the victim of the crime like a terminal cancer.

Additionally, it is said a crime not only effects the victim but also the victims' family and the whole community. I would imagine doctors, mental health workers and ethical prosecutors know the feelings of crime victims all too well.

As always,
BB
P.S. Denying Elizabeth Warren chairmanship of the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was another crime against humanity performed by Wall Street Banksters.

OWS Protest Goes Global as Public Support Grows
By YUVAL ROSENBERG, The Fiscal Times
Excerpt:
The Occupy Wall Street movement that started out as a relatively small gathering in lower Manhattan on September 17 has grown into a global event four weeks later. Through blogs, Twitter, and Facebook pages, protest organizers were preparing for a “global day of action against Wall Street greed” on Saturday, claiming to have coordinated demonstrations scheduled for 951 cities in 82 countries across the U.S., Europe, and even Asia, Africa, and South America.
Read more at:
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/10/15/OWS-Protest-Goes-Global-as-Public-Support-Grows.aspx#page1

* Video: "Just you wait" (Henry Higgins head) from the 1956 musical My Fair Lady.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31OQe2uheKk&noredirect=1