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Progressive Talk Show Host Ed Schultz says that President Obama’s backroom deals are leading to a trigger and denying a public option in which real competition can be created, all in the hopes of attaching a Republican or two to the healthcare reform bill in this video.
Filed under: healthcare reform, lobbyist, Obama, public option | Leave a Comment »
The empowered parties and lobbyists have wreaked havoc on California government and nothing short of a Constitutional Convention can create a long-lasting solution to this state’s problem, according to Andrew Giacomini, lead counsel for the organization Repair California. Giacomini hopes that the populist rage and involvement will fuel voters to adopt Repair California’s strategy to create a people’s convention.
For more information, go to RepairCalifornia.org
Future Meet-up dates:Thousand Oaks Constitutional Convention Town Hall
Monday August 3, 2009
8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.San Francisco: Repairing California: Time for a Constitutional Convention
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.Orange County Constitutional Convention Town Hall
September 2, 2009
7:30 a.m. Breakfast | 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. ProgramSierra Nevada Constitutional Convention Town Hall
August 21, 2009
9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (tentative)
Filed under: California, constitutional convention, Democrats, Greens, legislature, lobbyist, Republicans, State Budget Crisis | Tagged: California government, Congress, constitutional convention, electoral reform, lobbyist influence, multi-party, State Budget Crisis | 1 Comment »
A recent report from the Center for Public Integrity shows that the 25 largest originators of subprime mortgages also spent more than $370 million over the last ten years lobbying the legislators in Washington to ease up on regulation that would have restrained the risky investment behavior that has resulted in the meltdown. And now, at least 21 of the 25 ventures are backed or owned by banks now receiving bailout money.
Bill Moyers talks with Senator Dick Durbin who describes the influence of lobbyists on Washington in this video. Earlier this year, Durbin authored a bill in which it would become easier for people facing foreclosure to renegotiate their loans. After 12 Democrats crossed the aisle to vote against it earlier this month, the amendment to the bill failed. Durbin, himself a beneficiary of those mighty lobbying dollars, has since come out swinging.
On a local radio station, Durbin said:
The banks — hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.
Durbin also recently introduced a bi-partisan bill with Senator Arlen Specter to create a voluntary public financing system for members of both chambers of Congress. As he tells Bill Moyers on the JOURNAL: “I think that is a good move for our democracy, and it’s one which we ought to acknowledge is at the heart of many of the issues we face.”
Modeled after successful fair election bills of several states including Connecticut, Maine, Arizona, and North Carolina, the Fair Elections Now Act seeks to diminish corporate influence removing the need to go “dialing for dollars”.
transcript of Moyers-Durbin show
Filed under: Bill Moyers, campaign finance reform, Congress, Corporation, Durbin, election reform, fair election, lobbyist, Senate | 1 Comment »
A recent report from the Center for Public Integrity shows that the 25 largest originators of subprime mortgages also spent more than $370 million over the last ten years lobbying the legislators in Washington to ease up on regulation that would have restrained the risky investment behavior that has resulted in the meltdown. And now, at least 21 of the 25 ventures are backed or owned by banks now receiving bailout money.
Bill Moyers talks with Senator Dick Durbin who describes the influence of lobbyists on Washington in this video. Earlier this year, Durbin authored a bill in which it would become easier for people facing foreclosure to renegotiate their loans. After 12 Democrats crossed the aisle to vote against it earlier this month, the amendment to the bill failed. Durbin, himself a beneficiary of those mighty lobbying dollars, has since come out swinging.
On a local radio station, Durbin said:
The banks — hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.
Durbin also recently introduced a bi-partisan bill with Senator Arlen Specter to create a voluntary public financing system for members of both chambers of Congress. As he tells Bill Moyers on the JOURNAL: “I think that is a good move for our democracy, and it’s one which we ought to acknowledge is at the heart of many of the issues we face.”
Modeled after successful fair election bills of several states including Connecticut, Maine, Arizona, and North Carolina, the Fair Elections Now Act seeks to diminish corporate influence removing the need to go “dialing for dollars”.
transcript of Moyers-Durbin show
Filed under: Bill Moyers, campaign finance reform, Congress, Corporation, Durbin, election reform, fair election, lobbyist, Senate | Leave a Comment »
Bill Moyers recently interviewed two progressive journalists, Glenn Greenwald and Jay Rosen, who are counting Obama’s first days in D.C. with a sharp eye on the political opinion makers who drive so much of the story we all consume. Listen to the full show.
Greenwald suggested that the media’s treatment of the Daschle nomination provides an example of how complicitly it perpetuates business-as-usual conduct in Washington D.C.. The media missed the real story. While it focused on Daschle’s tax problems, it said nothing of how the retired Congressman has capitalized on his former office by providing legislative consulting to wealthy individuals and large corporations, including those in the health care industry.
“Most people consider that to be corruption. That’s what Barack Obama called it when he ran,” said Greenwald. “Yet, to members of the media, who have spent their lives in Washington, who are friends and colleagues of the people who are engorging themselves on this corrupt system, that is just the way of life. It’s like breathing air or drinking water.”
Rosen said that the Washington media players are part of a broken system intent upon keeping themselves relevant in order to maintain a career. “I think there’s a tendency for Washington journalists to see everything converging towards the political game that they are themselves masters of…The reason you won’t see an Amy Goodman of “Democracy Now!” on “Meet the Press” is that it would discredit the narrative that’s been building up for a long time.”
Rosen conjectures that Obama was probably a little surprised at the strength of the symbiotic relationship between political opinion makers and the political elite. “He is naturally a compromiser. And I think he’s going to be pulled between playing a savvy inside game and trying to mobilize anger from outside of Washington. He’s going to seesaw between these two things. “
“To members of the media, who have spent their lives in Washington, who are friends and colleagues of the people who are engorging themselves on this corrupt system, that is just the way of life. It’s like breathing air or drinking water. “
Both journalists optimistically agree that if Obama can hold fast to his early promises, the press corps will eventually adjust its narrative to embrace a more progressive story. However, Obama will not be able to do that without outside force. Citizen journalism and other internet social networks can shame the press corps into changing.
Here’s the complete transcript.
Glenn Greenwald is a constitutional lawyer turned journalist. His blog on Salon.com is one of the most influential on the internet. He’s written two best sellers: “How Would a Patriot Act?” about President Bush and executive power, and “A Tragic Legacy.” His most recent book is “Great American Hypocrites.”
Jay Rosen is a founder of the citizen journalism movement and is a professor of journalism at New York University, as well as a widely published writer and media critic. He created the popular blog called PressThink, subtitled “Ghost of Democracy in the Media Machine.”
Filed under: Congress, corporate media, fairness doctrine, lobbyist, Media, Net Neutrality, Obama, Progressive, Pundits, The Rub | Tagged: activism, economic stimulus, Greenwald, health care, Jay Rosen, Patriot Act, press corps, Progressive, Pundits, stimulus package, two-party system, Washington insider | 2 Comments »
