Use the form on this page to add your name to my urgent petition to Attorney General Holder and Rob McKenna — tell them not to let Wall Street off the hook for running our economy off the road.
It is the end of 2010 and while it is snowing a bit all over the country, it is very cold. So, the voice of reason says everyone who is going to engage this New Year with something spiked to drink should stay put get cozy, watch movies, tv listen to some music; if the weather impacts you bundle up and or go to a bed/breakfast or hotel etc. and relax.
Hypocrisy and misinformation are two things of interest that should be beat back by those of us center and or left of center.
The only reliable product of an organized religion (replace w/Republican Tea Party) is a flock of hypocrites who feel that only *their* hypocrisy is divinely sanctioned. – Siddownshaddap
One of the biggest issues i hope the Democratic Party will jump on in 2011 is the overt Hypocrisy the Republican Tea Party has engaged in since electing President Obama into office.
(1) A person who engages in the same behaviors he condemns others for.
(2) A person who professes certain ideals, but fails to live up to them.
(3) A person who holds other people to higher standards than he holds himself.
The idea that what our President has engaged in anything that even resembles hypocrisy over the last two years compared to anything that most if not all Republicans and their comrades engage in without remorse is beyond me. I offer up as just one of hundreds of “pieces” of evidence Senator John McCain as one of the most well-known Hypocrisy Actor. I think most people at least respected McCain, the man who called himself a maverick but Senator McCain, having done a full 360 turn around on just about every piece of legislation that he was for while running for President. Senator McCain, the so-called maverick is now known to be a man of questionable choices by so many. In addition there are other Hypocrisy Actors like Mitt Romney who gets Government Health Care himself voted for TARP not only created but implemented Universal Health Care in his own State, voted NO on the floor of Congress that denied the rest of Americans from getting UHC or true government health-care like he gets paid for by you and me. The list of Hypocrisy Actors though long includes Republican Fox TV host Huckabee who not only spoke out against but ran on the pro-life campaign also had serious investments in embryonic stem cell research.
I have been a firm supporter of President Obama even when it looked as if legislation would sour or are voted down. It is slightly upsetting that given past histories of ”The People” or voters giving Presidents many chances some have gotten two terms and well you know where that got us. The next obvious thing one has to wonder and question is why so many would give previous Presidents so many opportunities even after a few years of seemingly falsehoods. Yet, turn on a new President so quickly, why would so many on the side of the issues have tantrums on such a regular basis and why make threats to take back your votes in what has been the worst economy since the depression? Those things on their own would be reason enough to give a new President time to find the correction let alone implement it. It is not lost on me why this President enlisted the like so of a larry summers, tim geithner and others … it is quite simple really -they know who what why where how when things got ugly, so far the fix is in though slow. In the hypocrisy or change of mind angle, it is obvious that for me every issue the President has talked about and or used during the pre-President election days are ones in which some information given underwent a change, which in turn changed Obama’s mind, his heart and warranted a change of direction. This for me is a change i welcome … for someone to have thought, selfless action, personal judgment and view for the many opposed to or for a select few right of center or even center think a change of mind is hypocrisy? Pish paw the very definition of hypocrisy since 2008 has the picture of Senator John McCain right by it –
This President has said right from the beginning that he had an open mind to solutions given by others from the Republican Party. However, they have spent two years obstructing, saying no, scaling down possible solutions, and hearing that Corporate America sent 1.4 Million jobs offshore in a time when it should be Country first – your own country. It makes me wonder just what will it take to see that those so-called people who hired folks or create jobs are doing so but outsourcing them to China and or Mexico etc. in the name of cost efficiency.
There are so many outrageous Republican hypocrites that it’s hard to chose just one but this week – we think Rep-elect Joe Walsh of Illinois deserves a nomination!
New reports this weekend reveal that Representative-elect Joe Walsh (IL-08) believes government has done TOO MUCH for the middle class, YET he’s hired a financial services lobbyist to be his Chief of Staff and is welcoming contributions from Wall Street titan JP Morgan. Walsh ran as an anti-government outsider but is now embracing Wall Street’s agenda and argues that government takes “care of too many in the middle class.”
Voters are getting a crash course in how out-of-touch Representative-elect Joe Walsh really is after he hired a Wall Street lobbyist to run his office and said there are too many government programs, like Social Security and the Department of Education, that benefit the middle class. When Representative-elect Walsh says that government has done too much for the middle class it must warm the heart of his Wall Street staff and special interest donors – but it leaves Illinois families out in the cold. Hiring a Wall Street lobbyist as Chief of Staff is the best evidence yet that Walsh’s agenda will be driven by Wall Street’s needs, not the needs of the middle class.
Sen. John Kerry and (R) Sen. Richard Lugar remark on START treaty
December 21, 2010
The U.S. Senate has voted 67 to 28 to advance the nuclear arms treaty with Russia known as START. That’s the exact number needed for ratification. After this vote, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) said he has an informal agreement with Republican Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) on amendments to the treaty. He’s joined by Foreign Relations Ranking Member Dick Lugar (R-IN), who has worked on nuclear non-proliferation for a number of years.
The Senate’s number three Republican Lamar Alexander (R-TN) has said he will vote to ratify the nuclear arms treaty with Russia known as START. Treaty opponents, Senators Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and others spoke with reporters at the Capitol about their concerns.
Senate Republicans Press Conference on START treaty
December 15, 2010
Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) along with several of his Republican colleagues spoke to reporters about the nuclear arms treaty with Russia known as START. Senate Democrats want to pass the START treaty as it’s known before the end of the year. Sixty-seven votes are required for ratification.
House Speaker Pelosi signs Post 9/11Veterans Education Assistance
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was joined by other Democratic members and veterans activists in the Capitol for a ceremony that will send a 9/11 veterans bill to President Obama. The measure builds on the the so-called new G-I bill, extending education assistance to soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Happy New Year! And as we prepare to ring in the new year, I wanted to reach out and thank you for your commitment to our country and your dedication to making change a reality for millions of our fellow Americans.
But our work is far from done.
Shadowy special interest front groups are already up on radio and television with shameful attack ads aimed at reversing the progress we’ve made, and they’re hoping grassroots Democrats like you will stay on the sidelines until New Year’s. If Democrats fall behind in these final critical days, we’ll have to spend months playing catch-up while the opponents of progress ring in 2011 with a big head start on their repeal agenda.
December 31st marks the final FEC deadline of the year. That means my friends at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) have just 5 days to show the media, the pundits, and our opponents that Democrats are ready to stand up to the powerful special interests intent on rolling back the progress we’ve worked so hard to achieve.
Because of the hard work of grassroots Democrats like you, we passed historic health care reform, restored common sense regulation to Wall Street, helped ensure equal pay for equal work, and made a college education affordable for millions of young Americans.
Now, the same special interests that fought us every step of the way are intent on rolling back the progress we’ve made. Your action before Friday’s deadline can help ensure that Democrats have what it takes to fight back and stand strong for the interests of hardworking American families.
In the year ahead, we will make critical decisions about the challenges we face that will shape the lives of our children and grandchildren for decades to come. I will not stop fighting to protect the progress we have made.
I hope I can count on you to support the DCCC with a generous contribution and to fulfill our responsibility to make tomorrow better than today and guarantee the American dream is alive and well in this country we love.
Can you call Sens. Cantwell and Murray? Tell them: “Secret corporate political spending hurts our democracy. Support passing the DISCLOSE Act before the end of the year.”
Dear MoveOn member, We just witnessed an election bought and paid for by corporate front groups and secret donors, and we have exactly 63 days to do something about it.A bill in the Senate would force the high rollers behind the millions in attack ads to come out of the shadows. If we know who they are we can hold them accountable for trying to buy elections for the Republicans who support their pro-Wall Street, pro-oil company agenda.
This is our last best chance to put some rules back into our election process before newly elected Republicans take office and kill any hope of campaign reform in January. We must start to put democracy back in the hands of the American people.
Can you call Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and say:
“Secret corporate political spending hurts our democracy. Support passing the DISCLOSE Act before the end of the year.”
Earlier this year the DISCLOSE Act came up one vote short. Several Republicans have said they support the principle of transparency but didn’t want it to take effect until after the election.
That means right now we have an opportunity to get that final vote—but we need to convince the Democrats to bring up the bill before the end of the year and put pressure on the potential Republican supporters to stand by their claims.
A coalition of organizations is backing a new push for the DISCLOSE Act launching today to support a final vote for this common-sense measure. By adding our voices today, we can help make sure the Senate seizes on the opportunity to hold corporations and CEOs accountable for their attempts to buy our elections.
–-Ilyse, Robin, Joan, Milan, and the rest of the team
Want to support our work? We’re entirely funded by our 5 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.
Last weekend, a spokesman for the American Bankers Association — the banking industry’s largest trade group — explained that the financial services industry is eagerly anticipating conservative control of the House of Representatives. “We had been disappointed with a number of legislative outcomes with the past Congress, and so we look forward to better outcomes with this Congress,” he said, adding that “banks expect a corrections bill to peel back some of the financial regulations passed into law this year.” Indeed, Wall Street has made no secret of its desire to water down and roll back provisions in the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform law, which President Obama signed in July. Dodd-Frank is the most thorough upgrade of the nation’s regulatory structure since the Great Depression, and while complete repeal is unlikely due to the President’s veto power, the banks are counting on their House Republican allies to weaken the bill in other ways, such as withholding funds or scheduling hearings designed to slow the regulators’ rule-making process. Already, the two leading candidates to chair the House Financial Services Committee next year — Reps. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) and Ed Royce (R-CA) — have made known their desire to weaken certain provisions, while incoming presumptive House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) told CNBC that Republicans intend to deny regulators the funds to implement Dodd-Frank. “The House has the power of the appropriations process and the leverage that comes with that essentially puts us in a position to deny the administration funding for promulgating the regulations,” Cantor said.
DEFUNDING THE CONSUMER BUREAU : House Republicans have reserved their most intense ire for the newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is being headed by consumer advocate and Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren and is the only regulatory agency explicitly tasked with consumer protection. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (TX), one of the top Republicans on the Financial Services Committee, promised to defund the Bureau, which he believes “assaults the liberties of the consumer.” But defunding is only an effective strategy for holding back the agency until July 2011, when the Bureau will begin to receive an independent funding stream from the Federal Reserve, so Bachus has proposed changing Dodd-Frank to make the Bureau subject to the annual congressional appropriations process. Giving the Bureau an independent stream of funding is important, as it isolates the Bureau from the whims of Congress and prevents appropriators from pushing a political agenda by threatening funding cuts; the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission have independent budgets for the same reason. Royce, meanwhile, has said that he would revive an amendment of his that was defeated during the regulatory reform debate that would allow banking regulators to veto the agency’s rulemaking. “The safety and soundness regulator needs to have a say, needs to have final say in this,” Royce said.
DEFANGING THE REGULATORS : Dodd-Frank delegates much of its authority to regulators, who have the responsibility to craft rules meant to rein in the financial industry’s excess, while taking into consideration the necessary role of the industry. Consequently, House Republicans have been targeting these regulators in an attempt to politicize and delay their rule-making activities. Bachus, for instance, sent a letter to the newly created Financial Stability Oversight Council scaremongering about the effects of the Volcker rule, which is meant to prevent banks from engaging in risky proprietary trading with federally insured dollars. Bachus claimed that the rule will “impose substantial costs on the American economy and market participants” with “doubtful” benefits.” But as Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz noted, “Through the rise of proprietary trading at our nation’s banks and the largest non-bank financial firms, firms doubled down on the accumulation of risk, much of it with little benefit to the real economy.” Bachus has also said that he wants to weaken the derivatives reform portion of the bill, calling it “overly expansive.” The derivatives title of Dodd-Frank sets up exchanges so that derivatives must be traded publicly (like stocks) and employs clearinghouses to ensure that both parties in a derivatives trade have adequate collateral backing it up. What House Republicans will likely aim to do is entice regulators to grant wide exemptions to the exchange and clearing requirements, letting all sorts of activity that is purely speculative continue to be unregulated. Senate Democrats, however, are standing tall against changes in the law. “I don’t think that major changes will take place on Dodd-Frank,” said Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD), who will likely chair the Senate Banking Committee next year. “There is not only resistance from the Senate, but the veto is possible, too. So we should focus on realistic solutions to our problems.”
BIG BUSINESS JOINS IN : House Republicans and Wall Street banks are not alone in their fight to weaken Dodd-Frank. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce — which helped coordinate Wall Street’s campaign against financial reform — announced yesterday that “it is setting up a new unit to scrutinize regulatory efforts of the Obama administration, taking special aim at the health care reform law and financial overhaul legislation.” “Regulation is the vehicle by which some seek to control our economy, our businesses and our lives — and left unchecked, it will fundamentally weaken our nation’s capacity to create jobs and opportunity,” said Chamber President Tom Donohue. The Chamber has already sued the SEC “over its proposed rule to give shareholders greater rights to nominate candidates to a public company’s board through proxy access balloting”; the rule was initiated as a result of Dodd-Frank. Of course, Wall Street is also very capable of lobbying for its cause itself. As the Los Angeles Times reported, “Lobbyists for banks, hedge funds and other firms have logged hundreds of meetings with federal regulators since the reform bill was signed into law.” “In all, regulators have had at least 510 meetings with lobbyists representing 325 organizations since July,” the Times found, and “more than 90% of the groups that appear in the meeting logs are banks, hedge funds and other big companies that rely on the financial industry.”
No free passes for Wall Street
Be a Seed for Change 
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