Mitch McConnell Receives Millions of Dollars from Drug Cartels and Sex Trafficking Rings

The above sentence was not intended to be a factual statement.  But rumors like this are going to keep flying, and keep multiplying, as long as Mitch McConnell keeps fighting every attempt to provide campaign finance disclosure.

What are McConnell and his fellow sleazebags hiding?  The “reasoning” behind the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision was that unlimited “campaign contributions” (formerly known as bribery) were all fine and good, since voters could follow the money and see which politicians are owned by which special interest groups.  But we can’t very well “follow the money” when these bribes are anonymous now, can we.

Most voters are opposed to the Citizens United ruling that allows unlimited campaign contributions.  Among the people who are in favor of that ruling, most of them want full disclosure of who is bought and paid for and by whom.

Last Friday Mitch McConnell gave a speech at the American Enterprise Institute.  He lashed out at Republicans who are starting to “cave in” on campaign finance disclosure:

“I know that as November draws near, some of those running for office will feel the need to choose their battles.  There will be a very strong temptation, particularly among conservatives, to take this particular issue off the table, to make concessions. My advice is to resist the temptation. Because, as I’ve said, everything we’re fighting for is contingent on our ability to speak our minds.”

WTF???  “Our ability to speak our minds” is threatened if the public finds out who these secret donors are?  Who the fuck ARE these secret billionaires and organizations that nobody is supposed to know about?

Senator Chuck Schumer responded to McConnell’s speech with:

“…As Justice Brandeis said, sunlight is the greatest disinfectant. Senator McConnell is apparently now afraid of sunlight because the hundreds of millions of dollars being spent for his candidates and against the President, if disclosed, would create an enormous backlash.”

This is exactly why campaign finance disclosure is so important.  Corporations are allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money to purchase politicians, but they’re in danger of losing customers if the public finds out which candidates they’re funding.  Fortunately (for the plutocrats), corporations can make their political donations through the country’s largest money-laundering syndicate:  the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  Politicians are bought, and the lowly public doesn’t know who bought them.

So let the rumors fly.  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has received billions of dollars from North Korea and al Qaeda.  Mitch McConnell’s senate campaigns have been financed by the world’s largest child pornography ring.

Of course nobody can prove these accusations..  But slippery politicians can DISPROVE these rumors by DISCLOSING who owns them.

Big Business: “We’re Paying Our Prostitutes MILLIONS of Dollars, and They’re NOT performing!!!”

Corporate conglomerates and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent megabazillions of dollars to “elect” their Republican prostitutes to the House of Representatives.  And now they’re suffering from buyer’s remorse.

For one thing, they’ve suddenly noticed a huge gap between corporate interests and the Tea Party.  What about that famous Republican lockstep march, where the entire party does everything in unison?

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is strongly in favor of a transportation bill which is crucial for the construction industry.  Teabaggers keep derailing the bill.

And the U.S. Export-Import Bank, which has been financing exports since the 1930s, is in jeopardy.  The bank might shut down completely by the end of May.  (See Teabaggers, previous paragraph.)

A vice president of an airplane manufacturing firm said:

“There’s not a bank in the United States that’s going to loan money to that customer of mine in Argentina to buy my airplane.  There is not a free-market system that operates like that. It does not exist. We need the Ex-Im Bank, period.”

The National Association of Manufacturers is also adamant about the importance of the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

Teabaggers are also derailing a lot of routine business tax breaks by insisting that these tax breaks have to be paid for by spending cuts elsewhere.

Whatever these teatards think of Corporate America, that’s who bought them their seats in Congress.  Wasn’t there something about “dance with them that brung you,” or whatever it was Molly Ivins used to say.

A spokesman for Club For Growth said:  “Free market is not always the same as pro-business.”

Let the rift begin.  Let it get wider and wider.  It’s time for these lockstep marchers to break ranks and start scattering every which way.

Anonymous, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Protect IP Act

Whatever one thinks of Anonymous and other “hacktivist” organizations, they couldn’t pick a nicer target than the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  Anonymous attempted to hack the U.S. Chamber’s computer systems last May, with mixed results.  Now they’re planning another attack.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce exists mostly as a money launderer, enabling large corporations and wealthy individuals to make huge anonymous political contributions.  Elections and politicians can be purchased without the public even knowing who the purchaser was.

But now the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has found another purpose:  lobbying aggressively for the Protect IP Act (also known as the Stopping Online Piracy Act, SOPA).

If you like the idea of people getting fined millions of dollars for downloading music without paying, you’ll love the Protect IP Act.  Using the smokescreen of “stopping online piracy,” the Protect IP Act would give the U.S. government sweeping unprecedented powers for censoring the Internet.

So which is it?  Does the U.S. Chamber of Commerce want a tiny bathtub-size government that lets the Free Market run wild, or do they want a gigantic Orwellian Big Brother controlling everything we do online?

Here’s Anonymous’ description of the Protect IP Act:

“This bill would allow the United States Government to force ISP’s and search engines to censor websites they do not like under the guise of ‘copyright protection.’  Instead of reducing piracy, this bill endangers the free flow of information. Through Domain seizures, ISP blockades, search engine censorship, and the restriction of funding to accused websites, this bill takes Internet censorship to a new level…

“The Internet is a place where anyone and everyone can come together freely to share information and opinions.  The freedom the Internet provides has served us well, and driven our intellectual progress, sparked revolutions and changed the lives of many, all of which has been accomplished without the interference of corporations, governments, or any other global institutions until now.”

Aside from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the only other group that favors the Protect IP Act is the entertainment industry — i.e. those Hollywood Elitists that conservatives are always ranting about.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO agree on something!

Hell has frozen over.  On one of those ubiquitous Sunday talk shows yesterday, Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, both said that Congress needs to provide funding to rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure.

Richard Trumka said:

“We can’t be competitive in a global economy unless we have infrastructure that allows us to be competitive.  This is really a no-brainer.”

And that’s not all:  The Vatican has called for a sweeping overhaul of the global financial system.  The statement called for an end to “an economic liberalism that spurns all rules and controls.”

The Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton said:

“While conservative leaders and several presidential candidates want to eviscerate financial reform, the Vatican has sent a powerful message that prudent regulation of our financial system is a moral priority…It’s clear the Vatican stands with the Occupy Wall Street protesters and others struggling to return ethics and good governance to a financial sector grown out of control after 30 years of deregulation.”

So we have the Vatican, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO all standing together.  Gee, who could be against them?  Oh, that’s right — Republicans.  They don’t want any infrastructure work done or any new jobs created because that would make Obama look good with an election coming up.  And they don’t want ANY regulation of the finance industry — their Wall Street pimps have told them very explicitly not to let this happen, Or Else.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Declares War on White House

It’s bad enough that millions of inbreds think President Obama was born in Kenya. (And if you think the Stupids will be satisfied now that Obama has released his birth certificate, I can get you a fantastic deal on some oceanfront property in Nebraska.)

And now, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is comparing Obama to Muammar Qaddafi. Well, which African country was Obama born in? Kenya or Libya?

And why does the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have its panties in a bunch? Because Obama has said he MIGHT issue an executive order requiring companies — if they’re seeking a government contract — to disclose all contributions to groups that produce political ads.

This has nothing to do with limiting contributions or stifling corporate free speech. It just means if you’re going to purchase an election, you’ll have to slither out from under your rock and show us who you are.

Obama’s vague suggestion, which probably won’t even be carried out, has created a major pantytwist for Bruce Josten, one of the U.S. Chamber’s top thugs. Josten told the New York Times that the Chamber is “not going to tolerate a backdoor attempt” by the White House to destroy Freedom.

“We will fight it through all available means. To quote what they say every day on Libya, all options are on the table.”

In case that sounds like just an idle threat — the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the same cartel that tried to hire military contractors to go after liberal organizations. (Google it.)

It’s clear why the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is so paranoid about this possible new rule. The Chamber’s entire purpose — their reason for existence — is money-laundering (which used to be illegal). A corporations can “donate” jillions of dollars to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — to be used for political ad campaigns — and the lowly public has no idea which company is paying for these ads.

If there was a truth-in-labeling law for political organizations, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce would have to drop the word “Commerce” from its name. Unlike your local chamber of commerce, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce hasn’t had anything to do with “commerce” since sometime in the 1900s.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Backs Egyptian Dictator

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has shown its true colors. Again. This shouldn’t be surprising, but with the explosive political turmoil in Egypt, America’s biggest lobbying group for “Freedom!” is quietly working to help the Mubarak regime keep those lowly Egyptian rabble-rousers under its thumb.

What happened to “Freedom!” and “Watering the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants?” And for two years we’ve been swamped with constant references to the Boston Tea Party. I guess it’s only a “tea party” if the protesters are corporate lobbyists and their useful idiots; it has nothing to do with millions of enraged desperate people rebelling against a dictator.

If the U.S. Chamber of Commerce could be projected back to the 1700s, they’d be helping King George III against those motley protesters in that uppity colony.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “Won’t Somebody Please Come Out and Play With Me?”

Since corporations are people, what kind of person is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce? Technically, they’re not a corporation, of course. They’re more of a front group; a money-launderer.

If the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were a person, it would be the spoiled arrogant rich kid who thinks he can buy friendship, but everybody hates him. His family could buy the whole city, but he can’t buy a date and never gets invited anywhere.

Like the saying goes, if you lie down with Karl Rove, you wake up with lice and shit and slime all over you. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce worked with Rove — among other sleazebags — to raise $75 million for attack ads. The ads worked. Mission Accomplished.

But now a lot of local chambers of commerce have decided they can’t take the stench any more, and they’re cutting ties with the U.S. Chamber. Some large corporations have also dropped out of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for the same reason, including Pacific Gas & Electric.

It makes sense. A chamber of commerce is supposed to be all about promoting business and economic growth — like the name implies — not political shitslinging and character assassination.

Hopefully a lot more corporations and local chambers will cancel their affiliation with this gang of money-laundering sleazebuckets.

Governor McDonnell: “Slavery? Huh? What? Oh, That…”

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has declared April 2010 to be Confederate History Month. He said it was important for Virginians to:

“Understand the sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the Civil War, and to recognize how our history has led to our present.”

For some odd reason, he didn’t mention anything about, uhh, what’s that word again? You know, when millions of native Africans were captured, shackled and brought over here on ships, and a lot of them died on the journey over here and the lucky ones who survived were herded into American plantations to become slaves — Slaves, that’s it! Slavery!

Anyway, that long dark chapter of Confederate history wasn’t important enough to be worth mentioning in McDonnell’s “Whip up the good ol’ boys” speech.

McDonnell’s “explanation” was:

“There were any number of aspects to that conflict between the states. Obviously, it involved slavery. It involved other issues. But I focused on the ones I thought were most significant for Virginia.”

And them there nigras just ain’t significant. All righty then…

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Q. Why is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce like a cockroach?

A. They both scurry away frantically when somebody turns the lights on.

(Didn’t mean any disrespect to cockroaches.)

As you know, the Supreme Court has legalized bribery. But they haven’t legalized money laundering. Not yet anyway.

Money laundering, of course, is when a shell corporation is created by somebody who’s made a ton of money illegally. A drug kingpin, for example, could say “You’re accusing me of selling drugs??? I made this money through my tireless hard work at the ZYX Corporation, located in a post office box in the Cayman Islands. Any other questions?”

The corporate — and still legal — version is when a large company or wealthy individual decides to purchase an election by paying for a multimillion dollar advertising campaign. But they don’t want the lowly public to know that “ExxonMobil spent $300 million to defeat clean energy legislation.” (That’s just a made-up example.)

So they turn to their friendly neighborhood money launderer — the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. All Exxon Mobil (continuing the same example) has to do is donate their $300 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Then the only information voters have is that microscopic lettering at the bottom of the screen saying “this sleazy mudslinging intelligence-insulting commercial was paid for by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.”

And now Congress — led by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) — is getting ready to crack down on this slippery tactic. Needless to say, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is acting like — well, like a cockroach when you turn on the kitchen light at 3 in the morning.

If this law passes, corporations who purchase the legislative process will have to slither out from under their rocks, into the sunlight, and identify themselves.

Thursday Grab Bag

What’s the best way to handle our Wall Street parasites? Maybe Indonesia has the right idea.

While we sit here helplessly wringing our hands, Indonesians are taking it to the streets. Thousands of people were rioting in Jakarta yesterday and the day before. And it might happen in Ireland too. Irish political leaders are worried about “revolution in the streets” of Dublin if AIB gets another bailout.

Well, what are we waiting for?

Or we could take our cue from those elderly pensioners in Germany. They kidnapped and tortured the financial advisor who had cost them $2 million out of their life savings. The kidnappers ranged in age from 60 to 74.

Meanwhile, back in the U. S. of A. — Let’s put Ronald Reagan’s picture on the fifty dollar bill.

[sigh]

Your Tax Dollars are helping to defeat health care reform. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is an umbrella lobbying organization for Big Business. They’ve probably outspent everybody else when it comes to defeating health care reform. (And financial reform, and clean energy legislation…)

The best thing about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — if you’re a crooked CEO — is that you can spend billions of dollars to bribe Congress, but you can use the Chamber as a middle man; a clearinghouse. Let’s say you’ve “donated” $25 million to the Chamber to help defeat socialized medicine. Your own company won’t have to suffer any negative feedback from the lowly public. The only thing they’ll know is that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has donated X amount of money toward defeating health care reform.

When a drug cartel does this, we call it money laundering.

Anyway, the Chamber’s membership includes some of the largest banks that were bailed out by American taxpayers. So when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spends jillions of dollars to defeat health care reform — and everything else that’s in the public interest — it’s Your Tax Dollars At Work.

Wingtard Reason #5,999 Not to repeal DADT: Muslim terrorists might be offended if gays are allowed to serve in America’s military forces. We’re trying to kill them but we don’t want to offend them?!?!?!?!?

That flash of brilliance came from Missouri State Senator Gary Nodler, who’s running for Congress. His exact quote was:

“I never said that this would be a cultural affront to terrorists. I don’t care what they think. I said it would be a cultuaral affront to the Muslims in who’s country we are operating. We can not win the hearts and minds of the people by insulting them and ignoring the standards of their culture. “

And whin he wuz in skool he gott very loe graids on hiz reportt kard.

Barack Obama: a Threat to Big Business

There are exceptions; not everyone in the business community is threatened by Obama.

Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve Chairman, endorsed him last month. And Obama has been consulting with Warren Buffett and international financier Robert Wolf. Wolf said “When I sat down with him, I found him to be unbelievably refreshing and smart and thoughtful.”

One Democratic strategist said “He's been pretty clear that business would have a seat at the table, but business wouldn't be able to buy all the chairs." Communist!

No wonder the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has given Obama the lowest rating of the three White House contenders. They gave McCain an 80% favorable rating; Hillary Clinton got 67%; Obama got 55%.

The National Association of Manufacturers (not that they're partisan or anything) gave a zero rating to Clinton and Obama; McCain got 100%.

Here are some of the reasons the Good Ol’ Boy Network doesn’t want Obama:

He sponsored a bill that would give shareholders (i.e. the owners of the company) a nonbinding proxy vote on executive pay.

He also voted for a free trade agreement with Peru which would include protections for Peruvian workers and the local environment. What?!?!?!? God created those Peruvian peasants for American businessmen to exploit!

And that’s not all: Obama might amend NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) to include environmental and workers’ protections.