R
Raymond
Guest
"Only a government that is rich and safe can afford to be a democracy,
for democracy is the most expensive and nefarious kind of government
ever heard of on earth."
Mark Twain quotes (American Humorist, Writer and Lecturer. 1835-1910)
Corrupt and Arrogant Government:
Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it
is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute
new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely
to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate
that Governments long established should not be changed for light and
transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than
to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are
accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing
invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under
absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off
such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
--
JFK Speech against secret government
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/jfk-speech-against-secret-government/554988582
Charles R. Black, Jr. Lobbyist
But he did step down to work full time for the Arizona Senator's
Presidential Campaign
From SourceWatch
Charles R. "Charlie" Black, Jr. served as chair of BKSH & Associates,
a lobbying firm associated with Burson-Marsteller. In March 2008,
Black left his BKSH position to work full time for the presidential
campaign of Senator John McCain. [1]
When Senator McCain's relationship with telecom lobbyist Vicki Iseman
was questioned in early 2008, Black "made the rounds of television
networks to defend McCain ... even before McCain finished his news
conference," reported the Washington Post. Black's lobbying clients at
the time included General Motors, United Technologies, JPMorgan and
AT&T. [2]
Black's "relationship with McCain ... goes back more than two decades,
from the time McCain first came to Washington. They got to know each
other well during (former Senator Phil) Gramm's 1996 presidential run;
Gramm, now an investment banker, is a major supporter and adviser to
McCain." [2]
Background
Black "served as senior advisor to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George
H.W. Bush. He also served as a principal public spokesman for
President Bush in the 1992 presidential campaign. During 1990, Mr.
Black served as chief spokesman for the Republican National Committee.
He served on President George W. Bush's 2000 campaign as a volunteer
political advisor and surrogate spokesman," states his BKSH profile.
[3]
Black also "managed the successful elections of more than ten members
of the U.S. Senate and more than a dozen Members of Congress. He acted
as political consultant to U.S. Senators Jesse Helms, Robert Dole,
Phil Gramm and Dave Durenberger and as political director of the
Republican National Committee under Chairman Bill Brock," adds the
BKSH profile. [3]
At the lobbying firm, Black was "the principal legislative and public
affairs advisor to several Fortune 500 companies and trade
associations." [3]
Black's "ties with the Bush family go back to 1972, when he and Karl
Rove were jockeying for control of the College Republicans in a
campaign so dirty that George H.W. Bush, then head of the Republican
National Committee, had to step in and sort matters out," reported
Muriel Kane. [4]
Other affiliations
Black has served "on the boards of directors of the American
Conservative Union, the Fund for American Studies, the U.S. Air Force
Academy Foundation and The Mills Corporation." [3]
Black is a member of the managing board of Civitas Group, LLC, a
homeland security-focused consulting firm. [5]
In 2005, Black was listed as one of two BKSH lobbyists (along with
Gardner Peckham) representing the PR firm Lincoln Group on issues of
defense and foreign relations. Lincoln Group paid BKSH $40,000 for
lobbying services in 2005, according to U.S. Senate lobbying
disclosure forms. [6]
Praise for Tom DeLay
In April 2006, Black told the Washington Post that disgraced
Congressman Tom DeLay "would be very valuable to any firm if the legal
cloud is lifted from him. He could come over here and be my boss if he
wanted to be." [7]
"Tom DeLay has been the greatest strategist for getting legislation
through the House in his generation in addition to having a lot of
great relationships with Republicans in the House and Senate. His
strategic insight on how to get things done up there is unsurpassed.
And for clients, that's absolutely needed. There are 30,000 workaday
lobbyists but very few who have the strategic insight and an
understanding of the tactical process of getting something through
Congress like he does," Black added
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Charles_R._Black,_Jr.
Photo: Lobbyists waiting to meet new members of the 110th United
States Congress
http://www.thepigsite.com/articles/contents/05-07ARNIReducingVariability1.jpg
How the Sunshine Harmed Congress
By DALE BUMPERS
Published: January 3, 1999
Twenty-four years ago I came to the United States Senate filled with
awe, excitement and determination. Despite the occasional victory, the
combination of my losses on issues about which I felt strongly and
Congress's unwillingness to confront problems that can't be postponed
much longer causes me to leave the Senate feeling more dismayed than
exhilarated.
I came to Washington in 1975 from Arkansas, where I had served four
years as Governor. That January, as my wife, Betty, and I drove off
the grounds of the Governor's Mansion, I never felt wiser. I was
prepared to serve a short internship in the Senate before running for
President. Every political neophyte thought that post-Watergate
America would be eager to embrace a Democratic name and face no one
had ever heard or seen before.
I soon concluded, however, that the vast Federal apparatus was much
more complicated than I had anticipated. Eventually scratching the
idea of running for President, I immersed myself instead in the arcane
rules of the Senate and the legislative process.
The year I arrived, the Senate had begun to require all committee
votes to be public (unless a public vote was taken to close them).
Committee meetings were to be open as well. C-SPAN started televising
floor debate in the House in 1979, and the Senate followed suit in
1986.
That openness has been healthy, but at a price. A good two-minute
speech can, and often does, take a half-hour for a politician with a
national television audience.
Before government was conducted out in the sunshine, senators could
vote as they pleased, good or bad, with little voter retribution on
individual issues. But in the 1970's national associations by the
dozens were setting up shop in Washington, right down to the
beekeepers and mohair producers, and with them came a new threat to
the integrity of the legislative process: ''single issue'' politics.
These groups developed very harsh methods of dealing with those who
crossed them. Suddenly, every vote began to have political
consequences. Congress began to finesse the tough issues and tended to
straddle every fence it couldn't burrow under.
Consequently, Congress is failing to get its work done. We saw the
result in the bizarre spectacle that closed the session in October,
when eight of the required 13 appropriation bills were folded into a
$550 billion omnibus bill that was drafted and agreed to not by
Congress itself, but by six or eight senior members and a few White
House staffers. I don't know which was worse: the way the Government
was shut down in 1995 or the way we kept it open in 1998.
There are many reasons for all of this chaos, but chief among them is
the compulsion to put a partisan bent on every single issue. That, in
turn, has led to a mean-spiritedness and total loss of collegiality.
There is rarely consensus even on the most practical and ideologically
neutral matters. And issues that go to the heart of the values we hold
as a nation have become so partisan that the imperative to win
subsumes the necessity of governing. Why in the name of heaven should
tobacco or the environment or education be partisan issues?
A senator periodically receives a record showing the number of times,
by percentage, that he or she has voted with each of the other 99
senators. When I first came to the Senate, there were Democrats mixed
in with Republicans and vice versa. Today, except for procedural
votes, or what are often called throwaways, it's rare for more than
two or three senators to cross party lines on a vote. Nothing could
more starkly demonstrate the fog of partisanship that has enveloped
the Senate.
The Christian Coalition claims to represent 13 percent of the
electorate. There's little reason to doubt it. Whatever the number,
the group is powerful enough to bring a filibuster on any matter it
opposes. That is true to a lesser extent of groups representing the
elderly, educators, environmentalists and others. It isn't that the
groups don't have legitimate interests, but they distort the process
by wrangling over the smallest issues, leaving Congress paralyzed, the
public disgusted and the outcome a crapshoot.
1 2 Next Page >
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE5DD1F3FF930A35752C0A96F958260
Dale Bumpers, a Democrat, represented Arkansas in the Senate and
retired at the end of 1998.
for democracy is the most expensive and nefarious kind of government
ever heard of on earth."
Mark Twain quotes (American Humorist, Writer and Lecturer. 1835-1910)
Corrupt and Arrogant Government:
Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it
is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute
new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely
to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate
that Governments long established should not be changed for light and
transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than
to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are
accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing
invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under
absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off
such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
--
JFK Speech against secret government
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/jfk-speech-against-secret-government/554988582
Charles R. Black, Jr. Lobbyist
But he did step down to work full time for the Arizona Senator's
Presidential Campaign
From SourceWatch
Charles R. "Charlie" Black, Jr. served as chair of BKSH & Associates,
a lobbying firm associated with Burson-Marsteller. In March 2008,
Black left his BKSH position to work full time for the presidential
campaign of Senator John McCain. [1]
When Senator McCain's relationship with telecom lobbyist Vicki Iseman
was questioned in early 2008, Black "made the rounds of television
networks to defend McCain ... even before McCain finished his news
conference," reported the Washington Post. Black's lobbying clients at
the time included General Motors, United Technologies, JPMorgan and
AT&T. [2]
Black's "relationship with McCain ... goes back more than two decades,
from the time McCain first came to Washington. They got to know each
other well during (former Senator Phil) Gramm's 1996 presidential run;
Gramm, now an investment banker, is a major supporter and adviser to
McCain." [2]
Background
Black "served as senior advisor to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George
H.W. Bush. He also served as a principal public spokesman for
President Bush in the 1992 presidential campaign. During 1990, Mr.
Black served as chief spokesman for the Republican National Committee.
He served on President George W. Bush's 2000 campaign as a volunteer
political advisor and surrogate spokesman," states his BKSH profile.
[3]
Black also "managed the successful elections of more than ten members
of the U.S. Senate and more than a dozen Members of Congress. He acted
as political consultant to U.S. Senators Jesse Helms, Robert Dole,
Phil Gramm and Dave Durenberger and as political director of the
Republican National Committee under Chairman Bill Brock," adds the
BKSH profile. [3]
At the lobbying firm, Black was "the principal legislative and public
affairs advisor to several Fortune 500 companies and trade
associations." [3]
Black's "ties with the Bush family go back to 1972, when he and Karl
Rove were jockeying for control of the College Republicans in a
campaign so dirty that George H.W. Bush, then head of the Republican
National Committee, had to step in and sort matters out," reported
Muriel Kane. [4]
Other affiliations
Black has served "on the boards of directors of the American
Conservative Union, the Fund for American Studies, the U.S. Air Force
Academy Foundation and The Mills Corporation." [3]
Black is a member of the managing board of Civitas Group, LLC, a
homeland security-focused consulting firm. [5]
In 2005, Black was listed as one of two BKSH lobbyists (along with
Gardner Peckham) representing the PR firm Lincoln Group on issues of
defense and foreign relations. Lincoln Group paid BKSH $40,000 for
lobbying services in 2005, according to U.S. Senate lobbying
disclosure forms. [6]
Praise for Tom DeLay
In April 2006, Black told the Washington Post that disgraced
Congressman Tom DeLay "would be very valuable to any firm if the legal
cloud is lifted from him. He could come over here and be my boss if he
wanted to be." [7]
"Tom DeLay has been the greatest strategist for getting legislation
through the House in his generation in addition to having a lot of
great relationships with Republicans in the House and Senate. His
strategic insight on how to get things done up there is unsurpassed.
And for clients, that's absolutely needed. There are 30,000 workaday
lobbyists but very few who have the strategic insight and an
understanding of the tactical process of getting something through
Congress like he does," Black added
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Charles_R._Black,_Jr.
Photo: Lobbyists waiting to meet new members of the 110th United
States Congress
http://www.thepigsite.com/articles/contents/05-07ARNIReducingVariability1.jpg
How the Sunshine Harmed Congress
By DALE BUMPERS
Published: January 3, 1999
Twenty-four years ago I came to the United States Senate filled with
awe, excitement and determination. Despite the occasional victory, the
combination of my losses on issues about which I felt strongly and
Congress's unwillingness to confront problems that can't be postponed
much longer causes me to leave the Senate feeling more dismayed than
exhilarated.
I came to Washington in 1975 from Arkansas, where I had served four
years as Governor. That January, as my wife, Betty, and I drove off
the grounds of the Governor's Mansion, I never felt wiser. I was
prepared to serve a short internship in the Senate before running for
President. Every political neophyte thought that post-Watergate
America would be eager to embrace a Democratic name and face no one
had ever heard or seen before.
I soon concluded, however, that the vast Federal apparatus was much
more complicated than I had anticipated. Eventually scratching the
idea of running for President, I immersed myself instead in the arcane
rules of the Senate and the legislative process.
The year I arrived, the Senate had begun to require all committee
votes to be public (unless a public vote was taken to close them).
Committee meetings were to be open as well. C-SPAN started televising
floor debate in the House in 1979, and the Senate followed suit in
1986.
That openness has been healthy, but at a price. A good two-minute
speech can, and often does, take a half-hour for a politician with a
national television audience.
Before government was conducted out in the sunshine, senators could
vote as they pleased, good or bad, with little voter retribution on
individual issues. But in the 1970's national associations by the
dozens were setting up shop in Washington, right down to the
beekeepers and mohair producers, and with them came a new threat to
the integrity of the legislative process: ''single issue'' politics.
These groups developed very harsh methods of dealing with those who
crossed them. Suddenly, every vote began to have political
consequences. Congress began to finesse the tough issues and tended to
straddle every fence it couldn't burrow under.
Consequently, Congress is failing to get its work done. We saw the
result in the bizarre spectacle that closed the session in October,
when eight of the required 13 appropriation bills were folded into a
$550 billion omnibus bill that was drafted and agreed to not by
Congress itself, but by six or eight senior members and a few White
House staffers. I don't know which was worse: the way the Government
was shut down in 1995 or the way we kept it open in 1998.
There are many reasons for all of this chaos, but chief among them is
the compulsion to put a partisan bent on every single issue. That, in
turn, has led to a mean-spiritedness and total loss of collegiality.
There is rarely consensus even on the most practical and ideologically
neutral matters. And issues that go to the heart of the values we hold
as a nation have become so partisan that the imperative to win
subsumes the necessity of governing. Why in the name of heaven should
tobacco or the environment or education be partisan issues?
A senator periodically receives a record showing the number of times,
by percentage, that he or she has voted with each of the other 99
senators. When I first came to the Senate, there were Democrats mixed
in with Republicans and vice versa. Today, except for procedural
votes, or what are often called throwaways, it's rare for more than
two or three senators to cross party lines on a vote. Nothing could
more starkly demonstrate the fog of partisanship that has enveloped
the Senate.
The Christian Coalition claims to represent 13 percent of the
electorate. There's little reason to doubt it. Whatever the number,
the group is powerful enough to bring a filibuster on any matter it
opposes. That is true to a lesser extent of groups representing the
elderly, educators, environmentalists and others. It isn't that the
groups don't have legitimate interests, but they distort the process
by wrangling over the smallest issues, leaving Congress paralyzed, the
public disgusted and the outcome a crapshoot.
1 2 Next Page >
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE5DD1F3FF930A35752C0A96F958260
Dale Bumpers, a Democrat, represented Arkansas in the Senate and
retired at the end of 1998.