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Congresswoman Overheard Peddling Influence in Exchange for Appointment Favors
[ This is an old story from 2009 but, frankly, too irresistible to pass up in light of further advances of the American Security State in last year three years. ]
In 2005 the NSA recorded (via wiretap) Congresswoman Harmen trading a sentence reduction for espionage charges against members of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) for lobbying favors to become chair of the House Intelligence Committee.
The Congresswoman, Democrat Jane Harman, is outraged at the “abuse of power” in her conversations being intercepted though the action was court approved. Ironically Rep. Harman was a staunch advocate of the USA PATRIOT ACT, the very legislation which permitted such wiretapping, but seems to find its protention application to herself unsavory. The FBI pursued a further corruption charge against the Congresswoman but Attourney General Alberto Gonzales “pulled the plug” because he needed the Congresswoman’s public support for such wiretapping programs.
The lolz are thick and juicy here. Some choice quotes from the Congresswoman:
“I never had any idea that my government was wiretapping me at all!”
“I think this is an abuse of power Wolf!”
“I want to make sure members of Congress are not routinely wiretapped without their knowledge.”
29 January, 2012
Tagged as Congress House of Representation video Corruption Israel libery Security State
Notes (4) -
Democratic Sens. Tom Udall of New Mexico and Michael Bennet of Colorado introduced a constitutional amendment on Tuesday that would overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
The decision gave corporations and unions the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections, so long as their actions are not coordinated with a candidate’s campaign.
Another step in the sensible direction.
YES!
I ALMOST FORGOT WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO CHEER FOR A DEMOCRAT.
1 November, 2011
Sourced from rawstory.com
Originally from liberalsarecool
Reblogged from reagan-was-a-horrible-president
Tagged as Congress politics politicians corporate interest Democracy
Notes (223) -
reinventionoftheprintingpress:
The Senate joined the House Thursday night in passing a bill that would give the nation’s patent system its first overhaul in more than 50 years.
The America Invents Act, H.R. 1249 — which cleared the Senate in a 89 to 9 vote — would change the U.S. from a first-to-invent to a first-to-file patent system, a move proponents say would bring the U.S. patent system closer to systems already used by most of the rest of the world.
“We can no longer stand on a 1950s patent system and expect our innovators to flourish in a 21st century world,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), an author of the bill, argued from the Senate floor. “Let’s unleash the genius of the American people and our inventors in the United States of America.”
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), however, took to the floor in the moments leading up to the vote to argue that the reform would stack the patent process in favor of large, well-funded corporations.
“This isn’t a patent reform bill,” said Cantwell, with frustration evident in her voice. “This is big corporation patent legislation that tramples on the rights of small inventors. … It is siding with corporate interests against the little guy.”
Cantwell had offered one of three amendments to the bill, which were defeated earlier in the day.
Though I do NOT have even a basic understanding of patent law, this reform is , on its face, disappointing to me.
8 September, 2011
Sourced from reinventionoftheprintingpress
Reblogged from reinventionoftheprintingpress
Tagged as Capitalism Congress Instead of leaving the house I'm just going to read more Foucault and legal briefs related to intellectual property law Intellectual Property Law Patent United States Jobs Speech Obama
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8 January, 2011
Sourced from oversets
Reblogged from oversets
Tagged as Congress Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Sarah Palin violence
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We won’t jump to any conclusions here, but if you’re going to insist on using gun imagery in your political campaigns, go fuck yourself.
^^^
8 January, 2011
Sourced from
Originally from inothernews
Reblogged from holyfarts
Tagged as Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Sarah Palin politics violence congress
Notes (211) -
If you paint a target on someone’s head you can’t act surprised when someone pulls the trigger. Violent rhetoric leads to violence.
8 January, 2011
Sourced from twitter.com
Originally from azspot
Reblogged from absurdlakefront
Tagged as government Sarah Palin violence Congress Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords
Notes (558) -
What if members of Congress were seated not by party but according to their major business sponsors? We gave it a try.
7 October, 2010
Sourced from justinalcon
Originally from justinalcon
Reblogged from ilovecharts
Tagged as politicians politics government congress corruption class warfare
Notes (257) -
this is good news. potentially very good news.
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Senator Ted Kennedy, battling a brain tumor, walked through a wall of applause into the Senate on Wednesday and cast a stunningly unexpected vote on long-stalled Medicare legislation.
