Foreigners are buying American elections, thanks to the Supreme Court.

Remember Citizens United? It was a Supreme Court ruling that allowed billionaires and corporations to buy elections. It also created a secret world in which politicos can be bribed with no way for us to bust them for being corrupt.

Oh, and remember how Obama warned that Citizen’s United could open the door to foreign money buying US elections, and the Chief Justice called the Prexy a liar? Well, golly gee whiz, it turns out that President Obama was right. As the linked article says:

In a first of its kind case, federal prosecutors say a Mexican businessman funneled more than $500,000 into U.S. political races through Super PACs and various shell companies. The alleged financial scheme is the first known instance of a foreign national exploiting the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision to influence U.S. elections.

It turns out that although Citizens United did not change the legality of foreign contributions in the U.S., it enabled the type of illegal schemes now being alleged by federal prosecutors.

“Before Citizens United, in order for a foreign national to try and do this, they’d have to set up a pretty complex system of shell corporations,” said Brett Kappel, a campaign finance expert at the law firm Arent Fox. “And even then, there were dollar limits in place. After Citizens United, there are no limits on independent expenditures.”

Got it? Either the Supreme Court intended for this to happen, or they were so shortsighted and pig-ignorant as to ignore the possibility. No matter which, the result is as predicted: foreign nationals are buying American elections and politicians. And this is only one that we caught. Who knows how many other cases there are, buried in the labyrinthian snakepit of American political “financing”?

Thanks to Presidents Reagan, Bush and Bush for stacking the Supreme Court with Raging Righties in Tightie Whities; because of the hyper-partisan Wingnuts on the Court; the integrity and independence of American government has been gravely damaged. Until Citizens United is repealed, none of us can ever know which of our politicians is actually in the service of a foreign national or even an unfriendly government.

Remember this, Gentle Reader: it is because of “Conservative” “Republicans” that our elections are being bought.And they ARE being bought. This could (and likely will) lead to a foreign takeover of our government if we don’t put a stop to it.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

ObamaCare Helps California Small Businesses Get 36 Million $$ in Refunds from Insurance Companies. Repubs Still Hate It.

Today’s LA Times has the story: because of ObamaCare, health insurers who get caught gouging their customers have to pay back the money they tried to steal. In this case, millions of dollars are going back to small businesses in California.

Now, you’d think that “Republicans”, who are always rattling on about the glories of small business, would be supportive of the ACA when it does something good for those small businesses. You’d think that, but you’d be wrong.

No, the Elephants are still trying to trample the health care law, with all of its savings and benefits. Because, Gentle Reader, they don’t really support small business, or the free market, or much of anybody except their paymasters campaign contributors . And, you guessed ‘er Chester, those greedy motherfu**ing health insurers have been giving lots and lots of bribes campaign contributions to Repubs.

As is so often the case in politics, it’s all about the money. The Affordable Care Act, remember, was a “Republican” idea in the first place, and indeed was first implemented in Massachusetts by a Repub Governor. So if it were truly about the policy, the ‘Phants would love it. But, of course, they don’t.

The only thing our “representatives” care about is lining their own pockets. They don’t give a damn how much we pay for what, or what happens to us if we can’t pay. Don’t believe it? Look at the proven benefits of ObamaCare, then look at how the Repubs are still trying to kill it, and provide another explanation. We won’t hold our breath waiting on you.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

The Only Safe Place for “Republicans”: In the Minority

Mr. Blunt and Cranky is, as has been said before, not only an independent, but one who believes that President Washington was right in saying that political parties are not beneficial to our country. Of course,he knows that not all parties have been equally detrimental to our nation, and has come to the conclusion that the modern “Republican” party is one of the worst we have had to deal with thus far. And the more control over the government they get, the more obvious this becomes. (Refer to the B & C post of 12/14/12 for an example. Go ahead, take some time, read that puppy, this post will be waiting when you return.)

(Welcome back.) The underlying reasons are twofold: firstly, the Repubs are governed by a rigid ideology that says that government of all sorts at all times is BadBadBad, OhYesSoVeryBadIndeed. Secondly, they do not rely on facts when making decisions: instead, they insist on denying the evidence and sticking to their “principled” stances, even when those stances are proven to be built on lies or unproven assumptions:

After two score innocent 6-and-7-year old children were slaughtered by a loon who stole his mother’s assault weapons, the GOP’s position against any and all restrictions on any sort of firearms is unchanged. They are not only dancing on the strings that are being pulled by the NRA (which has given them many millions of dollars and expects a return on that investment), but are spouting off with misleading statistics and out-and-out lies. This while legally-purchased military-style weapons are being used to slaughter the innocent. But the Elephants stand unbudging.

After the same school shooting, many in the GOP blamed these horrific deaths on those damned pesky liberals having “kicked God out of our schools”. Basically saying that man is so powerful, we can tell God where He can and cannot be. Alternate explanation: He is so hacked off at us, He’ll stand there and gloat at the deaths of these poor children, saying “neener neener neener” to us. The fact that this is nonsense does not budge the Elephants.

On Global Climate Change, the “Republicans” refuse to believe the 98% of qualified experts who state clearly that we are heating this globe up to an unhealthy degree: preferring to listen to the corporations that bribe them and the Bible that does not hold down a second job as a science textbook, the Elephants stand with nary a thought of budging.

When it comes to deficits, spending and taxes, the ‘Phants (you guessed ‘er, Chester) again stand unbudging, in spite of the fact that there are no, none, zip, nada, nary a  single study proving them right, and a whole raft of studies proving them wrong.

So, if we have a whole party who do not believe in facts and evidence, we should not be expecting them to behave like rational, reasonable, practical public servants. They aren’t. Period. They used to be, but have grown increasingly more disconnected from reality over the past few decades. And when they get control of a government body or branch, they make an absolute mess of things.

The solution: don’t give them a majority. Not anywhere, at any time. Not in Congress, not in a state legislature, not on a school board, not on the board of a city dump. Every time they get the idea in their pointed little heads that they have a mandate from God or the electorate, they’ll act on their delusional notions and ignore the facts and their constituents. So don’t give them that idea.

Put another way: it is time for some “tough love” to be used on today’s GOP. Bricks upside their heads. Rub their noses in their messes. Give them a time-out. Pick your analogy. Only if they repeatedly get spanked at the polls will the light dawn on them, and only then will they grow up and become the responsible party that they once were. And we need grownups in government.

To misquote one of this writer’s favorite movie songs: “How do you solve a problem like Elephants?” Get them out of power and into the minority, where they can learn some hard, fact-based, real lessons. Until we do that, they’ll keep f***ing up, and we can no longer afford to indulge them. Too many people are dying, too much money is being squandered, and too many problems are going unsolved; all because too many Elephants are refusing to budge. And when they do move, they’re trampling, trumpeting and generally “going rogue”. Until they understand that they need to change, they’ll keep on doing what they’re doing.

Mr. B & C