One of my fav’s Froma Harrop makes a compelling case to GOP, TEA and Conservatives on supporting our President’s Health Care Law. I never would have tied immigration and health care together as stylishly as Ms. Harrop. I guess that’s why she gets the big bucks writing and I get the pleasure of sharing my opinions with you for free!  What an awesome country to have adopted and fought for freedom of speech.  Gloria Kennedy aka Senator Fleck

http://www.creators.com/opinion/froma-harrop.html

Dollarocracy.com aka me and Kyt are very proud to shout for everyone to hear, “We are Democrats, Liberals and ardent supporters of President Obama”! If it were up to me, illegal immigration would cease to exist. I would welcome all, as my grandparents were welcomed to American from Italy and Ireland. They asked for nothing but the opportunity to come to the greatest nation on earth; to live, work and raise their families with the anticipation their children would surpass all there hopes and dreams. I can report that has happened and very proud of what my grandparents and parents sacrificed for our well being.  So proud to tell you about my cousin, Vincent Oneppo, who has been honored by having the Oneppo Chamber Music Series, named for our family in tribute to his many years of loyal service and contributions to Yale. My cousin attended Yale after graduating high school and graduated from the School of Music. Most recently, he was the Director of Concerts and Media at the School, and for many years he directed the chamber music series and brought many of the world’s finest performers to New Haven. He retired in the fall of 2010. Even though our grandparents and his parents are not here to witness such an accomplishment, I know they are beaming with pride from above.

I am so sick and tired of all the immigrant bashing going on in the GOP and might I add some Democrats as well. My question to all who say, “Let’s build a wall around the boarder”, is this: where did your family come from?  As far as I know, there are no Nations First citizens running for President of the United States. In my own little state of Rhode Island, The Narragansett Indians have been here for centuries. In 1631, on this very day, the co-founder of RI, Roger Williams, and his wife Mary arrived in Boston from England. Most are familiar with their history of being thrown out of Boston, retreating to RI and proclaiming freedom of religion would reign supreme in our state.They were befriended by local Indians and eventually settled at the headwaters of what is now Narragansett Bay.  Roger purchased land from the Narragansett Chiefs, Canonicus and Miantonomi and named his settlement Providence in thanks to God. The original deed remains in the Archives of the City of Providence. I often tell this lame joke to my native friends, “You had a very bad immigration policy”.

I view the issue of immigration through the lens of opportunity, Christian values and freedom. This is a big country. Vast areas of the nation are unpopulated waiting for new explores to mine her riches and create new dreams and opportunities. I believe those opposed to immigration are racist, mean selfish people who want to control our country and not share. America is better than that. We the people will have our chance to decide this issue November 6, 2012.  In my heart, the 99% will prevail and open our doors to all who want a chance at the American Dream. Peace Out, Go Patriots! Gloria Kennedy aka Senator Fleck 

I usually write about politics, government and crooks but today I want to share this tale with you because I love dogs, horses, cats, and all animals. Sometimes with all the difficult times we face we have to stop and think of how to help our furry friends. After you read this I hope you will share your thoughts and ideas on how the following situation can be avoided.  Thank you, Gloria Kennedy, aka Senator Fleck

Tuesday I had the unique honor to attend the funeral of my Governor, J. Joseph Garrahy.  As a member of the RI Senate when Garrahy was Governor we worked together to ensure good legislation became law that benefited the citizens of RI. Unfortunately, the days of cooperating and keeping your word (which is all that you really have in this life) in the political arena is a thing of the past. He was a wonderful human being and at another time, I will post more about our great Governor.  What I encountered driving home from the reception is what I want to share with you. Perhaps, you too, will become upset and help me think of a solution to a growing problem.

Although this site emphasizes the inequities between the haves and have nots,  I believe this relates of to money. This Tuesday was a beautiful day. The sun was shinning, skies were blue and it felt very much like spring. If you are not familiar with RI, they don’t call us the Ocean State for nothing. We are blessed with miles and miles of coastline due to our estuary, Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic ocean. I decide to pull over and take a few pictures of the stunning surroundings. I chose Scarborough Beach in Narragansett. This beach has the Jersey Shore beat by a mile since males “dress for swimming” with their gold chains and machismo. Most women wear “Big Hair”, gold jewelery, itty bitty bathing suits and rarely go in the water. The atmosphere has been like that for at least 50 years. On this day the beach was empty except for a few couples walking, a young man skate boarding and me taking pictures with my phone.

I was mesmerized by the waves but snapped out of it when two young women and a dog walked my way. Like dogs spring to squirrels, I run to dogs cause I love them so much. The dog was very gentle and I was told by the women he was 14 years old and was a Lab Akita mix. Well, he looked like a puppy and was ever so playful. We chatted for a few minutes and I said my goodbyes and that’s when it happened. Both women started crying and I asked, “what’s wrong”? They told me this was the dog’s last walk because he was to be euthanized in one hour. The dog wasn’t sick but her husband did not want the dog around their 6 week old baby. I was heart broken and my wheels started turnings as I was thinking of a solution. It’s not right to “put down” a perfectly healthy adorable dog.  I immediately called my daughter and tried to persuade her that I just had to bring this dog home. She reminded me we already had 3 dogs and how unfair it would be for me to come home with another. I knew she was right but, I handed the phone over to the owners friend who tried to convince Kyt the dog should live in Warwick. The dog’s owner was crying and sobbing when she knew we couldn’t take her dog.

My rule in life is to help anyone in trouble woman or beast. All of a sudden the young man who was skate boarding came by and I said, “How would you like a dog”? We explained our dilemma and he said he couldn’t have a dog where he lived but has a friend with a 25 acre farm. Apparently his friend has horses, dogs and other animals but there was a hitch, his friend was in Costa Rica and would not be home for 3 weeks. At the time I wished I knew of a dog rescue that would come and get this beautiful perfect creature. I can’t tell you if this encounter with the women, the dog and skate boarder had a happy ending. I don’t know if the husband would give the poor dog a 3 week stay of execution until the friend with the farm came home. I couldn’t bare looking at the dog and I jumped in my car feeling absolutely terrible and guilty.  One thing I do know is this woman who is married to a man with such a cold heart, will not have a happy life. If you don’t like animals especially dogs, I don’t want to know you. I’d rather keep the dog and get rid of the spouse. Would you?

,

By Sunlight Reporting Staff Jan 31 2012 

1. What makes a super PAC super?

   Traditional political action committees are bound by a $5,000 annual limit on the size of contributions they can accept from individuals and are prohibited from accepting contributions from corporations and labor unions. A super PAC is freed from these restrictions under two conditions: The PAC must neither 1) give money directly to a candidate or other political committees that give directly to candidates, nor  2)  coordinate how it spends its money with a federal candidate. As long as those two conditions are met, a super PAC may accept donations directly from corporate or union treasuries and in amounts that are limited only by the size of donors’ bank accounts. Movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg wrote a $2 million check to the super PAC backing President Obama’s  reelection; casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife have reportedly underwritten a super PAC backing Newt Gingrich to the tune of $10 million. Neither of these donations could have been legally given to a traditional PAC.

2. What’s so new about the corporate and union activity? Haven’t big labor and big business been active in political campaigns for years?

   The Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United made it easier for corporations and unions to use their treasuries to directly influence elections. Some restrictions remain: if they want to give directly to candidates, they still have to establish political action committees and raise funds for them. But there are limits on how much traditional political action committees can accept in contributions and from whom: Currently, the cap on individual contributions is $5,000 a year. Donors to traditional union and corporate PACS must work for or own shares in those corporations or belong to those unions. They must be identified and the amounts of their donations made public. By contrast, super PACs can accept money in unlimited amounts from unions, corporations and unaffiliated individuals as well as from non-profit organizations that have been incorporated under innocuous-sounding names and that do not have to report the sources of their funding. That means individuals and entities with whom candidates might not wish to be publicly associated can support their campaigns anonymously.

3. Can a union, corporation or non-profit group create its own super PAC?

   Yes—with very few exceptions, anyone can set up and contribute to a super PAC. Foreign nationals can’t, nor can foreign corporations, though a U.S.-based subsidiary of a foreign corporation can. Some government contractors are barred from giving as well, as are U.S. national banks. But it’s also important to remember that corporations and labor unions, and individuals, for that matter, don’t need a super PAC to spend unlimited money on elections. Provided they disclose the spending, they can write checks to pay for ads, get out the vote operations and other activities that aim to influence federal elections.

4. Can candidates have super PACs?

   Officially no. But it’s easy to understand why it sometimes can seem as though they do.  Although a candidate cannot coordinate expenditures with a super PAC (tell the PAC where an ad might be placed, whether the ad should be positive or negative, or what voters canvassers should contact), there’s no law that says a candidate can’t have connections with a the entities backing his or her election. Many super PACs — such as the one supporting Romney, the pro-Newt Gingrich Winning Our Future, and Priorities USA, which backs President Obama — are run by former top aides of the candidates. And candidates can headline fundraisers for the super PACs that are supporting them (as Romney has) so long as they don’t ask for donations beyond the legal limits permitted for their own campaign committees. Donors are free to write larger checks and super PAC staffers are free to ask for them, but as long as the candidate abides by federal campaign limits or doesn’t actually ask for funds. it’s all kosher. Bottom line: There’s a legal prohibition against candidates’ coordinating with super PACs but the FEC has been exceedingly lenient in defining what constitutions coordination, as University of California law professor Rick Hasen pithily outlines in his Election Law Blog.

5. How do I know if a political action committee is a super PAC?

   Super PACs generally notify the Federal Election Commission of their existence by sending a letter, like this one filed by the pro-Mitt Romney group Restore Our Future, stating that they intend to raise funds in unlimited amounts in accordance with recent court decisions. Most are attached to the PAC’s “Statement of Organization” on the agency’s website. The FEC encourages written notification of a committee’s intent to accept unlimited campaign contributions, but it is not mandatory.

6. Do super PACs have to disclose the sources of their funding?

   That depends on what you mean by “disclose.” Like other political action committees, super PACs do have to file regular financial disclosure forms with the Federal Election Commission. But because they are permitted to accept money from incorporated entities that do not have to make the sources of their funding public, it’s possible for them to keep the names of actual donors undisclosed. In 2010, a super PAC that was active in one of that year’s marquee House races listed a single donor: a 501(c)(4) organization that does not have to disclose its donors. This is what is known among some campaign finance lawyers as “the Russian doll problem.”

7. How did things get so confusing?

   In Citizens United, the Supreme Court overturned the longstanding ban on corporations or unions making “independent expenditures” to advocate for or against the election of candidates, arguing that such contributions could not corrupt candidates as long as the money is not given directly to their campaigns. Three months later, a lower court applied that reasoning to toss out the limits on the size of donations that individuals or corporate entities may make to “independent expenditure only” committees, now better known as super PACs. If the committees’ spending isn’t corrupting, the court reasoned, there’s no reason to limit the amount of money donors can toss into the pot. This is how super PACs were born.

   The two decisions opened the door for existing companies and other incorporated organizations, such as unions and trade associations such as the Chamber of Commerce, to make unlimited “independent expenditures” out of their own coffers. It also led to the incorporation of new politically active non-profits, such as the Crossroads combine founded by GOP strategists Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, which includes both a super PAC and a nonprofit, incorporated under section 501(c)4 of the tax code as a social welfare organization.  The potential advantage of the 501(c)4: The names of its donors do not have to be disclosed. There’s been some speculation, however, that 501(c)4s won’t be heavily used because the law requires that more than half their money go to non-political purposes. Allen Dickerson, a lawyer with the Center for Competitive Politics, says it’s “an extraordinarily inefficient way to influence politics.” But Paul Ryan of the Campaign Legal Center argues doesn’t think the legal requirement that 501(c)4s’ spend more than 50 percent of their money on vaguely defined “non-political” activities will prove much of a deterrent.

8. What can super PACs do with their money?

   Anything except contribute directly to, or coordinate expenditures with, candidates and candidate committees. They can pay for any typical political expenditure, and then some. Super PACs can and do pay for television ads, phone banks, canvassers and bumper stickers. In other words, they can act as a shadow campaign.

9. What happens to super PACs’ money when the candidates they are supporting withdraw from a race?

   That’s hard to say because the law leaves the possibilities wide open. An orphan super PAC could use its money to help other candidates with independent expenditure campaigns. Super PACs may even be able to let the ex-candidate take over the PAC. The Campaign Legal Center’s Ryan says there’s nothing in the law that says the staff can’t use the money for a post-campaign cruise, but Mimi Marziani says she and other lawyers at New York University’s Brennan Center suspect that anyone who tries to take advantage of that loophole might find himself under investigation for fraud.

Very Important Petitions to quickly sign IE Citizens United

http://www.democrats.com/organize?registration_prompt#cid=ZGVtczE2NDc0ZGVtcw%3D%3D

Let’s get some truth! The Kochs’ allies in Congress are working to make the Kochs richer and stop any investigation into the billionaire brothers’ position on the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Watch the informative video, then SIGN THE PETITION to subpoena the Koch brothers at:

http://kochbrothersexposed.com/kochpipeline/

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act: Three Years Later

http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/blog/lilly-ledbetter-fair-pay-act-three-years-later

We can!

Can anyone answer the following: If the GOP loathe Socialism SO fervently, then why do they take GOV’T paychecks, benefits & pension MONEY?