All Along, You Thought We Lived In a Democracy...wrong!

And you really wonder why nothing happens for the 99%?  Read below for just a few answers (from Yves Smith's blog):

"And make no mistake about the role of Third Way. Third Way runs the policy apparatus of the Democratic Party. In Congress, staffers attend regular Third Way policy briefings, where the group hands out pre-packaged legislative amendments in legal form, generic press releases, polling around those policy ideas, and talking points. It’s a soup-to-nuts policy apparatus. Most of these ideas are harmless – like increased volunteerism – but some are not, like various tax proposals.



The group has enormous juice. On the Congressional side, it has six honorary Senate co-Chairs, and seven House-side co-Chairs. Jim Clyburn, a co-Chair, is in the House Democratic leadership. Two current cabinet members are former co-Chairs. Steny Hoyer, the House minority whip, held regular briefings for the freshmen member staff in the last Congress.

On the administration side, former Third Way board member Bill Daley is now White House chief of staff. Ron Klain, who was Biden’s Chief of Staff, is now with Third Way. The White House is pretty much full of Third Way-style apparatchiks.


Third Way also echoes, nearly entirely, the White House’s political line (though it is slightly ahead on gay rights). Here’s Third Way praising the Gang of 6 talks, opposing cut, cap, and balance, encouraging entitlement cuts, pushing various free trade agreements.


Finally, most of the Board members are from the FIRE Sector (Wall Street and real estate), including the head of equity trading for Goldman Sachs and one of the heads of investment banking for Morgan Stanley.


It’s a highly optimized political operation for the White House and Congressional Democrats, with PR muscle, elite validators, access, and policy-making infrastructure."

Back to Elora...

And then there's the little matter of our esteemed president condoning (and quite possibly ordering) the killing of two Americans without due process.  I mean, even if you believe Awlaki was a "bad guy" and one of the "black hats" you still have to ask, "Who's next?" and look in your rear view mirror as you do so.  There is something in this country called "innocent until proven guilty."  I don't recall the Constitution saying, "except for citizens we believe might have something to hide."  Go here:

http://politics.salon.com/2011/09/30/awlaki_6/

Dennis Kucinich and the ACLU have filed separate suits (as I understand it) against the
Administration.

Oh...and about those Koch brothers?  The ones who "sponsor" National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting?  Go here:  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/06/1023196/-Its-time-for-politicians-to-return-Koch-money?via=recent