By Jack E. Lohman

Obvious, but my company was not run by politicians.

Poor people want taxes spent on them, and rich people want the taxes themselves. The poor have votes to sell, and the rich have campaign bribes to share. These are all “vested interests,” and the politician needs them both.

What is a politician to do?

Of course, they could just increase taxes and revenues and satisfy the problem. Except that the poor pay no taxes and the rich do, and the rich wants subsidies before the poor get taken care of, and it is they who fund the elections (read that; give campaign bribes!).

What is a politician to do?

If he’s honest, he’ll do what he’s paid to do, and has sworn to do. But few of them remain honest once they get in. They soon learn that they have to play the money game if they want to collect campaign money for re-election. And they have to play the money game the rest of the Pols are playing, or they get nothing done.

But they get nothing “good” done the way it is, so why do they stay?

Bernie Sanders is the only independent in the Senate, and takes zero special interest money. Because of his honesty he could run with zero money and win! Wisconsin’s Bill Proxmire was the same; he spent $500 on his last election.

So, NO money works too!!!

And the media?

A total piece of crap! Corporate media and Fox and CNN need the corruption, because much of the campaign bribes filter down to TV ads. As much as 15% of their income is political ads, paid for with political corruption. They’ve lost advertisers to the internet, and have made it up with political ads. So they aren’t about to jeopardize their income by lambasting our corrupt political system.

Except for a few… Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow, and one or two others.

Are they the only ones who get it? Or are they lying and everybody else is truthful?

There are certain journalists I now never read, even Internet web sites, both Lefties and Righties, because they know the problem and refuse to discuss it.

How can these national media experts totally talk around the corruption issue that is killing our nation … with a straight face?

By Jack E. Lohman

Scott Walker is not 100% wrong, but he might as well be. He’s in with the wrong crowd.

With all of his campaign cash, easily 80% of his $25 million from out of state, he really didn’t need a penny to get re-elected. Had he just had heart, he’d have held even the lefties. But he didn’t.

• He opposes campaign finance reform, though 99% of this state’s problems are due to bought-and-paid-for politicians. Him included.
• He opposes health care for all, though it would be the best “jobs” bill ever. But his “insurance industry” contributors ($600K) would have nothing of it. He has even attempted to deny health care for 17,000 BadgerCare recipients to balance the budget, and may yet succeed.
• He killed the high-speed rail through Wisconsin to Minneapolis-St. Paul, and though I supported him on that I’d like to see it financed by private industry. But then again, I didn’t receive $509,000 in campaign contributions from the road builders, rail’s biggest competitor. (No wonder he has favored campaign bribes.)

Ideological? Or bad character?

Clearly, Tom Barrett has his own problems.

Like, why in the hell do we taxpayers need to fund a streetcar in downtown Milwaukee? 80% of the public supports a voter referendum, let’s have it! Let those who must pay the bill, decide! (Now, there’s a unique thought.)

For sure the train would have been shoved down our throat.

Our problem — both at the state and federal level — is “who owns our politicians?”

It does not matter what the issue, follow the money and you’ll find political corruption driving it. I get so frustrated when my political friends, both Lefties and Righties, do exactly what the politicians designed for them to do… concentrate on the little fires that keep them away from the big fire, political corruption.

Walker doesn’t like public funding of campaigns, but I consider it the same when he gives taxpayer dollars to special interests that fund his elections. Yea, paying them through the back door for campaign funds seems like a quid pro quo to me.

Are we really broke, or broke enough that we can’t afford both BadgerCare AND political payola, so the former has to go?

Both sides have made their list of the little fires they want you working on, and have left the main one off the table. They both like political corruption and want it left alone. Distraction works, and having a system that is broken is just fine with them!

By Jack E. Lohman

And now we’d like them in jail with the other crooks!!!  Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, just announced a $2 billion loss on bad investments, and he’ll likely get a bonus for it! Privatize profits and socialize losses seems their philosophy, and it has to stop!!!

Let’s hope the shareholders rather than taxpayers take the hit for this.

(And incidentally, should we be asking where that $2 billion is now?)

Again, the sheeple are drinking the Kool-Aid.

Both the Left and Right have fallen for it. A very clever, corporately-financed strategy has succeeded in controlling the message: “stop entitlement spending!!!” “Solidify the Bush tax cuts” (that killed the economy in the first place!). Even to the detriment of the so-called “smarter” Republican voters.

You, sheeple, are getting screwed!!!

All while the real government problem is “corporate giveaways” and political corruption … and the solution is to “restore taxes and revenue” … we sheeple (Republicans and Democrats alike) are singing the tune of the politicians that want nothing of it. Because these leaders are getting a piece of the loot.

These politicians are part of the rip-off, and we voters are too distracted (or sucked-in) to do anything about it. WE can’t see when even OUR OWN pockets are being picked. Lefties and Righties alike, had best wake up.

Indeed the Righties are correct that we have too many people on the dole, but some of them are Righties themselves. And the union bosses are more interested in retaining their own $300K salaries than the jobs that are outsourced as a result of exaggerated wages.

We indeed have an imbalance, with crooks at the bottom and crooks at the top.

The Mainstream Media is right in the thick of it… 

… because they get a major part of the corrupt dollars that flow to politicians. Unfortunately the Internet losses and Citizens United gains have converted them from watchdogs to co-conspirators, as the media gets a piece of the action rather than reporting on the process.

And to the top 1%, be careful of what you ask for.

We have maybe 10 years before the political corruption kills democracy. After that your wealth will be worthless in the US. It may buy politicians but it will not buy off the public ire.

NONE of this would occur without corrupt politicians, and the sheeple allowing the betrayal.

By Jack E. Lohman

And incidentally, he looks pretty good. Mike LaForrest is a new candidate for U.S. Senate and he and I share many of the same goals (like campaign and healthcare reform, and instant runoff voting). Though Tammy Baldwin is pretty good on these too.

But here’s the real issue: HE’S A SPOILER! He’s a good independent, as many of us Wisconsinites would like, and can’t be excluded by the primaries. He may just take the cake, or ruin it for the Republican or ruin it for the Democrat. That’s what a winner-take-all system does. A spoiler can kill it for the party that should have won.

One or both of these duopoly parties are not going to be a happy camper when the votes are counted.

But Mike needs 2000 Wisconsinite signatures to get on the ballot. Please sign HERE. If you can,  mail to him by June 1st

Mike plans to spend less than $1000 and will likely not win, but getting the candidates to talk about the issues is critical to all of us. It’ll even help Tammy.

Is there a fix?

Yes, but not for the 2012 elections, and probably not under Walker. It’s fair, and Walker doesn’t like fair.

It’s called Instant Runoff Voting, or Ranked Choice Voting. You have three votes, your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices. Vote for your first choice and if he fails to garner 50%+1, your vote automatically accrues to your second choice, and so forth. But if that’s too confusing, vote only your first choice, as you do today.

Australia uses it in their national elections; the U.S. should too.

It boggles my mind that nobody in Wisconsin’s leadership parties saw this coming, or didn’t prevent the faulty elections of the past. It would have nullified the effects of the fake Democrats and fake Republicans, and totally nullified the effects of troublemaker crossover voting. AND it would have eliminated the dreaded “throwing your vote away” when you vote for your 3rd party candidate of choice.

It’s a win-win for everybody. This new legislature can do it.

By Jack E. Lohman

First, I think Obama’s being “forced” to take a stand on the gay issue was contrived… purposely set to test the waters well before the election. Biden and Duncan followed their orders and it worked.

On this issue I’m a Lefty. If gays are dumb enough to get married, let them. But not on my dime. I don’t want our government in my bedroom or theirs. My views of their lifestyle are moot. This is (or was) a free country.

I also do not support the taxpayers funding abortions or erectile dysfunction or contraceptives or anything else that is sexual and personal and in the realm of private charities. Enough is enough! The right-to-lifers and pro-choicers must go it alone.

And I think Romney’s being a bully at 17 is a dumb and stupid non-issue. Dems, get over it!

Don’t we have more critical issues to solve?

Yes, and it’s frustrating that the moneyed interests are spending so much money on the message war, and they are winning. Not because they are right, but because they have the cash. And the conservatives have bought into the message, even at their own peril.

Where to start? I’d say dump the political trash in November.  100% of it. Clearly there are some good guys that should stay, and we know who those are. But there aren’t many, and an 80% cleanup is in order. The rest will get the message (though the four Horsemen — Boehner, Pelosi, Reid and McConnell — is a wasted bunch.)

And for our bait-and-switch governor? We could do better.

By Jack E. Lohman

I’ve heard the garbage. It is easy to say “If campaign reform reaches my desk, *I* will sign it…” when they know full well that it will never reach their desk! Not with our enormous system of campaign bribery and politicians willing to laugh off criticism as they stride to the bank.

Every candidate knows about political corruption; but few are willing to stand up to it. Can you imagine what would happen if one of our politicians stood up and said “Enough is enough; no more tax money will be spent on roads to nowhere! Bribery is killing Wisconsin and I will not let the state or the marketplace go further down the tubes.”

Where will these crooks get money, if not from the taxpayers?

Road Building…

That’s just one industry, and if you travel Wisconsin you can see your hard-earned taxes at work. Replacing roads that don’t need replacing, rebuilding airport interchanges that don’t need rebuilding, blocking train expansion. It’s a great and profitable game. For them. With your money. All because this industry and many others kick back profits to fund the political campaigns and the public does not.

I’d rather put food on the table, or fund the BadgerCare Governor Scott Walker has removed from 17,000 of our low-income residents. But in any event, NOT give it to the roadbuilders.

Look at Walker’s campaign, funded with $25 million in campaign dollars, easily 80% from out-of-state special interests that want in your pockets. And they’ll get there, if he’s re-elected.

Can you imagine what would happen…

… if the road contractors, and all industries, said “No more!. We don’t want to deal in political corruption… it is killing our future marketplace?” And pulled all of their campaign bribes?

No, the state would not crash and burn. We’d only get the roads we needed and the industries we wanted. And our economy would return to normal. And our politicians could hold their heads high.

Not a leader among them!

It boggles my mind that not one of Wisconsin’s candidates have the courage to tell it like it is. Except Rocky Anderson at the presidential level. His first two minutes says it all in this short but excellent video. I sure do hope he makes it to Wisconsin’s ballot, because his message is right on target, for both the D’s and R’s.

What would happen if just one candidate said “we have but one root problem, and it affects every issue out there. That’s political corruption, and I’ll campaign only on that issue. If you don’t like it, don’t vote for me, but WE are going to fix it with you or without you. Where is Wisconsin’s leadership on political cleanliness?

By Jack E. Lohman

Walmart would be better off calling theirs campaign bribes, which our esteemed congressmen know all too well and fully accept.

But our congress much prefers to prevent our political bribery in Mexico than here at home.

Had Walmart spent that $24 million on American politicians instead, they’d have been home free. But on Mexican plutocrats???

Not real smart. Our bribery is not just legal, it is widespread.

Looking at the high costs to Mexico’s economy for its corruption, do WE really want to go there?

Well, we already have.

WE have been screwed and our congressmen and president are the screwers. WE, good people, are the screwees.

• I absolutely don’t care about the debate over the effects of our Fed and its money policy. I don’t understand the intricacies of Greece defaulting or the strikes in France.
• And I don’t know whether to side with the “climate change” alarmists or the “clean coal” and nuclear companies.

If I had politicians NOT on the take from industry, I’d be assured that they’d do their level best to solve these issues. But padding their pockets with campaign bribes is more important to them than efficiently running the country.

I am not a smart person, but I *DO* understand bribery!!!

It works. It gets for the briber things that they didn’t have to work for. And I wouldn’t care so much about that, except that they are getting it from me and my kids and grandkids. And our nation’s economy.

If I had any preference at all…

… it would be that my esteemed politician(s) *NOT* take campaign bribes from the corporate CEOs and K-Streeters that want in my pockets.

So sheeple, it’s up to you. We can leave these jokers in, unabated, or we can do what we must: replace 100% of them in November.

By Jack E. Lohman

Get this: “Debt” is caused by spending, and spending is caused by campaign bribes. Get it???

POLITICIANS get PAID to spend, but they don’t get as much from the taxpayers as they do the SuperPACs!!! Wars are good because they generate campaign cash from the defense industry! And the more wars the better!

The good news …

… is that the voters are getting the message. Even while the Tea Partiers and Occupiers are raising hell, they haven’t understood the root problem. But they now ARE getting the message!

BOTH political parties are corrupt, and 100% of them must be replaced in November!

NONE of the politicians are concerned about unemployment, except their own, because low unemployment drives wages down and profits up and CEO salaries up and the politician’s piece of the booty skyward. Their interests are 100% out of phase with the public’s.

The truth about “capitalism!”

It is absolutely better than anything else out there, but it need not be all inclusive. In running our economy, nothing could be better.

But like making chocolate cake, some ingredients can make it trash and corrupt politicians are that ingredient. Capitalism by itself is great if politicians could be banned from manipulating it for their own purposes. Crony capitalism, like taking cash bribes to manipulate the rules to benefit the giver.

And changing the rules to allow into the system countries who (a) do not have free markets and (b) force their worker wages to one-tenth ours, as they did when they passed NAFTA and CAFTA and the more recent Obama “free trade agreements.” Of course had they been “fair” trade agreements we wouldn’t be where we are today.

Remember the tobacco industry? Even the threat of regulation caused campaign bribes to flow. To all congressmen! And now wars??? THIS is a gold mine!!!

By Jack E. Lohman

Yea, everything is fair game today. NOTHING phases politicians!

I’ve written about our drug policy before, but this takes the cake. And as a disclosure I’ve never taken drugs in my life. (Maybe I should start, but at 74 I think I’ve missed the fun!)

From Republic Report via Alternet: The Top Five Special Interest Groups Lobbying To Keep Marijuana Illegal

1.) Police Unions: Police departments across the country have become dependent on federal drug war grants to finance their budget. In March, we published a story revealing that a police union lobbyist in California coordinated the effort to defeat Prop 19, a ballot measure in 2010 to legalize marijuana, while helping his police department clients collect tens of millions in federal marijuana-eradication grants. And it’s not just in California. Federal lobbying disclosures show that other police union lobbyists have pushed for stiffer penalties for marijuana-related crimes nationwide.

2.) Private Prisons Corporations: Private prison corporations make millions by incarcerating people who have been imprisoned for drug crimes, including marijuana. As Republic Report’s Matt Stoller noted last year, Corrections Corporation of America, one of the largest for-profit prison companies, revealed in a regulatory filing that continuing the drug war is part in parcel to their business strategy. Prison companies have spent millions bankrolling pro-drug war politicians and have used secretive front groups, like the American Legislative Exchange Council, to pass harsh sentencing requirements for drug crimes.

3.) Alcohol and Beer Companies: Fearing competition for the dollars Americans spend on leisure, alcohol and tobacco interests have lobbied to keep marijuana out of reach. For instance, the California Beer & Beverage Distributors contributed campaign contributions to a committee set up to prevent marijuana from being legalized and taxed.

4.) Pharmaceutical Corporations: Like the sin industries listed above, pharmaceutical interests would like to keep marijuana illegal so American don’t have the option of cheap medical alternatives to their products. Howard Wooldridge, a retired police officer who now lobbies the government to relax marijuana prohibition laws, told Republic Report that next to police unions, the “second biggest opponent on Capitol Hill is big PhRMA” because marijuana can replace “everything from Advil to Vicodin and other expensive pills.”

5.) Prison Guard Unions: Prison guard unions have a vested interest in keeping people behind bars just like for-profit prison companies. In 2008, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association spent a whopping $1 million to defeat a measure that would have “reduced sentences and parole times for nonviolent drug offenders while emphasizing drug treatment over prison.”

And another from Republic Report: Why Can’t You Smoke Pot? Because Lobbyists Are Getting Rich Off of the War on Drugs

Legalizing drugs will take the profit out, keep the pushers out of high schools, and reduce or eliminate killings at the border!

We’ll eliminate unnecessary and costly prison time, and save the country billions of dollars fighting a drug war it cannot win.

Problem is, the special interests favoring legalization cannot compete in the area of political graft.

By Jack E. Lohman

The pay ratio was 365:1 in 2000, between CEO and average employee, compared to 25:1 in Britain and 10:1 in Japan. The median income of the top 100 U.S. CEOs today is $14.4 million, versus the average annual American salary of $45,230.

The difference is in the amount of political corruption. Higher CEO salaries and fewer regulations requires more cash to flow. (Aren’t our politicians sweet? They don’t do anything for free.)

Back to the point…

CEOs are picked by the Board of Directors, usually a group of 8 to 12 CEOs from other companies that meet at your digs for a couple of hours every 3 months or so. And the CEO that they pick to run your company often sits on their Board as well, so there’s mutual back-scratching going on.

And be assured, there will almost always be an insurance company CEO on the board, to be their healthcare expert and influence their direction on health care.

No, boards do not see the conflict of interest. The best “jobs bill” ever would involve dumping this industry.

But anyway…

… to cover themselves legally, when setting the CEO salary and avoiding the “giving away the store” collusion charges, the Board hires an “independent compensation consultant” to research the field and give them “unbiased” feedback on the going CEO rate.

Of course this consultant also sets the Board member’s own salary at their company too. So if the consultant knows better, and wants to be hired again, they will keep the pay-trend going up. It’s a nice job, if you can get it.

And you’d be surprised to know that we have congressmen calling for even MORE tax cuts for the rich, the so-called “job creators,” even though they are at the lowest tax rate ever AND the Bush tax cuts to get us there did absolutely nothing to add jobs, and in fact everything to destroy them! But when you have congress in your back pocket you can get by with anything.

They often use the “free market” ploy…

IF we want the best, they argue, “we’ll have to pay a high amount.” They rarely get the best, but they do get someone who has done a great job on his resume and finagled his salary upward along the way. In fact there is evidence that the more they pay the less they get.

Who pays? The taxpayers for one. Employee salaries and benefits are tax deductible. And the shareholders pay as well, because what doesn’t come off of taxes comes out of shareholder profits. But the CEO and Board determines this, the shareholders don’t.

It’s also in knowing who to pay off.

Our politicians know that without outrageous salaries their income from bribes will decrease. Of course, they will retain the campaign bribes from the SuperPACs, but more is merrier.

Worse, for the country, is that corporate laws are bought-and-paid-for. And they will not change as long as campaign cash continues to flow from private industry. Money WORKS!

A federal “Incorporation” option

Corporations are currently created on a state level, and as such the states see who can create the most competitively weak laws. Delaware has been quite successful in this endeavor.

But now is a good time to introduce a federal version. One that offers ZERO taxation for those complying. It gives shareholders the reins to calling the shots, limits CEO pay to 50 times the lowest, and gives U.S. workers preference over other countries.

What’s not to like about that?

By Jack E. Lohman

In some country’s corrupt politicians are executed. Like in China. In others they are doted upon. Like here in the U.S..

WE, cowboys, have a serious problem. Our politicians are walking away with the store.

Millions of Bees are mysteriously killed, now believed that insecticides are the likely cause.  Bees are vital to the creation of food. They fly around and pollinate plants, so they grow! Without Bees there would likely not be human life, but do you think for a moment our politicians would step in to regulate pesticides? Think “campaign contributions from pesticide companies!!!”

Money works!!!

Besides which, *I* — me personally — do not want to be eating these pesticides either! Nor do I want them passed to my kids and grandkids and great-grandkid. Why not use electronic zappers instead? Does not that industry share its profits with politicians?

Mining has taken its hits, with claims (likely justified) that it is causing water pollution. People actually lighting a match to the water coming out of their faucet. But not to worry, our politicians are there to save you. Unfortunately the campaign contributions from the mining industry are substantial, and from the people nearly nothing. You lose.

I don’t know whether mining is good for us or bad for us. But I do know that if the politicians are to decide, I don’t want them on the mining industry payroll. OR on the so-called “clean industry” payroll. I want them — get this — neutral!!!

Rush Limbaugh says “trickle down economics works!!!” Period!!! End of story!!! Except that following the Bush tax cuts our jobs situation crashed. Totally. The money passed to the top 1% stayed at the top 1%. Tax cuts create only two things: wealth, and campaign contributions.

The big issue, of course, is health care. ObamaCare is terrible, but it was bought and paid for by $125 million from the insurance and healthcare industry. As was RomneyCare. And they’ll not give up easily. They own our politicians and they’ll not give them back.

Or, we could privatize congress and then IT would have to abide by OUR laws!

Forget about it. They are ALREADY “privatized,” owned by corporations, and if they formalized it they’d create another special category for themselves.

I want one answer: when this is all over, who is going to protect the rich from their own security guards?

Isn’t political corruption great?

Only a 100% turnover in November will change it.

By Jack E. Lohman

When there are Americans whose Social Security checks are being garnished to pay off their outstanding student loan debt, then it is clear that the United States has a problem. Source

We can thank our esteemed politicians — Jim Sensenbrenner and his Republican co-conspirators — for revising the bankruptcy rules to exclude educational loans. Now students live with the debt until paid off, or they die.

Sorry to say, but education is a disposable issue … one of the little fires needed to divert the firefighters. The BIG fire — on every issue critical to the saving of our economy — is the politicians that have passed laws to cut spending on things like education and health care — so they have dollars to pass on to their Fat Cat funders in terms of subsidies and tax breaks, all traded for campaign contributions.

All other societal needs are off limits. Live with it, or fix it! These politician bastards are cleaning up.

93% of our nation’s economy growth last year, went to the 1% of the population that sent campaign cash. What part of “bribes” do we voters not understand?

Taxpayer-funded vouchers for private “for-profit” corporations to provide education — and kick back a few bucks to the politicians that made it all possible — is NOT what this country needs. This is NOT the way most people would design a key public service.

The fix?

Free, government provided education through 4 years of college or trade school — for students maintaining a B or better, and for needed professions. Based on grades, not wealth or race, with independent oversight to avoid “teaching to the test.”

Yes, rich people can buy into the system; it’s just not government subsidized unless grade criteria is met.

“Smart” education is the future of this country, and to block it (or universal health care) is short-sighted and suicidal. There is only one way to fix it; with 100% turnover of politicians in November! They ALL must go! Our problem is not spending money; it is spending money in the right way.

There IS only one solution, public funding of campaigns. But don’t count on the R’s or D’s fixing it. As a life-long Republican, this year I will be voting for an independent, Rocky Anderson. He seems to be the only candidate that understands the root problem, for this and health care reform and education. Follow the money, folks!

By Jack E. Lohman

But so are the Fat Cats at the top, like the bankers getting their bonuses from taxpayer bailouts!!!

Gov. Chris Christie, (NJ-R) is one of my favorites, but he is terribly remiss when he throws darts at one side of the problem and gives a total pass to the other side.

Absolutely we have leakers at the bottom end… guys and gals that sit back and collect welfare and unemployment checks without lifting a finger to find employment. And my Lefty friends are as remiss in ignoring the leakers on their side of the curve.

But the multi-million-dollar cash bonuses given to the worthless bankers that caused the economy to crash, that doesn’t count? Is one not just as bad as the other? Or worse???

Why do we tolerate this imbalance?

Problem is, those at the top can give political campaign bribes, and those at the bottom can only shake their finger, so which tune do you think our politicians are going to dance to? Does this strike you as prostitution? Is this who you want representing you?

Or are you rich and just don’t care? And if so, who is going to protect you from your security guards when the world crashes?

Shouldn’t we first try to stop the crash???

Our politicians see this inequity every day, but they love it! Without it we’d likely have public funding of campaigns and they’d lose their cash advantage!

And incidentally, public funding of campaigns would cost about $5 per taxpayer per year, hundreds of times less than our current pork system is costing us.

But it would level the playing field, and our politicians don’t like level playing fields!

That’s why, in my mind, we’ll not EVER fix the system with our current set of crooks. ONLY a 100% turnover in November will give us a chance at a clean political system. And if the newbies become crooks, they are ousted until we get a clean system.

By Jack E. Lohman

As a former CEO with 40 years in the health care industry, I lean toward capitalism. But since retiring I’ve gotten a closer look at our politicians and I don’t like what I see.

Most American politicians (though not all) are corrupted by the special interest money that helps them get re-elected. The longer they are in the worse they seem to get. (But there ARE a couple of honest ones!)

Had I an employee or member of the board, who took outside money and gave away corporate assets in return, I’d have had them jailed. But in politics we seem to expect it, though they do the same thing.

The extremes…

Communism is a dictatorship not at all welcome by free minds, and socialism has allowed politicians to give away the store to get re-elected. But it’s not as “terrible” as some on the right would have you believe. Their main flamboyance (that I know of and approve) is government-paid health care and upper education. Both can be abused, and “too much of a good thing” has drained their economy.

The happy medium?

• How about “politicians who are not on the take?”
• How about free-market CEOs, but with “regulations that prevent legalized thievery from the public AND shareholders?”
• How about politicians who comply with the laws they pass for the rest of us, rather than placing themselves in an Ivory Tower?

The first is the most important!

• 100% turnover in November
• Public funding of campaigns (cost = $5 per taxpayer per year)
• Term limits (double the length, limit to ONE)
• 5 year restriction on lobbying (member and staff)
• Reforms on redistricting
• Implement STOCK Act
• Members subject to all laws they pass for the people

Live with it, or fix it. But it will have to be done by the voters; the Fat Cats and politicians like things the way they are.

By Jack E. Lohman

My Republican friends call me a left-wing wacko and my Democrat friends call me a right-wing wacko. I love it. They are both right. And both wrong.

I don’t drink the Kool-Aid from either side. I am not hopelessly blinded by either ideology. I want to think about this myself. There *IS* an answer, but it is in the middle and few are going there.

I don’t want to hear it from politicians that are on the payroll and beholden to their funders rather than the people they should be working for.

And I don’t want to hear it from the extremes at the Left or Right, both of whom have become hopelessly starry-eyed pawns. I don’t want to hear from gullible people who don’t listen.

Maybe if they were correct, but they rarely are.

The politicians absolutely love this battle!

They love that the R’s think the D’s are 100% stupid idiots … and the D’s think the same about the R’s. These sheeple battle each other on the little issues and leave the real crooks alone to break into the bank. That’s our esteemed politicians!

It’s suicidal and I refuse to buy into it.

Scott Walker is not 100% wrong. 

Yes there are some in the union leadership that have only one thing in mind: gigantic union-boss salaries. Shame on them, but it shouldn’t be coming from Walker with his attempt to cut 53,000 poor people out of Medicaid and pad the pockets of the Koch Brothers. Freeing up money to pass to his funders.

That’s not to say that some poor people — or the Koch Brothers — don’t deserve what they get, but we’ll never get an honest answer from the corrupted politicians.

And neither are the D’s 100% wrong.

Corporate CEO’s can be pretty greedy and corrupt. That the bankers used taxpayer bailout money for executive bonuses, all while the politicians watched from the side, is not easy to justify. Nor are subsidies and tax breaks to favored campaign contributors. And gigantic CEO-boss salaries? Oh my…

And exorbitant CEO salaries are also reimbursed by consumers and taxpayers. At least, that which is not stolen from shareholders.

How are you liking it so far?

Corporate taxes should be ZERO!

Frankly, taxing corporations so they can add the taxes to their product price seems stupid to me. That our “poor” people reimburse them at the cash register is even more stupid. Adding needed regulations makes sense, but stupid make-work regulations that cost unnecessary dollars that (again) are passed to the consumer is (again) stupid.

UNLESS those regulations benefit one industry over another, and cause political bribes to change hands. Then the politicians like it a lot. Think “tobacco money!” Whoopee!

Good laws do not require campaign bribes, but bad laws do. So when all of that money changes hands, you best worry.

Corporate taxes and excessive regulations cause jobs to be off-shored. Not a smart thing to do.

Both sides had best smarten up…

Our country is being sold off, one brick at a time. And there is only one entity that can stop it: your politicians at the state and federal level. But they are all — 100% of them — in bed with the pocket-pickers.

And for the record I support neither Scott Walker or his Democrat challengers. I’m hoping for a strong third-party candidate.