Bill Maher/Super Pac

[yeahwho]

Bill gives up One Million Dollars (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/to-bill-maher-super-pacs-are-the-designated-hitters/) to Super Pac for Obama.

Here we go 2012.

[yeahwho]

Hey, remember this? Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito shooked his head no, and mouthed "not true," (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pB5uR3zgsA&feature=related)while President Obama criticized the Supreme Court for their decision permitting lobbyists and corporations to exert more influence on elections.

As of February 25, 2012, 342 groups organized as Super PACs have reported total receipts of $130,334,342 and total independent expenditures of $61,355,175 in the 2012 cycle.

opensecrets (http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/superpacs.php)

Our vote and our election process has been opened to corporate, big money and organized special interest financial leverage, unlike any time before. Just checkout the #1 Super-Pac "Restore Our Future (http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/indexpend.php?strID=C00490045&cycle=2012)" which supports Romney. They have spent so far (and we're just getting started here) $25 million dollars, mainly on negative ads against Republican opponents Gingrich and Santorum.

Surreal and if you ask me, a mean spirited group of rich fucks hellbent on grabbing every last penny out of our families. Isn't it becoming obvious how destructive corporate citizenship is?

[yeahwho]

As of February 27, 2012, 342 groups organized as Super PACs have reported total receipts of $130,334,342 and total independent expenditures of $61,480,038 in the 2012 cycle.

[yeahwho]

Since it is relatively early in the 2012 election cycle I figured it would be nice to get a snapshot of how many Super PACs currently exist and how much cash they have flowing and liquid. As most of us struggle to make ends meet, those who portend to solve our financial mess have tapped into this new source of endless cash.

As of February 27, 2012, 342 groups organized as Super PACs have reported total receipts of $130,334,342 and total independent expenditures of $61,480,038 in the 2012 cycle.

definition

Super PACs are a new kind of political action committee created in July 2010 following the outcome of a federal court case known as SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission.

Technically known as independent expenditure-only committees, Super PACs may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals, then spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against political candidates. Super PACs must, however, report their donors to the Federal Election Commission on a monthly or quarterly basis -- the Super PAC's choice -- as a traditional PAC would. Unlike traditional PACs, Super PACs are prohibited from donating money directly to political candidates.

[yeahwho]

First of all I would like to thank everyone for your insightful well informed responses.

When I started this thread last week I genuinely did not think it would turn into the wildfire it has now become.

I know, I know, believe me, I know campaign finances is like an aphrodisiac! It just turns people on!

Now let's slow-jam the Super-PAC with the Roots, Brian Williams and Jimmy Fallon....

Super Freaky Super PACs (http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/28/10527894-brian-williams-and-jimmy-fallon-get-super-freaky-about-super-pacs?chromedomain=todayonthetrail)

[yeahwho]

As of February 27, 2012, 342 groups organized as Super PACs have reported total receipts of $130,334,342 and total independent expenditures of $61,480,038 in the 2012 cycle.

just thought i would update the new unlimited cash flow for presidential candidates being delivered quite generously,

looks $29 Million is in the coffers and this past month the spending is getting serious, $80,715,699.


So to update just this one form of cash now available via the Citizens United decision (http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/superpacs.php) As of March 23, 2012, 390 groups organized as Super PACs have reported total receipts of $153,824,830 and total independent expenditures of $80,715,699 in the 2012 cycle.

[DJ Pioneer]

Obama was against super pacs, but now of course he supports them.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/02/07/politico_obama_was_against_super_pacs_before_he_wa s_for_them.html

I'm personally not a big fan. So much darn money and effort is spent on these campaigns.

[yeahwho]

Thought I would update the corporate supreme court decision "Citizens United" so we can see if our two presidential candidates are comfortable enough.

As of April 21, 2012, 434 groups organized as Super PACs have reported total receipts of $193,115,536 and total independent expenditures of $91,104,895 in the 2012 cycle.

[yeahwho]

As of April 25, 2012, 440 groups organized as Super PACs have reported total receipts of $201,999,896 and total independent expenditures of $91,267,491 in the 2012 cycle..


Oh yeah baby, just past the $200 million dollar (http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/superpacs.php) mark!

Yet today everyone is concerned with that fucker John Edwards?!?

I find John Edwards's actions to be utterly odious, and I have absolutely no sympathy for him.

The media is more concerned with the trivial bullshit of a has been opportunist than the corporations spending over $200 million dollars on electing a President? John Edwards almost-insignificant issue of exceeding the $2,300 contribution limit. Really? In the wake of Citizens United, this is what we are worried about?

Remember the Martha Stewart trial? New York prosecutors were so busy hounding Martha Stewart for $60,000 that they missed Wall Street's epic malfeasance in the run up to the crash.

Surreal.

[yeahwho]

Love the "Colbert Super PAC Super Fun Pack (http://colbertsuperpac.com/)". Making a better tomorrow, tomorrow.

One of the PAC's came up with a pretty damn straight forward name, "Americans for a More American America". It's there on the FEC registry, http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/superpacs.php.

Of course I love Colberts Super PAC (http://www.colbertsuperpac.com/fec/forms.pdf) too, Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow.

But Wait! Theres More! What I really, really love is whats on the FEC paperwork;

Stephen Colbert, President of ABTT, has asked that I quote him as saying, ''Yeah! How you like me now, F.E.C? I'm
rolling seven digits deep! I got 99 problems but a non-connected independent-expenditure only committee ain't one!''

[yeahwho]

Just remembering the Obama/McCain race of 2008 and how busy this forum was with passionate discussion of each candidate and the reasons we supported them.

Sort of dead this year now that the wealthy run our country.

[yeahwho]

This column pretty much nails it -- the coffin of democracy, I mean.

from the NYTimes 7/17/2012

The Power of Anonymity (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/opinion/the-power-of-anonymity.html?_r=1&hp&pagewanted=print)

Two years ago, Congress came within a single Republican vote in the Senate of following the Supreme Court’s advice to require broad disclosure of campaign finance donors. The justices wanted voters to be able to decide for themselves “whether elected officials are ‘in the pocket’ of so-called moneyed interests.”

The court advised such disclosure in its otherwise disastrous Citizens United decision in 2010, which loosed a new wave of unlimited spending on political campaigns. The decision’s anticorruption prescription has grown even more compelling as hundreds of millions of dollars in disguise have flooded the 2012 campaigns — a great deal of it washed through organizations that are set up for the particular purpose of hiding the names of the writers of enormous checks.

The ability to follow the money has never been this important since the bagman days of the Watergate scandal. But when the Democratic Senate majority made a fresh attempt to enact a disclosure bill on Monday, the measure was immediately filibustered to death by Republicans, like other versions.

Still, the vote was a chance for the public to see who stands for and against such basic transparency in political spending. The answer: not one Republican showed the courage to break ranks and speak up for disclosure.

Republicans have been the main beneficiaries of corporate and independent spending sprees. The party’s lock-step opposition to letting voters see who writes the big checks is an embarrassment to Congress.

Opponents are crying that disclosure violates donors’ privacy and favors unions. This is election-year nonsense to give cover to the aggressively partisan groups that pose as “social welfare” organizations but tip the campaign scales heavily with stealth financing.

The Senate measure would require corporations, unions and any other organization paying for election-cycle messages to disclose expenditures of $10,000 or more within 24 hours and identify donors writing checks of $10,000 or more. It would further require reporting of third-party money transfers, a shadow device to hide contributors.

The measure’s chief sponsor, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, has tried to win Republican support by eliminating a provision requiring that the top five donors be identified at the end of election commercials.

But Republicans turned their backs, including John McCain, once the great champion of campaign finance reform who has been predicting that “huge scandals” will inevitably flow from Citizens United.

Voters concerned about the big-money distortion of politics now know precisely who put the issue quietly to bed.

So now they would have us believe transparency tramples free speech.

[yeahwho]

Yes! It's almost August and the "Wealthy" people who don't want to openly report their millions in cash going into private campaign ads and personal favors are ramping up the numbers!

As of July 30, 2012, 697 groups organized as Super PACs (http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/superpacs.php) have reported total receipts of $318,664,056 and total independent expenditures of $165,364,718 in the 2012 cycle.

Crunch time is coming and the chosen few have tons of money to spend on buying the USA!

[yeahwho]

As of October 19, 2012, 942 groups organized as Super PACs have reported total receipts of $462,018,623 and total independent expenditures of $403,556,207 in the 2012 cycle.

amazing, fucking unreal.

destroying democracy one dollar at a time

from the KOS Matt Taibbi pummels the media on destroying democracy (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/09/1142406/-Matt-Taibbi-pummels-the-media-on-destroying-democracy)