On the Character of our Dem Leaders; Or: When Barry Met Penny

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Tuesday May 21, 2013 · 8:16 AM PDT

2013/05/21 · 08:16

This is a cry in the wilderness because I'm a resident of Virginia facing one of the few meaningful elections in the country this year and I'm confronted with having to support Terry Freakin McAulliffe as the sole Democratic nominee for Governor. I was active in Chinese dissident politics in the [Bill] Clinton years when McAulliffe was Clinton-Gore reelection money man. Although the Repubs overplayed their hand (again), the underlying actual stench of Johnny Chung or Charlie Trie or Wang Jun (Wang Jun! The son of one of the "Eight Immortals" of the Chinese Communist Party! "The Godfather of Golf in China") should have scared off any clear thinking human being.

So I'm going to have to campaign for this unqualified, unprincipled, unintelligent egomaniac because its him or Ken Cuccinelli. I'm already over-sensitive to my angst over the character of our VA Democratic leadership but the headlines recently are making me downright ornery.

SkipWalkDC

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Friday March 04, 2011 · 10:30 AM PST

2011/03/04 · 10:30

With everyone focused on the Kochs (Tied #5 on Forbes' Wealthiest Americans) and to a lesser extent Gates (#1 on Forbes' Wealthiest Americans), I 've wanted to revisit the Walton family who fill slots #4, #7, #8 and #9 of the Forbes Top Ten.

Fourth-richest American Christy Walton excepted (she is widow of Sam Walton's son John who died flying a lawnmotor in 2005), Jim Walton, Alice Walton and Rob Walton learned the family business and rightwing ideology at the knee of Sam in northwest Arkansas. Although Sam put Hillary Clinton on the Wal-mart board at one time, it was all about then-Gov Bill Clinton and less so about Hillary. One can search the Walton clan's political giving (overwhelmingly Republican) or activities of the Walton Family Foundation (school vouchers, privatization, ALEC, State Policy Network) to measure their true ideological position.

Rob Walton is still the Chairman of the Board of Wal-mart. The Walton family cumulatively holds 1.7 billion shares of WMT (approx. 45% of the total 3.75 billion outstanding shares as of 3/31/10.) The Wal-mart Corporation just gave Rob and the family a huge dividend gain. And thanks to Obama's dividend tax giveaway, this gain got supercharged. Instead of thanking Obama, however, this windfall will now go into the Walton's right wing war against the President and everything he wants to achieve. Exactly how much below the fold.

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Lily Leadbetter is Antidote to Joe the Plumber

SkipWalkDC

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Thursday October 16, 2008 · 11:00 AM PDT

2008/10/16 · 11:00

I couldn't watch more than an eyeful of last night's debate. So imagine my surprise to wake up and find the too-contrived-for-Hollywood-script character of Joe the Plumber as the dominant personality from the debate.

The guy is an obvious composite of what the Rethugs want to put forward as the "real American voter." From Ohio, blue-collar occupation, aspiring entrepenuer, distrustful of government, over-burdened by taxes, lost faith in Social Security, blah blah blah.

I have an open suggestion on an antidote to the Joe the Plumber fixation.

SkipWalkDC

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Thursday August 11, 2005 · 2:30 PM PDT

2005/08/11 · 14:30

can any of the regular econo-poster offer any sense to this?
The economists and financial/trading wizards need to be replaced by the psycho-analysts.
We sold lots of 10 year debt to foreigners today!
Markets rally!
Except for new cars, consumers bought nearly nothing last month!
We sold minimal 5 year debt to foreigners Wednesday!
Oil hits $66 a barrel!
Gold goes higher!
Dollar weakens on bad retail data!
Interest rates raised 10th time in 1 year - more to come!
Read More

Chinese Snow Job and poll!

SkipWalkDC

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Wednesday July 20, 2005 · 12:09 PM PDT

2005/07/20 · 12:09

The reports that Snow told some Senators to cool off legislation due to some deal with the PRC surrounding Hu's visit have NOT been refuted by the Treasury Dept. That to me signals that Snow did indeed say such things.
Below is an article by consulting firm McKinsey's China director. He says look at behavior of Chinese cadres-cum-managers to discern the future; and their overseas M&A activity indicates no advance knowledge of a revaluation. He makes a good point that such 'insider' knowledge would be a natural extension of the infonetworks of these Chinese managers. Read More

Future of US base in Kyrgyz in Doubt

SkipWalkDC

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Monday July 11, 2005 · 1:25 PM PDT

2005/07/11 · 13:25

<Skippy note> The PRC & Russian efforts at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is driving this agenda and my pals among the Pentagon China-hawks and beltway bandits are not happy. One trend to watch for in Rumsfeld's positioning vs China and Rice's dance with PRC on North Korean talks. More "democracy" in Central Asia or less is an important question to the peer war planners.<end note>

Future of U.S. - Kyrgyz Base in Doubt
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 11, 2005

Filed at 3:12 p.m. ET

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) -- Kyrgyzstan's newly elected president on Monday sent a troubling message to Washington that the presence of a U.S. base in his Central Asian nation should be reconsidered. Read More

Kristol calls Rove comments "foolish"

SkipWalkDC

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Friday June 24, 2005 · 7:49 AM PDT

2005/06/24 · 07:49

On the Diane Rehm show, Tricky Bill Kristol just said he thinks "Bush will distance himself from Rove's comments because what Rove said is foolish. It is certainly wrong about many liberals and certainly wrong in the context of 9/11."
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A cautionary tale on The Battle for Gen Z

SkipWalkDC

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Friday June 10, 2005 · 7:33 AM PDT

2005/06/10 · 07:33

There are national polls and there are their polar opposite: local elections

I offer the story of another growing segment of the Gen Z population (in this case, a Korean who appealed to the overall Asian community) flexing their political muscle and beating an incumbent Dem in the Dem primary.

I posted this because of the lesson provided by an established local power structure (in this case white, but I don't think the race is the determining factor to their reaction) to an upstart who brought a new voting block into the Dem primary and gained victory.

Now this may not be an ideal example; NJ district, dem leaning, union influence, anti-Walmart environment, apparently clean campaign, etc.

But if the Dems want to truly capitalize on the leaning political preference of the Gen Z, then the first lesson is for the incumbent power structure to find ways to become open to their political needs and demands to appeal directly to the new voter OR to gracefully find ways to make room for these candidates and not dig into the Rethug bag of tricks and play the race card simply to protect their position. Read More

Bush dines at Powells; Bolton on menu?

SkipWalkDC

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Wednesday June 01, 2005 · 11:59 AM PDT

2005/06/01 · 11:59

Seems like a funny time to have a private dinner at Powell's house with both wives there to keep the conversation civil.

Froomken writes in the Wash Post

The Bushes headed over to the Powell place for dinner last night. Read More

Walmart, Alice Walton, Taxes and Swift Boat Liars

SkipWalkDC

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Wednesday April 06, 2005 · 7:37 AM PDT

2005/04/06 · 07:37

oooohhhh please, more reporters like this instead of the steno pool down in Bentonville now. (Yes, this means you Greenhouse for garbage like this http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/business/06walmart.html)

Wal-Mart family lobbies for tax cuts
Posted 4/5/2005 10:31 PM
Updated 4/5/2005 11:21 PM
By Jim Hopkins, USA TODAY

Wal-Mart (WMT) drew broad scrutiny last year as its political spending soared in nationwide battles over health care, labor and other hot-button issues threatening the giant retailer's growth.
Now, in a little-noticed move, the company's founding family has plunged into a fight to pass income tax changes and other legislation that could preserve its grip on the USA's biggest business and the family's $84 billion fortune.
Led by Sam Walton's only daughter, Alice, the family spent $3.2 million on lobbying, conservative causes and candidates for last year's federal elections. That's more than double what it spent in the previous two elections combined, public documents show. Read More

help needed: CA pol research

SkipWalkDC

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Friday March 18, 2005 · 2:21 PM PST

2005/03/18 · 14:21

I'm at my wits end trying to determine where in the California govt does a federally tax exempt CA-domiciled political action committee file its disclosure reports. Do any CA kossacks know?

The CA Sec of State Campaign Reform Dept web site only has info on lobbyists and campaign contributions.

For anyone who would like to know, one can get info on federally filing 527s at the IRS Political Orgs site.

Please post answer here....Thanks, Skip

Where's the Beef, Bush?

SkipWalkDC

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Thursday March 03, 2005 · 2:28 PM PST

2005/03/03 · 14:28

What we ought to be able to do is get our grandmothers and (in my case) mothers who are AARP members to turn out to mock Chimpy on his Bamboozle-palooza tour.

My dear mum dies, uh, colors, uh, alters her hair color but she does from a distance resemble the dearly departed Clara Peller.
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On the Character of our Dem Leaders; Or: When Barry Met Penny

Wal-mart Heirs: Obama tax cut funds rightwing war chest

Lily Leadbetter is Antidote to Joe the Plumber

US economy as Schizophrenic

Chinese Snow Job and poll!

Future of US base in Kyrgyz in Doubt

Kristol calls Rove comments "foolish"

A cautionary tale on The Battle for Gen Z

Bush dines at Powells; Bolton on menu?

Walmart, Alice Walton, Taxes and Swift Boat Liars

help needed: CA pol research

Where's the Beef, Bush?