Clinton Foundation as American Ambassador

Despite all the brouhaha over the Clinton Foundation , it is one of our best ambassadors for America. And it is bringing in other donors who also become ambassadors of good will. Forget the attacks and celebrate America at its best.

Christoper Ruddey explains it in the following article:
 http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/clinton-foundation-cash-controversy/2015/04/27/id/640856/?ns_mail_uid=38484644&ns_mail_job=1618460_04272015&s=al&dkt_nbr=ovujvir8

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree Letter on Transparency

Thank you for being in touch about the importance of bringing accountability and transparency to our federal election system. I appreciate hearing from you about this important issue. I have long been an advocate for public financing of federal elections. I believe it is past time to separate money and politics, and allow elected officials to spend their time at home, hearing from constituents and working on the issues that matter. That is one of the reasons I am a co-chair of the Task Force on Election Reform in the House, which has a broad range of priorities, including supporting a Federal Clean Elections system. Maine's Clean Elections system has proven very successful, with Clean Elections candidates holding more than 80 percent of the seats in the Maine Legislature in 2010, and it is past time to enact this model on the federal level. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has issued a number of decisions at odds with the principles of Maine's Clean Elections system. As you know, in Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the same free-speech protections that you and I have as individuals. Additionally, in 2014 the Court ruled to overturn contribution limits to federal candidates, political parties, and political action committees (PACs) in McCutcheon v. FEC. This ruling further increases the influence of the wealthiest Americans on our elections. I believe allowing already dominant players to directly influence Congressional and Presidential races will further tilt the playing field towards a narrow and already well-represented range of interests. I support a number of common-sense pieces of election reform legislation to address the problems created by these recent rulings, including H.R. 154, the Close the Floodgates Act. This bill would undo last-minute provisions inserted into the FY15 Omnibus that would allow wealthy donors to dramatically increase their contributions to political parties. H.R. 154 was introduced by Congressman Derek Kilmer (D-WA) on January 6, 2015, and I hope to see it come to the House floor for a vote soon. Additionally, I was proud to join my colleague Congressman John Sarbanes (D-MD) in the introduction of H.R. 20, the Government by the People Act. This bill would create a voluntary system giving Congressional candidates the option to stop raising huge sums of money from a limited number of corporate and wealthy donors, allowing them more time to work on the people's business. Candidates who participate in the programs set up through this bill would agree to limit their campaign spending to the amounts raised from small dollar donors plus matching contributions from a federal matching fund that would enable them to compete with individuals raising campaign contributions for wealthy donors. Lastly, I believe we need to amend the Constitution to clarify the authority of Congress and the states to regulate corporations' expenditures of funds for political activity. That is why I am a proud cosponsor of H. J. Res. 22, a Constitutional amendment which would allow the federal government to regulate the amount of campaign expenditures and contributions in both federal and state level elections. I hope to see this resolution come to the House floor for a vote soon. Please rest assured I will continue to work to move these critical policies forward. Thank you again for sharing your concerns. I appreciate hearing from you and hope to see you in Maine soon.

Sincerely,
Chellie Pingree
Member of Congress 

LAST CLASS

Looking forward to hearing everyone's "actions". With your permission I will add to the Action page, where I have added Peggy's and mine, everyone's action plan plus a group of suggested actions.

I do not like to play Casandra, but things are not normal nor do I hear any of our politicians willing to seriously tackle them.  One indication of our weakening empire is that our dollar is being attacked from many quarters. China and Russia are withdrawing from dollars and converting to gold. China has set up commercial enterprises around the world and uses the Yuan.. South America has started the Bank of South America and for awhile tried to use the Bolivar. China has started the Infrastructure Investment Bank which we are opposed to because of our Wold Bank, It has been joined by many of our "allies". Saudi Arabia has an oil war going against the US.  Our national debt has grown astronomically in the last eight years and income inequality has also become historic. Fears of a dollar collapse are all over the internet. Something needs to be done to change this. We have a strong economy despite this and it should allow us time to create a sensible policy that reins in our empire -- if we take action. It is up to us as citizens to stay informed and require our government t change its policies and create the America our founders planned for us.

Despite all the problems we have discussed in our course, it is important to remember the true greatness of our country and the advantages we have living in these times. Good citizenship requires vigilance and participation. Only by acknowledging our problems will we be able to solve them and Americans are good at solving problems.

JIM TODD'S POEM

Jim and his wife have medical problems that will necessitate his missing the last two sessions. He has left us this poem to share:

 Pre-position Ships

Webster's Dictionary :

A preposition is a word expressing a relationship between a 
noun, pronoun or noun phrase and another word such as a 
noun or verb element of a sentence.

Pre-position ships stand ready

At three key points around the globe

Diego Garcia, the Marianas, and in the Mediterranean.

Twenty stories high, eight hundred feet long and a hundred feet wide.

Huge doors on their sides and bows, cranes upon their decks.

Laden with tanks, personnel carriers, humvees

missiles, bullets, grenades, machine guns,

Meals Ready to Eat,

computers, toilet paper, and tents.

All maintained ready to move

Ready to sow their dragon's teeth

anywhere on the globe.

These preposition ships

Occur in sentences or phrases which contain violent words:

war, invasion, landing, attack, shock and awe.

Expressing our relationship with the world.

Those who ‘abjure’ violence can only do so because others 
are committing violence on their behalf

George Orwell 1903-1950
                                                                     Jim Todd 10/25/2011

ASSIGNMENT

We decided to have each of us come up with one thing that we will do to help America undo the negative effects of our empire. Each of us will give a short explanation of what and why we plan to do it at the final class on the 14th. This will happen after a short discussion of Johnson's 10 steps toward liquidating the empire.

Uprising Excerpt of Chris Hedges on American Imperialism

A real clear and succinct explanation of the American Empire and it's decline.

 https://youtu.be/VnAEDojCLYU?t=116