07.28.11
Social Welfare Group my ass
Little Tommy Friedman had a piece in Sunday’s NYT on how two investors/hedge fund managers going under the rubric, Americans Elect, were going to reinvent democracy on the Internet by spiking the primary races with new third party candidates.
Whenever Little Tommy writes that something is good for us, it’s just the opposite. If Little Tommy says something is right and good, it is wrong and probably evil, too.
Today’s frontpage story in the LA Times covers Americans Elect.
“Its status as a social welfare group has enabled it to keep private its financiers even as it tries to qualify as a new party,” reads the subhed on-line.
I’d say seeing “social welfare group” in this context means if you have a good rubber club, it’s time to keep it close by.
“Although it is attempting to qualify as a new party in California and other states, the group’s legal designation is that of a nonpolitical, tax-exempt social welfare organization,” writes Matea Gold for the LAT.
“Under that designation, Americans Elect has been able to keep private its financiers, raising questions about what forces are driving the massive undertaking.”
Yeah, sunlight being so bad for grass roots organizations striving to reinvent democracy. On the Internet.
Some names show up.
There is “Pollster Doug Schoen” — a fake Dem only notable for showing up mostly on Fox News. And being frequently described by Glenn Greenwald as “slimy.”
“One of the main financial backers is [CEO] Elliot Ackerman’s father, Peter Ackerman, a private investment executive who made tens of millions of dollars working with junk bond trader Michael Milken in the 1980s,” continues the Times. “At least 11 of the 50 board members work in finance, including Kirk Rostron, who places investments for hedge fund managers and is one of a handful of publicly identified contributors to the group.”
DD visited the website. Here’s the “about” page. Overlooking the staged stuff, children are more honest and direct when explaining what’s up with the homework.
“Kellen Arno, an associate at Carlsbad-based Arno Political Consultants who is running the national field operation, said that in California alone it had employed 1,500 signature gatherers,” reads the Times.
I met one of them at the Pasadena Ralphs. He couldn’t or wouldn’t explain what they were about or even make clear the name of the organization backing him. Canvassing for signatures outside the local supermarket in Pasadena is virtually always the domain of big corporate assholes and/or those looking to set back democracy. Suckers sign up.
The right thing to do is the “talk to the hand” routine unless it’s Girl Scout cookies time. (I got asked for a Pabst once, too, by a homeless man. That was OK.)
Screw Americans elect. I recommend blowing them off the web with a good old-fashioned ddos strike.
Everyone needs another libertarian rich man’s collection of cats paws like they need a puff adder in the bedclothes. One Tea Party is just fine as is.