Gingrich’s faltering presidential campaign was completely resuscitated by a 5 million donation from Las Vegas casino king and super-Zionist Sheldon Adelson. (According to Wikipedia, Adelson is currently the 8th wealthiest American and 16th wealthiest person in the world, with a net worth of $23.3 billion.)

Pretty sad when an election can be influenced in short order by a single person's money. Sort of a new use of a "single payer" system.

I am not a Newt fan, but for comparison, Obama's second largest doner in his 2008 campaign was Goldman Sachs. JP Morgan Chase, Citygroup, and Morgan Stanley all made the top 20. Also of note is Time Warner. Time to ban PAC money imo.

Janet

At least we can agree on that, Janet, that all that money needs to be removed from political campaigns.Since we , I assume, also do not want to leave the playing field to the personal wealth of candidates, that would have to result in publicly financed political campaigns, like they are common in several European countries where much less money is spent on campaigns and the quality of political ideas is more an issue than money.There is also too much of a personal celebrity cult here in the USA than conducive for politics .

Newt in 12

You know Progressives & Liberals are starting to worry when they start talking.

If voters wish to set on the side line and not votes then you have no reson to say a word. they can have all the money but they still need us out here to vote. pick you you like and vote. I think it would be great to see 75% of all the voters get out and vote, but am sure it will only be about 35% that will take the time to do so.

But, Janet, corporations and unions have achieved personhood (just ask the Supreme Court). And the money they contribute to politicians is considered to be "free speech"! How all this works is THEY select the field with their money and WE rubber stamp their selection with our vote. Doesn't matter for whom we vote. If they are on the ballot, they have been approved by *our Masters.*

He was brought to the frontrunner status not by the money but by his great job in the debates. Don't talk about money influencing the Republican without in the same breath talking about Obama. He will have a billion dollars to spend from the "big boys". They are all slaves to money!!

Klaus said, "There is also too much of a personal celebrity cult here in the USA than conducive for politics."

True, in my opinion. We have circus instead.

Not even very good circus. One can hardly see the entertainment value through the smoke and haze of the burning books and witches.

"...super-Zionist Sheldon Adelson." Wow! So Antisemitism is cool now? Hot dog! Where's David Duke when you need him?

I seen a news clip 3 years ago about why the credit card companys were in big trouble. 1,000s of new credit cards were issued in the 2 years before the election. Not a lot of investigation went into new starter credit cards. They were then maxed out making donations to the Obama campain. But what I do not understand is, how can he be the president when there is still questions about his birth place?




Jim

The article shows that one phone call to someone with a big check book can swing an election in short order.

Obama's situation might be as you say but here it is ONE person bailing Newt out and swinging the election in 1 week. That's a blatant example of the need for campaign finance reform.

@Brett - Read up on what constitutes a semite first. Calling someone a zionist isn't considered anti-semitic. Not even by those who consider themselves as zionists. Also, read up on what constitutes a semite first. All the people who lived in that area were considered semites - Jews and gentiles (including current Palestinians).

D. Duke ran on the Republican ticket as a white supremacist. I doubt he ever expected to get any liberal votes.


How do people think N. Gingrich is a good debater? By not answering/addressing a question and redirecting it into an attack on the moderator and the media. That guys the very definition of a hypocrite.

Antiinsider - actually THE ULTIMATE insider to WA.

Morals - he's shown that more than once he doesn't know what those are. Sleeping w/ another woman while he's married AND chastising Clinton for his lack of morality. Pot calling the kettle black.

That guy is a nut job that has shown he'll say or do whatever keeps him in the limelight. At least D. Duke showed you what he was all about : )

i thought this forum was about horses

Then skip by those threads w/ titles that are obviously not about horses. No one is making you read this.

"Sallie Mae charges an unemployment penalty to people who are out of work and have to pause repayment on their loans."

Nice that banks are getting their pound of flesh out of them thar welfare queens (and kings).

Gingrich lauded by National Organization for Marriage for preserving "one man and one woman" marriage.


Apparently he meant "one at a time" or perhaps his marriage was nothing more than a Contract with Marianne.

And I'm barely over Herman Cain's comedic campaign. You guys are killin' me!

I did hear once that John Kerry was the ritchest man to run for president in modern times. Translated into todays inflated Dollars it would be Washington. I have noticed that one or two people on this porch will try and change the debate or question when they are cornered or trapped by facts. The question is; of the canidates who's better? Who has put forth any answers to the national debt? Spend more and increase taxes, spend less and increase taxes or spend less and leave taxes alone? As a country we have a spending problem first and foremost. With that goes waste, you vote for my favorite bill and I will vote for yours. In 1980 I voted ABC. any body but carter who I thought had pretty dang good morales. This year it's ABO. Didn't even bother me that he voted present as a senator. Should have though! We are now dead in the water like a wounded baitfish. Think clearly when you cast that vote this fall. Also think why we don't have better canidates. Brett, Janet, Km, Geoff, Dale, jwaller or me for an example could not take that much time off. Money does buy time.

Ad this one to your litany of comedic goings on as of late...guess who stands to make a mint due to Obama stopping the Canadian Pipeline project...none other than our old pal Warren Buffet, who just so happens to own a major portion(75%) of the railroad that moves crudefrom North Dakota down to the refineries in Texas....WHO would have ever thunk it????
NO flippin wonder he's so happy to spread the bullmanure, theres a HUGE flippin payday at the end of the pile...I truly despise the in your face corruption that comes to light every single day during this Regime. Is nobody else watching?? It's just so dang frustrating...Wish we conservatives could just secede from the Republic. leaving all the Libs, Progressives and Commies with the Northern states and California. See just how long the bloodsuckers can make it without our veins to draw upon.

Gee Geoff, I'm not a Newt fan, but since you want to bring up Clinton, I would note Newt hasn't been accused of rape and he divorced his wives rather than subjecting them to an endless barrage of "bimbo-gates" and humiliating her time after time after time.

As far as your name calling, one of the hallmarks of the whole domestic terrorist/white supremacist/Neo-Nazi/KKK type rhetoric if referring to Jews and other "mud people" as Zionists, among other names. If that is not what you intended then you have m apologies. However, there is a well noted increase in antisemitism being seen across America and the world. The recent fire bombings and graffiti are examples of this. I find it disgusting. Have we learned nothing? Are the lessons of WW2 already forgotten? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, 9/11 is just a dim memory to most.

I hear ya James.

My father never got to a death camp that I know of. He did see what the Germans had done through Italy and the suffering they had caused. Through the eyes as an infantry man. He said he would have done it again to spare those people. 2 purple hearts, one with oak leaf clusters. About 1973 I saw him "upset" by a german displaced person who got out in the late 30's. He claimed that Hitler hadn't done anything wrong. From that day on he held him in the same regard he did of the neo nazis, aka skinheads then. That would only be about 25 years after the end of ww2. Ignorant people are those who want to rewrite history for their own results. I still can see the look on my dad's face that day. I think they used to call it the 1000 yard stare. If you ever seen it, you know.

I enjoy reading boh sides here. but knowing at the end we all love the draft horses.

I agree Newt is too much of a hypocrite. Good example was pairing up with Nancy Pelosy and advocating we need to do something about global warming. He can change with the wind and I do not trust him. Nor could his wives evidently....

Don...why don't we have better candidates?

Nora, I am beside myself with disbelief that something like that could be passed. It is bad enough they are buying votes. Now that corporations and unions have the same voice as individuals is to me very worrisome.

Janet

I've addressed the decision of corporations "having the same rights as people" before. Corporations are groups of people. If you don't want them to be able to exercise their rights then you have to shut down all the other groups too. You can't silence one group and let another speak and call it fair. If corps can't speak/spend then neither can you and I, the unions, the AMA, Grange, AAA, AARP, NRA, DNC, Media Matters, Veterans for Peace, Sierra Club, Humane Society, JDL, Planned Parenthood, etc, etc., etc! I'm sorry, I understand the concern, but how can you say one group has rights and another doesn't? Even if you outlawed all contributions and went to gov't funded campaigns, you'd have to quash the rights of people to state their opinions if you said the corps couldn't buy ads or airtime.

You simply cannot have freedom for one group and not for another.

Regarding Newt - he was having affairs during each of his 1st two marriages, prior to divorce. So not much different than Clinton there. Or John Edwards. On the other hand, unsubstantiated accusations of rape are just that - unsubstantiated. But Newt went one step further and clamored on about the morality of Clinton having an affair while he himself was going to another woman's bed. That is hypocrisy and it's on tape.

Sorry Brett but you're way off w/ your comments about Zionism and I nor the article I posted ever used the term "mud people".

- "the Zionist movement was founded in the late 19th century by secular Jews, largely as a response by Ashkenazi Jews to rising antisemitism in Europe........In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution that designated Zionism as "a form of racism and racial discrimination". The resolution was repealed in 1991. Within the context of the Arab–Israeli conflict, Zionism is viewed by critics as a system that fosters apartheid and racism."


Todd - if what you say RE: Buffet and the pipeline, at least he lives in the US along with his company. Isn't that what we want? Plus, I doubt that TransCanada is going to send that crude by rail. It'll go to Canadian ports in rail cars before it goes through the US, with our depleted rail system.

TransCanada is planning on shipping the crude to the gulf to be refined and shipped abroad. They're not interested in building refineries near the tar sands because they know the clock is ticking and that oil won't be worth diddly in 10 yrs or so when the impact of global climate change forces a change in the use of fossil fuels. So hurry up and get it out and sold $$$. They're throwing money around here like drunk fools at a strip club trying to grease the wheels.

Now please get back to work - I need some more blood to suck.

I can agree that PAC money should be banned. Period. All primaries should be on one day and campaigning/ads restricted to 90 days before the election.

"I understand the concern, but how can you say one group has rights and another doesn't?"

How about FCC regulation of profane speech or nudity etc on TV? Or the proverbial "screaming fire in the crowded theater". Those are extreme cases of free speech but we've decided that we can set limitations on what's tolerated. Why not so with this unlimited and undeclared funding of campaigns? We don't have to be fools while governing ourselves.

So when there is an unsubstantiated claim of rape and it's a lefty it's okay, but when there's an unsubstantiated claim of sexual misconduct against, say, Herman Cain, then it's likely true? Quite a double standard ya got there Geoff.

I never said you said mud people, I explained why my alarm bells went off.

You still don't explain how you can logically limit one groups ability to exercise free speech and limit anothers.

Bret, your point is well taken about treating all groups equally. However, when Goldman Sachs can give Obama's campaign nearly $1 mil in the midst of a financial crisis in which they play a very big role, there is no way that this will not be a corrupting force. Likewise the recent appointment of a Monsanto exec to the FDA (the fox guarding the hen house?) with the all likely hood this included some campaign money, leads to corruption. SO something has to change about this system, and ya, if it means only individual human beings can donate, then maybe that is the way it should be.

As to buying ads, that is entirely different. I don't care who buys the ad so long as they are required to disclose that information. It would not bother me one iota if for example Goldman Sach's bought 1 mil in air time, so long as the ad says that is who paid for the ad. This way it is clear who is backing the candidate.

Janet

Ever here of North Dakota? There is an oil boom right now going on there and eastern Montana. The oil is already being shipped by rail..Buffet rail..If Canada decides to sell any to us it will have to be shipped by rail because the idiot in the Whitehouse says so!

Janet, yeah, I understand the issue. Thing is people seem to think it's okay to squash the rights of ADM or the Koch Brothers but Soros and Hollyweird are fine contributing zillions. If it's wrong for the right it's wrong for the left. So to my mind we're going to have to make some sort of decision if we expect the influence on all sides to decrease. We shouldn't get things so far down that our beloved slime balls in Washington can't be advised of the issues (lobbying as originally intended) but we don't need to make them all multi millionaires doing it. I think we would all agree that the payola that takes place is a huge problem. The sticky part is finding the right balance point and then writing the law so the slime buckets dirt bag lawyers can't worm their way around it. I hope my incredible respect and admiration for our Visionary Leaders in Washington comes through loud and clear.

One of the simpler ways to get some of the influence out would be to get those guys out of Washington for maybe 10-11 months a year. There's no reason with our telecommunications that they need to be in DC.

Watched a couple early Republican debates. They were a bearded lady short of having a real side show.

Well so far James C is the only one in this whole story that has mentioned a horse. I vote for James C.

Janet, I suspect part of it is the negative campaining. Who wants to defend themselves against half truths and sometimes quotes taken out of context?

The other part is we don't hold them to doing the right thing for the country. Instead every state trys to get more money than they pay in. When that's done now the congress buys it's own re-election with money borrowed from China. Personaly, I think that any one that voted for the bailouts should have been voted out.

Todd W, That oil patch is booming; but most water and a lot of the oil is hauled by trucks. Machinery also. Roads are catching hell. we have a refinery at Mandan ND. About 5 years ago there had been no refinerys built in 20 years in the US. I suspect if that oil gets to the gulf it will be exported; but at least in an embargo we could still have it.

Try this Link

http://www.investoruprising.com/author.asp?section_id=1296&doc_id=235245

It's only one of twenty or more I found on a simple google search. Buffet stands to become even more filthy rich because the president made yet another stupid for America decision. Hell of a way to pay back a donor/backer but it's legal and effective isn't it...

Not that I would be a huge fan of Warren Buffet, but isn't that what a railroad company is supposed to do ? Transport goods, even oil? The suggestion that the President put the pipeline on ice( no final decision has been made, he just responded to a congress deadline) because of BNSF is absurd, the pipeline was opposed by environmentalists, by the State of Nebraska and other people along its route. My mother-in-law lives in Atkinson, NE, and the people up there were highly concerned, a few farmers, like always, were for it, because the Canadian company had paid them or promised to pay them big money.
It seems , Todd, that you leave no opportunity to agitate against Obama, that is your right, but at least, do it with convincing facts. The article, even though it states that ALL transporters, trucks included, are profiting from the ND oil boom, does not support any suspicion of any sinister collusion.

The Keystone pipeline will be built starting soon. They have all the rightaway bought, pipe bought, and all the permits EXCEPT for the section that actually crosses the line. So the work will start in the spring according to what I just read. It don't have to cross the line yet to be a feasible project.

Wasn't trying to create a sinister conclusion, merely to acknowledge that although it is being transported by highway as Don suggested, there is a MAJOR push to get it on the rail syastem as I had already stated and he had appeared to refute. When rail companies are building multi million dollar loading facilities there is a dang good chance the intent is to move more by rail!
You are correct also that I don't and won't miss an an opportunity to bust Obama in the chops. I was well on my way to being one of the hated crowd, but thanks to the Pinhead n chief I'll have to remain in the lower brackets for that much longer. You see I don't figure the fantasy of SS will be there when I need it so I had intended to EARN it, but with such a bunch of uncertainty and unneccesary regulation as is coming out of Washington not too many folks are needing my services as a builder and that Compadre is why I despise all Democraps and most Republicants! When they pass laws and regulations they should be made to live under those laws just like the rest of us...wasn't that written somewhere...hmmm...oh yeah..in the flippin constitution. Luckily we don't use that worthless piece of scrap paper anymore cause that just isn't fair...boo hoo...where's my blanky...
To hell with fair...life ain't fair...get off your arse and earn it or shut up! That's my philosophy
We had a nation of laws but this current bunch of former Hippie Radicals has changed that..now we are a country of haves and have-nots, with the haves in power using every means at their disposal to undermine the laws to benefit themselves and their cronies while screwing the have-nots..I'm glad that geoff and Klaus and godless are pleased with the way things are going, I guess things are looking up for them, but the millions without work (which will soon include an additional 100,000 soldiers)and the millions that quit looking aren't as fortunate. I have some work, not because of anything that Washington has done, but because of my own hardwork and good reputation and the handfull of business, churches and non-profits that have squirreled away some funding and are taking advantage of the market situation. Every builder I know is working at just above cost. That should make the Occupy groupies happy.
Final word, if you can't see the collusion between the chicago bunch and its benefactors you are an....well lets just say I have some ocean front property in the appalachians I'd like to sell ya..

Klaus, you decry collusion (coincidence?) between those on the right and corporate fat cats, but when there's almost obvious collusion between those on the left and the King Fat Cat it becomes good?!!!

Hey, it's great that rail may be used and that truckers are working. It would be even greater more jobs were available and we got that oil from Canada into the US.

Once Buffet bought BNSF the service turned around. Before that grain elevators were trucking their grain to get on CP for service. Last year Gavilon built a new terminal near New Rockford to get on BNSF. Before they had one 16 miles away on CP. The local co-op elevator has bought land and plans on building a new terminal along BNSF because they can get service. They have 2 terminals on CP that are less than 15 years old. They have to go where they can get cars.

My understanding on Keystone is it was the state department that turned it down because it crosses the border. They said Nebraska had to approve the plan or they couldn't OK it. Maybe we should build the pipeline to Nebraska and then truck it across their roads? Also I doubt that any Bakken oil would ever be blended into the keystone oil. The original oil from ND was so clean that somebody claimed you could run it unrefined in a vehicle. Another formation has been discoverd under the Bakken; it's called 3 forks.

Interesting Don. We have the same issue with CSX up here. They can't or won't service some outfits because they said they didn't have the rolling stock. The guys working for the company I talked to said that is just CSX-speak for "We're too cheap to find the cars."

Bret, agree 100%.

janet

It seems that Don is saying that Buffet's purchase of BNSF has been a benefit to those trying to ship farm commodities - our RR commercial says "you can haul 1T of freight 400 miles on 1 Gallon of diesel". Too bad they ripped out all the rails 10 years ago.

Canadian oil IS NOT our "friend next door". As I've said before, they even screwed their own citizens out of job opportunities so I doubt they're looking out for US job creation. And regardless of your politcial bend, you can't feel good about allowing top notch ag land to have pipelines full of crude running over it, waiting for the spill to happen.

Todd - Yeah as you said, life ain't fair is it? You just happened to get shorted this time 'round. Democracy sucks huh.

Actually wife says I'm quite blessed.

Isn't really myself that got shorted, it's all those fellas that worked for me or those folks that serviced my business. I will make do. I will make my living through my sweat and blood, but I won't be able to employ everybody else. THAT is what Liberalism does! Congratulations your side has put that many more on the welfare roles!

Some lines were picked up by small short line operations. State public service commission required them to show loss before they could be abanded. I can think of one line from Jamestown to Oberon ND. They put in all new track and ties for about 80 miles, showed their loss. Then Red River Valley and Western bought it and have been running it for 20? years. They have their own rolling stock and service is about 3 times a week.Much better than Canadian Pacific and BNSF was at that time. Rail is the cheapest form of movement for freight.

Getting back to the OP and how rotten and terrible it is that someone chose to give Newt some money, NPR reported yesterday that Obama will have $1 BILLION dollars in his "warchest" shortly.

How can anyone take the lefts rhetoric seriously with numbers like that?

Never said that anything supporting Obama's war chest just that since money can influence the outcome of an election that huge donations from single individuals/companies are particularly bad.

But nobody seems to want campaign finance reform so reap what you sow.

Well, Obama seems to think the Super Pacs are A-okay now. He's only got a billion dollars, guess that's not enough, eh?