TresSugar

Front Page: Iran Claims to Test Missile Within Israel's Reach

CitizenSugar — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:00:00 -0800

Iran announced today that it tested a new surface-to-surface air missile, adding that it is ready to defend itself against an attack. - Reuters
John McCain will go to Georgia tomorrow to push for Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss, who is stuck in a tight race there with a Democratic challenger. Three Senate races, in Georgia, Minnesota, and Alaska, have yet to be called. If they go Democrat, the party will significantly widen its majority in Senate. - USA Today

Lobbyists will be restricted from participating in President-elect Barack Obama's transition to the White House. Under self-imposed ethics restrictions, Obama will not allow lobbyists to work in areas in which they have worked for clients in the last year.- New York Times
The US and Russia will begin talks on nuclear proliferation tomorrow, working toward a new treaty to replace the expiring Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). The Bush administration also is planning to minimize Russian objections to a US missile defense program in Europe. - Associated Press

Shot Through the Heart! Spy Gives Gun Control a Bad Name

LibertySugar — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:00:02 -0700

Get this: a gun-control activist, who sat on the board of two anti-violence groups, might have been a spy for the NRA all along! Mary Lou McFate (or Mary Lou Sapone) has worked for gun control for over a decade, but her organizations have just kicked her out so they can start checking her offices for bugs. Using her maiden name "McFare," Mary allegedly posed as a gun-control activist at the behest of the National Rifle Association. As an alleged mole for the NRA, McFate met with members of Congress, attended rallies, and participated in strategy sessions on behalf of gun control.

This isn't the first time McFate has acted as a freelance spy. During the 1980s she infiltrated an animal-rights group for US Surgical, a company accused of using dogs for research and training. She has also worked as a flight attendant and a sex therapist.

Even though McFate had access to every major legislative strategy of the gun-control lobby, some say they have nothing to hide from the NRA. In fact, a few gun-control activists feel flattered that the gun lobby sees them as a threat.

Source

Undercover Tape Shows Meetings With Cheney, Bush For Sale

CitizenSugar — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:00:30 -0700

What's an ex-president without a fancy presidential library? And the good ones don't come cheap - the Clinton Library cost $165 million. So it stands to reason, George W. Bush might be looking to fundraise for his - by selling time with senior officials of the Bush Administration - and maybe an endorsement from Bush himself.

According to an undercover tape of Stephen Payne, a top fundraiser and member of the homeland security advisory council, all you need is $750,000 and you’ve got a meeting with Dick Cheney. But that’s not all. If you really ante up, you can meet with George W. Bush himself and walk away with an endorsement in your pocket where your money used to be.

This pay-to-play plot was revealed in an undercover investigation by the London Sunday Times. To see how the Bush endorsement is for sale, read more.

Payne was caught on tape discussing the details to get an exiled Central Asian leader, face time with President Bush and as an added bonus, an endorsement from Bush to help with his election. In the video, you can see Payne working out the meet-up strategy as to how they can explain away the leader's human rights abuses with the excuse of, “Well, at least he’s not so and so.”

The price tag is fairly straightforward. For between $600,000 and $750,000 you can definitely meet National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, either Condoleezza Rice or Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and possibly Cheney. Of this, a third will go to the construction of the Bush Library to commemorate his legacy in office. Unlike campaign donations, library gifts don't have to be disclosed - and there are no restrictions on funds from foreigners. And the other two-thirds? It's presumed that a chunk would go to Payne’s lobbying company, Worldwide Strategic Partners - but who else?

Is this merely a case of political tit-for-tat, or startling proof that the leader of the free world is for sale?

Source

New Jewish Lobby Group Wants Two State Solution

LibertySugar — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:00:48 -0700

J Street, a new Jewish lobbying organization, plans to campaign for a two state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Frustrated because, in their opinion, the term "pro-Israel" has been seized by a conservative minority of Jews and Americans alike, J Street hopes to be a voice for left-leaning Jewish Americans.

Currently, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is "the most important organization affecting America's relationship with Israel," enjoying a $100 million endowment. Some academics have criticized AIPAC for pressuring the US to set aside its own security to advance the interests of Israel. Others counter that such a characterization serves anti-Semitic causes.

J Street's founders are somewhere in the middle. They want to counter right wingers, whose positions they believe go against Israeli and American interests. The group will raise money and donate it to politicians who will help bring about a two state solution and comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and Palestine.

Are you happy to see views that don't fit the typical dichotomy infusing the discussion? Is it essential that both sides come to the center, or should Jewish Americans not be expected to give up loyalty to a single Jewish state?

Source

Lighten Up: Colbert Gets the Munchies With Pot Lobbyist

LibertySugar — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 03:00:09 -0700

Celebrities glamorize them. Marxist rebels tax them. Vending machines sell them. And we all disagree about whether or not the government should legalize them. I'm talking about illegal drugs!

Check out this side-splitting video of Stephen Colbert masterfully smoking a top illegal-drug lobbyist.

Definition: Lobbyist

LibertySugar — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:02:21 -0800

A lobbyist is a person paid to petition political representatives on a particular issue. Corporations, labor unions, and other special interests lobby Congress and federal agencies, hoping to secure favorable policies. Lobbyists might not be mentioned in the US Constitution, but those in the persuasion business wield extraordinary power.

So where does the influence come from? Special interest groups often endorse and raise money for candidates. Once a candidate is elected, the group (or lobby) calls on the official to oppose or support legislation. Lobbyists will educate representatives, circulating favorable policy research.

Special interest groups spend billions of dollars each year to retain lobbying firms located on Washington's infamous K Street. Other groups employ in-house lobbyists. OpenSecrets.org keeps a database of all the money spent on lobbyists. Just one example-since 1998, the pharmaceutical and health product industry has spent $1.2 billion on lobbyists.

Lobbyists also raise public attention on behalf of a cause, as opposed to a corporation or individual. For example, an organization committed to AIDS research can use collective action to draw attention to issues individuals would not raise on their own.

Lighten Up: Better Know a Gay Lobbyist

LibertySugar — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:00:40 -0800

Stephen Colbert decided to interview the people who have more to do with US laws than Congress - lobbyists.

In the first segment of his infinite-part series "Better Know a Lobbyist" Stephen asks a prominent lobbyist for homosexual rights: "So, if I use birth control, you're saying that makes me gay?" Stephen's satire hilariously cuts through many of the arguments against gay marriage. Regardless of your stance on the issue, I'm sure you'll have a few laughs.

Part II: Interview With Tom Sheridan, Lobbyist to the Stars

CitizenSugar — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:00:49 -0700

Here's the continuation of our interview with Tom Sheridan, the lobbyist who works with Bono on his ONE campaign to end global poverty. Liberty took in a ONE campaign panel with Ben Affleck, Madeleine Albright, and Tom Daschle at the convention yesterday - more details on that event soon! Here's the continuation of our conversation with Tom:

Who else do you work with?

Julia Ormond is another great example, she's a client of ours who is doing work on human trafficking and slavery, and speaking out before anyone was really talking about. She wasn't only talking about it, but she was immersed, was deeply immersed in the substance of it. You know, what are the major policy issues that need to be launched in order to track people, things like a universal birth certificate. She was on top of that stuff before anyone really wrote about this.

What makes a celebrity seek you out?

To see his answer and more, read more.

What we look for and what we really love working with are celebrities who are about those two Cs. We're not your usual K Street lobbying firm. We represent almost only not-for-profits and are about taking those tough issues into the Washington environment. We're a little off the beaten path, so for people like Bono and Julia Ormond to find us, they really have to be committed in a much deeper sense. Bono doesn't need anyone to open a door for him, he's perfectly capable of opening his own doors - and he'll tell you that - that is not the hard part of my job with him. The hard part is how will we ask for what we want when we go in, how will we defend what we asked for last time, and why are we defending a taxpayer investment in a place called Africa and for a disease called AIDS. He's got to have real answers for those questions and thoughtful policymakers ask those questions. So my job is to make sure he is always well-positioned in the playing field and very well informed.

How does he become the perfect advocate for ONE?

To his credit, he gets on an airplane and he goes to Africa and gets on the ground so that he can say to people, "Look I just came from there and there's a village in Uganda where they've cut their maternal transmission of HIV rate from 70 percent to 10. He can speak to it with the level of passion that you can only have if you seen it and felt it. A good actor I guess can put on any emotion, but there's another whole dimension when it doesn't come from a place of craft.

We'll be unpacking more tidbits from Tom soon. Stay tuned!

Meet a Celebrity Lobbyist Committed to Star-Powered Activism

CitizenSugar — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:45:08 -0700

Parked in the intersection of politics and pop culture is the celebrity activist. There all kinds of ways celebrities get involved in causes from serving on boards to inspiring laws on Capitol Hill, and Tom Sheridan knows how to harness that fame and make the issue the real star. A lobbyist based in DC, he represents Bono and his work on the ONE campaign against global poverty. We sat down with him this week ahead of the big ONE event Kanye is headlining to benefit the organization here at the convention, and we couldn't have been more impressed. Tom Sheridan is using the intersection of fame and charity to inspire real change and a legion of committed issue advocates.

Can celebrities distract from an issue or a message? What are the hallmarks of a happy marriage between celebrity and activism?

It really comes down to two Cs. One is commitment and the other is credibility. I think if we go with alliteration and add in celebrity, I think that is where people will discern the difference between a celebrity using an issue to distract and/or promote themselves. There may be a fair trade in that but it doesn't always sustain a cause, and it doesn't get to the level of a policy change that we look for celebrities to engage in.

Well, we see celebrities speaking out on issues all the time. Is that enough to motivate change?

To see his answer, read more.

We're not interested in a 15-minute hearing on Capitol Hill with some press, that's not that difficult to achieve frankly, and you don't actually need any talent from people like me to achieve that. The question then becomes, "what for?" And that's where commitment and credibility become really important factors. Are they willing to sustain their interest in this, and what does that sustaining interest mean, and how much time does that take?

How much time does it take, and how does that help a cause?

Celebrities work, and like Bono, he's got a rather significant day job. Bono was at the convention four years ago [for ONE] and he's not here this year because he's recording an album, you know that's the day job, but the fact remains four years later he's still involved. It's very much taking the cult of ONE and not doing the predictable stuff with it that gives him both long-term commitment because he has great motivation to stay in this for a long time, and has been in it for a long time. I've been working with him for almost eight years. He's been at this for a long time and there's no one out there that doesn't believe that he's not only committed to it but that he's incredibly credible on the topic.

To see who else Tom Sheridan works with and how committed celebs inspire real change, check out part two of our interview with him later this week!

Source

Front Page: Obama Addresses Congress on Health Care, Congressman Tells Obama "You Lie!"

TresSugar — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 06:00:57 -0700

President Obama told Congress last night to stop playing games and reform health care. During the speech he was heckled by Rep. Joe Wilson who shouted: "You lie!" - CNN
Ellen DeGeneres is joining American Idol as its fourth judge. - BuzzSugar
A California assemblyman resigned yesterday after bragging about spanking a lobbyist during sex. He didn't know his mic was live. - Talking Points Memo
Uruguay has decided to allow gay adoption. - BBC News