Politicians overseeing Internet received over $8 million from major cable companies in 2014

[IDemo]

Source: Tech Spot

In the wake of President Obama's recent public endorsement of net neutrality, Gizmodo has released a report highlighting the campaign contributions received by politicians from the nation's four major telecom companies.

As per the report, both Democrats and Republicans received over $8 million from companies like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, AT&T, and their trade group the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) in this year's election alone.

What's particularly concerning is that money doled out by these companies directly reaches politicians like Ted Cruz, who is on the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, which handles internet governance and FCC oversight.

The following table breaks down exactly how much telecoms gave to the election and reelection campaigns of the politicians tasked with overseeing the already industry-friendly FCC:

Read more: http://www.techspot.com/news/58808-politicians-overseeing-internet-millionaire-cable-companies-contribution.html

[SamKnause]

1. There is not a single branch

of the U.S. government that is not corrupt.

The laws need rewritten but that will NEVER happen !!!!!!!

The corruption and greed has been allowed to fester for too long.

The Supreme Court, the Justice Department, The Courts, The Pentagon, Our Penal System, our elected officials, our appointed officials make the mafia look like Girl Scouts.

How do you get the laws rewritten when fox are guarding the hen house ??

Why should the citizens respect the laws of the land when our elected and appointed officials continue to pass one corrupt law after another ?????

It sickens me how U.S. politicians are admired and respected.

The majority have NOT earned either, just the opposite is closer to the truth.

They are proud of the lies they tell to get the uniformed and misinformed to vote against their best interests.

They are a breed of evil that I will never understand.

[Dustlawyer]

25. The way to attack this is to support Bernie Sanders! He has stated that his number 1 issue is

getting rid of campaign contributions and holding Publicly Funded Elections. Since he would not get the big campaign contributions to be elected POTUS, we need to show him we have his back.
The other thing is to get a OWS thing going again with this being the sole issue. Most Americans, regardless of Party affiliation, agree that campaign contributions are bribing our politicians and are the method used by the Plutocrats to control and run our government. We will have to get out and fight, peacefully, and be prepared to be attacked because the Plutocrats will not give up power easily.
If we do this we will have a return of Representative Democracy again. This would solve most of our problems and reduce the Partisianship that we currently have. In that atmosphere we should be able to get them to bust up the banking and media oligopolies and really start to make a huge difference! Issues like Climate Change, which is a ticking clock, will never be properly addressed until we achieve these goals.
The question is, are people fed up enough to do something like this? If not we will continue to lose our rights and spiral downhill.

[SamKnause]

26. I like Bernie Sanders,

Alan Grayson, and Elizabeth Warren.

Occupy Wall Street was amazing !!!!!

They were crushed.

They were demonized by the media.

They were shunned by politicians.

Our politicians praise protesters in other countries, but they do not support protest in the U.S.

Our militarized police and Homeland Security view protesters as terrorists.

There are still off shoots of occupy that are doing wonderful things like paying off medical debt and stopping foreclosures.

Many of this countries great progressives supported them.

They got the attention of Wall Street and started the conversation about income inequality.

[Scuba]

2. Yeah, but 2014 isn't over yet, and the net neutrality issue is just heating up. Expect another $20M.

[mpcamb]

10. OK, I know this sounds a bit simplistic...

But it doesn't seem possible to label this other than a conflict of interest,
one in which a person should absent oneself from voting for or against someone who gave you a very large sack of money at your door.

So, where's the court case? It doesn't seem necessary to prove tit-for-tat, and I don't think you have to show collusion. It simply needs to be an issue you can't vote on if you or your PAC or anyone in your office took money.

Dig around in the law books and land some politicians in court, somebody.

[sendero]

15. Our entire government..

.. is now a conflict of interest. Prisons filled so that the prison-industrial complex can make money. Pointless wars that are used to transfer massive wealth from taxpayers to defense contractors. As Sam said above, it HAS gotten that bad, even the beloved ACA was written by the industries involved. Banksters cripple the economy and not one of them went to jail. Even now, with banks caught red handed manipulating the precious metals markets, their punishment is pennies on the dollar in fines. Literally, it is like robbing a bank of a million dollars and your punishment is a $100,000 fine. To be fair, this is world wide, almost all of the "democratic" countries are now operating in this mode.

The only difference between the US and many third world nations is that the corruption is more subtly hidden and the average moron citizen has not figured it all out .... yet.

I suppose when half the country cannot feed itself something will be done. Maybe.

[woo me with science]

23. [phone]

[octoberlib]

3. Congress is basically pay to play.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Congress is a wholly owned subsidiary of Big business.

Has not been this totally owned since the 1880's.

[Odin2005]

7. It's like the last 150 years of the Roman Republic...

...where Roman politicians were completely corrupted by the people who made a fortune off the spoilers of empire.

[candelista]

8. That was Julius Caesar's ground for taking over the state.

That, and hopeless corruption in the courts.

[closeupready]

9. I was JUST going to make that point, thanks. No hyperbole to it.

Some historians have stated that one of the reasons the Vandals and other invading tribes were able to pillage Rome with relative ease is because people stopped caring about Rome; that the corruption which had consumed almost every Roman institution at the time had also destroyed the effectiveness of those institutions to not just do what they were designed to do, but actually brought harm to the lives of Romans.

I don't want to see our society collapse, but there is so much legalized bribery going on between the government and Big Mouths/Money, and it seems like nobody can do anything to stop it, that it's hard to fight off pessimism about our future.

[Flatulo]

11. We're already dead; we just don't know it yet.

Our entire industrial base has been sold off to the Chinese. Our middle-class is been hollowed out like a gourd by greedy corporate leaders who only care about how much they can stuff into their pockets before it all comes crashing down, aided and abetted by an utterly corrupt political class.

It's over.

[sendero]

17. Unfortunately..

..... I have to agree. Historically, when this level of dysfunction is reached in a system, the only cure is a collapse.

And that is exactly what we are going to get, at some point in the future.

This cannot be fixed, it can only collapse and be rebuilt from the ground up. That is where we are headed.

[CanonRay]

5. Our entire government is bought and paid for

Democracy has been sold to the highest bidders. I have no confidence we'll be able to undo this peacefully within the system. I hope I am wrong.

[MynameisBlarney]

6. I'm shocked.

SHOCKED!

[Enthusiast]

12. What is this but bribery?

[Javaman]

13. politicians are nothing more than paid spokes people for the corporations.

once you understand that, the rest becomes easy...or very very very depressing.

[rurallib]

14. Is there an established price for buying a national politician?

$8 million seems a bit low. Do some groups combine forces to share one when they have a common interest?

Perhaps there should be an auction website or at least a place where you can get a current price.
When a politician is bought, do they stay bought until the next bidding cycle - er - I mean election? Or are there intervals when pieces may be bought?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

16. Let the market decide!

Why do you hate Ayn Rand?

[rurallib]

19. cause that curly headed rapscallion is named after him or her

[IDemo]

20. -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025756638

[blkmusclmachine]

18. Bald faced corruption. 1 of 14 defining signs of Fascism-

Controlled Mass Media

Obsession with National Security

Corporate Power is Protected

Labor Power is Suppressed

Rampant Cronyism and Corruption

Fraudulent Elections

Powerful and Continuing Nationalism

Supremacy of the Military

Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause

Religion and Government are Intertwined

Rampant Sexism



more...



http://rense.com/general37/char.htm

[L0oniX]

21. The sensible Dem centrists know all about this ...and agree with it. It's how things work in DC.

[NorthCarolina]

22. America has the Best Democracy Money Can buy!

[orbitalman]

24. This is DAMNING. n/t

[Cha]

27. Shocking!!! NOT! mahalo, IDemo~