As in, what jobs did they hold before they joined the private sector. The foundation has a blog post and a graphic, below.
The green dots are the number of lobbyists hired to work for net neutrality rules; the red dots are the number of lobbyists hired to work against such rules. The graph shows the number of lobbyists, on each side, that previously worked in the White House, federal agencies, Congress or in multiple positions in government.
Hillicon Valley
Ernie Smith
Contributor—AOL News
(July 21) — Congress requires a lot of stuff to keep itself running. Like coffee. And plane tickets. And student loan payments.
That’s the point underscored (and underscored again) by figures collated by the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit that uses technology to try to make government more transparent. In early June the organization released its latest massive data dump on the expenditures that House representatives make from their Members Representational Allowances, or MRAs. Separate from campaign accounts, which have to be filled through fundraising, these sums — ranging from $1.3 million to $1.9 million in most cases — come from taxpayers’ dollars and are meant to cover a lawmaker’s operating, rather than political, expenses. Paying for an attack ad with your MRA is a no-no, for instance.
How Congress spent your $1 billion
Bruce Maiman of Examiner.com reported that police arrests for videotaping their actions is on the rise.
The story starts in Maryland where a man with a motorcycle is speeding on I-95. Anthony Graber admits to speeding and even showboating (he popped a wheelie at one point). He’s pulled over for speeding but that’s not the problem. He got the ticket but he also had a video camera in his helmet and he’s recording the arrest. At that point, the state trooper –a plainclothes officer– cuts him off and draws a gun.
If you look carefully at the video, you see the plainclothes trooper get out of his vehicle, gun drawn, but no badge, or at least not one plainly visible, not one as readily displayed as the gun.
Graber says he thought he was being robbed. Police say Graber backed his bike up slightly, “creating a brief moment of fear” for the plainclothes officer. In the video, he quickly holsters his gun after getting out of the vehicle. And the point to a marked car behind Graber’s bike and argue that Graber knew what was happening.
Graber received the ticket and forgot about the incident, but after he posted the video on YouTube, police arrived at his home, search warrants in hand, and take his camera, two computers, two laptops, all the hard drives and he’s indicted for violating state wiretapping laws by recording the trooper without his consent.
Continue reading “Police arrest for videotapping them on the rise.” »
Derek Thompson
Atlantic.com
The median duration of unemployment is higher today than any time in the last 50 years. That’s an understatement. It is more than twice as high today than any time in the last 50 years.
OK, you’re saying, but what does this mean? Does it mean we must increase the duration of unemployment benefits to protect this new class of unemployed, or does it mean we need to stop subsidizing joblessness? Does it mean we need to expand federal retraining programs, or does it mean federal retraining programs aren’t working? Does it mean we need more stimulus, more state aid, more infrastructure projects, more public works … or does it mean it’s time to stop everything, stand back and let business be business?
The Arizona Latino Republican Association will become the first Hispanic organization in the country to actively oppose the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the state of Arizona’s new immigration law.
Larry Klayman, founder of Freedom Watch, Inc., said he will be joined by ALRA Chairman Jesse Hernandez and members of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association at an announcement Thursday morning in Phoenix.
Continue reading “Hispanic GOP Group to Announce Support for Arizona Immigration Law” »
On July 15 we ran a story about Brad Pitt shaving his beard. It was reported by one source that was a top rated story on July 14.
With all of the news about the government attacking your liberties and the Bill of Rights, we wondered what would happen. We are please to report (sort of) that our stats dropped dramatically when we ran it.
We hope that means that our readers appreciate our educational articles about the Constitution, the books and links that we provide which show you your rights and teach you about the way that your government is supposed to work.
You can start reading again. Really.
Matt Hayden and his family had partly moved into the house they were retrofitting for the past month when Tuesday’s flood came across Highway 89 and into their Fernwood garage.
“We just didn’t expect it,” he said. “We thought we were safe on this side.”
The garage containing most of the family’s possessions was clearly on higher ground than the house, but the garage flooded while the house stayed dry inside.
Hayden was throwing away much of what he owned on Wednesday.
“There are people — strangers — coming up and helping us,” he said with a thankful tone.
According to one estimate, at least 79 other homeowners from Timberline and Fernwood to Doney Park are also shoveling mud from their homes or garages.
And they’re mostly doing it with the help of neighbors, friends, co-workers, family, or anyone else with a shovel, heavy machinery or some free time.
Gov. Jan Brewer declared an emergency on Wednesday for the flood in Timberline and beyond, releasing $200,000 to repair roads and bridges harmed by the water and ash, and to pay emergency workers.
None of the money is for damage to private property.
Four people stayed at a Red Cross shelter at Cromer Elementary on Tuesday night.
PHOENIX – The federal judge who will decide whether to block Arizona’s sweeping new immigration law has dealt with the realities of the state’s porous border for nearly 10 years.
Susan Bolton sentenced a Mexican smuggler to 16 years in prison for leading 14 illegal immigrants to their death in the broiling Arizona desert.
She decided in 2002 that Border Patrol officials had legal immunity and couldn’t be sued for their part in a 1997 immigrant roundup that led to 430 arrests and drew complaints that Hispanics who were U.S. citizens were harassed because of their appearance.
Continue reading “Judge in Arizona Case Well-Versed in Immigration” »
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