Serving the Social Welfare

(Photo/Courtesy of Mother Jones)

Is our social welfare served through funding dirty ads,

Spending money on elections?  (Not a little...  Scads!)

Or is that political in nature?  I'd say yes;

Putting me at odds with Rove at Crossroads GPS.

Donors to a social welfare group don't have to say

Who they are nor give a reason why they'll, gladly, pay

Limitless amounts of cash to get their guys elected.

Watch-dog groups did "sniff tests."  A foul odor was detected.

Issue driven campaign ads, though they're protected speech,

Urge you towards a candidate...  They're not designed to teach.

That sure sounds political - where speech is also free -

Guaranteed to them...  Without the anonymity.

If these secret Super PACs have got a point to make

I think we should know who funds positions that they take.

Social welfare isn't served by people talking trash,

Not unless we also know who's putting up the cash.

Dear Occupy Wall St.; WTF? (Want To Finance?)

(Photo credit: Sacha Lecca for RollingStone.com)

Heard about an old idea that's morphed to something new,

People helping other people - this is what they do;

Rather than a painful trip to beg some giant bank

For a loan, they're asking strangers.  Internet's to thank.

Someone with a good idea will post the thing on line

Looking for investors and - so far - it's going fine.

Catching on in Europe, where it's known as "Peer to Peer".

Wondering if Occupiers ought to try it here?

I believe the movement, if it wants to change a thing,

Has to now agree upon a single song to sing.

(Maybe it's not peer to peer but fixing our campaigns...

Super PACs are dangerous.) We have to use our brains.

I know smarter folks than I - more actively involved -

Must be trying very hard to get this problem solved.

Hope that they're more organized than first impressions seem;

That the Wall Street Occupiers don't run out of steam.

Pick a single issue.  Stay on message.  Talk it up.

Find a worthy Kool-Aid and then pour us all a cup.

...

(Want some proof we need to have a single message sent...?

Ask the poor Egyptians how their last election went.)

Race for the White House - Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

excerpted from an
Article first published as Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics on Technorati.

Cartoon:  Walt Handelsman Copyright 2012 Tribune Media Services

Isn't it ironic? Crossroads GPS upset?

Claim Obama quoted Reagan out of context, yet

At the link that they provide to prove Obama wrong;

Post scores by Pinocchios and guess who's nose was long?

Of the current candidates, Obama's nose is short.

Romney and Newt Gingrich lie more often they report.

Romney's latest whopper about 92%

Unemployment rate for women? Nose is broke and bent.

They don't have a category yet for true though not.

Romney tried to slip that number by but he got caught.

That is not the way to make a woman like a guy;

We can spot a phony and we know that numbers lie.

Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
- Mark Twain's Own Autobiography: The Chapters from the North American Review