Ken Johnson's Email Response for Receipt of We the People Video from Don _______

Wow, Don! What a load of patriotic poop with no substance – nice! Glory Halleluiah playing in the background talking about freedom. That’s about as original as having Edith Piaf singing the theme for a French movie. With only slight tongue-in-cheek, I think the wealthy in all countries want to control a strong military knowing that if there ever was a class war or uprising they could better protect themselves and their assets.

That all rich folks are greedy is simply not true, of course. But some of the wealthiest K-Street folks are from powerful families and are so well connected that they control and create the rules by which we invest, trade and adjudicate. They create the banking laws, deregulating them through highly paid lobbyists so they can be FREE to (like Romney) put 10% down on a failing $300 million company, borrow the $270 million balance from Goldman-Sachs or Citicorp, and with all that borrowed cash pay off the CEO and managers, offering them millions to avoid a hostile takeover (thus including them in the process), then downsize the jobs to make the company’s balance sheet look healthier on paper, saddling the company with millions in debt while charging (siphoning) $17 million annually for their services. Now they are on the board so they set the policies and are not responsible for the debt because the Supreme Court (all fairly wealthy themselves) ruled that a corporation is a person, so the corporation is liable for all that debt – not the venture capital company. So, if they can’t turn the company around, it doesn’t matter. They let the company either go bankrupt or leave the banks holding the leveraged debt - and the public (government – that’s us) to bail them out to keep financial Armageddon from happening – all while making millions either way, yet they make no products – nothing! Just moving money into their pockets – on one transaction that profit was calculated to be an over 900% return. And it’s all legal because they made the laws, paying off politicians through lobbyist to deregulate the banks and control investment rules. And Romney is trying his damnedest to keep him and his buddies from paying more taxes at his income level – and will succeed if he gets in office. And where will the debt shift to? Yep – people who don’t make (and will never make) that kind of money. There’s no way you can work hard and make that kind of money without playing that kind of "screw you" game.

Romney’s first deal (Bealls-Palais) included Michael Milken (remember junk bonds), who was under investigation by the FBI for insider trading. The wife of the federal district judge who tried the case, Milton Pollack, just happened to be chairwoman of Palais Royal. Funny - the SEC took no formal action. Romney is one of them - he didn’t make his money the way his dad did. George helped build this country. AMC made something. Mitt, along with Bain and other venture capital companies, only pilfered money (ref: American Pad & Paper (AMPAD), KB Toys and Dunkin’ Donuts, who, it is now estimated, will have to sell 2,011,834 small coffees every month just to pay off the $500 million dividend siphoned off by the firm that Romney built). As always - follow the money. "Romney isn’t blue or red. He’s the apostle of a revolution in which transactions are manufactured instead of products. Wealth is generated without prosperity." Like in the movie, Wall Street : Money Never Sleeps, this business model is unsustainable. And speculation is a cancer.

Yes Freedom – ringing that ole Liberty Bell again - and where is the party support for the freedom to marry who you love or freedom to make decisions about your own body? Or freedom to vote without powerful partisan politician making new laws that only stifle the vote of the opposition? Where’s the freedom for collective bargaining? I personally don’t think unions should be involved in public-sector jobs because tax-payers pay their salaries so the public should decide on their raises – perhaps by referendum, but at least my party won’t throw me out for compromising – that’s fascism in its purest form – united because I said so. (Maybe you can form a band and call it "Norquist and the Hardliners") – so, where’s the freedom for moderate Republicans to work with the Democrats for the betterment of the country? They’re not free –they’ll get kicked out of the party! These guys at least occasionally got things done. C’mon! Whose keeping the country from growing here?

Obama is a Harvard-educated constitutional lawyer and loves this country as much as any American. This blatantly biased video makes him out to be totally unpatriotic - WTF! Ignorant Americans need to educate themselves in the face of this crap that continues, like a cancer, to stream along the communication highway. Don, you’re a highly educated man – how can you pass around stuff like this – the last time it was a birther email - among other outright lies, like he wants to take your guns away. Jeez! It’s the bullshit that oozes out of Fox, Limbaugh, Trump and the like. Turner, Limbaugh and Trump – all wealthy and want the banks out of the way and the new Consumer Protection Agency disbanded. There’s your America!

Republicans took a Clinton surplus and ran it into the ground – and now blame Obama for not fixing it fast enough and have the gall to want the reigns back again – and will do so by filibustering every proposal made by the president. So please save it for the brainwashed Fox "News" bubbleheads… Obama won, so if you can’t help then be fair and get out of the way – you had your turn.

Full disclosure, Don – I’m going to blind–copy some of my friends - some that still have a chance to come over from the dark side along with some friends who have happily already arrived into the light. I should include many more but they can no longer hear the truth over the flames of hell they created and now endure (wow – I could write for the National Review).

Nonetheless, I wish you well as we are indeed all Americans. I choose to support the poor and middle class and do not begrudge you your wealth – respectfully, you and Rose both earned it! You’re very fortunate to have been born in families that could provide you those opportunities (unless I’m wrong and you sat around the family table talking about how to avoid gang bangers on the way to school). Unfortunately, that’s not the case for everyone. And wasn’t Jesus all about helping the poor and indigent and had a bit of a row with the money changers? I doubt even he ever heard of leveraged buyouts or could predict that a Gordon Gekko double would run for the presidency one day.

There’s a really great article written by Matt Taibbi for Rolling Stone that shines a light on this toxic type of economy. I listened to your presentation – so be fair and please reciprocate and read this article...