Category Archives: Blogging

On “Speaking Fees,” Biden and Yellen

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In the 90s there was a scandal about “buckraking,” where journalists were reporting positively about certain moneyed interests while raking in huge “speaking fees” from them. (A good example was 1996’s Money Talks by Howard Kurtz, Part 1, Part 2.)

While Congress has since banned honoraria for its members, the market for reporters and pundits who speak to business audiences has never been hotter. Some big-name media people routinely receive $15,000, $30,000, even $50,000 for a single speech. And the bulk of that money comes from corporations and lobbying organizations with more than a passing interest in the issues the journalists write about and yak about for a living.

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I Told You So

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I hate being a dirty hippie blogger with nothing left to say except, “I told you so,”

I started “telling you so” in 2004,

Jeeze. These stupid, incompetent, ideologically insane, hateful, arrogant, cultish, corrupt, right-wing, ignorant CLUCKS got duped, sold us out, made fools of us, betrayed us, destroyed our honor, besmirched our good name, bankrupted us, sold us up the river, destroyed our reputation, undermined our integrity, and killed thousands.

Then there was the Housing Bubble… I wrote lots and lots of posts warning about what would happen, starting in 2005.

So MANY warnings, and I told you so…

2013, Filibuster: Hate To Say It But We Told You So,

One side is being nice, always caving, compromising and conceding. The other side uses every smidgen of its power — and more — to advance the interests of its constituency.

The result is always the same: more for the billionaires; We, the People lose out.

Anyway, the bloggers were right. We told you so.

Holiday Card From The Johnsons

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Happy Holidays from the Johnsons:

That’s our dog Paddington. Scrooge, the ghost of Christmas present…

The back of the card:
Published by Sudeep Johnson
Doggie Paw Cards, Inc.
www.doggiepawcards.com
Many thanks to Paddington the little white dog, without whom this card would not have been possible.

Here is last year’s: Holiday Card From The Johnsons. (That card has a link to the previous year’s, which has a link to the previous year’s, etc…)

I’m Not Dead

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I’m just in a period of reflection.

In this time of Trump the only thing I seem to be able to write would be, “I told you so” and no one wants to hear that. The bloggers were right…

In the meantime I am starting a site (in progress) at http://democracyandcommunity.org/, “Imagine Democracy.”

When I’m dead I’ll post about it here.

For Those Wondering Why I Haven’t Been Writing

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I haven’t been writing.

I’m having a terrible time grappling with with the national situation. For one thing, I don’t want to write anything that might help normalize what is happening here. That includes using the word “President” for Trump.

Another, I wrote for years saying, “Wake up or the worst could happen.” And by that I meant what HAS now happened. So I’m not sure what I have to offer to help right now. The worst has happened, I don’t know that a lot of us realize how bad it really is…

So I am doing a lot of thinking. And some tweeting, at least, because I just can’t help myself.

I’ll be back.

15th Blogiversary of Seeing the Forest

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This is the 15th anniversary of this blog.

This is the Welcome post.

This is the first real post, same day, about an hour later:

Ralph Nader is a Scab

In the union movement we learned the hard way that the only way to fight the moneyed interests is to stick together. It’s called SOLIDARITY. It’s what “union” MEANS.

When unions are in a fight the members stick together, and those crossing the lines are called “scabs”.

In the 2000 election it was the usual fragile Democratic coalition fighting the usual moneyed interests. Ralph Nader broke the solidarity, divided the coalition, and lost us the election. Ralph Nader is a scab.

This is the original at the “Blogger” site.

Job Change

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Friday, April 28 was my last day at Campaign for America’s Future / People’s Action and the OurFuture.org blog. After a break (and assuming Trump hasn’t killed us all) I will be writing at the Center for Media and Democracy, the organization that investigates and exposes corruption. You know them for ALEC Exposed, KOCH Exposed, SPN Exposed, SourceWatch and other incredible investigative work they do. I will be writing about corruption and democracy.

Holiday Card From The Johnsons

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Happy Holidays from the Johnsons:

That’s our dog Paddington.

The back of the card:
Published by Sudeep Johnson
Doggie Paw Cards, Inc.
www.doggiepawcards.com
Many thanks to Paddington the little white dog, without whom this card would not have been possible.

Here is last year’s: Holiday Card From The Johnsons. (That card has a link to the previous year’s, which has a link to the previous year’s, etc…)

Virtually Speaking Sundays — Dave Johnson and Cliff Schecter

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Virtually Speaking Sundays is a counterpoint to the weekly gasbags who air on Sundays. This week we talk about SCOTUS and the Real Donald Trump.

Today at 4pm ET / 1pm PT — Click to listen live, or later,

Dave Johnson — Senior Fellow with Campaign for America’s Future. Read Dave at Seeing the Forest, Campaign for America’s Future, Huffington Post and other outlets. With more than 20 years of technology industry experience, Dave’s earlier career included technical positions, including video game design at Atari and Imagic. He was a pioneer in design and development of productivity and educational applications of personal computers. He helped co-found a company developing desktop systems to validate carbon trading in the US. Follow @DCJohnson

Cliff Schecter — A public relations, political and digital strategist , Cliff is President of Libertas, LLC and a columnist at The Daily Beast and Contributor to The Huffington Post and semi-regularly to the Cincinnati Enquirer op-ed page. Cliff sits on the Boards of

We Act Radio, the Ohio Innocence Project and Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio.

Sunday 5PT 8ET Virtually Speaking Listen Live Or Later

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Tonite Jay Ackroyd, Dave Johnson on Scalia, the Democratic pie fights and a plea for progressive unity in the face of policy and constitutional crisis.

Click here to listen live (5:00p pacific, 8:00p eastern) or later recorded: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/virtuallyspeaking/2016/02/15/dave-johnson-virtually-speaking-sundays

This week: Scalia, the Democratic pie fights and a plea for progressive unity in the face of policy and constitutional crisis.

Jay’s guest is Dave Johnson — Senior Fellow with Campaign for America’s Future. Read Dave at Seeing the Forest, Campaign for America’s Future and Huffington Post. Follow @DCJohnson

The 2016 Virtually Speaking Media Panel:

Avedon Carol, Cliff Schecter, Culture of Truth, David Dayen, Dave Johnson, David Waldman, digby, Gaius Publius, Isaiah Poole, Joan McCarter, Marcy Wheeler, Sara Robinson, Susie Madrak, Spocko, Stuart Zechman