Do As I Say, Not as I do
Please note, the first paragraphs of this post are excerpted from my book as the topic discussed dovetails perfectly with the story I will shortly reference. I saw no need to reinvent the wheel.
"When we [Republicans] came to power in 1994, most lobbying firms were headed by Democrats, staffed by Democrats and funded Democrat initiatives with millions of dollars. In fact, K-Street had actually been built by the Democrat majority over the previous fifty years or so. Then they had to deal with us. Picture it: a senior lobbyist would sit in my office. He was a liberal heading a liberal firm and he was giving thousands if not millions of dollars into liberal coffers. But he wanted access and cooperation from me even though I was in office to execute a conservative agenda.
So, we started playing hardball. First, I would ask if there were any Republicans in the firms of the lobbyists I met with and, if so, I would ask to meet with them in the next meeting and not the liberals. Second, if there were no Republicans in the firm or just a token few, I would suggest that if they wanted to deal with us they ought to start hiring people who spoke our language and held our values. I also had no problem telling lobbying firms that someone they intended to hire wasn’t going to win them any favor with us. This, again, was simply an attempt to make them consider our values as they attempted to work with us.
Then, we wanted to know about their giving. Don’t come into my office asking me to support legislation that does your industry good and then give tens of thousands to support a liberal agenda while giving nothing to support conservative values. I said it then and I meant it, “If you’re going to play in our Revolution, you’re going to have to play by our rules.” This was political hardball but it was only asking that we have what the Democrats had when they were in the majority. Remember that you get to be the majority because a majority of the people elects you.
The fact is that liberals are upset about the K-Street Project because it was our attempt to make the lobbying industry values-driven. We announced that business as usual was over and that ideology was our first consideration. There was nothing corrupt or underhanded about this. It was simply one of many approaches we took to champion the values the American people had elected us to represent." [end excerpt]
…Now we come to today and the Democrats in power are quick to publicly attack the K-Street Project as immoral and poisonous while making a big show of their commitment to dismantle it through legislative means solely to generate political hay – while privately they display their hypocrisy by ensuring that no Democrat will ever be prosecuted for K-Street ‘violations’.
The Hill Reports that,
The ethics bill that Democratic leaders wrote would make such heavy-handed behavior a federal crime, with violators facing up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
But some ethics experts noticed that Democrats introduced a small change to the language during conference that could make a big difference in whether any K Street Project-like prosecution is plausible.
Earlier versions would have prohibited members or staff from using political affiliation as a basis for trying to influence hiring decisions. The language now prohibits members from using political affiliation as the sole basis for trying to influence a hiring decision.
“The insertion of the word ‘solely’ makes it extremely unlikely someone will be prosecuted for violating the law,” said Brett Kappel, an attorney at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease who specializes in campaign finance and ethics laws.
Like I said, there’s nothing wrong with the K-Street Project and Democrats know this. However, after all the public furor and indignation they vented against it, once they came to power they knew they wanted to utilize it. Only, how can they do so without giving off the appearance that they are no better than the wicked Republicans? I suppose that now we have our answer.
The Business Bible According to Gordon Gekko
In my book, these great statements are still highly applicable today. Michael Douglas won an Academy Award for Best Actor as Gordon Gekko in the timeless movie “Wall Street” (1987). In a recent interview Douglas said "Wall Street" was the hardest movie he ever did. Writer & Director Oliver Stone worked Douglas's butt off and threatened to fire him twice for not meeting his standards. Michael said he never would have won the Best Actor Oscar had it not been for Stone pushing him so hard.
"Every battle is won before it's ever fought."
“You're not naive enough to think we're living in a democracy, are you.”
"Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another."
"90% of the American public has little or no net worth." "The public's out there throwin' darts at a board"
“Money never sleeps.” (Passive income never sleeps–FlA)
"It's not always the most popular person who gets the job done."
"The most valuable commodity I know of, is information" "If you're not inside, you're outside.”
"I'm not talking about a $400,000 a year working Wall Street stiff flying first class and being comfortable."
"Ever wonder why fund managers can't beat the S&P 500? 'Cause they're sheep, and sheep get slaughtered."
"Analysts, they don't know preferred stock from livestock."
"Most Harvard MBA types - they don't add up to dogshit. Give me guys that are poor, smart, hungry - and no feelings." "And if you need a friend, get a dog. It's trench warfare out there."
“Lunch? Aw, you gotta be kidding. Lunch is for wimps.”
“I can't believe you can fire half the management, nothing changes.”
“What's worth doing, is worth doing for money. If it's a bad bargain, nobody gains.”
“A fool and his money are lucky enough to get together in the first place.”
"We're not here to indulge in fantasy but in political and economic reality. America has become a second-rate power. Its trade deficit and its fiscal deficit are at nightmare proportions. The Carnegies, the Mellons, the men who built this great industrial empire, made sure of it because it was their money at stake. Today, management has no stake in the company!" . . . “The new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest. Well, in my book you either do it right or you get eliminated."
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* Watch * Gordon Gekko’s (Michael Douglas) famous speech at Teldar Paper’s annual shareholders meeting . 4:20 minutes, full speech, direct video link plays on your Windows Media Player 9 or greater. (720 kbps)
. . . . . . .and I will add two of my many personal business sayings: “An axiom of higher learning and understanding is that the majority of the public is usually wrong.”
“If you think you are informed by only watching and reading from main stream media sources - You Are Not. It takes a significant investment of time, research, and interpretation to learn and understand the actual truths in our Country. It’s not a matter of intelligence, it is a matter of disciplined due diligence.
- - This statement is particularly true today with the Democrats~George Soros Shadow Party’s heavy infiltration of all major MSM sources. I stopped regularly reading and watching MSM over a decade ago. In my book, it’s not what life is about. And, a person can’t be successful if their brain is saturated with MSM mind clutter. Let’s be honest, if the majority of journalist and media people were intelligent they wouldn’t be journalists and media people. Most of these idiots are nothing more than say anything parasites.
