Tag Archives: subpoena

Why are Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Page Afraid of Congress?

No CEO ever likes to testify before Congress, but Google’s CEOs, past (Eric Schmidt) and present (founder Larry Page), are going so far out of their way to avoid testifying in Congress that they are begging for a subpoena.

No CEO ever likes to testify before Congress, but Google’s CEOs, past (Eric Schmidt) and present (founder Larry Page), are going so far out of their way to avoid testifying in Congress that they are begging for a subpoena.

Bloomberg is reporting that, “In a letter dated June 10, the Democratic chairman and leading Republican on the antitrust subcommittee asked Google to provide one of the company’s two senior executives before Congress’ August recess. The letter urged a resolution ‘by agreement’ to avoid ‘more formal procedures.’

“The threat of subpoenas is one of a number of ways the committee pressure Mountain View, California-based Google to send Page or Schmidt, according to two people familiar with negotiations between the panel and the company. The possibility of subpoenas was discussed with Google in connection with the letter, the people said. Google still hasn’t formally responded to the request, which had a deadline of June 15, they said.”

It’s ironic that a company whose mission is to open information to the world would dodge an opportunity for openness and transparency with the American people and their Congress.

Kohl wants Google to answer anti-trust questions about Google’s dominance in the search engine market, but Google has a lot to answer for on other accounts. For three years, Google street view cars collected wireless data from tens of millions of homes in 30 nations. It was the largest wire-tapping scandal in world history.

Consumer Watchdog has pushed hard since 2010 for Mr. Schmidt to testify before Congress.  We created a satirical animated video, “Mr. Schmidt Goes To Washington,” using Schmidt’s real quotes to create mock testimony and drove it around Washington on a moving billboard to get policymakers’ attention.

It’s time that Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Page face Congress on serious questions about how the company uses its market dominance to steer search results to its affiliated businesses and its intentions about online privacy.  A company that prides itself on openness and transparency should practice those values with Congress and the American people.  It looks like it will take subpoenas to get that type of cooperation from Google’s executives. We are now one step closer to seeing the first of many subpoenas fly at Mountain View.

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Posted by Jamie Court, author of The Progressive’s Guide to Raising Hell and President of Consumer Watchdog, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing an effective voice for taxpayers and consumers in an era when special interests dominate public discourse, government and politics. Visit us on Facebook and Twitter.

Please Enjoy Some Camp With Your Orange Juice

As you all know by now, I love Orange Juice. Claudio can alway be counted upon for piercing insight into the pure insanity of the anti-immigrant wingnuts. Art is always great at pointing out the sheer insanity his old comrades in the Orange County Republican Party. Ryan Gene may have issues with unions, but I still appreciate what he has to say…

But what the heck is going on with Ron and Anna Winship? They are supposed to be the “Newport Beach Republicans” on the blog, but I am wondering if they are really representing more than just your typical Newport Beach Republicans… Especially when they say stuff like this:

The inquiry goes something like this: “Are you a witch?”, NO! “Ok, is any member of your family a witch?” NO!, “OK, so you are saying that you have never known any witch in your entire life?” NO!…. I am saying I am not a witch and no member of my family is a witch! “Hmmm, then you are saying basically that you have never known a witch, never met a witch, never dated a witch, never attended a coven meeting, never watched a television program with witches and in fact are a non-denominational church going person of good repute…who denies any connections to the ‘Wicked Witches of the West’ or any affiliate organizations?” What do you mean by Affiliate Organizations Senator?

At first, I thought this was ridiculous… But now, I must admit that this is some of the most brilliant and hilarious CAMP that I have ever seen. OK, I know this sounds crazy, but I’ll explain it to you after the flip…

Well, first off, we should define what camp exactly is. From Wikipedia:

Camp (colloquially “cheesy”) is an aesthetic in which something has appeal because of its bad taste or ironic value.

So what could possibly have more appeal because of its bad taste than this?

*When people want to know…
they should as of course…
but as we saw in the Monica
Lewinsky episode…just
knowing what “what” is…
can be a problem without
a shot spot on a dress.

Why did Clinton bomb the
Serbs? The true answer
was that Yugoslavia made
the best and cheapest washers and dryers in all
of the world. Sort of
the Mexico of Europe. It
had nothing to do with
ethnic anything. The Serbs
are the intelligent, caring
people in the world. More
like Americans than most
Americans are….who did
you want us to come clean
on again…Saddam who and
what many groupg of Arab
terrorists again? The
Serbs never bombed any
US Target ever…so should
Hillary now answer for the
bombing of Serbia?
“Sophmoric”, “Naive” or “Moronic”? – you pick!

Now they were asked why Bush Administration officials shouldn’t be subpoenaed to tell the truth about all the disaster that they have heaped upon this nation
Yet instead of receiving a coherent response from the Winships, they get this crazy rambling about Yugoslavia, cheap washers and dryers, and Serbs possibly being “more like Americans than Americans are”. At first, I wondered more ridiculous this could get…
Then it dawned on me: This may be the most amazing piece of camp since The Eurythmics did their classic AND classy music videos in the 1980s:

This makes so little sense, yet it makes such high art.

Ok…there are reasons to have subpoenas….valid, true
and honest reasons. But to what end and what purpose?
Public Inquiry should always be demanded by the Citizens
…no matter what community. What we disdain….is the
political forays into the realm of watching Fox News…
with its yelling and screaming or MSNBC with its Hardball
yelling and screaming or CNN with its cynical low key…
whisper campaigns “psst..is the president is a jerk…
ya think?” “He seems in big trouble now….!”

All in all when bureaucrats steal money, misappropriate
funds for others, use their power for personal gain,
molest children, perform a capital or felonious crime
….then….and only then we probably need the subpoena
….but till that day?

Wait a minute… Didn’t the Republicans do ALL OF THIS during their unchecked years of hegemonic power from 2001 to 2006? I mean, after all, isn’t this why Congressional Democrats are asking for subpoenas in the first place?

But whatever, I guess facts shouldn’t get in the way of such perfectly absurd yet brilliantly humorous camp.

The reality is – that there was a “Watergate”…thank
you Richard Nixon for being the “putz” that you were
in this regard! People like Hillary Clinton and Fred
Thompson were the legal eagles that did the research.
We still remember the Democrats piling on the likes of
Halderman, Erlichman and the rest. It was sad. John
Dean the saddest…as the turncoat with the sexy wife
…..who did what? How about those McCarthy hearings?
Those were popular television fare. What happened to
the Warren Commission? They never got much play on the
TV did they? Why do you suppose? The Waco hearings
were the best we have ever gotten to see. There never
were open hearings on Whitewater….wonder why?

Ah, can’t you just see Susan Sontag rolling in her grave as she cannot resist to laugh at what the genre she so loved has become.