Tag Archive: Lobbyists


 

Medicaid Expansion: Déjà Vu All Over Again

 

 

 

” Republican governors are following the script of Obama and Clinton in their campaign strategy for the Medicaid expansion that is needed to implement ObamaCare: The cast of earnest white coats and tearful upstanding, hard-working patients with hard-luck stories. Statements that sound as though they were written by the same PR firm. The same dire consequences of inaction.

“It’s just the right thing to do,” is a favorite concluding sentence.

What “it” basically means is to get the “free” federal money before somebody else does. Since it doesn’t cost “us” anything, at least not at first, it’s a “no brainer” to just grab it. It means billions of dollars, and thousands of jobs, for “us.

But if we exercise our brains for a minute, we see that in reality the billions go to “them,” not “us.” They are the ones in the expensive suits lurking in the background and attending the closed-door meetings. They are the million-dollar-a-year executives of managed-care companies or administrators in big hospital chains. They get the billions and trickle a portion down to people in scrubs and white coats who do real work, for the care of approved patients. They are the real players; the visible ones are props, shills, or camouflage. They are the decision-makers, who decide who is eligible for what.

They don’t think like doctors. Doctors ask, “What is the best way to help this patient with hepatitis c?” Rather, they ask, “Is this person with a certain set of social characteristics worth spending some of ‘our’ resources?” “

 

 

 

 

 

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GOP INTRODUCES ‘VIRTUAL CONGRESS’ RESOLUTION WHEREBY LAWMAKERS WOULD WORK FROM HOME DISTRICTS, NOT D.C.

 

 

” Excerpted from The Hill: Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) wants to create a “virtual Congress,” where lawmakers would leverage videoconferencing and other remote work technology to conduct their daily duties in Washington from their home districts.

Under a resolution Pearce introduced on Thursday, lawmakers would be able to hold hearings, debate and vote on legislation virtually from their district offices.

While Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer may have recently nixed the Web company’s work-from-home policy to boost its performance, Pearce believes a remote work arrangement may benefit Congress and make lawmakers more accountable to folks in their home districts.

Pearce says the resolution would eradicate the need for members to jet back and forth from their districts to Washington each weekend. This would allow lawmakers to spend more time with their constituents rather than the armies of lobbyists from K St., he argues.”

 

 

 

Why Do The Koch Brothers Get All The Sunshine?

 

 

 

 

” Here’s a couple of data points that bear serious thought this week by transparency advocates celebrating Sunshine Week and by everybody else who cares about protecting and preserving a free and independent press:

1,130 - Number of results for search term “Koch Brothers” on The New York Times web site.

64 - Number of results for search term “The Tides Foundation” on The New York Times web site.

It’s equally certain that few reading this post know anything at all about the San Francisco-based Tides Foundation, even though its roots go deep into the radical student movement of the 1960s and it has helped fund or startup virtually every significant liberal, progressive and radical cause in the years since.

Similar results appear from the same searches on The Washington Post web site, which turns up 277 links to the Koch Brothers and 11 for Tides. And on the New Yorker web site, Koch Brothers generated 35 links and none for Tides.

The contrast was even more dramatic on the Common Cause site, where the Koch Brothers were linked 4,560 times versus one for Tides.

Similar results appear from the same searches on The Washington Post web site, which turns up 277 links to the Koch Brothers and 11 for Tides. And on the New Yorker web site, Koch Brothers generated 35 links and none for Tides.

The contrast was even more dramatic on the Common Cause site, where the Koch Brothers were linked 4,560 times versus one for Tides.

 

Three Koch foundations made a total of 181 grants worth$25,405,525 in 2010 (most recent available records). The one Tides Foundation made a total of 2,627 grants worth $143,529,590 in 2010.”

 

 

 

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Jaw-Dropper: NBC Says Obama’s Actions Rarely Match His Words

 

” NBC’s Chuck Todd had some unexpected criticism of Obama’s converted campaign arm Organizing for Action, which is raising $50,000 to $500,000 donations so interest groups can have special access to Obama.

Leading off the report, NBC’s Political Director Chuck Todd said the president’s actions have ‘rarely matched’ his words. It’s refreshing to see NBC concede this often-observed tendency.

Leading off the report, NBC’s Political Director Chuck Todd said the president’s actions have ‘rarely matched’ his words. It’s refreshing to see NBC concede this often-observed tendency.

A few examples of President Obama saying he will do one thing, before doing another:”

 

 

Harry Reid, Jon Corzine And Other Cronies That Got Away In 2012

 

 

” When businesses and big government politicians go into “business” with one another, taxpayers lose—big time. It’s called cronyism.

A “crony” is an individual or organization that colludes with politicians to gain unfair treatment, taxpyer-funded benefits, or regulations that the rest of us don’t enjoy. Cronyism occurs because politicians rely on wealthy interests to fund their campaigns, and those donors then seek government goodies or favors in return.

It’s a match made in heaven for cronies and hell for taxpayers. Just as bad, such cronyism erodes economic freedom by destroying the real competition that fuels free market capitalism.

 

In 2012, the cronies had a banner year, poaching billions of taxpayer dollars to pump up their profits and redistribute their losses.

 

In 2012, the cronies had a banner year, poaching billions of taxpayer dollars to pump up their profits and redistribute their losses. In other instances, the cronies leveraged their insider connections to evade prosecutions and skirt the laws that apply to the rest of us. Consider just a few of the cronies that got away in 2012.

1. Jon Corzine, former MF Global Chief, New Jersey Governor, and Top Obama Bundler.”

 

 

 

Don’t Believe the Hype About “Dangerous” Christmas Toys

Welcome To The Season Of Bogus Scare Stories

 

 

 

 

” Of course, if it was just a few trial lawyers practicing the sky-is-falling business, the whole idea of super-dangerous toys wouldn’t have gone so viral. But the U.S. Public Interest Research Group also publishes an annual “Trouble in Toyland” survey—this year in its 27th iteration—making it seem like anyone who thinks toys are pretty safe is a soon-to-be-sorry sap.

Just like W.A.T.C.H., the survey warns about string: “Drawstrings on children’s clothing lead to deaths and injuries when they catch on playground equipment, bus doors or cribs.” How big a threat do drawstrings pose? “From January 1985 through June 1997, the CSPC [Consumer Product Safety Commission] received reports of 21 deaths,” says the report. That’s 21 deaths over the course of 12 years. Still, “CSPC recommends parents remove drawstrings from all children’s upper outerwear sized 2T to 12 and buy clothing with alternative closures, like snaps, buttons and Velcro.”

Let me repeat that recommendation: Remove the drawstrings on all children’s clothes up to age 12.”

Lobbyists … What Lobbyists ?

Tim Carney points out the ridiculousness of Politico’s “Lobbyists ready for a comeback under Romney” lede with the greatest of ease . He reminds us of the lobbying past of over four dozen Obama Administration staff from cabinet heads on down . 

 

 

“Some of the highest-level positions in a potential Romney administration are expected be filled by former lobbyists and Washington insiders.”

 

  ” Former lobbyists in some of the highest-level positions? Shock! What would HHS Secretary — and former head of the lobbying group Kansas Trial Lawyers Association – Kathleen Sebelius say? Or former NEA lobbyist, now Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (16)? Or former Fannie Mae lobbyist and Goldman Sachs consultant Tom Donilon(17), now National Security Advisor. Or even Atty. Gen. and former registered lobbyist Eric Holder (18)?

Does Defense Secretary Leon Panetta (19) hold one of “the highest-level positions”? Because he was a registered lobbyist, too.”

The figures, contained a in a new book called The Rise of the President’s Permanent Campaign by Brendan J. Doherty, due to be published by University Press of Kansas in July, give statistical backing to the notion that Obama is more preoccupied with being re-elected than any other commander-in-chief of modern times.

“Doherty, who has compiled statistics about presidential travel and fundraising going back to President Jimmy Carter in 1977, found that Obama had held 104 fundraisers by March 6th this year, compared to 94 held by Presidents Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Snr, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush combined.

Since then, Obama has held another 20 fundraisers, bringing his total to 124. Carter held four re-election fundraisers in 1980, Reagan zero in 1984, Bush Snr 19 in 1992, Clinton 14 in 1996 and Bush Jnr 57 in 2004. “

 

The man is just unbelievable . It’s as I’ve been saying all along , it is All About Obama All The Time . Jeez , if we ever had a president from the right side of the aisle with these personality traits , this narcissism , this arrogance and feeling of self-importance coupled with his complete ineptness and inability to complete an off the cuff sentence ,  the media and entertainment world as well as the touchy-feely , headshrinking , I’m OK ,You’re not industry would think they had died and reached nirvana .

* More on President Wile E Coyote and his precedent setting in an upcoming post .

If you are interested in the corrosive influence of money in politics look no further than InfluenceExplorer . On this site you can track who gives what to whom and when . An invaluable tool in this upcoming election season .

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