In Bed with the Devil - The White House and Special Interests

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Rahm Emanuel, Obama's fiery tongued Chief of Staff, was recruited into the president's inner sanctum because of his Wall Street connections and his ruthless negotiating skills and in the first two years his success at extracting money from special interests was near legendary.

As a result the Obama administration became the most expensive money could buy shattering campaign spending records, nearly a billion dollar cost to get elected, and shaking down corporate and special interests after getting elected at a pace never seen in our nation's capitol before.

From the Wall Street bankers to health care industries the special interest money poured into campaign coffers after the election and most went to the Democrat majority controlling the business of our nation the Obama, Pelosi, Reid and Democratic party campaign committees. In fact, the federal lobbyists in 2009 spent the following money lobbying our government officials and feeding campaign funds.

Open Secrets.org - Center for Responsive Government

2009 Expenditures

Pharmaceutical/Health Care - $267,853,947
Business Associations - $183,498,730
Oil & Gas - $175,079,824
Insurance - $164,411,830
Electric Utilities - $145,691,753
Computers/Internet - $119,370,418
Misc Manufacturing & Distribution - $110,769,964
Hospitals/Nursing Homes - $107,892,681
TV/Movies/Music - $107,496,953
Education - $99,816,801
Securities & Investment - $94,135,458
Health Professionals - $84,284,513
Air Transport - $83,876,931
Civil Servants/Public Officials - $83,861,329
Health Services/HMOs - $74,234,045

Of course the two major legislative bills pushed by Obama were health care reform and financial reform, both of which were managed by Emanuel and passed this year. Deals were made between Rahm and the pharmaceutical boys with details yet to be disclosed. If we add the total health spending lobbying in 2009 to the spending in the first half of 2010 we see $1 billion was spent by the industry to get what they wanted.

A similar astounding spending spree went into financial reform by the business community as the total 2009 and 2010 spending totaled $472 million to get a watered down financial reform bill. Industry by industry the Obama administration, who pledged to get rid of special interest influence in Washington, set records in sucking money into the campaign coffers.

The payoff to the lobbyists can be equally staggering. The pharma companies were able to increase the cost of major drugs by over 8% last year while the inflation rate for America was under 1% yet there was no outcry on behalf of the people by the White House or Obama people. And as for Wall Street, the administration complained of the billions of dollars in executive bonuses yet did nothing to stop them.

Money controls our nation's capitol and the Obama administration played politics as usual better than anyone in history. This fall the people of America have the chance to rate the performance of the Obama and Democratic majority and the outcome will not be pretty.

Perhaps, the outsiders and new faces can get in office and start the road to recovery with meaningful campaign reform and limitations on the ability of special interests to buy our government.

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Obama Again Fiddles in California as Gulf Coast Burns over Inaction on Oil Spill

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It seems to be a habit with the Obama administration. Just when he is getting pressure from the left and right wing media to do something about a grave crisis he jumps his jet for California and holds million dollar fund raisers. While Obama fiddles Rome burns and millions of more special interest dollars are poured into Democrat campaigns.

Today Obama again flies over a disaster area on his way to the golden state of California where he can mine gold for campaigns. It is his third cross country flight to shake the big bucks out of California and a pattern seems to be developing. It seems every time the Gulf coast or America needs an explanation from the president on what he is doing to help us, the president is not available.



Today it is the BP oil spill in the Gulf which happened over one month ago. The only people who failed to act more than BP to avoid this environmental tragedy was the Obama Interior department, Homeland Security and White House. Obama, as president, not BP, was responsible for approving permits, approving the installation of the deepwater rig, making sure contingency plans were in place and monitoring every step of the drilling process.

Try as they may to place the total blame on BP it was the federal regulatory and safety role, or lack of one, that enabled this to happen. BP should have been prepared for a disaster, but the federal government was responsible to make sure the plan existed. Both failed. In fact 34 days later the Obama people are still bumbling around trying to figure out what to do. This week they say they are relying on BP expertise after raking BP over the coals the last week.



So rather than go to the disaster area and take charge, Obama is flying over the disaster on the way to multi-million dollar campaign fundraisers in California. Instead of walking the beaches and encouraging workers, many of them volunteers, who are cleaning up the oil he is charging $2,000 a person to join him for cocktails or $35,200 to join him for dinner in San Francisco.

Does this sound vaguely familiar? It should.

Just a few months earlier, in October Obama made his first visit to New Orleans. During the campaign and after taking office as president Obama’s steady criticism of how former President George W. Bush’s administration ignored the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina was a shrewd political move that helped propel him into the White House. Unfortunately, the people of New Orleans only got a photo op and more words, not action, as he quickly hopped the jet for the west coast.



Once safely in lala land with Nancy Pelosi citizens could see the president and actually spend time with him, if they paid $34,000 per couple for dinner with Obama or $1,000 for a concert ticket with him. As he was behind closed doors in San Francisco hobnobbing with contributors the BBC on the other side of the world was announcing that Obama was going to send 45,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Obama did not confirm the exact number of troops until December 2.



Just last month Obama was back in California raising $3 more millions on April 19, just a day before the BP oil rig explosion on April 20. This trip fell between Obama's toothless Nuclear Summit April 12-13 and his speech to Wall Street on April 22.

When things get tough the president heads out for California fundraisers where the millions he rakes in for the political fat cats seems a lot more important than what is happening in the Gulf, or Afghanistan, or the economy.



Had we been paying attention we would know the White House was great at making the president disappear when the heat is on. Back on February 17, 2009, just a couple of weeks after becoming president, Obama signed the controversial economic stimulus bill at a cost of $787 billion. The same day he also announced the $245 billion housing and mortgage bailout which has largely failed.

Quietly the same day the Pentagon, not president, announced a 17,000 troop increase in Afghanistan while Bill Clinton was saying he was not responsible for the economic crisis even though he apologized for allowing his staff to change federal regulations that allowed the economic crisis to happen.



Perhaps our national priorities have suffered from lack of presidential attention and focus but at least the political campaigns are getting all the money they need from Obama. The people of America, it seems, are still waiting to get the president's attention.

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Obama's SEIU Union Violates Privacy Rights Again when Angry Mob Swarms Private Home

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President Obama was proud to talk of his relationship to the renegade SEIU union and it's leader Andy Stern during his campaign for president, with Stern claiming SEIU pumped over $60 million to ge him elected. Obama even named Stern to the National Debt Commission though he had no economic background or experience.

Once he was elected the SEIU had a free pass to the White House and Stern made more visits there the first year of Obama's presidency than anyone else in America. His union was hired by Obama, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and many other Democrats to provide security at the health care town halls, a move that got them accused of beating up a handicapped citizen attending a town hall in Ohio.



Perhaps in frustration with the president for the lack of progress on the SEIU radical leftist agenda, the union began picketing banks that benefitted from the bank bailout, and that is acceptable public protest. More recently they have begun picketing private homes of people associated with banks and this past week outside Washington 14 busloads of SEIU people descended upon the private property of a BOA executive, Gregory Baer in Maryland.

Baer just happens to live next door to Nina Easton, the Washington Bureau Chief of Fortune Magazine, who observed the mob scene from her front window across the street. This is what she reported.



“Last Sunday, on a peaceful, sun-crisp afternoon, our toddler finally napping upstairs, my front yard exploded with 500 screaming, placard-waving strangers on a mission to intimidate my neighbor, Greg Baer. Baer is deputy general counsel for corporate law at Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), a senior executive based in Washington, D.C. And that — in the minds of the organizers at the politically influential Service Employees International Union and a Chicago outfit called National Political Action — makes his family fair game.”

"Waving signs denouncing bank ‘greed,' hordes of invaders poured out of 14 school buses, up Baer's steps, and onto his front porch. As bullhorns rattled with stories of debtor calls and foreclosed homes, Baer's teenage son Jack-- alone in the house--locked himself in the bathroom. ‘When are they going to leave?' Jack pleaded when I called to check on him."

"Baer, on his way home from a Little League game, parked his car around the corner, called the police, and made a quick calculation to leave his younger son behind while he tried to rescue his increasingly distressed teen. He made his way through a din of barked demands and insults from the activists who proudly ‘outed' him, and slipped through his front door."

" ‘Excuse me,' Baer told his accusers, ‘I need to get into the house. I have a child who is alone in there and frightened.' "

The journalist called the protest "a mob."



Is this the legacy and are these the tactics Obama expected from his primary union backer? Why has the president and all Democrats, who were quick to condemn the Tea party protestors even though they were never involved in illegal activity nor the violation of privacy like the SEIU, not condemned this renegade union for unlawful tactics?

Why did the liberal media, who reports the most trivial of liberal trash about Sarah Palin and others on their hit list, not report the news about their own people ignoring the rights to privacy granted to all Americans? Today in America we have dual standards when it comes to reporting and when it comes to lawful behavior. Apparently the waiver from criminal indictment for unlawful acts from the Obama Administration is a $60 million campaign contribution.



And by the way, even though the SEIU claims they gave Obama over $60 million, they only reported $32 million on federal campaign reports. Why has the Obama gang not investigated the public boasting by Stern and the SEIU about the $60 million which would amount to about $30 million in illegal spending according to the federal laws you and I are required to follow?

Congressional Investigations - When does Congress Investigate Itself?

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This has been the year of intense Congressional investigations as the bankers, auto people, housing and oil people have been paraded in before a packed and stacked House or Senate Committee and derided, ridiculed and disgraced in full view of the world.

Who are these holier than thou House and Senate members who preach to the bad guys about ethics, special interests, conflicts of interest, bribes and a host of other problems that helped bring down the economy, wipe out home values, and even help destroy the environment?



About the only positive result of the hearings is that we are discovering it was not the lack of rules and regulations that was behind most of these problems, it was the lack of enforcement of the laws, rules and regulations that were already on the books.

Now last time I read the Constitution it was Congress that passed the laws and approved the regulations, yes the same ones that got us in trouble. That must mean Congress might just be the primary party that did not do it's job to protect the people.



Of course Congress knows this, they just forget to mention it. They also know the reason Congress has allowed rules and regulations to be flawed or not enforced is that special interests control Washington. And yes, these are the same special interests that spend hundreds of millions of dollars filling the very campaign coffers of the people sitting at the hearings acting as if they are holier than thou.

The most important hearing Congress could hold to fix ALL the problems facing America is a hearing of itself, and the relationship between the hundreds of millions of campaign dollars they get from special interests and their performance in office.



The people are not stupid. They know Congress is the best money can buy. But when it is the best money can buy then it is also serving the wrong master. Congress is addicted to special interest money and that money has compromised the ability of our elected representatives to serve the people.

It is almost like a Saturday Night Live skit watching Congress lambast the witnesses in the hearings about the corruption, conflicts of interest, immorality and disregard for the public interest while they are filling their campaign accounts with money from these same special interests.



Campaign reform, especially finance reform, is the only solution for the malaise that has enveloped our nation's government. While all of our leaders are blaming special interests for our problems, not a single person in the White House, Congress, leaders of the house or senate, or even our president is talking about taking on the biggest special interest in Washington, the politicians addicted to the special interest money.

They could fix this problem overnight if they had guts and the interest of the people in mind but they are not about to shut down the money spigot that has enabled them to get and stay elected. They are nothing but hypocrites and have made a mockery of their oath of office to defend the Constitution and protect the Republic and the people of the Republic.



The Washington establishment serves no one but itself and has demonstrated over and over that it has no interest in changing. Only the people can force the change through the electoral process and if the early elections this year have demonstrated nothing else, they have shown the people are sick and tired of the status quo. "Throw them out, throw them all out" seems more and more the theme for this year's election and it cannot come a day too soon.

Now that we have a health care bailout - how about an American Health Care Reform?

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Obama and the Democrats have now delivered on their promise of massive health care bailout to protect the health care industry. If you have noted, the stock in pharmaceutical companies, health care providers, hospitals and insurance companies have all increased while the bureaucratic jobs in health care have increased.



Of course the only change we the people have noticed is that our taxes are going to increase to pay for the health industry bailout, the cost of our health care treatment is up to pay for the millions of dollars the health care companies are pouring into the campaigns of Congress and the president, drug prices are up, insurance premiums are up, hospital and emergency costs are up, and we are being told to be patient, we will see the benefits in a couple of years.



So we understand the health industry bailout has happened and we are supposed to all feel better about it. Well we are patient, but we are sick and tired of being patients. Now maybe the president and congress will turn attention to health care reform for the people who pay for health care, the American people.



Health care reform should never have been about protecting the industry. That is called political payback for all the bribes the industry made to congress and the president through campaign contributions. Now it is time for true and meaningful health care reform.



Wake up Washington! We want cost containment! We want incentives to get well! We want incentives for doctors to get us well! We want access to treatments to cure us, not make diseases more tolerable! We want to be rewarded for being healthy, not being sick! We want you to stop making us sick! We want you to stop letting other people make us sick!

Here is how we expect you to do it.



Stop campaign contributions from companies and non-profits who benefit from us being sick. That means no pharmaceutical, hospital, doctor, malpractice lawyer, health service provider and any related campaign bribes to our elected officials.



Stop senseless examinations using MRIs, CAT scans and other high tech, high profit means of destroying our immune system with electromagnetic and radiation waves.



Stop malpractice lawyers from stealing often over 50% of the settlements from class action and malpractice suits supposedly on behalf of the patients. Give them reasonable expenses and a cap at 15% of the settlement so the victims can truly benefit. At the same time limits damages to actual costs, not some hypothetical fee inspired sum with no basis in reality.

If people have health insurance and stay healthy give them a rebate for being healthy, stop penalizing them because other people are sick.

If companies provide food or products that destroy our immune system, thus making us susceptible to a host of diseases, then make the companies liable for the destruction of health. Food or products that are proven to kill should be destroyed themselves.



Make pharmaceutical companies liable for the damages to the immune system for any vaccines, over the counter or prescription drugs, and other products sold for the purpose of healing us.

Allow alternative health care providers a fast track approval process for techniques using natural means and products that heal and require health insurance compensation for the techniques.

Prohibit television advertising for any drugs administered by a third party, meaning a supposedly independent doctor, hospital or clinic.

Declare illegal any endorsements by practicing doctors of a drug or treatment in which they financially benefit.

Establish massive fines as a disincentive for companies that claim health benefits when a product may actually harm the health of the recipient.



Stop allowing drug companies to directly fund the Food and Drug Administration drug approval process which creates a conflict of interest. This is no different than allowing Wall Street to fund the credit rating agencies for approving their credit and we know how that worked out.

Reward doctors for healing patients rather than simply treating the patients.

Make sure that the politicians you support in the fall elections believe in the real American Health Care Reform actions which I outlined. If not, make sure they are no longer in a position to help destroy you through actions like the Obama Health Care Bailout bill. Throw them out of office before it is too late.

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Campaign Financing in America, the Most Special of Special Interests

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Lobbying has been part of the government process ever since the fight for freedom and adoption of the US Constitution in America. No doubt as a result of the pressure put on colonists by special interests during the formation of America, great care was made to protect the fledgling Republic from these marauding manipulators of governments, wars and people.

During debate over the new treasury department there was an argument over the need to form a US National Bank, sought by the international bankers who were bankrolling the revolution and arms bought by the colonists. The fear of international bankers controlling the economy and printing the nation's money was debated extensively. Opposition was led by Thomas Jefferson.



In time the First National Bank was approved and chartered to a group representing the House of Rothschild. When Andrew Jackson was elected our 7th president and served from 1829-1837 he blocked the renewal of the First National Bank charter by vetoing the Congressional bill. It was a bitter battle with the banking interests and before it was through there was an assassination attempt on the president.

So we know special interests have a long and dubious stranglehold on our nation's capitol.

Today it is more prevalent than ever as witnessed by the accommodation of big banks in the TARP program, big labor in the stimulus and health care reforms, Wall Street and Goldman Sachs in the watered down version of Financial reform being considered, Goldman Sachs again in the cap and trade bill proposed, the unions again in the card check bill, and all sources of big bucks in the total lack of campaign reform not being considered by Congress nor advocated by the administration.



Campaign reform, the only hope for America if it goes far enough to break the stranglehold of special interests on our government, remains the elusive dream of justice and the only effective tool to wipe out corruption.

Obama directly spent nearly three quarters of a billion dollars getting elected. Hundreds of millions of additional dollars were spent on his behalf by other political and special interest groups. The same groups are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the campaign coffers of our elected officials yet the media gives no attention to this massive buy out of our politicians.



Paid political advertising must be stopped or our government will always be for sale to the highest bidder. There is no paid advertising in Great Britain yet their government seems to function. Most European nations control the licensing of media companies to a degree that prohibits massive television campaigns yet they seem to function.

Political advertising, which dominates the airways during primary and general election campaigns with often obnoxious and misleading ads should be banned and those media corporations getting federal licenses to use the airways must be required to make available limited time for all legitimate candidates through debates or other forums.



Estimates are that over $5.3 billion dollars were spent during 2008 alone for political television ads for congress and the presidency. That includes spending by candidates, campaign committees, political parties, political action groups, and special interest groups. A few million more was spent on the internet.

Over $5.5 billion was spent to elect 469 politicians. Hundreds of million more dollars have been spent since then by special interests on behalf of legislation they want approved.



No longer can our federal elected officials spend weekends in Washington working on the nation's business because they are running for re-election the day they take office. Of course billions of more dollars are being spent by the same groups to raise the money needed to bombard us with those political ads.



Unfortunately, many media outlet owners are now addicted to the political revenue to stay in business and that raises the most obvious conflict of interest possible for the news media. How could they possibly be advocates or even report fairly on the need for campaign finance reform when their jobs are dependent on that campaign revenue?



It is time Americans realize the campaign money is the root of all evil in Washington and in our media. It is time we realize that meaningful reform, missing from the agenda of our president and both political parties, is the only way to end corruption and special influence peddling in our nation's capitol. It is time we recognize that without such reform, our politicians are on a fast track to permanent slavery to special interests.



Yes, it is time the people demand their elected representatives stop the policy of selling out our government to the highest bidder and ban political advertising in America. European countries have proven that it can be done Constitutionally.



Just as important, if it was done there would be no need for never ending campaigns, for politicians to start raising money for the next campaign the minute they are elected, for them to be spending all their free time raising money rather than taking care of our nation's business, and most of all, for them to be owned by special interests.



Demand campaign finance reform from your politicians. Demand more than just empty promises or watered down actions to achieve these reforms. Do this and there is a chance the Republic may survive. Fail to do this and you will live forever with the corrupt system we now have in place.

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What Do the President, Congress and Tiger Woods have in Common? They all owe us a Mea Culpa

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Today Tiger is going to explain to the American people, or is it the corporate sector, why he should be forgiven and forgotten and let him return to making millions. It is an event the media, sports community and sponsors all want because they are all losing mega bucks with Tiger in rehab.

But don't the president and Congress also owe us a Mea Culpa as well? I mean for the last decade or more Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, have been spending money like drunken, well, politicians I guess, without a care in the world about paying for the spending. We now have record deficits and a record national debt and right now not even our great grandchildren will be able to pay for our sins of gluttony.



President Obama promised us a change from the old way of politics. He promised us new and responsible government and he promised no more deficits like Bush. He then proceeded to rewrite the record book for deficit spending and increasing the national debt in his first year in office and has done nothing but make excuses why he was forced to be just another politician once he became president.

Along came the public who promptly said, the idjits in Washington still don't get it. Then the public did something that caught our politicians flat footed, they started throwing out politicians through the ballot box. First came New Jersey and Virginia and then came Massachusetts and suddenly the back room politicians took notice.

Now the president, Congress and even the media seem to have undergone divine enlightenment and suddenly they are acting as if they knew all along what the public wanted. Well look at the record my friends, our elected leaders and our news media were dead wrong in reading the public, dead wrong in how they managed the public trust, and dead wrong in their dramatic, born again attitude that maybe the liberal spendthrifts were leading us astray. It was not the liberals, it was the whole damn bunch!



Now, we are supposed to forgive the president and Congress for prior spending discretions. But unlike Tiger Woods, whose apology may be a bit hypocritical since it has a lot more to do with money than honesty, but at least he did apologize, when are the president and all of Congress going to also come forward with their Mea Culpa and admit they were wrong?



An addiction to spending money cannot be stopped until there is an acknowledgement it was wrong in the first place. As they do fall in line and adopt the fiscally responsible way DO NOT let them off the hook until they have attacked the causes of their spending addiction. We all know how easy it is to stop an addiction only to start again. However, until you throw away and stay away from prescription drugs, booze or tobacco if that is your addiction, you will always be stopping but never be finished.



There are root causes to our political addiction to big spending which have not been acknowledged and are not being addressed by our born again leaders. While we know they can play the role of Uncle Sugar and throw money at anything and everything, we also must know that they are awash in money because of their uncontrolled spending. Yes, our politicians have legislated themselves legal grand larceny with the ridiculous campaign finance laws and the sea of special interest money they are drowning in.



Here is a profile of our born again politicians as we enter the 2010 election cycle, and remember we are only s little over 6 weeks into the year. So far candidates for the House of Representatives have raised over $370 million. Candidates for the Senate have raised over $239 million, and the Democratic and Republican party combined have raised over, get this folks, ONE BILLION DOLLARS! That means over $1.6billion is already in the bank, or is it pockets, of our elected officials.

Incumbent politicians, those the public distrust the least, hold an enormous advantage raising five times more than their opponents in the House and eight times more in the Senate. Now where do you suppose all those hundreds of millions of dollars come from? Special interests, lobbyists, PACS (Political Action Committees) for special interests and employees of special interests.



An avalanche of dollars from finance, insurance, real estate, lawyers, lobbyists, single issue groups, health, communications and labor make up the top contributors to our elected officials. Where I come from that is called a conflict of interest, a bribe, a kickback or whatever. Our elected officials are owned by special interests so what chance does the public have to clean out the mess?

There is only one chance and that is if Congress and the president back campaign finance reform and I do not mean the smokescreen reforms of the past where more and more loopholes were created, I mean once and for all slamming the door shut to buying our elections. Remember, all this money was raised before the Supreme Court threw out limits on contributions by these same industries and organizations. Billions more may now be spent to protect the politicians who protect the contributors.



Public funding of federal campaigns is the only way to break the cycle of corrupted politicians. If our leaders would set up a non-partisan election fund and only allow special interests to contribute to this fund there would be no more shenanigans in the Halls of government. To substantially reduce the cost of campaigns, thus the eventual cost to the government, also ban campaign expenditures for media ads, radio, television and the Internet.

At the same time require all television stations, radio and Internet service providers to make available at no cost time for each qualified candidate for federal office. They should also be encouraged to have debates as part of their news responsibilities. Remember, our government licenses all television and radio stations and networks so why should they benefit from billions of dollars in campaign costs for commercials when they are just selling the airways granted by our government.



Of course the media will scream but the media has a special responsibility to the people as they are protected by our Bill of Rights in the Constitution, something no other industry can claim. Don't they have a responsibility to help keep campaigns free from special interests, even if they are the special interest? Most certainly.

Eliminate campaign ads on the airways and you reduce the cost of campaigns by more than 50%. Provide public funding and all candidates, incumbents and challengers alike, are on more equal footing even though the incumbent still has great advantages. At least the financial gap is closed. Eliminate all special interest funding for campaigns, instead telling those that would buy favor with their money to contribute to the non-partisan federal campaign fund. And eliminate special interest funding to the Democrat and Republican parties since these contributions are simply a way to circumvent the federal campaign finance laws and there is nothing in our Constitution that says only the Democratic and Republican parties know what is best for the people.

This is just the beginning of reforms needed but it takes the billions of dollars in special interest money off the table, money that buys favor and buys politicians. If our born again leaders can't take this first step toward breaking their addiction to campaign money from special interests they will never stop spending your tax money to help the special interests. America will lose!

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