Posts
Tuesday Oct. 13, 2009
. . . . .Tuesday was just the kind of day I've been waiting for, the long awaited Senate Finance committee vote on Senator Max Baucus and the "Gang of 6"'s feral pig turd, their health care reform chairman's mark-up, the 5th attempt so far between the House and Senate to get a Health Care Reform bill on the table and this one stinks the most.
. . . .The exceptionally absurd portion of it being that somehow Republican Senator Olympia Snowe from Maine voting for it is somehow some watershed moment in history and simultaneously, in different universes, I guess, represents both bipartisan support and at the same time that Olympia Snowe, a Senator from a state that represents 1/2 of 1% of the United States population, is the true "maverick" in her party.
. . . .Now, let's set the stage. Everything written here since July actually has been about the connections between everything else, and setting the stage, at least when it comes to me, for my mantra when it comes to Washington, "follow the money".
. . . .Over the next couple of weeks we're going to focus in on this particular mark-up (it's not actually called a bill yet, I actually passed civics class) as a lens into Washington and how that can lead us down that road of starting to tie up the ends of everything that's been put here since June and we can all start to see the connections.
. . . .First off, and right up, Washington is corrupt. That's Washington, period. Both parties, if you are under some labored belief that either the Republicans or the Democrats represent you, could I please have some of the shit you're taking or smoking, it must be really, really great.
. . . .Over the last 30 years, what has happened in Washington is simple, incredibly simple. If you believe that a Representative or a Senator represents his or her constituents, you're living in a childlike, simplistic fantasy whose paradigm bears no relationship whatsoever to reality. Representatives and Senators have only on real job, and that entail being the standard-bearers and legislative arm of the lobbyists, PAC's and campaign contributors they serve. That is their real job. When you get a $100,000 bump in your campaign warchest, you're going to vote how the company that put it there wants you to vote, the voters back home and popular opinion be damned.
. . . .The gulf between what these public servants do and how they do it, and how it's perceived is a mile wide and deep. About as large as the gulf that now separates the American populace and electorate, irreparable, damaged beyond repair and both now reflect the state of the American political system; that is now about what can be destroyed, it is about what can be voted against, that it is now a weapon of choice in the battle between two sides.
. . . .Now, what responses from readers let me know is that a whole lot of people don't know how the legislative process actually works. So today, we're going to do two things, explain how the mechanics of the legislative process works, who the real players are on the field, and how they're being manipulated.
. . . .So, on to the real legislative process, in this case, Baucus's turd will suffice to serve as the guidepost as to how it all goes together. A bill, any bill, House or Senate, first goes through it's committee of jurisdiction, in this case the Senate Finance Committee, for what's called a chairman's mark-up, where the initial framework of the bill is hammered out, with the various and sundry mark-ups, attachments, and riders are put together and it's put to a committee vote, that's what happened today with the Baucus bill. Now, that was public spectacle, and in truth, most committee mark-up votes are the ones you see televised and pundits nodding sagely about and analyzing. In truth, this is only of 4 way stations in a bill's life cycle, and like all hideously, grotesquely hatched entities, when it goes through it's other 3 life cycles, may be a different animal completely. From the committee of jurisdiction, it now goes to the Rules committee, which most of you have never heard of. There's a reason for this. In the Rules committee, the Rules chairperson now lays the bill out for the Rules committee, and it's here, where members of the majority party attach all types of riders, attachments, amendments or take a bunch out, and members of the minority party wail and gnash their teeth together about what's happening. Now the interesting part is that yes, the Finance committee vote was scheduled at 11 AM Eastern time in full view of every media outlet, and Finance committee debates were highly televised. Not so once it hits the Rules Committee, which will most likely schedule it's hearings on it for about 3 AM on a Wednesday morning (really, they will!) and this is quite on purpose, because by the time the Chairman's mark-up leaves the Rules committee as a rule, it will be an entirely different sort of monster altogether, completely rewritten with new amendments, riders, other items taken out. Now, there's been much ado about the "72 hour" rule, about how there's supposed to be 72 hours by the time a "rule" (which is what the mark-up is called once it leaves the Rules Committee) and the floor vote, and much blaming of this newest Democratic Congress. They're only payng back tit for tat. That 72 hour rule has been suspended due to "emergency" since the Republican Congress of 2001, and hasn't been put back in place once since 9/11. Everyone, everyone is using it to their advantage, and has for the last 8 years now. So, this particular bill will leave the Rules committee in the middle of the night, and there will be a general floor vote on it within minutes of it's leaving Rules. Now, at that point, it becomes a bill, but it only came from the Senate, before it ever goes for signature, it has to go through a conference committee of both House and Senate, which has arcane rules all it's own, to hammer out all the differences. The point is, no matter what you heard or saw today, this bill will be completely rewritten 2 more times,and be a totally different animal, that reads entirely differently, before it ever arrives for any signature. So, what you've hearing today is not what it will be.
. . . .Cesca, on the particular level of stupid that this is going to ratchet up to:
. . . . .So, give that we now know the simple (mehehehehe!) route this legislation must take, let's take a look at the players involved.
. . . As always, let's start with the over $1.6 billion dollars in lobbying money and campaign contributions given by the health care industry to members of the Senate and House.
. . . .Now, let's break it down individually:
Could it have something to do with the registered 6 lobbyists on health care reform alone for every Representative and Senator? (3,300 registered lobbyists for 535 Representatives and Senators).
. . . .Let's take a look at who really is owned, bought and paid for:
. . . .Now, that's just the Hall of Fame, the All-Stars of lobbying bribery and corruption how about the next tier? Let's take a look. . . .
. . . .Now, just to round out our rogue's gallery, let's do one more, and stop the list at the $100,000 level of lobbying and campaign contribution amount:
. . . .Get the drift? The Health Care Reform debate, the bill itself, whichever one comes out of the 5 versions now floating around between House and Senate, it was over before it started. You don't have a say, and your voice doesn't count, no matter which side of the issue you find yourself on. Get a clue, Congress is for sale. Your Congressperson, Representative and Senator is a whore, standing on the street corner, hand out, selling themselves, their vote and your interests and future to whomever is willing to pony up the freight.
. . . .Now, look at the list above, especially up near the top, and then let's look at who is on the Senate Finance Committee that voted on this awesomely smelly piece of crap yesterday:
Senate Finance Committee:
. . . . Just completely sickening, eh? Now, are you getting the hint about how this whole mess begins to play out?
. . . .Let's look next at the Senate Rules Committee, remembering what we discovered about how legislation worms it's way through, and remembering our list of Las Vegas hookers, err, I mean Senators and Representatives, from above:
Senate Rules Committee:
. . . .Now, if we did just those things, and made quit exempting health care insurance providers from anti-trust legislation (making them the only other industry group besides Major League Baseball to be exempt), we might be able to start salvaging the health care system in this country. As it is -
. . . .Get ready for new awesome levels of stupid.
. . . .And one more shot today. The White House finally fell for it, and now is playing right into Rupert Murdoch's hands. They forgot that Fox "News" is really an entertainment channel, (which it is), as a corporation sued in the State of Florida (tort reform!! tort reform!!) for the right to lie, since they knowingly list themselves as entertainment, and exist only to pull in viewers for ratings to charge advertisers more for. Now, even more people will watch trash like this:
I'm not sure I want to live in a country anymore that actually watches and believes this gibbering, drooling maniac and believes that somehow what he's putting out there is news.
. . . .And that's the way it is:
. . . . .. . . .We can salvage this shipwreck of a Nation. It will take all of us working together. It will take all of us understanding the concepts of the Great American Experiment, the political process of the Republic. It's amazing, I don't see eye-to-eye on every issue with my friends, but we respect one another's opinion, share information, share facts, and we don't talk over one another or at one another, we talk with one another. It's amazing what happens when a group of people who share the common goal of leaving a better country for their children and grandchildren can do when they sit down with one another as human beings, and realize that we each have power, and together, we are unstoppable.
. . . .I'm going to ask this of you for the next 30 days. Turn your TV off, turn your radio off. Start to use that beautiful mind that your Creator gave you, that your underpaid, underappreciated High School teachers tried to develop. If you hear something, if you read something, if someone sends you an e-mail that says "this bill will do this", or "this politician says this", I'm asking you to check it out. Check it out this way, use some of the following fact-based sites, who exist solely for the purpose of data and fact-checking.
- If whatever you've heard or read concerns a bill in Congress, use the following -
- Open Congress, it's non-partisan and devoted to a complete tracking of every bill in Congress, both houses. How a bill is developed, who is sponsoring it, what the riders are, what the discussion around it is.
- GovTrack, again non-partisan, non-commercial and open source; devoted to the same things, tracking Congress.
- Open Secrets, one of the most important ones, it tracks the lobbying money and campaign contributions flowing to your congressperson, and most of the time is a pretty good predictor of how they'll vote.
- Political Party Time, non-partisan, devoted to solely tracking political fundraisers, and letting you know exactly what parties your Representative and Senators are throwing for fundraisers and who is attending and how much money they're throwing at them to gain influence.
. . . .If someone sends something to you saying "this is so" or "that is so" or "the President/Senator/Representative said this" use the following:
- Fact Check, non-partisan, designed to separate fact from bullshit and fiction
- Snopes, devoted to the same thing.
- Politifact, devoted to getting to the truth, and separating out the lies that are spread.
. . . .I keep doing this not because I don't have faith, but because I do have faith. I have faith in the ultimate triumph of the spirit, intellect and heart of the American people. I have faith that the people I know want to leave something better for future generations, and know that something is terribly wrong, and want to do something about it. I do it because Paine and Jefferson were brilliant, unique singularities and were right.
. . . .I keep doing this because I don't believe in big imaginary friends for adults, I don't believe in alien conspiracies running the Government, I don't believe the Roswell bodies are at Wright-Patterson, I don't believe that a big portal will open up on Dec. 21, 2012, I don't believe that the spaceships will show up.
. . . I do believe that the people who have fucked everything up are greedy, avaricious human beings who have been able to steal from the American people, to harm them, who have run unchecked because no one calls it out for what it is. I believe that if we shine the light of day on it, if the people of this country have had enough, we can change it, and change it for the better.
. . . . I keep doing this because I do believe that people, human beings, unchecked will continue to do what they've done throughout history, and throughout the history of this country. Together, they will find the solutions and provide better for their children and grandchildren.
. . . .I believe in us, I believe in people. I believe in the beauty, power and grace of the individual.
. . . .I do this for everyone who's ever walked that lonely road of knowing what they do, what they believe, what they know is right. I do it for everyone who's ever walked that lonely road of faith, hope, love, hate, justice, war and peace.
. . . .I do it because I believe in justice, in all it's forms.
. . . .I do this everyday for the people and kids who are tattoed, pierced and inked and keep getting told to get "into the mainstream". I do this everyday for those guys who wear black that you don't understand, you just know there's something about them, and that when the chips are down, when you have to walk down a dark alley somewhere, and you know what's waiting for you at the end of it, and you can only take one person with you, that's who you want walking with you, because you know you'll come back out alive, and that guy doesn't care what it costs him.
. . . .I do this everyday for the outcasts, the misfits, the ones who don't fit and who will turn their back on you and walk away when you try to make them fit into a mold. I do it everyday for everyone who does it their way, knows that they're paying a high price for it, but the freedom is worth the cost.
. . . . I do this everyday for outlaws, cowboys, renegades, pirates and fallen angels. I do it everyday for the people who understand that rock and roll can save their soul, that redemption can be found in a 3-chord lick from a vintage Les Paul. I do it for the men and women who aren't afraid to turn it all the way up, who keep looking for an 11 setting on a volume knob that only goes to 10, who know that rock and roll's got nothing to do with age.
. . . .If right now, you're doing something you don't want to do, stop it. If you've surrounded yourself with people who want you to do or be something other than who you are, walk away. If you've got people around you who actually let it slip out that they think you "should be doing (fill in the blank here)" and it involves your life, your future, your existence as an individual, walk away, right now, and don't look back. You don't owe anyone anything. Live fearlessly. If the people around you can't accept it, can't accept you as you are, really are, they aren't and weren't friends anyhow.
. . . .Don't march to anyone else's drumbeat, don't drink the Kool-Aid, anyone's. Right, Left, conservative, liberal, Democrat, Republican, Christian, Buddhist, Pagan. Use your own mind, that's why you were given one. Examine, question, do what's right for you first, everything else will fall in place from there, quit looking for the path, you're already on it.
. . . .Come out of the gate each morning with both barrels blazing, pedal-to-metal, full-tilt boogie, all-in and balls-out, what's stopping you? Do you want to live forever? That'd be boring.
. . . .Got your back. somewhere out there in the night
. . . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do. Seize the precious moments before they're ripped away from you. This rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one, absolutely no one gets out alive. There aren't a lot of second chances, and we don't get to dictate terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched. This ain't no dress rehearsal, and the curtain's gone up, it's real and right now. It's not about yesterday or tomorrow. It's about right fucking here, right fucking now. This, what you're reading, what you're hearing, is the proof, the words, the sounds and the sights of someone changing his own life and his own world and not being afraid to put it out there. What have you done for yourself lately and why are you waiting? Do it now.
The Desolation Angel
from somewhere halfway to Heaven, and just a mile out of Hell
You know someone like me, there's still a few of us left. If we have to, we'll stand at the gates of Hell and hold the last train home for you.. . . . . .
. . . .The exceptionally absurd portion of it being that somehow Republican Senator Olympia Snowe from Maine voting for it is somehow some watershed moment in history and simultaneously, in different universes, I guess, represents both bipartisan support and at the same time that Olympia Snowe, a Senator from a state that represents 1/2 of 1% of the United States population, is the true "maverick" in her party.
. . . .Now, let's set the stage. Everything written here since July actually has been about the connections between everything else, and setting the stage, at least when it comes to me, for my mantra when it comes to Washington, "follow the money".
. . . .Over the next couple of weeks we're going to focus in on this particular mark-up (it's not actually called a bill yet, I actually passed civics class) as a lens into Washington and how that can lead us down that road of starting to tie up the ends of everything that's been put here since June and we can all start to see the connections.
. . . .First off, and right up, Washington is corrupt. That's Washington, period. Both parties, if you are under some labored belief that either the Republicans or the Democrats represent you, could I please have some of the shit you're taking or smoking, it must be really, really great.
. . . .Over the last 30 years, what has happened in Washington is simple, incredibly simple. If you believe that a Representative or a Senator represents his or her constituents, you're living in a childlike, simplistic fantasy whose paradigm bears no relationship whatsoever to reality. Representatives and Senators have only on real job, and that entail being the standard-bearers and legislative arm of the lobbyists, PAC's and campaign contributors they serve. That is their real job. When you get a $100,000 bump in your campaign warchest, you're going to vote how the company that put it there wants you to vote, the voters back home and popular opinion be damned.
. . . .The gulf between what these public servants do and how they do it, and how it's perceived is a mile wide and deep. About as large as the gulf that now separates the American populace and electorate, irreparable, damaged beyond repair and both now reflect the state of the American political system; that is now about what can be destroyed, it is about what can be voted against, that it is now a weapon of choice in the battle between two sides.
. . . .Now, what responses from readers let me know is that a whole lot of people don't know how the legislative process actually works. So today, we're going to do two things, explain how the mechanics of the legislative process works, who the real players are on the field, and how they're being manipulated.
. . . .So, on to the real legislative process, in this case, Baucus's turd will suffice to serve as the guidepost as to how it all goes together. A bill, any bill, House or Senate, first goes through it's committee of jurisdiction, in this case the Senate Finance Committee, for what's called a chairman's mark-up, where the initial framework of the bill is hammered out, with the various and sundry mark-ups, attachments, and riders are put together and it's put to a committee vote, that's what happened today with the Baucus bill. Now, that was public spectacle, and in truth, most committee mark-up votes are the ones you see televised and pundits nodding sagely about and analyzing. In truth, this is only of 4 way stations in a bill's life cycle, and like all hideously, grotesquely hatched entities, when it goes through it's other 3 life cycles, may be a different animal completely. From the committee of jurisdiction, it now goes to the Rules committee, which most of you have never heard of. There's a reason for this. In the Rules committee, the Rules chairperson now lays the bill out for the Rules committee, and it's here, where members of the majority party attach all types of riders, attachments, amendments or take a bunch out, and members of the minority party wail and gnash their teeth together about what's happening. Now the interesting part is that yes, the Finance committee vote was scheduled at 11 AM Eastern time in full view of every media outlet, and Finance committee debates were highly televised. Not so once it hits the Rules Committee, which will most likely schedule it's hearings on it for about 3 AM on a Wednesday morning (really, they will!) and this is quite on purpose, because by the time the Chairman's mark-up leaves the Rules committee as a rule, it will be an entirely different sort of monster altogether, completely rewritten with new amendments, riders, other items taken out. Now, there's been much ado about the "72 hour" rule, about how there's supposed to be 72 hours by the time a "rule" (which is what the mark-up is called once it leaves the Rules Committee) and the floor vote, and much blaming of this newest Democratic Congress. They're only payng back tit for tat. That 72 hour rule has been suspended due to "emergency" since the Republican Congress of 2001, and hasn't been put back in place once since 9/11. Everyone, everyone is using it to their advantage, and has for the last 8 years now. So, this particular bill will leave the Rules committee in the middle of the night, and there will be a general floor vote on it within minutes of it's leaving Rules. Now, at that point, it becomes a bill, but it only came from the Senate, before it ever goes for signature, it has to go through a conference committee of both House and Senate, which has arcane rules all it's own, to hammer out all the differences. The point is, no matter what you heard or saw today, this bill will be completely rewritten 2 more times,and be a totally different animal, that reads entirely differently, before it ever arrives for any signature. So, what you've hearing today is not what it will be.
. . . .Cesca, on the particular level of stupid that this is going to ratchet up to:
These final stages of the healthcare reform process have the potential to make us totally lose our shpadoinkle. I mean, we're talking many new levels of congressional and media stupid. Stupid about process, stupid about the content of the various bills, stupid about what's happening in the White House.
We may have passed a crucial stage today, but the real insanity has yet to begin. So sometimes it's helpful to have an array of touchstones established prior to such an endeavor. Here are the two most important questions moving forward, and everything else -- all the rest of the crazy noise -- is secondary:
1) Will Harry Reid enforce lockstep on 60 votes for cloture, especially if there's a robust public option attached to the Senate and final bills?
2) Will the House Progressive Caucus hold together on their opposition to any legislation without a robust public option?
These are the most important questions.
60 votes against the filibuster will allow a bill with the public option to pass with 50-plus-Biden in the final vote. And if the progressives hold their caucus together, there will have to be a robust public option in the final bill, or else healthcare reform dies. It doesn't matter what Kent Conrad says or what douchery Lieberman engages in -- if there's 60 votes for cloture and the progressives hold together, there will absolutely be healthcare reform with a public option.
. . . . .So, give that we now know the simple (mehehehehe!) route this legislation must take, let's take a look at the players involved.
. . . As always, let's start with the over $1.6 billion dollars in lobbying money and campaign contributions given by the health care industry to members of the Senate and House.
. . . .Now, let's break it down individually:
Could it have something to do with the registered 6 lobbyists on health care reform alone for every Representative and Senator? (3,300 registered lobbyists for 535 Representatives and Senators).
. . . .Let's take a look at who really is owned, bought and paid for:
Elected Official Pty ST Interest Group Giver
RankAmount Total Sen John McCain R AZ Retired 1 $32,841,726.00 $32,841,726.00 Sen. John Cornyn R TX Retired 1 $1,001,383.00 $1,797,846.00 Health Professionals 4 $796,463.00 Sen. Mitch McConnell R KY Retired 3 $908,480.00 $1,694,880.00 Health Professionals 5 $786,400.00 Sen Max Baucus D MT Health Professionals 2 $790,141.00 $1,514,216.00 Insurance 5 $724,075.00 Sen. Chris Dodd D CT Insurance 3 $1,381,556.00 $1,381,556.00 Sen. Chuck Grassley R IA Health Professionals 1 $470,956.00 $1,334,941.00 Insurance 2 $364,998.00 Pharma/Health Products 4 $250,150.00 Hospitals/Nursing Homes 5 $248,837.00 Sen. Mark Warner D VA Retired 3 $1,331,885.00 $1,331,885.00
. . . .Now, that's just the Hall of Fame, the All-Stars of lobbying bribery and corruption how about the next tier? Let's take a look. . . .
| Elected Official | Pty | ST | Interest Group | Giver Rank | Amount | Total | ||||||
| Joe Lieberman | I | CT | Retired | 5 | $995,788.00 | $995,788.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Arlen Specter | D | PA | Pharmaceuticals/Health Products | 2 | $510,549.00 | $915,332.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 5 | $404,783.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Ben Nelson | D | NE | Insurance | 1 | $611,086.00 | $896,879.00 | ||||||
| Pharmaceuticals/Health Products | 3 | $285,793.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Orrin G Hatch | R | UT | Pharma/Health Products | 1 | $606,081.00 | $885,881.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 5 | $279,800.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. John Thune | R | SD | Retired | 1 | $858,490.00 | $858,490.00 | ||||||
| Sen Tom Harkin | D | IA | Health Professionals | 2 | $498,651.00 | $823,865.00 | ||||||
| Pharma/Health Products | 5 | $325,214.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Claire McCaskill | D | MO | Retired | 3 | $784,134.00 | $784,134.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Deborah Ann Stabenow | D | MI | Retired | 3 | $394,429.00 | $762,184.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 4 | $367,755.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Richard Burr | R | NC | Pharma/Health Products | 1 | $403,848.00 | $747,224.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 4 | $184,776.00 | ||||||||||
| Insurance | 5 | $158,600.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Mark Udall | D | CO | Retired | 2 | $734,258.00 | $734,258.00 | ||||||
| Mike Enzi | R | WY | Pharma/Health Products | 1 | $353,912.00 | $725,711.00 | ||||||
| Insurance | 3 | $194,250.00 | ||||||||||
| Health Professionals | 4 | $177,549.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Jon L Kyl | R | AZ | Health Professionals | 4 | $709,083.00 | $709,083.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Edward M Kennedy | D | MA | Pharmaceuticals/Health Products | 3 | $389,490.00 | $689,697.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 4 | $300,207.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Sherrod Brown | D | OH | Health Professionals | 2 | $676,139.00 | $676,139.00 | ||||||
| Sen Blanche Lincoln | D | AR | Health Professionals | 1 | $401,700.00 | $629,700.00 | ||||||
| Hospitals/Nursing Homes | 5 | $228,000.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen Tom Carper | D | DE | Insurance | 1 | $355,680.00 | $623,200.00 | ||||||
D | DE | Pharma/Health Products | 5 | $267,520.00 | ||||||||
| Sen. John Ensign | R | NV | Health Professionals | 3 | $346,475.00 | $648,937.00 | ||||||
| Insurance | 4 | $302,462.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson | R | TX | Retired | 1 | $601,290.00 | $601,290.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Kent Conrad | D | ND | Insurance | 2 | $327,125.00 | $598,158.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 4 | $271,033.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen James Webb | D | VA | Retired | 3 | $573,651.00 | $573,651.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Saxby Chambliss | R | GA | Insurance | $558,836.00 | $558,836.00 | |||||||
| Sen. Tom Udall | D | MN | Retired | 2 | $539,949.00 | $539,949.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Olympia J. Snowe | R | ME | Retired | 1 | $179,708.00 | $517,867.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 2 | $174,574.00 | ||||||||||
| Insurance | 3 | $163,585.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. David Vitter | R | LA | Health Professionals | 1 | $321,000.00 | $516,848.00 | ||||||
| Retired | 5 | $195,848.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Bob Corker | R | TN | Health Professionals | 5 | $512,539.00 | $512,539.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Mike Crapo | R | ID | Insurance | 2 | $304,950.00 | $502,750.00 | ||||||
3 | $197,800.00 | |||||||||||
| Sen. Jeff Sessions | R | AL | Retired | 2 | $295,421.00 | $502,231.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 4 | $206,810.00 |
. . . .Now, just to round out our rogue's gallery, let's do one more, and stop the list at the $100,000 level of lobbying and campaign contribution amount:
| Elected Official | Pty | ST | Interest Group | Giver Rank | Amount | Total | ||||||
| Sen. James W DeMint | R | SC | Health Professionals | 4 | $256,312.00 | $481,914.00 | ||||||
| Insurance | 5 | $225,602.00 | ||||||||||
| Kay R. Hagan | D | NC | Retired | 3 | $473,649.00 | $473,649.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Richard C. Shelby | R | AL | Insurance | 2 | $461,499.00 | $461,499.00 | ||||||
| Sen Ron Wyden | D | OR | Health Professionals | 2 | $165,050.00 | $450,135.00 | ||||||
| Hospitals/Nursing Homes | 4 | $145,200.00 | ||||||||||
| Retired | 5 | $139,885.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Bernie Sanders | I | VT | Retired | 1 | $434,899.00 | $434,899.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Jeff Merkley | D | OR | Retired | 3 | $422,221.00 | $422,221.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Susan Collins | R | ME | Health Professionals | 4 | $392,169.00 | $392,169.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Roger Wicker | R | MS | Retired | 3 | $192,655.00 | $382,155.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 4 | $189,500.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse | D | RI | Retired | 3 | $377,806.00 | $377,806.00 | ||||||
| Rep. Ben Cardin | D | MD | Health Professionals | 5 | $370,408.00 | $370,408.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Tim Johnson | D | SD | Insurance | 1 | $346,497.00 | $346,497.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Jon Tester | D | MT | Retired | 3 | $345,647.00 | $345,647.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Robert F. Bennett | R | UT | Insurance | 2 | $209,700.00 | $342,244.00 | ||||||
| R | UT | Pharma/Health Products | 5 | $132,544.00 | ||||||||
| Sen. Geoorge V Voinovich | R | OH | Retired | 2 | $219,136.00 | $355,336.00 | ||||||
| Insurance | 5 | $136,200.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Jeanne Shaheen | R | NH | Retired | 4 | $349,798.00 | $349,798.00 | ||||||
| Sen Richard D. Lugar | R | IN | Retired | 1 | $330,456.00 | $330,456.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Russ Feingold | D | WI | Health Professionals | 3 | $307,078.00 | $307,078.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Patty Murray | D | WA | Retired | 3 | $304,805.00 | $304,805.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg | D | NJ | Retired | 5 | $289,683.00 | $289,683.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Thad Cochran | R | MS | Health Professionals | 4 | $153,050.00 | $287,250.00 | ||||||
| Pharma/Health Products | 5 | $134,200.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen John A Barrasso | R | WY | Health Professionals | 2 | $272,050.00 | $272,050.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Pat Roberts | R | KS | Retired | 4 | $266,688.00 | $266,688.00 | ||||||
| Sen Jay Rockefeller | D | WV | Health Professionals | 2 | $262,950.00 | $262,950.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Tom Coburn | R | OK | Health Professionals | 1 | $193,414.00 | $255,615.00 | ||||||
| Hospitals/Nursing Homes | 5 | $62,201.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Barbara A Mikulski | D | MD | Pharma/Health Products | 4 | $117,495.00 | $228,279.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 5 | $110,784.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Charles E. Schumer | D | NY | Insurance | 4 | $219,800.00 | $219,800.00 | ||||||
| Sen. Jim Bunning | R | KY | Insurance | 1 | $141,433.00 | $213,183.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 4 | $71,750.00 | ||||||||||
| Rep. Jeff Bingaman | D | NM | Health Professionals | 3 | $207,563.00 | $207,563.00 | ||||||
| Rep. John Boehner | R | OH | Insurance | 1 | $134,900.00 | $205,600.00 | ||||||
| Pharma/Health Products | 3 | $70,700.00 | ||||||||||
| Rep. Kendrick B Meek | D | FL | Retired | 4 | $88,402.00 | $166,452.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 5 | $78,050.00 | ||||||||||
| Rep. Eric Cantor | R | VA | Insurance | 2 | $132,900.00 | $147,900.00 | ||||||
| Eli Lilly & Co. | 2 | $15,000.00 | ||||||||||
| Rep. Chris Murphy | D | CT | Retired | 1 | $110,700.00 | $145,550.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 2 | $34,850.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Johnny Isakson | R | GA | Health Professionals | 5 | $125,750.00 | $125,750.00 | ||||||
| Rep. Joseph Crowley | D | NY | Insurance | 1 | $49,000.00 | $120,272.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 2 | $44,000.00 | ||||||||||
| Pharma/Health Products | $27,272.00 | |||||||||||
| Rep. Dave Camp | R | MI | Insurance | 1 | $57,250.00 | $132,500.00 | ||||||
| R | MI | Pharma/Health Products | 2 | $49,000.00 | ||||||||
| R | MI | Health Professionals | 5 | $26,250.00 | ||||||||
| Rep. Judd Gregg | R | NH | Pharma/Health Products | 2 | $129,000.00 | $189,200.00 | ||||||
| 4 | $60,200.00 | |||||||||||
| Rep. Steny H. Hoyer | D | MD | Insurance | 1 | $94,020.00 | $178,230.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 2 | $84,210.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Nancy Pelosi | D | CA | Health Professionals | 1 | $126,500.00 | $175,000.00 | ||||||
| Insurance | 2 | $48,500.00 | ||||||||||
| Rep. Earl Pomery | D | ND | Insurance | 1 | $72,500.00 | $169,985.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 2 | $67,385.00 | ||||||||||
| Hospitals/Nursing Homes | 3 | $30,100.00 | ||||||||||
| Rep. Tom Price | R | GA | Health Professionals | 1 | $140,350.00 | $159,700.00 | ||||||
| Insurance | 2 | $19,350.00 | ||||||||||
| Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. | D | NJ | Health Professionals | 1 | $122,150.00 | $141,150.00 | ||||||
| Insurance | 5 | $19,000.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. James E Risch | R | ID | Retired | 2 | $126,800.00 | $126,800.00 | ||||||
| Jemes E Clyburn | D | SC | Pharma/Health Products | 1 | $77,500.00 | $123,500.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 4 | $46,000.00 | ||||||||||
| Rep. Xavier Becerra | D | CA | Health Professionals | 1 | $64,450.00 | $122,827.00 | ||||||
| D | CA | Insurance | 2 | $30,300.00 | ||||||||
| D | CA | Pharmaceuticals | 3 | $28,077.00 | ||||||||
| Rep. Allyson Schwartz | D | PA | Health Professionals | 2 | $61,823.00 | $123,623.00 | ||||||
| Retired | 3 | $61,800.00 | ||||||||||
| Rep. Ron Kind | D | WI | Insurance | 1 | $63,359.00 | $118,178.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 2 | $41,500.00 | ||||||||||
| Pharmaceuticals/Health Products | 4 | $13,319.00 | ||||||||||
| Sen. Mitch McConnell | R | KY | Kindred Healthcare | 2 | $116,200.00 | $116,200.00 | ||||||
| Rep. Pete Sessions | R | TX | Health Professionals | 1 | $60,750.00 | $110,250.00 | ||||||
| Insurance | 4 | $25,000.00 | ||||||||||
| Pharmaceuticals/Health Products | 5 | $24,500.00 | ||||||||||
| Rep. Charles B. Rangel | D | NY | Insurance | 1 | $60,400.00 | $109,900.00 | ||||||
| Health Professionals | 2 | $49,500.00 | ||||||||||
| Rep. Spencer Bachus | R | AL | Insurance | 1 | $109,000.00 | $109,000.00 | ||||||
| Rep. Paul Ryan | R | WI | Insurance | 1 | $44,750.00 | $108,340.00 | ||||||
| Retired | 2 | $40,035.00 | ||||||||||
| Health Professionals | 4 | $23,555.00 | ||||||||||
| Rep. Mike Rogers | R | MI | Pharma/Health Products | 1 | $50,000.00 | $107,300.00 | ||||||
| Insurance | 2 | $30,000.00 | ||||||||||
| Health Professionals | 3 | $27,300.00 |
. . . .Get the drift? The Health Care Reform debate, the bill itself, whichever one comes out of the 5 versions now floating around between House and Senate, it was over before it started. You don't have a say, and your voice doesn't count, no matter which side of the issue you find yourself on. Get a clue, Congress is for sale. Your Congressperson, Representative and Senator is a whore, standing on the street corner, hand out, selling themselves, their vote and your interests and future to whomever is willing to pony up the freight.
. . . .Now, look at the list above, especially up near the top, and then let's look at who is on the Senate Finance Committee that voted on this awesomely smelly piece of crap yesterday:
Senate Finance Committee:
. . . . Just completely sickening, eh? Now, are you getting the hint about how this whole mess begins to play out?
. . . .Let's look next at the Senate Rules Committee, remembering what we discovered about how legislation worms it's way through, and remembering our list of Las Vegas hookers, err, I mean Senators and Representatives, from above:
Senate Rules Committee:
Members
Majority Members
-
Robert C. Byrd, WV -
Daniel K. Inouye, HI -
Christopher J. Dodd, CT -
Dianne Feinstein, CA -
Richard J. Durbin, IL -
E. Benjamin Nelson, NE -
Patty Murray, WA -
Mark L. Pryor, AR -
Tom Udall, NM -
Mark Warner, VA
Jean Parvin Bordewich, Staff Director
Jason Abel, Chief Counsel
Minority Members
-
Mitch McConnell, KY -
Thad Cochran, MS -
Kay Bailey Hutchison, TX -
C. Saxby Chambliss, GA -
Lamar Alexander, TN -
John Ensign, NV -
Pat Roberts, KS
Mary Suit Jones, Republican Staff Director
Paul Vinovich, Republican Chief Counsel
. . . .Damn, are you beginning, I hope to get the picture and understand that this has all been political theater from the beginning? That the members of Congress are bought, paid for and do nothing but carry out orders from their lords and masters, and that everything, positively everything you see and hear is nothing more than theater and eye and ear candy designed to both distract and placate you?
. . . .Because here's what will happen, in short summary:
- The health care insurance companies, already obscenely bloated, will get richer.
- Every tax-paying legal citizen in the United States will be covered, because by mandate, they'll have to be, and will lose a significant chunk of their income to health insurance providers, who at the end of the day, are directing this entire mess.
. . . .Guess someone finally took a look at what Goldman-Sachs and JP Morgan Chase have been doing all along in their sector and got smart.
. . . What won't happen is something we talked about last summer right here in this column, and that's the smart things to do to the health care system to overhaul it, make it more efficient and effective, cheaper and would never involve a public option. Something like this one, reprinted from last summer:
. . . .I caught one of the best pieces I've read yet on health care reform yet. Simple and practical, so it probably won't get the legs and analysis it deserves. It doesn't involve screaming, yelling and accusing someone of pulling the plug on their loved one. A practicing physician, an M.D., and also a Professor of Clinical Medicine at U.S.C., Dr. Paul Toffel:
. . . .Because here's what will happen, in short summary:
- The health care insurance companies, already obscenely bloated, will get richer.
- Every tax-paying legal citizen in the United States will be covered, because by mandate, they'll have to be, and will lose a significant chunk of their income to health insurance providers, who at the end of the day, are directing this entire mess.
. . . .Guess someone finally took a look at what Goldman-Sachs and JP Morgan Chase have been doing all along in their sector and got smart.
. . . What won't happen is something we talked about last summer right here in this column, and that's the smart things to do to the health care system to overhaul it, make it more efficient and effective, cheaper and would never involve a public option. Something like this one, reprinted from last summer:
. . . .I caught one of the best pieces I've read yet on health care reform yet. Simple and practical, so it probably won't get the legs and analysis it deserves. It doesn't involve screaming, yelling and accusing someone of pulling the plug on their loved one. A practicing physician, an M.D., and also a Professor of Clinical Medicine at U.S.C., Dr. Paul Toffel:
So here is the distillation of my 40 years' observation.
First, we should change the current 50 state patchwork of private insurance programs -- which cannot cross state borders -- to a national clearinghouse of private insurance choices that can compete across the whole country. Meanwhile, we should regulate the competing companies so that they must take all comers, regardless of pre-existing conditions.
Secondly, we should return health care insurance companies to the pre-1984 federal regulations that limited their fees to administration only (about 15% of medical dollars), without excessive profits going to their boards of directors, CEO's or shareholders. The provision of medical care is not the type of profession that can be treated as a simple commodity. The corporatization of health care was a bad idea, and it's getting worse. It has contributed tremendously to the crisis we're in now where hospitals and doctors feel squeezed -- forcing some of them to shut their doors or quit -- while insurance company profits soar.
Third, we need to make health insurance plans completely portable for individuals with life changes, in order for the insurance companies to compete on a flat playing field for the whole U.S. population. Ideally we should move away from employment-based health care. If employers do not have to pay the soaring costs of healthcare for their employees, they can raise their employees' salaries in a commensurate manner, and the employees, in turn, can choose which level of health care plan they want to purchase.
Of course, people who can afford it should be required to purchase health insurance, in the same way that we are required to purchase car insurance, but they would have the choice of which plan to purchase.
And last, the health care overhaul should include meaningful tort reform that caps frivolous malpractice suits. Such a policy has seen great success in California for 34 years.
With the four above changes, competition across the whole country should prompt health insurance companies to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness (similar to what GEICO has done in the car insurance arena). Notice that the government has not had to spend significantly or nationalize health care to accomplish this. All that is needed is thoughtful insurance company regulation, and the mandatory participation of all citizens who can afford what will be competition-driven reduced premium costs.
But what about the indigent and illegal alien populations who still need access to good medical care? How do you take care of them without an extra tax burden on the working population? This is easy for me to envision because I did it for decades via the model of our USC/Los Angeles County Medical Center -- the busiest teaching hospital in the United States.
"County USC" handles hundreds of thousands of clinic visits by indigent and illegal alien patients every year, allowing for wonderful experience for our doctors-in-training under the guidance of a great faculty. Because our hospital has 2000 penetrating-wound (knife or gunshot) patients per year, the U.S. military rotates its trauma surgeons here for 6 months at a U.S. Naval sub-station, before deploying them to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thus, the final no new-tax solution to the health care problem is to get all of the urban medical schools back to serving their local indigent populations, with a standing "open door" policy, and no dumping of those patients off to other private hospitals or clinics while still obtaining Federal Grants (such a dumping policy was recently disclosed to have taken place at the University of Chicago Medical School).
If the large urban medical schools remember that "school" is in their name, they will use the teaching environment to promote great care as we've done for over 100 years at County USC. Also, in carrying out this primary teaching function, the schools could be subsidized (as has been done for decades by Federal, state and county funds), but with the money going directly to the delivery of medical care, rather than the expansion of bricks and mortar.
Great American-style medical care can be provided cost-effectively in simple perk-free settings, as in the U.S. military hospitals, without requiring the private rooms and flat screen TV's for every patient that have contributed to bankrupting many hospitals.
Federal regulations and mandates of all U.S. medical schools to emulate the County USC model would address the load of indigent patients and give our medical schools back the patient experience they sorely need for continued training of our physicians.
This plan represents my simple solution to preserving all of the best aspects of choice and quality and access in the American medical system, without the need for new taxes at all. Nor does it require nationalizing under a government-run plan, which is guaranteed to increase bureaucracy as well as the delay of essential medical services, such as seeing a specialist, undergoing surgery, or obtaining cancer treatments.
. . . .Now, if we did just those things, and made quit exempting health care insurance providers from anti-trust legislation (making them the only other industry group besides Major League Baseball to be exempt), we might be able to start salvaging the health care system in this country. As it is -
. . . .Get ready for new awesome levels of stupid.
. . . .And one more shot today. The White House finally fell for it, and now is playing right into Rupert Murdoch's hands. They forgot that Fox "News" is really an entertainment channel, (which it is), as a corporation sued in the State of Florida (tort reform!! tort reform!!) for the right to lie, since they knowingly list themselves as entertainment, and exist only to pull in viewers for ratings to charge advertisers more for. Now, even more people will watch trash like this:
Six Degrees of Glenn Beck Is A Mental Patient
Either Glenn Beck is insane, or he's mocking and exploiting the mentally ill for ratings.
There are literally millions of people who watch this and think it's rational discourseI'm not sure I want to live in a country anymore that actually watches and believes this gibbering, drooling maniac and believes that somehow what he's putting out there is news.
. . . .And that's the way it is:
. . . . .. . . .We can salvage this shipwreck of a Nation. It will take all of us working together. It will take all of us understanding the concepts of the Great American Experiment, the political process of the Republic. It's amazing, I don't see eye-to-eye on every issue with my friends, but we respect one another's opinion, share information, share facts, and we don't talk over one another or at one another, we talk with one another. It's amazing what happens when a group of people who share the common goal of leaving a better country for their children and grandchildren can do when they sit down with one another as human beings, and realize that we each have power, and together, we are unstoppable.
. . . .I'm going to ask this of you for the next 30 days. Turn your TV off, turn your radio off. Start to use that beautiful mind that your Creator gave you, that your underpaid, underappreciated High School teachers tried to develop. If you hear something, if you read something, if someone sends you an e-mail that says "this bill will do this", or "this politician says this", I'm asking you to check it out. Check it out this way, use some of the following fact-based sites, who exist solely for the purpose of data and fact-checking.
- If whatever you've heard or read concerns a bill in Congress, use the following -
- Open Congress, it's non-partisan and devoted to a complete tracking of every bill in Congress, both houses. How a bill is developed, who is sponsoring it, what the riders are, what the discussion around it is.
- GovTrack, again non-partisan, non-commercial and open source; devoted to the same things, tracking Congress.
- Open Secrets, one of the most important ones, it tracks the lobbying money and campaign contributions flowing to your congressperson, and most of the time is a pretty good predictor of how they'll vote.
- Political Party Time, non-partisan, devoted to solely tracking political fundraisers, and letting you know exactly what parties your Representative and Senators are throwing for fundraisers and who is attending and how much money they're throwing at them to gain influence.
. . . .If someone sends something to you saying "this is so" or "that is so" or "the President/Senator/Representative said this" use the following:
- Fact Check, non-partisan, designed to separate fact from bullshit and fiction
- Snopes, devoted to the same thing.
- Politifact, devoted to getting to the truth, and separating out the lies that are spread.
. . . .I keep doing this not because I don't have faith, but because I do have faith. I have faith in the ultimate triumph of the spirit, intellect and heart of the American people. I have faith that the people I know want to leave something better for future generations, and know that something is terribly wrong, and want to do something about it. I do it because Paine and Jefferson were brilliant, unique singularities and were right.
. . . .I keep doing this because I don't believe in big imaginary friends for adults, I don't believe in alien conspiracies running the Government, I don't believe the Roswell bodies are at Wright-Patterson, I don't believe that a big portal will open up on Dec. 21, 2012, I don't believe that the spaceships will show up.
. . . I do believe that the people who have fucked everything up are greedy, avaricious human beings who have been able to steal from the American people, to harm them, who have run unchecked because no one calls it out for what it is. I believe that if we shine the light of day on it, if the people of this country have had enough, we can change it, and change it for the better.
. . . . I keep doing this because I do believe that people, human beings, unchecked will continue to do what they've done throughout history, and throughout the history of this country. Together, they will find the solutions and provide better for their children and grandchildren.
. . . .I believe in us, I believe in people. I believe in the beauty, power and grace of the individual.
. . . .I do this for everyone who's ever walked that lonely road of knowing what they do, what they believe, what they know is right. I do it for everyone who's ever walked that lonely road of faith, hope, love, hate, justice, war and peace.
. . . .I do it because I believe in justice, in all it's forms.
. . . .I do this everyday for the people and kids who are tattoed, pierced and inked and keep getting told to get "into the mainstream". I do this everyday for those guys who wear black that you don't understand, you just know there's something about them, and that when the chips are down, when you have to walk down a dark alley somewhere, and you know what's waiting for you at the end of it, and you can only take one person with you, that's who you want walking with you, because you know you'll come back out alive, and that guy doesn't care what it costs him.
. . . .I do this everyday for the outcasts, the misfits, the ones who don't fit and who will turn their back on you and walk away when you try to make them fit into a mold. I do it everyday for everyone who does it their way, knows that they're paying a high price for it, but the freedom is worth the cost.
. . . . I do this everyday for outlaws, cowboys, renegades, pirates and fallen angels. I do it everyday for the people who understand that rock and roll can save their soul, that redemption can be found in a 3-chord lick from a vintage Les Paul. I do it for the men and women who aren't afraid to turn it all the way up, who keep looking for an 11 setting on a volume knob that only goes to 10, who know that rock and roll's got nothing to do with age.
. . . .If right now, you're doing something you don't want to do, stop it. If you've surrounded yourself with people who want you to do or be something other than who you are, walk away. If you've got people around you who actually let it slip out that they think you "should be doing (fill in the blank here)" and it involves your life, your future, your existence as an individual, walk away, right now, and don't look back. You don't owe anyone anything. Live fearlessly. If the people around you can't accept it, can't accept you as you are, really are, they aren't and weren't friends anyhow.
. . . .Don't march to anyone else's drumbeat, don't drink the Kool-Aid, anyone's. Right, Left, conservative, liberal, Democrat, Republican, Christian, Buddhist, Pagan. Use your own mind, that's why you were given one. Examine, question, do what's right for you first, everything else will fall in place from there, quit looking for the path, you're already on it.
. . . .Come out of the gate each morning with both barrels blazing, pedal-to-metal, full-tilt boogie, all-in and balls-out, what's stopping you? Do you want to live forever? That'd be boring.
. . . .Got your back. somewhere out there in the night
. . . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do. Seize the precious moments before they're ripped away from you. This rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one, absolutely no one gets out alive. There aren't a lot of second chances, and we don't get to dictate terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched. This ain't no dress rehearsal, and the curtain's gone up, it's real and right now. It's not about yesterday or tomorrow. It's about right fucking here, right fucking now. This, what you're reading, what you're hearing, is the proof, the words, the sounds and the sights of someone changing his own life and his own world and not being afraid to put it out there. What have you done for yourself lately and why are you waiting? Do it now.
The Desolation Angel
from somewhere halfway to Heaven, and just a mile out of Hell
You know someone like me, there's still a few of us left. If we have to, we'll stand at the gates of Hell and hold the last train home for you.. . . . . .
1 comments:
Fuck! Why did I press play! Now I have to watch some John Stewart to wash the Glenn Beck out of my brain...
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