The Recent Past Shows why the Present Mess

This is a USA TODAY article from 6-28-2005. This shows just another way we arrived where we are today, bad decisions, hubris and Washington as usual. Still at the core of the mess…lobbyists.

Big contributors to GOP reap big post-election rewards

By Jim Drinkard, USA TODAYWASHINGTON — Just six months into a new term for President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress, some of their heaviest donors are scoring victories on the legislative and regulatory fronts.From rewrites of the laws governing bankruptcy and class-action lawsuits to relief for oil, timber and tobacco interests, GOP supporters who gave millions of dollars last year are reaping decisions worth billions from a Congress with more Republicans.
"Clearly, the election outcome has helped," says Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "We are heading in the right direction. A lot more has been done by this time in a new session than usual."
While much public attention has been focused on Bush's sputtering effort to sell an overhaul of Social Security, legislation long sought by the GOP and its business allies have been enacted with bipartisan support. In February, Congress passed and Bush signed a bill that sharply limits class-action lawsuits. The savings will likely come to several billion dollars a year, says Russ Sutter of Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, an actuarial firm that studies tort costs.

The business sector that includes manufacturing and retail was among top GOP donors last election cycle. It directed three of every five political dollars to Republicans — almost $121 million, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.
There was a similar partisan tilt in political giving by the finance industry, which won passage in April of a law making it harder to erase debts by declaring bankruptcy. Credit card companies and banks sought the change as a way to collect more debts.

The finance sector gave nearly $195 million to the GOP in the 2004 elections. And 105 of Bush's 548 elite fundraisers — those who raised $100,000 or more — were from the world of finance, making it his biggest base of top-dollar support, at $34 million.
"Many of the traditional business supporters are really getting the agenda they wanted, and it seems to be speeding up," says Larry Noble, director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which studies the impact of money on politics.
Still to come: Congress is pushing to complete an energy bill. Business interests want limits on liability for water contamination caused by MTBE, a fuel additive designed to reduce auto emissions, and oil companies seek to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. The Senate passed its version Tuesday.
Bush supporters also have had good luck outside the legislative arena:

• Justice Department lawyers this month abruptly scaled back their request for a penalty in the government's lawsuit against tobacco companies. Rather than the 25-year, $130 billion smoking cessation program their own expert had recommended, they are asking for a $14 billion remedy. The tobacco industry favored Republicans three-to-one over Democrats last year, giving $2.7 million to the party and its candidates.
The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility is looking into whether politics influenced the decision.

• After Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson resigned under fire from business groups who complained about overzealous regulation, Bush replaced him with someone with a pro-corporate record: Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif.
"It's hard to imagine somebody with a more nakedly deregulatory agenda," says William Lerach, a trial lawyer who has brought shareholder lawsuits against corporations accused of securities fraud. Securities and investment firms gave $47.8 million to Republicans last election.

• The administration last month reversed a ban on road construction, timber harvesting, mining and energy development on undeveloped national forest land. The government also has expanded oil and gas development on federal lands, including areas in New Mexico and Wyoming.
Energy and natural resources interests gave $39.3 million to the GOP last year, three times the amount given to Democrats.

Hey John, Your Kidding: Right?

On Monday, Alaska Gov. Palin (VP Nominee) proceeded to claim that she has more International acumen than Senators Obama or Biden. This from someone that is the least qualified candidate for the office of Vice President. I went on a search to see if there was a less qualified Republican Governor anywhere in the United States. As it turns out there is NO ONE less qualified than Governor Palin is. Actually, in ANY other State a 2 term Mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people would probably be laughed at for even thinking of running for Governor. I even sifted through all the Democrat Governors to see if one of them might be LESS qualified…Nothing, nada, zilch! Palin is the possibly least qualified elected official in America!
The only Republican Governor to receive fewer votes than Gov Palin (114,697) is from Guam (19,560). However, he was far more qualified. I tried only small population States in an attempt to make it fair. Nope! North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho all of them the Governor received more than double the amount of votes.
I have tried to see what the political advantage is to having Gov Palin on the ticket. It cannot be the electoral votes from Alaska (3), it cannot be the total number of popular votes (190,889 Bush 2004), and, as it turns out, it is not experience (NONE). Here it is…She is a Woman and McCain figures since Hillary got votes (not enough, thank God) any Woman would do. There are MANY more qualified women in the Republican Party, Governors, Senators, and Representatives. The Republicans sometimes get a bad rap regarding Women in the Party. The first Woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (Jeannette Rankin, Mont 1916) was a Republican. John McCain could have made history with a more qualified Woman. He chose the least qualified.
However, the real key; she is Anti-Abortion.
I mentioned (Politics, Going Badly Sep. 4) Linda Lingle (215,313 votes Election 2006); Gov. Hawaii would have been a more experienced choice.
Mary Jodi Rall, Gov. Connecticut (709,849 votes 2004) would have been a FAR better choice, except she does not have a strong Pro-Life stance.
So that is it; John McCain, who if elected will be the OLDEST President, has banked the FUTURE of America on one issue. He has decided to gamble with our Nation, selecting the LEAST QUALIFIED person to be a heartbeat away from being the leader of our Country. Sorry John we cannot take the chance that you might finish your term. Do your homework better, and don’t gamble with our Country.

Politics, Going Badly

A few of the more determined and far left Democrats have shown that for all their bravado about peace they are more than willing to use disgusting (spitting, feces throwing, etc) and violent (rocks, bottles) ways to try and make their point. P.J. O’Rourke once wrote that "the reason there were fewer conservative protests than liberal protests is that conservatives had jobs". It is one thing to make your cause known. Quite another to be stupid about it.

The other part of politics gone badly is the digging on Sarah Palin’s daughter. She is 17 leave her alone. It has no bearing on the election or the nation. If there is a story there, it is the fact that both Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston (the babies father) showed up in Minnesota among all those reporters. You have to give Levi some credit for having the balls to step into that media S-storm, when he could have stayed home in Alaska.

Gov. Palin decided to attack on the “experience” issue. She claimed to have more executive experience than the entire Democrat ticket. That particular angle will come back to bite them in the butt, on so many levels. The very first being that McCain has NO executive experience EVER. The next part is from doing some fact checking regarding Gov. Palin, they may want to back off on the experience aspect and just call that a push for the rest of the campaign. Here are some facts regarding the Governors experience.

A total of 6 years as mayor for a town of less than 7,000 people, She was in charge of a total staff of 25 people. Then less than 2 years as Governor of a state of less than 700,000 people. There are only three states in the Country with less people. Rhode Island (which could be wall-to-wall carpeted for less than $1,000.00) has more people than Alaska. (At 1.1 persons per square mile, and over 70% of the State being owned and managed by the Federal Government. My 3 year old could handle running Alaska).

In January 1997, Mayor Palin fired the police chief and the town librarian. Palin said in a letter that she wanted a change because she believed the two did not fully support her administration. The chief filed a lawsuit; but a court dismissed it, finding that Palin had the right to fire city employees for political reasons. According to Ann Kilkenny, a Democrat who observed City Council, Palin found certain book titles "somehow morally or socially objectionable." Palin rehired the librarian after town residents made a strong show of support. (Not sure how far we want to delve into the Fascist side of Government. I think we can all agree; “Book burning” not a good thing).

In 2002, term limits prevented Palin from running for a third term as mayor. Her stepmother-in-law, Faye Palin, ran for the office but lost the election to Dianne Keller after Sarah Palin endorsed Keller, her cousin.

Alaska is one of two U.S. states not bordered by another state, Hawaii being the other. It is the only non-contiguous U.S. state on continental North America; Alaska is thus an exclave of the United States. It is technically part of the continental US, but is often not included in colloquial use; Alaska is not part of the contiguous U.S., often called "the Lower 48". Juneau, Alaska's capital city, though located on the mainland of the North American continent, is inaccessible by land—no roads connect Juneau to the rest of the North American highway system. (You just can't get there from here. Or from anywhere as it turns out.)

The Alaska State Legislature consists of a 40-member House of Representatives and a 20-member Senate. California has 53 members in the US House of Representatives, alone. The US Senate, which any Vice President presides over as their only Constitutional job (other than checking the Presidents pulse every few hours), has 100 members. Half of whom hate you; welcome to the real world of Politics.

McCain is running as the anti-earmark Maverick who selected Palin because she is cut from that same cloth. As Mayor of Wasilla she hired a Lobby firm to obtain $27 million dollars in "Earmark" funds. That works out to $3857.11 for every Man, Woman, and Child in the town. If Palin was, instead, a master of the earmarks (which the numbers from Wasilla suggest), then what does that do for McCain’s argument about her status as an anti-earmark crusader? At a minimum, this gives the Obama campaign some talking points, and at worst, it again raises the question of how well Palin was vetted by the McCain campaign.

If the McCain campaign (And I am not quite sure who is really running it) was looking for a Woman to be on the ticket. They could have done far better with the Governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle. Far more experience than Palin, still pulling from one of our far away States, and a much better place to visit in February.