Day: July 13, 2009

Blue Dogs Turn Yellow!

A Daily Agitation

My sad fortune is that my Representative is one of the cowardly Blue Dog Dems, you know that group of little pricks that are more Repub than Dem?  They just had to try and make themselves known and their latest piece of toilet paper is their opposition to the health care issue now in the Congress.

Their concerns are:  That any Health care legislation should be:

1–Deficit Neutral

2–Bipartisanship

There are other parts to their letter that has been sent but for my sake of argument these are the two most absurd parts.  Why?  Let us go to bipartisanship first–they have a huge majority in the House and a super in the Senate–they can pass anything they choose.  How bipartisanship?  The Repubs are doing everything they can to scuttle ALL attempts to make this a better country.  Since about 3/4 of the country wants a public option aso they can have adequate health care, I would say that any attempt to put up roadblocks is an act of cowardice.

Now it is got to be deficit neutral…..this from the same bunch that had no problem vote for a war, that was not deficit neutral…no where did these complete a/holes demand bipartisanship on that issue.  So basically it is not important enough to stand up to the admin when Americans are sent to die, but it is when attempts are being made to make the medical situation in this country more people friendly.  That, my friends, is cowardice at the highest level.

I ask that we check into how many of the Blue Dogs get cash from the health industry, I would almost bet that they receive a lot of “support” from these people.  This from the Institute of Southern Studies:

In the fast-shifting debate over health care reform, one thing that is certain is that the insurance industry is adamantly opposed to the public option — and that the industry is a major force when it comes to campaign contributions.

In the 2008 election cycle alone, the insurance industry contributed almost $47 million to federal candidates, with 55% of that money going to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics’ Open Secrets database. So far in the 2010 cycle, it’s contributed more than $2.2 million, most of it to Democrats.

Keep in mind to, that the insurance industry is spending about $1.4 million a day trying to defeat the public option.  Now ask which of these Dems are getting their blood money for betraying Americans?

My question has been answered in USA Today:

The Blue Dog’s political action committee has collected $1.1 million in the first six months of the year — more than any other political action committee, according to CQ. (Subscription required.) Nearly 54% came from the energy, financial services and health care industries, according to an analysis by the non-partisan Center for Public Integrity. That’s up from 45% in 2004. The center’s reporting appeared in Politico.

The 52-member coalition has demanded changes to health care legislation to rein in spending and address their concerns about disparities in Medicare reimbursement rates between urban and rural communities — slowing action on legislation that Obama and congressional leaders had sought to put on a fast track.

These were the same Dems that tried to hold up the passage of the new GI Bill that would have assisted the troops upon their return from war.  As reported in the Salem-News.com website:

The ones holding up the GI Bill are House Democrats. In spite of the negative impact the bill’s failure would represent, they say they’re concerned about the cost of the bill, which amounts to less than 0.5% of war funding for the year. One veterans group said this is Washington ineffectiveness at its worst.

Supporters of the GI Bill say that despite deep bi-partisan support, the endorsement of every major veterans’ organization, and studies showing that a new GI Bill is a fiscally sound investment in our nation’s future, a few members of the House are standing in its way at this late, critical stage.

Once again, these are same people that did NOT ask too many question when they sent Americans to possible face death.

If these little pinheads cannot act like a true Dem then maybe for their next election they should switch parties and go where their antiquated thinking belongs with the rest of the cowards.

Congress Is Warned!

From an article in Reuters:

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Thursday launched a robust defense of its independence and warned that efforts in Congress to put monetary policy under political sway would hurt the economy.Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said opening up some of the U.S. central bank’s most sensitive decisions to political scrutiny could result in higher long-term interest rates and hurt the United States’ credit rating.

Testifying before a congressional panel, Kohn sought to beat back a proposed bill that would open the U.S. central bank’s policy decisions to audits by a federal watchdog agency. More than half of the members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed as co-sponsors of the measure.

Fed officials have had to endure rigorous congressional grillings over their aggressive actions to restore financial calm. Their e-mails have been subpoenaed, recalling past episodes when the central bank came under attack and was forced to yield to the political will.

The proposed bill, put forward by Representative Ron Paul, a Texas Republican and long-standing Fed foe, would expose decisions on monetary policy and emergency lending to audits by the Government Accountability Office.

The GAO is currently prohibited from auditing these areas. Kohn said removing this exclusion would be highly detrimental and could lead investors to worry that politics — not economics — would guide the Fed’s decisions.

Is there something to hide?  What are they doing at the Fed that an audit would be embarrassing?

AIG Consults Washington

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!

AP is reporting:

American International Group Inc. is consulting with the federal government about its plans to pay millions of dollars in retention incentives and bonuses, a person familiar with the situation said.AIG is working with the Obama administration’s compensation czar, Kenneth R. Feinberg, to ensure the government and the insurer are on the same page before it pays out remaining bonuses due to employees tied to 2008 contracts, according to the person, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks.

The latest round of bonus payments will include about $235 million for employees at AIG’s financial products unit, according to a Wall Street Journal report. AIG’s near collapse was not due to its traditional insurance operations, but instead risky derivatives contracts written by the financial products division. AIG is in the processing of winding down that unit.

AIG is also scheduled to pay out another portion of a much smaller set of bonuses to 40 high-ranking AIG executives. The 40 executives were awarded about a combined $9 million in bonuses for 2008. The insurer paid out half of the bonuses in March and is supposed to pay out the remainder in two installments, the first of which is scheduled for next week.

First of all—a compensation czar?

So, they are still going to pay bonuses to those that actually caused the problem with their GREED, right?  Let me see the Rpubs have blamed the unions for the death of the auto industry because of the pay that the workers were recieving, but somehow are all quiet on these pay outs to the very same people that created the economic crisis in the first place. Is that about it?

Once again the powers that be are more concerned with those that work on Wall Street than those that live on Main Street.  And those people on Mazin Street sit by idlely while they are screwed.

Another indication of the Rational Ignorance Effect.  (Read the page)