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Index:

No Right Of Self-Defense
Texas Textbook Fiasco
Stock Market Jitters
Christian Charity
Ashcroft Losing Favor
United States Commission On Civil Rights
UN Family Planning Programs
Malpractice Caps
Afghan Casualties
Judicial Activism
Double Standard
Squandered Tobacco Settlement
Don't Do As I Do…
OUCH
Buchanan Volunteer Fire Department
Fraudulent Deletion Of Ledger Websites
Klee's Kaleidoscope
An Honest Business
Unbridled Fear
 

A Travis County jury July 23 reaffirmed citizens have no right to defend themselves against murderous law enforcement thugs.  Edwin Delamora was found guilty of capital murder in the death of Travis County Deputy Keith Ruiz.  Ruiz was a participant in a drug raid conducted last year by government goons.  -- A drug raid that quickly went terribly wrong.  Using tactics employed by Nazi NET paramilitary groups, such as the extraordinarily corrupt and abusive 33rd Judicial District Narcotics Enforcement Team, officers raided the Delamora residence in the middle of the night.  -- No-knock "dynamic entry" Gestapo goon invasion of a home to serve a search warrant.

Law enforcement thugs strongly asserted they identified themselves, repeatedly.  Not credible.  Simply, not credible.  Certainly, doesn't happen here.  NET is notorious for NOT identifying themselves prior to busting down doors, destroying property, and physically assaulting and roughing up victims.  Regardless, in the middle of night and woken from a sound sleep, it is more than reasonable for Delamora and his wife to have asserted they had no idea the invading Nazi thugs were indeed law enforcement "officers".  Delamora claimed to have been protecting his wife and children from what he thought were burglars.

He shot at the invading gutless bastards, killing one of them.  Yet, the jury saw no reasonable doubt and convicted Delamora for doing no more than protecting himself and his family.  Since the District Attorney had not asked for the death penalty, he was sentenced to life in prison.  Despite the conviction, there is still some question as to whether the fatal slug indeed came from Delamora's gun.  The defense intends to appeal.  In an increasingly Nazi country, they don't have a snowball's chance.

Regardless of this terrible injustice, NET and other law enforcement goons cannot be resting easily.  Resistance to their Nazi tactics is apparently growing and placing them at terrible risk.  Regardless of the unwarranted conviction and life sentence, an officer remains needlessly and tragically dead for one reason and one reason only:  employment of unacceptably aggressive Gestapo tactics.

Not surprisingly, "justice" doesn't work both ways.  The same tactical group the fallen officer belonged to recently conducted another raid that went terribly wrong. As reported in an earlier edition of this publication, a homicidal government goon employed by the Travis County Sheriff's Department was outrageously coddled and protected by the Travis County Grand Jury. -- Who'd a 'thunk' it, no? Deputy Derek Hill shot and killed a 19-year-old boy named Tony Martinez during a Dec. 20, 2001 drug raid. Martinez was asleep and NOT armed when the thug fired a round into him. That's right. Asleep and unarmed.

Yet, the g-ddamned bastards on the grand jury no billed the officer. He remains a free man. Free to kill again in the name of the people. Interestingly, Hill had been a raiding officer during the botched Feb. 2001 "dynamic entry" assault on the home of Edwin Delamora.  Indeed, "justice" in Fascist America doesn't work both ways. While Delamora was held responsible, Hill was not. Fascinating, isn't it?

Since Hill had been present during the earlier botched raid, the more recent killing might have been payback. -- Or the cowardly action of an "officer", frightened and/or trigger-happy. We'll never know, however. The Grand Jury protected and coddled the bastard. … Hope Mr. Hill sleeps nights. Hope all citizens do as well. After all, the public is at risk when officers wantonly kill with impunity.  Sadly, as demonstrated by the Delamora jury July 23, you have no legal right to defend yourself against criminal law enforcement thugs. Then again, as American as mom and apple pie.  Sieg Heil.  Adolph and Benito would have been proud.

The Religious Right apparently has no ability to rationally argue its ideological viewpoint in the court of public opinion.  What to do?  Indoctrinate children with a perversely narrow view of liberty, civil and constitutional rights, sexuality, and tolerance.  Do whatever it takes, -- including severely distorting reality and history as necessary.  Precisely what these unabashed extremists have done this summer in their "review" of textbooks used by Texas students.  Have certainly made this state the laughing stock of the nation and usefully and glaringly exposed themselves for the fascists they truly are.  Examples?

Demonstrative of egregious distortion of reality, Texas Public Policy Foundation laments the supposedly "liberal" slant of textbooks:  "There is still the political correctness and the whitewashing and the bleaching of our history that needs to be addressed." Further complaining of supposed distortion in one text, the Foundation asserted the book falsely claimed:   "[The] 'Kennedy brothers played key roles in the civil rights movement'…This is excessive, as they spent as much time frustrating it as helping."

Absolute nonsense.  Unadulterated bullsh-t.  Perverse distortion of history by closet racists.  I had the geographical advantage of residing in the Northeast during the Kennedy years and closely observed the late President and Attorney General through news accounts.  Did so during the entire Kennedy Administration.  They were indeed pivotal in preparing the nation for passage of critical civil rights legislation enacted after the President's assassination.  Both had certainly worked hard trying to change an extraordinarily racist nation.  For contemporary "religious" fascists to now claim otherwise is severe distortion of history.  One particularly vocal critic of Texas textbooks who sat on the review board wasn't even aware of the significance of November 22, 1963 and didn't know it was the day the President was murdered.  … Until I told him.

Further outrageously distorting reality, the Foundation complained of one advanced science textbook claiming "over one hundred million Americans are breathing unhealthy air."  It labeled this assertion as "shocking vitriol against Western civilization."  Is that so?  … Despite the fact opposing viewpoints were also presented in the text.  These glaring fascists are unabashed unapologetic supporters of Corporate America and believe it can do no wrong.  Yet, they remain curiously, ironically, and hypocritically silent when government imposes continuous increasingly stringent and costly pollution standards on owners of vehicles, -- not vehicle manufacturers, certainly not corporate polluters and energy production companies.  … While laughing their financially portly asses off all the way to the bank.  -- After getting down on bended knee every Sunday, thanking God for THEIR great fortune.

Texas Freedom Network spokesperson Samantha Smoot correctly asserts:  "What the right wing would like to do when it comes to history textbooks is essentially stop the clock at 1950."  Certainly true, since what occurred in the last fifty years doesn't jive with its perversely narrow view of liberty, rights, sexuality, and tolerance.  These "religious" fascists are determined to indoctrinate students with their propaganda.  Precisely why they've taken their battle to the textbook issue as well as school vouchers.

Some have even shamelessly and outrageously distorted the 1948 Kinsey Report over the last 20 years, falsely claiming the massive sexuality study a fraud.  Why would they so egregiously distort reality and history?  Exceptionally simple.  Kinsey aggressively and critically examined mindlessly accepted sexuality principles and norms heralded as true by "religion" for years without question.  With degrees in research psychology, I can categorically and unequivocally state Kinsey, despite distortions by the Religious Right, was a truly gifted scientist and researcher.  Made a tremendous contribution to behavioral science.  No question.  Absolutely, no question.  Brilliant work that has served as a modern behavioral foundation, indeed built on over the last fifty years, -- much to the chagrin of the Fascist Right.  While any scientific study is far from perfect, the Right has conveniently and severely distorted reality and history to suit its perversely narrow view of sexuality and tolerance.

His research, however, has withstood the test of time despite heavy attack by the fascist element.  Those willing to pillory his work are the same extremists who oppose evolution, laughably claim Creationism to be "scientific", and seek to impose biblical principles on all in our schools, -- in violation of church-state separation as required by the First Amendment.  Have to wonder as well if they still believe the earth to be flat.  Worse yet, they expect taxpayers to finance their "religious" agenda through school vouchers.

Sadly, they also conveniently distort statistics to suit their agenda, as demonstrated by a recently released federal study supposedly indicating couples have a better chance of staying married if they did not cohabit prior to marriage.  These "findings" are published as "truth" to a gullible aggressively stupid public who blindly accepts them without question.

Disingenuously and falsely, the Fascist Right similarly seeks installation of "strict constructionist" "judges" who will do no more than legislate their perversely narrow views of liberty, "religion", civil and constitutional rights, tolerance, sexuality, etc. from the bench.  As Bush judicial nominee Priscilla Owens has done here in Texas.  If the "President" has his way, this outrageous fascist "jurist" will further decimate rights and liberties on the federal bench.

Some have even egregiously exposed their profound sexual insecurity and ignorance to the light of day, claiming homosexuality to be a psychiatric disorder.  … Despite the fact this extraordinarily narrow view has been severely discredited by mental health professionals for over three decades.  Nonetheless, they desperately seek to turn the clock back to relieve their exceptionally homophobic and remarkably bigoted fears and sickly impose their perverse views on the rest of us.  Some have even ignorantly blamed gays for spreading the scourge of AIDS when the medical community has strongly asserted the greatest problem with transmission remains in the heterosexual community.

Laughably, some have falsely claimed gays have a higher incidence of mental problems and drug abuse than the rest of the population.  ... If true, it would sure as hell have been caused by the bigotry, beatings, and murders by homophobic bigots.  Regardless, such outrageous assumptions and claims are not based on fact and are blatant abuse of statistics by fascists with an agenda, determined to impose their own brand of political correctness on the rest of us.  -- It is indeed blatant abuse of statistics because no one has any definitive figures on the true percentage of the population that is homosexual.

In view of tremendous physical danger posed by homophobic bigots towards gays, all figures are suspect since not many will openly admit their sexual preference in surveys.  It is, however, much higher than the 1 to 3% estimates claimed by many of these bigots.  Worse yet, these very same "religious" fascists ignorantly equate homosexuality with pedophilia and do not know or recognize the difference.  -- Again, wouldn't fit in with their perverse views of "religion" and sexuality.  ... And imposition of their glaringly fascist agenda.

These same "Christians" who pillory and skewer gays conveniently and shamelessly ignore the fact Christ himself made no mention of homosexuality in the four gospels of the New Testament.  Had it been that much of an issue, he sure as hell would have had something to say.  Had he been alive today and walking the face of the earth, he would have directed as much wrath at these contemporary "Pharisees" as he did 2000 years ago to the hypocrites of his time.  Sadly, the "Religious" Right doesn't see it's indeed a spitting image of everything Christ mercilessly skewered during his brief but enormously productive life.  For his efforts, he got killed.  Sadly, not a damned thing has changed in the last 2000 years.  In fact, it's gotten worse.

Present day "Pharisees" cowardly and lamely point back thousands of years to the sick puppy who wrote Leviticus and perversely called for stoning of gays, adulterers, and all those partaking of sex outside marriage.  They conveniently allude to the words of this perversely sick individual as the "Word of God".  What they've done in reality is create a "God" in their own sick and perverted image.  Then desperately try to impose the insanity on the rest of us through shameless manipulation, using fear, guilt, fire and brimstone as extremely effective weapons..  -- Whatever the hell it takes.  Outrageously, they make a mockery of a truly loving Creator.  They've cowardly but cleverly bastardized, eviscerated, and falsely limited the true nature of the Supreme Being to a false image conforming to their own nauseatingly perverse and hollow shell of an existence.

Foolishly and perversely, they falsely and ignorantly claim homosexuality a "choice".  No one I know has chosen their sexual orientation.  No one.   -- Including this writer.  Certainly didn't suddenly wake up one morning early in life and make an enlightened decision to be straight.  Just was.  Always have been.  Always will be.  ... Blissfully divorced for years, however, there is a far more important issue.  Why in hell have one troublesome woman when you can have a harem full of 'em?  Joking aside and similarly, gay friends tell me the same.  They never "chose" to be gay.  They just are.

Why would anyone "choose" homosexuality?  Makes no sense, considering the abuse and homophobic bigotry they're constantly exposed to.  -- Mostly coming from outrageously perverse bigots who falsely claim to be "Christians" and shining examples of Christ's exceptionally gentle tolerance and love.  Want to see Satan?  Profound obscenity?  Look in the eyes of a homophobic bigot.  Bottom line?  These sadly pathetic individuals are desperately insecure in their own sexuality and do all they can to deny their hidden innate homosexual proclivities and desires.  -- Some, going from spouse to spouse or having child after child to sickly confirm their sexual identity.  -- Insecurely, cowardly, and perversely bashing gays and unjustly denying them rights the rest of us take for granted.  ... Obscenely, in the name of God.  In a perverse and desperate effort to deny their own glaring latent homosexual proclivities and desires.

Then again, don't confuse a fascist with truth.  He or she can't handle it.  Cowardly and conveniently only see things in black and white.  No tones of gray.  God forbid, no brilliant shades of color.  Can't have that.  Pathetically offer oversimplistic analysis and solutions to enormously difficult problems.  Easier that way.  Requires no thinking.  -- More than content to let the Bible do it for them.  ... A Bible that was written by men, -- some of whom, certainly outrageously and glaringly perverse and abusive.  Working definition of fascism for new readers? An abusive and dangerous oligarchy based on a pernicious blend of government, big business, and religion. ... A boot-heel cynically placed on the throat of the masses, justified in principle by perversion and bastardization of religion.

Stunning how frightened investors have grown over the last few weeks.  Tough, isn't it?  What did they think?  Bubble never burst?  The current obsession with corporate greed and malfeasance is amusing.  Do people really think this hasn't been a problem at least since 1913 and Standard Oil?  Wake up.  A crash and severe depression would have one extremely beneficial effect, however, -- leveling of playing field.  Best and brightest would have enormous opportunity to launch new ventures and take advantage of what appears at first glance to be gruesomely impossible circumstances.

The fittest are always ultimately rewarded in our system.  Always.  … Even if years to fruition.  Many fear layoffs as a result of the current fiasco.  Why?  Why would extremely gifted talented people fear sudden unemployment?  The best and brightest could immediately start businesses of their own, making at least several times what they're currently earning in glass ceiling positions.

It takes guts, however, to strike off on one's own.  Intestinal fortitude.  Apparently, too many of us have grown fat and soft.  Complacent and comfortable in a corporate world that has grown exceptionally insecure employment-wise, -- and unquestionably abusive and corrupt.  We've forgotten what made this country truly great, -- individual effort, ingenuity, and the spirit of determined entrepreneurship.  Too bad.  Doesn't bode well.

At the same time, American ingenuity and engineering remain second to none.  Truly, the very finest in the world.  A tribute to our best and brightest.  Most recent example?  -- The rescue of nine miners buried alive, entombed for several days under horrendous conditions.  ... See the yellow drill bit lying on the ground with "lifesaver" scrawled on this most remarkable tool?  Hope it soon finds its way to a  museum for generations to come.  Bottom line?  American engineers and rescuers once again accomplished the seemingly impossible.  Without doubt, the creativity and determination displayed over the last few days are a reminder of the indomitable spirit of our best and brightest.  Indeed, a reminder of what this country used to stand for and needs to embrace once again.  Now.

An unidentified Secret Service Agent admitted scrawling "Islam is Evil" and "Christ is King" on a prayer calendar in the Detroit home of Omar Shishani, recently arrested and charged with smuggling bogus checks into this country.  U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins piously pontificated: "This type of unprofessional behavior by a federal agent will not be tolerated."   Is that right, Counselor?  If true, you and your cohorts have one hell of a lot of work to do considering the magnitude of unprofessional conduct displayed by law enforcement thugs, -- particularly since enactment of the "Patriot" Act.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's extremism is even beginning to disturb the fascist element in this country.  -- Who'd a 'thunk' it, no?  Joking aside, Ole' Johnny Boy's former supporters, the Religious Right, indeed fear his investigative zeal and egregious abuse of civil rights and liberties may someday be directed against them.  Tough, isn't it?  … Certainly be poetic justice, no doubt.  Self-serving overstatement of the level of terroristic threat is another concern of these unabashed fascists.  … Too much Chicken Little, the 'sky is falling' rhetoric coming from the Nazi at the helm of the "Justice" Department.  What in hell did they expect?  Fascists only see things in terms of black and white.  No shades of gray.  No brilliant hues of color.  Sadly, only capable of oversimplistic analysis and solutions to enormously difficult problems.  Duh.

Remember the earlier story on this website regarding the forced appointment of a bona fide fascist to the United States Commission On Civil Rights by the Bush "Administration" and consequent stiff resistance offered by the group in response?  The jackass occupying the White House wanted to ensure no progress with civil rights possible through seating of an extraordinarily bigoted and intolerant fascist extremist.  Ole' George "The Tush" magnificently succeeded.

Peter N. Kirsanow quickly revealed his true colors.  Responding to reports of widespread abrogation of civil rights and liberties against Arab-Americans, Mr. Kirsanow remarked: "If there's another terrorist attack, and if it's from a certain ethnic community or certain ethnicities that the terrorists are from, you can forget civil rights in this country."  Not surprisingly, there have been heated calls for his removal.  This g-ddamned unabashed Nazi is only reflecting the views and policy of the "President" and U.S. Attorney General.  When will the aggressively stupid public finally wake up?

In response to pressure from the Religious Right, the Bush "Administration" reversed itself and will not transfer $34 million it earlier earmarked to UN family planning programs.  -- Despite the fact a U.S. government study indicated the programs have not used funds to support, directly or indirectly, abortions and forced sterilizations in China.  … A phony pet peeve of the Fascist Right.  The jackass occupying the White House has apparently decided extremists are critical to its re-election bid, giving the finger figuratively to moderates and women.  Hopefully, women will finally wake up and realize Mr. Bush, along with his henchmen, fervently believe they have the right to dictate what a woman can and cannot do with her uterus.

In a slap to patients aggrieved by incompetent healthcare providers, the "President" is again calling for caps on malpractice awards to injured patients.  Mr. Bush's friends in the insurance and healthcare industries come first.  Sadly, there is no tort problem.  The issue is a phony one, -- especially since doctors prevail in two-thirds of malpractice suits.  The "Chief Executive" and his cronies are unwilling to address the true cause of the problem: mistakes made by doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers.  -- While financially looting the stuffing out of patients.  … As American as mom and apple pie.

The air war in Afghanistan has been quite costly in terms of innocent life lost.  The first concrete figures are beginning to trickle out.  In just the first three months alone, at least 812 killed have been identified by Global Exchange.  This figure does not include an additional 54, mostly women and children, killed recently at a wedding.  There have been other costly incidents as well.  Afghan anger is growing exponentially.  Only a matter of time before all cooperation  is lost.  Seems American commanders have been duped by warring tribal factions, resulting in mistaken and unwarranted bombing.  With the air war winding down, should be far less of this in the future.

Amazing how judicial activism remains unchecked coming from "jurists" who can't seem to separate their perverse religious views from the job on the bench.  Of course, if your predilection is right wing fascism, you label it "strict construction".  Bottom line, however, it amounts to the same thing, coming from the Right or Left:  far from impartial "judges" who legislate their views and philosophy from the bench.  Recent case in point?

Idaho Bonneville County Magistrate Mark Riddoch has no ability to separate his religious-based homophobic bigotry from judicial functions.   Theron McGriff was denied joint custody of his daughters.  Why?  Was he indeed a bad father?  Certainly not.  -- Even the fascist on the bench was impressed with his parenting skills.  So were other witnesses at the hearing, including a court-appointed family counselor who thought the custody agreement should not be changed.

McGriff lost parental rights because he's gay and living with his partner.  Can't have that according to the "Judge".  Why?  Homophobic bigotry.  Despite the fact there is no law in Idaho forbidding custody of children to gay parents.  The decision is under appeal.  Apparently, this remarkably bigoted and unenlightened "jurist" can't or won't prevent his extreme and perverse religious views from influencing and guiding his "rulings".

Saudi student Hussein al-Attas, 24, pled guilty to seven charges of lying to the FBI.  -- Can get six months in prison, yet will conveniently remain here in case he's needed to testify against Moussaoui.  Indeed, it's a criminal offense to make a false statement to federal law enforcement thugs.  Of course, things don't work the other way, however.  FBI goons are free to lie like hell during performance of their "duties".  Precisely why it is increasingly difficult to trust any law enforcement.  Sadly, al-Attas felt pressured to cover up his short roommate relationship with Zacarias Moussaoui.

Some of the seven charges included lying about his personal views.  -- Should have quickly told inquiring government thugs they were none of their g-ddamned business.    Pointedly, quite stunning how quickly corrupt and abusive "officers" can distort, twist, eviscerate, and glaringly bastardize reality, -- turning truth upside down and a truly innocent and law-abiding person supposedly into a "criminal".  … No question, the best way to handle outrageously and intrusive questioning by FBI or any other law enforcement goons is simply refuse to say anything at all.  Let 'em go to hell.  If they're determined to convict an innocent person, why help the corrupt and abusive bastards?  Let 'em falsely manufacture a case on their own.

Illustrative of how extremely corrupt government is at all levels, officials nationwide continue to squander the $200 billion tobacco settlement on projects totally unrelated to smoking issues.  In fact, states are cutting back on funding of anti-smoking programs due to budget constraints.  Yet, New York Niagara County squandered $700,000 in tobacco settlement funds on a golf course sprinkler system and $24 million for an office building and jail.  Wrangell, Alaska expended $3.5 million of tobacco money to renovate shipping docks.  North Carolina squandered $200,000 on the Carolina Horse Park.  Kicker?  Ultimate obscenity?  They gave $42 million of tobacco settlement money to tobacco farmers.  That's right, tobacco farmers. The list could go on and on.  Los Angeles even considered spending some of the loot defending corrupt and abusive police officers.  Decided against doing so, however.  When will these g-ddamned corrupt, abusive, thieving government bastards finally be prosecuted for wasting tobacco funds?  Never happen.  Apparently, none of it is illegal.  Sieg Heil.

An American-supplied Israeli F-16 fired a missile at a house belonging to Hamas leader Sheik Salah Shehada.  Not only was that house destroyed, so were four others surrounding it.  Not only was the Sheik murdered, but also his wife and other innocent citizens.  At least fourteen, including nine children.  … One, an infant two months old.  To his credit, the jackass occupying the Oval Office quickly condemned the attack.  -- A blatant act of state-sponsored terrorism and assassination.  When Israelis murder Palestinian officials, it's called self-defense.  When Palestinians do it, it's called murder.  Since the F-16 was supplied by the United States, however, Mr. Bush is as responsible for the carnage as the Israeli government and the cowardly military goon piloting the warplane.

Date:  Tue, 23 Jul 2002 15:14:45 -0400
From:  ouch-admin@ouch.org [add to address book] [add to spam block list]
Subject:  OUCH! (#101--Wall Street Winners and Losers)
To:  ouch@ouch.org
Reply To:  ouch-reply@ouch.org
 

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            OUCH! A Regular Bulletin on How Money in Politics Hurts You
 #101                                     Public Campaign                     July 23, 2002
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[Note: This one’s a little longer than usual, for obvious reasons…]

WALL STREET WINNERS AND LOSERS
Remember last winter when President George W. Bush defused rising concerns about the Enron scandal by telling reporters that he was upset that his mother-in-law had lost $8,000 in her retirement portfolio on her Enron stock? And how, at about the same time, Democrats muted their criticisms and holstered their legislative pistols because it turned out that Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe had turned a $100,000 investment in Global Crossing, another firm that practiced fuzzy bookkeeping, into an $18 million personal profit?

Now that those quaint old days are behind us, this seems as good a time as ever to attempt a fuller accounting—if you don’t mind the pun—of which corporate interests bought what from government, and just how badly the rest of us got ripped off.

Start with three legislative and regulatory changes, engineered by big money from the securities, high-tech, and accounting industries, that unleashed the wave of “infectious greed” now decried by Alan Greenspan. First, take the treatment of stock options. When the Financial Accounting Standards Board, back in 1994, was preparing to rule that the granting of such options be treated as a company expense—a step that would have reduced corporate earnings and thus deflated stock values—the Senate passed a non-binding resolution sponsored by Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) calling on the board to back down, which it did.  The high-tech (computers and Internet companies) and securities industries, which pushed hard for this, have poured $346 million into congressional coffers since 1989. Lieberman ranks high as a beneficiary of their largesse: Over his lifetime he is #13 among his Senate colleagues for contributions from the securities and investment industry, having collected $652,000; and has gotten more than $101,000 from the computer industry.

The ability of companies to dispense options without having to account for them led to an explosion in executive compensation and gave top corporate officials a big incentive to artificially inflate their stock prices. Even now, as Congress races to enact a corporate accountability bill, stock options apparently are considered untouchable. President Bush failed to mention them in his Wall Street speech, and Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), twice used parliamentary rules to block a vote on a proposal to force companies to count them as a real expense. Stock options proponents like Lieberman, and Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr, who with his wife Anne has given $619,000 to the Democratic party and its candidates since 1999 according to USA Today, claim that millions of workers benefit from “owning a piece of the company.” In fact, according to the National Center for Employee Ownership, the top five executives of most companies held 75% of all options outstanding in 2000, with the next fifty executives holding another 15%. Only 1.5% of all non-executive employees earning between $35,000 and $50,000 have any stock options, and usually the number of shares involved is minuscule.

Another legislative decision that fostered corporate greed came in December 1995, when Congress overrode President Clinton’s veto of a bill that made it harder for shareholders to file and win lawsuits against company officials or accountants, and made it easier for top executives to get away scot-free with making slippery financial projections. The bill, known as the “Private Securities Litigation Reform Act,” came to the fore as part of Newt Gingrich’s “Contract With America,” but it had bipartisan support, especially from Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, who was then also the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Among the law's major provisions: companies would be shielded from liability for making overly optimistic "forward looking statements" in their pitches to potential investors. In other words, a company could make all sorts of claims about its rosy future, and, as long as it included a blanket disclaimer along with the statement, it couldn’t be held liable. Accountants were perhaps the biggest winners in the law, beating back an attempt to reinstate liability for those that "aid and abet" securities fraud.

The law’s supporters said it would cut down on frivolous securities lawsuits. But a long list of consumer and state and municipal groups lobbied against the legislation, arguing that it would make it more difficult for the victims of fraud to recover their losses—thus emboldening corporate shysters. When President Clinton, under pressure from trial lawyers, generous campaign contributors in their own right, vetoed the bill, Dodd helped organize the Senate to override his veto, 68 to 30. For his services to the securities, accounting and computer industries that pushed for securities litigation reform—for which Public Campaign gave him a “Golden Leash Award” back in 1998—Dodd has raised over $1.8 million over his lifetime in office.

The last deregulatory fight is the one which has become most familiar in recent months: the all-out effort by the accounting industry in 1999 and 2000 to prevent the SEC from forcing them to stop selling consulting services to the same companies that they audited. Forty-six Senators and Congressmen wrote Arthur Levitt, then the SEC’s chairman, and successfully forced him to back down. As noted in our last CPI (OUCH #100), these members of Congress were on average the recipients of $93,000 each from the Big Five accounting firms and the industry trade association, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Overall the accounting industry has contributed $57 million to federal candidates and parties since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Though the Senate has now passed a relatively tough bill, in addition to its failure to treat stock options as expenses, it also avoiding voting on an amendment that would have allowed defrauded investors to sue lawyers and accountants along with corporate officers. The standards for auditor independence could be tougher, according to USPIRG. And now the bill has to be reconciled in conference with a House that voted in March to continue to allow accounting firms to consult for companies they audit and did nothing to close the revolving door between accountants and their clients. The lead sponsor of that bill, Rep. Michael Oxley (R-OH), is representing House Republicans in the final negotiations on the legislation. Over his lifetime in office, he is the number #7 career recipient in the House of funds from the securities industry, at $318,000, and the #20 recipient of accounting industry cash, at $130,000.

How has all this money in politics hurt us? The costs are still being racked up. Start with the hundreds of billions of dollars in shareholder value that have vanished as companies have been forced to come clean about the misleading numbers in their financial reports. Between 1997 and 2001, there were over 1,000 such restatements—and that was before Worldcom! Then take the huge drop in the stock market since its peak—a decline of over $7 trillion ($7,000,000,000,000) in capitalization. State employee pension funds have been just the most visible victims of that collapse; according to a new poll by USA Today/Gallup/CNN, 46% of Americans with any retirement savings are now planning to delay their retirements as a result of the market’s implosion. (Even with the market meltdown, business lobbyists have been quietly beating back efforts to force companies to diversify their employees’ 401(k) plans, reports today’s Wall Street Journal.)

But add one more cost: the damage to democracy when so much money gets concentrated in the hands of so few. A tiny minority of Americans got incredibly rich ripping off investors, playing insider games and turning government policy to their benefit. Other legislative and regulatory decisions, beyond the three detailed above, contributed to that upward redistribution of wealth (think of the Clinton and Bush tax cuts, each of which were tilted toward the top 1%; the deregulation of banking, energy, transportation; and drastic cuts in government agency enforcement budgets). That tiny elite, we know from FEC data and academic surveys, gives a hugely disproportionate amount of all the campaign contributions collected by our representatives in Washington—the very people who shape economic policy. The basic trust between average citizens and their elected representatives, it is now very clear, has been corrupted. We are living in a plutocracy, with all the negative effects of being ruled by the wealthiest. But it is high time we reclaimed our democracy.
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OUCH! is a regular e-mail bulletin on how private money in politics hurts average citizens, published by Public Campaign, a non-partisan, non-profit organization devoted to comprehensive campaign finance reform. Every day, we pay more as consumers and taxpayers for special interest subsidies and boondoggles because of our system of privately financed elections. It's time for a change.

Want to take action? Go to HowDareThey.org to send an instant message to your representatives in Congress. And help spread the word! Send copies of this message to your friends and join the growing movement for real campaign finance reform. If you would like to add yourself to the OUCH! listserv, send an e-mail reading ‘subscribe’ to ouch-request@ouch.org or go to http://www.ouch.org/mailman/listinfo/ouch.

Want more info about Public Campaign? Visit www.publicampaign.org or write to info@publicampaign.org. You can also help support our work by making a credit card contribution on our website. This bulletin may be reposted to newsgroups as long as it is printed in its entirety.
 
 

Date:  Wed, 24 Jul 2002 10:54:38 -0600
From:  ouch-admin@ouch.org [add to address book] [add to spam block list]
Subject:  OUCH!  (#102--A Dollar A Day Keeps RX Reform Away )
To:  <ouch@ouch.org>
Reply To:  ouch-reply@ouch.org
 

  Text Size:  smalldefaultlargeextra large
 
 
 

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            OUCH! A Regular Bulletin on How Money in Politics Hurts You
 #102                                     Public Campaign
July 24, 2002
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A DOLLAR A DAY KEEPS RX REFORM AWAY

Last month President George W. Bush singled out a fellow American for his
thanks in front of a crowd of 6,500. He didn’t thank him for his service to
the country’s war on terrorism, or for some sort of important scientific
discovery, or for being a great teacher and example for young people. No,
the occasion was a GOP fundraiser, and President George W. Bush thanked
Robert A. Ingram, president of pharmaceutical operations at GlaxoSmithKline,
for his fundraising prowess. Ingram was chairman of the dinner that brought
in more than $30 million for the National Republican Congressional
Committee, according to the National Journal.

GlaxoSmithKline markets a drug called Lanoxin, widely used by the nation’s
seniors to treat congestive heart failure. The price of Lanoxin has risen by
58.1 percent since 1997, according to a report by Families USA—nearly five
times the rate of inflation. GlaxoSmithKline, along with the rest of the
pharmaceutical drug industry, fiercely opposes Congressional proposals to
add comprehensive prescription drug coverage to the Medicare program.
Seniors need prescription drugs more than any other age group in the
population, yet they are the most unlikely of all insured groups to have
prescription drug coverage. They are stuck paying for these needed drugs out
of their own pockets – that is, if they are fortunate enough to have the
cash to cover the cost.

It is helpful to follow the money right now, as the Senate debates the
affordability – or, rather, the lack of it – of prescription drugs for the
nation’s seniors. Already, the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry has
contributed $11.3 million to federal candidates and parties toward this year
’s mid-term elections, three-fourths of that to the GOP, according to the
Center for Responsive Politics. In the 2000 election cycle, the industry
gave $19.3 million, 77 percent to Republicans, of which the Bush-Cheney
campaign’s direct share was $289,500. The pharmaceutical and health products
industry also threw in $950,000 for the Bush-Cheney Inaugural Fund.

The picture is not encouraging. The Bush Administration has already
announced it will not implement a provision passed by the Senate during
debate last week, by a 69 to 30 vote, that would allow U.S. pharmacies and
wholesalers to reimport prescription drugs from Canada, where costs are
lower. Interestingly, the sponsor of that amendment, Sen. Byron Dorgan
(D-ND), has gotten just $11,000 from pharmaceutical manufacturers over the
years, while the 30 Senators who voted against the amendment have collected
an average of $88,430.

Then, yesterday, a plan by Senate Democrats, fiercely opposed by the
pharmaceutical industry, was defeated by a vote of 52 to 47 (60 votes were
needed for the legislation to move forward). The bill would have created a
new government prescription drug benefit for Medicare beneficiaries, at the
cost of $594 billion over several years. The Senate also narrowly defeated a
GOP plan, supported by the drug industry and the White House, which would
give private industry the responsibility to administer a plan estimated at
$370 billion. Though there is talk of compromise, stalemate is also a
distinct possibility.

With corporate scandals continuing to surface daily, and drug prices
increasing rapidly, America’s seniors may question if corporate America is
where responsibility should lie. They might also ask why it is that their
president singles out pharmaceutical CEOs for his personal thanks, while
they see their own pocketbooks dwindle from paying for the prescriptions
drugs they need.
 

Does this upset you? Go to
<http://capwiz.com/publicampaign/issues/alert/?alertid=337056&type=CO> to
send your senators and the president a personal message.

--------------------------------->$$$$$<------------------------------------
OUCH! is a regular e-mail bulletin on how private money in politics hurts
average citizens, published by Public Campaign, a non-partisan, non-profit
organization devoted to comprehensive campaign finance reform. Every day, we
pay more as consumers and taxpayers for special interest subsidies and
boondoggles because of our system of privately financed elections. It's time
for a change.

Want to take action? Go to HowDareThey.org to send an instant message to
your representatives in Congress. And help spread the word! Send copies of
this message to your friends and join the growing movement for real campaign
finance reform. If you would like to add yourself to the OUCH! listserv,
send an e-mail reading ‘subscribe’ to ouch-request@ouch.org or go
to
http://www.ouch.org/mailman/listinfo/ouch.

Want more info about Public Campaign? Visit www.publicampaign.org
or write
to info@publicampaign.org. You can also help support our work by making a
credit card contribution on our website. This bulletin may be reposted to
newsgroups as long as it is printed in its entirety.

Dear Fire Department Supporter,

Generous support of your Fire Department assures that we are there when you need us with the right equipment and training.  We all think of our Fire Department when we think of fire, but your Department is also equipped to provide emergency support in other areas ranging from responding to hazardous material spills to removal of the injured in auto accidents.  A recent training exercise used the 'jaws of life' to provide entry to a severely damaged vehicle.

Your Fire Department is currently staffed by 14 volunteers who are on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week.  These members have jobs, family lives, social and civic responsibilities, and yet they manage to quickly respond to calls for aid regardless of time, day or night.  Your Firefighters need safe and effective equipment and training to continue to meet the expanding needs of our community.  Community population has increased by more than 54% between 1990 and 2000, and by another 16% between 2000 and 2002.

Through your support, and grant funding from LCRA, we have replaced our 1967 Pumper Truck with a much more capable 1987 Pierce Pumper.  We have also modified two surplus military vehicles to maintain and expand our brush truck inventory.  While we have upgraded our main Tanker in the last few years, our smaller 1969 Tanker is not reliable and requires replacement.

Our current planning includes replacing the old tanker, upgrading and expanding our breathing apparatus (for use in structure firefighting), and the addition of defibrillator capability.  Once again, we are requesting your assistance in meeting the needs of your Fire Department.  As always, we appreciate your contributions!

JUST THINK!  What if you had a fire and no one came?  We also have need of a few good people who are willing to help out their community.  We meet the first & third Thursdays of each month at 7:00 PM at the Fire Barn on Hwy 261.

FIRE DEPARTMENT BUILDING BURGLARIZED

Sometime between 10 PM Tuesday night, 5/21/02 and Thursday, 2 PM, 5/23/02 the fire station was broken into and over $4000 of equipment was taken.  If anyone has any information regarding this incident, please contact the Buchanan Fire Department, 793-9085 or contact the Sheriff's office in Llano.

CALL 911 IN AN EMERGENCY

MAKE TAX DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION TO:

BUCHANAN VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT
P.O. BOX 825
BUCHANAN DAM, TEXAS 78609

$5.00___$10.00___$25.00___OTHER $____

NAME:_______________________________

ADDRESS:____________________________

CITY:________________________________

STATE____________  ZIP:______________

*NOTE:  IF GIFT IS MADE AS A MEMORIAL, PLEASE INCLUDE DETAILS FOR APPROPRIATE RECOGNITION.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF THE BUCHANAN VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

A letter To Burnet County Sheriff Joe Pollock has been posted recently.  Access it by clicking here.

As promised, the letter of complaint sent to Burnet County Judge Martin McLean, regarding fraudulent Ledger Maxpages and Stormpages site deletions originating from the Burnet County Library System and resulting in the ejection of this writer from library computers, has finally been posted.  Readers are reminded this is not the end of the matter.  Just the beginning.  For ongoing coverage of the criminal attacks as well as the letter to the Judge sent in response, click here.

Be sure to click on Klee's Kaleidoscope for Harvey Klee's latest edition.  This publication is a forum for a diversity of viewpoints. All are encouraged to submit material.

A rare commodity, honest businesses need a plug.  Although this publication receives no financial remuneration or funding of any kind from Mike's Transmission, this writer has personally known the owner of this new business quite some time and has enormous respect for his integrity.  Mike has had years of experience working on transmissions, -- foreign and domestic, standard and automatic.  This guy has heart and takes enormous pride in his work.  Give him a call at 915-423-1694.  The business is in the process of being launched.  If you like the quality of service, let me know.  Better yet, ask him to send a donation to the Ledger.

As strongly asserted in the last 65 editions, gut-wrenching fear generated by the Narcotics Enforcement Team is quite impressive. After all, these Nazi stormtroopers not only outrageously intimidate defendants and their gutless attorneys, but even innocent third parties who have suffered at their corrupt and abusive hands.

Recently, a source came forward with allegations regarding the death of a loved one under exceptionally curious circumstances. Sadly, the survivor got cold feet.

Most pointedly and quite publicly, how in hell do you expect these abuses to end if you don't have the guts to stand up and expose them to the light of day?

Every time a source cowardly runs the other way, the corrupt and abusive sons of bitches win. Every g-ddamned time. Worse yet, another nail is driven into the coffin of liberty.

If you don't have the courage to stand up and do the right thing, why should this writer continue to place himself in physical and legal jeopardy trying to expose the outrageous corruption and abuse?

Tim Chorney, Publisher
The Llano Ledger
 

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Tim Chorney, Publisher
P.O. Box 997
Buchanan Dam, Tx. 78609