Hinchey Self Dealing

I just received this e-mail from an elected official I know who alleges that Represenative Maurice Hinchey has been involved in corrupt self-dealing involving environmental companies in the Buffalo area:

 

Mitchell,

 

Just wanted to pass this on.  One of Hinchey's top adds had been talking at a wedding on how Maurice was making lots of money on environmental companies in the Buffalo area.  He invested a major amount in these companies and was getting them earmarks and legislation written for cleanups for the companies he was involved with.  One of the big things was is how does a Toll Collector get o be a Millionaire?

 

Just want to pass this on.  Not sure How old this is but it may help

How We Can Move On

The freedom movement and those who have voted for and supported the current status quo might reconsider history. George W. Bush failed many who supported him and seemed even worse to many who opposed him. He was elected as a "compassionate conservative", but failed to live up to either the term "compassionate" or "conservative". He disappointed many who oppose bureaucracy and big government. He disappointed Americans because of his arrogance, his inarticulate failure to adequately plan two wars, his managerial failure with respect to Hurricane Katrina, and his ongoing support for the military industrial complex, specifically including the decision to massively subsidize Wall Street.

President Bush likely had hoped to (a) retain his social conservative base, (b) win over non-affiliated voters through his "compassion" and (c) retain many of his big government conservative backers. It turned out that non-affiliated voters were offended by his support for the military-industrial complex. Also, there are fewer big government conservatives than he, Newt Gingrich and the American Enterprise Institute thought.

In the end Mr. Bush was left with the backing of social conservatives, and even these left him because of his unabashed interest in providing preferences to Wall Street and the military industrial complex. A rather ironic ending to the career of a "compassionate conservative". But he has that rugged masculine Texan look, and so his appeal to socially conservative women and some Lincoln Log Republicans, probably about 15 or 20 percent of the public, likely did not wane.

Bush's failure led to a reaction. However, the nature of the reaction speaks to a failure of American politics, and it needs fixing. A Republican victory next year and in three years will not be enough. More imagination is needed. The nation needs to be re-created. Otherwise, the current cycle of corrupt Republicans followed by ideologically dogmatic Democrats will continue until the nation, once the greatest in the world, collapses.

America needs to move on, and ought to think about how. The Obama reaction makes clear that fixation on rigid goals and simple-minded ideological commitment to centralized authority are destructive and will not work.

President Obama represents the extreme left in the European sense, which won the White House for the first time since Theodore (R-NY) and Franklin (D-NY) Roosevelt. Like the Roosevelts, Obama and his followers and associates retain a feudalistic belief that progress is accomplished through power and violence.Mr. Obama's willingness to lie to his followers about his commitment to the War in Afghanistan and the War in Iraq illustrates the nature of his character. He is committed to the idea that the central government ought to compel radical change and equity through the cap and trade act, institution of an inferior, mandatory medical plan and ever more extensive and ever more rigid regulation of the economy.

The Democrats and Mr. Obama attempted to use a considerable degree of guilt in electing the first African American to the White House. Mr. Obama's opponents have been routinely accused of racism. My own blog, a relatively small piece of the world, was taken down. The Wall Street-backed Democratic Party media resounded Mr. Obama's trumpet, accusing all who disagreed of deviance and reaction. Not once did the Democratic Party networks or Fox discuss the imbalance in Wall Street's financial contributions to the candidates: 2:1 in favor of Obama.

Mainstream, middle-of-the-road Americans ought not to feel fear, hatred or even contempt for President Obama. As president and as an individual he deserves our respect. Rather, we ought to blame ourselves, for President Obama's education, his collectivism, his feudalistic commitment to government violence and to power are the products of his education. Republicans have sat quietly while the American education system, and the higher education system, have been hijacked by ideological extremists, collectivists who argue for backward, primitive tribalism, socialism, instead of the system that created American economic progress. The ideology behind Mr. Obama created his figure. The economic interests that he has subsidized control his breadth. The individual is not to be blamed.

America is in the grip of special interests, Wall Street and the military industrial complex, to a degree heretofore unknown. The twin headed hydra of corrupt, big government Republicans and of feudalistic Democrats will continue until Americans say "no". But in contrast to Americans in the day of the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania, Americans have become a timid, conformist lot. They have lost their guts. They are lazy and they are piggish.

Those who ought to be the best hanker after rewards from the Wall Street complex. The extent of social control exercised by the feudalistic power structure that aims to further collectivize the nation will increase until Americans take steps to regain their fortitude.

Americans who wish to reverse the institutionalized corruption need to start by reforming themselves and thinking small. They need to reunite with their roots and their like minded fellow Americans instead of seeking to indulge in credit card debt and bank loans. They need to reduce their egos. They need to spend time on politics instead of watching television or in other diversions. The original arguments for the eight hour day involved the claim that Americans needed more time to contribute to politics and the public good. Instead, Americans became fixated on consumerism.

Americans are not special because of who they are. They are special because they received a gift. The gift was given to them by men of wisdom, the founding fathers and their successors, Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland and others. They were entrusted to protect the freedom that the founders had won and created, and instead, just as Esau sold his birthright to Isaac, Americans sold their birthright for a credit card, an ignorantly written government regulation, and a social security card. Excessive self indulgence, fear, lack of courage, lack of prudence, lack of respect for others and willingness to treat others, such as Chinese workers, unjustly have contributed to the malaise. In other words, a fundamental self indulgence and lack of ethics due to smugness and ego have contributed.

The first step to move on is to look at how our own behavior has contributed to Obama's election. Then to ask ourselves how we can take a few steps to turn things around. Those who demonstrated in the tea parties have taken a few already, and need to ask how can they build organizations that will enable them to take that many more.

Tax Exempt Bonds for Robert Congel

Larwyn just forwarded this article from the Washington, DC Examiner. It is refreshing to see the kind of moral leadership that the Democrats can provide.

>The former first lady in 2004 pushed legislation providing tax-exempt bonds for developer Robert Congel, and another measure providing $5 million for road construction that helped a Congel project. At about the same time, he gave $100,000 to former President Clinton's foundation. Congel has also made multiple donations to Sen. Clinton’s campaigns, according to FEC records.

This story augurs ill for Barack Obama's infrastructure plans. Not that I oppose improvement of infrastructure. It is a state-level responsibility, and the federal government isn't competent to the task, nor is it honest enough.

Kennedy Rates New York and New York Rates Her

Governor David A. Paterson has not yet appointed Caroline Kennedy to fill Hillary Clinton's Senate seat but the proposition seems to have an air of inevitability. Hopefully it won't occur. New York has a different style of corruption from Chicago. In Chicago the governor sells Senate seats for cash. In New York, cronyism, incompetence and legislated theft are the rule.

With respect to Sarah Palin, who does not come from a wealthy background and did not attend an Ivy League university, the Democrats and their television propagandists were eager to criticize her inexperience and make fun of her abilities, despite her having been elected to governor and having held an executive position. Let's see what kind of experience Caroline Kennedy has.

Besides being the scion of a wealthy family, Kennedy attended Harvard and Columbia, and so is acceptable to Progressives and their propagandists. She worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After marrying, Kennedy lived on Park Avenue for about 20 years, unlike Wasilla an address acceptable to Progressives, and had two children. Kennedy holds a legal degree and has co-authored several books. She worked for two years in a $1 per year, part-time staff job for New York City's Department of Education. She was a successful fundraiser, raising over $65 million for New York's schools. She is also on the board of the American Ballet Theatre.

This is impressive experience indeed. Impressive, that is, for a rich housewife. The most impressive thing about Caroline Kennedy's resume is that it is probably the lightest weight resume of any serious contender for Senate in New York's history. It is impressive that someone with a resume this thin would be taken seriously for a City Council, much less a Senate seat.

What would make a lightweight like Kennedy think that she ought to be Senator? Her politically correct, socially acceptable ideology? Her rich family? Her attendance at expensive private schools? All of the above?

America has been in the process of devolving from a republic into an aristocracy. Kennedy represents not the natural aristocracy that Jefferson anticipated, but a throwback to the Federalist belief in an aristocracy based on family connections and inherited wealth. Caroline Kennedy's application for New York's Senate seat represents a deeper and more profound corruption than the Blagojevich scandal.

A second-rate mayor who bought his way into City Hall has recently been able to repeal the term limits law, undoubtedly through intelligently placed contributions and pressure. A city that has banished its middle class, destroyed tens of thousands of jobs and presented unlimited eminent domain and real estate development opportunities to developers who have failed to produce value but have managed to suck the state and city dry. A state that has seen more hard working people exit than any other state and has become a two-tiered society devoid of economic opportunity. A state that has banished freedom in favor of corrupt wealth and aristocracy, all in the hypocritical name of helping the poor.

Caroline Kennedy rates New York, and New York rates her.

Andy Martin Tells of Sewage on the Chicago-DC Aquaduct

I just received this e-mail from Andy Martin:

(CHICAGO)(December 12, 2008) "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" Election Day/matinee star Barry Obama is coming to the silver screen in a new role starring as "Captain Barack Hussein Renaud," the Prefect of Police in Chicago who is "appalled" by the discovery of corruption in his home city. "I am shocked, shocked, to learn that there's corruption going on in Chicago," is one of Obama's signature lines in the remake of the World war II love story "Casablanca."

Just as Claude Raines, starring as Inspector Renaud, feigns "shock" at the discovery of gambling in the original film, while carrying off his winnings, Barry Obama will feign that he is "appalled" by the corruption in the casino that has been his base of political power for over a decade, while carrying off his winnings for being part of Chicago's corrupt political culture.

Obama who claims he could not pay his credit card bills eight years ago, has become rich enough to refuse his U. S. Senate salary, all as a result of his participation in the corrupt politics of his "home" town.

In a stirring scene with breathtaking beauty, "We'll always have Hawai'i," Obama tearfully abandons the corruption of Honolulu for the venality of Chicago as outrigger canoes carry "Barry O" to a waiting pirate galleon en route to OccidentalCollege. Unbeknownst to Obama, Andy Martin is an undercover corruption fighter on the ship "Chicago's Fortune."

The Chicago Tribune protested when Senator John McCain broadcast ads highlighting corruption in Chicago." says Andy Martin. "If McCain had not been such an incompetent idiot, he would be heading to the White House today. McCain had the issues; he was too ham-handed to use them.

"Barack Obama has claimed he is 'appalled' at the corruption in Chicago. He cites three 'selfless' public servants; two are long dead and the third, Dick Durbin, is a crook who uses his wife as a 'bag man' lobbyist.

"If Dick Durbin is Obama's prime example of living integrity, we better "fasten our seat belts" as we include a scene in Chicagoblanca loosely based on "All About Eve."

Who is this man Barry Obama, soon to be Barack Hussein Obama, kidding? If he didn't know there is corruption in Chicago, and that Blagojevich was a crook, he is too incompetent to serve as one of Blagojevich's toll collectors on the Illinois Tollway, let alone as president of the United States.

Does George Bush know about Obama's lack of intelligence? Bush has refused to allow Obama to move into Blair House early. Maybe GWB should reconsider. Obama is a stranger to Washington, having barely visited the place. 'Bama might miss the inaugural parade if it doesn't march past him at Blair House.

"I invite any sentient being to 'Google' Obama + 'Illinois corruption' and see how many times Obama has denounced corruption or the Daley Machine. On the contrary, BHO has regularly endorsed the politics of sleaze, from African-American neighborhoods plundered by Obama's sponsor Tony Rezko right down to the kleptocracy of Richard Daley's City Hall. Obama has been an integral part of corrupt politics in Illinois. Period. He should be 'appalled' at himself, not Blagojevich.
"My book, 'Obama: The Man Behind The Mask,' is a 'Chicago story' retelling the history of Obama's long-time links to organized political corruption in Chicago. Obama has coexisted comfortably in the 'iron triangle' of Chicago politics," Martin says. www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-10-dec10,0,7674669.column
Andy Martin will also play a starring role in "Chicagoblanca" as a cynical cafe owner and political reformer who ends up in Chicago but refuses to run off with the girl he loved in Honolulu. Instead, Andy runs off with Barry Soetero Obama, to Indonesia, where they set up a "Café Chicago" and make a killing selling booze to Muslims.

Sewage Just Starting to Flow on the Chicago-DC Aquaduct

Robert Taylor just sent me this link to Rush Limbaugh's site (also, h/t Clayton). Rush once again demonstrates why talk radio is necessary to counteract the pissant partisans on the networks and New York newsletters.

>FITZGERALD: I should make clear the complaint makes no allegations about the president-elect whatsoever, his conduct. This part of the scheme lost steam when the person that the governor thought was the president-elect's choice of senator took herself out of the running. But after the deal never happened, this is the governor's reaction, quote: "They're not willing to give me anything but appreciation. Bleep them."

RUSH: All right, now, the FBI affidavit says that Blago had been told by an advisor, quote, "president-elect" -- that's Obama; we only have one president-elect, right? I cannot be confusing anything. Quote, "the president-elect" -- this is an advisor talking to Blago. "The president-elect can get Blagojevich's wife on paid corporate boards in exchange for naming the president-elect's pick to the Senate." But that wasn't good enough for Blago. He wanted something for himself. And he didn't want to have to wait two years for his term to expire, I guess, before his wife could be appointed to these boards. And that's when he came out with the MF-er on the tape. So Obama has somebody in mind for this seat. We just don't know who it is, and Blagojevich was not happy about it. Here's one more bite from Fitzgerald.

FITZGERALD: We have Senate seat that seemed to be as recently as days ago auctioned off to the -- you know, to the highest bidder for campaign contributions, and Governor Blagojevich own words on the tape of the bug that's set forth in the complaint talked about selling this like a sports agent. So we stepped in for a number of reasons. Basically, as I said before, we're in the middle of a corruption crime spree, and we wanted to stop it.

RUSH: "We are in the middle of a corruption crime spree, and we wanted to stop it." They made their move before the Senate seat could be sold. And have you also noticed, ladies and gentlemen, the parade of daily Obama press conferences seemed to have stopped.

Fraud Surrounding Obama's Home

A poster on my blog, who calls himself "Diogenes" is a pro-Obama thought police who aims to attack any who question Senator Barack Obama's corruption and lies. In contrast, the original Diogenes, who was a "kuon" or cynic, tried to uproot corruption. My "Diogenes" holds up his lantern to throw rocks at all who question Senator Obama's corruption.

But there are still plenty of Americans interested in the truth and able to think for themselves. One of these is AJ Strata of Strata Sphere. Strata asks hard questions in his blog about what seems to be fraud surrounding Barack Obama's house that he co-purchased with convicted felon Tony Rezko (h/t Larwyn).

Strata writes:

"...From Hillbuzz there is news that convicted felon (and Obama associate) Tony Rezko is about to turn states evidence, and the rumor is he has an interesting target in his sights:

"...Tony Rezko is giving up the Giannoulias family to Patrick Fitzgerald — Rezko and the Giannoulias family are as close and tied together as anyone in Chicago could be. If Rezko is turning on them, then Rezko is going to give up Governor Rod Blagojevich and Obama too.

"...The Giannoulias family was involved with Obama as far back as his first state senate campaign in 1996. It has been long rumored here in Chicago that Obama obtained a sweetheart deal on his first town home here in Chicago — which he could not have afforded otherwise — and guess who the financing came from for that house?

"Here is the summary of what was found in the records:

"A Lexis property search for Obama in Illinois shows the Hyde Park property in Obama’s name beginning in 1998, but Obama supposedly bought the property in 1993.
All tax assessments from 1998-2004 are in the name of Emil - is this the person paying taxes on the property for the Obamas until they sold the property in 2005?
Obama Records have a different Legal Description than the original owner’s documents...."

Read the whole riveting story here.

Letter to Governor Rod R. Blagojevich (D-IL) Re Obama Birth Certificate

PO Box 130
West Shokan, New York 12494
August 4, 2008

The Honorable Rod R. Blagojevich
Office of the Governor
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706

Dear Governor Blagojevich:

This is an inquiry as to why Dan White’s Board of Elections has failed to investigate the eligibility of Senator Barack Obama to hold the office of Senator for the State of Illinois. Under the Constitution, a Senator must be a US citizen for nine years prior to becoming Senator. Proof of citizenship is an authentic birth certificate. But in recent weeks Mr. Obama’s supporters have posted a fraudulent birth certificate on a Web site, and Mr. Obama has failed to respond to my and others’ requests for a copy of his birth certificate. The issue of whether Mr. Obama was actually born in the State of Hawaii is heightened by his birth’s having been recorded in two unrelated hospitals, both in Honolulu, and by persistent questions about his mother’s whereabouts at the time of birth. Because of its culture of secrecy, the State of Hawaii has refused to make the presidential candidate’s birth information public.

Some observers have suggested that, like Hawaii, Illinois’s famously corrupt and secretive political culture ensures that Mr. White will fail to do his job and investigate the propriety of Mr. Obama’s holding the office of Senator. I urge you to oversee a thorough and open investigation of Mr. Obama’s place of birth.

Sincerely,

Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.

Cc: Dan White, Executive Director
Illinois Board of Elections
1020 S. Spring St.
Springfield, Illinois 62704

Barack Obama, the Teapot Dome and America's Parrot-Brained Media

Is Barack Obama going to be our next Warren G. Harding, the president whose cabinet was implicated in several corruption scandals, most famously the Teapot Dome scandal? Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs (hat tip Larwyn) has been analyzing Obama's campaign contributions and finds an extraordinarily long list of foreign contributors, including one, Jeanne McCurdy, who has made multiple contributions on a single day. Pamela writes:

"There are numerous individuals who are "bundling" contributions, some are smaller from the same person on same day, not to mention lots "unemployed or student". Further, there's a ton of foreign service and State Department admissions.
lots and lots of multiple entries.

"lots of foreign service, diplomat entries.

"lots of military analyst types.

"lots way over any $200 non-reporting caps.

Other overseas contributors are making multiple small donations ostensibly in their own names over a period of a few days, some under maximum donation allowances, but others aggregating in excess of the maximums when all added up..."

Read it all here.

Is the media asking questions about the rather odd goings on such as Obama's cover-up of his birth certificate and unusual patterns in campaign contributions? Is the media questioning why Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs employees are overwhelmingly in favor of Mr. Obama? Is it merely because investment bankers favor change--or do they prefer $100 bills? Is the media asking questions, or is it functioning as a parrot-brained cheering squad for Mr. Obama, failing to ask even the most elementary questions that a competent mass media would ask?

Two Kinds of Corruption

"I am sorry to say I [am] perfectly satisfied that the leading Republican politicians are worse rogues than the Democrats, inasmuch as they are fully as corrupt while making far more pretensions to honesty."

---Edwin Lawrence Godkin
Letter to Frederick Law Olmstead, December 25, 1864
William M. Armstrong, The Gilded Age Letters of E.L. Godkin, Albany: SUNY Press, 1974, p. 17.

Following the Money in the 08 Elections

Open Secrets.org has a useful chart that reviews the 100 largest political contributers since 1989. Some of these, such as Enron, are no longer as important as they once were.

Of the top ten contributors, six are labor organizations: the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME, rank number 1), the National Education Association (5),the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (7), the Laborers Union (8), the Service Employees' International Union (9), and the Carpenters and Joiners Union (10). AT&T Corporaton is two, the National Association of Realtors is three, the American Association of Justice (formerly the Trial Lawyers' Association) is four and Goldman Sachs is six. Given the pain that the financial community has or will have caused in the next ten years, it is surprising that only Goldman is in the top ten. As well, given the limited success of labor organizations in securing their legislative goals, it is surprising that they dominate the top ten.

Taking the full 100 into account I counted the following categories:

Unions and labor organizations: 28
Large corporations: 53
Professional associations: 7
Small business associations: 7
Special and Public interests: 5

The large corporations include several leading commercial and investment banks. These include Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, American Bankers' Association, JP Morgan Chase, and Merrill Lynch. The special and public interest groups include Emily's list, a feminist lobbying group that has contributed $18.2 million and ranks number 25. According to the Emily List website:
"our grassroots network has helped elect 69 Democratic pro-choice members of Congress, 13 senators, and eight governors." AFSCME has contributed $39.1 million since 1989. No wonder state governments are booming. At the bottom of the list BP Amoco has contributed $5.7 million.

It would be interesting to know explicitly what these organizations expect from their sizable donations. Some, such as the American Medical Association or the National Education Association would seem fairly obvious. Others, such as the Carpenters and Joiners seems less so. Are they looking for additional projects? General workplace regulation? Special laws that are beneficial to carpenters?

Likewise, it would be interesting to know the degree to which the banking lobbies have pressured for the monetary expansion that has benefited banking, the stock market and the hedge industry in the past quarter century.

Madmen, Hillary and the Wizard of Oz

American Movie Classics'(AMC's) Madmen is great television. Madmen's quality equals HBO's and Showtime's, which puts it a cut above today's Hollywood movies.

Madmen stars Jon Hamm as Don Draper. It is about an advertising agency in the golden age of television, the late 1950s and early 1960s. The name "Draper" alludes to draping or deceiving, and we are reminded of the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz, whom Dorothy exposes behind the drapes of the control room. Like the Wizard, Draper's job is to create illusion. One of the story lines is that Draper's firm represents the Nixon campaign pro bono in the 1960 election, the first that television influenced.

Before watching Madmen it would be useful to read a history of consumerism. One is William Leach'sLand of Desire: Merchants, Power and the Rise of a New American Culture and another is Gary Cross's All Consuming Century. Both books provide rich perspective on the dynamic of consumerism and its implications for culture. Leach goes into an extended analysis of the Wizard of Oz.

Following amusement parks, Wannamaker's department store decorations, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and L. Frank Baum's ideas (Baum, besides being an author, was an early expert about window displays), advertising has been the basis of consumerism. That is, one of the characteristics of consumerism is the creation of imaginative imagery about consumption. Thus, New York and several other large cities became the centers not only of art, culture, theater and television, but more importantly of imagery about consumption that created today's global culture. Such imagery would be unnecessary or unimportant were it truthful. The association of consumerism and advertising suggests that deception is at consumerism's root.

There is an inherent conflict. To be possible, consumerism requires advances in technology. In turn, technology depends on uncovering of the truth, discovery of fundamental principles and a relentless willingness to let old modes, business methods and social constructs die. Schumpeter called this creative destruction. But stimulation of consumption relies on creating an image, one that is often false, romantic or misleading.

At the same time the left is a romantic movement that itself is a reflection of consumer society and advertising. The left manufactures political ideas that are romantic but have as little truth or reality as the mountain stream in a Newport cigarettes ad. The left claims to oppose the deception inherent in commercialization, but does so through "draping" and deception that parallel commercialization. To the left, ideology plays the role that advertising plays to consumerism. The left substitutes lies about a romanticized past and a fictional claim to ethical belief. It deceptively claims that the past is the future.

Thus, the left claims that centralized economic planning (monarchy) is economically superior to markets, a lie. The left claims that government power and regulation, much like the power of kings, is more humane than limited government and private enterprise, which is a lie. The left claims that monetary expansion, which favors the wealthy over the poor, is necessary to help the poor, which is also a lie.

Hence, the dialogue of twentieth century America* was largely between a conservative, market-based view which depends on the truth and technology for its foundations, but furthers its ends through lies and mass media; and a left-wing view whose ideology is itself a lie. Both modern conservatism and left/liberal ideology depend on groupthink. Both rely on the mass media. Both focus on the trivial. Both advocate policies whose effects are the reverse of what they claim. It may be said that in the twentieth century the Sophists triumphed and that the Sophists now dominate our most retrograde institutions, such as universities.

The Republicans claim to be for less government, then when elected expand government. The Democrats claim to be for the poor, but create massive inner city slums, urban ghettos that isolate racial minorities and the poor. As well, the Democrats' educational policies, via left-wing institutions like NCATE, cripple the poor by enfeebling them educationally; and they and the left attack private institutions such as Wal-Mart that benefit the poor economically.

Were it not for the left, the role of intellectual would in part be the one that L. Frank Baum assigned to Dorothy: lifting the drapes from the Wizard's control room, and exposing him for the fraud that he is. That is the tradition of Thorstein Veblen as well as the Austrian economists. But the academy fell prey to ideology, and has adopted rigid, ideological deception, commitment to elitism and attacks on the poor, for instance, through attacking Wal-Mart and through favoring the Federal Reserve Bank, low interest rates and inflation. Universties themselves are a state supported system that encourages class stratification, alienation of the average person and economic isolation of the talented poor. Universities are institutions who demonize the average person, humanity, in the name of an inept elite that produces nothing and whose main purpose is to institutionalize itself.

Doug Ross @ Journal lists "Hillary's Top Ten Fabrications". These include her claim that she was named after Sir Edmund Hillary although she was born five years before he climbed Mt. Everest; her failure to disclose profits from Whitewater; and her description of abortion as a "tragic choice".**

It is not surprising that Hillary is a liar. Nor would it be surprising that the Republicans are equally liars. The groupthink; lack of vision; fixation on trivia; emotional outrage about superficial issues and ignoring the fundamental issues such as special interest group influence; corruption of the democratic process through gerrymandering and related processes; misleading disclosure in areas like government operations and inflation; monetary expansion and the corruption of the dollar; claiming to be for less government when you are for more government (such is the history of Rudy Giuliani) all suggest that Republicans and Democrats have similar stakes in equivalent forms of corruption. Both are parties of liars.

It is increasingly important that competition be introduced into the political system. "Voters for None of the Above" offers a mainstream alternative. I discuss NOTA here.

*In Europe, with the exception of Britain, the chief ideologies of the twentieth century were mainly variants of the left, to include fascism, Nazism, communism and today's dirigisme.

**Concerning the abortion issue, William Saletan of Slate writes:

"...against the ugliness of state control, she wants to raise the banner of morality as well as freedom...'There is no reason why government cannot do more to educate and inform and provide assistance so that the choice guaranteed under our constitution either does not ever have to be exercised or only in very rare circumstances.'...Once you embrace that truth—that the ideal number of abortions is zero—voters open their ears...Admit the goal is zero, and people will rethink birth control. 'Seven percent of American women who do not use contraception account for 53 percent of all unintended pregnancies'..."

But Clinton's argument, which transfers the moral concern about abortion into a discussion of abortion as a quality process, a quality target that needs to be minimized, is itself a form of draping.

Congressman John M. McHugh--Republican at the Trough

The Federal Election Commission permits review of all the Political Action Committee contributions to Congressional candidates for the Senate and Congress. One can trace the sources of influence on our elected officials through this site.

One Congressman who outshines all the others from New York's delegation is Congressman John M. McHugh a Republican from northern New York, New York’s 23rd district. McHugh received $384,126 in campaign contributions through August 23, 2006.

Congressman McHugh sits on the National Security, Emerging Threats, and the Energy subcommittees of the Comittee on Government Reform. He is also on the Readiness subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services. He is also on the Intelligence Policy; the Technical and Tactical Intelligence; and the Terrorism subcommittees of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Congressman McHugh's web page emphasizes that he is "recognized as a 'Champion of Dairy Farmers' for his aggressive approach to forcing Congress to address the needs of dairy farmers." The website also states that he is a "champion of education" but education interests do not dominate his list of contributors. Rather, a wide range of labor unions in the construction industy along with mail carriers and direct mail firms that likely have an interest in his postal reform proposals.

A clue as to why he receives such heavy contibutions from construction unions is in this statement:

"He believes that a good educational foundation allows children to reach their full potential and lead responsible adult lives. As such, Rep. McHugh has been a strong supporter of a bill that would subsidize $25 billion in zero-interest school modernization bonds..."

A flurry of school construction would not do much to improve education (that would require reinstatement of traditional teaching methods and discarding of the left wing ideology that dominates our education schools and the education establishment) but rather might benefit construction interests.

As far as his postal activities, his website indicates that:

"as a recognized authority on postal matters in light of his six years as Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Postal Service, Rep. McHugh was appointed to serve as the chairman of the Committee’s Special Panel on Postal Reform and Oversight in early 2003. In the 109th Congress, he has again introduced legislation to significantly reform the Postal Service for the first time in 35 years..."

In addition to the postal bill, Congressman McHugh has proposed bills to: promote the use of digesters by agricultural producers; amend the Internal Revenue Code to provide a tax credit to farmers in value-added agriculture; and exempt individual health insurance premiums from tax. He has been involved in several additional tax- and health insurance-related bills, which may explain the heavy presence of health insurance firms and health providers among his contributors.

What is fascinating about Congressman McHugh's long list of contributors is the wide range of business and labor interests who are helping McHugh get elected, some of which probably salivate at the thought of the needless construction of school buildings. Some of his contributors reflect local interests such as Fort Drum, dairy, other farming, paper mills, lumber and a General Motors plant. Other of his contributors appear to relate to projects whose purposes are unrelated to the needs of his constituents or of the United States.

Given the rural nature of McHugh's district one wonders why he needs so much money for his election campaigns---air time and newspaper space cannot be very expensive in the frozen north country of New York State.

McHugh's donors in excess of $5,000 since 2000 include:

Advo Inc. (direct mail company)
Agri-Mark (Dairy Farmer Cooperative)
Airline Pilots Association
American Chiropractic Association
American Federation of Government Employees
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Federation of Teachers
American Hospital Association
American Maritime Officers
American Medical Association
American Postal Workers
Capital One Financial Corp.
Carpenters and Joiners
Committee on Letter Carriers Political Education
Con-Way (supply chain management and logistics services)
Credit Union National Association
Dairy Farmers of America
Direct Marketing Association
Electrical Contractors
Operating Engineers
Farm Credit Council
General Dynamics
General Motors
Health Net
Humana
Bridge Structural and Iron Workers
International Association of Firefighters
Bricklayers Union
Laborers' International Union
Lockheed Martin
Magazine Publishers of America
Retired Federal Employees
National Association for Uniformed Services
National Association for Postal Supervisors
National Association of Postmasters
National Association of Realtors
Beer Wholesalers
National League of Postmasters
National Postal Mail Handlers
National Rural Letter Carriers' Association
National Star Route Mail Contractors Political Action Committee
PMA Group (automotive products)
RR Donnelly (printing, brochures, direct marketing)
Service Employees International Union
Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors
Time Warner (magazine subscriptions)
Treasury Employees
United Auto Workers
Verizon
Wal Mart
HJ Heinz
Georgia Pacific Corporaton (paper)