As oil still spills in the Gulf and the people of that region brace for more damage, and ready themselves to begin a massive cleanup one can only feel sadness at the scope of this tragedy. When that gives way, let us hope that many of them feel what they should really feel, anger. You see, this is yet another incident that proves to the American people that their government is bought and paid for by corporate crooks. In the case of the Deepwater Horizon well once again profits were put over people and corrupt corporate coddling was enacted to allow this massive disaster.
You know with all the bluster coming from the Mad Doctor Rand Paul about debt and deficit one thing remains true. Paul's ideas are starve the beast lunacy that would almost completely strip our country of any kind of social programs whatsoever. Luckily Kentucky has a sane candidate running for Senate. A candidate that has already saved this state's taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by fighting against the right people, not the most helpless among us. Come to find out too that not only is he the only candidate in this race actually has saved the taxpayers of this state money but he has several ideas to save our country billions without raising taxes.
Many of us have argued against the Iraq War for some time now and more of the cost and scope of the failure in that war is emerging as it begins to come to an end. At a time when America is debating whether to invest in it's own people or not, I think we should remember that a great many of the Senators that will be debating Universal Healthcare if they even vote to do that were all for the extended war in Iraq and the wasted money invested there.
Hillbilly recently did a video series on "Who do you believe", Bernie Sanders or Mitch McConnell. In it Sen. Sanders spelled out the huge problems with fraud, waste, and downright criminal activitiy in the healthcare industry that has helped push prices so high. And of course in it Mitch McConnell continually claims we have the "best healthcare system in the world" because himself and his rich buddies get to pick the American taxpayer and consumer clean.
I was reading Paul Krugman's column the other day and was dismayed by his argument. According to the Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist, a half-ass, half-hearted measure on curbing carbon emissions is better than doing nothing, but I'm unconvinced. As written in The Washington Post:
On paper, the Waxman-Markey bill puts a cost on carbon dioxide by imposing a ceiling, or cap, on greenhouse gas emissions and then setting up a market for regulated industries -- such as the electric power sector -- to buy and sell allowances to pollute under that cap. As the cap is reduced each year, market participants will exchange allowances in a complex auction market.
If you liked what credit default swaps did to our economy, you're going to love cap-and-trade. Just read Title VIII of the bill, which lets investment banks, hedge funds and other speculators participate in the cap-and-trade market. They don't have emissions to cut; they have commissions to make.
The real hidden catch of the cap-and-trade system, though, is that it will require consumers to pay twice: first for emission allowances and then for the construction of new low- and zero-carbon power plants.
That doesn't sound very good, and the bad news gets progressively worse.
Contrary to assurances from the bill's sponsors that utility customers wouldn't have to pay these costs for the first decade, some coal-dependent utilities would be forced to purchase more than half of their allowances when the program is scheduled to begin in 2012. Would these allowances reduce our greenhouse gas emissions? No; that would come when consumers footed a second bill - for the cost of their utilities either to retrofit coal and gas plants to capture carbon - something that cannot be done today on a commercial scale - or to shut them down and build non-carbon-producing nuclear plants and wind farms instead.
Over here in Paducah, Kentucky we have some ultra-Conservative media. The Paxton Media Group owns several Western Kentucky newspapers including the Paducah Sun and they have their own little radio station that they allow propoganda masters such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingram to spew forth their venomous talking points. Lately, I have heard radio commercials from a group called "Conservatives for Patients Rights" running ads against the 50 million people who have no health insurance.
Kentucky has long been known for several things. One of them is racehorses. Another is tobacco. Yet another is coal. And what would a discussion about Kentucky be without a mention of Bourbon and Basketball??
(Welcome To Hillbilly Report thanks for the diary - promoted by Hillbilly)
Following the money trail for Congressman Geoff Davis, we can see there is a clear connection with the special projects he has requested this year. This seems to expound on the details just released by Fourth Congressional District candidate John Waltz when he stated, “Countless times these earmarks have a singular goal, which is to line the pockets of politicians and to me that is not good governance of the taxpayer's money.” (http://www.johnwaltzforcongress.com/blog/2009/04/17/sensible-governance-of-taxpayers-money/)
Looking at the Cincinnati Airport project, we can see that the Kenton County Airport Commission's Executive Director Stephen Hatfield Contributed $250.00 to Davis' campaign last year, which might seem like a trivial amount but is the tip of the iceberg.
The Transit Authority of Kentucky is seeking a no-bid contract to procure $1,584,000 for a bus replacement program, which in turn awarded Davis with $7,400 in contributions from Dale Furtwengler who sits on the TANK Executive Committee.
The last contribution for projects comes from Ashland Inc. who is seeking over $6,000,000 in funding requests. The award for Davis in this instance comes to a grand of $8,000 from the Ashland Inc. Political Action Committee for Employees.
Many Kentuckians are tired of business as usual where their politicians are bought and sold to the highest bidder. It appears that Davis feels that his role as Congressman is to seek the greatest number of contributions in exchange for pet projects to keep him in power. It is time we put a leader in Kentucky's Fourth District who is a man of the people for the people and will govern under the auspice of what best serves the people.
We all remember the no-bid contracts we were so opposed to under the last administration. Now, it has long appeared that all the crimes committed on all levels in this fiasco will go unpunished. Although we are still far from punishing the lies and propoganda unleashed on the American people to start this war, after a court ruling hopefully at least part of the rampant fraud that will cost Americans well over a trillion dollars will be punished.
