Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC) – $319,822 to buy a Congressman

From an email I received:

Ever want to buy your very own Congressman? A legislative tool to get the job done, especially dirty jobs that violate the trust of the American people? How much do you think it would cost?

It turns out surprisingly little.

Meet Rep. Mel Watt of North Carolina’s 12th District. Commercial banks have been his largest career donor, giving a total of $319,822 over the past ten years. That’s just a little over $30,000 per year.

What do banking lobbyists get in return?

Rep. Watt chairs the House Financial Services monetary policy subcommittee. Last Friday, Rep. Ron Paul reported that our Federal Reserve Transparency Act (HR 1207) was “gutted” in Rep. Watt’s subcommittee. Rep. Watt’s changes restricted inquiry around transactions with foreign central banks, monetary policy deliberations, transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee and communications between the Board, the reserve banks and staff.

Not a bad return on investment for the Fed and its lobbyists.

In defense of Rep. Watt, however, it’s not totally his fault. His district is the most obviously gerrymandered in North Carolina, following I-85 like a snake from Charlotte to Winston Salem. It is overwhelmingly Democratic, and his re-election has never been seriously challenged. Why should he represent the people when he is electorally invincible?

An invincible incumbent is the most useful tool, and a bargain to boot.

Robbery suspect fatally shot in Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 22 (UPI) — A 70-year-old woman shot and killed a man suspected of attempting to rob her during her visit to Columbus, Ohio, police said.

Columbus Police Sgt. Eric Pilya said the unidentified woman, who was in Columbus for a horse show, fatally shot the suspect after he allegedly attempted to rob her and at least four other people at a local motel, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch said Thursday.

Police said the woman responded to the man’s alleged demand for money Wednesday night by grabbing a gun that had been in the room and opening fire.

The robbery suspect was injured in the shooting and died after staggering out into the Continent Inn’s parking lot, police said. (Read more from upi.com)

IJ challenges bone marrow compensation ban!

You get up to five years in prison for compensating a bone marrow donor. In the IJ’s argument in the videos below, they make a point to distinguish bone marrow donors from kidney donors. They are working toward a limited goal, and have a reason for setting a limited goal. Philosophically (and constitutionally) there is no reason for the government to make compensation illegal for ANY organ or tissue donation.

Every year, 80,000 people in the U.S. need a kidney donation. 20,000 are available. Why not legalize compensation?

Every year, 1,000 Americans die because they cannot find a matching bone marrow donor. Minorities are hit especially hard. Common sense suggests that offering modest incentives to attract more bone marrow donors would be worth pursuing, but federal law makes that a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

That is why on October 28, 2009, adults with deadly blood diseases, the parents of sick children, a California nonprofit and a world-renowned medical doctor who specializes in bone marrow research joined with the Institute for Justice to launch a legal fight against the U.S. Attorney General to put an end to a ban on offering compensation for bone marrow donors.

click here for more on the case
click here to read more about the superheroes at the Institute for Justice

Press conference:

Q&A:

Marc Faber

Common Sense. “The U.S. dollar will be like wall paper.” Real estate in China.
“The sad part of the current crisis is that no problems were solved, they were postponed.”

Obama stimulus a failure. Asia doesn’t need the U.S..

“Economies will continue to disappoint.” The dollar rebound (short term).

FLASHBACK: US Lawmakers Invested in Iraq, Afghanistan Wars

Members of Congress invested nearly 196 million dollars of their own money in companies that receive hundreds of millions of dollars a day from Pentagon contracts to provide goods and services to U.S. armed forces, say nonpartisan watchdog groups.

. . . .

Lawmakers charged with overseeing Pentagon contractors hold stock in those very firms, as do vocal critics of the war in Iraq, says the Centre for Responsive Politics (CRP).

Senator John Kerry, the Democrat from Massachusetts who staked his 2004 presidential bid in part on his opposition to the war, tops the list of investors. His holdings in firms with Pentagon contracts of at least five million dollars stood at between 28.9 million dollars and 38.2 million dollars as of Dec. 31, 2006. Kerry sits on the Senate foreign relations panel.

Members of Congress are required to report their personal finances every year but only need to state their assets in broad ranges.

Other top investors include Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen, a New Jersey Republican with holdings of 12.1 million – 49.1 million dollars; Rep. Robin Hayes, a North Carolina Republican (9.2 million – 37.1 million dollars); Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin (5.2 million – 7.6 million dollars); and Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat (2.7 million – 6.3 million dollars).

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Democrat and former governor of West Virginia who chairs the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, invested some 2.0 million dollars in Pentagon contractors, CRP says.

Other panel chiefs who invested in defence firms include Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Connecticut Independent who presides over the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Rep. Howard Berman, the California Democrat who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

In all, 151 current members of Congress — more than one-fourth of the total — have invested between 78.7 million dollars and 195.5 million dollars in companies that received defence contracts of at least 5.0 million dollars, according to CRP.

These companies received more than 275.6 billion dollars from the government in 2006, or 755 million dollars per day, says budget watchdog group OMB Watch.

The investments yielded lawmakers 15.8 million – 62 million dollars in dividend income, capital gains, royalties, and interest from 2004 through 2006, says CRP. (Read more from commondreams.org)

Decline of Empires

I think this long interview is a great critique of military populism and American empire. I do have a few disagreements:

– 21:50 – Mr. Johnson’s suggested reforms are weak and beside the point. There’s one thing we can immediately do to fix our empire / looming tyranny, and that’s returning to a commodity based currency.

– 32:30 – Ha! He lists Paul Krugman as one of the few media figures who isn’t espousing the government message. I almost fell out of my chair.

– 37:00 – Ron Paul is my Cicero! Though I have nothing against Senator Byrd.

In general, his economic criticism is a little weak and misguided.