stray sent this article link to me.

this is not shocking (well not shocking in that it shouldn't be a SURPRISE to us. it still is shocking that we allow this to happen. we allow big bid-nez to ply our politicians with goddess only knows what, so they'll vote in their favor. it's GOT to stop. lobbying all together).

our health care system MUST be changed and it MUST be changed now. there is no reason for it NOT to change EXCEPT a few good ol' whiteboyz will have less gold in their purses.

why do a great many americans except the lies that are out there now?

it's time for not only the democrats but barack obama to grow some stones.

Revealed: millions spent by lobby firms fighting Obama health reforms
Six lobbyists for every member of Congress as healthcare industry heaps cash on politicians to water down legislation
Chris McGreal

America's healthcare industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to block the introduction of public medical insurance and stall other reforms promised by Barack Obama. The campaign against the president has been waged in part through substantial donations to key politicians.

Supporters of radical reform of healthcare say legislation emerging from the US Senate reflects the financial power of vested interests ‑ principally insurance companies, pharmaceutical firms and hospitals ‑ that have worked to stop far-reaching changes threatening their profits.

The industry and interest groups have spent $380m (£238m) in recent months influencing healthcare legislation through lobbying, advertising and in direct political contributions to members of Congress. The largest contribution, totalling close to $1.5m, has gone to the chairman of the senate committee drafting the new law........

I SAY ENOUGH!!!!

Watchdogs: Health industry giving more to Congress than thought
By Daniel Tencer

A joint study by two political watchdog groups has found that Sen. Max Baucus -- the Montana Democrat who authored the principal health care reform bill being debated in the Senate -- was a major recipient of "contribution clusters" from lobbyists linked to health care groups.

The study, from the Center for Responsive Politics and the Sunlight Foundation, says members of Congress working on health care reform are receiving more money from the health industry than people realize.......

it's not that everybody else isn't doing it

it's that she's standing up at podiums and airing commercials saying she's NOT doing it. make her accountable NOW because later IS too late

is there even going to BE a later? i don't know it's rather doom and gloom out there, no?

she's NOT who she says she is and you all know it

Palin Accepted $25,000 in Gifts, Alaska Records Show

By James V. Grimaldi and Robert O'Harrow Jr.

Washington Post Staff Writers
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has made a crackdown on gift-giving to state officials a centerpiece of her ethics reform agenda, has accepted gifts valued at $25,367 from industry executives, municipalities and a cultural center whose board includes officials from some of the largest mining interests in the state, a review of state records shows.
The 41 gifts Palin accepted during her 20 months as governor include honorific tributes, expensive artwork and free travel for a family member. They also include more than $2,500 in personal items from Calista, a large Alaska native corporation with a variety of pending state regulatory and budgetary issues, and a gold-nugget pin valued at $1,200 from the city of Nome, which lobbies on municipal, local and capital budget matters, documents show. About a quarter of the entities bestowing gifts on the governor are represented by one of Alaska's most influential mining lobbyists, who said in an interview that she was not involved in the tributes.

and we have this from rollingstone.com/">rolling stone

The Truth About Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin's credentials as a "reformer" are nothing but spin. She has sided with Big Oil, lobbied to increase pork spending and abused her public power to carry out personal vendettas. Here's a guide to separating myth from fact.

TIM DICKINSON

THE MYTH: "She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor and sold it on eBay. And made a profit!" — John McCain, at a campaign stop in Wisconsin

THE FACTS: No one bought the jet online. It was eventually sold through an aircraft broker — at a loss to taxpayers of nearly $600,000....

.........

THE MYTH: "We ... championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress." — Sarah Palin, convention speech

THE FACTS: As mayor, employed a lobbyist who also worked for Jack Abramoff to secure $27 million in pork spending for Wasilla — more than $4,000 per resident. In her two years as governor, requested $453 million in earmarks. Alaska ranks first in the nation for pork, raking in seven times the national average.............

............

THE MYTH: "She's from a small town with small-town values." — Fred Thompson, convention speech

THE FACTS: Wasilla and the surrounding valley recently named the meth capital of Alaska, with 42 meth labs busted in a single year.............

i'm NOT stopping

until every rock is turned. i can feel it. this woman is NOT right

kill all the polar bears and secure MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS for a town of under 7,000

she's 'fought against wasting taxpayer's money'? in WHAT alternate universe i ask you?

Palin's Small Alaska Town Secured Big Federal Funds

By Paul Kane

Washington Post Staff Writer
ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 1 -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government watchdog group.

There was $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, $900,000 for sewer repairs, and $15 million for a rail project -- all intended to benefit Palin's town, Wasilla, located about 45 miles north of Anchorage.

In introducing Palin as his running mate on Friday, Sen. John McCain cast her as a compatriot in his battle against wasteful federal spending. McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, hailed Palin as a politician "with an outstanding reputation for standing up to special interests and entrenched bureaucracies -- someone who has fought against corruption and the failed policies of the past, someone who's stopped government from wasting taxpayers' money."......

a little story about

mccain and ms iseman. and it ain't pretty. i'm not so offput by the possiblity of an (alleged) affair. i'm offput A LOT by her being a lobbyist with him being a senator

come to find out the ny times had the story for a couple of MONTHS. they just now published it. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. why the wait i ax meself?

'NYT' Publishes Bombshell McCain/Lobbyist Story"
By E&P Staff
NEW YORK It had the story back in December, rumor had it, but The New York Times did not run with it until tonight: detailing some kind of relationship between Sen. John McCain and a lobbyist more than 30 years his junior. The rumors last December died down after other reports suggested that that McCain and the unnamed woman had hired Washington lawyer/fixer Bob Bennett to strong arm the Times. Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post reported then that Bennett had dealt with specific issues raised in the reporting. Whatever went down, the story never ran. Until tonight.The relationship from back in 2000 is part of a much longer story on McCain's ethic that carries multiple bylines: Jim Rutenberg, Marilyn Thompson, David Kirkpatrick and Stephen Labaton. Both McCain and the woman deny the reports, so it is interesting what changed to make the paper carry the story, quite prominently, now, at www.nytimes.com.The Times story tonight reveals: "Mr. McCain said that the relationship was not romantic and that he never showed favoritism to Ms. Iseman or her clients. 'I have never betrayed the public trust by doing anything like that,' he said. He made the statements in a call to Bill Keller, the executive editor of The New York Times, to complain about the paper’s inquiries. .........

For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk
By JIM RUTENBERG, MARILYN W. THOMPSON, DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and STEPHEN LABATON
WASHINGTON — Early in Senator John McCain’s first run for the White House eight years ago, waves of anxiety swept through his small circle of advisers.
A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.
When news organizations reported that Mr. McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist’s client, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.
Mr. McCain, 71, and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, 40, both say they never had a romantic relationship. But to his advisers, even the appearance of a close bond with a lobbyist whose clients often had business before the Senate committee Mr. McCain led threatened the story of redemption and rectitude that defined his political identity.
It had been just a decade since an official favor for a friend with regulatory problems had nearly ended Mr. McCain’s political career by ensnaring him in the Keating Five scandal. In the years that followed, he reinvented himself as the scourge of special interests, a crusader for stricter ethics and campaign finance rules, a man of honor chastened by a brush with shame......

lobbyists????

yes that's right. lobbyists. on one hand rather hard to believe, on the other, NOT at all
out with one, because he is rather, ummmmmmmmmmm, i guess i'd say embarrassment to king george and his crew, and in with another! hand picked i'm sure. to do the king's DIRTY WORK
veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy interesting
Lobbyists Hired to Press Maliki, Former Premier Says


By Walter Pincus Washington Post Staff Writer
Former interim Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi, who is trying to put together a new coalition to replace the current Baghdad government headed by Nouri al-Maliki, said yesterday that a powerful Washington lobbying firm is working on his behalf, funded by an Iraqi whom he cannot identify.
Allawi confirmed on CNN's "Late Edition" yesterday that Barbour Griffith & Rogers had been hired "to help us advocate our views, the views of the nationalistic Iraqis, the nonsectarian Iraqis."