Obama And The Healthcare Lobbyist

http://www.dollarsandsense.org/blog/2009/09/obama-vs-lobbyists-tomdispatch.html
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Obama vs. the Lobbyists (TomDispatch)
by Dollars and Sense
From Tom Engelhardt of TomDispatch; a link to Andy Kroll's article follows:
Congressman Joe ("You lie!") Wilson is undoubtedly not completely ignorant about how our health care system actually works. After all, in the course of his career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, he's received $244,196 in contributions from the health-care profession -- and that doesn't even count another $86,150 from the pharmaceutical industry or the $68,000 that came in from hospitals and nursing homes. In fact, if you go to the page at that organization's OpenSecrets.org website on Congressional contributions and start clicking around among the members of Congress, you'll be struck by how many times the health and pharmaceutical industries (and their lobbyists) pop up.It's not so surprising, of course, since there are staggering sums of money at stake, which means striking amounts of the same to inject like some potent drug directly into the bloodstream of our political system. Consider but one figure: since 2002, according to Harper's Magazine, the profits of the top 10 health insurance companies have increased by 428%. And the CEOs of those top insurers have a personal incentive for ensuring that those profits don't slide due to new health-care legislation; after all, they made a combined $690 million in the last nine years.In fact, any administration arriving in Washington wanting to do anything these days walks into a blizzard of money, not to speak of the fact that the wind at its back, the campaign wind that got it there, was already blowing strong with similar contributions. TomDispatch regular Andy Kroll offers a vivid portrait of that world at this moment and what it means for the Obama administration. —Tom Read Andy Kroll's article.

Terrorist And Bomb Scares...

... are in the news today especially since those ever persistent authorities in New York City went on a few raids of some apartments in which the cops were looking for evidence of explosives used for homemade bombs. Of course, the cops found nothing of the sort but that hasn't stopped
Counterterrorism officials from issuing warnings to police departments all over America to be on the lookout for such items. Of course, those in New York were also looking for links to al-Qaida operatives. I take it that none of those were found either.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/sep/15/151115/preventive-terror-raid-targets-nyc-apartments/news-breaking/
The joint FBI and Homeland Security intelligence warning, issued Monday, lists indicators that could tip off police to homemade hydrogen peroxide-based explosives, such as people with burn marks on their hands, face or arms; foul odors coming from a room or building; and large industrial fans or multiple window fans. The warning, obtained by The Associated Press, also said that these homemade explosive materials can be hidden in backpacks, suitcases or plastic containers.