This video from the USA is called Only in a Mad World is There Such a Wide Rich-Poor Gap.
By Tom Carter:
The American presidency: Only millionaires need apply
28 May 2007
Most candidates for president in the 2008 US elections from both of the major political parties filed their personal finance disclosure reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) last week.
The reports indicate that the top candidates from both parties are all multimillionaires.
Over the past several decades, huge amounts of wealth have been concentrated in the hands of a tiny financial elite at the expense of the rest of the population.
One consequence of this social stratification is that the interests of the very rich have more and more openly come to dominate American politics.
This political fact is reflected in the personal wealth of those considered serious contenders for the presidency.
Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani’s net worth almost doubled in 2006 to more than $30 million.
Cashing in on his national celebrity following the September 11 attack, he made $11.4 million from some 124 recent public speeches, for which he charged as much as $200,000 apiece.
He also made $4.1 from his consulting firm Giuliani & Company, $1.2 from his law firm Bracewell & Giuliani, and $3 million in advance royalties for his recently published book.
Republican candidate Willard “Mitt” Romney is by far the wealthiest of the current contenders for the White House, with personal assets by most estimates of well over a quarter of a billion dollars.
Romney has yet to file his personal financial disclosure report.
According to an article earlier this month in the Washington Post, he “will also disclose that he has between $70 million and $100 million set aside in a blind trust for his five children and 10 grandchildren.”
Romney, the former governor of the state of Massachusetts, former CEO of Bain & Company, and CEO of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, made his millions as a venture capitalist.
Bain Capital, which Romney founded in 1984, was responsible for financing Staples, Domino’s Pizza, Brookstone, and other firms.
Republican candidate John McCain’s net worth is estimated at anywhere from $20 to $32 million.
His wife, Cindy McCain, is the daughter of a millionaire Arizona beer magnate.
In addition to a long list of stocks, securities, and investment funds, the senator listed an agreement with A&E Television Networks to make a film based on his book Faith of My Fathers.
US big business and campaigns: here.
The OECD says gap between rich and poor is widening.
Neoconservatives as US Republican candidates’ advisers: here.
Women voters and non-voters in US elections: here.
Candidate Tancredo against hurricane Katrina victims, see here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Romney’s dog
Posted by: “Compañero” companyero@bellsouth.net chocoano05
Tue Jul 3, 2007 10:48 pm (PST)
Mitt Romney’s Unfortunate Dog An Enemy Combatant?
Thursday, June 28, 2007
On arrival in Guantanamo, prisoners coming out of the metal containers from the planes were put into dog cages…keeping them there ten-twenty hours at a time, thus forcing them to defecate and lie in their own defecation.
–via the World Prout Assembly report http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2005/11/the_rights_of_p_2.html
If there was ever any doubt about Mitt Romney’s willingness to inflict cruelty and inhumane conditions on another being, Anna Cox’s follow-up story http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1638065,00.html in Time should settle the matter:
The incident: dog excrement found on the roof and windows of the Romney station wagon. How it got there: Romney strapped a dog carrier – with the family dog Seamus, an Irish Setter, in it – to the roof of the family station wagon for a twelve hour drive from Boston to Ontario, which the family apparently completed, despite Seamus’s rather visceral protest.
Massachusetts’s animal cruelty laws specifically prohibit anyone from carrying an animal “in or upon a vehicle, or otherwise, in an unnecessarily cruel or inhuman manner or in a way and manner which might endanger the animal carried thereon.” An officer for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals responded to a description of the situation saying “it’s definitely something I’d want to check out.” The officer, Nadia Branca, declined to give a definitive opinion on whether Romney broke the law but did note that it’s against state law to have a dog in an open bed of a pick-up truck, and “if the dog was being carried in a way that endangers it, that would be illegal.” And while it appears that the statute of limitations has probably passed, Stacey Wolf, attorney and legislative director for the ASPCA, said “even if it turns out to not be against the law at the time, in the district, we’d hope that people would use common sense…Any manner of transporting a dog that places the animal in serious danger is something that we’d think is inappropriate…I can’t speak to the accuracy of the case, but it raises concerns about the judgment used in this particular situation.”
Isn’t Mr. Romney, by his own admission as well as those of his breathless supporters, a rather stunningly wealthy man? One has to wonder why he didn’t simply rent an RV for the drive from Boston to Ontario, or better yet, charter a bloody private plane. Mean and miserly types I can handle–I simply avoid their company. Cruel, thoughtless, compassion-free people are another thing altogether: I want to see them experience firsthand the misery they inflict on others.
So I propose herewith that we put Mitt Romney in a cage strapped to the roof of a station wagon, drive it around at 65-70 mph, and see how long it takes for him to, ah, lose control. Then we can hose him off and put him back in the cage, soaking wet, and drive around some more until twelve hours have passed.
What a heartless, hideous man.
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Candidates Positions on Separation of Church and State
Posted by: “bigraccoon” bigraccoon@earthlink.net redwoodsaurus
Wed Aug 15, 2007 12:57 pm (PST)
Candidates Positions on Separation of Church and State
For the major presidential candidates, here is a quick summary
of their views on separation:
http://pewforum.org/religion08/compare.php?Issue=Church_and_State
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Commerce, Treasury funds helped boost GOP campaigns
Posted by: “bigraccoon” bigraccoon@earthlink.net redwoodsaurus
Mon Aug 20, 2007 12:55 pm (PST)
Commerce, Treasury funds helped boost GOP campaigns
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/19034.html
August 17, 2007
Top Commerce and Treasury Departments officials appeared
with Republican candidates and doled out millions in federal
money in battleground congressional districts and states
after receiving White House political briefings detailing GOP
election strategy.
Political appointees in the Treasury Department received at
least 10 political briefings from July 2001 to August 2006,
officials familiar with the meetings said. Their counterparts at
the Commerce Department received at least four briefings all
in the election years of 2002, 2004 and 2006.
The House Oversight Committee is investigating whether the
White House’s political briefings to at least 15 agencies,
including to the Justice Department, the General Services
Administration and the State Department, violated a ban on
the use of government resources for campaign activities.
Under the Hatch Act, Cabinet members are permitted to
attend political briefings and appear with members of
Congress. But Cabinet members and other political
appointees aren’t permitted to spend taxpayer money with
the aim of benefiting candidates.
During the briefings at Treasury and Commerce, then-Bush
administration political director Ken Mehlman and other White
House aides detailed competitive congressional districts,
battleground election states and key media markets and
outlined GOP strategy for getting out the vote.
Commerce and Treasury political appointees later made
numerous public appearances and grant announcements
that often correlated with GOP interests, according to a
review of the events by McClatchy Newspapers. The pattern
raises the possibility that the events were arranged with the
White House’s political guidance in mind.
The briefings are part of the legacy of White House political
adviser Karl Rove, who announced this week that he’s
stepping down at the end of the month to spend more time
with his family. Despite Rove’s departure, investigations into
the briefings are expected to continue.
One congressional aide, who asked to remain anonymous,
said the investigation was revealing “a number of
remarkable coincidences” similar to how Treasury and
Commerce events appeared to coincide with the strategy in
the political briefings. However, it remains to be seen
whether the subsequent department actions were
intentional, said the aide, who asked not to be named
because the investigation is ongoing.
As part of the probe, committee investigators found that
White House drug czar John Walters took 20 trips at
taxpayers’ expense in 2006 to appear with Republican
congressional candidates.
In a separate investigation, the independent Office of Special
Counsel concluded that GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan
violated the Hatch Act, which limits the political activities of
government employees. Witnesses told investigators that
Doan asked at the end of one political briefing in January
2007 what her agency could do to help GOP candidates.
Doan has said she doesn’t recall that remark.
Violations of the Hatch Act are treated as administrative, not
criminal, matters, and punishment for violations ranges from
suspension to termination. The administration has not taken
any action against Doan.
Even so, the Hatch Act “is an important statute and it needs
to be enforced,” said James Mitchell, spokesman for the
Office of Special Counsel. “One of the effects we hope our
investigations will have is to deter violations during the
upcoming election cycle.”
In the months leading up to the 2002 election,
then-Commerce Secretary Don Evans, Bush’s former
campaign finance chairman, made eight appearances or
announcements with Republican incumbents in districts
deemed by White House aides either as competitive districts
or battleground presidential states.
During the stops, he doled out millions of dollars in grants,
including in two public announcements with Rep. Heather
Wilson, a New Mexico Republican in a competitive district.
Republicans ultimately regained control of the Senate and
expanded their majority in the House of Representatives in
the 2002 elections.
In 2004, Evans and his aides significantly scaled back
appearances with candidates, but an assistant treasury
secretary returned to New Mexico to announce with
Republicans Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Steve Pierce the
release of $2.5 million in economic development funds.
Evans, who now heads the Financial Services Forum, a trade
association for financiers, declined comment, a Forum
spokesman said.
In 2006, Evans’ successor, Carlos Gutierrez, and his aides
also made public announcements with several Republican
congressional incumbents, including in the battleground
states of Missouri, Pennsylvania and New Mexico. Weeks
before the 2006 election, Gutierrez and Congresswoman
Wilson announced $3.45 million in grants for Albuquerque
organizations. Also in the weeks before the election, a
deputy secretary and Republican Sen. Rick Santorum
announced that the department would be investing $2.25
million in Philadelphia.
The same year, then-Treasury Secretary John Snow and
Santorum announced an award of millions in tax credits to
Pennsylvania organizations. Santorum later lost his seat.
Snow and his aides also made appearances in 2006 with
Republican incumbents or doled out grants in Virginia, Iowa
and Ohio, states seen as crucial to the GOP retaining control
of Congress.
Bush’s first treasury secretary, Paul O’Neill, stuck mainly to
giving speeches praising President Bush’s economic policies
rather than appearing with candidates. O’Neill was
unceremoniously dumped after disagreeing repeatedly with
the White House.
Current Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. was sworn in
shortly before the 2006 elections. He and his aides have
made few grant announcements.
Administration officials denied that any Treasury and
Commerce events were orchestrated to help the Republican
Party win elections. The officials said White House aides who
briefed the departments were careful not to encourage the
appointees to act on behalf of the Republican Party on
government time.
Commerce Department spokesman Dan Nelson described the
meetings as merely “informational.”
“They were not a call to action,” he said.
Nelson said grants are awarded after a competitive process
and aren’t selected based on political considerations.
Ted Kassinger, the Commerce Department’s former general
counsel and a deputy secretary in the Bush administration,
said the department was especially careful about avoiding
the appearance of political favoritism during Evans’ tenure
because of the former secretary’s close ties to President
Bush.
Kassinger, who left in 2005, said the department turned
down several requests from political candidates to make
appearances because they seemed to be campaign events.
“It was certainly a concern of mine that the work in the
department be separated from campaign activities,” he said.
“At the top level there was never a discussion of ‘What can
you do to help these guys?'”
One former political appointee who attended a briefing said
for all the hoopla over the briefings, he wasn’t impressed
with them at the time.
“It wasn’t rocket science,” said the appointee, who asked to
remain anonymous because he didn’t want to be publicly
linked to the controversy. “It’s like, ‘Yeah, no kidding. We
know.’
But John D. “Jerry” Hawke, who served as Treasury
undersecretary for domestic finance in the Clinton
administration, said the campaign-style briefings for Treasury
appointees were unusual.
“Nothing remotely like that happened,” during the Clinton
administration, Hawke said. “I never experienced anything
like that. The notion that the White House would be holding
meetings with Treasury appointees just didn’t fit.”
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Romney plans to Quadruple size of California Home
JUST A SIMPLE MIDDLE CLASS GUY IN TOUCH WITH AMERICA’S PROBLEMS
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/reports-romney-plans-to-quadruple-size-of-calif-home/2011/08/21/gIQAfTk5TJ_print.html
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