As we share compassion for our fellow man being mugged in a bad economy, save your tears for one profession cashing in at the bank of the ruined economy.  The misery being spread by our elected “leaders” is funneling millions into the lobbying shops of Washington and state houses. 

To be a lobbyist when nothing is getting done and there is heightened tension and partisanship is like being a pig in slop.  Fear brings out the checkbooks of the big forces in our down economy, health and pharmaceuticals, banking and financial institutions, manufacturing and public works, labor unions and big business… and it never stops. 

If you are a really top-flight lobbyist, you’ve scared the hell out of your fat cat clients and convinced those without representation that they need to be on the inside through your contacts and influence in high circles.  So, you rake in the loot while copying and pasting daily reports from Capitol Hill are receiving pay back from those staffers that you’ve fattened up over lunch or if not allowed by spending limits (even better for lobbyists bottom line), at the bar.

One thing we must credit Obama for is knowing that the world of the lobbyist is a hidden, dark and scary place, where moles of the system have junior clerks or former agency staff crank out the sheets of legislative language that serve those who pay them most.  The paper walks it way into the capitol and suddenly bills and amendments appear.  Oh, they didn’t teach you that part in civics?

How can that be?  I’ve heard lobbyists boast in some cigar clubs that they have one airline, five manufacturers, one railroad, several cities and a country.  It’s like monopoly on a grand scale.  There are few rules and, if you want to hear a snicker, ask for their rate sheet.  That is usually determined by the fear index, right?

So what do you think the rate sheet is for our current financial crisis, where nothing good will come to any of us?  What do you think the rate sheet was for creating the language for laws that lead to hedge funds and the financial meltdown?  What do you thing the rates were for keeping the Iraqi war in gear and adding two more wars to boot? 

We are in trouble, folks, while a cynical gang of Republicans and Democrats find glee, often together in the same firms who really want it all, and toast their good fortunes of our bad fortunes.

So, get smart and put the puzzle pieces together in an age of billion dollar campaigns, manipulation of election finance laws to allow multiple ways of bringing big bucks into incumbent campaigns, and the toxic waste of partisanship that undermines the American dream. 

Meanwhile, the Frog is boiling.

In observing the fight over the national debt limit (which I am not convinced is such a big deal), my feelings about the political process are only reinforced.  It is similar to a television program where the conflict gets resolved in the final ten minutes.  I would think both sides would be able to find common ground, but it seems the ‘purity’ of Republicans will keep a long term, responsible solution from happening.  After all, if a deal is reached, credit will go to the President and yet another issue for the Republicans won’t be playable.

I do not recall the right objecting to having such a big deficit when Reagan or W was President.  It seems   this is a manufactured issue because they have little else with which to scare the public.  After all, we now know that our President was indeed born in Hawaii.  They campaigned on job creation, yet not one jobs bill has been introduced to address the issue. 

Apparently in the Republican mind, all ills of the country can be solved with lower taxes.  I have heard this argument during my lifetime.  And right now under a Democratic President, we have the lowest tax rate since 1950.  Yet, we have more people in America than ever before.  Folks are living longer and there is a strain on resources.  This fact seems to fall on deaf ears.  I can’t comprehend the logic of making sure the richest folks in America pay lower taxes.  I do not see the sense of giving someone with a private jet or billions of dollars a tax break. 

The slime machine is quick to discredit those that discuss this issue as encouraging class warfare, which is one step away from Socialism.  I don’t see it that way.  I do think that the ideology of the Republican Party wants to maintain the status quo of majority white wealthy control in our country.  I believe most of what they do it tinged with racial overtones.  They somehow believe that the money of the rich will trickle down (seems so condescending) to the masses.

They see this on the local level as well.  I do not think Baton Rouge will ever have a white mayor again unless he or she is a Democrat.  I also don’t think America will ever have another Nixon or Reagan.  A majority of babies born in this country now are non-white.  Republicans have done little over the years to address issues of the non-white.  Eventually it will harm them- and they are scared to death.  I’m just sayin’.

In which Louisiana parish were the lives of two innocent, bright siblings with brilliant futures  destroyed in an accident with another young driver who was barreling down a country highway while he watched a small screen tv in his vehicle?  The brother was killed; his sister crippled for life.   Answer:  Vermilion Parish

Legislators in which state are wasting time discussing a bill to make dashboard tvs legal?  Answer:  Louisiana

Which state has the highest car insurance rates in the nation?  Answer:  Louisiana

Which state has a high incidence of drunk drivers?  Answer:   Louisiana

House Bill 243, already approved by the House and the Senate Transportation Committee, has to be one of the most senseless pieces of legislation to ever come out of the Louisiana Legislature....and we all know that’s saying alot.

And how did the three legislators representing portions of Vermilion Parish vote on this killer bill:  Hensgens, Yes.....Champagne, Yes......Landry, Yes

Yep, these are the people we elected to protect us and safeguard our children.

A recent Advocate article reported State Senator Adley not only praising this killer bill but joking about it.  And we thought he was one of the few voices of reason demanding Jindal’s administration not only be oh so publicly, but also privately, transparent and he ruins it with one not funny quip about his marriage.    

Who in their right minds can possibly believe a splitview screen on the dashboard of any vehicle is a good idea...besides Mercedes Benz of course?  Like the passenger isn’t going to say, “Man, ya gotta see this!”  And the driver isn’t going to lean all the way over?  In what universe will this never happen?  And maybe the driver is sober....or not.  

Who in their right minds can possibly believe we need an additional distraction for immature drivers....and many who are supposed to be mature.....already so involved in their cell phone conversations they are disregarding traffic laws from one end of this state to the other?  And the rest of us are paying for it.

Why do we keep electing these people with no common sense?  You know, the ones who ate popcorn during the legislative session while watching a propaganda film being shown by a car company’s lobbyist.  

I believe the biggest danger of organized religion is that it can be used as a tool of hatred.  Radical Muslim ideology uses the Koran to support terror and Jihad against anyone who is not a part of their ideal.  Most of us look upon that with much disgust and disdain.  And our country seems to be in a state of endless war because of it.  What will our world become:  Muslim or Christian?

Yet in America some use organized religion to promote bigotry, xenophobia, and hatred.  In our state it comes in the form of the Louisiana Family Forum.  Their Jihad is to dictate social policy while advocating small government expect when it comes to marriage, education, sexuality, race, and abortion.  They are very organized and have lots of financial support from Washington.  After listening to their positions on life in America I can only come to one conclusion.  They want a white male dominated society.  They resist difference.   Women have a place in their world- subservient to the male dominance.  Homosexuals and foreigners have no place in their society except as a tool for hatred. 

The Family Forum would like to adhere to the original verbiage of the Constitution; one without amendments banning slavery or giving women equal rights.  They are the new ‘White Citizens Councils’ of our era; an attempt to restore the glory of an unequal America.  By 2050, minorities will be the majority of the voting population in America.  At that time the old ways of thinking will be silenced.  A new day is dawning in our country.

How does this affect our state?  It keeps up in the dark ages.  It makes us a national punch line.  We remain poor and uneducated.  We top many negative lists.  For example, we are the only state that has an anti-evolution law.  The world moves faster now and the reality is that life is more expensive.  Faith is supposed to provide personal comfort in times of need; not provide excuses or justifications for bigotry.

The Family Forum is bad for Louisiana.  I’m just sayin’……..