As usual, Steven Pearlstein has hit the nail on the head. He never lets political ideology get in the way of truth and facts, unlike the vast majority of the so-called news media today. The country would be in much better shape if news was reported Pearlstein-style.
At the last major oil company the Old Man worked for, safety was top driven. It was not just for show like some major oil companies I worked with; safety was taken very serious at all levels of management. We had safety meetings every single morning to discuss the work of the day and how we would handle the work in a safe manner. All work had to be approved before proceeding. We also had weekly safety meetings where a major topic was presented in detail. One particular study presented in one of those meetings has come to mind several times since the BP oil spill. Now we have another major spill from another company, and that same study jumps out at me.
At the top of Congressional agenda is the new proposal for reporting campaign contributions by corporations and unions. It’s called the Disclose Act. This came about as a result of the Supreme Courts ruling that corporations have the same rights as human beings relative to politics. Something the rest of the civilized world is laughing their butts off at, and rightly so. But every single Republican and many Democrats doesn’t want the voters to know who’s buying their votes. So much for the “transparency” politicians are always advocating.
Two years ago Democratic Representative Charles B. Rangel failed to report huge sums of income through investments, which he was able to earn through his position on the House Ways and Means Committee. Earlier this year it was learned that Rangel had taken corporate-sponsored junkets in 2007 and 2008, which is clearly forbidden by the House ethics rules. Last year he was accused of being a tax cheat. Last week the House ethics subcommittee found that Rangel was guilty of violating ethics rules. Today the ethics panel is supposed to make the details of his alleged violations public. This all adds up to bad news for Rangel, and the Democratic Party.
If you are young and/or have no health problems requiring prescription drugs, or none of your loved-ones are on prescription drugs, you probably won’t be too interested in this post. However, if you live a full life, sooner or later you or someone in your family will most likely join the hundreds of millions around the world who take prescription drugs daily. But even if you’re not taking medicines, you are still paying for prescription drugs. Therefore, you should pay attention now.
Who can forget Massey Energy’s coal mine murders? Or maybe better put, why are we forgetting? Thankfully a few are not. And Massey’s CEO, Don Blankenship, is supplying the fodder to remind us.
With all the brew-ha-ha about the illegal immigrants in our country, politicians are paying attention. Of course the loudest cries come from the tea party bunch, mostly supported by other Republicans. Democrats are hounded about being protectors of illegal’s, and rightly so in some cases. But I imagine the current news on this matter won’t make many headlines.
The Old Man will be out of pocket until the middle of next week. I should be back on the job by Wednesday or Thursday, July 28 – 29. Thanks to all the readers and your understanding.
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