The Washington State Liquor Control Board, i.e. the state monopoly, has some unusual new rules for bars in Washington. Due largely to the shrill whining of hysterical idiots, the Liquor Board has decided that a bar can only display 1600 square inches of brand-based alcohol advertising, about four average sized neon signs' worth. Anything more would encourage children to drink, apparently.
The restrictions do not limit non-brand advertising such as "Cinco de Mayo Drink Specials". More interestingly, they do not affect the massive outdoor beer advertising found at Safeco Field where thousands of children are encouraged on a regular basis to enjoy an ice cold brewski. Of course, those ads are highly lucrative and the stadiums are huge business. Sounds fishy, right? Right.
Corporatism
GM is lobbying hard to keep government money from going to Aptera - who makes a three-wheeled electric car - so they can keep it all to themselves. This isn't the first time they held back an electric car. Remember the EV1?
Michael Taylor, ex-VP of Monsanto, is now the senior adviser to the FDA commissioner. Monsanto is responsible for having developed Agent Orange, the proliferation of GMOs and PCBs, and rampant lawsuits against American citizens.
Some rather obscure airports have received some rather notable federal money. For instance:
- The Greenbrier Valley Airport in Lewisburg, WV, which sees two commercial flights per day which each carry six passengers,will receive more than $2 million in federal stimulus funds to remodel the terminal building. It happens to serve Greenbrier Resort, which is a playground for the wealthy.
- Ouzinkie Airport, on a remote island near Kodiak, Alaska, received $15 million from the federal government in 2009 which equates to $100,000 for each of the town's 150 residents, even though there is another airport just 30 minutes away.
- John Murtha Airport has received about $200 million in federal money in the past 15 years. The airport averages 20 passengers a day with a total three commercial flights to Washington, D.C and each passenger is subsidized $100.
D.A.G. Says: It's not terribly surprising that an airport receiving pork-barrel money should have Murtha's name on it.
Thanks Mark!
US Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) introduced H.R. 3311 earlier this year to appropriate $154,500,000 for research and study into the transition to a per-mile vehicle tax system. Blumenauer is a long-time advocate of bicycling and mass transit in Congress.
His largest campaign donors stand to benefit from his proposed legislation. One, The second biggest contributor in the current cycle to Blumenauer's Political Action Committee (PAC), the Committee for a Livable Future, Honeywell International, is a major manufacturer RFID equipment, which would be central to the plan. Another top-ten donor, Accenture, is a leader in the video tolling field.
D.A.G. Says: A per-mile vehicle tax system means no matter how fuel efficient your lithium alloy, direct injection hybrid is, the government cashes in whenever you drive. It also means the government knows where you're going. Just in case you didn't figure that out.
The Federal Reserve Board has rejected a request by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for a public review of the central bank’s structure and governance.
“It is not obvious at all why that is a Treasury responsibility or even appropriate why the Treasury would undertake that kind of study. The Fed was created by Congress and it is not part of the executive branch,” said Robert Eisenbeis, a former Atlanta Fed research director.
D.A.G. Says: The Fed is the organization that bailed out AIG and Bear Stearns. It's odd they're surprised we want a closer look.
The Franken Amendment, as it's called, is intended to withhold defense contracts from companies such as Halliburton if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court. This amendment came about because of former Halliburton employee Jamie Leigh Jones who was raped by multiple co-workers while serving in Iraq in 2005.
30 senators actually opposed this bill. They are listed here:
-Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
-John Barrasso (R-WY)
-Kit Bond (R-MO)
-Sam Brownback (R-KS)
-Jim Bunning (R-KY)
-Richard Burr (R-NC)
-Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
-Tom Coburn (R-OK)
-Thad Cochran (R-MS)
-Bob Corker (R-TN)
-John Cornyn (R-TX)
-Mike Crapo (R-ID)
-Jim DeMint (R-SC)
-John Ensign (R-NV)
-Mike Enzi (R-WY)
-Lindsay Graham (R-SC)
-Judd Gregg (R-NH)
-Jim Inhofe (R-OK)
-Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
-Mike Johanns (R-NE)
-Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
-John McCain (R-AZ)
-Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
-Jim Risch (R-ID)
-Pat Roberts (R-KS)
-Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
-Richard Shelby (R-AL)
-John Thune (R-SD)
-David Vitter (R-LA)
-Roger Wicker (R-MS)
D.A.G. Says: This could easily turn into partisan fodder given that all those guilty of not voting in favor were Republican. In reality, it's an issue of politicians in the pockets of pernicious influence. Let's not pretend Democrats haven't fallen prey to that before.
The Center for Public Integrity has found out what we already probably knew: Cronies of Congress members are getting plum contracts by sheer virtue of their buddies. The study focuses on the hundreds of million dollars directed by Congress to a small number of defense contractors and a lobbying firm closely associated with Representative John P. Murtha (D-PA).
10 of the 16 members of the House subcommittee on defense appropriations obtained 30 earmarks in the bill worth $103 million for contractors employing former staffers who have become lobbyists.
Murtha has directed over $400 million to organizations in his district including the Penn State Electro-Optics Center and the John P. Murtha Institute for Homeland Security. These organizations then directed that money toward private contractors. Since 1998, workers at those firms and their "family members" funneled $2.4 million to Murtha.
The now-closed lobbying firm PMA Group, whose clients won a suspiciously disproportionate fortune in earmarks from Murtha's subcommittee was run by a close friend of Murtha, Paul Magliocchetti.
A number of interesting things have happened since the CPI started their investigations. Rep. Peter J. Visclosky (D-IN), whose office records were subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in May 2009, has significantly reduced his earmark requests and sought no money for private companies. As well, defense appropriators are generally directing more earmarks to nonprofits. Visclosky received a similarly large amount of donations from the aforementioned lobbying firms - $1.4 million.
D.A.G. Says: Why does Murtha always seem to be at the center of anything involving pork barrels?
The Surpreme Court said it will hear Skilling's appeal of all 19 of his 2006 convictions of conspiracy, securities fraud, insider trading and lying to auditors involving the 2001 collapse of Enron. Skilling also questions whether he received a fair trial in Houston following Enron's collapse.
D.A.G. Says: Did his victims get to appeal their devastating financial losses?
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) named Adam Storch, a 29-year-old Goldman Sachs executive, as the enforcement division’s first chief operating officer. For what it's worth, Storch is against the 22nd Amendment, and wishes to remove term limits for presidents.
D.A.G. Says: Fox. Chickens.
