pkarnig’s posthaven

House Speaker-elect John Boehner announced Thursday that he hired the medical device industry’s chief lobbyist as his policy director, adding to a growing number of Republican lawmakers who have recruited top aides from K Street.

Brett Loper, senior executive vice president at the Advanced Medical Technology Association, was deeply involved in the health care debate and fought against the fees Democrats ultimately assessed the industry to help pay for reform.

“I'm very pleased Brett will be joining our team,” Boehner said in a statement. “There are few people who are better equipped to help our new majority change the way the House works and advance a new governing agenda that reflects the will of the people we serve.”

But Bill Allison of the Sunlight Foundation, a government transparency group, called the move “business as usual,” noting that Loper’s now “in a much better position to help his old employer.”

THE BONER is consistent in his unrelenting support for big business and NOT the wishes of the citizens that elected him.

Running List of Unpunished Fraud, Coercion, Tax Evasion

I have a huge ongoing list of fraud and coercion at the very top, including Geithner, Bernanke, and Paulson but nothing will ever happen.

Please see FDIC Authorizes $1 Billion Lawsuits Against Failed-Bank Executives; Token Search for Low-Profile Scapegoats for details.

The Big Compromise

When all the political hacks (the worst politicians money can buy) get together to vote on a "compromise", no one ever gives up anything. Somehow in these compromises, more things we cannot afford get tossed onto the plate.

I am thoroughly disgusted with the most recent "compromise" that will add $900 billion to the deficit over two years. Everyone in Congress should know the bill is fiscal insanity. Yet the democrats and deficit-hawk hypocrites will vote for it anyway.

The "compromise" is so convoluted that I am wondering if Ben Bernanke himself persuaded the president to go for it.

Bernanke certainly has been pushing for stimulus. He defended his actions in a creampuff interview on 60 Minutes that was really nothing more than an infomercial begging for more stimulus.

The Tax Cut Compromise helps the ruling class and lays the groundwork for reductions in Social Security and other middle class benefits. Tell your congressmen/women "NO" to extending Tax Breaks, especially for the wealthiest in the country. We can not afford this spending now. Remember, Tax Cuts are the same as spending.

WASHINGTON -- House Democrats gathered in the Capitol Tuesday evening to debate the tax-cut deal President Barack Obama struck with Republicans, but as it turned out, they were already in agreement to an extent rarely seen on the left side of the lower chamber.

Across the board, Democrats who attended the meeting said, Obama's deal was deemed too costly, too tilted toward the rich and too much of a cave to Republicans.

"The wealthiest few in the country come out like gangbusters," said Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.), a Blue Dog who said he would oppose the deal. Many other Blue Dogs, Pomeroy said, would also vote down the package, on the grounds that it adds heavily to the debt.