As the government bails out businesses and industries that were clearly mismanaged and the United States continues its financial meltdown, concerned citizens demand answers, accountability and true change.

Against the wishes of most American’s, the Senate, followed by the House, approved the $700 Billion bailout package, attached, oddly enough, to HR 1424, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health And Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Seems fitting, even though the bailout has nothing whatever to do with mental health. Even more peculiar is the added bonus of energy legislation to the afore mentioned bill.

What, under the sun, is going on in D.C.??? Well, it appears our government is moving in a peculiar direction…away from the Constitutional Republic under which we were founded and the Constitutional Democracy we have become to some xenomorphic adaptation of a communist- fascist state by “investing” and buying into the Mortgage, Insurance and Banking industries.

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, as it has been dubbed, is the direct work of President George Bush and Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson. The past several weeks have seen our government not only bail out these industries, but the Feds are also taking ownership interests in them, all at taxpayer’s expense. Now our government “owns” some of the largest industries in our country. Does anyone but me find that utterly disturbing? They ARE trying to make it clear that the taxpayers will not be responsible for this bailout. Really??? And where, pray-tell, does our government get the money to operate??? Taxes!!! In my humble opinion, they have already spent far too much time and resources in all this nasty bailout!

Wall Street, as anyone who was around for the end of the 1980’s knows, is a gamble. But wait! Could a stock market crash affect people we “know?” OHHHH! There might be a problem! Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson was the CEO of Goldman Sachs, from 1999, when the company went public, to 2006. He must have a retirement portfolio, and I am willing to wager that part of his retirement package contains a good amount of Goldman Sachs stocks. Why in 2005, alone, his compensation package was $37 million! Not too bad for an English Major with an MBA! And…That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Neel Kashkari, tapped to handle the government’s jump into the financial world, is also a former Goldman Sachs Vice President. At barely 35 years of age and holding an Engineering Degree and an MBA, Mr. Kashkari is now handling $700 Billion dollars of taxpayer-funded insanity.

Let us move into some specific areas of contribution and see what we find. According to the latest information from Open Secrets, which is The Center for Responsive Politics, under the Commercial Banking industry figures we can find that this industry contributed $2,366,119 to Obama and $2,091,291 to McCain. This is a whopping $4,457,410 from just bankers and their employees! Obama’s contributions from employees of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley alone are $1,080,901. McCain’s figures aren’t quite as bad at $469,422, but still we see how voting against this egregious legislation might put both candidates at odds with the industries of their contributors.

If that isn’t enough, according to Representative Brad Sherman, there were private conversations in the House designed basically to scare legislators into voting for the bailout. He stated that if the Bailout wasn’t passed on the first vote, the market would see between a 2,000 to 3,000 point drop on the very first day, and would continue dropping by thousands after that. He also stated that some members were told there would be “Martial Law in America” if the bailout didn’t pass. The facts are that the Dow Jones did drop, but by 778 points, not the fabled 2-to-3,000 point drop. According to a CNN article, that drop does not even make it in the top 10 percent of market declines. So, I must ask, where did the fear mongerers get their figures??? Do they KNOW something we don’t know…Are they hiding something or creating something??? Now, several weeks after the bailout legislation passed, we have seen a nearly 3,000 point drop. That was only supposed to happen IF the legislation DID NOT pass. What, may we ask, happened???

Since We-the-People have been stabbed in the back by our treasonous representatives, lets compare the vote for the original House bill, HR 3997 Defenders of Freedom Tax Relief Act of 2007, to the newly passed HR 1424. For HR 3997, the Ayes were 205 and the Nays were 228. For HR 1424, the Ayes were 263 and the Nays were 171. So, who jumped ship? Who bowed under the pressure of Paulson/Bush/Pelosi? For starters, it appears that four Reps from Arizona, Shadegg, Pastor, Mitchell, and Giffords, along with four Reps from Illinois, Rush, Jackson, Weller, and Biggert switched. Next, California gave us seven more jumpers and Texas had five. All in all, twenty-six states saw at least one of their Representatives mis-represent their constituent’s best interest and vote for the disastrous legislation.

Even in the midst of it, we know there were Reps who new better, but in the end were coerced into treachery. However, there were a few we could count on. Representatives Defazio and Tiahrt knew better and voted no, but Rep. Rangel, and Rep Campbell, both complained about it, yet both voted yes, twice. Rep Shelia Jackson Lee knew it was less than perfect, but she changed her vote from No to Yes, going against her better judgment, as did at least 55 other Representatives.

According to a poll conducted by CNN, 45% of people poled opposed the bailout, with 16% undecided. Only 38% of US Citizens were in favor of this disastrous piece of legislation, yet Congress passed it without regard to its constituency, apparently more concerned with business. Well…Congress was not put in place to protect the bad judgment of business; it was put in place to represent the people of our fine nation. In that, Congress has failed, and this is far from the first time.

It is time to replace the puppets in DC. If you have been paying attention, you should be absolutely outraged. In November, ALL of the House of Representatives and 1/3 of the Senate is up for re-election. It is time for Congress to know we mean business. Let us Take Back Washington…before it is too late!

Endnotes:
Goldman Sachs Bribed Senate to Pass Bailout
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek7zc0lJxbM

HR 1424 the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2008
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2008-101
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-1424
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Economic_Stabilization_Act_of_200...

Henry Paulson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Paulson
http://www.ustreas.gov/organization/bios/paulson-e.html

Neel Kashkari
http://www.ustreas.gov/organization/bios/kashkari-e.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neel_Kashkari

www.opensecrets.org

Top Industry Financial Contributions
Barack Obama
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/indus.php?id=N00009638&cycle2=2008&goB...

John McCain
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/indus.php?id=N00006424&cycle2=2008&goB...

Top Contributors
John McCain
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00006424

Barack Obama
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638

Rep Brad Sherman Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaG9d_4zij8

Stock Market Close 09/29/08
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/29/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?postve...

Vote for HR 3997
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2008-674

Vote for HR 1424
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2008-681