Don't you wonder what that technician is being exposed to day after day?
Dave Levinthal from Open Secrets was on CSPAN this morning and I must say it was a very interesting show. If you are not familiar with the Open Secrets blog it shows how much money is in politics. You can look up your own congress people and see their net worth. He said that while a little bit less than 1% of the American people are millionaires between 40-50% of congress are millionaires. We are not being represented by our peers, not by a long shot. With the money that is being spent on our elections, this trend will probably continue. Dave Levinthal wants people to simply be informed. He thinks we should be aware about the money and politics. On this page you can look up the richest and the poorest members of Congress as well as their average wealth. http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/overview.php?type=W&year=2009
This website deserves some perusing as it is very interesting. I’ve been going here for the last couple of years and there is always more to learn. I highly recommend people to check it out. These are the main companies that many have invested in. http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/overview.php?type=P&year=2009
I know some of you may have invested in some of these companies as well. However, you probably don’t hold a government office that awards contracts and monies to companies. I think it is no wonder that our government seems more and more corrupt as time goes on and it doesn’t seem to matter which party you are in.
The discussion also centered on the Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission case that allowed untold money to be spent by corporations, non-profits and trade unions in our elections. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission
Much was also discussed about how our congress people got their money and what lobbyists are pushing for and who benefits from that push. Shouldn’t we all know which special interests and which politicians benefit from the laws that get made and tarp monies that have been paid out to them?
We have to watch our political leaders to see where they are investing their money. Does it surprise anyone that some politicians have invested in the company that does the body scans at the airport? Some are small investments while John Kerry’s is quite large. http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/11/several-federal-lawmakers-invested.html
Does anyone really believe a machine that scans the body like this could possibly be safe for long term use? Technicians and doctors don’t expose their bodies to the many types of imaging equipment utilized in hospitals and dental offices for a reason. Those foot scanners that people used years ago in the shoe stores were outlawed for a reason. These machines cannot possibly be safe in the long term. There will probably be increased cancer cases in the years to come all supposedly to “protect” us. Isn’t it interesting to see how these types of companies are awarded funds from the government by the very people that are invested in them?
This short post today is just to wake you up from your slumber. If you haven’t been thinking about the money in politics, you should be.