With apparently little of consequence to do for the people she allegedly works for, the Secretary of State has spent considerable time and a large amount of taxpayer money planning a “Plaque Monument” to her greatness.   FYI Madame Secretary - usually monuments are erected after a popular consensus has been reached that someone deserves to recognized.

The Washington Post reports on the Secretary of State’s outrageous efforts to immortalize herself.  The story starts when a Clinton shrine (including the notorious 800 pound plaque) erected by the US Agency for International Development was later removed by the Bush Administration and put into storage.    Soon after the election, Madame Clinton with plenty of free time on her hands, went right to work on - you guessed it - restoring her monument.

I was quite honored upon leaving the White House to have a plaque put up in the lobby recognizing my work,” she said. “And if anybody knows where that plaque is — [laughter and applause] — you know,” Clinton playfully smiled, looking at someone just off the stage to her right, and shrugged, “I’d just love to see it again.”

So, for an estimated $40,000, the agency was preparing to schlep the holy plaque back and put it up next week on another wall in the lobby. The photos of her travels won’t be returning, but who needs them? After all, a large photo of the secretary sits at the agency entrance, alongside President Obama’s and Vice President Biden’s.

Then Thursday afternoon, hours after we made inquiries, we got word from a State Department official traveling with Clinton in Pakistan that, no, the plaque’s not going up. “The secretary prefers that public funds not be used for this purpose,” we were told, “and if USAID wants to restore the wall, it should pursue private funding.”

How’s this for an idea?  If the multi-millionaire Secretary really feels she needs a monument, why doesn’t she pay for it herself?   An even better idea would be to dedicate herself to serving the country in a more meaningful manner.

Rulers Out Of Touch With Reality

While millions suffer economically, the Speaker of the House sees fits to commute in a private Boeing 757 at a weekly cost of $120,000.  Brings to mind the old saying “watch what they do, not what they say”.

The ruling elite in Washington is out of touch and out of control,  interested primarily in furthering their financial well being and imperial life style.   This one example of outrageous conduct by an elected official was exposed by The Burning Platform (follow link for full read).

The hypocrisy of the ruling elite in Washington DC is breathtaking. Why can’t Pelosi fly coach to California? What makes her better than you and me? The attitudes and practices of our rulers are disgusting. 20% of the U.S. population is unemployed and this woman has the gall to spend $120,000 per week to jet back and forth across the country. This is utterly putrid.

Since she only works 3 days a week, this gas guzzling jet gets fueled and she flies home to California , cost to the  taxpayers of about $60,000, one way! As Joe put it, ‘Unfortunately we have to pay to bring her back on Monday night.’ Cost to us another $60,000.

Folks, that is $480,000 per month and that is an annual cost to the taxpayers of  $5,760,000.

Can Mexico Win The War On Drug Dealers?

One defining characteristic of a weak central government is a weak military.  The Mexican military forces appear to be underpaid, underequiped and demoralized.  Under these circumstances, vulnerability to bribes increases geometrically.  Consider the first hand account of the wife of a Mexican army officer.

Plenty of policy makers agonize over the issue, but having lived on a military base in Mexico as the wife of a Mexican officer, I know that the biggest problem is simple — underequipped, unsupported and absurdly underpaid sailors and soldiers.

In November 2005, we moved into a house on base infested with cockroaches. They spilled out of holes in the walls and watched us from the tops of the door frames. We paid for the fumigation ourselves and then for curtains for the bare windows. The kitchen had only a sink and one counter, so we bought our own stove and refrigerator. We paid for utilities — which included space heaters in the winter and gas tanks that lasted a month and ran out midshower, and we spent a fortune on phone cards for the pay phone down the street. In the summer, we just opened the windows for a breeze. A green mold grew all over our clothing in the closets, and a black mold grew on the concrete walls.

As an officer, my husband earned about $1,000 a month. Although our family of four struggled financially, the sailors suffered much more. Their salaries, which despite recent increases are frequently under $600 a month, often have to support a wife, children and the occasional elderly parent. Many of them make extra cash sending their children door to door selling tamales and cookies that their wives make. Some take on second and third jobs.

In the spring of 2007, a Mexican marine walked up to my husband and said, forcefully, “Lieutenant Castillo, look at me!” Juan was surprised that the soldier had spoken so disrespectfully until he noticed that something about the man’s bulletproof vest looked odd. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the marine was not wearing a bulletproof vest at all, but instead had been given a life jacket that had been painted black to look like one.

This was the force that President Calderón deployed at the end of 2006 and early 2007 to rid the states of Michoacán and Baja California of corrupt police officers and fight the drug dealers directly. I thought it was the right move, despite the military’s shortcomings. The police force is notoriously corrupt, but the navy and the army are relatively free of infiltration by the cartels.

Still, a navy official once told my horrified husband that two men had offered him a large sum of money in exchange for information about the navy’s boat movements and patrol schedule. He told the men he didn’t have that information and that if they wanted it, they should go and ask the commandant of the base. When Juan tried to find out more, the official said, “The less involved you are, the safer you’ll be.”

What would make us all safer is straightforward — higher salaries and better weapons for the Mexican military. After all, the cartels already have money and weapons, which they use against those who stand in their way — to buy the ones who can be corrupted and brutally murder the rest.

When the police and military can be easily corrupted by the drug lords, the Mexican government’s chance of  winning the drug war are extremely limited.  The Mexican government seems powerless to stop the execution of government officials charged with fighting the drug war.  Many times, the police and military are outgunned in their battles with the drug cartels.  The drug lords apparently have an unlimited amount of financial resources available to defend themselves.

Since a government victory seems improbable, perhaps a classic “Mexican standoff” is the best result the government can hope for against a foe that employs the most ruthless methods available to remain in business.  The battle between being the drug cartels and the Mexican government have thus far resulted in minor collateral damage to civilians or tourists not directly involved in the conflict.  Should the Mexican government ever succeed to the point that the  survival of the drug lords is in question, that’s when ruthless desperation tactics by the drug lords could turn this battle into a nightmare.

The Cancun area produces many billions in needed tourist revenue for the Mexican government.  Anyone who has ever visited the area knows that there is a minimal military and police presence in the area.   One or two attacks on a minimally defended resort in the Cancun area that results in the deaths of tourists would quickly collapse the tourist trade to Mexico and put tremendous political and economic pressure on the Mexican government.   Given the nightmare scenario that could be generated by a handful of well armed and trained terrorists, perhaps the best outcome at this point would be a stalemate situation where neither side feels the need to deploy desperation tactics.

Senator Dodd’s Denials An Insult To The Citizens

Most people refinancing their mortgage go to a bank and then get whatever  prevailing mortgage rate they qualify for.  When you are a Senator with vast powers over the financial industry, things are different - the bank comes to you and you get a special rate.

Does anyone really believe that Senator Dodd did not think he was being given special treatment?  If the Senator is really that naive, it must be extremely easy for special interests groups to take advantage of him at the expense of the American public.

Testimony: Sens. Conrad, Dodd Told They Were Getting VIP Loans

Washington (AP) - Two influential Senate committee chairmen were told they were getting special VIP deals when they applied for mortgages, an official who handled their loans told Congress in closed-door testimony.

Democratic Sens. Christopher Dodd and Kent Conrad had denied knowing they were getting discounts when they negotiated their loan terms.

Robert Feinberg, who worked in the VIP section of Countrywide Financial Corp., testified about the loan terms before the Senate Ethics Committee, and provided the same information in an interview with Republican investigators of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He could be prosecuted for making false statements.

Both senators have said that at the time the mortgages were being written they didn’t know they were getting unique deals from Countrywide, a company that lost billions of dollars on bad loans and since has been purchased by Bank of America.

Dodd, D-Conn., who is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, still maintains that he got no preferential treatment. Conrad, D-N.D., who leads the Senate Budget Committee, took that position initially, but later acknowledged he did get a special deal.

Senator Dodd, no reasonably intelligent person believes that you did not know you were getting very special treatment.   You have been dishonest with the public before when caught in special deals with special interest groups.  Your plea of ignorance defies common sense and is an insult to the people you represent.

Countrywide VIPs, Feinberg told the committees, received discounts on rates, fees and points. Dodd received a break when Countrywide counted both his Connecticut and Washington homes as primary owner-occupied residences — a fiction, according to Feinberg. Conrad received a type of commercial loan that he was told Countrywide didn’t offer.

“The simple fact that Angelo Mozilo and other high-ranking executives at Countrywide were personally making sure Mr. Feinberg handled their loans right is proof in itself that the senators knew they were getting sweetheart deals,” said Feinberg’s principal attorney, Anthony Salerno.

Conrad initially said in June 2008, “If they did me a favor, they did it without my knowledge and without my requesting it.”

The next day, Conrad changed course after reviewing documents showing he got special treatment and said he was donating $10,500 to charity and refinancing the loan on the apartment building with another lender. He also said then it appeared Countrywide had waived 1 point at closing on the beach house.

At least Senator Conrad had the courage (after being exposed) to admit accepting special favors that would never be available to the average borrower.

Disturbing Pattern of Lies, Corruption And Special Interests

Senator Dodd’s re-election campaign seems to be based on the following strategy:

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it”.

Senator Dodd is running ads that try to portray him as Joe Six Pack, always ready to pitch in and help working class Connecticut citizens that he claims to have so much in common with.   The average Connecticut worker, of course, can only dream about leading the specially privileged and wealthy lifestyle that Mr Dodd enjoys.  Dodd has as much in common with the average Connecticut citizen as a $1 a day Chinese laborer has in common with the Chinese President.

Lobbyists Love Dodd

Senator Dodd publicly advertises himself as the man who stands up against the special interests while at the same time accepting large donations and special gifts from them.  Election campaigns are not cheap and the Senator has gladly accepted money from special interests and lobbyists.  The same parties enriching the Senator expect and have received special treatment in return.

In return for contributions from AIG, Senator Dodd tried to exempt AIG executives from receiving bonuses.  His first reaction as a politician when exposed by the press, was to deny the truth and later blame it on “his staff”.

Wealthy Senator Needs More

The Senator, a very wealthy man, saw fit to take a special low cost low rate mortgage from none other than Countrywide Mortgage, a company responsible for ruining millions of lives.  When exposed by the press, he offered the usual denial and ignorance of his special treatment.  How exactly, Senator, do you define someone accepting a special financial favor based on a position of power?

While denying ties  special interests in the health care industry, Mr Dodd’s wife is paid $80,000 a year as a member of the board of directors at Cardiome Pharma.  Board members usually work a few days a year and are typically appointed  based on their connections to powerful members of government.   The typical Connecticut working person can only dream about a no nothing board position paying $80,000 per year.

The Senator may say that he has been working hard for the citizens during his 28 years in office, but he seems to be working even harder for himself.    Connecticut deserves better than Dodd.

Dodd’s Uneasy Dance With Drug Lobbyists

For Mr. Dodd, the support provided by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, the industry’s lobbying arm, comes at a politically sensitive, if not awkward, time. He is trying to combat a perception that he has become too close to powerful interest groups in Washington after 28 years in the Senate.

But even as Mr. Dodd attempts to distance himself from these special interests, he is clearly relying on their help as he prepares for his re-election, a reality seized upon by his Republican critics.

He has not only benefited from the hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertisement courtesy of the pharmaceutical industry and Families U.S.A., a health-care advocacy group the industry teamed up with. But a few weeks ago, Mr. Dodd attended a $1,500-a-plate campaign fund-raiser sponsored by lobbyists representing U.S. Oncology, a provider of cancer drugs and services.

The support Mr. Dodd has received from PhRMA comes at a crucial time politically for him, with polls showing voters in his home state disapproving of his performance.

Mr. Dodd’s problems stem in part from the view among some voters that he has developed cozy ties with the corporations he is supposed to oversee in his capacity as a senior member of several committees with jurisdiction over the financial, health care and other industries.

In some ways, he is to blame for this perception.

In March he faced a firestorm over his support for a measure that would serve to exempt American International Group, a big campaign contributor of his, from Congressional efforts to limit some executive compensation packages to Wall Street firms that received federal bailout money. After initially denying that he was behind the measure, he acknowledged that his staff introduced it at the urging of the Obama administration.

That came only months after he was accused of receiving preferential treatment from Countrywide Financial Corporation, which assigned him to a V.I.P. program in 2003 when he refinanced mortgages on his homes in Connecticut and Washington. Mr. Dodd said that he did not believe that he received preferential rates, however.

Over his decades in Congress Mr. Dodd has raised more than $550,000 from drug company representatives, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

In addition, Mr. Dodd’s wife, Jackie Clegg, was paid nearly $80,000 as a member of the board of Cardiome Pharma Corporation, according to the documents most recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ms. Clegg also holds more than 200,000 shares in Javelin Pharmaceuticals, where she is also a board member.