Our Horribly Broken Election Process, Part 1 - An Example

We have never been big fans of any American politician in this blog. We find them either cowardly, stupid, or greedy and often criminals. The list of their transgressions in each of these categories probably numbers in the hundreds when you go back through our previous posts.

Probably their worst trait of all is that they rig the system to make themselves rich, comfortable, and often above the law. They give themselves high pay and great benefits. They are in session in Congress for less than half the year. They are given multi-week vacations that they try to call “recesses.” They find ways to do insider trading on stocks and companies based on non-public information relative to potential and real legislation. And they spend so much time doing this stuff for themselves that they never get around to resolving the major issues facing the American public.

The Tampa Bay times recently did a nice job researching and reporting on a very devious way that American politicians misuse and corrupt our political processes for their own good:

• When an American politician runs for office, he or she establishes a campaign staff and funding process to collect campaign funds to be spent trying to get that politician elected to office.
• Once the election is over, the campaign has to pay off any remaining debts incurred by the campaign using that donated money.
• But what often happens that even after the debts are paid off, there is still campaign cash leftover.
• Now in an honest and ethical political process, the politician should either have to give back, say on a prorated basis, any leftover donated funds that were no longer needed, or possibly donate those leftover funds to a worthy and recognized charity.
• But we do not have either an honest and ethical political process or honest and ethical politicians since it appears they have written the game rules that allows them to keep using unused campaign money for their own good long after they are no longer in office, or in some case, after they have died.
• That is the bottom line finding of the Tampa Bay Times report that was replete with many examples of this greed.
• Although former Florida Congressman Mark Foley was drummed out of Congress over ten years ago for sending explicit sex text messages to teenage boys, in 2017 he used money from his old Congressional campaign fund to fund four dinners for himself in Palm Beach including a luncheon that cost his campaign fund $450.
• Former Senator Jim Bunning paid his daughter $94,800 from his campaign fund in the fours years after he left office, stopping only when there were no longer any funds left to give to her.
• Over the past year and a half, political consultant Dylan Beesley paid his consulting firm $100,000 from the campaign fund of Hawaiian Congressman Mark Takai for “consulting services” even though Congressman Takai has been dead for those past months.
• Former Ohio Congressman Steve LaTourette has been out of Congress for over three years but he still treated himself to $4,555 worth of Ohio State football tickets using his leftover campaign funds.
• In the six years since former Texas Congressman Jim Turner left office, he has paid his wife over $30,000 to handle his paperwork in addition to paying his father’s hardware company $9,600 to rent office space from his father with leftover campaign money.
• Former South Carolina Congressman Robin Tallon left Congress in 1993, took his leftover $400,000 campaign slush fund and invested it so well that he grew it to $1 million; he then paid himself more than $31,000, paid his son $20,000 who was listed as his campaign manager even though Tallon was not running for office, he bought a $4,000 computer in 2007 (14 years after leaving Congress, a $2,300 computer in 2014, and a $900 iPad in 2017, all with money from that initial leftover $400,000 campaign fund.
• But Tallon’s shenanigans get better since between 2007 and 2011 he paid $8,200 to an organization identified as only CCSC, which coincidentally looks very familiar to the housing development where he owns a 4,400 square foot home, Country Club of South Carolina, or CCSC.
• According to the report, almost 40 former Congress people kept aides or campaign staff on payroll long after the person left office with a dozen of those 40 paying a politician's family members to stay on staff.
• In fact, Bunning paid his daughter over $2,100 a month until the slush fund ran dry.
• The former treasurer of New York Congressman Thomas Manton was still being paid two years after Manton died, not just two years after he left office.
• Former Georgia Congressman Saxby Chambliss left office in January, 2015 but used leftover campaign funds to treat himself to five nights at the five star Williamsburg Inn six months later at a cost of $1,979.
• The article reports, using actual FEC data, that about 100 former members of Congress have allowed their former campaign treasure chest to spend over $20 million after they left office over the past 23 years or so.
• Other dubious expenses uncovered by the research included money spent on airline tickets, club memberships, cell phones, computers and other expenses.

Nasty, greedy stuff. And unnecessary since the Times report also singled out two good guys among this sea of selfish and greedy politicians. It cited former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman and former Georgia Congressman Charlie Norwood both donated over 90% of their leftover campaign money to charity and shut down their campaign offices and operations within six months after leaving office. So it can be done. It just isn’t done.

The Times article did interview election experts and former FEC personnel. They were in general agreement that many for these expense fall outside of the law. But since the FEC is basically a toothless overlord, no one ever gets accused or prosecuted for abusing this leftover cash.

Again, just a symptom of a broken election process that allows useless, greedy, selfish people to not only get elected to office but profit handsomely from getting elected, both during their terms and long afterwards. And as we mentioned above all of this happens while no major issue facing the country EVER gets resolved.

We will follow up this discussion within a few days with a plan to rid the election process of embarrassments and affronts like this. The Founding Fathers never envisioned running for office as a self enrichment activity and that is the objective we should all be working on, getting people elected that want to fix what is broken rather than enrich their personal lives at the expense of taxpayers and the country.

In the meantime, we suggest you go to the following link where we previously discussed this topic relative to Evan Bayh, a former Indiana Senator who left office with $10 million left his campaign treasure chest:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2014/06/june-2014-political-class-insanity-part_8.html

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

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June, 2014 Political Class Insanity, Part 5: Wasting Taxpayer Money Overseas and Domestically, Politicians Hoarding Cash, And More

This will be the last post this month on the ongoing saga and tragedy that are the actions of the political class in this country. Their wasteful spending, inability to develop and implement effective government programs, and outright lying and deception continually reinforce our view that we are living through the worst set of politicians in the country’s history, a conclusion reinforced by their inability to ever resolve an issue or at least make it better than before they got involved. Often their involvement makes an existing issue even worse, given their lack of intelligence, will, and attention to the major problems facing Americans today.

1) What do Enron, the Soros Economic Development Fund, Papa John’s Pizza, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, MTV, the Bank of Palestine, and Deutsche Bank have in common? Give up? You financed their foreign marketing and sales activities when the Federal government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) gave them billions and billions of dollars of your tax money.

Why is your tax money being used for by these multinational and multi billion dollar entities? OPIC provides loans and loan guarantees for investments in developing and emerging markets, offers “political risk insurance” (covering losses resulting from things like coups, terrorism, and expropriation), and supports other financial funds that invest in companies doing business in emerging markets. Yes, just like a stockholder you invest in the future of these companies. Unlike a stockholder, you get nothing positive in return while absorbing any future negative ramifications such as a loan default.

When set forth by President Nixon in 1969, OPIC was positioned as a way to “contribute to the economic and social progress of developing nations” by encouraging venture capital to pursue investments that might normally be deemed too risky. Today, it functions like a corporate welfare program for rich entities at the expense of the American taxpayer. Specifically, recent OPIC investments and associated crony capitalism included the following, according to a recent article in the National Review Online:

• An OPIC-backed project helped with the production of olive oil in Argentina.
• Papa John’s got taxpayer support for its development of pizza franchises in Russia.
• OPIC money was used for hotel renovations in Uzbekistan. 
• Obama political campaign fundraiser James Torrey, a board member of MicroVest Capital Management, was nominated to serve on OPIC’s board of directors in 2010 even though MicroVest Short Duration Fund LP and MicroVest + Plus LP received about $8 million in insurance for their own projects in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Nicaragua. 
• The Soros Economic Development Fund was approved for $3.9 million for renewable-energy projects in Moldova in 2013. The Soros fund’s legal general counsel is a former OPIC senior commercial associate.
• A Porsche/Jaguar/Land Rover dealership in Ukraine owned by Winner Imports received $20 million in 2013. Joe Biden’s “very good friend” John Hynansky is chairman/CEO of Winner Auto Group.

Given the sorry state of our national debt and our high employment rate, taxpayer money should be used to help another country’s olive oil production, get Big Macs to Russian citizens, fix a hotel in a place that no American could ever find on a map, or help Joe Biden’s friend sell Porsches. Pathetic waste of taxpayer money on rich people and rich corporations. 

2) While former politicians might fade away, apparently their leftover campaign funds do not. According to a recent analysis by the Center For Public Integrity, millions of dollars are sitting idle in the former politicians’ bank accounts.

For example, former Indiana Senator Evan Bayh has been out of office for over four years but he still maintains a campaign account of almost $10 million that sits idly by and gathers interest and growth. He could donate this money to a valid charity but he has not, despite urging Americans to embrace a “spirit of devotion to the national welfare beyond party or self-interest.” Apparently, his spirit of devotion did not include donating his $10 million stash.

But he is not alone. Analysis of campaign records shows that at least nine former members of Congress each control at least a million dollars worth of unused campaign cash. Dozens are sitting on campaign cash piles in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, resulting in an overall total of $100 million.

Would could $100 million do for others outside of the political realm? According to the Center For Public Integrity:

• $1 million of the $100 million could feed 12,000 Syrian refugees for a month, by Oxfam America’s estimate.
• “Fairly transformative” is how Janet Baker, vice president of development for Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, described what $1 million from Indiana native Bayh’s stash could do for her $3.5 million-per-year charity that spruces up neighborhoods, plants trees and runs youth programs.
• In light of how poorly our veterans are being treated by the Federal government, Joyce Raezer, executive director of the National Military Family Association says: “The Congressmen, they could have a huge impact. Their money would be direct support that has immediate benefit.”

It is true, as the analysis points out, that some former Congressional people have donated money to charitable causes out of their unused campaign funds. But as pointed out above, others continue to sit on a stash of money that they keep unused in case they ever want to reenter politics. 

In the meantime, almost 50 million Americans are on food stamps, our veterans are suffering mightily as a result of the actions or inaction that many of these former Congressional people took, and over 20 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed. Surely, that $100 million can do more good out in the hands of worthy charities than sitting idly by on some likely pipe dream that these people can get back into politics again.

We should have a new rule: once a politician is out of office for two years, he must dissolve his extra campaign cash, after paying all of his campaign bills. If he wants to reenter politics down the road, let him start over like every other new person entering politics has to do. Even better, impose term limits so that once out of office, a former politician has no legal ability to reenter public office (www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com) and thus, has to disperse his leftover campaign cash.

3) Wasteful and idiotic spending is a trademark of the Federal government across all kinds of Federal programs. The most recent example of such incompetence is a recent report from the Treasury department which found that about 25% of the payments from the IRS Earned Income Tax Credit was paid out erroneously, costing the American taxpayer about $15 billion a year. 

The Treasury Department and IRS have been around a very long time. The Earned Income Tax Credit has been around a very long time. Despite these facts of longevity, the Federal government still has not gotten the hang of doing the program without a 25% error rate. Pathetic.

4) The Washington Examiner reported on My 12, 2014 that a bill had been introduced in the House of Representatives that, if passed, would prohibit all members of Congress from traveling in first class while traveling on taxpayer expense on commercial airlines. That is the good news: in times of a soaring national debt, there is no reason for taxpayers to fund first class, elite travel for Federal politicians who are traveling on government business. 

The bad news: why they were ever allowed to fly first class in the first place is the real scandal and waste of money.

5) Let’s stick with this theme of Washington politicians and bureaucrats taking better care of themselves than they take care of taxpayers who actually work and pay for these Washington perks. In mid-May, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew testified before Congress recently that the IRS needed have an additional $1.2 billion to spend this year because of the agency's increased responsibilities under Obama Care.

However, Lew failed to mention the following atrocious spending that has recently happened within the IRS, spending that had nothing to do with serving the American people:

• The IRS has recently splurged on millions of dollars the IRS on new office furniture and remodeling.
• According to reporting by the Washington Free Beacon, total spending by the IRS just to buy office chairs and repaint offices from 2010 to the present is $96.5 million.
• This is more than the IRS spent on those items during all eight years of George W. Bush's presidency.
• Analysis of invoices showed that upwards of $1,200 was spent to purchase just one office chair for IRS employee use.

First class travel and comfy chairs while millions of Americans suffer, sounds about right for this political class.

This will do it for this month’s political class insanity. From wasteful spending overseas to wasteful spending within Washington to an inability to their jobs, politicians and bureaucrats in Washington continually amaze with their chutzpah and ineptness when it comes to being competent. More lunacy and idiocy next month, guaranteed.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Fiscal State Of The Country - Even Politicians Are Admitting To Their Crime Of National Bankruptcy

We have reviewed many of the commonly published statistics regarding our ailing economy numerous times in this blog:

1. 42 consecutive months of the official unemployment rate greater than 8%.
2. A combined unemployment and underemployment rate of almost 15%.
3. Household income that has dropped more in the three years since the recesson ended vs. the two years of the actual recession.
4. Household wealth that has retreated to levels last seen 17 years or so ago.
5. Millions of homes under water or in foreclosure proceedings.
6. Gasoline prces that have more than doubled since January, 2009.

Okay, enough is enough. But consider some other bad economic trends and situations that have recently been gathered from official government sources and published by the Bankrupting America organization's website, along with my Comments and observations:

 (http://www.bankruptingamerica.org/fact-sheet/by-the-numbers-breakdown-september-edition/?direct):

September, 2012 Monthly SnapShot:
Federal Spending, the Economy, the Budget And Economic Facts

The numbers say it all: Washington has spent its way into a fiscal crisis. This unsustainable habit will have consequences on future generations unless Congress can work together and enact lasting change.

State of the Federal Debt

 -National Debt: $16.06 trillion - Comment: please visit the following post to understand just how astronomically huge 16 trillion is:

http://www.loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/09/fun-with-math-making-our-16-trillion.html

- Debt per American including infants and kids: $51,071

- Debt per Household: $140,586

- Net Interest on the Debt: $343.1 billion (first 11 months of fiscal year) - Comment: at this rate, every American household has already paid about $3000 to the Federal government this year alone just to finance the runaway interest payments on the Federal government's deficits.

State of the Budget

- Budget Deficit (September, 2012): $190.5 billion: Comment - this one MONTH'S worth of Obama budget deficit is actually greater the the ANNUAL spending deficit that Bush ran up in two years of its administration (2002 and 2007).

- Budget Deficit (FY2011): $1.297 trillion: Comment - in 2011, the Federal government spent about $148 million a DAY that it did not have revenue to cover, requiring increases in the national debt.

- Revenue (Fiscal Year to Date): $2.188 trillion: Comment - The Federal government would have to reduce its spending 8.2% a year for five straight years to just get its spending in line with its revenue/tax stream. Imagine how far out of control spending is if you had to reduce your own spending that amount for five years in a row to attain that same status.

- Spending (Fiscal Year to Date): $3.354 trillion

- Budget Deficit (FY2012 to Date): $1.164 trillion: Comment - in 2012, the Federal government spent about $132 million a DAY that it did not have revenue to cover.

- Under Harry Reid's leadership, the U.S. Senate has failed to produce a detailed budget, as required by the Constitution, in over 1,200 days, over three years.

State of the Economy

- Annualized Economic Growth: 1.7 percent (second quarter preliminary): Comment - average long term annual growth of the U.S. economy is about 3.4%, more than double the current anemic economic growth of this economy.

- Trade Deficit: $42.0 billion (July 2012): Comment - Using rough estimates by extrapolating the July results, in all likelihood over $400 billion of wealth leaves this country every year due to the ongoing trade imbalance.

- Unemployment: 8.1 percent (August 2012)

- Jobs Created in 2012: 1.114 million (first eight months of 2012): Comment - every week this year about 360,000 Americans filed for first time unemployment benefits every week, dwarfing the 1.114 jobs created.

- States with the Highest Unemployment Rates:

• NV (12.0 percent)
• RI (10.8 percent)
• CA (10.7 percent)
• NJ (9.8 percent)
• SC (9.6 per cent)
• NC (9.6 per cent)

- States with the Lowest Unemployment Rates:

• ND (3.0 percent)
• NE (4.0 percent)
• SD (4.4 percent)
• OK (4.9 percent)
• VT (5.0 percent)

Comment - Unfortunately, the states with the highest unemployment rates tend to be bigger, more populous states while the states with the lowest unemployment rates tend to be smaller, less populous states.

Horrific numbers and a horrific economic situation our political class has gotten us into. And if you look closely, you see that many of these politicians actually recognize what they have done to us and the country:

Colorado Senator Michael Bennet as quoted in the Washington Post on September 3, 2010: "We have managed to acquire $13 TRILLION of debt on our balance sheet. In my view, we have nothing to show for it." Unfortunately, about two years later, we have put another $3 TRILLION onto the national debt and still have nothing to show for it.

Former U.S. Senator John Danforth: "I have never seen more senators express discontent with their jobs. I think the major cause is that, deep down in our hearts, we have been accomplices to doing something terrible and unforgivable to this wonderful country. Deep down in our hearts, we know that we have bankrupted America and that we have given our children a legacy of bankruptcy. We have defrauded our country to get ourselves elected."

Former U.S. Senator Evan Bayh: "Even at a time of enormous challenge, the people’s business is not being done. Two weeks ago, the Senate voted down a bipartisan commission to deal with one of the greatest threats facing our nation: our exploding deficits and debt. The measure would have passed, but seven members who had endorsed the idea instead voted ‘no’ for short-term political reasons."

Yes, most Ameircans are aware of how precarious our fsical health and direction has become, getting worse everyday. Hyperinflation, government default, credit worthiness downgrades, loss of freedom and liberty, reductions in entitlement budgets, etc. are coming at us unless the Federal government and the political class that operate it do something coherent and fast.

It is such a shame that current and former Washington politicians actually know the truth of how bad the situaiton is and what is in store for the nation, as shown in their statements above. The bigger shame is that they were part of the problem that got us a $16 TRILLION national debt and were not part of the solution.

However, we have two appoachess to resolve the problem:

1. First, execute Step 1 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government." This step would reduce Federal spending 10% a year for five years to finally get government spending in line with government tax revenue. You cannot start reducing your national debt until you get to a balanced budget.
2. The following blog laid out a detailed plan on not only to get to a balanced budget but also how to reduce spending and debt by upwards of $9 TRILLION over the next ten years:

http://www.loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/09/fun-with-math-making-our-16-trillion.html

Let's resolve the crime of our national debt before it resolves our future for us.

We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:

http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/

The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.

The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of our times.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment

American Pie Song Parody or Was That An Honest Politician I Just Saw?

I believe that the American political class is populated with very few people that value integrity and the good of the country over their own self interest and self enrichment. Our politicians' actions and non-success rate on improving our lives and resolving the major issues of our times only reinforces this global view I have of them.

However, I was impressed a couple of years ago by one member of the Washington political class who seemed to actually be a good leader, a decent human being, and a good Senator. His name was Evan Bayh of Indiana and unfortunately, I only found about him AFTER he decided that he could no longer cope with the bitterness, gridlock, incompetence, and ineffectiveness of Washington D.C.

In an interview he gave to Business Week, he described why he was leaving a dysfunctional Washington and going home where he hoped to be able to provide more positive change than he could in the U.S. Senate. He took this step even though he may have been a prime Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate in the not too distant future. I respected his integrity in walking away from this personal opportunity to find a way to help others.

His words somehow reminded me of the Don McLean hit from long ago, "American Pie." It seems that we have allowed our political class to stray away from the very concepts of freedom, liberty and self sacrifice that are embodied in the "American Pie" lyrics, concepts that Bayh seemed to yearn for. As a result of this inspiration, a wrote a blog post back then which took Bayh's situation and embedded it into a song parody of "American Pie."

Today, like yesterday's "Eve Of (Financial) Destruction" challenge, I offer the parody words to anyone out there who as any kind of musical talent (talent that I sorely lack) who would like to put these words into a full blown song parody. I would be more than happy to feature the resultant parody in both this blog and in the Untied States of Purple Presidency drive (http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/). Have fun!

*******
American Pie - The New Lyrics From Washington D.C.

Yesterday we had some fun by rewriting the lyrics to the Barry McGuire 1960s protest song, "Eve Of Destruction," to reflect how the American political class is bringing the nation to the brink of financial destruction with its reckless deficit spending ways. Today, we have taken the classic "American Pie" from Don McLean and rewrote the lyrics to represent the feelings of retiring Indiana Senator Evan Bayh.

Senator Bayh announced few weeks ago that he was not going to run for re-election to the Senate. This decision was made despite the fact that he was apparently well thought of by his colleagues, politics ran in his family since his father was a long time U.S. Senator and Evan Bayh had been a two term governor of his home state, and his political future looked bright, having been mentioned as possible Vice Presidential and Presidential material. However, the Senator will be leaving Washington for a number of reasons, as outlined in a Charlie Rose interview he gave to Business Week in their March 1, 2010 edition:

•"The level of polarization and gridlock is just much higher than I've seen before, certainly higher than in my father's time."

•"The House (of Representatives) has been deeply damaged by gerrymandering. Out of 435 seats, about only 15 ones are competitive."

•"If you're in a majority Democratic district, you go farther to the left to avoid a challenge (in the primary), and the opposite occurs on the Republican side."

•"And you end up having more people on the far right and the far left and fewer in the middle where I think most Americans find themselves."

•"The pervasive need to fund raise is also a factor. Because of the vast sums of money that have to be raised, there's a perpetual campaign."

•"Other than on ceremonial occasions, I can recall only twice when all 100 Senators gathered to focus on a problem of national import. The first was when the President had been impeached. The second was three days after 9/11."

•"This (the current political climate) is - for lack of a better phrase - a Ross Perot moment...that could be the kind of thing that would really galvanizes public opinion against everyone in Washington regardless of party."

Very scary thoughts but probably accurate observations. A few comments on the Senator's views:

•If all one hundred Senators have only convened twice in the past nine years to work on an important national problem, impeachment and 9-11, then that means they have not gathered as one body to jointly work on failing public schools, the failing War on Drugs, skyrocketing debt and deficits, the approaching insolvency of Social Security and Medicare, the lack of a national energy policy and strategy, or any other pressing national need. Is it any wonder the country is in such sad shape?

•If the current members of the political class are so obsessed with raising money for their re-election campaign as the Senator claims ("pervasive"), is it any wonder that nothing gets done by those sitting in Congress, they are too busy raising money? Maybe Step 7 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" should be enacted. Step 7 would allow only individual citizens to contribute to campaigns; corporations, businesses, unions, PACs, etc. Step 39 would be even more effective since it calls for term limits for all members of Congress. If you cannot get elected to a second term, then the need to raise funds for re-election goes away, providing more time for you to legislate.

•If the Senator is right and only fifteen Congressional districts across the country are competitive, that implies that only 5% (15/435) of Americans are free when it comes to electing their Congressman or woman. A Republicans vote in a gerrymandered Democratic district is useless 95 % of the time as is a Democrat's vote in a gerrymandered Republican district, useless 95% of the time. This makes for a very undemocratic nation. Step 14 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" would minimize this problem by providing specific criteria so that gerrymandering would be minimized, e.g. the widest diameter of a Congressional district could not be more than three times the length of the most narrow diameter of a Congressional district.

•It is pretty obvious that the Senator is right when it comes to polarization, we see it everyday on the news. While the nation sinks further and further into debt and disrepair, the political class does nothing but posture or work on trivial issues. The iceberg is approaching but the deck chairs need to be arranged is where we are at right now from a political perspective.

So we say good bye to Senator Evan Bayh, he was at least smart enough and strong enough to identify and talk about the current political reality. I am not sure that the remaining Senate and House politicians even recognize how bad the problem is, as defined by Senator Bayh. To commemorate his parting words in Business Week, and hope and pray those words spur some changes in the country, we present the following tribute to the music of American Pie:

New Lyrics:

A long, long time ago, I can still remember
How the Senate used to make me smile
My Dad said I would get my chance
Lobbyists would make me dance
And then they’d make me rich with their guile.

But N. Pelosi made me shiver, Harry Reid did not deliver
Bad news on the doorstep, Kennedy’s seat just got swept
I can’t remember if I cried when the deficit got so wide
But something touched me deep inside the day compromise died.

So bye, bye Senator Evan Bayh
Going home to Indiana now please do not ask why
Let Obama and Biden stay to drink whiskey and lie
While partisanship takes a long good bye
Compromise takes a long good bye.

Did you write the book of No
And did you lose faith in going slow
If the bosses tell you so?
Now do you believe in give and take?
Or is Congress just one big fake?
And can you filibuster real, real slow?

Well I know that you love this bill
But the bosses say go for the kill
Makes the other side look too good
Even if it turns gold into wood.

You were a lively Hoosier with lots of pluck
But filibustering really does suck
Everyone ends up out of luck
The day that compromise died

So bye, bye Senator Evan Bayh
Going home to Indiana now please do not ask why
Let Obama and Biden stay to drink whiskey and lie
While partisanship takes a long good bye.
Compromise takes a long good bye.

For many years you’ve been on your own
But Harry says don’t pick up the phone
But that’s not how it used to be.
At one time it was nation that mattered
Give and take never got battered
A voice of reason for you and me.

While King Obama was looking down
The GOP stole his holy crown
The session was adjourned
No legislation was returned.

And while filibusters ran amuck
And Congress was really stuck
The nation remained out of luck
The day that compromise died.

We were singing bye, bye Senator Evan Bayh
Going home to Indiana now please do not ask why
Let Obama and Biden stay to drink whiskey and lie
While partisanship takes a long good bye.
Compromise takes a long good bye.

The Original Lyrics

A long, long time ago,I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while.

But February made me shiver, with every paper I'd deliver
Bad news on the doorstep, I couldn't take one more step
I can't remember if I cried, when I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside the day the music died.

So bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singing this'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die.

Did you write the book of love
And do you have faith in God above
If the Bible tells you so?
Now do you believe in rock and roll?
Can music save your mortal soul?
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Well, I know that you're in love with him
'Cause I saw you dancing in the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues.

I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died.

I started singing bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye
And singing this'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die.

Now, for ten years we've been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rolling stone
But that's not how it used to be.

When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me
Oh, and while the king was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned
No verdict was returned.

And while Lenin read a book on Marx
he quartet practiced in the park
And we sang 'Dirges In The Dark'
The day the music died.
We were singing bye, bye
Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye
And singing this'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die.

********

Lord help us if American Pie and all it stood for no longer exist and that is the reason why Evan Bayh has headed for the Indiana plains. Makes you wonder what he knows and we only suspect.



"We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:

http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/

The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.

The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/



Disgust And Disappointment With Our Political Class... and Free Hugs

I was going to do a mid-year review of the behavior of our political class but they kept creating new gaffes or crises that I never got around to it until now. Someone recently asked me why I was so angry with our politicians. I found the question to be pretty ridiculous, given the horrendous performance of our politicians over the years, with that performance seeming to get worse and worse as time goes by. However, when I thought about the question, I realized that I am not so much angry as I am disappointed and disgusted with the American political class:

- I am disappointed in the inability of politicians to understand the concept of "conflict of interest" especially when Senator Dodd, chairman of the Senate committee that oversees the financial industry in this country, accepts very favorable mortgage considerations from a business (Countrywide Mortgages) in that industry (Earthlink News - 7/27/2009), when that same Senator Dodd receives substantial campaign donations from Federal mortgage agencies he is overseeing and regulating (Fannie and Freddie), when Senator Hilary Clinton gets substantial tax relief for a mall developer in New York after that mall developer makes a $100,000 to Bill Clinton's foundation (New York Times - 1/3/2009), or when Senator Baucus nominates his girlfriend for a U.S. attorney general position in Montana (New York Times/St. Pete Times - 12/6/09).

- I am disappointed when the government tells me that almost $100 billion of taxpayer dollars are wasted every year through fraud and incorrect payments (Earthlink News - 11/188/2009) and that number was up $26 billion or more than 36% from the year before, i.e. the fraud is getting worse at a very rapid pace.

- I am disgusted when that same article also quotes the government as claiming only .5% of the U.S. Defense budget is wasted, I simply do not believe that an entity that large and that far flung has that low of a waste factor.

- I am disappointed in the low level of esteem and high level of contempt Senator Reid displayed for the very taxpayers that pay his salary when he claimed back in December, 2008 that "in the summer time...you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol."

- I am disgusted that several months after the major financial corporations (including AIG, Citigroup and Freddie Mac) made substantial donations to the bankrolling of the national conventions for both the Republicans and Democrats, these same corporations received untold billions of taxpayer dollars as a bailout for their poor management of their respective businesses (Associated Press article - "Troubled Firms Bankrolled Political Conventions").

- I am disappointed that Senator Reid would resort to racial stereotypes when he described President Obama as "light skinned" and "with no negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one" (Associated Press - 1/9/2010).

- I am disgusted when some in the Democratic Party liken me to the racists of the civil rights era because I expressed an honest opinion in disagreement with Obama Care while Senator Reid can refer to a persons' skin color and stereotyped speech pattern and not get branded as a racist.

- I am disappointed that we continue to pay taxes to government safety agencies that are supposed to protect consumers from dangers when we have had three major heavy metal (lead and two cadmium product recalls) situations where these metals were involved in the production of children's toys (Associated Press 1/11/2010).

- I am disgusted that when the country faces so many major issues that Congress would take time to wastefully debate and expend resources to draft and pass a bill aimed at forcing college football to set up a new playoff system (Associated Press - 12/09/10).

- I am disappointed that when one of the few decent folks in the Senate, Senator Bayh of Indiana, decides that the fight in Washington is so dysfunctional and so no longer worth the battle that he decides not to continue his political career (Businessweek - 3/1/2010).

- I am disgusted that while the country's financial systems and economic base was falling apart in the lead up to the latest recession that at least two and a half dozen SEC employees, some at very high levels of responsibility, were spending most, if not all, of their work time surfing the Internet and downloading the pornographic images they found onto their government issued computers (Associated Press - 4/23/2010).

- I am disappointed it took so long for the government to figure out that the Federal Head Start program, which has already eaten up and wasted $150 billion in taxpayer money, has no long lasting positive effect on the children that go through the program, i.e. Head Start is no more than an expensive Federal day care program, as reported in a recently published Department of Health and Human Services study. This finding negates Obama's 2009 claim that "for every dollar we invest in these programs (like Head Start), we get nearly $10 back in reduced welfare rolls, fewer health care costs, and less crime." Why did it take so long to figure out the waste of the program? Very disappointing.

- I am disgusted that Department of Interior Minerals Management Service employees in the Gulf Of Mexico offices spent a lot of their work time downloading pornography to their government computers, did not do the required number of inspections of Gulf oil rigs, received free hunting and fishing trips from the companies they were supposed to be inspecting, negotiated job offers with the very companies whose rigs they were inspecting, and approved a safety and contingency plan for the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon well in 2009 that had absolutely no chance of working (Associated Press - 5/17/2010, 5/28/2010, and 6/9/2010).

- I am disappointed that the political class has not the faintest understanding of basic economics and this shallow understanding continually results in wasteful, expensive, and ineffective programs such as Cash For Clunkers, the New Home Buyers Credit program, Cash For Appliances, etc. that merely shift economic demand around in time, do not result in increased demand, and just give away taxpayer money to those that would have purchased a new car or new home anyway (Associated Press - 6/23/2010).

- I am disgusted that a candidate for Congress would stoop so low on the illegal immigration issue that he thinks "we should catch 'em, we should document 'em, make sure we know where they are and where they are going, I actually support micro-chipping them. I can micro-chip my dog so I can find it. Why can't I micro-chip an illegal?" (Cedar Rapids Gazette - 4/27/2010).

- I am disappointed that the Obama administration sees fit to sue the state of Arizona for trying to control the illegal immigration flow over its borders rather than trying to solve the root cause of the problem, i.e. the overwhelming illegal flow of people, guns, and drugs across all of our borders, while not suing U.S. cities that actually welcome and service illegal aliens in violation of Federal law.

- I am disgusted that President Obama has remained silent while those that respectfully and legally disagree with his policies have been called racists, un-American, knuckle dragging Neanderthals, terrorists, and other names, resulting in a country more divided than ever against itself.

- I am disappointed that it took over 3,700 claims by an elderly Brooklyn woman before the Federal government finally decided there was some fraud going on, resulting in 94 arrests and busts of crime efforts that had bilked the Medicare program of about $250 million. The disappointment is why did it take so long to crack down when Medicare fraud has been a problem from Day One of the program (Associated Press - 7//16/2010)/

- I am disgusted that the political class continues to pit one group of Americans against another, whether it is rich vs. poor, gay vs. straight, pro life vs. pro choice, resulting in Americans fighting each other rather than bringing heat to bear on the American political class to finally solve some real issues facing the country.

- I am disappointed that GM and the Obama administration thought the American public was too dumb to find out or too dumb to understand that when GM announced that it was paying back $4.7 billion in government loans, that it was not repayng the fund out of its own earnings but were drawing funds from another government fund to repay the government loan, i.e. taxpayers were paying taxpayers (The week magazine - 5/7/2010).

- I am disgusted that in these tough economic times, politicians at all levels seem to ignore these hard times and the suffering of their constituents: 1) members of the Illinois Governor's staff got substantial raises (some more than 20%) at the same time that the Governor was cutting the state budget by $1.4 billion (Associated Press - 7/2/2010), 2) three town administrators in a small town in California, where 17% of the town residents live in poverty, received $787,637 (city administrative officer), $376,288 (assistant city manager), and $457,000 (police chief) in salary in addition to outrageous pensions (Associated Press - 7/22/2010) and 3) the members of Congress that automatically raise their salaries every year regardless of how poorly they lead and perform and how poorly the economy and the nation is doing.

- I am disappointed that money still continues to pervert our elective system with a recent article reporting that a long time Democratic fund raiser, Hassan Nemazee, was recently sentenced to 12 years in prison for fraud, using some of the fraud money he gathered to donate to the campaign funds of Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, and Al Gore (Associated Press - 7/15/2010) and another recent article (Associated Press - 7/22/2010) that reported that Congressman Charles Rangel was recently charged with multiple ethics violations including using government resources to raise money for the Charles Rangel Center For Public Service, receiving improper advantage from New York City's rent stabilization program, and his failure to report income on his disclosure forms.

- I am disgusted that so-called leaders of this country continue to have adultery problems including President Clinton, Governor Spitzer, Senator Ensign, Governor Sanford, Governor MacGreevey, and Senator Edwards, just to name a few. It is not the sex that I am disgusted with, it is the lies of adultery (if they lied in this area, can they be trusted in another area), it is the time it takes to cover up such affairs, time that could be better spent governing, and it is the potential for blackmail that would never result in the good of the taxpayer.

- I am disappointed in the inability of either party to solve any issue of consequence with the drug problem lingering over this country since the late 1960s, the inability to come up with a comprehensive and sane energy program hanging around since the mid-1970s, the continued failure of public schools despite the warnings of a national commission on education in the early 1980s and the failure to secure our borders from terrorists despite numerous terror attacks in the 1990s (USS Cole attack, African embassy bombings, first World Trade Center bombing), etc.

- I am disgusted when I see how poorly we are represented, as proven by the comments coming out of the Wisconsin county politician who believes that Arizona is not a border state with Mexico, the comments from a Georgia Congressman who spoke at a Congressional hearing of his fear that the island of Guam could tip over in the ocean, and the Speaker of the House who believes that unemployment is the best way to create jobs in this country (all of these outrageous claims can be found on YouTube).

It does get overwhelming so I will stop now. However, just when you start to lose all hope, you often stumble across something that reinvigorates that hope. For me, it was a YouTube video that was sent to me over the weekend. To view it go to the YouTube site and search for "Free Hugs In Sondrio, Italy." Apparently this movement has been going on for a while and while there are several related Free Hugs videos on the site, I recommend this Italian one. In a nutshell, people go to public places and hold up signs offering free hugs. The results are amazing. Total strangers going up to each other and giving each other a hug. No one accusing another of being a racist or a Neanderthal or a terrorist or unpatriotic or too rich or too white or too pro choice or too pro life or too anything. Just humans connecting on a very personal and enjoyable level. No politicians around to point out our differences, just individuals making some good, simple memories.

Thus, this video gave me hope, that all of us are basically good people and I still think we can overcome our differences, our disappointments, and our disgust. If we can go up to and hug a total stranger, than just about anything can be overcome. This proves there is a disconnect somewhere and the cause of that disconnect is the political class. They need us to hate each other and defend our "tribe," it allows them to divert attention from their failings and nonperformance. This video proved to me that term limits, as proposed in Step 39 of "Love My Country, Loathe My government" are needed more than ever. We need to continually replenish Congress with people that believe in hugs and not divisiveness. Getting them out of office before they lose the free hugs aspect is critical to working together and solving our problems going forward.


Our new book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Also visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/

American Pie - The New Lyrics From Washington D.C.

Yesterday we had some fun by rewriting the lyrics to the Barry McGuire 1960s protest song, "Eve Of Destruction," to reflect how the American political class is bringing the nation to the brink of financial destruction with its reckless deficit spending ways. Today, we have taken the classic "American Pie" from Don McLean and rewrote the lyrics to represent the feelings of retiring Indiana Senator Evan Bayh.

Senator Bayh announced few weeks ago that he was not going to run for re-election to the Senate. This decision was made despite the fact that he was apparently well thought of by his colleagues, politics ran in his family since his father was a long time U.S. Senator and Evan Bayh had been a two term governor of his home state, and his political future looked bright, having been mentioned as possible Vice Presidential and Presidential material. However, the Senator will be leaving Washington for a number of reasons, as outlined in a Charlie Rose interview he gave to Business Week in their March 1, 2010 edition:

• "The level of polarization and gridlock is just much higher than I've seen before, certainly higher than in my father's time."
• "The House (of Representatives) has been deeply damaged by gerrymandering. Out of 435 seats, about only 15 ones are competitive."
• "If you're in a majority Democratic district, you go farther to the left to avoid a challenge (in the primary), and the opposite occurs on the Republican side."
• "And you end up having more people on the far right and the far left and fewer in the middle where I think most Americans find themselves."
• "The pervasive need to fund raise is also a factor. Because of the vast sums of money that have to be raised, there's a perpetual campaign."
• "Other than on ceremonial occasions, I can recall only twice when all 100 Senators gathered to focus on a problem of national import. The first was when the President had been impeached. The second was three days after 9/11."
• "This (the current political climate) is - for lack of a better phrase - a Ross Perot moment...that could be the kind of thing that would really galvanizes public opinion against everyone in Washington regardless of party."

Very scary thoughts but probably accurate observations. A few comments on the Senator's views:

• If all one hundred Senators have only convened twice in the past nine years to work on an important national problem, impeachment and 9-11, then that means they have not gathered as one body to jointly work on failing public schools, the failing War on Drugs, skyrocketing debt and deficits, the approaching insolvency of Social Security and Medicare, the lack of a national energy policy and strategy, or any other pressing national need. Is it any wonder the country is in such sad shape?
• If the current members of the political class are so obsessed with raising money for their re-election campaign as the Senator claims ("pervasive"), is it any wonder that nothing gets done by those sitting in Congress, they are too busy raising money? Maybe Step 7 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" should be enacted. Step 7 would allow only individual citizens to contribute to campaigns; corporations, businesses, unions, PACs, etc. Step 39 would be even more effective since it calls for term limits for all members of Congress. If you cannot get elected to a second term, then the need to raise funds for re-election goes away, providing more time for you to legislate.
• If the Senator is right and only fifteen Congressional districts across the country are competitive, that implies that only 5% (15/435) of Americans are free when it comes to electing their Congressman or woman. A Republicans vote in a gerrymandered Democratic district is useless 95 % of the time as is a Democrat's vote in a gerrymandered Republican district, useless 95% of the time. This makes for a very undemocratic nation. Step 14 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" would minimize this problem by providing specific criteria so that gerrymandering would be minimized, e.g. the widest diameter of a Congressional district could not be more than three times the length of the most narrow diameter of a Congressional district.
• It is pretty obvious that the Senator is right when it comes to polarization, we see it everyday on the news. While the nation sinks further and further into debt and disrepair, the political class does nothing but posture or work on trivial issues. The iceberg is approaching but the deck chairs need to be arranged is where we are at right now from a political perspective.

So we say good bye to Senator Evan Bayh, he was at least smart enough and strong enough to identify and talk about the current political reality. I am not sure that the remaining Senate and House politicians even recognize how bad the problem is, as defined by Senator Bayh. To commemorate his parting words in Business Week, and hope and pray those words spur some changes in the country, we present the following tribute to the music of American Pie:

A long, long time ago, I can still remember
How the Senate used to make me smile
My Dad said I would get my chance
Lobbyists would make me dance
And then they’d make me rich with their guile.

But N. Pelosi made me shiver, Harry Reid did not deliver
Bad news on the doorstep, Kennedy’s seat just got swept
I can’t remember if I cried when the deficit got so wide
But something touched me deep inside the day compromise died.

So bye, bye Senator Evan Bayh
Going home to Indiana now please do not ask why
Let Obama and Biden stay to drink whiskey and lie
While partisanship takes a long good bye
Compromise takes a long good bye.

Did you write the book of No
And did you lose faith in going slow
If the bosses tell you so?
Now do you believe in give and take?
Or is Congress just one big fake?
And can you filibuster real, real slow?

Well I know that you love this bill
But the bosses say go for the kill
Makes the other side look too good
Even if it turns gold into wood.

You were a lively Hoosier with lots of pluck
But filibustering really does suck
Everyone ends up out of luck
The day that compromise died

So bye, bye Senator Evan Bayh
Going home to Indiana now please do not ask why
Let Obama and Biden stay to drink whiskey and lie
While partisanship takes a long good bye.
Compromise takes a long good bye.

For many years you’ve been on your own
But Harry says don’t pick up the phone
But that’s not how it used to be.
At one time it was nation that mattered
Give and take never got battered
A voice of reason for you and me.

While King Obama was looking down
The GOP stole his holy crown
The session was adjourned
No legislation was returned.

And while filibusters ran amuck
And Congress was really stuck
The nation remained out of luck
The day that compromise died.

We were singing bye, bye Senator Evan Bayh
Going home to Indiana now please do not ask why
Let Obama and Biden stay to drink whiskey and lie
While partisanship takes a long good bye.
Compromise takes a long good bye.

The Original Lyrics

A long, long time ago,I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while.

But February made me shiver, with every paper I'd deliver
Bad news on the doorstep, I couldn't take one more step
I can't remember if I cried, when I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside the day the music
died.

So bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singing this'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die.

Did you write the book of love
And do you have faith in God above
If the Bible tells you so?
Now do you believe in rock and roll?
Can music save your mortal soul?
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Well, I know that you're in love with him
'Cause I saw you dancing in the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues.

I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died.

I started singing bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye
And singing this'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die.

Now, for ten years we've been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rolling stone
But that's not how it used to be.

When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me
Oh, and while the king was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned
No verdict was returned.

And while Lenin read a book on Marx
The quartet practiced in the park
And we sang 'Dirges In The Dark'
The day the music died.
We were singing bye, bye
Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye
And singing this'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die.

Our new book, "Love My Country, Loather My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom and Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com and online at Amazon and Barnes And Noble.