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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MSI who wrote (280915)	7/27/2002 3:46:24 PM
From: haqihana	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

MSI, The $400 billion would probably be enough if there was not rampant fraud. I beg to differ on the docs. There are many of them that pad their bills, and send bills to Medicare without ever providing the service they are billing for. I was referred to a doctor to check my throat just the other day, and not only did he not look at my throat at all, he just poked around my body for about 5 minutes, and billed Medicare $318.00. I have had several ambulance companies transport my Mother to a hospital in vans for transportation only, and have billed Medicare for full emergency service, including oxygen, IVs, and the works without ever supplying these services. I could go on, and on, but the list would get tedious. The Medicare system itself is full of civil servants, that cannot be fired, and who don't give a damn if medical providers cheat, or not. It cannot be fixed by Congress or any one administration because it will take too long to correct the inefficiency of the government workers. Some tough administrator should be allowed to go in there and start firing malcontents, and lazy, shiftless, don't give a damn, people, and set down job descriptions that make it mandatory for workers to comply or be fired on the spot. The whole system is inside pork buried deep in the system.

To: MSI who wrote (280915)	7/28/2002 5:08:01 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

Big Business Loses Its Protector By WILLIAM SCHNEIDER Editorial The Los Angeles Times July 28, 2002 WASHINGTON -- The prospect of being hanged concentrates the mind wonderfully, Dr. Samuel Johnson once observed. So does the prospect of being defeated. Which is why you find a wonderful concentration of minds among congressional Republicans these days. They're in a panic. Very much like investors, but for a slightly different reason. Investors are worried that they won't be able to retire early. Republicans are worried that they'll be forced to retire early. Shortly after this year's midterm election, in fact. So, what are congressional Republicans doing? The same thing a terrified crew does when it realizes the ship is sinking: They're throwing ballast overboard to keep the vessel afloat. "The mood of the [Republican] conference is, 'Let's get on with this thing. Let's not dillydally,' " Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.) said. "We've got to do everything possible in short order to indicate to the American people we're on top of these issues and we're doing everything possible to restore confidence in the markets." What about the party's long-standing commitment to big business? Overboard! Kersplash! Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, pressured House Republicans to take a hard line on accounting fraud. "Investor confidence is at a low, and the stock market is still going through this awful roller coaster," Tauzin said. "We've got to put a stop to it." Then there was the spectacle of Rep. William M. Thomas (R-Bakersfield), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, advocating stronger enforcement powers for the Internal Revenue Service against companies that create dubious tax shelters. And introducing a bill to stop companies from relocating to Bermuda to avoid U.S. taxes. This, from one of business' best friends in Congress, a man who received the "Spirit of Enterprise" award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Nearly 40 House Republicans signed a letter urging their colleagues to accept the Senate bill sponsored by Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.), which contains far-reaching corporate regulations. A new independent board to oversee corporate audits. New categories of corporate crimes. New grounds for lawsuits against companies that deceive investors. The sorts of things House Republicans would have rejected out of hand a few weeks ago. The WorldCom bankruptcy and the stock market slide changed all that. Last week, House negotiators signed off on the Sarbanes bill with a few changes. The House quickly voted 423 to 3 to pass it, then the Senate voted 99 to 0 to send it to the president's desk. Let's get this straight: Republicans agree to pass tough new regulations on business, and the stock market soars. There's an irony in there somewhere. "We've got to look out for ourselves first and foremost," a top House Republican strategist told the Washington Post. "We have to go home in a week and say we've done something. People have to wake up and realize the political nature of this fight." In a report distributed on Capitol Hill, a prominent Republican polling firm found that "the bottom has fallen out on the mood of the country." In the pollsters' view, "WorldCom's [bankruptcy] announcement may have been the straw that broke the camel's back." It certainly broke the stock market's back. "Voters' attitudes toward corporate offenders are hostile," the report warned. "Legislation punishing wrongdoers can't be too tough." It is politically impossible to defend big business right now. Not even George W. Bush can do it. The president went to Wall Street to denounce "corporate abusers" and to call for an end to corporate wrongdoing--including practices he once engaged in. "I challenge compensation committees to put an end to all company loans to corporate officers," the president said. Presumably like the ones he once got at Harken Energy. The culture has shifted from business heroes in the 1990s (Bill Gates) to what Theodore Roosevelt called "malefactors of great wealth." That puts Bush in an awkward position. How many business executives have been elected president? Answer: two. Both of them were named Bush. The corporate crime wave also put conservatives in an awkward position. Isn't support for business a core element of the conservative faith? Actually, no. The core element of the conservative faith is opposition to government. Business usually shares that sentiment, so conservatives and business have been long-standing allies. But it's an alliance of convenience. And money. For business, politics isn't about causes. It's about interests. That's why conservatives distrust big business. The two work together when they have the same interests--say, to pass a tax cut or to defeat environmentalists on oil drilling. But conservatives suspect that business is always ready to sell them out. And they're right. Yes, Republicans still get most of their money from big business. But so do Democrats. Under President Clinton, Democrats repudiated their anti-business image. In fact, you could say that business made out like bandits during the Clinton era. Literally. And business played it safe by giving money to both parties. Remember the White House coffees? The Lincoln Bedroom overnight stays? The legacy of the Clinton era is that economic differences between the parties have shrunk, while values differences have grown. The "red state-blue state" division of the country on election night 2000 was over values: conservative America versus liberal America. Economic issues were less important. The economy made Al Gore the winner of the popular vote. Values made Bush the winner of the election. The economic issue has drawn Democrats closer to business. At the same time, the values issue has pulled Republicans away from business. Conservatives feel betrayed by the corrupt behavior of business executives. The GOP has taken on a powerful strain of moralism since 1980. Conservatives used to see business as amoral. Now they see business as immoral. Republicans are facing real problems in the midterm election this November. The problems are not immediately apparent in the polls, which still show a close split between Democrats and Republicans across the country. The problem is one of motivation. "If the negative mood of the country is sustained over the next few months, look for GOP turnout problems," the Republican pollsters warn in their report. Democrats are angry over the corporate scandals. And angry voters dominate midterm elections, which most people don't bother with. Angry white men brought the Republicans to power in 1994. Angry Democrats came out to protect President Clinton in 1998, when he was threatened with impeachment. After eight years of steadily losing ground, the Republican House majority could be swept away by a wave of Democratic anger in 2002. Republicans know they can't rely on Bush to save them, even though he has sky-high job-approval ratings. Bush's standing is above politics. When people say they support the president, it's an expression of national solidarity at a time of threat. It doesn't mean much for his party. It is certainly odd for a president to be coasting along with a 70% approval rating, as he is in this month's New York Times-CBS News poll, while only about half that number--36%--say they intend to vote Republican for Congress. Bush has enormous credibility on issues like terrorism and national security. He has less credibility on the issues that are likely to drive the midterm election--corporate responsibility, investor confidence and the economy. Most Americans do not think Bush is corrupt. They worry that he's clueless--that he has no idea what to do about the stock market or the economy. It's the same way people felt about his father in 1992. Democrats have the advantage on the issue of corporate responsibility. The New York Times-CBS News poll asked people whether they thought the Democratic Party was more committed to protecting the interests of ordinary Americans or of large corporations. By 52% to 31%, people said Democrats favored ordinary Americans. By 58% to 29%, they said Republicans favored large corporations. Whose side is Bush on? The public is split: 42% say he favors ordinary Americans, 42% say he favors large corporations. Last week, Republicans figured out that the smartest thing they could do was simply to say, "OK, we'll go along with the Democrats on corporate responsibility. Support the Senate bill. Make it even tougher. Stop defending big business." There are times in politics when the wisest thing to do is to say, "Me too." Democrats did it in the war on terrorism, and it didn't hurt them one bit. ________________________________ William Schneider, a contributing editor to Opinion, is a CNN political analyst. latimes.com

To: MSI who wrote (280915)	8/4/2002 4:32:32 AM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769667

MASTER OF DISASTER STUNNED: this is probably the highest level of incompetence the state has ever seen," OH, THE EMBARASSMENT..... HITTING THE TRIFECTA IN CALIFORNIA sfgate.com Simon's political stew stuns veteran spin doctors Candidate's explanation fails to soothe GOP By Carla Marinucci Saturday, August 3, 2002 Even crisis communications guru Chris Lehane -- who spun his way through the Monica Lewinsky mess for his former boss President Bill Clinton -- stopped in his tracks when he heard about the latest troubles of the Republican candidate for governor, Bill Simon. "He's found liable for fraud with a business associate who has been a drug dealer," Lehane marveled. "It's a hat trick! You've got it all in here." If the so-called "Master of Disaster" was stunned, then picture the level of panic among some Republicans this week as the family firm of their top state candidate was found guilty of investment fraud by a Los Angeles jury -- and dinged with a stunning $78 million judgment. Simon's defense didn't give them much comfort: He didn't know that Paul Edward Hindelang, his former business partner in the deal with a pay phone company, was a convicted drug dealer. And no small potatoes guy, either -- once described by the U.S. government as the largest marijuana dealer in the country, who served two years in jail, and forfeited more than $50 million to federal agents. "From a procedural level at a campaign, this is probably the highest level of incompetence the state has ever seen," said one frustrated loyal Republican in Sacramento this week. "It makes the campaign of (former GOP gubernatorial candidate) Dan Lungren look like a well-oiled machine." With just three months left before the general election, the crisis illustrated the volatile waters of modern-day politics. Only weeks ago, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis appeared rocked by his own scandal involving a flawed $95 million Oracle computer contract -- a roiling combination of campaign contributions, public policy and political connections. But the storm over Simon has battered him precisely on the major fronts on which he sold himself as a candidate -- as a successful business leader, as a tough U.S. prosecutor who took down drug-dealing biggies, and as a courageous newcomer who could "renew the California dream." "His method is simple," gushes the Simon campaign Web site. "Be ever- vigilant in order to anticipate a problem, rely on teamwork and experience to develop a visionary strategy that addresses the problem before it becomes a crisis -- and act swiftly and decisively to carry out that strategy." The news this week raised eyebrows on all those fronts even as Simon, in Sacramento Friday, bravely attempted to keep at that message and talk politics, not scandal. With a battery of GOP supporters rallying round, the candidate was dogged by Democrats distracting him from his message. One held a sign saying, "Simon, don't worry: there are pay phones in prison." Another was costumed as a giant pay phone. And Simon was forced to walk a fine line -- trying to explain how he could insist he didn't have a hands-on role in the pay phone investment, but would be a hands-on governor. "My style as governor will be to surround myself with outstanding professionals and ensure that we have top-flight people in every area of the government," he said. But, he was asked, how will you remember your own campaign promises if you can't seem to keep track of your investments? "When (you) co-chair an investment management firm, you are not actively involved in each and every investment," he said. "For example, over the past many years, the firm has made literally hundreds of investments, and I can't tell you here today the details on each and every one of these investments. I would say the overwhelming percentage of them I really did not have any active role whatsoever." Such performances didn't impress Lehane, who said Simon's campaign appears to be heading into what he calls "the deep, dark unspinable place" that campaign strategists fear most. "At the rate Simon is inflicting pain upon himself and his campaign," Lehane quipped, "he may need to use some of his former business partner's marijuana for medicinal purposes." Indeed, Simon heard this week the first rumblings from party faithful that he should step down. The suggestion that he resign from the campaign and throw support to a write-in campaign for Secretary of State Bill Jones created a buzz within the party ranks. Simon, asked about it, answered tersely: "I'm not going to do that." But if Oracle proved anything, it's that stuff happens, and often, in politics. GOP strategist Sean Walsh acknowledged that, yes, these are tough days for the Simon camp -- but it ain't over by a long shot. It's August, there's time to regroup. And, he adds, the Simon camp has something going for it: the record of the CEO of the state of California. "Gray is still Gray," Walsh said. "If he sold Bay Area residents' health out to an oil company" -- a reference to stories that Davis allowed Tosco refinery, a major polluter, to dump dioxins in the bay -- "you know there's a hundred more cases that will be made public between now and election day." "This man is not liked by his own party," Walsh said. Simon may be taking some punches, but his opponent's record, too, is still "ripe for the picking."