Arkansas Blue Dog Marion Berry Throwing In The Towel

It was mid-November, 2005 when the GOP was trying to ramrod a Robin-Hood-in-reverse budget through the Republican-controlled House. Way back then there were still a small handful of an extinct breed of Republicans-- the kind that had enough of a sense of conscience that they didn't want poor people or people down on their luck to just go die. All 200 Democrats voting that day rejected that truly horrible "deficit reduction" bill-- and they were joined by 14 Republicans and the House's one Independent. Only 5 of those Republicans are still in Congress. Amazingly, the Blue Dog coalition held firm to a sense of cohesion with the Democrats and the bill scraped by 217-215. But for me, what was remarkable about that day was how one of the most well-liked good ole boys in the House, Arkansas Blue Dog Marion Berry, staggered up to the podium (Berry was virtually never sober in Congress since first being elected in 1996) and in the midst of the bitterness and acrimony of the day-- with far right fanatic Jack Kingston (R-GA) calling the Blue Dogs "lap dogs"-- leveled a finger at one of the most laughable inept of the Republican leaders, Adam Putnam (R-FL) and spontaneously dubbed him a "Howdy Doody-looking Nimrod." Although the bill passed, cutting 220,000 people off food stamps, allowing states to impose new costs on Medicaid beneficiaries, squeezing student lenders and freezing Pell Grants, cutting aid to state child-support enforcement programs, cutting funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program but guaranteeing more and bigger tax breaks for a tiny fraction of multimillionaires, the "Howdy Doody-looking Nimrod" moniker stuck and helped drive Putnam out of the leadership and out of Congress.

Today ole Marion, still drunk, is announcing that he will be retiring from Congress, the second of Arkansas' 3 Democratic congressmen to do so. His district includes the state's Democratic heartland along the Mississippi River and his departure-- along with Vic Snyder's-- leaves only Mike Ross, the most right-wing and the most corrupt of the lot left. Once a Democratic bastion in the South, all 4 Arkansas congressional districts voted for McCain over Obama-- Berry's 59-38%-- and this year could well be the coup de grâce for Democrats in the state. Blanche Lincoln is absolutely unelectable and if Democrats don't persuade her to retire (ala Chris Dodd) that is a certain GOP pickup. I wouldn't bet on Ross holding onto his seat nor the Democrats necessarily holding onto Berry's. If Lt Gov. Bill Halder or General Wes Clark runs for Snyder's Little Rock seat, there's a shot they could save that one.

Mark Pryor may wind up with no one to talk to-- except maybe a talking snake.

Bayh's Anti-Obama Bloc Teaming Up With Republicans At Behest Of Banksters To Stop Foreclosure Assistance

David Sirota made an ironic point last week about banks bewailing having to pay a prepayment penalty.

First, the banks: You know how it has become standard procedure for the vultures in the banking industry to try to fleece you with so-called "prepayment penalties" if you pay back your mortgage earlier than they want you to pay it back? And you know how many banks charge excessively high interest rates? Well, now, according to the Wall Street Journal, the same banking industry is claiming the federal government is trying to charge excessive interest rates via a "prepayment penalty" when the banks pay back their bailout funds and  - and that banking industry is actually complaining about the situation.

Irony on irony, David missed the fact that the worthless banksters are using taxpayer bailout money to lobby members of Congress whom they routinely bribe with immense campaign "contributions" ($2.2 billion since 1990) to let them off the hook when it comes to living up to their end of the deal.

And as long as we're piling on the irony, imagine my disappointment when Senate Banking Committee member Jon Tester (D-MT) started behaving very much like the crooked reactionary he replaced in 2006, Conrad Burns, by coming out against the bankruptcy legislation that seeks to keep homeowners from being foreclosed on. "I just think a deal's a deal. I have a lot of empathy for folks who tend to get led astray, but I just think it's going to create some problems-- pretty obvious, actually. I don't have to list them. I'm generally opposed. I don't think it works well." The banksters must be laughing their asses off. And we find out that Jon Tester is no Gary Peters (D-MI), the courageous member of the House Financial Services Committee who threw their "deal's a deal" bullshit back into the faces of the contemptible banksters and their congressional protectors:

“In my Congressional district in Michigan, there are thousands of UAW employees who have employment contracts, and they’ve been told they need to renegotiate those contracts and make concessions to justify taxpayer investments. There are thousands of white collar employees with employment contracts who have forgone promised bonuses and benefits and have taken pay cuts in order to save the companies they work for. People are sick of this double standard where working class and middle class workers are treated differently than the financial industry executives.”

I don't understand why members of the Banking Committee are allowed to take blatant-- if legalized-- bribes from the banksters. By the standards of the banksters, Tester didn't get much loot from them, but, even so $73,765 is nothing to sneeze at, which is what the banksters gave him last year. No committee members should be allowed to vote on this kind of legislation if they accept "contributions" from the industries they are responsible for overseeing. That would make voting a lot easier, especially on the corrupt Senate Banking Committee. These were the payoff for 2008 for each member:

Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman- $6,031,918
Jack Reed (D-RI)- $1,120,655
Tim Johnson (D-SD)- $864,318
Richard Shelby (R-AL)- $567,899
Bob Corker (R-TN)- $432,558
Mel Martinez (R-FL)- $425,100
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)- $409,050
Jim DeMint (R-SC)- $346,418
Mike Crapo (R-ID)- $255,685
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)- $227,529
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)- $223,369
Robert Bennett (R-UT)- $222,349
David Diapers Vitter (R-LA)- $194,350
Jim Bunning (R-KY)- $123,262
Jon Tester (D-MT)- $73,765
Chuck Schumer (D-NY)- $43,800
Daniel Akaka (D-HI)- $35,000
Evan Bayh (D-IN)- $10,950
John Warner (D-VA)- $6,950

So that means the only members who should be permitted to vote are Herb Kohl (D-MN), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Mike Johanns (R-NE) since the three of them-- and only the three of them-- ran for election and didn't accept any money from banksters. They're the only ones not financially compromised by organizations like, for example, the National Association of Federal Credit unions which voted unanimously last Tuesday to oppose the proposal, which would allow bankruptcy judges to reduce mortgage principle and interest rates for certain distressed homeowners.

CREW has done a report on one of the most repulsive varieties of banksters, the payday lenders and their efforts to gain influence with Congress. The report shows that "the payday loan industry is following the familiar path already cleared by other industries suddenly confronted with congressional oversight.  Payday lenders have joined the ranks of defense contractors, investment funds and others who influence the legislative process through lavish political contributions, expensive PR campaigns, and strategic lobbying." The chart below shows the most perps from the latest election cycle:


Meanwhile, Matt Renner reports at Truthout that a "handful of Democratic senators have joined with Republicans and industry lobbyists to oppose the measure, stalling the bill's progress." Thursday night the Bayh anti-Obama bloc voted with the Republicans to kill the president's cap and trade approach to cleaning up the environment and combating climate change. Apparently Bayh and his treacherous followers-- what Rachel Maddow dubbed the Conservadems intend to collaborate with the Republicans to wreck the change agenda. The bill Tester declared his opposition to, judicial loan modification, or "cram down" provision of S. 61 - the Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2009 - would empower bankruptcy judges to adjust a borrower's mortgage during bankruptcy proceedings. Currently, a bankruptcy judge can change the terms of other debts such as mortgages on vacation homes, liens on boats and credit card debt, but cannot touch primary residence mortgages. What Tester and the other Conservadems oppose is ordinary working families getting a break for a change. I expect it from a swine like Lincoln, Nelson or Bayh but for Tester to throw his lot in with these reactionary creeps is a real blow.

According to consumer advocacy groups, the judicial loan modification power would compel banks and their middlemen to work with borrowers to adjust unsustainable mortgages before bankruptcy and would help to reduce the growing wave of foreclosures sweeping the country.

I wonder how long it will be before ads like this one that was launched against filthy Blue Dog Marion Berry-- by Democrats-- will be running against senators like Tester, Lincoln and other Democrats who have gone over to the Dark Side:

WHAT'S WRONG WITH ARKANSAS? SKIPPING DEMOCRACY 101 THIS YEAR

Everything must be really great in Arkansas. Not a single member of the state's congressional delegation up for re-election in November-- Senator Mark Pryor, Vic Snyder, Marion Berry, Mike Ross, and John Boozman-- has drawn an opponent. Boozman is the only Republican and he's been a completely lockstep rubber stamp who virtually never opposes the Bush Regime on anything. Among Democrats, Arkansas' 3 congressmen can be described as right-of-center. Less generously, one would note they are Bush Dogs or Blue Dogs-- not out and out reactionaries like Jim Marshall (GA), Dan Boren (OK) or John Barrow (GA), but not exactly men you want to depend on to helping working families or clean up the catastrophic mess the Bush Regime has made. Mike Ross, an egregious Blue Dog was one of the 21 members who wrote a letter to Speaker Pelosi demanding that they be given the opportunity to vote for retroactive immunity for the criminal campaign contributors. Marion Berry joined him in that.

Over on the Senate side, Pryor consistently ranks as one of the Democrats most eager to cross the aisle and vote with the GOP. On substantive matters, he's actually about tied with Lieberman when it comes to rubber stamping the Bush agenda. Only Evan Bayh (D-IN, one of Hillary's probably VP choices), Mary Landrieu (D-LA, the only Senate Democrat whose seat is considered endangered this year; I wonder why), Benjamin Nelson (D-NE) and Tim Johnson (D-SD). So for Pryor to be able to waltz back into a second term without a primary is very sad. It makes complete sense that the Republicans are not challenging him. Why bother when he votes with them so often anyway?

Meanwhile Arkansas ranks near the bottom the states when it comes to health care (12.1% below the national norm; only South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana have worse health care for their citizens), education, and median household income level (only citizens of Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia make less). I bet if Arkansas' citizens held their elected leaders a little more accountable, they'd be doing better over all. Just guessing, though.