"Overall, [private] health care interests invested $126.8 million in lobbying over the first three months of this year, according to the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics, placing it well ahead of any other sector. ...Health care-related TV advertising is also soaring. Spending through July 20 totaled $39 million, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks spending on TV ads nationwide." - Eliza Carney, National Journal, July 27, 2009

I know this may be hard for you to believe, but it's about the money -- steadily being redistributed upward out of your pocket. Look, the privatizers don't give a rat's patootie about your health -- or about you. They just want to make bigger and bigger bucks. They're spending mega-millions on lobbying and advertising. They want you all atremble about "socialized" medicine, rationing care, making you wait in line until wrinkles form -- and then euthanizing you old geezers.

They get help from legislative pets who do columns for the local paper. And don't discount back-door e-mail paranoia. I got a doozie this week forwarded with probably good intent. To say it was nuts is an understatement.

Many of us here at Everyday Citizen have been keeping you up to date on all the C street news, as we get it. On Sunday, Sarah posted about Kansas Rep Jerry Moran. On Monday, I posted about my interview with Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family and what he told me about Kansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt and his involvement in the Conservative Cult know as "The Family". One of the more well known Kansas elected officials believed to be involved with "The Family" is Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, who happens to also be running for Kansas Governor in 2010.

Through out my interview with Jeff Sharlet, one Kansas elected official came up substantially more than the others, Sen. Sam Brownback.

Sam Brownback out there (in Kansas) is one of the politicians who I would say is more intimately involved than most and I think has a bit of a leadership role.

There is indeed another side to the Gates arrest issue (is this an official cultural event now? Do we call it 'Gates-gate'?!). And it can cut against what has become the popular take on the incident.

Suppose, just suppose, the predominant factor in the whole episode isn't race. What if it is something that is much more subtle in the national political and social fabric. What if this is more a matter of class than race?

William Julius Wilson, Harvard sociologist and another member of their academic 'Dream Team', has written two books (one of which will be reviewed in Central Dallas Ministries' Urban Engagement Book Club next month): an earlier work entitled, The Declining Significance of Race: Blacks and Changing American Institutions and the more recently released More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City.

Wilson posits that in the latter part of the 20th century into the 21st century, class issues are much more pertinent than race...

Do what we can, summer will have its flies. Ralph Waldo Emerson

South Carolina Governor Mark Sandford dodged a bullet on June 25th.

The devoted husband, loving father, dedicated public servant, and champion of family values admitted in a lengthy, tearful confession that he had an affair. And lied about it. And used taxpayer money to do it. And felt really, really bad about it. Before cable news outlets, bloggers, newspapers, radio call in shows and every other conceivable news outlet could pile on the story, something bigger happened: Michael Jackson died.

Gov. Sandford was a lucky man. But the twenty-four hour news cycle was hungry for more.

Recently, I sat in a working group convened by the United Way that focused on income, one of the organization's priorities as it responds to community reality going forward. The emphasis is a part of the new focus to "Live United."

Our facilitator wrote on a large sheet of sticky paper this phrase:

"Root Causes of Poverty"

The group began throwing out answers and ideas. A number of our answers related to education issues and opportunities.

I am proud to be organizing online for the Kansas Democratic Party!

Yesterday, Rep. Lynn Jenkins (KS-02) gave voters another reason to question her judgment.

It isn't the first time she's cast the seeds of doubt -- like when Jenkins told a crowd of GOP activists she was a proud member of the "party of no," or when she shocked us by voting against military funding for our brave men and woman in Iraq and Afghanistan. She even abandoned her constituents when she scheduled town hall meetings she never attended.

Now, there is Jenkins' all-too-late realization that government needs to be held accountable. As Media Matters pointed out yesterday, it's not her strong suit...

I’m confused.

Seattle’s Referendum 1 appears green, but sometimes I see it as number 2 bovine brown.

Referendum 1 is an ordinance (finally) being sent to voters on August 18. The referendum would instate a 20 cent fee on each paper and plastic bag used by consumers at checkout.

Seattle’s Mayor Nickels says the bag fee is to encourage the use of reusable bags and reduce waste. At 20 cents a bag, opponents say it’s another tax and unfairly hinders low income households. Proponents say the fee is to change people’s behavior and help the environment since the fee can be avoided by bringing a reusable shopping bag to the store.

That has some, including me, seeing some bovine brown among the green.

I'm proud to be organizing online for the Kansas Democratic Party!

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is starting to take shape right here in Kansas as Democratic Governor Mark Parkinson and Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin announced the implementation of programs that will provide billions of dollars in recovery funds throughout the country and right here in Kansas. Governor Parkinson discussed the important of these projects and the Recovery Act earlier today...

I'm proud to be organizing online for the Kansas Democratic Party!

Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee released district by district reports on the Affordable Health Choices Act being worked on in Congress. The results are incredibly encouraging for health care reform advocates because current legislation is estimated to both reduce costs and increase access to thousands of Kansans.

That's why I wanted to pass along some of the data below the fold...

I'm no expert, but it's painfully clear there's a glaring omission in the current health care debate when we talk about costs.

I've heard little about trying to make people healthier as a way to bring down what will certainly be--and already is--an expensive undertaking. One reason health care costs so much is that it's pricey to keep treating people with chronic diseases for decades after they've been diagnosed. Many chronic diseases, we now know, are diet-related. Coronary heart disease, diabetes and obesity top the list, not to mention the myriad obesity-related issues. Cancer and stroke are also linked to diet. Today, CNN reported there is $147 billion on overall obesity-related spending a year.

What do you think of when you imagine an American living in exile, unable to return home? This is a profile of two Americans living in Canada who can't return to the US because of the unequal and unfair way our so-called healthcare system is set up here. They cannot return home because, although they are not poor, they are still unable to get health coverage. Why? Because the insurance industry does not sell coverage to those who have pre-existing diagnoses. Why not? Because we don't have a fair system.

We need a single payer system just like Canada's. It's the right thing to do.

The second-grader was questioned and tearfully identified the other youths who attempted to steal the wagon with him. The police handcuffed all three boys and took them to a juvenile detention center.

For some reason people find it very easy to fear "the poor."

I suppose my experiences with poor folks over the past 30 years contribute to my lack of patience and my weariness with such ignorance. And, just about every day I gather some bit of new evidence that confirms and deepens my perspective on this matter.

Think the sub-prime mortgage meltdown is something 'new'?

Generally, our current crisis is compared to the Great Depression, but there is a more recent and more related corollary in what is called 'contract mortgages'. I learned about this over the past couple of weeks, watching Beryl Satter, a professor at Rutgers University, author of the book, Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America.

Dr. Satter's father Mark was a Chicago attorney who fought against the practice of white real estate entrepreneurs 'invested' in purchasing properties in transitioning communities buying them at low prices and selling them 'on contract' to African-Americans at exorbitant prices while holding the title. The new homeowners were responsible for maintenance and insurance, for the most part, just barely able to afford the inflated mortgage costs, most often unable to afford maintenance costs or insurance. In the meantime, the person holding the contract, could sell the paper to another investor, thereby making a profit.

Forgive me for not being too sympathetic. But, I find the barrage of TV ads concerning the evil health threat posed by the Obama health care reform plan laughable.

For the past 15 years I've been surrounded by countless friends who have had to wait and wait to receive the health care they needed to stay alive. Due to delayed treatment and diagnosis, many of my friends died.

Why?

Yesterday evening I had the chance to interview Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family about Kansas politicians: Congressman Todd Tiahrt, Senator Sam Brownback, and Rep. Jerry Moran and their connections to C Street. He had some tough words for Rep. Tiahrt whom he outed as a member of the religious cult on The Rachel Maddow show earlier this week.

Jeff Sharlet is a journalist who has been writing about religion for about 15 years and is a contributing editor for Harper's and Rolling Stone. He spent the last 5 years as a research scholar at the New York Research Center for Religion and Media.

In our interview, I asked Jeff about how he was able to uncover this secret conservative cult. Jeff was invited into the cult as everyone else is. Though he did not personally live in the C Street house, he did stay at one very similar and visited the C Street house. He was able to share information with me about the organization that goes much farther than one house in Washington...

I received a tweet from my friend, Shawn Williams at Dallas South.

This is an interesting addition to the story:

911 call about break-in at Professor Gates' home

Puts another twist on the story...and about our (society's) initial assumptions. Moving to a post-racial society is extremely complex and will be a difficult road.

After several blogs here and crossposted to DailyKos, the exposure of the C Street Cult has gained a lot of traction in my state as well as nationally. The local mainstream media in Kansas is now starting to take a closer look at the alleged right wing religious cult that forms the foundation of C Street's 'The Fellowship'.

With denials from Rep. Todd Tiahrt and admissions from Sen. Sam Brownback and, now, with the discovery that Rep. Jerry Moran actually lives at C Street, citizens are left to wonder if these elected officials will ever come clean and tell the whole truth.

What has been their individual and collective participation in the financial organization of C Street? When will they expose and explain the payoff of Ensign's mistress? Those that live with 'The Family' or operate from inside the organization surely will want to tell us what they know about C Street's do-it-yourself exorcisms. What about the slew of other allegations regarding secretive payoffs, untoward behavior, lock-step policy efforts, and the concerted cover-ups of scandals allegedly orchestrated by the legislators most intimately involved with C Street?

"From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life."

Arthur Ashe, 1943 - 1993
U.S. Open Winner (1968), Wimbledon Men's Champion (1975), Activist

Earlier this week we told you about the connection with Kansas Senator Sam Brownback and Rep. Todd Tiahrt to the conservative cult 'The Fellowship' (aka 'The Family') on C Street. And Colin has a great piece today about the article in the KC Star where Tiahrt tried to retreat from his relationship with C Street.

Well... now McClatchy has another key bit of information to add to that list. It turns out that Rep. Jerry Moran from the Kansas First District and candidate for US Senate is an insider. He's actually a resident of C Street. Moran actually lives there!

I once thought of Moran as the lesser of the two evils in the Kansas Senate Race, but not now. It is very unsettling to discover that Moran is so closely aligned with this group. Reports and facts are compellingly convincing that C Street is a politicized 'church' and behaves similarly to a secret cult-like society.