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Reproductive issues"},{"term":"counterculture"},{"term":"coverup"},{"term":"cyber attacks"},{"term":"cybercrime"},{"term":"cybersecurity"},{"term":"deforestation"},{"term":"disaster relief"},{"term":"discussion"},{"term":"dishonesty"},{"term":"dissent"},{"term":"domestic terrorism"},{"term":"domestic violence"},{"term":"dystopia"},{"term":"economy. 2016 election"},{"term":"email"},{"term":"emails.spoof"},{"term":"energy bills."},{"term":"enhanced interrogation"},{"term":"enhanced interrogation techniques"},{"term":"entitlement."},{"term":"epidemic"},{"term":"epigram"},{"term":"espionage"},{"term":"ethnic identity"},{"term":"executive privilege"},{"term":"fair use"},{"term":"fascists"},{"term":"film review"},{"term":"finance"},{"term":"flag"},{"term":"folk indy"},{"term":"foreign relations."},{"term":"fourth amendment"},{"term":"g20"},{"term":"games"},{"term":"garbage disposal"},{"term":"gay discrimination"},{"term":"gay right"},{"term":"general knowledge."},{"term":"government handouts"},{"term":"government spending."},{"term":"gravitas"},{"term":"green issues"},{"term":"grover Norquist"},{"term":"heart"},{"term":"highway"},{"term":"history LIFE"},{"term":"homosexual"},{"term":"hospitals"},{"term":"hysteria"},{"term":"illegal drugs"},{"term":"impeachment hearings"},{"term":"impeachment hearings. Trump"},{"term":"incest"},{"term":"industrial revolution"},{"term":"infographic"},{"term":"injured vets"},{"term":"investment banking"},{"term":"joe allbaugh"},{"term":"juveniles"},{"term":"labor"},{"term":"lawsuits"},{"term":"libel"},{"term":"literature"},{"term":"lounge Music"},{"term":"lying"},{"term":"majority"},{"term":"marketing"},{"term":"mass murder"},{"term":"mass shooting"},{"term":"match-up"},{"term":"medical care"},{"term":"meme. Evil"},{"term":"memorial"},{"term":"micro-financing"},{"term":"mid-term elections"},{"term":"missile strike"},{"term":"national debt"},{"term":"nepotism"},{"term":"net nuetrality"},{"term":"nuclear arms"},{"term":"nuclear arms agreement."},{"term":"nuclear war"},{"term":"ocean"},{"term":"oil spill"},{"term":"parades"},{"term":"paramilitary"},{"term":"patent"},{"term":"people"},{"term":"philanthropy"},{"term":"phone-hacking"},{"term":"photo"},{"term":"plane crash"},{"term":"plutocracy"},{"term":"police intimidation"},{"term":"political organizations"},{"term":"post-election"},{"term":"presidential election"},{"term":"presidential election 2016"},{"term":"presidents"},{"term":"press"},{"term":"progressive"},{"term":"prosperity"},{"term":"psychopaths"},{"term":"public opinion"},{"term":"public service."},{"term":"public works"},{"term":"putin. Roger Stone"},{"term":"puzzles"},{"term":"racial"},{"term":"racial profiling"},{"term":"radical"},{"term":"random shooting"},{"term":"recycling"},{"term":"refugee crisis"},{"term":"rigging"},{"term":"rob Portman"},{"term":"rural USA"},{"term":"safety nets"},{"term":"same sex"},{"term":"same-sex equality"},{"term":"sanctuary cities"},{"term":"sarah palin fooling some"},{"term":"sarah palin joe mcginniss"},{"term":"sarah palin serial bully"},{"term":"scams."},{"term":"scarf"},{"term":"sex abuse"},{"term":"sex education"},{"term":"sexual assault allegations. Law"},{"term":"sexual misconduct"},{"term":"small loans"},{"term":"social problems"},{"term":"solar energy"},{"term":"spending"},{"term":"spy"},{"term":"spying"},{"term":"stereotypes"},{"term":"stereotypes."},{"term":"storytelling"},{"term":"strikes"},{"term":"strip search"},{"term":"suicide"},{"term":"tabloid"},{"term":"tariff"},{"term":"tax reform"},{"term":"teachers"},{"term":"terrorism. 9\/11"},{"term":"theocracy in America"},{"term":"threats"},{"term":"train"},{"term":"treason."},{"term":"uS Congress"},{"term":"unemployed"},{"term":"unsolved mystery"},{"term":"value"},{"term":"veterens"},{"term":"voters"},{"term":"voting Rights Act of 1965"},{"term":"wage stagnation"},{"term":"wages"},{"term":"war crimes"},{"term":"waste"},{"term":"white supremacy KKK"},{"term":"women''s rights"},{"term":"zika"},{"term":"zoo"},{"term":"гла́сность"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Nomadic Politics"},"subtitle":{"type":"html","$t":"Progressive blog with in-depth political and historical essays. We focus primarily on the American scene but also cover world politics. "},"link":[{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/nomadicpolitics.blogspot.com\/feeds\/posts\/default"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/407281054887604200\/posts\/default\/-\/Phil+Gramm?alt=json-in-script\u0026max-results=2"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/nomadicpolitics.blogspot.com\/search\/label\/Phil%20Gramm"},{"rel":"hub","href":"http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/"},{"rel":"next","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/407281054887604200\/posts\/default\/-\/Phil+Gramm\/-\/Phil+Gramm?alt=json-in-script\u0026start-index=3\u0026max-results=2"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nomad"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/03686282358562565742"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"generator":{"version":"7.00","uri":"http://www.blogger.com","$t":"Blogger"},"openSearch$totalResults":{"$t":"4"},"openSearch$startIndex":{"$t":"1"},"openSearch$itemsPerPage":{"$t":"2"},"entry":[{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-407281054887604200.post-913685607620581281"},"published":{"$t":"2012-01-07T22:11:00.000+02:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2014-01-21T09:54:25.666+02:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"2012 campaign"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"2012 election crony capitalism"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Enron"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Nomad"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Phil Gramm"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"rick perry"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Rick Perry friends"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Wendy Lee Gramm"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Mr. and Mrs. Gramm: The Dark and Disturbing Friends of Rick Perry 4\/4"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003Eby Nomad\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com\/gadgets\/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-zbEUhzrdohg%2FTq6062JFuoI%2FAAAAAAAAD6U%2F666kIsEef7A%2Fs320%2FWendy.jpg\u0026amp;container=blogger\u0026amp;gadget=a\u0026amp;rewriteMime=image%2F*\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com\/gadgets\/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-zbEUhzrdohg%2FTq6062JFuoI%2FAAAAAAAAD6U%2F666kIsEef7A%2Fs320%2FWendy.jpg\u0026amp;container=blogger\u0026amp;gadget=a\u0026amp;rewriteMime=image%2F*\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan id=\"internal-source-marker_0.04412061208859086\" style=\"background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003EA Close look at Wendy Gramm\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; color: red; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003EIn this the final part of my investigation into the Gramms, I’d like to deal with Wendy’s relationship with Rick Perry and another influential power broker. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"color: #990000; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cu\u003EThe Mercatus Center \u003C\/u\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EAs if Wendy Gramm’s role in the Enron scandal wasn’t enough to qualify her as one of the notable villians in a saga filled with some pretty odious characters, she’d really only just begun. After her jaunt through the world of academia and through the infested jungle of the private sector, Wendy now found herself stepping back into academia (or something very much like it).\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EIf Phil Gramm represents one side of corruption, then some might claim his wife to be an example of a newer but far more insidious indirect kind.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EKoch Industries- along with other corporations have developed a long term strategy to use think-tanks, paired with prestigious universities, to give support - with studies and surveys and expert opinions- to their agenda. In exchange, the universities benefit from large-dollar corporate support.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\n\u003Cb style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mercatus_Center\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EThe Mercatus Center of George Mason University\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E,\u003C\/b\u003E where Wendy Gramm is a director of the “regulatory studies program”, is a case in point. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EMercatus is an increasingly influential anti-regulatory voice-machine created and subsidized by \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.sourcewatch.org\/index.php?title=Koch_Industries\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EKoch Industries\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E.\u003C\/b\u003E Over the years, the university and its associated institutes and centers has received more funding from the Koch Family Charitable Foundations than any other organization—a total of $29,604,354.  Of that sum, The Mercatus Center has received $1,442,000.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EPreviously known as the Center for the Study of Free Market Processes, the Mercatus Center was founded by Richard Fink (an apt name if ever there was one)—with a grant from Charles Koch. Koch currently serves on\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mercatus.org\/all-people\/1285\"\u003E the center’s Board of Directors\u003C\/a\u003E—as does Fink, who is also an executive vice president and a member of the board of directors of \u003Ca class=\"zem_slink\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kochind.com\/\" rel=\"homepage\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Koch Industries\"\u003EKoch Industries, Inc.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EWendy Gramm’s ties to the Koch brothers go way back. Koch has had a cozy relationship with Wendy ever since she played a key role in deregulating oil speculation.  \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/report\/koch-oil-speculation\/\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EAs Lee Fang reported in Think Progress\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E:\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003ELike many oil companies, Koch uses legitimate hedging products to create price stability. However, the documents reveal that Koch is also participating in the unregulated derivatives markets as a financial player, buying and selling speculative products that are increasingly contributing to the skyrocketing price of oil. Excessive energy speculation today is at its highest levels ever, and even Goldman Sachs \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/green\/2011\/04\/13\/174989\/sachs-speculators-gas-prices\/\"\u003Enow admits\u003C\/a\u003E that at least $27 of the price of crude oil is a result from reckless speculation rather than market fundamentals of supply and demand. Many experts interviewed by ThinkProgress argue that the figure is far higher, and out of control speculation has doubled the current price of crude oil.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E(The next time you fill up your gas tank and your wallet feels lighter, you can thank Wendy Gramm.) \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-style-span\"\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EMercatus, however  serves a different function in the Koch machine. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-6OYJYld6tmk\/Ut4nXGqSHGI\/AAAAAAAAFts\/6Jh3Gwt27hI\/s1600\/coffee-creek_koch-industries1.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-6OYJYld6tmk\/Ut4nXGqSHGI\/AAAAAAAAFts\/6Jh3Gwt27hI\/s1600\/coffee-creek_koch-industries1.jpg\" height=\"180\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EKoch Industries has had a long battle with agencies that are charged with protecting the common property, the air and the water and natural resources in general. That, given its extensive commitment to oil and lumber harvesting should come as no real surprise.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-style-span\"\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/8301-31727_162-20043531-10391695.html\" style=\"background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EA CBS investigation in March 2011 revealed that:\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EA Koch Industries paper mill is violating the Clean Water Act by pumping out massive amounts of pollution into an Arkansas waterway, according to an EPA enforcement \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.peer.org\/docs\/ar\/3_16_11_Coffee_Creek_Enforcement_Complaint.pdf\"\u003Ecomplaint to be filed tomorrow \u003C\/a\u003Eby Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.peer.org\/\"\u003E(PEER) \u003C\/a\u003Eand the Ouachita Riverkeeper.The complaint alleges that a \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.gp.com\/\"\u003EGeorgia-Pacific paper mill\u003C\/a\u003E on the Coffee Creek in Arkansas - owned by the billionaire Koch Brothers -emits 45 million gallons of paper mill waste including hazardous materials like ammonia, chloride, and mercury each dayCoffee Creek then flows into Louisiana's Ouachita River where the pollutants have left the formerly pristine water speckled with odorous foam, slime and black pockets of water, said Jerry Johnson, who has been visiting the Ouachita River for 35 years.\u003Cb\u003E\"People used to swim in it,\" said Johnson, who now lives along the river. \"In the summertime, it was the place to go.\"\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003EAnd this is by no means an isolated incident. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2000\/09\/29\/business\/us-indicts-koch-industries-on-pollution-violations-in-texas.html\" style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003EAnother report from 2000 in the New York Times,\u003C\/a\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EA federal grand jury returned a 97-count indictment against Koch Industries today, charging the company, a subsidiary and four employees with environmental crimes at a Texas oil refinery.The defendants were charged with violating federal air pollution and hazardous waste laws at the Koch Petroleum Group's West Plant refinery near Corpus Christi, Tex., conspiracy and making false statements to state environmental officials, the Justice Department said.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EAnd, one more example, which is more important perhaps -given the links to the controversial ties to Koch and Governor Walker, Wisconsin. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EKoch Industries operates twelve industrial facilities in Wisconsin: \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.gp.com\/greenbay\/operationsMap.html\"\u003EGeorgia-Pacific\u003C\/a\u003E and its wholly-owned subsidiaries in Green Bay (4 plants), Oshkosh, Phillips, and Sheboygan; and \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.fhrasphalt.com\/USLocations.aspx\"\u003EFlint Hills\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.fhr.com\/newsroom\/contact_details.aspx?ID=12\"\u003EResources\u003C\/a\u003E in Green Bay, Junction City, McFarland, Milwaukee, Stevens Point and Waupun... (T)he data reveal that over the course of those three years, Koch Industries' facilities emitted \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/sourcewatch.org\/images\/6\/63\/Koch_Industries_Emissions_2007-2009.pdf\"\u003Eover 5.4 million pounds (PDF)\u003C\/a\u003E of toxic discharges into Wisconsin's air and water. Of these discharges, \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/sourcewatch.org\/images\/6\/63\/Koch_Industries_Emissions_2007-2009.pdf\"\u003Enearly 100,000 pounds (PDF)\u003C\/a\u003E were of substances known or suspected to cause cancer.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: transparent; clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/netrightdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/EPA-Logo.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/netrightdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/EPA-Logo.jpg\" height=\"200\" width=\"200\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EThe pattern is clear. But what’s this got to do with Wendy and Mercatus? Joining forces with other Koch-supported organizations, Mercatus has been a leader in the roll back of environmental regulations. Greenpeace has cited Mercatus as a chief source for climate change denying efforts. Moreover, Mercatus has specifically targeted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its de-regulatory drive.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/bios\/jane_mayer\/search?contributorName=jane%20mayer\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E Jane Mayer from a revealing New Yorker article on the Koch brothers examines the role this group plays:\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EThomas McGarity, a law professor at the University of Texas, who specializes in environmental issues, told me that “Koch has been constantly in trouble with the E.P.A., and Mercatus has constantly hammered on the agency.” An environmental lawyer who has clashed with the Mercatus Center called it “a means of laundering economic aims.” The lawyer explained the strategy: “You take corporate money and give it to a neutral-sounding think tank,” which \u003Cb\u003E“hires people with pedigrees and academic degrees who put out credible-seeming studies. But they all coincide perfectly with the economic interests of their funders.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EAs a Businessweek headline proclaimed:\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #000066; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003E\"Much corporate environmentalism boils down to misleading statistics and hype.\"\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EWendy Gramm’s pedigree- if you don’t look too closely- adds weight to her opinions to all of the Mercatus calls for de-regulation. That, coincidentally, ties in quite nicely with what the top donors to Mercatus expect.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/story\/2006\/12\/23\/283775\/-The-Mercatus-Center-strikes-again\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EAs Chris Bowers, blogger for DailyKos, notes:\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EIt is important that you realize who funds the Mercatus Center. Since 1985, the Mercatus Center has received 513 grants totaling $45,347,884. Their top donors have been as follows:\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EKoch Family (Includes Claude Lambe Foundation): $24,258,797\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mediamattersaction.org\/transparency\/organization\/John_M_Olin_Foundation\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EOlin Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E: $7,530,824\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mediamattersaction.org\/transparency\/organization\/John_M_Olin_Foundation\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EScaife Family\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E (includes Carthage Foundation): $5,031,000\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mediamattersaction.org\/transparency\/organization\/John_M_Olin_Foundation\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EBradley Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E: $2,5544,050\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mediamattersaction.org\/transparency\/organization\/John_M_Olin_Foundation\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EBarre Seid\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E: $2,212,000\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mediamattersaction.org\/transparency\/organization\/John_M_Olin_Foundation\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EEarhart Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E: $996,348\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EMcKenna: $265,000\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mediamattersaction.org\/transparency\/organization\/Jaquelin_Hume_Foundation\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EJacquelin Hume Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E: $260,000\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mediamattersaction.org\/transparency\/organization\/Jaquelin_Hume_Foundation\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003ESmith Richardson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E: $254,315\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mediamattersaction.org\/transparency\/organization\/Jaquelin_Hume_Foundation\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EThe Walton Family\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E (Wal-Mart): $120,000\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mediamattersaction.org\/transparency\/organization\/Jaquelin_Hume_Foundation\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EJM Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E: $85,000\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mediamattersaction.org\/transparency\/organization\/Jaquelin_Hume_Foundation\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mediamattersaction.org\/transparency\/organization\/Jaquelin_Hume_Foundation\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003ECastle Rock Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E (Coors Family): $75,000\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EEvidently unsatisfied with the work she has done unfettering markets, scrubbing regulations and ignoring the ethical codes and laws, all of  which in one or another has lead to the meltdown, Wendy Gramm is now looking forward, on behalf of the corporations, to destroying the environment as well.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"color: red; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cu\u003EWendy and the Pious Hospital Bed Maker\u003C\/u\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/ww1.hdnux.com\/photos\/06\/12\/34\/1615616\/8\/628x471.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/ww1.hdnux.com\/photos\/06\/12\/34\/1615616\/8\/628x471.jpg\" height=\"200\" width=\"189\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EWith so many fingers in so many pies, it’s often difficult to keep up with Dr. Wendy Gramm. In addition to Mercatus Center, she serves as the chairman of the board of another conservative organization “whose positions on issues can make the difference between life and death for major legislation.” \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EThe \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.sourcewatch.org\/index.php?title=Texas_Public_Policy_Foundation\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETexas Public Policy Foundation\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (TPPF) “501(c) non-profit, non-partisan research institute”  is run by a man Texas Monthly called “the most influential Republican in Texas” and probably a person most people have never heard of.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EAustin Democratic political consultant George Shipley once called  the shy and unassuming\u003Cb\u003E \u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.texscience.org\/reform\/leininger.htm\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EDr. James Leninger\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E, “ the sugar daddy and godfather of the Republican right wing in Texas.”\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EBesides the many groups with a local political interest, Leininger has funded national social conservative organizations, including the American Family Association (considered  a hate group by the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Southern_Poverty_Law_Center\"\u003ESouthern Poverty Law Center\u003C\/a\u003E) , Christian Pro-Life Foundation, \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.splcenter.org\/get-informed\/intelligence-files\/family-research-council\"\u003EFamily Research Council\u003C\/a\u003E, and\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/content\/focus-family\"\u003E Focus on the Family.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EMolly Ivins reports:\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003ELeninger tends to give his PACs and foundations innocuous names — Texans for Justice, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the Texas Justice Foundation, Children’s Economic Opportunity Foundation, Texans for Governmental Integrity, the A PAC for Parental School Choice, etc. According to the Current (a weekly alternative paper), Leininger is also a major donor to, or plays a leading role in, at least a dozen major right-wing groups. Politically, he has given not only to Christian-right school board candidates and right-wing legislative candidates but also to Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Phil Gramm, and he was Rick Perry’s largest campaign contributor ($500,000) in Perry’s race for lieutenant governor.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EThe mission of TPPF, founded by Leninger in 1989,  is to “promote and defend liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise in Texas and the nation by educating and affecting policymakers and the Texas public policy debate with academically sound research and outreach.” \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EA conservative and devoutly religious Republican businessman, Leininger made his personal fortune through \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kinetic_Concepts\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EKinetic Concepts\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E, based in San Antonio,  which makes and rents therapeutic beds for patients who are paralyzed or suffer from serious illnesses.  As humble as that might sound, take note, \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kinetic_Concepts#cite_note-18\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EKCI Revenue for 2008 was $1.88 billion, increasing to $1.99 billion in 2009 and in 2010 increased to $2.02 billion.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EIncidentally, Rick Perry, before he ran for lieutenant governor developed a lucrative relationship with Leininger. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/goog_380803150\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EAccording to a \u003C\/a\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/perry-supplemented-wealth-profitable-deals-070714581.html\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EHouston Chronicle piece dated September 21, 1997:\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/a\/ae\/KCI_Company_logo.PNG\/150px-KCI_Company_logo.PNG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/a\/ae\/KCI_Company_logo.PNG\/150px-KCI_Company_logo.PNG\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EOn Jan. 13, 1995, Perry bought $38,875 worth of stock in Kinetic Concepts, a company owned by Jim Leininger, a San Antonio physician, conservative activist and major Perry campaign donor. Perry invested an additional $35,167 in the company on Jan. 24, 1996 — the same day he spoke at a luncheon that Leininger attended. Later that day, an investment firm bought 2.2 million shares of Kinetic Concepts stock, driving up its price. Perry sold his Kinetic Concepts holdings a month later for a $38,382 profit. Leininger and Perry acknowledged they spoke at the luncheon but denied discussing the stock.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EJust a terribly fortunate coincidence? Back in 1997, Wendy Gramm also (coincidentally) had ties to Leininger’s company. Gramm earned a miniscule $25,000 a year as a member of the Kinetic Concepts board of directors. She also held stock options in the company when Kinetic Concepts Inc. agreed to sell most of the company to two San Francisco investor firms in a deal worth $850 million to $875 million. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EIt is no exaggeration to say that Rick Perry owes a lot to Leninger. There is the \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/info.tpj.org\/reports\/pdf\/PerryLeiningerHeavenlyHost.pdf\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003Enew report\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E issued by \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.tpj.org\/\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003ETexans for Public Justice\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E, a money-and-politics watchdog group.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EPerry might never have been governor — nor now be a presidential candidate — but for James Leininger. In a game-changing 1998 race then-Texas Agriculture Commissioner Perry was elected Lieutenant Governor. That victory secured Perry’s automatic promotion to governor two years later when President-Elect Bush abandoned the Governor’s Mansion. Perry narrowly won his fateful 1998 race against Democrat John Sharp, capturing just 50.04 percent of the vote. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EThis squeaker victory was secured by an eleventh-hour media blitz that Perry paid for with a last-minute, $1.1 million loan. Leininger and two other Texas tycoons guaranteed the loan, which supplied more than 10 percent of the $10.3 million that Perry raised for that election. Leininger’s family and company PAC contributed $62,500 to that Perry campaign. Leininger also was the No. 1 contributor at the time to the Texas Republican Party (then chaired by former Leininger employee Susan Weddington), which sank $82,760 into that Perry campaign. “I congratulate Leininger,” Perry opponent John Sharp said at the time. “He wanted to buy the reins of state government. And by God, he got them.”\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EThrough the TPPF, Leininger has used his wealth to promote his own conservative-religious agenda in a variety of ways. Karen Olsson writes in Texas Monthly, Leininger  was the driving force back in 2002 to influence the Texas Board of Education to re-write school textbooks.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E... TPPF aimed to influence policy by publishing research reports on state issues; its early preoccupations mirrored several of Leininger's own: tort reform, vouchers, and reduced government. Working in tandem with the new SBOE [State Board of Education] members, the TPPF began objecting to textbook material deemed liberally slanted or morally suspect. The Legislature retaliated in 1995, forbidding the SBOE to question any aspect of textbook content other than \"factual errors.\" Despite the restriction, the TPPF continued to analyze proposed books, hiring researchers to ferret out errors both of fact and of insufficient patriotism. Last winter the group helped bat down an environmental-science textbook (in large part because of a poorly written sentence linking democracy to pollution); this summer it criticized proposed social science and history textbooks for failing to disavow socialism.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EWhile the TPPF’s involvement in Texas textbooks may seem like a very narrow agenda, its policy interests, in fact, are wide-ranging, covering many conservative causes.  \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.leftofcollegestation.com\/2011\/05\/who-is-texas-public-policy-foundation.html\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003ETeddy Wilson, progressive political activist and blogger notes:\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EThe TPPF supports the predictable conservative line on a whole host of issues. The TPPF \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.texaspolicy.com\/pdf\/2011-ClimateScience-CEE.pdf\"\u003Edisputes the scientific evidence\u003C\/a\u003E of climate changes and claims that the “scientific consensus has never been as broad as proclaimed,” and the compromised emails of climate scientists showed “data manipulation and fundamental errors now discredit a once broadly accepted body of science.” The “private sector can bring innovation and competition to the criminal justice system” is how the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.texaspolicy.com\/pdf\/2008-LegeEntry-PrivateSectorPublicSafety-ml.pdf\"\u003ETPPF frames its advocacy\u003C\/a\u003E of the private prison industry, despite that there has been \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/05\/19\/us\/19prisons.html\"\u003Eno evidence to support\u003C\/a\u003E that the privatization of the prison industry has provided any public savings. The TPPF even has an entire center dedicate to “\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.texaspolicy.com\/publications.php?cat_level=315\"\u003ETenth Amendment Studies\u003C\/a\u003E,” which is a favorite Constitutional Amendment among the Tea Party faithful.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EIf any of this sounds depressingly familiar, then there’s a good good reason.  Two long time supporters of TPPF are foundations associated with Koch Industries (Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation) which contributed  \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/usa\/en\/campaigns\/global-warming-and-energy\/polluterwatch\/koch-industries\/texas-public-policy-foundation\/\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003Econtributing $383,125 in 2005-2009\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E and nearly a half million dollars between 1997 and 2009.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-vKrUeFASjzU\/Tq67cjXuZmI\/AAAAAAAAD6c\/MQYCqDRDeIo\/s1600\/PERRYX390.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-vKrUeFASjzU\/Tq67cjXuZmI\/AAAAAAAAD6c\/MQYCqDRDeIo\/s320\/PERRYX390.jpg\" height=\"233\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: red; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cu\u003ERick Perry’s Wrong Approach\u003C\/u\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EIn Perry’s campaign book, Fed Up! the governor  says that he knows of no other organization that is better positioned than Texas Public Policy Foundation to help “foster a national conversation” about “the proper role of government in our lives.\" \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EHowever, last May, TPPF  might have pushed its agenda a bit too hard. Its attempts to influence educational policy created quite a controversy. Seven breakthrough solutions to problems with the Texas’ high educational system were drafted by TPPF in its think-tank capacity, and promoted by Governor Perry.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EIt did not go over as well as expected. In response,  five A\u0026amp;M faculty members from various disciplines drafted a letter to Richard Box, the chairman of the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/texas-education\/texas-am-university-system\/\"\u003ETexas A\u0026amp;M University System\u003C\/a\u003E Board of Regents, laying out their concern regarding the lack of transparency in the board's apparent intention to implement seven proposed \"breakthrough solutions\" promoted by the TPPF.  The seven recommendations advocated “\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/7solutionsresponse.org\/index.php?unit=introduction\"\u003Ea business-style, market-driven approach under which colleges and universities would treat students as customers, de-emphasize research that isn't immediately lucrative, and evaluate individual faculty by the tuition revenue they generate.”\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EWithin a few days of the letter being posted online, more than 530 faculty members had added their names. The A\u0026amp;M Chancellor \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/texas-education\/mike-mckinney\/\"\u003EMike McKinney\u003C\/a\u003E eventually resigned.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EAll this is rather ironic of course since Wendy Gramm served on the board of Regents from 2001 to 2007, (as mentioned in Part 1) and serves as chairman in TPPF. Coincidence can quickly be discounted.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/7solutionsresponse.org\/index.php?unit=introduction\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EA concise assessment of TPPF’s market-oriented recommendations makes a fine case for rejection.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EPut simply, this is the wrong approach... the classroom is not a marketplace. The proposals reviewed here will not promote effective learning or the responsible use of resources inside a laboratory, library or seminar room. The University of Texas at Austin's bottom line is to provide a first-class education while spending our resources responsibly and efficiently. Separating those two goals is like separating research from teaching: it serves the wrong bottom line. Similarly, treating students as customers, offering them a \"product\" designed to win positive reviews and then rewarding the most popular instructors will neither challenge students in meaningful ways nor foster the deep learning and skills they will need throughout life.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: transparent; clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/americancollegecricket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/TexasAM1.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/americancollegecricket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/TexasAM1.jpg\" height=\"170\" width=\"200\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EMany feel the Perry’s close association with TPPF has damaged the university. This is turn has damaged the governor’s image. He would have Wendy Gramm, its chairman, to thank for that.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.theeagle.com\/editorial\/Gov--Perry-is-doing-irreparable-harm-to-A-amp-amp-M2011-05-22T14-07-13\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EAs the editors of The Eagle Bryan-College Station remark:\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003ETexas A\u0026amp;M University has the support of its former students that is the envy of many universities. Aggies love their alma mater and it shows in\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003Emany ways. One Aggie, however, should love his school less and, in fact, should stay out of its business. Gov. Rick Perry's obsession and interference in A\u0026amp;M has caused great harm, damage some observers feel could take a generation to undo. From his appointment of regents with greater fealty to him than to the university system they are supposed to represent to his constant meddling in the day-to-day operations of the flagship university to his infatuation with the Texas Public Policy Foundation -- an ultraconservative think tank that seeks to insinuate itself into every corner of state government -- Perry has proven not to be a friend of A\u0026amp;M, but rather a hindrance.Never before has a governor of Texas had such deadly influence on a major state university, and Perry's meddling blocks the way of A\u0026amp;M's oft-stated efforts to achieve greatness.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EThe Texas Public Policy Foundation seems harmless on the surface, with its stated goals of limited government, individual liberties, free markets, personal responsibility and private property rights. Most Texans probably would subscribe to those goals. Dig below the surface, however, and you see just how radical its efforts are.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EFounded by arch-conservative physician James Leininger, the foundation board is chaired by Wendy Gramm, former Texas A\u0026amp;M regent and wife of former Sen. Phil Gramm. Current Regent Phil Adams of Bryan is a board member, a clear conflict of interest to his responsibilities to A\u0026amp;M.The foundations website says, \"The public is demanding a different direction for their government, and the Texas Public Policy Foundation is providing the ideas that enable policymakers to chart that new course.\"\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EUnfortunately, thanks to Perry's influence, those ideas become mandates, without discussion and input from the people of this great state....Perry has been in thrall to the Texas Public Policy Foundation and its backers since he began accepting generous contributions from them in his first statewide race. Texas cannot, however, be run by contribution and those most able to spend big bucks to help buy elections, no matter which side of the political spectrum they are on.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EA\u0026amp;M is well on its way to achieving greatness. It would be a shame to let Rick Perry and his cohorts derail that with their interference.Rick Perry can love Texas A\u0026amp;M more by meddling less -- preferably not at all. Beyond appointing the best regents he can find -- no matter who they contributed to in the last gubernatorial election -- and attending football games at Kyle Field, Perry should leave A\u0026amp;M alone.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: transparent; clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: transparent; clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: transparent; clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: transparent; clear: both; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Rick Perry Phil Gramm Nexus\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-xvxAkbXGbtM\/TrEb5HcziLI\/AAAAAAAAD7g\/YD0uIzYlm9Y\/s640\/sNkjs2BorC3C24cnhpXEbtg.png\" height=\"288\" width=\"590\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/drawings\/pub?id=1m8omJfO2IDgD_kIyL9oel8vID3RfyD9AtTtG6uuM5d4\u0026amp;w=1577\u0026amp;h=708\" target=\"_blank\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EA graph of the relationships mentioned in the posts.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"color: red; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cu\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cu\u003EEpilogue\u003C\/u\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/u\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: transparent; clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.mindfully.org\/Reform\/Glass-Steagall-Act1933.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mindfully.org\/Reform\/Glass-Steagall-Act1933.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EIn researching and writing this post, I was astonished at how much harm two people can do to the country. One would think that our system would be stronger than that.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EThat our long established system of checks and balances would prevent people like the Gramms from ever inflicting too great a harm to the nation. But then the underlying purpose of all the de-regulation that the Republicans have called for (and have achieved) is really just a means to an end, a method of abolishing the safety checks that had, for the most part, protected our institutions. Once those have been removed, anything is possible. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EEven this list of all of the misdeeds of Mr. and Mrs. Gramm, as comprehensive as it might seem, is partial. Still I should think this is enough information about Perry and the friends of Rick for most intelligent voters to help them decide who the governor of Texas owes his allegiance to.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EI began this investigation with a quote from the first president of the United States and I shall end it with two quotes by its fourth, James Madison.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E“All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree”\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EAnd this is especially true when those that wield the power are partially hidden behind masks and puppets. When it comes to peoples like the Gramms- whose working relationship with a presidential candidate is not only acknowledged but applauded- it is simply not possible to be as vigilant as necessary.  Since justice has apparently failed- not once but repeatedly in this case, the only option is to make sure than any candidate connected with such people is not elected to high office. We literally cannot afford it. \u003C\/span\u003ENow is the time to make sure that Perry doesn't come any closer to the White House than he is at this minute.  \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EWhen reflecting on the various attempts by Phil and Wendy Gramm to by-pass, ignore or remove the regulatory powers of our government to protect its citizens, it is helpful to recall this other quote by Madison:\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E“If men were angels no government would be necessary” \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EAnd when you are dealing with a pair like the Gramms (along with so many other less-than- angelic types), it's all the more reason that we need \u003Cb\u003Emore\u003C\/b\u003E regulations in place, not less. Ironically, despite having waved the flags of deregulation at every opportunity, \u003C\/span\u003EMr. and Mrs. Gramm themselves provide the best proof of the necessity, the vital importance of having tight regulations and the power to punish those that violate them. \n\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E---------------------------------------\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=Currently%20reading%20%3C?php%20the_permalink();%20?%3E\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Be Sweet and Please Re-Tweet\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EBe Sweet- Please Re-tweet\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"zemanta-pixie\" style=\"height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"\" class=\"zemanta-pixie-img\" src=\"http:\/\/img.zemanta.com\/pixy.gif?x-id=c860359d-a15b-4691-9089-7fe62828816b\" style=\"border: none; float: right;\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/407281054887604200\/posts\/default\/913685607620581281"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/407281054887604200\/posts\/default\/913685607620581281"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/nomadicpolitics.blogspot.com\/2012\/01\/friends-of-rick-perry-mr-and-mrs-gramm_07.html","title":"Mr. and Mrs. Gramm: The Dark and Disturbing Friends of Rick Perry 4\/4"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nomad"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/03686282358562565742"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-6OYJYld6tmk\/Ut4nXGqSHGI\/AAAAAAAAFts\/6Jh3Gwt27hI\/s72-c\/coffee-creek_koch-industries1.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-407281054887604200.post-8618676895992577266"},"published":{"$t":"2012-01-06T22:08:00.002+02:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2016-06-12T10:53:12.689+03:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"2012 campaign"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"2012 election crony capitalism"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Enron"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Nomad"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Phil Gramm"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"rick perry"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Wendy Lee Gramm"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Mr. and Mrs. Gramm: The Dark and Disturbing Friends of Rick Perry: 3\/4"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #666666; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003Eby Noma\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003Ed\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EIn this the third in the series, I want to take a moment to examine the life and deeds of the wife of Phil Gramm, Wendy Lee Gramm. I think you will find it- for want of a better word- breathtaking, but not in a good way. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: red; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cu\u003EGetting Started\u003C\/u\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-RIjl4kfPbMw\/Tq6TWBmk98I\/AAAAAAAAD58\/wqghoH4_4QQ\/s1600\/wlg.jpg\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-RIjl4kfPbMw\/Tq6TWBmk98I\/AAAAAAAAD58\/wqghoH4_4QQ\/s320\/wlg.jpg\" width=\"294\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: #cccccc; font-size: x-large;\"\u003EU\u003C\/span\u003Ender normal circumstances, the wife of a senator would hardly be worth a second glance. However, Dr. Wendy Lee Gramm is no ordinary wife of no ordinary senator. As a study of modern politics, in all its corruption and ambition, perky Wendy Gramm is a fair enough study in her own right.\u003C\/span\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EFirst, let’s cover the early history, collected from various sources.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EWendy Gramm’s Korean grandfather immigrated to Hawaii as a sugar plantation laborer. Like her grandfather, Wendy’s father had originally started out as a laborer in the sugar fields. According to the story, he selected his bride from a series of photos of Korean women and sent her money to join him in Hawaii. He married in 1939 at age 25.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EDuring the Depression, he left Hawaii for a university in Indiana where he earned an engineering degree. He later returned to Hawaii and found a job at a sugar processing plant where he eventually worked his way to the top of the company, later becoming a vice-president of a sugar company.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EBorn in 1945 in Hawaii, Wendy Lee got her education during the '60s, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics from Wellesley in 1966. She then received her economics doctorate from \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.houstonpress.com\/related\/to\/Northwestern+University\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003ENorthwestern University\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E in \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.houstonpress.com\/related\/to\/Evanston+(Illinois)\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EEvanston, Illinois\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E, five years later.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.houstonpress.com\/1995-04-06\/news\/the-wendy-card\/2\/\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EAs the Houston Press notes:\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EWhen she took a teaching post at A\u0026amp;M in 1970, she has said, Wendy Lee planned to spend only five years in Aggieland..then go teach at a small liberal arts college somewhere. That same year, she and Gramm were married. Gramm was promoted to Associate Professor in 1974 and also served as the Department's Director of Undergraduate Programs. In all, Dr. Gramm taught economics at Texas A \u0026amp; M for more than eight years and has published articles in the American Economic Review and the Journal of Law and Economics.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"text-align: -webkit-auto;\"\u003EThe Gramms first met in 1969 when Wendy Lee was interviewing for a job in the economics department at Texas A\u0026amp;M, where Phil Gramm was already on the economics faculty.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"text-align: -webkit-auto;\"\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u0026nbsp;They married about four months after her arrival. After her husband became a Congressman in 1978, Dr. Gramm was able to parlay her husband’s connections to find a string of increasingly important posts.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EWhen \u003Cb\u003EDemocrat\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Ci\u003E \u003C\/i\u003EPhil Gramm resigned his House seat on January 5, 1983, and returned in a \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special_election\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003Especial election\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E held on February 12, as a new and improved \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ERepublican\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E Phil Gramm, it was met with smiling happy faces from the Republican crowd. And of course, it was bound to do wonderful things for both of the Gramms. Her political ambitions soared in the Reagan administration because ostensibly, she saw eye-to-eye with many of the core principles that Ronald Reagan espoused. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.houstonpress.com\/1995-04-06\/news\/the-wendy-card\/2\/\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EAs the\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.houstonpress.com\/1995-04-06\/news\/the-wendy-card\/2\/\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EHouston Press\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.houstonpress.com\/1995-04-06\/news\/the-wendy-card\/2\/\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E article notes:\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: #fcfcfc; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EShe has regularly espoused an unfettered market as the solution to almost any of the nation's problems you'd care to name. The answer for struggling mothers who need day care so they can support their families? Forget government programs or parental leave, she says, and look to free markets and a strong economy. What about helping minorities climb the economic ladder? Forget affirmative action or quotas, she says. The answer is free markets and a strong economy. Federal deficits? Environmental protection? Free markets and a strong economy.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_--YjWiyF8eE\/TMC-T2AsJhI\/AAAAAAAAHa4\/sL5Yft19-QQ\/s1600\/Phil+and+Wendy.jpg\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_--YjWiyF8eE\/TMC-T2AsJhI\/AAAAAAAAHa4\/sL5Yft19-QQ\/s320\/Phil+and+Wendy.jpg\" width=\"242\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EWendy continued to rise higher in the ranks when her husband switched hats once again, leaving the House of Representatives and took a seat in the US Senate in 1984. In that year, Dr. Gramm served as the Executive Director of the \u003Cb\u003EPresidential Task Force on Regulatory Relief\u003C\/b\u003E and as \u003Cb\u003EDirector of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Economics.\u003C\/b\u003E From 1985 to 1988, Dr. Gramm was the administrator of \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Office_of_Information_and_Regulatory_Affairs\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EInformation and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIn 1988, President Ronald Reagan named her chairman of the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Commodity_Futures_Trading_Commission\" target=\"_blank\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ECommodity Futures Trading Commission \u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E(CFTC), a position she held until 1993. (President Reagan called her \u003Cb\u003E\"my favorite economist.\"\u003C\/b\u003E )\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003E\u003Cu\u003EConflicts and Obstructions\u003C\/u\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EIt was here that her habitual pattern of conflicts of interests truly began. As both CFTC head and the wife of an influential senator, she would have found herself in a difficult position. (Whether Wendy herself recognized or appreciated this fact, is a different matter.)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EThere were times when Senator Gramm sought the support of some of the same agricultural and business interests that she was regulating. On trips to Texas during his 1989 Senatorial campaign, she worked both on CFTC business and for her husband's reelection.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EClearly the proper ethical response would have been to choose one or the other. After all, in cases where the public trust is involved, where a fair and open arbitration is essential, even the appearance of improper influence is frowned upon. (Ask Clarence and Virginia Thomas.) But the Gramms were never a couple weighed down by charges of impropriety or held back by ethical concerns. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EIn fact, it was in that position that we have the first glimpse of the \u003Ci\u003Efuture\u003C\/i\u003E Wendy Gramm. \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2010\/10\/19\/AR2010101907216.html\"\u003EAs a Washington Post article\u0026nbsp;r\u003C\/a\u003Eevealed back in 2010, one of two administrative law judges presiding over investor complaints at the CFTC, George H. Painter, claimed that Judge Bruce Levine, a longtime colleague, had a secret agreement with a Dr. Wendy Gramm, chairwoman of the agency, to stand in the way of investors filing complaints with the agency.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EOn Judge Levine's first week on the job, nearly twenty years ago, he came into my office and stated that he had promised Wendy Gramm, then Chairwoman of the Commission, that \u003Cb\u003Ewe would \u003Cu\u003Enever\u003C\/u\u003E rule in a complainant's favor,\" Painter wrote. \"A review of his rulings will confirm that he fulfilled his vow,\"\u003C\/b\u003E Painter wrote.Painter continued: \"Judge Levine, in the cynical guise of enforcing the rules, forces pro se complainants to run a hostile procedural gauntlet until they lose hope, and either withdraw their complaint or settle for a pittance, regardless of the merits of the case.\"The CFTC oversees trading of the nation's most important commodities, including oil, gold and cotton. The agency's administrative law judges handle cases in which investors allege that trading professionals or financial firms violated the rules.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EWas this the kind of “unfettered market” that Wendy Gramm sought? If her later record is any indication, the answer is quite clear. Anything it takes to get the prize is enough justification for Wendy.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4104\/4996942862_f84cf58ec5.jpg\" style=\"background-color: transparent; clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4104\/4996942862_f84cf58ec5.jpg\" height=\"320\" width=\"243\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EHowever, this is an obvious case of \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/fortunaty.net\/org\/wikileaks\/CRS\/wikileaks-crs-reports\/98-831.pdf\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EObstruction of Congressional or Administrative Proceedings \u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E(18 U.S.C. 1505) could have conceivably ended Wendy Gramm's career early on. The effect on the system was to prevent a necessary oversight which might well have helped to prevent many clear cases of fraud in the whole sub-prime disaster. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EAfter all, the stated mission of the CFTC is to protect market users and the public from fraud, manipulation, and abusive practices related to the sale of commodity and financial futures and options, and to foster open, competitive, and financially sound futures and option markets. Under Gramm's supervisor, the exact opposite was achieved.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EWhen Wendy Gramm left the CFTC in 1993, she began to explore the private sector by accepting directorships on the boards of several corporations, Invesco Funds, State Farm Insurance Companies. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/pages\/frontline\/president\/players\/gramm.html\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EA PBS Frontline investigation uncovered this excellent bit of foreshadowing\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E, which occurred around the time Phil Gramm made his unsuccessful bid in the \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/U.S._presidential_election,_1996\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E1996 presidential election\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EAnother board Wendy Gramm sits on is that of Iowa Beef Processors (IBP), a large meat processing company. Based in Dakota City, Nebraska, IBP is a powerful corporation next door to a key election- year state, Iowa. Support for Senator Gramm at IBP came in handy last August at the Iowa straw poll in Ames. IBP sent a memo to its management level employees encouraging them to attend the straw poll, which is not restricted to Iowa residents, and informing them that $25 tickets and bus transportation would be provided by the Phil Gramm-for-President campaign. Gramm campaign buses picked up the IBP employees at eight separate locations in the states of Iowa, Nebraska, and Illinois and transported them to the straw poll, where their votes helped Gramm tie front-runner Bob Dole and gave the Gramm campaign an important boost.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EIn a written statement to FRONTLINE, an IBP spokesman said, \u003Cb\u003E\"Many of the campaigns provided tickets and bus transportation to the event, some bringing in people from as far away as Kansas. While the Gramm campaign paid the way for the IBP employees who attended, our people were not told to vote for Senator Gramm or any other candidate.\"\u003C\/b\u003E FRONTLINE learned that the request for IBP's help in the straw poll came from the late Alec Courtelis, the former finance chair of the Gramm-for-President campaign. .. Courtelis also sat on IBP's board of directors and was responsible for bringing Wendy Gramm onto IBP's board.While no one has accused Mrs. Gramm or anyone else of breaking any laws, the IBP case nonetheless shows how questions can arise when a candidate's spouse is appointed to a well-paying corporate directorship and when that company helps promote the husband's candidacy.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003ESmall potatoes. There was another corporation where Wendy Gramm sat as a director. And its name was\u003Cb\u003E Enron\u003C\/b\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_bZ2PmzrKelc\/STPrIRYvRZI\/AAAAAAAAAIo\/7DQfTZghhd0\/s400\/enron-shredder.gif\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003E\u003Cu\u003ELessons of the Past and for the Future\u003C\/u\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\nOn the one occasion that Phil Gramm and wife, Wendy paired up, the scale of the damage that followed was absolutely stunning, especially for the investors who lost more than $60 billion in the spectacular collapse of Enron.\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\nThe Village Voice, citing a report by a non-profit research organization, \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.citizen.org\/Page.aspx?pid=183\"\u003EPublic Citizen\u003C\/a\u003E, explains the dubious Gramm involvement in the Enron affair.\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EIn an apparent response to a 1992 plea from Enron, Dr. Wendy Gramm, then chair of the federal\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.villagevoice.com\/related\/to\/Commodity+Futures+Trading+Commission\"\u003E Commodity Futures Trading Commission\u003C\/a\u003E, moved to exempt the company's energy-swap operation from government oversight. By then, the Houston-based Enron was a major contributor to Senator Gramm's campaign.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EThis decision also came about after intense lobbying by Koch Industries, several oil companies, and Wall street speculators. This group has formed a coalition called “The Energy Group” which pressed the CFTC to allow oil derivatives to be traded outside of government regulation. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/report\/koch-oil-speculation\/\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E As Think Progress notes:\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EOn the final day of the [George H.W.] Bush administration, January 21, 1993, [CFTC chairwoman] Wendy Gramm … approved the rule exempting key energy futures contracts from government regulation and returned a great chunk of the energy market to the grand old days of unregulated futures trading,” writes author Antonia Juhasz in the book \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Tyranny-Oil-Worlds-Powerful-Industry\/dp\/0061434507\"\u003ETyranny of Oil\u003C\/a\u003E. The move mirrored the demands made by Koch’s lobbying coalition, \u003Cb\u003EThe Energy Group\u003C\/b\u003E. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EOne might think that Wendy Gramm would have wanted to take a break from all that scheming. One would be wrong. The audacity of Phil Gramm is second only to his wife.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EA few days after she got the ball rolling on the exemption, Wendy Gramm resigned from the commission. Enron soon appointed her to its board of directors, where she served on the audit committee, which oversees the inner financial workings of the corporation. For this, the company paid her between $915,000 and $1.85 million in stocks and dividends, as much as $50,000 in annual salary, and $176,000 in attendance fees, according to a report by Public Citizen, a group that has relentlessly tracked Enron, which in turn has called the report unfair.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EMeanwhile Enron had become Phil Gramm's largest corporate contributor—and according to Public Citizen, the largest across-the board donor in its industry. Between 1989 and 2001, the company tossed Gramm just under $100,000. In 1998, Wendy Gramm cashed in her Enron stock for $276,912. There's nothing unusual about a Washington regulator quitting the government and going to work for a private company she was regulating. And people often get rich in the process. Wendy Gramm, whose office didn't return Voice calls, has told reporters she sold the stock expressly to avoid any hint of a conflict of interest.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003ESo, to recap: wearing her hat as a regulator, \u003C\/span\u003Eshe gives one company an exemption, and then quits her job and becomes a director in that company. That company then delivers a contribution to her husband and then she quits before the whole she-bang collapses, with a tidy profit from her stock sell-out. Is that how this pretty little scheme worked?\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-style-span\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EBy cashing out at this time- using the alibi of conflicts of interest, Gramm was able to profit just before Enron collapsed. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.salon.com\/2004\/01\/28\/wendy_gramm\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EAs Salon reports:\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EWhen Enron went over the cliff, the Gramms even portrayed themselves as victims: Wendy’s stand on her imaginary moral high ground led her to sell before Enron’s price peaked, they whined, so she forfeited some potential profits. Enron employees lacking Gramm’s finely tuned ethics, and the rest of the investing public lacking her inside knowledge of the company’s twisted finances, were left holding worthless paper.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EAstounding, isn’t it? But the Voice article has even more: \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EBut that's not the end of the story. In June 2000, Senator Gramm co-sponsored the\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.villagevoice.com\/related\/to\/Commodity+Futures+Modernization+Act\"\u003E Commodity Futures Modernization Act\u003C\/a\u003E, a measure aimed at deregulating certain kinds of futures trading, but not energy futures. That bill never made it to the floor, and thus quietly died.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003ESix months later, on December 15, Gramm curiously turned up as co-sponsor of a bill with the same name, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which did deregulate energy futures and which, without undergoing the usual committee hearings and preliminary votes, was immediately attached as a rider to an 11,000-page appropriations bill. It passed and was signed into law by \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.villagevoice.com\/related\/to\/Bill+Clinton\"\u003EPresident Bill Clinton\u003C\/a\u003E six days later. Few lawmakers had likely perused the rider carefully, if they even knew it was there. And at any rate, Enron had given to the campaigns of over 200 legislators.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;\"\u003ESo apparently, Phil Gramm successfully slipped this crafty bit of legislation unnoticed by other members of Congress or the president.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003EIn the end, some cheap imitation of justice was offered to the public. Wendy Gramm did not escape unscathed.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Ctable align=\"center\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" class=\"tr-caption-container\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\n\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-JlQj6rqqGNs\/UDa8k1J2peI\/AAAAAAAAEkE\/RcvCvGbd42M\/s1600\/E-board.jpg\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"187\" src=\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-JlQj6rqqGNs\/UDa8k1J2peI\/AAAAAAAAEkE\/RcvCvGbd42M\/s640\/E-board.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\n\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd class=\"tr-caption\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: small;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: small;\"\u003EEnron directors\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;\"\u003EFIRSTROW, FROM LEFT, Ken L. Harrison, John A. Urquhart, Robert A. Belfer, Norman P. Blake, Jr., Robert K. Jaedicke, Ronnie C. Chan, Jeffrey K. Skilling, Kenneth L. Lay and Wendy L. Gramm. Second Row, from left, Bruce G. Willison, John H. Duncan, Joe H. Foy, Charles E. Walker, John Wakeham, Jerome J. Meyer, Herbert S. Winokur, Jr. and Charles A LeMaistre.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\n\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EAfter the Enron scandal, Gramm and the other directors of the energy company were named in several investor lawsuits. In particular, Gramm and other seventeen Enron directors agreed to a $168 million dollar settlement in a suit led by the\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/University_of_California\" style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E University of California\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/business\/1788979.stm\"\u003ESpeaking to the BBC regarding the Enron scandal\u003C\/a\u003E, Robert McCullough - a consultant from Oregon and a professor at Portland State University- drew a parallel to events of the past. The emerging shape of the Enron scandal was almost identical to one of 70 years ago, which prompted the setting up of the first regulators to govern the way companies report their performance, he said. Following the collapse of Anglo-American \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Innovator\"\u003Einnovator\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Investor\"\u003Einvestor\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Samuel_Insull\"\u003ESamuel Insull\u003C\/a\u003E’s financial empire during the Great Depression,\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EThe US set up the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate companies' financial reporting. \"At the time, regulatory practices were set in force to avoid its repetition,\" Mr McCullough said. \"Their enforcement has been eroded over the intervening years, and today we are almost exactly reproducing that scandal. That regulation had been chipped away to the point where it is no better than it was in the 1920s, Mr McCullough said.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Ctable cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" class=\"tr-caption-container\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\n\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.citizen.org\/cmep\/images\/WendyGrammSalarySum5.gif\" style=\"clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/www.citizen.org\/cmep\/images\/WendyGrammSalarySum5.gif\" height=\"212\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\n\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd class=\"tr-caption\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;\"\u003EEnron's Compensation (courtesy of Public Citizen)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\n\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003EFuture historians will most likely look back at \u003Cb\u003Ethe Enron collapse as merely a small-scale rehearsal of the financial meltdown of 2008.\u003C\/b\u003E Some analysts have said that Enron was a wake-up call in our era of postmodern capitalism, if so, clearly somebody hit the snooze button. The same elements were in play, corporations taking substantial risks, cooked books to hide losses and secret partnerships with those paid to oversee operations. Behind both of these disgraceful episodes, Senator Phil Gramm and his helpful wife. However, with Enron, it was the investors that lost their life savings, with the later events, it was to be the entire financial system of the West that took the blow.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003E\u003Cu\u003EHow Quaint the Ways of Paradox\u003C\/u\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\n\u003Ctable cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" class=\"tr-caption-container\" style=\"float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;\"\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\n\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-G3OwliVUOv0\/TrEgw_LLjJI\/AAAAAAAAD7o\/E9padkFWzJ0\/s1600\/joshua+lee.JPG\" style=\"clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-G3OwliVUOv0\/TrEgw_LLjJI\/AAAAAAAAD7o\/E9padkFWzJ0\/s320\/joshua+lee.JPG\" width=\"273\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\n\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd class=\"tr-caption\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: small;\"\u003EJoshua Lee, wife, and children\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\n\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EReturning to the life of Wendy Gramm’s father, the sugar plantation worker turned vice-president of the company, a glaring paradox emerges.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EConditions on the sugar plantation where he grew up and worked were every bit as dire as any Brazilian slum of today. It was only through the concerted unionization of workers, culminating in \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mauialmanac.com\/2007\/10\/19\/great-sugar-strike\/\" style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003Ethe Great Sugar Strike of 1946\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E that conditions improved.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu\/1946.html\" style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu\/1946.html\" style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EAccording to a report produced by University of Hawai‘i - West O‘ahu, Center for Labor Education and Research,\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EBefore 1946, Hawai‘i's economy, politics and social structures were completely dominated by a corporate elite known as the Big Five (Alexander \u0026amp; Baldwin, American Factors, Castle \u0026amp; Cooke, C. Brewer, \u0026amp; Theo. Davies). The leaders of these factor companies exercised absolute control over Hawai‘i's plantation workers and the majority of the islands multi-ethnic workforce. The 1946 strike forever changed the balance of power between workers and the plantations. \u003Cb\u003ENo longer would living and working conditions be set unilaterally by the plantation owners or their parent corporations..\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EThe legacy of the great Hawaiian sugar strike of 1946 is the success we can see today of Hawai‘i's multi-ethnic workforce to bridge ethnic differences and build trust based on worker solidarity. Hawai'i's diverse workforce united in 1946 and began for the first time to form a single working class culture, unique to Hawai'i. Like today, the issues of housing, medical care, pensions and wages were key issues for the 1946 sugar workers. \u003Cb\u003EPreviously the quality of housing, medical care and old-age pensions depended upon the whim of individual plantations. As a result of the 1946 sugar strike, the ILWU negotiated a new era for labor relations, establishing these important issues as contractual rights of workers, rather than as favors the plantations could wield to force worker compliance. \u003C\/b\u003EThus, the 1946 sugar strike is an event whose impact reaches beyond the sugar fields, into the lives of every worker in Hawai‘i.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EInterestingly, \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/webcache.googleusercontent.com\/search?q=cache:uWwOJ84tDTgJ:scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu\/bitstream\/handle\/10125\/21471\/v2-joshua_lee.pdf%3Fsequence%3D1+WAHIAWA+WATER+COMPANY,+INC.+Joshua+Lee\u0026amp;cd=2\u0026amp;hl=en\u0026amp;ct=clnk\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003Eaccording to an oral history interview conducted with Wendy Gramm’s father back in 1976\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E, Joshua Lee recounts how, during the Great Depression, he found work through a government-sponsored work program. \u003Cb\u003EThe National Youth Administration\u003C\/b\u003E (NYA) was a \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/New_Deal\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003ENew Deal\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E agency in the United States that focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16 and 24. Without that offer of support at a crucial time in his life, it is possible that Wendy’s father might not have been able to better himself and allow his family the stability they needed to rise out of poverty. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003EGiven her family history, one can only speculate how Dr. Wendy Gramm- who owes much to both unions and to government regulations and social programs, can reconcile her work on behalf of exploitative corporations. I suppose she has not given it a moment’s thought.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent;\"\u003EAfter all, she’s a very busy woman.\u003C\/span\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;\"\u003E---------------------------------------\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003EIn the fourth- and last part of this investigation, we shall be taking a close look at Wendy’s ties to Rick Perry, their shared friends, and shared interests. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: inherit;\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #242424; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Cspan class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #242424; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/nomadicpolitics.blogspot.com\/2012\/01\/friends-of-rick-perry-mr-and-mrs-gramm_07.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETo Continue to PART FOUR\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/407281054887604200\/posts\/default\/8618676895992577266"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/407281054887604200\/posts\/default\/8618676895992577266"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/nomadicpolitics.blogspot.com\/2012\/01\/friends-of-rick-perry-mr-and-mrs-gramm_06.html","title":"Mr. and Mrs. Gramm: The Dark and Disturbing Friends of Rick Perry: 3\/4"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nomad"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/03686282358562565742"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-RIjl4kfPbMw\/Tq6TWBmk98I\/AAAAAAAAD58\/wqghoH4_4QQ\/s72-c\/wlg.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}}]}});