Posted by Fu Manchu on 07/01/09

Health Care, Health Insurance, & Pharma
3. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America: $6,910,000
6. Pfizer, Inc: $6,140,000
12. American Medical Association: $4,240,000
18. American Hospital Association: $3,580,000
19. Eli Lilly and Company: $3,440,000
37. America's Health Insurance Plans, Inc: $2,030,000
39. CVS Caremark Inc: $2,005,000
47. Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association: $1,800,000
49. GlaxoSmithKline: $1,780,000
63. Merck & Co: $1,500,000
65. United Health Group, Inc: $1,500,000
69. Sanofi-Aventis U.S. Inc: $1,460,000
76. Novartis: $1,347,134
87. Abbott Laboratories: $1,260,000
89. Astrazeneca Pharmaceuticals, LP: $1,250,000
92. Medtronic, Inc: $1,238,000

Oil
2. Exxon Mobil: $9,320,000
4. Chevron U.S.A. Inc: $6,800,000
7. Conoco Phillips: $5,980,935
16. BP America, Inc: $3,610,000
20. Marathon Oil Corporation: $3,380,000
45. American Petroleum Institute: $1,810,000

Defense
5. Lockheed Martin Corporation: $6,380,000
11. General Electric Company: $4,540,000
28. Northrop Grumman Corporation: $2,570,000
30. Boeing Company: $2,410,00
51. Honeywell International: $1,760,000
73. Raytheon Company: $1,360,000

Telecoms
10. AT&T Services, Inc: $5,134,873
14. Verizon (excluding Verizon Wireless): $3,760,000
21. National Cable and Telecommunications Association: $3,370,000
23. Comcast Corporation: $2,760,000
68. Motorola, Inc: $1,470,000

Automotive
22. General Motors: $2,800,000
27. United Services Automobile Association: $2,590,244
52. Ford Motor Company: $1,750,000
84. Toyota Motor North America: $1,290,000
86. Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers: $1,264,400

Financial
32. Financial Services Roundtable: $2,260,000
33. Prudential Financial, Inc: $2,180,000
41. American Bankers Association: $1,890,000
61. Visa, Inc: $1,540,000
74. Investment Company Institute: $1,359,917
75. Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association: $1,350,000
82. J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A.: $1,310,000
90. Citigroup Management Corp: $1,250,000
90. Credit Union National Association: $1,250,000

Biotech
36. Monsanto: $2,094,000
40. Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO): $1,920,000
44. Bayer Corporation: $1,843,672

Railroads
24. Association of American Railroads: $2,759,545
54. Union Pacific Corporation: $1,717,108
71. BNSF Railway: $1,400,000

Life Insurance
42. American Council of Life Insurers: $1,867,075
44. New York Life Insurance Company: $1,840,000
64. State Farm Insurance: $1,500,000
93. The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company: $1,237,000

Other
1. Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A.: $9,996,000
8. National Association of Realtors: $5,727,000
9. U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform: $5,480,000
13. AARP: $4,090,000
15. Southern Company: $3,650,000
17. Altria Client Services Inc: $3,580,000
25. Amgen, Inc: $2,750,000
26. National Association of Broadcasters: $2,600,000
29. Edison Electric Institute: $2,550,000
31. Fedex Corporation: $2,370,000
34. Textron, Inc.: $2,140,000
35. General Dynamics Corp: $2,101,945
38. International Business Machines (IBM): $2,030,000
43. United Technologies Corporation: $1,860,000
46. Recording Industry Association of America: $1,810,000
48. CTIA-The Wireless Association: $1,790,000
50. Time Warner Inc. $1,780,000
53. The Dow Chemical Company: $1,735,000
55. American Electric Power Company: $1,716,913
56. Microsoft Corporation: $1,650,000
57. Qualcomm, Incorporated: $1,620,000
58. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc: $1,600,000
59. L-3 Communications: $1,580,000
60. Exelon Business Services, LLC: $1,540,000
62. Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc: $1,530,000
66. Norfolk Southern Corporation: $1,485,026
67. Koch Companies Public Sector LLC: $1,480,000
70. American Airlines: $1,450,000
72. Oracle Corporation: $1,390,000
77. Air Transport Association of America, Inc.: $1,340,000
78. Disney Worldwide Services, Inc.: $1,330,000
79. Sepracor, Inc: $1,324,157
80. National Association of Home Builders: $1,320,000
81. UPS: $1,316,426
83. Siemens Corporation: $1,300,000
85. Duke Energy Corporation: $1,282,770
94. Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., Inc: $1,230,000
95. Business Roundtable: $1,220,000
96. Wellpoint, Inc: $1,220,000
97. American Wind Energy Association: $1,212,504
98. F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd: $1,206,427
99. National Rural Electric Cooperative Association: $1,200,000
99. CBS Corporation: $1,200,000

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18394.cfm

Posted by Fu Manchu on 07/01/09

John Stossel, ABC News' co-anchor of "20/20" and a New York Times best-selling author, likes to take a skeptical look at a wide array of issues, but hold the phone on his new healthcare special - it was pulled to make room for yet more coverage of Michael Jackson.

Bad break for Stossel, but nice timing for President Barack Obama, who was certainly not going to get a leg up on his own health care reform initiative on the back of Stossel's hard-hitting show: "Canadian Health Care: The End of Innovation?"

Stossel's original promo for his special clearly pointed to a no-prisoners approach to the hot-button issue.

"President Obama said that the government is going to ‘fix what is broken about health care in America.' It sounds like a great idea, but often what sounds good has unintended consequences.

"When the government takes over, many critics say that you may not get the care and breakthroughs you need to save your life.

"‘The only way they can get costs down under a government-run system is to control the amount of money that is spent on health care,' says Sally Pipes of the Pacific Research Institute, who was born in Canada, and is wary about government taking the reins of healthcare in the United States.

"‘We are going to have denied care, lack of access to the latest technology, and long waiting lists, just like people do in Canada and Great Britain,' she warns."

For sure, Stossel had some serious food for thought on tap for viewers, but it was not to be. In his blog, Stossel gives his take: "Of course, maybe my bosses made the wrong choice. Maybe more viewers would have tuned in for my . . . report. But the beauty of the market is that if they regularly choose wrong, they will go bankrupt. Networks better at giving the public what we want will take their business.

"I'd rather have viewers vote with their remotes than have elites govern our choices, making sure we watch ‘serious' programming.

"Yes, I am sick of the coverage of Michael Jackson. I hate it that ABC didn't run my piece. Free markets sometimes encourage pandering to the masses. I still say, bless the market. The good outweighs the bad.

"Free speech means rude obscenity and hate speech. I treasure free speech too."

The dreaded theme of Stossel's special seems to be: Take a good hard look at the Canadian system - because that's what the United States seems bound and determined to replicate.

But viewers will just have to wait to see the special, and, perhaps, that waiting will be good practice for what's to come. Some more notions from the shelved expose:

"‘People line up for care. Some of them die. That's what happens,' Dr. David Gratzer says of Canada's healthcare system.

"Gratzer, a Canadian doctor, thought Canada's government health care system was great - until he started treating patients.

"‘The more time I spent in the Canadian system - the more I came across people waiting for radiation therapy, waiting for the knee replacement so they could finally walk up to the second floor of their house,'" he explained.

"‘You want to see your neurologist because of your stress headache? No problem! You just have to wait six months,' he continued. ‘You want an MRI? No problem! Free as the air. You've just got to wait six months.'"

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/stossel_special_spiked/2009/07/01/230938.html
?s=al&promo_code=8294-1

Posted 07/01/09 Terri M Hillsboro, IL

I am so sick of Michael Jackson coverage. We have VERY serious issues going on right now that could impact every American for generations to come and change the way we live forever, BUT didn't you hear Dianna Ross was in the will!!!! OMG and his toxicology report is due out any day now!!!

Posted 07/01/09 BrendonDeMeo North Chelmsford, MA

Heh, my local Tea Party group staged a protest outside of our local ABC affiliate HQ last week because of their allowance of 1 hour of Obama health care propaganda, and their disallowance of any dissenting views. I will be linking this story to them all.

Posted by Fu Manchu on 07/01/09

The Fox News Channel is having its best year ever and aired all 10 of the top-rated cable news shows in the second quarter of 2009.

"Since Obama came into office, Fox has continued not only winning, but doing so at unprecedented levels," Michael Calderone noted on Politico.

Fox showed a 33 percent rise in total viewers last quarter compared to the second quarter of 2008, and a 54 percent increase in younger viewers for its primetime weekday shows.

The biggest gainer on Fox was Glenn Beck.

"Beck, who takes aim at the administration repeatedly, is proving an even bigger draw since coming over from HLN: His 5 p.m. slot is up 110 percent from last year," Calderone disclosed.

TVNewser reported the average daily viewership for the top 10 cable news shows, all of them on Fox:

# 8 p.m. - "The O'Reilly Factor" - 3,188,000

# 9 p.m. - "Hannity" - 2,341,000

# 5 p.m. - "Glenn Beck" - 2,053,000

# 10 p.m. - "On the Record" - 1,950,000

# 6 p.m. - "Special Report" - 1,889,000

# 7 p.m. - "Fox Report" - 1,757,000

# 11 p.m. - "The O'Reilly Factor" - 1,579,000

# 9 a.m. - "America's Newsroom" - 1,399,000

# 4 p.m. - "Your World" - 1,389,000

# 3 p.m. - "Studio B" - 1,169,000

The cable news show on other networks that came closest to cracking the top 10 was MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," which had 1,159,000 nightly viewers during the second quarter.

© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/fox_news_records/2009/07/01/230888.html

Posted 07/01/09 mattgeb84 lynn, MA

people are watching the Orielly factor twice wow

Posted 07/01/09 Fu Manchu Belleville, MI

I know, pathetic isn't it. And Hannity is at number two is pretty disturbing as well.

Posted 07/01/09 m00nmaster Scotch Plains, NJ

I hope Glenn Beck keeps getting good guests, but he has to tone down the goofiness.

Posted 07/01/09 fadestyle Walnut Bottom, PA

where is the fox show freedom watch? with the judge? whats the numbers for that show? that also doesnt count vcasts or youtube views.

Posted 07/01/09 Fu Manchu Belleville, MI

fade I really hope freedom watch gets a prime time slot soon!

Posted by Fu Manchu on 07/01/09

Federal agents hunt for guns, one house at a time

In front of a run-down shack in north Houston, federal agents step from a government sedan into 102-degree heat and face a critical question: How can the woman living here buy four high-end handguns in one day?

The house is worth $35,000. A screen dangles by a wall-unit air conditioner. Porch swing slats are smashed, the smattering of grass is flattened by cars and burned yellow by sun.

"I'll do the talking on this one," agent Tim Sloan, of South Carolina, told partner Brian Tumiel, of New York.

Success on the front lines of a government blitz on gunrunners supplying Mexican drug cartels with Houston weaponry hinges on logging heavy miles and knocking on countless doors. Dozens of agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - sent here from around the country - are needed to follow what ATF acting director Kenneth Melson described as a "massive number of investigative leads."

All told, Mexican officials in 2008 asked federal agents to trace the origins of more than 7,500 firearms recovered at crime scenes in Mexico. Most of them were traced back to Texas, California and Arizona.

Among other things, the agents are combing neighborhoods and asking people about suspicious purchases as well as seeking explanations as to how their guns ended up used in murders, kidnappings and other crimes in Mexico.

"Ever turning up the heat on cartels, our law enforcement and military partners in the government of Mexico have been working more closely with the ATF by sharing information and intelligence," Melson said Tuesday during a firearms-trafficking summit in New Mexico.
Firearms dealers visited

The ATF recently dispatched 100 veteran agents to its Houston division, which reaches to the border.

The mission is especially challenging because, officials say, that while Houston is the number one point of origin for weapons traced back to the United States from Mexico, the government can't compile databases on gun owners under federal law.

Agents instead review firearms dealers' records in person.

People who are legally in the United States and have clean criminal records, but are facing economic problems are often recruited by traffickers to buy weapons on their behalf in order to shield themselves from scrutiny.

Knocks at the door of the shack that looked to be the definition of hard times went unanswered.

"I am out of here," Sloan said a few moments later, as a pit bull lazily sauntered from the back yard. "I don't like pit bulls walking up behind me."
Best information source

On second thought, Sloan switched to Spanish and interviewed a neighbor.

The neighbor said the woman left a month ago after a fight with her husband or boyfriend, who still lived there with what she called "other degenerates."

"An angry ex-girlfriend or wife is the best person in the world, the greatest source of information," Sloan said.

The night before, the duo were in a stakeout where they watched a weapons sale.

They also combined efforts with the Drug Enforcement Administration for an aircraft to stealthily follow traffickers to the border.

On this day, agents weren't wearing raid jackets or combat boots and weren't armed with warrants.

Guns were hidden under civilian shirts.

Another tip took agents on a 30-minute drive from the shack to a sprawling home with a pool in the back and an American flag out front.

It turned out two handguns, of a type drug gangsters prefer, were bought by a pastor for target practice.

Some stories, they say, are hard to believe.

The lamest so far came from a police officer: He said he bought a few military-style rifles, left them in his car and - on the same night - forgot to lock a door. He couldn't explain why he didn't file a police report or why he visited Mexico the day after the alleged theft.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6505651.html

Posted 07/01/09 daddysteve davenport, IA

When was the last time we had a "gun problem"? Hmmm...prohibition? See any similarities?

Posted by Fu Manchu on 07/01/09

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) has done an excellent job of exposing a major cover-up at the EPA regarding a study on global warming because it conflicts with the agenda of the current administration and its Cap and Trade legislation.

Below you will find an excellent summary of the attempted cover-up of the evidence, which is, we are experiencing global cooling, not warming, gutting the argument for the horrendous "cap and trade" bill. Incredibility, CEI has also released internal emails between Al McGartland, Office Director of EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE), to Alan Carlin, Senior Operations Research Analyst at NCEE, forbidding him from speaking to anyone outside NCEE on endangerment issues. Mr. McGartland's emails demonstrate that he was rejecting Mr. Carlin's study because its conclusions ran counter to EPA's proposed position. Don't take my word for it, the evidence is here.

Folks, Congress just passed a 1,200 page bill which was not read, was shoved through with only 3 hours of debate, based on the premise that we are experiencing "global warming," which will endanger life on earth as we know it. This bill will not only destroy jobs and your household budget, but we are being lied to by those who are pushing this "green" agenda. We must set the record straight. So here is part of the record:

The Public Shouldn't Be Kept in the Dark by an Agency Supposedly Committed to Transparency

by Richard Morrison
June 25, 2009

Washington, D.C., June 26, 2009-The Competitive Enterprise Institute is today making public an internal study on climate science which was suppressed by the Environmental Protection Agency. Internal EPA email messages, released by CEI earlier in the week, indicate that the report was kept under wraps and its author silenced because of pressure to support the Administration's agenda of regulating carbon dioxide.

The report finds that EPA, by adopting the United Nations' 2007 "Fourth Assessment" report, is relying on outdated research and is ignoring major new developments. Those developments include a continued decline in global temperatures, a new consensus that future hurricanes will not be more frequent or intense, and new findings that water vapor will moderate, rather than exacerbate, temperature.

New data also indicate that ocean cycles are probably the most important single factor in explaining temperature fluctuations, though solar cycles may play a role as well, and that reliable satellite data undercut the likelihood of endangerment from greenhouse gases. All of this demonstrates EPA should independently analyze the science, rather than just adopt the conclusions of outside organizations.

The released report is a draft version, prepared under EPA's unusually short internal review schedule, and thus may contain inaccuracies which were corrected in the final report.

"While we hoped that EPA would release the final report, we're tired of waiting for this agency to become transparent, even though its Administrator has been talking transparency since she took office. So we are releasing a draft version of the report ourselves, today," said CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman.

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. For more information about CEI, please visit our website at www.cei.org.

If you have never visited CEI please do so. This is a great organization.

http://www.forfreedomssake.com/blog/2009/06/evidence-of-global-coolingstudy-cens
ored-by-epa/

Posted 07/01/09 Carl Wicklander Nashville, IL

They're exposed! Thanks for posting this.