Grandpa's challenge to all Politicians:Give our children/grandchildren hope, praise and let them be little

Vigilant Grandpa challenges all politicians

and policymakers to take 3 1/2 minutes

out of your day and listen to the message

"Let Them Be Little."

Before your next lobbyist meeting, hit the play button, before your next appearance on Fox News or CNBC, hit the play button, before your next vote, hit the play button and before you kiss another baby at a fund raising event...hit the play button.

Several special challenges from Grandpa:

John Boehner: Before you weep another tear about growing up in a large family, mopping floors and the American Dream...hit the play button. You just might accept the fact that you are not the only large family sibling who worked a mop and believed in the American Dream.

Mitch McConnell: Before you cash another contribution check from your buddies on Wall Street and the Health care Industry...hit the play button.

Mary Schapiro and SEC Staff: Before you accept another settlement in any fraud case...hit the play button.

President Obama: Before you delivery another televised message, give your teleprompter writer the day off and hit the play button. You just might find speaking from the heart is both honorable and motivational.

Focusing on children and grandchildren is long overdue Mr. President...Nod if this sounds at all familiar..."We are hungry for change and we are ready to believe again."


Billy Dean with a genuinely grandchild friendly message


I can remember when you fit in the palm of my hand.
You felt so good in it; no bigger than a minute.
How it amazes me you're changin' with every blink.
Faster than a flower blooms, they grow up all too soon.

So let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give 'em hope, give them praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,
Let 'em sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little.

I never felt so much in one little tender touch.
I live for those kisses, your prayers an' your wishes.
An' now you're teachin' me how only a child can see.
Tonight, while we're on our knees, all I ask is:

Please, let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give them hope, give them praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,
Let 'em sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little.

The so innocent, precious soul:
You turn around, an' it's time to let them go.

So let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give them hope, give 'em praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,
Let them sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little.

Let them be little.

Billy Dean

TARP Bailed Out Companies Fund Candidates

" A hypocrite despises those whom he

deceives, but has no respect for himself.

He would make a dupe of himself too,

if he could." 

(William Hazlitt)

By T. W. Farnham

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 24, 2010; 10:02 PM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) was a fierce critic of the federal bailout of General Motors and Chrysler last year, saying he could not "ask the American taxpayer to subsidize failure."

But GM doesn't seem to hold a grudge.

The political action committee formed by the company, which is now largely owned by taxpayers, cut McConnell a $5,000 campaign check in September, a small piece of the $190,000 it donated to campaigns in the past month.

Although GM suspended its contributions while it solicited the government for financial help, it is now back in the game of political giving, increasing donations from its federal PAC steadily over the past few months.

It is not alone: Companies that received federal bailout money, including some that still owe money to the government, are giving to political candidates with vigor. Among companies with PACs, the 23 that received $1 billion or more in federal money through the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) gave a total of $1.4 million to candidates in September, up from $466,000 the month before.

Most of those donations are going to Republican candidates, although the TARP program was approved primarily with Democratic support. President Obama expanded it to cover GM and other automakers.

Greg Martin, a GM spokesman, said that the company's PAC donations come from voluntary contributions from its employees. "We contribute to candidates who thoughtfully approach issues that are important to the auto industry and manufacturing," he said. "If you look at our giving, we have given equally to both parties' leadership."

Some of the generosity to Republicans can be explained by the expectation that the party will make huge gains in Congress. But another factor is the Democratic Party's push for financial-regulation legislation this year. The new law, which passed the Senate with the votes of three Republicans and all but one Democrat, placed new curbs on banks and introduced a regulator to vet financial products for consumers. Most Republicans, and banks, say the law creates too many new restrictions.

Scott Talbott, a lobbyist with the Financial Services Roundtable, said another factor could be the tone some Democrats used against financial firms. At one point, Obama called Wall Street executives "fat cats."

"The entire industry was painted with a broad brush, and there was dissatisfaction with that," Talbott said.

Democrats have been abandoned by individual Wall Street donors as well as corporate PACs, leaving the party without an important source of funding as it fends off aggressive Republican challengers.

One company that used TARP funds to invest in toxic assets from other banks is getting into the political giving mode for the first time. The investment fund BlackRock created a federal PAC in March, only a few months after the company used $2 billion in government money to invest in those assets. Its newly formed PAC has cut campaign checks to federal lawmakers including Rep. Barney Frank (D.-Mass.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

More on hypocritical Politicians

Sunday Comics

Happy Sunday and give a child

a big hug!

Episode: Is CNBC really "First in Business Worldwide"?

Tim Geithner and Elizabeth Warren Smack Down

on Ms. Warren heading up

the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

On a scale of 1 to 100, how effective will the 

financial reform bill be on preventing another

taxpayer bailout of the financial industry?

President Obama kicks off

"Summer Recovery Tour"

Barney Frank posing for his November

campaign literature

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

"I have got better things to do than to wade

 in to all of these disputes and discussions

that are going on out in the country."

Spanish lawmakers to debate barring burqas in public.

An acceptable alternative under consideration...

Mitch McConnell: Fueled by Tobacco and Whiskey (The Center for Public Integrity)

Mitch McConnell: Fueled by Tobacco and Whiskey

Another informative "Who Bankrolls Congress" from The Center for Public Integrity.
By Josh Israel and Aaron Mehta and Caitlin Ginley

Tobacco and whiskey have helped build Mitch McConnell’s political career. Tobacco giants Altria Group Inc. and Reynolds American Inc. are two of Mitch McConnell’s top five career campaign PAC contributors. And three of the Senate Republican leader’s top five individual donors have ties to the Kentucky-based maker of Jack Daniel’s whiskey.

Those are among the results of the Center for Public Integrity’s review of CQ MoneyLine information on McConnell’s contribution history for both campaign accounts and leadership PACs, dating back to before his first Senate campaign in 1984. The Center’s probe of McConnell’s finances marks the second in a series of pieces on top donors to Congressional leaders.

Addison Mitchell “Mitch” McConnell, 68, a former Congressional aide and Department of Justice staffer, was elected Jefferson County, Kentucky judge-executive in 1977 and again in 1981. In 1984, McConnell narrowly defeated Democratic incumbent Walter Huddleston to win a U.S. Senate seat by just a few thousand votes. McConnell won in 1990, 1996, and 2008 by narrow margins, garnering at most 55 percent of the vote; his 2002 victory was far more comfortable. Those close races required a lot of money, and McConnell has risen to the challenge, amassing more than $47 million for his campaign committees over his career. In 1989 he established the Bluegrass Committee, a leadership PAC through which he began distributing contributions to fellow Senate Republicans and potential candidates. The PAC has distributed money to 36 of McConnell’s 40 current GOP colleagues. It’s paid off — in 2003, McConnell became the Senate Republican Whip and in 2007, his party made him Senate Minority Leader.

McConnell has strong ties to the tobacco industry and has received more money from tobacco interests than any member of Congress, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That’s hardly a surprise, though, as Kentucky is the nation’s second-largest tobacco producer, and is tops in the production of burley tobacco, an air-dried variety used to make cigarettes.

He is also known for his opposition to campaign finance restrictions, such as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. After the legislation was enacted over his filibuster attempts, McConnell sued to overturn the law, but the U.S. Supreme Court eventually upheld most of the bill’s provisions. His wife, Elaine Chao, served as secretary of labor for eight years under President George W. Bush.

Of the more than $47.5 million McConnell has raised, nearly $27.5 million comes from individuals. At least $251,700 or about one percent of his grand total comes from his five top donors. The top ten PACs combined to give McConnell at least $1,049,341, more than eight percent of his overall total.

Sen. McConnell’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Link to McConnell's Top 10 PAC Contributors

Contemplating achieving the $50 million club