Watchman: New Report Reveals the Depth and Despotism of Congress’ Legalized “Pay to Play” Corruption Factory

We have let the government’s evil-doing, its abuses, power grabs, brutality, meanness, inhumanity, immorality, greed, corruption, debauchery, and tyranny go on for too long. We are approaching a reckoning. This is the point where a real bad actor steps in with lots of hollow empty promises, he’s known as the “Antichrist”.

But though in all governments, this great power must exist somewhere, yet it can rarely be delegated with prudence to inferior magistrates; who, out of ambition, revenge, or faction, or for bribes and preferments, or out of fear and flattery, or in concert with the ill measures or selfish intrigues of statesmen, may pervert so dangerous a trust to the destruction of those whom it was intended to preserve.”

— John Trenchard, Cato’s Letters No. 12, January 14, 1721

In a thorough investigation of congressional pay-to-play schemes, federal grants, campaign cash, investments, employment, power, and influence, the Open The Books organization is pulling back the curtain of corruption to reveal that most of the federal government is for sale to the highest bidder.

The report begins with some staggering statistics: 97 percent of members of Congress get re-elected each year even though only 17 percent of the American people believe our representatives are doing a good job.

In other words, everybody complains about the government, everybody calls on us every two years to “vote the bums out” or to “clean the swamp,” but only a slim three percent of those “bums” are sent home after their first term.

Open the Books calls this phenomenon the “incumbent protection system” and identifies several key components of that system.

First, “most districts are gerrymandered by states to protect incumbents. In a real sense, politicians pick their voters as much as voters pick their politicians.”

Second, “members of Congress more or less write their own rules. It’s no surprise they know how to play the game.”

Next, “the top donors to Members giving hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash and receiving millions — if not billions of dollars — in federal subsidies and contracts.”

What is perhaps the most frightening fact revealed in the report is that what Congress is doing IS LEGAL!

That’s right. Congress is constitutionally empowered to make laws, and they abuse that power in a way that makes their fleecing of the American families “legal.”

Open the Books asserts that this is “the scandal.”

The report published by Open the Books — a private charity that receives no government funding — “provides an analysis on the relationship between federal contractors receiving grants and contracts and giving campaign donations to key Members of the 115th Congress (2017-2018).”

The reader should click over and read the entire 31-page report, but for the sake of space and to pique the public’s interest in just how corrupt Congress is — including their own congressman — I present here some of the principal takeaways from the report.

First, the investigation focused on eight members of Congress who hold powerful committee assignments in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

The way these men and women work the system to benefit themselves is perfectly legal and perfectly immoral.

The expose reveals that perquisites for rigging the rules to the game include lucrative lobbying positions, preferred stock ownership, immeasurable influence, easy employment, and cushy board memberships.

Now, it goes without saying that in order to have money to funnel toward their corporate cronies, congressmen have to take that money from taxpayers. While that doesn’t sound shocking — although it should — it is also the fact that these key congressmen almost always vote to grow the size of government and to increase the weight of the tax burden borne by working Americans.

The investigation found an abhorrent correlation between the members of Congress profiled in this report and their votes to increase federal spending. Over the last two years, the overwhelming majority of these members voted for the omnibus budget bills, which increased federal spending to all-time highs.

You read it right. Republicans AND Democrats with leadership positions have almost always voted to increase the size of government and to increase the amount of money Congress can take from the working people in order to eventually see it help the corporations that in turn take care of them. 

Despicable.

Please, dear reader, take the time to read the Open The Books report on the corruption in Congress. Perhaps if enough of us read this, we will demand that our representatives do just that — represent us, rather than rob us.

As the report itself reminds us, “Members of Congress are elected to oversee the federal activity in their districts. It's time to hold these politicians accountable.”

Finally, you may have noted at the beginning of the article I included a selection from Cato’s Letters, written by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. These essays become the letters of liberty read by our Founding Grandmothers to our Founding Fathers when they were children. The principles of individual liberty promoted by men such as Trenchard and Gordon taught our Founders to jealously guard their rights and to vigilantly keep their governors inside the narrow confines of their constitutional authority.

Perhaps if we read what they read, we might one day raise a generation that will do what they did: throw off the shackles of despotism and “wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).

I give the last word to Thomas Gordon, who on March 4, 1721, instructed his readers on how to identify those powerful people who don’t deserve our votes or our money. These representatives will be ready to be returned home when they:

have been known to have employed their whole power and interest in opposition to the public interest; when, being trusted with a nation's affairs, they have desperately projected, and obstinately pursued, schemes big with public ruin; when they have weakened the authority of their prince to strengthen their own, and endangered his safety for the security of their own heads, and the protection of their crimes; when they have thriven by the public ruin; and, being the known authors of universal calamities, have become the proper objects of such universal detestation, as not to have one real friend in their country, or one sincere advocate even amongst the many that they have bribed to be so. Source

Amos is a shepherd and a fruit picker from the Judean village of Tekoa when God calls him, even though he lacks education or a priestly background. Amos’ mission is directed to his neighbor to the north, Israel. His messages of impending doom and captivity for the nation because of her sins are largely unpopular and unheeded, however, because not since the days of Solomon have times been so good in Israel. Amos’ ministry takes place while Jeroboam II reigns over Israel, and Uzziah reigns over Judah.

Amos 2:4, “This is what the LORD says: ‘For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because they have rejected the law of the LORD and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed.”

Amos 3:7, “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets.”

Our system is corrupt to the core. If a special interest offered bags of cash in return for a politician’s vote, it would be a criminal felony. Our system is designed to legalize what is essentially this transaction. The least we can do is not further globalize the corruption. 

One sign of American corruption is the rapidity with which American society has become more unequal since the 1980s Reagan destruction of the progressive income tax. The wealthier the top 1 percent is, the more politicians it can buy to gather up even more of the country’s wealth. In my lifetime the top one percent has gone from holding 25% of the privately held wealth under Eisenhower to 38% today.

Instead of having short, publicly-funded political campaigns with limited and/or free advertising (as a number of Western European countries do), the US has long political campaigns in which candidates are dunned big bucks for advertising. They are therefore forced to spend much of their time fundraising, which is to say, seeking bribes. All American politicians are basically on the take, though many are honorable people. They are forced into it by the system. The campaign season should be shortened to 3 months (did we really need 2 years to get an outcome in which a fool like Trump is president?), and Congress should pass a law that winners of primaries don’t have to pay for political ads on tv and radio.

When French President Nicolas Sarkozy was defeated in 2012, soon thereafter French police actually went into his private residence searching for an alleged $50,000 in illicit campaign contributions from the L’Oreale heiress. I thought to myself, seriously? $50,000 in a presidential campaign? Our presidential campaigns cost a billion dollars each! $50,000 is a rounding error, not a basis for police action. Why George W. Bush took millions from arms manufacturers and then ginned up a war for them, and the police haven’t been anywhere near his house.

American politicians don’t represent “the people.” With a few honorable exceptions, they represent the 1%. American democracy is being corrupted out of existence.

The US military budget is bloated and enormous, bigger than the military budgets of the next twelve major states. What isn’t usually realized is that perhaps half of it is spent on outsourced services, not on the military.  It is corporate welfare on a cosmic scale. I’ve seen with my own eyes how officers in the military get out and then form companies to sell things to their former colleagues still on the inside. Precisely because it is a cesspool of large-scale corruption, Mr. Trump’s budget will throw over $100 billion extra taxpayer dollars at it.

Our system is corrupt to the core. If a special interest offered bags of cash in return for a politician’s vote, it would be a criminal felony. Our system is designed to legalize what is essentially this transaction. The least we can do is not further globalize the corruption. 

Examples of corruption are almost too numerous to comprehensibly revisit, but suffice it to say even a brief overview can demonstrate the availability of very real and present corruption within the government. Privacy corruption and concerns have been one major scandal recently, from NSA invasions to the Department of Justice, which was criticized for monitoring journalists’ communications. The IRS scandal involving conservative and Tea Party groups also garnered a great deal of attention, and the VA’s problems and failures have been both greatly concerning. Chris Christie’s involvement in the bridgegate scandal may be controversial, but the port authority and Christie’s government employees were not controversial details. A number of state senators have been indicted for bribery within the last half-decade, not to mention Sen. Leland Yee (D-Calif.) who was arrested for involvement in a gun-smuggling ring with known gang members. Elections have had their own corruption concerns, and the funding behind campaigns, where it comes from, how it influences political decisions, and so on, are increasingly concerning for many Americans.

The entire fabric of society is coming apart as well.  Literally almost wherever you look you can find rampant corruption in America.  Our federal government is corrupt, our state and local governments are corrupt, our corporations are corrupt and unfortunately, average Americans seem to become more corrupt all the time.  As corruption becomes widespread in America, trust is breaking down.  It is very difficult to know who to trust these days.  But a society cannot function without trust.  So what are we going to do when all the trust is gone?

Amos can see that beneath Israel’s external prosperity and power, internally the nation is corrupt to the core. The sins for which Amos chastens the people are extensive: neglect of God’s Word, idolatry, pagan worship, greed, corrupted leadership and oppression of the poor. Amos begins by pronouncing judgment upon all the surrounding nations, then upon his own nation of Judah, and finally, the harshest judgment is given to Israel. His visions from God reveal the same emphatic message: judgment is near. The book ends with God’s promise to Amos of the future restoration of the remnant.

StevieRay Hansen

Editor, HNewsWire.com
Conservative Christian World News

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” (Joel 2:28.)

John Wesley who said that what we tolerate in our generation, will be embraced by the next. Wesley is 100% correct! We are living in sick times.

Usually, the Lord doth no great thing for or against his people, without giving warning of it before it comes.

They perverted justice among themselves (v. 7): “You turn judgment to wormwood, that is, you make your administrations of justice bitter and nauseous, and highly displeasing both to God and man.’’ That fruit has become a weed, a weed in the garden; as nothing is more venerable, nothing more valuable, than justice duly administered, so nothing is more hurtful, nothing more abominable, than designedly doing wrong under color and pretense of doing right. Corruptio optimi est pessima —The best, when corrupted, becomes the worst.

It is impossible to find anyone in the Bible who was a power for God who did not have enemies and was not hated.

2 Corinthians 4:8-11 New King James Version (NKJV)
8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

“Pedophile” has reverberated throughout America. But beneath our anger and revulsion, a fundamental question pulsates: Are those who abuse their positions of trust to prey upon children—a category certainly not limited to those in religious orders—sick … or are they evil? We need the answer to that fundamental question. Because, without the truth, we cannot act. And until we act, nothing will change.

A list of all corrupt Congressmen, with photos where possible. Here you'll find Congressional members with criminal records, a description of their illegal activity, and when applicable, their sentencing or time served in jail. Common trangressions for the U.S. Congressmen and congress women on this list are bribery, tax evasion, fraud, use of misappropriated funds, and possession of illegal drugs.  For some, breaking the law was the end of their politcal career, but a suprising number of these  disgraced politicians somehow managed to rebound. Some of these politicians may have committed crimes that had nothing to do with their political careers. That said, we expect our lawmakers to be the most law-abiding citizens among us, and when they are not, it can be hard to view them as role models or worthy representatives of the citizens they serve.  

Albert Bustamante age 83Accepting Bribes.2

Andrew J. Hinshaw age 95Accepting bribes. Served 1 year.3

Andrew J. May Dec. at 84 (1875-1959)Accepting bribes. Sentenced to 9 months.

Austin Murphy age 63Voter Fraud.5

Barbara-Rose Collins age 79Violations of Law and House rules.6

Bertram PodellConspiracy and Conflict of Interest. Served 4 months.7

Bill Janklow Dec. at 73 (1939-2012)Second-Degree Manslaughter. Sentenced to 100 days.8

Buzz LukensBribery and Conspiracy.9

Carl D. Perkins Dec. at 72 (1912-1984)Check Kiting Scheme.10

Carroll Hubbard age 81Illegally funneling Money.11

Charles Diggs Dec. at 76 (1922-1998)Mail fraud and Filing false Payroll Forms. Sentenced to 3 years12

Cornelius Gallagher Dec. at 78 (1854-1932)Tax evasion. Served two years.13

Dan Rostenkowski Dec. at 82 (1928-2010)15

Daniel Brewster Dec. at 84 (1923-2007)Accepting Bribes.16

David Durenberger age 84Misuse of Public funds.17

Donald E. "Buz" LukensBribery and Conspiracy.18

Duke Cunningham age 77Conspiracy to commit Bribery, Mail fraud, Wire fraud and Tax evasion. Sentenced to over 8 years.19

Ernest K. Bramblett Dec. at 65 (1901-1966)False statements in connection with Payroll padding and Kickbacks20

Frank BoykinConspiracy and Conflict of Interest.21

Frank BrascoConspiracy to accept bribes. Sentenced to 3 months.22

Frank Thompson Dec. at 71 (1918-1989)23

Fred Richmond age 95Tax fraud and Possession of Marijuana. Served 9 months.

Frederick W. RichmondTax evasion and Possession of Marijuana. Served 9 months.25

George V. Hansen Dec. at 84 (1930-2014)Failing to file out Disclosure Forms. Served 15 months.26

Harrison A. Williams Dec. at 82 (1919-2001)Bribery and Conspiracy. Sentenced to 3 years.27

J. Irving Whalley Dec. at 78 (1902-1980)Staff Salary kickbacks and Threatening an Employee. Suspended sentence of 3 years.28

J. Parnell Thomas Dec. at 75 (1895-1970)Salary fraud. Sentenced to 18 months.29

Jack Abramoffa age 60Jack Abramoff CNMI scandal30

James F. Hastings age 92Kickbacks and Mail fraud.31

James Traficant Dec. at 73 (1941-2014)Bribery, Racketeering and Tax evasion. Sentenced to 8 years.32

Jay Kim age 79Illegal Campaign contributions. Sentenced to two months house arrest.33

Jesse Helms Dec. at 87 (1921-2008)Voter Caging.POLITICSRichard Blumenthalrising to #39 onThe Most Annoying Politicians Currently in OfficeAnnoying politicians are a fact of life in these United States. In a time when the gulf between the two major parties has never been wider, the names on this list are thought by so...more34

Jim TraficantFinancial Corruption. Sentenced to 8 years.35

Joe KolterConspiracy. Sentenced to 6 months.36

John Albaugh37

John Jenrette age 82Bribery and Conspiracy. Sentenced to 2 years.38

John M. Murphy age 9239

John V. DowdyTried to stop a Federal Investigation. Served 6 months for Perjury.40

Joshua EilbergDec. at 83 (1921-2004)Conflict-of-Interest.41

Larry Craig age 73Disorderly Conduct in a Minneapolis airport.42

Mario Biaggi age 101Obstruction of Justice and Accepting Illegal Gratuities; Bribery.. Sentenced to 2½ years.43

Martin B. McKneallyDec. at 78 (1914-1992)Failing to file an Income tax return.

Mary Rose Oakar age 78Misdemeanor Campaign Finance.45

Michael Myers age 39Bribery. Sentenced to 3 years.46

Pat Swindall age 68 Perjury.47

Raymond LedererBribery. Sentenced to 3 years.48

Richard Kelly age 43Bribery and Corruption. Served 13 months.49

Richard T. Hanna Dec. at 87 (1914-2001)50

Richard TonryReceived Illegal Campaign contributions.51

Robert NeyConspiracy. Sentenced to 30 months.52

Ted Kennedy Dec. at 77 (1932-2009)Leaving the scene of an Accident. Suspended sentence of two months.53

Thomas Francis Johnson Dec. at 79 (1909-1988)Conspiracy and Conflict of Interest.54

Thomas J. Lane Dec. at 96 (1898-1994)Evading Taxes. Served 4 months.55

Tom DeLay age 71Delay of Money Laundering. Sentenced to three years.56

Vito Fossella age 53Drunken Driving.57

Walter E. Brehm Dec. at 79 (1892-1971)Accepting Contributions Illegally. 15 month suspended sentence.58

Walter FauntroyFiling false Disclosure forms.59

Wes Cooley age 86Lied on the 1994 Voter Information Pamphlet.60

William Heaton age 41Federal Conspiracy.61

William J. Jefferson age 71Bribery. Sentenced to 13 years.

Source

StevieRay Hansen
Editor, HNewsWire.com

The Birth Pains Are Growing Stronger….

“Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of man and devils”…
My name is Steve Meyers and I need to share a vision and warning that the Lord showed me back in April 2007….

Many of you will ask why I waited so long to share the warning. I didn’t. I shared the story with everyone that would listen from pastors to friends to family to colleagues. Immediately following the initial vision, I called a close friend. I told him to sit down that I had something to tell him. I needed it documented as I knew this was supernatural and from God. As I witness events unfolding today, I need to share the vision again.

The risk of loss in trading futures and options on futures can be substantial. The author does not guarantee the accuracy of the above information, although it is believed that the sources are reliable and the information accurate. The author assumes no liability or responsibility for direct or indirect, special, consequential or incidental damages or for any other damages relating or arising out of any action taken as a result of any information or advice contained in this commentary. The author disclaims any express or implied liability or responsibility for any action taken, which is solely at the liability and responsibility of the user. Steve Meyers

The silencing of the American people before 2020?

The Un-Godly — Those That Suppress the Truth, the social media giants built multi-billion dollar empires by giving everyone a voice, but now that they have such a dominant position on the Internet they have decided that many prominent conservative voices should be completely silenced.