WHOSE GOVERNMENT IS THIS ANYWAY?

Item 1:
Insurance companies, hospitals, and other health care interests are spending huge amounts in order to restrict the things they don't like. Last year the drug companies gave more that $20 million to states around the country. In California they spent an additional $80 million on advertising to bury a California ballot measure intended to bring down drug prices.

Putting profit before people means the people get screwed. Bend over Great Populace, with the help of special interests groups, the Republicans are wending their way back. And this time they'll finish what they started.

Item 2:

Teodor Nguema Obiang comes to this country from Equatorial Guinea several times a year. He stays in his $35 million estate in Malibu, Calif. to enjoy a fleet of luxury cars, his speedboats, and of course, his private jet. So what? you say. Well, federal law enforcement officials believe that "most, if not all" of his wealth comes from corruption related to the extensive oil and gas reserves discovered off the coast of his country. Now there's a federal law and a presidential proclamation that prohibits corrupt foreign officials and their families from receiving American visas. They require only credible evidence of corruption, not a conviction of it.

So, how come this guy comes and goes whenever he feels like it? Oil, my friend, his country has oil. It produces nearly 400, 000 barrels of oil a day and the production is dominated by American companies like ExxonMobil, Hess and Marathon. If he came from Zimbabwe he wouldn't be allowed in, regardless of his status. Zimbabwe has corruption but no oil, so he'd be barred from entering.

Mr. Obiang's corruption is extensive and well documented. It's not just the oil companies. Our banks have aided him in his corruption, helping him transfer tens of millions of dollars about which they already had suspicions. The banks, in their greed, are earning money from corruption. The corruption isn't just about money, it's about Mr. Obiang siphoning off tens of millions of dollars while the people of his country can barely make a living.

So, with health care we have profit before people, and here we have oil profit above the law.