By Bob Kendall, Political Cortex, July 3, 2007

3 Jul 2007 // With what is going on in Washington it is not surprising that lawlessness has become so pervasive throughout the United States.

Matt Kelley in U.S.A. Today revealed what some lawmakers are doing with their campaign funds:

"Seventy-two members of the House of Representatives spent $5.1 million in campaign funds to pay relatives' companies or their relatives' employers during the past six years, a liberal watchdog group says in a report.

"Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (C.R.E.W.) found nearly 35 million in campaign payments to relatives during the past three election cycles from 2001 to 2006 campaigns and about $1.6 million to firms owned by its employing the lawmakers of their relatives, the group found."

Some statistics claim that it takes at least a million dollars to run a campaign for office. The airlines use up a lot of this money as congressional members frantically chase around the nation to publicize their campaigns. The TV stations make millions running ads for these campaigns. So the system, in effect, demands huge amounts of cash to campaign effectively.

Where does much of this necessary cash come from? The answer lies with big business funding lobbyists to guarantee the congressional members to give them the votes to keep their corporations money machine going. That is why there are more lobbyists chasing around Washington with plenty of cash to swing votes their way.

In effect, the people's wishes are often ignored. These hefty campaign cash contributions from the lobbyists are tantamount to bribes.

We might call it the "slippery hand syndrome" that takes over once the congressional members have for years accepted gladly these campaign contributions. They need never worry about what high paying job will be next for them when they retire.

Cagily they have seen to that. They have passed laws allowing them to become lobbyists when they quit their congressional role of "doing the people's will." Having happily accepted these lobbyists' cash contributions for their campaigns, they can continue the cycle, becoming lobbyists themselves.

Before ending their congressional duties, so often they accepted the lobbyists' cash, and as lobbyists they will know the tricks of the trade in doling it out.

Columnist Christine Hanley in a May 17, 2007 Los Angeles Times story revealed the following in a story headlined "3 Doctors Held in Insurance Scheme":

"Companies were billed $30 million for 1,000 unneeded procedures, prosecutors say. Likened to `Body Snatchers" by Orange County's top prosecutor, three doctors were arrested Wednesday for their alleged roles in an elaborate insurance fraud scheme in which hundreds of patients across the U.S. were recruited to undergo unnecessary procedures in exchange for money or low cost cosmetic surgeries. The arrests bring to 17 the number of people named in the `rent a patient' scam.

"Michael C. Chan, a Cerritos obstetrician, William W. Hampton, a Seal Beach surgeon and Mario Z. Rosenberg, a Beverly Hills gastroenterologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are accused of performing 1,000 unneeded medical procedures on 940 patients, then billing insurance companies $30 million for the work. In totality these 3 doctors are accused of a $90 million insurance scam."

The pattern of lawlessness starts at the top, as evidenced by an Associated Press article by Jim Abrams that appeared in the Seattle Post Intelligencer June 19. The article related to the frequent use by George W. Bush to follow all provisions of laws by attaching "signing statements" meant to interpret or restrict legislation, a pattern cited by congressional examiners:

"Lawmakers who asked the Government Accountability Office to conduct the study said it was further proof that the Bush White House oversteps constitutional bounds in ignoring the will of Congress. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., requested the letter."

The pattern is clear but as long as George W. Bush and his cronies have the determination and opportunity to run roughshod over the United States Constitution without being held accountable through the impeachment process, expect more of the same.

As Lord Acton so ably put it, "Evil triumphs when good men do nothing."