This Is How Little It Cost Goldman To Bribe America's Senators To Fast Track Obama's TPP Bill

It took just a few days after the stunning defeat of Obama's attempt to fast-track the Trans Pacific Partnership bill in the Senate at the hands of his own Democratic party, before everything returned back to normal and the TPP fast-track was promptly passed. Why? The simple answer: money. Or rather, even more money.

Because while the actual contents of the TPP may be highly confidential, and their public dissemination may lead to prison time for the "perpetrator" of such illegal transparency, we now know just how much it cost corporations to bribe the Senate to do the bidding of the "people." In the Supreme Court sense, of course, in which corporations are "people."

According to an analysis by the Guardian, fast-tracking the TPP, meaning its passage through Congress without having its contents available for debate or amendments, was only possible after lots of corporate money exchanged hands with senators. The US Senate passed Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) – the fast-tracking bill – by a 65-33 margin on 14 May. Last Thursday, the Senate voted 62-38 to bring the debate on TPA to a close.

Those impressive majorities follow months of behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing by the world’s most well-heeled multinational corporations with just a handful of holdouts.

Using data from the Federal Election Commission, the chart below (based on data from the following spreadsheet) shows all donations that corporate members of the US Business Coalition for TPP made to US Senate campaigns between January and March 2015, when fast-tracking the TPP was being debated in the Senate.

The result: it took a paltry $1.15 million in bribes to get everyone in the Senate on the same page. And the biggest shocker: with a total of $195,550 in "donations", or more than double the second largest donor UPS, was none other than Goldman Sachs.

The summary findings:

• Out of the total $1,148,971 given, an average of $17,676.48 was donated to each of the 65 “yea” votes.
• The average Republican member received $19,673.28 from corporate TPP supporters.
• The average Democrat received $9,689.23 from those same donors.

The amounts given rise dramatically when looking at how much each senator running for re-election received.

Two days before the fast-track vote, Obama was a few votes shy of having the filibuster-proof majority he needed. Ron Wyden and seven other Senate Democrats announced they were on the fence on 12 May, distinguishing themselves from the Senate’s 54 Republicans and handful of Democrats as the votes to sway.

• In just 24 hours, Wyden and five of those Democratic holdouts – Michael Bennet of Colorado, Dianne Feinstein of California, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Patty Murray of Washington, and Bill Nelson of Florida – caved and voted for fast-track.
• Bennet, Murray, and Wyden – all running for re-election in 2016 – received $105,900 between the three of them. Bennet, who comes from the more purple state of Colorado, got $53,700 in corporate campaign donations between January and March 2015, according to Channing’s research.
• Almost 100% of the Republicans in the US Senate voted for fast-track – the only two non-votes on TPA were a Republican from Louisiana and a Republican from Alaska.
• Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, who is the former US trade representative, has been one of the loudest proponents of the TPP. (In a comment to the Guardian Portman’s office said: “Senator Portman is not a vocal proponent of TPP - he has said it’s still being negotiated and if and when an agreement is reached he will review it carefully.”) He received $119,700 from 14 different corporations between January and March, most of which comes from donations from Goldman Sachs ($70,600), Pfizer ($15,700), and Procter & Gamble ($12,900). Portman is expected to run against former Ohio governor Ted Strickland in 2016 in one of the most politically competitive states in the country.
• Seven Republicans who voted “yea” to fast-track and are also running for re-election next year cleaned up between January and March. Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia received $102,500 in corporate contributions. Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, best known for proposing a Monsanto-written bill in 2013 that became known as the Monsanto Protection Act, received $77,900 – $13,500 of which came from Monsanto.
• Arizona senator and former presidential candidate John McCain received $51,700 in the first quarter of 2015. Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina received $60,000 in corporate donations. Eighty-one-year-old senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who is running for his seventh Senate term, received $35,000. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who will be running for his first full six-year term in 2016, received $67,500 from pro-TPP corporations.

“It’s a rare thing for members of Congress to go against the money these days,” said Mansur Gidfar, spokesman for the anti-corruption group Represent.Us. “They know exactly which special interests they need to keep happy if they want to fund their reelection campaigns or secure a future job as a lobbyist.

“How can we expect politicians who routinely receive campaign money, lucrative job offers, and lavish gifts from special interests to make impartial decisions that directly affect those same special interests?” Gidfar said. “As long as this kind of transparently corrupt behavior remains legal, we won’t have a government that truly represents the people.”

In other news, following last week's DOJ crackdown on now openly criminal FX market manipulation and rigging by the big banks, in which precisely zero bankers have been arrested, we are happy to announce that "transparently corrupt behavior" in the Senate, and everywhere else, will remain not only legal, but very well funded.

But what is truly scariest, is just how little it costs corporations to bribe America's "elected" politicians, and make them serve the best interests of a few billionaire shareholders over the grave of what once used to be America's middle class.

Read More

Death toll nears 2,000 in Indian heat wave

© Channi Anand / AP
An Indian vendor sleeps under a temporary shed on a hot day on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Friday, May 29, 2015.

    

Showers and thunderstorms in parts of southern India on Saturday helped eased a weekslong summer heat wave that has claimed nearly 2,000 lives.

The heat wave, however, was expected to continue in some areas of worst-hit Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states for another 24 hours, said Y.K. Reddy, an Indian Meteorological Department director.

Heat-related conditions, including dehydration and heat stroke, have killed at least 1,490 people in Andhra Pradesh and 489 in Telangana since mid-April, according to state officials.

Daytime temperatures hovered between 40 and 45 degrees Celsius (104 and 113 degrees Fahrenheit) in the two states on Saturday, after soaring to as high as 48 C (118 F) earlier in the week, the meteorological department said.

A strong thunderstorm brought some relief from the stifling heat to Anantapur, a town in Andhra Pradesh, though the storm uprooted trees and electricity poles and cut power in some areas.

People also heaved sighs of relief in the Telangana state capital of Hyderabad and Telangana's Mehubnagar district, which recorded 1 centimeter (.39 inch) of rain.

© Ajit Solanki / AP
Salesboys sit in a shop selling air coolers in Ahmadabad, India, Thursday, May 28, 2015.

    

However, at least four districts -- Guntur, Krishna and East Godavari in Andhra Pradesh, and Nalgonda in Telangana -- were still in the grip of the heat wave, the meteorological department said, adding that they would likely get some relief in the next 24 hours due to rain in nearby areas.

Cooling monsoon rains are expected next week in southern India before gradually advancing north. The monsoon season will last until the end of September.

Forecasting service AccuWeather warned Friday of prolonged drought conditions in India, with the monsoon likely to be disrupted by a more active typhoon season over the Pacific.

Read More

Texas floods death toll reaches 31 and snake bites soar as they flee flooded areas

Waterways: This couple have turned to a canoe to navigate the streets of Houston as flooding continues. The death toll stood at 31 Saturday evening

    

The deadly floods in Texas continued Saturday as the number of people killed by the rising waters reached 31.

The latest deaths were confirmed as more bodies were pulled from the water around the Blanco River, which catastrophically burst its banks earlier in the week.

Even more rain fell at the start of the weekend, causing even more flooding in parts of the Lone Star State as the repercussions of the bad weather continue to make themselves felt.

In Houston, which has been devastated by the deluge, the Minute Maid Park baseball stadium was flooded during a game between the Houston Astros and the Chicago White Sox.

Concourses of the stadium were soaked in the afternoon as fans were left to cope with pounding rain - but the game continued, ending in victory for the home team.

Pedal to dry land: An umbrella-wielding cyclist tries his best to navigate flooded Houston

    

[embedded content]

A more painful consequences of the waters has been a spike in bites from venomous snakes, which have fled their natural habitats en masse to seek dry land in densely-populated areas.

A children's hospital in Dallas said that it has experienced 12 times the usual number of snake bite cases in the past two weeks as victims fall prey to the trapped animals.

Children's Health in Dallas usually treats six bite victims a year, but has seen 12 in the past two weeks.

Bites up: A hospital in Dallas said that it is treating many more bite patients than usual, as snakes flee their natural habitat because of the flooding, and often end up next to humans

    

The revelation came as the death toll for the flooding - which was declared a disaster by President Obama today - continued to creep up.

Officials said that 28 people had died as of around 1pm today, only for three more deaths to be confirmed by evening.

Two women were pulled from the Blanco River around Wimberley, Texas, during the course of Saturday, with a man's body also found in Dallas. None of the three was identified.

Texas has endured record rainfall in May. This week, flooding turned streets into rivers, ripped homes off foundations, swept over thousands of vehicles and trapped people in cars and houses.

Obama signed a disaster declaration late on Friday to free up federal funds to help rebuild areas of Texas slammed by the storms. No estimate has been given for the damage in Texas.

Flash flood warnings were in place for several counties in North Texas, including Dallas County.

Lost: The van has no hope of escape after waters rose above its wheel arches in constant rains

    

The National Weather Service forecast scattered thunderstorms along a cold front stretching from Texas to the northeastern United States.

Storms hit Houston with rain and hail during the day. Parts of the city are currently without power, with some 18,000 homes thought to be affected.

Vehicles were reported stuck in flooded streets in Rowlett, a community of nearly 60,000 northeast of Dallas, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Jamie Gudmestad.

Carrollton Police used a raft to help evacuate residents from Sandy Lake mobile home park, submerged by the weekend's torrential rain.

A Lubbock policeman directing traffic around flooded areas was seriously injured when his patrol car was smashed into him by a suspected drunk driver, the department said.

Rivers and lakes around cities such as Houston, Dallas and San Antonio continued to swell above dangerous levels, officials said.

In neighboring Oklahoma, a man was shot dead by at least one state trooper when he fought with officers after being told to get away from rising water on a road near the town of Okmulgee.

Read More

The Salton Sea is blowing away

© THE WASHINGTON POST / BONNIE JO MOUNT
Boat launches sit stranded above the shrinking Salton Sea, where the dry lake bed holds high levels of arsenic, selenium and DDT.

    

The bone-dry lake bed burned crystalline and white in the midday sun. Ecologist Bruce Wilcox hopped out of his truck and bent down to scoop up a handful of the gleaming, crusty soil.

Wilcox squeezed, then opened his fist. The desert wind scattered the lake bed like talcum powder.

"That's disturbing," Wilcox said, imagining what would happen if thousands of acres of this dust took flight. It's the kind of thing that keeps him up at night.

The Salton Sea is the largest lake in California, 360 square miles of unlikely liquid pooled in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. Now the sea is slipping away. The Salton Sea needs more water -- but so does just about every other place in California. And what is happening there perfectly illustrates the fight over water in the West, where epic drought has revived decades-old battles and the simple solutions have all been tried.

Allowing the Salton Sea to shrink unabated would be catastrophic, experts say. Dried lake bed, called playa, is lighter and flies farther than ordinary soil. Choking clouds of particulate matter driven by powerful desert winds could seed health problems for 650,000 people as far away as Los Angeles. The effects would be even worse along the lake, where communities already fail federal air-quality standards and suffer the highest asthma rates in the state.

But the fate of the Salton Sea depends on a complicated series of deals that pit farms against cities, water rights against water needs, old ways of life against the new. The drought has forced a reconsideration of these agreements, with each side jealously guarding its claim to what little water is left.

Bird habitat

Created by accident more than a century ago and fed largely by agricultural runoff, the Salton Sea is a difficult place to champion. Once a playground for Hollywood stars in the 1950s and '60s, the sea today is stark, largely abandoned and at times plagued by fish kills and noxious bubbles of hydrogen sulfide gas.

Birds still love the sea. They flock there year-round and especially during migratory flights. The sea provides habitat for more than 400 species -- the second-greatest diversity of bird species in the United States. The National Audubon Society considers it a bird site of global significance.

As Wilcox drove along the shore recently, he spotted eared grebes, lanky ospreys and black-necked stilts, thin birds that seemed to be wearing tuxedos.

Bird populations will plummet if the sea shrinks further, if wetlands disappear and fish populations wither. But it is the dust that scares people. After years of farm runoff, the lake bed is toxic, with high levels of arsenic, selenium and even traces of the banned pesticide DDT.

Lessons of lake owens

That nightmare scenario has played out before, 280 miles north, in the Owens River Valley. Nearly 100 years ago, Lake Owens was drained by the Los Angeles aqueduct to quench the young city's burgeoning thirst. The dust billowed out of the dry lake bed, feeding dust levels that today can reach 10 times the level federal officials consider safe.

Today, efforts to control the damage drag on at Lake Owens. More than $1.3 billion has been spent on mitigation. But the barren lake bed is still the No. 1 source of dust in the United States.

"All the mistakes made there are the ones we're trying to not repeat here," Wilcox said.

The Salton Sea lies about three hours east of San Diego in the Imperial Valley, which is called America's "winter salad bowl" because of the wealth of vegetables grown there. This agricultural anomaly in the desert is made possible because Colorado River water has been diverted through canals and aqueducts.

In 1905, one of those canals burst, and water pooled along an ancient basin 230 feet below sea level. That's how the Salton Sea was born.

The Imperial Valley gets 70 percent of California's annual allotment of water from the Colorado River. How the water is shared is spelled out by the Law of the River, drafted in 1922.

For decades, the water seemed endless. California often took even more than it was entitled to, and no one particularly cared. Farmers in the Imperial Valley treated the water like a cheap birthright. They flooded fields. They didn't worry about conservation.

The Salton Sea boomed. In the 1950s, resorts popped up. Guy Lombardo hung out with Frank Sinatra on the beach there. "Greetings from the Salton Sea" postcards showcased families playing on the sand.

Fish loved the sea, too. It became one of the nation's most productive fisheries. A dozen species, including tilapia and striped mullet, feasted on the nutrient-rich water.

But the sea was always a tough place to live, and the water has grown increasingly salty over the years as the result of evaporation and stagnation. The sea is now 50 percent saltier than the ocean. Today, only tilapia and desert pupfish survive. And officials don't know how much longer they will last.

Pressure on the Salton Sea began to mount in the late 1990s as Nevada and Arizona pushed for their fair share of the Colorado River. California was ordered to stop taking more than its legal allotment. That meant Imperial Valley farmers had to share.

An agreement was hammered out in 2003, but it wasn't popular in the Imperial Valley.

"It remains a live controversy," said Kevin Kelley, general manager of the Imperial Irrigation District, which manages water rights for farmers in the area. "It drew a bull's-eye on the water user here."

Imperial Valley agreed to stop farming -- and, most importantly, watering -- 50,000 acres and ship that water instead to San Diego and the Coachella Valley for residential use. In exchange, the urban areas paid for water conservation efforts in the Imperial Valley, such as lining canals and installing drip irrigation systems. The deal also called for 32 billion gallons of water a year to be piped directly into the Salton Sea to offset the loss in runoff from the 50,000 acres of fallowed farm fields.

"That's a lot of water for a lake that not a whole lot of people like," said Michael Cohen, senior research associate at the Pacific Institute, a water-policy think tank.

When the water stops

But that spigot is scheduled to be closed at the end of 2017, and the date looms like a hard deadline for ecological disaster.

"That's when the Salton Sea falls off a cliff," Kelley said.

Signs of the future are everywhere. One day last month, Wilcox stood on a narrow sliver of beach as dead fish, perhaps hundreds of them, bobbed in shallow waves.

The resorts are long gone, the beach-side communities dwindling. A few miles away at once-swinging Bombay Beach, the last traces of a marina poke out of the water. Everything seems to be crumbling or deserted.

"It's almost like a Mad Max movie," said Gilberto Cardenas, 34, of Costa Mesa, Calif., who said he was visiting the sea out of curiosity.

Many Salton Sea residents blame mismanagement for the lake's struggles.

"People are frustrated. Real frustrated," said Lisa Simpson, 51, who tends bar at Johnson's Landing in Salton City, where she can look out the window and literally watch the sea recede. Each year, the beach outside gets about 7 feet wider.

"The water used to come nearly to the door," Simpson said. She realizes that the sea is unlikely to return to its glory days, but she said preserving the lake at current levels is the right thing to do.

Wilcox stood at the bar drinking a soda. He understood that people were angry with the irrigation district -- at him, even. That's why, he said, he wanted to find some kind of solution.

The 2003 deal envisioned that solid plans to save the sea would be in place before the 32 billion-gallon tap is turned off. But that isn't even close to happening.

Last November, the irrigation district petitioned the California State Water Board to force the state to act. The board is still weighing its options. Several years ago, the state said its preferred restoration plan would cost $9 billion. But Kelley said everyone knows the state can't afford that.

Seeking a sea rescue

Alternative plans to rescue the sea are popular these days. Wilcox drove from the bar to a nearby house that had been donated by a former resident to a group called "Save Our Sea." Wilcox planned to give an update on the irrigation district's efforts. He was greeted by about a dozen people, each of whom seemed to have an idea.

The group's president was Alex Ramia, a technologist living in Las Vegas. He had grown up in San Diego. He talked up a plan to dig a canal more than 100 miles long down to the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.

That would provide a water source, he said. A desalination plant would be needed, too. The entire project, he said, could be up and running for just $500 million. But state and federal officials have dismissed such pipeline ideas as impractical.

The district's new catchphrase for the sea is "smaller but sustainable." The sea's decline would be aggressively managed, officials say. One scenario: building a bird habitat ringed by earthen berms along the shore.

But paying for such a project remains a problem. And no one knows whether it would be enough to keep the dust at bay.

"There is no simple solution," Wilcox told the group.

As Wilcox drove home, he stole glimpses out the window at the fading sea. He is 61. He had planned on retiring soon. But he wants to stay on the job to see this through.

If nothing is done, the sea's water level will plummet 20 feet in the next 15 years, according to projections. Salinity will triple. The last of the fish will die off. And so will many of the birds.

And 100 square miles of lake bed will be exposed. The dust will be devastating.

All the sea needs is more water. But that's what everyone needs. It's a zero-sum game.

"We're taking water from one pot and putting it another," Wilcox said.

He believes the Salton Sea can be saved.

For him, there is no other choice.

Read More

A rare raptor visitor turns up near Batesville, Arkansas

Crested caracara

    

Among the birding community (don't call them birdwatchers) and with much of the public, raptors or birds of prey are something special.

Hawks, falcons, owls, vultures and eagles draw our attention in addition as being the sources for assorted misinformation, exaggeration and even fear.

One incident from close to 40 years ago was at a school assembly in a small northeast Arkansas town. The superintendent introduced Jane Gulley, the Arkansas Eagle Lady, and told the students, "We need to listen to her about eagles even if they do carry off a lot of our deer fawns."

Experts say eagles can lift four pounds at the most. No baby deer, no small children.

Birders and others were excited recently when a crested caracara was captured near Oil Trough on the White River downstream from Batesville.

Crested what? Crested caracara is a cousin of vultures that lives in south Texas, southern Arizona and the extreme southern tip of Florida plus Mexico and other points to the south. A crested caracara had never been seen in Arkansas previously. The bird looks something like a vulture dressed up for Saturday night.

Landowner Craig Shirley saw the bird in his pasture and passed the word to Audubon Society people. Several hightailed it to the scene and found the bird was not flying. It didn't try to avoid them. So they called the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and wildlife officer Roger Tate went to the scene, captured the bird, and a volunteer took it to Rodney Paul's Raptor Rehabilitation of Central Arkansas at El Paso.

Paul said the bird was badly undernourished but otherwise uninjured. It is slowly recovering.

It will be released back into the wild when fully recovered, and a problem has arisen on this point.

The customary procedure is to take a rehabilitated raptor back to the place where it was found for release. But a crested caracara? Never before seen in Arkansas? Where did it come from - south Texas, south Florida, Arizona, Mexico or even Cuba? No one knows. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took a blood sample and is trying to do DNA tests to find its origin.

As it stands without knowing this, Paul said, the likely plan is to take it back to that pasture at Oil Trough and turn it loose.

Read More

More than 80 kites die in Tumakuru, India

Local residents collected carcasses of more than 30 kites near Maralur village in Tumakuru

    

Is it an outbreak of a rare disease or spread of an unknown virus? Mysterious death of more than 80 kites in Tumakuru city (70 kilometers from Bengaluru), has set off alarm bells in both the forest department and animal husbandry department of the state. According to locals, in the last four-days more than 80 kites have mysteriously died and they suspect it to be either due to poisoning or the outbreak of a rare disease.

The incident has left forest officials, bird watchers and conservationists in Bengaluru and Tumakuru shocked. According to sources in the forest department, the incident came to light on Friday afternoon with locals collecting carcasses of more than 30 kites near Maralur village on Tumakuru's outskirts.

Talking to BM, TVN Murthy, Honorary Wildlife Warden, founder advisor Wildlife Aware Nature Club, Tumakuru said, "The incident is indeed shocking. Nowhere in Karnataka have we seen such large number of kites dying mysteriously. Previously, the site was used as landfill but later it was cleared and shifted to the outskirts. Yet, the local slaughterhouse owners dispose of carcasses here. It could be because of poisoning or electrocution. We have complained to the district forest official and they have taken samples to the Veterinary University to ascertain the cause of death." According to sources, locals have been witnessing the death of kites since Tuesday.

"It was only when the locals called us that we got to know about the incident. When we went on Thursday and Friday we could see about 30 dead kites at the spot and prior to our visit, locals had seen many dead kites. There is a vast field located opposite the site and there could be many more lying dead amidst the bushes. We are worried that this could be an outbreak of some disease or a new virus. In either case, it would not only jeopardise the avian population of Karnataka but threaten humans as well," Murthy clarified.

Speaking to BM, Vinay Luthra, PCCF (Wildlife) said, "It has come to my notice and I have sought reports from the DCF. We suspect it to be poisoning. But samples have been taken to a laboratory in Bengaluru and hopefully by Monday we will know the reason behind the deaths."

Officials revealed that only two species of kites—Brahminy kite () and Black kite ) have been found dead. Asked whether the kite or vulture population is dwindling across the state, Luthra clarified: "We do not see that trend as we have documented a high number of vultures and kites across Karnataka. Recently our observation in BRT Tiger Reserve, Nagarhole and other parts of the state has revealed a good number of kites and vultures. But in this case we will wait for the lab reports to reveal the exact cause of death and only after that a decision will be taken in this regard."

Read More

Sleepy English village hit by freak mini-tornado

Mark Davis and the remains of his greenhouse, post mini-tornado, in Binegar

    

Freak weather struck one man's home in Binegar this afternoon, causing thousands of pounds of damage in minutes.

Mark Davis, 43, told dailymail.co.uk a mini-tornado was responsible for terribly damaging his home today.

The wind damaged his roof, garage and greenhouse.

Mr Davis told the Daily Mail: "'I've never seen anything like it. It made a deafening noise. I thought it was thunder and lightning to start with.

"The sky went very dark and it started pouring with rain. Some of my neighbours took cover indoors as debris was flying everywhere.

"It only lasted for about two minutes and appeared to be very localised. I would estimate the damage to my property to be around £2,000."

A cyclone was spotted by reader Anthony Lye near North Petherton on May 14.

    

Wind warnings were in effect today in the South West, but not in Somerset.

Tomorrow the Met Office forecasts a cloudy day, worsening as the evening progresses with rain.

Read More