Lobbyblog

According to an article in today's Times, non-profit groups are trying to carve out loopholes in one of President Obama's signature initiatives.  Immediately after assuming the presidency, the prez signed a bill officially forbidding the hiring of lobbyists for federal government jobs.  The idea was--in the wake of such scandals as the Jack Abramoff imbroglio--to purge such influence peddlers from the federal payroll.  The thing is that this law, which is intended to keep, say, an AIG lobbyist from being named Assistant Treasury Secretary, also keeps lobbyists for human rights groups from working for the State Department, or patients' rights advocates from working for Health and Human Services.

And the Solipsist says: Good thing, too!  Keep those namby-pamby, latte-drinking, tree-hugging, hybrid-driving, human-rights supporting, healthcare-wanting, senseless-violence-disapproving pantywaists out of the realm of public policy.  Why, do you realize (to paraphrase Homer Simpson) that these so-called "non-profit organizations" aren't even interested in making money?!?  That sounds downright un-American, to say nothing of stupid.

And then there are the inevitable conflicts of interest.  Think about FEMA.  Now, if non-profit groups had their way, they would probably see nothing wrong in appointing a director who had lobbied Congress on behalf of, say, disaster victims.  But if someone like that had been in charge after Hurricane Katrina, he or she would probably have advocated spending money to support those who had lost their homes!!!

Now, the Solipsist doesn't really care about poor people--they're not likely to help him get onto "Blogs of Note"--so he's unsure how much money would have been needed to help all those dispossessed ragamuffins.  Probably not too much--did you see where they were living?  Ugh!  Still, it would probably have been more than a couple of thousand dollars (hard to believe, yes)--and certainly more money than Michael Brown spent.  And now, with the economy crashing, can't we all breathe just a little easier in the knowledge that Brownie did a heckuva job?

Say "NO!" to non-profits, folks!  Keep lobbyists in the lobbies!  Appoint only the dismally uninformed to positions of power!

PS: Mr. President?  The Solipsist is willing to accept any sinecure.  Trust us: Especially after today's post, we have absolutely NO friends in the non-profit world.