I have long admired those accomplished in the art of origami but my respect for its intricacy grew ten fold upon viewing this video. What amazing talent!

Last week there was an excellent editorial written in the Wall Street Journal outlining the reasons behind corporate america donating heavily to the Democrats for the 2008 election cycle.

The late Milton Friedman used to rail against what he called corporate America’s “suicidal impulse.” By that he meant that the business community continually financed the very politicians who were intent on robbing their profits and slitting their throats.

It’s happening again. The latest quarterly Federal Election Commission Report on political giving, released this week, shows the majority of corporate money flowing to the Democrats. Firms like Comcast, General Electric, Federal Express and UPS have shifted campaign giving away from the GOP. Employees of five major defense contractors including Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrup-Grumman spent $104,000 on Democratic presidential candidates, versus $88,800 for the Republican field.

Meanwhile, according to FEC data, about 85% of the donations from Roll Call newspaper’s top-20 list of corporate lobbyists are helping Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid protect and expand their House and Senate majorities. Roll Call calls it a “Democratic donor surge,” noting that many of the highest-priced lobbyists already “maxed out” — they’ve bumped up against the legal limit in how much they are allowed to give the Democrats.

The shift in corporate allegiance helps explain the Democrats’ commanding fund-raising lead. The House Democratic money-raising committee had $22 million of cash on hand at the end of August, the Republican committee $1.6 million. With more than $50 million in the bank, Hillary Clinton has as much cash as all the Republican presidential wannabes combined. The FEC report does note that Republicans closed some of the money gap thanks to a surge in small dollar contributions.

This deluge of corporate dollars comes at a time when congressional Democrats aren’t the least bit bashful about their agenda. Should they win the White House they’ll raise tax rates, pursue a trade protectionist policy under the guise of “fair trade,” and enact as much of Big Labor’s wish list as they can, from doing away with secret ballots in union certification elections to piling on more labor, environmental and health regulations. “There’s almost nothing in the Pelosi/Reid agenda that we favor,” one long-time industry government affairs representative tells me. “But we’re still giving the bulk of our money to them.”

In reading the balance of the article one thought comes to mind. What if they are wrong? Suppose the Republicans have a far better showing in 2008 than currently expected by many?

Patience is a virtue, maybe one which should be learned by those who act impulsively but leave open the possibility of their efforts failing long before the first ballot is cast.

Or, Mr. Moore could be correct that even if the Democrats do win on all levels next year, corporate america could still pay a dear price.

So why won’t business groups go to the mat for their friends and spend whatever it takes to defeat their enemies? Former Republican House majority leader Dick Armey explains that “the business groups are simply not ideological givers. They give to buy access and to minimize risk.”

He’s undoubtedly right. And so, if Democrats run the table in 2008, they will have corporate America to thank. But business is living in a fantasy world if they believe this will spare them from what is likely to be one of the most anti-growth agendas that Washington has seen in many decades. Nor should they be spared. When you sell the rope to the hangman, you deserve to have a noose around your neck.

HT: Mark Noonan who offers his own thoughts regarding this issue.

Republicans failed in an effort Tuesday to have the House censure Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., who said in a congressional speech last week that U.S. troops are being sent to Iraq “to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.”

Without debate, the House voted 196-173 to kill the proposal to censure Stark for “his despicable conduct.” The vote was mostly along party lines, with all 168 Republicans on hand supporting the measure offered by Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. Five Democrats joined them….

…Stark initially refused to apologize despite condemnations from GOP lawmakers and others. Moments after Tuesday’s vote, however, he addressed the House to apologize to his colleagues, “to the president and his family,” and to U.S. troops offended by his remarks.

Kimsch at Musing Minds links to what looks like a fantastic idea when applied to campaign finance:

Comptroller Dan Hynes today unveiled a user-friendly website that allows citizens to track political contributions made by companies that have state contracts.

“Open Book” is a searchable database of state contracts and campaign contributions that combines information from the Comptroller’s accounting system with official semi-annual campaign disclosure reports filed by political committees with the State Board of Elections (SBE).

This sounds like something every state should emulate. It would be one way to restore faith in the fairness and honesty involved in many of these contributions to political candidates.

Have some fun at VA JOE:

Which 2008 Presidential Candidate Agrees With You?

Answer the questions below to find the 2008 presidential candidate that best aligns with your beliefs. More than 1 million people have already filled it out. Give it a try!

It only takes a few minutes to fill out this “quiz”, and who knows, perhaps the results will surprise you.

HT: Jack Army