Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch bought the Wall Street Journal last year, and in short order he has turned it into a tongue-clucking sympathizer with and proselytizer for the biggest of big businesses not only on its editorial pages, but also in its news stories.

Take the Combat Meth Act of 2004. It prompted various states to set up electronic systems for limiting and tracking sales of pseudoephedrine, the widely used cold medicine.

Chances are that an art museum, symphony hall, university building or other public edifice in your area is emblazoned with the name of some prominent rich man. His name is up there in shiny brass, we're told, because he's a model citizen for all to emulate.

The former spinmeister for Bill Clinton left the White House to become a high-dollar influence peddler for corporations. Recently, however, Davis' client list has gone from merely corporate to as one of his adversaries calls it almost unseemly tawdry.

AT&T, which sponsored the luncheon where the guv held forth, has beaucoup business before the Texas state government and is a half-million-dollar donor to Perry's gubernatorial campaigns. They're tight. So tight that the corporation shelled out $13,000 to buy 700 copies of the governor's book, giving them to every attendee.

Good! The phrase suggests great quality, strong environmental stewardship and a commitment to keeping our food dollars in the local economy. If you support the local-economies movement, as I do, no doubt youll be thrilled to hear that a new, local food store is coming soon to your neighborhood.

No, no, the most insistent demand for attention is coming from way above the poor and the middle class. Believe it or not, its the CEOs of Americas biggest corporations and the top bankers of Wall Street whore stamping their little Gucci-clad feet, bawling that they should be getting more love and support from the president.

Such biotech powerhouses as Monsanto and Eli Lilly are the profiteers behind an artificial growth hormone that induces dairy cows to produce more milk. This stuff is not good for the cows, and it produces nutritionally inferior milk.

Im talking about your local branch of CitiChaseWells- MorganofAmerica or some similar financial conglomeration. As you might have learned from experience, they have thousands of bankers who specialize in finding innovative, new ways to gouge consumers worldwide.

First comes the crime perpetrator, Martin Erzinger. A wellheeled wealth manager in Morgan Stanley Smith Barneys Denver office, Erzinger handles more than a billion dollars in private assets and describes himself as dedicated to ultra high net worth individuals.