I’m sure Sen. Obama’s people think it is real cool that he raised a record $55 million in the month of February…but don’t they see how obscene it really is?

This is not Obama’s fault any more than it is Hillary Clinton’s fault that she needed and did raise $4 million over the Internet just since she won the Ohio and Texas primaries on Tuesday night.

The only people making out like bandits on this are the people who own and operate the television and radio networks, as well as individual stations, who stand to take in a fortune by the time the November election comes around.

The need to raise all this money is the real reason lobbyists have grown so influential.

The people who run these networks and stations should be forced to give free airtime to presidential candidates (they do, remember, operate in “the public interest) or be dealt with in the harshest manner possible.

Southwest Favors Profits Over Passenger Safety; Flew “Unsafe” 737s

Tell me it never occurred to you that Southwest had to be cutting corners in order to turn around its flights so quickly?

Turns out, Southwest not only cut corners, it cut the whole damn thing!

CNN reports that Southwest flew thousands of passengers on Boeing 737s (the only aircraft model Southwest flies) that federal inspectors deemed to be “unsafe.” And, Southwest did this, apparently, as late as last March.

“Documents submitted by Federal Aviation Administration inspectors to congressional investigators allege the airline flew at least 117 of its planes in violation of mandatory safety checks,” CNN.com reports.

One Congressman called this “one of the worst safety violations” he has ever seen.

The inspections are to find cracks in the plane’s skin caused by metal fatigue which can cause the catastrophic failure of the entire airframe while undergoing the stresses of flight.

According to the CNN report, Southwest did find fatigue cracks on at least six of its plane that had been allowed to continue to operate past the mandatory inspection time.

Southwest denies there was ever an issue of safety.

The FAA is seeking a $10.2 million dollar civil penalty against Southwest, which carried more passengers within the U.S. than any other airline last year.