Morals, money and the Grand Old Party, oh and Democrats too
One down and 534 more to check out in this 209th Congress. (With so many other individuals involved also!) Remember all the promises of a new America last election? The promise of solutions for health care, the promises of money for job retraining and college, the promise of a more secure future. Poof, all gone, all with the help of guns, butter and tax breaks in a time of war for the richest 1% of Americans. We were lucky enough to get our 5th tax break under George Bush last week before Thanksgiving. I bet those folks at GM couldn't have been happier. It's all about policies for growth and prosperity.
Now its rough and tumble, arm twisting, mean spirited control by one party (Actually, its been that way since 2002), -- 9/11 had that kind of affect on our nation. Our democratic legislators have been literally locked out of the process of crafting legislation. Sure, they get to see it, but usually it is only a couple of days before they vote on it. Think of all the great legislation that has come out this year and the past few.
The Executive, legislative and judicial are under one party control and if you ask them, they don't want to give up any form of power. You'll be hearing and I of course had the pleasure of listening to the #1 waterboy for the GOP, Rush himself. Of course in his world, reality seems so far away in plush Palm Beach. Yeah he bitches about all the high snafoo of the area, but I bet he doesn't bitch about the golf, it's pretty damn good. I digress, he probably likes it better for how easy it is to score Oxycotin at late night restaurants in the area.
Sure, this culture of corruption isn't all one person or party's fault. It involves people from both parties, but lets try to keep it in this decade Rush! When you break it down it seems more like a 95/5 split. 95% Republican and 5% Democrat.
With over 16,000 lobbying firms registered in the Washington area, the stakes are high. Imagine the money that goes into something like that. Think about a federal election cycle last year that had over $4,000,000,000.00 to run all the federal races for congress and the presidency. That's alot of dough. I think maybe I should get into "consulting", it seems to be a lucrative business. Who knows how much more flows in for the people's bidding and process of democracy.
The party with the culture of life, morals and all the good stuff seems to have strayed from the path of rightousness. They have been binging on the excesses of the spoils of victory; almost too drunk with power. Mean drunks at that.
Yesterday Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) pleaded guilty to accepting bribes influencing votes in the people's house. How many more will follow? If I had to take a guess, one thing is for certain, I'd start with Black Jack Abramoff. Talk about networking, he sounds like the king of K Street.
Abramoff is at the center of both a Justice Department-led investigation and a probe by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee into his dealings with Indian tribes and other lobbying clients. The Senate panel is looking into more than $80 million the casino-owning tribes paid Abramoff and partner Michael Scanlon.
Scanlon, 35, pleaded guilty on Nov. 21 to one count of conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with a Justice Department probe of Abramoff's alleged efforts to buy off public officials.
Abramoff and another former business partner were indicted earlier this year for wire fraud in a case involving their purchase of a Florida casino boat company.
Oh, and don't forget about one dead former owner of Sun Cruz Casinos, Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis. He mysterously was gunned down in Ft. Lauderdale after things went sour between Abramoff, Kidan and Boulis in 2001.
Boulis agreed in principle to sell SunCruz to Abramoff and Kidan for $147.5 million. The deal closed in the fall. But Abramoff and Kidan failed to make good on a $23 million payment owed to Boulis, court records show.
Three people have been charged in the killing.
Will have to see where things go with Congressman Ney (R-OH) . (He was kind enough to give remarks on the House floor, extolling the many virtues of Mr. Abramoff and his purchase of Sun Cruz Casinos.) My guess and hope is the same as it's going for some of his other colleagues in Congress, like good old Bug Man, Tom Delay. Not the Terminator, no, no, the exterminator. He's under indictment right now too.
A Texas grand jury indicted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) yesterday on a charge of criminally conspiring with two political associates to inject illegal corporate contributions into 2002 state elections that helped the Republican Party reorder the congressional map in Texas and cement its control of the House in Washington.
Commonly known as the "Hammer" for his tactics, he's they guy who holds votes in Congress open until he twists enough arms to pass his brand of legislation. Think Medicare, the program about to overwhelm seniors when it comes to helping them select the "best" health care options. Apparantly the experts don't know how it exactly works, but hey, what the hell. The insurance, health and pharmacuetical companies should do great. That's what matters most right?
The antics of right-wingers on the House floor today mirrored their previous strong-arm tactics in passing CAFTA and prescription drug legislation – bills that, like today’s, favored large corporations. In July 2005, the House passed CAFTA with a slim two-vote margin after holding the vote open for an hour and 45 minutes.
In November 2003, in the dead of night, the House leadership passed the Medicare prescription drug vote by five votes after holding the vote open for three hours.
Medicare, CAFTA and the energy bills all held open, breaking the rules to get the desired result.
CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss reports there was chaos on the Hour floor as Republican leaders passed the bill by holding a five-minute vote open for almost 50 minutes until they could convince two Republicans to change their votes. They buttonholed lawmakers for last-minute lobbying as Democrats complained loudly that the vote should be closed. Finally two GOP lawmakers switched from "no" to "yes," giving the bill's supporters the margin of victory. "Is this the House of a Banana Republic?" Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., shouted at one point, expressing his frustration about the GOP holdup of the final tally.
Who next? There's just so many right now. Oh wait, lets go back to the current Governor of Ohio, with a stellar 6.5% approval rating. He might be the only elected person in America who has a lower approval rating than Dick Cheney.
Taft, who cooperated with investigators, issued a public apology after being convicted on four misdemeanor counts for failing to report 52 golf outings, dinners and other entertainment gifts. He was fined $4,000, the maximum. Taft, who by law cannot run again, said he will not resign.
Have they no shame at all? At least Mr. Cunningham had a shred of dignity left and resigned. Hopefully people in Ohio will wake up and demand the same.
Man, muckraking is hard work, especially when it is how our current government operates under Republican control.
I haven't even delved into Katherine Harris (R-FL). Yes she's the lady at the heart of the 2000 election, but that's water under the bridge. I'd rather we get into her involvlement with "magic water". Maybe this is just the boost she needs to win a senate seat in Florida.
Think about all the possibilities when it comes to people in and around our government and what the line is when it comes to ethics. Just think about all the people that have not even been mentioned. -- Tom Noe of Ohio, think Coingate. Congressman Doolittle (R-CA), Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, Jeff Gannon (everybody's favorite manwhore/white house reporter), Grover Norquist, Ralph Reed. The list just seems to go on and on. It's really very sad.
If I were a democrat running for office, I'd always carry a handy list of all the ethically challenged people in Washington, democrats too. Republicans say Democrats don't have any ideas. Here's one real simple idea:
Voting out lying, cheating and stealing Republicans out of office will be beneficial to the health of our country and our democracy. It will help to ensure that your tax dollars are not given away and stolen from your communities. The concept shouldn't be that hard to wrap around some of the mentally challenged people who purport to represent the true values of America.
All it takes is just a little spine to call a spade a spade.
Now its rough and tumble, arm twisting, mean spirited control by one party (Actually, its been that way since 2002), -- 9/11 had that kind of affect on our nation. Our democratic legislators have been literally locked out of the process of crafting legislation. Sure, they get to see it, but usually it is only a couple of days before they vote on it. Think of all the great legislation that has come out this year and the past few.
The Executive, legislative and judicial are under one party control and if you ask them, they don't want to give up any form of power. You'll be hearing and I of course had the pleasure of listening to the #1 waterboy for the GOP, Rush himself. Of course in his world, reality seems so far away in plush Palm Beach. Yeah he bitches about all the high snafoo of the area, but I bet he doesn't bitch about the golf, it's pretty damn good. I digress, he probably likes it better for how easy it is to score Oxycotin at late night restaurants in the area.
Sure, this culture of corruption isn't all one person or party's fault. It involves people from both parties, but lets try to keep it in this decade Rush! When you break it down it seems more like a 95/5 split. 95% Republican and 5% Democrat.
With over 16,000 lobbying firms registered in the Washington area, the stakes are high. Imagine the money that goes into something like that. Think about a federal election cycle last year that had over $4,000,000,000.00 to run all the federal races for congress and the presidency. That's alot of dough. I think maybe I should get into "consulting", it seems to be a lucrative business. Who knows how much more flows in for the people's bidding and process of democracy.
The party with the culture of life, morals and all the good stuff seems to have strayed from the path of rightousness. They have been binging on the excesses of the spoils of victory; almost too drunk with power. Mean drunks at that.
Yesterday Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) pleaded guilty to accepting bribes influencing votes in the people's house. How many more will follow? If I had to take a guess, one thing is for certain, I'd start with Black Jack Abramoff. Talk about networking, he sounds like the king of K Street.
Abramoff is at the center of both a Justice Department-led investigation and a probe by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee into his dealings with Indian tribes and other lobbying clients. The Senate panel is looking into more than $80 million the casino-owning tribes paid Abramoff and partner Michael Scanlon.
Scanlon, 35, pleaded guilty on Nov. 21 to one count of conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with a Justice Department probe of Abramoff's alleged efforts to buy off public officials.
Abramoff and another former business partner were indicted earlier this year for wire fraud in a case involving their purchase of a Florida casino boat company.
Oh, and don't forget about one dead former owner of Sun Cruz Casinos, Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis. He mysterously was gunned down in Ft. Lauderdale after things went sour between Abramoff, Kidan and Boulis in 2001.
Boulis agreed in principle to sell SunCruz to Abramoff and Kidan for $147.5 million. The deal closed in the fall. But Abramoff and Kidan failed to make good on a $23 million payment owed to Boulis, court records show.
Three people have been charged in the killing.
Will have to see where things go with Congressman Ney (R-OH) . (He was kind enough to give remarks on the House floor, extolling the many virtues of Mr. Abramoff and his purchase of Sun Cruz Casinos.) My guess and hope is the same as it's going for some of his other colleagues in Congress, like good old Bug Man, Tom Delay. Not the Terminator, no, no, the exterminator. He's under indictment right now too.
A Texas grand jury indicted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) yesterday on a charge of criminally conspiring with two political associates to inject illegal corporate contributions into 2002 state elections that helped the Republican Party reorder the congressional map in Texas and cement its control of the House in Washington.
Commonly known as the "Hammer" for his tactics, he's they guy who holds votes in Congress open until he twists enough arms to pass his brand of legislation. Think Medicare, the program about to overwhelm seniors when it comes to helping them select the "best" health care options. Apparantly the experts don't know how it exactly works, but hey, what the hell. The insurance, health and pharmacuetical companies should do great. That's what matters most right?
The antics of right-wingers on the House floor today mirrored their previous strong-arm tactics in passing CAFTA and prescription drug legislation – bills that, like today’s, favored large corporations. In July 2005, the House passed CAFTA with a slim two-vote margin after holding the vote open for an hour and 45 minutes.
In November 2003, in the dead of night, the House leadership passed the Medicare prescription drug vote by five votes after holding the vote open for three hours.
Medicare, CAFTA and the energy bills all held open, breaking the rules to get the desired result.
CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss reports there was chaos on the Hour floor as Republican leaders passed the bill by holding a five-minute vote open for almost 50 minutes until they could convince two Republicans to change their votes. They buttonholed lawmakers for last-minute lobbying as Democrats complained loudly that the vote should be closed. Finally two GOP lawmakers switched from "no" to "yes," giving the bill's supporters the margin of victory. "Is this the House of a Banana Republic?" Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., shouted at one point, expressing his frustration about the GOP holdup of the final tally.
Who next? There's just so many right now. Oh wait, lets go back to the current Governor of Ohio, with a stellar 6.5% approval rating. He might be the only elected person in America who has a lower approval rating than Dick Cheney.
Taft, who cooperated with investigators, issued a public apology after being convicted on four misdemeanor counts for failing to report 52 golf outings, dinners and other entertainment gifts. He was fined $4,000, the maximum. Taft, who by law cannot run again, said he will not resign.
Have they no shame at all? At least Mr. Cunningham had a shred of dignity left and resigned. Hopefully people in Ohio will wake up and demand the same.
Man, muckraking is hard work, especially when it is how our current government operates under Republican control.
I haven't even delved into Katherine Harris (R-FL). Yes she's the lady at the heart of the 2000 election, but that's water under the bridge. I'd rather we get into her involvlement with "magic water". Maybe this is just the boost she needs to win a senate seat in Florida.
Think about all the possibilities when it comes to people in and around our government and what the line is when it comes to ethics. Just think about all the people that have not even been mentioned. -- Tom Noe of Ohio, think Coingate. Congressman Doolittle (R-CA), Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, Jeff Gannon (everybody's favorite manwhore/white house reporter), Grover Norquist, Ralph Reed. The list just seems to go on and on. It's really very sad.
If I were a democrat running for office, I'd always carry a handy list of all the ethically challenged people in Washington, democrats too. Republicans say Democrats don't have any ideas. Here's one real simple idea:
Voting out lying, cheating and stealing Republicans out of office will be beneficial to the health of our country and our democracy. It will help to ensure that your tax dollars are not given away and stolen from your communities. The concept shouldn't be that hard to wrap around some of the mentally challenged people who purport to represent the true values of America.
All it takes is just a little spine to call a spade a spade.
posted by Mark Stufft at 11/29/2005 10:40:00 PM
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