Political Corruption

[CptSternn]

The same day Tom Delay 'resigns' turns out to be the same day a few other things happens...

Federal Probe Has Edged Closer to Texan

Two Ex-Aides Convicted, Another Also Named in Lobbying Investigation

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...040302145.html

DeLay faces a trial later this year on money-laundering charges in Texas that stems from an October 2005 indictment related to corporate contributions to state elections in 2001 and 2002. Since then, two former aides and one of his most prominent contributors have pleaded guilty in a separate federal probe to crimes including conspiracy; wire, tax and mail fraud; and corruption of public officials.

And you have to love the balls on this one...

"I have no fear whatsoever about any investigation into me or my personal or professional activities," DeLay said in a statement to constituents. At the same time, he said, "I refuse to allow liberal Democrats an opportunity to steal this seat with a negative, personal campaign."

Personal campaign? He took money for favors. Favors, for redisctricting, and gerrymandering half of Texas depriving thousands of minorities their rights. Thats more than personal, thats un-american.

And the best part is though, thanks to changes HE helped enact right before all this arose...

DeLay has assembled a substantial legal team to fight back, and he has a defense fund -- financed largely by corporations with business before Congress -- that contained more than $600,000 at the end of last year, based on the cumulative record of its receipts and contributions. But contributions to the fund dropped from $318,000 to $181,500 between the third and fourth quarters of 2005.

DeLay also is entitled under federal election rules to convert any or all of the remaining funds from his reelection campaign to his legal expenses, whether or not he resigns, is indicted or loses the election. Election lawyers say one advantage of bowing out of the election now is that the campaign cash can be converted to pay legal bills immediately, instead of being drained in the course of a bid to stay in office.

As of Feb. 15, when his campaign filed its most recent report with the Federal Election Commission, DeLay had $1,295,350 on hand.

Thats right, thanks to new laws, Delay can use all that dirty money to fund his own legal defence team - close to 1.2 million. For that, he can once again buy his way out of legal trouble.

Anyone else see him walking with anything more than mere slap on the hand? My prediction: 2-4 years legal wrangling, then before bush leaves office he either walks totally free OR bush on his way out in '08 pardons him totally.

Anyone else bothered by this?

[CptSternn]

No takers on this one? bush's right hand man in congress, a man who bush himself committed no wrong and was a brilliant stand up guy, now conceeding, but not before taking all the money he can get from big business and republican backers to fight his multi-million dollar defence.

He not only screwed the democrats in the geryymandering and buying votes there, he now screwed his own party by taking the nomination, raising campaign funds, and is using them for his own PERSONAL legal defence. But don't hear anyone bitching about that either. Kinda funny though. If I sent money to back a candidate and they used it for personal use, I would be pissed. They also should outlaw it. Oh wait, they did, but new 'changes' allow him to use it ONLY when it's for a legal defence fund. Wow, good thing that law was changed recently or he would be screwed trying to find that kinda money.

Speaking of money, CBS reported he already has spent over 1.5 million on the defence and the bill is growing daily.

Maybe it's just me, but I've never heard of an innocent man needing to spend MILLIONS to prove he is innocent. I mean, if thats true, then what about the right to free attorney? Poor people are screwed. But thats a different topic.

Back on topic, and from the headlines today, I love this. Yet [i]another[/b] bush crony hits the headlines with yet another scandal. A good on this time. 23 counts relating to pediophilia. And hes second in command at DHS. Good to see they are taking the time to look into the people they hire there.

DHS spokesman arrested in child sex sting

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/04/ho...ies&eref=yahoo

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was arrested Tuesday at his Maryland home on charges he used his computer in an attempt to seduce a child and transmitted harmful materials to a minor, according to the Polk County, Florida, Sheriff's Office

*snip*

Doyle also sent photos of himself that were not sexually explicit, but said he would send nude photos if the "girl" would buy a Web camera and send him nude photos of herself. In one photo, Judd said, Doyle's DHS security tag is clearly visible.

*snip*

"We found his communication still on his computer with our undercover detective," he said. "Had we not been posing as a 14-year-old, Brian Doyle would have been grooming someone, some young lady, for a sexual encounter."

Yeah, this is brilliant. DHS protects the people! So, who protects the people from DHS?

[CptSternn]

They just keep on coming? Whats next? Indictments of Rove and other cronies? I mean, can it get any better this week?

Libby Says Bush OK'd Leaks, Filing Alleges

WASHINGTON - I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby apparently had serious qualms about leaking classified intelligence to the press, but he was quickly persuaded to drop them. There was pressure from his boss, Vice President Dick Cheney, who advised him that the president had authorized Libby to do so. End of discussion.

*snip*

http://news.**********/s/ap/cia_leak;...kxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Wow, those are harsh words. Cheney vs. bush - whoever wins, all that matters is one of them has to lose!

Any questions, comments, etc? Everyone still silent onthis thread, eh?

[Corpus_Draconis]

That kinda makes me think of corporate punishment. I recently looked up fines for an art project, and I found some that were just sad. One company was fined 4.8 million for scamming consumers out of 84.3 million. Nike was required to pay 1.5 million (pitiful PITIFUL amount) to the Fair Labour Association (which they partly control) for their sweatshop conditions overseas. An other company was finded a million or so for not reporting the trading of 5 billion in municipal and corporate bonds. GlaxoSmithKline was fined 2.5 million for neglecting to report that Paxil does not often work on children, and that it can lead to suicidal behaviour. How sad is that? You can never get back the lives of the children who killed themselves as a result of the drug that was supposed to treat them... Citigroup was fined 126 million (not one point two six million; one hundred and twenty-six million) for something (I forget what), but they have 1.1 TRILLION in assets. They paid it without blinking. It's like someone with 100 000 dollars buys a 10 dollar pizza (to use the analogy of the website that I found it on). It makes me angry!!!!

Anyway, for my project I made some spanking paddles like the one that my grandma had on her wall, which was soft, padded and lacy with washed-out colours, and wrote the fines and crimes on the paddles. I added a performance element to it too, and hit my friend over the back of her shoulder with them as I read out the fines. She was trying hard not to giggle. I tested them out many times on myself before to make sure they didn't hurt. I could buffet myself until my arm got tired, and it still didn't hurt. I'm quite proud of that project though.

But yeah, there is so much political corruption. Did you hear about the sponsorship scandal in Canada? A bunch of liberal-friendly ad agencies got random contracts for doing nothing, under the guise of promoting Canada in Quebec.

And then there's the lies they tell us. They did a special series of stamps about the North. They said that "The future of the North is in the hands of its children." Well, what's gonna happen then? A huge portion of the North's children are sniffing glue or gasoline or getting pregnant or killing themselves. Dead snowmobiles are being left in the yards. People get huge snowmobiles and huge TVs at the cost of feeding their family. And what is the government doing about it? LYING. FUCKING LYING. Because they DON"T FUCKING CARE. European settlers got them into this mess by destroying their cultures. We should be fixing it. Fuck. I wish I knew how. I wish people had been less ethnocentric way back when. Perhaps we wouldn't have quite so many problems. Or we'd have different problems.

Ok, now that I've lost faith in humanity again...

[CptSternn]

An other DHS official was picked up for jerkin off in a mall in front of little girls.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...040401973.html

And ye have to love Leno's spin on it...

A second Homeland Security official has been arrested, a 49-year-old guy named Frank Figueroa, he was caught exposing and fondling himself to a teenage girl in a shopping mall in Florida. Do you realize? If Osama bin Laden was a 14-year old girl, we would have had him by now. ... Who is going to start protecting us from the Department of Homeland Security? ... It kind of makes you long for the good old wholesome days of the Clinton administration." --Jay Leno

Yeah corporate corruption is bad as well. Especially in the states, where new laws under bush has limited not only liability, but the amount that can be sued for. No only that, and he reduced the fines for pollution as well, so companies can pollute an area, get caught, cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions to clean up, but only get fined a few hundred thousand max.

Sad.

[CptSternn]

I posted another article in the Iraq thread that has new statements from officials now saying rumsfeld directly ordered torture.

So, to date, the bush admin has lied about: torture, WMD's, and a number of other scandals.

They also knowing lied to the UN, lied in the state of the union address, and have directly outright lied to reporters on a daily basis, especially with the new 'leak' investigation.

My question is, why isn't any of them in jail yet and why aren't the american people doing anything?

[Cambodian Breakfast]

The American people are mostly to lazy. They don't wont to do anything. If CNN told them that Bush is a liar then they would say shit he is a liar, and go to sleep. They don't care.

[CptSternn]

Amen. You know, of all my posts, thats the basic idea I try to convey.

[CptSternn]

Yet another republican politican convicted of taking money for promoting corporate policy...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/us...syahoo&emc=rss

[CptSternn]

I guess I wasn't the only one following the corruption. TIME's new article on the mid term elections says it all

http://www.time.com/time/nation/arti...560212,00.html

Fully 74% of voters surveyed in exit polls ranked corruption and ethics as important in determining their votes; by comparison, 67% said that about Iraq.

Also, surprisingly enough...

REALITY: The netroots had some key victories.

The article goes into the fact many voters were swayed by posts from forums on websites. Posts on websites, like this one, caused people to vote AGAINST republicans.

And ye wonder why I don't let the right wing idiots here bother me. Because people are smart enough to know the difference between a personal attack and an attack on a policy or administration.

Want to attack me for posting news here - feel free. Binkie does it often - infact after a few months off decided to wade right in with a slurry of personal remarks in her first posts.

Of course, my guiess is she is irked her beloved repubs all had their arses handed to them in the mid-terms and her idol ol gw is now a lame duck president.

Either way, with blogs and forums now becoming a powerful tool on the net, its safe to say more people will be able to see the news articles the mass media try and throw on the back page. The very articles I find and post here.

Whats even more interesting is the more people like binkie attack mein the threads, the more it drives up the hits in the search engines. Search for any political term or idea and put GOTH beside it - you will find in google the first few links ALL go to my threads here. That means anyone searching for GOTH and POLITICS will be taken to these very posts I have put here.

And the more she and her right wing nuts rally against me the higher in the google rankings I get.

[CptSternn]

In a follow up to the Cunnigham scandal....

The Cunningham Scandal: A White House Link

http://news.**********/s/thenation/3...9pXGZ6OHGs0NUE

The Nation -- It's a cliche: what a difference a Democratic congressional majority makes. The US attorney scandal, Walter Reed, the suppression of global warming data, the FBI's misuse of national security letters--Democratic legislators have been demanding documents, testimony and answers. Given that they now hold the purse strings and can shoot out subpoenas, the Democrats can no longer be ignored by the White House, executive agencies, and the media. Representative Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record), the relentless Democratic chairman of the government oversight and reform committee, has been leading the pack in investigating allegations of administration wrongdoing. (See my 2005 profile of Waxman here.) There's a lot for Waxman to cover, and he's being thorough. Consider the letter he sent the White House on Monday.

In that note to Joshua Bolten,
President Bush's chief of staff, Waxman requested information about a $140,000 contract the White House awarded in July 2002 to MZM, Inc. This was Mitchell Wade's company. He's the (now former-) military contractor who paid more than $1 million in bribes to Republican Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who's in jail for having accepted these and other bribes in return for steering federal contracts to Wade and Brent Wilkes, another defense contractor. (Wade pleaded guilty; Wilkes has not.) What's intriguing about the contract Wade received from the White House is that its amount equals the price Wade paid in August 2002 to buy the Duke-Stir, the yacht Cunningham lived (and partied) on in Washington. According to the sentencing recommendation memo in Cunningham's case, Cunningham himself negotiated the $140,000 purchase price of the boat in the summer of 2002. This raises the intriguing possibility that Wade that summer needed money to buy Cunningham the yacht and--presto--a White House contract materialized.

And there's more: this contract was Wade's first prime contract with the federal government. The firm had been incorporated in 1993 but had pulled in no revenue through 2001. So Cunningham scandal watchers have wondered, did a White House contract help launch Wade on his felonious ways, and was this contract legitimate?

The modest contract reportedly covered supplying computers and office furniture to Vice President
Dick Cheney's office. By the time it was signed, MZM, which had become an approved federal contractor only two months earlier, was already bribing Cunningham, a member of the influential defense appropriations subcommittee. Two months later, in September 2002, MZM hit it big, scoring a $250 million, five-year contract with the General Services Administration. Look at the timeline, one congressional investigator notes: May, MZM was listed as a federal supplier; July, it won a White House contract for $140,000; September, it obtained a $250 million contract. A not-too-suspicious mind could wonder if something--or someone--was juicing the process.

A look at that first contract--and how it had come to be--would seem a no-brainer for investigators. Plenty of MZM's subsequent doings have been probed. But as Waxman notes, "To date, however, there has been no examination of the circumstances surrounding MZM's initial federal contract and the role that White House officials played in the award and execution of the contract."

Months ago, I tried to obtain information about this contract. According to federal procurement records, the contract was for "ADP systems development services" and "custom computer programming services." What did MZM do for the White House under these terms? I contacted the Interior Department. Why Interior? It's home to an interagency contracting office that handles procurement for the White House. This office was established during the Clinton administration as a good-government measure aimed at consolidating contracting efforts. But this procurement reform has become subject to abuse. A recent Senate armed services committee hearing examined how this change in the procurement system has allowed agencies to escape effective oversight. A 2005
Government Accountability Office report slammed the Interior Department's interagency contracting office for "significant problems" in handling
Pentagon contracts granted to CACI International for interrogation and "other intelligence-related services" in
Iraq.

I asked the Interior Department if I could obtain a copy of the MZM contract under the Freedom of Information Act. The answer: you can submit a
FOIA request, but you won't get anything. "It's national security," an Interior official told me, reciting various exemptions. The release of this information, he said, was restricted not by the Interior Department but by the Executive Office of the President because it "includes techniques and procedures used by the
Secret Service for law enforcement investigations" and because its disclosure "could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law." He added, "There is no way to get any details."

A committee chairman with access to subpoenas might have better luck. Waxman has asked for all MZM contracts related to the White House and other materials, such as any communications between Wade, Wilkes, MZM officials and White House employees. Waxman's request also covers communications between the White House and Interior relating to MZM--for the obvious reason.

It could be that MZM in the summer of 2002 managed to snag a small White House contract in legitimate fashion, even as Wade was plotting a quick, bribery-greased rise to the top. But given that the Cunningham/MZM tale is one of sleaze and crime--I haven't even mentioned the prostitutes Cunningham received as bribes--Wade's first contract with the Bush administration deserves scrutiny. Republican legislators--no surprise--expressed no interest in this when they ran Congress. And, coincidentally or not, the US attorney in charge of the Cunningham case, Carol Lam, is one of the prosecutors who was fired by the Bush administration. But here comes Waxman, and the Case of MZM's First Contract is alive and open.

[CptSternn]

From the next scandal that will be heading to yer tellys soon...

Some W. House e-mails on fired attorneys may be lost

http://news.**********/s/nm/usa_pros...1NOAXxjpbMWM0F

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some White House staff wrote e-mail messages about official business on Republican Party accounts, and some may have been wrongly deleted, the administration said on Wednesday in an embarrassing disclosure tied to the probe into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

The White House said it could not rule out the possibility that some official e-mails relating to the firings had been deleted and are lost.

Democrats in Congress have been seeking copies of e-mails from the
Republican National Committee as part of an investigation into whether the firing of the prosecutors last year was politically motivated.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel told reporters 22 White House officials were allowed to maintain e-mail addresses through the Republican National Committee. They included
President George W. Bush's senior political adviser, Karl Rove, and several of his deputies.

Democrats have been seeking information that might tie Rove to the decision to fire the attorneys...

Where that article is a more tame version of the reality and some of the information which has already surfaced, which is discussed in this article...

The Next Bush Scandal?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...041000832.html

The slowly-unfolding disclosure that some White House aides use non-government e-mail servers to conduct official business may soon be reaching scandal proportions.

As John D. McKinnon writes in today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required): "The widespread use of private email accounts by some top White House officials is sparking a congressional probe into the practice and whether it violates a post-Nixon law requiring that White House deliberations be documented.

"A top Democratic lawmaker says outside email accounts were used in an attempt to avoid scrutiny; the White House says their purpose was to avoid using government resources for political activities, although they were used to discuss the firing of U.S. attorneys."

Most of the e-mail accounts at issue are on Republican National Committee servers. For instance: "Susan Ralston, until recently presidential adviser Karl Rove's assistant at the White House, appears to have used at least four outside email accounts: a 'gwb' domain account, a 'georgewbush.com' account, and an 'rnchq.org' account -- all run by the RNC -- plus an AOL account. She once emailed two associates of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, 'I now have an RNC blackberry which you can use to e-mail me at any time. No security issues like my WH email.' . . .

"'At the end of the day, it looks like they were trying to avoid the records act . . . by operating official business off the official systems,' said John Podesta, who worked in the White House for the entire Clinton presidency, including a stint as chief of staff. . . .

..."There are also messages to and from lobbyist Jack Abramoff, now in prison. At one point, according to investigators, after an e-mail was apparently sent by accident to the White House account of an assistant to Karl Rove, Abramoff fired another one saying, 'Damn it, it was not supposed to go in the White House system.' . . .


It will be fun to watch this unfold as well. Yet another attempt of the bush administration to hide the truth of their actions from the public in an end-run around the constitution and laws they are supposedly upholding.

[CptSternn]

Everyone by now knows about the attorney firings, but it wasn't released until recently that there is more to this story than has been reported. It was said that the firings were because the attorneys would not seek to falsify charges against democratic candidates, but today we find out at least one attorney that was fired was done so in the middle of a case against various GOP candidates and CIA officials who were caught in a scam over stealing Iraq funds.

Contractor wants indictments dismissed

http://news.**********/s/ap/congress...FOAhYVBznMWM0F

SAN DIEGO - Lawyers for a defense contractor accused of bribing a congressman and committing fraud with a top CIA official have asked a judge to dismiss charges.

The lawyers claim the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego deliberately and illegally disclosed grand jury secrets to the news media.

It also used "the grand jury as a weapon in its bureaucratic skirmishes with its Justice Department overseers in Washington, D.C.," wrote Mark Geragos, an attorney for defense contractor Brent Wilkes.

The leaks created "a public atmosphere that compelled the grand jury to return indictments," Geragos wrote to U.S. District Judge Larry Burns in a request filed Monday. He called the disclosures a "gesture of defiance" by then-U.S. Attorney Carol Lam as she was forced out of office.

The indictments were returned against Wilkes and former CIA official Kyle "Dusty" Foggo on Feb. 13, two days before Lam left office. Lam's firing was part of a purge of eight U.S. attorneys.

The charges stem from an investigation of former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who pleaded guilty in November 2005 to taking more than $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors and was sentenced to more than eight years in prison.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office did not immediately respond to a phone message from The Associated Press. Lam did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

The leaks detailed charges that prosecutors proposed to the grand jury and disclosed the anticipated timing of indictments, information that was "solely within the government's control," Geragos wrote.

At least six reporters contacted Wilkes' attorneys with secret grand-jury information, Geragos wrote. His court filing included stories by The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal and quoted from the North County Times.

The judge is scheduled to hear arguments on the request May 14.

Wilkes and Foggo, the CIA's No. 3 official until his resignation last May, have pleaded not guilty to fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. Foggo was charged with directing $1.7 million in contracts to Wilkes, who allegedly reciprocated with lavish trips and a job offer.

Wilkes also pleaded not guilty in a separate indictment on charges of conspiracy, bribery, money laundering and making unlawful monetary transactions of more than $700,000 to Cunningham.

[CptSternn]

State Department official resigns over 'D.C. madam'

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/04/...ies&eref=yahoo

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A top State Department official resigned Friday after revealing to ABC News that he had been a client of the alleged "D.C. madam's" escort service.

A State Department official, on condition of anonymity, confirmed to CNN the reason for Randall Tobias' departure as director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The State Department said that Tobias, 65, resigned for "personal reasons."

ABC reported on its Web site that Tobias, 65, said Thursday that he had used Deborah Jeane Palfrey's escort service "to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage." He told the network that there was no sex involved.

ABC said Tobias' private cell phone number was one of thousands listed on documents that Palfrey handed over to the network, which plans to air a report on the documents on the "20/20" television news program next week.

On her Web site, Palfrey says she unconditionally gave "copies of certain years of the records ... to ABC News."

Two weeks ago, Palfrey revealed the name of another purported client in a court document.

In a motion filed with the court regarding her counsel, Palfrey named Harlan K. Ullman as "one of the regular customers" of her business. Ullman denied the allegation. (Full story)

Ullman is one of the leading theorists behind the "shock and awe" military strategy that was associated with the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

*snip*

This is funny on many levels. First, we have the fact that the #2 man in the state department hired prostitutes for the last few years. But he wasn't alone. At least two other people on the bush admin have been called out so far - including the man who coined the term 'shock and awe'. Since those revelations, the court slapped an order requiring the defense team to keep all other high profile names quiet.

I don't know what is funnier - bushs people, the so-called religious right who constantly assail others on their morals to promote their polices, now once again embroiled in a scandal involving crimes of moral turpitude, or the fact that Tobais was the man who spearheaded bushs 'aids initiative', in which he was given millions to combat aids, and he did so by starting a campaign promoting abstinence. He said 'dont have sex', refused to use any funding to supply teens with condoms - said that promoted sex, and used the millions to encourage people to avoid sex all together. That was the bush teams whole 'aids initiative'. Then it turns out, the man who spent millions of the tax payers money telling everyone to keep it in their pants was paying prostitutes for sex the whole time.

You can't write this kinda thing.

[CptSternn]

And yet another right wing neo con anti-gay member of congress and bush-ite is arrested for crimes of moral turpitude.

Allen Says He's Not Guilty, Won't Resign In Men's Room Sex Case

http://www.local6.com/news/13672412/detail.html

A tearful Florida Rep. Bob Allen said Thursday that he is not guilty of soliciting an undercover male officer for sex and had no intention of resigning his House seat.

"I am filing a not guilty plea," Allen said. "I am going to vigorously fight this. I am not resigning my office because the people who elected me want me to do a good job and I am going to do a good job, in finishing this term. This is an ugly and unpleasant situation that has been thrust on me and my family. It is not true. It is not accurate, and therefore (I'm) not guilty."

Police arrested Allen Wednesday afternoon at a Titusville park bathroom after officials said he offered to perform oral sex on an undercover officer and to pay the officer $20 for the opportunity. He faces one charge of solicitation, a second-degree misdemeanor, and posted $500 bond later Wednesday and was released from the Brevard County jail.

On Thursday, Allen commented on the news coverage of the alleged incident.

"You have done a good job in trying to get the news out," Allen said. "People tend to take the fast news and make fast conclusions. I would ask people not to jump to any conclusions on this and to be fair and slow down and look at it."

Allen said he was not able to answer details as much as he would like to and said the event has brought him closer to his family.

"I wish this situation to no one or any family," Allen said. "My wife, Beth and I, and my daughter have grown closer in the last 48 hours than we thought imaginable."

Allen thanked his "numerous supporters" for calls.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.


You have to love these people. No matter how grim reality is, they will lie, lie, lie and try to get the public to believe their reality instead of the facts.

The man was arrested at 3 in the morning in the bathroom of a public rest stop soliciting sex from an undercover male police officer.

How exactly does one say this didn't happen? What kind of 'misunderstanding' led to this? I mean, a congressman, accidentally ends up at a highway rest stop in the middle of the night, well, could happen. Ends up in the bathroom, once again possibilties exist to explain this, but cummon - then accidentally has a conversation with another man in a cubicle which somehow is misconstrued as him trying to pay for sex?

I've been to lots of bathrooms and toilets around the world. Never have I ever 'accidentally' solicited sex from another man while in there.

[CptSternn]

http://news.**********/s/ap/vitter_s...ITrCNyBs_MWM0F

His own words likely to confront Vitter

...Several GOP colleagues in Washington and Louisiana have rallied to Vitter's side, saying politicians deserve forgiveness when they err and repent. Some opponents have accused him of hypocrisy, noting that his career is built largely on an image as someone more ethical than the average politician.

Vitter, a married father of four, last month urged colleagues to devote more federal spending to programs urging sexual abstinence among teens. The best way to avert teen pregnancy, he wrote, is "by teaching teenagers that saving sex until marriage and remaining faithful afterwards is the best choice for health and happiness."

In a June 2006 Senate speech supporting a constitutional amendment against gay marriage, Vitter said it was "well overdue that we in the Senate focus on nurturing, upholding, preserving and protecting such a fundamental social institution as traditional marriage."

On Friday night, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who ran the escort service and whose phone records led to Vitter's problems, said she was "disgusted at the hypocrisy" of the senator's comments about gay marriage.

"How dare someone dictate one thing and practice another, and in the process deny so many in this country the opportunity for happiness," said Palfrey. "In particular, I'm talking about dictating what constitutes a family. What constitutes a family is love, pure and simple."...


Now the other republicans are backing this man, this hypocrite, because they claim and I quote 'once you repent you should be forgiven'.

Obviously these are protestants, because repenting means you ask for forgiveness because you feel you have done wrong, not because after 6 years you finally got caught.

You think he would be 'repenting' if those phone records hadn't hit the national news?

[ArtificialOne]

Wow, Stern you really need a life.. or better yet.. Do you do it for the money <as in who pays you to do it> or are you a true zealot?

Nevermind the fact you don't tell the kids about Palosis exemption of minimum wage for that island where a company she has big stakes in resides. Or the Sandy berger classified document hiding/destroying to protect and hide things the clintons did or didn't doduring the big 9/11 investigation... No? Didn't did you or how about the massive political corruption in LA that led to the horrible aftermath of Katrina, or how about that senator <a democrat> with 90,000 dollars hidden in the fridge? No? Or the dem senator for NJ that was caught with a male page? Oh yeah, that was quietly swept under the rug.. Oh and Hillary being able to view confidential cell phone conversation scripts while in Arkansas which she later used to her benifit while good ole philandering bill was in the white house? Or all the sneaky trade deals Clinton did while in office? Or the fact that it was the Dems who supported the KKK after the civil war and it was the republicans who opposed them? No... didn't think so either...

Awfully convenient facts about the other side you all so conveniently forget. But I geuss if the corruptions on the side your for you don't notice to point it out huh?

[ArtificialOne]

OMG!! I was censored!!! lmao!!! It was the KLu Klux Klan... the racist organiztion that started after the civil war in the south... if that gets censored again then you know what I'm talking about....lmao....

[CptSternn]

If those people were involved in that stuff, post the articles. I'd be happy to address those issues if accompanied by an article link or two and a bit more information.

No corrupt politician, no matter what party, should get away with abusing their power.

[ArtificialOne]

This is a little insight to the Berger document theft. If you love conspiracy theories (or fact in this case) you'll love this.

http://gogov.com/bergerwatch.htm

Here's some stuff on the clintons. I've heard some of this on the news no and then. Don't know the accuracy or such of this, but it's amusing.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/828830/posts

Ha! This is funny, everytime I come accross an article about corruption in LA, I get this:

http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journ...85.2hodos.html

Katrina Stuff

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/20...lklore-vs.html

Cash in the Freezer and LA corruption

http://blog.nola.com/updates/2007/06...ns_indict.html

More Katrina

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weath..._planning.html

Around the picture of the old woman being dragged it.. It qoutes city evac plan as "During a cat 3 hurricane, the city must evac 72hrs before expected landfall" Mayor Ray nagin gave the order at 24hrs. Not to mention the states disaster team said prior to Katrina the state was not well equiped to evac new orleans... But never mind that, some people will always blame Bush. Blind hatred and emotions are getting in the way of common sense. Yes Fema is not a well ran organization and hopefully they are fixing it. But most problems can be greatly helped at the start.

[CptSternn]

So the best you have is something from the Clinton era, over a decade ago, which did get attention, but never amounted to anything.

First, the berger incident. Even if the right-wing pundits which tried to sell this a story were true, you have a person who tried to take a document that made someone look bad in a business deal. Same with White Water. We are talking about a bad business dealing, which effected a handful of local people in a small area, something that happened prior to the Clintons taking office.

Worst case senario - a couple people lost a few hundred thousand. The partners who 'got screwed' in the deal were rich anyway, and still are. Sure, its bad some people got screwed, but this really has nothing to do with political corruption. I don't see the long term effects on America because Clinton was involved in a dodgy land deal prior to becoming president. This point is reinterated today by the fact that no one really remebers or speaks of it, and the long term effects of a bad business deal in Arkansas have had no real effect on the US as a whole.

Second, the Nagin link you have there, to a pundit blog, not a reputable news source, even if its true its like blaming the employees of a business for the bad sales. The buck doesn't stop with Nagin, it never did. Mayors are elected locally, and don't have any sort of requirements and there are no formal standards. This is because it's not that important of a job. To try and blame the Katrina aftermath on the pe-on mayor and ignore the fact the president, FEMA (the Federal group that is paid to monitor this stuff), and other high-up officials dropped the ball is laughable at best.

When your car gets recalled you blame the company, not worker #213 on the assembly line who missed the bolt. Thats like if Toyota had a recall and claimed, yeah, Bob down there in the plant in Montana missed a few bolts, blame him - sue him. Lets all focus on Bob, not Toyota. Nagin at the end of the day was the Mayor of New Orelans, NOT Louisiana, NOT Mississippi. Those whole states suffered destruction, it can't be simplified down to trying to blame one miniscule peon who had no power. Mayors can't call in the National Guard, or get Federal assistance.

Your trying to find a democract to blame, so you find the only one who was mentioned in the news. I don't know if he screwed up or not - what I do know is your arguing that somehow Mayor Nagin bears all the responsiblity for two states worth of damage because...he was Mayor of a city?

Doesn't make any sense.

Another anology here. A school catches fire. It burns down. The fire alarms never go off, the sprinklers don't work, and even after the fire dept. is called they dont show up. Do you blame the Vice Principle for not doing more? It seems like thats what your trying to do with the Mayor.

He wasn't that important, he didn't have that much power, he wasn't trained to handle this sort of thing. All the 'safegaurds' in place failed at a higher level. The people in charge of those have tried, like yerself, to pass the buck DOWN the chain and claim people with less power, authority, and abilities were somehow to blame, when in reality, nothing could be farther from the truth.

[ArtificialOne]

First off, all of what I posted was factual (which you don't dispute).

The cities own evac plan was not followed because Nagin and the state congress were incompetent.

The CLinton stuff is relevent because even today she still has ties to all her old fundraising buddies.

The Berger stuff, it was never found what was in the documents. But nevermind the fact that all this is relevent today, especially the loot in the freezer from that other.

You are blind to all stern. You make excuses for the left like you are handing out candy to kids.

You can't even see that maybe some things aren't bush's fault, and can't admit corruption on your side even when shown evidence.

[CptSternn]

My 'side' has nothing to do with democrats. I could care less about them, seeings how I'm not even in America. I do think they screw up less than the repubs in America.

Of course, thats sort of like being the head of the class in...summer school. Doesn't mean they are that much better.

The only difference is that when democrats lie in your example, its because they screwed a person or two out of a few dollars, or cheated on their wife.

When republicans lie, thousands die, the environment suffers irreparable damage, and the laws of the land are changed forever.

Big difference there mate. I'm not too worried about some politician, dem or repub, who screws of few of his rich mates out of a few thousand as much as I am about a man who suspends the right to Habeas Corpus, removes constitutional protections, and starts a conflict that so far has killed hundreds of thousands just to make a buck.

[raggedyanne]

I will never understand how bush can convince himself that taking away our basic rights will make the world a safer place. Their main concern is reelection, not homeland security. Which is actually just a way to justify taking millions of dollars away from healthcare and education.

[ArtificialOne]

HAHA!! You're such a doublespeaker and spin doctor mr stern. Really, you don't care about sides? You sure waste alot of energy on one side.

Bush lied thousands died...lmao.. please.. like Clinton, Carter and the others were any worse than Bush. How many genocides were going on under Carter?

Leave your talking points and left spin for the kiddies sturn, that bs doesn't fly with me.

Enviroment going to crap? Hasn't the Bald eagle gone off the endagered list along with wolves? Aren't the polar bears overpopulating the world now? Hm.... haven't had as many hurricanes while Bush has been in office than Clinton or in the past. Bush isn't the greatest by far, but do to the massive amount of whining and spin the left has done it appears that way.

And what do you care about our freedoms for mr sturn? As you say, You don't live here? FUnny how much attention you give us then. Maybe if you don't care about the US so much you wouldn't mind switching 99.97% of your posts over to whatever land you presently reside. What's the saying? It's easy to act tough hiding behind your mommas skirt?