“It’s all about sex.” Remember that one? You know, the elected official who got busted lieing to a grand jury about having an affair with another person under their leadership and used the bully pulpit their position provided to publicize their defense?
If you guessed Bill Clinton (D), you’re right, but way behind the times. Now, the one smart thing Eliot Spitzer (D) did was resign before he got to that point. However, some people, like Bill (D), aren’t smart enough to do that. Case in point today, Kwame Kilpatrick (D). He swore to a grand jury he did not have sex with that woman, Christine Beatty (D). Only problem was, the investigators had over 14,000 text messages between the two contradicting their claim. That’s not a few, that’s what I call a boatload. What makes it more incredible to me is this was between the dates of April 2002 and May 2003. That’s thirteen months. That’s over 1,000 a month. That’s thirty every single day. That folks, is nuts. Someone sends me 1,000 text messages, they’re blocked.
So anyways, Kilptatrick (D), is in deep doo-doo. Much deeper than Spitzer (D) since he bucked the investigators and lied to a grand jury. Much deeper than Bill (D) since he’s not President of the United States of America.
“Hey Moon, what’s with all the (D)’s?” ya say? Here’s what. Here’s the AP release of the breaking story:
DETROIT (AP) — Kwame Kilpatrick, a one-time rising star in American urban politics who embraced his “Hip-Hop Mayor” image as Detroit’s youngest elected leader, was charged Monday with perjury and other counts after sexually explicit text messages surfaced that appear to contradict his sworn denials of an affair with a top aide.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy also charged the charismatic and popular yet polarizing 37-year-old mayor with obstruction of justice and misconduct in office.
Former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, 37, who also denied under oath that she and Kilpatrick shared a romantic relationship in 2002 and 2003, was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice.
In all, Worthy authorized a 12-count criminal information.
“This case was about as far from being a private matter as one can get. Honesty and integrity in the justice system is everything. That is what this case is about,” Worthy said at a news conference.
“Just when did honesty and integrity, truth and honor become traits to be mocked, downplayed, ignored, laughed at or excuses made for them? When did telling the truth become a supporting player to everything else?”
The charges could signal the end of Kilpatrick’s six-year career as mayor of one of America’s largest cities.
Perjury is a felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. But for Kilpatrick, a conviction also would mean his immediate expulsion from office. The Detroit City Charter calls for any elected official convicted of a felony while in office to be removed.
The mayor’s office sent out a statement announcing a noon news conference, saying “Mayor Kilpatrick will discuss his outlook on the current legal matter and his continued focus on governing the City of Detroit.”
Kilpatrick has said he would not resign and last week said he expects to be vindicated when all aspects of the scandal are made public.
Worthy said she expected the mayor and Beatty to turn themselves in no later than 7 a.m. Tuesday.
In all, Kilpatrick faces the following charges: conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, misconduct in office, perjury in a court proceeding and two counts of perjury other than in a court proceeding.
Beatty is charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, two counts of perjury in a court proceeding and two counts of perjury other than in a court proceeding.
Worthy said she has spoken to a lawyer for Beatty but was not able to contact Kilpatrick’s mayor, leaving several messages.
She also said the investigation was ongoing and other people could be charged. She said she has had conversations with the U.S. attorney, but would not elaborate.
Worthy said she and her staff have pored over more than 40,000 pages of documents since January, when the Detroit Free Press published excerpts of sexually explicit text messages sent to Beatty’s city-issued pager in 2002 and 2003.
The messages contradict statements Kilpatrick and Beatty gave under oath during a whistle-blowers’ trial last summer when each denied an intimate relationship.
“Witnesses must give truthful testimony, and we have to demand that they do,” Worthy said. “That is why they take an oath. There are variations on courtroom oaths, but basically an oath says, `I do solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony that we are about to give in this case will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’
“The oath does not say, `I do solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony I’m about to give in this matter will be some of the truth, some of the time, when it suits me, and anything but the whole truth.’”
Worthy began her investigation the day after the Free Press published excerpts of the embarrassing text messages in late January. The messages called into question testimony Kilpatrick and Beatty gave in a lawsuit filed by two police officers who alleged they were fired for investigating claims that the mayor used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.
In court, Kilpatrick and Beatty denied having an intimate relationship, but the text messages reveal that they carried on a flirty, sometimes sexually explicit dialogue about where to meet and how to conceal their trysts.
The lawsuit ended with the jury awarding $6.5 million to the two officers in September. A defiant Kilpatrick vowed to appeal the verdict, but a month later said settling the suit was in the best interests of Detroit. The city agreed to pay out $8.4 million to the two officers and a third former officer who filed a separate lawsuit.
Documents released last month showed Kilpatrick agreed to the settlement in an effort to keep the text messages from becoming public.
During the trial last summer, Mike Stefani, a lawyer for the officers, asked Beatty if she and Kilpatrick were “either romantically or intimately involved” during the period covered by the case.
“No,” she replied, rolling her eyes.
The mayor, while on the witness stand, later went on the offensive about the allegations, defending his reputation and that of Beatty.
“I think it was pretty demoralizing to her — you have to know her — but it’s demoralizing to me as well,” he testified. “My mother is a congresswoman. There have always been strong women around me. My aunt is a state legislator. I think it’s absurd to assert that every woman that works with a man is a whore.”
Yet the text messages published by the Free Press revealed a romantic discourse.
“I’m madly in love with you,” Kilpatrick wrote on Oct. 3, 2002.
“I hope you feel that way for a long time,” Beatty replied. “In case you haven’t noticed, I am madly in love with you, too!”
On Oct. 16, 2002, Kilpatrick wrote Beatty: “I’ve been dreaming all day about having you all to myself for 3 days. Relaxing, laughing, talking, sleeping and making love.”
Kilpatrick is married with three children. Beatty was married at the time and has two children.
Kilpatrick went into a nearly weeklong seclusion after the Free Press’ report. But on Jan. 30, with his wife, Carlita, at his side, the mayor emerged to apologize to Detroiters on live television for mistakes he had made, avoiding direct mention of the text messages. However, it was a confident Kilpatrick who told city residents he would see them “at work tomorrow.”
For Beatty, who attended Detroit’s Cass Technical High School with Kilpatrick and managed his campaigns for Michigan’s state House and the mayor’s office, the scandal forced her to resign.
Over the next six weeks, city lawyers and Kilpatrick’s attorneys waged a futile legal battle to keep documents related to the lawsuit settlement and text messages from public eyes.
Calls for his resignation surfaced in late January from some city union leaders. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox repeated that call, and the Detroit City Council echoed it last week with a nonbinding resolution asking Kilpatrick to step down. The council approved the $8.4 million payout but didn’t know about the revealing text messages or the secret deal to keep them quiet and now is conducting its own investigation into the mayor’s handling of the case.
The Detroit Free Press hasn’t explained how it obtained the 14,000 text messages, which were sent or received in 2002-03 from Beatty’s city-issued pager. The newspaper said it cross-referenced the messages with the mayor’s private calendar and credit card records to verify events in some of the notes.
Controversy has surrounded Kilpatrick since his 2001 election as mayor.
Embraced by many Detroit residents for his boldness and confidence, Kilpatrick, then 31, embodied the new black politician and wore a diamond stud earring that helped foster his unofficial title as “Hip-Hop Mayor.”
His first four years were marred by use of his city-issued credit card for expensive travel, the city’s lease of a luxury Lincoln Navigator for his wife and unsubstantiated allegations of a wild party involving his security team and strippers at the mayor’s mansion.
At the start of his second term, Kilpatrick vowed to not make the same mistakes and announced a residential redevelopment along Detroit’s dormant riverfront, hosted a successful Super Bowl that shone a light on the city’s renewal efforts and initiated other improvements.
He had been expected to seek a third term in 2009.
Real quick, count the number of times his party affiliation is mentioned even though it speaks of his rise through the ranks. Hurry!
And, here’s the story of David Vitter admitting to using an escort service:
Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, apologized Monday for “a very serious sin in my past” after his telephone number appeared among those associated with an escort service that operated here for 13 years.
Mr. Vitter’s spokesman, Joel Digrado, confirmed the statement to The Associated Press.
Mr. Vitter, elected to the Senate in 2004, said in the statement: “This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible. “Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling. Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there — with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way.”
He said his telephone number was on old phone records of the business known as Pamela Martin & Associates, before he ran for the Senate.
Federal authorities have accused Deborah Jeane Palfrey of operating the business as a prostitution ring. She contends it was a legitimate escort service.
They couldn’t get the party name mentioned any faster if they tried.
“So what” you say, a one time deal. “No way”, I say! Remember the recent flap over Eliot Spitzer? It wasn’t too long ago. Here’s AP’s write-up on that one:
NEW YORK – In a startlingly swift fall from grace, Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned Wednesday after getting caught in a call-girl scandal that made a mockery of his straight-arrow image and left him facing the prospect of criminal charges and perhaps disbarment.
“I cannot allow my private failings to disrupt the people’s work,” Spitzer said, his weary-looking wife, Silda, standing at his side, again, as the corruption-fighting politician once known as Mr. Clean answered for his actions for the second time in three days.He made the announcement without securing a plea bargain with federal prosecutors, though a law enforcement official said the former governor was still believed to be negotiating one. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
Spitzer will be succeeded on Monday by Lt. Gov. David Paterson, a fellow Democrat who becomes New York’s first black governor and the nation’s first legally blind chief executive.
The resignation brought the curtain down on a riveting three-day drama — played out, sometimes, as farce — that made Spitzer an instant punchline on late-night TV and fascinated Americans with the spectacle of a crusading politician exposed as a hypocrite.
His dizzying downfall was met with glee and the popping of champagne corks among many on Wall Street, where Spitzer was seen as a sanctimonious bully for attacking big salaries and abusive practices in the financial industry when he was New York attorney general. And his resignation brought relief at the state Capitol in Albany after days of excruciating tension and uncertainty.
“Some rules can’t be broken, and when they are broken there are consequences,” said state Assemblyman John McEneny, a Democrat. “In this case, one of the most promising careers I’ve seen in a generation.”
The scandal erupted Monday after federal law enforcement officials disclosed that a wiretap had caught the 48-year-old father of three teenage daughters spending thousands of dollars on a call girl at a fancy Washington hotel on the night before Valentine’s Day.
Investigators said he had arranged for a prostitute named Kristen to take the train down from New York while he was in the nation’s capital to testify before a congressional subcommittee about the bond industry.
With every development, it became increasingly clear that Spitzer, politically, was finished.
Law enforcement officials said the governor — the millionaire heir to a New York real estate fortune — had hired prostitutes several times before and had spent tens of thousands of dollars, and perhaps as much as $80,000, on the high-priced escort service Emperors Club VIP, whose women charge as much as $5,500 an hour.
Senior Spitzer aides, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Spitzer had been informed Friday by federal prosecutors that he was linked to the prostitution ring.
They said he had kept it to himself through Saturday night, when he attended the annual dinner of the Gridiron Club in Washington. That night a reporter kept calling cell phones of Spitzer aides.
Spitzer first shared the news Sunday with his wife at their Manhattan apartment, and after several excruciating hours they told their daughters, the aides said. By Sunday evening Spitzer had called top advisers, personal friends and loyalists. The little band huddled in the apartment until midnight.
After making a watery-eyed, non-specific public apology Monday with his wife by his side, Spitzer continued to talk to family and advisers through Tuesday. By Wednesday morning, aides said, he had decided to resign.
He and his wife rode in a black SUV from their Fifth Avenue apartment to his New York City office to announce his resignation — a trip whose every move was captured by TV helicopters. During the news conference, he and his wife stood inches apart, never touching as they entered or left the room.
Speaking in a strong and steady voice, he apologized for his actions and said: “Over the course of my public life, I’ve insisted, I think correctly, that people regardless of their position or power take responsibility for their conduct. I can and will ask no less of myself.”
He did not address the allegations in any detail in the less than three-minute statement, and left without taking questions.
Officials said that Paterson asked for the Monday hand-over because he needed more time to prepare and wanted Spitzer to say the proper goodbye to his staff.
In a statement issued after Spitzer quit, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia, the chief federal prosecutor in New York, said: “There is no agreement between this office and Gov. Eliot Spitzer relating to his resignation or any other matter.”
Among the possible charges that law enforcement authorities said could be brought against the former governor: soliciting and paying for sex; violating the Mann Act, the 1910 federal law that makes it a crime to take someone across state lines for immoral purposes; and illegally arranging cash transactions to conceal their purpose.
Spitzer, a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law, could also be disbarred. In New York, an attorney can lose his license to practice law for failing to “conduct himself both professionally and personally, in conformity with the standards of conduct imposed upon members of the bar.”
It was a spectacular collapse for a man who cultivated an image as a hard-nosed politician hell-bent on cleansing the state of corruption. He served two terms as New York attorney general, earning the nickname “Sheriff of Wall Street,” and was elected governor with a record share of the vote in 2006. The tall, athletic, square-jawed Spitzer was sometimes mentioned as a potential candidate for president.
But he also made powerful enemies, many of whom complained that he was abusive and self-righteous.
“I really don’t feel vindicated,” said John Faso, the Republican who lost to Spitzer for governor. But he added: “One of the many things I said was that Eliot Spitzer had one set of rules for himself and one set for everyone else. I never would have imagined it could be so glaring.”
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange were transfixed by TV monitors broadcasting Spitzer’s resignation, and his ruin drew scattered applause from traders as they went about buying and selling stocks. One trader said some firms even cracked champagne open — a ritual usually reserved for when the Dow hits a milestone.
Paterson said in a statement that he was saddened, but added: “It is now time for Albany to get back to work as the people of this state expect from us.”
Barely known outside of his Harlem political base, Paterson, 53, has been in New York government since his election to the state Senate in 1985.
Though legally blind, he has enough sight in his right eye to walk unaided, recognize people at conversational distance and even read if the text is placed close to his face.
While Spitzer was famously abrasive, uncompromising and even insulting, Paterson has built a reputation as a conciliator, and lawmakers quickly embraced the new order.
“The first thing he can and I think he will do is end the era of accusation and contempt and ridicule,” said Democratic Assemblyman Richard Brodsky. “I think everyone will be better off because of it.”
If you infer, by AP mentioning other Democrats, that Spitzer is a Democrat, you might by right. However, the opening volley certainly does not say, “Eliot Spitzer, Democrat Governor of New York”.
Remember William Jefferson? You know, the guy busted with frozen money, in his freezer, after taking bribes:
WASHINGTON (AP) – Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., was indicted Monday on federal charges of racketeering, soliciting bribes and money-laundering in a long- running bribery investigation into business deals he tried to broker in Africa. The indictment handed up in federal court in Alexandria., Va., Monday is 94 pages long and lists 16 alleged violations of federal law that could keep Jefferson in prison for up to 235 years. He is charged with racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money-laundering, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Jefferson is accused of soliciting bribes for himself and his family, and also for bribing a Nigerian official.Almost two years ago, in August 2005, investigators raided Jefferson’s home in Louisiana and found $90,000 in cash stuffed into a box in his freezer. Jefferson, 63, whose Louisiana district includes New Orleans, has said little about the case publicly but has maintained his innocence. He was re-elected last year despite the looming investigation.
Jefferson, in Louisiana on Monday, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Two of Jefferson’s associates have already struck plea bargains with prosecutors and have been sentenced.
Brett Pfeffer, a former congressional aide, admitted soliciting bribes on Jefferson’s behalf and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Another Jefferson associate, Louisville, Ky., telecommunications executive Vernon Jackson, pleaded guilty to paying between $400,000 and $1 million in bribes to Jefferson in exchange for his assistance securing business deals in Nigeria and other African nations. Jackson was sentenced to more than seven years in prison.
Both Pfeffer and Jackson agreed to cooperate in the case against Jefferson in exchanges for their pleas.
The impact of the case has stretched across continents and even roiled presidential politics in Nigeria. According to court records, Jefferson told associates that he needed cash to pay bribes to the country’s vice president, Atiku Abubakar.
Abubakar denied the allegations, which figured prominently in that country’s presidential elections in April. Abubakar ran for the presidency and finished third.
The indictment does not name Abubakar. But it describes Jefferson’s dealings with an unnamed “Nigerian Official A” who was a high-ranking official in Nigeria’s executive branch who had a spouse in Potomac, Md. One of Abubakar’s wives lived in that Washington suburb.
Court records indicate that Jefferson was videotape taking a $100,000 cash bribe from an FBI informant. Most of that money later turned up in a freezer in Jefferson’s home.
In May 2006, the FBI raided Jefferson’s congressional office, the first such raid on a sitting congressman’s Capitol office. That move sparked a constitutional debate over whether the executive branch stepped over its boundary.
The legality of the raid is still being argued on appeal. House leaders objected to the search saying it was an unconstitutional intrusion on the lawmaking process. The FBI said the raid was necessary because Jefferson and his legal team had failed to respond to requests for documents.
Some but not all the documents seized in the raid have been turned over Justice Department prosecutors.
A little closer, but still not quite the same as Democrat from Louisiana.
In my very limited exercise, AP wrote 3,134 words about three major scandals, and not one single time directly mentioned the word “Democrat” with the person committing the scandal. On the flipside, they couldn’t get past two words before mentioning the word “Republican”.
Someone with more education than I have will have to tell me what the mathematical chances are of that just being luck.
I think it’s something completely different.
A lot is being made over another milestone in Iraq. The 4,000th US soldier died since the war started in 2003. That’s five years. That’s about 800 a year. That’s a lot. But, not much is being made over the perspective of this. For instance, about 2,000 people were killed in 2006 ( the most recent readily available data ). That’s just in California. From 2003 through 2006 more than three times as many Americans got killed in California than Iraq. Nationwide, 17,000 people were killed in the US in 2006. From 2003 until the end of 2006, 66,450 people have been killed in the US. Maybe the people worrying so much about the people who understood the risks and believe in what they are doing is for the good of man should worry a lot more about the people who don’t worry so much about the good of man living in their own neighborhoods.
Bill Richardson, a few days after endorsing Barack Obama.
See dictionary.com for the definition of loyal. Then, of course, look at the definition of disloyal. By simply stating what he has, he is definitely the latter to one of the two. Which one is debatable. When one is definitely the latter, it’s hard for me to believe they can be the former as well.
18
Mar
A lot is being made over Obama’s dealing with his pastor’s comments. Now, here’s where the big problem is in my opinion. You’re going to have to bear with me while I kind of lay it out. The Obama camp jumped all over Hillary Clinton for being associated with someone they perceived as being racist because they implied Obama wouldn’t be special in this race if he were pasty white. Then, no sooner than they trashed Hillary for hanging out with someone who made one comment that defied their entire life’s history, someone Obama hangs out with is singled out making MANY comments that defied his life’s commitment. So, this entire scenario is a no-win situation for either candidate because neither candidate is actually the one that made the actual comments. In both cases, the candidate is expected to confess for sins they did not make. That is the state of race issues in the United States. Simply being anywhere near someone who baits the issue will get you burned. Apparently that goes black or white, make or female, Republican or Democrat. The issue is just that over-sensitive.
And, it is 100% misguided and wrong.
We’ve tried for forty years to create a grey society. We have passed all kinds of laws that says you can’t even mention the word “black” or “white”. This apparently isn’t working too well. How’s about this, we celebrate the differences? How’s about black Americans be encouraged to be proud of being black in America. However, let’s encourage Irish Americans to do the same. Italian, Hawaiian, French, Jewish, Masai, everyone. We encourage cultural diversity instead of trying to stamp out something that is so fundementally a part of human nature it can never be stamped out. Instead of being a black/white thing, it would be a culture amongst many cultures, all proud.
So, rather than Obama asserting he’s black AND white, he should be asserting he’s American. In this country, you can be black. You can be white. You can be neither. And, you can be pasty white and sing the blues. That’s what’s special here. And, in the entire debate between Obama and Hillary, not one single person has seen that. All they’ve seen is the division. If all you see is the conflict, then you have no answers.
The Trinity United Church of Christ of Chicago isn’t happy with the media coverage of their former Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Here’s a couple of snippest of what he said that has drawn the heat:
Hillary was not a black boy raised in a single-parent home; Barack was,” Wright says in a video of the sermon posted on YouTube. “Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people. Hillary! Hillary ain’t never been called a ‘nigger!’ Hillary has never had her people defined as a non-person.”
And,
“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people,” he said in a 2003 sermon. “God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.”
And,
“We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye,” Rev. Wright said in a sermon on Sept. 16, 2001.
“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost,”
Now, best I can tell, I can’t see a religious message in any of those sermons. All three that are coming under media scrutiny are completely political messages. Now, Obama states very clearly that he does not get his political guidance from Wright, he just gets his spiritual guidance from Wright. That bugs me just as much. This is 2008. In my lifetime, for the most part, blacks have suffered the same “discrimination” everyone else has. Never will people be completely color blind, it’s just not man’s nature. We look for ways to distinguish ourselves from each other. That’s just how the mind works. That doesn’t however, give anyone any unfair advantage. Just ask Obama. To even mention the fact that being black gives him an unfair advantage got Geraldine Ferraro in a world of hurt. So, the only people allowed to talk about Obama being black are people like Jeremiah Wright. And, the only message allowed to be given by the Jeremiah Wrights is although a black man is running for President of the United States, and winning, this is still a horrible country to live in for many reasons. In other words, it’s a message of hate and distrust of the government that Obama is trying to lead. What kind of spiritual guidance is that for possibly our next president?
I think Obama needs to do a lot more than just distance himself from Wright’s political message. He needs to flat out repudiate and denounce it. As long as black people are given the cop-out that they can’t succede in America purely because of their skin color, a LOT of them will meet those expectations. That’s not a black thing, that’s a people thing. It’s so much easier to get by meeting the lowest expectation than it is to excel. That takes a lot of work for anyone. That takes a lot of self motivation. That takes a lot support from your peers. The most important peer a lot of people have is their spritual guide. In this case, their Reverend. So, the Trinity United Church of Christ can complain all they want, but it sounds to me like Rev. Wright’s message has been a bad one for a long time. We’re not quoting a snippet here, we’re quoting stuff going back at leat five years. I hope the Church gets someone now that tells their congregation that they can succede, they can do well, and they can be happy in this country if they push themselves and set their standards high. And, if they do that, they can be just like Barack Obama. Is that really so difficult?
Apparently it is. No sooner than I posted this than Hotair’s Allahpundit noted that Obama’s taking a hit over all this. Seems 56% of possible voters ( no voter in a poll before an election is any more or less likely to vote IMO ), are less likely to vote for Obama because of his affiliation with Wright. However, within the black community, only 18% felt that way. Now, two things can be read into this in my opinion. One, 82% of the black community feel Hillary is still that much worse than Obama. I can’t argue with that sentiment as I have never felt Obama has given anyone to disagree with. Primarily because he refuses to elaborate fully on anything he plans to do as President. Or, two, they’re gonna vote black come hell or high water regardless of who the candidate is. That, I do have an issue with.
People complain all day and night about the losers we get in Washington. Then, promptly go to the polls and vote for candidates based on nothing more than skin color, gender, or something else that has no relevance to their ability to craft legislation or lead.
Remember that promise of change in 2006? You know, the one where the Democrats promised to get rid of the cronyism and corruption in DC? Well, they had a chance to walk the walk yesterday. There was a bill in the form of an amendment to eliminate earmarks completely. Here’s a list of the “changelings” and how they voted for significant change:
- Jim Webb – Voted against it
- Ben Cardin – Voted against it
- Sheldon Whitehouse – Voted against it
- Jon Tester – Voted against it
- Ben Casey – Voted against it
- Amy Klobuchar – Voted against it
- Sherrod Brown – Voted against it
- Kent Conrad – Voted agaisnt it
- Jeff Bingamen – Voted against it
- Bill Nelson – Voted against it
- Maria Cantwell – Voted against it
- Debbie Stabenow – Voted against it
That’s the “change” you all elected.
How many times will people be suckered by that tired promise?
For what it’s worth, I was opposed to this amendment. However, I never promised anyone change without meaning it.
Here’s the news:
Good.
First of all, I don’t like the idea of locally politically motivated people determining national defense issues. War is not a feel-good endeavor. It’s not something the other side contemplates politically correct methods of destroying their opposition. In the big picture, waterboarding just seems so lame compared to strapping explosives on pregnant women to blow up innocent children.
Secondly, I want the opposition, specifically terrorists, to at least THINK all options of torture are on the table. Maybe that will discourage some pansy terrorist wannabe to pursue a life of bettering mankind instead of destroying it. If they all know they will get a free ride at a posh hotel in a place much better than they are now, getting busted as a terrorist won’t seem so bad. Especially if they are just training other morons to blow themselves up.
Outside of the most important issue of a whole bunch of non-military people trying to define what the military can and can not do, the Democrats couldn’t resist the temptation to stick even more pork into this piece of legislation. Given those two issues, this was a horrible piece of legislation that deserved to die and should never have been passed in the first place.
11
Mar
This email is making the rounds. It’s fairly accurate, but not totally:
We need to buy AMERICAN for a change. Please read this. Thanks.
WHERE TO BUY YOUR USA-GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW . READ ON–
Gas rationing in the 80′s worked even though we grumbled about it. It might even be good for us!The Saudis are boycotting American goods.
We should return the favor.
An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS. Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don’t import their oil from the Saudis.
Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my friends.
I thought it might b e interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle Eastern oil.
These companies import Middle Eastern oil:
Shell……………………………205,742,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco………..144,332,000 barrels
Exxon /Mobil…………….130,082,000 barrels
Marathon/Speedway..117,740,000 barrels
Amoco…………………………62,231,000 barrelsCitgo Gas comes from South America, from a Dictator who hates Americans.
Do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! (Oil is now $90-$95 a barrel)
Here are some large companies that DO NOT import Middle Eastern oil:
Sunoco………………….0 barrels
Conoco………………….0 barrels
Sinclair…………………0 barrels
BP/Phillips…………..0 barrels
Hess…………………….0 barrels
ARC0. …………………0 barrels
Also: Pilot, Flying J, Love’s, RaceTrac, ValeroAll of this information is available from the Department of Energy and each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing.
But to have an impact, we need to let gas buyers know. So send this on!
The wrong part is gas has already gone well past $95. So, that figure should be well over $20,000,000,000. I do what I can already, it didn’t take this email to motivate me into buying as close to home as I can. It’s not easy around here as choices are limited. However, the one good thing of being in a small town is that as soon as Chavez dissed the United States, the only Citgo supplier switched brands immediately at his own expense. He’s a proud American, born and raised in India. The downside is he switched to Shell.
The problem with buying “American” oil products is we’ve pretty well squeezed ourselves out of the market due to political correctness run amok. It’s all fine and good to boycott OPEC. However, they’ll just sell what we don’t buy to China, India, and the rest of the world. It won’t hurt them any time soon. The ultimate fix is tapping our vast resources in a responsible way while simultaneously forcing greener alternatives upon our society. We don’t have the will to sacrifice for anything any more. It has to come from the top down. But, until that happens, we can’t allow oil to continue to cripple our economy regardless of what Nancy Pelosi might think.
Nancy Pelosi promised us a lot of things when she took over Congress. This was in response to the perceived public demand for change by electing her party into power the previous year. So far, the results have been ugly with practically no media attention given to why.
In response to rising gas prices, which she addresses directly on her website, she mentions very directly that Americans can’t afford the price of gas right now. Then launches into a tirade against the oil companies, and proposes energy independence. Adding a tax to the il companies hasn’t worked too well. Since her proposal, gas has gone UP 10% in a month. Energy independence is a great idea, and it was being pursued before she took over. Howver, it’s going to take years to achieve any real results. What has Nancy proposed in the interim to help struggling families? Nothing. No tax relief, no new sources of oil, nothing. Oil companies see this. They know they’ve got the public by the balls because Nancy can’t and won’t do what has to be done. She’s opposed off-shore drilling, she’s opposed ANWR, she’s opposed coal. She’s opposed everything that would answer the problem right now only if it was used as a bluff. Her hand’s played. We’re screwed. $4.00 a barrel gallon (00ps) will be here sooner than later so long as Nancy’s still dictating oil policy.
In lieu of her promise to bring responsible spending to Congress, because she badgered the reckless spending of Bush, she has had to cut spending. Well, where she saw fit anyway. One of the targets of her wrath has been drug enforcement:
Despite past support by Congress, a recent funding slash to the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant is leaving many multi-jurisdictional drug task forces scrambling to find the money they need to keep their doors open, including to David Gilbert, director of the Lake Cumberland Area Drug Task Force (LCADTF).The cuts come after the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant, or Byrne/JAG, was only one in a handful of programs to receive increased funding in the 2007 fiscal year. After suffering a cut in 2006 that left it at $416 million, funding for the program increased to $520 million for the 2007 fiscal year.
That $520 million has been reduced to a mere $170 million for the next biennium.
Drug dealers are rejoicing, the people hired to protect us from them are losing their jobs en masse.
If that’s not bad enough, the secondary result of Nancy’s fiscal policies are reflected by the national economy, but not transparent enough that CNN or MSNBC want to see it, so they don’t. When you take money OUT of the economy, which is what Nancy proposes left and right, those are jobs and individuals’ incomes. Adding taxes to the cost of gasoline, eliminating tax breaks, eliminating federal funding for programs, that’s all taking money out of the economy. What’s the result? The markets are all nose-diving. We get a different excuse each week, but the bottom line is money is not being put into the economy to allow people to work enough at a good enough rate to pay for the mortgages they took out. Some of it’s the bogus mortgage schemes, but I can’t see that being a big enough segment of the population to tank the entire economy as I’m being told by media. There’s other issues afoot, today it’s the weak dollar. The dollar’s been weak for a decade. That doesn’t mean a whole lot in context of right now. I’ll put it this way, the weak dollar only makes stuff made here more competitive throughout the world. Someone MIGHT get a job because of increased production. However, fifty families will lose their primary source of income because Nancy chose not to fund Byrne Justice. That’s a fact. Some of those will lose their houses. That’s a fact. That money will not be spent in economically underserved areas, that’s a fact. That will happen. Nancy’s from San Francisco, I saw this coming. Now, the double whammy here is the tax-paying people will lose their jobs. The revenues derived from those encouraged to do business here by Nancy do not. There will be fewer forfeitures, more addicts, and more problems. That’s Nancy’s vision. It’s definitely not mine.
A rising star of the Democrat Party, Eliot Spitzer gained fame prosecuting corporations among other things as Attorney General. Now he’s in deep doo-doo. I’m still waiting for Nancy Pelosi to cite him as yet another example of the Democrat Culture of Corruption.
Quickie update: Everyone with a keyboard has had something to say about Spitzer. Well, everyone except Nancy Pelosi so far. Two of my favorites so far:
- Jon Swift. His take on this situation, as usual, is totally unique, very insightful, and, in my opinion, dead-on perfect. If Spitzer had followed Jon’s advice he’d still be out of a job, but the sympathy factor would be a little less overwhelming.
- Me. Not that I’m that vain or anything, I just haven’t seen anyone else seeking what is so special about “some” poontang to merit $5,000 a pop.
