Feeling pretty feisty actually bee...thanks for asking.

Davis is just being davis...

Celt? Celt's an asshole who'd be best served with my foot up his arse!

Never mind the details...celt just had to resort to a little name-calling the other day when it was really entirely unnecessary, and I refuse to let it slide...he' s an ass and needs a good arse-kickin!

Davis didn't like the fact that I said so...thus...whines, cries, and runs home to momma!

A little name-calling is just SOP around here. Some just make their insults a little more hidden(and a little less honest) than others.

Politics ain't beanbag.

Your voice ALWAYS heard and appreciated Art! Hope life's treating you well these days!

And darned true about politics!

Actually, BIG has been thrashing around at everyone else ever since I reset his buttons the other day.

And as for rolling in it with Big, it's never been any different with Big and I, so what're you lookin' at Legion ???

Only 106 today, what could be better than that? My buddy moved into apartments with indoor racquetball courts so at least one day a week will be nice COOL exercise.

Sadly biking and tennis will still be outdoors. Like you my health REQUIRES I do all I can, even if it takes a lot more pacing than it used to.

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Celt...that's the one thing I love about you...you'll NEVER back away from a brawl!!! Verbal, and I'm guessing face-to-face as well! Wouldn't be worth the effort any other way!

Can we get a translation of the above?

Sup bee?

I see you lurking in the shadows!

after 90 degrees with 90% humidity, I think I know sumthin "better."

reading
half asleep big

I think it might be 10% here. Evap cooler works like a charm.

I heard somebody put Phoenix and Tucson in the top 5 sweatiest cities, but it evaporates right off. Humidity at 90% just sticks forever.

It should be about bedtime back at your time zone, should it not? Bunk down for the night kiddo...get some rest.

Just FYI, I'm definitely on the mend and feeling pretty good...it'll take a while to get my full strength back, which makes me PLENTY-o-handful for the likes of celt!

Get some rest...I'll keep watch a while, then I'll hit the hay too!

Yep.

I miss "dry."

One more map and I will...last break, last map this evening, California surf spots. I just saw Cali is FINALLY numbering the exits, how's that going over?

HAHAHAHAHA! You're asking a guy who lives and dies by anything BUT numbers...no one I know even talks about it! Actually they've been numbered in a couple of places here for years, but folks will pretty much always call the exits as they see 'em...i.e. Queens Avenue exit, etc.

HMMMM! Not far from my place, Queens Avenue...

Anyway, don't overdo it...I'm speaking from experience now...

When my Dad moved to California from Kentucky he looked all over the damn place for La Hoya, and could only find La Jolla.

Bout time you folks got some numbers.

Well then, I better bring along my twin brother and certifiable badass, Todd Rambo!!

Better outfit him with some extra keister armor.

Crow's dark spectre (remember him?) has his back!

Hell bee...fast as I drive by the time I can read the numbers I've done gone by 'em!

Sorry, don't remember. Been a LONG time since I've seen MST3k.

I think it was during Fire Maidens of Outer Space , but I'm not sure. I've seen so many stinkbombs that overheaded my CPU, that it's sometimes hard to pull them all up!

Ethics and Values in Politics colloquy



Freedom has been achieved by a series of wars fought by those brave enough to quench their thirst for that freedom.

Liberals seem to be comfortable to live on the plantation and let Massa provide whatever he/she chooses to allow! LP

That's not a colloquy, malaka!




That was a soliloquy:

I prefer to treat it as such, IYDM

col·lo·quy (kŏl'ə-kwē)
n., pl. -quies.
A conversation, especially a formal one.
A written dialogue.


To me, freedom should always be treated in the formal manner!

Abramoff Defrauded Indians, U.S. Senate Witnesses Say (Update1)

June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Jack Abramoff, a former lobbyist who is the subject of a federal investigation, diverted funds from Indian tribes into projects ranging from an Orthodox Jewish academy to an Israeli sniper school, new documents show.

Abramoff and partner Michael Scanlon inflated expenses and divided the profits from $15 million in payments from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, according to testimony and e- mails released at a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing. The two men told the Indians they used the money for a lobbying campaign to prevent rival casinos from opening, said witnesses, including Donald Kilgore, the tribe's attorney general.

``This investigation has taken twists and turns we had not anticipated,'' said Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat who is vice chairman of the committee. ``It has uncovered deceptions and greed that even by Washington standards are breathtaking.''

Some of the fees were funneled though a nonprofit tax-exempt organization, and much of the money went into Abramoff's own bank account -- unknown to the tribes or the nonprofit group. It was part of what Abramoff labeled his ``gimme five'' program, according to the e-mails and testimony.

Heightened Scrutiny

The use of nonprofit groups to fund lobbying campaigns and congressional travel has come under increased scrutiny since March. That's when the Washington Post reported that the National Center for Public Policy Research, a Washington-based group that witnesses today said Abramoff used to funnel at least $1 million in Choctaw money, sponsored a 2000 congressional golf trip to Scotland, which included House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Abramoff.

According to a study by the Center for Public Integrity, non- profit groups with lobbyists on their boards paid for at least 850 congressional trips worth more than $4 million between January 2000 and mid-2004.

Neither Abramoff nor Scanlon, a former aide to DeLay, were at today's hearings. A spokesman for Abramoff said the lobbyist deserved the fees he was paid by the Indian tribes.

``Any fair reading of Mr. Abramoff's career would show that his clients benefited immensely from the hard work he and his team did on their behalf,'' spokesman Andrew Blum said in a statement. ``Mr. Abramoff hopes that those who are quick to judge him now will remember that there are two sides to every event and that the media can condemn someone before he ever has a chance to right the record.''

Blum said Abramoff can't respond to specific allegations because he's under investigation by the Justice Department.

$66 Million in Fees

Abramoff and Scanlon took in more than $66 million in fees from 2001 to 2004 from tribal clients, said Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican who's chairman of the committee. They directed some of those funds to congressional campaigns in a bid to win influence, according to e-mails released by the committee in two hearings held last year.

A Bloomberg News analysis of Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service records shows that at least 171 lawmakers got $1.4 million in campaign donations from Abramoff, Scanlon and six Indian tribe clients between 2001 and 2004.

``There are two possibilities: that Abramoff and colleagues are the sickening exception to the usual DC lobbyist rule, or that they are all too typical,'' said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. ``If it's the latter, Katie, bar the door.''

Losing Money

Dorgan, McCain, representatives from the Mississippi tribe and the head of the nonprofit National Center for Public Policy Research alleged that Abramoff may have committed fraud.

In a Nov. 4, 2002, e-mail, Abramoff told Scanlon to tell Mississippi Choctaw legislative liaison Nell Rogers that the two were losing money representing the tribe. They actually spent only $1.2 million of the $7.7 million they charged the tribe for projects in 2001, according to McCain.

``I think you should call her and tell her that we have turned the corner but you are pouring it on to make sure we win,'' Abramoff wrote. ``Tell her as of now you are finally willing to say that we will win this, but laughingly say `I don't know how I am going to get back all the money I had to dump into this.'''

Kilgore told the committee that was ``a blatant, calculated scheme to defraud a client.''

Educating the Public

In 2002, the National Center for Public Policy Research received $1 million from the Choctaws -- the largest amount of money the group had ever received, according to Amy Ridenour, the center's president.

Ridenour said today that she was told by Abramoff -- a friend of almost 22 years -- that the money was to be for a campaign to educate the public on Indian gaming.

She said he asked her to send $500,000 to Capitol Campaign Strategies, Scanlon's public-affairs firm which she was told was doing the work for the campaign. Another $450,000 was to go to Abramoff's charity, the Capital Athletic Foundation, and $50,000 to the Washington lobbying firm Nurnberger & Associates, who she was told was coordinating the campaign, she testified.

Instead, Abramoff was paying off a personal debt owed to Ralph Nurnberger, a partner in the lobbying firm, McCain said, citing testimony to the committee by Nurnberger. Abramoff told his executive assistant to ``make up invoices'' from the Capital Athletic Foundation and Nurnberger & Associates to ``give his activities the veneer of legitimacy,'' McCain said.

`I'm Appalled'

Ridenour said that another $1.25 million the center received from Abramoff's lobbying firm in 2003 was directed to the foundation and to Kaygold LLC, which she assumed was another public-affairs firm conducting the campaign. Instead, according to testimony by Gail Halpern, Abramoff's accountant, it was a corporation solely owned by Abramoff.

``Frankly, I'm appalled,'' Ridenour said. ``It seemed perfectly consistent with our mission, and it seemed like good, legitimate work.''

The foundation used money from the Choctaws and other donors to fund a variety of pet interests of Abramoff's, McCain said. Almost 80 percent of the group's funds went to the all-boys Eshkol Academy that Abramoff set up in Maryland. The foundation also sent payments to a friend of Abramoff's who ran sniper workshops for the Israeli Defense Force.

One e-mail released by the committee today details costs for equipment needed by the sniper workshops. Abramoff's friend once suggested that he could write a letter with the workshop's logo as an ``educational entity'' when Abramoff was trying to figure out how to match the payments with the foundation's mission, McCain said, citing Abramoff's secretary.

``No, don't do that,'' Abramoff replied in the e-mail. ``I don't want sniper letterhead.''


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=100...=top_world_news

Pretty nasty character. Seems Washington is rife with his ilk.

I'm thinking, davis, that at least SOME of that must be exaggerated, that no one could be that brazen.

But then I think of Bernie Ebers, and realize that some people CAN be that brazen.

The BIA is and has been for years under a court order to account for the per diem money, yet: not done, not even started.

Prehaps there are still some Choctaws who still know how to scalp a forked tongued paleface thief. One can only hope...

Can't they find a Republican without the appearance of corruption to head this committee? Oh, that's right, they had one. They couldn't take the actions of an ethical Republican though. He was acting, well, too ethical for them.

Margaret Carlson:
Another Scandal? How Dull.
There's so much that smells bad in Washington, but lately there is no will and almost no means to do anything about it.

The House Ethics Committee has been emasculated. Republicans control the investigatory committees. The public is numb, the press discouraged.


Pounding away on ethical breaches like those alleged of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) gets nowhere unless someone official takes up the cause. Woodward and Bernstein without Judge John J. Sirica and Sen. Sam Ervin would have run out of stories to write.

"Everybody does it" — which doesn't work for your ordinary driver caught speeding — works like magic in Washington. Quiet fell over his colleagues when DeLay accused all of them of similar behavior. That's true. There are a lot of fact-finding trips to places like, say Palm Beach, where there are no facts to be found. However, not everyone charges $70,000 on a lobbyist's credit card for a trip to London and 18 holes at St. Andrew's in Scotland.

So far, Capitol Hill isn't a bit alarmed about another scandal, uncovered by the San Diego Union-Tribune.

According to the newspaper, Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-San Diego), a member of the Appropriations subcommittee on defense, sold his house in 2003 to defense contractor Mitchell Wade, whose company paid about $1.68 million sight unseen. Wade turned around and unloaded it eight months later — in a red-hot real estate market — for $975,000.

Cunningham told the Union-Tribune that he relied for the price on an independent source who researched comparable homes in the neighborhood.

What neighborhood, Beverly Hills? The average price in Cunningham's area was about $1 million. And the source turned out to be a friend who has donated heavily to Cunningham's campaigns.

But let's not cry for Wade. During the period when he lost $700,000 on the house, he appears to have made up for it in new business. His company, MZM Inc., grew from $41 million in government contracts in 2003 to $66 million in 2004.

The congressman, meanwhile, bought himself a $2.5-million, seven-bath mansion, where he'd been living happily until concerned citizens showed up outside with picket signs.

When the congressman is in Washington, the North County Times, another newspaper in his district, discovered, he's also looked after by Wade, who lets Cunningham live aboard his 42-foot yacht, dubbed the Duke Stir.

The FBI is now looking into the arrangement, and some of Wade's employees have filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, saying they'd been forced to donate to Cunningham's campaign.

As much as the Cunningham case has upset folks in San Diego, in Washington it barely turns a head. Congress has dropped all pretense of policing itself. The House has no functioning ethics committee, and the Senate Ethics Committee hasn't shown much life since the Keating Five, other than to adopt 23 exceptions to the $50 rule about meals.

Small wonder, then, that colleagues of Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) are ignoring his finances, which are the subject of an investigation by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Some of Frist's filings with the FEC may have violated federal campaign-finance regulations, according to the paper. The details are enough to give an Enron accountant a headache, but that's why you need an ethics committee.

You'd also think the ethics committee would want to take a look at how lobbyist Jack Abramoff embroiled so many officials in his web. Isn't anyone horrified that Abramoff paid a princely sum to the prince of the Christian Right, Ralph Reed, to shut down an Indian tribe's casino so that large sums could be extracted from the same tribe to get it opened again?

No wonder Republicans think capitalism works so well.

Only two public officials of note ever lost money in office.

They're named Clinton, and they paid dearly for it. We live in a time when we actually debate whether Deep Throat was a hero or villain. Where's Sam Ervin when we need him?

http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-...la-news-columns

Gosh, davey. How can we help Clinton pay for his bj?

Margie is full of it.(it being shit) The Clinton's are rich, but I bet the people that had to defend themselves from Clinton's FBI and IRS attacks aren't.

Carlson is quite selective in her outrage. Maybe she shouldn't overlook that everyone does it quite so easily.

IOW "Everybody does it" is a legitimate excuse as far as you are concerned.

What corrupt congress critters have to do with the Clinton's is beyond me. You want parity with the Clintons? I'm all for it. Let's get Ken Starr to spend 60 million investigating Bush and Cheney's finances.

Everybody does it is Margies excuse to focus on half and overlook the other half. Either you go after everyone equally or get used to the SOS.

I had the same problem with the lefties on election reform. They wanted to "fix" a couple counties in Florida and overlook anywhere they had an advantage. So I say let's fix it all, and they go back to carping about something that only cuts their way.

I agree, let's fix it. Time to clean out the House. Both parties. There's plenty of corrupt Dems as well.

They protect each other regardless of party. Neither side wants too much light on the situation so they pick around the edges at a scapegoat or two.

What I can't figure out is why, ethics rules or not, anyone thinks it was acceptable for an Indian casino lobby to treat politicians to a first class golfing trip to Scotland, period, regardless of who or how it was paid for. A bribe's a bribe, whether it goes straight from the Indians, or through a lobbyist, or through a phoney non-profit.

What facts were supposedly being found on a golf course? What conference on casinos, Indian or otherwise, was being held in Scotland? And the same for all these other fake fact-finding trips. What possible remote relevance are they even pretending to serve?

At the least, there used to be a PRETENCE for the sake of decency--setting up a pretend conference on global warming in Hawaii or something--to provide some sort of excuse for such trips. These days, they don't even seem to bother with the pretence, and no one's even blinking over it. Just squabbling over whether or not the check came straight from Abramoff!

I said the same thing when my worthless ex-rep Ed Pastor was going on retreats paid for by "big tobacco". Granted, it didn't make the news, but happened none the less. Sure is amazing Carlson and the LAT just happen to find only three Reps worth of unethical behavior.

Fed probes could cripple Cunningham as fundraiser

By Dana Wilkie
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

June 26, 2005

WASHINGTON – For years, Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham has been a hot commodity on the national campaign trail. His compelling profile as a former "Top Gun" ace lured crowds of admiring voters, and his safe congressional district gave him time not only to stump for fellow Republicans but also to raise money for them through his political action committee.

Much of this could change.

Now that the eight-term Rancho Santa Fe congressman finds himself the subject of federal inquiries for his ties to a defense contractor, candidates in competitive races may be unwilling to call on a tainted lawmaker to campaign for them.

And even if they wanted him, Cunningham might not have the time: If he seeks re-election, the growing controversy will probably mean the toughest challenge of his political career, with the chief enemy possibly being fellow Republicans.

"He's an important figure in Congress, but this is the kind of thing that will make people take a harder look," said Gary Jacobson, a congressional expert at the University of California San Diego. "If he can't resolve this in a way that passes the smell test, then I think it will hurt his position as a leader and as a fundraiser."

The FBI and a federal grand jury are looking into the 2003 sale of Cunningham's Del Mar-area home to defense contractor Mitchell Wade of MZM Inc. Wade bought the house for $1,675,000 and sold it eight months later at a $700,000 loss. Around that same time, MZM started winning tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts with Cunningham's support.

Cunningham, a member of the House defense appropriations subcommittee and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, used the proceeds from the home sale to buy a $2.55 million house in Rancho Santa Fe. When in Washington, he lives aboard Wade's yacht named Duke-Stir.

In a statement Thursday, Cunningham acknowledged that the sale to Wade showed "poor judgment" but rejected "any suggestion that I secured a contract for Mr. Wade's company . . . because MZM purchased my home . . . "

When Cunningham first ran for Congress in 1990 – and when he sought election to a newly redrawn congressional district in 1992 – he cast himself as a Washington outsider intent on restoring integrity to a Congress stung by scandal. In 1990, he ousted longtime Rep. Jim Bates, a Democrat who was tainted by allegations of sexual harassment. In 1992, he defeated Rep. Bill Lowery, a fellow Republican who was linked to the savings-and-loan crisis and who had run up 300 overdrafts at the House Bank.


He is yet another ex-Contract With America type who lie to get into office then cash in. Just another corporate whore with his hand caught in the cookie jar.


Now confronted with his own troubles, Cunningham walks the Capitol halls briskly, press spokesman Mark Olson close at his side. When approached by reporters, he hurries on, tightening his lips and shaking his head, indicating his refusal to talk about his MZM ties.

Publicly, his Republican colleagues are supportive, calling Cunningham a man of "integrity" and "courage." Ed Patru, spokesman for the Republican National Congressional Committee, said Cunningham's recent statement makes it "pretty clear that he's willing to cooperate fully with any and all investigations, and . . . I think that's not typical for people who have something to hide."

"At the end of the day, the voters are going to have to weigh his 36 years of service against whatever facts emerge," Patru said.

Privately, however, Republicans on Capitol Hill worry whether Cunningham can survive.

"Definitely the 'R' word – resignation – has been talked about freely," said one top Republican aide who asked not to be named. "Every conversation I have with people, they just keep thinking that this is very bad, and he really needs to review his options."

As a decorated Navy pilot and Vietnam War hero, Cunningham has often been in demand as a speaker at Republican fundraisers across the country. Because he has faced only token opposition in his district, he's had the freedom during election years to help raise the profiles and pad the war chests of GOP candidates in tough races. Moreover, through his American Prosperity Political Action Committee, Cunningham is able to donate money to candidates and causes of his choosing. During the latest congressional election, his PAC contributed more than $170,000 to Republican candidates and groups that supported Republicans.

But if House candidates next year perceive that voters are wary or angry about Cunningham's links to MZM, they won't be inviting him to their campaign events, experts said.

"I suspect there will be a lot of caution," said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College. "Self preservation trumps friendship in politics."

The house sale has touched a nerve in Cunningham's 50th Congressional District, which includes Del Mar, Carlsbad, Encinitas, San Marcos, Escondido and large portions of San Diego. Many constituents are outraged, Democrats are giddy with the prospect of challenging a weakened incumbent, and Republican strategists are privately discussing which GOP candidates might run in the June primary should Cunningham run as a vulnerable incumbent, resign or decide not to seek re-election.

Possible GOP candidates include former state Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian; San Diego County Supervisors Bill Horn and Pam Slater-Price; state Sen. Bill Morrow; Assemblymen George Plescia and Mark Wyland; and San Diego City Councilman Brian Maienschein.

Democrat Francine Busby, a Cardiff school board member who lost to Cunningham last year, is gearing up for a rematch.

The 50th District's voter registration is 45 percent Republican and 30 percent Democrat. Twenty-one percent decline to state a political party.

Last year, Cunningham won re-election with a healthy 58 percent of the vote, but some analysts say a Democrat could run strong in this heavily Republican district against a disgraced politician. Busby won 37 percent of the vote last year, while Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry won 44 percent of the district's vote.

"If people are willing to vote for Kerry, then with the baggage Duke has, a Democrat could probably count on getting at least 44 percent of the vote," said Tony Quinn, co-author of the Target Book that analyzes California politics.

Others say that if Cunningham can focus on his legislative successes – such as last week's House-passed amendment outlawing desecration of the U.S. flag, which Cunningham authored – and if he is upfront about the housing matter, he may have time to repair his reputation, earn voters' forgiveness and even continue his fundraising for other candidates.

"Bill Clinton was famously accused of all sorts of things, and he was the best fundraiser the Democrats ever had," Jacobson said. "If your loyal partisans don't desert you and if the Republican faithful rally around, you can come off looking like a martyr."


A Republican big money fatcat trying to portray himself as a martyr to cover up his OVERT, BLATANT unethical behavior? Naaawwww (Tom DeLay) I just don't (Tom DeLay) believe (Tom DeLay) any Pube would sink (Tom DeLay) that low (Tom DeLay) Poor old Tom DeLay, I mean Cunningham, he's just the target of a leftwing liberal conspiracy.


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/2...9-1n26duke.html

You can't swing a dead cat in DC without hitting a crooked Republican.

You can't just say they all do it.

These forking vermin ran on ethics, integrity and now that they are in positions of power where they have the capability to cash in? Alllll the talk of ethics and morals goes out the god damned window.

Lying thieves.

Fuck it. I take back what I said about fixing it all. Let's just keep making ethics a partisan issue, that way the Reps can use their power to only investigate when they feel like it.

Fuck a bunch of ethics. Nobody really cares. We'll take care of our own.

It's just a ranting point for davis anyway. Google Reps and ethics and try to find something new to bitch about. It isn't worth it to me to go through every investigation of Dems in the US, but I have in the past and there is plenty of ammo.

And davis would be the first to agree with you. I think his point was that the papers are finding Republicans because the Republicans are the party in power.

Of course the Democrats are corrupt. It is interesting that those Democrat investigations tend to be dismissed more often then Republicans, but that is probably because they haven't been quite as blatant about it. Like Judy says, it seems that they've given up even a pretense of respectibility.

There is such a thing as degree.

Hardly. Davis is a good opposition research player, but I haven't seen anything to point to it being anything other than that. If there's nothing new he'll trot out the same old stuff.

It's a propaganda war either way. Nobody has made a major move to stop ethics violations because they all run the same tightwire act of getting all the perks they can. A lot of it isn't even illegal or against rules, just tacky. But some people end up on the front page for tacky, while others get away with a lot more and it stays under the radar.

Nothing new, same ole rant, but I only see them when someone replies.