you didn't give me any time to correct it. you're fast

Leaking is good when it hurts Bush, and bad when it hurts terrorists. fark morals and values, this is life and death.

You're full of crap. You can try that mushroom cloud forking bullshit on someone else buddy. This administration has done nothing but tear this country apart and destroy the constitution along the way. These jerks are Iran/Contra x 1,000,000.

Republicans use everything for political gain. 9/11, the war, Shaivo, everything. You want to destroy our freedom while supposedly spreading it to other countries.

Those willing to trade freedom for security DESERVE NEITHER.



You want a police state? Move to Iraq.

It's a waste of time quoting the Constitution. The plain English apparently is incomprehensible to "complex" minds.

And dems are Julius and Ethyl x 1,000,000.

So you're a Constitutional expert?

Among other things. The list is too long to post here.

Well you can use the New York Times to paper train him...

He isn't. Sometimes I wonder if he can read.

No security, no freedom, just death.

Good thing. I could use some free legal advice.

Are you in BIG trouble?

You'll get what you pay for.

I wasn't expecting much.

So'z ask away.

I want to know exactly what the 4th ammendment means.

Exactly.

You spelled amendment and eggsactly wrong.

Well I expect it's been ruled on thousands of times, so there would be thousands of "exactitudes."

You're probably way past the general Wikipedia sort of explanation?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amendm...es_Constitution

Here's another.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constit...dment04/01.html

Only one g ?

Speling isn't my strong suit.

It means that the 4th amendment is before the 5th amendment and after the 3rd amendment.

Besides that, the 4th amendment means diddlysquat.

There's like a jillion and a half words there. Like pi to ten thousand places. Do more words make the meaning more exact, or less?

Not to worry, Roberts and Alito will repeal the 4th.

If there are unreasonable searches and siezures, then there must be reasonable ones too. That seems simple enough.

Abramoff says he could implicate 60 lawmakers

Excerpted from today's Wall Street Journal:
#
Making the bribery case especially striking -- and worrisome for members of Congress -- is that some of its elements include transactions that occur in Washington every day. It is commonplace for lawmakers to solicit campaign donations from lobbyists, who routinely offer them in hopes of gaining advantage. Yet Mr. Abramoff also went far beyond routine practice by furnishing lawmakers with lavish trips, free meals and entertainment as well.

It remains unclear which lawmakers prosecutors are looking at, and also how persuasive Mr. Abramoff could be in helping to make potential cases against any of them stick. A onetime chairman of College Republicans -- a close ally of such party luminaries as Tom DeLay, Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist -- Mr. Abramoff says he has information that could implicate 60 lawmakers.

"The case is significant and the corruption scheme with Mr. Abramoff is very extensive," said Alice Fisher, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's criminal division, at a news conference. She said prosecutors "will continue to follow it wherever it leads."

#

My but he's been a busy boychick

Again! Woman 'has sex with boy, 12'
Police: Teacher, 41, involved in 'some type of romantic relationship'

Posted: January 5, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern


A California woman is the latest teacher suspected of raping a student, as 41-year old Sherry Brians is in custody for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 12-year old boy.

Brians, a third-year language-arts instructor at Buttonwillow School in Buttonwillow, Calif., was arrested yesterday and charged with committing a lewd or lascivious act with a child under the age of 14, a felony.


Kern County Sheriffs Sgt. Richard Wood said Brians, who is unmarried and had no previous disciplinary problems, was involved in "some type of romantic relationship" with the victim, and the alleged offense took place on school property.

Authorities began their probe just before Christmas when the boy's mother provided them a letter she found in her son's backpack. Wood said the note from Brians indicated there was a romantic relationship between the teacher and the boy.

"We're just in shock and disbelief," principal James Murphy told the Bakersfield Californian. "This is a heavy (situation) ... It's stunning. (The allegations) came out of the blue."

Murphy stressed the teacher was innocent until proven guilty, but added, "It's very important for our Board of Trustees and teachers that the public know that students are safe and in an orderly environment."

Some students at the middle school are coming to Brians' defense.

Steve Carranza, 13, is an eighth-grader who had Brians as a homeroom teacher last year. He said that although Brians hugged her students routinely and had a swimming pool party last year at her house, she was always professional.

"I doubt Ms. Brians would do (a lewd act with a student)," Steve told the paper. "She's the nicest teacher there."

Local area residents are already blogging about the issue:


"No more slut teachers in public schools. If it we're my son, they'd be burying that 'woman.' First the apple in Eden. Now molesting innocents. Hang her." (Dallas)

"She was really the best teacher we had and might possibly ever have. When, not if, she is proven innocent, me and my friend will be the first ones to see her." (Alan Lopez, former student of Brians)
Brians was booked on a $100,000 bail, and is slated for a court appearance tomorrow morning at Kern County Superior Court.

She is joins a long list of women who have been accused or convicted of having illegal sexual activity with children.

Among the most well-known is the case of Debra Lafave, a 26-year-old reading teacher in Florida accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy in her classroom, car and at home. Her plea deal sparing her jail time and giving her just house arrest was thrown out last week and her trial is now slated for April 10.

Other cases collected by WND from news reports include:

Adrianne Hockett: Accused of having sex with a 16-year-old special-needs student in a Houston apartment she rented for the get-togethers. The boy has testified the pair would "have sex, drink beer and smoke weed."

Amber Jennings, 31: Initially charged with having sex with a 16-year-old, the counts against the Sturbridge, Mass., woman were reduced to a single charge of disseminating harmful materials to a minor. She reportedly admitted e-mailing naked photos of herself to a former student.

Amber Marshall, 23: Northwest Indiana woman allegedly had sexual contact, including intercourse, with several students, and turned herself into authorities, telling police she knew what she did was illegal.

Amira Sa'Si, 30: Clayton County, Ga., woman remarked she didn't think her relationship was inappropriate based on her Internet research, learning the Peach State's age of consent is 16.

Amy Gail Lilley, 36: Inverness, Fla., woman charged with an alleged relationship with a 15-year-old girl.

Angela Stellwag, 24: Delran, N.J., woman accused of having sex in her apartment with a 14-year-old boy she met in school.

Beth Raymond, 31: Private-school employee from Pownal, Maine, charged with risk of injury to a minor and second-degree sexual assault of a juvenile male.

Bethany Sherrill, 24: Daughter-in-law of school-board president is charged with molesting a middle school student when he was 14.


Carol Flannigan

Carol Flannigan, 50: Boca Raton, Fla., music teacher reportedly slept with 11-year-old former student, and also had a simultaneous sexual relationship with the boy's father.

Celeste Emerick, 32: Police in Huber Heights, Ohio, say she hosted a party where students were shown porn.

Christina Gallagher, 26: Jersey City, N.J., woman ordered to pay more than $1,000 in fines, sentenced to a lifetime registration as a convicted sex offender and ordered to attend therapy for having sex with a 17-year-old student.


Deanna Bobo

Deanna Bobo, 37: Arkansas teacher allegedly had sex twice with a 14-year-old boy in his own bed while his parents were not home.

Donna Carr Galloway, 33: Married mother of two found naked in a car with a 17-year-old student.

Elisa Kawasaki, 25: Officials say ex-biology teacher had sexual relations with a 16-year-old student on up to 20 different occasions.

Elizabeth Miklosovic, 36: Grand Rapids, Mich., woman pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old female student she "married" in a pagan ritual.

Elizabeth Stow, 26: Woman from Fresno, Calif., area convicted of having sex with three of her students was sentenced to nine years, but the judge suspended that sentence and gave her one year, possibly on house arrest, as well as faces five years probation.

Ellen Garfield, 43: Former student says teacher took him into an empty classroom where she worked, partially disrobed, and coaxed him into having sex with her in 1998. Garfield was acquitted of all charges in September of this year.

Emily Morris, 28: Alabama woman faced a possible 20-year sentence, but received one year in jail for having consensual sex with a 15-year-old student.

Erica Rutters, 29: York, Pa., woman allegedly wrote erotic messages to a 17-year-old student and had sexual intercourse with him four times in her apartment.

Georgianne Harrell, 24: Sylvester, Ga., woman charged with performing oral sex on a 9-year-old boy, allowing students to gaze down her blouse and slashing her wrists with glass in front of her students. She pleaded not guilty.

Gwen Ann Cardozo, 33: Colorado woman charged with having sex with a 17-year-old male student.

Heather Ingram, 30: Mathematics, science and business teacher in British Columbia had sex with a 17-year-old student.

Janelle Marie Bird, 24: Accused of having a two-year affair with a 15-year-old student from East Hill Christian School, in Pensacola, Fla.


Jaymee Wallace

Jaymee Wallace, 28: Basketball coach in Tampa, Fla., charged with having an 18-month lesbian relationship with a student.

Joan Marie Sladky, 28: Redwood City, Calif., woman sentenced to six months in county jail for having sex with a 16-year-old student after pleading no contest to four counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation and penetration with a foreign object.

Katherine Tew, 30: Married English teacher from Greenville, N.C., arrested for having sex with a 17-year-old student.

Kathy White, 39: Charged with having sex with a 17-year-old student in Lumberton, Texas. Victim alleges: "She just started grabbing me and hormones were on and it just happened."

Kelly Lynn Dalecki, 28: Woman from St. Augustine, Fla., pleaded no contest to charges she had sex with a 13-year-old boy.

Kristen Margrif, 27: Michigan woman accused of having sex with a 16-year-old male student in her car or at his summer workplace.


Kristi Oakes

Kristi Dance Oakes, 32: Former Tennessee high-school teacher allegedly had sex with a 16-year-old boy who was in her biology class the previous year.

Lakina Stutts, 40: School-bus driver admitted to cops she had sex with a 14-year-old student in her home and in a car outside the boy's home.

Laura-Anne Brownlee, 26: Former music mistress at a top private school in Belfast, N. Ireland, was sentenced on six charges of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old boy.

Laura Lynn Findlay, 30: Middle-school band teacher in Buena Vista Township, Mich., charged with having sex with at least 5 students, one as young as 14.


Margaret De Barraicua

Margaret De Barraicua, 30: Sacramento, Calif., area woman arrested after police found her having sex with a 16-year-old male student in her car while the woman's toddler was strapped into a seat in the back.

Maria Saco, 28: Passaic, N.J., woman sentenced to a year in jail for an intimate relationship with a teen student who was 14 when they first met.

Mary Kay Letourneau, 34: Des Moines, Wash., woman did prison time after having an affair with a sixth-grade student, and had two children by him. The couple recently married.

Melissa Michelle Deel, 32: Bristol, Tenn., woman pleaded guilty to crossing the state line into Virginia to have oral sex with a 13-year-old male student.

Michelle Kush, 29: Ohio woman allegedly had sex with a 15-year-old boy several times during summer break.

Nicola Prentice, 22: British woman from Sheffield, England, given a 12-month suspended jail sentence after she seduced a 16-year-old student and began a 19-month affair.


Nicole Barnhart

Nicole Andrea Barnhart, 35: Colorado woman reportedly told police she loves the 16-year-old boy with whom she was having sex. She pled guilty to felony sexual assault on a child, resulting in a two-year prison sentence and a minimum of 10 years in a sex-offender probation program.

Nicole Pomerleau, 31: High-school English teacher in Charlotte, N.C., accused of having a sexual relationship with her 16-year-old student.

Pamela Smart, 22: Media-services director at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, N.Y., had convinced her 15-year-old lover to murder her husband. The Nicole Kidman film "To Die For" is based on her story.

Pamela Turner, 27: Former model and beauty-pageant contestant accused of having a three-month sexual relationship with a 13-year-old boy.

Rachelle Vantucci, 32: Ex-substitute teacher in western New York admitted having sex with a 16-year-old boy.

Rebecca Boicelli, 33: Redwood City, Calif., woman gave birth to a baby last year and DNA test results gave prosecutors enough evidence to prove the father is Boicelli's former student, who was 16 at the time of conception.

Rhianna Ellis, 24: New York City teacher who allegedly had a 10-month affair with an 18-year-old, and allgedly gave birth to his baby.

Robin Gialanella, 26: Elementary teacher in Toms River, N.J., engaged in kissing, and inappropriate conduct and conversations with two sixth-grade boys, ages 11 and 12. She was sentenced to 364 days in jail.

Robin Winkis, 29: York, Pa., woman allegedly had sex with a 17-year-old boy after giving him alcohol.

Samantha Solomon, 29: Fired after school bosses learned she was having sex with a teenage boy. She denies the charges.

Sandra "Beth" Geisel, 42: Albany, N.Y., woman was fired from her job at an private all-boys school after police in found her in a parked car with a 17-year-old. She pleaded guilty to a single count of rape and was sentenced to six months in jail.

Shelley Allen, 35: East Texas teacher's aide accused of sexual assault and faces a possible 20 years behind bars.

Shelley White, 24: Geography teacher in Britain had been engaged to be married before she kissed a 15-year-old student on at least three occasions. She avoided jail, but received 12 months community service.

Stephanie Burleson: Volleyball coach and teacher at Floresville High School in Texas six years ago, pleaded guilty to all charges for molesting a 16-year-old female student. She was sentenced to 10 years probation, and required to register as a sex offender.

Susan Eble, 35: Former teacher's aide is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy.

Tara Lynn Crisp, 29: Police allege she had sex with a student at least three times beginning when he was 14.

Toni Lynn Woods, 37: The Braxton County, W.Va., woman confessed to having sexual intercourse with three juveniles a total of four times and oral sex with one of those juveniles and another juvenile a total of four times. She resigned.

Related offers:

Sex abuse, brainwashing exposed on campus!

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Why homeschooling? New resource gives reasons parent education trumps all other options

Previous stories:

U.S. teacher sexpidemic spreading across planet

Did 'rapist' teacher have sex with 3 other boys?

Again! Woman accused of intercourse with boy

Teacher-student sex OK, says prof

Police: Teacher had lesbian affair with girl, 15

'Pure nastiness': Teacher too sexy for God?

10-year-old forced to lick teacher's toes

Another teacher faces sex charge

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48210

In 2008, the school are going to begin doing a criminal check on all teachers. I think someone is missing the boat.

I don't think criminal checks starting in 2008, or even if criminal checks were ongoing right now, would have much effect in stopping teachers from sexually preying on the students. Why aren't the schools addressing this issue? They should be having meetings and conducting classes that will inform students how to handle these type of situations. Students don't seem to be properly informed as to the serious legaities involved here. Certainly, the teachers are the ones who are in control and they don't seem to realize, or care, about the consequences of their actions. It looks to me like the schools just want to sweep this issue under the rug and hope it doesn't happen again...but it does happen again, over and over.

Anymore, parents are taking a risk by sending their children to school - a risk that some teacher may sexually abuse their child by mentally manipulating them through this closed, supposedly educational arena. Parents can talk to their children about the issue, and warn them; but, they need to know that the school faculty are doing their part to stop this abuse from happening by holding classes and informational meetings. They need to continually speak out about how wrong, and illegal, it is for a teacher to engage a student in sexually harmful situations and I don't see them doing that.

It's much better to send them to a perochial school where they can be buggered by a priest instead.

Or maybe you and your dad could home school 'em.

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You still cursing the Earth with your presence, scumfuck?

Forced Abortions & Sweatshops: A Look at Jack Abramoff's Ties to the South Pacific Island of Saipan & How Tom DeLay Became An Advocate for Sweatshop Factory Owners


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We speak with ABC News' Brian Ross who exposed in 1998 the horrific labor conditions in the U.S. territory of Saipan. At the time, Jack Abramoff was Saipan's hired gun on K Street and Tom DeLay was one of the island's chief advocates on Capitol Hill. DeLay backed the sweatshop owners even though it was exposed that the factory was forcing women to have abortions and treated workers like indentured servants. [includes rush transcript]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Controversy is nothing new to Jack Abramoff. The Los Angeles Times reports Abramoff’s first political scandal dates back to 1972 when he ran for student council president at the Hawthorne School, an elementary and middle school in Beverly Hills California. Abramoff was reportedly disqualified for exceeding the spending limit in the race. In college Abramoff teamed up with two students who would become household names in Washington to take over the College Republican National Committee. They were anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed, founder of the Christian Coalition. After college Abramoff’s resume was diverse, from his brief Hollywood career to his secret dealings with the South African apartheid regime.


A 1995 investigation by Newsday revealed that Abramoff helped run a think–tank called the International Freedom Foundation. The organization was set up in 1986 and its goal was to improve the white South African apartheid government’s image in the West while demonizing Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress as communist tools. The Newsday report also quoted sources saying that the South African military helped finance the 1988 movie "Red Scorpion" which Abramoff wrote and produced. The movie was a sympathetic portrayal of an anti-communist African guerrilla commander and loosely based on Jonas Savimbi, the Angolan rebel leader who was an ally of both South Africa’s apartheid government and the U.S government.

We turn now to Abramoff’s special relationship with the South Pacific island of Saipan and how it connects to his ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Saipan is an American territory in the South Pacific also known as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In the mid-1990s Abramoff was on the payroll of Saipan officials aiming to stop legislation that would crack down on sweat shop conditions, which run rampant on the island. In 1997, Abramoff arranged a lavish trip to the island of Saipan for Delay.


The Delay trip was originally reported by Brian Ross, Chief Investigative Correspondent for ABC News. We are going to play 2 excerpts from the report that aired on ABC’s 20/20 on March 13th, 1998. In this first excerpt, Ross interviews Allan Stayman, a Clinton administration official in the Department of Interior who was investigating labor conditions in Saipan. Brian also talks to a worker in one of the factories and ends with Eric Gregoire, a human rights worker. Most of the workers in these factories are from mainland China.

{Thanks to WITNESS/Oxygen for providing addittional footage.)

We are joined on the phone by ABC News' Brian Ross.


Brian Ross, Chief Investigative Correspondent for ABC News

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RUSH TRANSCRIPT

AMY GOODMAN: I'm going to play two excerpts from the report which aired on ABC’s 20/20 March 13, 1998. In this first excerpt Ross interviews Allan Stayman, a Clinton administration official in the Department of the Interior, who was investigating labor conditions in Saipan. And Brian Ross also takes a worker in one of the factories and ends with Eric Gregoire, a human rights worker with the Department of the Interior. Most of the workers in these factories are from mainland China.

BRIAN ROSS: In fact, American authorities have discovered many Chinese workers are forced to sign secret agreements, known as shadow contracts, before they leave China, severely and, in some ways, illegally restricting their activities while on American soil. For example, in this agreement translated into English by American authorities, workers are forbidden to participate in any religious or political activity or to ask for a salary increase or even to fall in love or get married, much as might be the case in mainland China.

ALLAN STAYMAN: To allow them to bring that on to U.S. soil is a very deep concern. We've now documented the facts that management coerces female workers who become pregnant into having abortions.

BRIAN ROSS: Several of the cases, the government says it has documented, were at this factory, the one with a contract to make Ralph Lauren Polo t-shirts. This Chinese woman, Tu Xiao Mei, made t-shirts and pants at the factory until she became pregnant.

TU XIAO MEI: When I told them I was pregnant, they told me to have an abortion.

BRIAN ROSS: Tu Xiao Mei says she refused to have the abortion and has now been barred from entering the factory.

BRIAN ROSS: And you're going to have your baby?

TU XIAO MEI: Yes.

BRIAN ROSS: Will you get your job back then?

TU XIAO MEI: Cannot.

BRIAN ROSS: Cannot get her job back, she says.

BRIAN ROSS: We want to ask you about the abortions, do you know about the complaints?

BRIAN ROSS: The bosses at the factory said they didn't want to talk about what they called ridiculous allegations. But human rights workers say it's common practice at this factory and others.

ERIC GREGOIRE: With 11,000 Chinese workers here, I have never seen a Chinese garment factory worker have a baby in my entire four years on Saipan.

BRIAN ROSS: There are no children in those barracks?

ERIC GREGOIRE: None. Inside that factory Chinese law applies, and Chinese law is supreme.

BRIAN ROSS: Even though it's the United States of America?

ERIC GREGOIRE: That’s right. The flag doesn't fly inside there.

AMY GOODMAN: And that was Eric Gregoire, a human rights worker who was talking to Brian Ross. This next excerpt also from Brian Ross's report on ABC's 20/20, which aired in 1998. This clip deals with Tom DeLay's connection to Saipan. Brian Ross again speaks with the human rights activist, Eric Gregoire.

BRIAN ROSS: Saipan has cultivated some powerful friends back in Washington, spending millions of dollars on lobbyists and free trips in the middle of the winter for members of Congress and their staff. Congressman Tom DeLay of Houston, the third-ranking Republican in the House, went as a guest of the Saipan government over the Christmas holiday, a trip that included a tour of several factories and barracks, with one that even Congressman DeLay had to concede was nothing to write home about.

TOM DeLAY: But, you know, this trip has been very beneficial.

BRIAN ROSS: Still, at a fancy New Year's Eve dinner thrown in his honor, DeLay praised the outgoing governor and vowed to fight efforts back in Washington to change Saipan's immigration and labor laws.

TOM DeLAY: Because you are a shining light for what is happening in the Republican Party, and you represent everything that is good about what we're trying to do in America, in leading the world in the free market system.

BRIAN ROSS: And DeLay is just one of more than 80 influential congressmen and congressional staff members who have been brought out to Saipan, most put up, as was DeLay, at the beachfront Hyatt Regency. About as far from the island sweatshops as it is possible to get on Saipan.

ERIC GREGOIRE: They're paying your way, so, of course, you're going to see what they want you to see.

BRIAN ROSS: They haven't seen the Saipan you’ve seen.

ERIC GREGOIRE: You can't see much from the Hyatt.

AMY GOODMAN: An excerpt of Brian Ross's piece in 1998, chief investigative correspondent for ABC News. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Brian Ross.

BRIAN ROSS: It’s good to be here this morning.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, you did that piece, what, some more than seven years ago. Your response now?

BRIAN ROSS: Well, it's interesting to watch this unfold because the man behind the scenes in every case was Jack Abramoff. In the footage we had on World News Tonight last night showing DeLay arriving in Saipan. He’s wearing a funny-colored floral hat and is greeted by a man in a beard who's Jack Abramoff. Big bear hugs all around. And it was Abramoff then who shepherded him around the island, made sure he would see what he wanted him to see. And DeLay took his family along. It was New Year's Eve. Temperatures were very nice, much nicer than back in the States. And that's what Abramoff was able to achieve. DeLay then became active in blocking legislation that would have cracked down on some of those terrible labor practices in Saipan.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to the issue of forced abortion, which is astounding given Tom DeLay's stand on abortion. Can you talk about that?

BRIAN ROSS: Well, it's completely counter to anything that DeLay or most Republicans seem to espouse, that was, on that island there were forced abortions. And the workers there who are all young women, who often had to pay to get these jobs, knew the rules. And they were barred from having boyfriends and certainly barred from having children if they became pregnant. They knew where to go, and there were a few essential back-alley abortion mills on the island. And that's where these young Chinese women went in order to keep their jobs. And that was the deal. That's part of the situation that was essentially endorsed by DeLay when he fought the laws. The laws were established essentially exempting Saipan, although it is a U.S. territory, from U.S. labor laws.

AMY GOODMAN: So, of course, the clothing that is made there says “Made in the U.S.A.”


BRIAN ROSS: Exactly right. They have the exemptions made in the U.S.A. Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, all the major brands have garment factories there, owned primarily by Chinese industrialists from Hong Kong who brought in Chinese material. And the Chinese workers who lived in something akin to -- I don't want to call it a labor camp, but it was surrounded by barbed wire. They were taken on the backs of trucks to these factories. They work 10, 12 hours a day, then brought back to their camps. An ugly scene there, one that was defended effectively by the garment manufacturers and by the government of Saipan at the time, with the expenditure of millions of dollars on Jack Abramoff.


AMY GOODMAN: You talk about how in a memo that ABC News got that Abramoff wrote to his law firm, Preston, Gates, Ellis (& Rouvelas, Meeds, at the time), that was paid $1.36 million by Saipan officials, said such congressional trips, talking about Tom DeLay, are one of the most effective ways to build permanent friends on the Hill.

BRIAN ROSS: Exactly what they did. And, of course, Abramoff has now admitted that he used these trips as ways essentially of providing favors to congressmen who in return would do favors for him on Capitol Hill. And it's not just Saipan. Of course, other trips to Scotland, to Moscow, to Paris, all around the world. Abramoff was a very friendly travel agent for members of Congress who wanted to go somewhere.

AMY GOODMAN: BRIAN ROSS: Essentially what he accomplished was to stop legislation, which is easier to do than to get it through. He was able to block legislation that would have changed the labor and immigration laws in Saipan and made it illegal to have these kinds of contracts. You couldn't have a contract like that in Los Angeles or anyplace else of the United States where the flag flies. But you could in Saipan. That was the loophole they were trying to close under the Clinton administration.


And in fact, when people at the Department of Interior attempted to do that, DeLay actually tried to introduce a bill to cut off funding for that particular section of the Department of Interior, to stop them from essentially backing the workers’ claims. And it became an ugly situation on Capitol Hill. And DeLay and others, but DeLay in particular, were involved in blocking the legislation and making sure that that status quo continued on Saipan.

AMY GOODMAN: Brian Ross, I want to thank you very much for being with us, chief investigative correspondent for ABC News.

To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program, click here for our new online ordering or call 1 (888) 999-3877.

Here ya go Sherry. Knowing you, you''ve already read this.

Is noose tightening for Ney in Abramoff investigation?
2006-01-05
By Jonathan Hunt
Athens NEWS Writer

Tuesday's guilty pleas by former Washington, D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff on charges of conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion have a local link. The public official in potentially the hottest water as a result is U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, R-Heath, whose multi-county 18th House District includes Glouster, Nelsonville and other parts of northwest Athens County.

Ney is referred to as "Representative No. 1" in Abramoff's indictment, part of which outlines a pattern of alleged bribery between the lobbyist's businesses and the congressman.

Abramoff's plea bargain will lop years off the prison term he had faced, and federal prosecutors presumably got, in return, detailed testimony about his dealings with Ney and possibly other members of Congress, including former House majority leader Tom DeLay. According to the indictment, Abramoff and his former partner Michael Scanlon - who pled guilty to related charges in November - "...sought and received Representative No. 1's (elsewhere identified as Ney) agreement to perform a series of official acts..." benefiting the lobbyists or their clients. These acts, it says, included voting on legislation, adding statements to the Congressional Record and helping to secure a contract to install wireless communication in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In return, the indictment says, the lobbyists "...provided a stream of things of value to Representative No. 1 and members of his staff, including but not limited to a lavish trip to Scotland to play golf on world-famous courses, tickets to sporting events and other entertainment, regular meals at defendant Abramoff's upscale restaurant, and campaign contributions..."

Ney has said Abramoff duped him, and a Tuesday press release from the congressman's D.C. office said the Congressman "...has never done anything illegal or improper...

"At the time I dealt with Jack Abramoff, I obviously did not know, and had no way of knowing, the self-serving and fraudulent nature of Abramoff's activities," said Ney in the statement.

Ney has claimed he went to Scotland to speak before the Scottish parliament, but officials there say it wasn't even in session during the August 2002 junket.


As chairman of the House Administration Committee, Ney controls the purse strings for many internal congressional projects and activities. Tuesday, his office denied any improper influence in the wireless services contract, which was awarded in 2002 to upstart Israeli telecommunications company MobileAccess Networks. Former Ney chief of staff and Ohio State University graduate Neil Volz, according to the indictment, worked with the Ohio congressman on Abramoff's behalf to negotiate the MobileAccess Networks deal within a year of leaving Ney's office - a violation of federal law.

The Congressional Record charges involve Ney adding statements in 2000 that helped grease the skids for Abramoff and an associate to purchase a Florida gambling boat fleet called SunCruz Casinos. The owner of that company, Gus Boulis, was killed execution-style in an apparent mafia hit in 2001, though Abramoff has not been implicated in his death. The lobbyist faces separate charges in Florida related to the SunCruz scandal.

The legislation mentioned in Tuesday's indictment largely concerns efforts by American Indian tribal groups to leverage favorable votes for lucrative casinos in four states, none of which are Ohio. Ney told The Athens NEWS last month he believes it was proper for him to be involved in Indian affairs, regardless of how many Native Americans live in his district.

Abramoff was a vaunted member of Washington's influential K Street lobbying corridor, which became another Republican success story after the party seized control of Congress following the 1994 elections. Several other prominent national lobbyists - including anti-tax warrior Grover Norquist and former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed - are believed to be part of the continuing investigation, the New York Times reported Tuesday, and Reed accompanied Ney and others on the Scottish golfing trip.

Ohio Republican Gov. Bob Taft was convicted in August of accepting illegal gifts that included golf outings, though his name hasn't been mentioned in connection with Abramoff.

While Ney is the lawmaker most strongly implicated in the Abramoff indictment, money or perks from Abramoff's lobbying flowed to hundreds of Ney's Capitol Hill colleagues. Nearly two-thirds of the money went to Republicans, but the ranking Democrat on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, reportedly received $67,000 in campaign donations from Abramoff's American Indian clients. Ney told The Athens NEWS in December his campaign had returned $34,000 in Indian tribe donations, and Dorgan has agreed to do the same.

Abramoff contributed mightily to President Bush's 2004 campaign, earning the title of "pioneer," and did not contribute to Democratic challenger John Kerry.



Carl Forti, communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, echoed reports that Ney's ethics woes haven't really resonated with Ohio voters so far.

"Democrats will still be challenged to make ethics a national issue," said Forti. "The only people Bob Ney has to answer to are the people of his district."

Ney continues to work on issues affecting the 18th Congressional District despite the recent travails and has complained about news reports that don't reflect this, but he may also have to answer to federal prosecutors soon. If he's indicted, Republicans will likely ask him not to seek re-election.

Two Democrats - Dover Law Director Zack Space and Chillicothe Mayor Joe Sulzer - have already announced their candidacies. Both are seizing the chance to make hay out of Ney's troubles and make some headway in the 18th District, which was redistricted favorably for conservatives after the 2000 census.

Sulzer's campaign called the Abramoff plea "another shameful day for Ohioans" in a statement Wednesday. "That Bob Ney spent more time working for corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff than he did working for the people who sent him to D.C. is a disgrace of our democratic system," Sulzer said in the release.

In a Wednesday interview, Space said the "cloud" of Ney's legal problems prevents the incumbent from focusing on the district's real issues - the loss of manufacturing jobs, failures in the health-care delivery system and education funding.

"A congressman's obligation is to enrich his constituents," said Space. "If these allegations are true, it's an outrage."

Whether Space or Sulzer faces Ney or another Republican in the general election depends on the timing of a possible indictment against Ney in relation to the filing deadline for the next round of elections, Space said.

Although some of Ney's alleged legal transgressions are also violations of House ethics rules, the House Ethics Committee has not censured him or initiated a complaint process. In December, Ney said he offered to meet with the committee last year, but was refused. A call to the office of House Ethics Committee chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., was not returned.

http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=23012


What ethics committee? It's run by white collar criminals. Morals? Values? Where? If I were to behave like that it would be considered criminal conspiracy or obstructing justice at the very least.

Eminently reasonable, Bart.

Keep listening... I'm sure that Schumcky Schumer will ask Sam Alito that questiion.

perochial?

Speaking of ethics...did you apologize to GT yet?

You are a nasty little bitch aren't you? Wow. Praise Jesus, you helped bub call my dad a homo... again.

You are priceless.

Mind your own business, bitch.

Your dad's a homo as well as a traitor?
Figures.

Call me a bitch.

To my face.

Stud.

davis,

It's sure a good thing that we can't find people's addresses through the net. I'd have slapped a few faces by now. or worse.

Just put them on ignore. ratbastards.

I'll gladly post my address right now in exchange for a chance to meet davey-doo face to face.

BTW no ratbastard here. Proud Union Millwright..


Motto: We can handle it.

Big Man behind the screen.

I have HI on ignore. Bub too. The little bitch who claims to be a follower of Jesus just confirmed she's yet another phony Republican hypocrite who turns her faith on and off like a faucet.

728 Rancho ct
Manteca California
95336

Come on down.

I wrote it down, so when some old lady dragging an oxygen tank walks right up to you, when you least expect it, SLAP, right in the kisser, that would be me. Be forewarned.

Oh, wipe the spit off your face~~~you look silly

Tattoo it on your saggy mammary for all I care. Pass it on to anybody you want. AND GET THEM TO CALL ME BITCH TO MY FACE.


...just saying.