REPUBLICROOK ABRAMOFF FINALLY ARRESTED! IS THIS CURTAINS FOR ARCH-VILLAIN TOM DELAY?

House Republican Leader Tom DeLay's closest political associate and #1 bagman, lobbyist Jack Abramoff was arrested in Los Angeles today. There are state and Federal investigations of Abramoff all over the country and the FBI, IRS and several other Federal agencies have created a joint Abramoff task force to sort out how he and one of his crooked business associates, Michael Scanlon, have managed to defraud American Indian tribes all over the countryout of nearly $100 million, much of it winding up in GOP campaign coffers tied to DeLay. Today a Federal Grand Jury indicted Abramoff on 5 counts of wire fraud and one for conspiracy in an intensely complex scheme stemming from the purchase of a Florida casino cruise line from a businessman later murdered in Fort Lauderdale. The six counts could bring him 30 years in prison (until Bush pardons him) and $1.5 million in fines (a mere drop in the bucket for the high-flying lobbyist).

From ripping off Indian Tribes and pitting gambling associations against Christian fundamentalist suckers (playing both sides of the fence with his hypocrite pal Ralph Reed in tow) to helping to create slave labor conditions in the U.S. colony of the Marianas Islands, Abramoff has been a crucial part of the Tom Delay money-generating machine and his pay-for-play Congress. Meanwhile another Federal Grand Jury, this one in Florida, is investigating separate allegations of bank fraud.

Time and time again records and interviews show that Abramoff has used his connections to members of Congress, particularly Tom DeLay and his chief lieutenants, like the corrupt pawn DeLay installed as head of the House Ethics Committee, Doc Hastings (R-WA), to help pull off his illegal scams. So far no one has publicly accused Abramoff (or DeLay) in the murder of Gus Boulis, an Abramoff associate gone astray who had a great deal of incriminating information on Abramoff and DeLay.

Now that Abramoff is finally in jail and indicted, perhaps the mass media will start reporting this story (unless, of course, there are new developments in the toilet scrubbing by the Runaway Bride).