REPUBLICROOK DUKE CUNNINGHAM GETS 8 YEARS & CHANGE IN THE SLAMMER. BUSH OPERATIVE AT CIA UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR HIS ROLE IN SAME CORRUPTION CASE

In the last few minutes the judge in the case of self-admitted bribe taker, Republican ex-Congressman and far right fanatic Randy "Duke" Cunningham, just handed Cunningham an extremely lenient sentence of 8 years and 4 months in prison. Cunningham could have gotten 30 years before he confessed to some of his crimes (like taking about $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors) and agreeing to cooperate in the on-going investigations against others involved in the Republican Culture of Corruption which has overwhelmed Washington, DC. The prosecutors had asked for 10 years and Cunningham begged the judge to make it 6. Since one of Cunningham's bribers, GOP developer, fundraiser and convicted felon and election tamperer, Thomas "Gus" Kontoguannis, had given $400,000 to Cunningham as an intermediary between himself and George Bush so that Bush would grant him a pardon as he was leaving office in 2008, Cunningham has every reason to believe that he himself will be pardoned as long as he doesn't spill too many beans too close to people Bush actually cares about. Funny, how Katherine Harris, who the Bush Family wants to withdraw from her futile run for the Senate, is the first congressloon to get into hot water from Cunningham's case (even though Cunningham's partners-in-crime, Duncan Hunter and Jerry Lewis, have still not been indicted). Predictably, Bush has refused to consider public demands that he announce that a moratorium on presidential pardons for corrupt elected officials of either political party in order to encourage more cooperation from snagged criminals who keep their mouths shut until pardon time in late 2007.

Meanwhile, NEWSWEEK has an interesting story about the #3 man at the CIA, a Bush-Goss political appointee/bureaucrat, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, not a real CIA man, who was involved with Cunningham's bribery career. There have been several allegations, from all sorts of sources, that some of the Republican bribery scandals emanating from Cunningham, Hunter and Lewis (and another right-wing Republican congressman from California, Ken Calvert) would lead to uncovering serious national security problems.