Monday, May 01, 2006

REPUBLICAN "FAMILY VALUES" ARE CRIME FAMILY VALUES (+ THE STANDARD GREED, BIGOTRY, SELFISHNESS, ETC)

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Yesterday's WASHINGTON POST carried a dismal story about Ohio Republican Congressman Bob Ney which could easily have been titled "Why The Hell Isn't Bob Ney In Prison Yet?" Unfortunately these is no satisfactory answer to that question. Beyond rubber-stamp, Ney is corruption personified, a veritable posterboy for the DeLay-Abramoff Republican Culture of Corruption that has become pervasive in Washington since Bush stole the 2000 election. According to the POST story Federal prosecutors are going after Ney on "a wide range" of charges instead of a narrowly focused bribery case ala his now-imprisoned pal Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Ney is involved in every Republican scandal, from defense contractor bribing to ripping off American Indian tribes to involvement in a Mafia-style murder of the owner of a floating casino, not to mention accepting bribes from virtually anyone who was willing to pay a few bucks for special treatment from Congress.

"Ney has been under investigation by federal authorities in Florida and the District for actions that helped Abramoff and two partners buy a Fort Lauderdale-based casino cruise line. The deal that Ney promoted in the Congressional Record hinged on the Abramoff group's creation of a counterfeit $23 million wire transfer. The Miami U.S. Attorney's office has vied with the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section over who would have primary jurisdiction in the Ney investigation. Last month, the Justice Department decided that any case would be brought in the District. Under the statute of limitations, Thursday was the deadline for bringing bribery charges against Ney focused solely on his actions related to the Florida casino boat transaction." Are we talking about a powerful leader of the political party who's biggest claim to fame is their insistence that they are God's party and that they represent family values? This sounds like it's coming from an episode of THE SOPRANOS.

"Court papers filed in recent months show that prosecutors have lined up at least four cooperating witnesses against the Ohio congressman: Abramoff, former congressional aides Michael Scanlon and Tony C. Rudy, and businessman Adam Kidan. All have pleaded guilty to various conspiracy, fraud or public corruption charges. The court filings that accompanied the plea agreements of Abramoff, Scanlon and Rudy accused Ney of accepting 'a stream of things of value' in exchange for official actions. And Ney claims he will be the candidate of the Republican Party even after he is indicted!


And Ney is just one of so many. One of the party's chief propagandists was just arrested again on drug charges (Limbaugh/hillbilly heroin). One of Bush's staff members was caught in a petty theft scam, another resigned on corruption charges and several have been implicated in leaking the name of an active duty CIA agent for partisan revenge-- an act both criminal and treasonous, which certainly leads straight to Cheney's office if not to Cheney himself (and that "if" is way too big for anyone to believe). On top of this you have the head of the Bush-Cheney New England election campaign going to prison for election fraud and the GOP governor of Mississippi implicated in further electoral "dirty tricks" both in New Hampshire and New Jersey. And then there's the Republican congressional prostitution ring.

You may remember Brent Wilkes and Mitchell Wade, the Republican defense contractors and lobbyists who were two of the crooks bribing Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA; now in prison), Katherine Harris (R-FL), Virgil Goode, Jr. (R-VA), Jerry Lewis (R-CA), and Duncan Hunter (R-CA). Federal prosecutors have discovered Wilkes was keeping 2 suites in fancy Washington hotels where he would arrange for assignations with hookers and other Republican congressmen who were helping him bilk the government out of millions of dollars. Wade has already admitted he was providing prostitutes to Cunningham in return for special treatment for his business. Ad it turns out that the limo company that would fetch the prostitutes for at least half a dozen GOP congressmen, Shirlington, was rewarded with a fat Department of Homeland Security contract. (A spokesman for the Department told the press, somewhat incredibly, that the Department doesn't run background checks on the pimps contractors it hires!

The SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE reports that "Several of Wilkes' former employees and business associates say he used the hospitality suites over the past 15 years to curry favor with lawmakers as well as officials with the CIA, where both Wilkes and Wade sought contracts. Wilkes hosted parties for lawmakers and periodic poker games that included CIA officials as well as members of the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees. Cunningham, who sat on both committees, was a frequent guest, according to some of the participants in the poker games."

All this contrasts mightily with Democratic Party values, which are the opposite of selfishness and involve people and communities working together for the greater good: opportunity, fairness and investment in people and the future. Republican values inform the policies of a political party that has been absolutely toxic for out country in every way. We shall see if these Democratic values guide that party once they take over Congress in November. Meanwhile, sifting through all the Republican sleaze that has been done in the name of the American people in the last half dozen or so years, I can't think of anything more reprehensible than the DeLay-Abramoff-GOP approach to the American colony in the Northern Marianas. They set up a kind of uber-free-enterprise experimentation camp complete with imported labor, virtual slavery, forced prostitution (with forced abortions), barbed wire, toxic environment... all the excesses the Republican vision leads inexorably to-- and just what they have in mind for America if they could ever get away with it (and they are close, very close).

2 Comments:

At 9:25 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You were too kind to Ney - you didn't even mention his helmethead toupee.

 
At 3:26 PM, Blogger DownWithTyranny said...

And Democrats are bi-partisan. Democratic House Minority Leader-- and soon-to-be-Speaker-- Nancy Pelosi, invited GOP tub-o-lard/crook/soon-to-not-be-Speaker Denny Hastert to join her in introducing a resolution in the House to get to the bottom of congressmen giving away millions and millions of taxpayer dollars in return for the use of prostitutes (as well as cash kickbacks and trips to fancy Scottish golf courses). But Pelosi's resolution is just about the hookers Randy "Duke" Cunningham, Jerry Lewis, Duncan Hunter, and some other right-wing loons-- of whichever political party-- were using as they betrayed the country. Here's the letter she sent:

May 1, 2006
The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert
Speaker
United States House of Representatives
H-232 The Capitol
Washington, .D.C 20515


Dear Mr. Speaker:

I am writing to request that you join me in introducing a bipartisan resolution to direct an investigation by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct into new issues raised in the case involving former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

Mr. Cunningham has pleaded guilty to criminal charges of tax evasion and conspiracy and admitted accepting more than $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors. As a result, he was sentenced to more than 8 years in prison for engaging in "unparalleled corruption," in the words of the government's sentencing memorandum.

However, the issue may be even more serious than it originally appeared. Mr. Cunningham may not have been alone in this corrupt behavior. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have recently reported that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating allegations that Mr. Cunningham and other Members of the House of Representatives were provided with prostitutes and the free use of a limousine and hotel suites by two of the contractors implicated in the bribery charges.

Mr. Speaker, these disclosures, along with other indictments and allegations of unethical behavior, demand strong action by congressional leaders to uphold the integrity of the House. Since these new charges uniquely affect the House of Representatives, I believe that, regardless of what action may be taken in the criminal investigation, the House must act.

Please join me in drafting and bringing to the floor this week a bipartisan resolution directing the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to determine whether other Members of the House participated in unethical or illegal conduct related to the Cunningham conviction.

This is not the first time I have sought such bipartisan leadership action in the Cunningham case. On November 30, I asked that you join with me in introducing a resolution to create a Select Committee to investigate the national security implications of Mr. Cunningham's conduct because of his access to extremely sensitive national security information. Although I never received a reply to that request, the current reports are so serious that I am hopeful you will agree to take this bipartisan action without delay.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

NANCY PELOSI

Democratic Leader

 

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