Perhaps you saw the Rachel Maddow show the other night when she interviewed a professional weasel named Tim Phillips. Or perhaps you read bhfrik’s Diary about her talk with this bottom feeder.
It was a powerful segment. And of course Phillips has a connection to Jack Abramoff. Maddow just scratched the surface of that relationship. It goes pretty deep. When Phillips was C of S for Rep. Bob Goodlatte (VA-06), he was talking with Team Abramoff about taking an all expense paid junket to the Marianas Islands. He left his job as a Hill staffer in 1997 to work with Abramoff’s BFF Ralph Reed. I suspect he took the junket. And it is a safe bet that he owes Abramoff for his job with Reed and his current role as weasel for hire.
Tim Phillips is just another spawn of the Culture of Corruption living and profiting off of the destruction of our Democracy. While, it is good to see Rachel Maddow call him out, I think the real story is being missed.
So tonight a destructive, lying, little prick will take to the dance floor. For many it is a joke—something funny, a spectacle to laugh at and gawk. Some supposed "good government" nonprofits are using the event as a shameless opportunity to fundraise. Like many other groups in DC they seem to be all about the Benjamins: a lot of spin and little action.
Meanwhile the victims of Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff and their scams wait for justice. These are the victims who had their labor and wages stolen and/or are the young women (and some young boys) forced into the global sex trade. All this was done through the system of labor abuse and human trafficking protected by Tom DeLay for more than a decade.
As some laugh at DeLay doing a two step, you’ll have to excuse me—it is not funny.
To explain why I want to share an entry by human right advocate Wendy Doromal from her blog Unheard No More.
There was a disturbing moment for me over the weekend as I listened to the Sunday yak shows as they were rebroadcast on C-Span.
The moment that haunts me was on Fox News Sunday. It is always a bit like listening to an audio version of Pravda to hear this show. This Sunday was particularly egregious. The mutant son of Mike Wallace was interviewing the redneck of the moment, Congressman Joe Wilson. It was, according to the transcript a typical Chris Wallace fellatio of a Republican guest—a combination of boring and the expected. And then Wallace asked Wilson about race.
Eight years ago I was on deadline working on an annual directory of screened and approved Green Businesses, The National Green Pages, and September 11, 2001 was my day to send the book off to the printers. I was in Washington DC that morning working in my office just a few blocks away from the White House. I learned about the first plane hitting the towers just minutes after it happened.
I was not the only one working in DC that morning, but for most of us that day our work projects were set aside as we learned that the second tower had been struck.
Little did I know that at that very moment Kevin Ring, a key member of Jack Abramoff’s team of lobbyists was also at work—and I suspect at his office not far from mine.
Kevin Ring is an enemy of America and today he went of trial. He faces a strong case by the DOJ, but like most members of the Abramoff Conspiracy he will not be prosecuted for their worse crimes and their real victims are unlikely to know justice.
An email Ring sent out as our Nation was attacked reminds me of those crimes.
Today on Saturday All Things Consider, host Guy Raz interviewed Paul Wolfowitz, neocon, Bushie and Architect of the Iraq War.
Now I've heard lots of American journalists interview these weasels over the year. These folks like Wolfowitz always push back and the "journalist" always get softer in their questions and more respectful. It has happened over and over again.
Raz pushed back on Wolfowitz. It was a tough interview and well worth a listen. NPR played about 12 minutes of the interview on their broadcast. (You can listen to the full 37 minute interview by following the link on the page).
This is an interview folks should hear. It is an great example of how politicians from the left or the right should be interviewed. Guy Raz is excellent and I hope he gets to do more of this kind of thing.
The fight for justice is an ongoing struggle. It is generational and the struggle is passed on year after year. There are victories and defeats, villains and heroes.
We lost a great American Hero this week in our fight for justice.
I’m talking about Senator Ted Kennedy.
Here is a clip of him confronting years of Republican efforts to block any increase in the Minimum Wage in 2007 (hat tip TPM). This is why we called him the Lion of the Senate:
As some may know I have been investigating the Jack Abramoff scandal and the Republican Culture of Corruption for well over a decade and since 2004 I have been writing about that scandal here at Daily Kos.
For many, this scandal has become a thing of the past. And yet, quietly, steadily and persistently the DOJ is making progress on this case. Recent developments should make a lot of grifters in the Republican Party and conservative movement very nervous. In the coming weeks and months the Abramoff scandal may have folks like Dick Armey, Karl Rove and others more worried about Grand Juries than Health Care.
In September the trial of Abramoff crony Kevin Ring is scheduled to begin. Earlier this month the Government released a list of over 1,100 exhibits they plan to enter into evidence. It will be a massive document dump.
And if that wasn’t enough, the DOJ just indicted Horace Cooper. This opens a new front in the investigation and is real trouble for the GOP.
Over four months ago the MV Irene, an oil tanker registered to a Greek shipping firm was hijacked by Somali Pirates. Here is a recently released photo of the crew with some of the pirates:
Time is running out for this crew. There are very real concerns for their safety. A petition has been started calling on quite a number of groups to take action to secure the safe release of the crew. Please take a moment and sign this petition, become a fan of the Liberate Pirate Hostages Facebook page and encourage others to do the same. Without your help the world will forget about these hostages and we should not forget about these workers.
A quick confession as I begin. I like the Washington Post. From where I sit it may be the best newspaper in America. Sure, the NYTs is OK, but they did have Judy Miller. The reporting of the WP over the last decade has been—for the most part—(IMHO) outstanding.
That said the WP has its share of problems. The Editorial Page is consistently an embarrassment, the Opinion Page hasn’t updated their contributor rolodex in decades and the paper carries a gaggle of inside-the-beltway dilettantes who almost never add anything of substance to the debate (you know: Broder, Milbank, Kurtz and the other regurgitators of cocktail party prater on the WP payroll). And then there was that recent business about selling access at a party in the Publisher’s home.
Still, all in all, I think the WP is a great American newspaper.
I live in Baltimore and work in DC. When I drive into District I usually park across the street from the Washington Post. Then I walk the few blocks to work.
And outside of the WP is a monument to the bias we face and the bias that we fight.
For years at DKos, I have written about the Culture of Corruption in Washington. The focus of my research and work was Jack Abramoff and the horrific human rights abuses on the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Island, a US Territory in the Western Pacific. And it still is, but it is a hobby—something I do in the spaces between a full time job and family life. Lately those core obligations have left me with very little time to research and craft new Diaries.
That’s too bad in a way because a lot is going on and I wish I had the time to write and publish the Diaries that I have been thinking about and researching, but like most folks I have to work for a living and "my hobby" does not pay the bills—these days it is a luxury to have any time for it.
And yet, every now and then I read something that inspires me to make the time. This happened yesterday when I read a recommended Diary by Cenk Uygur.
There are a lot of variations when it comes to Republican Hypocrisy and recently their diversity of hypocrisy has been on daily display. It is hard to keep up with the jaw dropping flip-flopping lying-to-your-face audacity of their mendacity. One could get a Doctorate in Anthropology studying the crafting and spreading of their fables and categorizing the various types of Republican Hypocrites.
Of them all, my least favorite is the "Good Government Republican Hypocrite". These weasels present themselves as "cleaners" of the system. They are "shocked", "shocked" to learn that lobbyists were paying to play in Washington now that their party is out of power.
Of all of the examples of this type of Republican Hypocrite, perhaps it is Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona who is the worst.
Lately he has been trying to force an investigation into a lobbying scandal concerning the PMA Group, Jack Murtha and possibly others. Yesterday he said something that proved his effort was mere partisan hackery. He claimed the PMA Group scandal was "bigger" than the Abramoff Corruption Scandal.
I am a product of Detroit. My family traces our roots back to when Cadillac established the city of my birth.
I grew up in the city. I went to school there. Detroit formed me and crafted my understanding of the world. Decades ago, I found this notebook at a drugstore:
It is a treasure. It reminds me of the hope, promise and troubles of Detroit.
It was in Detroit that my progressive liberal values were formed, tested and hard-wired into my soul.
I have now been away from Detroit for most of my life—another domestic economic immigrant moving about America. It is a common story.
I’m from a large family and most siblings are still living within the city limits. I will be up to visit in a few weeks.
When I listened to President Obama this morning, for the first time in decades, I felt hope for Motown.
For over ten years I have been researching the culture of corruption in Washington. I’ve been writing about my research on Dkos since 2004. Jack Abramoff and his web of scandal were the story that became my core sample as I tapped into a glacier of Republican Corruption. This research revealed many creeps, scoundrels and villains. They all have decided that the "ends" always justify the means—no matter which laws are broken and how often they violate their purported "values". Every now and then, a character in the story crosses the line from corruption and criminality into an embrace of evil. These are the worst of the worst.
Tonight, one of these failed human beings is in Washington DC.
A few weeks ago on a Friday, Todd Boulanger pleaded guilty for his role in the ongoing Abramoff corruption scandal. He was a key member of Team Abramoff and before that he worked for former NH Senator Bob Smith (one of Jack’s go-to Senators). Boulanger’s plea identified a Legislative Director for a US Senator as "Staffer F" and laid out the many favors Team Abramoff did for this staffer and some of the deeds done in return.
Over that weekend, a network of scandal researchers had concluded that "Staffer F" was Kevin Koonce and that the Senator was Judd Gregg. The rumor was that Gregg would soon be nominated to be President Obama’s Commerce Secretary. It was too late for Gregg’s link to scandal to filter up and stop it. The day after Gregg was nominated; the Koonce story broke in the AP, Washington Post, NYTs and elsewhere.
It is not a slow news week. A lot has and is happening. It is easy for an important story to slide by quickly. That is just what happened in the last 24 hours.
This story was buried in an avalanche of other news and missed by the posts and comments on Daily Kos. I guess I’ll have to take care of that.
Judd Gregg brings the taint of the Abramoff Scandal with him to President Obama’s Cabinet. Senator Gregg needs to answer some questions about Abramoff’s influence on his staff and policy positions. The role of his staffers in this scandal must be explored in his Confirmation Hearings. Some hard questions should be asked and answered.
But more than that, we need a commitment from President Obama to fully investigate this ever expanding corruption scandal. We need a Special Prosecutor.
The Republican Party and the conservative movement are terrified by Eric Holder and stopping Holder has become a matter of self-preservation for the Party of Failure. They are afraid that an active, engaged and independent DOJ will actually investigate political corruption, torture and the other crimes of their recent years in power. If ongoing investigations (like the Abramoff scandal) are freed from political restraints, many current and former elected Republicans, their staffers, funders and lobbyists could find themselves under indictment.
Holder will be an excellent Attorney General and so, they fear him. He needs our support and we need to push back on this latest Republican effort to obstruct justice.
Eight years ago I was not celebrating. I spent Inauguration Day 2001 protesting a stolen election on the cold wet streets of Washington DC. The next day I was outraged that Bush was in the White House. The passage of time only made it worse.
In the spring of 2001 I went to a Progressive conference in DC and heard Howard Dean speak. He got my attention.
In 2003, when most Democrats were bowing to Bush/GOP bullying I desperately wanted somebody to lead. Into the void came Howard Dean.
He was an imperfect candidate. He made mistakes, but he lit a fire—a fire that blazed the way to yesterday’s celebration.
He has had some kind words directed his way. He has also been ignored by some and dissed by others. So it goes.
While I’ve never been a volunteer, I have a stake in the Peace Corps.
I think it is one of the best programs ever created by our Nation and it has a simple mission:
Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans
Of the three goals, it is the third that has been the least successful.
For almost fifty years, The Peace Corps has been inspiring some of the best and brightest to travel to far away lands and give real service for little pay—and often under some difficult conditions. These volunteers meet the needs of interested Countries and do a fantastic job of representing what is best about America.
These are amazing people and they need your help. We need to support a Bigger, Better and Bolder Peace Corps.
It is time to end the chronic underfunding of this program.
