10/25/2006
Conrad Burns: Kicked Back, With His Mind on His Money and His Money and His Mind
by Matt Singer on 9:39 am.
This morning’s Missoulian:
A new accounting review shows, among other things, the organization’s chief executive received three different salaries at the same time. And one of the company’s former employees said in a Missoulian interview that staff members were expected to contribute to Burns’ re-election campaign.
Multiple salaries? Expectations to send money back to Burns?
Why that all sounds corrupt as Hell to me. This whole expectation of feudal loyalty smacks of Resodyn buying debate seats and guaranteeing them for Burns’ supporters.
Can we rename Burns’ office Tamany Hall?
As another note, I have no real idea whether there was ever an explicit agreement between George Bailey and Burns or Burns’ staff to kickback these federal appropriations to Burns’ reelection campaign. I do know that a man, who when discussing federal appropriations would howl, “That’s my money. My outpatient clinics,” is a man who has so thoroughly lost touch with reality and all sense of decency that demanding favors in exchange for how he uses his power to earmark our money certainly isn’t outside the realm of possibility.
It’s his money after all. It belongs in his campaign coffers.
Also worth noting, Lee Newspapers is doing an analysis of whether Burns really is bringing major money into the state (notably, all of the Lee papers are running this Burns story, only the Missoulian appears to be reporting on the INSA corruption developments). They singled out Burns’ Butte claims and found that he does bring money to the state. They also found that some of the money Burns claims he brought to Montana went elsewhere, that former staffers of his turned lobbyists had a hand in much of it (can we all say “revolving door” together?), and 80% of the money Burns is claiming he secured was also requested by Baucus, so it’s tough to give exclusive credit.
Notably, Burns is doing these things when these companies hire his former staff as lobbyists. I’ve written it before, but it appears I’ll have to write it again. I’m not really sure how much Burns is a part of this, but it appears some Republicans long ago figured out a game: find a dumb man on the appropriations committee, work for him for several years and line up approps for his former staffers turned lobbyists, when you leave to start your lobbying career just find a replacement who will do the same for you. Make it easier the Senator’s new staff by mostly finding your clients in the Senator’s home state. Then, charge Montanans high prices for access to their own Senator. That’s a damn good way to make a living.
In fact, it’d be about $20 million they’ve made via our Senator, their former boss.
Tamany Hall
| Comments (8) | Permanent Link | Categories: Conrad Burns, Front Page, corrupt, dickhead |
10/16/2006
Republican’s are corrupt. Just sayin’.
by Shane Mason on 7:52 pm.
Anyone ever tire of this kind of stuff? I do. In fact, it is wearing quiet thin.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon denied helping his lobbyist daughter win lucrative contracts on Monday, just hours after federal agents searched her home and that of a party activist.
[snip]
A U.S. law enforcement official said the Justice Department “is conducting an investigation into the relationship between Congressman Weldon with his daughter and various contractors.
How long until they blame this one on Clinton? The democrats at least? Oh? Not too long.
Weldon said the timing of the disclosure of the inquiry was politically aimed at undermining his bid for re-election next month to an 11th term. He is in tight race with Democrat Joe Sestak.
Isn’t that wearing a bit thin? A bit thin indeed. I could go on a long rant here, but I am a bit tired of our government being turned into a joke. It is wearing very thin and it is time for a change. It is time for a change in Montana, it is time for a change in Washington.
| Comments (79) | Permanent Link | Categories: '06, corrupt, elections, political, republicans |
The Ultimate Campaign Commercial
by Shane Mason on 6:47 pm.
If you have not see The Ultimate Democratic Campaign Commercial over at the Huffington Post, you should go watch it now. Seriously, it will give you the chills.
The thing that I liked the most was the usage of music and scenes from the movie ‘V For Vendetta’. If you have not seen this movie, it is one of the most inspirational films of our times.
| Comments (11) | Permanent Link | Categories: '06, '08, corrupt, elections, ideologues, overreach, political, republicans |
10/7/2006
Burns Flip Flops on Public Access
by Shane Mason on 1:40 am.
Many of you might remember when Burn’s struck a blow against access to public lands in order to help out a rich buddy. Rancher Mac White wanted to build a road across public lands so that he could access his private lands. The problem is, he didn’t want to allow the road to be used for public access to the public lands it crossed. The forest service has a notion of reciprocity (essentially “We grant you access to your land and you grant us access to our public land”) So, the ranch owner hired a lobbyist and Burn’s stepped in on his buddies side.
Then Sen. Conrad Burns included an item in an appropriation bill from his Senate committee directing the chief of the Forest Service to accept administrative access only on the Big Elk Canyon proposed road, whereby only Forest Service employees on official business could use the road - not the public.
Is this an abuse of power or what? Well, now it looks like he is flip flopping on that position:
HELENA — Sen. Conrad Burns may ax a provision he added to a bill earlier this year that allows a friend and campaign contributor to build a private road across public lands near the Crazy Mountains — a move that angered some because it did not create equal public access to nearby public lands.
He now claims that this language was just inserted as a placeholder while the parties worked out their differences on the issue.
The announcement came as news to both local Forest Service officials who handled the earlier negotiations, and the state’s largest hunting and fishing group, which opposed Burns’ provision.
The Montana Wildlife Federation has not been contacted by Burn’s office to be part of the discussion, said executive director Craig Sharpe.
Doesn’t look like he is trying to see the differences worked out. Why would he have added the language in the first place? Why choose a single rich buddy over the public of Montana?
White has long been a campaign contributor to Republicans, including Burns. Records show White has donated $2,050 to Burns since at least 1994. His most recent donation came on May 30 this year, about a month before a committee of which Burns serves as chairman released a copy of the bill that included the provision for White’s road.
Now that he is trailing in the polls, he suddenly cares about public access? I’ld say not so much. We need a senator who will look out for our interest all six years, not just the month before the election. Jon Tester is the clear choice for those of us who think that public access to public land is important.
Thanks to Jennifer McKee for writing such an insightful piece on this.
| Comments (14) | Permanent Link | Categories: Conrad Burns, corrupt, dickhead, political, republicans |
10/2/2006
Hastert Continues to Play Politics in the Foley Scandal; Where Does Rehberg Stand?
by Matt Singer on 1:29 pm.
Rep. Dale Kildee is the only Democrat on the House Page Board. He was never informed of the emails between Rep. Mark Foley and the underage former pages. He’s also now being kept out of the loop on changes to page policy being proposed by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, the same man who dropped the ball on protecting the children.
Similarly, a Republican consultant working for Mark Foley apparently worked really hard to keep those IMs from ever becoming public, because, y’know, Foley’s reputation is a damn bit more important than what he was doing to teenagers.
This is sick. The Republican leadership used their power to cover for their partisan interests in a sex predator scandal. Now, they’re continuing to operate in a partisan fashion. Hastert needs to go. Rehberg is one of the men with the power to make that happen.
Find out where he stands:
D.C. (202) 225-3211
Billings (406) 256-4934
Great Falls (406) 454-1066
Helena (406) 443-7878
Missoula (406) 543-9550
If you hear what Rehberg thinks of Republican leadership staying in power, let me know, either by email (singer@leftinthewest.com) or in comments.
| Comments (19) | Permanent Link | Categories: Dennis Rehberg, Front Page, corrupt, republicans |
INSA Investigation Continues; Lobbying Firm Under Scrutiny
by Matt Singer on 9:22 am.
Buried in a story on larger university lobbying trends:
Critics say the system is ripe for abuse, and is simply big-time pork for colleges. One of the lobbying firms has drawn the attention of the FBI, specifically for its work for the University of Montana. The FBI continues to poke around the university’s federally funded space research center - and its earmark fundingLegislative auditors confirmed that federal investigators came back recently with more questions about the center, and specifically asked for information the auditors had on the activities of the lobbying firm Gage, which employed Sen. Conrad Burns’ former chief of staff, Leo Giacometto.
Giacometto is a slimeball. He’s used his connection with Burns’ office to line up millions for clients and for himself.
So depraved.
| Comments (0) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page, corrupt, republicans |
10/1/2006
Dennis Rehberg Hates Freedom Of Speech
by Shane Mason on 12:05 pm.
I am not sure how this story has slipped through the cracks, but it has. Last week, H.R. 2679: Public Expression of Religion Act of 2005 passed a US House vote, one of those votes came from Dennis Rehberg. In keeping with the current push to name bills the opposite of what they are, this bill is not about allowing more rights but about taking away your recourse to fight back when your rights have been trampled. Let’s look at the bill:
Public Expression of Religion Act of 2005 - Amends the Revised Statutes of the United States to limit the remedy to injunctive relief and deny attorneys’ fees in a civil action against a state or local official for deprivation of rights where the deprivation consists of a violation of a prohibition in the Constitution against the establishment of religion.
The purpose of this bill is simple: if a state or local official violates your rights by ignoring the separation of church and state, you are limited in having the wrongful behavior stopped and you can not go for attorney fees. This is serious, let’s look at what ‘injunctive relief’ means:
injunctive relief
n. a court-ordered act or prohibition against an act or condition which has been requested, and sometimes granted, in a petition to the court for an injunction. Such an act is the use of judicial (court) authority to handle a problem and is not a judgment for money.
So, what does this bill mean when it says limit the remedy to injunctive relief? Is it taking away the courts ability to remedy a situation where the state is violating a persons religious freedom under the constitution? It looks to me like Rehberg will just vote for whatever the corrupt republican leadership tells him to.
The current republican congress has shown time and again that they are all for taking away our freedoms and replacing them with a Telaban-style theocracy. We need desperately need representation in Washington who will look out for our rights. We need Monica Lindeen and we need her fast.
| Comments (16) | Permanent Link | Categories: '06, Dennis Rehberg, censorship, corrupt, elections, ideologues, montana, overreach, political, religion, republicans |
9/30/2006
And the GOP Implodes
by Matt Singer on 11:53 am.
Man, you leave work at 5:00 on a Friday to grab a couple beers and what happens? You miss out on late breaking info that the Speaker of the House, third in line to the Presidency, may have covered up a partisan sex scandal involving underage House pages.
Forget the snakes on the plane, all four engines just fell off.
| Comments (4) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page, corrupt, political, republicans |
9/19/2006
Repubs Cite WaPo as Proof that Burns is Innocent, WaPo Issues Correction
by Matt Singer on 12:31 pm.
Hilarious.
Yesterday, over at WRIM, Neomadison linked a Washington Post story saying Burns “is apparently not under investigation.” He wondered what we Montana Dems would do, faced with this news. So I went over to see if there was fresh sourcing and it turns out there is, right at the top of the page:
Two articles, on Sept. 18 and July 24, said that Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) is apparently not under investigation in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal. The articles failed to note that sources familiar with the investigation have previously said that Burns is one of the lawmakers under scrutiny. The Justice Department has made no statements about the status of any of those under investigation.
Kinda makes me wonder what Neomadison will think. His source seems to have been operating on speculation rather than sourcing. Other reporters, with sources close to the investigation, have repeatedly said Burns is being investigated. As the WaPo explains in this correction, the Justice Department does not comment on investigations, and usually only notifies targets shortly before they end up in deep doo-doo.
| Comments (4) | Permanent Link | Categories: Conrad Burns, Front Page, corrupt |
9/15/2006
Bob Ney is Going to Jail
by Matt Singer on 8:33 am.
Rep. Ney is pleading guilty in the Abramoff scandal.
Ney denied absolutely any wrong-doing in this scandal for some time, denying he was under investigation, etc. Now he’s admitting his guilt. We’ll see how often that particular plot plays out on the political stage over the coming year.
| Comments (8) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page, corrupt, republicans |
8/25/2006
A Third Corrupt Money Man With Burns?
by Matt Singer on 2:18 pm.
Count ‘em: Abramoff, Giacometto, and, now, Pat Davison.
I heard rumors earlier today that something had happened with the former Governor candidate turned Burns finance chair. It appears the Auditor’s office is on it and has been moving on it quickly. I haven’t had time to read the two legal actions posted by the Auditor’s office, but the initial statement of facts in Notice of Proposed Agency Disciplinary Action looks damning.
I’m sure we’ll see more on this story shortly. In the meantime, damn. Is there anyone honest raising money for Burns? Anyone?
Update: Mike McGrath’s office is apparently directing the press to the FBI on this case. The FBI is no commenting. The Burns campaign is saying it has no idea about these charges.
Update 2: The Burns campaign is saying that Davison resigned a while ago. Fine, he still resigned three years after defrauding Montanans and stealing from them. But the larger point is this — it seems increasingly clear that Burns is surrounded by amazingly corrupt individuals. There are exceptions, yes. In fact, Burns has had and continues to have some staff who I like personally (no, I won’t reveal their names — don’t want to get ‘em in trouble). But there’s an overall trend here — to get money, Burns will surround himself with the most corrupt characters in the country.
Update 3: Intelligent Discontent has more.
| Comments (25) | Permanent Link | Categories: '06, Conrad Burns, Front Page, corrupt, montana, republicans |
7/28/2006
Burns’ Inconsistencies Show His True Qualities
by V on 2:03 pm.
Matt made this an update to the earlier post, but there is a serious problem with under-reporting blameworthy acts of powerful people. Conrad Burns has really messed up this time, and while a lot of us are not surprised, considering his long history of foot in mouth syndrome, I am surprised that this incident was so blatently undersold.
Conrad Burns seems to think that a simple apology will make up for the terrible way that he treated visitors to this state–not just visitors actually, workers trying hard to help out our citizens. The problem is that he doesn’t know what he is apologizing for. Conrad Burns is the kind of man who bursts into the airport and yells at tired firemen waiting for a ride home. He is the kind of man who calls them lazy and says they “haven’t been doing a God Damned thing.” Now he says that their service is appreciated. When it first came out, he sent in a lackey to pretend like he was saving the day. Now that we have the whole truth, we know that he wasn’t saving the day at all. In fact, he would probably be surprised to find out that it was day at all.
I am mad as hell, that we did not have the full story from the beginning. Now, I am not going to get preachy about bases you oughta make your decision in this election on, but I am going to say that you deserve to know the whole truth before you decide. If you want to ignore that Burns is an arrogant jerk who walks into a room expecting to blame people earning an honest days wage, you are free to. Rosenthal’s brand of incumbant protectionism is BS and we are seeing it all over the place. Incumbancy is not a life appointment. State employees, like Rosenthal, should stop treating incumbants with kid gloves. Conrad Burns is a big boy, who makes dumb mistakes that make Montana look as stupid as he is.
If you want to write to the local Augusta Free Press to apologize, you can find a link here to their letters page. I am done apologizing for Burns’ incompetence. I am voting for Jon Tester. I am volunteering for Jon Tester. I am donating to Jon Tester. I am asking you to do the same. Enough is enough.
Update: Taking a look at the actual report, I noticed that the hotshots were from Augusta, GA, and not VA as originally reported. I fixed the link to the local opinion section up above.
| Comments (21) | Permanent Link | Categories: '06, Conrad Burns, Front Page, censorship, corrupt, elections, montana, overreach, political, punitive, republicans |
7/25/2006
The Most Dangerous Place in Montana
by Matt Singer on 1:34 pm.
Is apparently between Conrad Burns’ pork and a camera. All that recent bloviating about his remarkable ability to deliver for Montana? Yeah, turns out it isn’t actually delivered for Montana. Instead, as Chairman of Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Beavers and Ducks he was allowed to oversee legislation and insert a couple sixty million dollars in earmarks for Montana. But now Burns’ bill and similar bills (i.e. ones written by campaign committees) are locked up in the Senate, since they’re apparently “a low priority” for “conservative Republicans” (wait, isn’t Burns a “conservative Republican”? No — he’s a borrow-and-spend Republican).
Apparently, Burns’ allies also want to spare him the embarassment of actually trying to advance this legislation during the volatile election season since those mean ol’ Democrats will probably pick on him and his use of the federal treasury as a slush fund to bribe voters.
Sigh.
| Comments (8) | Permanent Link | Categories: Conrad Burns, corrupt, overreach |
7/24/2006
Montanans in Action: Misleading Voters Big Time
by Matt Singer on 3:27 pm.
Last week, we noted the strength of the evidence that, claims to the contrary notwithstanding, Montanans in Action is merely another pawn front group in New York developer Howard Rich’s plot to advance his nutty agenda in states where he will not live with the consequences. In other words, a rich, crazy East Coast libertarian is trying to buy this election with three ballot measures that may look good on paper but that will have unforeseen consequences for the state.
In fact, a new High Country News article demonstrates that Montanans in Action has been blatantly lying. Money-man Rich says he has funded I-154, the anti-land-use planning initiative, to the tune of $200,000 in Montana. Given that Montana is seeing three Rich initiatives and $200,000 * 3 initiatives = $600,000, roughly the amount MIA has spent thus far, it doesn’t take much to realize that Rich must be funding MIA.
Even more curiously, if Rich is saying he provided $200,000 specifically for this effort, shouldn’t he be filing reports as an incidental committee?
But here’s the other thing, besides apparently sharing a funding source with every other nutty astroturf outfit in the country, Montanans in Action apears to share methods as well. Signature gatherers in state after state have been accused of breaking laws in very similar ways.
Now, in addition to simply picking up Lee’s reporting on this subject, a number of readers chimed in with their own tales of misleading signature gatherers. This is the same story from all over the country.
In all cases, the state coordinators claim that there was no coordinated effort to deceive. Frankly, I’m not sure that Trevis Butcher in Montana is any situation to claim that. If he’s getting wired money from ALG to Montanans in Action and simply turning around the wiring it to National Voter Outreach and then filing misleading campaign finance reports, isn’t it possible that he doesn’t really know what is coordinated on his campaigns and what isn’t?
Here’s my problem with I-154. It isn’t just bad public policy. It is bad policy packaged in a misleading way, funded by shadowy organizations trying to cover their tracks, and advanced by signature gatherers engaged in what is basically all-out fraud.
Any time there is that much lying about a policy, red flags need to be raised.
Montanans in Action is a scam, a fraud, a powerfully-funded organization looking to buy the futures of the people of Montana as an experiment in libertarian governance. It is, in short, using Montanans as lab rats.
| Comments (4) | Permanent Link | Categories: '06, Front Page, ballot initiatives, corrupt |
7/23/2006
Letting Rich People Cheat on Their Taxes
by Matt Singer on 4:33 pm.
One of the less common tax discussions in this country is about the way that tax enforcement shapes the tax burden. This isn’t tough. It is, one might say, economics 101 — not enforcing tax laws provides an incentive to cheat on one’s taxes. And the part that goes beyond economics 101 is that top-notch enforcement is a stronger disincentive than harsher penalties when it comes to preventing crime. Now, the Bush Administration has clearly stated its preferences on tax policy over the last six years, giving those hard-working billionaires a break. They must need one. After all, they apparently cheat like mad on their taxes:
six years ago, when the I.R.S. said that 85 percent of large taxable gifts it audited shortchanged the government. The I.R.S. said then that it would hire three more lawyers just to audit taxable gifts of $1 million or more.Over the last five years, officials at both the I.R.S. and the Treasury have told Congress that cheating among the highest-income Americans is a major and growing problem.
Sweet. So how do we deal with this major and growing problem?
By firing the lawyers who enforce the law, of course:
The federal government is moving to eliminate the jobs of nearly half of the lawyers at the Internal Revenue Service who audit tax returns of some of the wealthiest Americans, specifically those who are subject to gift and estate taxes when they transfer parts of their fortunes to their children and others.
Need a real measure of the insanity of this decision? How about this:
Estate tax lawyers are the most productive tax law enforcement personnel at the I.R.S., according to Mr. Brown. For each hour they work, they find an average of $2,200 of taxes that people owe the government.
Hiring these people is not an expenditure. It’s an investment.
I know what you’re thinking — the last thing we need is some kind of socialist system where our tax laws are actually enforced. If really rich businesspeople were actually forced to pay the marginal rates the law says they should be paying, we’d simply be inviting an economic meltdown.
That’s a fair argument, which is why I’m glad we’re cracking down on at least one group of taxpayers:
Earlier this year, the National Taxpayer Advocate reported to Congress that, since 2001, the IRS has frozen 1.6 million tax refunds without notice as part of its criminal enforcement program. Although it is intended to curb the distribution of the Earned Income Tax Credit to ineligible taxpayers, the Taxpayer Advocate’s study suggests that the vast majority of those targeted — perhaps between 60 and 80 percent — are in fact eligible
EITC recipients are low-income families for the most part. The EITC is a program Ronald Reagan described as “the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress.”
Today, people claiming the EITC are 3 times more likely to be audited than the richest taxpayers. And the very richest — the people fortunate enough to pay the Paris Hilton tax — are actually having their audits cut.
This isn’t about tax policy. It’s about enforcing the law in a disgraceful and unequal way — so that honest, hard-working Americans raising their families are denied the tax credits rightfully theirs with no notification while the richest plutocrats in the nation can do whatever the Hell they want and not be questioned.
You want to know why I get angry? It’s because of crap like this.
| Comments (8) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page, corrupt, economic, ideologues, policy, republicans, taxes |
7/11/2006
We Can’t Afford Denny Anymore
by V on 12:47 pm.
I went to a Monica Lindeen fundraiser last night, and I was impressed by her candid estimation of her race and of her opponent. She is truly a top notch candidate and we all need to do what we can to help her with this race. But first…
Denny Rehberg: A LitW Remembrance
Denny is a tool of the oil and gas industry who doesn’t give a beggar’s damn what Montanans think about the place they live in.
Denny is a crook, who takes money from crooked people, and then uses his political clout to try and protect himself.
Denny is a jerk, who would even insult a pregnant woman and defend himself by attacking her political pursuasion.
Denny is good for Denny and for Denny’s friends like Leo Giacometto and bad for everyone else.
Denny is a joke.
Denny is a political, smarmy man who hates science, poor people, and older folks in need.
These are the reasons that Rehberg needs to go, but most folks already knew ‘em. Monica raises two points on top of this. First, ever since Denny has gone to Congress Montanans’ pocket books have been strained. Affording to heat our houses or businesses is now a real concern for folks that struggle to make ends meet in the winter, and in every season filling up a tank of gas has become ridiculous. Where does Denny stand on this timely issue? Denny has taken upwards of $200,000 from gas and oil interests, who are putting this strain on regular Montanans to keep things the same.
(more…)
| Comments (13) | Permanent Link | Categories: '06, Dennis Rehberg, Front Page, corrupt, democrats, elections, ideologues, montana, political, republicans |
7/10/2006
GOP: Burns Acted Inappropriately
by Matt Singer on 9:46 am.
OK. They don’t quite say this, but they are running ads criticizing the Saginaw Chippewa earmark. Humorously, they’ve defended Conrad Burns in the past saying he was honest in his efforts to secure money for this loaded, out-of-state tribe. Yeah, honest like a lying man.
Pogie is mocking the NRSC. The Gazette is admirably highlighting this story. The NRSC honestly thinks they can get away with this. They think you’re stupid.
As Andy Tweeten is pointing out over at TesterTime, Conrad Burns also thinks you’re stupid. He now claims to be for protecting the front when he used to be for drilling. He claims to be for protecting social security when he wanted to privatize it. He claims he never raised taxes when he actually has. He claims to be for clean government when his office sold out our great republic. He claims to be for lower spending while bragging about the pork he’s carrying. He claims to be all things to all people, but he’s really an ineffective Senator who has been in Washington far too long.
| Comments (1) | Permanent Link | Categories: Conrad Burns, Front Page, corrupt, republicans |
7/7/2006
GOP Corruption Definitely Goes All The Way to the Top
by Matt Singer on 4:44 pm.
This is about a week old, so my apologies for being tardy. But it seems clear that the Chair of the RNC, Ken “Stumped for Conrad in Billings” Mehlman was a fixer for Abramoff at the White House. What water did he carry for Abramoff? Well, it appears to have been mostly related to events in the Northern “Home of Forced Abortions, Sexual Slavery, and Sweatshops” Marianas.
Thankfully, corrupt Mr. Mehlman gives us his word that corrupt Mr. Burns has our best interests in mind. Honestly, nothing makes me feel better than when the arsonist vouches for the carjacker.
Equally interesting, the Senate Majority Project today reports that one of the defendants in the New Hampshire phone jamming case is preparing to turn on the White House and the RNC, saying that the phone jamming plan was orchestrated from the top. Ken Mehlman was the key political operator at the White House during that time, so add election rigging to the list of crimes where he gets an assist. And who was running the RNC at that time? It’s so hard to remember.
Oh yeah, Marc Racicot. Oh well, you know what they say — anything to distract him from turning his back on Libby.
Literally, I don’t know if we could find more torrid tales of corruption. Oh wait. Yeah, we can.
| Comments (0) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page, corrupt, republicans |
State Mottos Open Thread
by V on 2:41 pm.
I thought I would provide an outlet for some Burns bashing since this site is generally considered the Tester Tool (snark added for your pleasure, feel free to disregard). I ran upon this gem while I was searching for other ways to hurt Montana’s Junior Senator’s feelings. Back in Burns’ old stomping grounds they have this timely little motto: Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto or “Let the good of the people be supreme law.” Burns has, of course forgone valuing the good of the people in favor of personal enrichment and a strangle hold on his meal ticket. As for our own state motto, I have always chosen to translate it that the land is the gold and silver as well as harboring it for exploration, but I guess, it could be translated as a land obsessed with gold and silver, at least for some. I think that perhaps this misreading may be Burns’ whole problem. What do you think?
| Comments (3) | Permanent Link | Categories: '06, Conrad Burns, Front Page, corrupt, elections, republicans |
7/6/2006
Hazah!
by V on 1:07 pm.
It looks like you cannot break all of the rules, all of the time and then try to make up new rules when you get caught breaking the old ones.
The Texas Republican Party must keep Tom DeLay’s name on the November ballot, even though the former congressman has dropped his re-election bid, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
I am going to go ahead and chalk this one up as a victory for justice.
| Comments (17) | Permanent Link | Categories: '06, Front Page, corrupt, elections, law, republicans |
