Abramoff & Rove

[Rohirrim]

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff bragged two years ago that he was in contact with White House political aide Karl Rove to fight a move to crackdown on firms which used offshore headquarters to pay lower U.S. taxes, according to a published report.
The Washington Post reported Friday that boast by Abramoff, who is facing wire fraud and conspiracy charges on another matter, was revealed by Timothy E. Flanigan, general counsel for conglomerate Tyco International (Research) in a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Flanigan is a Bush administration nominee to be deputy attorney general, and the statement to the committee was part of his confirmation process.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/23/news/midcaps/tyco_abramoff/index.htm?cnn=yes


Rove has “no recollection”, government-speak for “guilty as charged.”

I don’t know what to be most disturbed about:

1. Abramoff’s ties to DeLay?
2. Abramoff’s ties to Rove?
3. Abramoff’s ties to Bush?
4. Or that Bush has appointed Tyco’s general counsel to be a deputy attorney general of the U.S.?
5. Or maybe Frist making a bundle on an early stock sell off?

With this crew, you’re always confronted by so many choices of incompetence and criminality that it is difficult to prioritize your outrage.

And yet, in the Emerald City of the Wizard Dubya, no matter what they hear, or what they see, fully half of the American people don’t want to see what’s behind the curtain. When the Wizard says, “Pay no attention to that little man behind the curtain”, they listen. Including the press.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

With this crew, you’re always confronted by so many choices of incompetence and criminality that it is difficult to prioritize your outrage.

And yet, in the Emerald City of the Wizard Dubya, no matter what they hear, or what they see, fully half of the American people don’t want to see what’s behind the curtain. When the Wizard says, “Pay no attention to that little man behind the curtain”, they listen. Including the press.

Ain't that the truth?

It's hard to believe that some 37% of our citizens like the idea of an organized crime family running America.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Ain't that the truth?

It's hard to believe that some 37% of our citizens like the idea of an organized crime family running America.
It use to be hard to believe but after the last 2 elections I wouldn't put anything past a lot of American citizens.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Abramoff probe may threaten leading Republicans as it expands

Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The widening investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff is moving beyond the confines of tawdry influence-peddling to threaten leading figures in the Republican hierarchy that dominates Washington.

This week's arrest of David Safavian, the former head of procurement at the Office of Management and Budget, in connection with a land deal involving Abramoff brings the probe to the White House for the first time.

Safavian once worked with Abramoff at one lobbying firm and was a partner of Grover Norquist, a national Republican strategist with close ties to the White House, at another. Safavian traveled to Scotland in 2002 with Abramoff, Representative Robert Ney of Ohio and another top Republican organizer, Ralph Reed, southeast regional head of President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who once called Abramoff "one of my closest and dearest friends," already figures prominently in the investigation of the lobbyist's links to Republicans. The probe may singe other lawmakers with ties to Abramoff, such as Republican Senator Conrad Burns of Montana, as well as Ney.

"These people all shared transactions together," said former House Democratic counsel Stan Brand, now a partner in the Washington-based Brand Law Group. "That's always something that worries defense lawyers."

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=IN7A1S0UQVI9

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Tyco Exec: Abramoff Claimed Ties to Administration

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/22/AR2005092202204.html?referrer=email&referrer=email

[gunns]

It use to be hard to believe but after the last 2 elections I wouldn't put anything past a lot of American citizens.

I still find it hard to believe is that all it takes is "we'll smoke them out", "we must stay the course", "God is on our side", "flip-flop" and "say no to abortion" to make so many people blind. But it's nice to see some starting to open their eyes.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

I still find it hard to believe is that all it takes is "we'll smoke them out", "we must stay the course", "God is on our side", "flip-flop" and "say no to abortion" to make so many people blind. But it's nice to see some starting to open their eyes.

Yep.

Even the dry drunk's hardcore base is starting to erode.

From Bush/Harken to Lay to Cheney/Halliburton to Frist, the GOP is just one big cesspool of corruption where the insiders get rich and the little guy and gal get screwed

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/24/AR2005092401379.html

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

When connected turns into corrupted


CRONY CAPITALISM is the name of the Republican game. Their slogan is "take care of your friends and leave the risks of the free market for the suckers." That would be John Q. Public.

From Halliburton's overcharging in Iraq to Enron's manipulation of the California energy crisis and now the emerging hurricane reconstruction boondoggle, we witness what happens when the federal government is turned into a glorified help desk and ATM machine for politically connected corporations.

But the defining case study on the deep corruption of the Bush administration and the GOP is emerging from the myriad investigations of well-connected Republican fundraiser and lobbyist Jack Abramoff. For starters, Abramoff, a $100,000-plus fundraiser for George W. Bush's presidential campaigns, is under federal indictment on wire fraud and conspiracy charges. He is also under congressional and FBI investigations.

In the last fortnight alone, the spreading stain of Abramoff's legacy is seen in the possible undoing of Bush's nominee to the nation's No. 2 law enforcement position, the resignation and arrest of the Office of Management and Budget's former procurement chief and another blow to the already tawdry reputation of top Bush political advisor Karl Rove.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scheer27sep27,0,5132888.column