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 . '/' . substr('9781590171295',-6,3) . '/' . '9781590171295' . '.jpg'; ?>)
By Orville Schell, Michael Massing
$9.95
By Eyal Press
$24.00
$35
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By Marie Cocco — Many of our nation’s latest scandals, from the abject failure to rebuild New Orleans to the abuse of veterans at Walter Reed, are the logical result of a contempt for government so zealously implemented by Ronald Reagan and his political descendants.
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Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., has said there should be an ethics investigation of improper behavior related to the politically motivated firing of eight U.S. attorneys. The Senate is already conducting an inquiry into the matter, which involves at least three prominent Republicans in Congress.
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Last year, the Army vehemently denied allegations that Halliburton had hired Blackwater, another private contractor, to provide security in Iraq, but in a hearing before the House Government Oversight Committee on Wednesday, the military reversed itself. The committee also made public an e-mail from a Blackwater employee who frantically demanded that the firm properly equip its guards, four of whom were killed hours after the message was written.
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One thing we love about Rep. Barney Frank is his total unwillingness to allow an interviewer to step on his answer, misrepresent his argument and then slither away. Neil Cavuto practices the dark arts for Fox News in this particular interview, as Frank steadfastly defends his position on exorbitant CEO pay against an avalanche of nasal smugness.
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nytimes.com
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Within hours of taking power in the House, Democrats successfully pushed through ethics legislation by a telling margin: 430 to 1. Either it’s politically untenable to vote in favor of corruption (except for Dan Burton of Indiana) or the bill was watered down enough, as critics alleged, that it wasn’t worth opposing.
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The Washington Post’s Rajiv Chandrasekaran tells Jon Stewart that while many of Bush’s Iraq blunders have been pored over extensively, the story of American corruption and incompetence in the Green Zone has been largely ignored—from the 21-year-old former ice cream vendor who was sent to reform the Interior Ministry to the questioning of aspiring imperialists as to whether they had voted for Bush.
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progressnow.org
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Disgraced Congressman Tom DeLay reinvented himself as a blogger, briefly, before removing all posts and disabling comments. Guess it didn’t work out. (h/t: Think Progress)
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Bill Moyers offers this gripping and comprehensive analysis of corruption in Washington and finds that “although Jack Abramoff [above] and Tom DeLay have been brought down, the system remains as vulnerable as ever.” Watch it
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Left: senate.gov / Right: law.harvard.edu
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Democrats in Congress are split over proposed anti-corruption legislation that would limit lobbyists’ access to lawmakers. Critics say the law doesn’t go far enough to address “earmarks” and campaign finance problems, and argue that an independent watchdog should be formed to enforce the rules.
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The Government Accountability Office has found that USAID funds meant to promote democracy in Cuba were improperly used to purchase luxury items including leather coats, crab meat and Godiva chocolates. A representative of one of the Cuban-American groups charged with distributing the funds defended the purchases: “These people are going hungry. They never get any chocolate there.”
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Conservative website WorldNetDaily claims someone paid Palestinian terrorist organizations $2 million for the release of two Fox News reporters. The payment was then allegedly used to buy weapons, meaning—if the claim is accurate—that someone financed terrorists on behalf of Fox News. (h/t: Americablog)
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 The majority of voters disapprove of the war in Iraq ... “and believe the U.S. should withdraw some or all troops,” according to New York Times exit polls. The economy was the No. 1 concern, followed closely by terrorism and the Iraq war. In congressional decisions, corruption and scandal were also highly important.
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usatoday.com
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An obscure provision inserted at the last minute into a military authorization bill signed by President Bush has closed the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. The oversight agency had repeatedly embarrassed the administration by exposing corruption, exploitation and negligence in the reconstruction effort in Iraq.
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Rolling Stone
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Rolling Stone examines the tragedy and absurdity of the legislature under Bush. Also, don’t miss its picks for the 10 worst Congress members in America.
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AP / George Osodi
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By Gbemisola Olujobi — As more women show up in Africa’s corrupt corridors of power, the beleaguered continent may end up benefiting from their particular brand of tough love.
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Illustration by Peter Scheer
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In the search for a sense of dignity, basic services and honesty, Arabs from all walks of life are turning to fundamentalist groups that have succeeded where their own governments have failed. ?I have more faith in Islam than in my state; I have more faith in Allah than in Hosni Mubarak,? said one educated middle-class Egyptian woman.
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Rep. Robert ?Bob? Ney (R-Ohio) announced he would not seek reelection in November. Ney, who has been under investigation for corruption related to Jack Abramoff, was pressured by the House Republican leadership to step down at the end of his term.
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From www2.noctrl.edu
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Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is under investigation by the FBI in connection with a public corruption probe that has already ensnared several lawmakers and their aides. ABC News (which has the scoop) says investigators are looking into Hastert’s connections to Indian casinos.
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By Molly Ivins — Calling this lobbying reform measure an “ethics bill” requires brass bravura.
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By Molly Ivins — “DeLay’s professions of Christianity make me sick…. He chose to walk with the powerful and do real harm to the very people Jesus mandated we especially care for.”
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AP
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By Robert Scheer — Truthdig’s editor wonders how it was that so many enemies of virtue operated under the auspices of such a Christ-like leader as DeLay.
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Rep. Tom DeLay’s former top aide admitted to conspiring with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to corrupt public officials and defraud his clients.
The stench of corruption spirals ever upward
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The bill, which passed 90 to 8, requires lobbyists to disclose more information about their interactions with lawmakers, but there’s little increase in the enforcement of ethics laws.
Posted on Mar 29, 2006
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From us.altermedia.info
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The disgraced lobbyist and a business partner get five years and 10 months on fraud charges—the minimum they faced. Abramoff faces more jail time in connection with a corruption probe.
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Yahya Ahmed / AP
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Remember Kurdistan, that semiautonomous northern part of Iraq that the U.S. always points to as a model of stable, quasi-democratic governance? Well, corruption up there is so systemic that thousands of people vented their anger by burning down a government museum. The horrible irony: The museum commemorates the thousands of Kurds who died in Saddam Hussein’s 1988 gas attack. It had become an emblem of government greed.
Another front just opened up in the Iraqi civil war that the Pentagon claims doesn’t exist.
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In the wake of the Jack Abramoff meltdown, House GOP leaders claim that they want at least a temporary ban on privately funded travel for lawmakers, plus some restrictions on lobbyists.
It shouldn’t have taken a scandal the magnitude of the Abramoff case to convince these lawmakers to do the right thing. This latest move seems a cynical ploy destined to “sunset” as soon as public attention is turned elsewhere.
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The MSNBC host lays bare the White House’s attack on press freedoms and whistle-blowers.
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The country seeking control over six U.S. ports donated nearly four times the total of all other countries combined. The State Department denies there’s a connection between the gift and the pending port deal.
Posted on Feb 25, 2006
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By Molly Ivins — Reform follows scandal as night the day, except in these sorry times, when it appears we may not get a nickel’s worth of reform out of the entire Jack Abramoff saga.
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From jamesbondguys.com
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Figuring that public indignation over the Jack Abramoff scandal will soon dissipate, Republicans in Congress are dragging their feet on promised reform measures.
Unfortunately, this will probably work—because an indignant populace is sort of like a villain in a James Bond movie: We vow to stamp out a source of aggravation; we put the machinery in place for doing so; we flip the switch; and then we leave the room on the nave assumption that our plan is escape-proof.
It’d be funny if this weren’t, like, our government we’re talking about.
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Building on his “President Jonah” theme, Gore Vidal offers another angle on Bush’s presidency, illuminated by the recent spate of wildfires in Southern California.
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From markruffaloans.com
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The “In the Cut” actor and the Pentagon Papers whistle-blower speak out in support of the “World Can’t Wait—Drive Out the Bush Regime” march in Washington on Feb. 4 (podcast available for Ruffalo).
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By Molly Ivins — I do hope this is responsible criticism that aims for cures, not defeatism that refuses to acknowledge anything but failure.
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The president has removed the chief prosecutor investigating the Jack Abramoff case. How? By nominating him to a federal judgeship. | story
Democrats find the move so suspicious that they are calling for a special prosecutor in the corruption case.
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Conspiracy and wire-fraud charges stem from 2000 purchase of gambling boat fleet.
Posted on Jan 4, 2006
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By Robert Scheer — Robert Scheer says Jack Abramoff’s “massive web of corruption” represents the “death throes of the GOP revolution.”
Also, our in-depth report on the scandal.
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Lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud, agreeing to cooperate in a corruption investigation that could rock the Republican congressional leadership. Story.
Posted on Jan 3, 2006
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The outrageous rip-off of Native American tribes by a top Republican lobbyist is leading inexorably to a reckoning for the allegedly morally superior religious and political right.
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View the most popular tags overall?
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Terracide and the Terrarists: Destroying the Planet for Record Profits
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