THE NEXT ABRAMOFF SHOE TO DROP (Huffpo)

The Next Abramoff Shoe To Drop (30 comments )


READ MORE: Jack Abramoff, 2006, Scott McClellan, Karl Rove, Investigations

Here's the next Abramoff blockbuster coming soon to a newspaper, cable TV station, and blog near you. What makes this particularly tantalizing is that it puts the White House squarely in the middle of a 2002 corruption investigation of a sleazy arrangement between Abramoff and Guam Superior Court officials. The chief prosecutor in the investigation was acting U.S. Atty. for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, Frederick A. Black. As the LA Times wrote back in August 2005, in more innocent times when Abramoff's shenanigans did not make front page news, Black was removed from his position as acting U.S. Attorney in November 2002. It was a position he had held for over a decade, and which he lost one day after a subpoena was issued demanding the release of records involving the Guam court's lobbying contract with Abramoff -- including bills and payments.

And if this is not a bizarre enough coincidence for you, Black's replacement, Leonardo Rapadas, was a cousin of "one of the main targets" of the Guam investigation. Rapadas, who had been recommended to Karl Rove for the U.S. Attorney position by a lobbyist under contract with Guam's Gutierrez Administration, whom Black had also been investigating, promptly recused himself, and the investigation was very conveniently ended.

Look for more news on this very soon. And this next Abramoff storm will be gathering momentum just as the White House is desperately trying to distance itself from Abramoff, and Scott McClellan insists that "the President does not know , nor does the President recall ever meeting him." Possibly true. But what's more scandalous -- shaking hands with the man or unethically jury-rigging a corruption investigation so he'd never have to see a jail cell? But it turns out that even the president could not stop the inevitable.

Unfolding...


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/the-next-abramoff-shoe-to_b_13469.html

I hope it sinks them.

May all the victims of bush, rove, abramoff, et al., have their vengeance in the form of justice.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/08/08/bush_removal_ended_guam_investigation/?p1=email_to_a_friend

A US grand jury in Guam opened an investigation of controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff more than two years ago, but President Bush removed the supervising federal prosecutor, and the probe ended soon after.

The previously undisclosed Guam inquiry is separate from a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia that is investigating allegations that Abramoff bilked Indian tribes out of millions of dollars.

In Guam, a US territory in the Pacific, investigators were looking into Abramoff's secret arrangement with Superior Court officials to lobby against a court reform bill then pending in Congress. The legislation, since approved, gave the Guam Supreme Court authority over the Superior Court.

In 2002, Abramoff was retained by the Superior Court in what was an unusual arrangement for a public agency. The Los Angeles Times reported in May that Abramoff was paid with a series of $9,000 checks funneled through a Laguna Beach, Calif., lawyer to disguise the lobbyist's role working for the Guam court. No separate contract was authorized for Abramoff's work.

From http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/cimg379.html (appropriately, a Field Guide to the Insects of Texas)

"Millipedes feed on decomposing organic matter, but will occasionally damage seedling plants by feeding on leaves, stems and roots. They curl up tightly when disturbed resulting frequently in the release of fluids from repugnatorial glands."

The *repugnatorial* glands? Oh, man, think of where we can go with *this*!!!

"Millipedes do not bite; but when disturbed they can produce an irritating fluid (using repugnatorial glands opening at the base of the legs). This fluid can irritate eyes, blister the skin, produce an unpleasant odor and cause allergic reactions in venom sensitive people. Some species can squirt their fluids several inches. "

Definitely sounds like the repugnicans!

"Centipedes feed on insects and spiders. They kill by grasping prey with their powerful fangs and injecting venom. The fangs are located on the body segment just behind the head. "

and this too:
Centipedes and millipedes prefer to live in moist habitats and during the day occur underneath rocks, logs and other objects in contact with the ground. They are active at night. Centipedes feed on insects and spiders. They kill by grasping prey with their powerful fangs and injecting venom. The fangs are located on the body segment just behind the head.

Indeed, quite venomous!

Strike 1: Dissing the military (Iraq).
Strike 2: Dissing the judiciary (attacking judges).
Strike 3: Dissing the Federal prosecutors.

That's what this story is about. They used the appointment process for these folks to scam the system. Federal prosecutors are not used to eating crap in public but they ALL know what this was. Total contempt for their office by the Bush administraiton.

I'd say the perfect storm for * has arrived. He's finished.

He also dissed the CIA.

The CIA plays for keeps.

:banghead:

A hat trick, a trilogy.

Oh, wait. :)

:toast: all four bases, four runs, right Bush hit a Grand slam :toast:

A four-bagger!

:toast:

We just hit a homerun! :applause:

In OUR favor!

Peace.

on January 21, 1793.

"There May Be More Leaks To Come" On Wiretapping...
"Sooner Or Later We'll Find Out What The White House Is Really So Defensive About": Frank Rich...
New York Times | Frank Rich | Posted January 8, 2006 12:50 PM

READ MORE: 2006, New York Times, Halliburton, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney

ALMOST two weeks before The New York Times published its scoop about our government's extralegal wiretapping, the cable network Showtime blew the whole top-secret shebang. In its mini-series "Sleeper Cell," about Islamic fundamentalist terrorists in Los Angeles, the cell's ringleader berates an underling for chatting about an impending operation during a phone conversation with an uncle in Egypt. "We can only pray that the N.S.A. is not listening," the leader yells at the miscreant, who is then stoned for his blabbing.

If fictional terrorists concocted by Hollywood can figure out that the National Security Agency is listening to their every call, guess what? Real-life terrorists know this, too. So when a hyperventilating President Bush rants that the exposure of his warrant-free wiretapping in a newspaper is shameful and puts "our citizens at risk" by revealing our espionage playbook, you have to wonder what he is really trying to hide. Our enemies, as America has learned the hard way, are not morons. Even if Al Qaeda hasn't seen "Sleeper Cell" because it refuses to spring for pay cable, it has surely assumed from the get-go that the White House would ignore legal restraints on eavesdropping, just as it has on detainee jurisprudence and torture.

That the White House's over-the-top outrage about the Times scoop is a smokescreen contrived to cover up something else is only confirmed by Dick Cheney's disingenuousness. In last week's oration at a right-wing think tank, he defended warrant-free wiretapping by saying it could have prevented the 9/11 attacks. Really? Not with this administration in charge. On 9/10 the N.S.A. (lawfully) intercepted messages in Arabic saying, "The match is about to begin," and, "Tomorrow is zero hour." You know the rest. Like all the chatter our government picked up during the president's excellent brush-clearing Crawford vacation of 2001, it was relegated to mañana; the N.S.A. didn't rouse itself to translate those warnings until 9/12.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/01/08/there-may-be-more-leaks-_n_13455.html

wasn't delay involved in some hanky panky in the marianas islands??

http://www.alternet.org/story/13140/

<snip>The Marianas became a pedal-to-the-metal cause for DeLay and another cash cow for Abramoff. Abramoff and his team, which now included DeLay's former chief of staff Bill Jarrell, swung into action. They arranged junkets to the islands for scores of Republicans on The Hill. DeLay himself spent New Years Day 1998 in the Marianas with his wife and daughter and his then Chief of Staff, Ed Buckham.

Another of Abramoff's Mariana lobbyists was Patrick Pizzella who, believe it or not, is now serving in the Bush Administration as assistant secretary of Labor. It was Pizzella's job to organize Abramoff's political junkets to the islands

Despite the growing public awareness of work conditions in the islands, Tom DeLay's defense of the status quo remained unshaken. In 1998 DeLay co-authored a letter with House Majority Leader Dick Army (R-TX). The two men, writing to the islands' governor, expressed how "impressed" they were with the Marianas' "commitment to advancing the principles of free markets, enterprise, tax reform and other innovative approaches to governance."

Such high level Washington support was not lost on sweatshop operators. In 1999, a human rights group quoted a Marianas sweatshop operator with an upbeat attitude about Tom DeLay's growing influence in Congress. An investigator for the group posed as an investor who was considering investing in Mariana garment operations. The investigator asked the sweatshop operator about the outlook for Congress applying U.S. workplace rules to the Marianas. The garment factory operator was not worried.
<snip>

Pro Life my ass!

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for this day, this will also show Americans what the Bush immigration program is really all about. The Marianas is one of the most shameful and relatively untold episodes of the last 10-20 years.

Cont'd here, with additional links and excerpts.
http://www.dccc.org/stakeholder/archives/004025.html

Jack Abramoff *


SunCruz

Sen. Conrad Burns +
Rep. Tom DeLay +
Rep. Bob Ney *
Adam Kidan *
Neil Volz

Tigua Casino

Sen. John Cornyn
Rep. Bob Ney *
Ralph Reed
Michael Scanlon *
Neil Volz

Mariana Islands

Sen. Conrad Burns +
Rep. Tom DeLay +
President Bush +

Saginaw Funding

Sen. Conrad Burns +
Sen. Byron Dorgan +
Rep. J.D. Hayworth +


Choctaws

Grover Norquist
Ralph Reed

Capital Athletic Foundation

Julie Doolittle *


Coushatta Campaign

Rep. Roy Blunt +
Rep. Eric Cantor +
Sen. Thad Cochran
Rep. Tom DeLay +
Rep. John Doolittle
Sen. John Ensign
Sen. Charles Grassley
Rep. J. Dennis Hastert +
Rep. Ernie Istook +
Sen. Trent Lott
Sen. Harry Reid
Rep. Pete Sessions
Rep. David Vitter +
Rep. Roger Wicker
Grover Norquist

Cronyism

Sen. Conrad Burns +
Rep. Tom DeLay +
Rep. John Doolittle
Rep. Bob Ney *
Grover Norquist
Tony Rudy
Neil Volz
J. Steven Griles
Susan Ralston


Favors

Rep. Bob Ney *
Rep. David Vitter +
Doug Bandow
Italia Federici
Timothy Flanigan
J. Steven Griles
Gale A. Norton
Susan Ralston

Trips

Rep. Tom DeLay +
Rep. Tom Feeney
Rep. Bob Ney *
Ed Buckham
Susan Hirschmann
Ralph Reed
David Safavian

Gifts

Rep. Tom DeLay +
Rep. John Doolittle
Sen. Tom Harkin +
Rep. J.D. Hayworth +
Rep. Bob Ney *

edited...forgot link, AGAIN!
http://www.thinkprogress.org/abramoff

Wow. :popcorn:

:BOUNCYGREENTHINGY:

:evilgrin:

-Hoot

They're reaping what they sowed, now - I hope...

its like a spiders web with one connecting to another!!!

Sweet!

I pray that Bush will finally have to atone for all of his corruption.

It's a dirt poor place with the US military holding most power in which they dribble out as favors to anyone who can come up with cash. Ripe for scandals.

No joke apparently. Hopsicker has more details here:

http://www.madcowprod.com/10272005.html