Day: June 13, 2005

GOP Rep. Cunningham May Have Sold House Improperly to Defense Contractor

Jon Ponder

North County Times:

A defense contractor bought Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s Del Mar home in November 2003 and sold it nearly nine months later at a $700,000 loss, it was reported today.

At the time, the Republican congressman was supporting Mitchell Wade and his firm MZM Inc. in efforts to win Pentagon contracts, The San Diego Union- Tribune reported.

Cunningham used the proceeds from the sale to buy a home in Ranch Santa Fe for about $2.5 million, the newspaper reported.

About the same time, Wade’s company, which had been suffering through a flat period, was awarded tens of millions of dollars in defense and intelligence-related contracts, according to the Union-Tribune.

Cunningham denied anything untoward about the dealings.

“My whole life I’ve lived aboveboard,” he told the newspaper. “I’ve never even smoked a marijuana cigarette. I don’t cheat.”

But others congressional and political watchdog organizations said it just didn’t look right.

“This doesn’t look good at all,” Larry Noble, director of the Center for Responsive Politics, told the Union-Tribune. “It doesn’t look like something that was on the up and up.”

Wade was unavailable for comment last week. Scotty Brumett of MZM Inc. said Wade bought Cunningham’s home to raise the firm’s profile in San Diego.

“We were looking at expanding our company presence in San Diego,” he told the Union-Tribune. “We looked at the property and thought it would work for us. But after we bought it, we realized that it did not meet our security or our corporate needs.”

Cunningham has served on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee since 1997.

Supremes Say No to Media Consolidation

Buck Banks

The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to rule on a lower-court judgement that found against the Federal Communications Commission and a Repug-led attempt to ease TV and radio station ownership limits.

The decision was a loss for broadcast and newspaper companies and a victory for critics of media consolidation.

Without comment, the justices let stand a ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that blocked the 2003 rules change.

The Supreme Court’s decision not to intervene sends the rules back to the Federal Communications Commission for revision.

The rules, adopted by the FCC on a 3-to-2 Republican-led party-line vote, aimed to let companies own more TV and radio stations in a single market, and to own a daily newspaper and nearby broadcast station.

FCC: “Curses! Foiled again!”

Dean To Repugs: Quit Faking Concern for African-American Voters

Trish

This part of Dr. (as long as Condo keeps using it, I’ll use it for Howie) Howard Dean’s comments Sunday aren’t getting as much play as his calling Fox News a Republican propaganda machine, but it should.

Chicago Tribune:

Dean…sharply criticized the Republican Party, which he said has yet to support reauthorizing certain provisions of the Voting Rights Act that expire in 2007.

After barely registering a double-digit showing among black voters nationally in last fall’s election, the Republican Party has intensified its efforts to recruit African-American supporters. Chairman Ken Mehlman is engineering the party’s most aggressive outreach to black voters, frequently speaking in churches and to community groups in an effort to improve the party’s performance before the 2006 mid-term elections and the 2008 presidential race.

Dean said Republicans should not “pretend” to be genuinely interested in courting African-Americans until the party makes a clear statement on the Voting Rights Act.

“The chairman of the Republican Party, as you know, has made a big deal about attracting African-American voters,” Dean said to people attending the conference. “And this is a litmus test. If you aren’t going to support the extension of the Voting Rights Act, I don’t know what right you have to go to a black church and show your face.”

But like so many things Republicans have the gall to do, this one appears to be working. More blacks are switching parties, due in large part to the GOP going after members of black churches. Black Christian fundamentalists must not be any better at resisting cynical Republican manipulation than white Christian fundamentalists.

If you don’t think so, check out the comments of Rev. O’Neal Dozier, the White House’s “go-to” African-American, posted earlier.

The Low Bar for Impeachment Was Set by Republicans

Jon Ponder

The atmospherics for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney may not be right until two years from now but it’s never too early to be informed about the mechanics and consider the options that confront us. Writing in Democrats & Liberals, Bert M. Caradine, editor of That Colored Fellas Weblog, examines current thinking on what is – and is not – an impeachable offense.

He also reminds us about the four Articles of Impeachment lodged against President Clintons by the Gingrich-Dole Republican Congress. The first three were related to the president’s sex lie in the Paula Jone’s case. But the fourth article has some saliency today:

Article 4 – ABUSE OF POWER

The President misused and abused his office and impaired the administration of justice.
1. The President made false and misleading public statements for the purpose of deceiving the people of the United States;
2. The President made false and misleading statements to members of the Cabinet and White House aides;
3. The President frivolously asserted executive privilege;
4. The President made perjurious, false and misleading statements to Congress.

Looks like a slam dunk to me!

Speak Out for Howard Dean

Buck Banks

If you think the Dems have been too hard on their leader for being too hard on the Republicans, sign a petition letting them know here. The peition, written by members of the Daily Kos, is almost as short as the warning message about invalid signatures is long:

To: Democrats in U.S. Congress

Recently some Democrats in Congress have chastised Governor Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, saying that he does not speak for the party.

We the undersigned have a simple message we would like to convey to you:

Howard Dean Speaks For Me

And, we respectfully request that you refrain from public criticism of your fellow Democrats and that you begin to speak for us as well

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

If you think the chairman of the Democratic Party should be able to call a wingnut a wingnut without being pilloried by his party, consider signing.

Gallup: Americans Have Reached Tipping Point on Iraq

Jon Ponder

A new poll from the Gallup organization shows that Americans’ patience on Iraq is wearing thin:

Nearly six in 10 Americans say the United States should withdraw some or all of its troops from Iraq, a new Gallup Poll finds, the most downbeat view of the war since it began in 2003.

Patience for the war has dropped sharply as optimism about the Iraqi elections in January has ebbed and violence against U.S. troops hasn’t abated. For the first time, a majority would be “upset” if President Bush sent more troops. A new low, 36%, say troop levels should be maintained or increased.

The souring of public opinion presents challenges for the president, who has vowed to stay the course until democracy is established and Iraqi forces can ensure security. He hasn’t suggested sending more U.S. troops.

“We have reached a tipping point,” says Ronald Spector, a military historian at George Washington University. “Even some of those who thought it was a great idea to get rid of Saddam (Hussein) are saying, ‘I want our troops home.’ ”

The pattern of public opinion on Iraq – strong support for the first two years that then erodes – is reminiscent of the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, he says.

There is one horrifying factoid in the new poll. “Of the 42% who say the war was worth it, the top reasons cited are the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the need to stop terrorism and a desire to end the oppression of the Iraqi people.” The fact that anyone still believes there was a connection between the Sept. 11 attacks and the war in Iraq is truly frightening.

Bush & Co., through their mouthpieces Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and the folks at Fox News, are perpetuating this lie at their own peril. One day the truth will be revealed in a way that these lies can no longer be supported, and then even the die-hard wingnut Right will have to admit their beloved leaders lied to them, over and over.