Day: February 25, 2006

Katherine Harris is Named as “Representative A” in Cunningham Bribe Case

Trish

Over one year ago, PR reported on U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Stolen Elections) trying to divest herself of the same illegal contributions which former California Representative Duke Cunningham is going to jail for accepting.

“The congressman who got the most money is going to prison,” McLaughlin said. “The one who got the second-most money wants to be a senator. I would hope voters would look at that”

If you missed it the first time around, Harris took somewhere near $50,000, funneled through employees of defense contractor MZM Inc., whose employees also favored Duke.

After the employees complained about coercion, Harris offered — in the style of the DeLay-linked — to return the payola. Now the horse manootey is hitting the fan, and Harris’ new name is in legal circles is “Rep. A.”

Harris’ campaign attempted to return the campaign contributions to MZM employees but never received a response, the release said.

Harris acknowledged having contact with Wade and his firm…

Cunningham, a Vietnam veteran who represented a southern California district, resigned from Congress in November and pleaded guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes from Wade and MZM in exchange for help securing Pentagon contracts. Cunningham faces up to 10 years in prison.

In Wade’s guilty plea on Friday, the court document stated “Representative A” received $46,000 in “illegal contributions” from employees and spouses at Wade’s firm.

Harris is “Representative A.”

[…]

Let’s Outsource the Secret Service to the UAE

Trish

Alert PR reader Vito D. had a really good question for the Deputy Defense Secretary. Gordon England said last week that those who question the port deal put our security at risk by giving people from Arab countries a complex. Vito asked:

Why not abolish the Secret Service and let U.A.E. guard the President? Now this would show our Arab allies that we trust them.

I agree. If there’s no problem with letting them hire the longshoremen in our ports, then while we’re at it, let’s put them where they could really do some good.

Brown Says Bush Was Fully Briefed on Katrina

Jon Ponder

Michael Brown tells NBC News that President Bush was fully informed prior to landfall that Hurricane Katrina would likely destroy New Orleans:

“We ought to get mad at the President… The alarm bells were being sounded on Sunday. Because not only was I having conferences with the President on the telephone, but he was also on the video conference with all of the state emergency managers.”

This means that while the president was cavorting across the country, strumming the guitar, cutting up with John McCain and birthday cake and sleeping peacefully in San Diego, he knew that Americans were drowning in the flooded streets or clinging for dear life on rooftops.

It also means that he was lying on Good Morning America that week when he said:

“No one could have anticipated that the levees would be breached.”

Now William F. Buckley Jr. Hates America

Jon Ponder

Remember the equation set forth by the GOP message machine:

Criticizing President Bush = Hating America

The latest America-hating critic of Dear Leader is the elder statesman of conservative fantasists himself, William F. Buckley. Under the headline “It Didn’t Work,” he writes:

One can’t doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed… And the administration has, now, to cope with failure..

Mr. Bush has a very difficult internal problem here because to make the kind of concession that is strategically appropriate requires a mitigation of policies he has several times affirmed in high-flown pronouncements. His challenge is to persuade himself that he can submit to a historical reality without forswearing basic commitments in foreign policy.

He will certainly face the current development as military leaders are expected to do: They are called upon to acknowledge a tactical setback, but to insist on the survival of strategic policies.

Yes, but within their own counsels, different plans have to be made. And the kernel here is the acknowledgment of defeat.

So Buckley is one of those cut-and-runners, huh? He’d better watch out for Swiftboaters. Bushistas don’t take kindly to this kind of talk. The next thing you know, they’ll be questioning his conservative credentials.

Hat Tip to LL & ST

First They Came for Cat Stevens

Pensito Editors

Apparently, there’s a thin line between whining and terrorizing. Singer Morrissey, who has in the past made no secret of his distaste for the British Royal Family, Tony Blair and George W. Bush, reports that he has been worked over by government officials:

The FBI and the Special Branch have investigated me and I’ve been interviewed and taped and so forth. They were trying to determine if I was a threat to the government, and similarly in England. But it didn’t take them very long to realise that I’m not…
I don’t belong to any political groups, I don’t really say anything unless I’m asked directly and I don’t even demonstrate in public. I always assume that so-called authoritarian figures just assume that pop/rock music is slightly insane and an untouchable platform for the working classes to stand up and say something noticeable.
My view is that neither England or America are democratic societies. You can’t really speak your mind and if you do you’re investigated.

We are only half-laughing.

Poll: 17% Favor Bush’s Ports Deal

Jon Ponder

Mr. President, read ’em and weep:

Just 17 percent of Americans believe Dubai Ports World should be allowed to purchase operating rights to several U.S. ports. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 64 percent disagree and believe the sale should not be allowed…

From a political perspective, President Bush’s national security credentials have clearly been tarnished due to the outcry over this issue. For the first time ever, Americans have a slight preference for Democrats in Congress over the President on national security issues. Forty-three percent say they trust the Democrats more on this issue today while 41 percent prefer the President.

It is important to note that the question about trust on national security issues was asked first, before any mention was made of the Dubai Ports issue.

The preference for the opposition party is small, but the fact that Democrats are even competitive on the national security front is startling.

Startling for you maybe but the rest of us have seen through the “Bush makes us safe” charade from the beginning. His response to Katrina exposed his true colors in plain sight.