Tag: Crime & Punishment
DeLay Gets Three Years for Money Laundering Corporate Donations in 2002 Elections
Count me as surprised that DeLay was sentenced to jail time:
Former House majority leader Tom DeLay was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in a money-laundering case stemming from the 2002 elections.
DeLay, once one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress, was convicted in November for illegally funneling $190,000 in corporate money through the Republican National Committee to help elect Republicans to the Texas Legislature during the 2002 elections.
Texas judge Pat Priest sentenced DeLay to three years on a conspiracy charge and also sentenced him to five years in prison for money laundering. Priest, however, allowed DeLay to accept 10 years probation on the money laundering charge, assuming he meets certain conditions set by the court.
DeLay could have received up to life in prison on the money laundering and conspiracy charges.
The former Houston area congressman, known as “The Hammer,” was unrepentant today in court. “I fought the fight. I ran the race. I kept the faith,” he said, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
It will be a bigger surprise if he serves more than three months.
Rude Pundit: Hey Right Wing, How’s That Ginning Up the Masses Thing Working for Ya Now?
For those of us following the coverage of the mass shooting aimed at Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who are sick of the false equivalency arguments (“But what about Daily Kos?”), the bending over backward denials (“They were surveyors marks, not gun scope sights”), and pleas by the right not to rush to judgment (like they do with every ginned up news cycle concerning the NPRs and Van Joneses of the world), The Rude Pundit offers some relief. He is calling out the same folks as the sheriff of Pima County did — those who earn a living inflaming the American people.
Rude Pundit: ‘Gosh, it’s just wrong to lump you all together, to stereotype you all as criminals in waiting. Like, you know, you have done with Muslims since September 11, 2001’
He goes one further, though, by including the viewers and listeners and readers who indulge those leaders, who drive up their ratings, and who ultimately pay their salaries. And if you are among them, The Rude Pundit leaves you nowhere to hide.
Following are excerpts from what could have been called, “Dear Right-Wingers: We Reject Your Every Attempt to Evade Blame” but which is, instead, the much better titled, “Dear Right-Wingers: You Are All Muslims Now.”
How you must have heaved in relief when you saw that it would be quite easy to portray Jared Lee Loughner as a raving psychopath, an effort that’s helped a great deal by the apparent truth, which is that Jared Lee Loughner is a raving psychopath…
Now, ah, yes, now, lovely right-wingers, you could defend yourself. You could work yourselves into a huff about how unjustly you were accused of driving this obviously disturbed individual into an act of calculated, cold-blooded violence. But that’s because you’re sitting there in your shit-filled underpants, thinking, “I don’t believe in violence. I don’t approve this. I hope the government doesn’t try to crack down on us.”
So, welcome, assholes, because you are Muslim now.
Crusty Lawyers Get All the Best Lines
William “Willie” N. Meggs“Since the legislature is building airport hangars instead of funding FDLE, they’re a little behind.”
— Florida State Attorney Willie Meggs, when asked when the Florida Department of Law Enforcement would finish its examination of the computer used by former State House Speaker Ray Sansom (R-Destin). Sansom was indicted by a grand jury and forced to resign as Speaker for using the position to win a high-paying job at a community college and to build an aircraft hangar for a political patron at taxpayer expense. Full background story.
Gonzales Hires Defense Attorney
This is an interesting turn of event. Bush’s number one Stooge thinks he’s going to need a defense attorney:
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has hired a high-powered Washington lawyer to represent him in investigations of mismanagement of the Justice Department.
George Terwilliger, a white-collar crime defense attorney and the Justice Department’s No. 2 in the early 1990s, last month was on the White House’s short list to replace Gonzales.
Now he’ll be Gonzales’ defender as federal investigators look into allegations that the former attorney general lied to lawmakers and illegally allowed politics to influence hiring and firing at the Justice Department.
In an interview Wednesday, Terwilliger said Gonzales maintains he did nothing wrong or illegal — and the fact he has hired an attorney should not signal any guilt.
People who have done nothing wrong hire defense attorneys every day, right?
Atchison Suicide
The federal prosecutor from Florida who was arrested in a child-sex sting in Michigan last month has killed himself in prison:
J.D. Roy Atchison, 53, of Gulf Breeze was found unresponsive in his cell Friday morning in the special housing unit of the Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, Mich…
“His death appears to be the result of suicide,” Truman said. “A thorough investigation is under way.”
…He was arrested Sept. 16 at the Detroit Metropolitan International Airport after corresponding over the Internet with a Macomb County (Mich.) Sheriff’s Office detective who posed as a mother interested in allowing men to engage in sex with her fictitious 5-year-old daughter, authorities said.
Dan Rather May Call Bush 41 and 43 to Testify in CBS Suit
I thought Dan Rather’s suit against CBS for wrongful dismissal was a big joke, since it took him two years to get up the gumption to file it. But then it was reported that he could be calling George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush to testify as material witnesses.
Rather is claiming that the Bushes’ open hostility to him stems from a story Rather did on W’s alleged service in the Air National Guard. Turns out some of the sources for Rather’s story were less than, well, accurate, and he was fired over it.
But the thought of George W. taking the stand to answer questions about his service record is intriguing, and it could happen, if the suit isn’t settled and goes to trial:
When asked by Carol Joynt, host of the “Q&A Café” held at Nathans restaurant who worked with Rather at CBS in the 1970s, whether “he’d like to” call President Bush as a witness in the trial, Rather paused, then said “I’d like not to answer the question,” leaving both Joynt and audience members wondering whether the newsman has Bush in his sights.” Joynt later told Yeas & Nays, “From the look in his eye — and he gave me a definite Ratheresque look — I got the impression he will call the president as a witness. Possibly both of them: 41 and 43. He implied the suit is not against them, but what the suit is about stems directly from his antagonistic relationship with them.”
In the lawsuit, Rather claims he was unjustifiably squeezed out of CBS by network executives following a 2004 story about President Bush’s service record in the Texas Air National Guard. After evidence emerged that the story’s primary documents were possibly faked or forged, Rather stated on air that “if I knew then what I know now, I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question.â€
Joynt asked Rather if he believes the president hates him, and Rather responded by saying that “hate is a strong word.” Then, he began to well up. “You’ve never met anybody who had more respect for the presidency than I do,” said Rather, choking back tears. He stood by his 2004 story, saying “we got the truth, but we left ourselves vulnerable.”
Book ’em, Dano!
Romney Shows He Read the Republican Playbook
Mitt Romney’s comments about the civilian killings by the Blackwater private security guards sound kind of familiar. Romney’s counterterrorism advisor, Cofer Black, is vice chair of Blackwater USA.
“I think the allegations are very serious indeed and that there is an investigation which is under way,” Romney told reporters in his first public comment on the case. “I don’t want to prejudge what will happen from the investigation, but if the investigations go through in a legitimate and appropriate way, then I would expect an appropriate response.”
Hmmm, that’s rings a bell. Especially the “prejudge” part. Where have I heard that before?
“I have instructed every member of my staff to fully cooperate in this investigation,” Bush told reporters after a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
“I also will not prejudge the investigation based on media reports. We’re in the midst of an ongoing investigation, and I will be more than happy to comment further once the investigation is completed.”
Yeah, that’s it! Bush talking about Rove and the CIA leak scandal.
No one will ever accuse Mitt Romney of original thinking but isn’t it funny how Republicans have complete confidence in the courts and the judicial process until they’re found out, or until they disagree with a ruling?
Fred Thompson Caught Smoking the Illegal Stuff
Fred Thompson talks tough about continuing Cold War era prohibitions against Cuba, as long as they’re the ones that prevent people’s families from visiting, circumvent humanitarian efforts, and keep Michael Moore out.
Fred Thompson: “You know, if it’s good, I smoke it”
Courting Miami Cuban-Americans on Radio Mambi on Friday in Little Havana, Fred Thompson was adamant about his approach to Fidel Castro’s Cuba: “We definitely would maintain sanctions, would maintain the embargo.”
But when it comes to how such measures affect Fred it’s a whole different story, according to the St. Petersburg Times’ Adam Smith.
So we were curious about a Weekly Standard article noting “box upon box” of cigars from Havana in Thompson’s office.
…Thompson brushed off the apparent contradiction between the embargo and his fondness for Cuban stogies. “If I have a friend that occasionally passes me a cigar, I don’t check its heritage,” he said. “You know, if it’s good, I smoke it.”
The “if it’s good, I smoke it” argument has failed many a stoner and I can’t say it works for Fred. I mean, come on. Like Fred doesn’t lust after Cuban see-gars anymore than he lusts after his usually scantily-clad young wife.
We’re supposed to believe that for Fred, it’s not about about the status and mystique of those 2003 Cohiba Double Coronas or those 2000 Romeo y Julieta Exhibiction No.2s. They’s just good smokes, ya’ll.
At least one other listener was unconvinced.
Miami-Dade Democratic chairman Joe Garcia questioned whether law-and-order voters will embrace a candidate “who smokes something illegal.”
Looking for a Dogfight This Weekend?
There are four states where it’s perfectly legal to watch a dog fight: Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho and Montana. In 26 other states, it’s only a misdemeanor to watch. Of course, it’s a felony to organize dogfights in 49 states; it’s a misdemeanor in Idaho. It’s legal to possess fighting dogs in Georgia and Idaho.
Vick’s longest-lasting legacy will be accidental but far more important: bringing political pressure to bear upon a most repulsive pastime.
But in the wake of NFL star quarterback Michael Vick’s arrest for breeding, training and fighting dogs, the few remaining states that allow the blood sport are considering bolstering enforcement, and even the generally worthless congress has got three bills moving through the Senate and House that would strengthen federal restrictions on dogfighting.
The Politico suggests that such legislation will be what Vick is remembered for:
There was a time when it was thought Vick would revolutionize his position in pro football with his unique athleticism. It is turning out that his longest-lasting legacy will be accidental but far more important: bringing political pressure to bear upon a most repulsive pastime.
Vick, who faces federal jail time because his dogfighting operation crossed state lines, represents just the tip of the iceberg in U.S. dogfighting:
Although there’s no national tally of enforcement numbers, Pet-Abuse.com, a Web site that attempts to keep track of dogfighting citations, recorded 167 police cases so far this year, on a pace ahead of 2006, when a total of 127 cases were filed against organizers, and 2005 with 129 cases.
Still, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) estimate there are as many as 40,000 people who stage organized dogfights in the country and many more having impromptu dogfights on the street.
Maybe, with legislative task forces at the state level and tougher federal legislation coming down the pipe, law enforcement can take a bite out of this heinous crime.
