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AM Feed - June 7, 2006: More Questions Raised about Lawmakers' Ties to Lobbyists

Hot Topics

• Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) is already facing Justice Department scrutiny for his ties to lobbyists. This latest news won’t help: A former top aide to Lewis has acknowledged that the president of a military contracting company paid half the cost of her $1 million townhouse. Letitia Hoadley White was in charge of inserting earmarks into legislation for Lewis while she worked in his office. After leaving through the revolving door, she became a lobbyist – which is when this questionable townhouse transaction occurred. Nicholas Karangelen, the president of Trident Systems, put up 50 percent of the cost of the townhouse. Trident benefited from earmarks, and also paid fees to White’s lobbying firm as well. [link]
• Sources and documents say that a registered lobbyist set up and maintained a retirement fund for indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s (R-TX) wife beginning in the late 1990s. The same lobbyist – Edwin Buckham, formerly DeLay’s chief of staff – also paid DeLay’s wife Christine to work from home in Texas. All told, DeLay’s association with Buckham has netted him some handsome gains – to the tune of roughly $500,000 over the past seven years. Buckham, in turn, is under scrutiny for his ties to corrupt former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. [link]
• The latest Pew Research poll shows that President Bush’s days of low approval ratings aren’t over yet: Only 33 percent of Americans approve of the job he’s doing, while a strong majority of 56 percent disapprove. Bush is hemorrhaging support from moderate Republicans, which means that his latest strategy of placating his conservative political base by pandering on such issues as same-sex marriage and immigration could actually backfire by further alienating moderates who once supported him. [link]

Quote of the Day

“And by the way, how do we know their husbands weren’t planning to divorce these harpies? Now that their shelf life is dwindling, they’d better hurry up and appear in Playboy.” – Conservative commentator Ann Coulter, speaking about the 9/11 widows.

Morning Snark

• No snark this morning – we’re too busy cleaning up the mess we made after reading Ann Coulter’s comments…

1. I can’t think of words to fully tell of my contempt for Ann Coulter. By the way do we realy know she is Human? She seems to have bile running through her veins instead of blood.
   — Rosalie Stern    Jun 7, 11:28    #
2. My, that woman Coulter harbors a profound and pathological hatred of people and well, dammit, why should we waste valuable space even commenting on that piece of crap…
   — John    Jun 7, 11:46    #
3. Ann Coulter has got to be THE most nastiest woman in the world. Can somebody get her laid please!!!
   — Jeannine    Jun 7, 11:48    #
4. I’ve forgotten if it was Rosalie or Mildred or Jen that was saying that they were kinda pleased with Senator Arlen Spector a couple of days ago. I just heard that he’s not going to subpoena the Big Telecom CEOs to answer for their complicity in the NSA spying scandal that violated our privacy rights. This is typical Arlen Spector behavior – could one or more of his fans (albeit mild fans, I bet) on this forum explain to me what you find appealing about him? I won’t go ballistic on you, I promise…
   — John    Jun 7, 12:01    #
5. Hi Jeannine – it’s good to hear from you again – we’ve missed you…
   — John    Jun 7, 12:03    #
6. oops that was me praising Specter the other day – he voted the right way on another issue. I never gave him my whole- hearted support, he is republican, after all, but sometimes he votes the right way. That’s better than most of the repub. scumbags up there on the Hill.
   — jen    Jun 7, 12:10    #
7. Religion stops a thinking mind!
   — Teekleman    Jun 7, 12:10    #
8. To Jeannine:
   No one wants to lay her that’s the problem.
   — Reddaddy    Jun 7, 12:31    #
9. Sorry Teekleman, I can’t agree with you this time. I am a minister and I know many more who are deep thinkers. Yes, even about “politics”—in private, of course! Surely you know that we can’t mention politics from the pulpit or we lose our tax status. Remember before the last presidential election Kerry was invited to speak at a church in North Carolina ( I think) and the republicans were after that church the very next day. I don’t know if it was something he said or intimated. I never heard the outcome. (Our media, again)
   
   BUT, there is one church that can do and say anything they want. They give out names and addresses of all their members to a certain party and distribute voter guides to the membership. I won’t say who they are—I was black-listed last month. My congregation would frown on me getting arrested!!!!
   — Mildred Burgess    Jun 7, 12:50    #
10. I wouldn’t agree that all religion stops the mind—but fundamentalist sects do, of any religion. Like cults, they constantly require one to suspend disbelief. A person who is in the habit of doing this to his own mind can’t be said to be a deep thinker.
    
    Mildred, it just seems to me that someone who belongs to and preaches in a church that plays politics like the two events mentioned is complicit in playing those same politics herself, no matter what she thinks “in private.” Is a Nazi who kills Jews a nice guy because “in private” he likes them?
    
    I’m startled to think that you have knowledge of these kinds of things happening in your church but won’t mention them because you might “get arrested.” I’m inclined to think that’s a wild excuse: not only does it seem like hyperbole, you know very well that you can post here under a pseudonym.
    — Chaya    Jun 7, 13:51    #
11. Jon ,What I said was that he was on the right side on a particular issue. That does not make me a fan of Arlen Spector. Sometimes the important issues take just one vote so I wouldn’t write him off. We need that consience vote . The Marriage Amendment was a throw away and they knew it. They are playing to their base. They need the money don’t they?
    — Rosalie Stern    Jun 7, 14:00    #
12. On Coulter: I truly believe that she hates herself even more than she does liberals. If not hatred, then a total lack of self-respect. I can think of no other reason for anyone to lash out with such venom at those so incredibly undeserving of such treatment. Many conservatives also find her despicable. Some may share her extremist views, but most know enough not to say it aloud. Coulter never learned that part of civil behavior and seems to think the only way to bring attention to herself is to maliciously attack everyon else. She’s pathetic!!
    
    On religion: ALL religions hamper a thinking mind, though to varying degrees. To the extent that one is asked to have “faith” about a given issue or situation, he or she is simultaneously asked to suspend critical and rational thinking on the issue. However, I agree with Chaya that fundamentalist sects are the worst offenders, in that the cessation of critical thinking isn’t so much a side effect as a requirement.
    — Reep Daggle    Jun 7, 14:38    #
13. Well, I’m glad to see Chaya and Reep Daggle back with comments. Good to hear from you guys again…
    Rosalie, I know you’re not a “fan” of Arlen Spector – I just think he is running a flim-flam game with us by pretending to be a reasonable moderate and I don’t want anybody to fall for his malicious trickery. I think he only votes “moderate” when it is safe to do so – when the outcome is not in doubt, one way or the other.
    Are there any Greg Palast fans in the house? is latest piece tears Ann Coulter to shreds – great stuff at www.gregpalast.com.
    — John    Jun 7, 14:55    #
14. Reddaddy, that was a very snarky posting – come ‘em coming…
    — John    Jun 7, 15:13    #
15. correction to my last post: I meant to say to Reddaddy – keep ‘em coming…
    — John    Jun 7, 15:38    #
16. Chaya, if I gave you the impression that my church is involved in dirty politics, I’m sorry. There is such a church and they get by with it because the powers that be (Bush administration) think they will make it the church of state.
    
    I’m a Liberal! And I have been ever since I voted for John F. Kennedy. Everybody in my congregation knows that I am Liberal. There are conservatives in my congregation but we get along fine. As a matter of fact they are sometimes pretty liberal too. We have a fund set aside for anyone who finds themselves in trouble financially—and they don’t have to belong to any church. Also, we support a food pantry.
    
    I writes letters and make phone calls to congressmen and an occasional letter to the president. I even support progressive candidates financially and prayerfully. BUT, It’s the LAW that I cannot preach politics from the pulpit or the church will lose it’s tax exempt status. (I think I explained that before.)
    
    I have never written a letter anonymously. I got black-listed when I posted a message that everyone should read the book, “1984” and believe it when George Orwell says, “Big Brother is watching, because he is!” And now we know it’s true. HE IS! He’s listening too.
    — Mildred Burgess    Jun 7, 16:55    #
17. I think I’m going to contact Ms. Coulter, and find out the names of the drugs she is obviously on that makes her a HUGE c—t, dirt-bag, and overall evil slut.
    — Mike    Jun 7, 18:39    #
18. I was orphaned at the age of 11. Bel-Air cigarrettes and Lone Star Steel killed my Dad, while we were at Six Flags. My Dad had a heart attack at 38 and left myself, my mom, my younger brother, and my older sister. My heart aches for those who lost their loved ones on 9-11. There are orphans, widows, and widowers made every day. They do not get the media attention of others, but they hurt, nontheless. Ann Coulter has done a terrible wrong to all who have lost by trivializing our loss. Ann Coulter has shown the true heart of the republican party. That heart pumps piss and don’t love Jesus.
    — Winston MacDhai    Jun 8, 01:32    #
19. Winston, that was a very moving post. Is there anything tougher than being an orphan at the age of 11? Our hearts go out to you – no matter what age you are right now…
    Don’t be a stranger – speaking for myself, I find that reading this forum and posting my thoughts helps me to cope with the despair of witnessing the slow demise of a once promising country – our own. There are savage forces unleashed on us and we must band together any way we can to combat them…
    — John    Jun 8, 09:30    #
20. I agree with John. This country is going downhill very slowly and it is very painful to watch. The hatred in this country is almost palpable. Where are we going to be in 20 years….? I hope in some way Ann Coulter pays for her nasty ways.
    — Jeannine    Jun 8, 10:37    #

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