Abramoff investigation has GOP holding its breath

[hang a left]

Abramoff investigation has GOP holding its breath
CIA leak probe may be getting more attention, but troubles surrounding former lobbyist worry Republicans more.


By Scott Shepard

WASHINGTON BUREAU

Sunday, October 16, 2005

WASHINGTON — A grand jury investigating the White House leak of a CIA agent's name is expected to wrap up its work in the next couple of weeks, but it is another investigation — of former Republican superstar lobbyist Jack Abramoff — that has the Republican political establishment holding its breath.

Abramoff is at the center of ever more complicated inquiries that touch on subjects as wide-ranging as allegations of influ- ence-peddling in Congress and the White House, a gangland-style slaying in Florida and political shenanigans in Guam.

And while the CIA leak investigation by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, now in its second year, has yet to yield indictments, the investigations of Abramoff have resulted, so far, in bank fraud charges against him; obstruction charges against David Safavian, the Bush administration's former chief procurement official; and the withdrawal of President Bush's nomination of Timothy Flanigan, a onetime associate of Abramoff, to be the No. 2 official at the Justice Department.

Abramoff has had close connections with leading Republicans, including Bush; U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay of Sugar Land, the former House majority leader; Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania; party strategist Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform; and strategist Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition executive director and Bush campaign official who is now running for lieutenant governor of Georgia.

snip>

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/10/16abramoff.html

[texpatriot2004]

1. Yeah because Jack's connections lead them to the mob...oh

this could get really dramatic.

www.jackinthehouse.org

:popcorn:

[mom cat]

13. Thanks for the link....Nice mug shots: coming to a post office near you.

[Cha]

33. I didn't even know

there was a senator david vitter.

[The Backlash Cometh]

46. But, but, I thought Louis Freeh said he got rid of the mob??

:shrug:

[babylonsister]

2. I'm holding my breath; culture of corruption indeed!

This will blow many heads apart!

[Carla in Ca]

3. God, look at that list of thugs he sleeps with

I hope they, and all the others, start feeling the pain they have inflicted on us. The sooner the better.

And speaking of thugs, Rove didn't attend a big fundraiser for Kilgore in VA. today. Excuse: scheduling conflict.

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/15/AR2005101501286.html?nav=rss_metro>

[calimary]

16. Yeah, I just BET he had a scheduling conflict.

Interesting how, all of a sudden, this particular social animal isn't out there whooping it up and pressing the flesh and struttin' his stuff - either because he's busy trying to prepare a defense, or train his replacement (who'll doubtless be on some sort of umbilical cord to him while he's in exile from the White House), or maybe trying to figure out how to continue running the place himself, from a distance. Probably also assumes that "out of sight, out of mind" with some of his opponents. Fat chance, Mr. Pasty-face. We're not gonna forget.

BTW - don't you just love that Rogues' Gallery of potential indictees - delay, santorum, norquist, ralph reed (!) - MAN! All my "faves"! Gotta LOVE it! I hope they ALL get frogmarched outta here!!!

[Carla in Ca]

29. You're not kidding! A true A-list of losers.

What is the saying about cutting off the head of the snake and you kill the body? If Rove et al go down, the Dems have an excellent chance to get a lot of seats, maybe even a majority.
I like Cronkite's idea of a mid-term convention. We have enough ammo right now to really hit them hard.

[JoFerret]

40. Politics at mid-term is mostly local

And 2006 may not see the great turn around we all hope for and that the country deperately needs.

[napi21]

4. It's a great time when all this stuff is hitting at the same time, and

also hitting some of the same people at the same time!

I have to tell you, I've worked through ONE investigation at the place I worked. It lasted 6 1/2 years, and although I wasn't involved in any of the accused bad stuff, as Dir. of Acctg. I was the one who has to receive all the subpoenas, do all the research, respond to all the document requests, etc. It was the biggest nightmare of my life! Believe me, the prople who are the targets of these investigations are now living in a nightmare!

In this case, it couldn't happen to a better group!

[babylonsister]

6. Years ago, working for the FAA, the mountains of

paperwork for one accident or incident was daunting. I can't even imagine the snow of paper they're under! And ironically, that's when the idea of a 'paperless' office was getting wings. I don't know what happened with that...

[napi21]

7. The paperless office never took hold! I doubt it ever will!

I was pusing for that too at one time, but way too many people just don't feel comfortable without that piece of paper in their hand. ESPECIALLY accountants!

You're right about the paper in an investigation! I remember getting into a battle over the phone with a lady from the SEC. She was demanding copies of the exact same paperwork as someone from the treasury dept was. I asked her where this other person's office was relative to hers? She hesitated, and then told me the other office was down the hall! I couldn't help it. I screamed, "Can't you people share?"

as you can imagine, I lost that battle and had to copy all that crap twice!

I can only hope, when the insiders of this administration ahve to go though the same shit that I did, maybe they'll make some changes to how gov't works.

Or maybe I'm dreaming again! It is 2:30AM here.

[roguevalley]

5. this is the gift I am giving myself for Christmas. :-D

[mamalone]

25. Off topic here.....

and frivilous.....but that is the most adorable dog!! Is he actually standing up on his hind legs like that or did you catch him in the middle of a hop or sumpin'?

[roguevalley]

41. he likes to sit up and wave his front legs. its a dachshund thing.

most of my dachsies have done that. Tippy is my son almost, I love him so much.

[ngGale]

8. This is one, big, fascinating case...

of course, I live in a small town and nobody talks about it.
It's so deep with corruption, running straight through the repug party...and then some. Places people fear to tread. I wish all of them many sleepless nights.

[radfringe]

9. big can of worms and alot of big fish

wonder who is going to bite at a "deal" in order to get off the hook?

one edit: anyone else notice that all the scandals (Abramoff, DeLay, and Plamegate et al) all have the same cast of characters tied to them in one way or another - and the end of the rope leads right into the oval office?

[0007]

10. ......and to the Carlyle Group and to the Halliburton boys.

Like everyone else in the United States, the group stood transfixed as the events of September 11 unfolded. Present were former secretary of defense Frank Carlucci, former secretary of state James Baker III, and representatives of the bin Laden family. This was not some underground presidential bunker or Central Intelligence Agency interrogation room. It was the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C., the plush setting for the annual investor conference of one of the most powerful, well-connected, and secretive companies in the world: the Carlyle Group. And since September 11, this little-known company has become unexpectedly important...

And as the Carlyle investors watched the World Trade towers go down, the group's prospects went up. In running what its own marketing literature spookily calls "a vast, interlocking, global network of businesses and investment professionals" that operates within the so-called iron triangle of industry, government, and the military, the Carlyle Group leaves itself open to any number of conflicts of interest and stunning ironies. For example, it is hard to ignore the fact that Osama bin Laden's family members, who renounced their son ten years ago, stood to gain financially from the war being waged against him until late October, when public criticism of the relationship forced them to liquidate their holdings in the firm. Or consider that U.S. president George W. Bush is in a position to make budgetary decisions that could pad his father's bank account. But for the Carlyle Group, walking that narrow line is the art of doing business at the murky intersection of Washington politics, national security, and private capital; mastering it has enabled the group to amass $12 billion in funds under management.

More...

http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=6793&hed=Carlyle's+Way

[pushycat]

21. Yes, read this article when it came out. Suspicions that day have

only increased regarding Bush family and associates. Thanks for the reminder.

[Lasher]

15. What a tangled web we weave

radfringe,

I've also noticed the way these characters are involved in multiple scandals. Makes my head swim, trying to keep it all sorted out. Try this link to Tom DeLay's House of Scandal, where you might find some help in this respect:

http://houseofscandal.org/main.html

Or maybe you'll just get more confused, like I did.

[leveymg]

11. Abramoff may be the reason that Bush didn't arrest the 9/11 hijackers

During the summer of 2001, W should have rolled up the UBL cells the CIA was telling him were operating inside the US. Tenet's "hair was on fire." Meanwhile, John O'Neill, the head of the FBI's National Security Office in NY was a constant thorn in the side at the Bureau, aggitating that his office be set loose to round up the cells - until John was set up for "early retirement." These guys at the top levels of US counter-terrorism all knew what was going down. But, still, Bush refused to issue the arrest order. Why?

I believe Harriet Miers is among the few who know why, as she was in the room when he received the 8/6/01 PDB, and as Bush's lawyer, they undoubtedly talked about it both before and after 9/11.

An explanation for Bush's decision that makes sense to me is that he was delaying the arrests to give the big Saudi moneymen -- Abramoff's clients -- who were funneling cash to the GOP and to UBL a chance to close up shop, and clean up the books. The Bushites had been planning to meet to discuss a new CT initiative on 9/12, and bin Laden got a drop on them. 3,000 died to protect the dirty money trail that links the Republican Party and the Saudi Royals.

That is high treason, and should be dealt with as such.

[sofa king]

20. I agree.

I'm trying to put together a timeline of events, but it would be huge.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-927boulistimeline.box,0,5395173.story
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/01/AR2005050100091_pf.html
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:1UeufYqqE6IJ:www.bonitanews.com/01/09/florida/d678875a.htm+%22Attack:+suncruz%22&hl=en
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/entity.jsp?id=1521846767-2722

[leveymg]

45. This part stands out for me:

WashPost article:

2001 - Tony Rudy goes to work with Abramoff at Washington law firm Greenberg Traurig.

GT represented the Bush-Cheney committee during the litigation following the 2000 election. That legal work was billed out in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but was never paid back. I am under the impression that Federal Election Commission rules say that unpaid campaign expenses must be counted as in-kind contributions after 2 years, far exceeding the limits for that law firm, making them illegal contributions to the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign. See, http://rawstory.com/exclusives/byrne/abramoff_florida_recount_bush_505.htm

Abramoff's law firm was the site of other illegal contributions to GOP figures. The WashPost reports:

"Jack Abramoff had one of the biggest schmoozing operations in town," said Rob Jennings, president of American Event Consulting Inc., an organization that raises funds for Republicans.

A list of skybox fundraising events maintained by Abramoff at his former law firm, Greenberg Traurig, lists 72 events for members of Congress between 1999 and 2003. All but eight were put on for Republicans, many of them members of the House leadership. Some of the fundraising events, including Doolittle's, were not reported as required under federal election laws.

SNIP

Abramoff, once one of the most powerful lobbyists in Washington, was forced to resign from Greenberg Traurig after disclosures earlier this year about the lobbying and public relations fees he and an associate charged a group of Indian tribes. The Senate Indian Affairs committee has tallied fees from six tribes that total $82 million over a three-year period.

SNIP

The big prize for members of Congress was in the more than $3.5 million in federal campaign contributions that six tribes made at Abramoff's direction, two-thirds of it to Republicans. The meals and the games were added perks that provided settings for Abramoff and the 10 or so lobbyists who worked for him to obtain access to members and ingratiate themselves to congressional aides.

SNIP

Abramoff not only lobbied staffers, he regularly hired them. Three former aides to DeLay worked as lobbyists for Abramoff at Greenberg Traurig: former deputy chiefs of staff Tony Rudy and Bill Jarrell; and former DeLay spokesman Michael Scanlon, who formed a public relations company that worked in tandem with Abramoff.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A26015-2004Dec25?language=printer

[texpatriot2004]

39. So it isn't just the * family in bed with them it's the RNC too? nm

[leveymg]

48. A number of GOP Congressman are implicated in the Abramoff scandal

Abramoff's influence-peddling operation out of the Greenberg & Traurig law firm are connected to multiple Washington scandals, the nexus of which is lobbying that either illegally benefited Republicans or which alledgedly cheated that law firm's clients.

What is less well understood is that Ambramoff also served as the registered Washington lobbyist for the Government of Pakistan and is a fixer for Saudi moneymen tied to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

Shortly after 9/11, Abramoff registered as a lobbyist for the General Council of Islamic Banks. According to the National Journal (Aug 31, 2002), the consortium was funded to counter the Treaury Department and the FBI's efforts to put an unwanted public spotlight on global terrorist financing coming out of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries.

Abramoff's lobbyists spread the lie that Islamic banks had not sheltered money used for terrorist networks. Their primary client, chairman of the Council, Saleh Abdullah Kamel, estimated to be worth about $3 billion, soon after 9/11 became the focus of intense government scrutiny over alledged ties to terrorist activity.

Kamel is the chairman of Dallah al Baraka Group (DBG), which is accused of financing al Qaeda and other extremist groups, and he was also the co-founder and major shareholder of Al Shamal Bank in Sudan, an institution in which Osama bin Laden established a personal ownership interest.

Kamel was listed as being one of the seven "main individual sponsors of terrorism" in report by French counter-terrorism exert Jean-Charles Brisard submitted to the UN Security Council in December 2002. Recall that Omar al-Bayoumi, who provided money to two of the 9/11 hijackers, was once an assistant to the Director of Finance for Dallah Avco, a DBG company that works with the Saudi aviation authority. And the WSJ has reported that the United States believes the Dallah al-Baraka Bank, another DBG company, was also used by al-Qaeda.

Kamel's name also appeared in the "Golden Chain," a roster seized by Bosnian authorities in Sarajevo in March 2002 listing Saudi donors to bin Laden.

Abramoff and a partner, Kaled Saffuri, also set up a second lobbying operation while at Greenberg Traurig, Lexington Group LLC. This was reportedly not a commercial success, according to The National Journal (04/14/2005): http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/041405/abramoff

Three years ago, Abramoff and a prominent Islamic activist set up a lobbying firm, the Lexington Group LLC, with the goal of developing more lobbying business for Abramoff’s employer at the time, Greenberg Traurig.

BR>The firm existed for at least four months and boasted on its now-defunct website that it represented “major U.S. corporations before the U.S. Congress and the Executive Branch every day.” But it never reported any clients, nor did it direct business to Greenberg Traurig, according to public records and an interview with Abramoff’s associate in the venture, Khaled Saffuri, now a government affairs adviser with Collier Shannon Scott.

“I expected business to come, and it didn’t. It just folded,” said Saffuri, who said he was hired by Abramoff to be the Lexington Group’s president from May until August 2002, when it closed.

Reportedly, Grover "Norquist and Khaled Saffuri founded the Islamic Institute, which was instrumental in the creation of the Al Qaeda financial network in Virginia. Saffuri was the Executive director of the American Task Force for Bosnia, which lobbied for US military intervention in Bosnia. Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization actively was recruiting and training Arab fighters to fight alongside the Bosnian Muslims. Bosnia had become the focus of the worldwide jihad after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989." http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_2004_March_1/ai_113363777/pg_2; http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=news_news&Number=294051374&page=&view=&sb=&o=

Norquist's ties to the Saudi-funded Islamicist movement in the US go back to 1998. Norquist - along with Abramoff -- became the principal Washington bridge for radical Islamists to the Republican Party. Frank J. Gaffney writes: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11209

The association between Grover Norquist and Islamists appears to have started about five years ago, in 1998, when he became the founding chairman of an organization called the Islamic Free Market Institute, better known as the Islamic Institute. The Institute’s stated purpose was to cultivate Muslim-Americans and Arab-Americans whose attachment to conservative family values and capitalism made them potential allies for the Republican Party in advance of the 2000 presidential election. . . .

Unfortunately, some associated with the Islamic Institute evidently had another agenda. Abdurahman Alamoudi, for one, a self-described “supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah,” the prime-mover behind the American Muslim Council (AMC) and a number of other U.S.-based Islamist-sympathizing/supporting organizations, saw in the Islamic Institute a golden opportunity to hedge his bets.

Abramoff is also tied in with the collapse of Tyco, Int'l, a huge US-based multinational conglomerate that operates in many countries, including Saudi Arabia. Abramoff is accused of bilking that company for millions of dollars in bogus or illegal lobbying expenses while at Greenberg & Traurig:

Tyco General Counsel Timonthy Flanigan's testified in late July to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

From Flanigan's testimony:


Durbin: Has Tyco conducted an investigation of Abramoff's activities on behalf of Tyco? If so, what were the results of the investigation?

Flanigan: Tyco has not conducted such an investigation. Greenberg Traurig, however, has conducted its own internal investigation and has informed Tyco of its conclusion that payments made by Tyco to GrassRoots Interactive, LLC were diverted by Mr. Abramoff. Specifically, Greenberg Traurig advised Tyco that Mr. Abramoff caused Tyco's payments to GrassRoots Interactive, LLC to be forwarded to a Greenberg Traurig trust account and, from there, ultimately to entities controlled by Mr. Abramoff. Greenberg Traurig informed Tyco that the funds diverted to the entities controlled by Mr. Abramoff were not used in furtherance of lobbying efforts on behalf of Tyco. This diversion occurred without my knowledge and was in violation of Mr. Abramoff's ethical, fiduciary, and contractual obligations to Tyco.

Tyco and Greenberg Traurig have reached an agreement in principle to settle Tyco's claims stemming from the diversion of funds as described above. Pursuant to the settlement, Greenberg Traurig will compensate Tyco for the funds diverted by Mr. Abramoff.

[leveymg]

50. Abramoff Tie to Rove on Tyco Scandal

The WashPost reported on September 25, 2005 that Tyco's General Counsel stated that Abramoff had boasted about his connection with Kark Rove, and that he might be able to weild White House influence to help Tyco avoid taxes by offshoring accounts:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/22/AR2005092202204.html

Tyco Exec: Abramoff Claimed Ties to Administration

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 23, 2005; Page A06

Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff bragged two years ago that he was in contact with White House political aide Karl Rove on behalf of a large, Bermuda-based corporation that wanted to avoid incurring some taxes and continue receiving federal contracts, according to a written statement by President Bush's nominee to be deputy attorney general.

Timothy E. Flanigan, general counsel for conglomerate Tyco International Ltd., said in a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that Abramoff's lobbying firm initially boasted that Abramoff could help Tyco fend off a special liability tax because he "had good relationships with members of Congress," including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).

Abramoff later said "he had contact with Mr. Karl Rove" about the issue, according to the statement by Flanigan, who oversaw Tyco's dealings with Abramoff and his firm and received reports from Abramoff about progress in the lobbying campaign.

[FlaGranny]

12. Unfortunately,

none of this surprises me in the least. Back BEFORE the 2000 election I was trying to tell everyone I knew what a bunch of crooks and thieves these people are. It was there for anyone to see who cared to look.

[kurth]

23. Hello from Austin

The "liberal" media gave Bush a pass in 2000, in 2001 after 9/11, in 2002 during Afghanistan, in 2003 before Iraq, in 2004 after Iraq, and now it's 2005... It's astonishing that there was nothing to counter the Republican propaganda machine which had taken over the airwaves during the Clinton years.

[Pluvious]

27. Exactly man

I was the same.

I was just going on all the BS Bush Sr. was behind,
and those xmas-eve pardons.

I knew it was a family of snakes, but never ever believed
it would get so bad.

This is indeed a dark hour for truth, and awareness.

Zeus protect us !

[rdmccur]

38. Kerry's off-handed remark showed

he thought so as well.
Does anyone recall when he made it?

[rainbow4321]

14. Lobbyist used DeLay aide to defeat anti-gambling bill

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/3398326


Lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his team were beginning to panic. An anti-gambling bill had cleared the Senate and appeared on its way to passage by an overwhelming margin in the House of Representatives. If that happened, Abramoff's client, a company that wanted to sell state lottery tickets online, would be out of business.

<snip>
A senior aide to then-Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, helped scuttle the bill in the House. The aide, Tony Rudy, 39, e-mailed internal congressional communications and advice to Abramoff, according to documents and the lobbyist's former associates.

Rudy received favors from Abramoff. He went on two luxury trips with the lobbyist that summer, including one partly paid for by Abramoff's client, eLottery Inc. Abramoff also arranged for eLottery to pay $25,000 to a Jewish foundation that hired Rudy's wife as a consultant, according to documents and interviews. Months later, Abramoff hired Rudy himself as a lobbyist.

The vote that day in July was just one part of an extraordinary yearlong effort by Abramoff on behalf of eLottery, a small gambling services company based in Connecticut. Details of that campaign, reconstructed from dozens of interviews as well as from e-mails and financial records obtained by The Washington Post, provide the most complete account yet of how one of Washington's most powerful lobbyists leveraged his client's money to influence Congress.

[patricia92243]

17. What - what - what???? Gangland style killings? What on earth is he talki

talking about?

[SOS]

19. The murder of Gus Boulis

details here:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1010-06.htm

And what was Mohammed Atta doing on Abramoff's boat on September 5th, 2001?

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001733.htm

[Pithy Cherub]

18. republicans have set up the perfect circular firing squad!

Who will be left standing proudly after all these republican corruption scandals? :shrug:


Don't expect much coverage from the corporate owned media.:eyes: They just lost their money players the msm bet their credibility on.

[0007]

22. bttft

[reprobate]

24. I can prophesize that oneday soon someone will talk and lead to someone

else who will talk and the whole story of the Bush administration and the republican party's involvement with the Bin Laden conspiracy to attack the US in order to take over our government will come pouring out into the public view.

I can only hope that it is before all the conspirators on this side of the atlantic have suicide committed on them. I'd much rather the country execute them than it be done by Bush's croneys.

The only way two people can keep a secret longterm is if one of them is dead.

[wryter2000]

26. Yup

:popcorn: :beer:

Not only is this case full of crap on any number of repugs, but Abramoff is just sleazy enough to turn state's evidence if it'll save his skin.

:popcorn: :beer:

[NanceGreggs]

28. You are so right, Wryter:

Abramoff is just the type -- I'm waiting (and it's just a matter of time) before all of the sleazoids tied to this Admin start playing "The Deal of the Century" in order to save their own asses.

[wryter2000]

30. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[Nothing Without Hope]

31. We must be alert for the desperate strike of the adder- Bush wants martial

law in part because it would put him and all the network of criminal cronies out of touch from any form of justice or even electoral choice.

Read about how close we are to this and how it's a prime goal of the neocons:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4790112
thread title: Missing A KEY POINT in *'s speech: POWER GRAB FOR POTUS AND MILITARY

[Cha]

32. Coincidence?

"Abramoff also is slated to stand trial in Florida in January on bank fraud charges in connection with his 2000 purchase, with partner Adam Kidan, of the SunCruz gambling ships from Greek financier Gus Boulis. They are accused of defrauding lenders in the $147 million purchase.

In an unusual twist of events, Boulis was shot to death at the wheel of his BMW sedan shortly after leaving his office one evening in February 2001, about a month after he had filed suit against Abramoff and Kidan, accusing them of failing to pay him $23 million in connection with the SunCruz sale.

Throughout the investigation, lawyers for Abramoff and Kidan repeatedly have said their clients know nothing about the circumstances of Boulis' death, and last month two men from Florida and a third from New York, none of whom have any known ties to Abramoff, were charged in the slaying."

[Mike_The_Computer]

34. Looks like winning at any cost has a heavy price tag, after all.

I never dreamed the Rethug's vast web of power-mongering, lies, corruption, and repression coud all unravel so quickly.

[damntexdem]

35. And when they finally gasp for that breath, will it be full of ...

laughing gas laced with sodium pentathol?

I just love to see rats deserting sinking ships.

[emald]

36. ugly ugly ugly

but what scares me is that as the heat builds under this GOP pot the presneck will throw a nuke. what other choice is there? Monkey man must do something and his state of mind is surely one of intense confusion due to all that coke years ago. I fear for this country and for the rest of the world. I'm betting that we see a nuke for Iran, Syria or Nkorea soon. And that will piss off all people of conscience to the point of revolt. this idiot man and his "party" will be the destruction of the world unless we get him out of office and in prison for his crimes against our country and against mankind.
THE GOP SUPPORTS A CRIMINAL ADMINISTRATION. Criminal in so many ways.

[Independent_Liberal]

37. They had better be holding their breaths!

They're going to be in deep doo doo.

:)

[nolabels]

42. Rove sweatin bullets and the rest of his sycophants in a tizzy.....

what better time to have knumbnuts * at the helm of the ship. They are sitting ducks sticking it out together. It does seem funny that the more they struggle, the farther they sink :-)

THREE MORE YEARS, YEE HA :toast:

[radfringe]

43. bwaa-ha-ha

showed this article to my partner -- she said "Maybe if they hold their breath long enough - enough of them will turn BLUE"

[annabanana]

44. Please, Please, Please someone tell me Peter King

has trips to Scotland in his past..
(would LOVE to see this guy go, in spite of his fancy new appointment)

[LiberalinNC]

47. I keep hearing in my head the song "When the Walls come tumbling down".

;)

[yellowcanine]

49. It's not an either/or situation. The pubbies are holding their breath on

both investigations, and in the case of Plamegate, probably have a crashcart team on standby to deal with Cheney if he gets indicted.

[Seabiscuit]

51. What does "Sugar Land" mean?

cf: "U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay of Sugar Land...."

Is it a reference to Texas, or a certain part of Texas?

e.g., Goldie Hawn's movie "The Sugarland Express"...

[BikeWriter]

52. The city website:

Sugar Land ranks in the Top 50 of CNN/Money Magazine's "Best 100 Places to Live" in the Nation.
http://www.ci.sugar-land.tx.us/

[Seabiscuit]

53. Thank you!