Breaking: Clarence Thomas (R) skanky Republicon ethics in question - NYT

[SpiralHawk]

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Saturday, June 18, 2011 -- 3:16 PM EDT
-----

Clarence Thomas’s Friendship With Magnate Puts Focus on Ethics

A multimillion-dollar project to preserve a seafood cannery in Pin Point, Ga., highlights an unusual, and ethically sensitive, friendship between the Supreme Court justice, Clarence Thomas, and Harlan Crow, a Dallas real estate magnate and a major contributor to conservative causes.

Since the two men met, Mr. Crow has done many favors for the justice and his wife, Virginia. In several instances, reports of Mr. Crow’s largess has provoked controversy and questions, adding fuel to a debate about Supreme Court ethics. But Mr. Crow’s financing of the cannery museum, his largest and previously unreported act of generosity, raises the sharpest questions yet — both about Justice Thomas’s extrajudicial activities and about the extent to which the justices should remain exempt from the code of conduct.

Although the Supreme Court is not bound by the code, justices have said they adhere to it. Justice Thomas, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment. Mr. Crow also would not comment.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/us/politics/19thomas.html?emc=na

REPUBLICON FAMILY CESSPOOL VALUES. As Usual.

[The Magistrate]

1. The Best Justice Money can Buy, Sir

His perjury on financial reports ought by rights to have him impeached and on criminal trial already....

[Scuba]

15. Plus One. Who's chasing that?

[TrollBuster9090]

18. The last spokesman for that cause got "weinergated"

which was what weinergate was really all about, and which proves just how jittery the conservative attack machine was getting about the possibility of Justice Thomas being impeached.

My theory is that they were not planning on springing all of that dirt on Anthony Wiener until september 2012, so they could take him down just before the election and get a Republican in his seat. But Wiener was making so much noise about Clarance Thomas and his 20 years of tax fraud that they had to take him out NOW.

I nominate Al Franken to succeed him in the cause.

[defendandprotect]

25. OK...but where is the rest of the Dem party on this ....????????

Yes -- Weiner was there -- great --

but where was everyone else?

Anything seem wrong to you on that?

[dotymed]

53. defendandprotect, IMO, the "rest of the Dem party"

has already been sold (most, not all) and they are busy counting their money and their guaranteed continued years of "service" at our expense.

[defendandprotect]

59. Agree, sadly -- but we need to keep on voting for the "lesser evil" ... !!!

[dotymed]

63. I have been "voting for the lesser evil" for too damned long.

Our First priority should be to build a "peoples party." No corporate people allowed.

Call me a "Naderesque" spoiler or a total dumbass, I really don't care.

IMO, this should be priority #1, and before 2012.

The lesser of two evils is still evil.

[truth2power]

54. Where is most of the dem party??...

:rofl: :rofl:

[Dept of Beer]

65. Perhaps graft is so rampant in D.C. that nobody wants to throw

the first stone. Why end a good thing while the money is rolling in?

[oldbanjo]

70. Maybe Weiner will write a tell all book.

[drm604]

67. Where is the rest of the party?

Being blackmailed or afraid of being blackmailed or outed for the various personal foibles of themselves or their families.

Probably not all of them, but more than enough for the Republicans' purposes.

[Enthusiast]

32. Good theory.

We have to remember we are dealing with Nazi-like scum, Nazi SS-like scum.

[awoke_in_2003]

62. Impeachments start in the house. nt

[sabrina 1]

73. Yes, Murphy (D.Conn) and Weiner had introduced a bill

dealing directly with SC ethics. As the article in the OP states:

Although the Supreme Court is not bound by the code,

They are on the honor system to recuse themselves when they have a conflict of interest, and supposedly most do, but Thomas, who was once a lawyer for Monsanto, refused to recuse himself when there was an issue before the court related to Monsanto.

In Citizens United, he had a clear conflict, we now know they were the group who poured money to negative ads against the Senators who opposed his nomination. But he refused to recuse himself from that case also. And he is refusing despite calls for him to do so, specifically by Rep. Weiner, from the HC cases.

To deal with this, the Murphy/Weiner Bill would have made it the law for SC justices to recuse themselves when there was a conflict. But now, that law most likely will go nowhere, unless others take up the cause.

[Hubert Flottz]

37. The "Long Dong Silver" of the law trumps, all mortal wieners!

He should have never had his job in the first place.

[Angry Dragon]

2. Justice Cesspool Thomas

He always complained he was not being paid enough, I guess he got tired of waiting for a pay raise and went and got his own

[gratuitous]

3. You'd have to focus - hard - to find Justice Slappy's "ethics"

Bonhoeffer he ain't.

[SpiralHawk]

7. Can't wait till Breitbart (R) exposes The Clarence's skanky ethics...

Oh wait, I forgot: IOKIYAR.


P.S. How did The Clarence get the nickname 'Slappy"?

[think]

42. Breitbart: A modern synonym for con artist...nt

[hootinholler]

69. One story I would like to hear

Is how He earned the moniker slappy.

-Hoot

[Faygo Kid]

4. Thomas has to go. But vermin like Harlan Crow are who really rule the roost.

Harlan Crow, the Kochs, Murdoch, the list is almost endless of those who wield their wealth for right-wing causes and rule this country.

[defendandprotect]

26. +1

[NewJeffCT]

40. and, how many of DU seem to have forgotten - Ricard Mellon Scaife

and his family, the Scaife Foundation, plus the Walton Family and their foundation (contributes $100 million/year to RW causes), as well as a bunch of others besides the Koch Brothers.

[dotymed]

57. I've been a Democrat all of my life.

It seems that the wealthy don't only purchase the R.W.'ers.

We should ALL take a moment of silence to commemorate the once great Democratic party.

[Doctor_J]

5. If Thomas were a Dem he'd be in prison by now

along with his ghastly wife.

[RufusTFirefly]

6. Wow! Justice Thomas? Ethics problems??

[malaise]

8. Clarence was barely selected because he was and is a corrupt

scumbag. He was a disgraceful replacement for Thurgood Marshall and George H.W. Bush must be blamed.

[defendandprotect]

23. ... but if Repugs didn't have someone they could blackmail how would they

feel sure they could keep them in line?

:evilgrin:

[malaise]

36. Excellent point

:fistbump:

[leveymg]

50. Yup. That's how the game is played.

[Enthusiast]

33. George H.W. Bush is to blame for a lot.

Not the least of which is AWOL Dim-Son.

[defendandprotect]

51. Sen. Joe Biden is the one who betrayed truth and let this pervert through ...

If you are unfamiliar with the hearings "Strange Justice" is an excellent book

in most libraries --

[Enthusiast]

55. Yes. I mentioned wonderful Joe in

this post. Thanks, defendandprotect.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1323300&mesg_id=1326446

[defendandprotect]

58. Thanks -- sorry I missed that -- Joe has also been calling for Israel to attack Iran ...!!!

He's been whooping that one up for more than a year now --

Biden say, "Israel would be justified in attacking Iran" -- !!!



Yikes!

[Enthusiast]

68. He has lost his mind! nt

[annabanana]

9. Jeez.. The Times? Who the hell smacked THEM with a 2x4?

("first you have to get their attention")

[SpiralHawk]

10. When the RepubliRot reaches a certain unbearable stankitude, even the Times yelps

[starroute]

11. This part is what jumped out at me ...

"A friend of the Bush family, Mr. Crow is a trustee of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation and has donated close to $5 million to Republican campaigns and conservative groups. Among his contributions were $100,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group formed to attack the Vietnam War record of Senator John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, and $500,000 to an organization that ran advertisements urging the confirmation of President George W. Bush’s nominees to the Supreme Court."


But there's more to Crow than that:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Harlan_Crow

Harlan Crow is also trustee of the American Enterprise Institute and a major patron of Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. In 2002, Justice Thomas reported receiving a gift of a "Frederick Douglass Bible," valued at $19,000, from Harlan and Kathy Crow, whom he described as "personal friends."

Crow has an unusual hobby of collecting statues of both past and present tyrants, including Vladimir Lenin and Fidel Castro. His home in Dallas purportedly contains one of the world's largest statuaries on its grounds, with 20 statues ranging up to 20 feet tall.

"Crow is a member of the founders committee of the Club for Growth, a conservative political group that raises money <and> uses it to influence public policy and elect political candidates who advocate the 'Reagan vision of limited government and lower taxes.'"

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Club_for_Growth

Club for Growth is a right-wing political group that endorses and raises money for candidates. According to a February 22, 2011 article by John Nichols in The Nation, the Club for Growth is "an organization funded by extremely wealthy conservatives to carry out their budget-stripping goals," and that "has been a key player in Republican Governor Scott Walker's move to take out the state's organized workers." Nichols writes that the Club for Growth is part of a "national strategy" to get "newly elected Republican governors" to destroy labor and unions. R.J. Johnson, who served as a political strategist for Walker's campaign, is a key adviser to the Club for Growth. Johnson has refused to disclose where the Club for Growth gets its funding. The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune in a February 26, 2011 editorial described the Club for Growth as an "ultra-rich special interest itself."

[SpiralHawk]

13. It is Republicon Family Cesspool Ethics

as usual...

One can only gasp at how low the Republicons have dragged the US Supreme Court...

[defendandprotect]

24. Exposes more of the Repug Kabuki -- a house of cards built on $$$ from rich ... !!!

Let's soon break through this Hollywood Sound stage set -- !!!

Promise!!


????

[MikeMc]

31. Thanks for the sourcewatch links

The repug money people and politicians are a disgustingly criminal bunch.

[QC]

12. You know, an opposition party could have a field day with this.

Too bad we don't have one in this country.

[Enthusiast]

34. That is THE central point.

There is no opposition party. Because if there was we would hear of this blatant corruption and lack of ethics from said party.

[harmonicon]

39. +1 nt

[leveymg]

46. Looks like the Dem leadership is going to delay doing anything until after the '12 elections,

when there's a good chance we no longer control the Senate and couldn't confirm a decent replacement for Clarence Thomas, even if they wanted to.

That's why it's extremely important that AG Eric Holder indicts Thomas now for multiple criminal violations of False Statement, 5 USC App. 104.

Indict Clarence Thomas

[spanone]

14. this is very serious business. this is an appointment for life. must be investigated.

[leveymg]

48. Clarence already admitted he failed to report his wife's income. He claims he "misunderstood"

the same federal reporting form, the OT-10, on which he reported his wife's income until 1996.

Prima facie case. Indict Clarence Thomas.

Here's the specific omissions, the reporting form, the warning, and the language of the statute: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/570

[dotymed]

60. I wonder how many people

Thomas has sentenced for making the same "mistake?"

[leveymg]

61. Did you ever see the scene in Suddenly, Last Summer when the hands pull Clift down into the ground?

Montgomery Clift plays a multiple pedophile in Tennessee Williams', "Suddenly, Last Summer", screenplay co-written with Gore Vidal.

The 1959 film is set on a Greek island, and focuses on a vacationing American expat family. Aside from the famous sunbathing scene with Liz Taylor in a white one-piece, and the haunting performance by Kate Hepburn as the overly-protective mother, the remarkable thing about this overlooked Joseph Mankiewitz masterpiece is the part where Monty, who has been (it is suggested) molesting young boys on the island is pulled down into the ground by a mass of arms that spring out of a mass grave. It's also remarkable that such a film could be made in the 1950s.

The film is told in flashback. The plot-line is that the only son of wealthy widow Violet Venable dies while on vacation with his cousin Catherine. What the girl saw was so horrible that she went insane; Mrs. Venable wants Catherine lobotomized to cover up the truth.

A lot of Americans who saw it at the time may not have "gotten it" at all, and the film did not play on many screens, but it works on many levels.

Quite disturbing, and I imagine that Clarence Thomas has worse karma, as he is a total "law and order" hypocrite.

[Jackpine Radical]

66. How could he be expected to understand a Federal reporting form?

Normal humans would be totally baffled by items like "List your wife's sources and amounts of income in the past year."

You'd probably have to be a lawyer or something to wade through the complexities…

[leveymg]

72. Nobody would accuse Clarence of being overly complex, seeing complexity where there is none,

that's Scalia's job after the previous Sith OverLord, William Rehnquist, died of complexities after choking on overparsed logic.

Clarence just resented having to disclose his wife's income and employment. He believes the public has no right to know what Ginny makes or who she works for. I would guess that he stopped reporting such things in 1996 because he thought he was above such requirements, which are for lesser mortals, and nobody would do anything about it. Clarence, you see, is a Justice, not a mere Judge. I'll bet it was as simple as that.

Nobody has yet to prove he was wrong.

[Jackpine Radical]

74. That pretty well wraps it up for me.

[rhett o rick]

16. So where is this going? There isnt a chance in hell he will lose his seat. We are no longer a nation

of laws and the rule of law.

[bongbong]

17. Uncle Clarence DOES have value!

His long term and on-going study of the sleep-ability of SCOTUS chairs is without peer.

[defendandprotect]

27. Presuime they have WARNED him not to speak at a hearing ....

[mysuzuki2]

19. It's alright he didn't do anything wrong

with his dick.

[Contrary1]

28. Well, actually he plucked out a pube and stuck it on a soda can...

but, if you are nominated for a high enough office and lie long enough under oath, even some Dems will come to your defense.

[Enthusiast]

35. Like Joe Biden. nt

[Scottybeamer70]

20. I'm sure Pelosi will be right on it and ask him to resign.

[RagAss]

21. Call Harry Reid Right Now !!!!!

[defendandprotect]

22. This pervert should be off the court --

[MrMickeysMom]

29. Mr. Crow need not comment, thank you very much...

Clarence is an embarrassment to the Supreme Court. May he step down and continue to raise funding with that stupid thing he calls Ginny. What a pair. Yippee! I'm an American and this is the United States Supreme Court. Please, somebody, get a history book and make sure we spell it out like it should be for this freak.

In the 3 branches of government, there are plenty of members of congress, certainly presidents and justices to be angry with. This guy has take the coward's way out in his ignorance of ethics, law and most obvious the way he has hidden behind deceit, lies and kissing the ass of Anthony Scalia.

Mr. Thomas can bask in the knowledge that whoever comes after him for his breaking of the law will surely have to step down due to something like a sex scandal. Oh, wait, that happened.

[MikeMc]

30. +1 SH. NT

[mopinko]

38. 4 page article about the corruption of clarence

and his wife is not mentioned, nor are his 10 years of lies on his ethics disclosures.
this, ladies and gentleman is what is called a limited hang out.

[KittyWampus]

44. PRIZE GOES TO YOU! This is indeed a "Limited Hangout". I care about illegal behavior not ethics.

And the NYTimes only discusses illegal behavior towards the end of the article and only very superficially.

[leveymg]

45. Worse than a limited hang out, it's a diversion. Indict CT for False Statements, 5 USC App. 104

The fact that Clarence failed to report his wife's income from the Heritage Foundation five years running, 2003-2008 has been proven. Thomas has admitted it, and offers only the legally inadequate defense that he misunderstood the reporting form. The Form OT-10 is extremely simple, and until 1996, Thomas reported his wife's income on the same form - so he clearly knew he was required to do so. The form also advises right below the signature line that intentional omission or misrepresentation is subject to the civil and criminal penalties of False Statement, 5 USC App. 104.

This would be like you or me failing to reporting our spouse's incomes on our tax returns, and then when caught claiming we "misunderstood." The IRS Agent who audited you or me would only laugh as he wrote up the referral for criminal prosecution to the Attorney General.

Indict Clarence Thomas

[SHRED]

41. Will anything be done?

Not holding my breath.


--

[KittyWampus]

43. The NYTimes dutifully buries the lede> Undisclosed gifts, which is illegal not just unethical.

Beyond the code, the justices must comply with laws applying to all federal officials that prohibit conflicts of interest and require disclosure of gifts. Justice Thomas’s gift acceptances drew attention in 2004, when The Los Angeles Times reported that he had accumulated gifts totaling $42,200 in the previous six years — far more than any of the other justices.

Since 2004, Justice Thomas has never reported another gift. He has continued to disclose travel costs paid by schools and organizations he has visited for speeches and teaching, but he has not reported that any travel was provided by Mr. Crow.

Travel records for Mr. Crow’s planes and yacht, however, suggest that Justice Thomas may have used them in recent years.

snip

Among the questions The Times submitted to Justice Thomas was whether he was on any of those flights, and if so, whether the colleges reimbursed him or Mr. Crow. The colleges declined to comment.

[WillyT]

47. K & R !!!

:kick:

[Yon_Yonson]

49. Another NEOCON thug with a free hall pass ... corruption personified!

[Octafish]

52. Those rich people sure know how to suck up to the right people.

What a coincidence when they push the right buttons for them later.

[certainot]

56. just think what we could do with this if we had 1000 ignored radio stations

[amborin]

64. K&R

[mwooldri]

71. We need to send a bunch of $0 dollar bills to Mr. Thomas.

Bribery and corruption is a problem in India, and a good number of other countries, including the country that birthers claim the President was actually born in.

To combat it, I don't know which group did it but they printed up a load of zero rupee dollars so if people are asked to pay a bribe ("make Ghandi smile") they hand over the 0 rupee note.

Maybe it is time we started printing up these $0 bills and sending them to certain people???

Mark.