The Duke-Stir will be sentenced this week for his minor malfeasance while treating his congressional seat like a corrupt S&L. Here's how ol' Duke's scam worked:

Convicted former representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) should be sentenced to the maximum 10 years in prison because of "unparalleled corruption" that included a "bribe menu" on congressional letterhead telling a defense contractor what payments were required for different levels of federal funding, federal prosecutors said in court papers yesterday.
...
For instance, it said that Cunningham offered one of the contractors, identifiable in the court papers as Mitchell Wade, head of a Washington company called MZM Inc., $16 million in government contracts in return for the title to a boat Wade had just bought for $140,000. A copy of the notes is included in the filing, showing, the government said, that Cunningham charged an additional $50,000 for every $1 million more.

When the payments reached $340,000, the rate for each $1 million of federal funding dropped to $25,000, the document said.

Blue-light special on Contracts, Aisle 2...going fast! You have figure that Cunningham isn't operating in a vacuum here. He's not bright enough to have figured this out all by himself, he had a mentor, and probably hmmmm, they were republicans and likely still around. I certainly hope there's not a delay in finding them.

Well this is interesting. The Russians are talking like they did in the bad old days when they were trying to win friends and influence people while giving Preznit Inordinately Immature the geo-political middle finger salute:

Russia's top military chief on Thursday warned the United States against launching a military strike against Iran and a top diplomat voiced hope that close cooperation with China could help resolve the Tehran nuclear crisis.

With tension mounting over Iran's nuclear programs, Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the chief of Russia's general staff, warned the United States against attacking Iran.

"A military scenario can't be ruled out," Baluyevsky was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
...
"This may stir the whole world, and it is crucial to prevent anything like that," Baluyevsky was quoted as saying.
...
Moscow is deeply concerned about the current Iranian regime's prospects for acquiring nuclear weapons, not only because Russia is geographically located close to Iran, but also because of the impact that could have on other Middle East players' nuclear aspirations, including Saudi Arabia's, the diplomat said.

Oh,and they get to rattle their all too real nuclear arsenal for old-times sake. Some of those boys in the Kremlin have gotta be lovin' that shit.

No.

THE investigation into US vice- president Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of a hunting partner has been closed, and police last night said no charges will be filed.

The Texas sheriff's department dealing with the case issued a report that supports Mr Cheney's account of the incident that wounded Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old lawyer.

One hundred years from now (if the Republic lasts that long), our grandkids are going to study invertebrates and start with the US Senate. I honestly can't say that in my life time I have ever observed a larger group of jellyfish outside the Baltimore Aquarium. Few if any are upholding their oaths to support and defend the Constitution of The United States. I don't believe that any of them took an oath to Support and Defend, unless of course it conflicts with the desires of The Little Monarch. But they keep doing it.

The Senate Intelligence Committee decided today not to investigate President Bush's domestic surveillance program, at least for the time being.

"I believe that such an investigation is currently unwarranted and would be detrimental to this highly classified program," Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas and chairman of the panel, said this afternoon following a closed session.

While Mr. Roberts's announcement signaled that the administration's eavesdropping program would not be subject to Senate scrutiny, at least for the time being, there was no guarantee that the House would not go ahead with an inquiry of its own.

Mr. Roberts said "an agreement in principle" had been reached with the administration whereby lawmakers would be given more information on the surveillance operation run by the National Security Agency.

Pat Roberts: one of the worst US Senators of all time, doing the bidding of the worst President of All Time. That's what they're going to remember in 100 years. Sycophancy and Bed-wetting, all the time.

Gosh you Senators of both parties, why bother to swear an oath to Support and Defend the Constitution when you have no intent of doing either?

Why doesn't this surprise me?

Today, Mr. Bush, in his first public comments on the shooting, said he was pleased with Mr. Cheney's remarks.

What a shithead.

Never had to do this before, but Kirk ol' buddy yer outta here. Don't bother posting to comments anymore, they'll just get deleted.

I don't know if you're trying to do a bad imitation of Jesus General or what, but your comments are pretty offensive to me personally and I suspect to the rest of our community here. We don't mind having some dissent, we like Bean even if he is mostly wrong (in our opinion, anyhow). But you've worn out your welcome.

To commenters who left some comments that did not show up in response to Kirk, sorry I didn't post them, I just decided that less fuel means less flames. Nothing personal, y'all.

So, today Bwana Dick goes and makes his late apology/explanation for shooting his buddy in the face:

Vice President Cheney accepted responsibility today for the accidental shooting of a 78-year-old man in a hunting accident last weekend, saying that watching his friend fall to the ground bleeding after he was injured was an "image I'll never get out of my mind."

"You can't blame anybody else," Cheney said in an interview with Fox News Channel. "I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend. It's a moment I'll never forget."

Cheney said that after he shot Harry Whittington on Saturday afternoon at a Texas ranch, he ran over to him and said, "I had no idea that you were there. He didn't respond."my emphasis

Armstrong, owner of the Armstrong Ranch where the accident occurred, said Whittington was bleeding after he was shot and Cheney was very apologetic.

"It broke the skin," she said of the shotgun pellets. "It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that. my emphasis

If Crashcart were "**hunting under the influence", wouldn't that tend to explain a bit of what's going on with the apparent cover-up? And why the Secret Service agents would not let the local sherriffs talk to Bwana Dick until 15 hours after he shot Whittington?

Cheney's hunting host lobbied White House
MSNBC - 8 hours ago
... that preceded the incident. "There may be a beer or two in there," she said, "but remember not everyone in the party was shooting.". ...

Reddhead over at FDL had a great quote about this...that someone who shoots another hunter is either drunk, an asshole or a drunken asshole. I'm positing that Bwana Dick falls into the latter classification.

You remember, that the Secret Service was compelled to testify about Bill and Monica. Why couldn't they be compelled to testify about the activities of the VP prior to the accident? Drinking would surely have been an activity that they would have closely monitored, especially when there were firearms involved. Wouldn't you think?

So, now that a few republicans have condemned the 1600 Crew for their lacksdasical response to Katrina, watch for them to be roundly condemned as "liberals" by the doctrinaire cultists of the Bunnypants League. But wait, it gets better...here's the Unka Karl strategery for winning in the 2006 midterms:

Bush adviser Karl Rove has already laid out the central political message of the 2006 midterms: that the Republicans have a "post-9/11 world view and many Demo- crats have a pre-9/11 world view," as he said last month at the winter meeting of the Republican National Committee.

1. Deficits to eternity
2. Ignoring the poor in favor of the rich
3. Making sure that defense contractors get all the money they need, while the military gets a 2.2% pay raise
4. Slash veterans benefits, even as service men and women put their lives on the line in Iraq and that other place
5. Violate or ignore the Constitution and federal law, and then lie about it

Basically, their post 9/11 worldview of the world is just a fucking disaster. Just hope that there isn't a real disaster or any kind, because the post 9/11 1600 Crew is not ready, willing or able to deal with it.

By the way, I just wanted to point out that you can have a post 12/7 worldview, and it's going to do about as much good as the one that the 1600 Crew has. The difference? Well, in the war that followed that we had a competant President, a strategy for victory and a Congress that was not just a rubber-stamp for FDR. So there's always that.

Going hunting with VP Crashcart: $2000

Having Bwana Dick make a fool of himself with a deadly weapon: Priceless

Not much question that the conservitard right plays to the racists in their base. So, how does the man who tried (and in fact succeeded in) buying Washington talk when no one is around? From the Left Coaster:

From page 11 of the file:

From: Abramoff, Jack...
...
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2002 8:39 PM
To: 'Mike Scanlon'
...
Might be better to meet after we see [REDACTED]. I think it's essential that you take Otto to dinner tomorrow night. Can you do it? I have to meet with the monkeys from the Choctaw tribal council. You need to close the deal with him. I set it up tonight.

From page 12 of the file:

From: ambramoffj...
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2002 12:32 PM
To: Mike Scanlon
...
Choctaw did not yet pay us for [REDACTED]? Shoot! Should I call [REDACTED] on this? We need to get $ from those monkeys!!!! As to Ralph, go ahead and pay him so I can get him off my back. we'll get the Choctaw money soon though.

Nice, eh? I guess that it must be a pretty prevalent sentiment, many of JACKabramOFF's old friends and associates went to the Department of the Interior, where they are responsible for among other things, administering the broken treaties that were forced on the Native Americans through the years. Apparently, they don't seem to think much more of Native Americans than JACKabramOFF does.

JACKabramOFF, the scandal that keeps on giving.

1. Cunning Scam or Duke's a Grape...
   
2. Cold War 2?
   
3. Surprised?
   
4. Cowardly Lions, or something
   
5. Dick's Head
   
6. First Ever
   
7. Someone is Lying
   
8. H.U.I.?**
   
9. All 9/11 all the time
   
10. The Great White Hunter