the perfect storm
Nov. 13th, 2004 04:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sisyphusshruggedJack Abramoff, political "values" parable for our time.
Let's see: we have the former head of the College Republicans (where he mentored Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed) who has "Christian" icon Reed rallying the faithful against competition for Abramoff's casino operator clients while running the southern region of the Bush campaign, a charity being milked to run a private business where the employees weren't paid, illegal donation laundering to Republican candidates, intelligence work and lobbying on behalf of the apartheid government of South Africa, native american tribes getting screwed on behalf of other tribes who purchased the fealty of Abramoff, Norquist and DeLay and the National Center for Public Policy Research, which has evolved from supporting Reagan-era destabilization of elected governments in Latin America to making the world safe for corporate polluters by milking senior citizens (160 fundraising letters in four months, in one case).
Amusingly, NCPRR's direct mail operation utilizes the services of Response Dynamics, the same company which is currently trying to figure out how they came to send so very many fundraising letters from the College Republicans (former home, by some astonishing coincidence, of Mssrs Abramoff, Norquist and Reed) to senior citizens.
Sorta sings, doesn't it?
Mr. Scanlon is represented by the lawfirm of Baker, Botts, home of Bush family fixer Jim Baker, which is currently defending the Saudis against the 9/11 families. Mr. Baker's independent projects include campaigning for Iraqi debt forgiveness from the world on behalf of the US government while simultaneously representing Kuwait in their demands for reparations from Iraq on behalf of the Carlyle Group.
A judge has frozen the Abramoff family assets until the teachers get paid.
You pretty much get what you vote for.
Let's see: we have the former head of the College Republicans (where he mentored Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed) who has "Christian" icon Reed rallying the faithful against competition for Abramoff's casino operator clients while running the southern region of the Bush campaign, a charity being milked to run a private business where the employees weren't paid, illegal donation laundering to Republican candidates, intelligence work and lobbying on behalf of the apartheid government of South Africa, native american tribes getting screwed on behalf of other tribes who purchased the fealty of Abramoff, Norquist and DeLay and the National Center for Public Policy Research, which has evolved from supporting Reagan-era destabilization of elected governments in Latin America to making the world safe for corporate polluters by milking senior citizens (160 fundraising letters in four months, in one case).
Amusingly, NCPRR's direct mail operation utilizes the services of Response Dynamics, the same company which is currently trying to figure out how they came to send so very many fundraising letters from the College Republicans (former home, by some astonishing coincidence, of Mssrs Abramoff, Norquist and Reed) to senior citizens.
Sorta sings, doesn't it?
A criminal task force of investigators from the FBI, Internal Revenue Service, the Justice Department's public integrity section, the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Interior Department inspector general's office is looking into payments Abramoff and [his partner Michael] Scanlon received from an array of clients, including 11 wealthy Indian tribes that operate gambling casinos, according to officials familiar with the investigation.
Mr. Scanlon is represented by the lawfirm of Baker, Botts, home of Bush family fixer Jim Baker, which is currently defending the Saudis against the 9/11 families. Mr. Baker's independent projects include campaigning for Iraqi debt forgiveness from the world on behalf of the US government while simultaneously representing Kuwait in their demands for reparations from Iraq on behalf of the Carlyle Group.
A judge has frozen the Abramoff family assets until the teachers get paid.
You pretty much get what you vote for.
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no subject
Date: 2004-11-13 02:44 pm (UTC)