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WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 - Michael Scanlon, a former top official for Representative Tom DeLay and onetime partner of the lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has agreed to plead guilty in a deal with federal prosecutors, according to his lawyer. The deal reveals a broadening corruption investigation involving top members of Congress.
Criminal papers filed in federal court outlined a conspiracy that not only named Mr. Scanlon but also mentioned a congressman, identified only as Representative No. 1, as part of the exchange of favors from clients funneled to lobbyists and officials.
This was the first time that a member of Congress, identified by lawyers in the case as Representative Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio, has been implicated in criminal papers as part of the inquiry, which has sprawled from Indian casinos to the lucrative lobbying firms of Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon and then reached to the Republican leadership.
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"Go yell at an M&M"
My fear is that this Abramoff thing might be too complicated for Americans to understand, not to mention really wide-ranging and difficult to swallow at once.
On the other hand, if they get Abramoff for murder-for-hire and then point out all of his "best friends" and cronies, things might get a little clearer.
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"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" - Benjamin Franklin
"Don't you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we're left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes and I live here." - Alvy Singer, "Annie Hall"
This is getting serious. Do you think Harry Reid and Mary Landrieu will have to step down? They got $66,000 and $24,000 respectively in contributions in return for supporting Abramoff's Indian casino positions.
I know what you mean. The American public is just too dumb to understand whats happening in politics. Its all the more reason we need the government and our politicians to protect us and tell us what to do and think.
Any more words you want to put in my mouth, or do you actually have some kind of original point to make?
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"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" - Benjamin Franklin
"Don't you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we're left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes and I live here." - Alvy Singer, "Annie Hall"
Any more words you want to put in my mouth, or do you actually have some kind of original point to make?
How did I put words in your mouth? There is not much room in there with your foot already there. Reread what you posted below.
My fear is that this Abramoff thing might be too complicated for Americans to understand, not to mention really wide-ranging and difficult to swallow at once.
At what point did I suggest that "politicians" should be the ones to tell us what to think? Or are you utterly incapable of reading for comprehension?
I'm done with you.
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"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" - Benjamin Franklin
"Don't you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we're left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes and I live here." - Alvy Singer, "Annie Hall"
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trio_jeepy: Nov 19, 05 20:33
Reading between the lines in your post. You are just like most elitist liberals who feel the American public is too stupid, dumb and ignorant to function on their own. You let it slip how you feel about the American public with your comment about them not being able to understand and being too complicated. You need to look no further than the lefts insistance in government handouts and entitlements which I am sure you are all for since the average Joe can't take care of himself. Lets not focus on getting jobs for people or holding the accountable for their choices in life. Lets forget about personal responsibility and focus on how much the government can give us. Where do you get offf with such a holier or should I say smarter than thou attitude. Your elitism is not very becoming.
I don't understand the complications trio_jeepy. You put the government in charge of "taking care" of a large group of people and entrust bureaucrats to grant or withhold casino development rights, which are highly valued, based on no standards other than political pull, then profess to be shocked that people are on the take and taking advantage of the beneficiaries. You then go further and say it is too complicated to understand.
Indian programs, like the Oil for Food program, like the Corps of Engineers projects in New Orleans, like the highway and farm bills and any number of other federal programs are specifically structured to allow those exerting control to rip off the intended beneficiaries to the advantage of those with political pull. No mystery there.
Is that simple enough for you?
Not going to stick my neck out there on intelligence of the average American (though you clearly are raising a few interesting indicators, and when combined with the general view that American public education is failing, it's not a hard sell), but I'd offer that lack of interest might be a more pressing issue than intelligence.
I had a conversation with a late 20-something guy last night who said he started reading the front page of the WaPo because he looked at it about 2 weeks ago and realized he had no clue about what was going on in politics or the world. He didn't know his state (VA) held an election for Governor recently.
Lack of interest (indifference) is a big aspect I would say as well. As well as apathy, either due to intelligence or indifference, or some sort of a political "learned helplessness" (see Tibbs' non-vote post).
We could probably come up with hundreds of reasons why people tune out:
All the negative news, being self-centered / spoiled, only learning facts to pass tests in school, etc etc.
My guess is most people just feel inundated, that life is going too fast and they don't want to spend their fleeting moments of quiet reading about what some idiot politician said or did, etc.
The only reason I try and keep up (despite a job and part-time masters pursuit, and dwindling training time) is that I'm interested. I'd guess the inundation combines with feeling like one little vote has no meaning. And of course, most people think politicians are all slimeballs, so who'd want to vote for those slicksters anyways?
It's probably about 400 different things all at one time. I'd imagine we just keep slipping as we are with less and less people caring, or something really big will happen that will scare people into caring. You'd think being attacked by terrorists, and several catastrophic natural disasters would wake people up a bit. Maybe it has, but just not on politics or world events etc, people might be focussing more on what's right in front of their faces because they can more readily control those things.
Sort of related: Wouldn't you expect the % of eligible voters to start increasing as the baby boomers age? An older, on average, distribution of potential voters should result in more people voting. The AARP is the new triumverate.