Don Hassee - another Republican moralist

Political Joke

The November election is now just a memory.

The rest of the world cannot understand how, after bitter election campaigns, American politicians can kiss and make up. But that they do!

Governor Sarah Palin, who ran for Vice President on John McCain's Republican ticket, is doing her part to do just that. For example, she has invited the men who defeated her, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, to visit her great state of Alaska, now that she has more time after resigning from her post.

To celebrate her new-found freedom from the toils of office, she has set up a moose hunting trip for their enjoyment and hired three prominent experts in their field to assist them:

# Dick Cheney will lead them on the hunt

# Ted Kennedy will drive them back to their cabins each evening, and

# Bill Clinton will entertain their wives and daughters.

Election Do-Overs

In the wake of AG Eric Holder dismissing all charges against Alaska Senator Ted Stevens because of misconduct of Bush appointed Attorneys, Sarah Palin called for a new election for Alaska Senator. Do note: The fact that the charges against Stevens were dismissed is not evidence of the fact that the guy wasn't a crook - he probably was still crooked as Lombard Street in San Francisco. But Daily Kos had a great post on all of this. I'll get you started, but click the link at the bottom of this post to read it all...

In the spirit of the demand by Sarah Palin and the Alaska GOP that there by a do-over of November's U.S. Senate election, here's the top 10 elections that should have been done-over:

10. Gore-Bush, 2000: Because even though Gore won, Bush somehow became president.

9. Kerry-Bush, 2004: Because the media didn't grow a spine until Hurricane Katrina happened in 2005.

8. FL-16, 2004: Because voters didn't know that Mark Foley was into underage pages.

Click here to finish the list.
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Tax Laws - So Complicated!

The Democrats have been getting hammered by conservatives and Republicans over the Obama cabinet nominees who didn't pay all of their taxes. It is, as they say, so easy to get it right that they must have just been trying to cheat. I've seen literally scores of cartoons excoriating Democrats posted by the cynics online.

But how's about the Darling of the Ball - Sarah Palin - from the Anchorage Daily News via Daily Kos...

Gov. Sarah Palin must pay income taxes on thousands of dollars in expense money she received while living at her Wasilla home, under a new determination by state officials.

The governor's office wouldn't say this week how much she owes in back taxes for meal money, or whether she intends to continue to receive the per diem allowance. As of December, she was still charging the state for meals and incidentals.

Where the Catholic Church Dumps It's Perverted Priests

If you read my blog, you know that one basic premise that I hold dear is that most religions are evil - they pretend morality and good will toward fellow humans, but in reality they are naught but businesses set up to make big bucks and screw over everyone but their own. A case in pooint from the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News...

A group of 43 Alaska Natives who say they were sexually abused by Catholic priests and church volunteers have sued the Jesuit order, alleging that remote Alaska villages became a worldwide dumping ground for clergy with histories of abuse.

The 78-page lawsuit filed this week in Bethel Superior Court is the latest in an Alaska clergy scandal that involves more than 300 victims and about 40 accused perpetrators, according to Patrick Wall, a former monk and priest who works for a California law firm as an advocate for sex abuse victims.

This week's lawsuit is on behalf of 35 men and eight women, and another one is in the works with another 60 or so victims, said Anchorage attorney Ken Roosa, who is one of the lawyers representing the group.

People keep coming forward, he said.

via J-Walk blog.

Alaska: Anti-Palin Rally

This didn't get much press coverage, but it sounds impressive.

From Mudflats. Click on the link to read the whole article - it is encouraging.

...it was time to head to the Alaska Women Reject Palin rally. It was to be held outside on the lawn in front of the Loussac Library in midtown Anchorage. Home made signs were encouraged, and the idea was to make a statement that Sarah Palin does not speak for all Alaska women, or men. I had no idea what to expect.

The rally was organized by a small group of women, talking over coffee. It made me wonder what other things have started with small groups of women talking over coffee. It’s probably an impressive list. These women hatched the plan, printed up flyers, posted them around town, and sent notices to local media outlets. One of those media outlets was KBYR radio, home of Eddie Burke, a long-time uber-conservative Anchorage talk show host. Turns out that Eddie Burke not only announced the rally, but called the people who planned to attend the rally “a bunch of socialist baby-killing maggots”, and read the home phone numbers of the organizers aloud over the air, urging listeners to call and tell them what they thought. The women, of course, received many nasty, harassing and threatening messages.

Oil All Over The Place

I had no idea how big the bribery scandal was in the state of Alaska. I'd read some articles, even posted one or two clips here about the involvement of US Senator Ted Stevens, but the Christian Science Monitor has published a fascinating account of how deeply ingrained the corruption was in Alaska. Here's just a taste of the article...

In grainy, secretly recorded hotel-room videotapes, executives with Alaska's biggest oil-services company plot ways to craft an industry-friendly version of a pending oil-tax rewrite, brag about how they "own" key politicians and hand out wads of cash to lawmakers, who swear their fealty.

"Never forget who takes you to the dance," says former House Speaker Pete Kott, pointing to VECO Corp. Chairman and heavyweight Republican patron Bill Allen, in one of the tapes. "I had to cheat, steal, beg, borrow, and lie."
"Well, that will stay in this room," one lobbyist responds. Bursts of laughter ensue.

"I sold my soul to the devil, though," Representative Kott jokes later, to which Mr. Allen tells him: "Now I own [you]."

Did You Know - Corrupt Republicans

Many elected Republicans seem to see their role in government as one of ownership rather than as one of stewardship. Once in power, they want to claim rewards rather than serve those that elected them. Greed is the only word that seems to cover the vast majority of them.

Alaska may be the second youngest state in the country, but it's also one of the most corrupt. The state's entire congressional delegation -- Sens. Ted Stevens (R) and Lisa Murkowski (R) and Rep. Don Young (R) -- is now embroiled in a series of scandals and criminal investigations that threaten to topple Alaska's oil industry-friendly political leadership. Much of the corruption involves Alaska's "largest oil-field engineering firm," Veco Corp., which is "entwined in a broad federal investigation that has led to the indictment of four current and former Alaska politicians and ensnared former Alaska Senate President Ben Stevens, son of Ted Stevens."

From Progress Report 7/26/2007

Did You Know - Alaskan Crooks

ETHICS -- SCANDAL-CLAD REP. YOUNG FACES FEDERAL INVESTIGATION FOR POLITICAL FAVORS:

Rep. Don Young (R-AK) is now under federal investigation by the Justice Department for alleged political favors for a company in Alaska, the Wall Street Journal reports today. "Federal investigators are examining whether Rep. Young...accepted bribes, illegal gratuities or unreported gifts from VECO Corp., Alaska's largest oil-field engineering firm." "While the investigation into Sen. Ted Stevens' (R-AK) ties to Veco, including the remodeling of his Girdwood home, has been widely reported, this is the first time Young has been implicated in the scandal." "For a decade, former VECO Chief Executive Bill Allen has held fund-raisers for Mr. Young in Anchorage every August, known as 'The Pig Roast,' participants said." Public records show that between 1996 and 2000, VECO employees and the company's political action committee gave at least at least $157,000 to Young. The congressman's history of abuse of power is well-documented. Recently, he collaborated in a pork project with several Alaska congressmen to earmark a "Bridge to Nowhere" for personal profiteering and has long-standing ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Young also confessed to "taking more than $5,500 in illegal campaign contributions from a seafood trade association since 2001," but he refuses to return all the donations.

From Progress Report 7/25/2007