THE HOT JOINTS » Corruption

House Ethics Expands Rangel Probe

Chris Jones — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:53:07 +0000

The House ethics committee announced today that it’s expanding the ongoing investigation into Rep. Charles Rangel’s shady finances. Rangel recently remembered that he was worth twice as much as he’d ever previously disclosed.

Rangel is a longtime corrupt scumbag. To think that asshole actually writes our tax code (a tax code he ignores) sickens me.

Worse, just yesterday resolution put forward by republicans to remove him as chairman of the House Ways and Means committee was blocked by democrats.

I guess this is what Nancy “stretch” Pelosi meant she promised to preside over “the most ethical congress in history.”

Stop Electing Judges

Chris Jones — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:21:40 +0000

The American justice system is supposed to be fair and objective. Yet it was very possibly neither according to the Supreme Court in the case of Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co, perhaps the most important decision it has rendered this year.

The plaintiff, Hugh Caperton, brought a successful lawsuit alleging that A.T Massey Coal and its chief executive Don Blankenship drove Capterton’s company into bankruptcy. In the next election cycle, Blankenship spent $3 million to oppose a state Supreme Court justice he thought insufficiently favorable to his cause. When the challenger Blankenship backed won, he refused to recues himself from the case. It was little wonder when he cast the deciding vote to overturn the first verdict.

What a depressing thought that justice in the 21^st century can be sold to the highest bidder. In his dissent, Chief Justice Roberts seemed to tacitly acknowledge that money can be a corrupting influence on judges. That is perhaps why he raised practical concerns on implementation instead of attempting to argue that we should not be worried about the influence of campaign contributions on judges.

He lamented that “today’s opinion requires state and federal judges simultaneously to act as political scientists (why did candidate X win the election?), economists (was the financial support disproportionate?), and psychologists (is there likely to be a debt of gratitude?).”

I understand these concerns. So I propose a simple solution: stop making judges stand for election. Even with this decision, there is potential for all sorts of abuse. A judge ruling in a case now might not favor one side because he got campaign contributions from that side. Or so we hope. Remember the decision only says that excessive contributions compel a justice to step aside. But he may well favor one side over another because of other electoral concerns.

For example, a judge who owes his election to say the Religious Right could be a tad biased on cases involving the separation of church and state. In a racially divided area, a judge who wins because of high support from one ethnic group could be predisposed to favor litigants from that group lest he lose favor the next election cycle. Even if we expect that people who are essentially politicians will put aside their electoral concerns immediately after the election, the mere fact that they have to go before voters can create the perception of bias.

Having an independent judiciary is critical to our system of checks and balances. To maintain that system, the judiciary needs to be able to make unpopular decisions in some instances. There are cases brought to court, where the correct decision polls poorly with voters. For example, decisions protecting the rights of disfavored minority groups might cause a judge to lose an election even though it’s the correct decision legally.

During his confirmation hearings, Chief Justice Roberts compared judging to being a dispassionate umpire in a baseball game. Just imagine the havoc on the game if we let umpires stand for election each inning. Or imagine if we made the umpires take polls after each pitch to inform their decision as to whether to call a ball or a strike. Whichever team had the most fans at the game would get the most favorable umpires. Unfortunately, this is not terribly different from judicial systems in state where the judges have to raise money and go before voters.

There is of course a realm for shifting public opinion in the political process. That’s why we let people vote for who represents them in Congress and who serves in the White House. But do we really want our judges looking over their shoulders at polls before rendering a decision? Triangulation is bad enough when politicians use it. It simply does not belong in the judiciary.

-Marcus Gadson

What A REAL Politicized Justice Department Looks Like

Chris Jones — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:45:41 +0000

Remember when the left was constantly howling about Bush politicizing the Justice Department? Bush exercised his constitutional authority to fire U.S. Attorney’s and the left acted as if he had committed high treason.

Ironically, it’s the Obama administration that has ended up politicizing the Justice Department.

This from NRO:

Never a dull moment with the Justice Department of Eric Holder, aka "the right man at the right time to protect our citizens in the critical years ahead."

In fact, it would be more accurate to say he’s the right man at the right time to protect our non-citizens in the critical years ahead. Unbelievably (or, perhaps, entirely too believably), Holder has told Georgia that it may no longer verify identification in order to ensure that voting is done only by citizens eligible to vote.

That outrage combined with the bizarre dismissal of the voter intimidation case against the Black Panther’s, and you begin to see the leftist politics at work here.

Holder is an unethical far-left cretin who shouldn’t be allowed to practice law in any capacity much less serve in government.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Eric Holder is the most dangerous Attorney General in American history. If the republicans were going to filibuster an Obama nominee it should have been Eric Holder.

-Chris Jones

Calls For Investigating John Murtha Picking Up Steam

Chris Jones — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:14:02 +0000

You just gotta love Washington. Rep. John Murtha appears to be up to his eyeballs in corruption involving earmarks and defense contractors, but democrats have thus far refused to investigate.

Even when the FBI raided the offices of contractors Murtha allegedly funneled earmarks through, Democrats refused to remove stimulus money headed for those companies.

Politico has an article today about republican Rep. Jeff Flake repeatedly introducing resolutions calling for an investigation into Murtha’s corruption. Each time he introduces the resolution he peels off a few more democrats who join him in calling for an investigation.

This, according to Politico has democrats worried. House leaders are keeping a close eye on the situation, but Nancy Pelosi remains dead set against an investigation.

One aide worried that democrats may only be one big story away from the Murtha case blowing wide open.

So basically, democrats are acknowledging that Murtha is a corrupt asshole, but so far they’ve been able to keep it under wraps. The issue is not whether Murtha is corrupt, but if his corruption creates a big enough shit storm that they have to take action.

We really do have a sad ass bunch in Washington. The democrats should be crushed under the weight of their own hypocrisy. Nancy Pelosi loved to talk about the republican “culture of corruption” that took root over the last eight years.

She vowed to run “the most ethical Congress in history” which I guess is true if you don’t count the well documented corruption cases involving Chris Dodd, Charlie Rangel, and John Murtha — to name a few.

Let’s also not forget about all the tax cheats that Obama has hired or attempted to hire.

-Chris Jones

(hat tip Hot Air)

Blago Appoints Former AG Roland Burris To Obama’s Senate Seat

Chris Jones — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:46:18 +0000

Corrupt Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected to defy pretty much the entire political establishment and make an appointment to Barack Obama’s senate seat. His choice according to the the Chicago Sun-Times is former Attorney General Roland Burris.

Former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris, 71, had lobbied the governor for the position in recent weeks.

Burris made a previous attempt at the Senate seat in the past — unsuccessfully. In 1984, he was beat out for the Democratic nomination by Paul Simon.

Illinois Sec. of State Jesse White says he will block Burris’s appointment. White must certify any appointment made by Blago and has indicted he will not sign-off on any appointment made by the governor no matter who it is.

Incidentally, senate majority leader Harry Reid has already said he would refuse to seat anyone Blago appointed if it were to get that far. Reid has final say over who is seated in the United States Senate.

Blago’s lawyers say they knew nothing about a senate appointment and were never consulted on the matter.

Rod "The Hair" Blagojevich and Roland Burris

Goldberg: A Little Blago For Everyone

Chris Jones — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:21:49 +0000

Jonah Goldberg has another great column today, this one about disgraced governor Rod Blagojevich.

Here’s a little taste:

...There’s the enormous I-should-have-had-a-V8! moment as the mainstream press collectively thwacks itself in the forehead, realizing it blew it again. The New York Times — which, according to Wall Street analysts, is weeks from holding editorial-board meetings in a refrigerator box — created the journalistic equivalent of CSI-Wasilla to study every follicle and fiber in Sarah Palin’s background, all the while treating Obama’s Chicago like one of those fairy-tale lands depicted in posters that adorn little girls’ bedroom walls. See there, Suzie? That’s a Pegasus. That’s a pink unicorn. And that’s a beautiful sunflower giving birth to a fully grown Barack Obama, the greatest president ever and the only man in history to be able to pick up manure from the clean end.

If that’s not good then I don’t know what is.

Video: Blagojevich Promises Mom Never To Take Bribes

Chris Jones — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:05:41 +0000

What does it say about Blago, that his mother explicitly asked him to promise not to take bribes?

The Blagojevich-Obama Timeline

Chris Jones — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:54:58 +0000

Take a look at this excellent timeline put together by Jim Lindgren. It seems to clear the president-elect of any wrong doing, but shows he’s potentially being less than truthful when he says he knew nothing about it.

(hat tip Ace)

Video: Did Obama Have Contact With Governor Over Senate Replacement?

Chris Jones — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:09:17 +0000

The FBI Has The Goods On Gov. Blagojevich

Chris Jones — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:40:11 +0000

The FBI arrested the Gov. of Illinois this morning at his home for allegedly trying to sell Barack Obama’s recently vacated senate seat. That sounds like quite an accusation, but the FBI has wiretaps that prove their case beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The Smoking Gun has partial transcripts of many of the taped conversations recorded by the FBI and it’s honestly stunning. When you read the transcripts it will truly make you hate politicians in general. Blagojevich reveals himself to be corrupt down to his bones with the sole agenda of furthering his own career both politically and financially.

In the days leading up to the presidential election as it began to look more and more like Obama would win — Blagojevich began scheming.

The FBI has the governor on tape time after time speculating on all the things he could trade Obama’s senate seat for. He tells his aides that he’s not about to let that seat go for nothing. He speculates on all the potential goodies he could get from the president-elect in return for putting his favored candidate in his old Senate seat.

He probably says a hundred times that he wants to make money and that he wants his wife to make money. He tells his deputy governor to look into what potential boards he could have his wife installed on along with a nice salary.

Both the governor, his wife, and a political consultant discuss how they could arrange things so that nothing is tied to president-elect Obama.

During one phone call, Blagojevich says he doesn’t want to be governor for the next two years and instead wants to make some money. He says he’s not just gonna give this motherf*cker (Obama) his senator for nothing. F*ck that!

One job the governor becomes fixated on is becoming head of a corrupt labor union. Blagojevich wants to be head of the SEIU and he’s convinced Obama can get him that position in return for Obama’s candidate of choice to fill his senate seat. He also wants his wife to get hooked up with a nice job either at the SEIU or somewhere else.

This is further proof that labor unions are nothing but a corrupt arm of the democratic party. The SEIU, UAW, and all the rest should be broken up — but that’s for another article.

What’s most troubling is that all the consultants that Blagojevich discusses his planned illegal activity with are all in agreement that it’s doable. The governor asks various consultants if Obama could get him and his wife this job or that job or a seat on this board or that board and every time they say sure, Obama can definitely do that.

I’m beginning to wonder how high this corruption goes. All these corrupt Chicago politicians seem mighty confident that our newly minted president-elect will gladly go along with their highly illegal schemes. Chicago politics is famous for its corruption so it’s likely Barack Obama can play dirty when its in his interest. Of course, even if he did the media would never cover it so I guess it’s really a mute point.

It’s not often that the public gets to see behind the curtain of politics. These FBI wiretaps give you an unvarnished view of the worst kind of politics this country has to offer. Blagojevich’s incredibly cynical view of his role as governor really plays into people’s worst fears about politicians.

The FBI should charge the governors wife with conspiracy and each and every one of his staffers who participated in these schemes.

THE HOT JOINTS » Corruption

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