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Banned
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Okay, here we go.....it took a while, but now, even the WSJ is out in front on this story, but with far less "particulars" than the San Diego newspaper that first exposed Randy Cunningham's treason. (maneuvering/pressuring the Pentagon to initiate "defense" spending that it had no interest in doing, and which did not enhance the ability of the armed forces to defend the country, in a "time of war", is aptly called treason, when it is motivated by bribes to induce misuse of elected office and official influence.....)
There is a noticeable lack of participation on this thread, and, in the politics forum as time goes by, from those who staunchly maintained that there is a series of corruption ridden scandals in Washington, that involve democrats and republicans. I encourage those who still hold that opinion, to post the names and deeds of democrats who are at risk of indictment or have been indicted in the Abramoff, Plame CIA leak, Cunningham bribery, Tom Delay money laundering, New Hampshire "phonegate", Ohio "coingate", or....any recent bribery or "dirty tricks" scandal that you can make a case for. The two democratic congressman in the news, one from WV who failed to fully disclose his personal finances and seems to have some real estate related, conflicts of interest, who resigned from the house ethics committee after the minority leader asked him to, and Jefferson from New Orleans, who is being investigated for questionable dealings with Nigerians, don't seem to rise to the scale of Abramoff or Cunningham related crimes. For that matter, they don't seem to compromise national security in a time of war or put the entire legislative process on the block, for sale to the highest or most influential bidder. I detect no "bi-partisan" era of scandal. Democrats have no power or influence to sell. Republicans have attempted to purge democrats from all lobbying firms. They're reaping what they've sown.
Participate....start your own thread to spotlight the crimes that make the case that this is a "bi-partisan" atmosphere of contemporary, federal corruption....or weigh in to challenge what has been posted here, or to condemn the conduct of those under investigation or of the indicted and the guilty.
Here's the "news" on the stench and breadth of the Cunningham, Wilkes, Wade, Foggo, corruption. It is reportedly linked all the way to the "reform" minded and extremely partisan director of the CIA:
Quote:
http://online.wsj.com/public/article...f_main_tff_top
Congressional-Bribe Case Cunningham Is Suspected
Of Asking for Prostitutes; Were Others Involved?
By SCOT J. PALTROW
April 27, 2006; Page A6
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether two contractors implicated in the bribery of former Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham supplied him with prostitutes and free use of a limousine and hotel suites, pursuing evidence that could broaden their long-running inquiry.
Besides scrutinizing the prostitution scheme for evidence that might implicate contractor Brent Wilkes, investigators are focusing on whether any other members of Congress, or their staffs, may also have used the same free services, though it isn't clear whether investigators have turned up anything to implicate others.....
......The charges against Mr. Cunningham had alleged that "Co-conspirator #1" -- Mr. Wilkes -- had given the congressman more than $600,000 in bribes, including paying off a mortgage on Mr. Cunningham's house.
Mr. Wilkes hasn't been charged with any crime, and people with knowledge of the investigation say he recently decided he would fight any charges that might be filed rather than plead guilty and cooperate with the investigation. Michael Lipman, Mr. Wilkes's lawyer, denied his client had been involved in procuring prostitutes. ........
.......The charges against Mr. Cunningham had alleged that "Co-conspirator #1" -- Mr. Wilkes -- had given the congressman more than $600,000 in bribes, including paying off a mortgage on Mr. Cunningham's house.
Mr. Wilkes hasn't been charged with any crime, and people with knowledge of the investigation say he recently decided he would fight any charges that might be filed rather than plead guilty and cooperate with the investigation. Michael Lipman, Mr. Wilkes's lawyer, denied his client had been involved in procuring prostitutes.
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The San Diego Union-Tribune actually reports much more thoroughly today:
Quote:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/p...-1n28duke.html
Co-conspirator's possible links to prostitutes eyed
By Dean Calbreath
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 28, 2006
.........As The San Diego Union-Tribune <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/cunningham/20051204-9999-1n4adcs.html">reported in December</a>, the suites – first at the Watergate Hotel and then at the Westin Grand Hotel – had several bedrooms where lawmakers and other guests could relax.
Federal investigators are trying to determine whether Cunningham and other legislators brought prostitutes to the hotels or prostitutes were provided for them there, according to a report in yesterday's Wall Street Journal and confirmed by the Union-Tribune..........
...........Two of Wilkes' former business associates say they were present on several occasions when Shirlington Limousine & Transportation Service of northern Virginia brought prostitutes to the suite. They say they did not see lawmakers in the suites on those occasions, though both had heard rumors of congressmen bringing women to the rooms.
Shirlington's attorney, Bobby S. Stafford, confirmed in a letter that from the company's founding in 1990 through the early 2000s, Shirlington President Christopher Baker “provided limousine services for Mr. Wilkes for whatever entertainment he had in the Watergate.”
Stafford's letter stated that Baker was “never in attendance in any party where any women were being used for prostitution purposes.”
<b>Last year, Shirlington won a $21 million contract from the Department of Homeland Security.</b>
According to the Journal, FBI agents have interviewed women employed at escort services in Washington, as well as other potential witnesses.
In his guilty plea in November, Cunningham said Wilkes, referred to as “co-conspirator No. 1,” gave him more than $630,000 in cash and gifts in order to gain government contracts. Wade, known as “co-conspirator No. 2,” also named Wilkes in his guilty plea. Wilkes has not been indicted in the case, and his companies continue to receive money from government contracts.
Several of Wilkes' former employees and business associates say he used the hospitality suites over the past 15 years to curry favor with lawmakers as well as officials with the CIA, where both Wilkes and Wade sought contracts.
<b>Wilkes hosted parties for lawmakers and periodic poker games that included CIA officials</b> as well as members of the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees. Cunningham, who sat on both committees, was a frequent guest, according to some of the participants in the poker games.
People who were present at the games said one of the regular players was Kyle Dustin “Dusty” Foggo, who has been Wilkes' best friend since the two attended junior high school in Chula Vista in the late 1960s. In October, Foggo was named the CIA's executive director – the agency's third-highest position..........
<b>.......Wilson said nearly all the poker players at the two games he attended were CIA officials, including Foggo and Nine Fingers. ........
........Foggo, who occasionally hosted the poker parties at his house in northern Virginia,</b> is under investigation by the CIA's inspector general to determine whether he helped Wilkes gain CIA contracts.
CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said such an investigation is routine when questions are raised about an official's actions at the agency..........
.........One of Wilkes' companies, Archer Logistics, won a contract to provide bottled water, first-aid kits and other supplies to CIA agents in Afghanistan and Iraq. The company had no previous experience with such work, having been founded a few months before the contract was granted.
Critics familiar with the contract, valued at $2 million to $3 million, say <b>the CIA overpaid for the work. The contract was approved by the CIA office in Frankfurt, Germany, where Foggo oversaw acquisitions.</b> Foggo did not personally sign the contract, however, said unnamed CIA officials who spoke with Newsweek.
“Mr. Foggo maintains that the contracts for which he was responsible were properly awarded and administered,” Gimigliano said.
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Quote:
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000494.php
CIA's Goss Drawn Into Hooker Probe?
By Justin Rood - April 27, 2006, 7:23 PM
Ken Silverstein reports at Harper's blog on the spreading Cunningham-Wade-Wilkes prostitute scandal. He says more lawmakers, past and present, are being investigated. Sounds like he thinks House Intel Chair-turned-CIA Director Porter Goss is one of them:
....... Remember that Goss is the one who plucked one of Wilkes' old San Diego friends, the unusual and colorful Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, out of CIA middle-management obscurity to be his #3 at the agency. At the time of Foggo's appointment, no one could figure out where he came from, or how Goss knew him.
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Quote:
http://www.harpers.org/sb-red-lights...itol-hill.html
Red Lights on Capitol Hill?
Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006. By Ken Silverstein.
.........Wilkes, I've learned, even hired Shirlington as his personal limousine service.
It gets even more interesting: the man who has been identified as the CEO of Shirlington has a 62-page rap sheet (I recently obtained a copy) that runs from at least 1979 through 1989 and lists charges of petit larceny, robbery, receiving stolen goods, assault, and more. Curiously—or perhaps not so curiously given the company's connections—Shirlington Limousine is also a Department of Homeland Security contractor; according to the Washington Post, last fall it won a $21.2 million contract for shuttle services and transportation support. (I tried to contact Shirlington but was unable to get past their answering service.)
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Can anyone seriously make a case that we are a nation "at war"? I've <a href="http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=101881&highlight=cigar">posted recent reports</a> of the "stand down" of the "Intelligence Czar", and here is a link to Krugman's new column on Bush, <a href="http://www.smirkingchimp.com/viewtopic.php?topic=64883&forum=6">the "Crony Fairy"</a>, responsible for the destruction of FEMA, and this news, today: <a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyid=2006-04-28T132611Z_01_WAT005465_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-DUBAI-BUSH.xml">Bush expected to approve Dubai defense purchase</a>
If these reports are all credible, how can anyone, in good consious, support these "leaders" and their assertions that they can "appropriate" unilaterally, "war powers", like.....warrantless domestic wiretapping?
It looks like no one can....hence the "drying up" of posts by those who formerly "defended" our "leadership" and their fear mongering, "we are at war" propaganda. <b>Watch what they do</b>....not what they say..... |