Quack, Quack

If it looks like a Duck, walks like a Duck, and quacks like a Duck it's a Duck.

Attorneygate. It's about Politics, stupid. Duh.

There is documented evidence that the terminated U.S. attorney's were criticized by the either the Attorney General's office, or the White House staff for not pursuing Voter fraud cases, or Political corruption cases (against Democrat's), or Illegal immigration cases in a number of states including Washington, California, and New Mexico. These attorney's have investigated these cases, along with the FBI, and found there was no evidence of wrongdoing, or that there was not enough evidence to pursue charges. Why would they be criticized for following the Law?

Why? Because if they were being good "Bushies", they would have publicly announced these investigations to hurt the Democrat cause, and help Republican elections.

Morality, doing the right thing, following the Law has NOTHING to do with it, it is all about power, and remaining in power, no matter what.

What sickens me, is there is a mountain of evidence of rape, and sex with multiple minors in the Texas Youth Authority documented by a Texas Ranger in 2005, as reported in the Washington Post, New York Times, and multiple Texas newspapers, and yet, the U.S.attorney in Texas did not pursue a slam dunk case to file charges. Instead they used their resources for Voter fraud cases against a handful of elderly Democrat's. Could it be because it would have hurt the re-election bids of Republican leadership in Texas during last Fall's critical elections?

You decide.

Spin vs Reality

I live in Placer County, California, which has a very loyal Republican base. I regularly send in letters to the Editor in two area newspapers, THE AUBURN JOURNAL, and THE SACRAMENTO BEE. The loyal Republican followers have been peppering the Editors with views on the Iraq war, and Attorneygate.

What has been trotted out recently are the following views:

"Clinton" fired all the U.S. attorney's when he was elected, so it should be ok, that Bush can do it."

"Clinton" fired attorneys who were investigating Whitewater, and Travelgate"

"Democrats are racist because they want to fire Gonzalez because he's Hispanic".

"People who protest the war encourage the enemy, and if protestors were active in WW2, we would be speaking German and Japanese today".

I have no problem with people expressing their opinion, as long as they do just a little homework. "My problem" is that there is too much intent to report on half truths, or just outright lies.

Example: Clinton fired all his US Attorneys when he was elected. It is pretty much a standard practice that all incoming president's replace during their first year in office. Bush did so, but the intellectually dishonest letter writers, and Faux News pundits, cherry pick their facts.

Example 2: Clinton fired US attorneys investigating Whitewater and Travelgate. Outright lies. Those investigations didn't start until after Clinton took office.

Public debate is great, it helps all of us. Let's just deal with reality, not fantasyland.

follow the money

Washington D.C. defense contractor Mitchell Wade pled guilty in February 06' to paying then-California Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham more than $1 million in bribes.

Wade’s company MZM Inc. received its first federal contract from the White House. The contract, which ran from July 15 to August 15, 2002, stipulated that Wade be paid $140,000 to “provide office furniture and computers for Vice President Dick Cheney.”

Two weeks later, on August 30, 2002, Wade purchased a yacht for $140,000 for Duke Cunningham.

According to Cunningham’s sentencing memorandum, the purchase price of the boat had been negotiated through a third-party earlier that summer, around the same time the White House contract was signed.

To recap, the White House awarded a one-month, $140,000 contract to an individual who never held a federal contract. Two weeks after he got paid, that same contractor used a cashier’s check for exactly that amount to buy a boat for a now-imprisoned congressman at a price that the congressman had pre-negotiated.

Koinky Dinky?