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Sen. Ted "Tubes" Stevens Is Indicted
Many readers are letting us know about the indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens on seven counts of making false statements on his financial disclosure forms. We discussed the raid on the senator's house a while back. Everyone's favorite technologically challenged senator is the longest-serving Republican in the history of the upper house. An Alaskan paper gives deep background on the probe that has ensnared Stevens and a number of other Alaska political figures.
There's a joke here about federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison and clogged tubes but I'm just going to savor the indictment instead.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
It's not just a truck you can dump things on....
It's a house, that you can add things to...apparently for free.
down the...ummm...drain.
Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
AHHH No more bridges to no where. I think I am going to cry. I wanted to visit that uninhabitabed ice berg in alaska.
while this guy is an asshat, Series of Tubes as an analogy works just fine. This is one of those things other clueless asshats giggle at.
...into people claiming that everything is the fault of one party or the other and that all members of one of the two parties are corrupt.
How did he stay in office so long if there was already evidence of corruption in 2003 and 2004?
senator's don't do hard time they get put in to camps or less.
Yep. crazy.
Jesus used to be my co-pilot, but we crashed in the mountains and I had to eat him.
Enjoy:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_cZC67wXUTs
=^..^= all your rodent are belong to us
Being that the internet is a series of tubes, rather than a truck, Teddy didn't feel that he should have to pay taxes; money which would have been used partially to maintain roads.
Roads are obsolete. So are taxes, apparently. Just ask Sen. Stevens.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
text of the indictment is now available.
It was a part of the scheme that STEVENS, while during that same time period that he was concealing his continuing receipt of things of value from ALLEN and VECO from 1999 to 2006, received and accepted solicitations for multiple official actions from ALLEN and other VECO employees, and knowing that STEVENS could and did use his official position and his office on behalf of VECO during that same time period.
That sounds like good old-fashioned bribery to me, but with our screwed-up laws it's probably a lot easier to convict a politician for lying about the bribes than for taking the bribes.
Let me be the first to shout:
"Yeee-hawww!!!"
Good riddence! The coming Alaska senate race is going to be one of the most interesting in history. I suggest everyone look into it. On the democratic front, we've got popular Anchorage city mayor, Mark Beigich, who's taken the election scene by storm in just the last month or so. And Stevens, being a long time incombant, is running virtually unopposed on the republican front.
In the house, rep. Don ("I'll beat you over the head with a walrus penis") Young is having even more trouble, due to falling public perception and the VICO scandal. This long-time incumbent may be KOed in the primary by our Lt. Governor.
The republicans only star runners, at this point, are Gov. Sarah Palin and Lt Gov. Sean Parnel. Parnel is running against Young in the house, and Sarah just had a child and is busy fighting some of her own battles.
Translation: the alaska republican party is FUCKED. Before the year is out, there's a very good chance we'll see our one house seat filled by a Dem, one of our Senate seats filled by a Dem, and the state's electoral votes go to Barak Obama (currently a very close race). AK is one of the most conservative and republican states in the country, btw.
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) offered up this bizarre explanation for why he voted against net neutrality laws. In it, he explains how the internet works...
"There's one company now you can sign up and you can get a movie delivered to your house daily by delivery service. Okay. And currently it comes to your house, it gets put in the mail box when you get home and you change your order but you pay for that, right.
But this service isn't going to go through the internet and what you do is you just go to a place on the internet and you order your movie and guess what you can order ten of them delivered to you and the delivery charge is free.
Ten of them streaming across that internet and what happens to your own personal internet?
I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?
Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially.
So you want to talk about the consumer? Let's talk about you and me. We use this internet to communicate and we aren't using it for commercial purposes.
We aren't earning anything by going on that internet. Now I'm not saying you have to or you want to discriminate against those people [...]
The regulatory approach is wrong. Your approach is regulatory in the sense that it says "No one can charge anyone for massively invading this world of the internet". No, I'm not finished. I want people to understand my position, I'm not going to take a lot of time.
They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the internet. And again, the internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck.
It's a series of tubes.
And if you don't understand those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and its going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.
Now we have a separate Department of Defense internet now, did you know that?
Do you know why?
Because they have to have theirs delivered immediately. They can't afford getting delayed by other people.
[...]
Now I think these people are arguing whether they should be able to dump all that stuff on the internet ought to consider if they should develop a system themselves.
Maybe there is a place for a commercial net but it's not using what consumers use every day.
It's not using the messaging service that is essential to small businesses, to our operation of families.
The whole concept is that we should not go into this until someone shows that there is something that has been done that really is a violation of net neutrality that hits you and me."
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
Hahahahahahahahahahahh.....um (wiping tear from eye)....hahahahahahahahahahaha...
This is AMERICA! You're tried and convicted in the media and by the "law" because of the war on "terror", "drugs", or whatever.... The Government has all but abolished the 4th Amendment.
That being said, he's a politician. How do you know when a politician is lying? His lips move....the same goes for salesmen.
HaHhahahahahahah
Ok, now to be serious, in Soviet Russia the politicians politicize you!
And when will Dodd and the Democratic senators who got their mortgages personally handed to them by bank CEOs receive the same treatment? I'm not a partisan in this, and I do enjoy seeing Stevens go down, but this guy is just the tip of the iceberg. I suspect that most of Congress would have to be indicted if a sweeping investigation were done.
The Democratic challenger to Steven's seat has actually been out-polling him in the last couple of weeks. The timing of this indictment means it is far more likely that Stevens will lose the primary next month, and Mark Begich will be facing a Republican without all of the baggage.
...they arrive in a series of tubes! That's why we must limit bribes: they clog up the tubes.
What he is charged with is so petty compared to the greater good he has done that will be a crying shame.
So, you're saying... as long as he keeps the money flowing to you, you are willing to overlook lies and deception? Do you think he's clean as a whistle in all his other dealings, too?
$nice = $webHosting + $domainNames + $sslCerts
The indictment accuses Stevens, former chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, of concealing payments of more than $250,000 in goods and services....
Well, obviously he's "good at calculations"
Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
Wow that adn article is hilarious. Alaska is just crawling with these guys. I guess since its so cold and boring in alaska they have nothing better to do than steal. I mean it just kept going on and on.
Just because some folks don't understand satire.
God forbid if our founding Fathers posted here...then again, I'm sure they've run into the same thing and folks burned their pamphlets.
I'll never stop. I'll keep pushing buttons until the cops stop me...OK, maybe a little more....but I'll REALLY stop when the Government points a gun at me or puts me in a "Free Speech Zone" - see Bush administration.
his technological incompetence is the least of anybody's problems (yes, he's on the committee for regulating our future livelihoods and should understand this stuff..)
He's the guy who wanted the bridge to nowhere.... let's be frank that's a much larger problem than his blustering.
This is good - maybe the system works? It's too early to see
I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
Until then he is innocent until proven guilty.
People in positions of power shouldn't get such benefits. Every last one of them should be set under The Sword of Damocles, hanging by the barest of thread. If you consider robbing the rest of the country for the benefit of Alaska a good thing, especially with the vast riches it possesses, then there's not a hell of a lot to tell you. Especially with your whining about "liberals". Socialism must be a good thing when you're the one who benefits. But when somebody actually needs it, they're a bunch of leeches. Kinda sick thinking.
What?
There is a great fear that nobody else (the up-and-comer Mark Begich for example) will be able to pull the kind of strings in Washington that Stevens was able to pull -- at least not for decades.
Ah well there's the catch. So, Alaskans don't care if they elect dumb, corrupt politicians just so long as they bring in the pork for the state? I've often wondered about the electees from Alaska. Murkowski... now there's another story. He resigns to become governor and then appoints his daughter in his place?
What about the common good of the country as a whole? Your senator does not merely pass laws that affect only Alaska, but all the other 300 million of us. And powerful, corrupt politicians like yours have been coming up with dumbass laws that affect all the US for decades. For just one fun example, how about the Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail Choice Act.
Our state certainly needs to rid itself of corruption. If Stevens is convicted it will be a sad day.
I'm a bit dumbfounded by this. What on earth could be sad about kicking out a senator that has been proven corrupt? Oh.. yeah, he's powerful and brings money and investment, not to mention I'm sure great parties with the oil execs at the Chalet.
I know what it's like to lose a powerful government rep. Tom Foley was speaker of the house until he was the first speaker to be unseated in ages (or maybe forever, I forget). His opponent, Nethercutt, a replublican, chided Foley for being in office so long--how does one get to be speaker otherwise?--and promised to serve only two terms. Haha. Well, that promise went out the window. Anyway, eastern Washington survived gaining a lying newbie representative, I'm sure Alaska will get over this fiasco.
-Aaron
They deserve it. They've completely screwed themselves by not having even a nodding look at conservatism. Republicans had their time to prove themselves, and they proved they're just as bad and hypocritical as the democrats, and now they're going to lose the exectuive and legislative branches.
Many people, regardless of their "party" or lack thereof, are fiscally conservative and socially liberal in their day to day lives. We generally don't want to pay 90% in taxes, and we don't generally care what people do in their own homes, in their own lives, and we prefer if they don't get involved in telling us what we should be doing in our own lives either.
democrats and republicans have both failed completely, frankly I don't know what the difference is, other than republican's extremism is religion and democrat's extremism is environmental.
I'm a satanic clam.
$urreal, and totally tubular, and if on YouTube, then it'll be $irReel...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
explore and develop our natural resources like oil, gold and copper
? Really? The letter next to your name determines whether you will allow things to be dug out of the ground? Or perhaps its just that adhering to environmental regulations already in place might cut into profits a little?
Prediction: The real iPhone killer is going to be sex robots from Japan. Think about it.
So, we've got Tom Delay, William Jefferson, and Ted Stevens (that I can recall off the top of my head) with outstanding indictments. All of these cases have been ongoing for YEARS. It took them 4 years to indict Stevens, and those indictments don't even cover the perjury or bribery charges. William Jefferson was busted red handed and he's still hanging around. These aren't complicated cases. I'd love to know why the wheels seem to grind so slowly for them. Hmmmmmm.....
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
He's intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter, Ted.
No mod points, no meta-moderating/Firehose/all the other free work Slashdot wants me to do.
I bet if he goes to prison, he'll get a whole network's worth of tubes shoved up his decrepit cornhole.
'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
There are a few things I'd like to say here:
I don't think he should go without prosecution. (Although the timing is suspect...) He is subject to the same laws we all are, and he deserves to be prosecuted for alleged crimes he may have committed. What I hope though is that he is acquitted and shown to be innocent. That is the situation in which I said it will be in the interest of the greater good and mostly for the reason I gave at the end of my original post.
As far as any Democrat actually pushing for development of our resources, such as ANWR or the Pebble Mine, you can bet your ass that will not happen. Because they all think doing so will hurt the environment.
However.. adherence to environmental regulations is something the oil companies and mining companies have really shown they can be good at now. They are good. Exxon's spill was a long time ago and since then there have been great strides towards being 'green' and developing our resources safely and cleanly...
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
Ted Stevens MIGHT be convicted. Until then he is innocent until proven guilty.
The summary didn't say he was convicted, it said he was indicted.
He might not be the most technologically savvy senator in the USA but he certainly has done a great deal for the state, much more than any other politician.
At MY expense, since I don't live in Alaska.
Our state certainly needs to rid itself of corruption.
Not mine; mine needs MORE corruption, so we can get rid of state taxes and have the rest of the nation pay our way like yours does.
If Stevens is convicted it will be a sad day
Only for Alaskans; everyone else in the nation will benefit.
Instead, the damage comes from the hurt this does to the Republican party in Alaska. You know, the people who want to explore and develop our natural resources like oil, gold and copper. Now that is unlikely to happen.
You say that like it's a bad thing. Some of us would like at least a little of our nation left unexploited, and a little of the oil, gold, and copper to be left to our decendants.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
No. What he's saying is that he did a great amount of good in the first 35 years of his senate career, and then went a bit overboard toward the end.
He did a good job of convincing the Senate that Alaska was important to the nation as a whole, and that it required a disproportionate amount of federal funding (in comparison to the population) to fulfill this role. Alaska supplies most of our domestic oil, and is of considerable military importance. I don't doubt any of these things, and didn't mind my tax dollars being spent this way.
Unfortunately, he found that he had an innate ability to convince the senate to spend money on his state, and let more than a few frivolous projects through. Fortunately, the federal government has a good system of checks and balances in place, and these were mostly blocked.
Honestly, I think he's just getting old and senile.
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
Uhm, oh I don't know... maybe the part about him being corrupt?
Is this a trick question?
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
But how damn little it takes to buy them that shocks me. FTFA, it seems you can buy an Alaska State Senator for about $2,000 and lunch. The Speaker of the House will cost you less than $10,000. And this is to do favors worth millions if not billions to those doing the bribing. Definitely low-rent sleazeballs.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
Wow, you must have some serious perception skills because I couldn't determine the ideology of Dekortage by his comment.
adherence to environmental regulations is something the oil companies and mining companies have really shown they can be good at now. They are good.
Gah. Horsepuckey. Didn't BP just settle some big lawsuit over letting a few gallons of oil run all over the ground due to an utter lack of maintenance?
Where I live, we have mercury in our rivers because the mining companies have all gone 'bankrupt' leaving the taxpayers with the mess.
Anyway, that statement alone is enough to cast serious doubt on everything else you said. Basically, your position as as long as it's a Republican crook, it's OK with you.
You are familiar with the concept that some crimes are worse than others and are punished differently because of this? I.E. "petty theft" carries a lesser punishment than "premeditated murder".
Both are crimes and both should have punishment. But I never said 'some laws don't really matter.'
Seriously, what is it with Slashdot today? Did the morons just crawl out from under their rocks and jump up on their high horses?
I am sick and tired of people like you who put words into other people's mouths and pretend like that's what the other person said. You're so annoying. How do I get rid of you? Seriously, tell me how. That would make life so much better.
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
You don't seem to comprehend what you have written. Think about what you write before you blame others for having reading comprehension.
You said that "He should of course take the blame for his actions". But you also said "If Stevens is convicted it will be a sad day."
Does not compute. If you are guilty of doing something wrong (I know he hasn't been actually convicted yet, but that's up for the juries/evidence to show), then YOU SHOULD BE CONVICTED.
Seems to me you're saying that if it's shown that he's guilty, he should get off.
Seems to me you didn't comprehend your own post.
i am a soviet space shuttle
Being indicited is nothing. Yet. Once convicted, either W or McCain will pardon him, if they are in office. Considering that the pubs appear to have interesting item on the dems (why would the dems, most of all waxman, not lift the gag order on Sibel Edmunds), even Obama might pardon him.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
I never said removing corruption doesn't matter.
However, you stated quite clearly that if he were acquitted, it would greatly benefit the state. The implication is pretty clear there.
Of course you never said it -- like any good politician, you've managed to state your opinion... almost... maybe... but never quite, so that you can always claim "I never said that."
The fact that you also say that it would be a good thing to remove corruption is sending mixed messages.
And regarding 'pork barrel projects' maybe you should read my last paragraph as to why I think this is a bad thing.
Let's look, shall we?
Instead, the damage comes from the hurt this does to the Republican party in Alaska. You know, the people who want to explore and develop our natural resources like oil, gold and copper.
That actually would tend to support more pork, not less, unless I'm missing something.
Never mind the environmental implications, or the fact that there actually isn't really enough there to significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil...
Again, I realize you haven't said it. But your post seems to be very much hinting that you would rather the man goes free, guilty or not, in order to help your state more -- and purely financially.
It doesn't take a "liberal extremist" to see that. It might even have been what you intended.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
I'm not getting it. Anyone care to enlighten me?
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
Members of Congress are more likely to be indicted than lose an election.
And, of course, unless he either gets convicted or goes the "spend more time with my family" route, he'll win re-election in spite of this.
You misspelled "incompetent."
Why do you have to label everyone and everything a liberal? It makes me sad that everyone has to be so partisan these days. It is like people actually believe the things that Rush Limbaugh says...which is scary to me. He is a polarizing force that skews things so that everything is the fault of the scary "liberals". Which is stupid, considering the Republicans have been in power and actually held the presidency, the house, and the senate simultaneously and still did nothing. This polarization crap is just like religion fanatics going at it. It reminds me of the guy who went and started to shoot up a church because the "liberal movement" was destroying the country. Seriously, we are all just people. We may have different views but we aren't going to get anywhere if we blame everything wrong in the world on liberalism or conservatism.
Support a great indie game: http://www.abaddon360.com
Hey. I have views that would be considered liberal, but I understood what you said.
Stop using false dichotomies.
It's a shame if he committed those crimes, not a shame that he gets convicted. saying it's a shame he gets convicted implies you would rather he wasn't convicted.
OTOH, you clearly listen to too much Rush.
"extremist liberal "
What the hell is that?
"The Liberals are going to run wild for a time, unchecked"
Wha? are you just stupid? I don't think so, but that statement makes no sense.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I love that all the conservatives think I'm a liberal, and all the liberals think I'm conservative.
Anyway, you wrote: "Our state certainly needs to rid itself of corruption. If Stevens is convicted it will be a sad day. What he is charged with is so petty compared to the greater good he has done that will be a crying shame. And entirely his fault. He should of course take the blame for his actions. But that doesn't change the fact that it will hurt the state MORE if he is convicted... the damage comes from the hurt this does to the Republican party in Alaska."
I read you as follows:
Do I have that right?
If so, you are saying, in essence, that as long as he keeps the money [benefits, improvements, etc.] flowing, you are willing to overlook [forgive, sideline, ignore, etc.] lies and deception for the greater good of the Republican party [you]. Right?
$nice = $webHosting + $domainNames + $sslCerts
When both sides have the same message and the same tactics I guess you're the fool for believing either side is in the right all the time.
And in all honesty, the goings on of one or a small number of people within a party shouldn't sway you too far. If that was the case you wouldn't bother with politics at all.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
What he is charged with is so petty compared to the greater good he has done that will be a crying shame.
So, you're saying... as long as he keeps the money flowing to you, you are willing to overlook lies and deception? Do you think he's clean as a whistle in all his other dealings, too?
Hypothetically... if I had my own private genie, devil, lobbyist, or politician, I wouldn't care squat what they did on their own time as long as they conned everyone else into giving me more resources for less effort.
Fuck y'all.
No, seriously, fuckyouverymuch, kthnxbi.
Reason:
Everybody Outside (that's "not in Alaska", for those Outsiders) likes to yap about Ted "Tubes" Stevens and squawk about how corrupt Alaska is and how we build bridges to nowhere bridgetonowherebridgetonowherebridgetonowhereblahblahblahblahblah, and then lament how we can be so stupid as to keep electing him.
Why do you think that happens?
This is because 70% of the land of Alaska is locked up by the federal government. This is because we have unprecedented interference in our industries and development by the federal government. This is because everybody and their dog has an opinion about ANWR, when the simple truth is that it's as much the business of Outsiders what Alaskans do with ANWR as it is Alaskan's business what development plans are in New York, Los Angeles, or Texas.
The simple truth is that Ted Stevens has been sent back repeatedly because he is effective at ensuring that Alaskans get overrun as little as possible by the Will of the People (who live SOMEWHERE ELSE), and that when they must bow to the Will of the People From Somewhere Else, that those peolpe pay mightily for the privilege. Ted Stevens has never pretended to have any other mission in the Senate, in fact.
Incidentally: most of the charges in this case are bullshit, as anybody who thinks about it for a minute can tell you; in a state that is "sparsely populated", exactly how many choices of company do you have for things like home construction? Very few. Who benefits from legislation? Likewise very few people. There are not that many people in these circles; it's difficult to avoid "benefiting" one of them.
The unvarnished truth: this is a political attack by Outside Democrats, designed to "take out" Ted Stevens, that has been ongoing for some time, pure and simple.
+5, Funny
Of the man who said the Internet is a series of tubes, being indicted for making false statements?
If we are willing to INDICT for making false claims about tubes, we should IMPEACH for making false claims about WMDs.
and maybe severity.
There is nothing particularly hypocritical in denouncing, what you think is an awful idea, while milking it for as long as it is forced upon you anyway.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
No, he is entitled to be treated by the legal system as if innocent until proven guilty (and even that is really just a loose way of saying he is entitled not be subjected to criminal punishment until and unless he is convicted.) He is not factually innocent until proven guilty, nor are individual citizens legally or morally obligated not to express their opinions about his guilt or innocence or the severity of the offenses they believe he has committed unless he is convicted.
Can we really blame him for losing some financial information? I mean it's not his fault when that information gets lost along with the internet sent by his staff.
Many people, regardless of their "party" or lack thereof, are fiscally conservative
Every time I hear someone say my fellow Americans are fiscally conservative I get a good laugh out of it. You must have missed out on the whole mortgage crisis and the fact that 43% of Americans spend more than they make thus continuing their slide into debt and eventual bankruptcy.
America is such a fiscally conservative country that we bailout banks to the tune of 25 billion dollars , repeatedly bailed out airlines for a couple of dozen billion every couple of decades, bailed out S&L associations costing the American taxpayer another 124 billion, subsidize the agricultural industry at 16 billion dollars a year.
I could make this even worse by mentioning the costs of needlessly invading Iraq in search of WMD or talk about all the wonderful pork projects and "terror funding" that gets wasted but there are people who have written books on the subject and detail this much better than I ever could.
I think the invisible hand of the market has its middle finger extended
--A wise old fart named SC0RN
If he ever serves a day in prison (unlikely), it will be in some minimum security prison where the only rape is to the taxpayers who have to pay the cable bill. Rich Republicans never pay for crimes they commit. Even when it looks like they might, they just find some slick way out of it (like Ken Lay, who killed himself so his wife and family could keep every dime of his stolen money).
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Dude, they STILL haven't upgraded the entire fleet to double hull designs which was known to be a necessary precaution back in the 1950's! They also still routinely flare off gas instead of capturing it and either processing it or returning it to the wells. The oil companies ain't anywhere near green.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
Uh, theft in office or graft are among the most serious of crimes in a republic as they erode the foundation of good government. Anyone who doesn't think so is simply an idiot too blinded by their own greed to think of what's best for society. I don't care what side of the aisle you are on, if you are a dirty politician I want you out of office and into a jail cell asap.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
(like Ken Lay, who killed himself so his wife and family could keep every dime of his stolen money).
That's called an Aspen Pardon. Take one for the family, and they become untouchable.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
If only there were a word for "schadenfreude"
The Senate's rules require that Stevens immediately give up his committee chairs or "ranking member" status that gives him privileges in controlling most Senate business:
Indictments should be a lot more common for that gang of crooks.
--
make install -not war
I may be a conservative, but after watching in disgust when he made his impassioned plea to save his Bridge to Nowhere from the Ax of Excess, and how he'd have to leave the Senate if that piece of governmental waste was cancelled, I was shouting at the TV: "DO IT! DO IT! PLEASE DO IT! GET HIM OUT OF THERE NOW!"
Unfortunately they bowed to his threat at the time.
If the Democrats were as hard on their elected politicians as I was on this one, we could have a much better Congress than we have now. Having someone as a member of your own party doesn't make them wonderful. Sometimes they're just embarassing.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
And this, my friends, is how crooks get re-elected to office.
Most government employees have to report a gift of any size. A company I used to work for had a change-box next to the fridge with the soda's, but no body ever put any money in. I asked about that one day and they said the box was for their government customers who aren't allowed to accept anything of value, even a simple can of soda (so they paid for it instead).
If I recall there was a governor that was visiting with Edwards (back when he was still running for president) who had to turn down breakfast or coffee or something because he wasn't allowed to accept gifts. Now there was a man with some freaking ethics.
I've always known Senators and Representatives are corrupt (voting themselves a 15% pay raise when the rest of the country can't afford to fill up their gas tanks), but not having to report $10,000 gifts?
Eggs
Milk
Bread
Cat Litter
Soda
...so they can convict him before GW is out of office so he can get pardoned.
People who say "money does not buy happiness" are just people without money trying to make themselves feel better.
Uhm, oh I don't know... maybe the part about him being corrupt?
Is this a trick question?
Sorry, but the rest of your comments did not lead me to believe you were sad he risks being convicted due to corruption, but rather you were sad Alaska would lose a powerful Senator. Really, you've complained about others' reading comprehension, but when I re-read your comments it looks to me like you didn't exactly explain yourself very well. It would seem most responders are thinking the same.
But your comments about "extreme liberals" shows a bend towards extremism yourself. You don't really give a shit who's in office as long as they are for 100% resource exploitation. Would you care to see beautiful Alaska after a hundred years of that? There must be some checks, somewhere, regardless of which "party" you belong.
And, personally, I'm damned sick and tired of Limbaugh-lemmings! Not everybody who is concerned about the environment and how we take care of the planet for our ancestors is a crazy person. I've worked on environmental cleanup jobs--the result of mining gone amok. You'd be one of those, concerned only for his immediate profit? Sure, mine all the gold and oil without care of concern for shit except how big a house and car you can obtain? Please
-Aaron
Stevens is one of the half dozen or so Republican senators in danger of losing his seat in the 2008 election. Nothing would be more satisfying than to see him get thrown out of the senate and straight into prison. There's also an added bonus: If he loses his seat, then there's no political reason for the Republicans to try and help with his defence.
I came here for a good argument
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=129216
The only alternative regulators can be either a king or a deity. The former means totalitarianism and the latter — "encroachment of religion upon government". Make your pick.
Pitting politicians against other politicians may be "flawed", but it is the best known solution... Not that their believe in deities is bad — I just wish there was more of that.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
You chose such a fine example for your arguement; Nixon. Gee, how would we have gotten along without him, watergate, vietnam?
Tricky Dick FTL!
Grandpa: My Homer is not a communist. He may be a liar, a pig, an idiot, a communist, but he is not a porn star.
My grandfather bounced off a car and kept driving when he was 91. At his license revocation hearing, he was frankly honest in sharing his feelings with the judge and earned a weekend in the county jail. Sort of embarrassing since his nephew was the recently retired chief of police.
... and is it me, or is it almost entirely a hate-inspired circle jerk? It really sickens me to be honest.
Not mine; mine needs MORE corruption, so we can get rid of state taxes and have the rest of the nation pay our way like yours does.
More federal taxes are collected from Alaska than paid back to Alaska. The residents of Alaska pay taxes in oil they own that is extracted, reducing the wealth of residents every year. The sale of that oil pays for the government, so taxes aren't needed. It isn't the feds bankrolling the state.
Learn to love Alaska
this is a senator who has served for over half a decade in office. is anyone in alaska still awake/alive? one might even question if alaska still exists at all?! im guessing he still got the money for "berry research" in alaska...ill wait in excitement till i get to buy the first box of alaskan strawberries. imho: worst. senator. ever.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Just because you've bought into the whole "cheap cynicism is cool" BS
"The power of accurate observation is often called 'cynicism' by those who do not have it." (attributed to George Bernard Shaw)
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
"And while I've brought up the subject, have you called your representative about a term limit law?"
If you want term-limits, contacting your representative is not a useful way to go about getting them. If the people really want term limits, it needs to be a Constitutional amendment, brought by the legislatures of the States, and not from within Congress itself - representatives will never vote themselves term limits.
"The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments , which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress;"
So, I suppose you might be right that people should contact a 'representative', but it should be your state legislature representative, not your US Rep or Senator.
Ooh nice. Mod points as usual, never around when you would like to use them. It would be kind of cool to have one daily mod point available, rather than the sporadic five. Popunders BTW, I do not seem to get if Firefox.
"There is nothing to do it. But to do it." -Floyd Pepper
I have a cousin named Ted. He is good. You know, there is just something about that name that makes people innocent.
Should be article in sentence somewhere.
Even if you insert "having" before "a given career", it's ambiguous as to exactly whose career you mean. And that should be "given", not "give".
At least I confine myself to using words that actually exist.
False dichotomy. Logically, your posts being shit and the rest of slashdot being shit are not mutually exclusive. Empirically, both appear to be true. Epigrammatically, 90% of anything is shit.
5th grade doesn't count, no matter how many years you spent in it.
It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.