Washington's Most Corrupt

Judicial Watch has come up with a list of the top ten most corrupt politicians in DC. and not surprisingly, Senator Clinton is on the top of the list, as well as many other prominant Democrats.

1. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY): In addition to her long and sordid ethics record, Senator Hillary Clinton took a lot of heat in 2007 – and rightly so – for blocking the release her official White House records. Many suspect these records contain a treasure trove of information related to her role in a number of serious Clinton-era scandals. Moreover, in March 2007, Judicial Watch filed an ethics complaint against Senator Clinton for filing false financial disclosure forms with the U.S. Senate (again). And Hillary’s top campaign contributor, Norman Hsu, was exposed as a felon and a fugitive from justice in 2007. Hsu pleaded guilt to one count of grand theft for defrauding investors as part of a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme.

2. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI): Conyers reportedly repeatedly violated the law and House ethics rules, forcing his staff to serve as his personal servants, babysitters, valets and campaign workers while on the government payroll. While the House Ethics Committee investigated these allegations in 2006, and substantiated a number of the accusations against Conyers, the committee blamed the staff and required additional administrative record-keeping and employee training. Judicial Watch obtained documentation in 2007 from a former Conyers staffer that sheds new light on the activities and conduct on the part of the Michigan congressman, which appear to be at a minimum inappropriate and likely unlawful. Judicial Watch called on the Attorney General in 2007 to investigate the matter.

...4. Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA): As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on military construction, Feinstein reviewed military construction government contracts, some of which were ultimately awarded to URS Corporation and Perini, companies then owned by Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum. While the Pentagon ultimately awards military contracts, there is a reason for the review process. The Senate's subcommittee on Military Construction's approval carries weight. Sen. Feinstein, therefore, likely had influence over the decision making process. Senator Feinstein also attempted to undermine ethics reform in 2007, arguing in favor of a perk that allows members of Congress to book multiple airline flights and then cancel them without financial penalty. Judicial Watch’s investigation into this matter is ongoing.

...8. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL): A “Dishonorable Mention” last year, Senator Obama moves onto the “ten most wanted” list in 2007. In 2006, it was discovered that Obama was involved in a suspicious real estate deal with an indicted political fundraiser, Antoin “Tony” Rezko. In 2007, more reports surfaced of deeper and suspicious business and political connections It was reported that just two months after he joined the Senate, Obama purchased $50,000 worth of stock in speculative companies whose major investors were his biggest campaign contributors. One of the companies was a biotech concern that benefited from legislation Obama pushed just two weeks after the senator purchased $5,000 of the company’s shares. Obama was also nabbed conducting campaign business in his Senate office, a violation of federal law.

9. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who promised a new era of ethics enforcement in the House of Representatives, snuck a $25 million gift to her husband, Paul Pelosi, in a $15 billion Water Resources Development Act recently passed by Congress. The pet project involved renovating ports in Speaker Pelosi's home base of San Francisco. Pelosi just happens to own apartment buildings near the areas targeted for improvement, and will almost certainly experience a significant boost in property value as a result of Pelosi's earmark. Earlier in the year, Pelosi found herself in hot water for demanding access to a luxury Air Force jet to ferry the Speaker and her entourage back and forth from San Francisco non-stop, in unprecedented request which was wisely rejected by the Pentagon. And under Pelosi’s leadership, the House ethics process remains essentially shut down – which protects members in both parties from accountability.

10. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV): Over the last few years, Reid has been embroiled in a series of scandals that cast serious doubt on his credibility as a self-professed champion of government ethics, and 2007 was no different. According to The Los Angeles Times, over the last four years, Reid has used his influence in Washington to help a developer, Havey Whittemore, clear obstacles for a profitable real estate deal. As the project advanced, the Times reported, “Reid received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Whittemore.” Whittemore also hired one of Reid’s sons (Leif) as his personal lawyer and then promptly handed the junior Reid the responsibility of negotiating the real estate deal with federal officials. Leif Reid even called his father’s office to talk about how to obtain the proper EPA permits, a clear conflict of interest.

Hillary, Pelosi, Dingy Harry, Feinstein, and Obama. That's a pretty high order list; 2 Presidential hopefuls, the House Speaker, and The Senate Majority Leader.


Also on the list are many prominant Republicans. Rudy Guilliani was ranked #3 for mysteriously billing many NYC agencies during the time when he was beginning an affair while in office. Senator Larry Craig was listed at #5 for his role in the bathroom sex accusations. Scooter Libby was on the list for "leaking" Valerie Plame (even though it was well documented that Richard Armitage actually leaked the name).

Most surprising to me? Arkansas' Golden "Conservative" Mike Huckabee. Here's the quote;

Governor Huckabee enjoyed a meteoric rise in the polls in December 2007, which prompted a more thorough review of his ethics record. According to The Associated Press: “[Huckabee’s] career has also been colored by 14 ethics complaints and a volley of questions about his integrity, ranging from his management of campaign cash to his use of a nonprofit organization to subsidize his income to his destruction of state computer files on his way out of the governor’s office.” And what was Governor Huckabee’s response to these ethics allegations? Rather than cooperating with investigators, Huckabee sued the state ethics commission twice and attempted to shut the ethics process down.

H/T: Stew at The Right Place

Am I The Only One To Find This Hillariously Ironic?

From AP, Via Yahoo!

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden warned Iraq's Sunni Arabs against joining tribal councils fighting al-Qaida or participating in any unity government, in a new Internet audiotape on Saturday.
...Bin Laden said U.S. and Iraqi officials are seeking to set up a "national unity government" joining the country's Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.
"Our duty is to foil these dangerous schemes, which try to prevent the establishment of an Islamic state in Iraq, which would be a wall of resistance against American schemes to divide Iraq," he said.

Did he seriously just say that? Wow. They really are getting desperate.

Democrats: Only Objecting When It Profits Themselves Most

So not only did House Majority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, have previous knowledge of water boarding in 2002, she also did not object. Pelosi was part of a gang of 4 which were present in 30 intelligence meetings discussing the CIA's use of "harsh interrogation methods" and had no objections to the use of water boarding.

Pelosi declined to comment directly on her reaction to the classified briefings. But a congressional source familiar with Pelosi's position on the matter said the California lawmaker did recall discussions about enhanced interrogation. The source said Pelosi recalls that techniques described by the CIA were still in the planning stage -- they had been designed and cleared with agency lawyers but not yet put in practice -- and acknowledged that Pelosi did not raise objections at the time.

PoliPundit sums it up;

Go figure. So, this means the Democrats knew of and did not object to “Bush’s secret prisons.”

This means the Democrats knew of and did not object to “the Bush Administration’s use of torture.”

This means the Democrats have done nothing but politicize the conduct of the war for political gain for the last 3 + years.

Again, hypocrisy is a virtue for the modern left.

Newsbusters is also ALL over it.

Les Miles To Stay In SEC

People didn't believe him when he said he will be LSU's coach next season. People were speculating that "Well, he'll leave after the '08 season. He left the door too open with what he said.

They were wrong. Les is there until at least the 2012 season as his contract has been extended through the 2012 season.


A note from TSN;
" During his three years at LSU, Miles is a gaudy 33-6 and has 14 wins over teams ranked in the top 25, a school record."

14 wins over top 25 teams in just 3 years. One year with 4 wins, and 2 with 5 wins over top 25 teams. Fantastic.

GO LSU! Bring that National Title back to the south for another year! (Side note; So far, the SEC is 3-0 in National Title games since the beginning of the BCS in 1998.)

Well, Doesn't That Suck A Big Fatty

The BBC took a few Muslims out to play paintball (H/T: Malkin) back in February of 2005. I hadn't seen it this way, but apparently paintball is considered a great training device for terrorists.

I mean look at it this way, you get to practice shooting people, and if you get shot yourself, you just try again in the next round.

I've played paintball for going on 4-5 years now, and absolutely love the sport. (I just wish I had more money to play) This sucks to see something like this be corrupted and used for the wrong purposes.

And for your viewing pleasure, the Top 10 Reasons to Date a Paintball Player;
Top 10 reasons to date a paintball player…

10. They like it when they get bruises.
9. They like to show off their guns.
8. They aren’t afraid to sacrifice their body for the better good.
7. They love to see how dirty they can get.
6. They shoot at 300 feet per second.
5. They do it in bunkers.
4. They also do it in the woods.
3. They are up for it 6 or more times a day.
2. They always take care of their equipment.

And the number one reason to date a paintball player...
1. They always wear protection.

Oh Noez! I Missed It!!!

So I went to see the college-ette this weekend (No regrets btw, baby!) and I arrived home to see this on the front page of the TTU Athletics page! AMAZING!!


So here's the scoop of what happened, as accounted by my friend, "The Hunt0r." Person X shoots the ball and it bounces off the rim, then BOTH Daniel Northern and Amadi Mckenzie jump up and double-dunk the ball, shattering the glass into a million pieces. The clean up and replacement took almost an hour.

Pity. Oh well.

Major kudos to the TTU sports photog, Tony Marable. He's the Director of Minority Engineering here at Tech, and is a hell of a guy. Tony is also the adviser of TTU's College Republicans.

If you'd like to see more of his work, you can view it here.