"It is easier for a man to be loyal to his club than to his planet; the bylaws are shorter, and he is personally acquainted with the other members." — E. B. White, 1899 - 1985.
I found the above quote today and I suppose it makes a good epigraph to any article about cronyism. But should I write about the Florida GOP's spending scandal? Or the cozy relationship between the oil companies and the Bush administration which brought us the de-regulations that lead to this ongoing oil spill?
Or maybe I'll just sit back and enjoy my new TV for the rest of the night. Yeah, I'll probably do that.
He's an Orange County Assemblyman, R-Yorba Linda, who did not realize his microphone was on while he was bragging about having sex with two women who were not his wife.
Wow, this scandal certainly has some very juicy quotes:
“She wears little eye-patch underwear,” said Duvall, who is married with two children. “So, the other day she came here with her underwear, Thursday. And so, we had made love Wednesday–a lot! And so she’ll, she’s all, ‘I am going up and down the stairs, and you’re dripping out of me!’ So messy!”
Gross! Republicans really don't believe in condoms!
But let's get to what the real malfeasance is here. Duvall, the vice-chairman of the Committee on Utilities and Commerce, was literally in bed with Sempra Energy's lobbyist.
The Courage Campaign is calling on the Attorney General to investigate Duvall. This isn't about the sex. It's about the corruption.
"Hot Mike" Duvall is yet another Republican lawmaker who will defend the "sanctity of marriage" but not the sanctity of democracy.
First he was lost and now he is found. This new Mark Sanford show is better than that old Jon & Kate crap.
When the South Carolina governor went incommunicado for a seven days, his staff happily told us he was vacationing out in the wilderness... probably praying and possibly naked. If it turned out this upright Republican was a weekend nudist then the story would have been interesting enough.
Ends up the governor was in Argentina breaking up with his mistress.
His confession and tears are a little insincere. He was caught by a reporter at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta after changing his flight plans in order to avoid the press. If he could have gotten away with this liaison, he would have.
Hypocrisy and sex scandals are nothing new of course, but let's see how FOX News tries to spin this one:
Anyway, some legislators are talking about impeaching Mark Sanford. I'm hoping they do it for the right reasons -- not because of his affair, but because he shirked his duties as governor by being out of contact with his office.
And if they can't impeach the guy, well maybe Mr. Conservative can run for president in 2012?
"It is only when the tide goes out, that you know who was swimming naked." — Warren Buffett
Last year as we lurched from one financial crisis to the next, we learned painful lessons about what happens when regulators destroy regulations. So I hardly blinked last December when some guy named Bernie Madoff was charged with perpetrating what may be the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person.
But how messy could it be? How did it go on? Was some regulator asleep at his desk maybe? Nobody answered the phone at the SEC? Here are a few crazy articles that summarize the mess:
Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC was examined at least eight times in 16 years by the SEC and other regulators. Regulators failed to uncovering the alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme that may have begun in the 1970s.
In 2003, a team from France's Société Générale’s investment bank spotted the risks and put Madoff's firm on their internal blacklist. The bank kept the discovery to itself though.
In 2005, Harry Markopolos, an independent financial fraud investigator, submitted a report to the SEC which listed 29 red flags and stated it was highly likely that "Madoff Securities is the world's largest Ponzi Scheme."
Madoff's "official" three-person based auditing firm, Friehling & Horowitz, had only one active accountant. An employee from a nearby business claims the only man using the Friehling & Horowitz's building stays "for 10-to-15 minute periods, and wears tight pants and tie-dyed shirts."
Finally in 2008, Madoff confessed to his two sons that his investment advisory business was indeed “a giant Ponzi scheme.” The sons, Andrew and Mark, turned Madoff in to U.S. authorities on the night of Dec. 10.
So this week, the House Financial Services Subcommittee is holding hearings on the investment scheme. You can watch Markopolos's testimony on the CSPAN web site, but here is a rather interesting bit (if video doesn't show, click here):
The scary part is in the last minute. Could it be true that WSJ reporters feared Madoff so much that they would not get on a plane to interview Markopolos regarding the fraud? And Markopolos also feared for his own safety. Wow.
But I admit that I'm viewing this investigation from such a remote position. Putting aside six degrees from Kevin Bacon jokes, I don't know anybody on Madoff's investors list. Many of those clients are charities. Banks have been hit hard too. But I can't feel sorry for those who invested because they knew Madoff was cheating.
Certainly there is no shame in being rich. But what if you get rich by cheating the poor and the elderly? Or by running sweatshops, waging wars, selling poison or any of a million other evils. Why is there no shame in that? Of course somebody profited from this mess, and I predict those people will go on to sell books and give expensive lectures regarding ethical and legal quandaries. A small group gets rich, while the whole country bails them out.
In other news, Bill Gates released a jar of mosquitoes at the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference in Long Beach, Calif. If the room had been full of bloodless Wall Street investors, those poor mosquitoes would have starved to death.
Another new scandal, and if the charges are true, this is impeachable.
And in response to this news, I have a question for Nancy Pelosi. How do you do it? How do you stand up there in front of the U.S. House of Representatives? I mean, I heard that it's impossible to walk or even stand if you're spineless!
So why is everybody so shocked over the Verne Troyer sex tape? If case you haven't heard, the 21 second leaked video shows "Mini Me" making out with his former girlfriend, Ranae Shrider. There is supposed to be more to the video, but Verne is suing TMZ to stop the distribution, and he is also seeking $20 million in damages.
But what's with all the freaked out online commentary? Is anybody really shocked that a Hollywood actor gets laid? Or am I just reading the rantings of frustrated, dateless bloggers home alone on a Friday night?
Remember the US Attorney Purge Scandal? It was a scheme by the Bush administration to turn the Department of Justice into a Republican re-election machine.
The WSJ reports a development in the scandal. Federal prosecutors are pursuing their first criminal indictment in the case. The focus is on the possible perjury by Bradley Schlozman, the former chief of the Justice Department civil rights division.
So Schlozman does all this stuff to suppress the Democratic votes of minorities... all while heading the civil rights division??? This deserves a big WTF! Then, as his reward, he is the first interim U.S. Attorney to be appointed under a new controversial provision in the revised U.S. Patriot Act (which allowed for an indefinite appointment without Senate confirmation). Keep in mind, Schlozman had no experience as a prosecutor prior to his appointment as US Attorney.
Oh, and let's not forget that while he was head of the civil rights division, he had two minority women transferred out of their jobs in order to "make room for some good Americans." Who put this guy in the civil rights division? Oh yeah, it was Bush.
So although it is good news that this investigation is advancing, there are no guarantees that any criminal charges will be filed. But they should be filed. And the next President might have to open a whole new division of the DoJ just to handle all the criminals from the Bush administration.
