NOTE: this blog is no longer active as of 12/07. New one: http://blog.kirchhof.com
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
Thu, 29 Sep 2005
Our Saga So Far
Nice little summary
article over at CBS:
The indictment sent a shock wave through the GOP establishment, which
is already reeling from a swath of criminal and ethics
investigations. Three individuals, eight corporations and two
political action committees connected to DeLay have been indicted as a
result of the probe. In addition, the government's top procurement
official, David Safavian, was arrested in September for obstructing a
criminal investigation into Über-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a close DeLay
ally. Abramoff himself is under criminal investigation for defrauding
Indian tribes and was indicted for wire fraud in Florida in a separate
case. Top White House aides, including Karl Rove and Scooter Libby,
have been targeted by a special prosecutor investigating the outing of
CIA agent Valerie Plame. Representative Duke Cunningham announced he
would not run for re-election after overselling his house for $700,000
to a military industry lobbyist; he too has been indicted. FDA chief
Lester Crawford resigned unexpectedly after just two months on the
job, possibly because of failure to report his wife's sizable
pharmaceutical-industry holdings. And DeLay's Senate counterpart, Bill
Frist, is battling possible insider-trading charges for dumping
millions in HCA stock, a company founded by his father and run by his
brother, weeks before it plunged in value. The U.S. Attorney in
Manhattan and the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an
investigation into Frist and HCA in September.
Politics is fun again, children...
Posted at 20:06 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Very Interesting Indeed
A sharp-eyed Walt Starr over at Daily
Kos makes a pretty compelling case that Tom Delay is not going to
put up a defense against the indictment.
Why? Read the indictment snippit over there; the two camps have
obviously been talking for quite some time. Tom Delay voluntarily
waived his rights to invoke the stauatory limit of three years for
the conspiracy charges
prior to the indictment being handed down. It's therefore
pretty logical to assume that (a) Ronnie has him, cold, (b) Ronnie has
him on prosecutable crimes much more serious than conspiracy, and (c)
Delay decided that he'd better cut his losses and plea bargain.
I wonder if Delay agreed to jail time? (He certainly agreed to
cooperate. They don't do plea bargains without a cooperation clause
clearly spelled out.) Who else is going to be on the chopping block?
How far is the net being cast?
Stay tuned. This is turning into the Super Bowl and the World
Series of political prosecution all rolled up into one. That rumble
you hear is likely a political earthquake. Wouldn't surprise me if our
humble little Travis County D.A. is well on his way to being a
world-wide household name.
Go Ronnie.
...
[Update] The Federal penalties for money laundering (US CODE: Title 18,1956. Laundering of monetary
instruments), for example, are "a fine of not more than $500,000 or
twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, whichever
is greater, or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both."
I suspect that Mr. Delay's problems have been compounded mightily
by the so-called PATRIOT act that he ramrodded through Congress four
years ago. Heck, check section (7)(D) of the above for an eye-glazing
laundry list of the ways you can get into trouble. Pun intended.
Watch for Delay's emanant transformation into a civil libertarian,
our heroic protector of individual rights.
Posted at 19:10 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Talking Points
Okay, gang, Now that Fox is using terms like "intensely partisan"
and "renegade prosecutor" and "political crackpot" every five minutes,
be sure to mention the facts when
your favorite repug republican starts shedding
crocodile tears and whining about Ronnie Earle's "witch hunt:"
"During his long tenure, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle
has prosecuted many more Democratic officials than Republicans. The
record does not support allegations that Earle is prone to partisan
witch hunts." This assertion supports Earle's own claim about his
record; a March 6 article in the El Paso Times reported: "Earle says
local prosecution is fundamental and points out that 11 of the 15
politicians he has prosecuted over the years were Democrats."
To quote Ronnie himself: "This is not about Democrats and
Republicans. It is about cops and robbers. This is an investigation of
a crime."
And guess what? It isn't going to cost you $85 million, it isn't
going to end in a big "never mind", and it has nothing to do with sex
between consenting adults.
Gotta love it.
Delay: done.
Rove: near done.
Frist: near done.
Bush: over1, done, fried, skewered, roasted, eviscerated, etc. He
doesn't have the juice to run a resolution saying that 'kittens are
cute' through Congress now.
[1] Well, that is, "over" except for the ten trillion dollar debt that
we'll all be paying for until our grandkids have turned to dust.
Posted at 13:05 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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$100 Laptop
Via Slashdot:
"MIT is showing off a prototype of a $100 laptop. It uses a 500MHz
AMD processor, stores everything on flash memory, and runs Linux. The
AC adapter acts as the carrying strap, and there is a hand crank so if
you can't find a source of electricity you can charge it
kinetically. The prototype laptop is also much more flexible and
durable than your average notebook. In addition the unit has a screen
that has a special daylight-friendly black & white mode that makes a
great ebook." From the article: "Nicholas Negroponte, the co-founder
of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
detailed specifications for a $100 windup-powered laptop targeted at
children in developing nations. Negroponte, who laid out his original
proposal at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in
January, said MIT and his nonprofit group, called One Laptop Per
Child, is in discussions with five countries--Brazil, China, Thailand,
Egypt and South Africa--to distribute up to 15 million test systems to
children."
It's nice to see things like this every now & then. Some people
actually use their brain to help other people.
Posted at 12:36 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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