"Bribe Menu"

Posted by on February 27, 2006 at 03:10 PM

ABC News:

Prosecutors call it a corruption case with no parallel in the long history of the U.S. Congress. And it keeps getting worse. Convicted Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham actually priced the illegal services he provided.

Prices came in the form of a "bribe menu" that detailed how much it would cost contractors to essentially order multimillion-dollar government contracts, according to documents submitted by federal prosecutors for Cunningham's sentencing hearing this Friday. [...]

The sentencing memorandum includes the California Republican's "bribery menu" on one of his congressional note cards, "starkly framed" under the seal of the United States Congress.

The card shows an escalating scale for bribes, starting at $140,000 and a luxury yacht for a $16 million Defense Department contract. Each additional $1 million in contract value required a $50,000 bribe.

Maybe there is no parallel in the overt stupidity displayed by ex-Congressman Cunningham and his enablers in the Republican controlled Congress, but when it comes to the size and scope of the evil deeds, stay tuned. People ask all the time "why would these people need so much campaign cash if they are consistently re-elected by overwhelming margins?" It's cause the most grand pay-to-play scams at the are not just about incumbent protection ... they are about pure unadulterated power at the highest levels of the United States government. It's about being dubbed, "The Mayor of Capitol Hill." It's about being able to flip six seats at once in the 2004 congressional elections in Texas. Of course, in places like, ohhh, let's say the Florida U.S. Senate race, they are about achieving financial parity with a well-liked Democratic incumbent. And yes, in some cases it's about putting greed and purely personal gain above national security. All for things like yachts and mansions other goodies the vast majority of Americans will never even see, let alone alone own. That's why a functioning ethics committee and looking into the public financing of campaigns is so important, and also something you will never see from a Republican party that believes neither in accountability nor oversight.

Comments (7) «

I'd love to see what Cheney and Rove served up on their bribery menu card. How much does it cost for one American port? To carve up a national forest? To get a new and better tax cut five years in a row? To get a no-bid contract?

1
SandyH on February 27, 2006 at 03:46 PM

You know you are crooked when you have the guts to make a bribe menu.

2
KDJ on February 27, 2006 at 05:28 PM

This is the tip of an iceberg that highlights the standard operating procedure of this administration.

Taking your tax payer dollars and throwing it up in the air for Republican criminal operatives, lobbyists and croonies to grab. This is how they did Iraq. This is how they did Katrina.

The USA up for sale to the highest bidder.

3
April on February 27, 2006 at 07:25 PM

Let's add incest to the Republican irresponsibility and incompetence:

Coast Guard Warned of Port Deal Intel Gaps

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer
Tue Feb 28, 4:09 AM ET

WASHINGTON - Republican congressional leaders had hoped to curtail bipartisan outcries over a United Arab Emirates-based company's pending takeover of some U.S. port operations by brokering an agreement for a new investigation of the deal's potential security risks.

Then came the disclosure that the U.S. Coast Guard had raised concerns weeks ago that, because of U.S. intelligence gaps, it could not determine whether the UAE company, DP World, might support terrorist operations.

Bush administration officials say those concerns were addressed and resolved....

In February, the Commerce Committee vetted the appointment of David C. Sanborn of Virginia, a senior DP World executive, to be the new administrator of the Maritime Administration of the Transportation Department.

The White House appointed Sanborn, who worked as DP World's director of operations for Europe and Latin America, to the post Jan. 17, the same day the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States approved the DP World takeover.
Two Democrats, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Bill Nelson of Florida, have vowed to block Sanborn's nomination unless he testifies again before the Commerce Committee.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060228/ap_on_go_ot/ports_security

Let's hope Kerry and Nelson get the Transportation Securetary under oath, so we can find out who in the White House was behind this treasonous act. Someone in a high place sold out our domestic national security for a bribe.

The fact that Frist caved in so fast indicates it's a much bigger scam than we all first suspected. Members of this Republican-controlled Congress are also on the take.

How dare they sell "MY governemnt" to the UAE. What is the cost on Cunningham's bribe menu for treason?

4
SandyH on February 28, 2006 at 07:28 AM

There they go again! Our smart Democrats nailing the truth down so it can't be sold to the highest bidder. Tell us more about this California latest scandal? I knew the Governor had very low ratings but I didn't know other officials had problems with bribs?

5
freeforall on February 28, 2006 at 02:24 PM

Something Has To Be Done? Everywhere you look another crime or questional etics rule has been violated? My God, when will the people put a stop to the Republicans? Our Government can't stand with this much crime happening?

Shout it up the highest mountain? Get the word out? Everyone cry to the Government Officials, STOP,STOP, AND STOP! The Republicans?

6
freeforall on March 1, 2006 at 04:17 PM

I wrote this poem. Please use it in any way that will help people to understand the wrongness of torture and violations of human rights. Please pass it on to others to use.

A Child’s
Pledged of Allegiance to the Flag

When I Was Just a Small Lad
I Looked up So Proud,
I Saw the Stars and Stripes
And I Recited out Loud!

I Pledge Allegiance
My Young Voice Cried,
To the United State of America
And to the Freedom for Which -
So Many Have Died!

I Pledged Allegiance
To the Republic for Which it Stands,
To the One Nation under God
I Folded My Hands!

As I Recited My Pledge
To the Indivisible Country,
I Whispered a Little Prayer
That Really Seemed -
Very Important to Me!

I Was Pledging to a Country
That Promised Liberty and Justice for All,
Not Just for a Few
No ! Really, Really -
They Meant it for All!

So Everyone Can Be Free
We Go to the Polls and Vote,
Everyone Has a Voice
We Proudly Gloat!

No One Is Supposed to Be Left out
We Should All Have a Say,
But I Find That Is Not Always True
I Just Found That out -
Just the Other Day!

I Found That Some of the Meanings
Of the Pledge Have Changed You See,
They No Longer Seem to Mean
The Same Things -
That they First Meant to Me

I Recently Read That an Iraqi
General Had Died,
Around His Face an American Sleeping -
Bag Had Been Tied!

An American Military Officer
Who Also Recited the Pledge Right Along,
Sat on the Generals Chest
Until All of His Air Was Gone!

I Don’t Think it Was
Was the Right Thing for Him to Do.
And I Find Myself Wondering
If He Thought He Was Doing it -
Doing it for Me and for You!

I Wonder Which Clause of the Pledge
He Thought the Generals Death Would Uphold,
Was it an Act under God
Or Was it Liberty and Justice -
For All to Behold!

I Read That Yet More
Of Our Soldiers Across the Sea,
Were Fighting in Afganastan
They Claimed They Were Fighting -
Fighting for You and for Me!

But I Never Recall
Casting a Vote to Tell,
Those Soldiers That They Could Murder
A Prisoner in a Jail Cell!

They Went into His Cell
To Question Him You See,
And While They Were There
They Beat Him -
Unmercifully!

When They Came Back
Some Time Later That Day,
The Found That the Man Was Dead
They Really Felt -
Like They Had Earned Their Pay!

When Their Commander Was Asked
If These Murderers Would Go to Jail,
The Prisoner Could Have Died of Natural Causes
That Was His Tale!

So All of this Makes Me
Makes Me Wonder Some How,
How Did Our Pledge Change
Why Are We the Way -
The Way We Are Now!

Didn’t Enough of Us Go
Go to the Polls and Vote,
Maybe Too Many of Us Just Sat
Just Sat at Home and Gloat!

Or Did We All Decided
That Our Pledge Should Permanently Change,
The Whole Constitution
We Should Conveniently Rearrange!

If We Are Truthfully a Noble Nation
A Nation under God,
Can We Really Give These Murders
An Approving Nod!

If Our Pledge Does Mean
Mean Anything to Us,
Openly These Murders
Our Country Should Discuss!


If We Don’t Believe in Liberty and Justice for All
As the Pledge Does Say,
Then Lets Start Teaching Our Children
The New Words Today!

Liberty and Justice
the New Words Might Be
God Lets Us Kill
If Public Homage -
They Don’t Pay to Me!

I Write this Anonymous Poem
Anonymously You See,
For I Now Fear That My Government
Might Do the Same Thing -
to Me!

7
Arthur on March 1, 2006 at 08:33 PM


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