Icebox Willie's Time Runs Out
Can you believe the Bush Justice Department is actually going to throw the book at Louisiana Donk Congressman William "Icebox Willie" Jefferson?:
Tsk. What got into the "incompetent" Bush Justice Department all of a sudden? Did their testicles suddenly descend? This doesn't sound at all like the "New Tone" in action. I'd think they'd be more forgiving, in a "boys will be...." well, [*ahem*] more forgiving, anyway. I wonder how long it'll take for the President to get on the horn to Speedy and tell him to call the posse off of his "good buddy from the Bayou". Heck, if Dubya really makes such phone calls like the Dems claim, why would they complain about bipartisan application?
I also wonder how stupid ex-House Speaker Denny Hastert feels right now as he wallows in his self-inflicted obscurity brought about in part by idiotic stunts like his, er, "stout" defense of Icebox Willie last year against the FBI raid of Jefferson's Capitol Hill office.
I do not, however, wonder if Hastert's bats-in-the-belfry successor, Crazy Nancy Pelosi, is feeling the slightest bit sheepish over having put Jefferson on the Homeland Security and Small Business Committees after having been forced to remove him from the Ways & Means Committee last summer during the Dems' "Republican culture of corruption" midterm campaign harangue. Democrats love corruption as long as they have a monopoly on it, and they could care less about ethics other than as a cynical partisan truncheon. Last November it served its purpose, winning them control of both houses of Congress. It is now null & void, such that this spectacular illustration of the REAL "culture of corruption" will disappear from the press like a belch in a hurricane. Jefferson will most likely be backed to the hilt by his colleagues, keeping all his committee assignments, unless he's convicted, in which case he'll vanish like a trap-door opened beneath him. And don't think a conviction is a foregone conclusion; Jefferson's legal team will undoubtedly play the race card against the "racist" Bush prosecutors, giving the "New Orleans saint" plenty of opportunity to "speak the truth to power" and whatnot.
It'd be nice if Republicans would serve up a taste of the Dems' own "culture of corruption" medicine, in fist-down-their-throat fashion, but one-way streets don't go both directions.
Still, even the indictment is more than I ever expected. If Icebox Willie does even 235 hours of community service, it'll be a moral victory.
Louisiana congressman William Jefferson received more than $500,000 in bribes and sought millions more in nearly a dozen separate schemes to enrich himself by using his office to broker business deals in Africa, according to a federal indictment Monday.
The charges came almost two years after investigators raided Jefferson's home in Washington and found $90,000 in cash stuffed in his freezer.
The indictment lists 16 counts, including racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice and conspiracy. He faces a possible maximum sentence of 235 years.
He is the first U.S. official to face charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits corporate bribery overseas.
Jefferson, through his lawyer, claimed innocence. He will be arraigned Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.
Tsk. What got into the "incompetent" Bush Justice Department all of a sudden? Did their testicles suddenly descend? This doesn't sound at all like the "New Tone" in action. I'd think they'd be more forgiving, in a "boys will be...." well, [*ahem*] more forgiving, anyway. I wonder how long it'll take for the President to get on the horn to Speedy and tell him to call the posse off of his "good buddy from the Bayou". Heck, if Dubya really makes such phone calls like the Dems claim, why would they complain about bipartisan application?
I also wonder how stupid ex-House Speaker Denny Hastert feels right now as he wallows in his self-inflicted obscurity brought about in part by idiotic stunts like his, er, "stout" defense of Icebox Willie last year against the FBI raid of Jefferson's Capitol Hill office.
I do not, however, wonder if Hastert's bats-in-the-belfry successor, Crazy Nancy Pelosi, is feeling the slightest bit sheepish over having put Jefferson on the Homeland Security and Small Business Committees after having been forced to remove him from the Ways & Means Committee last summer during the Dems' "Republican culture of corruption" midterm campaign harangue. Democrats love corruption as long as they have a monopoly on it, and they could care less about ethics other than as a cynical partisan truncheon. Last November it served its purpose, winning them control of both houses of Congress. It is now null & void, such that this spectacular illustration of the REAL "culture of corruption" will disappear from the press like a belch in a hurricane. Jefferson will most likely be backed to the hilt by his colleagues, keeping all his committee assignments, unless he's convicted, in which case he'll vanish like a trap-door opened beneath him. And don't think a conviction is a foregone conclusion; Jefferson's legal team will undoubtedly play the race card against the "racist" Bush prosecutors, giving the "New Orleans saint" plenty of opportunity to "speak the truth to power" and whatnot.
It'd be nice if Republicans would serve up a taste of the Dems' own "culture of corruption" medicine, in fist-down-their-throat fashion, but one-way streets don't go both directions.
Still, even the indictment is more than I ever expected. If Icebox Willie does even 235 hours of community service, it'll be a moral victory.
posted by JASmius at 11:18 PM
<<< Home