The Axis Of Stevil Show

Written by Administrator

Sen. Mary Landrieu has announced her intention to vote with her fellow Democrats to move Senator Harry Reid's Healthcare Bill to the floor for debate. Her vote did not, however, come cheap, according to the AP.

Suitably opaque, Section 2006 takes up only a few dozen lines in a sweeping health care bill that runs to 2,074 pages and mentions neither Sen. Mary Landrieu nor her state of Louisiana. But the section's purpose is indisputable: to deliver $100 million or more in federal funds to the state. And in the process clear the way for one of three moderate Democratic fence-sitters — Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas are the others — to help propel the legislation past its initial hurdle in a crucial Saturday vote.

The high asking price, nor the fact that she sold out, should come as no surprise. What is a surprise to me is that she got it. I figured the Senate Ethics Committee had wrapped her vote when they moved to let her off the hook for the last time she sold her vote.

The Senate Ethics Committee has dismissed a complaint that Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., steered a $2 million earmark to a Texas company in return for campaign donations.

G. Andrew Boyd/The Times-PicayuneSen. Mary Landrieu said the campaign contributions had nothing to do with the funding request. The complaint was filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, based on a news story in The Washington Post.

But Landrieu said she supported an appropriation for Voyager Expanded  Learning to provide a reading instruction program for Washington, D.C., schools because the program had been successful in Louisiana and other jurisdictions and the city's students were performing below standard.

She said the campaign contributions from Voyager officials had nothing to do with the funding request. The Senate Ethics Committee, in a letter from its chief counsel and staff director dated Nov. 6, to CREW's executive director, Melanie Sloan, said that the committee "intends no further action with respect to your complaint" and "considers the matter closed."

Ah, yes. Purely coincidental, right? But no deal is a sure thing unless you hang an anvil over the head of the Senator-to-be-bribed later. That's where I had assumed this story came in.

The private watchdog group wants the FEC to investigate a $25,300 donation the Landrieu re-election campaign made to the U.S. Treasury in August 2008.

Mark Elias, a lawyer for her campaign committee, said that the payment was related to donations that ran afoul of campaign finance regulations -- such as exceeding contribution limits or coming from a corporate source. He said the committee decided that sending a check to the treasury to cover the amount of the donations was the best way to handle the matter and described the action as routine.

So to me, it all seemed like the perfect case of Washington politics. Threaten her with action, then make it go away. When she starts to think about straying, bring something else back. Right? Just exactly how inept are these Dems? After all that, you still need to ice her cake with $100 mil? No wonder these clowns were so ticked at Blago. He was so good that he managed to sell the Senate seat after being arrested for trying to sell it.

The Senate Select Committee on Ethics has completed its investigation of Sen. Roland Burris, and his office is trumpeting its finding that he committed no "actionable violations of the law." What his press release didn't mention is that the committee also found he had provided "incorrect, inconsistent, misleading or incomplete information" about his appointment to the Senate. Which is senatorese for, "Pants on fire!"

Where did His Ego fall short of complete truthfulness? He first denied having any contact with Gov. Rod Blagojevich or his representatives about being appointed to Barack Obama's vacant seat. Then he said only that he had talked with the governor's former chief of staff, Lon Monk. At that point, despite its skepticism, the Senate let him be sworn in.

Then, and only then, did Burris amend his earlier testimony to admit contacts with five other Blagojevich cronies. Later yet, he acknowledged conversations with the governor's brother--including one in which (as a wiretap revealed) he promised to donate to the governor's campaign, offered to try to raise money for him, and expressed an intense desire for the Senate job. All of which sounded like a quid pro quo.

 

Wait a second. So it's not a violation of the law to lie to the Senate about an ongoing investigation? And it's not a violation of ethics to accept big donations from a company you are negotiating a huge deal for?  And if it's okay to buy a vote from a sitting Senator, then why isn't it okay to sell a vacated Senate Seat? Isn't turn about fair play? 

And how about Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska? Where did this Joker learn to negotiate? She gets a hundred mil, he gets a pat on the back. Attaboy, Sen. Nelson. I don't know weather to applaud you for at least not being a crook on top of a scumbag, or to laugh at you for being such a moron as to go home broke. Shouldn't the fine folks in Nebraska at least get a trinket for your efforts to enslave their children to pay for Obama Care? One thing is for sure, though. I am damn well glad these Democrats showed up to get rid of that Culture of Corruption in Washington. 

Give me a break!