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filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 06/29/2009 :  03:25:10  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I have long thought that Democrats were just as big a pack of scoundrels as their Republican counterparts, just more civilized about it. Events seem to be starting prove me correct.
DETROIT (June 27) — City Council member Monica Conyers, the wife of powerful Democratic congressman John Conyers, pleaded guilty Friday to accepting cash bribes in exchange for supporting a sludge contract with a Houston company.

Conyers, a fiery 44-year-old first-term council member, admitted in federal court to a single count of conspiracy to commit bribery, responding quietly to questions from Judge Avern Cohn.
Idiot.

I wonder if this is a harbinger of things to come....




"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts

Posted - 06/29/2009 :  03:59:03   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message  Reply with Quote
"Sludge contract"? What a miserable topic for corruption! I can just imagine Mrs. Conyer's repartee with a fellow Federal prisoner:

Prisoner: "So, what are you in for?"

Conyers: "Sludge contract corruption."

Prisoner: "Say, what?"

Conyers: "I said, sludge contract corruption."

Prisoner: "Sludge? What the Hell is that?"

Conyers: "Well, you know the thick part of sewage?"

Prisoner: "Not personally, but I can imagine, the chunky bits. What about it?"

Conyers: "That's the stuff left over after sewage is processed in a treatment plant to clean up the water in it. It needs to be taken away and somehow disposed of."

Prisoner: "No, shit? I mean, yes, shit. So how did that shit get you imprisoned?"

Conyers: "I got cash kickbacks from a contractor for voting to award them the $47-million-a-year contract to get rid of Detroit's sewage sludge."

Prisoner: "If you want street cred here, don't tell that to anyone else, or you'll be in, uh, deep shit. Trust me on this, girl!"


Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.
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filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 06/29/2009 :  04:20:51   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message  Reply with Quote





"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

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The Rat
SFN Regular

Canada
1370 Posts

Posted - 06/29/2009 :  06:16:47   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit The Rat's Homepage Send The Rat a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Sigh. We on this side of the pond really need to learn from the British when it comes to political scandals. They usually have lots of lurid sexual components and the odd mysterious disappearance.

Meanwhile America has sludge, Canada has Liberal Party handouts to Quebec.

Come back Bill and Monica, we miss you!

Bailey's second law; There is no relationship between the three virtues of intelligence, education, and wisdom.

You fiend! Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the Church? - The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Blackadder II

Baculum's page: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3947338590
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26022 Posts

Posted - 06/29/2009 :  07:36:30   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Sheesh, filthy, it's only been 15 months since Spitzer's scandal. The Dems are just as capable of sleeze as the Reps. Hell, Madoff heavily supported Democratic candidates.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 06/29/2009 :  07:43:18   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Dave W.

Sheesh, filthy, it's only been 15 months since Spitzer's scandal. The Dems are just as capable of sleeze as the Reps. Hell, Madoff heavily supported Democratic candidates.
Yes, the evidence builds, doesn't it? It is said that power corrupts, and the Democrats are back in poewr. I think that we can look forward to yet more sleeze from the Jackass Party.




"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

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Dude
SFN Die Hard

USA
6891 Posts

Posted - 06/29/2009 :  11:23:28   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Dude a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Dave W.

Sheesh, filthy, it's only been 15 months since Spitzer's scandal. The Dems are just as capable of sleeze as the Reps. Hell, Madoff heavily supported Democratic candidates.


The main difference is that a member of the GOP is more likely to have been preaching "values" and "integrity"!

I couldn't care less if they are snorting meth off their boyfriend's ass, fucking three hookers, their sister, and their pet goat on fridays... The hypocrisy is what makes them scumbags, imo.



Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson

"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin

Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth
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Chippewa
SFN Regular

USA
1496 Posts

Posted - 06/29/2009 :  12:28:35   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Chippewa's Homepage Send Chippewa a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I think I've observed one interesting anecdotal side-effect of 10 years of previous Republican lock-step voting and sneakiness vs. Democratic conciliatory hesitations and sloppiness:

When a Democrat does or says something dumb or gets caught at something illegal, people tend to figuratively say: "That's a dumb Democrat over there."

But now when a Republican gets caught breaking the law or saying something stupid, people say: "Those Republicans are really dumb."

i.e. - All of them.

Diversity, independence, innovation and imagination are progressive concepts ultimately alien to the conservative mind.

"TAX AND SPEND" IS GOOD! (TAX: Wealthy corporations who won't go poor even after taxes. SPEND: On public works programs, education, the environment, improvements.)
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26022 Posts

Posted - 06/29/2009 :  12:55:41   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Dude: as with filthy's OP, I don't think that Conyers' actions would somehow have been less scumbaggy if she'd said beforehand that she thinks that bribery shouldn't be a crime. That would have eliminated the hypocrisy, but it wouldn't raise my respect for the woman at all (probably the opposite, actually).

Hypocrisy is really just a bonus, for most people. I'd prefer that my elected representatives not be snorting meth, raping goats or having orgies on the weekends. Being a public figure doesn't stop on Friday at 5 PM, and I expect a certain amount of decorum from my government officials. I'd give 'em a break on vacations, however, so long as they're discreet (though the goat raping is still out - the goats cannot consent). So even if they didn't preach against those activities, I'd be rethinking my vote if it turned out some civil servant were doing that sort of stuff on a Saturday night. If he (or she) is hypocritical about it, that just means it'll be more likely that my vote will go to someone else.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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Dude
SFN Die Hard

USA
6891 Posts

Posted - 06/29/2009 :  14:53:10   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Dude a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Dave W.

Dude: as with filthy's OP, I don't think that Conyers' actions would somehow have been less scumbaggy if she'd said beforehand that she thinks that bribery shouldn't be a crime. That would have eliminated the hypocrisy, but it wouldn't raise my respect for the woman at all (probably the opposite, actually).

Hypocrisy is really just a bonus, for most people. I'd prefer that my elected representatives not be snorting meth, raping goats or having orgies on the weekends. Being a public figure doesn't stop on Friday at 5 PM, and I expect a certain amount of decorum from my government officials. I'd give 'em a break on vacations, however, so long as they're discreet (though the goat raping is still out - the goats cannot consent). So even if they didn't preach against those activities, I'd be rethinking my vote if it turned out some civil servant were doing that sort of stuff on a Saturday night. If he (or she) is hypocritical about it, that just means it'll be more likely that my vote will go to someone else.

Corruption and stealing prettymuch makes anyone in an elected office a hypocrit when they do it. No one advocates for taking bribes conpromising public interest on the campaign trail.

Mostly I was responding to the various sex "scandals" of the last 20 years. I really don't care who or what they are fucking (as long as it isn't children). But when one of them stands up and preaches about family values, integrity, honesty, and all that.... and then gets busted flying to Argentina on the taxpayer's dime to cheat on his wife, that makes them much worse than the guy who just wanted some strange on weekends.

The cheating, lying, philandering, and fucking anything that will hold still long enough is human nature. None of that really bothers me much, even the lying as long as it is limited to personal activities (like: "I didn't fuck the fatty! Honest!"). The hypocrisy though, that sets my teeth to grinding and makes me want to cuss more than usual.


Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson

"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin

Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth
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