Fork Tender

With every passing day, Texas Rep. Tom Delay's political future gets a little dimmer. Today, it was announced a former Delay aide, Michael Scanlon has plead guilty to conspiring to bribe public officials and is now cooperating with prosecutors in the case against Delay.

Tom Delay really deserves serious jail time for fostering this culture of corruption between our nation's lawmakers and corporate elitist lobbyists. Tom Delay has used and abused his position as a majority leader to "game the system" and should be punished. It's appalling the House ethics committee is not actively considering its own investigation!

Compassion My Ass!

More poor families & children will grow hungry in 2006, since Pres. Bush & the GOP-led Congress cut over $700 million from this country's food stamp program. Tax cuts for the richest Americans at the expense of our poor. Is this what compassionate conservatism is all about? Our congressional leaders can see fit to waste our taxdollars funding bridges to nowhere, but a starving child isn't worth their concern?

Presidential Props

Am I the only one tired of seeing this President and his administration use our military as props and window dressing to push his agenda? Even during the campaign the President's audiences were carefully vetted & screened beforehand. These appearances were braodcast to a national audience, but the live audience was only the Republican faithful. Even the vehicles were carefully monitored for anti-Bush slogans to weed out the potential "troublemakers". Well placed Republican operatives in the audience quickly pounced on any anti-Bush dissenters with some going as far as claiming to be Secret Service agents. Finally, people are beginning to see the light about this awful administration. With the President's poll numbers sinking faster than the Titanic on open seas.. it will be a pleasure to watch this administration finally sink to the depths of history. The only legacy in Dubya's future is catastrophic failure.

Slime Merchants

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Republican political pundits really are the scum of the earth. It's appalling the things they are saying about Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan. Here is a woman who raised her young son to excel in life, and who served & died in service to his country. And they brand her a traitor!?! Rush Limbaugh denounces her daily. G. Gordon Liddy (Watergate burglar) calls her anti-semitic and a supporter of terrorism. Ann Coulter compares Cindy & Camp Casey supporters to Jane Fonda posing with the Vietcong. Michelle Malkin 'speaks' for Casey Sheehan claiming the dead son would be ashamed of his mother's actions. These thoughts and sentiments are echoed by the likes of Bill O'Reilly, Pat Buchanan, Sean Hannity, Bob Novak, Joe Scarborough, Brit Hume & Faux News, Chris Hutchins, and Matt Drudge. Like vicious sharks, they circle & attack, each exacting their pound of Cindy's flesh.

Casey must have inherited Cindy's courage. The dishonorable are the pundits who smear a patriot's mother.

Charley Remembered

It was a year ago today Hurricane Charley made landfall in Charlotte County. It's not something either myself or my family will easily forget. There are a slew of celebrations marking the day. It started at 7AM with NBC's Today Show broadcast from downtown Punta Gorda. There's a gathering between 1-5PM at Gilcrist Park and a day-long benefit concert starring Grand Funk Railroad, Edgar Winter & Rick Derringer.

And despite the storm, real estate prices have skyrocketed. Homes still bear signs of the carnage. Businesses continue to rebuild. Con men still prey on homeowners trying to rebuild their lives. Family member continue to suffer anxiety and depression.

I'm not sure it's appropriate to celebrate a day that caused so much pain. I won't. I'll just continue to try and rebuild my life without the fanfare.

Honk! Honk!

Who's colorizing?

Novak's Who's Who?

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In a new article, Robert Novak claims he used a Who's Who book to identify former ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame. The Who's Who apparently does list Mrs. Plame as the ambassador's wife, but did not list the CIA as her employer. And despite multiple attempts from the CIA spokesperson to dissuade Mr. Novak from including her intelligence affiliation in his article, Novak persisted.

The more I hear -- the more I'm convinced the Bush Administration was behind a very organized smear campaign against Mr. Wilson for refuting their WMD claims.

They're Creepy & They're Kooky & All Together Spooky!

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A link in today's SludgeReport is an article about the hunt for the demon child for a new "The Omen" remake. If only Matt Sludge, Tom Delay, or Rick Santorum were a little younger! I can't think of three more creepy people on the planet.

Florida's Golden Throne

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I'm not an expert on building highway rest facilities, but $29.7 million seems a steep price to pay for public restrooms, a parking lots, and snack machine vending. At the center of this new controversy is GOP darling and Florida House Speaker Alan Bense. Mr. Bense was being wooed by Washington GOP'ers to challenge Florida Rep. Katherine Harris for Bill Nelson's Senate seat.

On its Web site GAC touts the $29 million rest area project in Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties as one of its biggest and most successful projects. Richard Dodd, president of the company, said GAC finished four rest areas on time and on budget.

The problem is..

State corporate filings as of 2004 show Bense was a vice president of GAC, which has been in business since 1958. Dodd said Bense no longer has that title and rarely has contact with the company. But Bense is still considered a partner in the company and owns about $2.1 million worth of stock -- up $600,000 since he was elected to the Legislature in 1998, according to Bense's financial disclosure reports filed with the state.

Since 2000, Bense's net worth has increased from $7.3 million to $9.6 million.

Here's the link to the article in today's Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

You really begin to wonder who these people work for? Do they have the best interest of Floridians in mind or they trying to use their position of power to accumulate more wealth for themselves?

Even with Florida's Sunshine Laws intact, Mr. Bense apparently has gone out of his way to hide his relationship with GAC and that is really slimy.