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MY LAI VET SAYS: HERE IT
COMES AGAIN IN IRAQ
Tony Swindell
recalls "Butcher's Brigade" in '69; says "gooks"
have now become "ragheads", every adult male is an
"insurgent" ... atrocities against Iraqi civilians
are soon going to explode in America's face; US Government's courtroom jihads against terror
stumble. Alexander Cockburn on Lodi case where Feds paid $250,000
to man who "saw" world's three top terrorists at mosque.
As neocons
and Israel lobby howl for US to bomb Teheran, an Iranian outlines
simple path to peace. CounterPunch
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In November, the investigation of lobbyist
Jack Abramoff for bribing Congress sent a chill through Washington.
Additional indictments were on the horizon and politicians pledged
to tighten restrictions on lobbying and clean up government corruption.
Backed by powerful voices,
such as Senator Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), listed
by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
as one of the 14 most corrupt members of Congress, leaders of
the House and Senate took bold steps to clean up the corruption.
The House voted overwhelming, 379 to 50, to limit former members
who have become lobbyists access to the House floor and the House
gym. Since this momentous step, which at one time included a
proposal to ban lobbyists from the House lunchroom, the process
sputtered.
"There was some momentum
for sweeping changes after Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty,"
says Craig B. Holman, campaign finance analyst for Public Citizen.
"The Department of Justice has not provided additional indictments
of lawmakers and the fear and momentum for change on Capital
Hill faded away."
A number of prominent Republicans
involved in the Abramoff bribe scandal remain under investigation.
Robert Ney (R-Ohio), head of the House Administration Committee
that oversees federal campaign finance laws, accepted a golfing
trip to Scotland, a gambling junket to London, campaign contributions
and free meals from Abramoff, who persuaded Ney to benefit his
lobbying clients.
In September, a Texas grand
jury indicted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) for funneling
illegal corporate contributions to Texas state elections. The
indictment followed three rebukes from the House ethics committee
for unethical conduct. Delay is being investigated for accepting
payoffs from Abramoff, including skyboxes at sporting events,
flying his staff to the Super Bowl and the U.S. Open, lavish
trips to Saipan, Russia, Korea and London, Broadway shows and
expensive meals.
Abramoff, who raised over $100,000
for Bush, implicated other powerful Republican leaders in Congress,
including: John Doolittle (R-Calif.), who took illegal campaign
funds from Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff; Senator Conrad Burns
(R-Mon.), who received $150,000 in contributions from Abramoff;
and 17 current and former congressional aides, half of whom were
hired by Abramoff. David Safavian, the White House chief procurement
officer, who once worked as a lobbyist for Abramoff, was indicted
in October for making false statements involving Abramoff to
investigators.
Since 1998, the Center for
Public Integrity found that lobbyists spent twice as much-$13
billion-influencing legislation and government regulations as
they did on campaign finance. These funds buy influence in Washington,
obscured by a federal disclosure system in disarray. Many firms
never file required documentation of their influence peddling,
over 14,000 documents are "missing," 300 lobbyists
lobbied without filing, and thousands of forms were never filed.
While the right to petition government is upheld in the U.S.
Constitution, the sad truth is Congress promotes a system of
legalized corruption.
"Campaign contributions
are too high and too lax," says Holman, "Lobbyists
solicit contributions, bundle contributions in networks, host
fund-raising events, and even serve as campaign treasurers on
committees and PACs, major sources of corrupting campaign money
within the legal limits. They control the purse strings of office
holders."
After the Abramoff scandal,
Washington is back to business as usual. In March, The Senate
passed (90 to 8) weak legislation requiring lobbyists to file
more reports, and Congressmen to receive advance approval for
lobbyist-paid trips and abstain from lobbying Congress for two
years after leaving office.
The weak bill would not ban
lobbyist-sponsored private travel or do away with earmarks, which
dole out favors to lobbyists. The Senate rejected (30 to 67)
an independent ethics office to investigate illegal lobbying
and bribery, and will do nothing to regulate lobbyist money-raising
activities for Congressmen who rely on them for most fund-raising
activities.
In February, House Republicans
challenged nearly every reform proposal and rejected bans on
lobbyists-funded travel and limits on gifts. Banning rides on
lobbyist's corporate jets was called "childish," and
the restrictions on lobbyists using the gym "would stifle
social calls."
The Washington Post reports
that lobbyists foresee "business as usual," with new
rules only "a nuisance," and "any limits will
barely put a dent in the billions of dollars spent to influence
legislation." New ways to buy Congressional support with
the annual $10 billion spent on influencing legislation and regulations
include fundraising, charitable activities, and industry-sponsored
seminars such as grass-roots activities, including letters, telephone
calls and emails, the fastest growing form of lobbying today.
"We need more indictments
of lawmakers to install fear in Congress and the voters need
to actually react," says Holman. "There's strong support
among voters for lobbying reform and if voters react in 2006,
it will come back on the agenda. If they don't carry through,
we lose."
With the Republicans holding
all three branches of the government, corporate interests come
first to scale back taxes and regulations, and put corporate
interests in the center of the national agenda. The current bill
is weak and pathetic.
"Today Capital Hill is
being run by and for corporations," Holman says. "The
motive here is profit and it has nothing to do with what is good
for the country."
Don Monkerud is an Aptos, California-based writer
who follows cultural, social and political issues.
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