Family Values

The story of my corrupt congress crtitter Rick Renzi just keeps getting better:

Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., allegedly defrauded dozens of pro-life organizations for hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund his first congressional bid, according to an analysis of the recent indictment against him, a state insurance claim and an interview with an insurance lawyer involved in the case.

When federal prosecutors indicted Renzi, 49, on 35 felony counts two weeks ago, many reports focused on alleged crimes stemming from a complicated series of land swaps the congressman facilitated.

But the indictment also accuses Renzi, who ran an insurance firm before coming to Capitol Hill, of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance premiums and using the money to fund his congressional campaign.

Organizations such as Arizona Right-to-Life, the Hope Crisis Pregnancy Center and the Wickenburg Pregnancy Resource Center paid insurance premiums to Renzi's insurance firm, Renzi & Company, but received notices their insurance coverage was going to be cancelled for nonpayment, according to a 2003 complaint filed with the State of Arizona. The complaint was first reported by the Phoenix New Times.

According to the indictment, Renzi funneled those payments -- totaling more than $400,000 -- through various accounts and finally to his campaign.

Nothing says "family values" quite like stealing from your "pro-life" supporters. This should enhance his role in the campaign of "straight shooter" McCain:

For Clinton detractors, Norman Hsu is a huge deal. For Obama detractors, Tony Rezko is incredibly important. But where does Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), a member of Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) National Leadership Team and a co-chair of his Arizona Leadership Team, fit into the mix?

Renzi was, of course, recently indicted on felony counts of extortion, wire fraud, and money laundering, among other transgressions. Despite the charges, McCain hasn’t distanced himself from Renzi at all, saying he doesn’t know the “details” of the indictment, so he won’t criticize his political ally. McCain wouldn’t even comment on whether Renzi would remain a part of his campaign leadership, saying the issue “doesn’t matter.”

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14824.html#more-14824

Rick, your ongoing crimes have earned you another pig:

National Shame

What country did I wake up in today? Shrub is telling the world "yeah, we engage in torture. And we're gonna torture more people." OK, he didn't say it that clearly. Here's what he said:

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Saturday he vetoed legislation that would ban the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods such as waterboarding to break suspected terrorists because it would end practices that have prevented attacks.

"The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror," Bush said in his weekly radio address taped for broadcast Saturday. "So today I vetoed it," Bush said. The bill provides guidelines for intelligence activities for the year and includes the interrogation requirement. It passed the House in December and the Senate last month.

"This is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe," the president said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080308/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_torture

This is an outrage beyond measure. Waterboarding is a violation of international law, and basic human decency. For an American president to embrace and advocate brutality is unthinkable. Yet here we are. Shrub has taken a stand against basic human rights, and it looks like no one is going to stop him. In a just and decent America he would be impeached, arrested, and jailed for crimes such as torture. But he's getting away with it.

Today America is a nation shamed.

Must Be Friday

The Friday boobie.

It's McCain

The 'thugs have their candidate in John McCain, and he's going to have another hug with shrub today. McCain has already picked up the media endorsement, being characterized as the "maverick straight shooter" despite his pandering, corruption, and war mongering. What is really scary is that he stands a very good chance of winning, giving us four years of shrub on steroids.

I admit that I have really strong anti-McCain feelings. He's from my state, so I see a lot of him. I think he's going senile, and the droop of the right side of his face looks like a symptom of a stroke or other brain injury. Given that he's already promised America "more wars", and his commitment to staying in Iraq, he strikes me as the worst possible choice.

And he might win.

(BTW, sorry about the lack of posts lately. I've had a lack of anything original to say or energy to say it. Maybe McCain can motivate me into a state of blogger outrage.)

Brilliantly Wrong

I meant to put out a comment on the passing of William F. Buckley, the "father" of "modern conservatism", earlier. I'm just now getting to it.
Buckley was a major part of all that is wrong with conservative philosophy. Born to a life of wealth and privilege, he saw no need for government services or a social safety net. In Buckley's world, people who were poor deserved their lot. The free market could operate better without government regulation. Wars of ideas (against "ism's") should be fought frequently, using real soldiers. He saw "elitism" as a virtue rather than a vice.
His eloquent words influenced and inspired Goldwater, Reagan, and the current mob of anti-government conservatives that are ruining this country. He may have been brilliant, but he was wrong. Brilliantly wrong. We've been paying for his wrongness for decades, with no end in sight.

Leap Day Boobie

Happy "Leap Day." Every four years, we add one day to the calendar and the use that extra day to hold the Olympics and a presidential election. Imagine what we could cram into an extra week.

You Tell 'Em, Shrub

Our glorious shrub, always immune to irony, tells Turkey how to handle Iraq:

On another issue, Bush said that Turkey's offensive against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq should be limited — and should end as soon as possible. The ongoing fighting has put the United States in a touchy position, as it is close allies with both Iraq and Turkey. A long offensive along their border could jeopardize security in Iraq just as the U.S. is trying to stabilize the war-wracked country.

"The Turks need to move, move quickly, achieve their objective and get out," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080228/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

I guess there isn't room for two long term occupations in Iraq. If only some one could tell shrub to "get out."

To Add More Sobering News...

...to an already sober nation, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the FDIC is bracing for bank failures.

"Regulators are bracing for well over 100 bank failures in the next 12 to 24 months, with concentrations in Rust Belt states like Michigan and Ohio, and the states that are suffering severe housing-market problems like California, Florida, and Georgia," said Jaret Seiberg, Washington policy analyst for financial-services firm Stanford Group.

(h/t to Bonddad and Calculated Risk)

Now, bank failures currently are at historically stable levels and the FDIC is currently able to handle the few (it's about 5 or so) failures a year.

However, it's very ominous when they're trying to hire back retired employees who specialize in banking failures, as well as new employees to take care of this.

Additionally, the article states that the FDIC has approximately $52 billion dollars set aside for bank failure coverage; that sounds like a lot, but if a big bank like Citi has to get a total bailout from the FDIC, that $52 billion would be gone, just like that (some scuttlebutt is that Citi is in trouble, and if things get worse, could need all that cash just for itself). And, if a big bank like Citi lets go, other large banking institutions might follow, only the FDIC wouldn't have any cash on hand to safeguard depositors funds at those institutions.

So, what to do?

First, don't panic. I'm sure that the banking institutions are doing enough of that themselves; your panic isn't going to help when it is added to theirs.

Second, check on the health of your bank. If it is FDIC insured, you can pull a CALL report on it, but be aware, you really need to be a finance type to make heads or tails of the verbiage.

Or, you can try bankrate.com, which gives a 1 - 5 rating system (5 is best, 1 is worst), which shows my bank, the lovely B of A, sitting right in the middle at 3. Bankrate.com also ranks Credit Unions too, as does ncua.gov (look in the Credit Union data area).

And, as many folks are finding out, mutual funds can be risky too. You can do some data analysis here: http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/SEC/SEC_Survey.asp?x=NQ

Think seriously about your current and near-future spending (say, through 2008). Now might not be the time to plunk down a big chunk of cash on a non-necessity item, especially with inflation soaring. Instead, you might want to think about taking some of the cash out for liquidity's sake and either bury it in your backyard, stuff it under the mattress, or put it in a safe. If it makes you feel better, gold, silver, platinum and other precious metals usually hold value better than greenbacks do, and will probably continue to do so, especially if oil keeps rising (it will) and the dollar keeps sliding down in value (it will, even if we have a "strong dollar" policy). And, obviously, if you go this route, don't forget where you hid the stuff and make sure you can keep & defend it.

Remember, the article says that the FDIC expects "well over 100 bank failures in the next 12 to 24 months." Usually these are smaller, regional banks, but there is no reason it can't be one of the majors. Given the further collapse of the housing market (from today's news) and the fact that it will continue falling for the next 24 months or so, it's possible that one of the majors may take a hit, although Helicopter Ben will be doing his best to prevent that from happening to the big institutions.

And finally, think seriously about growing some of your own food. Not only is it an interesting and fun project, but you may appreciate it later in the year if prices go higher.

Happy Birthday, Big Ditch

On this day in 1919, the Grand Canyon became Grand Canyon National Park. There's a joke line that we boatmen use; "once you've seen one Grand Canyon, you've seen them all." I became enthralled with the Canyon years ago, and rafting the Colorado River through it is one of my greatest loves, so I'm one of the folks fighting against renewed uranium mining in the area. The Canyon is scheduled for flooding March 4th-6th, which helps restore river banks and benefits native species, so this should be a good year for rafting.

Grand Canyon National Park is truly a national treasure, well worth preserving. If you haven't visited it, I would urge you to.

Renzi Wont Go

Oh joy, our corrupt congress critter, Rick Renzi, says he wont resign in the face of his corruption indictments:

Representative Rick Renzi, the Arizona Republican who was indicted last week by a federal grand jury on 35 corruption charges, issued a statement on Monday saying that he would not resign despite signals from Republican leaders in Congress that they would welcome his swift departure.

“I will not resign and take on the cloak of guilt because I am innocent,” Mr. Renzi declared in the statement. “My legal team of Reid Weingarten and Kelly Kramer will handle these legal issues whileI continue to serve my constituents.”

A grand jury last week indicted Mr. Renzi on a raft of corruption charges, including fraud, money laundering and extortion. Prosecutors charged that Mr. Renzi pressured constituents to purchase land from his business partner in exchange for his support for legislation that the constituents needed. At least $733,000 in proceeds from the land sale were funneled back to Mr. Renzi, according to the indictment.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/renzi-says-he-wont-resign/

Actually, I'm kind of glad he's not resigning. If he resigns prior to May 4th, there will be a special election to fill the remainder of his term, which could help a Republican candidate gain recognition. By staying, he remains a great symbol of the Republican "culture of corruption" which should help Democrats.

The next question should be about Renzi's role as co-chairmen of John McCain's Arizona campaign. It sounds like he'll be quietly leaving:

Mr. Renzi had been serving as a Arizona state co-chairman of Senator John McCain’s campaign for president. But Mr. McCain has indicated that Mr. Renzi would be resigning that post.

Tying McCain's questionable ethics to Renzi's criminal indictment seems to be a good strategy going forward.

Slacker Boobie

I apologize for the lack of posts this week. I've been slacking and distracted. But here's the Friday boobie for you.

Renzi Indicted

As Sweaterman noted, our dear corrupt congress critter, Rick Renzi, has finally been indicted. Time for a tattoo'd pig:

PHOENIX -- Northern Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi was indicted today on charges of extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and other matters in a scam involving an Arizona land swap.

The 26-page indictment says the scam allegedly helped Renzi collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in payoffs.

The indictment accuses Renzi and a former business partner of extortion and conspiring to promote the sale of land that buyers could swap for property owned by the federal government.

The indictment says that as part of the alleged scam, Renzi and James Sandlin concealed at least $733,000 that the congressman took for helping seal the land deals.

Renzi and another business partner, Andrew Beardall, are accused of embezzling more than $400,000 in insurance premiums to fund Renz's first congressional campaign.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/stories/phoenix_local_news_022208_rick-renzi-indicted.19657e99.html

Long overdue, probably obstructed by the Gonzalez justice department, Renzi's going to face charges. He's been a "congressman for sale" from the beginning, and we'll be glad to be rid of him. In a way it bothers me that it's taken so long to charge him, as his crimes were obvious and well known. Renzi is a classic example of Republican values, soliciting bribes to support his 12 children. I really hope he ends up doing time.

Breaking from CNN...

....and more to come, I'm sure:

Rick Renzi (R-AZ) indicted.

"Conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, insurance fraud, criminal forfeiture." (from CNN TV)

Py, it looks like you're going to have to go with a picture of the swine today instead of the boobies.

Morning Surprise

I hadn't expected to wake up to this:

MEXICO CITY — Fidel Castro stepped down Tuesday morning as the president of Cuba after a long illness, ending one of the longest tenures as an all-powerful,
communist head of state in the world, according to Granma, the official publication of the Cuban Communist Party.

Now, just days before the national assembly is to meet to select a new head of state, Mr. Castro resigned permanently in a letter to the nation and signaled his willingness to let a younger generation assume power. He said his failing health made it impossible to return as president.

“I will not aspire to neither will I accept — I repeat I will not aspire to neither will I accept — the position of President of the Council of State and Commander in chief,” he wrote.

He added: “It would betray my conscience to occupy a responsibility that requires mobility and the total commitment that I am not in the physical condition to offer."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/world/americas/19castro.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Fidel Castro has been in power almost as long as I've been alive, the symbolic demon of the "evil communist empire" only 90 miles away. Almost 50 years of confrontation and sanctions did little to change Castro, and instead only hurt the Cuban people. He did supply the right wing with a reliable "whipping boy"; the "bad guy" that inspired a lot of tough talk. While Castro certainly bears his share of responsibility, America's Cuba policy has been stubbornly wrongheaded for years.

With his brother taking power, don't expect any major change in relations soon. But there is hope for a normal relationship in the future. My main hope is that America doesn't try to to meddle or maniputlate Cuba. We've tried that in Haiti.

(p.s. Watch shrub try to take credit for this "foreign policy success" in a coming speech.)

The Rules of the Game

Just to insure a good controversy, the Democratic nomination will come down to "super-delegates", regardless of the remaining primaries. Even if one of candidates had a clean sweep (which wont happen), they wouldn't have enough delegates for a first ballot nomination.
Judging by my email, neither side is happy about this. "Let the voters decide" is the mantra.
Except that this is the direct result of the Democratic party primary rules. Rules so convoluted that even the experts disagree on what the current score is (each of the major networks show a different total delegate count).
The Republicans have a nice, simple scoring system: "winner take all." That's it. Like Baseball, the score is settled and the game is either a win or a loss.
The Democratic scoring system is more like Olympic gymnastics (or figure skating). Rules vary by state, and points (delegates) are awarded on a variety of criteria. So candidate "A" scores points for nailing certain moves (say, districts), while candidate "B" ends with a higher score for the round. Nevada is a classic example of the Democratic muddle, where Clinton won the state overall, but Obama won more delegates.
So the Democratic party, in their infinate wisdom, created "super" delegates to make sure that the final score was "fair." But the super delegates are like the "Austrian" judge in gymnastics: they're suspected of being biased. Their motivation and integrity are in question.
Whoever ends up as the Democraric nominee will be seen as tainted by the opposition, because the final score will be questionable. Because the scoring system is subjective, the results are open to debate.
But those are the rules of the game.

(Graphic added)

Posting the Friday Boobie

Hope to post more later, but here's a pair of Boobies for Friday.

Obstructionism in Action

The Republicans are having a bit of drama today:

Unable to come to agreement on the issue, the House decided to move onto other issues today, including a memorial service for Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), who died earlier this week, and long-pending contempt citations for White House aides who refuse to honor congressional subpoenas.

That’s when everything got ugly.

Moments after President Bush threatened to delay his weekend trip to Africa and force Congress to act before key intelligence programs expire, House Republicans staged a walkout to protest Democratic inaction on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act bill. Frustrated Republicans streamed out of the Capitol and onto the east steps of the Capitol, a powerful act aimed at stopping House floor proceedings and forcing a vote on the FISA bill.

The Republican walkout came after an angry morning in which both sides accused each other of improperly using House floor procedures during the memorial service of Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) who died Monday. Republicans were also angry that Democrats are taking up contempt resolutions against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers.

Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), led his colleagues out of the chamber in a dramatic gesture, saying “let’s just get up and leave.” But it’s not clear if anything will come of the theatrics, as Democrats have refused to take up a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act bill. Democrats do not want to pass a bill with lawsuit immunity for telecom firms as the White House has demanded.

“Failure to act would harm our ability to monitor new terrorist activities, and could reopen dangerous gaps in our intelligence,” President Bush said in an afternoon press conference.

Republicans took quite a few firm stands this morning, all of which were wrong.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/

Now that's shameful. Disrupt a memorial for a long term fellow member. Then obstruct procedure for purely partisan reasons.

Whenever congress gets called "do-nothing", remember that it is the Republicans who are the obstructionists.

Current Events

I haven't done much current events blogging lately for a variety of reasons. Head cold (it's better), lack of enthusiasm, and a general anger and disgust.
America has now openly embraced torture. There's a lot of weasel words being used, but the rest of the world sees what we're doing.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush plans to veto legislation passed by the Senate to bar the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods including waterboarding, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

"The president will veto that bill," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

"The United States needs the ability to interrogate effectively, within the law, captured Al-Qaeda terrorists."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080214/pl_afp/usbushcongressintelligenceveto

And it has the support of at least one Supreme Court Justice:

Today in an interview with BBC Radio’s Law in Action, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia defended torture, claiming that it is not necessarily barred by the Constitution:

Is it really so easy to determine that smacking someone in the face to find out where he has hidden the bomb that is about to blow up Los Angeles is prohibited under the Constitution? Because smacking someone in the face would violate the 8th amendment in a prison context. You can’t go around smacking people about.

Is it obvious that what can’t be done for punishment can’t be done to exact information that is crucial to this society? It’s not at all an easy question, to tell you the truth.

The BBC interviewer, however, objected to Scalia’s use of the so-called “ticking time bomb” scenario to justify government torture. “It’s a bizarre scenario,” he said. “Because the fact is, it’s very unlikely you’re going to have the one person who can give you that information. So if you use that as an excuse to commit torture, perhaps that’s a dangerous thing.” Scalia responded:

Seems to me you have to say, as unlikely as that is, it would be absurd to say that you can’t stick something under the fingernails, smack them in the face. It would be absurd to say that.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/12/scalia-torture/

And the leading Republican presidential candidate:

The likely Republican nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain, voted against the bill. The former prisoner of war however said that his vote was consistent with his anti-torture stance.

"We always supported allowing the CIA to use extra measures," he said. "I believe waterboarding is illegal and should be banned," McCain said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080214/pl_afp/usbushcongressintelligenceveto

Yup, that's some "straight talk"; "I'm against waterboarding, so I'm voting for it."

My outrage echoes Blue Girl of Blue Girl, Red State:

I gotta get something off my chest. I am disgusted by the fact that we have come to the point as a society where we are even having this debate. It is abhorrent; it's sickening and disgusting. It's fucking insane that we have slid this far since we won the Cold War - less than twenty years ago! - by holding forth that we were Americans, and by virtue of that fact alone, we were simply above certain things. Gulags and torture among them. Now, we are infamous for them.

I am appalled that there are Americans among us who openly advocate for and debate the relative merits of the basic tenets of fascism. I remember a time when anyone advocating for the employment of torture (or domestic spying) would be ridiculed and driven from public life. The thought of a Supreme Court Justice absolving the practice was unthinkable.

What the fuck?

And don't get me started on FISA.

A Valentine for Texas

This Valentine's day could be a little more fun for Texans:

Thursday, February 14, 2008 A federal appeals court has struck down a Texas law that makes it a crime to promote or sell sex toys.

"Whatever one might think or believe about the use of these devices," said an opinion written by Justice Thomas M. Reavley of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, "government interference with their personal and private use violates the Constitution."

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/14/0214sextoys.html

It's always good to see one of those stupid, silly, sexually repressive laws go away. Go crazy, Texans.

Voter Turnout

One major thing stood out to me on yesterday's Virginia primary: the turnout numbers.

If you need more evidence of which side is fired up, look at the results from Virginia. 972,633 Democrats voted in Virginia. Compare that to 473,500 Republicans. More than twice as many Democrats went to the polls in a state that is turning bluer by the day. And, Obama received almost 620,000 votes -- almost 150,000 more than all the Republicans combined.

In every primary and caucus, Democrats are showing record numbers. There are several reasons for this; hatred for shrub and enthusiasm for Obama are the top two. If this continues into November, I may even become optomistic. I also hope that this enthusiasm carries over to the "down ballot" races, like Donna Edwards win in Maryland, which could lead to a congress that might be worth having. OK, that's probably too much to ask for.