McConnell to Stevens: Resign from Senate or be expelled

Politico is reporting that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has joined a growing list of senators demanding that Ted Stevens resign from the United States Senate:

"I think he should resign immediately," McConnell said. "If he did not do that ... there is a 100 percent certainty that he would be expelled from the Senate."

The article notes that McConnell, who originally held back from demanding Stevens' resignation, is locked in a "tough reelection fight in Kentucky" (red state Kentucky? Times they are a-changin!)

It appears that McConnell - a former chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee - is finally throwing Stevens under the bus.

GOP Presidential hopeful and Senator John McCain, along with Republican senators Norm Coleman, Jim DeMint, John Sununu and Gordon Smith all called on Stevens to resign on Tuesday. Once McCain demanded that Stevens step down, even Sarah Palin decided to let Stevens sink or swim on his own.

It appears that Senate Republicans are desperately hoping that Alaskans will do the 'dirty work' of getting rid of the inconvenient Stevens problem by electing Democratic candidate and Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich:

While the Senate can expel Stevens, senators are clearly hoping that he saves them from the excruciating and embarrassing task of expelling him – or that Alaska’s voters do it for them when they go to the polls on Tuesday.

"Voters will determine Ted Stevens' fate much more quickly than the Senate could at this point," said one Senate Republican aide. "Should he be reelected, however, he will most certainly face serious and immediate consequences in the 111th Congress."

Another top GOP aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that “the voters in Alaska will be the judge and jury” in deciding Stevens’ fate at this time, not his Senate colleagues.

For he's a jolly good felon!

It would appear that poor Alaska just can't stay out of the news these days. No wonder the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska's largest newspaper) endorsed Obama. They've obviously seen more than enough GOP corruption of their own.

From The Hill:

Sen. Ted Stevens guilty of felony charges

By Manu Raju

Posted: 10/27/08 04:02 PM [ET]

Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Senate Republican in history and patriarch of Alaska politics, was found guilty of all seven felony charges for making false statements.

The verdict could spell the end of a 40-year Senate career for a man who rose to be one of the most dominant figures in the upper chamber and who helped transform Alaska in its 50 years of statehood. The verdict was reached after the jury deliberated since Wednesday and found the 84-year-old senator guilty of failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts from Bill Allen, the former head of Veco Corp., and other friends.

They say what goes around comes around. It would appear that a whole lot of GOP 'go around' is coming back to smack them squarely in the face.

Daily Palin Scandal: AP Special Investigation

I have to hand it to the AP: they took on the job of vetting Sarah Palin, and they have yet to run short of scandals to break. Ten more days of this and we'll discover she was once married to the Unibomber...

From the AP:

Palin pipeline terms curbed bids

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Gov. Sarah Palin's signature accomplishment — a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 — emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an Associated Press investigation shows.

Beginning at the Republican National Convention in August, the McCain-Palin ticket has touted the pipeline as an example of how it would help America achieve energy independence.

"We're building a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline, which is North America's largest and most expensive infrastructure project ever, to flow those sources of energy into hungry markets," Palin said during the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate.

Despite Palin's boast of a smart and fair bidding process, the AP found that her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited the winner, TransCanada Corp.

And contrary to the ballyhoo, there's no guarantee the pipeline will ever be built; at a minimum, any project is years away, as TransCanada must first overcome major financial and regulatory hurdles.

In interviews and a review of records, the AP found:

_Instead of creating a process that would attract many potential builders, Palin slanted the terms away from an important group — the global energy giants that own the rights to the gas.

_Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders, Palin had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada.

_The leader of Palin's pipeline team had been a partner at a lobbying firm where she worked on behalf of a TransCanada subsidiary. Also, that woman's former business partner at the lobbying firm was TransCanada's lead private lobbyist on the pipeline deal, interacting with legislators in the weeks before the vote to grant TransCanada the contract. Plus, a former TransCanada executive served as an outside consultant to Palin's pipeline team.

_Under a different set of rules four years earlier, TransCanada had offered to build the pipeline without a state subsidy; under Palin, the company could receive a maximum $500 million.

Read the rest here...

Thanks to the AP for doing the job most American journalists aren't willing to do (actual investigative reporting.) Sarah Palin has proven (to me at least) that she's ready to be the next Dick Cheney.

Another Palin scandal? You betcha

Kudos to the AP for running with this; and Newsweek for highlighting it:

(ANCHORAGE, Alaska) Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.

The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters' 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.

What do we call this one... 'Mommy-gate?'

The Daily Show: Real Americans

It was impossible to pick just one of these videos: every one was a classic.







Well I certainly watch the Daily Show, so I'm very obviously not a 'real American.' Hmm... this could have some advantages (tax advantages especially.)

Perhaps some new lyrics to that annoying 'Proud to be an American' song are in order; for all of us who have been kicked out of the Real America:

Guess I'm proud to be un-American
Sarah Palin set me free
All this time I thought I lived here too
And the word applied to me
Now I'm glad to stand up, free and clear
Much relieved to finally say
That its not my fault... its gone to hell...
And the debt's not mine to pay!

Abuse of power: Palin proves she's ready!

The reports of ethical breaches and abuse of power just keep rolling in. Perhaps she's simply proving once and for all that she's ready to step into George W. Bush's shoes, should the need arise. She certainly has the 'abuse of power/ethical lapses' cred for the job.

JUNEAU, Alaska, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- An Alaska state investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin includes more ethics complaints than just those of the "Troopergate" probe, state documents show.

In the recently concluded Troopergate investigation, the Alaska state Legislature concluded that Palin, the Republican U.S. vice presidential nominee, was within her rights to fire state Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, but abused her power and violated ethics in joining her husband to push for the firing of state trooper Mike Wooten, who was once married to the governor's sister.

-- snip --

The newspaper said there are two known additional ethics complaints against the nominee. One is from an activist who says hiring practices were circumvented for a Palin supporter, and another in which the Alaska state police union claims Wooten's personnel file was illegally breached by state officials.

John Cyr, the union's executive director, told the Daily News he plans to amend the complaint to include "harassment" of Wooten as well.

Oh -- but there's more!

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose reformer image took a hit in a report concluding she abused her powers to settle a family score, has skirted state ethics rules before for personal benefit and used her office to help friends and supporters, according to an Associated Press review of records.

Palin's first try at statewide office, after six years as mayor of Wasilla, was an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor in 2002. To raise money, she improperly used her City Hall office and equipment, city records show. A year later she would make headlines by blasting a fellow Republican for, among other things, improperly using his government position to boost his campaign.

Then, in 2006, Palin won the governor's race with a vow to reform state ethics. But in less than two years, she has repeatedly taken actions that violated her own stated standards for ethical behavior — if not state law. In the process, the Republican vice presidential nominee has become much like the old-school politicians she attacked during her rise to power.

Some examples:

_She pummeled opponents for giving oil companies and other businesses too much control of state government. Yet she appointed the founder of an engineering firm that received $6.8 million in state business as head of the transportation department.

_She has accepted dozens of gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars since taking office, including two free trips last year that she failed to report on disclosure forms, despite criticizing state legislators for the gifts they take.

_She is under another investigation, accused of misusing her office to campaign against a voter referendum calling for tighter mining regulations. Her husband, Todd, has accepted free trips from a mining company to look at their proposed new site.

_Another ethics complaint, unresolved, accuses her staff of finding a state job for a friend and campaign contributor.

Palin: Brutal

Warning: If you love wildlife, and especially wolves, this is very hard to watch.



I really hate to post such horrifying images. Truthfully: this breaks my heart.

But it must come out.

This woman... this potential president... endorses savagery towards defenseless wildlife. Lincoln once said, "I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being." Sarah Palin has a long way to go before achieving the level of 'whole human being;' are we to risk the chance that she might become the president of the United States?

Had McCain simply wanted to appease the religious right, he could have chosen Mike Huckabee. His choice of Palin was much more cynical; a direct, and sexist (assuming we don't care about issues) ploy to capture the female vote.

On behalf of Hailey - who cannot type - I am posting this upsetting video so that the word gets out. This is not an attack ad; this is truth. Horrible, brutal, subhuman truth.

I can't even imagine what McCain was thinking when he picked this woman to be his running mate. I can only assume that he wasn't thinking at all, or assumed that any 'woman' would suffice. This one is an abomination.

If I had planned on voting for McCain based on his past record (which he has recanted anyway,) I would shun him because of Palin.

Palin: Candidate of Environmental Destruction

I haven't weighed in on Palin, but I know all about her.

She is much more than a 'maverick soccer mom.' She is the queen of aerial wolf hunting, and ranks on par with the ousted Richard Pombo R-CA on the Environmental Destruction chart.

This is the woman who - as governor of one of the most beautiful and environmentally sensitive states in our country - wants to rip the tops off of pristine mountain ranges to mine coal, and destroy the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge with oil wells that won't deliver oil for years (but will make the oil companies happy and much wealthier, as they are currently selling Alaskan oil to China!)

Perhaps her odd 'Christian' belief system comes into play here, along with that basic GOP greed. Maybe, like many of these apocalypse-craving fundamentalists, she finds this beautiful planet inherently evil, rather than a precious and unique gift to mankind and our fellow creatures. I still haven't figured out how these people avoid 'God created the earth, and He saw that it was good.' Apparently, it isn't good enough for their tastes.

Perhaps this is why she sees no evil in blatantly ransacking pristine and irreplaceable Alaskan wilderness for money.

She seems intent in wiping out the entire Alaskan wolf population from the air - as some sort of cowardly, twisted sport - and wants to remove endangered species protection for polar bears as they fight for survival in a world with rapidly shrinking ice fields.

In a nationwide and perhaps worldwide effort, Americans managed to oust environmental nightmare Richard Pombo, R-CA in 2006. Are we now to have his female counterpart sitting one heartbeat away from overseeing environmental destruction nationwide?

I don't think so.

If the media would actually do their job for a change, and investigate this woman - instead of gushing over bulldogs and lipstick like giggling 5th graders - perhaps the nation would learn the truth. But of course, they are paid to do otherwise.

This is why I blog.

The media has betrayed us. Our elected Congress has betrayed our interests. We have no representation now except for ourselves. If no one ever reads a word that I write here, at least I am adding my voice to the collective scream for truth and justice.

I serve the earth; the trees, the oceans, and wildlife everywhere. This is my purpose in life, over and above everything else (but followed closely to my allegiance to our Constitution and democracy - also under attack from the very same people.)

This women would destroy everything that I - and many all across the planet - hold sacred. I don't walk into Palin's church and empty my garbage can on her alter. Nature is my church, and she would willingly desecrate it for money.

It is time to vet this woman, once and for all.

Ha! They've got Ted Stevens!!

Breaking news (and yes, I'm dancing around my desk... this is a major victory for the environment. TAKE HIM DOWN!)

Sen. Stevens Told to Keep Records for Graft Probe
By Paul Kane
The Washington Post

Thursday 07 June 2007

Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, disclosed in an interview that the FBI asked him to preserve records as part of a widening investigation into Alaskan political corruption that has touched his son and ensnared one of his closest political confidants and financial backers.

Stevens, who is famous for bringing home federal earmarks for Alaska when he was Appropriations Committee chairman, was not previously known to be linked to the Justice Department's probe, which has uncovered evidence that more than $400,000 worth of bribes were given to state lawmakers in exchange for favorable energy legislation.

Investigators have used secret recording equipment, seized documents and cooperating witnesses to secure the indictments of four current and former state lawmakers, including the former state House speaker, shaking the core of Alaska's Republican Party.

Two executives of a prominent energy company have pleaded guilty to bribery and extortion charges and are cooperating with the inquiry, which is being run by the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section and includes two federal prosecutors and FBI agents based in Anchorage.

"They put me on notice to preserve some records," Stevens said in a brief interview about his legal team's discussions with the FBI. He declined to say what kinds of records were involved but confirmed that he had hired lawyers and that his son, former state Senate president Ben Stevens, "is also under investigation."