Part-Time Pundit

What to do about Tom DeLay?

With the recent indictment of Tom DeLay for conspiracy, other corruption has become apparent such as with Harry Reid. Tom DeLay engaged in travel plans some consider unethical, however, in the aftermath of that scandal over 200 Congressmen (from both parties) has to “revise” their travel documentation. Regardless of party, one does not need to look far for corruption. The grassroots on both sides is not particularly enamored with it either.

Some think it’s the end of the Republican Party, but one only needs to look to Illinois to see how this will play out. Illinois has a governor with approval ratings even lower than President Bush. The current governor, a Chicago Democrat, got into office because the prior Republican administration is corrupt. When a Chicago Democrat runs on the platform to clean up Springfield and the voters buy it, you know you have problems. Now corruption is king (or rather still is king) and the Republicans are running on the platform of throwing out the Dem corrupt cronies. No one is buying so they Republicans are drafting a favored governor (Jim Edgar) from yesteryear to run again. The only problem is that he taught George Ryan everything he knows and while corrupt, wasn’t as extreme as Ryan. That aside, Jim Edgar has announced he wants nothing to do with it.

My suggestion to deal with DeLay’s supposed corruption? (Supposed because it took, what, 6 grand juries to find anything on him?) Massive blood-letting. Let’s have both parties, everyone from the top all the way down to village dog catcher engage in a legal battle royale of corruption investigations. No matter where you are on the political spectrum, you think some political officials are corrupt. It’s time to get this all out on the table because you know several hundred Congressmen have some crimes they want to hide. We can talk about some of the prior scandals (the House banking scandal for instance) but let the gloves come off and drop the “good ‘ole boy” attitude and let them viciously attack each other in the criminal system.

One, it will go a long way to getting to corruption and waste out of government. Politicians get away with this because they never pay the piper. Take a look at the highway bill and how much pork and vote buying is there. If you want corruption out of politics, this is what it takes. I may be conservative, but I’m no fool. I know there are corrupt Republicans out there, and its time for them to pay the piper too.

Two, it emphasizes and underscores why we need limited government. Government needs to be big to be corrupt. If it doesn’t have $2.2 trillion dollars to throw around, it becomes much harder for them to get companies to start bribing them. There aren’t kickbacks on the $1,000 orders I do for work, for good reason. It’s time to downsize the government and let the local entities do the social work of government. At the lowest level, we can at least keep an eye on them. I know where the mayor of my town lives and I can call him up at home right now. Good luck trying to get in touch with the President. Or Tom DeLay for that matter.

This presents a golden opportunity for those who believe in limited government. There are greedy people in the world and they want money and power. A massive corruption investigation, top to bottom, complete with jail sentences will make politicians have second thoughts the next time they want to shovel some cash to contributors to their campaigns. If I stole $500, I’d be doing time right now. It’s time for those who have stolen so much more than that and wasted the rest to have their day in court.

Links: Cao, Wizbang, Michelle Malkin, Powerline, Captain’s Quarters, et al

September 30th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Law / Legal Issues, National, Politics | 8 comments

Column Up: “Leave it to Parents”

My latest Daily Illini column “Leave it to Parents” is posted n the state of public education.

September 30th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Uncategorized | one comment

Over $24 Billion in US Consumer Money is at Risk of Being Stolen by Spyware

You can read the post I put up about it here.

September 30th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Information Security | no comments

The Clinton Legacy of Corruption

- The only president ever impeached on grounds of personal malfeasance
- Most number of convictions and guilty pleas by friends and associates*
- Most number of cabinet officials to come under criminal investigation
- Most number of witnesses to flee country or refuse to testify
- Most number of witnesses to die suddenly
- First president sued for sexual harassment.
- First president accused of rape.
- First first lady to come under criminal investigation
- Largest criminal plea agreement in an illegal campaign contribution case
- First president to establish a legal defense fund.
- First president to be held in contempt of court
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions from abroad

Read the rest here, and take DeLay’s problems in stride.

September 29th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Law / Legal Issues, National, Politics | one comment

Stop the ACLU: The War on Abstinence

The ACLU has delcared war on abstinence education. The “guardian of civil rights” has determined that such programs are dangerous according to the Waxman report that I debunked last year. That report did not say all abstinence education programs contained errors, and included programs as erroneous because of ludicrous things such as the word “snuggling” as suggesting religion. The ACLU has picked the parts of the report out that the liked and started to run with it.

Skipping past the labeling of policy decisions they don’t agree with as “dangerous”, exactly what in abstinence education violates anyone’s civil liberties? Parents are perfectly free to get condoms for their kids, buy them porn, or show them how to use sex toys. Abstinence education does not impede anyone from doing anything; it is the suggestion that one ought not to do anything. Yet, the ACLU considers this issue a matter of reproductive freedom.

Simply put, this is not a legal fight to protect anyone’s rights. This is a fight to advance a specific agenda that has nothing to do with rights. Teachers are not running around arresting children for having sex.

They suggest that abstinence education is dangerous because kids will do it anyway and won’t have essential information to protect themselves. The story goes they must be informed on all the choices such as Plan B, and amusing ironic name considering that safe sex is supposed to be safe (and not require Plan B’s). Kids simply won’t listen when being told not to have sex.

However, the same people insist on DARE programs in schools which tell kids to stay off drugs. Do we get rid of these programs too? Should we take out DARE and instead introduce a program that shows kids how to do drugs properly to minimize the chance of contracting Hep C?

Critics have said that the ACLU is not interested in defending civil liberties as much as they are fighting for the advancement of a certain agenda. This latest war on abstinence is the best example of this in action. No rights are being violated but the ACLU is on the scene to prevent the dissemination of messages that they disagree with.

This was a production of Stop The ACLUblogburst. Over 100 blogs are already on board. If you want to join us, just register through our portal. We will add you to our mailing list, and send you the info on how to get aboard and fight the ACLU.

Blogs already on board.

September 29th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Law / Legal Issues, National, Politics, Pro-Life, Religion, StoptheACLU | no comments

Local C-U Anti-War Protesters Mocked by the Daily Show

If you take a look at the Daily Show and watch the episode “March of the Peaceniks”, you’ll see C-U’s own anti-war protesters mocked by John Stewart…

Awesome.

September 28th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Local, Military / War, Politics | one comment

If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Indict ‘Em

The saying goes; a motivated prosecutor could indict a ham sandwich if they wanted to. Tom Delay has been indicted on conspiracy charges after years of this prosecutor trying. First it was Abramoff, but after realizing that scandal implicated Democrats (in fact over 200 Congressmen started “fixing their paperwork”) and it was ok’d by the House of Representatives lawyers, they had to drop that one. Now they got a conspiracy charge that was cooked up to give this prosecutor jurisdiction he would not otherwise have. That’s not to say that he’s innocent, but it is to say that the Democrat’s plan to power is not to beat Republicans at the polls, it’s to invent charges against them. Call it the Rush Limbaugh treatment.

Here are some quotes from Democrats on the development:

But Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic leader, called his indictment “the latest example that Republicans in Congress are plagued by a culture of corruption at the expense of the American people”.

And from Tom McMahon of the DNC:

People ask what the difference is between the two parties, and this indictment gives one clear answer.
Republicans are committed to pushing the legal limits to collect checks from special interests who want to use government for their own narrow purposes. Democrats are committed to funding our party with contributions from ordinary Americans so that when we take power, the government will represent the people.
You can make your personal commitment to changing the culture of corruption by getting your Democracy Bond — a monthly commitment to contribute to the Democratic Party:

Need we bring up some examples of Democrat corruption?

These people are all rich before they get into office and they take large pay cuts once elected, so they take perks. This isn’t something that is a Democrat or a Republican agenda because both parties are guilty of it. Need we bring up former disgraced Presidents that committed perjury?

The message the DNC is sending out is, “Get the corrupt Republican cronies out of office! We want our corrupt cronies in!”. That’s about as intelligent it is. And to be fair, that’s exactly the platform of the Illinois GOP against the Democrats in ’06. It swings both ways, but as a state that’s about to go on two consecutive governors in two terms getting indicted (who were from opposing parties) let’s at least be honest about corrupt being a political value, not a partisan value.

The lesson for the GOP, however, is that conservativism pays. If you are doling out millions in pork, eventually the money is going to get traced back to you. You won’t ever get bought or bribed if you aren’t in the business of wasting taxpayer money. The timing of DeLay announcing that fiscal conservativism is dead is nothing short of ironic here.

Thanks to OTB, Political Teen, Kit, others.

September 28th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Law / Legal Issues, National, Politics | 2 comments