Government Gone Wild!

Interesting article in today's news: Attorney General prepared to quit over Jefferson probe: Apparently, Alberto Gonzales wants those papers, and he'll quit unless bubble boy gives them to him.

...For many lawmakers, the investigation seems to be moving from the most egregious practices of a few members to criminalizing some basic fund-raising and lobbying techniques. "There is widespread belief on the Hill that the Justice Department is out of control with this idea that campaign contributions equals bribery," noted one Republican close to the caucus.

The thing is, the justice department is correct in following all the threads of corruption back to their source. Because of the nature of power, and the fallibility of human nature in regards to money and power combined, campaign contributions and the abuse of them have nearly torn our government apart.

We NEED public money to finance campaigns. For all those power and money reasons, but also: So that those politicians can get off the campaign trail, and get to work governing our country, for the good of all. Bush and Rove have not ceased to campaign since they started the presidential run in 1999. That's all he knows how to do, and it's not enough. Not by a long shot. Congress spends less and less time actually doing their work, and more time trying to raise money to keep their jobs. It takes alot of effort, selling
your services over and over again, while defending yourself from slander and abuse. It's why professionals hire pimps.


Thus far, government attorneys haven't made such a claim in a case against a lawmaker. But several[lawmakers] have been forced to publicly explain how campaign donations didn't affect their official acts and to turn over documents to the FBI to prove it.

FBI agents are also seeking to interview House and Senate members to see if they leaked information to the New York Times last year disclosing the administration's controversial program allowing some eavesdropping on domestic telephone calls. Justice officials have hinted that criminal charges could be lodged in that investigation.


The cornered rat is lashing out at anyone and anything that crosses him.


"For an administration that needs allies in order to come back," the Justice Department's actions are "dumbfounding," says David Gergen, a veteran of Republican and Democratic administrations.

Mr. Bush has, in some ways, aggravated congressional Republicans since the beginning of his presidency, when he sought strict loyalty from legislative partisans, arguing that his success and theirs were inseparable. Now, many fear that they -- and not Mr. Bush -- will pay an electoral price for backing what is now an unpopular war in Iraq, and the president's plunging approval ratings.

Yesterday afternoon, House Republicans gathered in a windowless basement room for a private meeting aimed at sorting through the roller coaster of the past few days. They left the meeting carrying talking points from Republican leaders: "No one is above the law," the paper said. "Just as no branch of government is above the Constitution."

They're going to say that to bubble boy???


I think (I hope) that Congress is finally learning what happens when you hand over your hard won power to someone else, for their personal use. It will take enormous leverage to get it back. In the process, the underbelly of corruption will be shown to the people, in all it's stinking slime.

Will the republican party be torn apart from the inside in the coming turf war?