Culture Of Corruption Continues

The 2006 elections didn't end the Republican culture of corruption. The investigations continue:

Doolittle Aides Subpoenaed in Probe

By ERICA WERNER – 17 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two of GOP Rep. John Doolittle's top aides have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating ties between Doolittle, his wife and jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The grand jury subpoenas from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia were issued to Chief of Staff Ron Rogers and Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Blankenburg. They were announced on the House floor as Congress returned from its August recess Tuesday after the aides informed the House speaker about the subpoenas, as required under House rules.

Doolittle is under investigation. As is Ted Stevens (R-AK):

Contracts, ties to Stevens probed

By Erika Bolstad and Greg Gordon
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The FBI is investigating the National Science Foundation's award of $170 million in contracts to the oil-field-services company that oversaw renovations on Sen. Ted Stevens' home, an NSF spokesman said Wednesday.

Veco won a five-year NSF contract in 1999 to provide logistics and support for polar research, although it had no previous experience in that field. During the same time period, Veco's top executive managed renovations that doubled the size of the longtime Republican senator's Girdwood, Alaska, home — the scene of a July 30 FBI search.

Then there is Sen. Vitter's (R-LA) ties to the DC Madam, and Sen. Craig's (R-ID) ties to soliciting an undercover police officer for sex. Other GOP Senators are demanding Craig's resignation, but are pretty quiet about Vitter. That hypocrisy is due to the homosexual nature of Craig's crime. Both Vitter and Craig have admitted to doing something illegal, but the GOP wants Craig to resign because of their wanton bigotry and blatant hypocrisy. I can't figure out if they are too stupid to realize this absurd double standard or too amoral to care.

Regardless, there you have it. The culture of corruption continues, and now that the Democrats are in control of Congress they appear to be too spineless to do anything about it... or about our occupation of Iraq... or about global warming... or about illegal, warrant-less wiretapping... or about a presidential administration usurping power and increasing corruption more than any administration before it... or about much of anything.

I'm glad the Democrats are in control because at least they aren't as bad as the Republicans were for the past decade, but the Dems are still allowing too much to slip by in the form of inaction or caving to pressure. That they allowed the Bush FISA bill to pass is unforgivable. That they allowed the Leslie Southwick nomination past the Senate Judiciary committee is horrific and awful.

The culture of corruption continues, and whether the politicians are guilty of being directly involved with it or guilty of inaction toward shutting it down, the fight goes on. It was a big feat getting the Democrats in control of Congress, but it has become clear to me that it was not enough. We need to continue to set goals that improve upon past accomplishments.

Jonathan Singer at MyDD.com set a goal to elect More, Better Democrats. I would like to set a similar goal to elect more liberals and progressives who have the resolve to end the culture of corruption, stand up for their beliefs, counter the neo-con insanity, get our troops out of Iraq, fight global warming, and work toward single-payer universal healthcare for this country.

I had some hope that when the Democrats took control of congress in January 2007, that there would be some relief from the constant barrage of reasons to fight for a better America. I was wrong.