Five takeaways by Denver allowed them to post a 27-13 victory over the defending champion New England Patriots. Mike Anderson scored twice and Rod Smith added another while Jason Elam added two field goals.
The Broncos now advance to play in the AFC Championship game next weekend against either the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Indianapolis Colts, pending the results of Sunday’s game.
‘Divine mission’ driving Iran’s new leader
By Anton La Guardia
(Filed: 14/01/2006)
As Iran rushes towards confrontation with the world over its nuclear programme, the question uppermost in the mind of western leaders is “What is moving its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to such recklessness?”
Political analysts point to the fact that Iran feels strong because of high oil prices, while America has been weakened by the insurgency in Iraq.
But listen carefully to the utterances of Mr Ahmadinejad – recently described by President George W Bush as an “odd man” – and there is another dimension, a religious messianism that, some suspect, is giving the Iranian leader a dangerous sense of divine mission.
In November, the country was startled by a video showing Mr Ahmadinejad telling a cleric that he had felt the hand of God entrancing world leaders as he delivered a speech to the UN General Assembly last September.
When an aircraft crashed in Teheran last month, killing 108 people, Mr Ahmadinejad promised an investigation. But he also thanked the dead, saying: “What is important is that they have shown the way to martyrdom which we must follow.”
The most remarkable aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad’s piety is his devotion to the Hidden Imam, the Messiah-like figure of Shia Islam, and the president’s belief that his government must prepare the country for his return.
One of the first acts of Mr Ahmadinejad’s government was to donate about £10 million to the Jamkaran mosque, a popular pilgrimage site where the pious come to drop messages to the Hidden Imam into a holy well.
All streams of Islam believe in a divine saviour, known as the Mahdi, who will appear at the End of Days. A common rumour – denied by the government but widely believed – is that Mr Ahmadinejad and his cabinet have signed a “contract” pledging themselves to work for the return of the Mahdi and sent it to Jamkaran.
Iran’s dominant “Twelver” sect believes this will be Mohammed ibn Hasan, regarded as the 12th Imam, or righteous descendant of the Prophet Mohammad.
He is said to have gone into “occlusion” in the ninth century, at the age of five. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace.
This is similar to the Christian vision of the Apocalypse. Indeed, the Hidden Imam is expected to return in the company of Jesus.
Mr Ahmadinejad appears to believe that these events are close at hand and that ordinary mortals can influence the divine timetable.
The prospect of such a man obtaining nuclear weapons is worrying. The unspoken question is this: is Mr Ahmadinejad now tempting a clash with the West because he feels safe in the belief of the imminent return of the Hidden Imam? Worse, might he be trying to provoke chaos in the hope of hastening his reappearance?
The 49-year-old Mr Ahmadinejad, a former top engineering student, member of the Revolutionary Guards and mayor of Teheran, overturned Iranian politics after unexpectedly winning last June’s presidential elections.
The main rift is no longer between “reformists” and “hardliners”, but between the clerical establishment and Mr Ahmadinejad’s brand of revolutionary populism and superstition.
Its most remarkable manifestation came with Mr Ahmadinejad’s international debut, his speech to the United Nations.
World leaders had expected a conciliatory proposal to defuse the nuclear crisis after Teheran had restarted another part of its nuclear programme in August.
Instead, they heard the president speak in apocalyptic terms of Iran struggling against an evil West that sought to promote “state terrorism”, impose “the logic of the dark ages” and divide the world into “light and dark countries”.
The speech ended with the messianic appeal to God to “hasten the emergence of your last repository, the Promised One, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace”.
In a video distributed by an Iranian web site in November, Mr Ahmadinejad described how one of his Iranian colleagues had claimed to have seen a glow of light around the president as he began his speech to the UN. “I felt it myself too,” Mr Ahmadinejad recounts. “I felt that all of a sudden the atmosphere changed there. And for 27-28 minutes all the leaders did not blink…It’s not an exaggeration, because I was looking.
“They were astonished, as if a hand held them there and made them sit. It had opened their eyes and ears for the message of the Islamic Republic.”
Western officials said the real reason for any open-eyed stares from delegates was that “they couldn’t believe what they were hearing from Ahmadinejad”.
Their sneaking suspicion is that Iran’s president actually relishes a clash with the West in the conviction that it would rekindle the spirit of the Islamic revolution and – who knows – speed up the arrival of the Hidden Imam.
Wild Thing’s comment…………
I think this idiot, this deranged person does relish confrontation with the West. He is really asking for it. They claim to have seen a “glowing light” around their president? Give me a break! There might yet be a bright glow around him, but not quite what he was thinking.
This is a dangerous man. Even more troubling, this is a dangerous man in a position of some power. I have to wonder this. After they watched what happened to Saddam the only thing that would seem to make them so bold is hidden nuclear weapons that we aren’t aware of.
Mr Ahmadinejad telling a cleric that he had felt the hand of God entrancing world leaders as he delivered a speech to the UN General Assembly last September. The UN General Assembly is a podium for the worlds nitwits.This jerkoff Ahmadinejad, Chavez , Mugabe , Morales , and a host of others , should be totally banned and not allowed to come anywhere close to US airspace. If the try to anyway, shoot them down.
The New York Observer is reporting that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) will appear Thursday at a luncheon with Calypso singer turned Bush-bashing liberal activist Harry Belafonte. The luncheon is an awards ceremony given by the Children’s Defense Fund, a liberal interest group.
Belafonte gained recent attention by calling President Bush the “world’s greatest terrorist” while visiting Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez. Belafonte was joined on the Venezuela trip by a group of outspoken liberal Americans, including actor Danny Glover and Princeton University Professor Cornel West.
“No matter what the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world, George W. Bush says,” Belafonte told Chavez, “we’re here to tell you: Not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the American people … support your revolution.” Belafonte finished his appearance on Chavez’s television and radio broadcast with the shout in Spanish, “Viva la revolucion!”
It will not be the first time that Hillary Clinton has appeared with Belafonte after the 78-year-old singer has made controversial remarks. In September, Belafonte told the Congressional Black Caucus that the Bush foreign policy “has made a wreck of this planet”.
“I’m always in Africa,” Belafonte ranted, “and when I go to these places I see American policy written on the walls of oppression everywhere.” Sen. Clinton was the next speaker at the event. Following up, she noted, “What Harry said is so important.”
As reported by Cybercast News Service, during a civil rights march in Atlanta last August, Belafonte called prominent African-American officials in the Bush administration, such as Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, “black tyrants.” He has also compared the Bush administration to Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany and, in 2002, described then-Secretary of State Powell as a “house slave.”
The Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, a conservative black leader, accused Belafonte of treason. “Harry Belafonte’s hatred of President Bush is causing him to embrace America’s enemies,” the Rev. Peterson said in a press release. “I also believe that his actions are treasonous as described by Article Three, Section Three of the U.S. Constitution, which says that ‘adhering to our enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort’ constitutes treason.”
Wild Thing’s comment………
My Father always taught me “You are who you associate with.” Hillary is doing just that as always. And why not, two communists together at the Children’s Defense Fund, a liberal interest group. How perfect they are together…………yep makes one proud of two such great Americans. NOT! Go away Hillary and you can take Belafonte with you. Maybe a cabana in Cuba.
From Middle East Times
January 8, 2006
CAIRO — An Egyptian cleric’s controversial fatwa claiming that nudity during sexual intercourse invalidates a marriage has uncovered a rift among Islamic scholars.
According to the religious edict issued by Rashad Hassan Khalil, a former dean of Al Azhar University’s faculty of Sharia (or Islamic law), “being completely naked during the act of coitus annuls the marriage”.
The religious decree sparked a hot debate on the private satellite network Dream’s popular religious talk show and on the front page of Sunday’s Al Masri Al Yom, Egypt’s leading independent daily newspaper.
Suad Saleh, who heads the women’s department of Al Azhar’s Islamic studies faculty, pleaded for “anything that can bring spouses closer to each other” and rejected the claim that nudity during intercourse could invalidate a union.
During the live televised debate, Islamic scholar Abdel Muti dismissed the fatwa: “Nothing is prohibited during marital sex, except, of course, sodomy.”
For his part, Al Azhar’s fatwa committee chairman Abdullah Megawar argued that married couples could see each other naked but should not look at each other’s genitalia and suggested that they cover up with a blanket during sex.
Wild Thing’s comment……….
Maybe couples should keep their socks on?….or a Hat? …..or Shoes? hmmmmm………..
It’s quite obvious this particular cleric never got any, and he doesn’t want anyone else to get any either. How selfish. I don’t know if the cleric is married but I’d hate to be his wife. Well here is my answer to the stinky ole cleric of the so called “religion” (CULT) of peace…………….
CLICK above image to hear music
GRAHAM: …Are you really a closet bigot?
ALITO: I’m not any kind of a bigot, I’m not.
GRAHAM: No, sir, you’re not. And you know why I believe that? Not because you just said it — but that’s a good enough reason, because you seem to be a decent, honorable man. I have got reams of quotes from people who have worked with you, African American judges — I’ve lost my quotes.
Judge Higginbotham — I don’t know where they’re at. But glowing quotes about who you are, the way you’ve lived your life; law clerks, men and women, black and white, your colleagues who say that Sam Alito, whether I agree with him or not, is a really good man.
You know why I believe you when you say that you disavow those quotes? Because the way you have lived your life and the way you and your wife are raising your children.
Let me tell you this: Guilt by association is going to drive good men and women away from wanting to sit where you’re sitting. And we’re going to go through a bit of this ourselves as congressmen and senators.
People are going to take a fact that we got a campaign donation from somebody who’s found out to be a little different than we thought they were — and our political opponent’s going to say, “Aha, I got you!”
And we’re going to say, “Wait a minute. I didn’t know that. I didn’t take the money for that reason.”
And you know what? I’m going to believe these senators and congressmen for the most part, because that’s the way we do our business. We meet people here every day. We have photos taken with people — and sometimes you wish you didn’t have your photo taken.
But that doesn’t mean that you’re a bad person because of that association.
Judge Alito, I am sorry that you’ve had to go through this. I am sorry that your family has had to sit here and listen to this.
Wild Thing’s comment………….
Sen Graham’s voice cracked when he offered the apology to Mrs. Mrs. Alito, the man known as Kennedy that is grilling your husband is just a drunken pig with delusion of grandeur who murdered a young woman over 35 years ago. He is not fit to shine your husband’s shoes.
How Kennedy of all people can dare to be critical of anyone is beyond my comprehension. He should have been in jail many years ago.
I am SOOOOOoooooooooo done, so totally done with the left and their behavior, beliefs and treatment of others. Then add into that factor that I truly believe they need to be punished for their treason to America and to our Military.
A new earpiece is set to be implemented among Hill’s F-16 pilots affording them better hearing protection and an improved mission focus.
The 4th Fighter Squadron’s “Fighting Fuujins” will receive the new Attenuating Custom Communication Earpiece System this month. The earpiece was developed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base by the Battle Space Acoustics Department. The Department is part of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Human Effectiveness Directorate.
“The new system should increase communication intelligibility for our pilots,” said Capt. Eydin Hansen, Aerospace physiologist with the 75th Aerospace Medicine Squadron. “Currently the pilots are using foam earplugs and headsets with speakers that offer 8-12 decibels of protection, while sacrificing communication intelligibility.”
Currently, pilots are having a hard time hearing tones, many associated with air traffic controllers and ground-based controllers. The new earplug system costs less than $600 per person and is made from deep ear canal impressions from the pilots. It has a speaker system giving the pilots something similar to that used with an iPod, ultimately providing better clarity while giving them 25 to 30 decibels of protection.
This technology was initially designed for the ground crews and then adapted for the state-of-the-art F-22A Raptor. Hill pilots are excited to be using the next generation of hearing protection and communications device in the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
Capt. Dax Cornelius, 4th Fighter Squadron Demo Team member, said that while performing he experiences violent negative and positive G-forces and most of the time his earplugs tend to fall out.
“We’ll be flying with one plug in and one out,” he said. “It can be very distracting to have the radio blast in one ear and not in the other,” said Captain Cornelius. “This new system is really going to allow us to focus on the mission rather than the peripherals.”
By Shad West
75th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
From the Code Pink Website……………….
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) met with leaders of the anti-American group Code Pink last week at the anti-Operation Iraqi Freedom meeting in Arlington, Virginia hosted by Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.)
Code Pink posted pictures of the meeting along with a statement indicating they will be working with Rep. Murtha to deliver “kindness and support to the wounded soldiers” at Walter Reed.
Code Pink has given $600,000 to the terrorists in Fallujah, participated in war crimes tribunals against America and has called American soldiers “killers” on their website among many treasonous actions.
Text of Code Pink’s statement on meeting Rep. Murtha:
Thank You Congressman Murtha! CODEPINK co-founder Gael Murphy and DC coordinator Allison Yorra met with Congressman Murtha to thank him for his courageous stand on Iraq. We presented him with our pink badge of courage and pink flowers sent by CODEPINK members nationwide. Rep Murtha was very appreciative of these gestures and requested that we ask legislators to support H.J Res 73 (Murtha’s resolution). He also requested that we use additional donations for the wounded at Walter Reed. DC CODEPINK along with other peace groups involved in the weekly vigil at Walter Reed recently delivered baskets of goodies to the wounded at Walter Reed. Together, with Murtha’s office, we will be continuing this outpouring of kindness and support to the wounded soldiers from CODEPINK.
Terrorists Quote CODE PINK Propganda As Justification For Killing American Troops
In the recent article, “Tribal backlash against insurgents aids US in Iraq” by Antonio Castaneda reporting from Samara, Iraq published in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette Dec 3, 2005, you see the following revelation:
Last year, al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi, openly operated in Samarra, and the group’s black flags fluttered from rooftops until U.S. forces regained control.
U.S. soldiers heard some Samarra residents speak openly of the right of “legitimate resistance” to the American presence.
Where do terrorists get the concept of their “right of legitimate resistance” allowing them to kill not only American military personnel, but innocent women and children in hospitals, mosques and markets?
From Code Pink, an alledged peace group that continually tells terrorists that they have a right to kill Americans, as well as innocent Iraqi women and children.
Where has Code Pink told the terrorists that they have such rights? In the “Beirut Communiqué”, the “Declaration of the Jury of Conscience” of the World Tribunal on Iraq and on the CODE PINK website.
CODE PINK Endorsement of “Resistance” in the “Beirut Communiqué”
In Beirut, Lebanon, September 17-19, 2004, the meeting was titled “Where Next for the Global Anti-War and Anti-Globalization Movements?, An International Strategy Meeting”. The “CONFERENCE COMMUNIQUE” of the Global Anti-War Movement declared:
“We support the right of the people of Iraq and Palestine to resist the occupations.”
CodePink:Women for Peace co-founder Gael Murphy is listed as an endorser of the conference and communiqué.
Right mouse click here and “Save Target As” to save the Beirut Communiqué to your disk as a PDF file. If you like.
11. There is widespread opposition to the occupation. Political, social, and civil resistance through peaceful means is subjected to repression by the occupying forces. It is the occupation and its brutality that has provoked a strong armed resistance and certain acts of desperation. By the principles embodied in the UN Charter and in international law, the popular national resistance to the occupation is legitimate and justified.
You can also go HERE and confirm that Code Pink, Veterans For Peace and United For Peace and Justice all “Endorse” the WTI and it’s findings.
Kill A Soldier, CODE PINK Is What Understands
Caught with their pink slips showing, Code Pink will deny that their endorsements include the killing of our troops. But make no mistake about it, Code Pink understood that it did in fact endorse killing. Another co-founder of Code Pink, Jodie Evans was a participant in the WTI. Her description of her participation during the WTI was posted at Code Pink, since removed but widely achived on left wing sites such as AlterNet.
Here is Jodie’s blog entry “Testimonials of Resistance” on how she could not kill a soldier herself, but when the terrorists do, she understands:
We must begin by really standing with the Iraqi people and defending their right to resist. I can remain myself against all forms of violence, and yet I cannot judge what someone has to do when pushed to the wall to protect all they love. The Iraqi people are fighting for their country, to protect their families and to preserve all they love. They are fighting for their lives, and we are fighting for lies.
Calls on all States to work together urgently to bring to justice the perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of these terrorist attacks and stresses that those responsible for aiding, supporting, or harboring the perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of these acts will be held accountable.
From Article III, Section 3 of the United States Constitution:
Clause 1: Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
Clause 2: The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.
And I repeat this……………
If all of this isn’t TREASON I don’t know what the fuck is! As Clause 2 states, Congress has the power to punish traitors to America and therefore our Representatives and Senators should most definitely be strongly prevailed upon to go after these individuals and their backers. This will contionue to have my blood boiling, that “Code Pink” and other such organizations are directly aiding those terrorists who are trying to kill our servicemen and women in Iraq without any consequences here at home other than negative publicity.
A very long time ago I read a book called……”A Man Without A Country”. It’s been a long time ago, but I remember reading of a man who declared he “hated his country”, in a court of law. He was then sentenced to life on a ship, never landing on land, and never having a country to claim as his own. It was an enlightening experience, and the man suffered unbelievably as a result. I’m sure there can be a lot of flaws found in this story, but it does makes one think a little bit more about what their country means to them and what are true criticisms, and what are selfish whinings.
“Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land…”
.
Let’s call on the testimony of people Jack Idema fought alongside in the battle to rid Afghanistan of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. These are the men of the Northern Alliance (properly, the United Front), and to understand how they fit into Jack Idema’s story, it’s necessary to understand a little of their long and honourable history defending Afghanistan from Her enemies.
Much of this success can be attributed to one person, Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. Though sneeringly described as a ‘warlord’ by MSM, Massoud was actually a highly educated and moderate man who believed passionately that the future of Afghanistan should be both democratic and free of fanaticism. Fortunately for the Afghan people, Massoud was also a military genius, responsible for inflicting a staggering 60% of the total casualties suffered by the Red Army during the Soviet occupation.
After the Russians were expelled, Massoud set up democratic rule in the regions of Afghanistan his forces controlled, spending the remaining years of his life struggling to remove first the murderous Hekmatyar, then the Taliban, from power.
You can read about Massoud’s life here, but what must be understood about this remarkable man is that he, as well as those who followed him, are exactly the kind of people we need on our side in the WOT.
Here’s Massoud on democracy:
The future government should be formed through elections by the people. Men and women should take part. The only form of government, which can balance the different ethnicities, is democracy.
Here is Massoud’s reaction to the Taliban’s demand that he leave Afghanistan after they seized power:
Is it just that when we were in Kabul leading the country, when we had the people’s consent, we promised to protect them, to defend our independence and to take care of Afghanistan and its people and now that these people are in great danger we would leave them? Is this really justice? I do not think it is justified. I will stay in this country until my last breath and resist. I am convinced that, God willing, Afghanistan one day will be free.
Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panjsher, was assassinated by al-Qaeda suicide bombers on 9th September, 2001.
Two weeks after that Jack Idema arrived in Afghanistan. He, and hundreds of other Special Forces soldiers, were under orders from coalition leaders to train and equip Northern Alliance forces in order to remove the Taliban. This, of course, was exactly the sort of work that Idema specialised in — After stints in Haiti, El Salvador, Thailand and Lithuania, he was one of the most capable men in the world at pulling ragged, ill-equipped armies together into crack fighting units. You can read press reports archived at SuperPatriots which detail some of the work Jack did with the Northern Alliance here, here, and here.
See, although MSM were chiefly interested in Idema during 2001, the Northern Alliance troops he trained and served alongside for three years deserve a hearing too. They’re brave soldiers, most of whom have spent their whole adult lives fighting for a free and democratic Afghanistan. What’s more, several of them were tortured, tried and imprisoned alongside Jack, Brent and Ed in September 2004.
One of these men, Major Ezmerai Amin, has this to say about Idema and the state of Afghanistan under Karzai:
Commander Massoud was right. But Massoud told us to follow his way, and I have dedicate my life to follow the way of Massoud because to save my country and the world. And my commander has too. This is why our people follow Jack, because he follow Massoud’s way. One time when I was still in Pulacharke I was very sad, and I said to Jack, fuck Massoud, because we follow Massoud’s way we are in prison. Then Jack remind to me that Massoud would never give up, he would keep to fight to make real freedom not freedom only for the rich people. We talked about how Massoud would not allow a road to be built to his village until all the country had roads. But this government, they buy rich cars and build roads to their villages while people are still starving and with no doctors.
Major Amin, like the other Afghans imprisoned with Jack, was released after their case went to appeal a year ago –Jack, Brent and Ed should have been freed at that point too, but the U.S. State Department and FBI put pressure on the Karzai government to illegally continue their detention. What’s worth noting, though, is that Major Amin pays Jack Idema the highest complement he can — He compares him to Massoud, modern Afghanistan’s greatest hero.
Then there’s Lieutenant ‘Zorro’ Rasuli:
Actually, Jack took me with him for just one month from General Atta, but I don’t know why he trust his life, his power, and everything on me, but I can say one thing; after the death of our leader Commander Massoud he will now be my commander on the rest of my life, and in any place I’m waiting for his orders.
Zorro means this. After he was released along with the other Afghans convicted with Idema, he elected to remain in prison until his three American compatriots are free.
So, question: if Idema were nothing more than a mercenary out to make a quick buck, why is it that he inspires such loyalty among Northern Alliance troops? The answer to this one should be obvious — The Afghan soldiers Idema trained and fought with see, in him, a similar commitment to rid the world of terrorism as the one they feel.
Here’s New Yorker writer, Jon Lee Anderson, offering us an insight into how this camaraderie played out during the war to remove the Taliban from power:
On the way down the mountain, Jack, who was armed and wearing full combat regalia, clambered onto one of the mujahideen tanks with a tin of white paint and a brush. He wrote, “N.Y.P.D.” on the tank’s green steel carapace. The mujahideen smiled obligingly and asked to borrow his paint. In lacy Farsi script they added the words “Dear Massoud, we will follow your way.”
Right now, three of men who fought that war are stuck in prison at the behest of the State Department. Meanwhile, just this week, President Karzai begged Taliban scumbag-in-chief Mullah Omar to ‘get in touch if he wanted peace’.
It’s difficult, not to conclude that something’s going badly wrong with a war in which we offer amnesty to the chief architects of 9/11, while imprisoning the men who risked their lives to bring these animals to justice.
Anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I’d urge everyone to do this.
If you want to know more about the story, Cao’s Blog has a large section devoted to Jack Idema. There’s also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available over at SuperPatriots, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack’s story.
Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT PERMISSION and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US
* Big Dog’s Weblog
* Cao’s Blog
* Rottweiller Puppy
“There are no Democrats who took money from Jack Abramoff, not one, not one single Democrat. Every person named in this scandal is a Republican. Every person under investigation is a Republican. Every person indicted is a Republican. This is a Republican finance scandal. There is no evidence that Jack Abramoff ever gave any Democrat any money and we’ve looked through all of the F.E.C. reports to make sure that’s true…I know the Republican National Committee would like to get the Democrats involved in this. They’re scared. They should be scared. They haven’t told the truth. They have misled the American people, and now it appears they’re stealing from Indian tribes. The Democrats are not involved in this.”
Wild Thing’s comment……..
Hey Howard, your brain lives in a liberal fairy tale:
Read it and weep Howie!
40 Of The 45 Members Of The Senate Democrat Caucus:
Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) Received At Least – $22,500
Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) Received At Least – $6,500
Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) Received At Least – $1,250
Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) Received At Least – $2,000
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) Received At Least – $20,250
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) Received At Least – $21,765
Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) Received At Least – $7,500
Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) Received At Least – $12,950
Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) Received At Least – $8,000
Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ) Received At Least – $7,500
Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) Received At Least – $14,792
Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) Received At Least – $79,300
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) Received At Least – $14,000
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Received At Least – $2,000
Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) Received At Least – $1,250
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) Received At Least – $45,750
Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Received At Least – $9,000
Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT) Received At Least – $2,000
Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) Received At Least – $14,250
Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) Received At Least – $3,300
Senator John Kerry (D-MA) Received At Least – $98,550
Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Received At Least – $28,000
Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT) Received At Least – $4,000
Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) Received At Least – $6,000
Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) Received At Least – $29,830
Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) Received At Least – $14,891
Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) Received At Least – $10,550
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) Received At Least – $78,991
Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) Received At Least – $20,168
Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) Received At Least – $5,200
Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) Received At Least – $7,500
Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) Received At Least – $2,300
Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) Received At Least – $3,500
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) Received At Least – $68,941
Senator John Rockefeller (D-WV) Received At Least – $4,000
Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) Received At Least – $4,500
Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) Received At Least – $4,300
Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) Received At Least – $29,550
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) Received At Least – $6,250
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) Received At Least – $6,250
UPDATE………January 11,2006
The Washington Times
Dean denies party ties to Abramoff
By Donald Lambro
THE WASHINGTON
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean says that Democrats took no money from Jack Abramoff in the lobbying scandal, but a public-interest group official said yesterday that they did accept contributions from the lobbyist’s clients, who were trying to buy influence.
Mr. Dean has stepped up attacks on Republicans, charging, “Every person named in this scandal is a Republican.”
“Every person under investigation is a Republican. Every person indicted is a Republican. This is a Republican finance scandal,” Mr. Dean said Sunday on CNN’s “Late Edition.”
But Republican officials and a major public-integrity group counter his assertion with a growing list of Democrats who have received contributions from American Indian tribes represented by Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to tax evasion and fraud in connection with his lobbying activities.
“What our list shows is that both Republicans and Democrats received contributions from Indian tribes that were represented at one time by Jack Abramoff,” said Lawrence Noble, executive director and general counsel for the Center for Responsive Politics.
“So the answer to Dean depends on how you define scandal,” Mr. Noble said. “I would say, broadly defined as a question of the tribes’ buying influence in Washington, it includes Democrats.”
The political news wire the Hotline has compiled a list of nearly three dozen Democrats who have received campaign contributions from Abramoff-related tribes. More than a dozen of them to date have refused to give back the money, saying that the contributions were legal.
Leading the list of Democrats is Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who has received $61,000 in campaign contributions from various donors with links to Abramoff. His office has said he will not return any of the funds because they “were part of lawful fundraising.”
Other Democrats listed who have refused to return Abramoff-linked money include Sens. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Patty Murray of Washington and Ron Wyden of Oregon.
Some of the Democratic senators who have returned a portion of the money from Abramoff clients or donated it to charity include Max Baucus of Montana, Maria Cantwell of Washington, and Kent Conrad and Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota.
A top aide to Mr. Dean defended the assertion that “as far as we know,” no Democrats were directly or indirectly part of the influence-buying scandal that is under a Justice Department investigation.
“Indian tribes are not criminals. Jack Abramoff is a criminal who did not give any money to Democrats,” said Karen Finney, the DNC’s spokeswoman.
But Mr. Noble said Abramoff may have had a hand in who received money from the tribes he represented.
“We assume that Abramoff gave the tribes a list of names of members [of Congress] who should receive contributions,” Mr. Noble said.
And take a gander at these :
An NRSC Report Shows That Nearly 90 Percent Of Senate “Democrats Have Taken Abramoff-Related Money.” “The NRSC has begun circulating among fellow Republicans new reports showing that all but five of the chamber’s 44 Democrats have taken Abramoff-related money. In addition, the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have taken more than $1.2 million, according to records provided to The Washington Times.” (Charles Hurt, “Dorgan Returns Abramoff Money,” The Washington Times, December 14, 2005)
“If The Democrats Are Alleging That Republicans Are Guilty Of Any Wrongdoing, They’re Sitting In The Same Boat.” “Democrats have run two television advertisements in Montana, castigating Burns for his activities on behalf of Abramoff, but as the lobbyist’s taint spreads, its political impact may dissipate, said Brian Nick, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. ‘If the Democrats are alleging that Republicans are guilty of any wrongdoing, they’re sitting in the same boat,’ he said. ‘It just becomes a nonstarter.’” (Jonathan Weisman and Derek Willis “Democrat On Panel Probing Abramoff To Return Tribal Donations,” The Washington Post, December 14, 2005)
Tribal Clients And Associates Of Jack Abramoff Have Contributed Over $3.1 Million To Democrat Party Interests Between 1997 And 2004. (Campaign Finance Analysis Project Website, www.campaignfinanceanalysisproject.com, Accessed December 2005; Political Money Line Website, www.tray.com, Accessed December 2005)
National Democrat Party Affiliated Committees Received Over $1.2 Million From Indian Tribe Clients And Lobbying Associates Of Jack Abramoff. (Campaign Finance Analysis Project Website, www.campaignfinanceanalysisproject.com, Accessed December 7, 2005; Political Money Line Website, www.tray.com, Accessed December 7, 2005; Internal Revenue Service Website, www.irs.gov, Accessed April 21, 2005)
The Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Received Over – $430,000
The Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Received Over – $629,000
The Democrat National Committee (DNC) Received Over – $177,000
Incumbent Senate Democrat-Affiliated Campaign And Leadership Committees Received Over $729,000 From Indian Tribe Clients And Lobbying Associates Of Jack Abramoff*. (Campaign Finance Analysis Project Website, www.campaignfinanceanalysisproject.com, Accessed December 7, 2005; Political Money Line Website, www.tray.com, Accessed December 7, 2005; Internal Revenue Service Website, www.irs.gov, Accessed April 21, 2005)
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