Joe...

RHC: I have no sympathy for him, or others of his kind. Those who abuse power entrusted to them by the populace deserve the worst kind of punishment. Failure of society to chase these kinds of criminals on an ongoing basis can only lead to rampant corruption (like we see in Afghanistan for example). Democracy can only function when people trust their elected officials to work in their best interests, and not their own.

Screw the bastard !!....may he rot in hell

Saw that in yesterdays paper. How much you wanna bet the rat bastard doesn't do a day in jail? The headline touted that he could do "life" between the five and twenty year possible sentences for the various charges but then sort of mentioned in an off hand way that probation was also a possibility.

Since elections supposed to be a non-violent way of changing government, thus a means of avoiding bloody revolution, anyone convicted of tampering with the electoral process should not only do jail time, but be fined up to 80% of their net worth (Including any assets transferred to relatives in the past two years). To paraphrase from "Trading Places", "...it occurs to me that the best way you hurt rich people is by turning them into poor people."

Since rich folks like Delay don't fear the Justice System, things need to change so they do.

But it won't happen, like I've said many times, laws are written by rich people for rich people. Just look at how the percentage of rich folks in government has risen while the median income for the upper class has gone up at the same time the median income for the middle and lower classes has gone down.

Same theory behind what I think would be the answer to illegal immigration, financially destroy the folks owning/running those companies caught using the illegal labor while keeping the companies operating (in Government receivership). The illegal labor market will soon dry up. IMHO that's the main reason nothing gets done about it - those profiting face almost zero penalties. It's like if the laws against bank robbery said that if you get caught you have to give back the money and tell Mr. Banker you're sorry - now go home and tell your father what you've done. If there is no real penalty for breaking a law, but there is money to made by doing so - folks are going to break it.

But I digress - Delay needs to do jail time. Similar thing happened here in Michigan with a major family owned grocery chain secretly and illegally funding a "grass roots" effort to recall a township council that, just by coincidence, was making the building of a store inconveniently expensive. The governor wouldn't let the AG (who wanted to hammer them) and had the Secretary of State handle it since that office controls elections. They got a slap on the wrist - guess whose campaigns they donated generously to?

Politicians like Delay and Rangel shouldn't be above the law but unfortunately, even when they are held accountable - they aren't really.

There is no longer an reason to vote. There are only two parties with somewhat different goals but for both of them their motivation is power and privilege for themselves, which is achieved by getting and doing favors for others who are in power. And only incidently must they appear to be doing things for the country and the populace. This kind of government can only lead in one direction ....... and it is. It's just a guess but I give the US about another maybe 100 years or so and it will be unrecognizable compared to anything that remotely resembles what the Framers ever conceived.

I've read alot about the Revolution and the people who were responsible for the founding of this nation. Try reading the Federalist Papers sometime. When you read it in detail and see all of the minute events that were fostered by the coincidence of all of these great men who just happened to be contemporaries at a particular point in time. All of a like mind, who conceived and put down in words, on paper, the idea, of a goverment run and based on lazie faire ideology, run by the people and not polititicans or a king...... it was something short of a miracle. It truly saddens me as it should any truly patriotic person to see what a hideous thing it has been turned into.

If everyone I've heard say, "I'd vote third party if it wasn't throwing away my vote." would go ahead and vote third party - they probably wouldn't be throwing away their vote...

It gets worse:

Politicians Who Own Stakes in Airport Scanner Companies

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) $500,000-$1 million (the shares are in his wife's name, Teresa Heinz - ketchup magnate extraordinaire) Rep. Michael Castle (R-Del.) $16,002-$65,000 Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) $16,002-$65,000 Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.) $15,001-$50,000

Earlier this year, L-3 Communications received a $165 million contract for the machines.

RapiScan, was also awarded a $173 million contract.

RapiScan has hired Michael Chertoff, former secretary of Homeland Security under Republican President George W. Bush. It also says former Republican Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) and Linda Daschle, the wife of former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), also lobby for L-3.

My nose is sensing something fishy, and it reeks of insider trading all the way to treason.

It might end up like Paris Hilton or Brittany Spears, a high-profile circus that ends up with a 2 week stretch in a private cell with HBO.

But, this is Texas. Not pussy-land California. The judge may surprise us, he's under a lot of pressure to do the right thing here.

Actually yes they still would

Not really. Had Ralph Nader not run in 2000 those votes would have likely gone to Gore. A 3rd party can easily fracture a party, Ross Perot did it too.

We need a "solid" 3rd party. And the "Teabaggers" are not it.

Somewhere between the "New Progressives" and the Libertarian Party would do well. IMHO. Whatever party/candidate protects and embraces The Constitution gets my vote. They are getting harder and harder to find. :(

But that wasn't a real alternative, all it did was throw the election to one side or the other.

A 3rd party would make it worse, and insulting a large group of people with a sexual slur like that helps doesn't it? So "Bass-like"

Those people are called "Moderates" or a better term "people without any core beliefs or spines"

Right, so the votes were not "wasted".

I don't know why I bother to vote with the electoral college system that basically makes my vote un-countable if I vote Democratic (for prez.) in Texas.

Not a solid 3rd party, one that makes the regular politicians look like the crooks that they are. I envision a group that is made up of professionals whom have no interest in long-term political careers.

You just couldn't hold on long enough huh? I was wondering when you'd start beating a "dead horse". It's a little too early Mark.

And yeah, injecting a sexual slur may not be helpful, but it did grab your attention.

Moderates sound good to me in an era of blind party loyalty. The majority of our fellow citizens are just sheep doing whatever the politicians want them to do.

That was put into place to give more power to smaller states, without it a candidate would only have to campaign in a few of the more popular states and ignore the rest

Besides only a fool votes for a Democrat president while in Texas

Oh you mean the current administration?

Truth hurts

It has the opposite effect though. Now politicians only campaign in swing states.

It just does not seem logical to me that someone can lose while still capturing more individual votes. Does that not seem wrong to you too?

Of course, Abraham Lincoln won without the popular vote too, and who knows what where our Nation would be had he not won. There may have never been a civil war, and we could be living in two different countries on this continent. People like you would own slaves, and speak German.

Your name is of German heritage, you are not one of Nazi's are ya? (jj)

I vote with my conscious, not by party. I could not in good conscience vote for McCain for two reasons. The deal breaker was when he announced his running-mate and I got to know who she was. The second reason (but not a deal-breaker) was his policy towards keeping troops in Iraq for an indefinite period.

Not really Mark. The current administration is just like the last 10, they are all politicians. Or was that a jab/prediction that Obama would not survive the

Nope, I take full responsibility for my "sexual slur". I don't think it's funny or appropriate to drag a dead man into this, obviously he can't defend himself so it's also un-sportsman's like conduct.

Proper vote?

They left about 100 years before that

I voted for him BECAUSE of those two reasons

I don't recall dragging anyone into this, I merely stated you acquired some of his traits, it's never "too early" to beat that dead...horse.

Well thank God cooler heads prevailed.

I'll consider that a compliment.

Yea, cooler heads brought 9.8% unemployment, 3 trillion more in debt, more government intervention and a joke foreign policy.

That's obvious