Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have been indicted












Political Roast-Cheney, Gonzales indicted in South Texas county

Article By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN (AP)

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have been indicted on state charges involving federal prisons in a South Texas county that has been a source of bizarre legal and political battles under the outgoing prosecutor.

The indictment returned Monday has not yet been signed by the presiding judge, and no action can be taken until that happens.

The seven indictments made public in Willacy County on Tuesday included one naming state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. and some targeting public officials connected to District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra's own legal battles.

Regarding the indictments targeting the public officials, Guerra said, "the grand jury is the one that made those decisions, not me."

Guerra himself was under indictment for more than a year and half until a judge dismissed the indictments last month. Guerra's tenure ends this year after nearly two decades in office. He lost convincingly in a Democratic primary in March.

Guerra said the prison-related charges against Cheney and Gonzales are a national issue and experts from across the country testified to the grand jury.

Cheney is charged with engaging in an organized criminal activity related to the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds financial interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees because of his link to the prison companies.

Megan Mitchell, a spokeswoman for Cheney, declined to comment on Tuesday, saying that the vice president had not yet received a copy of the indictment.

The indictment accuses Gonzales of using his position while in office to stop an investigation in 2006 into abuses at one of the privately-run prisons.

Gonzales' attorney, George Terwilliger III, said in a written statement, "This is obviously a bogus charge on its face, as any good prosecutor can recognize." He said he hoped Texas authorities would take steps to stop "this abuse of the criminal justice system."

Another indictment released Tuesday accuses Lucio of profiting from his public office by accepting honoraria from prison management companies. Guerra announced his intention to investigate Lucio's prison consulting early last year.

Lucio's attorney, Michael Cowen, released a scathing statement accusing Guerra of settling political scores in his final weeks in office.

"Senator Lucio is completely innocent and has done nothing wrong," Cowen said, adding that he would file a motion to quash the indictment this week.

Willacy County has become a prison hub with county, state and federal lockups. Guerra has gone after the prison-politician nexus before, extracting guilty pleas from three former Willacy and Webb county commissioners after investigating bribery related to federal prison contacts.

Last month, a Willacy County grand jury indicted The GEO Group, a Florida private prison company, on a murder charge in the death of a prisoner days before his release. The three-count indictment alleged The GEO Group allowed other inmates to beat Gregorio de la Rosa Jr. to death with padlocks stuffed into socks. The death happened in 2001 at the Raymondville facility.

In 2006, a jury ordered the company to pay de la Rosa's family $47.5 million in a civil judgment. The Cheney-Gonzales indictment makes reference to the de la Rosa case.

None of the indictments released Tuesday had been signed by Presiding Judge Manuel Banales of the Fifth Administrative Judicial Region.

Last month, Banales dismissed indictments that charged Guerra with extorting money from a bail bond company and using his office for personal business. An appeals court had earlier ruled that a special prosecutor was improperly appointed to investigate Guerra.

After Guerra's office was raided as part of the investigation early last year, he camped outside the courthouse in a borrowed camper with a horse, three goats and a rooster. He threatened to dismiss hundreds of cases because he believed local law enforcement had aided the investigation against him.

The indictments were first reported by KRGV-TV.

Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann in Washington contributed to this report.

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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Obama Wins 2008 Election Prediction!

Got To Political Roast---Minute By Minute Results! MSN Results and The Daily Show Results!

FINAL PREDICTIONS GUARANTEED TO BE ACCURATE (50% OF THE TIME)

Projected President-elect - Senator Barack Obama of Illinois
Total Turnout - 146,670,242 voters (68% of voting age population)
Electoral Vote - 349 Electoral Votes (Obama) to 189 Electoral Votes (McCain)
Popular Vote - Barack Obama - 50.24% John McCain - 46.73%
DETAILED BREAKDOWN STATE BY STATE


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Monday, November 3, 2008

Obama and Joe The Plumber-Video

Spread the Wealth’?
"This weekend," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said today, "a plumber concerned that Senator Obama was going to raise his taxes asked him directly about his plan. The response was telling. Senator Obama explained to him that he was going to raise his taxes to quote 'spread the wealth around.'"

Is that what happened?

Judge for yourself -- here's the exchange.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Did Joe The Plumber Hurt McCain?


For California viewers, Joe the Plumber was a distraction
Peter Hecht
Sacramento Bee
At the end of the final presidential debate of 2008, the students gathered to watch Wednesday night at Sacramento State had to answer a critical question.

"Which candidate," asked government professor Kimberly Nalder, "has the Joe-mentum?"

The answer from two dozen students – a near-even split of Democrats, Republicans and independents – was clear: Barack Obama was more persuasive than John McCain.

But the biggest loser was Joe the Plumber.

McCain's debate strategy to wrest momentum from Obama by constantly referring to the circumstances of Joe Wurzelbacher was roundly ridiculed by the students, mostly government majors.

They also criticized Obama for picking up McCain's tactics and proceeding to speak directly to Joe.

The candidates may have seen the Ohio man as a metaphor for which Americans would benefit from their policies on health care, taxes and the economy. But Aliza Egger concluded "the use of Joe the Plumber was an emotional ploy" and a distraction from the substance she wanted to hear.

"I wanted this debate to introduce me to the candidates," said Egger, a Republican. "Joe the Plumber was almost a joke to me. I felt let down."