Mayor of Baltimore indicted!

coalmeister wrote:Dev,
Was thinking you must have been on vacation or sumpin, tada! there you is

My favorite is the democrat Jefferson from New Orleans who was under investigation for money laundering and turned up with $100,000 in cash in his freezer. I bet those scanky rich republicans put it there just to get him in trouble!! Same guys that padlocked all those school buses so democrat mayor Ray Nagin couldn't get the folks out ahead of Katrina

That was a good one! I believe he survived politically, didn't he? Hey, want to get a start in politics? Move to New Orleans,
cuz it looks like they will vote anybody in!That and the chance to EARN while you learn. When the power went out,
did the money spoil?

Devil505 wrote:Funny how all these federal investigations seem to target DEMOCRATS!
These investigations don't pass my "Smell Test."

That's a real shock

Of course, corruption knows no party affiliation. For every Blago or Dixon, there's a Larry Craig, or Mark Foley, or Tom DeLay, ... or Dick Nixon.

That's why one of the true geniuses of our government design was the concept of "checks and balances," for reasons which Lord Acton famously observed a century later during the debate surrounding the doctrine of Papal infallibility (the emphases are mine):

I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.

That's why our founding fathers wanted a nosy, intruding, caustic, irreverent press, and made the very first of the Bill of Rights the guarantee of that.

coalmeister wrote:Dev,
Was thinking you must have been on vacation or sumpin, tada! there you is

No vacation......I've been "hanging out" in the Flame Central Forum for any non-coal related posts, but I've been here.

(come visit us in the "Man Cave" thread on Flame!)

For those of you who cry about political motivation - get real. You really think someones going to go after a sitting mayor without a SOLID reason to do so?? The worst thing they could do is go after someone without sufficient evidence because then they have no defense against "political motivation" allegations. Also all of these prosecutorial offices, both state AND federal, that are headed by political appointee's, have as the rank and file people of both parties who are career people and it is those people who do the actual investigation and put the case together. Trash is trash (We had Spitzer in NY - you think they planted the hooker in his room???????) You think they put words in Blago's mouth and semen on Monica's dress and cracj in Mayor Barry's pipe (who the public was actually stupid enough to re elect. Get real.

gerard wrote:For those of you who cry about political motivation - get real. You really think someones going to go after a sitting mayor without a SOLID reason to do so??

Yes....That's exactly what concerns me, .....were the reasons for initiating these investigations totally legitimate & non-partisan? (I'll bet not)

gerard wrote:Also all of these prosecutorial offices, both state AND federal, that are headed by political appointee's, have as the rank and file people of both parties who are career people and it is those people who do the actual investigation and put the case together.

Not true under the current administration. Career workers were fired & new one hired based on political & religion tests, not merit. There have been many Senate hearing looking into this. (I'll get you some links when I have more time)
A number of US Attornys have been fired under very questionable circumstances too!

gerard wrote:For those of you who cry about political motivation - get real. You really think someones going to go after a sitting mayor without a SOLID reason to do so?? The worst thing they could do is go after someone without sufficient evidence because then they have no defense against "political motivation" allegations. Also all of these prosecutorial offices, both state AND federal, that are headed by political appointee's, have as the rank and file people of both parties who are career people and it is those people who do the actual investigation and put the case together. Trash is trash (We had Spitzer in NY - you think they planted the hooker in his room???????) You think they put words in Blago's mouth and semen on Monica's dress and cracj in Mayor Barry's pipe (who the public was actually stupid enough to re elect. Get real.

Ha-ha! You can always tell a new guy on the forum. Hey new upstate NY buddy, welcome to "devil505's world"

Devil505 wrote:

gerard wrote:For those of you who cry about political motivation - get real. You really think someones going to go after a sitting mayor without a SOLID reason to do so??

Yes....That's exactly what concerns me, .....were the reasons for initiating these investigations totally legitimate & non-partisan.

gerard wrote:Also all of these prosecutorial offices, both state AND federal, that are headed by political appointee's, have as the rank and file people of both parties who are career people and it is those people who do the actual investigation and put the case together.

Not true under the current administration. Career workers were fired & new one hired based on political & religion tests, not merit. There have been many Senate hearing looking into this. (I'll get you some links when I have more time)
A number of US Attornys have been fired under very questionable circumstances too!

Only difference is Clinton fired them all upfront!

coalmeister wrote:Ha-ha! welcome to "devil505's world"

Darn you coalmeister! I just lost a large sip of Beer out my nose on that one...

RS

Ha-ha! You can always tell a new guy on the forum. Hey new upstate NY buddy, welcome to "devil505's world" [/quote]


LOL I know - i don't usually bite on posts where the poster abviously doesn't want to be confused with facts. (Like the US Attorney IS an appointed position but the people that work in his office AREN"T. (Yes - I work in that type of environment and have known the same people for over 20 years. The appointee's come and go - the rank and file do not) Save your links devil505 - they can't substitute for actual personal experience!!

The only places that may never see honest politicians in office are Louisiana and Rhode Island. The rest of the country has an ebb and flow to the level of honesty, regardless of party affiliation.

coalmeister wrote:

gerard wrote:Also all of these prosecutorial offices, both state AND federal, that are headed by political appointee's, have as the rank and file people of both parties who are career people and it is those people who do the actual investigation and put the case together.

devil505 wrote:Not true under the current administration. Career workers were fired & new one hired based on political & religion tests, not merit. There have been many Senate hearing looking into this. (I'll get you some links when I have more time)
A number of US Attornys have been fired under very questionable circumstances too!

Only difference is Clinton fired them all upfront!

FWIW, that's a HUGE and unprecedented difference. DOJ is different from other departments. While it's actually customary for an entirely new corps of US Attys to come in with every new Administration, it's decidedly NOT for them to be fired for not doing the Administration's political bidding.

The politicization of Justice was just one of the many areas in which unprecedented power grabs were undertaken by Dick Cheney and the boyz in the "Unitary Executive" push. The systemic defiance of "signing statements," the exploded police powers conferred by the "USA Patriot Act," the ambiguous legal status of the VP, and just now the carte blanche given to Treasury on the "TARP" -- all these are examples of strains on the checks and balances between the branches.

If anybody thinks these ballooned powers are good things, imagine a President you really don't like having them and using them against you.

gerard wrote:Ha-ha! You can always tell a new guy on the forum. Hey new upstate NY buddy, welcome to "devil505's world"

LOL I know - i don't usually bite on posts where the poster abviously doesn't want to be confused with facts. (Like the US Attorney IS an appointed position but the people that work in his office AREN"T. (Yes - I work in that type of environment and have known the same people for over 20 years. The appointee's come and go - the rank and file do not) Save your links devil505 - they can't substitute for actual personal experience!![/quote]

Sorry Gerrad.......I spent most of my life working as a Special Agent in the US Justice Dept & I know how things work there from the "Actual Experience" you allude too. Are you unaware of the many Senate Judiciary committee hearings on the goings on in the Justice Dept in the last 8 years? How many career types were hired & fired for blatant political reasons? How morale was so low at Justice that many quit? A US Atty can be fired for almost any reason, but not for the wrong (illegal) reason. Their firings are still under investigation by Congress & soon will be
re-investigated by a REAL Atty General.

Here's a link to just a few CSPAN Congressional hearing I suggest you watch:
http://www.c-span.org/search.aspx?For=u ... %20firings

(there are a number of these hearings and, even though I am easily confused by facts, I can keep you supplied with as many FACTS as you want. An "Insider" like you may find them revealing!

This was not a federal investigation initiated by Gonzales, it is not an AG behind the investigation. This is from the State Prosecutor's office.

titleist1 wrote:This was not a federal investigation initiated by Gonzales, it is not an AG behind the investigation. This is from the State Prosecutor's office.

I hope you're right, but I had heard it was part of a 2 year old federal investigation. If it was state, I stand corrected!
(do you have a link showing it was a state investigation & did not center on info developed by Justice?.......If so.....Like Gilda Radner used to say on Saturday Night Live.......Never Mind!)