Thursday, December 06, 2007
National Media (BrokenHearts) Huckabee
Of course, it sounded too good to be true.0 comments
An affable outsider with a quick wit and warm personality taking on the high-priced stiffs for the Republican nomination. A pastor, even, instead of the corporate hucksters and shills the GOP spits out like sunflower seeds.
But how many times have hearts lept, as attractive strangers from across a room slowly steered towards each other, only to find one of them had snot hanging from their nose and stains on their sleeve?
Salon.com | Mike Huckabee's record
Alas. The 2008 Election Media's new darlings have not borne up well under closer scrutiny. And remember: At a time that the GOP is desperate to retain power, THIS is the best they could do for a field of candidates. (Has there been a Tom Tancredo sighting recently?) Cheeesh...
Rudy Giuliani, after being coronated in the early stages of this obscenely long campaign, is imploding faster than an old Vegas hotel.
We've written earlier about Mike Huckabee being outed by the very people of Arkansas who know him best—but this time, it's on a national stage. So, the attention from the national MSM ratchets up the stakes a bit.
Now, maybe it stems from growing up poor in Hope, AR, but it seems ol' Pastor Mike has a wee bit of a sticky-finger problem with the array of perks that come from celebrity and position—along with that Bill Clinton vendetta you've read about, which led him to uncage a monster to kill twice.
Arkansas Times' Max Brantley in Salon:(GN emphases) In the governor's office, his grasp never exceeded his reach. Furniture he'd received to doll up his office was carted out with him when he left, after he'd crushed computer hard drives so nobody could ever get a peek behind the curtain of the Huckabee administration.
Until my paper, the Arkansas Times, blew the whistle, he converted a governor's mansion operating account into a personal expense account, claiming public money for a doghouse, dry-cleaning bills, panty hose and meals at Taco Bell. He tried to claim $70,000 in furnishings provided by a wealthy cotton grower for the private part of the residence as his own, until he learned ethics rules prevented it. When a disgruntled former employee disclosed memos revealing all this, the Huckabee camp shut her up by repeatedly suggesting she might be vulnerable to prosecution for theft because she'd shared documents generated by the state's highest official.
He ran the State Police airplane into the ground, many of the miles in pursuit of political ends. Inauguration funds were used to buy clothing for his wife. He once took control of the state Republican Party's campaign account -- then swore the account had been somebody else's responsibility when it ran afoul of federal election laws. He repeated the pattern when he claimed in a newspaper story that his staff controlled the account to stage his second inauguration. When I filed a formal ethics complaint over what appeared to be an improper appropriation of donated money, he told a different story, disavowing responsibility for the money. He thus avoided another punishment from an Ethics Commission, which had sanctioned him on five other occasions. He dodged nine other complaints (though none, despite his counter-complaints, was held to be frivolous). In one case, he was saved by the swing vote of a woman who left the chairmanship of the Ethics Commission days later to take a state job. She listed the governor as a reference on the job application. Finally, unbelievably, Huckabee once sued to overturn the ban on gifts to him.
My newspaper chronicled all this and so much more. Since my paper wrote critically about him, I didn't often experience the "nice" Mike Huckabee that so many national commentators have enjoyed. In fact, ultimately Huckabee ended press services, which are publicly financed, to my newspaper. The Arkansas Times received no news releases from the governor's office, no notices of news conferences, no responses to routine questions. He was condemned for this by journalism organizations.
Truth is, we were happy to be thrown into the governor's briar patch. The world is full of disaffected Huckabee campaign workers, former employees and garden-variety Republicans who love to pass on tips about a governor they'd found self-centered and untrustworthy. If you think he left a well of warm feelings in Arkansas, note that Hillary Clinton had raised more money in Arkansas at last report and that a recent University of Arkansas Poll showed her a 35 to 8 percent leader over Huckabee in the presidential preferences of Arkansas residents. Only one-third of 33 Republican legislators have said they will support him for president.
Thanks to such unhappy people, we've broken numerous stories about Huckabee, from the first early word of his destruction of state computer hard drives (more fully reported by the Democrat-Gazette); to the time and place of his announcement for president; to his sale and purchase of homes; to his infamous "wedding registry." About the last: Three decades after the Huckabees' wedding, his wife registered at department stores so their new home, post-governor's mansion, could be stocked with gifts of linens, toasters and other suitable furnishings. In early 2007, our reporting also prompted the former first lady to decline dozens of place settings of governor's mansion china and Irish crystal that had been purchased with tax-deductible contributions to the Governor's Mansion Association, nominally set up to improve the mansion, not to buy going-away presents for former occupants.
Ouch. That's just a portion of the sins Brantley outlines.
Rudy, Mike. The GOP field may not be able to field a candidate if they keep dropping like flies.
Mitt Romney is an airhead supreme, but with all his vast fortune, at least he gives the appearance of being an ethical one.
Maybe it's simply time to disband the Republican Party, and allow the adults to govern the daily affairs of the American public.
Just asking.
posted by Gotham 5:32 PM
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Just Stupid...
Top contender for Stupid Story of the Year:0 comments
AP | Bush Calls on Iran to 'Come Clean'
They did, George. Four years ago. But your greed made it hard to hear.
The REAL story:
America Calls on Bush to 'Come Clean'
Really, George, what have you been hiding all these years? Yours is the most secretive administration in the history of the United States.
There are no "State Secrets." There is no "Executive Privilege." There is only "CYA."
There are only scores of events where you helped yourselves and your friends and cronies, at the American citizen's expense, and you simply will go to ANY extreme to keep from being caught, tried, convicted, and perhaps executed, for all the crimes committed on your watch.
As your friends in the right-wing mob like to say, "If you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear."
Let it all out, George. Release EVERYTHING.
Who knows? Maybe you're innocent. But with everything hidden, we all will just assume you are guilty as sin.
Of everything.
'Come Clean,' George. When God talks to you the next time, that's Him whispering what to do.
posted by Gotham 4:31 PM
Al Franken Announces For Senate
We at GN knew Al Franken back in the late '70s/ early '80s during his Saturday Night Live days. He was, in short, a jerk. But in hindsight, he was no more arrogant than everyone else connected with such a powerful show in those days.0 comments
Over the years, he's seemed not only to "get older," but to "grow up." While the ego came through clearly in his Air America show, he became quite capable of understanding complex issues and presenting them simply for his listeners; he appeared capable of great moral outrage at what he saw this nation becoming; he was able to speak with impressive humility about his numerous trips to Iraq to entertain U.S. soldiers.
So, we watched the last couple of years, as this morphed from a good joke to an idea to be considered to a full-blown strategy:
USA TODAY | Al Franken enters Minn. Senate raceSo, Franken has decided to give up an easy, well paid life as an outside carper to take on Norm Coleman, someone who, as a first termer, has supported George Bush's rape of our Treasury, our middle class existence, our rights as U.S. citizens under the Constitution and the full dismantlement of our heroic military.
USA TODAY's story herein is short and rather to the point. The meat of the link, however, is the comment section on all this. Definitely a Must Read. It's just hilarious!
Franken's announcement has certainly brought out the mouth-breathers.
They're very cute in their rantings. Dangerous, but cute. Kinda like NY alligators. Very cute, but you finally have to flush them down the toilet.
As is usual, their diatribes are all ad hominem attacks. Variations of "Al Franken is a doody-head!" Along that general line of unreasoning.
One thing I dearly love about the wingnuts (and the wingnut sponsors in the MSM) is their tenet that ANYTHING a Democrat had done for a living before seeking public office automatically disqualifies him or her, whereas biography for a Republican is simply a trifle to be ignored fully, unless it sounds sexy enough be used as a marketing tool.
To these bright lights, if you disagree with them, you're an asshole, period—even if you were pope, or God or had saved millions of starving, dying children.
To them, if you agree with them, being a bug exterminator is OK. Or being someone who worked to free convicted rapists so they could kill again is cool, so long as it was done to get back at Bill and Hillary Clinton. Or being a Watergate burgler and co-conspirator; or an Iran Contra co-conspirator while in military uniform. Or a Klansman. Or any amount of jail time for an array of offenses against humanity. That's all cool.
But if you simply disagree:
YOU are an asshole, and you should move back to (whatever place they can think of that sounds really bad)!!!!! And whatever it is/was you do/did SUCKS!!!!!!!!!! Gottit, DUDE?????
We here at Gotham Notes make really bad wingnuts. Our spelling is just too good. (Sigh.) Oh well...
To encapsulate:
Ted Nugent is cool; The Dixie Chicks should shut up.
Ronald Reagan and George Murphy were cool; Jeannine Garofalo and Sean Penn should shut up.
Life is easy and very simple when you're scared and stupid.
But this race is easy to understand.
Franken is a comedian.
Coleman is a joke.
The race is on.
posted by Gotham 2:57 PM
Corporations Seek Regulations Rehab
CEOs: "Please save us from ourselves! We've been stealing so much money from folks for so long, that we just don't know how to stop! Please HELP us!"0 comments
AMERICAblog | UK business now sees benefits to environmental regulations
We're witnessing a early stage of the rout of the Milton Friedman school of neo-con economic crap. It's devastated entire swaths of this planet.
Even the greedy red-tie set is beginning to realize that there are limits to just how greedy a human being can get before he/she starts to vomit gold. Hot, molten gold.
After this long corporate-highwaymen reign of terror here in the U.S. and elsewhere, blessed, worshipped "market forces" are now turning on the RedTies and they're now beginning to devour each other and even their own entrails.
All these regulations the far right, the Neo-Cons and all their Think Tanks have railed against for decades were instituted in the first place for a simple reason: to keep us from our worst human impulses; to protect us from ourselves. We humans are unruly creatures, barely able to sustain civilized interaction unless there is a large body of accepted law, and a large police presence to enforce it, helping us to get to work in the morning. Otherwise, we'd each simply kill the moron next to us who forgot to shower. And fight over his bones.
Every time you hear a pundit expound upon Deregulation or "The Market Forces," what you should hear is "I WANT MORE! FOR ME!" You would be well served to respond, "Such a greedy wretch."
The subprime mess is a perfect example. BushCo gave business full, unfettered leeway to do whatever it wanted, whatever "the market" would allow, in the pursuit of making ever more bountiful profits.
And it seems they took that newfound license, gobbled all they could hold, then, oops! took a massive, collective dump on the village green. And now they're feeling oh, so ill and oh, so woozy. They would dearly love for someone to come along and clean up this mess for them. And pat their foreheads with a cold compress, and tell them they can come back and steal some more another day.
But, clearly, "the market" is working perfectly and it's now ready to shed those many players who thought to play it cheaply. So, we should just allow it. Let it shed ALL of its latter day Ken Lays and Ivan Boeskys into the abyss of accursed lower-middle-class.
The only downside to that is they're going to take the rest of us down along with them.
Until we institute severe re-regulation.
Just to keep us all from ourselves, mind you.
posted by Gotham 3:31 AM
As If Bush and Rudy Aren't Enough
Of A Heartache...
Ahhh, hope springs eternal in the Gotham breast...0 comments
But the Mets'll kill that pretty quick.
The NY Metropolitans just announced their Spring Training schedule for 2008.
The Not-So Amazins begin withballsand bats on Feb. 26.
Since hapless Mets GM Omar Minaya has struck out mightily this winter in trying to get ANYONE running another team to consider his group of gutless wonders as having any value, and since nobody wants any of these guys in a trade and there's nothing but over-priced rummies available as free agents, it's looking more and more like "second verse, the same as the first."
Should be pretty much the same lineup of bipeds and the same pitiful staff as last year.
Oh boy, we can start Opening Day with a collapse! Is that even possible?
posted by Gotham 12:35 AM
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
How The Catalog Stole Christmas
Hate all those catalogs the direct marketers dump on you every Christmas season? (And, in all honesty, Charles Gibson and Falafel Bill O'Reilly's War On Christmas Sanity notwithstanding, it IS the fault of Christmas season, so far—hell, I still haven't received ONE Kwanzaa or Chanukah or Ramadan catalog yet this year—AND IT'S ALREADY DECEMBER 4TH!!! What'll I do, Bill??!!??0 comments
OK, breathe...Relief is on the way.
This is a magic button.
This button will make catalogs go away.
We've placed it here to make it easy, plus down towards the bottom of Gotham Notes' sidebar on the right is the new home for this button, which will take you to the site of Catalog Choice, which is sponsored by The Ecology Center of Berkeley, CA:
The Ecology Center provides information, tools, technical assistance, referrals, political strategies, and models for sustainable living. We address the public need for non-commercial information about ecologically sensitive practices and the numerous toxic threats to society and the environment. In addition to our Environmental Resource Center, we provide direct services including Berkeley's residential curbside recycling pickup, the three Berkeley Farmers' Markets, the Farm Fresh Choice food justice program, Terrain magazine, the EcoHouse demonstration site, and a wide range of fiscally sponsored projects.
Pick the catalogs you wish would go away, and these kind folks will contact the catalog publishers with your request to remove you from their mailing lists.
Et Voila!
Hey, we're here for you, y'know?
posted by Gotham 7:37 PM
Choices, Choices...
Now, this is always a tough call for a community to make:0 comments
Lose good-paying jobs or continue to produce day-glo children?
Such a weighty responsibility for shareholders, as well.
Yahoo! News | Dow Chemical to shut plants, cut jobs, take charge
Lord...!
posted by Gotham 6:55 PM
Monday, December 03, 2007
Rudy: "I Do Not Talk To People
Who Charge Me With Corruption"
Then, this could make it very difficult for Rudy—or any Republican for that matter—to get his message out.0 comments
This could mean a total press blackout.
Hell, we're just starting to see the first Mike Huckabee corruption stories float up, out of Arkansas.
To be fair, the ATU's Larry Hanley of Staten Island, while not an overly articulate man, is not charging Rudy Giuliani directly with corruption. If you listen to him, he's warning the Mayor that some within his administration may be corrupt.
Notice also, Rudy's burning curiosity to find out who in his City Hall MIGHT have corruption charges brought against them. Nahhhh, just shout down the talker. He found out soon enough anyway, as they started carting off his staff.
Because, in typical Rudy M.O., ALL of Rudy's chosen people are as pure as the driven snow. So, attack the attacker. Again, until all the frog walks begin, mind you...
Thank you, Larry.
Another interesting sidelight is the date on the video: 6/27/01.
Those of you around the country can now finally see how much—just over two months before we were to go to the polls on Primary Day, September 11, 2001 to elect Rudy's successor—just how much Rudy had pissed off the citizenry of New York. This rowdy meeting was pretty typical everyday fare all over the city when it involved Rudy by that point.
We couldn't WAIT to be rid of him.
That's why New York laughed so hard at him when he wanted to suspend terms limits, to stay on as mayor for the good of all after he turned tail and ran from his post at the World Trade Center, leaving hundreds of NYers to die.
Now, honestly, isn't all this tired Nixonian "I Am Not A Crook!" crap how we all feel now about Bush? Why go there again? Because, that's exactly where Rudy would take us. Make no mistake. Same crap; nastier spin.
Hat tip to Henry M. for sending the video along!
posted by Gotham 11:00 PM
If Krugman Is Scared...
Yesterday, we showed you the political underpinnings of the financial disaster BushCo has saddled us with.0 comments
Today, Krugman supplies the economic explanations for how screwed we're all gonna be.
Tips for Congress:
1) Kill all of Bush's tax cuts NOW!
2) Pass some WHOPPING big tax hikes on all the rich guys NOW! Before we're all sunk along with them.
Tip for everyone in the financial corporations arena:
Time to go back to school, dude, maybe become a social worker; or a teacher. You'll need to make a living somehow. The financials workforce could lose 30% to 70% of its numbers within the next two years.
posted by Gotham 4:31 PM
Made My Day...
"Hey Chuck!! How did you get so smart, to talk your boss, Rep. Todd Tiahrt of Kansas, into finally bucking his party and standing up to Bush and Cheney on all those terrifying GOP initiatives, like laying waste to Iraq and looting the national Treasury?"0 comments
"Ohhh, thanks, Sally. But I'm not really smart. I didn't really get him to do that. But, hey! I DID manage a Holiday Inn Express last night!!"
The Raw Story | Tough job market for GOP: Congressional staffer bolts to become motel manager
Chuck Knapp: The New Wave of GOP job prospects' poster boy.
posted by Gotham 3:55 PM
Sunday Wingnut Rabble on Fox Watch Rudy Stumble
The Neo-Con riff-raff is turning on Rudy. There's blood in the water for Fox's favorite candidate!0 comments
The Raw Story | Kristol: Giuliani nomination 'problematic' in scandal's wake
Bill Kristol? Fred Barnes? Chris Wallace?
Uh, Judy, have your police driver stop and pick up some bi-carb for your husband tonight. I think he's gonna need it.
posted by Gotham 12:56 AM
Hell Freezes Over
The Jets Win! My Word! The Jets Win!0 comments
It must have been the snow we had today (even though they played in Miami).
It's hard to fathom that someone else sucks worse than we suck.
But, NY Jets 40, Miami Dolphins 13 tells the tale.
posted by Gotham 12:01 AM
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Snow Today...
0 comments
A nice light dusting came to beautiful Gotham City today.
I've always loved how even the slightest cover makes the city look magical.
Update: No, your eyes aren't going. I didn't get to take a shot of the snow until 9pm this evening. Which is why it looks a bit dark for a 2pm post.Labels: New York City, snow
posted by Gotham 2:09 PM
Huck's Rudy Problem?
Seems that Mike Huckabee might just have something of "a Rudy problem."0 comments
There's the little thing about records keeping.
Then, there's the matter of Mike's flitting around the country, instead of sitting at his desk, doing his job—all while using state of Arkansas equipment and planes. Not to mention the liberal use of on-duty State Police personnel. And bringing along his wife and staff, of course. It actually turns out that for the dates listed—Jan. 1 to Oct. 31, 2005—Huckabee was out of the state for almost a full quarter of that year.
Testing the political waters, perhaps? As illegal as that would be?Labels: Mike Huckabee, Republicans, Rudy Giuliani
posted by Gotham 1:52 PM
Arkansas (Hearts) Huckabee?!
My, oh my...0 comments
This just doesn't look like the year for political homefield advantage! Does it?
Looks like Arkansas has it in for Mike Huckabee, who's not the affable nice guy he's portrayed as.
Crushing hard drives with info on them about your scandals? Wow! Now, THAT'S executive privilege!
And here, NYers thought we were all the rage for despising Rudy.
Gee, I wonder how Alaska feels about Mike Gravel?Labels: Mike Huckabee, Republicans, Rudy Giuliani
posted by Gotham 1:43 PM
The Real Story on Subprime Lending
Bird & Fortune, British comedians roughly equivalent to the U.S.'s Bob & Ray, take dead aim on the entire subprime mess.0 comments
And nail it.
Brilliant!
There are two "George Parr" routines on it, actually.
Here's the first:
And here is the second.
Enjoy, and learn:Labels: banker, hedge fund, mortgage, subprime
posted by Gotham 12:11 PM
Saturday, December 01, 2007
VT DAY!!!
It's official! George says so!0 comments
The Bush White House:
THE WAR ON TERROR IS OVER!!
We're safe now!
There's nothing more to FEAR!
YIPPEEE! Go get 'em, George! Thanks!
Whatta guy!
(Hunh? What?...Oh,... damn.)
posted by Gotham 9:05 PM
Judy! Judy! Judy!
What goes around... (Vol. XXXXVIII):0 comments
Many of you across the country may not know that NYC has a 24-hr. all news channel on Time Warner Cable here that reports solely on New York City stories. Very handy to have.
Andrew Kirtzman was its City Hall reporter for much of Rudy's two terms, and has since moved over to the CBS affiliate here. He, like much of the rest of the City Hall press corps then, was shat upon pretty severely by Rudy. Kirtzman, again like much of the rest of the City Hall press corps, is slowly letting out all those tasty items in their notebooks that they could never use before. We can safely assume this trend should continue. Words like "payback" and "bitch" come to mind.
From Kirtzman:"The Rudy Giuliani campaign has denied allegations that Judith Nathan, Giuliani's one-time mistress and current wife, abused police protection during his tenure as mayor. The campaign issued a statement, saying: 'That assertion is absolutely ridiculous. The security detail was only used to protect the personal safety of Mrs. Giuliani.'"
Ummmmm, that, of course, would be the police protection that she never should have had in the first place?
Honest, everybody! Judy NEVER abused her corruption of the Mayor of New York!
Even Rudy's own staff is having fun being sources, and getting into the payback party:A source involved with the mayor's operations at the time tells CBS 2 HD that Nathan took flagrant advantage of that police car and driver.
The source says Nathan forced police to chauffeur her friends and family around the city—even when she wasn't in the car. (Emphasis: GN)
That set off alarms with ethics watchdogs.
"The rules are clear, you can't use city resources for private reasons," said Gene Russianoff of the New York Public Interest Research Group. "And if you're using a city car, a police driven car to chauffeur around relatives, unless they're explicitly protected and they're deemed to be the subject of potential security threats, it's just wrong."
Nathan's detail was approved by the NYPD after a stranger made an unspecified threat to her. The commissioner at the time was Bernard Kerik, who was recently indicted on tax fraud charges in an unrelated matter.
"It wasn't about her being the mayor's girlfriend," Kerik said. "The person spoke to her by name and made comments to her."
Gee, I wonder, could that have been Giuliani's WIFE?
And Bernie..., that's different from the hundreds of thousands of NYers who get called by name every day and have comments and threats made to them, HOW?
Are there hundreds of thousands of police details protecting all of THESE people? Uh,... nah! Again, we see what a useless sack of shit Kerik was as Commish—always with the bodyguard/driver mentality.
Question: Did Nathan ever have a moment of civic duty, when she said, "Thank you, honey, that's very sweet of you, but won't you get into trouble by having all these very nice policemen around me all the time?"
Or was she just having too much fun enjoying all the perks that come from fucking the Big Guy?
Also, the campaign flak above has glaringly missed their "mrs." Judy Nathan wasn't "Mrs." Giuliani at that point, although she was working very hard to become one. New York First Lady Donna Hanover was "Mrs." Giuliani at that time, and it was SHE who had the correctly allocated, city-financed security detail which was "only used to protect the personal safety of Mrs. Giuliani."
"Aspirin salesgirl" doesn't usually require 24/7 police protection under the New York City Charter.
Hell, if SHE gets a police detail, WE ALL want a police detail!
AND A CAR!! We all want cars!
posted by Gotham 7:52 PM
Leave No Senator Behind
From TPM:0 comments
Well, now we know what we're getting Lisa Murkowski of Alaska for Christmas.
Good ol' Merriam-Webster defines "muckrake" thusly.
So who knows, Lisa? Santa may just bring you that wonderful, informative tome, chock full of definitions that every U.S. Senator is wise to have handy, which should be required reading in every congressional office! It serves SO many purposes (decipher White House press releases, or use as a paper weight to keep graft money from blowing off the desk)!Labels: Muckraker, Murkowski, Talking Points Memo
posted by Gotham 5:58 PM
Happppppy Holidays!
Thanks to Cedubose for passing this along. Every Holiday season needs great cheer and fun!0 comments
Daily Kos — National Review: GOP in Deep Doo-Doo
Goes along with my assessment that America sorely needs to have No Republican Standing after Election Night '08.
posted by Gotham 5:38 PM
Building a Dumber Beast
The joys of teaching "Making Your Kids Dumber by Design"—instead of Darwinian Theory in our schools—truly come home when your brilliant progeny later grow into engineers, who can only stand around a hole in the ground and pray to the Lord that "a great and mighty condo be raised by the hand of God within this hole, which will make us all millionaires!"0 comments
And then stand there and wait.
The evil part is that "Intelligent Design" is simply another way of depriving your kids of the tools they need in order to become active participants in their society.
The fun part will come from watching how badly disadvantaged the "religious dumb" kids will be in trying to make their way in the world, which, of course, fully reproves Darwinian Theory!
Voila!
posted by Gotham 5:23 PM
Ah, Sweet Music...
This is the phrase all Americans pray to see more of:0 comments
"According to the company's former top lawyer..."
C'mon, let's have it!
Dish the dirt, boys and girls!
There are still hard-working, true, patriotic Americans throughout our corporate world, our political structure, our police and fire departments, our military.
In this ongoing War on Terror, the PR campaigns are spot-on:
If You See Something, Say Something!
It's just that now the terrorists are the folks we elect and work for.
posted by Gotham 3:02 PM
Pax Bushicana
George Bush's Democracy spreads around the world.0 comments
What an impact our powerful leader has had on world affairs!"Competition for survival has become ruthless and morality disregarded," says Kim Mun-cho, a Korea University sociologist. "In the competition to be ahead of others, people resort to any means available, resulting in corruption."
In George's Dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-richest Utopia, it's good to see his tenets taking root.
And this here is just some good, ol'-time, ol'-fashioned Republican values:... small stuff, however, next to the allegations of comprehensive corruption made against the Samsung Group, a corporate behemoth with interests ranging from electronics to construction and shipbuilding.
According to the company's former top lawyer for seven years until 2004, Samsung has crafted a network of bribery that extends to the judiciary, government tax and finance officials, academia and the media. The attorney, Kim Yong-chol, described a system in which cash was handed over in briefcases, or disguised to look like books or CD cases.
Shielding himself behind a respected organization of Roman Catholic priests, Kim told a nationally televised news conference from a Seoul church that even the country's top prosecutors were on Samsung's payroll. The list included the government's nominee for chief prosecutor and the head of the national commission looking into corruption, he said.
[snip]
In February, Chung Mong-koo, chairman of Hyundai Motor Co., was convicted of embezzling more than $100 million from the company to create a slush fund that prosecutors said was used for bribery.
Chung received a three-year prison term, but his sentence was commuted to community service when the court ruled that his incarceration would have too detrimental an impact on the South Korean economy.
Ahhhhh...
If you can't beat 'em; buy 'em; our way of life demands it! — GOP campaign plank #2
(It may be time to ditch that Samsung TV or that Hyundai in the driveway. Just to let "the market" determine who succeeds or fails in business.)
posted by Gotham 2:55 PM
