The White House and Abramoff

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Apparently there exist 6 pictures taken of Bush and Abramoff together at some party events. Of course, media would love to get their hands on these , but they did not succeed yet.

This probably is not a big thing, since a president gets his picture taken with lots of people (although they would make great propaganda tools for the Dems ). However, there is an editorial today in the Washington Post which makes some strong arguments that what matters is the contact Abramoff had with the administration:

Of course, the administration stonewalls. Apparently how the government conducts its affairs is none of our business. Oh well. I just wish this would get more exposure in the press.

 

It is probably too complex of an issue for the average American. Now if Bush was photographed with his hand on some intern's ass that would get people attention.

 

An interestng development:

Maybe someone should have thought to wire-tap George's phone.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11261495/

 

Heh, don't feel like you're the only ones stuck with such unscrupulous and unrepentant leaders. The standard response in any situation like this is to firstly deny outright, then deny personal knowledge or any involvement of one's department, then deny knowing about it yourself and pin the blame on some stool pigeon.

Over here, we've had weeks of news about the Australian Wheat Board's payment of approximately $300m in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein through a false trucking company. A number of senior ministers have been implicated. There have been allegations stretching back as far as the last general election, and the US, Canada and Russia have all voiced concerns to regulatory authorities about the AWB paying bribes.

As always, the pattern repeats itself - the Cole enquiry's terms of reference do not currently include being able to investigate ministerial or departmental knowledge of the kickbacks. As the saying goes, "never set up an enquiry unless you know what it will say". Here's just a few links - the amount of press on this has been voluminous, to say the least, and shouldn't be hard to find with Google (try "AWB kickbacks").

US wheat group calls for inquiry

PM backs embattled Vaile on AWB

Inquiry names Heffernan

Thankfully, it seems people get annoyed when their tax money gets thrown away bribing a dictator - who we were apparently planning to depose anyway!

We now return you to your regular topic... sorry folks, just wanted you to know that you're not alone.

 

Heh, the first Bush-Abramoff photo was published in Time . It is not especially gripping, since Abramoff is barely visible. However, more interesting is the venue at which it was taken. Notwithstanding the administration's claim that Bush's only contacts with Abramoff were at meaningless events (like Christmas parties or such), this photo was actually taken at a small "work meeting" between Bush and and Indian leaders (some of which Abramoff was lobbying for).

(apparently Mr. Garza is also under indictment for embezzling money from his tribe).