Traitor Joe In His Own Words

He has lied and lied and lied repeatedly. He is no longer to be trusted. Sure he says he'll caucus with the Democrats, but he's made so many promises he's broken.

And as Jane Hamsher points out, he's abused the position of committee chairman:

While it's one thing for Obama to personally forgive Lieberman for the race baiting and other gutter tactics that he engaged in on McCain's behalf during the campaign, it's quite another to let the chairmanship of such an important committee, which Lieberman has used for years to prevent Senatorial investigation into no-bid contracts and contractor abuse within the Department of Homeland Security, to serve as an olive branch.

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Lieberman, many will recall, was responsible for holding hearings into the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. But after winning his 2006 election with the help of the GOP, he decided it would be too "divisive" and refused to do so.

Good governance is going to be about more than passing new legislation, it's going to be about cleaning up the mess that has been made over the past 8 years. It's going to be about weeding out the graft and greed and corruption that has caused American taxpayers to foot the bill for outrageous deficits. The military industrial complex has been bilking the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security with no-bid contracts for things nobody needs that we're not allowed to know about for years now. The only way we're going to find out about these abuses, and right then, is if our elected officials accept that responsibility.

Not only is Joe Lieberman not doing that job, as Chairman of the Department of Homeland Security Committee he's keeping anyone else from doing it. He happily allowed a seat on the Homeland Security Advisory Council to be doled out as political patronage to a corrupt Bush Pioneer. He has no interest in cleaning up the mess he helped to make.

Is his continued happiness worth the cost of healthcare? Of the environment? Of putting Americans back to work? Of reducing our dependence on oil and getting the economy back on its feet?

Allowing Lieberman to retain control of a committee where he has done nothing but suppress meaningful oversight is going to be an awfully bitter pill to swallow when we're told that the price of "change" we all thought we were voting for is going to be too high.

John McCain's Response to Financial Crisis: Katrina-Like

Obama nails McCain on the economy in Michigan yesterday:



Jed Lewison, HuffPo: Obama: McCain's Economic Crisis Response "Katrina-Like...Just Sorta Stood There"

"Senator McCain just doesn't get it. He doesn't understand that the storm hitting Wall Street hit Main Street long ago. That's why his first response to the greatest financial meltdown in generations was a Katrina-like response. Sort of stood there. Said "The fundamentals of the economy are strong." That's why he's been shifting positions these past few weeks, looking for photo ops, trying to figure out what to say and what to do."

Obama on Labor Day

Inspiring.

Back to Democratic-centric posting.

Obama/Biden '08

Never Forget

Hullabaloo: 1836 Americans Started To Die While These Assholes Partied

AP: Almost half of Katrina’s dead were over 75

McCain Jokes About Katrina: September 21, 2005

How could anyone vote for this fool?

Big Oil/Republican Lie of the Day: "Not A Drop of Oil Was Spilled"

National Geographic:
Near New Orleans a small oil-slickened dog was seen wandering in Chalmette, Louisiana, as cleanup crews recovered oil from a ruptured refinery tank on September 6, 2005. Tens of thousands of barrels of oil had spilled and mixed with receding floodwater from Hurricane Katrina.

Republicans and Big Oil, who want to open up the oceans, the wildlife sanctuaries -- basically the world -- to drilling, are putting out this zombie lie: Not a drop of oil was spilled during Hurricane Katrina.

The truth:

Actually, there were at least 146 reported spills in Federal waters after Katrina and Rita, totaling over 700,000 gallons, the equivalent of seven "MAJOR" spills. Here are 43 satellite pictures of giant oil slicks in the Gulf of Mexico after Katrina, stretching for scores of miles.

Worse, EIGHT MILLION gallons spilled out of Louisiana oil facilities after the storms. (The famous Exxon Valdez spill totaled 11 million.)

How is this not causing "a single oil spill"?

Watch the video below to see the zombie lie spread on cable TV, and pictures of the oil-slicked devastation left after the hurricane.

Replay video | Share video | Watch more videos

hat tip to First Draft, which I saw on Newsfare

In The News

Library of Congress/Flickr: Palmer, Alfred T.,, photographer.
Electric phosphate smelting furnace used to make elemental phosphorus in a TVA chemical plant in the vicinity of Muscle Shoals, Alabama
1942 June

This was done in your name: The United States illegally used white phosphorus and chemical weapons in Fallujah in 2004; now babies are being born with birth defects.

Many of the supposed "terrorists" tortured by the Bush Administration at Guantanamo were actually innocent. Again, this was done in your name. Chilling.

The Taliban -- remember them? -- attacked a prison in Kandahar, Afgahanistan from within and without, and 1100 prisoners escaped. The resurgence of the Taliban is another complete failure for the Bush Administration.

John McCain has a former Texas gubernatorial candidate organizing a $300,000 fundraiser -- a guy who joked rape is like the weather, when it is inevitable you should just lie back and enjoy it, in 1990. At first, McCain announced the fundraiser was cancelled. But there was money for the taking, so they're rescheduling it, with all the same donors -- except now the rape joker is not invited. Just his money and his moneyed friends. Any Hillary Clinton supporter who votes for McCain is a fool.

John McCain doesn't use a computer. Who doesn't use a computer anymore? My 80-year-old friend is on her third. McCain: Too old, too out of touch with modern life.

The odious Rudy Giuliani is back. He's trying to retire his campaign debt -- by selling his appearances at fundraisers to other Republicans. Hey Rudy -- there's no "I" in "Team". But it was always about Rudy.

Read this article on the Bush/Rove response to Katrina. You want to cry, but you have to laugh -- bitterly -- at this:

[Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco] gave Bush a two-page letter detailing everything the state needed to cope with the disaster -- troops, buses, supplies, money, and more. It would not be until several days later, when Blanco's aides released the letter to the press and got frantic phone calls from Rove's aide Maggie Grant, that it became clear that Bush had taken the letter Blanco had personally handed to him -- and lost it.

President Dumber-Than-A-Box-of-Hammers Lost. The. Letter. Heckuva job, Bushie.

More DoubleTalk From McCain

John McCain, the man who stood next to George W. Bush as New Orleans was drowning and didn't do anything, now says he'd respond promptly to a massive natural disaster. Watch the video below for his lies and prevarications on this subject.

What the Corporate Media Isn't Telling You About John McCain

HuffPo: President Bush licks frosting off of his thumb after holding up a birthday cake for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, upon his arrival at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Az., Monday, Aug. 29, 2005. McCain turned 69 Monday.
dday at Hullabaloo: McCain's Terrible, Horrible, No-Good Very Bad Week

To summarize dday's excellent and very long post (read the whole thing at the link above):

1. Washington Post writes long story about his bad temper

2. "Forgotten Places" tour takes him

a. to an all-white crowd in civil rights landmark Selma, where he praises a ferry constructed with an earmark (he's against those, except when he's for them), and then

b. to Youngstown, Ohio where he praises free trade in front of a plant that closed earlier during George W. Clusterfuck's presidency, and said he didn't know what to do about the dumping of cheap foreign goods. And then he went to New Orleans.

c. New Orleans, the place McBush ignored on McCain's 69th birthday. While Smirky McAmericanCityDrowner was presenting McCain with a cake, it apparently didn't occur to John McLame to say, President Bush, turn on the TV! New Orleans is drowning! We should do something about that. Emptily, McCain now promises that no such thing will ever happen on his watch. Right.

Then his buddy and endorser the Reverend John Hagee (who can be seen on your local religious channel begging for money to support his lavish lifestyle; he's a Christian like John Gotti is a businessman) says once again that Katrina was God's punishment for a New Orleans gay pride parade. McHypocrite sputters "It's nonsense" like a guilty child eight times when asked about that.

Then McLyingSackofShit, Mr. We'll Never Let This Happen Again, says he didn't know if the Ninth Ward of New Orleans should be rebuilt. Like if one of his mansions got destroyed he wouldn't insist the feds rebuild it.

d. And lastly, the Forgotten Places tour went to Alabama, where the McCain campaign used PRISON LABOR to set up the hall. Prison labor.

Go, read the whole post, there's so much more, his mad dashes to the right on tax policy (he was against Bush's tax cuts for the millionaires, now he, multi-millionaire, embraces them), etc.

And don't forget McCain's position on equal pay for women. He's for it, he says. He just doesn't think there should be any legal remedy to enforce it. He is against the equal pay bill (which Senate Republicans defeated) and incredibly said the real problem is that women don't have enough job skills. We're just not equal enough to get equal pay yet. Fucker.

Kanye West Was Right

Hurricane Katrina hit two years ago today:



Heckuva Job Bushie and his Republican band of heartless cronies kill an American city:



And of course, Bush lied. He was warned about the levees:



Kanye West calls it:

Call Daddy!

The little ditty was written in my friend Irene Zahava's writing circle, in Ithaca, New York:


T'was the eve of elections in GOP land.

George, Karl, Dick and Rummy, the Great Asshole Band

Were playing their song, "we're great," ad infinitum

Not knowing the people were all poised to bite 'em.

"Hey Karl" says our George with his head full of holes,

"Now you know I cain't read but I don't like these polls."

"The evening is young, George. Let's not make a fuss.

My strategic plan says the win is for us."

Dick sits on the side tying flies and just wishin,

"This sounds just like Katrina, I think I'll go fishin."

While Rummy who's smart feels his gut passing gas

As he's starting to think "I'll be out on my ass."

The evening wears on, the Dems can't be ignored,

But our prez reads the comics and looks pretty bored.

When the polls finally close Karl hits George in the head.

"Hey wake up buddy boy, I believe we're all dead.

It's the riff raff who've won, they want minimum wage.

They want health care and clean air, I'm just in a rage!"

Georgie panics and says, "They all think I'm a baddy,"

So he gets on the phone and he wails to his daddy,

"Daddy help me, I'm stumped. Help me please - please do sompin'

I'm afraid we've been walloped, it's a real Texas thumpin'."

"Now my boy, you remember in '04 way way back.

I slapped up your head, said don't go to Iraq.

But no, you had to beat me, show your dad you're a man.

So you marched into war, missing one thing - a plan.

OK this time you listen and you do what I say,

Follow all my advice and then you'd better pray.

First give Rummy the boot, he's the one they all hate.

And I'll get on the stick and deliver Bob Gates.

Then you get on the phone, say congrats to that Nancy.

Just say one or two words, you'll flub up if it's fancy.

Then get out on TV to the millions of folks.

And whatever you do, don't tell any dumb jokes.

You've just never been bright son, now you're a lame duck.

Georgie what can I say, face the facts, you've been fucked."


Written by Ann Wexler 11/9/06

Katrina Update

Mud and debris covers the perimeter of St. Rita's nursing home in Chalmette, La., in this 2005 file photo. (AP Photo/Steve Senne, FILE)
The owners of the St. Rita's nursing home, where 35 patients died during Hurricane Katrina, have been indicted on charges of negligent homicide and cruelty to the infirm.

This is just sad. Government failed everyone, yet the private citizens who made poor decisions are prosecuted. Why not charge George W. Bush with murder for the failure of the levees? Mayor Nagin with murder for failing to order mandatory evacuation, or for ignoring New Orleans' disaster plan? Only the little people pay.

AP: New Orleans nursing home owners indicted

First Draft: St. Rita's Nursing Home Owners Indicted

Operation Photo Op, Katrina Edition, Day 362

U.S. President George W. Bush speaks beside Hurricane Katrina survivor Rockey Vaccarella at the White House August 23, 2006. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES)

Cake eating, guitar strumming President Bush is continuing to fight Hurricane Katrina with.....more and more powerfully staged photo ops.

Will Bunch at Attytode deconstructs the latest fakery.

"Rockey I": If it sounds too good to be true...

The good news is that CNN seems to have finally stop obsessing over John Mark Karr. Instead, they've found a new soap opera to go ga-ga over, Katrina survivor Rockey Vaccarella, who drove his FEMA trailer from his home in ravaged St. Bernard Parish to Washington with "the hope" of convincing President Bush to meet with him.

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And, whaddya know? Turns out that the earthy Vaccarella -- a highly successful businessman in the fast-food industry -- is indeed a Republican pol, having run unsuccessfully under the GOP banner for a seat on the St. Bernard Parish commission back in 1999.

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And in fact, Vaccarella seemed very confident that he would be meeting with Bush when he left home, to the point where he had a date scheduled and everything:

Dinner with the President is planned for the evening of August 22nd

Couldn't they just spend the money on the victims? I guess not.

Rockey even got a swag bag! Karl thinks of everything.
Rockey Vaccarella shows off some of the gifts given to him by President Bush, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2006, after meeting with Bush at the White House in Washington. Vaccarella, 41, of Mereaux, La., said he wanted to thank Bush for the federally provided trailers that have provided temporary housing to many in the region who lost homes, but also to keep the pressure on. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Second Coming of My Computer

For some reason the old gal was resurrected tonight. How can you have no hard drive one day, and boot up fine the next? Techier minds than me must know. I'm still getting a new machine. 5 years is 100 years in computer years.

Another in our series of great faux political ads: I saw this at firedoglake. You Connecticut voters, get out there on August 18th! I hope Lamont has the sense to run a Katrina ad right before the vote. Lieberman sped Arabian horse's ass Michael Brown's nomination to head FEMA through his committee in 42 minutes. Thanks, Joe.

Will Congress Give Paris Hilton A Tax Break?

Congress poised to give her millions
Our economy is in a tailspin, the Iraq war is pouring money into the hands of private contractors and draining the treasury. What do Republicans want? Give the mega-rich another tax cut! Only makes sense if you are rich -- like the Bush Administration members who stand to save millions.

Paul Krugman, NYTimes: Shameless in the Senate

The Senate almost voted to repeal the estate tax last fall, but Republican leaders postponed the vote after Hurricane Katrina. It's easy to see why: the public might have made the connection between scenes of Americans abandoned in the Superdome and scenes of well-heeled senators voting huge tax breaks for their even wealthier campaign contributors.

But memories of Katrina have faded, and they're about to try again. The Senate will probably vote this week. So it's important to realize that there's still a clear connection between tax breaks for the rich and failure to help Americans in need.

Any senator who votes to repeal the estate tax, or votes for a "compromise" that goes most of the way toward repeal, is in effect saying that increasing the wealth of people who are already in line to inherit millions or tens of millions is more important than taking care of fellow citizens who need a helping hand.

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Who would benefit from this largess? The estate tax is overwhelmingly a tax on the very, very wealthy; only about one estate in 200 pays any tax at all. The campaign for estate tax repeal has largely been financed by just 18 powerful business dynasties, including the family that owns Wal-Mart.

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In the interest of stiffening those spines, let me remind senators that this isn't just a fiscal issue, it's also a moral issue. Congress has already declared that the budget deficit is serious enough to warrant depriving children of health care; how can it now say that it's worth enlarging the deficit to give Paris Hilton a tax break?

Full article: Ed Strong.

Sebastian Mallaby, WaPo: Reward for the Hereditary Elite . . .

It doesn't matter if you are liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican. There is no possible excuse for doing what Congress is poised to do this week: Abolish the estate tax.

The federal government faces a future of expanding deficits. Thanks to the baby bust and medical inflation, spending is projected to rise by nearly 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2030, a growth equivalent to the doubling of today's Medicare program. What is the dumbest possible response to this? Take a source of revenue and abolish it outright.

fuzzy and blue: EstateTaxRepeal: GOP prays at lucre alter

[] Estate tax repeal would save the estate of Cheney between $13 to $61 million, according to the publicly available data on his net worth. It would save the estate of Rumsfeld between $32 to $101 million. The estate of retired Exxon Mobil chairman Lee Raymond would pocket a cozy $164 million. As for the late Sam Walton's kids, whose company already makes taxpayers foot the bill for the medical expenses of 1000s of its employees, the cost to the govt for not taxing their estates would run into the multiple billions. []

Global Warming Will Change the Coast

By putting most of it under water:

The pics are from a dailykos diary by devilstower: Hotter Than You Think

Recognize this place? It's the Gulf coast of the United States after a 10' rise in sea level. The basic shape looks fairly familiar, and from this landmark-free version of the map, you can be forgiven for thinking not much has changed. Here, try this version.



Those little dots give an inidication of just how far the coastlines would shift from this rise. All the cities along the coast would be not just inundated, but out to sea. New Orleans and Miami would be over a dozen miles from the nearest dry land. That's what ten feet means. The monetary losses are inestimable.

You saw the devestation caused by Katrina. you saw the panic, the loss of life, the shift of populations, and the tremendous costs. Now look at that map again. Can the US survive that? Add in the great coastal cities -- east and west -- being swamped one by one and battered by intense storms. Add in the interior of the country overrun by drought, a return of the dustbowl, as deserts replace farmlands.

Oh, and remember that those maps above are a ten foot rise. Make it twenty, and half of Florida is gone, along with another large slice of the coast. If those predictions of a > 10 degree increase are correct and the poles completely loose their ice, there's a much, much larger sea level rise in our future. A rise that could erase the whole state of Florida and bring coastline to Arkansas.

The Incompetence, The Corruption, The Cronyism: April 28, 2006 edition

I think Paul Krugman should have titled his column today "The Incompetence, the Corruption, and the Cronyism", but he called it The Crony Fairy (behind the TimesSelect wall; Middle Earth Journal has the column here.)

On the other hand, the history of the Bush administration, from the botched reconstruction of Iraq to the botched start-up of the prescription drug program, shows that a president who isn't serious about governing, who prizes loyalty and personal connections over competence, can quickly reduce the government of the world's most powerful nation to third-world levels of ineffectiveness.

And bear in mind that Mr. Bush's pattern of cronyism didn't change after Katrina. For example, he appointed Julie Myers, the inexperienced niece of Gen. Richard Myers, to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement — an agency that, like FEMA, is supposed to protect us against terrorism as well as other threats. Even at the C.I.A., the administration seems more interested in purging Democrats than in improving the quality of intelligence.

So let's skip the name change for FEMA, O.K.? The United States will regain effective government if and when it gets a president who cares more about serving the nation than about rewarding his friends and scoring political points. That's at least a thousand days away. Meanwhile, don't count on FEMA, or on any other government agency, to do its job.

I see the Bush MO for destroying government as follows:

The Corruption: Lie about your political aims (Compassionate Conservatism, Against Nation Building); cheat to get into office (Florida 2000; Ohio 2004)

The Cronyism: Reward friends and bagmen (Pioneers) with appointments (Michael Brown, Harriet Miers, Tom Ridge) to jobs they can screw up.

The Incompetence: Run federal agencies into the ground (FEMA, Army Corps of Engineers, EPA, OSHA).

Declare war and go home to reap the profits (probably to be employed in Iraq very soon.): Proclaim that government doesn't work, get lame members of Congress to support abolishing government agencies.


In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for. As for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. H.L. Mencken

We Love Lists

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee: 10 Reasons Republicans Are To Blame For High Gas Prices

April 25, 2006
By: Phil Singer, DSCC

If you’re looking for ten reasons that Republicans are to blame for high gas prices, keep on reading…

When George Bush took office in January 2001, the average price of a gallon of gas was $1.46. Today, the price is $2.91, a 100 percent increase over the course of the Bush presidency. [AAA Fuel Gauge Report, 4/25/06]

Under Bush’s watch, U.S. dependence on foreign oil has increased by nearly one billion barrels. [ EIA, U.S. Imports by Country of Origin and Annual Energy Outlook 2006]

Senate Republicans killed a Democratic proposal to make gas price gouging a federal crime. Without making price gouging a federal crime, the federal government can only prosecute oil companies if they can prove collusion to control markets, a standard that is nearly impossible to meet. [S. 2020, Vote #334, 11/17/05; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 11/18/05]

The Bush Federal Trade Commission has looked the other way when it comes to price gouging. Even during Hurricane Katrina, when price gouging was rather evident, the FTC investigation "found no evidence of collusion among oil companies in the 2005 gas price surge.” [ San Francisco Chronicle, 4/25/06]

The GOP Congress has ignored oil and gas monopolies: Since 2001, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee in charge of overseeing mergers, led by Mike DeWine,has held just one hearing - two years ago - to examine high gas prices.[ USA TODAY, 4/25/06; Judiciary Committee Hearing Schedule, accessed 4/25/06]

The GOP Congress has turned a blind eye to holding executives from the nation’s richest oil companies accountable. In November, when executives from the nation’s richest oil companies testified before the Senate Energy and Commerce Committees, Republican leaders refused to force them to testify under oath. [Cantwell Release, 11/8/05; CNNMoney, 11/9/05; Fox News, 11/17/05, CNN 11/17/05]

Republican lawmakers who crafted the 2005 energy bill showered billions in tax breaks on oil and gas companies that that they later testified under oath they do not need. [Bloomberg, 7/29/05; Video Clip of March 2006 Oil and Gas Hearing, available here]

In December, Senate Republicans – with Cheney casting the tiebreaking vote – adopted a budget package that included $20 million in cuts to Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program. [Vote 363, 12/21/05; House Budget Committee, Democratic Caucus Analysis, 12/22/05]

Oil and gas companies are constantly lining the pockets of Washington Republicans and GOP candidates. In the 2004 election cycle alone, the oil and gas industry contributed more than $20 million to Republican candidates and incumbents. In the 2006 cycle, this number has already topped $6 million. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 4/24/06]

The White House’s failure to properly plan for the war in Iraq has caused a disruption in the pre-war supply of 900,000 barrels of oil a day from Iraq, the largest single supply disruption that is leading to spikes in the price of oil. [CERA, 4/24/06]

Hat tip to AMERICAblog, which points out that Bush's 'action' today of releasing oil companies from their obligation to comply with federal environmental gasoline standards will probably increase their windfall profits. Moron.

How To Be Sleazy While Donating to Charity: Dick Cheney Edition

Cheney's giant charitable deduction was taken because of special laws passed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, to help out the residents of the stricken Gulf. Cheney took full advantage, but didn't donate one red cent to Katrina relief. Bastard.

dailykos: Cheney's shady charitable contributions net $2 million refund

While this is not illegal, by exploiting a loophole in the Katrina tax relief laws passed regarding charitable donations, Dead Eye Dick was able to obtain a refund of at least $1,000,000 MORE than he would be able to get in any other year.

The best part? None of the charities were Katrina related at all.

Cheney's largest charitable contribution is to a non-profit with a bunch of Iraq War pimp board members. A buy-in to the big game, which has nothing to do with the non-profit?

The charitable Dick Cheney - what does his dollar buy?

Spurred on by clammyc's diary about Cheney's charitable contributions. I started wondering why Cheney would give so much money ($1.3 million) to Capital Partners for Education, a Georgetown-based scholarship fund that helps finance education at private and parochial schools for area teenagers. (http://www.cpfe.org/) It was not only the largest single contribution in the charity's history, but also represents twice their annual budget revenue for this fiscal year.

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So, I poke my nose around a little further and the mystery gets even deeper. A solid majority of these companies represented by the Board of Directors have connections to Iraqi and/or rebuilding and reconstruction. It spreads out like a web and touches everything from Halliburton to President Hamid Karzai's security. And why? This is a group that seems to be benevolent in its support of inner city youth.

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{Why does Capital Partners for Education have on its board two members of The Carlyle Group, one each from the Hudson Institute, Computer Sciences Corporation, Hogan and Hartson, LLP, Arlington Capital Partners (1/3 owned by The Carlyle Group), Technoserve, SAFRAN USA, INC., Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, and Venable LLP, all tied in with the Iraq War?]

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Again, Capital Partners for Education seems like a worthwhile cause to help inner city youth in DC.

But, the troubling question remains.

Why do the majority of companies represented by its Board have some stake in the future of the Middle East.

And why did Dick Cheney just donate a windfall to them?

And what exactly is his dollar buying?

Previous post: War Pimp Cheney Earned $8,819,006 Last Year (April 15, 2006)

War Pimp Cheney Earned $8,819,006 Last Year

photo courtesy agitprops.org
WaPo: Bushes Paid $187,768 in Federal Income Tax
First Couple's Earnings Totaled About $735,000; Cheneys Made $8.8 Million

The Cheneys owed $529,636 in federal taxes on taxable income of $1,961,157 in 2005,according to their tax return, also released by the White House. Their overall income included the vice president's annual salary of $205,031 and $211,465 in deferred compensation from Halliburton Co., the Texas-based energy services firm and defense contractor that he headed until August 2000. Before leaving Halliburton, a large military contractor in Iraq, Cheney chose to defer his 1999 salary as chief executive and have it paid to him, with interest, in fixed annual installments over five years after his retirement from the company.

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The Cheneys appear to have taken advantage of a special tax break Congress passed in the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005, said Steve Hurok, tax director at BDO Seidman LLP, a national tax consulting and professional services firm. The provision temporarily suspended a federal rule that prevents people from taking tax deductions on cash charitable giving that exceeds 50 percent of their adjusted gross income.

That change, which expired at the end of last year, allowed the Cheneys to deduct from their taxable income the full $6,869,655 of their charitable giving last year, rather than the $4.4 million that normally would have been eligible, Hurok said. In essence, the Cheneys were able to donate the extra $2.4 million to charity without having to pay taxes on the money or to defer the tax benefits to future years.

Like most people, I will pay a higher percentage of taxes than the millionaire Veep. The Cheneys manage to make even their charitable contributions look sleazy.