Sen. Ted "Tubes" Stevens Is Indicted 553
Many readers are letting us know about the indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens on seven counts of making false statements on his financial disclosure forms. We discussed the raid on the senator's house a while back. Everyone's favorite technologically challenged senator is the longest-serving Republican in the history of the upper house. An Alaskan paper gives deep background on the probe that has ensnared Stevens and a number of other Alaska political figures.
Lesson: Don't name airports after living people (Score:0, Interesting)
As a lifelong Alaskan... (Score:5, Interesting)
Let me be the first to shout:
"Yeee-hawww!!!"
Good riddence! The coming Alaska senate race is going to be one of the most interesting in history. I suggest everyone look into it. On the democratic front, we've got popular Anchorage city mayor, Mark Beigich, who's taken the election scene by storm in just the last month or so. And Stevens, being a long time incombant, is running virtually unopposed on the republican front.
In the house, rep. Don ("I'll beat you over the head with a walrus penis") Young is having even more trouble, due to falling public perception and the VICO scandal. This long-time incumbent may be KOed in the primary by our Lt. Governor.
The republicans only star runners, at this point, are Gov. Sarah Palin and Lt Gov. Sean Parnel. Parnel is running against Young in the house, and Sarah just had a child and is busy fighting some of her own battles.
Translation: the alaska republican party is FUCKED. Before the year is out, there's a very good chance we'll see our one house seat filled by a Dem, one of our Senate seats filled by a Dem, and the state's electoral votes go to Barak Obama (currently a very close race). AK is one of the most conservative and republican states in the country, btw.
Re:Guess I'll have to cancel the trip... (Score:3, Interesting)
We actually saw a little wooden walkway on the side of the road going over some (protected) marsh land. The size of the plaque thanking the Senator for his work in securing financing for the walkway was comparable in size to the structure itself... Who knows, how much that little piece cost the federal government, and how much the grateful contractors have contributed to the guy's campaign, him personally, and those he loves.
I must admit, he played the dimwits "protecting the wilderness" (without ever setting foot there) very well.
Re:Series of Tubes (Score:3, Interesting)
Honestly, I think anyone who knows anything knows you're right. I mean, the word "pipe" is part of network jargon for a reason, and the only difference between a tube and a pipe is that a tube is better engineered and you can use precision fittings and bend it, instead of having to threading the ends of each piece to join together with joints. It's like calling the colour of a banana "saffron" instead of "yellow".
On the other hand, it's fun and easy to make fun of Republicans, especially old ones who talk about technology.
My question is, how many Republicans can get charged with major crimes before they have to stop pretending morality is part of their platform?
Re:Guess I'll have to cancel the trip... (Score:3, Interesting)
lol yah...our government never ceases to amaze me. Even the senate's most senior republican is dirty. I mean in general not just him. Our entire government spent so much money on pork like "bridges to nowhere", "bike trails", fountains, etc.
It is just horrible that at a time when the national debt is so high we still throw money around like its nothing.
Re:For Old Time's Sake (Score:3, Interesting)
I have no particular fondness for Sen. Stevens, but I hope everybody who made fun of him for calling the internet a series of tubes finds themselves in the same position when they're older.
The guy hears the younger folks calling it a "pipe", he's got industry insiders telling him confusing, and misleading things about how the system works, and he screws up the analogy when he's talking about it later on. Big deal. Some day when you're not so young, you're going to screw up the jargon when you're talking about something new too.
In the meantime, go ahead. Make fun of the old guy who wanted to guarantee individual net access just because he didn't know enough of the lingo to properly get his point across. (Yes, I realize that he came to the wrong conclusion policy wise to accomplish what he was saying he wanted to accomplish)
Sure takes a long time to convict Congressmen (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:tee-hee (Score:5, Interesting)
Federal prison is mainly big-time drug users and drug dealers.
State prison is mainly small-time drug users and drug dealers.
A friend's brother down in the St Louis area went to federal prison for loaning a cocaine dealer a thousand dollars; the charge was conspiracy to deliver cocaine (the dealer had been busted and was setting up innocent guys to lessen his own sentence; most of his high school graduating class went to Maximum Security Club Fed for twice as long as he did).
Violent criminals usually don't get caught. When they do, it depends on who they attacked.
A woman I know went to Dwight Correctional (Illinois hardcore women'sprison) for 4 months for nonviolent drug posession, while a guy I know and intensly dislike broke into a man's home and tried to kill him with a butcher knife. He spent two weeks in the county jail - but the man he attacked was a poor black man.
That is American justice.
Re:tee-hee (Score:3, Interesting)
People like Ted Stevens don't go to pound-me-in-the-ass prison.
Eh, regardless of his position or wealth do 84 year olds really go to pound-me-in-the-ass prison for white collar crimes?
Re:Guess I'll have to cancel the trip... (Score:4, Interesting)
Power corrupts — I prefer Republicans strongly — but being in power for this long is not healthy.
This guy, along with a few others (Kennedy-cough-cough), are the "poster children" for term-limits on not just presidency, but other elected offices.
In a remote state such as Alaska, where residents are paid to live there [yahoo.com] and pay neither income nor sales tax [bankrate.com], his constituents have especially little reason to care for his wasting (and, likely, outright stealing) federal government's money, as long as they get a bit of it too.
Re:An alaskan perspective... (Score:3, Interesting)
No. What he's saying is that he did a great amount of good in the first 35 years of his senate career, and then went a bit overboard toward the end.
He did a good job of convincing the Senate that Alaska was important to the nation as a whole, and that it required a disproportionate amount of federal funding (in comparison to the population) to fulfill this role. Alaska supplies most of our domestic oil, and is of considerable military importance. I don't doubt any of these things, and didn't mind my tax dollars being spent this way.
Unfortunately, he found that he had an innate ability to convince the senate to spend money on his state, and let more than a few frivolous projects through. Fortunately, the federal government has a good system of checks and balances in place, and these were mostly blocked.
Honestly, I think he's just getting old and senile.
Re:As much as we like to joke about this guy... (Score:3, Interesting)
He's the guy who wanted the bridge to nowhere.... let's be frank that's a much larger problem than his blustering.
The people on the island that the bridge would have gone to didn't even want the damn bridge. I seriously doubt it'd have ever been built.
On the other hand, the second "bridge to nowhere" that got struck down would have been fairly useful, even though it was presently uninhabited, as it would have connected directly to the heavily-congested Anchorage metropolitan area, opening new land up for development.
Re:tee-hee (Score:5, Interesting)
Politicians are powerful, but nowhere near that wealthy. The CEO of even a modestly sized company earns more than a US Senator.
The likelihood is that Tubes was simply far too blatant with his shady deals. So blatant that even the masses began to notice. Once that happened, he became a liability to the people that were once willing to use him and he had to be gotten rid of.
The smart politician is corrupt, but always discrete about it.
Re:As a lifelong Alaskan... (Score:5, Interesting)
AK is one of the most conservative and republican states in the country, btw.
Alaskans love calling themselves conservative. However, when it actually comes down to the issues, they seem to be pretty strong liberals (I'd call them anarcho-socialists, even though the term is somewhat self-contradictory)
A few observations:
1) They're pro-gun rights, but more in the "protecting yourself from grizzlies" sense than then the "self defense against unarmed burglar" sense.
2) Pro-drug-legalization. 20+ hours/day of darkness in the wintertime. 'Nuff said.
3) Surveillance isn't an issue. (Seriously)
4) Pro-alternative-energy. Alaskans are among the first to see the real effects of climate change. In places like Fairbanks, the temperature inversion in the winter also causes smog to hang low to the ground, and accumulate over the course of the winter, which has a very noticeable effect.
5) The bible belt hasn't really infiltrated Alaska nearly as much as it has the other "red states". People actually seem to be vaguely rational regarding social issues.
6) Pro-military. Tons of military bases in Alaska. Like much of the military, they're also a bit uneasy about the number of dead bodies returning from Iraq.
7) Pro-small-government. If you enjoy living in the middle of nowhere, you probably don't support a large, overbearing government.
An Alaskan perspective (Score:2, Interesting)
Fuck y'all.
No, seriously, fuckyouverymuch, kthnxbi.
Reason:
Everybody Outside (that's "not in Alaska", for those Outsiders) likes to yap about Ted "Tubes" Stevens and squawk about how corrupt Alaska is and how we build bridges to nowhere bridgetonowherebridgetonowherebridgetonowhereblahblahblahblahblah, and then lament how we can be so stupid as to keep electing him.
Why do you think that happens?
This is because 70% of the land of Alaska is locked up by the federal government. This is because we have unprecedented interference in our industries and development by the federal government. This is because everybody and their dog has an opinion about ANWR, when the simple truth is that it's as much the business of Outsiders what Alaskans do with ANWR as it is Alaskan's business what development plans are in New York, Los Angeles, or Texas.
The simple truth is that Ted Stevens has been sent back repeatedly because he is effective at ensuring that Alaskans get overrun as little as possible by the Will of the People (who live SOMEWHERE ELSE), and that when they must bow to the Will of the People From Somewhere Else, that those peolpe pay mightily for the privilege. Ted Stevens has never pretended to have any other mission in the Senate, in fact.
Incidentally: most of the charges in this case are bullshit, as anybody who thinks about it for a minute can tell you; in a state that is "sparsely populated", exactly how many choices of company do you have for things like home construction? Very few. Who benefits from legislation? Likewise very few people. There are not that many people in these circles; it's difficult to avoid "benefiting" one of them.
The unvarnished truth: this is a political attack by Outside Democrats, designed to "take out" Ted Stevens, that has been ongoing for some time, pure and simple.
Re:tee-hee (Score:4, Interesting)
Some pigs are more equal than others.
Sad memo...
In Italy our Prime Minister actually said that, speaking of himself, in court.
well, he didn't say pigs actually... nor he put that in plural...
He just said (speaking of himself):"this citizen is more equal than the others, since he's been elected"...
*sigh*
Re:Nobody (Score:5, Interesting)
Being indicited is nothing. Yet. Once convicted, either W or McCain will pardon him, if they are in office.
Don't be so sure on that one. Although I'm not fan of the major parties, McCain and Stevens have been opposing each other on key issues for a long time. Probably the most distinctive between the two is the issue of earmarking. McCain's opposition and Stevens' abuse of them have been completely polar stances on the issue.
Just because people share the same political party does not mean their views do not vary widely, and the idea that 50% of politicians get to walk just because their party is in the white house is not reality.
$10,000 Gift Limit? WTF? (Score:2, Interesting)
If I recall there was a governor that was visiting with Edwards (back when he was still running for president) who had to turn down breakfast or coffee or something because he wasn't allowed to accept gifts. Now there was a man with some freaking ethics.
I've always known Senators and Representatives are corrupt (voting themselves a 15% pay raise when the rest of the country can't afford to fill up their gas tanks), but not having to report $10,000 gifts?
Re:Well, there goes another political career... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Guess I'll have to cancel the trip... (Score:1, Interesting)
I agree completely. I live in Montana and the Crow reservation is always bitching about how bad things are on the rez.
But they still have the same tribal council that has been publicly busted for embezzeling literally multiple millions of dollars of tribal money. Hell, some years back it was found that the whole council drove into a nearby town (off the res) and bought new cars for themselves (under the guise of being council vehicles). They did this every six months, and the 'old' cars sort of mysteriously 'vanished', and had a habit of turning up in other counties and states... usually tied to some type of meth-transporting scheme.
The head law enforcement officer has been up on charges of DUI, corruption, intimidation, and assault, and even been convicted a couple times- but they still vote his sorry ass into office every election.
And before anyone starts yelling racist, I'm also Native. It's just the res I grew up on is in good shape, and anytime someone is caught doing something shady we throw them out. Works quite well, actually.