Don't worry, the Leftist News Media (LNM) won't cover it for long. It will just disapear from their news cycle real quick. The LNM is only interested in malfeasance when their opponents commit it. One things seems true; The "culture of corruption" does not recognise Party affiliation.

Some liberal guy named John listed all the possible and imaginary corruption over at one thread yesterday in Wizbang Politics.

My guess is John is a child of five -- with a great grandpa namesd Castro.

Let's not shatter his innocent world by talking about his heroes like Reid. Let's keep the fairy tale intact at least until he is close to puberty.

You are right Jay, to point out that there are crimes that are illegal, and crimes that are not.

It bears repeating that all politicians need watching, good ones and bad ones, friend or foe, one party and the other. It is, to one degree or another, nuts that we laugh at the corruption of New Jersey or Louisiana while we have become numb to the "business as usual" practices in Washington and elsewhere.

It is laughable, if legal, that politicians simply can return contributions they are caught read-handed taking, no matter the source: Chinese government, Russian mafia, whatever. Tax-deductible campaign funds are used to employ family members and worse.

The largest scandal in history is not Oil for Food; it is the almost annual shakedown of corporate America known as the latest tax bill.

Another is the shakedown of Indian tribes, some poverty stricken, to influence gaming in one way or the other.

The S&L scandal - a quest for contributions by both parties - was a knowing sell-out of the taxpayer for 500 billion and has yet to cost the seat of even one congressman.

On it goes, and more numb and more numb. Fairly soon, we will barely notice that the President has pardoned one of the top criminals in the country, or a congressman who keeps 90 grand in his freezer also keeps his office.

Numb, number, numbest.

Well put.

The partisan lackies don't seem to get that the party that all of the crooks belong to is 'politicians'.

There is, however, a marked difference in the treatment of the offender depending on whether they have a (D) or (R) after their name. And that should bother anyone who values justices above political games.

Now Reid is caught using 3,300 dollars of campaign donations to give christmas bonuses. Hey Harry I wish I had a nest egg like that to buy gifts..

Hes going to amend the record again though, so everything is squeaky clean.

Can Foley amend His e-mails?

I believe one of the differences is not so much between Foley and Reid in regards to having the decency to resign. It's the difference in their peers. Foley knew he'd be eventually forced out while Reid will face no such pressure.

And if Democrats are less likely to force a peer out compared to Republicans when their Party is being embarassed, think how even less likely they squeal on a peer compared to Republicans. Because with silence there isn't even the Party embarassment aspect.

So in addition to the fact Republicans are in power and have much more offers of corruption, they are more likely to be ratted on by peers or their inner circles than democrats as well.

Interesting listing of ethical standards. Well Put!!!

There is one point that has been missed by all of the blogs concerning "Dirty" Harry Reid. He has repeatedly said that he always owned the Las Vegas Lots right up to the time that they were sold and he collected $1.1 million dollars.

That is not legally correct or true. When he conveyed his and his wife's interest in the property to a LLC [limited liability company], the LLC and not Reid and his wife owned the property. He used the interest in the real property to receive an approximate 75% ownership interest in the LLC as a member. The LLC under the law is a separate person from its members.

The above is just an opinion of a retired corporate attorney, who created many LLC for his clients, usually for the purpose of obtaining limited liability and privacy.

Thank you for correcting this story. (Which is actually a non-story)

Desperate times call for desperate slander - any comparison of an LLC disclosure to molesting children shows you just how far a mind can warp.

Reid's statement: (lifted from this link)

"Last month, Republicans openly boasted that they would engage in a campaign of personal attacks and smears to hold onto power in Washington. In recent days, we witnessed their latest attempt to do just that.

"Republicans may believe in cover-ups. I believe in ensuring all facts come to light.

"Last week, a highly misleading report by the Associated Press implied that I made a profit selling land I no longer owned. That article was wrong. Here are the facts: I bought the land in 1998, I sold it in 2004, and I listed my ownership of the land on official Senate disclosure forms every single year.

"Now I have taken an additional step. Today, I directed my staff to file amended financial disclosure forms noting that in 2001, I transferred title to the land to a Limited Liability Corporation. As the amended forms make clear, this routine legal move in no way altered my actual ownership of the land. On each disclosure form after 2001, I have added a note to clarify that the land already disclosed in detail on those forms was owned by me through the LLC.

"The Ethics Committee has not yet advised me whether I should file these amended forms, but even if I am not required to do so I am happy to go beyond what is needed to provide the fullest disclosure. The amended forms make clear what was true all along - I owned the land through the LLC when I sold it in 2004.

Majority Leader Reid is exceeding the reporting requirements.

Lee:

1) It's MINORITY Leader Reid.

2) MINORITY Leader Reid is a couple of years late in meeting -- let alone exceeding those requirements.

3) Minority Leader Reid is blowing enough smoke in that statement to cover half a dozen Cheech and Chong movies.

"Last month, Republicans openly boasted that they would engage in a campaign of personal attacks and smears to hold onto power in
Washington."

Care to cite some evidence of that? A statement like that, from a leading Republican, would have been plastered over every single newspaper, led every single newscast, the mainstay of every liberal blog, and been absolutely unavoidable for anyone who pays the slightest attention to politics -- and I don't recall ever seeing any such thing.

Reid has been playing fast and loose with the rules for years (2001, at least), and now has been caught with his hand in the till. What kind of a whiny little dipshit blames others when his own misdeeds come to attention?

Apparently the kind of whiny little dipshit Lee wants to see leading the Senate.

J.

It is not necessarily always so.

There was a company, now defunct, that once had a long run with the high rollers - lavish parties, expensive homes in all the right places, fraud, fake accounting, trickery - for now let us call it Enron.

When the company failed, as it was certain to do since the whole thing was baloney built on a house of cards, many ordinary folks and senior citizens lost their life savings. It cost others in many other ways: cities, the State and the Federal government.

There was a prosecution of the principals, of course, expensive lawyers, delays, re-trials and so on.

Some of the Senators that had lobbied for soft treatment of Enron were prosecuted also, some served out the rest of their terms and retired rather than face re-election, one died.

The sole Republican is also the sole survivor. The Senator had received more than a hundred grand from Enron, had taken many free trips at Ken Lay's expense, not reimbursed until years later at gunpoint. But the biggest thing was that the Senator's wife went into a partnership with Ken Lay for a strip mall. A business venture later termed a "sweetheart deal" by investigators.

To this day the Senator admits only to an "error in judgment" and the "appearance of impropriety", he is a Presidential hopeful and reformer, of all things.

The Senator helped to impede the Federal Regulators from actions that might have saved the life savings of thousands and billions of our tax dollars, if earlier done.

The Democrats, needing to save John Glenn the hero, and the least culpable, did a deal that also saved John McCain.

For the company was the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, not Enron, and the principal was Charles H. Keating Jr., not Ken Lay. Otherwise, they are the same.

The Keating five is now the Keating one - the only Republican.

And it is his prosperity that cannot fail to be compared to that of the Nevada Senator.

Does Harry care to shed some light on his LLC partner, who just happens to be a mob-connected swindler- or, in other words, just like Harry?

Harry is also a fibber. He no longer owned the land after he used it to purchase interest in the LLC. I assume he could make a profit off sale of the land as a member of the LLC, but he would need to disclose these interests, especially since his business partner is a crook and receiving political favors from Harry.

Finally, it is quite telling that Harry couldn't even tip the hotel staff from his own pockets. He raided his political warchest, which is, uh-hum, not legal.

When is Pelosi going to have one of her culture of corruption bitchfests?

jp2:

Many Democrats have lavished praised on a child molester, or haven't you read the obituaries for Gary Studds?

Republicans ostracize a memebr who sends dirty e-mails to underage pages, while Democrats lionize a member who has sex with an underage page.

"Republicans ostracize a memebr" (sic)

Umm...they had him run for re-election, even after they knew there was inappropriate contact with underage boys.

Is that what you mean by ostracize? Covering up for him? Having Mehlman go on TV last week and lie about the cover-up?

They ostracized him when he became a negative.

robert,

I'm not sure what your point is. I believe you'd be hard pressed to find a McCain defender in these parts.

"Apparently the kind of whiny little dipshit Lee wants to see leading the Senate."

Oh, I think it's a slam dunk that Majority Leader Reid will be in charge after the election this November, Jay. There would be so much whining from the right is they didn't believe it too.

btw - glad you corrected your post.

"Republicans ostracize a memebr who sends dirty e-mails to underage pages, while Democrats lionize a member who has sex with an underage page."

Republicans ccovered up for him, and only spoke out against what he was doing after he resigned.

Hastert looks guilty as sin, and Bush has gone on the record "lionizing" Hastert.

As usual, Republican "outrage" and "disdain" is only another sign of their hypocrisy.

Skeik,

And it is a good thing if McCain does not get support, although this differs from my recollection over the years in this blog, the results of the 2000 primary and the current polls.

Hang on to your crayons, I will help you fill in the picture of my point.

The original post was about disparity in treatment, to which I agreed with the caution that all, even the ones you like the best, need to be watched.

To which it was commented that Democrats always get off, or get better treatment. To which I gave an example that "It is not always so".

I agree that Foley is garbage and that Lee is a whiny little twit.

But it is not reasonable to have McCain out there as one of the Senate leaders (in a way) when his corrupt real estate deals approximate those of Reid.

Watch them all. And it is in this vein that we should all reserve judgement on Hastert who may not be as innocent as we can hope.

People who live in glass houses...

Yet another example:

Trent Lott, as majority leader, passed legislation that required cruise ships that make successive stops in US ports to be built in the US.

This is an easy requirement to avoid for most since Miami routes can easily make stops in foreign places. The same for Alaska and the west coast runs (they stop in Canada or Mexico).

But for Hawaii, with no foreign port for 1000 miles, the cruse lines are forced to build in, coincidentally, Lott's home state, at a huge surcharge. There were contributions involved, but no fallout as far as I can tell.

This of course, helps the economy in one State while hurting it in another, and it is against the free-market principles for which most of us stand.

Lott didn't even have to get off easy, nobody noticed.

jp2

What is the specific innappropriate behavior with underage boys You seem to know about? Or are You referring to Gerrys Duds?

Whats good for the goose is good for the gander and HARRY REID is one vulture who should get his feathers scalded off

the Senate Minority Leader has less character and sense of ethics and morality than the pedophile-wannabe and all-around creepy Mark Foley.

A pedophile-wannabe has more character, ethics, and morality than someone who misreported a financial transaction?

Ooh, I really hope some prominent Republican publicly adopts that position!

Reid has been playing fast and loose with the rules for years (2001, at least), and now has been caught with his hand in the till.

Doing business is putting your hand in the till? You sound just like Jennings Bryant.

Just to expand a little on this stuff, when you TRANSFER TITLE, you have GIVEN UP OWNERSHIP. Any first year law student, any college business major taking Business Law I, ANY LAWYER (AND HOPELESS HARRY REID IS A LAWYER) KNOWS THAT.
The transfer constitutes a "sale OR EXCHANGE" and is a taxable event. Unless FORMAL PAPERWORK is filed to create, if possible, a non-taxable transfer. BUT HARRY DIDN'T OWN THE PROPERTY AFTER THE TRANSFER.

This comment from a retired IRS senior agent with 30 years on the job.

Proof that the left leaning posters on this site lie, as a general practice. First Lyin Brian. How does suggestive IM's and e-mails inquireing about ones well being equate to pediphilia? With the age of consent being 16 years old in Washington DC. These communications were between adults, not peds. Thus proving Brian is and was a liar. Second, proof jp2 is also guilty of not telling anything resembling truth. What facts do you have to indicate those contacted by Foley were underage? You too are a liar, JP2. Since all parties concerned were past the age of consent, were is the crime? There is no proof necessary to prove Lee to be a liar. Just a habit of visiting Wizbang on a regular basis and reading the tripe he posts here is all the proof one needs. I have no idea why Jay Tea tolerates these trolls activity here, but he does. I think the only purpose is to show just how demented the left really is.

Zelda the Nazi drag queen stated: "With the age of consent being 16 years old in Washington DC. These communications were between adults, not peds."

The age in the applicable federal law is 18. It's the same law which Foley helped craft (insert remark about Republican hypocisy here). It supercedes the age of consent in D.C.

And what is a "ped", Zeldorf? Is that some sort of skinhead shorthand?

Codekeyguy, as an IRS agent [retired?], you know that Reid's transfer of the property to a LLC is not a deferred exhange under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code, because it is not a "like kind" exchange of property.

Didn't Reid transfer the property to the LLC and take in interest in the LLC in return?

I don't know much about the type of transfer, but I don't see how him giving up title in this instance would be make the transfer taxable. If I own certain business equiment, and transfer ownership of that equipment into another entity, receiving a partnership in that entity in return for my business equipment, is that a taxable event? I don't think so.

Are the Republicans lying again?

The transfer constitutes a "sale OR EXCHANGE" and is a taxable event.

That's about the level of competence I'd expect from a midlevel bureaucrat. FYI: it's a capital contribution, and isn't a taxable event.

Lee, you fu*king idiot, no federal law applies to the age of consent. Once again you are a liar. I notice you want to demean me. Why don't you give me your address? I will not dress up in drag for the meeting, I promise. You are a liar and a coward. In other words, a democratic troll, scumbag, pondscum liberal. And those are your good features. A ped is what you regualarly phile as in pedaphile.

I appologize to those offended by my language in dealing with these idiots in this site, but one must fight fire with fire. Were Reid a Republican, this scandal would be on the front page of every left leaning paper in the country.

Proof that the left leaning posters on this site lie, as a general practice. First Lyin Brian. How does suggestive IM's and e-mails inquireing about ones well being equate to pediphilia?

I was quoting Jay. If you want to attack him for lyin, go right ahead.

Lee, you fu*king idiot, no federal law applies to the age of consent.

What was being referred to was the Walsh Act, under which it's a crime to solicit people under 18. It's inapplicable to Foley, it seems, since his conduct occured prior to the passage of the law.

Lee, you fu*king idiot, no federal law applies to the age of consent. Once again you are a liar.

From the "Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act":

(14) MINOR.--The term ''minor'' means an individual who has not attained the age of 18 years.

Who's lyin now?

"What was being referred to was the Walsh Act, under which it's a crime to solicit people under 18. It's inapplicable to Foley, it seems, since his conduct occured prior to the passage of the law."

Foley's conduct is still being investigated. I don't think anyone can say with certainty that everything is known about who Foley contacted, and when.

Looks like Zelda the drag queen has totally lost it. Must be the tight garter strap and nylons... or those black pumps he wear arounds the house.

Anyone else offended by the way Zelda apologizes and defends Foley? I am. Are you volunteering to be Foley's defense lawyer, Zelda? I bet you'd do it pro bono...

Quoted from here:

E-mails and instant messages released so far indicate Foley communicated with boys in California and Louisiana, and may have initiated those contacts from Washington and Florida. The boys in question all were at least 16 at the time.

Under state law in Florida, where the age of consent is 18, a crime may have been committed if Foley is found to have seduced or attempted to seduce a minor.

The age of consent is DC is a Red Herring "hail-mary" strawman argument thrown by the failing (and flailing) Republican defenders of pedophiles. Give it a rest, Zelda. and loosen up that garter strap.

Why Leah, is that strap choking off your breath? You pull fact our of your ass on a regular basis. There no evidence presented that would lead one to conclude that Foley involves any juridiction other than Washington DC. That is where the individuals who received said IM"s and e-mails were pages. Are you Leah trying to insinuate gay men are not allowed to contact 18 year old males? Leah, the only strawman is you. I heard the Ray Bolger estate is planning to file suit against you for plagiarism. Notice, Stubbs actually sodomized a page, Foley just suggested it. To quote W. C. Fields, go away kid, ya bother me.

You pull fact our of your ass on a regular basis.

Umm, you mean like "no federal law applies to the age of consent"?

There no evidence presented that would lead one to conclude that Foley involves any juridiction other than Washington DC.

Umm, except the AP article he quoted:

E-mails and instant messages released so far indicate Foley communicated with boys in California and Louisiana, and may have initiated those contacts from Washington and Florida. The boys in question all were at least 16 at the time.

Under state law in Florida, where the age of consent is 18, ...
...
In Louisiana, it is a felony for an adult to engage in sexually explicit Internet communications with anyone under 17.

Are you Leah trying to insinuate gay men are not allowed to contact 18 year old males?

Ha! Now that your "there's no federal age of consent" argument was shot down, you're changing your tune to "18 year old males". Transparent.

By the way, Jay, don't forget:

• The "used my influence to funnel money to my daughter, but like my Republican brethren I'll deny it until the day I'm convicted" standard of Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA).
• The "sell out the integrity of a government agency designed to protect people, but I'll deny it until I'm forced to admit it as part of a plea bargain" standard of Lester Crawford.
• The "we know we work for a crooked Congressman, but since the Republican culture is to look the other way until indictments are handed down, we'll just keep quiet and hope no one notices" standard of Duke Cunningham's staff.
• The "leakers should be prosecuted as traitors... unless they're Cheney, Rove, myself, or Armitage, in which case they get off scot-free" standard of Bush.

Devloping...

Brainless Brian schooling us on the law again. Thank God it's not costing us for the unsolicited, and likely incorrect, opinion.

What SEX was involved with Foley?--this is a canard. Typical Dem. talking point--"sex scandal." Can't have that kind of scandal without sex, unless you're Clinton, of course.

Zelsdorf, you have not offended me in the least. It is a factual statement, that Lee/Pee/Leah is f*cking idiot. That's not actionable, since truth is an ultimate defense to slander.

I have never come across somebody so worthless that he has to spend what appears to be all of his free time hovering over this blog, where he is the least respected person, and unwelcome.

I would urge Pee to attened a 12 step program to extricate his head out of his ass, and to get a life.

Thank God it's not costing us for the unsolicited, and likely incorrect, opinion.

My "opinion" is backed up by facts, which I dutifully provide links to. The only true "opinion" around here is your baseless dismissal of those facts.

What SEX was involved with Foley?--this is a canard.

Jay likened Foley to a pedophile. Zelsdorf brought up "age of consent" issues. I was responding to them. If you have a problem with how your side views the situation, take it up with them, not me.

How do you know when a liberal is losing a debate ? They revert to calling people Nazis.

Lee bleeted:

Zelda the Nazi

Zelda's never denied her skinhead affiliation, Mike.

So, this "troll", you're saying he is right?

Just to expand a little on this stuff, when you TRANSFER TITLE, you have GIVEN UP OWNERSHIP. Any first year law student, any college business major taking Business Law I, ANY LAWYER (AND HOPELESS HARRY REID IS A LAWYER) KNOWS THAT.
The transfer constitutes a "sale OR EXCHANGE" and is a taxable event. Unless FORMAL PAPERWORK is filed to create, if possible, a non-taxable transfer. BUT HARRY DIDN'T OWN THE PROPERTY AFTER THE TRANSFER.

This comment from a retired IRS senior agent with 30 years on the job.
Posted by: codekeyguy at October 17, 2006 05:03 PM

This guy is a lying piece of crap. (or he just doesn't know what he is talking about)

Codekeyguy, as an IRS agent [retired?], you know that Reid's transfer of the property to a LLC is not a deferred exhange under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code, because it is not a "like kind" exchange of property.
Posted by: Charlie Chase at October 17, 2006 05:29 PM

Ditto. Clueless (but pretending otherwise).

How do you know when a liberal is losing a debate ? They revert to calling people Nazis.

How do you know when conservatives are losing a debate? They write a whole book calling liberals Nazis.

Brian, you'd have a slightly better argument if you were actually arguing with the author of that book.

OK, that's just being nice. You'd have a the slightest shred of an argument if _Mike_ were the author of that book, and not Jonah Goldberg.

I feel so much better for being honest.

J.