Where's the Outrage?

In my mind there are two types of people on Capitol Hill. There are those who are really trying to fix America’s problems and there are those who are really trying to line their own pockets. I really love those who are trying (even those who are misguided but who are trying to fix America). I really, really loathe those who are simply padding their bank accounts.

From NYT:

Soon after he retired last year as one of the leading liberals in Congress, former Representative William D. Delahunt of Massachusetts started his own lobbying firm with an office on the 16th floor of a Boston skyscraper. One of his first clients was a small coastal town that has agreed to pay him $15,000 a month for help in developing a wind energy project.

Amid the revolving door of congressmen-turned-lobbyists, there is nothing particularly remarkable about Mr. Delahunt’s transition, except for one thing. While in Congress, he personally earmarked $1.7 million for the same energy project.

So today, his firm, the Delahunt Group, stands to collect $90,000 or more for six months of work from the town of Hull, on Massachusetts Bay, with 80 percent of it coming from the pot of money he created through a pair of Energy Department grants in his final term in office, records and interviews show.

Experts in federal earmarking — a practice of financing pet projects that has been forsaken by many members of Congress as a toxic symbol of political abuse — said they could not recall a case in which a former lawmaker stood to benefit so directly from an earmark he had authorized. Mr. Delahunt’s firm is seeking a review of the arrangement from the Energy Department. (more…)

More from CREW:

Rep. Delahunt’s case may be more direct than most, but he isn’t alone. CREW’s research found five other former lawmakers, all of whom left office within the past five years, collecting lobbying fees for institutions they earmarked to while in office (two others are registered to lobby for institutions they have earmarked to, but reported earning only nominal fees). The members collectively earmarked more than $70 million to the organizations they went on to represent, and have pulled in a total of nearly $1.9 million from the work. Former Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), for example, earmarked $1.6 million for defense contractor Northrop Grumman in the 2008 budget. Then he left office – but apparently kept up the relationship. The company was one of his early lobbying clients, and lobbying disclosure records show the contract brought in nearly $1.3 million in fees between 2008 and 2010.

Tags: Congress, Ethics by ecthompson md
2 Comments »

A friend of mine has sent me a great article on Newt Gingrich. Personally, I think conservatives are extremely desperate. They’re looking for someone, anyone, who will be able to take on Obama. Remember way back in October of 2008, John McCain’s campaign was clearly flailing and he was at an event in Wisconsin. A man, a black man, stood up and begged John McCain to take the fight to Barack Obama. (James T Harris, the man who stood up, was a conservative talkshow host on a local radio station, but he didn’t identify himself.) It is the desperation in this man’s voice that I feel is reflected in all conservatives right now. They are desperate. Most conservatives don’t think that Mitt Romney will roll up his sleeves and seriously take on the president. They are, therefore, left with Newt Gingrich. They KNOW that Newt Gingrich will do whatever it takes. If it means bringing up Bill Ayres every single day three times a day for year, Newt Gingrich will do it. If it means bringing up Rev. Wright and Bill Ayres in the same sentence, Newt Gingrich will do it.

Anyway, here’s what my buddy sent me about Newt and morality:

Nor is the issue an unrealistic demand for perfection. No one has a perfect past, and few, if any have a perfect present. But it is a stunning impoverishment of standards to dismiss multiple lies, adulteries, and hypocrisies as mere foibles that fall just somewhere shy of perfection. While Newt was going hard after Clinton for his moral failures and campaigning on family values, he was engaged in an ongoing adulterous affair.

So again, am I suggesting we demand perfection of our candidates? Should we make an issue of every high school and college prank, indiscretion, drunken weekend, wild party, and so on? Of course not. But we are not talking here about adolescent behavior. We are talking about his behavior as a mature adult, while holding elected office.

The fact that Newt thinks his history of moral and ethical infidelity is irrelevant to his qualifications to be President, the fact that he can wax passionate with moral indignation against those who raise these issues, represents a wildly distorted sense of moral judgment and moral proportion. Ironically, he is the mirror image of the postmodern who rejects traditional morality, but knows exactly how to draw a huge ovation from an audience by attacking intolerance with passionate fervor.

King David fell into adultery and he repented and was forgiven. Notably, when confronted with his adultery, he did not turn on Nathan, and say, “Seriously, I am appalled you can be making an issue of the fact that I banged Bathsheba, given the enormous political and economic issues facing this country.” David was forgiven. But he never regained the moral credibility he previously had, and after this incident, his Kingdom began to unravel in various ways, as Nathan predicted. Indeed, it is surely no coincidence that we see this beginning to happen one chapter after Nathan’s confrontation with David, precisely in the form of his sons mimicking his worst behavior (2 Samuel 13). Amnon rapes his sister Tamar, and when David ignores the matter and does nothing about it, Tamar’s brother Absalom plots Amnon’s murder and successfully carries it out. Given David’s adultery and devious murder of Bathsheba’s husband Uriah, he was poorly situated to confront his sons with any sort of moral credibility or hold them accountable for doing the very same sort of things he had done. The King inevitably set a moral tone for the nation, whether for good or for ill. David eventually lost so much of his previous authority that his own son Absalom could successfully garner enough support to lead a rebellion and temporarily usurp the throne. (more…)

Tags: Elections, Ethics by ecthompson md
No Comments »

We have had the death penalty in this country ever since its inception. So is it time to change? I believe that the debate over the death penalty touches on the some of the fundamental questions about why we have a justice system. Is the purpose of a justice system to protect the public or to seek revenge for the wronged? So, does the justice system need to balance these two competing interests? If the purpose of the justice system is to rectify some injustice that has been perpetrated on a person or family, I would suggest that there is no way to fix that wrong. If a loved one is been taken from you, there’s no way to bring that person back. There is no way to right that wrong.

I would also ask whether a “civilized” society should put its own citizens to death. If a society can put its own citizens to death, then under what circumstances is that okay?

From Outside the Beltway:

The Texas Observer takes note of the case of a man executed in Texas more than a decade ago who quite possibly may have been innocent:

Claude Jones always claimed that he wasn’t the man who walked into an East Texas liquor store in 1989 and shot the owner. He professed his innocence right up until the moment he was strapped to a gurney in the Texas execution chamber and put to death on Dec. 7, 2000. His murder conviction was based on a single piece of forensic evidence recovered from the crime scene—a strand of hair—that prosecutors claimed belonged to Jones.

But DNA tests completed this week at the request of the Observer and the New York-based Innocence Project show the hair didn’t belong to Jones after all. The day before his death in December 2000, Jones asked for a stay of execution so the strand of hair could be submitted for DNA testing. He was denied by then-Gov. George W. Bush.

A decade later, the results of DNA testing not only undermine the evidence that convicted Jones, but raise the possibility that Texas executed an innocent man. The DNA tests—conducted by Mitotyping Technologies, a private lab in State College, Pa., and first reported by the Observer on Thursday—show the hair belonged to the victim of the shooting, Allen Hilzendager, the 44-year-old owner of the liquor store.

Because the DNA testing doesn’t implicate another shooter, the results don’t prove Jones’ innocence. But the hair was the only piece of evidence that placed Jones at the crime scene. So while the results don’t exonerate him, they raise serious doubts about his guilt

This wouldn’t be the first case of a Texas execution being called into question. Last year, an arson expert pretty much definitely established that the 2004 execution of Cameron Tood Willinghman was based on faulty expert witness testimony:

In a withering critique, a nationally known fire scientist has told a state commission on forensics that Texas fire investigators had no basis to rule a deadly house fire was an arson — a finding that led to the murder conviction and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham.

The finding comes in the first state-sanctioned review of an execution in Texas, home to the country’s busiest death chamber. If the commission reaches the same conclusion, it could lead to the first-ever declaration by an official state body that an inmate was wrongly executed.

Indeed, the report concludes there was no evidence to determine that the December 1991 fire was even set, and it leaves open the possibility the blaze that killed three children was an accident and there was no crime at all — the same findings found in a Chicago Tribune investigation of the case published in December 2004.

Tags: Ethics, Legal by ecthompson md
6 Comments »

Sometimes, it’s hard to believe how fast the day goes by.

• I’m not sure what’s going on in the United Arab Emirates. I’m not sure why they think it’s a great idea to limit e-mail access on BlackBerrys. Would the UAE be the definition of a police state?
• A huge sum of money was pulled out of mutual funds over the last year. $1.1 trillion to be precise. It is unclear exactly what Americans did with that money. Pay bills? Try to prevent foreclosure?
• One of the biggest examples of our failure in Iraq has been our inability to turn the lights on and keep them on. Electricity is still spotty at best. Could we have completely rebuilt their electricity grid three times over during the last eight years?
• Another Democrat is in trouble with the House ethics committee. Longtime California Democrat Maxine Waters appears to have asked for federal aid for a California bank in which her husband served on the board and owns stock. She, of course, has admitted no wrongdoing. From a Democratic standpoint, this is more than problematic. Two long-serving congressman are embroiled in ethics scandals. This simply isn’t good. Personally, I am saddened by even questionable ethical practices. Both Representative Waters and Representative Rangel understand they are under scrutiny at all times. They have to have their acts together. They can’t do anything that’s even a little bit shady — unfortunately, it looks like they forgot this basic lesson.
• Politicians are rolling in campaign cash.
• How does 4.9 million barrels of oil look to you? It looks like the worst spill of all time to me.
• There are a number of reasons why the Bush tax cut needs to be allowed to expire. Robert Reich has a few reasons.
• I don’t understand the recent push to try to repeal the 14th amendment. If you’re born in the United States, you should be a United States citizen. If your parents got here illegally, that’s not your fault. Why should you be penalized?
• Countrywide has agreed to pay $600 million to settle lawsuits.
• Al Jarreau is out of the hospital.

Tags: Business, Corporate Wrongs, Economy, Ethics, House of Representatives, Party Politics by ecthompson md
5 Comments »

In 1962 we blew up an H bomb in the atmosphere. I’m not sure why we did this. Maybe we wanted to see if we could rain radiation down on the Russians. I don’t know. Anyway, the bomb was set off over the Pacific Ocean over 2000 miles from Hawai’i.

More of the story can be found here.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Ethics, General by ecthompson md
No Comments »

I’m sorry. When I hear the name Sarah Palin, I don’t think leader. I think disaster. Now what?

From WaPo:

An independent investigator has determined that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) may have violated state ethics laws by soliciting and accepting private donations to pay $500,000 in legal debts.

A confidential report, obtained by The Washington Post on Tuesday, says Palin may have violated laws prohibiting elected officials from using their office for “personal gain” by raising money for her Alaska Fund Trust. She established the fund to help defend herself against more than a dozen ethics complaints filed against her since she took office.

“There is little doubt that the Alaska Fund Trust will provide ‘personal gain’ to Governor Palin because the trust will provide a benefit to the governor’s financial interest,” Anchorage lawyer Thomas M. Daniel wrote in his nine-page report, dated July 14.

Palin is scheduled to leave office this weekend, about 18 months before the end of her first term. (more… )

Tags: Ethics, Party Politics by ecthompson md
No Comments »

Legendary anchor Walter Cronkite answers the question: what was his greatest regret?

Tags: Ethics, Media by ecthompson md
2 Comments »

Out of the gallons and gallons of swill that right-wing conservatives throw at the rest of the public on an hourly basis, one of the things that they wanted us to swallow was that Governor Sarah Palin was different. Governor Sarah Palin was authentic. Governor Sarah Palin was “real.” Well, over the weekend, we found out, again, she is none of those things. Governor Sarah Palin lies just as much, if not more, than any other politician. (Find the Troopergate report here for you to read it for yourself.)

From ADN:

“Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda … to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired,” Branchflower’s report says.

“Compliance with the code of ethics is not optional. It is an individual responsibility imposed by law, and any effort to benefit a personal interest through official action is a violation of that trust. … The term ‘benefit’ is very broadly defined, and includes anything that is to the person’s advantage or personal self-interest.” (more… )

Tags: Election 2008, Ethics by ecthompson md
No Comments »

I thought it odd that a black man would stand up in a McCain rally and this guy was in the front row. Was he just lucky? I doubt it. This SOB is a radio talk host on the conservative WTMJ 620 in Milwaukee. An honorable man would have stood up and stated that he is a talk show host who supports McCain and personally gains from spouting this crap. Did he say that? No! He pretended to be just an average citizen who is begging McCain to take it to Obama. This guy, James T Harris, was trying to boost his popularity among conservatives in order to raise his ratings. What a tool!

(Thanks to Mike Mallory for doing the background on this weasel.)

Tags: Election 2008, Ethics, Race by ecthompson md
12 Comments »

A friend whom I like and admire wrote me:

but for Democrats to smear someone for getting pregnant before marriage (which is the way the Republicans may spin it) is playing into their hands. I think they will try to turn it into a positive for the anti-choice crowd. It is a constant challenge for me — as much as I CAN’T STAND them — not to be as nasty as they are.

Here’s what I have to say about that:

Of course the Republicans and the out-of-the-ballpark-right-wing Christian dominionists are already spinning it that it would be a “smear” to point out that the Palins’ teenage daughter is pregnant before marriage. They’ve managed to convince Obama and Biden that “families are off limits.” The fundie spokespersons have also already spun Sarah Palin’s decision (on her daughter’s behalf) as a portrait of “someone who lives their convictions.”

So the Palins and their daughter are “living their convictions” in terms of not aborting the fetus — and demanding a halo of self-righteousness for doing so. For the moment let’s overlook the fact that these same people also insist that the rest of us live by THEIR convictions, regardless of our own beliefs.

What’s more to the point is that as they SIMULTANEOUSLY ignore their own convictions about “no sex before or outside of marriage,” they want — they demand, and for the most part the media gives them — a FREE PASS for that. And that’s where the hypocrisy becomes part of the political game.

Remember, Mommy Palin was pregnant when she had to marry Todd, her high school sweetheart, 20 years ago. Now her daughter is pregnant and has to marry her guy, too. But if the Republicans and, particularly, the dominionists have their way, NOBODY ELSE should ever be allowed to have sex before or outside of marriage, or to know the consequences of it — because, in Sarah Palin’s words, “explicit sex education” is wrong, and sex outside of marriage (and before marriage) is sinful, and ONLY abstinence education works to keep children pure. How well it worked with her own daughter!

These people are instantly ready to forgive all the “sins” that Republicans commit, because “everyone is human” and “has human failings.” But just let ONE DEMOCRAT have even the most minor sexual encounter outside of marriage, and watch him get impeached!

I simply can’t consider telling the truth and pointing out their lies and shameless hypocrisy to be nasty.

Tags: Election 2008, Ethics, Other Political Thoughts, Party Politics, Religion by Moe White
20 Comments »

Senator Barack Obama did fantastic job in front of a relatively hostile audience. Pastor Rick Warren asked about his personal moral failures and his opinion on America’s moral failures. Obama talked openly about his youthful drug use. He also talks about America leaving behind those that are the least among us. It was a great answer.

Tags: Election 2008, Ethics, Religion by ecthompson md
No Comments »

I’ve read a ton of political books from both end of the political spectrum over the past five years. From the nauseating Sean Hannity’s “Deliver us from Evil” (as it turns out Hannity didn’t even write the book, it was ghost written for him) to the enlightened Molly Irvins’ “Shrub.” One of the books that I will not be reading is Jerome Corsi’s “Obama Nation.”

Corsi is a right-wing neocon who uses the most inflammatory language to discuss liberals. He is also the author of the 100 percent discredited book “Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry.” This book holds the award for the biggest pile of crap ever shoveled into the American mainstream. Almost nothing in that book was true. I’m sure that “Obama Nation” will follow the same pattern.

In the meantime, there are several books that I will recommend in the coming days.

Update: Senator Barack Obama and his camp have refused to be swift-boated by this moron again. John Kerry didn’t respond until the damage had been done. Obama already has a 41-page rebuttal: “Unfit for Publication.”

Tags: Ethics, Party Politics by ecthompson md
No Comments »

I saw this piece yesterday but I just now have a chance to talk about it. Fox News has done some really bad reporting over the years, pushing stories that simply weren’t true. Now, as a new low, they have used digital editing of photos to make two guys from the New York Times (reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe ) look uglier. How juvenile!!!

The good folks at Editor and Publisher interviewed the New York Times but were unable to get Fox or News Corp (Fox’s Parent organization) to comment.

Tags: Ethics, Media by ecthompson md
2 Comments »

Scott McClellan, former Press Secretary under George W. Bush, wrote a book with a critical eye toward his the president.

McClellan is a turncoat– Just like his mom.

McClellan’s mom, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, is well-known here in Texas because she has run for office as a a Democrat, Republican, and as a third-party candidate. Strayhorn served as Democratic Mayor of Austin and as a Republican Texas State Comptroller. She then ran for Governor in 2006 as an Independent against a Republican incumbent. She dropped and changed party affiliations to suit her ambitions.

If McClellan had a real problem with President George W. Bush, he could have resigned in protest.  Instead, he is making big money with a book. He has no loyalty to either President Bush or the American people.

Above you see a picture of some apples on a tree. This reminds us that the apples do not fall far from the tree. In this case, though, they are root and branch the same rotten fruit.

Here is what it says in Matthew about trees and the fruit they bear:

You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

Here is some information about apple trees.

Tags: Books, Ethics, Other Political Thoughts by Neil Aquino
6 Comments »

As I noted in previous posts, last week was really bad for Senator John McCain, BUT that appears to be nothing compared to the way that this week has started off.

Former Texas Senator and presidential hopeful, Phil Gramm is a lobbyist for UBS as well as an economic adviser under McCain. Gramm is credited with the deregulation “reform” which may have led to the current subprime mortgage crisis.

TPM:

Below I noted MSNBC’s story tonight about how former Senator Phil Gramm (McCain’s economics advisor) was advising him on his subprime mortgage bailout policy while Gramm was also a registered lobbyist for the Swiss bank UBS.

Now, it’s clear from the report that UBS had some exposure on the subprime front. But I wasn’t aware of the true extent of it. TPM Reader KB sends in articles Businessweek and Forbes that show just how big a player UBS was. Forbes says that UBS is among the banks hit worst by the global credit crisis, particularly in their direct exposure to the US subprime market. According to Forbes, UBS has some $37 billion in write-downs on assets tied to bad U.S. mortgages. In other words, the bank’s very life appears to be on the line with regards to how the U.S. government chooses to handle the matter.

As MSNBC reported, UBS deregistered Gramm as a lobbyist for the company on April 18th, though he continues to serve as a vice chairman of the bank. But that was fully a month after McCain’s speech outlining his own approach to the crisis.

Countdown - McCain and Gramm [ 5:27 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Countdown, Election 2008, Ethics by ecthompson md
No Comments »

So, although the Daily Show didn’t really do the Eliot Spitzer thing on Monday night, they did bring it on Tuesday. Samantha Bee felt she had to admit her infidelity with a group of men the night before. This is a funny skit. Enjoy!

————–

Jeff posted something that I have been thinking about ever since I heard about Eliot Spitzer. Five thousand dollars for a hooker? Come on. That is a ridiculous amount of money. Jeff lists what he would expect from a woman whom he pays $5,000 for sex.

Tags: Ethics, The Daily Show by ecthompson md
1 Comment »

Eliot Spitzer.  I don’t think that I care any more.  I’m sorry.  Somebody just fix this.  Wrap it up for me.

Here’s the outstanding questions that I have -

• Did Eliot Spitzer use state funds to party?
• Come on, there is no way that he spent $80,000 over a very years on babes.  Come on be serious – $80,000?
• Will he be indicted?
• Will his wife electrocute him in the middle of the night? If not, why not?
• So, what will “Kristen” do next and why does America care?

Tags: Ethics, Legal by ecthompson md
2 Comments »

Re-Posted 

I thought that would introduce a new segment to Where’s the Outrage – medical ethics.

A 20 year old female presents to the ER.  She complains of feeling like somebody is trying to get into her head.  The patient looks scared and anxious.  Her eyes are darting back and forth.   Her speech is pressured and rapid.  You are the ER physician.  You run a battery of tests and conclude that the patient may be a danger to herself.  You ask her if she will be willing to come in the hospital for some treatment that you think will help her.  She agrees.  As soon as you walk out of the room, the patient is seen by the charge nurse trying to leave.

What should you, as the ER physician, do?

Tags: Ethics, Healthcare, Medical Ethics/Issues by ecthompson md
2 Comments »

David Letterman has been doing this for over 30 years. He is still funny. He has the Top Ten Spitzer Excuses. I can tell you that one of them has to do with Bill Clinton. This is funny.

On a serious note, I’m not sure that Eliot Spitzer needed or should have stepped down. Sex between adults. I’m sorry. I don’t care. The problem is that we have an elected official who had placed himself on the moral high ground. Okay, if you are going to do that, then you have to walk the walk.

Letterman's Top Tex Spitzer Excuses [ 1:26 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Ethics, Legal by ecthompson md
2 Comments »

I was on call last night. I had an opportunity to watch the news. There has been a media frenzy over Elliot Spitzer. New information was being served up almost continuously. Spitzer was thought to be Client #9 in federal papers. Next, we found out that he reportedly paid these high classed hookers $1500 per hour. Only a couple of hours later we found out about a weekend that he went to DC and spent some time with “Kristen”. This morning or late last night we heard that he may have spent over $80,000 over several years. Reports of carefully planned transactions designed to throw off authorities.

It is my belief that politicians need to live up their rhetoric. Elliott Spitzer was compared to Elliott Ness – one of the untouchables. He was a crusader against unethical corporate behavior. He was a bull in a China shop. He made a ton of enemies.

Today Elliott Spitzer resigned.

As the Democrats return to power around the country after 25 – 30 years of Republican domination, Democratic leaders need to be better than Republican counterparts. Better in an ethical way. I think that Elliott Spitzer was the “perfect” democratic politician. He had a strong record for being tough on crime. He took no prisoner yet believed in a progressive agenda. He was being talked about as a future Democratic Presidential candidate in the next 4 – 8 years. All of that is now gone. Completely gone. I’m extremely saddened by Mr. Spitzer’s behavior. I guess the old adage is true if it looks too good to be true it probably is.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Ethics, Legal by ecthompson md
5 Comments »