Given the hypocrisy of what these two wayward Republicans are up to:

Larry Craig and David Vitter — “two United States Senators implicated in extramarital sexual activity” — have named themselves as co-sponsors of S.J. Res. 43, the Marriage Protection Amendment. If passed, the bill would amend the Constitution to declare that marriage “shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.”

Just a quick reminder concerning AC Craig and DC Vitter below...

posted with permission from Nicholas Benton, owner/editor of the Falls Church News Press.

Deeper Abramoff Tie to White House
by Nicholas Benton

Imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s link to the Bush White House was much deeper and frequent than the White House has admitted, an explosive new report issued this week by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee documents.

Abramoff pleaded guilty two years ago to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials. But the White House insisted his influence on the Oval Room was virtually non-existent, despite photographs of Abramoff and Bush shaking hands.

Throughout the entire tenure of the George W. Bush Administration, they have been lying to us. Congressional Republicans who served any time since 2001 can no longer deny their role and complicity. The final bits are coming to light now that vindicate the cries of those of us who insisted that the invasion of Iraq was intended from day one of this Administration's tenure -- long before 9-11 happened.

It also bodes ill for Iran's short-term prospects.

There's a dKos diary that hit with this news early -- by Framlingham. Go give Recommends & tips.

The implications -- for the US, for the next President, for the current pResident, for members of the GOP who were in Congress anytime during the 2001-2008 timeframe. Now, we're talking about intention to deceive and malice aforethought.

Now we're assured of an Administration leaving behind a unholy, historic legacy of treason, war crimes, crimes against humanity, dereliction of duty, war profiteering, negligence, graft, corruption, voter suppression, obstruction of justice, and even major violations of the RICO act.

On May 29, the CFTC announced an investigation of oil trading, looking for direct evidence that traders deliberately sought to skew the markets.

From Bloomberg:

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"The key to this is: what is the intent of the trading?" said Geoffrey Aronow, a former head of enforcement for the CFTC. "Is the sole intent to try to move the price of the commodity -- in this case, crude oil? Or does the trading have a reasonable commercial justification?"

Record-high oil costs have prompted lawmakers to press for scrutiny of whether speculative trading is artificially pushing up prices artificially.

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It's a very Enronesque scenario.

Yet another lobbyist problem for McCain:

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s national campaign general co-chair was being paid by a Swiss bank to lobby Congress about the U.S. mortgage crisis at the same time he was advising McCain about his economic policy, federal records show.

MSNBC

Olbermann reported on this story Tuesday night, noting that Gramm served "as a lobbyist dealing specifically with legislation regarding the mortgage crisis as recently as Dec. 31, 2007."

Found at McClatchy:

Bush wants $600 million for Iraq police; but cuts aid to U.S. cops

— At the same time the Bush administration has been pushing for deep cuts in a popular crime-fighting program for states and cities, the White House has been fighting for approval of $603 million for the Iraqi police.

Once again the old say "A picture speaks a thousand words" can pop into ones mind.

Thomas, over at G.I. Special - Military Project starts out his latest News Letter with the following recent photo of 'The War pResident'.

He captions the above with the following:

I just received the latest MoJo {Mother Jones} newsletter. Always interesting commentary can certainly be found at MoJo.

The subject title, above, was used as their leadin to the commentary linked below.

The following was their question in the newsletter:

Has anyone seen $15 billion in reconstruction funds? If so, the Pentagon's Inspector General is looking for them.

promoted by carol. While I profoundly disagree with you, I recognize that you speak for a tendency with the progressive movement.

What Are We Waiting For?

Joel S. Hirschhorn

Long before the disastrous George W. Bush administration, I had been waiting for profound, systemic changes in our political system. Perversely, I saw the upside of Bush as motivating more Americans to demand political change. And that happened. But the national yearning for change was co-opted by Ron Paul on the right and Barack Obama on the left while John Edwards with the most authentic populist change message fizzled out early.