President Bush and his Administration have been tragically misleading us.  Among the more blatant and destructive courses in this direction has been the infamous war promotion fear campaign with the "weapons of mass destruction" high voltage propaganda pitch.  

This was geared to strike fear, to rev the American public into a "fight or die" war frame.  Once the truth was revealed, once much of Iraq's infrastructure was destroyed, was there an apology for this deadly deception?

Not on your life!  The "Saddam was a bad man and we got rid of him" message was declared.  Nothing was mentioned as to why, if Saddam Hussein was such a bad man, did Daddy President Bush ask for that $3 billion loan to help Saddam buy foodstuffs during the elder president's first two years?

Then, suddenly, when we had announced we would not do anything about Saddam invading Kuwait, when Iraq felt fully justified in stopping Kuwait's oil steal through slant drilling, the Elder Bush went to war in the Gulf.

With righteous indignation, the U.S. rallied allies and the coalition managed to kill Iraqis running across the desert, many with their hands up begging to be taken prisoners, anything to escape from Saddam - a man the U.S. had supported for years with a "weapons buffet".

I hadn't heard Scanlon mentioned in this case until now. Well, well, well. This is just a sweet Thanksgiving gift.

Former Abramoff partner to cooperate

By CURT ANDERSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A former partner of Jack Abramoff has agreed to cooperate in the fraud case against the Washington lobbyist over his 2000 purchase of the SunCruz Casinos gambling fleet.

Documents filed in federal courts in Miami and Washington say the agreement was part of a plea deal Michael Scanlon, a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay, reached with prosecutors in a separate case.

If Scanlon provides "substantial assistance," prosecutors will seek a lighter sentence, according to the agreement.

Essentially, Scanlon helped Abramoff and his associate, Adam Kiden pull off a little, "wire fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy" in their $147.5 million purchase of SunCruz.

He knows where all of Abramoff's financial bodies are burried and is obviously attempting to get out of as much jail time as he can by selling "Casino Jack" out.

And who's in the middle of this one? U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, that's who.

SeattlePI.com Story.

The story of Michael Scanlon's "guilty" plea (part of Scanlon's plea bargain) contains one hell of a bombshell:

...it was disclosed that Scanlon, a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay has been cooperating in a widening criminal investigation of members of Congress since June.

And about that investigation: It's targeting several Congressional Republicans, among them Ohio GOPster Bob Ney and Arizona's John Shadegg, for accepting bribes from Scanlon and his indicted co-conspirator Jack Abramoff.

On Friday, Scanlon was charged with conspiracy. On Monday, the Justice Department's statement of facts that Scanlon signed went considerably beyond the earlier charging document, revealing that trips, tickets to sporting events and campaign contributions went to other public officials besides Ney in exchange for official acts.

The statement of facts said Scanlon and [Jack Abramoff] provided items of value to public officials in exchange for "agreements to support and pass legislation, agreements to place statements in the Congressional Record, agreements to contact personnel in the United States Executive Branch agencies and offices to influence decisions of those agencies and offices."

It's not as if we've needed more evidence that the GOP is mired in a culture of corruption, but it's always nice to have an extra helping; maybe the indictments and plea agreements will start flowing just in time for the 2006 election.