As the corporate mainstream media shakes their head in clueless wonder about the Porter Goss resignation at CIA, (they’re “stunned”, “suprised”, “can’t imagine what else must be going on to have brought this on”) the clues have been bubbling for the last week or so on the Internet.
We associate ourselves with Josh Marshall’s initial take…
(Point of pride ed. note: TPMmuckraker has been on top of this story all week.)
Muckraker has, in fact, been all over various points of the developing scandal for the last week or so. We recommend you keep your eyes over there as things move foward.
Underscoring the bizarre state of our national corporate mainstream media, Josh made a related point earlier today, prior to the Goss announcement. As readers were wondering why TPM and their Muckraker site were giving so much attention to the Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) incident which, readers comments had suggested, just distracts from all of the more important GOP scandals, Josh defended their coverage with this reply…
But here’s what does get my attention. There’s another pretty tawdry story that’s out there — one about members of Congress getting sauced up at rollicking parties and set up with hookers by crooked defense contractors in exchange for help bagging pricey defense contracts.
That’s pretty salacious too. You’d expect the press to be all over it. As Justin reported yesterday, the legendary Watergate Hotel has already received mulitple subpoenas from federal investigators investigating the hotel’s role in ‘Hookergate’. So this thing’s for real.
Yet, I’m not seeing any morning show’s running with it.
And, while the Kennedy story is ‘newsy’ it doesn’t really have any greater policy implications. And the public trust implications are minor. The Wilkes-Watergate-Hooker story, on the other hand, is both. It’s salacious, which the press loves. And it’s also directly tied to crooks ripping off taxpayers, probably allowing our service members abroad to have shoddy equipment or defense dollars going to worthless projects.
So, we’re on the Kennedy case. But why the silence on the much bigger scandal bubbling up out of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee?
Cricket, cricket …
(BTW, when you hear the wingnuts outraged that Kennedy was allowed to get by without a breathalyzer, please remind them that Dick Cheney shot a man in the face, and yet was allowed to get by without, not only a breathalyzer test, but even without an interview with police authorities for a full 15 hours. Neither may be right, but we’re just pointing out the phoniness of the mock outrage coming from the wingnuts in re: Kennedy’s treatment.)
UPDATE: CNN just mentioned the Wilkes-Watergate-Hooker scandal…albeit with an emphasis on the “Poker Parties”…as opposed to the Prostitution angle. We suspect much more will be coming out as the mainstream media buck up their courage can’t help but avoid the obvious, and finally begin to report on the case. Had it been Democrats alleged of holding Hooker parties at the Watergate hotel, do you suppose the MSM would have been all over it long ago?
UPDATED UPDATE: Ooops…CNN now talking about prostitutes. Imagine that.
Jesus H. Fucking Christ, I can’t make rated G comments with this damn filter.
"poke her"
The filter has got to go. It doesn’t filter out "fuck" but it stops me from making a comment with no identifiable problem. Obviously I can’t say what the problem was, because it would get filtered out.
Yeesh, yes, this will be a problem with this scandal. Tee word "po ker" is filtered out by necessity. The robo comment spammers take down the site with floods of spam referring to various online activities concerning card games and gambling.
Thanks for working around it. If I remove that filter, they’ll take the whole site down (as they have before!) with their constant spam.
Can you say, I told you so?
I knew you could.
A bit off topic but still related –
I’m still dying for another tie-in with MZM – you know, the "defense and intelligence" company that provided $145,000 worth of "office furniture for the executive branch" back in 2002? I heard it mentioned some time back, when the Wilkes/Cunningham thing first came to light, but nothing since.
A defense and intelligence company.
Providing office furniture.
For the executive branch of the US government.
Think about it.
I have to admire somebody who can get it up after drinking. I know I can’t. If I could, I’d have about seven more kids than the two I know about. And that’s after two beers.
I think the blogoshphere can handle multiple stories. I personally, am a fan of this site. I’m a fan of Crooks and Liars… and many more. I have voted independent on every election since I’ve been allowed to vote. I certainly lean more toward democrats… but I’m in this whole thing because I hate corruption. Whatever party is dishing it out.
I’m psyched to see where Hookergate goes… but if a democrat was drinking and driving and recieved special treatment, that burns me too. Your not given any powers by God to be a safer drunk driver just because you are affiliated with a certain party.
"A defense and intelligence company.
Providing office furniture.
For the executive branch of the US government.
Think about it."
Ah, I had friends in frats and they told me about "furniture" girls. They were hangers on that banged just about anyone in the fraternity, sad but true.
Whole thing smells like an old red herring. What’s going on that’s really damaging? The U.N. Committee Against Torture is holding hearings starting today on U.S. compliance with international torture agreements and Amnesty International has handed them a scathing report which states, and i quote, "Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees by U.S. forces is widespread and, in many cases, sanctioned by top government officials".
Think about it.
Holy Crap, Bradman… you don’t check the blog for an hour, and another Republican either resigns or is indicted!!! WTF??????
You should have a "real-time" news ticker, with the latest GOP scandals, not a blog!!!!!!!!
Corey: RIGHT! Country before party…NOT party before country!!!
The rightwingers like Ricky, et al, avoid the spam filter, because they’re idiots, and can’t spell right anyway!
Republican Don Sherwood won’t get spam-filtered for playing "Poke-Her" with his mistress Cynthia Ore, will he Brad?
"We’ve got to win the war on terror," Bush added.
How do you have a war with a concept?
Just a side note – Kennedy had nothing to do with the decision "to do or not to do" a breathalyzer test.
Goss assured us the C.I.A. was making great progress. Everything’s going great.
But he resigned abruptly, without an explanation. What’s wrong with this picture?
a story that has some real impact on the Bushies once again breaks going into the weekend.
there will be a few mainstream media reports of it over the weekend, when no one is watching the news, and by Monday morning when people are getting back into their usual routine there will be no mention of it.
and the mindless Bush followers and much of America will be none the wiser….
how does he keep getting away with it?
So where was Jeff Gannon UMMMMMMMMMMM maybe at the Watergate gate Hotel?
Off topic, but related to comments above –
(If I can ever get this around the spam filter)
RE: Kennedy’s crash – After hearing his description of how he remembered ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about the crash, and how he said he’s on medication, my first thought was "*MBI*N"
There have been multiple stories in the media about people who take this sleeping aid exhibiting strange behavior – I don’t mean just SLEEPWALKING, I mean SLEEP EATIJNG and even sometimes getting out of bed, getting behind the wheel of a car, and SLEEP DRIVING – without remembering even getting out of bed.
The effects of A***n are often mistaken for drunkenness.
"Recent studies have indicated A***n is regularly cited as a factor in traffic arrests, with some states putting it among the top 10 drugs most frequently found in impaired drivers."
LINK
On top of that, he was taking a medication for nausea that doctors say would have amplified the effects of A**bien.
I wish he HAD taken a breathalizer test, just to prove it was the A***n. It might help us get this dangerous drug off the market before even more people get killed!
re: Jorge #8 – Wasn’t aware that "furniture" is a fratboy term too. I guess I always assumed it came from the movie "Soylent Green" (I was never around frat boys much, always felt more like I would be babysitting them instead of dating them.)
Providing hookers could be what was what was being referred to, never thought of it that way until now.
I was always thinking more along "Nixonian" lines – as in, he never met a "bug" he didn’t like.
Hmmmmm…..getting hard to keep the scandals straight.
Talking around this filter is like whispering "candy code" around the kids.
#19 You are correct about the effects of Amb**n. When patients are prescribed this medication they are instructed to take it immediately before retiring and only when they have 8 hours to devote to sleep. Most people can take this drug safely if they go right to bed when taking it. The problem comes in when people take the medication and then sit down on the couch to wait for it to "kick in" before retiring. They get up confused and disoriented. They may do things that are harmful to themselves and others. They will have amnesia or think they dreamed the whole thing.
Anyone abusing medications belongs in rehab. I don’t know anything about this Kennedy or what his difficulties are however, if I were one of his constituents I would be very concerned about his level of competence.
Off topic but HOLY TOLEDO!!!
British Copter Crashes in Iraq; 4 Killed
By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer
3 hours ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq – A British military helicopter crashed in Basra on Saturday, and Iraqis hurled stones at British troops and set fire to at least one armored vehicle that rushed to the scene. Clashes broke out between British troops and Shiite militias, police and witnesses said.
Police Capt. Mushtaq Khazim said the helicopter was apparently shot down in a residential district the city. He said the four-member crew was killed, but British officials would say only that there were "casualties."
British forces backed by armored vehicles rushed to the area but were met by a hail of stones from the crowd of at least 250 people, who jumped for joy and raised their fists as a plume of thick smoke rose into the air from the crash site.
The crowd also set at least one British armored vehicle on fire, apparently with a rocket-propelled grenade, but the British soldiers inside escaped unhurt, witnesses said. British fired weapons into the air in an effort to disperse the crowd.
Shooting broke out between the British and armed militiamen, and at least two people, including a child, were killed, Khazim said.
KestrelBrighteyes #19
The link you gave wouldn’t finish loadiung for me, but here are 2 more. The first is from Wisconsin ad the second from Minnesota studies done on the sde affects of A*b*en
Driving under the influence — of sleeping pills
Midnight munchies linked to sleeping pills
I hate this wireless keyboard!!!
For Mr. Ed: Blogging here won’t help you with your problem. There are many products advertised on the Internet that might (I get about 20 e-mails a day), but I’m sure Brad has filtered out all the relevant words.
He told me "ci-alis" was filtered out, and as a result someone’s use of the word "speci-alist" wasn’t allowed because "ci-alis" is part of "speci-alist."
But if you decide on a second honeymoon, you can still go to "Viagara Falls."
asdasd