I'll let the big bloggers make the case re: the travesty of a well-done steak (scroll slightly more than halfway down)...I'd like to focus on the even more appalling and destructive habit of Duke, et al, who use the "Defense" budget as their own private gravy train, acting like overfed, spoiled brats, while throwning tantrums and sneering at anyone who suggests fealty to the public trust might be in order for an elected federal office holder:
In one case, an appropriations staffer sent an email to one of Cunningham’s aides to notify him that earmarks had been cut across the board, including for Wade. The aide emailed back to say he was hiding under his desk because he was afraid of Cunningham’s reaction. The aide soon wrote again to say Cunningham was furious and was demanding that the money for Wade be restored. As a result, Wade got a $6.3 million earmark for a storage device for an agency called the Counterintelligence Field Activity, or CIFA, which hadn’t asked for the device–and it’s not clear that it ever used it. Wade billed the government the full $6.3 million for the device, though he subcontracted the project to Wilkes, who bought it off the shelf for $700,000 and had it delivered to CIFA.
3. And yet Cunningham claimed he was a patriot, right?
After his arrest, Cunningham argued that no matter what sort of gifts he received, everything he did was good for national security and the country. What he was really doing was plundering the defense budget year after year. Meanwhile, this was a guy who ranted on the House floor and attacked people who wanted to cut the defense budget. When former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder stood up to challenge him he called her a socialist and told her to sit down.
How many more members of Congress are eyeball deep in Cunningham-style hypocrisy? Who knows...although one, I doubt seriously Duke is a solo case, and two, these same miserable shits are waxing piously about the mere possibility of losing a few nickels when it comes to reconstructing the Gulf Coast...suddenly finding the wherewithall to wag their fingers at people who've lost everything...while not so much as asking a question when Cunningham literally wrote down his price.
A genuine case of the "very well done" filet mignon calling the kettle black.
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