Sunday, December 26, 2004



Bush waving not drowning

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Capitalizing on a Politician's Clout
Chuck Neubauer and Ted Rohrlich of the Los Angeles Times investigated the family connections of Rep. Maxine Waters, finding that “family members have made more than $1 million in the last eight years by doing business with companies, candidates and causes that the influential congresswoman has helped.” The story is the latest in a series of articles by The Times tracing the activities of elected officials’ relatives.


The husband, daughter and son of Rep. Maxine Waters have business links to people the influential lawmaker has aided.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters' family members have made more than $1 million in the last eight years by doing business with companies, candidates and causes that the influential congresswoman has helped.
In varied ways, they have capitalized on clout she accumulated in a 28-year career as an elected official who built her power base among African Americans in South Los Angeles into a national platform.
Waters has built a strong political base from the under-represented and disenfranchised with a trademark in-your-face style and attention to issues that affect minorities, the poor, women, children, AIDS patients and prisoners.


Special place in the hearts and minds of a lot of African Americans
• · As Davidson Loehr mentioned a few weeks ago (in “ The Corporation Will Eat Your Soul” ), Fortune magazine ran a cover story on Mussolini in 1934, praising his fascism for its ability to break worker unions, disempower workers and transfer huge sums of money to those who controlled the money rather than those who earned it. Living Under Fascism [ You may know the story of the frog and the scorpion. A scorpion wanted to cross a swift river, and asked a frog to carry him on his back. The frog asked “How do I know that you won’t sting and kill me as soon as you get on my back?” “Well,” answered the scorpion, who was good with words when he wanted something, “then I wouldn’t be able to get across the river.” “Well,” said the frog, “then how do I know that you won’t sting and kill me as soon as we’re across the river?” “Oh,” said the scorpion, “because I’ll be so grateful for the ride, why would I want to kill you then?”]
• · · Tragedy like this bring many sad memories Who would have thought that in the middle of summer Morava would be as freezing? I still get cramps just thinking about the temperature of the water ... Four members of a family drowned yesterday when a father and his two brothers tried to save his 12-year-old daughter from a rock pool during a Christmas trip to a western Victoria national park. Four members of family drown in rock pool ; The bodies of three children have been found in a van that plunged down a bank into a river in New Zealand. Awakino River ; Casting light on the shadows of drowning tragedy
• · · · Welcome Powerline and Instapundit readers! Glenn and the PL guys were very kind to link to this letter. They got a couple things wrong: first, I am Brian Mattson, and Cpt. Dan is my brother. No nativity scenes or festive cheer in this part of the world
• · · · · An uncertain outlook? Ten Surprises for 2005
• · · · · · Pvt. Federico Daniel Merida, 21, of Biscoe, a tiny town south of Asheboro, pleaded guilty during a court-martial in Iraq to shooting the Iraqi national guard private Falah Zaggam