The Lessons of Bell, California

Last month, a weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal turned a spotlight on the aftermath of the discovery of grossly-inflated salaries that the town's council members had paid themselves and selected city employees.

Perhaps the best passage from the article is this one,

"How was it, they ask, that Bell residents didn't know that the former city manager was being paid $800,000 a year?"

The lesson is fairly obvious, isn't it? Sunshine, transparency, call it what you will, still is the best disinfectant. And apathy, carelessness, disinterest on the part of voters to require and review the most mundane items, such as annual city budgets and compensation levels, bring about this sort of corruption.

Whether at the micro-level of Bell, California, or the federal government, in a republic, we always get the government for which we vote, and which we deserve.

For better or worse....and there's nobody else to blame but ourselves.

Another Example of The Hazards of Government Intervention In The Private Sector: Harry Reid's Green Energy Donors

Last Wednesday's Wall Street Journal published a staff editorial detailing one of the negative consequences of allowing government to direct economic choices in the private sector.

The case in point is Harry Reid's new financial donors from the "renewable energy" sector.

As the editorial notes,

"The companies that belong to the American Wind Energy Association or the Solar Energy Industries Association (among the fundraiser's hosts) produce costly products that can't compete against traditional fuels. Their business plans are written around Washington subsidies and mandates. They're obviously worried a Republican majority might pare back the grants, loans and tax credits, in the name of cutting government waste."

This is what happens when government gets into the business of funding specific technologies or sectors with subsidies, rather than contracting for competitive bids without subsidies.

The editorial also notes,

"Mr. Reid has been a strong advocate of this transfer, and the industry is showing it knows how to give back."

Essentially, allowing government at any level, including states, to use government, i.e., taxpayers' money, to directly fund private enterprises, invites reciprocal bribery in the form of campaign donations to help the benevolent elected officials remain in office, the better to keep the gravy flowing back to the private companies.

It's corruption, pure and simple. And sort of embezzlement, in that public money is appropriated by an elected official for a favored few private entities, knowing they will repay her/him directly through campaign contributions.

Do you think that's why the Constitution mandates that Congress' laws must apply to all citizens, and never just a select group?

The Charges Against Rangel

If you aren't sufficiently sick from reading about Maxine Waters' ethics problems, consider the affront that Charlie Rangel's birthday bash was to voters and taxpayers everywhere.

Rangel was heard to remark that it was hardly funereal or a wake. Well, time will tell.

But it was surely sad and disappointing to see the state's two Senators show up and fete such a corrupt House member.

You might be tempted to believe, like Rangel does, that he will be exonerated of the charges against hime. Ruth Marcus wrote this in the Washington Post recently,

"In Rangel's defense, his conduct appears less directly self-serving than Waters's. But to read the lengthy ethics report is to wonder how Rangel has refused to cop a plea -- especially when the recommended punishment took the relatively mild form of a reprimand.

Rangel failed to pay taxes on rental income from his Caribbean villa. He neglected to report $600,000 in income on his financial disclosure forms. He hit up companies with business before the Ways and Means Committee for donations as high as $30 million to the Rangel Center -- improperly using official letterhead and directly soliciting corporate lobbyists."


I posted this passage because, when reading it, I was alarmed at how truly corrupt Rangel became. How financially large his transgressions actually are.

Can you imagine getting away with the tax evasion Rangel practiced? I can't.

Does he really believe it will all be casually swept away and he'll be free to return to the House? Incredible.

....And Maxine Waters Is Ethically Challenged, Too

With all the recent attention on corrupt Charlie Rangel, California's differently, but equally corrupt Democratic Representative, Maxine Waters' behavior has almost gone unnoticed.

Here's a passage from a recent Washington Post column,

"Which gets to my favorite part of the ethics report on Waters. Fast-forward a few months after Rangel's meeting with AIG, to the first weeks of September 2008. This was, to put it mildly, a rather busy time for then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. The economy was tanking. Lehman Brothers was about to go down. But when a senior member of the Financial Services Committee calls, the Treasury secretary tends to listen.

Waters said she had "some people in town who were important to her," Paulson recalled, and asked for a meeting with Treasury officials to discuss their concerns.

How important to her? As Waters told the Office of Congressional Ethics, which conducted the preliminary investigation of her activities, "You don't use your chits for nothing. You call when there is an important issue."

The issue broadly involved the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and its impact on minority-owned banks. But when Paulson's aides got to the meeting, they discovered that all but one of the banking industry participants were from one such institution: OneUnited.

On whose board Waters's husband had served until a few months earlier. In which he continued to have investments worth $500,000 to $1 million. A fact Waters somehow neglected to mention to Paulson -- although she was most certainly aware of it. As the report notes, Waters mentioned to Congressman A -- better known as Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank -- that "Sydney's been on the board." Frank twice advised Waters to "stay out of it."

The obvious question is: What is wrong with these people? The tempting answer: They're members of Congress."

You know someone is dense and stupid when even Barney Frank knows better than they do. Look at Waters' attitude- her "chits" are only for important usages. Hey, how about forgetting your own personal, corrupt uses of your legislative position, and think about the voters who sent you there?

Hopefully, the idiotic Waters will have the book thrown at her. But, with a liberal Democratic House majority, and a fellow Californian as Speaker, don't hold your breath. And one doubts even Waters' constituents have the sense or backbone to throw her out.

The Blago Case

Hard as it is to believe, the news on Wednesday evening informed us that Blagojevich's jury can't decide if he's guilty of anything!

On what planet do you suppose those jurors are deliberating? The leaked phone calls alone seem enough to convict Rod. What more do they need?

Or is it the case that his intent was clear, but the verifiable actions were not?

If Blago skips on this quasi-technicality of there being no directly witnessed corrupt activity, but everybody knows he wanted to sell the Senate seat, then we have a problem. In this case, I think an ordinary citizen would feel that Blago's stated intent is sufficient to put him behind bars.

Will Duke & Charlie Be Cell Mates?

Reading about corrupt New York Democrat and former House Ways and Means Committee chairman Charlie Rangel, I keep seeing references to his service in the Korean war.

So here's my question: Will Charlie get to share a cell with Randy "Duke" Cunningham? Here's a video clip of Cunningham discussing his most famous dogfight.

Cunningham is the former California House member and Vietnam Navy fighter ace/hero who went to prison for soliciting bribes while, I believe, on the House Armed Services Committee.

Can they be cell mates, since both forgot that, as House members, they served the people, not the other way 'round? That supposes Rangel gets prison time, which would be appropriate if the charges concerning his tax evasion are true.

In Cunningham's case, though I can't find a clip of the scene, he was tearful as he faced cameras after his conviction. He didn't blubber and excuse his behavior by recalling his military service.

I doubt we'll be so lucky in Rangel's case. Expect him to hide behind his being black and a veteran, claim special circumstances, and totally deny culpability for his criminal behavior.

Alexi Giannoulias' Senate Race Woes In Illinois

A Wall Street Journal editorial two Fridays ago by Kim Strassel wonderfully detailed the woes of Illinois Democrat Senatorial candidate Alexi Giannoulias.

Alexi is running for Wonderboy's old Senate seat, and the First Rookie is campaigning for the youngster.

Trouble is, the rest of the Illinois Democrats aren't all that happy about this. Because of that bank thing.

You know, the problem with Alexi's family bank being shuttered by the feds. And Alexi being chief loan officer when the family's Broadway Bank,

"loaned millions to Michael "Jaws" Giorango, a convicted bookmaker, as well as other crime figures."

Apparently, loaning money to organized crime figure is okay as post-partisan politics for Wonderboy.

Alexi also mismanaged the state's college savings program as Treasurer.

My favorite aspect of all of this is CNBC's MIA behavior.

You see, for many months, beginning, I believe, back in the fall of '09, Alexi was the darling of CNBC's morning Squawk Box program. He would smile and preen as one of the country's youngest State Treasurers, crow about his innovative moves, and wink about running for the Senate. He was probably given this privilege at least monthly for several months running.

Suddenly, no more Alexi. I'm guessing these toxic revelations about his past, and perhaps the failing college savings program, soured the producers on the up-and-coming Wonderboy acolyte.

But, being good liberal media members, did CNBC turn around and investigate their former favorite State Treasurer?

Of course not! That would be impugning a hopeful Democratic Senate candidate, as well as themselves.

Far better to just go quiet and hope nobody noticed.

According to Strassel, downstate Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk has raised $2.3MM to Alexi's reported $900K.

Maybe they're noticing all this in Illinois, after all.

Glenn Beck's Allegation Concerning Brazilian Oil Exploration

Fox News employee Glenn Beck made a rather stunning set of allegations last week which would seem to be real breaking news about Wonderboy's oil and energy policy. If true, you'd think it would be on headlines in major print and network media. If false, you'd think Beck's unfounded allegations would be there, instead.

Here's what Beck contends. He claims that George Soros, through, I believe, one of his funds, has long positions in Petrobras, the Brazilian oil company.

It is alleged by Beck that Wonderboy had the United States loan or give $2B to Brazil for Petrobras to drill for oil in deep waters off of their coast.

Beck's point was the incredibly obvious corruption involved. Soros has funded think tanks which have written legislation passed by this Congress, at our First Rookie's behest.

Now, it appears that he has given US money to a foreign country and/or its oil firm, in which that adviser has a position, thereby apparently endorsing and facilitating Brazil's own deep water drilling.

Oh, yes, while Wonderboy has issued a moratorium on US deep water drilling, wrongly claiming seven engineering experts called for it.

This is terribly corrupt.

Why hasn't any major news outlet pursued this story to crucify either Wonderboy and Soros, or Beck?

The Curious Case Of ShoreBank of Chicago

Since stories about large New York financial institutions chipping in to help avoid the closure of a modest bank in Chicago named Shore Bank, I've been wondering what would lead so many titans of finance to help some insignificant little Midwest bank.

This morning's Wall Street Journal provided the likely answer- corruption.

Framing a grinning mugshot-drawing of our First Rookie, the article stated,

"In letters to the White House, the lawmakers questioned whether the big banks are curring favor with the Obama administration at a time when many are under federal scrutiny. The lawmakers also asked whether the White House has been pressuring the big banks to help.

The White House denied putting pressure on bankers."

According to the piece, no less an august person than Lloyd Blankfein

"was personally making fund-raising calls to other banking executives, seeking private-sector pledges totaling $125 million for the failing community-development lender, Chicago's ShoreBank Corp."

Further on in the Journal article, various other denials are noted on the part of administration mouth pieces. They allege that all contact occurred between Treasury, regulators and the bank, not the White House.

Well, sure. I mean, does anyone really think Wonderboy is personally calling Lloyd Blankfein to suggest he help rescue ShoreBank? Or even one of his henchmen?

Everyone's smarter than that. All that need have occurred is for Rahm Emanuel to mention to Geithner that it sure would be a good thing if ShoreBank could be kept open.

I believe in espionage circles, this is what is known as 'using a cutout.'

There's never a direct, traceable link between the highest corrupt official and the people doing the actual questionable actions.

So it is here.

Because if you think Lloyd Blankfein just got out of bed one morning and decided his good deed for the day was to save a small community bank in Chicago, well, Lloyd probably has a few CDO's to sell you, too....

The List of Bribes for The Health Care Bill

The Wall Street Journal's Kim Strassel wrote an editorial on Monday, entitled Inside the Pelosi Sausage Factory, in which she provided a fairly detailed list of Democratic House members who had secured bribes from either Frisco Nan or Wonderboy for voting 'yes' on the health care bill.

Because it's important to understand how many corrupt House members there are, and who they are, I thought it worth reprinting Strassel's details.

Jim DeCosta (D-CA) extracted a commitment from the administration to increase water allocations to his Central Valley constituents. The announcement occurred last Tuesday. DeCosta claims there was no buying of his vote change from no, to yes.

Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL) requested more NASA spending at her district's Kennedy Space Center in her meeting with Wonderboy on the healthcare bill. She, too, switched from a no to a yes.

Bart Gordon (D-TN) extracted more Medicaid funds for his state in exchange for his vote change. Pete DeFazio (D-OR) also secured extra Medicaid funding for his state in exchange for his vote on the bill. In all, according to Strassel, 17 states were given additional Medicaid funds in exchange for their Representatives voting to pass the bill.

Finally, dimwitted Bart Stupak surrendered his alleged pro-life principles to vote yes on the bill, in exchange for an executive order, which can be revoked or challenged in the courts at any time, limiting use of federal funding for abortions.

Strassel went on to details a number of cases in which House Democrats were threatened with primary opposition, cutting of campaign funds and support if they did not vote 'yes' on healthcare.

How can anyone believe such a bill is of any value, if so many of the majority party's own House members had to be bribed to vote for it?

Wholesale Bribery for Health Care Bill

Looks like his alleged pro-life principles weren't all that suffered when Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak folded yesterday and voted in favor of the health care bill.

This morning's cable news programs reported a handful of timely bribes to various Democratic Representatives.

Mind you, Stupak caved for an executive order that won't even have the force of law. One pundit noted that it literally has the same power, which is to say, none, in court, as a Congressional Resolution.

So much for your principles, Bart.

But going almost unnoticed on the day was a sudden, magical increase in funding for 3- count 'em, 3- airports in Stupid Stupak's district!

How marvelously convenient!

And one of Bart's Florida colleagues, the woman in whose district the Kennedy Space Center is located, just as magically saw lavish new funding for the space program appear this weekend!

What luck!

Because there just couldn't be any relationship between the federal spending bribes and the votes of these holdouts, could there?

Thus, Wonderboy and Frisco Nan not only left the Cornhusker Kickback, Louisiana Purchase, a Connecticut hospital, and other bribes in the bill, but actually added some more!

Aren't you proud of your federal government? These 436 clowns just used your federal credit card to continue spending money we don't have, to pass legislation that the majority of voters don't want.

Must be some fantastic health care bill if it requires this level of bribery, corruption and backroom dealing to get it passed with such a slim margin, eh? And that is with some House Democrats still opposing it!

New York: US Capital of Corruption?

It's been quite a week for New York politicians.

First, tax cheat Charlie Rangel suffered yet another damaging disclosure. This time, in addition to revelations of his non-payment of taxes on various real estate properties, and misuse of rent-controlled apartments in New York City, the chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, it was revealed that he took trips to the Caribbean which were paid for by corporations. This is a clear violation of ethics rules.

His, and Frisco Nan's reactions were both predictable and disappointing. Rangel essentially claimed that his aides' actions aren't his responsibility, so he was innocent of anything.

Of course, members of Congress are among the first to conduct public hearings accusing corporate CEOs of guilt when employees of their companies engage in misconduct.

The House Speaker, having recently alleged she runs 'the most ethical House' ever, refused to remove Rangel from his Ways & Means Committee post, claiming that there was no serious national damage involved, so she saw no reason to take disciplinary action.

Further, as the linked article notes, she was surprised a Democratically-controlled ethics panel even bothered to publicly admonish Rangel.

Suffice to say, all of this demonstrates just how hopelessly tone-deaf and out of touch with voters Rangel and Frisco Nan are. They may be re-elected in their safe districts in November, but I'm guessing neither will be in the majority when they are.

Then we come to New York governor David Paterson's decision not to run again, amidst two scandals. One is his misuse of his office to strong-arm and intimidate a woman from proceeding in her case of physical violence abuse against one of Paterson's aides.

Paterson unwisely got involved, rather than show some sense and tell the aide that, as governor, nothing he would do would be proper.

Paterson also evidently set the state police upon the complainant.

Then it has come to light that Paterson may have favored a political supporter in the choice of to whom to let a casino-related contract.

Lest you think Paterson's final capitulation to his party to not run again is good news, look who is waiting in the wings.


AG Andrew Cuomo, running for governor, was one of the major culprits in sparking the recent financial sector meltdown, as HUD secretary for Bubba Clinton.

Cuomo has behaved thuggishly, using the Martin Act to bully several financial executives and companies, including BofA, Merrill Lynch, John Thain and Ken Lewis. Oblivious, all the while, to his own culpability in the mess, due to his actions while HUD Secretary to provide more, riskier mortgages to poorer people who could not really afford home ownership.

It doesn't look like New York's governance nightmare is going to end anytime soon.

The Final Lowdown On John Murtha's Corruption

Friday's Wall Street Journal featured a shocking article by John Fund.

Apparently based on information Fund obtained from recently deceased, long-time Texas Democratic Representative Charlie Wilson, it revealed also recently deceased Pennsylvania Democratic Representative John Murtha's explicit guilt of corrupt practices as far back as the Abscam sting of the 1970s.

Wilson is now famous for the book and movie portraying his political leadership, with Ronald Reagan, in the war against the Soviets, through our proxies in Afghanistan.

What Fund's piece details is that Tip O'Neill, then Speaker of the House, ended the special prosecutor appointed by the House Ethics Committee, E. Barrett Prettyman, Jr.'s investigation, when it was clear that Prettyman had Murtha in his sites.

To do this, O'Neill named Wilson to the Ethics Committee in order to protect Murtha. Fund refers to CBS producer George Crile's 2003 book about Wilson, Charlie Wilson's War, from which the movie was made. According to Fund, Crile wrote,

"Before Prettyman could fully deploy his investigators to move on the Murtha case, he was informed that the committee had concluded there was no justification for an investigation."

Fund notes that Prettyman resigned his post "the same afternoon the committee voted to clear Mr. Murtha."

He then writes,

"When I called Wilson in 2006 to ask if the Crile account was accurate, he reluctantly confirmed that it was. He also noted, "I hope nothing will hurt" Murtha's bid to become majority leader."

Sickening, isn't it?

I mean, Charlie Wilson did a good thing regarding the Afghanistan war. But look at what he, O'Neill and Murtha did on the ethics front.

They were all scum. They violated their oaths of office, conspired to cover up corruption and extend the career of a corrupt Representative.

Regardless of the party, this is just wrong. Look how the Democrats immediately closed ranks and, from the Ethics Committee, of all places, shut down an investigation, by their own appointed special prosecutor, which they knew would indeed find corruption.

No wonder why Tea Party movement members and supporters distrust Washington politicians. This week's revelations reinforce why we can't trust either party's long-serving, entrenched legislators to abide by their oaths, call out their colleagues for misconduct, or remember whom they serve.

Jesse Jackson, Jr.'s New Problems

News breaking earlier this week regarding promised payments to former Illinois governor Blago by friends and associates of the state's Democratic Representative to Congress, Jesse Jackson, Jr., have refueled interest in the state's corrupt Democratic party and those emanating from it.

It would be somewhat credible to learn that Jackson's supporters had approached the former governor's brother with promises of $4MM in campaign contributions without the former's knowledge.

But that was prior to learning that the Congressman's brother was one of those involved. It's almost completely inconceivable that the sitting Representative was unaware, or briefed by his own brother about illicit activities to secure him the Senate seat vacated by Wonderboy.

Just when the First Rookie probably felt that the scandals in his old political haunts had abated, they flame up anew. Additionally, it refocuses attention on the already scandal-plagued Jacksons. Thus, the alleged federal investigation into the apparent corruption once again hits home very close to Wonderboy in terms of the party, locale and even race of those involved.

Unless I'm mistaken, hasn't that seat now become Illinois' "black" Senate seat, beginning with the also scandal-tainted reign of Carol Moseley Brown?

Illinois' Latest Governmental Shame: Governor Rod Blagojevich

Current Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is following a long and rich history of corruption in the Land of Lincoln.

As this newstory recounts, Blagojevich is the fourth governor of the state to be on the way to the Big House in less than forty years.

The Illinois Democratic governor of my youth, known back then- no kidding- as 'Honest Otto' Kerner, was convicted while on the Federal bench.

"Walkin'" Dan Walker, another Democrat who emulated Jimmy Carter and walked across the state, and into the governor's mansion in Springfield, was imprisoned for S&L-related fraud.

George Ryan, a Republican, left office for a jail term on account of selling licenses and leases while Secretary of State. In that, he continued the proud tradition of his predecessor in the 1970s, Paul Powell.

In those days, I recall that Illinois residents wrote their drivers license payments not to "Secretary of State of Illinois," nor "Illinois DMV," but directly to "Paul Powell."

Upon Powell's death, hundreds of shoe boxes full of uncashed checks were found in his home.

Nice work if you can get it.

There are so many interesting angles to the Blowdryovitch (that's what they call him back home) scandal.

For example, why did Federal DA Patrick Fitzpatrick wait until after the November election to move on the Illinois Governor? You have to suspect political calculation on the part of the Illinois Democratic mafia.

Clearly, with only a 6% point margin of victory, the New Messiah would have probably lost the November election, had Blagojevich been arrested a few days before that first Tuesday.

Doesn't this illustrate how corrupt and rotten is the nest of Cook County, Illinois Democratic vipers from which our President-elect was spawned? It is unimaginable that all of the key Democratic party players didn't know this was going on.

So, why didn't our New Messiah work to change any of this? Instead, he willingly turned a blind eye to it, while scrambling up his own political ladder, knifing old mentors in the process.

Will Illinois voters choose a Republican replacement, the better to punish the deeply-corrupt Democrats? One can only hope. It would be a fitting reaction, should the downstate Republicans finally mobilize and manage to regain at least one seat.

Is the Anointed One complicit in any of this? Well....that is the $64,000 question, is it not?

As William Bennett noted on Hannity & Colmes last night, we just don't know yet. The denials haven't yet been sufficiently sweeping from the Illinois rookie's camp. We don't know whether any of his underlings did him a 'favor' that will come back to haunt him.

Remember, Nixon didn't initially know of the plumbers' activities. His crime was obstruction of justice, not planning the original crime.

Oh....and Jesse, Jr? What about Candidate #5? The Feds explicitly state that somebody representing Jackson approached Blagojevich. Jackson's denial was carefully wordsmithed to avoid denial of responding to requests for bribes to get that Senate seat. He only denied initiating the process- not participating.

Should be interesting to watch this unfold. Of course, the stench of the mess will hang heavy over the Rookie's inauguration.

Wasn't this how Carter's era began? Bert Lance and "Ham" Jordan causing embarrassment from virtually the get-go?

Yes, it's Carter-time again, folks. Only, I predict that this next administration will look Carter look moderate and competent by comparison.

Barney Frank's Conflicted Love Life

I learned a fascinating piece of news this week.

It seems that Barney Frank's new boyfriend is, or was, an executive at Fannie Mae whose job was to lobby......Congress!

Can it get more conflicted than this? Not only did Barney Frank fiddle while the GSEs crashed.

He further compounded his guilt as a primary founder of the current financial debacle by consorting improperly with officials of firms to which he also gave a regulatory pass.

This guy is just unbelievable. And unbelievably bad for our country.

Obama's Corrupt Inner Circle

The freshman Senator from Illinois hasn't even been the official nominee of his party for President for a month and already his campaign is beset by corruption and appallingly bad judgment.

Jim Johnson, a prominent uber-liberal and Obama's handpicked aide to screen potential VP candidates has been forced to resign from the junior Senator's campaign over undisputed evidence of the financier's conflicts of interest and corruption while an officer at Fannie Mae.

What is ironic, of course, is that, while Obama has pilloried Countrywide Mortgage for allegedly causing the housing finance situation of the past nine months, Johnson, while with Fannie Mae, accepted a sweetheart jumbo mortgage from the California mortgage giant. Moreover, the loan was personally arranged by Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozillo, raising red flags about improper behavior on Johnson's part while at the quasi-government mortgage finance institution.

Obama's now-typical excuse for such poor judgment in choosing as a close aide someone who was actually instrumental in the mortgage finance mess which the Democratic Presidential candidate so vehemently criticizes was, to paraphrase,

'How can I vet the vetters? It's not my fault. Everyone I would choose to be in my campaign has ties to someone.'

Great. The guy hasn't been an offical nominee for President for two weeks, and he's already excusing more of his bad personnel choices and inept vetting of his own staff.

Exhibiting yet another common response, Obama claims that the situation is not his fault, so it's not fair for anyone to castigate him about it.

If that were true, would Johnson have resigned? Not likely.

This latest example and evidence of Obama's not-yet-ready-for-prime-time campaign staff antics clearly show that he in now way represents 'post-partisanship' politics or any kind of clear, detailed constructive change from past partisanship.

Rather, Obama has demonstrated how well he learned Chicago-style politics-as-corruption.

Change we can believe in? Looks more like no change at all from Democratic party politics as usual. The wealthy Democrats tax other Americans, distribute the largesse to poorer Americans and call it progress, when it's just old-style pork barrel politics of the old-school variety.

Remembering Benizar Bhutto & Her Corrupt Rule

Without a doubt, Benizar Bhutto's murder this week was a tragedy. It has done nothing but inject more uncertainty and instability into the Pakistani government situation.

However, of all the news coverage of the past week regarding Bhutto's murder, only one mentioned her prior regime's corruption. For example, consider this webpage on Benizar Bhutto's husband's corruption.

One editorial which I read in the Wall Street Journal claimed that Bhutto 'had never been tried for corruption,' or words to that effect.

Maybe not. I think she'd been deposed and left the country ahead of the authorities on both occasions.

Even at the time of each of her two turns as prime minister, The Economist reported Benizar's husband's shady dealings. Does anybody besides me wonder what the Bhuttos used for money when not in power? How have they been able to live without obvious careers, jobs, or other means of support for so long?

Perhaps Benizar would have won the next election. Perhaps not. If she had, perhaps this time, there'd be no corruption. More than likely, it would have continued.

Maybe the Pakistanis don't care about the corruption. Perhaps, to them, whichever tribe/group is in power will take its share of spoils.

But the pundit who noted Benizar's prior corruption, and its being the cause of her ouster each time, noted that her party has other qualified candidates to run for prime minister.

It's never a good thing to have political issues settled by violence and murder. But in the aftermath of Benizar Bhutto's death, it seems that nearly everyone has been remembering an angelic, perfect female Muslim leader, rather than the real, decidedly mixed blessing Bhutto was for her country and people.