« previous | MUCK HOME | next »
The Daily Muck
Push-polling is alive and well in the Iowa Democratic Caucus. Voters have reported receiving anonymous phone calls criticizing all three of the top Democractic candidates. (AP)
In the deadliest attack in Baghdad in months, a suicide bomber killed 30 people yesterday. The bombing was one of a number of attacks to hit Iraq yesterday, leaving a total of no less than 40 people dead. (New York Times)
Last week was a busy week in the case of Cyril Wecht, a former Allegheny County Coroner who is facing trial for fraud (and whose lawyers, former attorney general Dick Thornburgh among them, say that he's the victim of political prosecution). Last Friday prosecutors moved to dismiss 43 of the 84 charges against Wecht, claiming that this would "streamline the proof and timing of the trial." That same day Wecht's defense attorneys asked the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals to remove the judge, Arthur J. Schwab, claiming that he is biased against their client. And last Thursday three local media organizations challenged in appeals court Judge Schwab's order to seat a nearly anonymous jury in the case, arguing that it violates the First Amendment. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Problems with electronic voting equipment have led California, Florida, and Ohio to readopt paper ballots for the upcoming elections. Colorado also decertified their electronic voting machines last month, but has not yet chosen a new system to replace them. (AP)
Tired of end of the year reviews? Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington takes a look forward at five ethics scandals from 2007 that will continue on into 2008. (CREW)
Comments (6)
James Matherson wrote on January 2, 2008 10:31 AM:This is pretty interesting…
Hillary Clinton’s Recent Meteoric Rise in Wealth Pictorial Graph
The link
jmatherson wrote on January 2, 2008 10:33 AM:http://thememlingindex.com/hillary_clinton_net_worth-wealth.html
This is pretty interesting…
Hillary Clinton’s Recent Meteoric Rise in Wealth Pictorial Graph
The link
Philip Wright wrote on January 2, 2008 12:18 PM:http://thememlingindex.com/hillary_clinton_net_worth-wealth.html
In the NYT this morning the Chairmen of the 9-11 Commission have charged "Government Officials" with Obstruction of their work. That's got to be a high crime or misdemeanor? Right? Smoking gun?
Special Prosecutor time.
mac2151 wrote on January 2, 2008 2:27 PM:The Daily Muck & links name Gerald Shiller as a prosecution witness & letter writer to Judge Schwab in the Coroner Wecht case.
It's interesting that Lisa Shiller & Prosecutor/Assist USA Stephan Stallings
were both on the legal team for the Gus Boulis Estate.
James wrote on January 2, 2008 6:43 PM:It is actually Gerald Schiller not Gerald Shiller. I am not sure if he is connected to LIsa Shiller at all. What is truly disturbing is that AUSA Stallings put forth this individual as a potential witness. Gerald Schiller's only connection to Cyril Wecht are poison pen letters to the editors on the topic of Israel. Not really sure how the person is a witness in Cyril's fraud case? Guy never worked for the county, hired Cyril, etc, so how is he a witness.
What is even more alarming is the fact the judge received and read a letter from a "potential prosecution witness" prior to trial. Is this not breaking some sort of rule?
CBrooks wrote on January 10, 2008 10:41 PM:"Siegelman Is In Prison So Bob Riley Can Be Groomed As A GOP Vice Presidential Candidate"
Bush's DOJ appointees are using the prison system to keep Siegelman from talking to the media about Gov. Riley's past and Alabama's dirty history of campaign corruption.
(a) When Siegelman was Secretary of State and Attorney General, he referred several irregularities of cash flow to state and federal law enforcement which included sham organizations, Contra drug trafficking, tax evasion and money laundering. The results of the investigations found that much were linked to high ranking politicians in Alabama, Florida, Arkansas and sometimes Georgia, and Mississippi. Siegelman is a very smart attorney. He holds two law degrees. He knows more about Alabama's politics than anyone, being the only person in history to have served the top four government offices in Alabama and he has first hand experience of how a White house backed conspiracy works. This is a partial list of the skeletons that they don't want big media to know about:
(a) Voting fraud- Voting machine expert Dan Gans of Riley's staff is very knowledgeable of "Diebold Optical Scan Voting Machines" and of the "ES&S Central Voting Tabular" used in Alabama elections. He is believed to have altered the election totals on election night in the 2002 gubernatorial election.
(b) Millions of dollars of dirty campaign money was used to defeat Siegelman's Education Lottery and to defeat his gubernatorial campaigns. The money came from big business clients of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, Toby Roth, Rob Riley and William Canary. Several different National GOP associations along with some sham organizations ran by Robin Vanderwall, Preston Gates, Ralph Reed, Glover Norquist and William Canary laundered the money so that it wouldn't be obvious who the donors were.
(c ) The newspaper presses of big media giant Newhouse/Advance Publications has an arrangement with the GOP in Alabama to print articles hand fed to them by the GOP from top law enforcement and federal attorneys to create a corrupt public image of Siegelman, and other top Democratic politicians.