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Their names probably won't mean mean anything to you, but these people ought to have some modicum of personal recognition: Jason Anderson, Aaron Dale "Bubba" Burkeen, Donald Clark, Stephen Curtis, Gordon Jones, Roy Wyatt Kemp, Karl Kleppinger, Blair Manuel, Dewey Revette, Shane Roshto, and Adam Weise. These are the 11 workers who were killed when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank into the Gulf of Mexico on April 20.
Pockets of Influence in Washington
By What do shoplifters and members of Congress have in common? Tailor-made clothing.
Like a shoplifter's long coat, the suits of many lawmakers come with an astonishing array of inside pockets that hold surprising volumes of loot. We already know about various conduits that politicians have crafted to funnel cash into their election campaigns, but USA Today recently reported that our congressional stalwarts have also created a series of less-obvious pockets for stashing special-interest influence money.
The newspaper analyzed some 3,000 donations that lobbyists made in 2008 under an obscure category called "honorary expenses." These are unrestricted contributions that lobbyists make to outside groups in "honor" of top Washington officials. Unsurprisingly, the pockets in which the gifts are tucked are directly connected to the honorees -- and usually have been created by them.
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Filed Under: Creators Syndicate Column, Political Corruption
