President Haney Loads Up And Fixes To Move Back to Hooterville

There are a 183 or so days left in the magnificent George W. Bush Administration. Remember the condescending caterwauling by the Republicans when the Clintons were winding down and leaving office? Of course you do. Heavens to Betsy, they were going to plunder the country right down to stealing the "W"s off all the keyboards and typewriters. So, what is George Bush up to as the sun sets on his catastrophic presidency? What kind of Payne will he cause?

Glad you asked. Here is one example, rapacious influence peddling to fund his Presidential Crayon Workshop Library. From the Mid-East Times:

The Justice Department says it has no record that it told a GOP lobbyist accused of influence-peddling that he did not have to register his activities arranging visits to the United States and meetings with Bush administration officials for Central Asian politicians.

The lobbyist, a major GOP fundraiser called Stephen Payne, this week was asked to resign from a Department of Homeland Security advisory panel after he was surreptitiously videotaped by the London Sunday Times. In excerpts of the tape posted by the newspaper, Payne offers to arrange meetings for an exiled former president of Kazakhstan with senior U.S. administration officials in return for a six-figure fee, including a quarter-million-dollar donation to the $200 million fundraising effort for the George W. Bush presidential library and museum.

Here is a video of Payne in the act; it is pretty damning.

We have been seeing all sorts of instances of the final grab for the country’s treasure by the Bush-Cheney gang as they prepare to flee with their tail between their legs and ill begotten booty on their backs. Doling out of no bid deals. Multi-million dollar gift contracts to Ashcroft by the DOJ. Federal land giveaways. Trashing of environmental regulations for favorite friends and industries. Seeding of the civil service corps with Regent clones. You name it, it has been cropping up. So I though it would be a fun exercise to have a working thread to list out all the instances of this plundering.

So, as Mr. Haney (Bush) and Fred Sanford (Cheney – It’s the big one Lynne, it’s the big one!) perpetrate their parting scams and thefts and move back to the scrubbrush of Texas, let’s make a list of what they are doing. And any other necessary discussion too.

UPDATE: – Oh this is good. Per my homeboy AZMatt in comments, Randy Scheunemann, McCain’s chief foreign policy and national security adviser is involved with Payne’s team of influence peddlers and, according to Payne, Scheunemann has been "working with me on my payroll for five of the last eight years."

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  1. skdadl says:

    What I keep wondering about is how much of the incriminating evidence they can/will destroy as they leave. I would think of the inevitable pardons as part of the destruction of evidence too.

    • masaccio says:

      Me too. They have eviscerated the National Archives, Cheney has refused to cooperate at all, they have destroyed vast amounts of data, and now all we have is law to prevent them from destroying anything else we might want to see in the future.

      • bmaz says:

        This is a valid sub-issue I think. But is there any law if it is not being, and will not be, enforced? It is the same old crap, Congress will not put it’s foot down and do the job that it is Constitutionally obligated and designed to do. So much of this is not really the province of the courts, and the justice department is, of course, completely in the bag co-opted by the Administration. Pelosi reaffirmed yesterday that she fully intends to kick the can down the road and simply wait for better days. CREW and the National Security Archive are nice little PR outfits and all, but they don’t have the necessary standing and juice for the job at hand and, quite frankly, are not exactly the most fearsome litigators on the block.

        How do we stop it?

          • bmaz says:

            Interesting German GP with the semi-wet conditions and all today. You gotta love F1. They are freaking crazy. The race goes on even if they are in basically hurricane conditions. It wasn’t that bad today, but sometimes it is insane. Like the 76 Japanese Grand Prix where Niki Lauda considered it so bad he wouldn’t race and effectively handed the championship to James Hunt. I love the wet races.

            • Drumman says:

              Yes a good race today, your boy Massa is looking good.I have seen races where it is so wet they end up with a ten million dollar junk yard on the track with all the wrecks.

            • freepatriot says:

              some days, just clouds can screw up a race

              I remember one year at Indy, qualifying week was hot and sunny. On race day, the clouds kept the track surface cool, and cars were skidding everywhere. the pole sitter didn’t make it across the start line (skidded into the wall coming out of turn 4 on the pace lap)

              it was the ultimate Indy 500, 500 miles, or 33 cars, whichever we go thru first

              I think 11 cars finished the race

              best race I ever saw …

              I ain’t your average race fan

                • freepatriot says:

                  I’m just not that thrilled by watchin guys make left turns

                  now, watching guy fuck up trying to make left turns, that’s another story …

                  I done 180 mph in a car before

                  it’s easy when all the other cars are going 180

                  try doing 180 mph on the innerstate, with grandpa mctourist in his rv, and joe the beet farmer driving his tractor in the slow lane

                  after you’ve done that, NASCAR don’t look so hard

                  I doubt I could hit a 98 mph fastball, but I can drive fast, it ain’t hard …

                  bet the NASCAR guys had more fun when they was bootleggin moonshine

                  • OldDave says:

                    bet the NASCAR guys had more fun when they was bootleggin moonshine

                    Drive US-129 between Tennessee and North Carolina sometime (a road known as Deal’s Gap and/or The Tail of the Dragon). It’s a joy. 311 turns in 11 miles.

              • masaccio says:

                One of my favorite games at Notre Dame was the 1966 game we played against Duke: 64-0. Never a moment’s doubt, and we saw lots of the bench.

  2. wwiii says:

    Remember before the last election when many on this side of the web were saying, “Hey, if the Dems really do take back Congress there are suddenly all those Democratic chairpersons who will have the power of subpoena! We’re finally going to get to the bottom of everything that’s been going onfor the last six years!” That’s worked out really well.

    I would venture that no matter how long a list you compile, it is only going to be a small pale shade of the crap that is floating around the executive branch right now (not to mention all the additional crap currently floating the Fourth Branch’s boat).

  3. GeorgeSimian says:

    Is this really illegal? This stuff happens all the time. He’s just arranging a meeting. There was that guy with Clinton who, when asked what if his donation got him access to the President, said, “of course” or something like that.

    I mean, this is scummy, but is it the same thing as having Enron write Cheney’s energy policy? Or Halliburton getting no-bid contracts all over the place?

    • bmaz says:

      You know, it’s borderline maybe; but there is a significant difference because of the foreign aspect. Payne was not registered as a foreign lobbyist/agent, and lending your name to be peddled in this manner for a private venture (the library) raises questions as well. And there are still people chirping every day about the Clintons, and remember all the independent counsel investigations of all that? Well, this crap here, which looks worse to me, should not be casually brushed off; what they thought good to do to the donkey ought to darn well be done to the jackasses.

  4. masaccio says:

    I doubt the information is really gone forever. Delicately phrased discussions of criminal investigations by the next administration?

    • ohmercy says:

      no.
      The Dems are setting up the groundwork to allow these bastards to skate.
      After reading what several of the higher profile insiders are putting out, including a major adviser to Obama it would not be a good idea to go after them I’m convinced that Telecom immunity was a first step in allowing them to get away with it.
      Obama has made some comments that pointed to this sort of attitude as well, in his cagey and careful way..
      .
      Spirit of post partisanship and all don’t ya know.
      ugh.

  5. BillE says:

    I think that shreder truck that parks in front on the Naval Observatory is going to be very busy. Add to that a number of small fires and other bits of obstruction. As Cheney said he learned how not to leave a trail.

    I know EW can track almost anything through the weeds, but the conventional wisdom DC pundit crowd only thinks accountability is to loose power. Nobody should go to jail for “policy” disputes (BS imo) Any form of document destruction etc will never cause any Bushie to loose sleep over.

    Travel overseas for any of them is another question, the Hague sounds very inviting.

  6. klynn says:

    Can we share ANY repug scandal bmaz? Because there is that Alabama AG problem that hit the wires back on July 10th…Troy King…

  7. MadDog says:

    Better ensure the White House commodes are are nailed down.

    Laura Belle has a hankerin’ for some sculpture to decorate the driveway of Chez Élevage De Porcs (At the Pig Farm for you non-Frenchies).

  8. MarieRoget says:

    OT- Spiegel says no mistranslation and puts up the transcript.

    From comments in the thread re: Maliki/Obama quote over @ Col. Pat Lang’s blog:

    Maliki: “As soon as possible, as far as we’re concerned. U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes.”
    I personally know a lot of Spiegel folks. They have at least three journos and archivists fluent in Arabic. The don’t miss-translate.
    Also note that the Maliki interview was with the print Spiegel which is much more careful with material like this than the Spiegel Internet site newsroom.

    http://www.spiegel.de/internat…..14,00.html

    http://www.spiegel.de/internat…..52,00.html

  9. stryder says:

    “But is there any law if it is not being, and will not be, enforced?”

    There’s law, and it’s enforced.It’s unwritten and unspoken.It’s violence,fear and intimidation.
    Big dog little dog.
    The next time you go to court,the first thing you do is piss on the judges shoe so he’ll know who’s in charge

  10. GregB says:

    I find solace in both Bush and Cheney’s ineptitude. Try as they might, they’ll forget to burn the right boxes, erase the right computers and silence the right stooges.

    -G

  11. Citizen92 says:

    For ha-ha’s, I did a LexNex search on Stephen P. Payne, using the address in Texas where Waxman sent his letter. Payne is, admittedly, a lobbyist, but he has his name attached to an unusually large number of active corporate registrations. At 5847 San Felipe, Suite 3275, Houston, Texas 77057, we find (all with Payne listed as at least one of the officers):

    • Advanced Clean Air Technologies LLC
    • Baltic American Energy Inc
    • Baltic American Alliance LLC
    • Caspian Alliance Inc
    • CIMA Ranch Development LLC
    • Strategic Political Partners Inc
    • Universal Strategic Partners Inc
    • Worldwide Capital Partners LLC
    • Worldwide Capital Partners II LLC
    • Worldwide Strategic Energy Inc

    Separately, Payne also shows up as an officer, or principal of three firms, all with the same people listed and with very similar looking websites:

    MSH Ventures: http://mshventures.com/payne.html

    Alliance & C0: http://www.allianceandco.com/payne.html

    Envion International: http://www.envionintl.com/payne.html

    All of these companies track back to a registered address at 1054 31st St, NW Suite 300, Washington, DC.

    In all three, the same names appear in various leadership roles: Stephen P. Payne, Michael S. Han, Ying Wang, W. Dieter Zander and Frank Carlucci.

    That’s right, Frank Carlucci. Former Secretary of Defense for Reagan. And grandaddy-godfather of Carlyle Group. Poppy Bush is VERY involved with Carlyle.

    This could get interesting.

    • Citizen92 says:

      DMAC had some good research from 7/12 here.

      I think the presence of Major General Lincoln Jones III, USA (Ret) is interesting too. Jones is listed at the Chairman of Board of Worldwide Strategic Partners, Payne’s firm.

      The James A Baker Institute at Rice University put together a regional homeland security council in 2004. Jones is on it. Jones also recently joined Global Resource Group, a company that seems to proport to be able to make coal by microwaving old tires.

  12. KayInMaine says:

    I’m thinking with all the lobbyists connected to Johnny McTeleprompter (and these lobbyists are connected to George Bush as well)….Johnny is in the works right now in paying people overseas to attack our nation, so he’ll have something to talk about until election day. He badly needs a war with Iran at this point, since al-Maliki of Iraq is in agreement with Barack Obama’s plan for withdrawal in that country. He’s desperate, but luckily, he’s got lots of lobbyist pals to help him out!

    Wouldn’t surprise me.

    And besides, all this new action in our country might divert Americans away from the fact that he and his wife have money overseas in tax shelter accounts thanks to his former Enron/Economic Adviser Senator Phil Gramm!

  13. PJEvans says:

    Now for the beer report: Peach lambic is worth the price. Sorta sweet, the hops are not conspicuous, definitely filling and tastes really really good. Consider serving it in 4-ounce glasses – the bottle I got hold of was 750ml. (This was from Lindeman’s brewery.)

  14. Citizen92 says:

    Also found this interesting about Lincoln Jones III:

    Lincoln Associates, Inc. was founded by
    General Jones and provides assistance regarding energy related interests both
    in the United States and internationally. Consulting clientele of Lincoln
    Associates, Inc. includes Seimens and Westinghouse and General Jones directly
    consults with the US Department of Defense and State
    . All of the
    aforementioned companies associated with General Jones are based in Houston,
    TX.

    http://www.reuters.com/article…..RN20080529

    Does “directly consults” really mean ‘lobbies?’

  15. bobschacht says:

    OK, I’ve read through the comments, but I don’t see what I want to know.

    Just what exactly are the enhanced powers of investigation that an impeachment investigation by the HJC has? And where are these powers defined? For example, regarding subpoena powers.

    I want to respond to allegation that this would be “just another investigation,” with the same (non-)results as every other investigation.

    Help appreciated on this!

    Bob in HI