at least they love democracy

* btw - there was something weird yesterday about the leaks that abramoff wants to do a deal - they even gave a time frame 'in about 6 weeks' - theres something odd there, no? who says stuff like that? i havent seen any reference that mid-jan might be significant because of some external deadline - tho it makes no sense to give up the timeframe if its an 'internal' deadline. perhaps he can only afford his lawyers for another 6 weeks.
update: it looks like this is the answer: "Several people involved in the case, insisting on anonymity because of the plea negotiations, said they anticipated that Mr. Abramoff would try to reach an agreement with the prosecutors in a rapidly closing window of time before he is scheduled to stand trial in a separate federal case in Florida."

* the other amazing thing about corruption in america is that its so fucking cheap! when you read the indictments, its like $10,000 here and $5000 there. i used to deal in cash transactions that size. hour after hour. in some weird universe, thats kinda the saddest thing. its so fucking cheap! congresscritters have an average wealth of $20 million or more - yet they sell their souls for $10k - sometimes for $10k donated in their name to some other group! corrupt officials in places like india and africa must think this is hysterical!

abramoff, for all his largesse, spent 'nearly $3million' (although its not clear what that number ex/includes) - and he donated to 171 (or something) congresscritters! if abramoff can do so much damage with just a few sprinkles of cash, imagine what a murdoch (for example) can do with lots more than $3m in 'soft' money. or GE or any of the others.

in my ex-business, $10k was a quiet day, but this sort of money in america can buy you significant slices of 'democracy'. its quite remarkable. and really fucking cheap.

at least they love democracy