Jack "don't hate the player, hate the game" Abramoff. I'm fine with him advocating against corruption. Just so long as he can't ever lobby against it.

/YHWH, how I love Pocket Ninja

Brilliant as usual, PN

Why is there no Occuply Mensa for those aren't the 1%?

Well, if he's legitimately reformed, I say more power to him.

As long as that power doesn't corrupt him again.

Someone, somewhere just divided by zero.

Pocket Ninja: Do you want to know why Batman is such an effective crime fighter, subby? It's because he lives with one foot in the darkness. It's because he stares into the very abyss that he confronts every day and sees himself in it as much as he does above it. He understands that the very evil he fights has a small, dark abode within his own heart, and it is this shard, this fragment of his inner self, that gives him power. For how can one combat what one does not understand?

I'm not saying Jack Abramoff is Batman, that would be retarded. But it's something to think about But he's Batman..

I just gotta consider the source on this one. I mean, it's entirely possible his heart grew ten sizes, but I'm still not entirely sure I trust his motives. Then again, if Michael Vick can honestly turn around and advocate against animal cruelty...

/note if

Pocket Ninja: Do you want to know why Batman is such an effective crime fighter, subby? It's because he lives with one foot in the darkness. It's because he stares into the very abyss that he confronts every day and sees himself in it as much as he does above it. He understands that the very evil he fights has a small, dark abode within his own heart, and it is this shard, this fragment of his inner self, that gives him power. For how can one combat what one does not understand?

I'm not saying Jack Abramoff is Batman, that would be retarded Disregard everything I wrote in the previous paragraph.. But it's something to think about.

Old news - Jack gave the finger publicly to the GOP and other assorted whores in government a few months ago.

//I will now try to wrap my head around the fact that Nixon created the EPA.

Stevie Wonder will be teaching painting classes

Buy his book on how Washington corruption can be fought for only $39.99, available at fine booksellers everywhere.

Pocket Ninja: I'm not saying Jack Abramoff is Batman, that would be retarded.

But he was Robin...er, robbin'.

At first I was all WTF?

Then I read TFA.

The former felon ... is promoting a new book

Nothing to see here folks, just a clever marketing ploy to pump sales of his book and cash in.

Monkeyhouse Zendo: At first I was all WTF?

Then I read TFA.

The former felon ... is promoting a new book

Nothing to see here folks, just a clever marketing ploy to pump sales of his book and cash in.

He might as well run for President.

Heard an interview with him a few weeks ago on Bob Edward's show. For the most part, he was trying to rewrite his personal history (no surprise), but he did have some good points. One was "forget this "Oh, we're just friends" nonsense" among politicians, lobbyists, judges, etc. It's corruption. "If I do something for you, no matter how small, you're going to feel obligated to return the favor somehow."

FishStampede: [my.newhighscore.com image 600x450]

I just gotta consider the source on this one. I mean, it's entirely possible his heart grew ten sizes, but I'm still not entirely sure I trust his motives. Then again, if Michael Vick can honestly turn around and advocate against animal cruelty...

/note if

I'm skeptical too, but the guy did serve (part) of his prison sentence, so maybe he learned something. It's nice to hope, but hope shouldn't be the plan.

Monkeyhouse Zendo: At first I was all WTF?

Then I read TFA.

The former felon ... is promoting a new book

Nothing to see here folks, just a clever marketing ploy to pump sales of his book and cash in.

*dingdingding*

coeyagi: Old news - Jack gave the finger publicly to the GOP and other assorted whores in government a few months ago.

//I will now try to wrap my head around the fact that Nixon created the EPA.

Technically the EPA is equally pro and anti pollution. While they control/limit the levels of pollution, they also provide a legal cover for polluters who stay inside or slightly outside the limits. The fines are well defined and reasonable, and protect polluters from lawsuits. The asbestos industry wish they were covered under the EPA, they wouldn't be paying out billions in mesothelioma lawsuits.

Jack has been doing the TV and radio circuit and for a little while now in support of his book and his message has been pretty consistent. He states that while inside the beltway there is a manner of doing business; you want access to the candidate, you want them to favor your position? Well, there is a fund raiser next week, and next month and the one after that. He has said essentially that when you are entrenched in this way of doing business it all seems to be just the way business gets done, but when you step back it is so clearly bribery that one can't fathom how it has managed to go unquestioned.

Pocket Ninja is the only farker I have assigned his own color. It's a cool minty green.

When you end up being burned by those you associated with, get chucked under the bus, and have no chance of going back to the line of work you once engaged in...

Go swing for the other team, give a big 'fark you' to all the former colleagues, and make money doing it.

He is a corruption expert, well suited to the role.

Monkeyhouse Zendo: Nothing to see here folks, just a clever marketing ploy to pump sales of his book and cash in

Bingo

The only thing he cares about is lining his pockets.

Which makes him no different than any of the politicians he bribed.

He's out of prison already? Well, justice at last huh? Now he can go make a good living using his "reputation" instead of getting a real job.

FTA: Some of the many reforms Abramoff advocates in his book include term limits for members of Congress--a measure endorsed by several Republican presidential candidates, including Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. He also proposes a lifetime ban for lawmakers and their staff on employment by organizations that lobby--together with a ban on gifts to Congress coming from anyone who benefits from federal contracts and funds.

Abramoff may be scum, but if he managed to pull off these three things, I'd donate money to build a statue of the guy on the White House lawn. The last 2, especially, are desperately needed but will never happen, short of some sort of full-scale revolution.

Jack Abramoff sounds like a gay porn name and the guy he would be doing the scene would be Abram Chiselmeat.

Abramoff never saw himself as a bad guy, in fact when he ran into Ralph Reed he described him as a "bad version of us" referring to himself and his partner. I am don't know where self delusion ends and being a sociopath begins but this seems to be a common theme from these guys who get caught.

I despise corrupt, wealthy insiders who have decided that they are just "one of the people", but only after raking in millions.

BitwiseShift: Why is there no Occuply Mensa for those aren't the 1%?

Because Mensa members aren't in Mensa at the expense of everyone else?

Yakk: Abramoff never saw himself as a bad guy, in fact when he ran into Ralph Reed he described him as a "bad version of us" referring to himself and his partner. I am don't know where self delusion ends and being a sociopath begins but this seems to be a common theme from these guys who get caught.

It's basic human nature to never see yourself as the bad guy in the moment. I don't trust Jack Abramoff, but I give him credit for having the personal honesty to stand up and say that what he was doing was wrong, even if he only realized it after the fact. And to give the devil his due, no one compares to him for having the experience to understand the game and the way it is played, and what should be done to fix it.

Step Three: Profit.

That is all.

mod3072: FTA: Some of the many reforms Abramoff advocates in his book include term limits for members of Congress--a measure endorsed by several Republican presidential candidates, including Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. He also proposes a lifetime ban for lawmakers and their staff on employment by organizations that lobby--together with a ban on gifts to Congress coming from anyone who benefits from federal contracts and funds.

Abramoff may be scum, but if he managed to pull off these three things, I'd donate money to build a statue of the guy on the White House lawn. The last 2, especially, are desperately needed but will never happen, short of some sort of full-scale revolution.


Hell yes. I'd shine the farking plaque on that statue. His history doesn't detract from those being good ideas.

I have no problem giving folks a second chance...but what do you define as a chance, and are you being a troll about it? What about the people who are about as old as old Jack, yet were never given their first chance?

And so...the hole to despair gets bigger. Stay home, Jack. Just like Michael Moore, you are obviously exploiting the situation. It's like when the terminator dude replaced David Duchovny on The X-Files...everyone knows whats coming.

FTFA: Abramoff says that since his release, he's been in touch with some of Occupy's "sensible" leaders, as he calls them, via Twitter and other channels of communication.

[...]

Abramoff said that if he were involved in the Occupy movement and advancing its agenda he would push for direct involvement in the political process via Occupy-endorsed candidates. Absent that, he questions whether the movement can be meaningful, or "change the power structure in Washington."

Even if he were serious and not just angling for relevancy again... He'd still be just another establishment player looking to turn Occupy into a Tea Party-esque non-entity by drawing it into the usual bullshiat games. We have no leaders, we want no leaders, and as far as changing the power structure goes, the only way to win is not to play.

Generation_D: The biggest surprise twist comes in the form of Abramoff himself, a smart, funny, charming, clear-eyed narrator who confounds every expectation of the media's villainous portrait. He's a perfect bundle of contradictions: an Orthodox Jew and upstanding family man with a staunch moral streak, caught in multiple scandals of bribery and corruption with an undercurrent of murder. Abramoff represented Indian tribes whose lucrative casinos were constantly under threat from proposed changes in law; though he charged the tribes many millions, he saved them billions by ensuring votes to support the livelihoods of their reservations.


He saved the Indian casinos billions? How much are these joints raking in, anyway?

[AdmiralAckbar.jpg]

How about no?