# The "Culture of Corruption"... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 12, 2006, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778 "2006-12-12T03:07:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/41 "2006-12-13T00:07:15Z")
[Alex Jones' Endgame](http://prisonplanet.com/articles/October2006/091006_b_Hastert.htm) Another view on hastert and his reasoning. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/42 "2006-12-13T00:56:13Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Howabout one with Foley.? I don’t think I’m his type. > [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Corruption in Congress is like cold in the winter. It’s just the order of things. I really don’t care as long as they can impede the current President and make conservatives unhappy. How uplifting. I’m all inspired now. :dubious: Cynicism is all very well, but I don’t think we do politicians any favor by setting our expectations so contemptuously low. The more we accept corruption and dirtiness in politics as something unremarkable and trivial, the harder we make it for the non-corrupt types to make any headway ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/43 "2006-12-13T02:45:13Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] I find that Foley resigned before Hastert had a chance to ask for his resignation. [/quote] Every once in a while, I find myself tempted to engage with you. You sometimes seem reasonable, as if you are, in all honesty, prepared to discuss a subject. Then I am reminded that you partake of a different reality than I do. Have you read the Ethics Commitee report? Or at least parts of it? [QUOTE=Shodan] Not that I find a content-free tu quoque from the person with whom you agree to be “amazing” in the slightest. [/QUOTE] That’s a perfectly valid point that **rjung** made, **Shodan**. I’m on record, in this very thread, as supporting the expulsion of Jefferson from the House, though he is of my party. Can you demonstrate that you have supported the expulsion of a Republican crook from the House? Usual suspects, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/44 "2006-12-13T03:47:45Z")
I think we can all cheer [tonight’s defeat](http://www.onelocalnews.com/pioneertimesjournal/ViewArticle.aspx?id=34373&source=2) of that [corrupt, lying bastard, Henry Bonilla](http://www.burntorangereport.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2438). [54% to 45%](http://204.65.107.84/06decspcrun.htm?x=0&y=97&id=298) is quite a MANDATE, so it looks like Tom DeLay’s Texas gerrymandering has gone balls up as well. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/45 "2006-12-13T03:56:19Z")
There are safety issues here, **Frank**. Kicking out all Dem crooks would be an expulsion, all Pubbies would be a stampede. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/46 "2006-12-13T03:57:23Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] The same holds true for Murtha. I admit that he wasn’t indicted and he didn’t take the bribe. He was, however, present when they tried to bribe him! Explain that away! Even the House Ethics Committee didn’t reprimand him. That was in 1978. There was something fishy there. How many times have those crazy voters reelected him since then? They’ve been in on whatever the setup was. [/QUOTE] **Zoe** , let’s be honest here. They got him dead to rights as willing to play ball. In fact, the only reason that the guy didn’t get indicted and convicted is because the greedy bastard said that the bribe _wasn’t big enough_! He got a reprieve that politicians only dream of, and yes, he’s kept his nose clean since then, but there is absolute proof that he could have been bought for the right price once upon a time. To quote an aphorism from a Tom Clancy book: Once a cocksucker, always a cocksucker. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/47 "2006-12-13T05:47:16Z")
Crudely put, but nonetheless…you gotta actually slobber the knob, don’t you? Not just think about it, not just talk about it, but actually suck it, right? ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/48 "2006-12-13T06:12:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Crudely put, but nonetheless…you gotta actually slobber the knob, don’t you? Not just think about it, not just talk about it, but actually suck it, right? Well, speaking as a hetero-male, may I say that this is one of those rare cases where it is better to receive than to give (head). This OT moment brought to you by the “Comittee to Elect Mlees for Peanut Gallery President”. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/49 "2006-12-13T06:13:41Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] Is the Democratic party in Louisiana really that much of a sinkhole? Regards, Shodan [/QUOTE] The only reason the Republican party wasn’t historically a sinkhole was that it didn’t have enough power to merit bribes. Louisiana had, as even William F. Buckley said, the best legislature that money could buy. When I was there a Republican governor named Dave Treen got elected. (I voted for him.) He only lasted one term - Edwin beat him because Treen was too boring. You really need to brush up on your Louisiana history. There was a good movie with Paul Newman as Earl Long (I forget the title) that talked about his stripper girlfriend and how his political enemies locked him up in the looney bin. I agree that Jefferson must go. Money in the icebox? How lame - and how easy to find. Really not up to Louisiana standards. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/50 "2006-12-13T07:15:19Z")
I’m pretty disgusted with Nancy Pelosi’s “leadership” on ethics so far. Despite her, Murtha didn’t get the majority leader post and Alcee Hastings won’t be House Intelligence Committee chairman, because enough Democrats felt it would be wrong, politically expedient as their actions likely were. Hopefully enough public heat will be kept turned up to remind the Dems to do something more lasting about corruption. At the very least, Jefferson should be kept off any committee deciding on reconstruction funds for Louisiana (he shouldn’t be given any position of authority when it comes to allocating money, period (is there a House Do-Nothing Committee for Wayward Sleazes?)). I doubt Pelosi has enough guts at this point to do the right thing re Jefferson. But we’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/51 "2006-12-13T07:25:27Z")
[QUOTE=mlees] Well, speaking as a hetero-male, may I say that this is one of those rare cases where it is better to receive than to give (head)… [/QUOTE] No doubt, but we are discussing the noun, not the verb. A condition of being, not an action, if you follow. A condition that can be reversed, under certain conditions. A nocturnal remission, I believe is the technical term. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/52 "2006-12-13T10:54:30Z")
Good Lord. Pelosi has been calling for an investigation into Jefferson [since May 2006.](http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-05-jefferson_x.htm) > [@](#): > > Pelosi, D-Calif., said at a news conference that she had not spoken directly to Jefferson about the investigation. “But he knows what is going on, and the ethics committee should investigate what is going on.” [Last June](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16173427/) he was taken off the Ways and Means Committee. Last June, well before the election. So a Democrat is suspected of taking a bribe, the party leadership goes on record as wanting an investigation, and he is taken off committee pending the outcome. A Republican is known to his party leadership to be a sexual predator but they keep the news to themselves and they even urge him to seek reelection. Is it that hard to see the difference in ethics and morality between the parties? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/53 "2006-12-13T14:08:53Z")
[Quote=BobLibDem] Good Lord. Pelosi has been calling for an investigation into Jefferson since May 2006. [Quote] Ahem. Post #29. I guess I am on everyone’s ‘ignore’ list after all. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/54 "2006-12-13T16:37:38Z")
I don’t know what percentage of this last election was due to the war and what part due to corruption. If corruption was the drive, then this would be the time to push for campaign finance reform. I for one am ready to reclaim our system. I will not vote for anyone that votes against meaningful reform. I do not care who it is or what party he or she is in. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/55 "2006-12-13T17:01:49Z")
[QUOTE=El\_Kabong] Ahem. Post #29. I guess I am on everyone’s ‘ignore’ list after all. [/QUOTE] If I used an ignore list, you wouldn’t be on it. My apologies for duplication. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/56 "2006-12-13T17:54:25Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] If corruption was the drive, then this would be the time to push for campaign finance reform. I for one am ready to reclaim our system. I will not vote for anyone that votes against meaningful reform. I do not care who it is or what party he or she is in. [/QUOTE] Nancy Pelosi [has some experience in that field](http://www.fec.gov/press/press2004/20040326murs.html). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778/57 "2006-12-15T00:37:22Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] There was a good movie with Paul Newman as Earl Long (I forget the title) that talked about his stripper girlfriend and how his political enemies locked him up in the looney bin. [/QUOTE] [_Blaze_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096943/). Damn funny, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-culture-of-corruption/383778.md?page=2)