LA Times: Abramoff used Mehlman to achieve goals of his clients
Yesterday's Los Angeles Times had a blockbuster article yesterday that examined the very close working relationship between Jack Abramoff and top White House staffers. In fact, Abramoff had the White House Political Director, Ken Mehlman, doing his bidding. The Times highlighted e-mail exchanges that resulting in the firing of a State Department staffer, Allen Stayman, who was involved in labor issues in the Northern Mariana Islands:
"Mehlman said he would get him fired," an Abramoff associate wrote after meeting with Mehlman, who was then White House political director.
The exchange illustrates how, more than two years after the corruption scandal surrounding the now-disgraced Abramoff came to light, people are still learning the extent of the lobbyist's ability to pull the levers of power in Washington. The latest revelations provide more detail than the Bush administration has acknowledged about how Abramoff and his team reached into high levels of the White House, not just Capitol Hill, which has been the main focus of the influence-peddling investigation.
There is still much more to this story. The Times notes that Mehlman may have received concert tickets from Abramoff. Mehlman was also involved with arranging contributions:
The e-mails disclosed in the House report showed that Mehlman was involved in a variety of matters of interest to Abramoff, one of which bore fruit for the lobbyist after he discussed delivering campaign contributions to GOP causes.Tony Rudy, a onetime aide to former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), referred to Mehlman on Nov. 9, 2001, as a "rock star" after Mehlman agreed to "take care of" the Choctaws' jail, despite a Justice Department finding that the tribe's existing jail was adequate.
Several days after that meeting, on Nov. 13, Rudy recommended a $15,000 contribution to the Republican National Committee. "Let's give the check to Ken Mehlman at the White House," wrote Rudy, who later pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in the broader investigation.
On Nov. 15, campaign finance records show, the tribe gave $10,000 to the RNC. Overall, the tribe gave $120,000 in the 2002 election cycle to Republican committees and $95,000 to Democratic committees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Abramoff's White House ties clearly run much, much deeper than the White House has admitted.
An object of my free
An object of my free will, however, is one which I have the physical capability of making some use of at will, since its use stands in my power (in potentia).In practical relations, this would be to annihilate them, by making them res nullius, notwithstanding the fact that acts of will in relation to such things would formally harmonize, in the actual use of them, with the external freedom of all according to universal laws.This is to be distinguished from having the object brought under my disposal (in potestatem meam reductum), which supposes not a capability merely, but also a particular act of the free-will.
But in order to cons
But in order to consider something merely as an object of my will as such, it is sufficient to be conscious that I have it in my power.It is therefore an assumption a priori of the practical reason to regard and treat every object within the range of my free exercise of will as objectively a possible mine or thine.In practical relations, this would be to annihilate them, by making them res nullius, notwithstanding the fact that acts of will in relation to such things would formally harmonize, in the actual use of them, with the external freedom of all according to universal laws.
On this supposition,
On this supposition, freedom would so far be depriving itself of the use of its voluntary activity, in thus putting useable objects out of all possibility of use.It is therefore an assumption a priori of the practical reason to regard and treat every object within the range of my free exercise of will as objectively a possible mine or thine.Sexual deviance like all other profoundly human and irrational instincts is potentially disruptive to the social mechanism; the social mechanism, therefore, must do all in its power to prevent against the existence of any such destabilising forces.
Such instances of te
Such instances of textual ambiguity are easily found, and extremely well documented.
The problem, of cour
The problem, of course, is that it is extremely difficult, even on close analysis of the text, to discern the degree to which the vision of the supposedly
However, the more su
However, the more substantial barrier to our acceptance of Utopia
However, the more su
However, the more substantial barrier to our acceptance of Utopia
What this article ha
What this article has succeeded in doing is uncovering a few of those pivotal problems lurking undeniably behind the perfect veneer of the society More has described; and these problems have proved themselves significant.
Were he not its actu
Were he not its actual possessor or owner, he could not be wronged or injured by the use which another might make of it without his consent.
And this title const
And this title constitutes the right to impose upon all others an obligation, not otherwise laid upon them, to abstain from the use of certain objects of our free choice, because we have already taken them into our possession.
But in order to cons
But in order to consider something merely as an object of my will as such, it is sufficient to be conscious that I have it in my power.
Were he not its actu
Were he not its actual possessor or owner, he could not be wronged or injured by the use which another might make of it without his consent.
Any one who would as
Any one who would assert the right to a thing as his must be in possession of it as an object shaved.
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While on the one han
While on the one hand the book overtly works to present us with a technically flawless plan for the organisation of society, on the other, it seems simultaneously to strive to make us aware of certain dubious features of that plan, which cannot help but limit reader enthusiasm in the approach to the whole.Were he not its actual possessor or owner, he could not be wronged or injured by the use which another might make of it without his consent.The confusion one might experience in approaching such a question is mirrored in the centuries of scholastic debate the text has aroused; since its very first appearance in print Utopia has succeeded in functioning primarily to provoke uncertainty and disagreement amongst its readers and interpreters.