As a paid subscriber to Rolling Stone magazine, I can say I'm disappointed by the lack of coverage in music, but, I wlll say this: Their political reporting is top notch, and gives me hope that there are actual people in the media who care about the truth, rather than sanitizing it.
The cover for the next issue of Rolling Stone deals with the 109th Congress. The worst in American history. Reporter Matt Taibbi lays out a brilliant case in study of how this Congress is not only the worst, but, how greedy and power hungry it is.
On the website, though, Rolling Stone made a list of the top 10 Worst Congressman to date.
I will enveil that list, along with a summary of Rolling Stone's anaylsis of these pathetic United States Congressmen:
1.) Dennis Hastert (R-IL) THE HIGHWAY ROBBER:
The House speaker who looks like jolly old St. Nick, is anything but festive and giving. Mr. Speaker will go down as the weakest House speaker in United States history. He was tapped by Tom 'criminal' Delay to be the mild-mannered face of a GOP that relies heavily on cutthroat tactics. Under Hastert's watch, the Republican turned Congress into their own personal trust fund. In 2005, Hastert inserted 207 Billion dollars into the budget for the "Prairie Parkway" a highway that will accelerate developoment of 210 acres of land that he owns in his homestate of Illinois. Hastert later sold the land, which eventually would be the site of a sprawling subdivision, for 2 million dollars.
Of course, how can we forget, Mr. Speaker's blind eye towards Mark "sexual predator" Foley. The writing was on the wall, yet, the Speaker chose to do nothing and when force to speak up, instead of taking accountability, he pin the blame on Conservative enemies like George Soros and Bill Clinton. So much for "honor" and "integrity."
But, his most disgusting deed was his alliance with Senator Bill Frist, who, together gave the Pharmaceutical industry a nice fat Christmas present last year by sneaking in a provision of the defense budget to give immunity to drug makers from liability lawsuits. And, who says Dennis Hastert couldn't play a nice Santa Claus?
2. James Sensenbrenner, JR. (R-Wis) THE DICTATOR
Mr. Sensenbrenner's solution to America's hot button issues: Toss 'em jail and throw away the key. Sorry, Dick, but I think he'd make a wonderful crooked VP to King George. Under this grotestque and rotund human being, a proposal of turning 12 million undocumented immigrants into felons. If you're an adult and caught with selling a joint to a teenager, uh, will see you in ten years. To combat obscenity, huge fines won't cut it. Mr. Sensenbrenner told a group of cable executives last year that, "I'd prefer using the criminal process rather than the regulatory process." Hmm...no wonder Habeas Corpus is thrown out the window.
Oh, but as for free speech and Sensenbrenner, it gets better. He was the main sponsor of the Patriot Act which gives the government a blank check to spy on Americans. The measure is supposed to be used to fight terrorists, but in Sensenbrenner's little world it should be used in routine criminal cases.
And, then, there's the temper tantrum.
When the Democrats wanted to discuss the treatment of detainees at Gitmo, Sensenbrenner, who is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, ended the meeting and cut off the microphones of the Democrats. When the Democrats (who showed an amazing display of testicular fortitude) refused to leave, Sensenbrenner's staff pulled the plug on C-Span's coverage and shut down the lights. Thus, coining the phrase, "he took his gavel and went home."
3.)Don Young (R-AK) MR.PORK
I had no idea of this man's existence nor his insatiable appetite for pork. Jesus Christ, when I first read this, I was like, does this man have any shame?
More than 400 million dollars was earmarked for two separate "bridges to nowhere." One, would serve a community of 50 people, while the other, a monument known as "Don Young Way" would connect Anchorage to a patch of scarcely habitable marshland.
The Conservative Hertiage Foundation called this an "embarrassment" And, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Sen. John McCain proposed that Rep. Young redirect that prized, delicious pork money to help with the rebuilding of Hurricane ravaged New Orleans. To which, Rep. Young replied to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, "can kiss my ear!"
No, you can kiss our ass.
4.) William Jefferson (D-LA) THE BRIBE TAKER
While folks in New Orleans were still stuck in the shit and piss and dying, this waste of skin was lining his own pockets in Washington. 5 months ago, the FBI raided his office in Louisiana, after he was caught taking 100,000 dollars in bribes.
But, even more shocking was the behavior he exhibited after Hurricane Katrina. He commandeered a Coast Guard helicopter to gather personal things from his home in New Orleans, while the people he was elected to represent, were drowning. Yet, he cruised to a re-election. God Bless America!
5.) Jerry Lewis (R-CALIF) THE KING OF PAYOFFS
As the main man of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Lewis oversees 900 billion dollars a year in federal spending. However, if you want a slice of that pie, you must deal with his good buddy and lobbyist Bill Lowery. In exchange for business, Lowery and his gang made more than 480,000 dollars in contributions to Lewis. In return, Lowery's firm, tripled its revenue to 5 million dollars and clients took hundreds of millions in federal pork projects from Rep. Lewis.
Throughout his career, Lewis has been a whore for corporate interests. In one race, all of his money came from 43 donors, 22 of them were lobbyists.
6.) Tom Tancredo (R-COLO) MR. BIGOTRY
Oh, man, where do I begin.
Rep. Tancredo, the grandson of Italian immigrants, has been the main voice to deport every undocumented worker in America, a move that would cost this country, 200 billion dollars. He has also called for halting all immigration. Legal or otherwise. In one move, Rep. Tancredo wanted to deport the family of an undocumented high school boy who was profiled in the Denver Post for his perfect grades.
He urges America to reject "the siren song of multiculturalism" and depicts Islam as "a civilization bent on destroying ours."
His biggest supporter is Gordon Baum, head of the council for Conservative Citizens, a "pro-white" group that praises Tancredo for protecting the United States from an invasion of Latin immigrants.
7. Dick Pombo (R-CALIF) ENEMY OF THE EARTH
If the earth ever wants to regain what's left of its dignity, I implore it to not look to Dick Pombo for any sympathy.
As the chairman of the House Resources committee, Rep. Pombo has waged a one man war to destroy the Endangered Species Act, which he accuses of putting "rats and shellfish" before people. Rep. Pombo has won passage of bills that would eliminate habitat protections on 150 million acres of wilderness and to lift a quarter-century moratorium on offshore oil drilling.
And, how can we forget the Jack Abramoff connection.
When Pombo is not busy fucking the earth in the ass, he would raked 35,000 dollars from clients of Mr. Abramoff, and paid his own wife and brother 357,000 dollars for dubious campaign services.
8.) Curt Weldon (R-PA) THE CONSPIRACY NUT
When he doesn't like the intelligence that's given to him as Vice Chair of the House Armed Services Committee, he starts making up shit. Insisting that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and smuggled them to Syria. He promotes a theory that a special forces unit called "able danger" flagged three 9/11 hijackers prior to the attacks on the twin towers. A theory that was disputed by the 9/11 commission. He even invented a code name for his own secret source on Iran. The name "Ali" was to provide him with intelligence on Iran.
Problem? Ali was a good friend of Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iran-Contra go between who was rejected by the CIA for making shit up.
Slimy? Yes. Companies with business' before Weldon's committees have given 1 million dollars in lobbying deals to his daughter and have sponsored his son's race-car operation.
9.) Hal Rogers (R-KY) BIN LADEN'S BEST FRIEND
As chair of the House subcommittee on Homeland Security, Rep. Rogers has placed the interests of his own district ahead of the nation's defense from Al-Qaeda.
Rep. Rogers used his position to enhance airport security to a factory in Corbin, Kentucky.
One big problem.
The factory wasn't equipped to produce the tamperproof biometric ID cards favored by most security experts. Rogers then forced the government to spend 4 million dollars to test the factory's technology, steering some work to a tiny company that hired his son. When the factory flunked the test, Rogers demanded that new prototypes for the card be built in Kentucky.
He also worked out a new no-bid contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars to a trade group with no experience in airport security, after the group paid Rogers' 6 trips to Hawaii and one to Ireland.
10.) Marilyn Musgrave (R-COLO) THE CHRISTIAN SOLDIER
Again, where do I begin?
She entered the political scene 16 years ago, running for her local school board on a one-woman personal crusade to end sex education as part of the curriculum. And, guess what? By the time her tenure was over. the schools taught "abstinence only" and offending passages in health textbooks were blacked out.
In Congress, Musgrave introduced a constiutional amendment to ban gay marriage calling the issue "the most important issue that we face today."
So, 40 million without health care isn't important, huh?
For her staunch opposition to gay marriage and her push to legalize concealed weapons, Rep. Musgrave received a sparkling endorsement from the kind folks of the KKK.
There you have it. 10 reasons why the mid-term election in 18 days, is highly important.