Thirty years ago I was walking across Pennsylvania and Maryland. I was on my way to Washington DC and I was not alone.

I was one of thousands who had joined the Longest Walk.

This was a spiritual walk of protest—a call to action to oppose Legislation in Congress that would strip the indigenous peoples of America of their rights, land and Tribal Sovereignty. The Walk was led by Native Americans, but representatives of all races and many Nations joined in solidarity to fight this attack on justice, dignity and human rights.

In 1978 I had no idea that joining the Longest Walk would change the arc of my life, but it did.

Tonight, another group of walkers are on their way to DC and the Longest Walk 2 should reach the White House Friday morning. I plan to be there.

I want to honor the path that the Longest Walk set me on. I want to honor all of those who have chosen to set themselves on a path of change, a path of action and the fight for justice as we work to take this Country back.

To the jump...

I’ll try to keep this one short and on point.

I have been researching Jack Abramoff and the Republican Culture of Corruption since 1998 and writing about it on Daily Kos since 2004.

I’ve written about a lot of bad guys and their dirty deeds

One of the very worst of them is Dana Rohrabacher.

At the start of the 2006 cycle he was at the top of my list—just after Tom DeLay—of Abramoff-connected weasels that I wanted to see defeated. Unfortunately, in 2006, Dana was in a safe seat with a little known and underfunded Democratic challenger. I kept him high on the list of the Abramoff 65, but I set my sights on others.

This time out, Rohrabacher is back at the top of my list. And I am very happy to see that he has a serious challenge: Debbie Cook.

This is great news. Please help defeat Rohrabacher and donate to Debbie Cook!

Let’s jump...

As they say, "The wheels of Justice grind slowly..."

In the Bush years, Justice hardly moves at all.

The absence of justice has become expected (and I’m sure that you could cite at least twenty examples of failed justice in the Bush years—or more).

The list of unfinished investigations is staggering as is the ever expanding list of scandal.

Cleaning up after the Bush era will take a generation. It will take a revitalized Department of Justice. A DOJ that is willing to pursue crime (instead of covering it up). The same will go for the House and the Senate.

All of these institutions have failed us in the Bush Years.

A better day is coming. Barack Obama long had the best record and the best proposals for cleaning up Washington. And now he is our Nominee. He is a real reformer.

John McCain pretends to be a reformer when a teevee camera is near. In reality has lived to protect the status quo with cover-ups and misdirection—and that is the extent of his record.

Like 2006, corruption is a big issue in 2008. It is impacting the Main Event and many Senate and House races.

And in September a corruption bomb will drop on the GOP.

Let’s jump...

It has been a busy week.

We have a Nominee. Senator Clinton gave a great speech and is showing everybody how to unify the Party.

This is good news.

And yet, some important stories are getting lost in the flood of end-of-primary Diaries.

This is one of those stories.

Last Monday, on the eve of the final Democratic Primaries and while John McCain was practicing his performance art shtick in front of a green screen, word came that yet another Republican had plead guilty in the ongoing Abramoff corruption scandal.

The latest perp is a fellow named John Albaugh. He used to be the chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK). Now he is a cooperating witness—just another GOP insider spilling his guts to the Feds.

Albaugh’s plea deal is a very interesting and merits an examination.

It not only spells trouble for the Republican Party, it also calls into question John McCain’s investigation cover-up of the Abramoff Scandal.

To the jump...

This weekend I was engaged in research. As is my habit, I take a break every now and then to check email, Daily Kos and other sites I’m in the habit of visiting.

While checking in with Big Orange, I came across a post on the front page that caused me to make a change in my research plan. It was "McCain's Campaign Led by Tainted Lobbyists".

That McCain is dependent upon lobbyists for his career, campaign and myth is not a surprise. Anybody who digs into McCain’s record quickly realizes that it is one curveball of deception after another.

In the ad, MoveOn focused on McCain’s brain, lobbyist Charlie Black. Specifically the ad focused on Black’s work as a lobbyist for despots in Angola, Zaire and the Philippines back in the 1980s.  

That got my attention. Jack Abramoff was also a lobbyist for some of these same despots back in the 1980s.

And yes, Charlie Black and Jack Abramoff are linked.

They would have worked together.

And Charlie is far worse than Jack.

Join me on the jump...

source: DenverPost

Bob Schaffer is a former congressman from Colorado's 4th district.  He's now running for senate against Congressman Mark Udall.

In 1999 he took a trip to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands organized by Jack Abramoff and paid for Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition.  According to the Denver Post:

Just before boarding a plane to the Mariana Islands in 1999, then-Congressman Bob Schaffer announced he was embarking on a fact-finding mission to get to the bottom of repeated allegations of labor abuse in the American protectorate.

"I plan to walk right into those factories and living quarters to see for myself what conditions exist," Schaffer said in a news release in August of that year.

In fact, it doesn't look like he looked all that hard. Below is the documented proof.

I just turned off the TV.

I know we are in the final stages of the Democratic Primary. And that the race is over (unless the Party chooses to embrace our inner George Wallace).

The path is clear: Barack Obama will be the Democratic Nominee in 2008.

Senator Clinton can cause problems and delay the moment of Party unity, but that is about all she can do.

We have dodged a bullet.

You see, I’ve been researching Jack Abramoff since 1999.

Since 2004, I’ve written about my work at Daily Kos. Abramoff and the sweatshops of the Mariana Islands were my point of entry and I’ve dug into the Republican Culture of Corruption for over nine years.

I have shared this research. It has helped. I am still digging and sharing.

This was a powerful issue for Democrats in 2006. It will be a powerful issue in 2008.

In 2006 only Republicans were connected to the Abramoff Web of Corruption. That is still mostly true, but one Democrat has become the exception.

Her name is Hillary Clinton.

She can not be our Nominee for President or Vice-President.

She is connected to the Scandal and Abramoff.

Let’s Jump...

Mark today in your calendars.

Today the long delayed and obstructed reform legislation to end the abuse on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) was signed into law.

I have been in meetings all day, but I was thrilled when I found this in my inbox:

This is a great Victory.

I urge you to go and recommend this Diary, President Signs S.2739 -An End to Human Rights Abuses in the CNMI by long time human rights advocate and American Hero, Wendy Doromal.

It should be on the top of the rec list.

This victory would not have ever happened if Democrats did not take control of Congress.

Elections matter.

Thank you one and all.

Cheers

Hey, have the Primary wars got you down?

Are you worried that the Democratic Party may be on a course to divide the Party and hand the election to John Curveball McSame?

Are you starting to see defeat everywhere?

Relax. I come with great news!

Tonight we have a major VICTORY to celebrate:

On April 10th, the Senate had passed S. 2739 by a vote of 91-4.

Tonight at 7:17 PM EST, the US House passed the legislation by a voice vote (Yeas—291, Nays—117, not voting—25).

This is a great Victory and we need to celebrate it.

Jump with me for joy...

What is the threshold to link somebody to corruption?

What is the threshold to link a candidate to a bad person and/or group?

Is it one point of linkage? Will a social connection do the trick? Or do you need a financial link? Or do you need a link of legislative action or non-action?

Will one link do? Or do you need more?

How tight does the linkage need to be?

Judging from the press, the GOP and the Clinton campaign one link is all you need if the candidate is black. If the candidate is a white Republican or a Clinton, then you will need many more links to make a scandal drive a news cycle.

Fine.

These are the rules.

The bar is high for some and low for other.

That’s the American way.

Clinton or McCain require multiple ties to corruption and/or links to people with problematic histories in order for anybody to dig into those links.

Well, the links are there.

In the case of Hillary Clinton there are multiple links of contact, money and action to the sweatshops of Saipan and the Chinese family behind the abuse. And if one applies the "weatherman" standard of connection, she is also linked to the Abramoff scandal.

To the jump...

As those who have been following my Diaries know, I have mostly written about the growing Jack Abramoff Scandal, the Republican Culture of Corruption and the abuse on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) a US Territory in the Western Pacific.

I think the deeds of Abramoff and his Congressional Partners in Crime need exposure. In 2006, I put together the Abramoff 65. We won 21 of those races. Some of Jack’s closest allies escaped—but the walls are closing in on these crooks.

At the top of the list is Don Young, the longtime Congressman from Alaska who has a passion for selling his influence.

Young is under multiple investigations and today, the Anchorage Daily News, added to woes: Billing records expand Young, Abramoff ties

This is fine Sunday morning ready.

To the Jump...

Wow, that was some debate thing on ABC.

The first half seemed to be a new versions of Six Degrees of Separation where if you link Obama to somebody by one or two Degrees then Obama is responsible for everything that person ever said and did.

It is quite a standard.

Last night I wrote about Bob Schaffer(R) and his Abramoff connections.

Schaffer denies knowing Abramoff. I doubt that’s true, but let’s take him at his word. Based on the links already established, Schaffer is separated from Jack Abramoff by only TWO Degrees:

Bob Schaffer to Ben Fitial to Jack Abramoff .

Hillary Clinton is also separated from Jack Abramoff by TWO Degrees:

Hillary Clinton to Willie Tan to Jack Abramoff .

And she is separated to the sweatshops on abuse on Saipan by only ONE Degree:

Hillary Clinton to Willie Tan

So, she too should be in trouble.

To the jump...

Bob Schaffer was always one of Jack Abramoff’s reliable goons—always willing to do the dirty work for Jack and the Republican Party’s Chinese Patrons operating out of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US Territory in the Western Pacific just 40 miles North of Guam.

Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff and the Tan Family could always count on Bob Schaffer to carry their water.

It seems that they still can.

Last week,  Bob Schaffer said a crazy thing to the Denver Post:

He pointed to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. protectorate that imports tens of thousands of foreign textile workers, as a successful model for a guest-worker program that could be adapted nationally. [snip]

... he said of the islands' program. "I think members of Congress ought to be looking at that model and be considering it as a possible basis for a nationwide program."

Wow, this is truly a man without a moral compass.

Since that remark Schaffer has been getting a lot of attention for his Abramoff connections.

Tonight it just got worse for Bob.

To the Jump...

Last Thursday was a BIG day for me.

For years, I’ve worked to stop the abuse in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Others, like Wendy Doromal, have been fighting this crime for decades.

Since 1995, Jack Abramoff and his Republican Party blocked every effort to end the system of abuse. As a result, tens of thousands of people have been victimized by the GOP protection of sweatshops, human trafficking, money laundering and other crimes against human decency.

That obstruction ended last Thursday.

Last year the House passed a CNMI reform Bill. For months we have been trying to get it through the Senate without the Republicans reverting to type and auto-protecting the Pirates of Saipan.

At times it looked like they would stop reform yet again.

But, they failed. We Won!

Late in the afternoon, the Senate passed S. 2739.

I had a hard time following the events Thursday because I was on the road with my daughter, Leila.

In June, she will be in Mongolia.

On Thursday, she was on her way to Philadelphia.

Today, she needs your help.

Let’s jump...

After more than twenty years of abuse, Legislation to extend US immigration laws to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) has passed the Senate.

Moments ago Senate Bill 2739 passed the Senate by a vote of 91-4.

For years now, I’ve posted about Abramoff here on Daily Kos. This has led to some great connections and friendships with other citizen researchers/reporters who have followed their own pathways into examining a core sample of the glacier of Republican corruption.

Many of you have supported this effort.

Thank You!

This is the Legislation Abramoff and the Republican Party had blocked for more than a decade.

This is a big victory. There is more to be done, but I wanted to let you know that the good guys have won today.

Cheers

Kos Community,

Help us spread the word about an amazing week of action taking place March 28th - April 4th known as the National Student Labor Week of Action.(NSLWOA) Students are making connections between their work on campus whether it be worker's rights, living wages, the right to form a union and supporting union drives and contract campaigns, access to education, protecting affirmative action from right wing nuts like Ward Connerly, fighting for green jobs, an end to modern-day slavery whether it be in sweatshops abroad or here in the US, and a wide array of other amazing campaigns who all have at their core a vision of a more just, democratic, and equal world for all of us.

I have been busy.

I’ve had very little time to write. Research has taken the priority.

This fall there will be important elections: the House, the Senate, a number of Governors, and other Statewide races.

The seeds of the "50 State Strategy" are sprouting. In 2006 we were able to create competitive races in Republican "safe zones". We won some of those races and laid the groundwork for future success.

2008 could be even better.

The Culture of Corruption still fuels the Republican Party. Candidate after candidate lives in the fear of Jack Abramoff’s shadow. They live in the fear that their ties to the scandal will become known.

I’ve been working to make sure that those connections and those stories are uncovered, shared and make their way into the narrative of 2008.

The list is growing. I’ve been talking with some campaigns (and invite others to get in touch). In 2006 we defeated 20 of the Abramoff 65. Of the survivors, most are still on the list for 2008.

They are being joined others.

Three are running for President. Unfortunately, one of them is a Democrat.

To the jump...

Someday the pain of this Primary Season will end and we’ll have a Nominee.

Some will be pleased. Others disappointed.

Many are already disappointed that their choice has left the race.

Once, I was optimistic that a strong unified Democratic Party would win big—across the board—come November.

Now, I have my doubts.  Last week, I wrote about them (A rough three weeks and it is getting worse).  Since then, a few things have changed. I’m a little more hopeful, but that hope is tempered with caution.

I support Barack Obama. I’m working very hard to see that he is our nominee.

Others support Senator Clinton and are working to see that she is the one.

The race is close and anything is possible. We’ll know more next Wednesday.

The Democratic race has been tough and harsh. There are raw feelings and open wounds in every camp.

It was ugly stuff, but nothing compared to what is around the corner.

Half a billion dollars is waiting to demonize our Nominee.

Get ready and jump...