high-muck-a-muck (HI-muk-uh-muk) noun, also high-mucky-muck,
high-muckety-muck, high muckamuck, muck-a-muck, muckety-muck,
etc.: An important, high-ranking person, especially one who behaves
in a pompous or arrogant manner. [From Chinook Jargon hayo makamak
(plenty to eat), from hayo (ten or plenty) + Nootka makamak (eat, food,
the part of whale meat between blubber and flesh.] as reported in A.Word.A.Day,
December 2, 2003
"Jokes of the proper kind, properly told, can do more to enlighten
questions of politics, philosophy, and literature than any number of
dull arguments"
-Isaac Asimov, scientist and writer (1920-1992)
9/30/2005: Boot
DeLay:"If
DeLay is right that the indictment was politically motivated, then
he has finally received a taste of his own medicine. DeLay has used
his position to crush Democrats at every conceivable opportunity, and
he has overstepped ethical bounds to do so. DeLay wields power
for one purpose: to enrich and empower himself and his allies."
3/3/2005 DeLay
Moves To Protect His Political Base Back in Texas - ...DeLay's
strength in his suburban Houston congressional district of
strip malls and housing developments has eroded considerably --
forcing him to renew his focus on protecting his seat. ... DeLay garnered
55 percent of the vote in the November election against a relatively
unknown Democrat, an unusually modest showing for a veteran House member... Richard
Morrison, a lawyer and environmentalist who
was DeLay's opponent in November, has begun raising money online to
run again, using the slogan "real Texas values."...
2/28/2005 Defendants'
Ties to DeLay Draw Nation's Eyes to Texas Trial ...The trial is
expected to produce testimony detailing Mr. DeLay's involvement in
raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in corporate donations that
were the basis of last year's indictments. The trial may also show
that a legal noose is tightening on some of Mr. DeLay's
political allies in Texas...
2/25/2005 National
Journal’s Saturday bombshell: DeLay cited with new House rules violations -
The prominent lawyer and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is being
investigated by federal authorities for his lobbying efforts of an
Indian tribe and his relations with House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
(R-TX), paid for DeLay and DeLay’s staff’s stay in an expensive London
hotel...
"Ethically
unfit to lead" - Tom DeLay should quit his congressional leadership
job after another rebuke from a House ethics panel, top Democrats said
Thursday. And while Republicans rallied around DeLay, Democrats accused
their longtime antagonist of creating an "ethical cloud" over
the Capitol. ... "Mr. DeLay has proven himself ethically
unfit to lead the Republican Party," said House Democratic
Leader Nancy Pelosi, of California. She accused the Republicans' No.
2 man in the House of "a pattern of unethical behavior
by a man determined to win at any cost."
The
Hammer in the Slammer - 3 Aides to Tom Delay Facing Charges in
Fund-Raising - September 22, 2004
Tom
DeLay's Tainted Ethics Panel July 15th, 2004 - AlterNet
According to the Associated Press, in mid-June, Rep.
Bell "claimed DeLay illegally solicited campaign contributions
in return for legislative favors and laundered illegal corporate
contributions for use in Texas elections. Bell also alleged thatDeLay
improperly used his office to solicit help from federal agencies
in searching for Democratic legislators who slipped out of Texas during
last year's redistricting fight." ...
Found
amid Enron's rubble: insight into Tom DeLay July 14th, 2004 - Houston Chronicle
...hard-line social conservatives such as DeLay, who, in the debate over
gun control after the Columbine shootings, insisted that juvenile violence
is the result of day care, birth control and the teaching of evolution.
...As far back as 1996, one analyst described DeLay as the "chief
enforcer of company contributions to Republicans." ...Rep. Chris
Bell of Houston, claims, among other things, that DeLay laundered
illegal corporate contributions for use in Texas elections ...The
Post says it has "at least a dozen" documents showing that DeLay and
his associates directed money from corporate donors and lobbyists to
an effort to win control of the Texas Legislature so the Republican Party
could redraw the state's political districts. ...A 100-year-old Texas
law bars corporate financing of state Legislature campaigns. An
inquiry is under way, and DeLay has hired two criminal defense attorneys.
Stay tuned. ...DeLay and his fellow hard-liners, whose values are far
from the American mainstream, have forged an immensely effective
alliance with corporate interests.... ...
A
Peak into Political Corruption "the four congress critters who
named the price – Reps. Tom DeLay, Joe Barton, Billy Tauzin and Sen.
Richard Shelby. The money was paid – and sure enough, Rep. Barton slipped
Westar's exemption into the bill. "- audio
The
ChickenHawk Database "The Gazette's “Chickenhawk
Database” is made up of prominent figures who are big
warmongers now, but, who, avoided being in an actual war when they
had the chance. Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, and Karl Rove – three Bushites
pushing hard for an Iraq attack – are on the Chickenhawk list. So are
such Congressional warmongers as Trent Lott, Phil Gramm, and Tom DeLay..." - audio
National
PAC gave money to House candidates (AP) WASHINGTON -
U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's national fund-raising committee
contributed to 15 Texas legislative candidates whose campaign finances
are under a state criminal investigation because
of possible improper contributions during the 2002
election.
Common
Cause Asks House Ethics Panel for Formal Ruling on DeLay Convention
Fundraising Plan “Representative DeLay’s plan could set a dangerous
precedent and violate campaign finance law, as well as House ethics
rules,” said Chellie Pingree, president of Common Cause. “The Ethics
Committee has an obligation to Congress and the public to make clear
what it thinks of this matter.”
Find out what Google thinks about tom delay: Googlism
"The penalty that good men pay for not being interested
in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves". -Plato,
philosopher (427-347 BCE)
Noteable Quotes:
"Being called partisan and vindictive by Tom DeLay is
like being called ugly by a frog." - Travis County
District Attorney Ronnie Earle as reported in the Dallas Morning
News
"I am the federal government."-- Rep.
Tom DeLay (Responding to a security guard who told him to extinguish his
cigar in accordance with the law of the federal government.). Washington
Post, May 15, 2003
"A woman can take care of the family. It takes a man
to provide structure. To provide stability." --
Majority Leader Tom DeLay in an interview with conservative commentator
Armstrong Williams
"It's never been proven that air toxics (sic) are hazardous
to people." -- Houston Chronicle, October 27, 1990
"We have a small faction, and they are a minority, who
believe they are there to govern. Then there is the majority of us
who believe that indeed we are there to govern but more importantly
we are there to be an opposition to the Democratic philosophy and the
only way to do that is through confrontation." --
Tom Delay as reported in the Houston Chronicle, April 14, 1991
"You can support the troops but not the president." --Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)
"American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery. Simply
put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good
foreign policy." -Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)
"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches
us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration
is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission
with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month
later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarified
rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate
definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep.
There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our
overextended military. There is no explanation defining what vital
national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war
when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today" -Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)
"Bombing a sovereign nation for ill-defined reasons with vague
objectives undermines the American stature in the world. The international
respect and trust for America has diminished every time we casually
let the bombs fly." -Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)
This n' That:
malversation (mal-vuhr-SAY-shuhn) noun: Corrupt
behavior in public office.. [From Middle French malversation,
from malverser (to embezzle), from Latin maleversari (to behave badly),
from male (ill) + versari (to behave), from vertere (to turn). Ultimately
from Indo-European root wer- (to turn or bend) that is also the source
of words such as wring, weird, writhe, worth, revert, and universe.]
as reported in A
Word a Day, August 23, 2005
