Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

I really should read my own blog.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Infrastructure week. at last.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

You are here: Home / Politics / Level 31

Level 31

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Via Judicial Watch, Jack Abramoff’s plea deal is now available online. If you look at pages 7 and 8 of the plea you can see that Abramoff attained an offense level 31, which corresponds to roughly 10 years in jail, plus a $25 million fine as compensation for the folks he swindled (read: Indian gambling interests). Ten years seems like the best-case scenario from Abramoff’s perspective, which means that the prosecutors must be rather satisfied with whatever he’s telling them. Never one to do things by half, Abramoff has also decided to sing to the press and I suppose his bail bondsman, his cellmate and the guy who unclogs the toilets as well.

President Bush met lobbyist Jack Abramoff almost a dozen times over the past five years and invited him to Crawford, Tex., in the summer of 2003, according to an e-mail Abramoff wrote to a reporter last month.

Bush “has one of the best memories of any politicians I have ever met,” Abramoff wrote to Kim Eisler of Washingtonian magazine. “The guys saw me in almost a dozen settings, and joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids.”

If things pick up then we might see the wheels of justice turning in time for the 2006 midterms, which should do nothing to discourage Democrats’ efforts to push increasingly aggressive versions of ethics reform.

BTW, about that ‘level 31’ thing. If any legal scholars can weigh in, how hard is it for a white-collar criminal to attain level 31? Is there some sort of record out there for the highest offense level that a DC-affiliated white-collar criminal has ever attained? Just curious.

Reader Interactions

19Comments

  2. 2.

    John Cole

    Jeralynn Merritt actually had a discussion of sentencing guidelines when Libby was indicted. I don’t know if that helps. Fire off an email to her and maybe she will post about it.

  6. 6.

    nitpik

    Level 42 was the band’s name, derived from the Milgram Experiments– the ones about obedience to authority.

  9. 9.

    The Other Steve

    I must say it’s been interesting to watch the Republican congress critters whine endlessly about how Democrats are making a big deal about ethics, considering it was overhyped “ethics” scandals which they used to entrench their own power.

  11. 11.

    waddayaknow

    So its the same as the sentence for conspiricy to commit murder. Sure killed his career and maybe the briepublicans chances to take over the world. The Brain will be thrilled, won’t he Pinky?

  13. 13.

    SeesThroughIt

    All these D&D jokes keep reminding me of the time Al Gore and Gary Gygax guested on Futurama

    GORE: I’m a 12th-level vice president!
    GYGAX: It’s a [rolls dice]…pleasure to meet you.

  14. 14.

    CaseyL

    “Suggests” being the operative word. One of the many things the article is at pains not to say is, what was the quo of the alleged quid pro.

    Wanna know why?

    (Well, I know you don’t want to know why; but someone who’s actually interested in the facts of the case might.)

    Well, see, Reid did not, in fact, vote against raising the minimum wage in the Marianas Islands.

    And, see, those Indian tribes Reid advocated for? He’s always advocated for.

    And the tribes that contributed to Reid? Had contributed to Reid in the past.

    See: here’s the thing about bribery. The person paying the bribe expects the person to whom the bribe was paid to vote differently than they would have without the bribe, or advocate policies for interested parties that they would not otherwise have advocated.

    Reid didn’t do that.

    Contributing money to a politician isn’t in and of itself illegal; changing your vote on the basis of the payment is. And Reid didn’t do that.

    That’s why GOP efforts (aided and abetted by the idiots in the press) to tar Democrats with Abramoff are just more lies; just more desperate deceit by a bunch of scumbags; just more frantic flailing about by the deeply, totally corrupt and utterly worthless GOP.

  16. 16.

    demimondian

    Damn it, DougJ — would you please space-break your links? Page widening posts went out of style back when you were in grad school.

  17. 17.

    The Captain of the O

    Looks like Abramoff is now entering the “bitter recriminations” of his emotional ideal.

  19. 19.

    Zifnab

    I was a level 38 mage. Are we talking D&D or something else?

    Damnit, Marcus stepped on my line. What’s your THAC0?

    I saw Abramoff kill a frost giant with his bare hands. Of course, I was tripping my nads off at the time.

    haha. You guys are all going to nerd hell.

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