So Much for Ethic Cleansing

Roddy Blago of Illinois had it right, a U.S. Senate seat IS  "a (effing) valuable thing."

Just ask St. Hoppen Change's man to oversee your personal health. He's Tom Daschle, former senator from South Dakota and apparent tax evader to the tune of about $125,000. Like new Treasury Boss Ted Geithner,  he's also pleading that he really didn't understand all those tax laws he wrote and as soon as the light bulb clicked on, why, he forked over. 

Also like Ted, his forkover came only after he learned for sure Obama was about to offer him a super job with about the coolest office around and a really nice limo. Plus the authority to toss around a few billion dollars contributed by people who do pay their taxes. 

Tom and Ted each decided they better fess up because those annoying reporters might start checking little details like that.

"Daschle filed amended tax returns for 2005, 2006 and 2007 to reflect additional income for consulting work, the use of a car service and reduced deductions for charitable contributions. He filed the returns after Obama announced he intended to nominate Daschle to head the Health and Human Services Department."  (AP)

Politico did a little digging

"...Daschle pulled down a total of more than $500,000 from the speaking circuit in the last two years, and $5.3 million in overall income. That includes more than $2 million in consulting fees from InterMedia Advisors, a private equity firm."

Daschle didn't report cash income, didn't report something like a quarter-million for a personal car and driver, and decided that he didn't really give $15,000 to charity after all. 

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So Right On,  Brother Blago.  A guy can turn a senate seat into a really nice buck or two.  

St. Hoppen Change, Himself,  says all this is piddly stuff and should be ignored because former Senator Daschle is the right man to handle your health care.  "All that stuff about lilly white ethics, well, y'know, I said it in, like, I mean, when I was running, y'know, and...".

A lot of folks seem to be collecting guns and ammo and MREs against the chance of governmental disaster. 

Under uberhealthfuerher Daschle, a reserve case of KY Jelly might also be useful, speaking of forkovers.

Hunger in America

I almost never eat breakfast.

Today I can't eat breakfast. It would gnarl my healer's skivvies. His chief vampire will suck my blood at 9:30 a.m. Having breakfast would "skew the lab results."  

Ergo my entire being this morning is consumed with lust for two over medium, a slab of that nice ham fried in bacon grease, hash browns, coffee with sugar and heavy whipping cream, and toast with butter.

Educational Teevee

If you're watching the Weather Channel this morning you'll be seeing a guy in a blue jacket standing around in Cincinnati, where they had an ice storm. He points to the ice-covered street and says, "This is slippery."

Now you know.  

Pharoah Burris

This is funny.

So is a reader comment on Burris' monument to himself in Illinois: "That's no cemetery. It's a precinct." 

(First-alert  nod to Roberta.)