On 27 Feb 2005 15:07:29 -0800, "Material" <material_fb1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
>Source : http://khmervision.free.fr/documents/in-thought04kerry.htm
>
>By Mahendra http://khmervision.free.fr/index.htm
One might have responded to this garbage had it not been so
pathetically stupid.
The Reagan Years: How Soon We Forget Real Corruption
Gleeful charges by Republicans that Whitewater is comparable to
Watergate and that the Clinton Administration is more corrupt than any
recent administration are ludicrous when compared to the actual record
of corruption in the Reagan-Bush administration and when it is noted
that the charges against Clinton result from goings-on in Arkansas
long before he became President.
With Reagan, scandals occured while he was President.
Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Haynes Johnson's book,
"Sleep-Walking Through History: America in the Reagan Years" (1991,
Doubleday), chronicles the U.S.'s fall from dominant world power to
struggling debtor nation during the Reagan years.
Johnson says "two types of problems typified the ethical misconduct
cases of the Reagan years, and both had heavy consequences to citizens
everywhere.
One stemmed from ideology and deregulatory impulses run amok; the
other, from classic corruption on a grand scale."
"By the end of his term, 138 administration officials had been
convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official
investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations. In
terms of number of officials involved, the record of his
administration was the worst ever." (P. 184).
"Reagan's customary response to instances of wrongdoing by aides was
to criticize those who brought the charges or to blame the media that
re****ted them."
"Three great scandals stained the Reagan record, and they all involved
the age-old form of corruption formed by the connection between money
and politics.
What distinguished them in the Reagan years was the number of buyers
and sellers involved, and the amount of money there was to be made.
The sheer volume of both had multiplied beyond any previous measure.
Nothing better illustrated the problem than a case that connected some
of Reagan's closest associates, a score of top government officials in
several departments and agencies, and the kind of political corruption
that extended byack to the Wa****ngton of Grant and Harding:
influence peddling, government contracts, cash, bribes, kickbacks,
fraud and conspiracy.
Before it was ended, it had dragged Atty Gen. Meese, advisor Lyn
Nofziger, and many others into the net; led to indictments, trials,
and convictions; and besmirched the reputation of the Reagan
administration.
It became known, popularly, as the Wedtech case."
* Lyn Nofziger--convicted on charges of illegal lobbying of White
House in Wedtech scandal.
* Michael Deaver received three years' probation and was fined one
hundred thousand dollars after being convicted for lying to a
congressional subcomittee and a federal grand jury about his lobbying
activities after leaving the White House.
* E. Bob Wallach, close friend and law classmate of Atty General Edwin
Meese, was sentenced to six years in prison and fined $250,000 in
connection with the Wedtech influence-peddling scandal.
Then there was:
-- the Pentagon procurement scandal, which resulted from the
Republicans' enormous infusion of money too quickly into the Defense
Department after the lean Carter years.
-- Massive fraud and mismanagement in the Department of Housing and
Urban Development throughout Reagan's eight years. These were finally
documented in congressional hearings in spring 1989, after Reagan left
office. Cost the taxpayers billions of dollars in losses. What made
this scandal most shameful was that Reagans' friends and fixers
profited at the expense of the poor, the very people HUD and the
federal government were pledged to assist through low-income housing.
-- the Iran-Contra scandal. In June, 1984, at a National Security
Council meeting, CIA Director Casey urged President Reagan to seek
third-party aid for the Nicaraguan contras. Secretary of State Schultz
warned that it would be an "impeachable offense" if the U.S.
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