DeNaple's US Attorney Pal to Step Down

More smoke . . . .

The Morning Call is reporting tonight that the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Thomas Marino, is resigning.

It was recently revealed that Marino was listed as a reference for convicted felon and reputed mob connected slots applicant Louis DeNaples. Marino then recused himself from a Federal probe into DeNaples' alleged illegal contributions by to Rendell, and into DeNaples purported ties to organized crime.

What is unclear from the reports is how long it took Marino to recuse himself from the investigation of his long-time friend. (But, it's gotta give you a warm and fuzzy to realize that the chief Federal law enforcement official in the Middle District has a long-standing friendship with a convicted felon who has long been reputedly associated with the largest organized crime family in his District.)

It was reported last year that, between 2000 and 2005, DeNaples and affiliates contributed over a million bucks to Rendell and Bob Mellow, among others, who were instrumental in naming folk to the gaming board that eventually awarded DeNaples his slots license. Earlier this week, citizens groups filed ethics complaints against one of those board members, whose law firm represented DeNaples and another slots applicant.

Marino was reportedly on the chopping block last year. His resignation could be in preparation for a run at Chris Carney. That'll give the voters in PA's 10th an interesting choice -- friend of convicted felon and "alleged" mob figure versus just another lying politician.

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Cleland Returns to Campaign with Carney

Max Cleland will be in Northeast Pennsylvania again, the first Weekend in November, to support the campaign of Chris Carney (D). Carney is on his way to oust Don ("sumtimes I just wanna strangle the bitch") Sherwood as the US Rep for Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District. Sherwood deserves to be retired, for more reasons than having engaged in an (allegedly) abusive (admitted) extra-marital affair.

Cleland is a true hero, having suffered grevious wounds in Vietnam, he returned to serve in the Georgia Senate, then as head of the Veteran's Administration in the Carter Administration. In 1996, Cleland won Sam Nunn's Senate seat when Nunn retired. Many of us were none-too-pleased that Cleland supported the odious Bush tax cuts in 2001 and the following year when he voted to authorize the Iraq war. His reward for supporting the President on these two measures was to be smeared as soft on terrorism by Republican ads linking him with bin Laden and Saddam. He lost his seat in what some would say was a questionable vote count (the day before the election a newspaper poll put him at + 3 or 4 points and he lost by a near landslide).

An early supporter of the Iraq war, he was appointed to the 9-11 Commission but resigned over the Administration's stonewalling of Commission requests. He is now a fierce opponent of the war and bluntly says that the adminsitration "duped" us into the war.

The Carney Campaign has a busy weekend:

Saturday, November 4, 2006

10:30 am Dickson City: Disabled American Veterans Hall, 516 Storrs Street

12 noon Honesdale: Honesdale Central Park

1:45 pm Milford: Hotel Fauchere, 401 Broad Street

4:00 pm Tunkhannock: Wyoming County Courthouse, 1 Courthouse Square

5:45 pm Dushore: Pam's Restaurant, 123 E. Main Street

7:00 pm Towanda: The Weigh Station Cafe, 1 Washington Street

Sunday, November 5, 2006 *with special guest The Honorable Max Cleland

9:00 am Montrose: Downtown Grounds Cafe, 42 Church Street

11:30 am Harvey's Lake: American Legion Harvey's Lake, Route 415 & Annabelle Avenue

1:30 pm* Lewisburg: Hufnagel Park, 551 Market Street

2:45 pm* Selinsgrove: BJ's Barbecue & Pub, 17 N. Market Street

4:00 pm* Sunbury: Cameron Park, Downtown Sunbury

5:15 pm* Danville: American Legion, Route 11 South

6:45 pm* Williamsport: American Legion Banquet Hall, 10 E. 3rd Street

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How to Tell if You Have LOST YOUR MIND

Often, it is the people around you who will first realize that you have lost your mind. That can be quite embarrassing -- being the last one to know something so personal about yourself. So, as a public service, lemme see if I can help.

Let's say you find yourself in this situation . . . . say you have a job, oh, pick one, let's use CONGRESSMAN. AND then let us say that someone says that you had an affair with a woman about 300 pounds lighter and three decades younger than you are. And then let's say that you lie about her and claim that she was only a casual acquaintance. But then it comes to light that this casual acquaintance made a 911 call from your bathroom in Washington and filed a police report about you beating up on her. And then, say, you finally admit that your definition of casual acquaintance means "a woman I've been shtupping for five years behind my wife's back". But now you deny that you beat her. And suppose then she sues your ass for over $5 million and says that she lived with you for five years and that you assaulted and beat and choked her and yanked her hair, repeatedly. And then you deny the claims but the next thing people hear is that you get an out of court secret settlement with her, and they wonder how much you had to pay her to settle claims you first said were untrue, after admitting you lied about not admitting to the affair . . . . And now your "family values" are threatening your reelection campaign, so you look around for someone to help you.

If you find yourself in that situation and the person you choose to help you has just been accused of covering-up, for several years, for yet another republican congressman who was hitting on and trying to entice children into bed, then in that case ---

YOU HAVE LOST YOUR FUCKING MIND!!!!

Glad to help, don't mention it.


{UPDATE 10/10/06: Guess I helped. Sherwood has cancelled the Hasert and Reynolds events. Actually, pressure from Chris Carney and his "best political ad of the year" gets the credit; no mention of the Slob.}

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Right Wing Analyst Tosses Up Sherwood

The Carney Campaign is on the move. They have announced that the right-wing political analyst, Stuart Rothenberg, has moved their battle against adulterer and alleged mistress abuser Donald Sherwood from the leans-R to the tossup column.

Rothenburg, aligned with right-wing sentiments, is nonetheless a highly regarded analyst of Congressional Races. His paid-subscription newsletter is not widely circulated, but is must reading for political journalists and Congressional-Candidate-Committee-types, and for anyone else who depends on the state of the balance of power in the House.

In his analysis, Rothenberg notes that “"Cong. Don Sherwood has had plenty of problems",” and he calls Chris Carney "“an interesting challenger." He says that Sherwood'’s grip on the District is "“tenuous."” Rothenberg concludes that "This is a very interesting Democratic opportunity and a GOP headache in a very Republican district."

In short, this is major good news for the Carney folks. Sherwood, if not on, is stumbling towards the ropes. (That is a picture of not-his-wife, by the way.)

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