Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy

Good news for Thanksgiving: Tom DeLay was found guilty of money laundering. The case seemed clear: DeLay and his associates collected $190,000 from corporations to contribute to Republican candidates throughout Texas. However, Texas law limits the amount of p0litical contributions corporations can give. So DeLay and his pals shipped the money off to the national Republican party, and received, in return, a check for $190,000 (coincidence!) that supposedly came from individuals, not corporations. This is classical money laundering. DeLay and his lawyers claimed that since the original $190,000 was collected legally (corporations are allowed to give money, so each each corporation gave its share legally), he was not guilty. Apparently the jury didn't buy this; they realized -- as would any reasonable person -- that DeLay and cronies (and probably the corporation honchos as well) knew exactly what was going to happen to the money.

Any way, all's well that ends well. DeLay is one of the more unsavory people around -- right up there with the vile Newt Gingrich. Let's hope some Republican appeals court judge doesn't let him escape prison time.

Also, for good holiday reading, you might want to check out, online, the article "What Good is Wall Street" from the latest New Yorker. Talk about parasites (as I did in a recent blog): these people are worse than bedbugs.

In their desire to protect the Wall Street greed-mongers, the Republicans once again show why they have won so many "What part of beneath contempt don't you understand?" awards.