A Texas judge has sentenced former GOP majority leader Tom DeLay to three years in prison for his role in a scheme to launder corporate money to Texas candidates in contravention to state law.

AUSTIN, Texas —Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday after convictions for money laundering and conspiracy stemming from his role in a scheme to channel corporate contributions to Texas state races in 2002.
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After listening to Mr. DeLay say he felt he had done nothing wrong, Judge Pat Priest sentenced him to three years in prison for the conspiracy count and 10 years’ probation for the money laundering count. The judge rejected arguments from Mr. DeLay that the trial had been a politically motivated vendetta mounted by an overzealous Democratic District Attorney.

“Before there were Republicans and Democrats, there was America, and what America is about is the rule of law,” the judge said just before pronouncing the sentence.

Amen!

Oh yeah, Fox News is running a story on this event, too. I’ll give you one chance to guess what word does not appear once in the article… Read more »

… because the Supreme Court has just denied another appeal by lawyer-dentist, real-estate agent, Birther Queen, Orly Taitz.

They were imprisoned for life for a crime that, at most, should have netted them a couple of years behind bars. When they were young, Jamie and Gladys Scott facilitated a robbery that netted the robbers $11. The women had no prior criminal history. No one was killed and the boys who actually committed the robbery escaped with a few months in jail after fingering the young women in a plea-bargain. But the sisters were sentenced to life.

 Now, sixteen years later, Governor Haley Barbour is releasing the Scott Sisters from prison. But it’s not for the reasons you might suspect. They aren’t being released to right a long-ago wrong. They’re being released because th eldest sister, Jamie Scott, requires dialysis treatments which are costing the State of Mississippi about $200,0000.00 a year, and the younger of the two sisters has agreed to donate one of her own kidneys in exchange for their freedom:

After mulling over the matter for several months, Gov. Barbour announced in late December that he would not pardon the sisters, but would instead indefinitely suspend their sentences.

Gov. Barbour said he had acted in part out of concern over Jamie Scott’s health, but also to relieve the state of the cost of her dialysis treatment, approximately $200,000 a year.

“The Mississippi Department of Corrections believes the sisters no longer pose a threat to society,” Mr. Barbour said in a Dec. 29 statement. “Their incarceration is no longer necessary for public safety or rehabilitation, and Jamie Scott’s medical condition creates a substantial cost to the state of Mississippi.”

That’s some mighty fine Christian compassion for ya!

A newly elected GOP congresswoman from Tennessee makes the best case yet for the need for a Public Option in the Health Care Reform Act… but, of course, being a Republican she’s completely oblivious to that fact.

[ Daily Kos Flash video not available. ]

The importance of the public option for Health Care Reform is nowhere more evident than here: the Public Option wasn’t intended merely as a way for the Government to get involved in the business of providing health care insurance. It was needed to prevent health insurance providers from blackmailing the government by threatening to rescind coverage to certain groups, or pull out of certain markets altogether. With a public option in place, the government could have called their bluff, inviting insurance companies to forgo the profits they might gain from servicing a particular market. As it is, health insurers now have enormous leverage over future legislation regarding coverage and pricing.

(Via: Daily Kos)

As you’ve probably heard by now, one of the first moves of the new GOP majority in congress was to call for a reading of the U.S. Constitution from the House Floor. And if you weren’t paying attention, that’s probably what you though happened today. The Las Vegas Sun, for instance, reported on the incident thusly:

Despite it being the government’s founding document, it’s the first time it’s been read out, every article, signature, and amendment, on the floor of the House of Representatives. But the event wasn’t just in homage to the founding fathers. It was also a sign of the new influence of the Tea Party, for whom adherence to the Constitution was — as Nevadans will remember from Sharron Angle’s senatorial campaign — a major rhetorical campaigning point during the 2010 midterms.

But was that what really happened? As a matter of fact, no, that’s not what really happened. Read more »

“In his defense, I’ll say that sometimes, when you’ve been out to sea for a while, cut off from everything, you start to think things that you would never normally do are actually a good idea,” he said. “You do stupid stuff to stay sane.”

A U.S. Navy sailor aboard the Aircraft Carrier U.S.S. Enterprise, commenting on homoerotic training videos filmed and broadcast on the ship’s closed circuit video system by then XO and current Ship’s Captain Owen Honor.

(Via Andrew Sullivan)

As long as we’re sharing, here’s my all time favorite Christmas classic, Christmas At Calvary:

Actual I sh*t you not lyrics:

I love to spend Christmas at Calvary.
The most beautiful gift was given.
When God himself, and mercy decorated a tree.
The most beautiful light there is shining.
I love to spend christmas at calvary.

Merry Christmas Stinquers!