Hopefully Goldy will forgive me for two pot-related posts in the past 24-hours, but Paul Kiel has the latest silliness from the Duke Cunningham corruption scandal:
In a filing today, prosecutors allege that John Michael, who’s been indicted for laundering Cunningham’s bribes and lying to investigators, hid incriminating documents by keeping them with what prosecutors call “a stash of personal entertainment materials and paraphernalia.” You can read the filing here.
The prosecutors don’t identify exactly what those items are, but note that “Michael has expressed extreme embarrassment” over them and that “their nature objectively supports his perspective” (read: he has good reason to be embarrassed). They say that they’ll identify the materials at a court hearing if need be.
Prosecutors want to introduce evidence of Michael’s embarrassing “stash,” in order to prove that he knew the Cunningham documents were, in their own way, as embarrassing. That he kept documentation of Cunningham’s sketchy mortgage details in a place where he also stored “materials he did not want to anyone else to learn about” proves, they write, that he knew he was up to no good.
It’s important to remember that Duke Cunningham’s son went to jail for this:
Randall Todd Cunningham was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison yesterday for marijuana smuggling, after his father, the Republican congressman from Escondido, made a tearful plea for leniency.
The term was half the mandated five years and was supported by the prosecutor. In imposing sentence, Judge Reginald C. Lindsay noted that the 29-year-old Cunningham had no prior convictions and had provided information that led to the arrests of higher-ups in the smuggling operation.
It was the first time Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham had come to the court in Massachusetts since his son and several others were charged with smuggling 400 pounds of marijuana from the San Diego area to Lawrence Airport on Jan. 17, 1997.
Of course, Duke Cunningham has always been a staunch drug warrior:
Crucial to winning the war on drugs are education and community campaigns. So on Thursday, my House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Youth and Families will team up with Government Reform Oversight to send a strong message to Americans: Drugs kill. We will hear from health and community experts on what can be done to reverse the drug crisis. And we will also examine ways to marshal community leadership and resources to start local anti-drug coalitions.
Finally, I believe we must revive in word and deed the simple phrase, “Just Say No,” coined by Nancy Reagan in the 1980s. While cynical elites once joked about its effectiveness, I believe it played a significant role in reducing drug use.
That editorial appeared a few months before his son was arrested.
UPDATE: In comments, RonK doubts that the “stash” is drug-related. He could certainly be right, as “paraphernalia” could refer to items of an embarrassing sexual nature as well. I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough as the trial progresses.
Image of Piper Scott:
http://fortyfour.typepad.com/b.....-thumb.bmp
Wait a minute… it was just Marijuana. I thought liberals wanted this legalized. Just think 400 pounds would last The ASSWipers a week with their pot-induced commentaries!
“a stash of personal entertainment materials and paraphernalia.”
Perhaps, we need a betting pool on this.
My submission: a blow-up doll, cloth diapers, a few wooden clothespins, and a Ted Nugent poster.
Darryl
I have to go with a cage full of gerbils (both genders), a jar of Viagra, a life-size digital print of a nude Rush Limbaugh (it’s hard to even type about such an image), a case of Vaseline, several frilly thongs, a set of high heels, a pacifier and a blankie. Oh, and a framed photo of Mom.
Parenthood sure has a way of humbling the mighty, doesn’t it?
#3 — Whew! I thought it was just me!
@2
Wait a minute… it was just Marijuana. I thought liberals wanted this legalized.
We do want it legalized, but Duke Cunningham did not. That’s the point of this post. Get with the program here, I’m sick and tired of having to explain everything to you twice. Take a little initiative on your own to engage your brain and make these connections yourself.
Lee’s one-track mind immediately concludes they’re talking about a drug stash here.
I think that’s highly unlikely.
Gee Lee, you sure sound like a real winner who’s going nowhere in life. See you at the Taco Bell drive-thru in your microbus.
@8
Lee’s one-track mind immediately concludes they’re talking about a drug stash here.
I think that’s highly unlikely.
Ron, generally when they mention “paraphernalia”, they’re referring to drugs. Although it’s also possible it could be porn, in which case, the paraphernalia would certainly be embarassing, I’m sure.
@9
Gee Lee, you sure sound like a real winner who’s going nowhere in life. See you at the Taco Bell drive-thru in your microbus.
Oh, don’t you wish. If it turns out that I’m a successful computer programmer, with an aerospace engineering degree from a prestigious school, who’s worked office jobs since he was 17, what will you ever do with your beloved stereotypes?
Mark1,
“See you at the Taco Bell drive-thru in your microbus.”
And, no doubt, you would greet him with your usual, “Can I take your order?”
I’m thinking gay porn.
@12
I think you’re on the right track. Following numerous news reports of drug busts online, I’m so used to equating the word “paraphernalia” with drugs, that I didn’t think about how it could very easily be referring to sex toys as well. I don’t read enough Savage Love, I guess…
@12
Maybe S&M?
@14
Also keep in mind that these items were found in his office, not his house. Not that that really rules anything out. :)
Pudwhacker:
I am amazed how, as a Black man in today’s society, you have the ability to read something into anything, and I mean anything, to benefit your “side” of the issue. If GWB were arrested for public indecency you would find a way to read it as the liberal police making a statement.
The point of the post was to again point out Republican dis-ingenuousness. You know the party of yours. The party of the conservative black element of society with strong moral and social values. The party of high ethics and principles.
(For the brain damaged trolls who populate this blog, this post is laced with sarcasm. If you can’t detect it find a liberal acquaintance and have them point it out).
@11 Darryl:
That’s all you have as a comeback? Wow, that must have required a lot of thought. Sorry to disappoint you, but I have two college degress and am successful.
@10 Lee:
If that is true, then that’s admirable. However, any reputable company would most likely drug-test their employees, which I’m betting you’d fail. What else you got?
Mark1 @ 17
“That’s all you have as a comeback?”
No…but that’s all I actually did come back with.
“Wow, that must have required a lot of thought.”
Not really… I mean, Come on, now…you set yourself up for that one. It is a variant on the old joke:
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I have two college degress and am successful.”
Man…some people sure can’t take a joke….
Fox News and Bill O’Reilly kick ass, cockbites!
@17
If that is true, then that’s admirable. However, any reputable company would most likely drug-test their employees, which I’m betting you’d fail. What else you got?
Really? Any reputable company would most likely drug-test their employees? Got any facts to back up that ridiculousness? I used to work for this highly unreputable company that you may have heard of. It’s called Microsoft. And they don’t drug test their employees (apparently Bill Gates was once asked why they didn’t, and he hinted that many of his employees wouldn’t pass). I’m not sure they’re gonna make it, though, with such lax hiring practices.
Retard.
@17
Also, Mark, since you evidently live in a bubble, I should also probably explain to you that for many financial sector jobs in NYC, drug tests are considered an “intelligence test”. They basically make sure that you’re smart enough to beat a drug test as part of the interviewing process. I blogged about that here:
http://www.reload.ws/blog/2007.....f-day.html
I also know some folks here in Seattle in the financial sector who’ve told me the same thing. Not to mention that at least half of the CEO’s I’ve personally met in my life smoke pot (granted, we’re talking about young dot-com guys).
@20 Lee:
All one has to do is read the job openings and want ads in any paper. Far more often than not, reputable companies DO drug test their employees. Even your little delusional mind can’t argue that. Get a grip bro, I think maybe you’re having pot-induced paranoia. And for the record, I’ve smoke it too-like when I was a teenager…..grow up.
@22
All one has to do is read the job openings and want ads in any paper. Far more often than not, reputable companies DO drug test their employees. Even your little delusional mind can’t argue that.
Many companies DO drug test. I’m not arguing that. But your suggestion that people who use marijuana can’t find work at reputable companies is beyond ridiculous. As is your suggestion that “reputable” companies drug-test, as opposed to “unreputable” ones. Whether or not companies drug-test is related to external pressures (from insurance companies, mostly) rather than from rational internal considerations. The last company that gave me a drug test was Boeing, and that was over 10 years ago (and I passed it and worked there for 2.5 years). Since then, I’ve worked at three different companies, interviewed with several others, and have never once had to deal with a drug test. Of course, the high-tech industry is different than other industries, but the fact that such a successful and highly driven industry doesn’t drug test should be somewhat of a clue as to whether or not drug testing is necessary or useful.
Get a grip bro, I think maybe you’re having pot-induced paranoia. And for the record, I’ve smoke it too-like when I was a teenager…..grow up.
How is this paranoia? You’re saying extremely stupid things and I’m pointing that out. Not everyone finds the same enjoyment from marijuana. I understand that. But I’ve used it throughout most of my adult life, and I’m very happy I have. It’s given me tremendous insights on life and has allowed me to appreciate many of the things I enjoy. I don’t look at people who enjoy alcohol into their older years as being immature, and there’s similarly no reason to look at people who enjoy marijuana into their older years that way either.