Verily I say unto you; there is no one so foolish about money as a rich man.

Myself, I'm foolish about wine on a Friday evening, but the motivation to indulge is much the same.

Poor Senator Ted Stevens its all about the money!

Money is a source of jealousy.

Money is the source of division in the family.

Money kills friendships.

Money causes divorces.

As the Punus of Gabon say, ” Money has a twin sister called woman… they are sources of problems.”

Guy Blaise

Poor Senator Ted Stevens its all about the money!

Money is a source of jealousy.

Money is the source of division in the family.

Money kills friendships.

Money causes divorces.

As the Punus of Gabon say, ” Money has a twin sister called woman… they are sources of problems.”

Guy Blaise

The primary will not be a problem for Stevens. There are multitudes of those who are the Alaskan Republican analogy to William Jefferson's constituents who reelected him despite the freezer-full of cash. They would willingly follow Ted off a cliff.

That bevy of opponents in the primary will make things easier for him. The leading contenders are a banker (now there's a respected profession) whom he beat 73%-27% six years ago, and a fool who is totally clueless, who just moved to Alaska this year and who has vowed to spent $750,000 of his own money. Stevens won't need anywhere near a majority to win this one. The remainder are pretty much crackpots who have benefited from Alaska's incredibly easy ballot access.

The 84-year-old Ted will be opposed in the general election by the young (46) and very popular mayor of Anchorage, a city where half of all Alaskans live. Mark Begich is the son of a respected congressman who disappeared in a plane crash during a 1972 fact-finding trip with Hale Boggs. Begich is far ahead in the polls.

Indicted for his chronic failure to declare a total of at least $250,000 worth of "gifts" from the richest man in Alaska, who has been ratting out all his friends, Ted also has the condo flip problems. There have been many other

"investments" in which he's made phenomonal profits despite contributing virtually no cash.

But that's not the half of it. Ted has been behind incredible subsidies to the fisheries industry in which his son Ben has a substantial piece of the action. He's hustled porky millions for land purchases for the Alaska Sea Life Center from which Ben has again reaped huge windfalls. Ben, the former state senate president, is expected to be indicted for selling his vote for lower state oil production taxes in exchange for bribe money from the above rat, and has been identified as a criminal participant, although not by name, in other pleadings.

This looks a lot like the Bush/Cheney cabal has lost control of the Justice Department. I can't imagine good ole Gonzo ever authorizing the proscecution of such a good poster child of the Republican party. Maybe the ole coot they have as Attorney General really can't keep track of the operation and allowed this one to slip by. Oh well, such is life when your star has faded.

...is that it takes so little money to corrupt these people. They just seem to sell out for 30 pieces of silver. Same as right wing religions, including my own religion, which also has sold out for 30 pieces of silver. So the Repubs are corrupt and so are their right wing religions.

Not to get overly religious about this evil turn of events but, mayhap our time of tribulation is upon us. And if we can keep our heads while some about us go for the evils of money, corruption, hate and character assassination, maybe we will someday be delivered from this rampant evil that now surrounds us and is being perpetrated upon us by religion itself, or at least some religions.

I guess I'm still stunned and shocked by it all. Quite possibly, I will never be able to get my head around this evil turn of events. It is angering and deeply sad, all at the same time.