It's good to be the king. Pt. 27,391

Make sure you're sitting down. I know you'll be shocked.

President Bush's top independent intelligence adviser met last winter with investment bankers in China to help secure his law firm's role in lobbying for a state-run Chinese energy firm and its bid for the U.S. oil company Unocal Corp., according to his law firm, Akin Gump.

The involvement of James C. Langdon Jr., chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and a major Bush fundraiser, underscores the tangled Washington connections beneath CNOOC Ltd.'s bid. Both CNOOC and its rival for Unocal, Chevron Corp., have enlisted lobbyists and public relations professionals with deep ties to the Bush White House and Republican leaders in Congress. Wayne L. Berman, a principal lobbyist for Chevron, is a Bush "Ranger," having raised at least $200,000 for the president's campaign. His wife, Lea, is the White House social secretary.

Some days it just makes less sense for me to begin bloviating, and more for me to just leave it to skippy.

republican corruption watch

when conservatives saw the strategic challenges chinese economic growth presented, they figured out how to help their friends make a profit selling american assets to america’s strategic rivals. but no blue dress, so don't you worry your pretty little head.

Should I laugh? Should I cry? If we weren't so close to nailing Rove's hide to a shed for tanning, and closing in on insurmountable proof (which will be obvious to even the most die-hard Bush supporter) that Bush knowingly lied and led us to war in Iraq on false and effectively illegal grounds, I'd almost want to give up. As it is... I still almost feel a glimmer of hope.