I know this is a busy night. My thoughts and hopes are with those how are on the line in today's primaries. I especially hope that the Abramoff Four (Bilbray, Doolittle, Burns and Pombo) feel some voter justice.
But even if they all win tonight, they will have to worry about their work to protect a Guest Worker system of human trafficking on US soil based in labor and sexual abuse. It was just part of their work as members of Team Abramoff.
It is way past time for JUSTICE to come to the Commonwealth of North Mariana Islands (CNMI).
And tomorrow some Congressional Democrats will demand that the abuse ends.
At 1 pm Wednesday, George Miller, John Conyers and Hilda Solis will introduce legislation to finally bring JUSTICE to CNMI.
This will provide us an important wedge issue for the fall election and put many members of the GOP on the defensive as they have to explain how and why they supported forced abortions, forced prostitution and massive labor abuse in the service of the K Street Project.
Tom's leaving, Jack's guilty and there's more on the jump...
I like the way Congressman Miller's office explain the new legislation in a press advisory sent out today:
In light of Rep. Tom DeLay's departure from Congress this Friday and the pending imprisonment of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff later this month, members of Congress will introduce legislation to reform labor and immigration laws in a U.S. territory that DeLay and Abramoff protected from scrutiny for over a decade despite strong evidence of potential threats to American security and dramatic abuses of women there.
The announcement will be made on the Cannon Terrace, in the Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC. I'll be there and I'll have details about the legislation in a Diary Wednesday night. This is long overdue and because DeLay is on his way out and Abramoff is going to jail we may be able to shame the rest of the Republican caucus into supporting an end to human bondage on US soil.
Of course Richard Pombo stands in the way, but as he is a topic of U.S. District Court subpoenas he might have other things on his mind.
And so might many of Jack's other Team members in and out of Congress. I've been looking over some of his billing records for his CNMI "work" and the projections of up to sixty Members and their staff having an Abramoff problem still seem accurate to me.
And then there is the Cunningham scandal. And the many ways the two overlap.
Of all those in Congress, the biggest protector of Abramoff and his interests was Tom DeLay. This news clip from DeLay's 1997 trip to CNMI says it all (I'm not sure how to add an image to a Diary, so please feel free to place it in the comments if you know how).
Well, starting tomorrow bringing JUSTICE to DeLay's Petri Dish of Capitalism will once again have a future.
And we need to support an end to the abuse.
This should be a National campaign issue. The Republican Party has some explaining to do. They put the interests of their Hong Kong patrons ahead of justice and America.
They used their offices and positions to protect abuse and promote injustice. They put the Government of the United States of America in the business of supporting sweatshops, human trafficking, force prostitution and forced abortion. And they did it for money and power.
We need to talk about this. We need to make this an issue for 2006. The more we talk about it the less likely it is that the Bush political appointees will be able to sweep the abuse under the rug (once again).
Every member of the GOP Caucus who worked to block legislation extending US labor, immigration and custom laws to CNMI should be put on the defensive. The crimes were real and the evidence has been presented to Congress since before 1994. It is time to hold these folks accountable: both as co-conspirators and at the ballot box.
2006 is now. Let's take our Country back!