Tom and Jack Go to Russia

Gather around, boys and girls, and I'll tell you another fun story about Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff, those wacky world-travelers who were always looking for a way to help. Themselves.

You already know about how Jack lobbied for sweatshops in the Northern Marianas Islands so they could continue to pay peanuts and avoid cleaning up appalling conditions while still labelling their goods "Made in the U.S.A." And how Tom got free trips to the islands and lots of money and stood by his pal Jack. Heck, that's old news.

Now, check out this yarn from the WaPo (where it was published Saturday December 31, 2005 and rescued from obscurity by TomPaine). Gosh oh golly, it's a honey. Now we find "Casino Jack" branching out to front for Russian oil and gas oligarchs seeking to line their pockets with U.S. taxpayer money.

It's long and complex, but tell me this sample doesn't whet your appetite for more:

"DeLay got free international trips and fancy free office space in a secret townhouse, and his wife got paid a sizable monthly salary for doing nothing. Meantime, the nonprofit presented itself to the public as devoted to promoting family values, and ran ads attacking Democrats."

The "nonprofit" mentioned was apparently a phony used to funnel Russian cash to DeLay & Co.

One of the "free international trips" was a visit to Moscow to meet the oligarchs. DeLay said he was meeting "religious leaders." Oh, yeah. High Priests in the International Church of Cash Talks.

You'll find it worth the effort if you remember to

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