Archive for the 'Corrupt' Category


Prescience 0

Byron Dorgan (D-ND), in 1999:

Part 1

Part 2

Via DKos – Click for transcript.

“He’s tainted the entire auction” 0

And I’m so glad he did…

From the AP (via TPM):

An environmental activist tainted an auction of oil and gas drilling leases Friday by bidding up parcels of land by hundreds of thousands of dollars without any intention of paying for them, a federal official said.

The process was thrown into chaos and the bidding halted for a time before the auction was closed, with 116 parcels totaling 148,598 acres having sold for $7.2 million plus fees.

“He’s tainted the entire auction,” said Kent Hoffman, deputy state director for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Utah.

No need for my comments as I can just link to more from Mr. Marshall:

Auctions work on the theory that open bidding will efficiently yield the highest price any bidder is willing to pay. DeChristopher’s stunt suggests that, for whatever reason, that’s often not the case at BLM auctions. It turns out that, when pressed, most bidders are willing to pay more, often much more. In other words, DeChristopher exposed the fact that we’re routinely selling the rights to public land for less than its actual market value. No wonder BLM is mad.

DemocracyNow! interviewed the Utah student about the incident. You can watch that interview at this link.

Collusion, corruption and cronyism. This is our America?

“There is no innocent explanation” 0

Thats the quote from the guy (Bernard Madoff) who defrauded his hedge fund investors of $50 BILLION.

I would posit that the same can be said for the rest of the current economic downturn.