Glorious!

This is wonderful. Civil restitution of US$25,000,000 (that's a lot of zeros!), not to mention his whopping tax penalties. A base sentencing level of 31 (108-135 months), with a max of 30 years, and none of the language like there was in the Causey plea which would bind the judge to the level agreed by the parties. There's stuff about a downward departure, but even then, he's still going to jail for a long time. And even better, he gets the departure only for substantial cooperation. I'd happily see him depart downwards at sentencing if it means he sings like a choirboy - the total number of months served will still be higher if more people are going to jail.

And I bet those big scary thugs in jail really like pasty white backroom boys in the backrooms of the jail . . . .

Further, the fact he's pled out so soon after charges were filed - before discovery, before really getting into the meat of his case, suggest his case was pretty weak. Of course, he can still maintain his innocence while pleading guilty, but please. The man's dirtier than I was last Wednesday, and that's saying sumthin'.

As blogger A Lie A Day notes, The panic factor within the Republicans in DC must be at a post Nixon high.

One thing I don't get. The Government in Canada was brought to its knees and a massive commission set up because a few C$ millions were misspent in the sponsorship problem. Here, we have corruption allegations among scores high-placed Republicans, and it's left to one prosecutor to investigate (he is kinda sexy, but that might just be the indictments talking.) Where are the Senate hearings? Where are other official investigations? Of course, the fact that so many people are now in danger because of the plea might give us an answer: the people who have the power to call investigations and hearings are the one who want them the least.