'This is cronyism, this is waste, fraud and abuse'--UPDATED with VIDEO on the Murray Waas report
By Steve Benen Monday Jun 09, 2008 7:30am
Download | play 
Download | play (h/t Silent Patriot)
The good news is, Bush's Justice Department offers grants to community programs to address juvenile crime nationwide. The bad news is, Bush's Justice Department seems to award the grants based on political connections, not merit.
There's a program in San Diego, for example, that was ranked #2 by the DoJ in its category of prevention and intervention. It didn't get any funding. But the program that was ranked #47 did -- because it had connections. Our friend Murray Waas and ABC News have the story:
A senior Justice Department official says a $500,000 federal grant to the World Golf Foundation is an appropriate use of money designed to deal with juvenile crime in America.
"We need something really attractive to engage the gangs and the street kids, golf is the hook," said J. Robert Flores, the administrator of the Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
The Justice Department, in a decision by Flores, gave the money to the World Golf Foundation's First Tee program, even though Justice Department staffers had rated the program 47th on a list of 104 applicants. The allegations were first reported earlier this year by the trade journal Youth Today.
Wouldn't you know it, the honorary chairman of the First Tee program is former President George Bush.
Scott Peterson, who worked in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, said grants were awarded based more on politics than merit. "This is cronyism, this is waste, fraud and abuse," Peterson told ABC News, adding, "It's a lot of our taxpayer money that's supposed to go for some of our most vulnerable children."
It's quite a report. Read the whole thing.
Murray Waas has more about this on his brand new C&L site.
Murray is the lead investigative reporter on this story featured by ABC.
Login or Register to post comments.
Corruption!
But... but... but... I thought Bush Jr. gave up golf as a great sacrifice to show his solidarity with the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan?
As Cheney would say ... SO?
This is typical of the GOP, they are after all the party of cronyism.
Haven't seen a bit of news so far in the media about Kucinich and the Impeachment articles in Congress.
Nope, no surprise here. This whole damned administration has rigged every fu*king thing they have done on a basis of political connections and affiliation.
El Cid @ 2:
"the honorary chairman of the First Tee program is former President George Bush"
Junior also gave up humanity and compassion a long time ago.
pissed off patricia @ 5:
Evening POP, your keyboard has the same problem as Matt Hussien, the "u" key is broken, keeps making that funny star thing.
Corruption with the Bush Junta?!
I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!
Croynism, Waste, Fraud and Abuse= #1 Reason why they aren't Conservatives......no such thing in boosh's gov't.
Why do people keep referring to these wasteful, inept, GOPers as Conservatives?????
♠Bangkok-Bob♠ @ 7:
Hey and Good Morning from here.
Nope the "u" key isn't broken. I trained my computer to do that. It keeps me looking sort of like a lady. Remember, I only said sorta.
BrokenArrow @ 9:
Because calling them assholes is sort of crass, I guess.
Paging Nancy Pelosi...cleanup at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
pissed off patricia @ 11:
LOL, there's that Lady part creeping out again. Had your morning cuppa yet?
conflict of interest? nope, never heard of that one..
Scott Peterson, who worked in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, said grants were awarded based more on politics than merit. “This is cronyism, this is waste, fraud and abuse,” Peterson told ABC News, adding, “It’s a lot of our taxpayer money that’s supposed to go for some of our most vulnerable children.”
Ack, rough name to have there buddy. Hope you don't get to much grief from it. =)
Now, I wonder how long before some Bush-apologist chimes in with "the #47 program needs more money than the #2 program. #2 is already working. #47 needs the help." Sad thing is, that would be a legitimate reason, if not for the already blatantly apparent cronyism.
Elayne Bennett, wife of Bill Bennett:
"We're really about positive friendships," she told ABC News at a recent charity gala that included many of Washington's GOP elite. "A good, solid friendship is a beautiful thing," she said.
It sure is, especially one that keeps the money flowing into your pockets.
On and on this silly game goes, each day new revelations occur and nothing is done about them. The Executive branch, the House, Senate, and even the Supremes are all working hand-in-hand to turn America into their AmeriKa with the U.S.Treasury as their personal "piggy-bank". They are "all" on a roll and don't want "we the people" to upset their collective ongoing scam.
mhj555 @ 12:
Don't expect Nancy Pelosi to do anything. She's a quisling. A pretend democrat who will act in the best interest of BushCo. when it matters most.
Any time she's been shown working against the Bush/Cheney plan, it's all been an act. On the issues that are really important the those scum they get away scott free with her help.
"Impeachment is off the table." Sound familiar?
Maybe it works to some extent, but it's hard for me to picture tough street kids and juvenile gang members getting to fired up about golf. Especially kids in the big cities. Where do they play?
“We need something really attractive to engage the gangs and the street kids, golf is the hook,”
Did he actually think about that statement before he said it, or did Flores fill in the blank with the word golf? Golf is supposed to attract urban, inner city, poor youths? When club memberships start at, like $15,000 a year? Mr. Flores, you want to run that by us again?
mhj555 @ 12:
Sorry but she has had her fingers in her ears, singing "La La La La La" since 2006.
Guess when you have all that $$$$ you have to play the game huh Nance?
I just can't picture members of a big city gang debating whether to do gang stuff or meet at the club house on the golf course for a quick nine holes before lunch.
so I checked CNN for all the lastest on Kucinich's AOI ....{crickets}
hmmmm thats strange ....
but GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!????????
"Tori Spelling gives birth to baby girl"
pissed off patricia @ 22:
They wouldnt like the plaid pants anyway.
Golf?!?!?!?!?!?
How about jobs?
Murray Waas now has the Nightline video link posted on his site; it's worth watching. Most of the "needy" juveniles they show playing gulf appear to be affluent white children (with a few black children thrown in) while the truly desperate children from San Diego's Vista program (ranked 1 out of 104 - and got no funding) all appeared to be poor intercity Hispanics. You think the fact that George H. W. Bush is on the First Tee Programs board had anything to do with the decision. Naaah!
This is just another fine example of Bush's philosophy of "
NoAll children left behind" unless your affluent evangelical children.I'm starting a foundation "Golfing for Jesus."
Anybody else want in on this action?
Are we sick of morons telling us truly stupid shit with a strait face yet? I can't imagine how utterly deranged the 50 programs WORSE than this had to be.
"Ah 'usta play goff, til I quit for our brave sodjers ... and look how successful it made me!"
---George.
This is a little Off Topic but I was just thinking about the price of Oil & Gas......
How about that Cheney secret energy summit? What went on in that meeting? Who was in attendance? Did all of the players involved become richer since the big Cheney energy meeting? This is the question MSM should be asking!
Funny how the price of oil just continued to rise since Cheney's big meeting.
taller ghost walt @ 27:
Cool - We can theach our children how to walk across the water traps...
Just another two cents here.
Consider this: I once had a student(SED=severely emotionally disturbed) whose mother was a crack whore. David lived with his grandparents, they were very close. Grandfather decides he's going to get his daughter off the streets. He gets knifed in the process, and dies. Grandmother is under so much stress, she dies of a heart attack two months later.
David ends up sleeping on a couch in his Auntie's garage. She doesn't want him in the house!! It takes everything a team of three teachers have to help this kid get through the day...........and NO, he wasn't on any drugs leagal or otherwise.
I'm sure if the funding for our program had been cut, he would have transitioned to a Golf Program with no problems what-so-ever!!!
These people who came forward have my total respect, and Flores is a piece of SHIT for playing games with our tax dollars. I'm feeling very ill right now...........Elaine Bennett's program was the breaking point.
I thought scott peterson was in jail for killing his wife and unborn child
no wonder this thing is poorly managed
Forgive me for going off the path for a second, but McCain is speaking before some group in DC about the economy. He keeps getting interrupted over and over by protesters. I'm waiting for him to blow. It could happen. It's already causing him to screw up some of his reading off the teleprompter. Doing the sort of stuff bush does, where you realize his last sentence didn't make a lick of sense.
Can California voters impeach Nancy Pelosi please? (or is it something the California legislature has to do???)
This is an appropriation of the same kind of idea behind the old Midnight Basketball programs. While the Republicans ripped and ridiculed Midnight Basketball, it appears they are perfectly OK with teaching kids golf.
Bush cronyism and corruption. Its not an aberation its a religion.
I. I am the Commander in Chief you shall have no other other leaders before me. If you do there is always Gitmo.
II. You shall not criticize me. The Corporate Media is on my side.
III. Observe the work day and keep it holy by working harder while I am on vacation.
IV. Honor my Father and my friends and give them the most lucrative Government Contracts.
V. You shall not kill. Heh heh. Just kidding.
VI. You shall not commit adultery, Bill.
VII. You shall not steal, that's my perogative.
VIII. You shall not bear false witness, we have an entire branch of Government for that.
IX. You shall not.
X. I shall.
Now watch this drive.
pissed off patricia @ 19:
Why, all those country clubs located within walking distance of every major downtown city core...
Golf sucks!
An elitist sport at best IMHO...
And to think those SONS-OF-BITCHES chased the Clintons around with bullshit like Whitewater, trooper-gate, travel-gate, and a stained dress from a horney promiscuous Commander in Chief.
Where are the balls in this Congress?? Where is the IMPEACHMENT call?? Pelosi, get the f*ck out of the way if you aren't willing to lead, and the rest of you lame ass politicians DO YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL JOB!!!! Protect this country from sons-of-bitches like this ENTIRE ADMINISTRATION!!
God help us!!
Shows how out of touch the blue blood GOPers are -- they think at-risk youth would want to recreate the same way rich old white guys do.
earl @ 23:
And don't expect to find anything about the original post either.
But politico.com put up a front page story about Jim Johnson's alleged dirty laundry and his links to Obama:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080610/pl_politico/10971
Never mind that they could fill a phone book with similar stories about "war-hero maverick" John Mc-F*cking-Cain.
Biggus Diggus @ 42:
Nah, nah, nah -- you're missing the point. This program appeals to those kids' sense of fashion!!! Who could resist those swinging styles?!? Especially the argyle socks and tam o'shanters! Seriously, dude.%-}
How many kids in gangs would give two shits about golf? 5? lol
Can anyone translate "Cronyism, Fraud, Waste and Abuse" into Latin? They have to start working on the Bush presidential coin.
I know, I post that same joke all the time, but it's FUNNY (in a sadly pathetic end-times sort of way).
momly @ 43:
I just want to be there when the dude at the pro shop asks if they want to buy some knickers.
We are the chumps here. The fact that we still treat this administration as if were legitimate makes us fools. The emperor wears no clothes. This current regime is a criminal organization, period. Let's stop acting surprised when they, gasp, act like one.
Like Wow, I can't believe the Bush Administration could do anything like this.
xoites defends Constitution @ 37:
OMG! I'm saving this one for my bulliten board :D Gotta love it!
At the risk of being contrary, my daughter is in the First Tee Program, and it is a great program for very little money. I realize this may be misguided, but I'm happy about the funding being available, because otherwise there is no way my family could afford to get a 7 year old playing golf.
this should be HEADLINE news,
but no they are too busy trying convince
everyone that Obama and mcsame are neck and neck and
are on some kind of even playing field.
why do we let these people turn America into a bad joke.
charlie gibson and his ilk should be fired and demoted
to some job where they can learn the value of honest work.
where they can produce something meaningful to society.
HAHAHAHAHAHAH yeah and pigs will fly out of my ......
And just to be clear, it is held at an inner-city course, and most of the kids are middle to low income and mixed ethnically.
It's time we stop thinking of the GOP as a political party. It is, in reality, a criminal enterprise. I think every ranking member of the GOP should be prosecuted under the RICO statutes. Seriously, these guys are no different from the Mob.
t4toby @ 50:
There are poor and working class kids out there who have been abandoned by everybdody - parents, teachers, society in general. These kids have needs much greater needs than to learn to play golf. By the way,to pose a question often raised by "conservatives" when it comes to real social programs, why should my tax money go to teach your kid golf?
a devise has not yet been invented to measure my lack of surprise that bushco. has politicised yet another aspect of the taxpayers government.
how will the repube attackers handle peterson considering he actually did quit at the time.
While it is outrageous that the connections that the lower ranked programs had got them the money, equally troubling to me was why some of the top ranked programs were rejected. It's not in this clip, but I saw the Nightline report last night, and the part they left out said that one program didn't get funding because they distributed condoms and family planning advice, and it also said that no funding was given to programs that dealt with LGBT youth. Undoubtedly, Flores being a born-again Christian played a role in that.
t4toby @ 51:
Nonsense..............is she an at risk child? Does she meet that criteria? Does this program meet the needs of the children who need it most? That is the point. There are children who have devasting life situations, that is what the grant money is intended to alleviate. Not to help a kid perfect a golf swing, for chrissakes..........LEAVE IT TO THOSE SPENDING-LIKE-IT'S-OUR-TAX DOLLARS-REPUBLICONS to rationalize the justification of GOLF over the programs ranked in the top twenty for effectiveness!!!!
BrokenArrow @ 32:
Never quoted myself before, but this IS the profile of an At-Risk teen..........and probably not as tough as a lot of other kids' lives. There is a huge discrepency between learning how to swing a golf club, and learning how to survive and somehow try to thrive with a tough-as-hell life situation.
Enough said!
Good points, all. I always wondered how I got a year of golf lessons for $65.
Should I pull her out of the program because of where the funding comes from?
t4toby @ 51:
I don't dispute that it may be a good program that helps some kids. What is the crux of the problem is that it was judged to be the 47th most effective of all the programs that put in proposals. The this program that was far down the list gott a lions share of the money while more effective programs got none. Since Poppy Bush is involved with the golf program it gives of the appearance of inpropriety. Whether there is inpropriety is moot because as we always said in government contracting, "The appearance of inpropriety is often just as bad as actual inpropriety because it causes people even more reason to not trust their government".
I'm glad your daughter is experiencing a sport she may not have had access to. I just hope that the other programs that have proved themselves have a chance to get the funding they need to continue helping the community and country.
♠Bangkok-Bob♠ @ 4:
The CNN ticker tape thing had something about the Kucinich impeachment articles.
It ended with the queen of the hills quote, "impeachment is off the table."
That's all I've seen in the librul msm about it.
Beacuse there is nothing a young criminal wants to do more than hit the links wearing plaid pants with a polo shirt tucked inside. Honestly, they don't even TRY to act like they care anymore. They are just shoveling out whatever is left in the treasury before they have to leave.
Because if they had subsidized polo, that would be elitist.
Federal money for golf or basketball or any physical activity is not that bad an idea, you may save money in the future by having more productive citizens who require less money for health care. Like the rest of the federal government that they hate.
Actually, it's helping me right now. Reading this, I'm hyperventilating, my pulse is racing and I'm getting plenty of exercising running around screaming like Lewis Black. The bleeding from my ears is surely transient.
Whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger.
The christain monaker is just for the convenience, it allows them to lie to people that think they are what they say they are no questions ask.
So pitiful.
carefulwiththatAXEeugene @ 52:
Yes like license plates!
t4toby @ 51:
Fine, did it prevent her from joining a gang, or from you paying for some lessons?
One of the biggest scams of the bush era is the increase in funding for Abstinece Programs.
Millions of tax dollars for what? Posters in the cafeteria? "Experts" and "counselors" to give auditorium speeches? And all the while teenage premarital sex continues.
What a scam.
What a great segment. Hats off to AbC, for once.
I can't wait to watch this loser before Waxman's committee.
Impeach and imprison!
If only the Democrat-led leadership in Congress had the guts to impeach this criminal president, they would find that not only would they have the support and backing of a majority of the American public, but also the rest of the world, likely guaranteeing a Democrat win in November for the White House.
The strength of America has always relied on the foundations set forth in its laws and Constitution. To continue to ignore those cherished laws now in the republic's time of need, is a crime in itself, and indeed possibly even a greater one.
Login or Register to post comments.