Curt Weldon isn't my guy either. Thank goodness. If he was I certainly would be faced with yet another conundrum. [Please note at the very least Fashion Emegency needs to get a hold of this guy- he needs a makeover]
When it comes to Congressman Curt, what say ye all?
Weldon 9/11 tale unravels, but wait
Congressman has more allegations, one on bin Laden.
By Chris Mondics and Steve Goldstein Inquirer Washington Bureau
Excerpt:
"WASHINGTON - Late one night in June, Rep. Curt Weldon (R., Pa.) stood up in a largely empty House chamber and made an incendiary charge.
With dramatic rhetorical flourish, he said that a secret military intelligence program called Able Danger fingered Mohamed Atta and two other al-Qaeda hijackers before the 9/11 attacks - and that the government had failed to act....Weldon's story, which unleashed a wave of national media attention as well as probes and congressional hearings, is unraveling.
He now says that he's not sure the chart had a picture of Atta, as he has sometimes maintained, and that he has been relying on the memory of an intelligence analyst who helped produce it.
Meanwhile, other key players in the story, including Hadley, contradict Weldon, saying they never saw Atta's picture. Moreover, several government investigations have failed to find any documentation so far that the program had identified hijackers before the attacks, and Weldon has begun to allow that there are parts of his story that may not be proven.
Yet even as his story triggers more and more questions, Weldon is making explosive new allegations. He says a high-level source has told him that terrorist leader Osama bin Laden has died in Iran, where he has been in hiding.
...Weldon's allegations are the latest in a long skein of alarming scenarios that the Delaware County congressman has unspooled as he has sought to draw attention to what he seems to fervently believe are the nation's military and intelligence vulnerabilities.
On occasion, Weldon has turned out to be well ahead of the curve, as he was in the mid-1980s when he contended that the Soviet Union was violating an antiballistic-missile treaty by deploying a radar system that could be used as part of a defense to shoot down enemy rockets. And he appeared prescient with a prediction that the Russians would threaten to cut off access to their vast energy supplies as a way of pressuring neighboring states to toe their strategic political and policy lines.
He made the prediction in 2004, nearly two years before the explosions in January that disrupted gas supplies to Georgia, sabotage for which the Russians were prime suspects.
But often Weldon's nightmare scenarios seem little more than daydreams."
Full text: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/14099912.htm
Related article: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/14099928.htm
Suggested additional reading?
Hefty bill for legislators' wheels
Taxpayers shelled out more than $1 million last year for leases - some for Lexuses and SUVs.
By Matt Stearns Inquirer Washington Bureau
"WASHINGTON - Taxpayers paid more than $1 million last year to lease vehicles for members of Congress, including four from the Philadelphia region.
The cars leased included SUVs, Lexuses, Lincolns, Cadillacs, and even a BMW 530i. Some of the lease prices topped $1,000 a month."
full text: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/14075936.htm
Lobbyists under scrutiny
WILLIAM BENDER, Special to the Daily Local News
Excerpt:
"In late 2001, following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the anthrax scare, U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-7th, of Thornbury, Delaware County, went to bat for a Maryland-based biotech company that was looking to cash in on the threat of a terrorist-caused smallpox outbreak. "
full text: http://www.dailylocal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16225330&BRD=1671&PAG=461&dept_id=17782&rfi=6
http://paxnortona.notfrisco2.com/?p=3018
from www.delcotimes.com archive:
Spencer: Name-dropper has now dropped out of sight
Gil Spencer, Times Columnist (December 2004)
Excerpt:
"You’ve got to hand it to John "Digger" Dolan. The man doesn’t know the meaning of the words "quit" or "shame" or "I think I’ve had enough."
He’s the Energizer Bunny of drunken-driving, name-dropping, con artists. He just keeps going and going and going.....In the past, when Dolan has gotten in trouble over his drinking and driving (five arrests in five years) he has invoked the names of friends in high places. Most notably, U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon’s......It was Weldon’s name Dolan threw around when he was arrested in Radnor back in 2002 after he drunkenly drove through a crowd at a Fourth of July celebration.
Dolan had gotten to know Weldon by working on one of his campaigns and later sought his help in getting a federal contract for his fledgling communications company. Dolan’s most promising product was a software program that flagged suspicious calls made with pre-paid phone cards.
Weldon thought enough of Dolan and his company, Your Choice Communications, to write a letter on his behalf to the CIA’s Head of Clandestine Services. He also reportedly encouraged two congressional committees to provide millions in funding for Dolan’s firm.
So far, Weldon is the only public official who seems to have actively tried to help Digger Dolan promote his business. But since finding out Dolan was throwing his name around, Weldon and his staff have done their best to sever ties with the obnoxious, hard-drinking, bad-driving businessman."
full text: http://www.delcotimes.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1675&dept_id=18168&newsid=13557809&PAG=461&rfi=9
http://www.totallydelco.com/blog/2004/10/curt-weldon-demigod-or-pariah.html
Priceless Comment:
“Looks like old Curt might have more on his plate than the "Able Danger" cover-up to worry about now. Let's see how he handles his daughter's upcoming cover-up, Able Money Changer”
http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002727.html
Lobbying on the Hill is often a family affair
By Steve Goldstein
Inquirer Washington Bureau
Excerpt:
“WASHINGTON - The disclosure that a member of Sen. Arlen Specter's staff is married to a lobbyist who may have financially benefited from that relationship has provided a look at business as usual in the nation's capital: It's all in the family.
Whatever the outcome of a Senate ethics committee probe into the activities of Vicki Siegel Herson - an aide to the Pennsylvania Republican who until recently worked on defense appropriations - the prevalence of marital ties between lobbyists and lawmakers and staff members is unlikely to change.
....Family relationships between lobbyists and lawmakers are common enough in Washington that they often are accepted without question.
New rules on lobbying and earmarking of funds could affect the livelihoods of the spouses and other relatives of members of Congress.
....Karen Weldon, the daughter of Rep. Curt Weldon (R., Pa.), is employed by the lobbying and public-relations firm Solutions North America. The elder Weldon said she no longer did any lobbying.”
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/breaking_news/13920985.htm
