Meet Shawn Vasell:

Shawn Vasell, another member of Abramoff’s lobbying team, served as client manager on the Mississippi Choctaw account, and shuttled between jobs in [Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT)]‘s Montana office and Abramoff’s shop. Vasell was registered as a lobbyist for the Choctaw and Coushatta tribes in 2001, joined Burns’s staff in 2002, then rejoined Abramoff’s team as a lobbyist for the tribes in 2003.

So what was Vasell doing during his time with Abramoff’s shop? Apparently cooking the books

At today’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Army Gen. John Abizaid criticized the Vice President for suggesting the Iraq insurgency was in its last throes:

There’s a lot of work to be done against the insurgency. I’m sure you’ll forgive me from criticizing the vice president.

At today’s Press Briefing, Scott McClellan was completely incapable of acknowledging what happened:

QUESTION: But he seems to have contradicted — Abizaid seems to have contradicted what the Vice President said, on the face of it.

MCCLELLAN: No, I think you have to look at the context of the Vice President’s comments.

QUESTION: I did, I looked.

MCCLELLAN: And you don’t point them out. What did he talk about?

QUESTION: He said there are more foreign fighters coming into Iraq than there were six months ago.

MCCLELLAN: Well, we can selectively quote people or we can look at the context of the comments, and I think that’s what is important to do. That’s why I was stepping back and pointing out to you what the Vice President was talking about.

Remember: if you don’t like reality, ignore it.

At yesterday’s Senate Indian Affairs hearing, the committee revealed that one of the ways uber lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his team bilked the Choctaw Indian tribe of millions was by making them foot the bill for such personal expenses as “nonbusiness meals at Mr. Abramoff’s restaurant,” “club dues and other items hidden from the tribe.” Here are a few incredible examples from the e-mail communication released by the committee (click on small image to see the big one):

Read more

George Bush, 10/26/01:

The elected branches of our government, and both political parties, are united in our resolve to fight and stop and punish those who would do harm to the American people.

Karl Rove, 6/22/05:

Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers. Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war.

Bush should be asked to explain this difference in opinion.

RUMSFELD: We know for a fact, I know for a fact that no one in the Administration lied about weapons of mass destruction. — Fox News Radio, 6/21/05

VERSUS

RUMSFELD: We know where they are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat. — ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos, 3/30/03

Ralph Reed, 6/21/05:

Friday I spoke to Boys State, the American Legion leadership development program for young men…I urged them to get involved in the civic process [and] serve the public rather than special interests.

VERSUS

Ralph Reed, email to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, 1998:

Hey, now that I’m done with the electoral politics, I need to start humping in corporate accounts! I’m counting on you to help me with some contacts.

At Walmartfacts.com — a website set up by the retail giant — you’ll learn the company had $285.2 billion in sales last year, opposes strengthening child labor laws in Connecticut and hides the cover of Marie Clair magazine with a sheet of plastic. One statistic you won’t find: how many of its employees are forced to enroll in Medicaid for health coverage.

Inquiring minds want to know. Yesterday, Sen. Ted Kennedy, Sen. John Corzine and Rep. Anthony Weiner introduced the Health Care Accountability Act which would require “states to report annually on the number of workers relying on taxpayer-funded health programs.” Kennedy said “[p]rograms like Medicaid provide a critical safety net for low-income women and children, the disabled, and the elderly and shouldn’t be a profit center for large companies like Wal-Mart.”

Kennedy and the other bill sponsors estimate that 600,000 of Wal-Mart’s 1.3 million workers do not have company insurance. As a result “[e]very worker in America is paying a part of their taxes to pay for Wal-Mart.”

For the latest, check out walmartwatch.com.