The Beat Goes On

We're having a heat wave,
A tropical heat wave,
The temperature's rising,
It isn't surprising
--Heat Wave, Irving Berlin

And men still keep on marching off to war
--The Beat Goes On, Sonny and Cher
___________

Yes, were having free elections in Iraq, but things are still swill here in the Sunshine State. And of course, Jeb, Alberto, et. al., turn a blind eye. It seems we've exported democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan, and have left little for use by the U.S. citizen taxpayers.

''A government watchdog group filed a complaint Friday asking the Federal Election Commission to fine Sen. Mel Martinez nearly $800,000 for numerous election law violations disclosed in a recent government audit.

The complaint by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington outlines numerous audit findings of the Florida Republican's 2004 Senate campaign (FEC Urged to Fine Martinez Campaign.)''

So the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics and Washington [CREW] must file the case. How does this group even have time to file complaints? Strangely absent is the Department of Justice.

''The violations committed by Martinez for Senate are unprecedented in both size and scope," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW. "Basically, Mel Martinez broke the law in order to win an election. Now, years later, he is a sitting senator and the chairman of the Republican National Committee [what else?] A failure by the FEC to severely sanction the Martinez for Senate campaign committee will demonstrate that violating the law pays." Tell me something I don't know.

Of course, the senator's attorney Ben Ginsberg dismisses it as a "nuisance complaint against a Republican candidate," but the truth is, this is the result of an FEC audit.

''In the FEC audit released last month, government investigators found that the Martinez campaign repeatedly received donations that exceeded federal limits. The campaign has said it has already refunded $97,000 of those contributions.''

Which is a goodwill gesture, I suppose, but a little shy of the full $800,000. If the FEC findings are correct, then the Senator from Florida did in fact buy his Senate seat will ill-gotten booty. Money is money, after all.

Meanwhile, Dick Cheney still gets $1 million-plus deferred compensation from Halliburton. It's called compensation by some; I call it blood money.