Remorse and religion is the standard of those representatives pleading guilty to government bribes and lies. Courage and conviction is the standard of American whistleblowers, Sibel Edmonds and Bunnatine Greenhouse. Is there a Patriot Act that can protect whistleblowers and reflect the standards of how patriots are free to act?

Remorse and religion is the standard of those representatives pleading guilty to government bribes and lies. Courage and conviction is the standard of American whistleblowers, Sibel Edmonds and Bunnatine Greenhouse. Is there a Patriot Act that can protect whistleblowers and reflect the standards of how patriots are free to act?

Although presently overshadowed by even larger scandal, Americans recently watched a 63-year-old man weep on TV because he chose to plead guilty to a timeline of bribery charges that he persistently denied over many months of investigation. This United States representative and former military hero pled guilty in order to guarantee himself 10 years rather than a lifetime in jail. At the moment of his televised and very dramatic confession, mainstream media told us little about the nature of his crime(s) or who else was involved and to what cost to taxpayers.

One of Randy "Duke" Cunningham's fellow conspirators was convicted felon Thomas Kontogiannis, a Long Island developer who was convicted in a New York schools bribery scandal in 2002. Kontogiannis sought Representative Cunningham's help in seeking a presidential pardon. Ultimately, Kontogiannis decided not to pursue such a pardon. His intention, however seems to imply the level of corruption supporting this present administration.

The day Cunningham pled guilty, TV cameras and journalists gave much focus on remorse and further spiritual growth. There were no questions from the press about presidential pardons. Instead, long time friend of Rep. Cunningham, Rep. Duncan Hunter, came forward as a faith-based born-again Christian friend who asked the American public to "look beyond" the crimes at hand.

Another such zealot, Jack Abramoff, was just quoted as saying: "Words will not ever be able to express my sorrow and my profound regret for all my actions and mistakes. I hope I can merit forgiveness from the Almighty and those I've wronged or caused to suffer."

While the media presents this pathetic sight of Jack's guilt, it quietly omits Abramoff's association with Zionism (Christian and Jewish) in directly funding anti-Intifada militias in Israel via a "front" organization called the Capital Athletic Foundation. According to Newsweek, $140,000 of this inner city children's fund was diverted and used to purchase sniper scopes, night-vision binoculars, camouflage suits, thermal imagers and other material which Abramoff's foundation called "security" equipment. The paramilitary gear ended up in the town of Beitar Illit, an ultra-Orthodox outpost presiding on Palestinian land.

There seems to be a plethora of names -- Rove, DeLay, Cunningham, Abramoff, and Scanlon -- betraying American interests for religious ideology, greed and power; names who are now very busy praying for the best deals to save themselves from doing extra time in jail.

How can the American public measure the true expense such scoundrels and their deals costs us in money desperately needed elsewhere? But while we Americans suffer gross dollar losses from corrupt officials and their endless prosecutions, how does the Republic measure the cost to American lives because of the wrongful exchanges of intelligence between the ultra-secretive Office of Special Plans, Wolfowitz-Feith and the Zionist special interest lobby AIPAC?

Slowly, and with great resistance towards getting at the truth, the who, how, and why behind the reasons that American sons and daughters were so rashly sent into an endless occupation and suicide "mission" in Iraq begins to unravel the complex lies and deceits given to the American public.

Also in scurrilous association of sharing classified secrets with the same Zionist lobby is Larry Franklin. In August, a Grand Jury indicted Larry Franklin, a former Pentagon analyst on Iran, who pled guilty to leaking classified information to Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, two senior staffers at the AIPAC. Rosen, former foreign policy chief at AIPAC, and Weissman, Iran analyst, are waiting to stand trial. Both were fired but AIPAC pledged to pay all legal fees. But guess what? According to the Jewish Exponent, AIPAC is presently not paying these legal fees because the cost is spiraling out of control and the organization might suffer for it. What an interesting idea about legal cost controls!

Relative to the Wrongdoers and the “culture of bribery in Congress,