Forced Abortions & Sweatshops: A Look at Abramoff and Delay's Ties

[sweetm2475]

From Democracy Now:

We speak with ABC News' Brian Ross who exposed in 1998 the horrific labor conditions in the U.S. territory of Saipan. At the time, Jack Abramoff was Saipan's hired gun on K Street and Tom DeLay was one of the island's chief advocates on Capitol Hill. DeLay backed the sweatshop owners even though it was exposed that the factory was forcing women to have abortions and treated workers like indentured servants.

Controversy is nothing new to Jack Abramoff. The Los Angeles Times reports Abramoff’s first political scandal dates back to 1972 when he ran for student council president at the Hawthorne School, an elementary and middle school in Beverly Hills California. Abramoff was reportedly disqualified for exceeding the spending limit in the race. In college Abramoff teamed up with two students who would become household names in Washington to take over the College Republican National Committee. They were anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed, founder of the Christian Coalition. After college Abramoff’s resume was diverse, from his brief Hollywood career to his secret dealings with the South African apartheid regime.

A 1995 investigation by Newsday revealed that Abramoff helped run a think–tank called the International Freedom Foundation. The organization was set up in 1986 and its goal was to improve the white South African apartheid government’s image in the West while demonizing Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress as communist tools. The Newsday report also quoted sources saying that the South African military helped finance the 1988 movie "Red Scorpion" which Abramoff wrote and produced. The movie was a sympathetic portrayal of an anti-communist African guerrilla commander and loosely based on Jonas Savimbi, the Angolan rebel leader who was an ally of both South Africa’s apartheid government and the U.S government.

We turn now to Abramoff’s special relationship with the South Pacific island of Saipan and how it connects to his ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Saipan is an American territory in the South Pacific also known as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In the mid-1990s Abramoff was on the payroll of Saipan officials aiming to stop legislation that would crack down on sweat shop conditions, which run rampant on the island. In 1997, Abramoff arranged a lavish trip to the island of Saipan for Delay.

more at:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/04/1524256

Not latest breaking news or anything, just more great work from Amy Goodman. Jeebus these people make me SICK!!!!:puke:

[stepnw1f]

1. Nothing Like Those Good Ole Family Values

fucking hypocritical evil bastards.

So ya wanna ban abortions huh? Fuck you assholes....

[MountainLaurel]

4. Now, now

Abortion is OK for those funny looking worker plebes who don't look like them or don't worship like them, don't you know? Just like being a working mother is fine for the women who clean your office or serves up your McHeartattack (in fact, to do otherwise would make them a lazy so-and-so), but is a sin for good middle-class white women.

[KittyWampus]

2. so very twisted and immoral

[Cassandra]

3. Oh, the good old days...

when ABC felt free to investigate this sort of thing. Would they do so now?

[Rob H.]

5. Al Franken talks about this is "The Truth (with Jokes)"

I wanted to find both of them and give them a good cock-punching when I was finished reading the chapter about Saipan. (DeLay is supposedly pro-life, but knows that there are forced abortions taking place on Saipan.) DeLay and Abramoff are both a couple of fucking scumbags.

[in_cog_ni_to]

6. Franken talked about this on his show yesterday.

He was DIGUSTED by what these assholes are doing in Saipan and said he thought this was one of the MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES in the Abramoff scandal. He was obviously outraged.

[Rob H.]

7. Damn, I'm sorry I missed that

Thanks for the heads-up--I'm gonna go grab the podcast of yesterday's show right now. :)