Monday, September 26, 2005
What a Tangled Web
Joseph Schmitz, until recently the Inspector General at the Pentagon, left that job "amid accusations that he stonewalled inquiries into senior Bush administration officials suspected of wrongdoing."
He was promptly hired by the Prince Group, parent company of Blackwater USA. Blackwater USA is "a private security company with millions of dollars in contracts in Iraq." (Blackwater USA also got contracts to provide "private security" in New Orleans, not just protecting rich people's property from all those hordes of looters but working under a contract with the Department of Homeland Security.)
Blackwater's CEO and co-founder, Erik Prince, is the son of a co-founder of the Family Research Council and the brother of Betsy DeVos.
Betsy DeVos is the former chair of the Michigan Republican Party; she's so extreme that former governor John Engler publicly opposed her agenda. Betsy is Lord Voldemort in drag.
Betsy's husband, Dick DeVos, is the son of the co-founder of Amway. (Yes, that Amway.) He's also the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for governor of Michigan; he's already running on a platform of "Gov. Granholm caused Michigan's high unemployment rate", notwithstanding that, as head of Amway, he eliminated 1,400 jobs in Michigan and outsourced thousands more to China.
But wait, there's more about Mr. Schmitz.
Jane Hamsher of firedoglake reminds us that Joseph Schmitz is the son of California Republican John Schmitz, who ran on "the family values" platform and considered Ronald Reagan a pinko. The thing is, Joseph was John's son by a woman other than John's wife. Joseph had a half-sister (John's "real" family) who grew up to be Mary Kay LeTourneau.
Do I need to mention the huge sums of money these people have given to Bush and the GOP?
These are the people who claim to be the party of morality.
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