Ted "Series of Tubes" Stevens Gets Slapped with Seven Felony Charges

Recently, I have been quite upset over the general lack of punishment (or, rather, rewards) for the members of the Bush administration who have so obviously been involved in scandal and crime. The Daily Show, as usual, has done an excellent job of editing together only a portion of the insanity (oh, and more from John Oliver. Love!). Though this isn't Karl Rove caliber, I got to feel just a little bit better today when Ted Stevens was caught concealing more than $250,000 worth of gifts that he received from an Alaska oil services company. Some of those "gifts" included a new first floor, a finished full basement, a wraparound deck, plumbing, electrical and heating work for his Alaska home. Of course, he says he is innocent. Whatever, dude- I'm sure VECO Corp just accidentally gave him a quarter of a million dollars, and reporting it just slipped his mind! It happens to the best of us!

"According to the indictment, the total amount of gifts that Sen. Stevens is alleged to have received over the duration of the offense is greater than $250,000. Also according to the indictment, these items were not disclosed on Sen. Stevens' financial disclosure forms, which he filed under penalties of perjury, either as gifts or as liabilities, and further, that Sen. Stevens did not reimburse or repay VECO or its chief executive officer for these items." — Matthew Friedrich, chief of the Justice Department's criminal division. (Associated Press)