Issa's Billable Bonanza: I'm Afraid of the Kenyan

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Our theme song is based on Made for TV's 1983 song, Afraid of the Russians.

I'd Like to feed the children
Find a cure for disease
Rebuild the cities
and Plant a lot of trees

I'd like to help the sick
Build factories
Give money to students
hospitals and galleries

But, I'm afraid of the Kenyan
I can't sleep at night
So afraid of the Kenyan
Afraid we've got to fight.

I found a YouTube link: Afraid of the Russians.

Unfortunately, we'll have no money available for health care or rebuilding infrastructure. No, the money is headed for buying beachfront property and vacation homes at ski resorts. I got the title for the link and the introductory text from the article in the dead tree edition.

Bring on the Lawyers

With the GOP's new House leadership vowing to launch investigations, lawyers can count on a billable bonanza.

By Amanda Becker
Monday, December 13, 2010

California Republican Darrell Issa has made no secret that come January there is a new sheriff in town.

The incoming chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has promised to conduct a blitz of investigations into government waste, publicly urging his subcommittees to hold two hearings a week for 40 weeks in the new year and promoting legislation that would extend the authority of federal agency watchdogs to ferret out fraud.

Though the frequency of hearings was meant to be "illustrative and not literal," according to an Issa spokesman, the sheer scope of the congressman's plan, crafted as part of larger Republican agenda to target government spending, has area lawyers gearing up.

"If there's a hearing a day, there are subpoenas. Whenever there are subpoenas, there are people needing representation close behind," said Melanie Sloan, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who is leaving the watchdog group in January to join lawyer, lobbyist and media fixture Lanny J. Davis at his namesake firm, Lanny J. Davis & Associates.
....

"We're going to see more of these cases than we can shake a stick at," said Stephen M. Ryan, head of {area firm McDermott Will & Emery's} government strategies group. "It will make the attorneys on the criminal defense bar wealthy beyond the imagination to defend all those depositions."

[geek tragedy]

1. Moving from CREW to Lanny Davis's firm?

:puke: