squidpants

so the House voted today to approve a Constitutional amendment banning flag burning, which I think is stupid. Burning the flag is a political statement, and the last time I checked, that was allowed under our Constitution. When I read this article about the vote, this quote stuck out at me:

"Ask the men and women who stood on top of the Trade Center," said Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham, R-Calif. "Ask them and they will tell you: pass this amendment."

First off, Randy "Duke", I'm glad you speak for all of them. But I'm not sure they'd all want to ban a political protest like this. And then I saw something else in the LA Times: there are a bunch of questions about Randy "Duke" regarding improper ties to defense contractors. Apparently Cunningham sold his house at an inflated value to a defense contractor who was a donor to his campaign. The contractor sold the house 7 months later for a $700,000 loss. Thus, the contractor bought the house for $700,000 more than it was worth. And this happened after that previously little-known contractor happened to start getting lots of government contracts. Cunningham had also been living on the contractor's yacht on the Potomac for months. He seems like a real jerk, even if he was apparently the inspiration for Tom Cruise's character in "Top Gun." He also previously made a joke about a rectal exam he got, saying it was not natural, unless you were Barney Frank (a gay congressman). Hilarious. (Link here) There's a lot more bad stuff about him, including stuff about the Tailhook scandal, on this anti-Cunningham site.