Land of the Tinfoil Hat

It used to be that some accusations of political corruption were so far out that believing in them was akin to believing that aliens, or the CIA, were trying to control us using brain-waves, and wearing a tinfoil hat to protect oneself. Like say, hypothetically, that a major independent intelligence adviser to our oil-man president (and also a major contributor to his campaign) was working to get business helping a Communist-government-owned oil company buy a major US oil company. That's just an absurd scenario, right?

Republicans, especially those close to the President, know that national security is our primary concern. And anyone with access to intelligence, or a reasonable schooling in world history, can see that China threatens to be our largest global adversary in this century, and that it is already competing for the world's oil supply, a key resource for our economy. No patriotic American in that position would be working for the Chinese, would they?

President Bush's top independent intelligence adviser met last winter with investment bankers in China to help secure his law firm's role in lobbying for a state-run Chinese energy firm and its bid for the U.S. oil company Unocal Corp., according to his law firm, Akin Gump.

The involvement of James C. Langdon Jr., chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and a major Bush fundraiser, underscores the tangled Washington connections beneath CNOOC Ltd.'s bid. Both CNOOC and its rival for Unocal, Chevron Corp., have enlisted lobbyists and public relations professionals with deep ties to the Bush White House and Republican leaders in Congress. Wayne L. Berman, a principal lobbyist for Chevron, is a Bush "Ranger," having raised at least $200,000 for the president's campaign. His wife, Lea, is the White House social secretary.

Langdon's involvement, given his dual role as Bush intelligence adviser and energy lawyer at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, may prove politically problematic, some security experts said. Members of the intelligence board, known as PFIAB, are granted the highest security clearance and develop top-secret advisories and reports for the president, most of which are not even available to members of Congress.

Um, OK. I take a 7-3/8 size, Reynolds Heavy-Duty, please.