CNN Reporting: Fox Cameraman Smuggled 5 Paintings from Saddam Palace Out

[KoKo]

and ends up with one year suspended sentence and a fine.......His lawyer's defence was that his client didn't know that smuggling was against the law!

It was on CNN Headline News .......then later it was scrolled with caption "Out Foxed Smuggler."

Did anyone even know about this story?????? How much more of Iraq's treasures have been stolen by the "Meida Whores" on the ground or the "Bushies" who want to increase their "private" collections.

Disgusting. Crooks run rampant and the rest of us are trying to be honest and lead good lives......HA! Doesn't set a good examplel for any\one out there......and that kind of stuff comes back to "bite ya' one day."

[blm]

1. I think he was doing it FOR someone in power.

And that's why he got off.

[Flubadubya]

2. Again???

This isn't the first Faux journalist smuggler. Didn't this happen some months ago?

On edit: Never mind... that's what I get for not reading the whole thing. Ooops.

[Radioactive]

3. Fox gave him the boot after finding out

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A former Fox News technician who smuggled a dozen paintings from an Iraqi presidential palace into the United States was sentenced to one year of probation and fined $2,000 Friday.

Benjamin James Johnson, 27, of Alexandria, had pleaded guilty in June to a single count of smuggling. He had faced up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

<snip>

Johnson was fired by Fox after he acknowledged bringing back the items.

more at

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-smuggledpaintings0829aug29,0,1517998.story?coll=dp-headlines-virginia

[aquart]

8. Did he get fired for bringing them back?

[MidwestTransplant]

9. If he were more of a criminal,

they would give him his own show or at least have him as a regular contributor. His only mistake was that his crime wasn't serious enough!

[newyawker99]

23. Hi Radioactive!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[KoKo]

5. It just appeared half an hour ago that he was "let off" report then scroll

that's why I posted it hear...it was breaking news....Maybe he was arrested months ago.and
CNN found out what the trial outcome was today and sat on it to goad Faux tonight. :shrug:

[NNN0LHI]

4. Iraqi looters get shot like dogs. Fox news looters get probation. Nice n/t

[KoKo]

6. Do you think we will see this in newpapers tomorrow a.m? Maybe a rivalry

between Faux and CNN will erupt do to Franken's book? Who know....but whatever that this guy was let off with a suspeneded sentence is disgusting.

[TacticalPeek]

7. That stupid, maybe he'll go back for more.

I foresee ample looting opportunities.

[PartyPooper]

10. He must have read the best-selling book

"How To Deceive And Cheat The U.S. Customs-The Best Ways To Avoid Prosecution and Conviction" by Columba Bush.

http://www.angelfire.com/rant/REPIGULA/columba.html.

:evilgrin:

[Malikshah]

11. So does that mean we'll be seeing naked Fox employees now

I know the news is "old"--but it still pisses me off no end--this is what our soldiers did to looters

http://www.infowars.com/print_alibaba.html

Initially found the link on memoryhole.org

So much for the media coverage from the US

[maggrwaggr]

12. paintings were on black velvet, of naked gladiators

he should be sent to jail for bad taste, from what I've heard of the paintings in those saddam palaces.

[JackSwift]

13. Billy Pilgrim's pal got shot for pocketing a figurine

and this guy got off with nothing at all.

[0007]

14. Fox & the White House are One, 'eh?

*

[xchrom]

17. the similarity is astounding

[Wednesdays]

15. Is his lawyer Steve Martin, by chance?

His lawyer's defence was that his client didn't know that smuggling was against the law!

[0007]

18. hilarious!

LIke poopie didn't know he was throwing up when visiting Japan and wasn't aware that supermarkerts
had scanners. LOL!!

[booksenkatz]

16. What do we tell the children?

That's all we heard when Clinton was having a consensual sexual relationship. Frankly, that's a whole lot easier for me to explain to my child than it is to explain why supposedly responsible adults are stealing/looting/sacking a historical building.

[Whoa_Nelly]

19. So where did the paintings go?

After the reporter "fessed up", what happened to the paintings? Is the government keeping them? Are they being returned to Iraq? Are these paintings going on the auction block?

:wtf:

[R Hickey]

20. Ashcroft bought them for his private "art" collection

John Ashcroft is an avid black-velvet painting connaseur. His vast private collection of black-velvet nudes is the largest collection ever assembled, other than a few hords located in southwestern trailer parks.

[Whoa_Nelly]

21. ROFLMAO

Read here from a cached file, (the original link has been taken down)about AssCrack and his love of art:

http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:mXm2vOg1dQgJ:www.hscb.org/res-chats-ashcroft.htm+ashcroft+art+collection&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

<snip>
HSCB -Carolyn Parker Mayes: So can you tell us more about the more recent discussions, which led to the formation of Cultural Bureau of Homeland Security?

Atty Gen. John Ashcroft:Well Tom Ridge and I are avid painters and we share a passion for the arts. Our wives have even started an art collection with several other member of the Presidents cabinet, we purchase works and rotate them among one another's homes. We have attended a few Broadway shows, we attend the opera regularly, La Traviata is my absolute favorite, so yes, we generally just share an interest in the arts. When we were meeting more casually over a few intimate dinners, shortly after his appointment as the Director of the Office of Homeland Security, I told Tom about my passion for linking culture and politics. (Could that be synonomous with sex and whores?)

On edit: <Additional snip>
Atty Gen. John Ashcroft:In short, culture can service this great nation if used in an acceptable fashion...

There's that reference to whoring again!

[tlcandie]

22. Whenever the musems was broken into .. I knew it was * and the

wealthy who plotted it and allowed it to be looted...just like the Nazis.. sickening :puke:

[Dr Fate]

24. Conservative values?

"...You decide!"