Curt, it's not Melanie Sloan. You see, the truth is, you're another punk ass bitch, crook republican.

You, Curt, are a common thief.

There's an updated story from the Associated Press on the Curt Weldon investigation that says the feds actually raided six sites today -- not just the home of the Delaware County Republican's lobbyist daughter and Delco GOP powerhouse Charlie Sexton but also two other sites in the Philly area and two in Jacksonville, Fla.

Jacksonville? That's a huge window into the investigation, because a leading client of Karen Weldon and Sexton's former lobbying firm, the Russian oil giant Itera, has its American office there. Here are some damning facts about Curt Weldon and Itera, first reported by the Los Angeles Times and summarized quite nicely in Weldon's Wikipedia entry:

Itera International Energy Corporation, a Russian company, was Solutions' first client. In May 2002, Curt Weldon had led a congressional delegation to Russia and visited Itera. At the beginning of September, Itera paid the expenses for a trip he made to New York City. The next week, Itera told Karen Weldon it would sign a contract with SNA. On September 24, Curt Weldon co-hosted an event at the Library of Congress honoring Itera's chairman. On September 26, Weldon gave a floor speech praising Itera. On September 30, SNA received a a $500,000 annual contract with Itera, with $170,000 up front. In November, Itera paid for Karen to join her father on a trip to Eastern Europe and Russia. In January 2003, Itera opened U.S. offices in Jacksonville, Fl., paying for Representative Weldon to attend the opening.

Doesn't look good, although Weldon is trying to blame all of this on Melanie Sloan and her admittedly progressive-leaning good government group CREW. Seems to us that CREW was merely doing its stated job: Looking for unethical behavior and referring it to the proper feds. The feds -- who ultimately report to a GOP-led administration -- toss most of CREW's referrals into the trash. Why not this one -- unless there's something to it?