Eu sou aquilo que Sou. Não sou a casa onde moro. Não sou o automóvel que conduzo. Não sou as roupas que visto, nem os amigos que me rodeiam. Eu sou aquilo que Sou. Só quando realizares isto, começará a tua existência a ter sentido.

"After pleading guilty last week to federal corruption charges in Washington and Florida, Jack Abramoff, former lobbyist, is learning how unpleasant disgrace can be," the New York Times will report in Tuesday editions, RAW STORY has learned. Excerpts:

Even if Abramoff wanted to escape the suburban home where he has hunkered down, the knee surgery he underwent Thursday has hobbled him. He sits at home, friends say, speculating about which of the people who no longer return his calls are making which anonymous snipes in the newspapers...

And, of course, he is dangerous. As part of his plea, Abramoff agreed to become the principal witness in what many say could be the most explosive corruption investigation in congressional history. Abramoff's ties to the Republican Party stretch into the executive branch, and he could implicate up to 12 members of Congress, people involved in the case said.

Abramoff, who will be sentenced after fulfilling his agreement to cooperate with prosecutors, continues spewing messages on his Blackberry, even though his crimes were partly exposed by hundreds of brash e-mail messages chronicling his actitivies and contempt for his clients.

"You can't stop him," one person close to him said.

Abramoff's most constant concern, people in contact with him said, is money. Despite collecting $40 million from clients in four years, he has told people that he is going broke.

Abramoff has told people that is trying to develop some income, mainly through real estate deals and finder's fees on other ventures. Yet few people want to do business with him.