Totally beyond unbelievable

i thought i knew insanity... i thought i knew fear-mongering... i thought i knew bigotry... i thought i knew hate... surprise, surprise... i didn't know this...

The John Doe Manifesto
By Michelle Malkin

i pay as little attention to hate-filled pundits as i can... oh, yes, i'm aware that they're out there and i read references to their screeds in blogs i regularly visit, but i have so little interest in their venomous spoutings that i see no point in wasting precious blog space and bandwidth giving them any more of a forum than they already have... this, however, was more than i could stomach... the link above takes you to this, as vicious a piece of totalitarian, repressive, pus-oozing, maggot-filled trash as i have ever read... i thought ann coulter was bad, but this puts her to shame... read it... read it carefully... let the full impact wash over you... see for yourself what kind of mind it must take to write something like this... the only way i can describe my own reaction is that it must be similar to watching the snake charmer play his flute and seeing the cobra rise out of the basket, looking into its poisonous eyes, and feeling paralyzed... i'm stunned... literally...

Dear Muslim Terrorist Plotter/Planner/Funder/Enabler/Apologist,

You do not know me. But I am on the lookout for you. You are my enemy. And I am yours.

I am John Doe.

I am traveling on your plane. I am riding on your train. I am at your bus stop. I am on your street. I am in your subway car. I am on your lift.

I am your neighbor. I am your customer. I am your classmate. I am your boss.

I am John Doe.

I will never forget the example of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 who refused to sit back on 9/11 and let themselves be murdered in the name of Islam without a fight.

I will never forget the passengers and crew members who tackled al Qaeda shoe-bomber Richard Reid on American Airlines Flight 63 before he had a chance to blow up the plane over the Atlantic Ocean.

I will never forget the alertness of actor James Woods, who notified a stewardess that several Arab men sitting in his first-class cabin on an August 2001 flight were behaving strangely. The men turned out to be 9/11 hijackers on a test run.

I will act when homeland security officials ask me to “report suspicious activity.”

I will embrace my local police department’s admonition: “If you see something, say something.”

I am John Doe.

I will protest your Jew-hating, America-bashing “scholars.”

I will petition against your hate-mongering mosque leaders.

I will raise my voice against your subjugation of women and religious minorities.

I will challenge your attempts to indoctrinate my children in our schools.

I will combat your violent propaganda on the Internet.

I am John Doe.

I will support law enforcement initiatives to spy on your operatives, cut off your funding, and disrupt your murderous conspiracies.

I will oppose all attempts to undermine our borders and immigration laws.

I will resist the imposition of sharia principles and sharia law in my taxi cab, my restaurant, my community pool, the halls of Congress, our national monuments, the radio and television airwaves, and all public spaces.

I will not be censored in the name of tolerance.

I will not be cowed by your Beltway lobbying groups in moderate clothing. I will not cringe when you shriek about “profiling” or “Islamophobia.”

I will put my family’s safety above sensitivity. I will put my country above multiculturalism.

I will not submit to your will. I will not be intimidated.

I am John Doe.

Pass it on.

Reader Frank e-mails that he has created "I am John Doe" buttons. Buy 'em here.

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Falling out of love with George Bush

a very public, high-level, splashy, big-time defection... there are others out there, you KNOW there are... it's time for them to come forward...

matthew dowd, former campaign strategist for bush...

Mr. Dowd became the first member of Mr. Bush’s inner circle to break so publicly with him.

He said his decision to step forward had not come easily. But, he said, his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s presidency is so great that he feels a sense of duty to go public given his role in helping Mr. Bush gain and keep power.

[...]

“I’m a big believer that in part what we’re called to do — to me, by God; other people call it karma — is to restore balance when things didn’t turn out the way they should have,” Mr. Dowd said. “Just being quiet is not an option when I was so publicly advocating an election.”

[...]

Mr. Dowd, 45, said he hoped in part that by coming forward he would be able to get a message through to a presidential inner sanctum that he views as increasingly isolated. But, he said, he holds out no great hope. He acknowledges that he has not had a conversation with the president.

naturally, somebody higher up the chain like dan bartlett would have to step forward to refute what dowd is saying... just as naturally, karl rove, who probably worked more closely with dowd than anybody else over the course of many years, besides being his boss, doesn't have anything to say...

Dan Bartlett, the White House counselor, said Mr. Dowd’s criticism is reflective of the national debate over the war.

“It’s an issue that divides people,” Mr. Bartlett said. “Even people that supported the president aren’t immune from having their own feelings and emotions.”

dowd, for his part, doesn't want to comment on rove either...

Mr. Dowd said he had not spoken to Mr. Rove in months but would not discuss their relationship in detail.

it's interesting because karl rove is probably more responsible for the creation called george w. bush than george w. bush is... maybe the man dowd "fell in love with" was the creation of rove...?

“When you fall in love like that,” he said, “and then you notice some things that don’t exactly go the way you thought, what do you do? Like in a relationship, you say ‘No no, no, it’ll be different.’ ”

[...]

“I had finally come to the conclusion that maybe all these things along do add up,” he said. “That it’s not the same, it’s not the person I thought.”

falling OUT of love with george bush... what a thought...! i'm afraid that's going to stick with me for a while like one of those obnoxious songs that you just can't get out of your head...

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"The system failed you" - unadulterated horse poop

"The problems at Walter Reed were caused by bureaucratic and administrative failures," Bush is quoted as telling the hospital's patients and staff. "The system failed you and it failed our troops and we're going to fix it."

after umpteen zillion photo-ops, scads of empty presidential promises, unequivocal demonstrations of zero follow-through, and 6-plus years of bald-faced lies, i'm sure our veterans are resting more comfortably now that they know their prez is on the case...

"I'm convinced he would honor them more if he would refrain from using soldiers as props in political theater," said Ret. Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton. "I would be very happy to see him do the Walter Reed visit more like the commander and secondarily as an inspector general, rather than as a politician."

i'm still puzzled about how they manage to animate an empty suit...

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Will the crisis between the UK and Iran lead to airstrikes on Iran?

the Steering Group of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) has some thoughts on the crisis between Iran and the United Kingdom over the seizure of 15 British naval personnel for allegedly crossing into Iranian territorial waters...

What is known at this point regarding the circumstances suggests Royal Navy misfeasance rather than deliberate provocation. The way the UK and US media has been stoked, however, suggests that both London and Washington may decide to represent the intransigence of Iranian hotheads as a casus belli for the long prepared air strikes on Iran.

[...]

Unless one’s basic intention is to provoke a hostile action to which the US and UK could “retaliate,” getting involved in a tit-for-tat contest with the Iranians is a foolish and reckless game, for it may not prove possible to avoid escalation and loss of control. And we seem to be well on our way there. If one calls Iran "evil,” arrests its diplomats, accuses it of promoting terrorism and unlawful capture, one can be certain that the Iranians will retaliate and raise the stakes in the process.

That is how the game of tit-for-tat is played in that part of the world. What British and American officials seem not to be taking into account is that the Iranians are the neighborhood toughs. In that neighborhood, they control the conditions under which the game will be played. They can change the rules freely any time they want; the UK cannot, and neither can Washington.

Provocative behavior, then, can be very dangerous, unless you mean to pick a fight you may well regret.

the most troublesome part of their article, to me at least, is this...

Bush and Cheney no doubt find encouragement in the fact that the Democrats last week refused to include in the current House bill on Iraq war funding proposed language forbidding the White House from launching war on Iran without explicit congressional approval.

If the Senate omits similar language, or if the prohibition disappears in conference, chances increase for a “pre-emptive” US and/or Israeli strike on Iran and a major war that will make the one in Iraq seem like a minor skirmish.

fortunately, saudi arabia has taken a stance on iraq that seems to have surprised bushco and does not bode well for any support bushco might have thought the saudis would give to a strike on iran... my impression is that bush, cheney & co. would prefer NOT to piss off an apparently already pissed-off saudi arabia...

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The NYT on secret testimony

my understanding was that this step was only preliminary to public hearings under oath with transcript... if not, then i have serious problems...

The House Judiciary Committee has begun conducting closed-door interviews with some of the key officials involved in the Bush administration’s purge of United States attorneys. The interviews may be harmless as long as they are merely a first step in the investigation. But they must not become a substitute for what this investigation really requires: sworn public testimony under oath by Karl Rove, the presidential adviser; Harriet Miers, the former White House counsel; and everyone else involved.

i have great faith in john conyers... i hope it's not misplaced... i know that big tent democrat over at talkleft has some serious concerns...

Why in Gawd's name was this deal struck? There is not even an executive privilege claim here. What am I missing? This seems supremely stupid to me.

let's see what happens...

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Another confession obtained through torture

allegation...

A high-level al-Qaeda suspect who was in CIA custody for more than four years has alleged that his American captors tortured him into making false confessions about terrorist attacks in the Middle East, according to newly released Pentagon transcripts of a March 14 military tribunal hearing here.

which our government provides no independent possibility of either confirming or denying...

It is impossible to confirm or evaluate Nashiri's allegations regarding his interrogation by the CIA. U.S. government officials often caution that terrorists are trained to allege abuse at the hands of their captors, and portions of the 36-page transcript that appeared to detail the locations and methods of the alleged abuse were redacted. But such allegations could call into question the veracity of Nashiri's interrogations and those of other detainees previously held at secret CIA prisons, and could make trying the men at military commissions difficult if the alleged coercion elicited misleading information.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the CIA cited "national security concerns" regarding the locations of detention facilities, interrogation techniques and operational details as rationale for the redactions.

and, no surprise, the cia will investigate itself, and we will have to trust the outcome...

Abuse allegations are generally referred to the CIA inspector general's office, which investigates from within. Defense Department and intelligence officials said Friday that allegations made during the CSRT process will be forwarded to the government agency being accused of abuse.

"I'm not going to respond to those sorts of allegations other than to emphasize that the CIA's terrorist interrogation program has been conducted lawfully, with great care and close review, producing vital information that has helped disrupt terrorist plots and save lives," said Mark Mansfield, a CIA spokesman.

whatever...

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The sunset after a week of rain

it's been raining off and on for a week... today, it rained almost all day, and, for a couple of hours, rained as hard as i've seen it rain in a long, long time... the backyard very nearly became a swimming pool and the poor box turtle was hugging the side of the house, trying to stay out of the rising water... but, this evening, as happens often here in buenos aires, there was another world class sunset... the forecast is calling for mostly cloudy tomorrow, but, after a sunset like this one, i can deal with it...

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Gonzo's malady: the Bushco memory hole syndrome

well, SOME would consider it a malady... bushco considers it a qualification...

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, amid a growing clamor for his resignation, acknowledged Friday confusion about of his role in firing eight U.S. attorneys but said he doesn't "recall being involved in deliberations" over which prosecutors were to be ousted.

"I believe in truth and accountability and every step that I've taken is consistent with that principle," Gonzales said when asked why he is not heeding calls to resign. "I am fighting for the truth as well."

early onset alzheimers...

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I was wondering when Susan Ralston was going to get called

i shall wonder no longer...

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today requested that former Special Assistant to the President, Susan Ralston, appear at a deposition on Apr. 5th, as part of the committee's ongoing investigation into the connection between the White House and lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

they're comin' thick and fast... suits me just fine...

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More on WH departures

interesting-er and interesting-er...

Several impending departures from the White House could further complicate life for the hard-pressed Bush administration.

Peter Wehner, the head of strategic initiatives, and political director Sara Taylor are expected to be heading for the White House exits soon, according to a person familiar with the situation. Barry Jackson, a longtime aide to Karl Rove, also is thought to be leaving soon. A White House spokesman confirmed Wehner’s imminent departure, but declined to comment on the others.

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Stove's gettin' REALLY hot, Karl, look out!

i'm eagerly waiting for the day when your fat ass will be sizzling on the griddle...

Multiple sources reported today that a top aide to President George W. Bush's key adviser Karl Rove will soon step down from her job in the White House. The aide, Sara M. Taylor, was identified in yesterday's hearing with a former top Justice Department official as seeking the resignation of a US Attorney in Arkansas.

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Uh-oh... Condi better shine up her Ferragamos

Condoleezza Rice and Ferragamo shoe

The House Government Committee today formally requested Secretary Rice to testify before the Oversight Committee on April 18th regarding the Bush administration's claims that Iraq sought uranium from Niger, White House treatment of classified information, the appointment of Ambassador Jones as "special coordinator" for Iraq, and other subjects...

things are heatin' right up, eh...?

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The Guardian on the British captives in Iran

a little context to set the stage...

meteor blades, front-page posting on daily kos...

Iran, already diplomatically isolated, made a major mistake with its broadcast of Royal Navy sailor Faye Turney, dressed in hijab, and confessing that she and her fellow Brits had made an incursion into Iranian territory. Her first letter of apology for her part in this matter has now been followed up by another:

The letter said: "Isn't it time to start withdrawing our forces from Iraq and let them determine their own future?" The overtly political language supposedly used by the 26-year-old servicewoman led British officials immediately to declare that it was written under duress and dismiss it as crude propaganda.

but, amidst all the charges and counter-charges, the guardian provides some much-needed perspective...

Turney may have been "forced to wear the hijab", as the Daily Mail noted with fury, but so far as we know she has not been forced into an orange jumpsuit. Her comrades have not been shackled, blindfolded, forced into excruciating physical contortions for long periods, or denied liquids and food. As far as we know they have not had the Bible spat on, torn up or urinated on in front of their faces. They have not had electrodes attached to their genitals or been set on by attack dogs.

They have not been hung from a forklift truck and photographed for the amusement of their captors. They have not been pictured naked and smeared in their own excrement. They have not been bundled into a CIA-chartered plane and secretly "rendered" to a basement prison in a country where torturers are experienced and free to do their worst.

OUCH...!

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After "young and inept" Mr. Sampson's testimony, things look much worse

that's certainly my take as well, and, while i shouldn't be terribly surprised that it's not in screaming, half-page headlines in every newspaper in the country, i am still nonplussed that the grave implications for gonzo and the white house aren't making more of a bigger splash...

The administration insists that purge was not about partisan politics. But Mr. Sampson’s alternative explanation was not very credible — that the decision about which of these distinguished prosecutors should be fired was left in the hands of someone as young and inept as Mr. Sampson. If this were an aboveboard, professional process, it strains credulity that virtually no documents were produced when decisions were made, and that none of his recommendations to Mr. Gonzales were in writing.

It is no wonder that the White House is trying to stop Congress from questioning Mr. Rove, Harriet Miers, the former White House counsel, and other top officials in public, under oath and with a transcript. The more the administration tries to spin the prosecutor purge, the worse it looks.

i am still of the very strong opinion that this disgraceful politicization of the justice department is only the tip of an extremely large iceberg... when we eventually find out the full story of how this administration has gone about its business, we will truly be horror-struck...

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Sampson displayed the recall of a man who recently fell off a ladder

the wapo's dana milbank has a superb summary of sampson's performance yesterday...

Sampson seemed content to fall on his sword rather than naming names when he was questioned about the prosecutor mess. Only the red felt on the witness table concealed the blood. "I could have and should have helped to prevent this," Sampson offered. "I let the attorney general and the department down. . . . I failed to organize a more effective response. . . . It was a failure on my part. . . . I will hold myself responsible. . . . I wish we could do it all over again."

The witness fessed up to an expanding list of sins. He admitted that the Justice Department was trying to circumvent the Senate confirmation process. He confessed that he proposed firing Patrick Fitzgerald, the prosecutor in the Valerie Plame leak case. "I regretted it," he explained. "I knew that it was the wrong thing to do."

But the self-sacrificing witness still managed -- inadvertently, perhaps -- to implicate Gonzales and Bush's chief political strategist, Karl Rove. Sampson, who resigned from the Justice Department earlier this month, admitted that Gonzales "had received a complaint from Karl Rove about U.S. attorneys in three jurisdictions." Asked about the accuracy of Gonzales's claim of non-involvement, Sampson confessed: "I don't think it's entirely accurate what he said."

and i laughed out loud when i read this...

"I can't pretend to know or remember every fact that may be of relevance," he warned at the start -- and he wasn't kidding. He used the phrase "I don't remember" a memorable 122 times.

It may have been a tactical effort to limit his risk of perjury, but Sampson displayed the recall of a man who recently fell off a ladder.

besides being a "loyal bushie" and having the ability to unquestioningly take direction, it seems that a faulty memory is also a prerequisite for achieving a political appointment in the bush administration...

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Go wash your mouth out with soap, Mitt

a few thoughts here... one, mitt romney isn't going to come within a country mile of being nominated and having to face the challenge of picking a vice presidential running mate... two, mitt's plummeting credibility will insure he will have very little to say in whoever WILL be the running mate of whoever IS nominated... three, the mere thought of newt gingrich running for vice president on ANY party's ticket EVER simply insures i will wake up later tonight with acute indigestion... four, if there is EVER AGAIN another bush on ANY national ticket, i may well have to renounce my citizenship...

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Thursday dropped some names of potential running mates in the 2008 race, but added such speculation is a bit premature.

Among those Romney mentioned for the second slot on the Republican ticket were three Southerners: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH...!

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Conyers is turning the screws on Bush

conyers is one hell of an impressive guy to watch in action...

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced this afternoon a deal with the Justice Department to allow at least eight current and former employees to sit for transcribed interviews with House and Senate Democrat and Republican investigators. The first hearing, with Michael Elston, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General, will occur at 10 AM tomorrow.

However, the agreement could not be concluded without Congressional leaders agreeing that investigators will keep "the content of the interviews confidential pending consultation with Department officials."

Conyers appeared to suggest that the deal would ratchet up the pressure on President George W. Bush to make White House aides available for testimony without subpoenas being issued.

"If we are going to get to the bottom of this, we must talk to those involved in guiding the decision-making process. This agreement, which involves on the record interviews in advance of possible hearings, helps bring us down that path," he said. "We still anxiously await further negotiation with the White House."

you're a pretty sly guy, john...

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I was not elected to serve one party, but to serve one nation

...George W. Bush, December 13, 2000, accepting the Presidency of the United States, in a speech in Austin, Texas

a truly and tragically historic bush whopper...

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Sampson on firing Fitzgerald: "They just looked at me like I had said something totally inappropriate"

the fact that this man could have made a suggestion like this, even in jest, tells me more about what a clueless son-of-a-bitch he is than anything else possibly could...

In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today, witness D. Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, admitted that he had suggested removing Patrick Fitzgerald from his position as a US Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois while Fitzgerald was still working as the Special Prosecutor in the case involving former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

In an exchange with Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), the Senator asked if he had ever recommended the removal of Fitzgerald from office.

"In one meeting, I raised Patrick Fitzgerald, and immediately after I did it, I regretted it, I knew it was the wrong thing to do, it was inappropriate, and [Harriet] Miers and [Bill] Kelly said nothing, they just looked at me.

Durbin then asked how they reacted.

"They just looked at me like I had said something totally inappropriate," he explained.

unbelievable... or, should i say, un-friggingly-believable...

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Senate Judiciary Committee abruptly suspends hearing

hmmmm...

[UPDATE]

back in progress...

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Larisa has her summary up on today's hearing

the top three...

1. Alberto Gonzales lied... he did not contradict, or confuse, or forget. He lied to the public and lied to Congress.

2. Kyle Sampson lied under oath and repeatedly (when transcript is out, take a gander). I find especially interesting his claims that over a 2 year period he kept only a folder which he purged regularly, leaving no trail of how he came to the decisions he did.

3. Kyle Sampson has a bad memory (see above live blogging), but decided to purge his documents over a 2 year period because he could still remember why he was firing attorneys.

she goes on to express amazement at sampson's unbelievable lack of both legal knowledge and legal experience... are we surprised...? political hacks do not need to demonstrate qualifications other than unswerving loyalty and the ability to take direction...

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Bush's lies are emboldening journalists - FINALLY

"What would happen in Iraq if U.S. troops just got up and left?" asked Matt Lauer in an NBC Today Show report on President Bush's stated intent to veto a bill sent to him by Congress that would impose a timeline for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq.

yes... what WOULD happen...? well, a lot has ALREADY happened because of us, and, if we stay, more of the same is on the way...

"The region has become more dangerous because we've been there, the longer we stay the more dangerous it will become," said former National Security Agency direction Lt. Gen. William Odom on the prospect of a heightened civil war.

"I think when you really scrub it, the prospects for outside intervention and a regional war are actually pretty slim," said William Reidel, who worked in both the Clinton and Bush National Security Council.

As for the prospect of an "emboldened" Al Qaeda, Odom suggested that terrorists now in Iraq are less concerned with transnational terrorist activities than with their domestic conflict. "They're homegrown Iraqi terrorists who are much more concerned with winning the civil war in Iraq," said Odom. Added Reidel, "Once you take away the American occupation, Al Qaeda's gonna find that it has an awful lot of enemies in Iraq, people whom it has walked over in the last few years and who are gonna want revenge."

where were these friggin' reports when we needed 'em...?

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Germans think the United States is more dangerous than Iran

not a big surprise...

Forty-eight percent of Germans think the United States is more dangerous than Iran, a new survey shows, with only 31 percent believing the opposite.

[...]

Young Germans in particular -- 57 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds, to be precise -- said they considered the United States more dangerous than the religious regime in Iran.

but, in keeping with my own hot button for supplying context, let's take a look at a few snips from the rest of the article... it seems hypocrisy isn't a peculiarly american trait...

Anti-Americanism is hypocrisy at its finest. You can spend your evening catching the latest episode of "24" and then complain about Guantanamo the next morning. You can claim that the Americans have themselves to blame for terrorism, while at the same time calling for tougher restrictions on Muslim immigration to Germany. You can call the American president a mass murderer and book a flight to New York the next day. You can lament the average American's supposed lack of culture and savvy and meanwhile send off for the documents for the Green Card lottery.

[...]

Iran is a different story. The last time someone made a joke on German TV about an Iranian leader, the outcome was not pleasant. Exactly 20 years ago, Dutch entertainer Rudi Carell produced a short TV sketch portraying Ayatollah Khomeini dressed in women's underwear. Carell received death threats. The piece, which lasted all of a few seconds, led to flights being cancelled and German diplomats being expelled from Tehran. Carell apologized. Jokes about fat Americans are just safer.

so, what would you say are the stereotypes americans hold about germans...? as a person of at least half german descent, i have my own list... what's yours...?

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From the mouths of babes

i especially like the "throw him in jail" part...



(thanks to the all seeing roz via open your mind's eye...)

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Bushmath: 300,000 = 150,000,000

what a nauseating statistic...

[N]ew analyses of 2005 tax data shows that the top 300,000 Americans collectively enjoyed almost as much income as the bottom 150 million Americans.

Per person, the top group received 440 times as much as the average person in the bottom half earned, nearly doubling the gap from 1980.

but wait, there's more...

[G]ains went largely to the top 1 per cent, whose incomes rose to an average of more than 1.1 million dollars each, an increase of more than 139,000 dollars, or about 14 per cent.

The top 10 percent, roughly those earning more than 100,000 dollars, also reached a level of inincome share not seen since 1928, according to the report.

1928... hmmm... that rings a bell... something else happened around then, didn't it...? oh, yeah...

Stock Market Crash of 1929

Millionaire margin investors became bankrupt instantly, as the stock market crashed on October 28 th and 29 th. By November of 1929, the Dow sank from 400 to 145. In three days, the New York Stock Exchange erased over 5 billion dollars worth of share values! By the end of the 1929 stock market crash, 16 billion dollars had been shaved off stock capitalization.

To make matters worse, banks had invested their deposits in the stock market. Now that stocks were obliterated, the banks had lost their depositors money! Bank runs started, where bank patrons tried to withdraw their savings all at once. Major banks and brokerage houses became insolvent, adding more fuel to the bear market. The financial system was in shambles. Many bankrupt speculators, who were once aristocracy, commit suicide by jumping out of buildings. Even bank patrons who had not invested in shares became broke as $140 billion of depositor money disappeared and 10,000 banks failed.

just sayin'...

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News to the White House: "Justice does not serve at the pleasure of the president"

in the bush administration, EVERYTHING and EVERYONE serves at the pleasure of the president...

Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont kicked off the hearing of the Judiciary Committee he chairs this morning by challenging President George W. Bush's discretion to control the system of United States Attorneys for political purposes.

"United States Attorneys may serve at the pleasure of the president, but justice does not serve at the pleasure of the president, or any president," he said.

goddam... this criminal cabal really needs to go...

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How will you know when something REAL is going on in Washington?

i'm despairing of ever seeing that moment...

You'll know that something real is going on in Washington when either a) the Democrats force the "antiwar conservatives" to actually cast a vote on whether or not to cut off spending for the war, or b) a dozen or so more Republicans cross the picket line to set up a possible override of a Bush veto. Until and unless one of those unlikely moments arrives, it sure looks like what we've got is one of those rare "good for both teams" baseball trades, an arranged standoff in which everybody gets to suck a little of that hot nourishing blood in the ballooning antiwar poll numbers.

[...]

What worries me about this state of affairs is that presidents don't like to see military losses land on their watch. If a Democrat wins in '08, bet on it, an excuse will be found to keep the troops there. The first day after her inauguration, when Hillary Clinton wakes up with a champagne hangover to hear Mark Daley (or whoever her chief of staff ends up being) tell her that 67 Marines have been slaughtered in a raid outside Ramadi, she is going to be powerfully tempted to prove that she has the stones to deal out the necessary payback. She'll ask for 10,000 extra troops and six months to "stabilize" the situation before initiating a withdrawal.

And once that happens, we'll be right back where we are now -- pretending we're against it, but without a way to actually make it happen while covering the requisite number of Washington asses. That's always what it comes down to, after all. And no matter how encouraged everyone seems to be by this withdrawal vote, I still haven't heard anyone tell me how the real pullout is going to work, politically that is. Because it's not enough that everyone knows it's necessary.

my litmus test for knowing when something "real" is going on in washington is when congress moves to toss the ruling cabal out of the white house, and not a moment before...

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Taxpayer-paid political advisor picks judicial appointments

as usual, we are spared any meaningful context...

Almost every Wednesday afternoon, advisers to President Bush gather to strategize about putting his stamp on the federal courts and the United States attorneys’ offices.

[...]

Mr. Rove, a top adviser to the president, takes charge of the politics. As caretaker to the administration’s conservative allies, Mr. Rove relays their concerns, according to several participants in the Wednesday meetings. And especially for appointments of United States attorneys, he manages the horse trading.

[...]

Political advisers have had a hand in picking judges and prosecutors for decades, but Mr. Rove exercises unusually broad influence over political, policy and personnel decisions because of his closeness to the president, tenure in the administration and longstanding interest in turning the judiciary to the right.

the missing context is that i believe rove is the first presidential political advisor to occupy a white house staff slot... i've been looking for the article on that i remember reading way back when... when i find it i'll post the link... the point is that, in the bush white house, it's all politics, all the time...

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Uh, that's not what it sounds like Sampson was saying

the nyt offers this up regarding kyle sampson in a story about alberto gonzales' meeting with u.s. attorneys in chicago on tuesday...

In his prepared testimony, Mr. Sampson, who resigned two weeks ago, said the prosecutors were fired not for political reasons, but because they failed to follow the president’s priorities. He is likely to be closely questioned about the extent of Mr. Gonzales’s involvement in planning the firings.

however, even in the nyt story that covers sampson's prepared statement for today's hearing, they neglected to include THIS direct quote...

"A U.S. attorney who is unsuccessful from a political perspective ... is unsuccessful," Sampson said.

now, what sampson seems to be saying is that the president's "priorities" ARE political and that a failure to follow those priorities is evidence of a performance failure on the attorney's part... i think he makes that clear when he says this...

“The distinction between ‘political’ and ‘performance related’ reasons for removing a United States attorney is, in my view, largely artificial,” Mr. Sampson plans to say, according to his statement.

it's pretty hard not to take the logical step and assume that the attorneys were fired for political reasons...

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President Bush "mocked" Democratic lawmakers yesterday

Bush Derides Iraq War Measure
He Says Democrats Will Be Blamed if Funds Are Held Up

In his most combative comments yet, President Bush mocked Democratic lawmakers yesterday for including a deadline for troop withdrawals and "pork" projects in an Iraq spending bill, declaring that "the American people will know who to hold responsible" if funding for the war stalls.

the kind of immature and destructive behavior we've come to expect from the president of the united states...

MOCK
Pronunciation: 'mäk, 'mok
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from moker
transitive verb
1 : to treat with contempt or ridicule : DERIDE
2 : to disappoint the hopes of
3 : DEFY, CHALLENGE
4 a : to imitate (as a mannerism) closely : MIMIC b : to mimic in sport or derision
intransitive verb : JEER, SCOFF
synonym see RIDICULE, COPY

DERIDE
Pronunciation: di-'rId, dE-
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): de·rid·ed; de·rid·ing
Etymology: Latin deridEre, from de- + ridEre to laugh
1 : to laugh at contemptuously
2 : to subject to usually bitter or contemptuous ridicule
synonym see RIDICULE
- de·rid·er noun
- de·rid·ing·ly /-'rI-di[ng]-lE/ adverb

it's all about politics, about trashing the opposing party, about power... it's got nothing to do with the real people who are being killed and wounded by the thousands... it's got nothing to do with the will of the american people... it only has to do with the power to impose an ideological agenda on the country...

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Oh, Karl... You may not get out of this one alive...

hey... a guy can hope, can't he...?

"New Mexico Republican Sen. Pete Domenici's chief of staff sent a cryptic thank-you note to Karl Rove just as the senator was recommending replacements for David Iglesias, the fired U.S. attorney in New Mexico, according to internal White House and Justice Department documents," writes Michael Isikoff.

"Thanks for everything," read the e-mail dated January 8th, 2007 and included the name of a replacement candidate for Iglesias.

The email, which was sent to Rove and two other White House officials, may have been initially overlooked because it was sent to a more obscure of Rove's e-mail accounts.

Though it is unknown why Rove was being thanked, Iglesias is convinced that the e-mail implicates Rove.

"This absolutely corroborates what I’ve been saying all along—this is a political matter, not a performance matter," Iglesias told Newsweek after being read the e-mail. "What is he thanking him [Rove] for? It's thanking him for getting Dave out of the picture."

"a more obscure of rove's e-mail accounts..." ya gotta love it...

(thanks to raw story...)

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A U.S. attorney who is unsuccessful from a political perspective ... is unsuccessful

i think Kyle Sampson sincerely believes this...

"The distinction between 'political' and 'performance-related' reasons for removing a United States attorney is, in my view, largely artificial," said Kyle Sampson.

The aide, who quit because of the furor over the firings, is to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. A copy of his prepared remarks was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

"A U.S. attorney who is unsuccessful from a political perspective ... is unsuccessful," Sampson said.

and there, in crystal clear terms, is the essence of the ideology and methodology that has been the hallmark of the bush administration for six-plus years...

(thanks to TPMmuckraker...)

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Dear Fred,

we wanted to take a few moments and drop you a short note... it's been a while since we've heard from you... we hope this finds you well...

you'd indicated a while back that you had other documents and third party emails that you would be sending along... since we've caught up with all the other documents you've so thoughtfully provided, this would be a good time to send the rest along, if you can spare some staff to put them all together... oh, and by the way...

"We trust that you will be collecting and producing emails and documents from all email accounts, addresses and domains and that you are not artificially limiting your production to the official White House email and document retention system."

please keep in mind that we are certainly open to discussing the larger matter in greater depth at your earliest convenience...

best regards,

your friends in congress

(thanks to TPMmuckraker...)

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Not only yeah, but HELL, yeah...!

absolutely NOTHING else is as important...

When Democratic leaders tell us that impeachment is off the table, that there are too many other important issues to deal with, they act as if we were living in a normal time. They think that just because they can't see the death and destruction that our policies have wrought overseas, they don't have to factor them into their daily considerations. As long as people are going to work and going to the mall, our so-called leaders think that they can operate as if it's business as usual. They tinker around the edges of the war, debating non-binding resolutions that give the war faint praise, then continuing its funding with a few wishful caveats about only lasting another year-and-a-half.

These are not normal times. And our representatives are not taking serious stock of what they must do to respond to the crisis in which we find our Constitution, our military, our civil liberties and our standing in the world.

Whether it be before the state legislature of the nation's smallest state, or the U.S. Congress, the people's business today must first be to impeach this lawless administration and to reverse the course of war in Iraq. Only then can we take stock of what the Republic has become and take the first steps towards recovery.

this gang of criminals will continue their fast-track power grabs, assaults on civil liberties, and trashing of the constitution until they are stopped... 21 january 2009 is way too late...

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The NRO dumps Gonzo while gagging on it

just read how they qualify the shit out of the entire mess first...

The story of the eight fired U.S. attorneys has been relentlessly overhyped. We do not know that any of them was fired because the administration put its political interests ahead of his or her prosecutorial judgment.

[...]

What little credibility Gonzales had is gone. All that now keeps him in office, save the friendship of the president, is the conviction of many Republicans that removing him would embolden the Democrats. It is an overblown fear. The Democrats will pursue scandals, real or invented, whether or not Gonzales stays. But they have an especially inviting target in Gonzales. He cannot defend the administration and its policies even when they deserve defense. Alberto Gonzales should resign. The Justice Department needs a fresh start.

"embolden the democrats...?" puhl-e-e-e-e-eze... the democrats wouldn't even be THIS "emboldened" had it not been for the hard work of the bloggers at TMPmuckraker and elsewhere, and i certainly wouldn't accuse them of being "emboldened" in any sense, considering just how criminal an administration we have occupying the white house, and the fact that the dems aren't exactly leading a full-scale assault to have them thrown out...

(thanks to think progress...)

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Orrin Hatch and Kyle Sampson

well, this appears to be quite cozy...

Sampson has agreed to testify on Thursday before the Judiciary Committee in the US Senate, a body where he used to work. One of the senators hearing his testimony, Orrin Hatch of Utah, is a former employer. Sampson served as counsel to Senator Hatch from 1999-2001. Records filed with the Federal Election Commission also show that Hatch received a $250 campaign donation in March 2006 from Sampson.

Senator Hatch made it clear in a Judiciary Committee hearing last week authorizing the issuance of subpoenas that he wants Sampson treated well before the Committee.

"I personally feel badly for young Kyle Sampson. He worked on this committee. He's a very honest, decent, honorable person. And he had the unenviable job of handling these matters," Hatch explained.

He added, "And, frankly, I will resent anybody who tries to hurt the man."

i don't know anything about congressional precedents in situations like this, but it seems to me that it would be appropriate for hatch to recuse himself...

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Pop quiz: describe the difference between Republicans and Democrats

arthur rises to the challenge...

Take the lesson: murder hundreds of thousands of people for no reason at all, completely destroy a virtually defenseless country, and do everything possible to begin what could turn into a nuclear Armageddon that would murder millions -- and the worst that will be said about you is that you are an incompetent and stupid bumbler. That we are well on our way to becoming one of the most monstrous nations in history is the thought that cannot bear serious contemplation by our governing class, or by those bloggers who serve as its ignorant and/or corrupt apologists. But threaten the prerogatives of the privileged ruling elites themselves, and hellfire shall devour your soul. Never mind the suffering and death of "ordinary" people: trampling on the inalienable "rights" of those who already possess immense power is the unforgivable sin. Priorities, indeed. The final destruction of the American republic may be almost upon us, and the Republicans and Democrats and their respective blogger-enablers fight like disease-infested rats over the rotting, bloated, already stinking flesh of the doomed, permanently corrupted corporatist state.

if all of that is a bit too general and abstract for you, try this...

The open secret about the Iraq occupation is that the Democrats could end it in a matter of months if they chose to, as Feingold, Kucinich and one or two others have made absolutely clear. Instead, and please let us state the critical fact accurately, the Democrats have chosen to fund the continuation of the Iraq occupation for the indefinite future. The Democratic apologists can spew and spit and slander their critics as much as they wish, but the further fact is that the Iraq abomination is now theirs as much as it is the Republicans'. In a particularly vile, fact- and logic-obliterating turn, one that in my view reveals an intellectual and moral corruption that is as irreversible as it is despicable, certain alleged "progressives" inform us that principled opponents of the criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq are the ones prolonging this catastrophe -- while those who provide the money required for its continuance are actually those who are ending it. When the truth reveals you to be a contemptible, unprincipled coward, lies become your friends.

does that make it a little more clear...?

(thanks to john at crooks and liars...)

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45,000% increase in military aid to Pakistan

that's a staggering amount...

In the three years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, U.S. military aid to Pakistan soared to $4.2 billion, compared to $9.1 million in the three years before the attacks — a 45,000 percent increase — boosting Pakistan to the top tier of countries receiving this type of funding.

More than half of the new money was provided through a post-9/11 Defense Department program — Coalition Support Funds — not closely tracked by Congress.

This is a key finding of an investigative study by the Center for Public Integrity, using data assembled through Freedom of Information Act requests. Pakistan received $2.3 billion of post-9/11 aid from CSF money in fiscal years 2002 through 2004, a total that surpassed $3 billion in 2005. Not only did this earn it the No. 1 rank among nations receiving CSF money, but Pakistan's take was nearly four times as much as all other countries combined received by 2005.

"With the possible exception of Iraq reconstruction funds, I've never seen a larger blank check for any country than for the Pakistan CSF program," Tim Rieser, the majority clerk on the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, told the Center.

i follow u.s. arms sales off and on... i posted on this back in november...



and this last june...

The Bush administration's nuclear accord with India seems on track to easy passage in Congress, as the White House also proceeds with plans to equip Pakistan with F-16 fighter jets.

and this back in august 2005...

33.5% of all weapons contracts worldwide and 31.6% of contracts to the developing world are inked by our peace-loving nation... our hypocrisy is evidently limitless... oh, and by the way, $1.5B of that went to Pakistan and almost $5B to India...

and this in may of the same year...

the $1.3B u.s. weapons sale to pakistan, paid for by the u.s. department of defense, no less...

so, here's the question... how much of this money, arms, planes, weapons, and other equipment is going into the hands of people who shouldn't have it...? general musharraf certainly doesn't seem like the kind of democratic leader we are so fond of saying we want to see emerge in the islamic world...

(thanks to TPMmuckraker...)

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It's the "on your own"ership society

i certainly can't claim credit for the title's cutesy phrase, but that's precisely what the bush administration has pursued since day one by attacking and/or dismantling every instance of an implied or explicit social contract...

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama accused the Bush administration on Tuesday of pursuing a policy of "social Darwinism" that leaves every man and woman struggling.

"It's a strategy that we've seen this administration pursue over the last six years, that basically says government has no role to play in making sure that America is prosperous for all people and not just some," Obama said to applause during an appearance before the Communications Workers of America.

truer words were never spoken... if you don't do well in bushworld, it's because you're lazy, stupid, and just plain no goddam good... don't come crying to us... if you're a good citizen, work hard, play by the rules, and do the best you can in bushworld, don't expect anything in return from the government you pay to keep in office... there is no quid pro quo in bushworld... your duty is to your government, period... only the strongest - and most unscrupulous - rise to the top... for the rest of you, tough shit...

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Pics as promised - Colonia, Uruguay

in a post yesterday, i promised some pics of colonia, uruguay, where i spent yesterday...

it's truly a beautiful little town... you can walk the entire place in a few hours... there are lots of little cafes and places to sit and just take it all in... i wandered through the old quarter, sat for quite a while along the malecón, ate a leisurely lunch at el drugstore (see below), treated myself to some helado (ice cream), and ambled back to the ferry in time to return to buenos aires...

Historic Quarter of the City of Colonia del Sacramento

Founded by the Portuguese in 1680 on the Río de la Plata, the city was of strategic importance in resisting the Spanish. After being disputed for a century, it was finally lost by its founders. The well-preserved urban landscape illustrates the successful fusion of the Portuguese, Spanish and post-colonial styles.

Barrio Viejo, the old Portugese quarter



A panorama of the Rio de la Plata from the malecón



The lighthouse, the harbor, and the rocky shoreline



El Drugstore Restaurant and Bar

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Timeline for Iraq withdrawal stays in

i'm surprised... i didn't expect it would be defeated...

An amendment to strip a timeline for withdrawal of US forces from Iraq was succesfully defeated today by Senate Democrats. Forty-eight senators voted in favor of the amendment, and 50 against it.

one dem crossed over to vote for it, mark pryor of arkansas... one repub crossed over to vote against it, chuck hagel of nebraska... i haven't see the other votes...

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Pelosi has tried to remove impeachment from the table, but it ain't goin' away

no, it ain't goin' away, nor should it... to hideously paraphrase the iran discussion, when a gang of criminals has taken over the executive branch of our government, all options for getting rid of them MUST be ON the table...

The impeachment threat is real, argues The Nation's John Nichols, as shown by talk show pundits who have begun to discuss it seriously.

"Former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough had me on his MSNBC show Monday night to talk about impeachment," Nichols writes. "It was smart, civil discussion that treated the prospect of impeaching the president as a serious matter."

"No, Scarborough is not jumping on the impeachment bandwagon," Nichols adds. "He is simply treating the prospect seriously, as did CNN's Wolf Blitzer earlier in the day."

According to Nichols, "We are nearing an impeachment moment."

"The Alberto Gonzales scandal, the under-covered but very real controversy involving abuses of the Patriot Act and the president's increasingly belligerent refusals to treat Congress as a co-equal branch of government are putting the discussion of presidential accountability onto the table from which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tried to remove it," Nichols writes.

my daily prayer: a revelation so staggering in its scope and illegality that the bush administration's house of cards will come tumbling down, thus obviating the need for a horribly painful, long and drawn-out impeachment process...

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329-78 - now THIS is bipartisanship

ladies and gentlemen, THIS is checks and balances... too bad it has to be a do-over...

In a 329-78 vote last night, the House of Representatives followed the Senate and stripped President George W. Bush of the authority to appoint United States Attorneys on an interim basis, ending the ability of the Bush administration to do an end run around the Senate in putting controversial US Attorneys in office.

this is the kind of bipartisanship we so desperately need, lawmakers coming together to put the stoppers on bush and his criminal gang continuing to accrue unfettered executive power...

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Bush will throw the entire Justice Department under the bus

if it saves gonzales' lying ass...

gonzales last night...

“If I find out that, in fact, any of these decisions were motivated, the recommendations to me were motivated for improper reasons to interfere with the public corruption case, there will be swift and — there will be swift and decisive action. I can assure you that.”

you know, and i know, and the rest of the country knows, neither gonzo's appearances nor his talking points are of his own doing...

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Monica Goodling - a Regent Law grad changing the world for Christ

mistakes have been made... crimes may have been committed...

As the liaison between the White House and the Justice Department, Ms. Goodling seems to have been squarely in the middle of what appears to have been improper directions from the White House to politicize the hiring and firing of United States attorneys. Mr. Gonzales has insisted the eight prosecutors were let go for poor performance, and that the dismissals are an “overblown personnel matter.” But Ms. Goodling’s decision to exercise her Fifth Amendment rights suggests that she, at least, believes crimes may have been committed.

several articles on ms. goodling have referenced her graduation from pat robertson's regent university school of law... here's part of regent's message to prospective law students...

Regent Law School seeks to admit students who are serious about the critical roles they will assume as future counselors, conciliators, defenders of the faith, effective client advocates and followers of Christ.

Strong academic credentials are crucial, but Regent Law also places significant importance on the personal statement and letters of recommendation. The personal statement gives the Admissions Committee insight into the student's motivation for studying law and reveals his or her desire to receive a legal education integrated with Christian principles. Regent Law seeks men and women who are dedicated to becoming Christian leaders who will change the world for Christ.

Why choose Regent? If you are academically qualified and you desire to integrate your faith with your pursuit of a legal education and ultimately the practice of law, we invite you to apply to Regent University School of Law.

also, note the upcoming attractions...

• 2008 Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, announced as Regent University Commencement Speaker

• Rudy Giuliani to speak at Regent's Executive Leadership Series April 17 at the Founders Inn.

ah, pat... ya gotta love 'im...

Leadership at Regent University

Pat Robertson Chancellor & President "Regent University is an academic environment where Christian leaders are taught to discern and respond to the times."

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Senate R's: Unwilling to do the White House's heavy lifting

after all this time, it's so very sweet to see republican congressional support of the criminal bush administration eroding before our very eyes... of course, i simply cannot fathom why it hadn't happened a long time ago... i have to ask myself, what kind of outrageousness would the white house have to engage in to make it go away altogether...? i shudder to think...

Unwilling to do the White House's heavy lifting on Iraq, Senate Republicans are prepared to step aside to allow language requiring troop withdrawals to reach President Bush, forcing him to face down Democratic adversaries with his veto pen.

[...]

Republicans will still attempt to remove the deadline in a Senate vote expected as soon as today, and GOP leaders were reasonably confident they would muster a majority.

[...]

No matter the outcome of the Senate vote, McConnell is looking ahead, assuming House Democrats will insist that withdrawal conditions be included when a final bill is sent to Bush. If so, McConnell said, Republicans would forgo the parliamentary tactics they used to block antiwar legislation that had forced Democrats to amass an insurmountable 60 votes to prevail.

"We need to get the bill on down to the president and get the veto out of the way," McConnell said.

let's "get the veto out of the way..." mitch, do you have any idea what the consequences of that veto are going to be for george and the rest of your party...? sure, you can spin it that "it wasn't us, it was HIM," but, given your history to date, do you honestly think anyone's going to buy it...?

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Soon, you'll have to be a "loyal bushie" to rent an apartment

abuse of the innocents in the surveillance state...

just wait... if we move into the next level with a national id, you won't be able to accomplish even the most minor transaction without being cross-checked against a "terrorist" list... then it will be a "watch" list... then it will be a "loyal bushie" list...

Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list.

The Office of Foreign Asset Control's list of "specially designated nationals" has long been used by banks and other financial institutions to block financial transactions of drug dealers and other criminals. But an executive order issued by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has expanded the list and its consequences in unforeseen ways. Businesses have used it to screen applicants for home and car loans, apartments and even exercise equipment, according to interviews and a report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area to be issued today.

"The way in which the list is being used goes far beyond contexts in which it has a link to national security," said Shirin Sinnar, the report's author. "The government is effectively conscripting private businesses into the war on terrorism but doing so without making sure that businesses don't trample on individual rights."

what they're doing is desensitizing people so, when we move to that next level, people will accept it as a matter of course... if they get away with firing u.s. attorneys for shaky political party loyalty, it will be here sooner than you think...

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But what I REALLY meant was...

yadda, yadda, yadda... gonzo would probably be better off just keeping his stupid mouth shut...

Gonzales ... explains the discrepancy between his March 13 statement that "I was not involved in any discussions about what was going on" and the revelation that he participated in just such a meeting about what was going on ten days before the firings.

What he REALLY meant, he explains, was that he wasn't involved in the nitty-gritty: "I was never focused on specific concerns about United States Attorneys as to whether or not they should be asked to resign." And no wonder. The reasons kept changing.

caps and boldface mine...

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Mosquitoes in BsAs

from the economist's buenos aires city newsletter...

Recent hot weather and high humidity have led to a plague of mosquitoes on Buenos Aires. When the insects first descended on the city, many feared they belonged to the Aedes aegypti species that transmits dengue fever, a potentially lethal disease. Argentina now has 118 confirmed cases of dengue and a further 414 people who may be infected. But scientists have assured porteños that these mosquitoes belong to the more common Ochlerotatus and Culex species. Experts say that though they are capable of transmitting encephalitis and West Nile disease, such mosquitoes are highly unlikely to do so here. Nonetheless, the bugs continue to make life miserable for the city’s residents, particularly at night. The government has advised citizens to beware leaving pools of stagnant water where the insects can reproduce.

oh, yeah... there have been some mosquitoes, all right... i can't make it from my front door to the sidewalk gate (about 5 meters) without having at least three or four alight on my bare legs, eager to dine... fortunately, they're not quite as bad as the article makes it sound, so, by burning the occasional mosquito coil, gassing myself out with raid every so often, and making sure any open windows are protected by mosquitero (what we in the northern hemisphere call window screens), life goes on pretty much as usual...

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Well, I'll be dipped

you mean it's really the WHITE HOUSE that's behind the justice department shenanigans...? i am just STUNNED... HOW could that be...?

froomkin...

It's no secret in Washington that Gonzales is not an autonomous player. His entire career has been as an enabler of George Bush. He does what he's told.... It's not as obvious who has been his minder since he became attorney general two years ago. But presumably either he or, more to the point, the staffers who write his speeches and draw up his talking points still get their marching orders directly from the West Wing.

And now, with his central talking point exposed as clumsy dishonesty, it's clear that whoever prepped Gonzales and sent him out to face the media was more focused on White House interests than on telling the truth.

josh...

This isn't a case where Alberto Gonzales has fallen short of the president's standards or bungled some process. This is the standard. The Attorney General has done and is doing precisely what is expected of him.... None of this is about Alberto Gonzales. This is about the president and the White House, which is where this entire plan was hatched. Gonzales was just following orders, executing the president's plans. This is about this president and this White House, which ... let's be honest, everyone on both sides of the aisle already knows.

i'm speechless... this simply flies in the face of everything i believed about our storied system of government...

(thanks to mcjoan at daily kos...)

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Speaking of Uruguay...! They want Kissinger in connection with Operation Condor...!

i'd no sooner put up the last post than i ran across this...

An attorney for a victim of Uruguay's 1973-1985 dictatorship has asked his government to request the extradition of former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger over his alleged role in the notorious Operation Condor.

Condor was a secret plan hatched by South American dictators in the 1970s to eliminate leftist political opponents in the region. Details of the plan have emerged over the past years in documents and court testimony.

operation condor was the group behind many of the ugly, murderous dictatorships that have plagued latin america in the last 30-40 years, including argentina, bolivia, brazil, chile, paraguay, and uruguay...

Operation Condor ... was a campaign of state terrorism and intelligence operations implemented by right-wing dictatorships that dominated the Southern Cone in Latin America from the 1950s to 1980s, heavily relying on numerous assassinations. The systematic counter-terrorism aimed both to deter democratic influence and ideas disseminated in the region and to control active or potential opposition movements against these governments. This organized counter-terrorism caused an unknown number of deaths, due to the covering up of the different governments involved. According to the "terror archives" discovered in Paraguay in 1992, 50,000 persons were murdered, 30,000 "disappeared" (desaparecidos) and 400,000 incarcerated.[1][2]. There have recently been some attempts of prosecutions against those responsible for this repression, to varied degrees.

[...]

The operation was jointly conducted by the intelligence and security services of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay in the mid-1970s.

Operation Condor, which took place in the context of the Cold War, was given at least tacit approval by the United States which feared a Marxist revolution in the region. The targets were officially leftist guerrillas, but in fact included all kinds of political opponents, including their families and others, as reported by the Valech Commission. The "Dirty War" in Argentina for example, which resulted in 30,000 victims, targeted mostly trade-unionists. Chilean MIR members, activists of the Catholic left-wing Peronist group the Montoneros, members of the Argentine MTO (the "All for the Country Movement") or Uruguayan Tupamaros were among those targeted.

It appears that Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State in the Nixon and Ford administrations, was closely involved diplomatically with the Southern Cone governments at the time and well-aware of the Condor plan.

henry is a cold-blooded bastard and richly deserves to face the music for his long years of getting away scot-free... maybe, just maybe, we're going to see some accountability... it'd be nice of the u.s. would get on the bandwagon as well... too much going on in the u.s. with the current crop of home-grown evildoers, i guess...

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A day away in Colonia, Uruguay

i took the better part of today and took the buquebus hydrofoil ferry to colonia, uruguay... it's about 50 km as the crow flies from buenos aires to colonia, and the hydrofoil makes it in an hour flat, which is probably as fast as the crow could do it... the regular ferry takes three hours which gives you some idea... i figure the hydrofoil does about 40+ kmph, which, for a good size ship that holds over 300 passengers and probably 100 vehicles, ain't bad... colonia's old section, the barrio viejo, is a late 16th-early 17th century portugese fishing settlement and a unesco world heritage site, and quite lovely... i'll have some pics tomorrow if you all behave yourselves...

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Smacking down the "mishandled" b.s.

peronsally, i don't see how they're gonna get out of this mess, but, after watching them skate by so many other outrageous incidents over the past six years, i'm not holding my breath on this one either... especially not with alberto and george hunkering down... you know they're just waiting for the attention span to wear off, one more instance of waiting out the clock...

John McKay of Washington state, who had decided two years earlier not to bring voter fraud charges that could have undermined a Democratic victory in a closely fought gubernatorial race, said White House counsel Harriet Miers and her deputy, William Kelley, "asked me why Republicans in the state of Washington would be angry with me."

[...]

McKay's disclosure of an explicit White House question about the damage his decision caused to his standing among party loyalists added new detail to his previous statement that Miers accused him of having "mishandled" the voter fraud inquiry.

The use of the word "mishandled" left open the possibility that White House officials -- who in September were weighing whether to recommend McKay for a federal judgeship -- merely disputed McKay's professional judgment. But his statement yesterday lent new credence to suspicions that partisan political concerns weighed heavily in his firing.

anybody who's still thinking in terms of "suspicions," really ought to think again...

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Business as usual for the political party that calls itself a presidential administration

and the hits just keep on comin', right here on all scandal, all the time...

Witnesses have told congressional investigators that the chief of the General Services Administration and a deputy in Karl Rove's political affairs office at the White House joined in a videoconference earlier this year with top GSA political appointees, who discussed ways to help Republican candidates.

With GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan and up to 40 regional administrators on hand, J. Scott Jennings, the White House's deputy director of political affairs, gave a PowerPoint presentation on Jan. 26 of polling data about the 2006 elections.

When Jennings concluded his presentation to the GSA political appointees, Doan allegedly asked them how they could "help 'our candidates' in the next elections," according to a March 6 letter to Doan from Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Waxman said in the letter that one method suggested was using "targeted public events, such as the opening of federal facilities around the country."

this "oversight" thing sure turns up some interesting stuff...

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The DOJ scandal - business as usual, with TWO exceptions

glenn makes an incredibly important point... here's the wind-up...

It is so inescapably clear that Alberto Gonzales repeatedly lied about what occurred with the U.S. attorney firings that the national media and even many Bush supporters are clearly acknowledging that fact. But what needs to be constantly emphasized is that there is nothing aberrational in any way about Gonazles' behavior in this case.

There is one thing and one thing only distinguishing this U.S. attorneys scandal from all of the others over the past six years: namely, because Democrats now have subpoena power and seem willing to use it, the administration is forced to disclose actual evidence and documents -- rather than simply issue unscrutinized and uninvestigated denials of wrongdoing -- and that evidence demonstrates that their claims are false. In the past, this is how every scandal transpired:

1. Questions about administration conduct are raised.

2. Administration denies wrongdoing.

3. Administration officials selectively and voluntarily disclose exculpatory documents, appear before Congress, assure everyone that safeguards are in place, deny wrongdoing, and claim the conduct in question is used only for proper purposes (e.g., protecting country again terrorism).

4. Administration followers -- led by those controlling Congress -- insist that no investigation is needed because Official X made clear that there are safeguards in place protecting us and everything is being done for proper purposes.

5. Congressional Republicans block Congressional investigations, compel no disclosure of evidence, do nothing to investigate administration claims.

6. Scandal ends, unresolved.

That pattern has repeated itself over and over and over for six years now -- from controversies over secret and illegal surveillance programs to torture, black sites and rendition. In the U.S. attorneys case, everything proceeded according to script -- Alberto Gonazles did what he and other Bush officials always do: namely, issue false statements about what they did in order to conceal their wrongdoing and mislead everyone about what our Government is doing.

and HERE'S the pitch...

The only thing that changed is that there is now some minimal amount of oversight -- and already, within a mere three months of that oversight finally being exercised, our country's Attorney General stands revealed as a serial liar on a matter of obvious significance.

That is why oversight is so critical -- because as a country we simply do not trust, and never have trusted, our government officials to act properly when they can act in secret and with no checks. The most staggering fact, as always, is that this principle -- what used to be the very bedrock of our country's political framework, what defined "America" as a country -- is really no longer a principle which so many of our elite opinion-makers embrace.

ok, look, glenn... your point is powerful and hits home in so many ways, however, congressional oversight was NOT the ONLY thing that changed... in the entire article, you neglect to mention the role that non-traditional media - namely, TPMmuckraker - played in bringing this oversight to bear... had it not been for the hue and cry raised in the blogosphere, the congressional dems might very well still be sitting there with their thumbs up their butts... it was the potent COMBO of a dem congress AND a hyper-vigilant blogosphere that caused the oversight to happen...

(thanks to lukery at wot is it good 4...)

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Oooooo, Chuck... I just LOVE it when you talk tough...!

you can trash talk with the best of 'em, chuck... now, let's see some ACTION...

Hagel ... in an interview published in April's edition of Esquire Magazine...

"The president says, 'I don't care.' He's not accountable anymore. He's not accountable anymore, which isn't totally true. You can impeach him, and before this is over, you might see calls for his impeachment. I don't know. It depends how this goes."

well, chuck, yes it IS totally true... he hasn't been accountable since day one... why...? because no one has drawn the line and INSISTED that he be accountable, and that includes YOU, chuckie-boy...

(thanks to raw story...)

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Step right up...!

graham, hagel, and specter join dianne feinstein...

"Republican support for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales eroded Sunday as three key senators sharply questioned his truthfulness and a Democrat joined the list of lawmakers who want him to resign over the firing of eight federal prosecutors," reports the Associated Press.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said today on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the attorney general must be "candid and truthful," but if it is revealed that Alberto Gonzales has "not been candid and truthful, that's a very compelling reason for him not to stay on."

Speaking on ABC's "This Week," the Republican Senator from Nebraska Chuck Hagel said that Gonzales has a "credibility problem."

On another Sunday talk show, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) called Gonzales "wounded" by the attorney firings scandal, and said that "He has said some things that just don't add up."

hey, i think it's a great idea for george to keep gonzo on board... it just adds more weight to the sinking ship...

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Another "I'm totally clueless" op-ed from the dean

ah, where to start...?

It seems doubtful that Democrats can help themselves a great deal just by tearing down an already discredited Republican administration with more investigations such as the current attack on the Justice Department and White House over the firings of eight U.S. attorneys.

seriously, there's not much to do when reading something like this from washington's most dessicated sack of shit... when someone constantly sees the world through the eye of a needle, and evidently takes frequent anti-context inoculations, i can only sigh and shake my head...

p.s. the lower-case "d" in the headline was on purpose...

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Heightening the momentum and escalating the visibility - of IMPEACHMENT

many lesser lights have called for gonzales' impeachment, but it's nice to see it moving up the visibility and credibility ladder...

robert kuttner in the boston globe...

It isn't enough to oust Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for his role in "Attorneygate," Congress should impeach him, Robert Kuttner writes in an op-ed published in Saturday's Boston Globe.

"Gonzales, the nation's highest legal officer, has been point man for serial assaults against the rule of law, most recently in the crude attempt to politicize criminal prosecutions," Kuttner argues. "Obstruction of a prosecution is a felony, even when committed by the attorney general."

Aside from his role in the firing of eight US attorneys, which "had multiple political motives, all contrary to longstanding practice," Kuttner writes, "[t]here are several other reasons to remove Gonzales, all involving his cavalier contempt for courts and liberties of citizens, most recently in the FBI's more than 3,000 cases of illegal snooping on Americans."

congress is going to have to cross this bridge sooner or later... it's inevitable... i really don't want to see an impeachment process swing into action because of the firestorm of invective and accusations of partisanship that would be unleashed, but...

[A]n impeachment inquiry could be completed in a matter of months. The White House, knowing the stakes, would find it much harder to stonewall. And Gonzales might well be asked to resign rather than exposing the administration to more possible evidence of illegality.

my daily - if not hourly - prayer is that there will be a revelation of such magnitude that it will bring down the entire administration... you know and i know there's at least one, and very likely many more than one, out there...

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Whaddaya know... An honest headline...

emphasis and strikeouts are mine...

DEMOCRATS CONGRESS Expands Scope of Inquiries Into Justice Department Practices and Politics

WASHINGTON, March 24 — Justice Department officials went before THE DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS CONGRESS this week to acknowledge that mistakes were made. DEMOCRATS LAWMAKERS remained skeptical of the accounts and demanded better answers. DEMOCRATS MEMBERS OF CONGRESS hinted at potential abuse of power and threatened to rein in the department.

yes, surprise, surprise... it IS congress, not just democrats, who're pissed off, and with very good reason... the politicization of the justice department to serve partisan ends and as a cover-your-ass tool for an out-of-control presidential administration is appalling even die-hard bushie r's, and it's nice to see that fact being implicitly recognized by the gray lady...

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A truly shameful debate on torture

the fact that this kind of debate is even being held in the united states of america is a sad statement about how far we have fallen as a country from the principles we - and especially our leaders - claim we believe in...

A sharp debate within the Bush administration over the future of the Central Intelligence Agency’s detention and interrogation program has left the agency without the authority to use harsh interrogation techniques that the White House said last fall were necessary in questioning terrorism suspects, according to administration and Congressional officials.

The agency for months has been awaiting approval for rules that would give intelligence operatives greater latitude than military interrogators in questioning terrorism suspects but would not include some of the most controversial interrogation procedures the spy agency has used in the past.

But the internal debate has left the C.I.A. program in limbo as top officials struggle over where to set boundaries in the treatment of people suspected of being involved in terrorist activities. Until the debate is resolved, C.I.A. interrogators are authorized to use only interrogation procedures approved by the Pentagon.

left them "without the authority to use harsh interrogation techniques..." and the problem with that would be...?

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