Politics: From The Department of

You Can't Make This Shit Up: KKKarl Rove, aka Turdblossom, aka Brainfather of the Thousand-Year Republican Reich is attempting to give our new President advice on the politicization of the Justice Department.


Yes, that would be the same KKKarl Rove who, under Bush's tenure, politicized the Justice Department — by firing out of hand, and for no good reason anyone has yet determined, many excellent career attorneys (like David Iglesias, to offer just one example) for not being, what's a good phrase? Partisan hacks? Tools? Extreme Christian-Reichwing conservatives willing to bend over and take it in the keister for KKKarl? And by hiring hacks like Monica Goodling to oversee the hiring practices of the Department. Monica Goodling*, whose sole qualification for the position consisted of an unvarying allegiance to the Republican party.

* Note: Link to a PDF of DOJ investigation of Goodling.

Jason Linkins has the dirt over at HuffPo, with a big ha-ha of bitterly ironical laughter. Truly, it sucketh the chrome right off a high-rise building to have that motherfucker KKKarl offering his counterfeit two cents on the issue of politicizing the very office that is supposed to ensure justice for all. On the plus side, our new President is ignoring the little maggot.

We've blogged about this before, repeatedly. Mary Beth Buchanan, U.S. attorney for Pennsylvania; David Iglesias, New Mexico; Monica Goodling; Harriet Miers and Sara Taylor; and the ongoing corruptionfest known as the Abu G show.

The cherry on KKKarl's shitpile-dessert has to be his disingenuously-posed question about the (obviously greatly-hoped for, at least by KKKarl) firing of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. KKKarl had targeted Fitzgerald for investigation, for the unthinkable crime of actually investigating the KKKarl Cabal. Hopes ran high all over blogtopia (y,Sctp!) for well over a year. Hopes that Fitzgerald, keen, methodical, impartial, painstakingly devoted to Justice, would find a way to topple the Evil Empire built by Cheney, Rove, Bush, and their rage of hunchmen.

Hopes that died a sad death when it became clear that Fitzgerald was stymied by factors outside his control. But we dare say that the thought of revenge burned brightly in our breast anyway. Many of us prayed and hoped and worked for the day when this vile and wretched ambulatory bag of putrescence would finally be brought to justice for the vast and thorough corruption he had worked on the nation. The political discourse that he had flung into the gutter. The bitter partisanship that he cultivated like some malodorous fungoid. The fear, paranoia, hate, bitterness that divided us from each other in this nation even as his puppetmaster's other favourite puppet was flapping his gums about being a "uniter, not a divider."

No one has singlehandedly contributed as much to the destruction of everything this nation stands for as this nasty little man. Is it too much to hope that karma bites him in the tush? What would be a suitable fate for him? We'd like to wish him a thousand incarnations as a cockroach, but most cockroaches probably have a more beneficial relationship with humanity than this scum. Multiple lifetimes as a scum-sucking bottom-feeding eel? A diatom? A bacterium that survives on fecal matter?

Perhaps we'd settle for seeing him alongside Dick and Al in an orange jumpsuit. Don't forget the wrist and leg shackles.

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Politics: Mmmm, Peach Mint

My favourite flavour.

You will be happy to hear that House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers of Michigan and Subcommittee Chairwoman Linda Sanchez today displayed their solid steel gonads to the White House. Which were so big, they needed a goddamned wheelbarrow to schlep them!


No, really. Conyers basically told the Gang of Thieves, Crooks, and Liars that they had better get him the documents he had requested, including unredacted FBI reports related to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s probe into the leak of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame. Operative quote:

“Both the rules and our previous oversight activity concerning the Fitzgerald investigation plainly encompass the current inquiry, and the notion that our oversight concerning criminal law enforcement should somehow stop at the gates of the White House has no proper basis.”

Um, YOW? Yowza, yowza, yowza? Been a long time since we heard such ass-kickin' plain talk from the representatives of We The People, yes?

(Pant, pant, pant, gasp)


And as if that wasn't enough, in a further display of gonadal wherewithal, Chairman Conyers and Chairwoman Sanchez went on to tell reptilian slime repository and FAIL-laden human impersonator KKKarl Rove, through his lawyer, that said maggot had better drag his pasty segmented behind before the committee on the date stated or the crack in it might be widened by lawful but forceful means. Operative quote:

“As Committee staff made clear, and as we indicated in our May 1 letter, the proposal that we somehow seek to separate the Siegelman matter from the broader issue of politicization of the Justice Department is unacceptable,” the two lawmakers wrote.

This hearing is related to the important matters of the unlawful prosecution and imprisonment of Governor Siegelman and the politicization of the Department of Justice.

In related news, Dennis Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment are now before the committee, and The Mighty Munchkin of Justice is pressuring the committee to consider them forthwith. If you want impeachment, help Dennis out by letting Conyers and Sanchez, and Dennis, and your Rep know that you support his request and they better get off their ass and review the damn thing. You have 21 days to take these actions. Also please contact all your friends, relatives, neighbours, colleagues, even those who don't support impeachment - the mood of the country is changing, and they may have changed their minds. Operative quote:

The Ohio lawmaker said that it is now “incumbent” for the Judiciary Committee to review evidence he presented. He promised that if the committee failed to hold any hearings on the resolution within thirty days, he would repeat his efforts. He told one reporter Wednesday, “Leadership wants to bury it, but this is one resolution that will be coming back from the dead. … I will be bringing the resolution up again, and I won’t be the only one reading it.”

Don't forget to call, write, or email &mdash or do all three. If at all possible, impeachment may be the one thing that could prevent Winky McMonkeyBrain from starting a third war with Iran.

From the fine folks at ICHC

Given how successful we've been lately in Iraq and Afghanistan, we DO NOT WANT or need to start the next Presidency and Congressional Session tied up in foreign disasters. We have plenty of domestic disasters to deal with. So please, please, please, call, email, and write!

Kucinich has also warned the Judiciary Committee that if they don't get to it post-haste, he's going to present 60 (SIXTY!) articles of impeachment on the next go-round. Please thank him for his efforts. YAY Dennis! You rock! Operative quote:

“The minute the leadership said ‘this is dead on arrival’ I said that I hope they believe in life after death; because I’m coming back with it,” Kucinich vowed in an interview with the Sleuth this week. “It’s not gonna die. Because I’ll come back with more articles. Not 35, but perhaps 60 articles.”

[...]

For Kucinich, impeachment is more than simply a political windmill at which to tilt, he says. It’s about preserving the sanctity of the republic’s founding document.

“What we’re witnessing here,” he says, “is the not-so-slow-moving destruction of our Constittuion.”

Raw Story has the videos, copies of the letters, and more information at each preceding link.

Meanwhile, further displays of courage continue to erupt from other quarters. McClatchy, one of our few actual news organizations left, is reporting that Major General Antonio Taguba, who spoke out against the Bush regime's routine use of torture on detainees, is accusing the Misadministration of war crimes, and calling for those responsible to be held accountable. Operative quote:

"After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes," Taguba wrote. "The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."

Be still, our beating heart! Our collective goddammit beating heart!!

And Amy Goodman over at Democracy Now! tells us that former Senator Mike Gravel is calling for an independent investigation into 9/11 and the prosecution of Stupie O'Stutters and Demon McVampire, otherwise known as our not-at-all-esteemed Leaders.

Dang! It never rains but it pours, yes? Let's hope all these separate actions with a common goal bear the kind of fruit we want &mdash that these criminals receive their just desserts of investigation, impeachment, and imprisonment. Personal Responsibility! The people demand they take some!

These hypocrites and liars were so willing to call for personal responsibility on the part of the sick, the weak, the poor, the suffering, the helpless, the ill and disabled. When it comes to their own responsibility for anything, the only thing they're quick to show is a clean pair of heels. It's time to turn that around now.

Crossposted over at Out of Iraq Bloggers Caucus

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Justice Department Scandal

Yowza! Jon Stewart interviews David Iglesias, former U.S. Attorney who was fired for refusing to prosecute dubious cases of "voter fraud" based on weak evidence. Raw Story has the details.

Obviously, we need to watch all those Star Wars episodes we skipped, because here is Mr. Iglesias' operative quote:

Stewart ended by asking Igleaias, “Is the greatest disappointment for you that you were a guy who believed in what they were doing? … Do you feel betrayed in that sense?”

“I thought I was working with the Jedi Knights and I was working for the Sith Lords,” Iglesias acknowledged, as the audience broke into applause.

Iglesias has written a book that has just hit the stands, titled In Justice, which details the politicization of the Justice Department.

When your own nation's highest legal authorities engage in selective prosecution and use the law to penalize those who speak out against one party, one administration, or one group of politically powerful and wealthy people, how can you ever again criticize fascist or communist dictatorships? Ask Hope Steffey, Angie Garbarino, and the countless other victims of creeping fascism in America about their experiences. These are just the ones who got attention from the media. We have no idea how many more people have stories to tell.

People, we can never relax our vigilance. Think about it. How many people do you know who put their country first, their community first, their neighbours first? We are all inclined to be selfish, and if we know there are no consequences, most of us reach for whatever we can get and ignore everyone else. So if you don't want your rights stolen, if you don't want to live in a dictatorship, then it's your job, our job, every one of us, to scrutinize our leaders carefully, to make sure they don't steal our rights as well as our jobs, health, lives, and money.

We already know our government has no shame about performing medical experiments on us and lying about it.

If there's one good thing to come out of the Justice Department Scandal, it's that we now know, with evidence, that our government can be politicized and used against us. We know that the ensuing investigation might include liability for those higher up the food chain. We know that Alberto Gonezales will have to pay for his crimes. He's already paying: after Shrubya dumped the ineffectual little liar, he shopped his resume around in search of a job. Result? Zilch, nothing, nada, zero, zip, says the NYT (login required, registration free).

Maybe this will inspire the little worm to feel some sympathy for the large numbers of unemployed who lost their jobs thanks to his buddies.

In other truly heartening news, ambulatory wastebucket Bradley Schlozman will probably face prosecution for his role in the Justice Department scandal, the trumped up charges that led to the firings of so many dedicated U.S. Attorneys and the illegal filing of voter fraud charges on slim evidence and timed to influence the elections. The Wah!Poo reports that Schlozman's testimony is under examination by a grand jury.


May we just take this opportunity to add that it couldn't have happened to a more deserving bunch of schmucks.

Bonus question: Why do these guys all look like they just cheated your 90-year-old Aunt Agnes out of her life savings, or seduced your underage daughter?

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Politics: Last One Out

of the White House, please turn off the lights.

Gee Dumbya can just sit in the dark and cry.

Didja think it was gonna be this bad? We sure didn't. It appears the rats Stupie McChimperson surrounded himself with based on "loyalty" instead of competence, are demonstrating the depth of their loyalty. About an inch wide and an inch deep, we reckon.

The WahPoo has termed it an "Exodus of Senior Officials." The rats are running for the exits, and they don't care if they have to leave claw marks on Georgie, Dick, and any other minions Left Behind. Some choice quotes:

With eight months left in President Bush's term, scores of senior officials already are heading for the exits, leaving nearly half the administration's top political positions vacant or filled by temporary appointees, federal statistics show.

[...]

Scandal has thinned the administration's ranks, as well. Dozens of appointee jobs have become vacant since ethical crises at the General Services Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Justice Department, to name a few.

[...]

Leonard E. Burman, a public finance expert at the Urban Institute who served as deputy assistant secretary for tax analysis in the Clinton administration, said unfilled positions do not go unnoticed.

"It's probably important for the morale of the staff, because if there are no replacements for senior-level positions and none in the wings, then it suggests that they are kind of irrelevant," Burman said. "It does kind of signal that the work of that office is kind of shutting down."

Something tells me the blowout party that will be held in January 2009 will be quite the sight to see.

In other, related news, Snotty McFelon, former Bushoid press secretary, has published a "kiss and tell" book with more telling than kissing. He's trashing the entire Bush Misadministration, who are unsurprisingly unhappy about it. Pasty maggot Karl Rove weighed in with this money shot:

Former top Bush advisors Karl Rove and Fran Townsend have disputed McClellan's claims. Rove accused McClellan of sounding like a "left-wing blogger."

True dat. It's just not vituperative enough to sound like a "right-wing blogger."

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Politics: Oh Pleez Oh Pleez Oh Pleez Oh Pleez Oh Yes!

Is there a Deity? Does it hear the pleas of its creation? There's a good case to be made for the existence of a Deity that doth listen to the many prayers for good.

The Chicago Trib announced today that ambulatory scumball and professional sleazebucket impersonator KKKarl Rove has been subpoenaed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee about whether the White House improperly meddled with the Justice Department.

He will testify on 10 July about the illegal firings of U.S. attorneys and the dirty tricks involved in the prosecution of ex-Governor Don Siegelman. Rep. Conyers (D-Michigan) issued a statement that is admirably snarky in tone without departing from the professional standards that we expect of our legislators:

"It is unfortunate that Mr. Rove has failed to cooperate with our requests," Conyers, D-Mich., said in a statement. "Although he does not seem the least bit hesitant to discuss these very issues weekly on cable television and in the print news media, Mr. Rove and his attorney have apparently concluded that a public hearing room would not be appropriate."

We congratulate Michiganders for having the good sense to elect Rep. Conyers and to repeat the proof of their intelligence and discrimination as needed. We beg that portion of the electorate responsible for such abominations as Mitch McConnell (KYnYouPeopleQuitAwreddy), John Boner (R-OhGodNotAgain), John Cornyn (R-TXCutsForTehRich), Lindsay Graham (R-SCuzzball), and their ilk, to follow the example of Michiganders and Do The Right Thing. C'mon, there's gotta be way better candidates in each of your states to replace these pathetic lying weaseling proto-skunks. C'mon!

We are off to put our underroos on our heads and caper about singing "Oh, Frabjous Day! Callooh, Callay," and other such entertainments as reflect our overwhelming joy and delight in these developments.

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Politics: Oh Pleez Oh Pleez Oh Pleez Oh Pleez

Can it be? Will the Democrats finally get up on their hind legs and subpoena that worthless fat turd and shit-impersonator (he'd need a couple of eons of evolution to be able to impersonate humans) KKKarl Rove, and throw his pasty, flabby, tuchus in jail if he fails to comply?

Pleez Mr. Conyers, Pleez Oh Pleez Oh Pleez!

The Birmingham News is reporting in a breaking story today that the Democrats have rejected Rove's offer to flip them off and refuse to testify in person about his role in the Justice Department scandal regarding the firing of attorneys tasked with enforcing the nation's laws, and in the unethical prosecution and imprisonment of former Governor Don Siegelman.

If you have a religious belief, please light a candle/sacrifice a relative/braid flowers in your hair and dance naked around the garden in the moonlight or whatever it is your particular religion prescribes. This vile slimebot must be forced to testify, then prosecuted and jailed for his role in corrupting the very meaning of justice.

If you don't have a religious belief, or just want to express yourself differently, blog the issue, write Conyers and thank him, write your Rep. and thank them for taking this belated and long-awaited stand, or urge them to vote with Conyers to hold Rove responsible. Here is a PDF copy of the letter Conyers sent to the slimebag and his attorney. Read it and dance around the house with your underwear on your head. But draw the blinds first. There's a limit to the tolerance of neighbours and passers-by.

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Chris Wallace Turns Away From The Dark Side?

Unbelievable.

Chris Wallace, whose father, Mike Wallace, had the undying respect of most journalists, was initially a great disappointment to those of us at La Casa de Los Gatos. He seemed like the ultimate toady.

In the past week or two, however, he's been gradually distancing himself from the Dark Side, or so it seems.

In his own words:

"I've been watching on and off for a couple of hours and every clip I've seen ends at 'that's a typical white person,' when in fact he's going on to discuss the nature of race in our country, and again, I'm not saying if he had it do over again that he'd necessarily say it that way, but I don't think that he was making a hyper-racial remark."

"I guess I just feel like on a day when he's been endorsed by Bill Richardson, and we have this story about the passports," he added, "I feel like two hours of Obama-bashing may be enough."

The F&F hosts responded to Wallace with vehement defenses, but Wallace said that after Obama had given major speeches this week on race, Iraq, and the economy, his campaign might suggest that "in terms of deflecting attention away from the issues people really want to hear about, maybe it's the media doing it, not Barack Obama."

Raw Story has the video clip. Pass me the smelling salts!

In all fairness, we'd like to say that when the zeitgeist is inclined in a particular direction, it takes a great deal of strength to swim against the tide it generates. Over the past decade or more, the zeitgeist might best be characterized as a confederacy of dunces of the worst sort. A boatfull of rats fighting over scraps in the hold even as their vessel careens towards a deadly falls. The "I've got mine, now screw you" mentality that, in the short term, allowed scummy greedbags like Grover Norquist and Karl Rove to flourish.

And now that we find our government is spying on everything we think, do, and say, going through the files of political "opponents," subverting the Justice Department so that it will do the will of those in power and not safeguard the people and the nation as it should, we understand why so many were afraid to speak up at first. Didn't we all worry about losing our jobs and our homes, being blacklisted, spied on, harrassed?

Now that we are losing our jobs and homes and any flimsy sense of security, as the fragile vessel we call the nation teeters at the lip of the cascade, we are beginning to realise that we can no longer sit quiet. We must speak out, or be damned.

Perhaps that sentiment is beginning to percolate throughout the nation.

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Politics: Are They ALL

growing balls? Ovaries? Reproductive bits indicative of strength, fortitude and large-scale deweaselment?


Raw Story is telling us, this morning, that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has asked the (in)Justice Department to open a grand jury investigation into whether President Bush's chief of staff and former counsel should be prosecuted for contempt of Congress.

The idea of Harriet Myers and Josh Bolten in the hoosegow has us faint and trembling with delight.

A clarification: We don't necessarily want to inflict misery on other people per se. Seriously. We don't want people tortured or murdered or beaten up or jailed. We would prefer that people live peaceful happy lives as far as that is possible. What we do want is fairness and justice. If the law is going to drag some poor crack-smoker to the hoosegow, then it must also drag the rich coke-sniffer to the hoosegow.

Thus, if some of the people investigated during the baseless Whitewater scandal got to sit in the pokey, some of the people involved in the lies that led us to war in Iraq, the disappearance of billions from our treasury, the gifting of taxpayer dollars to companies like Halliburton and Blackwater, and the myriad crimes of this Misadministration must also be investigated, convicted as justified, and either spend their time in the pokey or start singing like canaries so we, the people, can find out exactly how, when, where, how often, and by whom we've been screwed. Because make no mistake about it, we have been screwed.

We want the rule of law. If it sweeps some of our idols and role models into its dragnet, well, we'll be unhappy but we'll live with it.

When Harriet Myers and Josh Bolten dared to tell the people that they would not be held accountable for their acts, that sent a very troubling message to the nation and the world. No one is, or should be, above the law. No one. Not kings, priests, presidents, businessmen, politicians, and certainly not the toadying shallow minions of a petty, egocentric sociopath who has treated the country like his personal poop-box for seven years. Because if any one person is above the law, then what incentive is there for any other person to obey it?

The article states, in part:

Pelosi, D-Calif., demanded that the department pursue misdemeanor charges against former White House counsel Harriet Miers for refusing to testify to Congress about the firings of federal prosecutors in 2006 and against chief of staff Josh Bolten for failing to turn over White House documents related to the dismissals.

She gave Attorney General Michael Mukasey one week to respond and said refusal to take the matter to a grand jury will result in the House's filing a civil lawsuit against the Bush administration.

So this is about the federal prosecutors that the Bush Maladministration fired in their effort to turn the Justice Department into their pathetic spineless tool. Finally.

Nancy Pelosi, if you can push this through, our admiration for you automatically rises ten notches, and we will back off on beating you about the head and shoulders verbally.

If you haven't been following the Justice Department scandal, you can find great detail about it here. Just search for justice department.

If you don't necessarily want that level of detail, we've blogged the issue here, here, here, here, and here.

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Politics: Bernie Sanders Speaks For The People

I've always had a (platonic, political) crush on Senator Bernie Sanders. Anyone who is an independent - truly independent, not a political whore like Joe LIEberwhore - has my admiration. It takes no small measure of guts to stand up to the gutless whores of congress, the sleazy politicians who keep asking for our money, our boots on the ground, our votes, but not our opinions. Who do nothing to help us out of the mess that they keep creating for us, with their bankruptcy bills that give banks and corporations everything and the consumer nothing. Their military funding bills that keep prolonging the war in Iraq. Their FISA bills that give immunity to the telecoms who spied on everything we wrote, said, and thought, retroactively, but not an ounce of relief for those of us shamelessly spied on.

Senator Sanders speaks for we, the people, dammit. Listen to what he has to say:

"For the last six years," says Sanders, "it is clear that we have had a president that does not understand what the Constitution of the United States is about. What this president believes, essentially, is that he can do anything he wants, at any time, against anybody, in the name of fighting terrorism. And he happens to believe that the "war on terrorism" is unending; it's going to go on indefinitely. And I think it is very important that we have an Attorney General who can explain the Constitution to a President who clearly does not understand it.

Unfortunately, Mr. Mukasey is not that person."

Adds Sanders, "We have the right to demand an Attorney General who supports strongly the Constitution and is prepared to tell the President of the United States when he is acting against the Constitution."

You hear that, Dianne Feinstein? You hear that Chuck Schumer? You two, along with a bunch of Bush dogs, voted to confirm that sleazebag Mukasey as the attorney-general of the country. All of you ought to be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves. All you Republicans who voted for someone whose sole aim and purpose in life appears to be ensuring that those who commit high crimes and misdemeanors against this nation will never be held to account. Those who commit war crimes to benefit their wealthy friends will never face a trial for their criminal acts.

Make no mistake about it. The people will hold you to account if you do not hold these villains to account. We will not lose sight of our aims. We know that the country cannot afford four more years of Shrub or Giuliani or Romney or Huckabee or McCain. We know that. We know that we must get rid of the Bush dogs and the traitors. But the day of reckoning will come, if not today, if not next year, it will still come.

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Politics: What the HAIL

are they puttin' in the water today? Anyone know?

Because I'm looking at the top headlines here, and this is what I see:

• Cafferty File viewers: Let's start another revolution
  
  
• White House: Fake FEMA news conference won't happen again
• Democrats have votes to hold two White House officials in contempt by full House vote: report
• Rumsfeld hit with torture lawsuit while visiting Paris
• Plame: Disclosure of classified status amounted to 'treason'

Wha' hoppen? Did the country wake up overnight? Did the Feds forget to put valium in the water this week?

Let's see, did the MSM publish any of these stories?

Well, the NYT did carry the story about Rumsfeld, under the much more innocuous title of "Torture Complaint Filed Against Rumsfeld" in its World news section. I don't see any coverage of the fake FEMA press conference, Cafferty's viewers' reaction to the Chimperor, the contempt vote, or Plame's labeling of her outing as "treason."

The WaPoo covered the FEMA fake press conference on its front page. Nothing about the other stories. The local fishwrap has its usual amazing dearth of stories of any import, although there's always the sob-sister front pagers about dead people and the naughty bits about nekkid people running amuck in the public bogs. Nothing in the Boston Globe. The L.A. birdcage liner, understandably, is dominated by news of the fires.

Okay, maybe it's all a dream and I'll wake up in a bit. But for now, some tasty snippets:

Cafferty: apparently made this remark yesterday, and why the press isn't chasing their tails like mad dogs, I just don't know. Buncha worthless dolts we have in the Fourth Estate:

"The president of the United States didn't have the power to spy on Americans ... operate secret prisons ... suspend due process ... torture ... hide the conduct of the government from the public," Cafferty stated. "It's not like anybody gave President Bush any of these powers -- he took them, as a brain-dead Congress just stood there and watched."

His viewers were even more enthusiastic, opining:

"Remember the 60's?" wrote one Baby Boomer. "Well, they're back. Only this time it's not a decade. It's the age on our driver's licenses. Let's start another revolution. ... It's time to overthrow the government."

"King Bush. Queen Hillary. America is now a democratic dictatorship, nobody is going to change that. Power is everything; get used to it."

An[other] suggested. "George Bush is the next president. He and Darth Cheney will be surrendering none of their bounty. Forty years of planning to hand it all to Hillary Clinton? Not a chance. If you think there'll be a November 8 election, give my regards to the Easter Bunny."

I call that news. Sounds to me like The People are Mighty Pissed Off. And it's not as if Cafferty gets Far Left viewers or dirty fucking hippies (as they're known in the blogosphere) tuning in. View the video clip here.

Fake FEMA press conference: The WaPoo reported today that FEMA held a "press conference" in which members of its own staff pretended to be representatives of the press. They got busted, thank goodness, and the White House quickly distanced itself from the ensuing fallout.

Perino said FEMA alone was responsible for the decision to go ahead with the event.

"FEMA has issued an apology, saying that they had an error in judgment when they were attempting to get out a lot of information to reporters, who were asking for answers to a variety of questions in regard to the wildfires in California," she said. "It's not something I would have condoned. And they, I'm sure, will not do it again."

Upon reading the FEMA equivalent of an apology, it seems to me that the White House might want to mandate courses in apologyology for FEMA staff. They suck ass at it, although I guess it's par for the course.
White House officials face contempt charges: John Conyers says he and Nancy Pelosi are surveying the House Democratic caucus on the issue of bringing criminal contempt charges against Harriet Miers and Joshua Bolten. The vote could happen within the next two weeks, although the Justice Department had earlier stated that they would not pursue criminal charges. But now that the criminally corrupt former attorney general is busy alienating his family in Texas, perhaps that's changed too. Anyway. Keep an eye out.
Dummy - oops, Rummy's torture complaint: A coalition of international human rights groups slapped Mr. HappySlappy with a suit that alleges that during his tenure, the former defense secretary "ordered and authorized" torture of detainees at both the American-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the US military's detainment facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

One of the groups responsible for bringing the charges is the US-based Center for Constitutional Rights.

"There are Guantananamo detainees who were tortured that are living in France," said [its spokesman]. "It gives French courts another reason to prosecute."

Ratner says Europe is "getting very hot for Rumsfeld," and suggests a French court could at least issue its version of a subpoena.

"We hope that this case will move forward," he said, "especially as the US says it can continue to torture people."

Other groups involved in the complaint include the International Federation of Human Rights, the French League for Human Rights and Germany's European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.

Would that be the "Old Europe" you derided back in those heady days of power when you sat at the right hand of that guy you're too busy to miss, Li'l Boots is his name?

For a PDF file with details of the allegations against Rummy, go here.
And finally, Valerie Plame told Chris Matthews on Hardball where to stick it.

Matthews asked Plame how, if she believed the Bush administration had covered up a "false case for war," that she didn't also anticipate that the White House would strike back at her personally.

"Call me naive," she said, "but that wasn't on our list of options...we didn't actually consider they would betray our country's national security to get at me."

That's exactly what they did by blowing her cover. Her job was to keep an eye on acquisition of weapons of mass destruction, especially in the middle-east. She was trained to manage a group of intelligence analysts who cultivated sources of information, analysed the derived data, and prepared reports for our government. Keeping her status secret required the setting up of cover organizations complete with identities and cover stories, personnel, offices, locations, covert and noncovert staff.

In one fell swoop, the petty Darth Cheney destroyed all that because he was pissed off with Joe Wilson. You might not like Mr. Wilson or Ms. Plame, but the fact is that blowing the cover of an intelligence operative is not something to be undertaken lightly. Intelligence networks take time and effort - sometimes decades - to build. Destroying them has far-reaching implications.

Every single person who ever had any contact with Valerie Plame over the course of her entire service and her trips around the world has been placed under scrutiny by multiple intelligence operatives of other governments as a result of that contact. Whether it was a friend's friend, a casual acquaintance, a friendly reporter, or a hotel clerk, they are all going to be followed, sussed out, maybe even questioned, to determine the exact nature of their relationship with her. If any of them were operatives that she turned, or sources of information, their usefulness has been destroyed.

The entire network will have to be recreated, slowly and painfully. Meanwhile, every American living or working abroad will be subjected to additional scrutiny, especially anyone in the diplomatic corps. All because one nasty old man wanted revenge. Yes, it's treason. I'm disgusted that no other fishwrap reported it as such.

See the video clip here.

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Politics: Republican Calls Justice Department

on its bullshit.
Richard Thornburgh, head of the Department of Justice under President Reagan and President Bush (the Not_So_Stupid one), yesterday accused none other than our good friend, U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, of pursuing a politically motivated indictment of a prominent regional Democrat. From Raw Story comes the following report:

Thornburgh also charged that Buchanan avoided prosecuting Republicans within her jurisdiction.

"The fact that no investigation was undertaken stands out when Democrats in the western district of Pennsylvania have been investigated in such a highly visible manner," Thornburgh said.

Republicans on the House Judiciary Panel, however, took issue with Thornburgh's accusations.

"Your testimony . . . is the most pathetic example of innuendo and hearsay that I have seen," said Rep. Ric Keller (R-FL), during the hearing.

Oh, my. Eating our own, Rep Keller?

Thornburgh added:

"The citizens of the United States must have confidence that the department is conducting itself...without actual political influence or the appearance of political influence," Thornburgh said. "Unfortunately, that may no longer be the case."

Mr. Thornburgh obviously specializes in the fine art of understatement. I'd say, given the shenanigans conducted by the brazen weasel and liar Alberto GoneZales at the DOJ for the past X years, including late-night bedside visits to pressure seriously ill officials, firing those refusing to toe the ideological line, appointing obviously unqualified political hacks, and the like, I very much doubt there is a citizen anywhere in the confines of this vast land who has a scrap of confidence left in the DoJ.

Legislators also discussed the case of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. For the transcript of Thornburgh's testimony, see Raw Story. For a video, see TPM Muckraker.

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Politics - Good News!

According to former U.S. attorney John McKay (fired as part of the Justice Dept. scandal), the Justice Department's Inspector General might recommend that clueless moraltard and ethically impaired creep Asshole Gonezales be criminally prosecuted.

McKay began calling last spring for Gonzales to step down for his role in "a conspiracy to politicize the Justice Department," which McKay suggested might have been masterminded by Karl Rove.

It Can Bees Tiem For Turdblossom Cleanup Too?

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Politics - Where Do They Find These People?

Episode 277,000 of Republican Whack-A-Mole continues with Justice Department Voting Section Chief John Tanner's "investigation of the 2004 election in Ohio [which] concluded that long lines and late voting precincts were due to the fact that white voters tend to cast ballots in the morning (i.e., before work) and black voters cast ballots in the afternoon (i.e., after work) ...." (from Raw Story).

I had no idea "investigation" is now defined as "pull something out of your ass and fling it like poo on the voting public." He cites no authority for his statement, no study, no fact-finding mission, no published paper or even previewed paper. Just "local contacts" and "our own considerable experience."

Well, my considerable experience tells me that "Voters in black counties faced far longer lines than those in the more white Ohio suburbs. Investigations showed that Ohio officials had deliberately placed fewer voting machines in some areas and in some instances even kept voting machines out of service. The resulting lines generally resulted in less individuals voting because the lines were so long." TPM has the details. And the cites to back them up.

Given all the shenanigans that occurred around the vote in Ohio, you'd think a more thorough investigation was warranted, but apparently Mr. Tanner (who needs to follow Mr. Gonzales out the door as soon as earthly possible) thinks his job is to steal the vote, disenfranchise as many voters as he can, give cover to those who steal votes and disenfranchise voters, and look like a smarmy used-car-salesman to the best of his ability. Much like the rest of the Gross Old Perverts (GOP).

Argh, these people make me so furious! You can't have a democracy if you don't provide a forum for all voices to be heard, an equal right to vote, and the right to have all votes counted, you son-of-a-turtle!

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Politics - Pasty Maggot Found Out

Pasty maggot and Satan's turd Karl Rove has been outed as the architect of the unwarranted destruction of Alabama governor Don Siegelman. Raw Story reports:

New testimony released yesterday by the House Judiciary Committee reveals details about the alleged involvement of former Bush administration advisor Karl Rove in the prosecution of Democratic Alabama Governor Don Siegelman.

Dana Jill Simpson, a Republican attorney and activist, stated earlier this year that an associate of Rove's had said that the then top White House political strategist had communicated directly with the Justice Department about "pursuing" the former governor via US attorneys.

Raw Story has links to all the other coverage of the issue as well as Ms. Simpson's sworn statement.

All I can say is, "Oh, pleez, oh, pleez, oh, pleez."

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Politics - Celebrate! Down Goes The Weasel!

The Stinkeye. Let Me Give You Eet. (Image from Raw Story)

Professional lying weasel and practising amnesiac Alberto GONEzales hath resigned! Break out the party hats and chocolate cake. The despicable little wart on the bum of collective humanity will slither off to the bosom of his family, assuming their bosom does not collectively horripilate its way to the horizon.

I never thought he'd go, frankly. But I suppose getting the stinkeye from your boss AND every other person with whom you work in a professional capacity must be daunting even for someone possessed of so little by way of a conscience, a brain, a soul - in short, humanity.

Highlights of the story:

In an apparent answer to critics who say Gonzales's tenure at Justice has encouraged law enforcemet agencies to overstep their constitutional boundaries, Gonzales said Monday that he worked to ensure the "rights and civil liberties of our citizens are protected."

"It's a good day for justice in the United States," David Iglesias, one of the fired US Attorneys, said on MSNBC Monday.

[...]

Former Sen. John Edwards was the first Democratic presidential candidate to weigh in on the news of Gonzales' resignation, which broke early Monday morning.

"Better late than never," Edwards said in a prepared statement released by his campaign.

Critics said Gonzales' resignation should not end Congressional -- and possible criminal -- inquiries into his alleged misconduct overseeing the Justice Department.

Edwards is quite good with the terse comments, isn't he? Also quick on response. I like that. I also like that they're going to keep after the little creep with inquiries. I can't think of a more deserving person. Well, Karl Rove, but it would be a bit of a stretch to label that fat, pasty maggot a person.

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Politics - The Abu G Show

Gonzo won a prize for his tapdancing in April. Given his recent show of fancy footwork in further hearings, one wonders, what's he now? A dead duck?

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Politics - Impeach Gonezales, Too!

Arlen Specter has, for the first time I can remember, raised the issue of impeaching Abu G.

"Now we have a very remarkable turn of events: we now have the announcement that the administration will preclude the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from bringing a contempt citation," he said. "The president in that manner can stymie Congressional oversight...if that is to happen, the president can run the government as he chooses."

Specter then suggested the possibility of appointing a special prosecutor because he said the President had a conflict of interest. He went on to also offer the alternative that the Senate could try a contempt charge of its own, or consider the model of the impeachment of Alcee Hastings, a former federal judge who now serves as a Democratic Congressman from Florida.

Now, several "moderate" republicans - and even the "not-so-moderate" lot - are in the habit of publicly stating their support for some perfectly reasonable proposition or other that has been raised by their Democratic counterparts and has significant public support -- only to vote against any such legislation later.

Don't let the bastards get away with it. Write Specter, call his office, write letters to your editor. Gonezales is responsible for the horrible situation at the Justice Department. Gonezales is responsible for the Justice Department's failure to lay down the law to this lawless misadministration. With Gonezales gone and, perhaps, Patrick Fitzgerald in charge, an Augean-stables cleaning can occur and the country can begin to regain the trust that those who serve the people and the law will once again administer said law even-handedly and fairly.

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Politics - Bite Me, Pajama Pete!

Nice try, you befuddled senile lout! The Associated Press reports that Senator Pete (R-Alzheimer's) has "turned against" the war in Iraq. I might believe he gave a fuck about dead Iraqis and Americans if he weren't up to his eyeballs in the AttorneyGate scandal. Let's not forget David Iglesias, a fine man who has served his country both in the military and in the courts. Let's not forget that Domenici pressured Karl of the pasty fingers to take that good public servant out. Now he turns against the war? Now that we've spent (and lost) uncounted billions of taxpayer dollars, thrown our loved ones into the meatgrinder repeatedly, killed nearly a million innocent civilians, bombed young children and the elderly, ruined the nation's reputation along with its infrastructure, failed to save poor people in Louisiana and Kansas because the National Guard were being turned to mincemeat in an illegal, immoral war of occupation?

Pete, take your medication, you're blathering. Shut the fuck up and resign early and slink off into well-deserved obloquy, why don't you. Jesus Christ, these people make me so fucking mad. It's a good thing I have naturally low blood pressure, or I'd be blowing a gasket/popping a fucking artery.

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Politics - AttorneyGate: The Story Writes Itself

Unbelievable. The Washington Post reports that The Abu G Show, known to the hoi polloi by the familiar, catchy nick of "The Justice Department," is having trouble filling positions. What, Monica Goodling's alma mater, Regent U., is not sending them candidates? Apparently, no one's lining up to fill these plum positions. I don't suppose Abu G's recent pronouncements are helping any.

I'd introduce this quote with a "to wit," but wit appears to be in short supply in The Failed Administration of Commander von Bunnypants.

The developments add to growing personnel problems at the Justice Department in the wake of last year's firings of nine U.S. attorneys, which led to a political confrontation with Congress, lowered morale and contributed to an exodus of officials from the upper ranks of the department.

A quarter of all federal prosecutors are now on the job on an interim or acting basis -- reflecting a vacancy rate that is much higher than normal, according to department statistics. Five senior Justice Department officials have also resigned since March, including one who announced his departure Friday.

"There are certainly a lot of vacancies, even for the end of an administration," said Dennis Boyd, executive director of the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys. "For some turnover to be occurring is not that big of a surprise, but the department has handled . . . [the prosecutor firings] so poorly that you're left with an unusual situation."

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Politics - AttorneyGate: Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch

Now, why d'you suppose Georgy-Porgy, the ever-willing foot-in-mouth Blabberer-in-Chief, is holding his - hmph! - peace in the matter of the Democratic Congress' newly issued subpoenas of Harriet Miers and Sara Taylor? Could it be nerves, as the NYT suggests?

Bush had said, "I will oppose any attempts to subpoena White House officials," and added that he was "absolutely" willing to fight over subpoenas in court.

"But when the subpoenas actually arrived on Wednesday, for Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel, and Sara Taylor, the former White House political director, Bush said nothing," Stolberg observes. "The current White House counsel, Fred F. Fielding -- who recently beefed up his staff by hiring additional lawyers to handle the growing demands for documents and testimony -- has yet to offer a response."

Stolberg continues, "Those sounds of silence suggest that the White House is grappling with a dilemma. If Bush reaches an accommodation with lawmakers on testimony from Miers and Taylor, Democrats will inevitably demand similar terms for Karl Rove, Bush's chief political adviser. The last thing Bush wants is Rove going up to Capitol Hill to submit to questions from Democrats."

Fear that Karlie will sing like a canary to save his own skin? Or is he losing it as everything around him turns to shit, like everything within him, and the fetid stench of his own inner darkness reduces his world to a meaningless hell?

What am I thinking? Commander Codpiece would never admit to being wrong. “I must tell you, I'm sleeping a lot better than people would assume,” he famously said recently. Of course he is. He's a psychopath. He doesn't give a fuck about the wounded, maimed, and killed, civilian or military, American or Iraqi. Punk.

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