Tag: Government

Ha! Good luck with that one!

Yeah, like that will ever happen………….

The Story:  Bush Admits To Knowledge of Torture Authorization by Top Advisers (Via American Civil Liberties Union)

The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on Congress to demand an independent prosecutor to investigate possible violations by the Bush administration of laws including the War Crimes Act, the federal Anti-Torture Act, and federal assault laws.

“No one in the executive branch of government can be trusted to fairly investigate or prosecute any crimes since the head of every relevant department, along with the president and vice president, either knew or participated in the planning and approval of illegal acts,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “Congress cannot look the other way; it must demand an independent investigation and independent prosecutor.”

Fredrickson added, "Congress is duty-bound by the Constitution not only to hold the president, vice president, and all civil officers to account, but it must also send a message to future presidents that it will use its constitutional powers to prevent illegal, and immoral conduct

 

I think we got a better chance of a Meteor hitting the planet, than this ever happening, while Bush is in office.

 

I wish the ACLU all the best on it, but I just don’t think it will happen.

 

Others: TalkLeft, Hullabaloo, Booman Tribune, Emptywheel and TPMMuckraker

No Job for Gonzo?

gonzo

No, not that Gonzo!

 

Update: I just freakin’ noticed that picture up there of Gonzo, has a gun it it’s hand… SurpriseDohBelieve me, I didn’t mean a thing, by posting that. I just wanted a funny Gonzo Picture… It was just something I grabbed off of Google Images. I think everyone is smart enough to know that… but you never know… so, I’m just letting everyone know!

 

This one: (H/T New York Times)

13gonzales.190

 

Quote:

Alberto R. Gonzales, like many others recently unemployed, has discovered how difficult it can be to find a new job. Mr. Gonzales, the former attorney general, who was forced to resign last year, has been unable to interest law firms in adding his name to their roster, Washington lawyers and his associates said in recent interviews.

Well, I would guess so, seeing how he basically assisted George W. Bush destroy  America’s Constitution.

He has, through friends, put out inquiries, they said, and has not found any takers. What makes Mr. Gonzales’s case extraordinary is that former attorneys general, the government’s chief lawyer, are typically highly sought.

A longtime loyalist to George W. Bush dating to their years together in Texas, Mr. Gonzales was once widely viewed as a strong candidate to be the first Hispanic-American nominated one day to the Supreme Court. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he carried an impressive personal story as the child of poor Mexican immigrants.

Despite those credentials, he left office last August with a frayed reputation over his role in the dismissal of several federal prosecutors and the truthfulness of his testimony about a secret eavesdropping program. He has had no full-time job since his resignation, and his principal income has come from giving a handful of talks at colleges and before private business groups.

“Maybe the passage of time will provide some opportunity for him,” said one Washington lawyer who was aware of an inquiry to his firm from a Gonzales associate. “I wouldn’t say ‘rebuffed,’ ” said the lawyer, who asked his name not be used because the situation being described was uncomfortable for Mr. Gonzales. “I would say ‘not taken up.’ ”

Party Loyalty has it’s downside, eh Gonzo? Karma is such a terrible thing.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7 KJV)

Amen.

 

Others on this: Shakesville, MoJoBlog, DownWithTyranny!, Rox Populi, Donklephant and Cliff Schecter …

Cross-Posted at my other Blog: The American Nationalist News Service

Republicans Reportedly "transitioning" away from the FISA Telecom Immunity fight….

Glenn Greenwald Reports that The Hill is reporting the following:

I’m still traveling and so have only a little bit of time to comment, but The Hill is reporting that the GOP is de-prioritizing their efforts to enact the Rockefeller/Cheney FISA bill:

"House Republicans are poised to shift their focus from national security to the economy, hoping to rally opposition to what they claim are Democratic plans to raise taxes amid the economic downturn.

 

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is expected to announce Thursday that the House GOP floor emphasis will transition away from passing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and earmark reform to "stop the tax hike.""

I tend to think that the Republicans, at least the ones in the Senate realize that they are not going to win this fight and that it could cost them some serious votes in the coming election. So, I tend to think they’ve changed their priorities. 

 

Unlike some of the more of the ardent Right Wingers or as the rest of the World calls them, the Right Wing Lunatic Fridge, I know that if these companies get immunity, America’s Justice system would be totally undermined. Now, do I believe that the Bush Administration broke the law? I do not know that, as I have zero proof of such claim. 

 

My feelings are, if the Bush Administration has done nothing wrong, then what do they have to hide? If they’ve done nothing wrong, they should not have a problem with the investigations or lawsuit, because they would be vindicated.

 

Unlike some of the more far right Conservatives, I do not believe that Corporate power should be protected. Every American, of any Religious persuasion, and yes, that does include Muslim, have the right to legal recourse, if they feel that they’ve been unfairly investigated. That is one of our Nation’s founding principles.

 

Others: Think Progress

Memo to Speak Nancy Pelosi: Will you please STFU?

 You know, I always thought this Closet Lesbian woman was a feckless Bitch, and now I know it!

The Article: We Need a New Direction in Iraq, But Petraeus and Crocker Offered Many More Years of the Same (via The Gavel, Speaker Pelosi’s Blog)

 

Quote:

The Iraqi people government is not worthy of the sacrifice of our troops or the cost that the war is having on our readiness and our economy. We need a New Direction in Iraq, but what General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker offered today was many more years of the same.

 

……and Just what the hell is Worthy, Speaker? What is?

 

A War started by YOUR Party?

 

Funding for your Aids carrying Homosexuals, that YOU represent?

 

This crap right here, is the reason why I refuse to align myself with that party!

 

Why didn’t she just say that the Iraqi PEOPLE weren’t worth the sacrifice?!?!?! 

 

I’m sorry, but Democrats hate America man… I’m really wondering now, who I am going to vote for.

 

Sure, I know Bush put us into this War, I know this, But is it so wrong to want to fix what we broke? Is it so wrong to want to exercise some personal responsibility? Angry

 

But then again, we are talking about the feckless Liberals, like the Government we have here in Michigan.

 

Others: BLACKFIVE

 

A good Book:

It's always them pesky hackers…. Sometimes

Now this is FUNNY! Rolling on the floor

 

The Article: FBI probe: Lieberman campaign to blame for crashing own Web site – The Advocate

 

A federal investigation has concluded that U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s 2006 re-election campaign was to blame for the crash of its Web site the day before Connecticut’s heated Aug. 8 Democratic primary.

The FBI office in New Haven found no evidence supporting the Lieberman campaign’s allegations that supporters of primary challenger Ned Lamont of Greenwich were to blame for the Web site crash.

Lieberman, who was fighting for his political life against the anti-Iraq war candidate Lamont, implied that joe2006.com was hacked by Lamont supporters.

"The server that hosted the joe2006.com Web site failed because it was overutilized and misconfigured. There was no evidence of (an) attack," according to the e-mail.

A program that could have detected a legitimate attack was improperly configured, the e-mail states.

I would tend to believe that someone is feeling a wee bit silly right about now. Tongue

 

Hey Joe, How’s it feel to eat crow?

 

Others: Crooks and Liars, Eschaton, The Carpetbagger Report, Talking Points Memo, Some Guy With a Website …, BlondeSense, Shakesville and more via Memeorandum

No end in sight…

Hmmmmm… I guess that movie was correct.

The Article: Frustrated Senators See No Exit Signs (via washingtonpost.com)

 

Asked repeatedly yesterday what "conditions" he is looking for to begin substantial U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq after this summer’s scheduled drawdown, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said he will know them when he sees them. For frustrated lawmakers, it was not enough.

"A year ago, the president said we couldn’t withdraw because there was too much violence," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). "Now he says we can’t afford to withdraw because violence is down." Asked Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.): "Where do we go from here?"

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said: "I think people want a sense of what the end is going to look like."

But the bottom line was that there was no bottom line. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker echoed what they said seven months ago in their last update to Congress — often using similar words. Iraq’s armed forces continue to improve, overall levels of violence are lower than they were last year, and political reconciliation is happening, albeit still more slowly than they would like.

That’s because with this Presidential Administration, there is no exit sign!

 

That’s the way his Neo-Conservative planners wanted it. To keep us in that war forever! That’s because Neo-Conservatives believe in perpetual war! Even at the expense of the Nation’s Military.

 

That’s Neo-Con Game, and we’re playing it…. At our Tax Expense.

 

A good Movie:

 

 

Buy the Movie:

 

Others: Washington Wire, Slate, Times of London, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, Real Clear Politics, New York Times, SWJ Blog, Sister Toldjah, New York Post, Connecting.the.Dots and Intel Dump and more via Memeornadum

My obligatory Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker Congress briefing Post

I really didn’t want to Blog about this, because everyone else and their uncle is. plus, there’s so, much partisan nonsense involved with this.

I just don’t think this issue should be treated Politically, Liberal or Conservative.

Having said that, go read the stories from various news agencies and Bloggers.

Living proof that our Government is staffed blatant idiots….

I saw this and I thought, "Has common sense went totally out the window?"

The Article: For the Record: Seriously, What is the FBI Doing? (via Investigative Project on Terrorism)

Quote:

In February, we exposed the latest FBI (and CIA) outrage, advertising for recruits in a pro-terrorist, anti-American magazine, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (WRMEA) – (see: Looking Under a Rock: FBI and CIA Hit New Low in Recruitment Drive). Both of our top national security agencies had placed online advertisements on the webpage of a magazine that included a hagiography to a terrorist the FBI had worked almost a decade to investigate and prosecute, Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Sami Al-Arian.

Just over a month later, it is clear that the FBI has learned nothing. The agency is advertising for recruits in the Arab American News, another publication with a long history of support for terrorism, terrorists and terrorist organizations. The current edition has an editorial titled, "Let our people go!," under an ad banner recruiting for the FBI (which also appears on the home page of the website), about accused Iraqi spy Muthanna al-Hanooti, which states:

Arab American political activist Muthanna al-Hanooti was arrested and jailed this week by federal officials upon arrival at Detroit Metropolitan Airport returning from a trip to the Middle East. The following day he was charged with two counts of conspiracy and three counts of lying to the FBI about working for agents with the Iraqi Intelligence Service under Saddam Hussein. (emphasis added)

Screen shot of said website:

62_large

 

I mean, really gentleman, can we be anymore stupid than this? Advertising on a pro-terrorist website??!?! Somebody dropped a huge ball here, somewhere along the line.

That’s our wonderful government, being ran incompetent ogres, who base their terror warnings on "Gut Feelings".  

…..and we PAY these people??!?!

Others: The Jawa Report and Little Green Footballs

Speaking of Idiots…..

Man, it comes in waves….

The Article:  GOP Rep. Darrell Issa under fire from everywhere after 9/11 comments – (via New York Daily News)

The California congressman who called the Sept. 11 attacks "simply" a plane crash ran for cover Wednesday under a barrage of ridicule from fellow Republicans, first responders and victims’ families.

San Diego GOP Rep. Darrell Issa was under siege for suggesting the federal government had already done enough to help New York cope with "a fire" that "simply was an aircraft" hitting the World Trade Center.

"That is a pretty distorted view of things," said Frank Fraone, a Menlo Park, Calif., fire chief who led a 67-man crew at Ground Zero. "Whether they’re a couple of planes or a couple of missiles, they still did the same damage

Oy…. I’ve heard of "Open Mouth, Insert Foot", But Man, this is like over the top… Doh

He’s from California, Which says quite a bit, and he’s a Republican. Interesting combination.

I also notice his last name, I wonder what his nationality is? Let’s see here, via Wikipedia:

Darrell Issa’s mother is of Bohemian German descent and his father is of Lebanese Christian descent. Issa was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He grew up in a Jewish neighborhood and worked for a rabbi. Issa enlisted in the Army during his senior year of high school, where he served as a bomb disposal technician.

Well, that explains it all! I guess nationality loyalty is thinker than loyalty to the United States.  Why didn’t he just come out and say the 9/1 hijackers were heroes?

Others: DownWithTyranny!, Think Progress, Calitics, Blue Girl, Red State, At-Largely and CWA-NJ Conservatives … (via Memeorandum)