News Rove Invoved In Firing Of Attorneys General

[Astronuc]

"At the end of the day, I know what I did. And I know that the motivations for the decisions I made were not based on improper reasons. "

ALBERTO GONZALES
the U.S. Attorney General defending his actions in firing eight U.S. attorneys but acknowledging confusion about the role he played.

from http://www.time.com/time/quotes - Friday, March 30, 2007.

Gonzales seems a bit confused about truth and other matters.

 

[Gokul43201]

How can Gonzales claim no knowledge of the specifics of the firings, yet assert that the specific judges fired were not chosen for political reasons? Does he not see the logical contradiction there?

But then, if "I wasn't involved in any discussions" is logically consistent with "he was involved in a few discussions", then this really must be a different system of logic than I'm used to.

 

[Astronuc]

It's called BushLogic.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

This morning on MTP, Leahy mentions how the provision in the Patriot Act that allowed Bush to appoint attorneys without Congressional approval, was tagged on at the last minute - I think he even says that it was snuck in. He then keeps coming back to the Patriot Act. It almost sounds like he's arguing that there was a willful deception - on the part of the Administration - that was intended to subvert the Constitution.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10386260/

 

[Ivan Seeking]

...We do not need more evidence, however, to reach a conclusion about the suitability of Alberto Gonzales for the leadership of the Department of Justice. While we defended him from some of the outlandish charges made during his confirmation hearings, we have never seen evidence that he has a fine legal mind, good judgment, or managerial ability. Nor has his conduct at any stage of this controversy gained our confidence.

His claim not to have been involved in the firings suggests that he was either deceptive or inexcusably detached from the operations of his own department [continued]

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NTNjY2U3Yjk0NTRmNTcyNjg1M2EwM2FlNTA0OTYyMzU=

I find it funny that my old long lost friends, the real Conservatives, and siding with my newest friends, the liberals.

The French translation of neo-con is correct.

 

[Skyhunter]

This morning on MTP, Leahy mentions how the provision in the Patriot Act that allowed Bush to appoint attorneys without Congressional approval, was tagged on at the last minute - I think he even says that it was snuck in. He then keeps coming back to the Patriot Act. It almost sounds like he's arguing that there was a willful deception - on the part of the Administration - that was intended to subvert the Constitution.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10386260/

Hey Ivan the real story is even better than that.

The provision was put into the patriot act at the last moment by request of the Justice department by a member of Specter's staff. According to Specter, it was done without his knowledge.

Guess who he is?

Brett Tollman, one of the new US attorneys appointed under the provision he put into the patriot act.

This is potentially a crime against the constitution. I will wait for the investigation, (gotta love that subpoena power) and if the executive branch has sereptitiously violated the separation of powers by inserting or altering legislation it is a high crime and impeachable offense IMO.

I am somewhat aghast at the politica nature of everything that Bush does. I was so reieved to see the SC rule against him today.

If they have the judiciary things could get very ugly in the coming months.

Here is a good starting place if anyone is interested in pursuing this.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/18/211857/323

 

[Ivan Seeking]

WASHINGTON -- A top aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales abruptly quit Friday, almost two weeks after telling Congress she would not testify about her role in the firings of federal prosecutors.

Monica M. Goodling, the Justice Department's liaison to the White House, gave no reason for her resignation. Since she was at the center of the firings, Goodling's refusal to testify has intensified questions about whether the U.S. attorney dismissals were proper and heightened the furor that threatens Gonzales' own job. [continued]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top13apr06,0,6084833.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines

This just keeps getting more interesting.

 

[Astronuc]

Gonzales Adviser Goodling Gives Up Her Post
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9443741

Goodling found herself at the center of a battle with Congress over her refusal to testify about the firings. Since the scandal broke, she has been on a leave of absence from the Justice Department. The resignation simply formalizes what many people had assumed — that Goodling will not return to her job as liaison to the White House.

Congress has pushed hard for her to testify about the firings. Democrats had pointedly asked Gonzales how a Justice Department staffer could refuse to testify as part of an investigation in which the Justice Department has pledged to cooperate.

. . .
Goodling is the second senior Gonzales aide to resign in the wake of the furor over the attorney firings. The first was Kyle Sampson, who was Gonzales' former chief of staff. Sampson testified before Congress last week, contradicting some of his former boss's statements on the firings.

Goodling's testimony was sought because she was in a unique position to know how significant a role the White House played in orchestrating the firings and what the attorney general knew about the White House's role. She began her leave of absence when the scandal broke.
. . .

Interesting. I wonder when she will testify.

 

[Astronuc]

Gingrich Suggests Gonzales Should Resign
Former House Speaker Slams Attorney General Over Firings
By HOPE YEN
AP

WASHINGTON (April 8) - Joining a growing list of Republicans, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Sunday that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should consider resigning. The possible presidential candidate said the botched firing of U.S. attorneys has destroyed Gonzales' credibility as the nation's top law enforcer.

"I think the country, in fact, would be much better served to have a new team at the Justice Department, across the board," Gingrich said. "I cannot imagine how he is going to be effective for the rest of this administration. ... They're going to be involved in endless hearings."

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who is helping lead the investigation into the firing of eight federal prosecutors, said Gingrich's comments pointed to building bipartisan support for a new attorney general.

"This is another important voice who believes that the attorney general should step down for the good of the country and the good of the department," Schumer said in a statement. "We hope both the attorney general and the president heed Speaker Gingrich's message."
. . . . continued

Well? Perhaps by Friday?

 

[Astronuc]

Another Layer of Scandal
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/opinion/09mon1.html

As Congress investigates the politicization of the United States attorney offices by the Bush administration, it should review the extraordinary events the other day in a federal courtroom in Wisconsin. The case involved Georgia Thompson, a state employee sent to prison on the flimsiest of corruption charges just as her boss, a Democrat, was fighting off a Republican challenger. It just might shed some light on a question that lurks behind the firing of eight top federal prosecutors: what did the surviving attorneys do to escape the axe?

Ms. Thompson, a purchasing official in the state’s Department of Administration, was accused by the United States attorney in Milwaukee, Steven Biskupic, of awarding a travel contract to a company whose chief executive contributed to the campaign of Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat. Ms. Thompson said the decision was made on the merits, but she was convicted and sent to prison before she could appeal.

The prosecution was a boon to Mr. Doyle’s opponent. Republicans ran a barrage of attack ads that purported to tie Ms. Thompson’s “corruption” to Mr. Doyle. Ms. Thompson was sentenced shortly before the election, which Governor Doyle won.

The Chicago-based United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit seemed shocked by the injustice of her conviction. It took the extraordinary step of releasing Ms. Thompson from prison immediately after hearing arguments, without waiting to issue a ruling. One of the judges hinted that Ms. Thompson may have been railroaded. “It strikes me that your evidence is beyond thin,” Judge Diane Wood told the lawyer from Mr. Biskupic’s office.

Who would have thought that such a thing would happen in the US in this day and age?

 

[Astronuc]

House panel subpoenas Gonzales documents
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070410/ap_on_go_co/fired_prosecutors

WASHINGTON - The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed new documents Tuesday from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as part of its investigation into the firings of federal prosecutors, with the panel chairman saying he had run out of patience.

We have been patient in allowing the department to work through its concerns regarding the sensitive nature of some of these materials," Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) wrote Gonzales in a letter accompanying the subpoena. "Unfortunately, the department has not indicated any meaningful willingness to find a way to meet our legitimate needs.,"

"At this point further delay in receiving these materials will not serve any constructive purpose," Conyers said. He characterized the subpoena as a last resort after weeks of negotiations with Justice over documents and e-mails the committee wants.

The pressure is building.

 

[edward]

Another Layer of Scandal
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/opinion/09mon1.html

Who would have thought that such a thing would happen in the US in this day and age?

This has ROVE written all over it. He was the guy in charge of getting republicans elected. This incident and similar incidents are typical of the current administration.

 

[turbo]

This has ROVE written all over it. He was the guy in charge of getting republicans elected. This incident and similar incidents are typical of the current administration.

Would Rove and the DOJ arrange to have an innocent woman sent to prison with no chance for an appeal right before an election, just to embarrass the Democratic governor and smear his administration? Sounds about right. Now why isn't this situation the lead on the nightly news? Oh, that "liberal media" doesn't want to touch it.

 

[denverdoc]

Certainly waddles and quacks like the former Orkin man.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

White House emails gone missing
Posted by Mark Silva at 10:53 am, updated 3:20 pm CDT

In the congressional investigation of the White House's role in the firing of several federal prosecutors last year, the Justice Department has turned over reams of emails and memos to Congress.

But there may be many more missing emails, it turns out, because many people within the White House have been exchanging emails on a Republican National Committee account using private laptop computers provided by the party for nearly two dozen employees of the president.

The White House maintains that the idea was to keep political business off of government computers. But the record of some public business may have gone missing, the White House acknowledges today. "We screwed up,'' Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino said today, "and we're trying to fix it.''

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, for one, isn't buying it. "That's like saying the dog ate my homework,'' Leahy (D-Vt.) said on the Senate floor today, pledging to subpeona records the White House won't produce. "Now we're learning that off-book communications are being used by these people in the White House by using Republican political email addresses, and they say they have not been preserved. I don't believe that! I don't believe that! You can't erase emails, not today.'' [continued with video]

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2007/04/white_house_ema.html

There seems to be no end of interesting stories. I can't wait for Gonzales to appear next week.

Rove's name is on the list of missing emails

 

[Astronuc]

Documents Show Justice Ranking U.S. Attorneys
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9575434

All Things Considered, April 13, 2007 · The Justice Department sent Congress a new batch of documents about the dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys. The documents show Justice Department and White House staffers planning the firings and trying to control the subsequent fallout.

Some of the newly released documents are repeats, like the letter in which Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, responds to a suggestion from White House counsel Harriet Miers that all 93 U.S. attorneys be fired.

NPR now has new information about that plan. According to someone who's had conversations with White House officials, the plan to fire all 93 U.S. attorneys originated with political adviser Karl Rove. It was seen as a way to get political cover for firing the small number of U.S. attorneys the White House actually wanted to get rid of. Documents show the plan was eventually dismissed as impractical.

The Justice Department documents released today include a spreadsheet ranking all 93 prosecutors. The chart ranks them on whether they have Hill experience, campaign experience, and — in the last column — whether they're members of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group.

. . . .

So much for being impartial.

 

[denverdoc]

That's interesting I remember the tapdance, then Supreme Corte Nominee, Roberts did to distance himself from any association. Seems to have had a convenient case of amnesia--lot of that going around.

From Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Society

The Federalist Society states that it is founded on the principles that "the state exists to preserve freedom," that "the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution," and that the duty of the judicial branch is "to say what the law is, not what the law should be."[1]



Members of the society have debated the abolition of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, limiting the power of the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies, limiting the reach of gender equity laws (Title IX) and voting rights laws, and expanded powers of war-time presidents. The organization also hosts panels discussing recent Supreme Court decisions, the constitutionality of school vouchers, and the scope of the commerce clause.[7] The Federalist Society does not officially lobby and does not litigate cases.

 

[drankin]

That's interesting I remember the tapdance, then Supreme Corte Nominee, Roberts did to distance himself from any association. Seems to have had a convenient case of amnesia--lot of that going around.

From Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Society

The Federalist Society states that it is founded on the principles that "the state exists to preserve freedom," that "the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution," and that the duty of the judicial branch is "to say what the law is, not what the law should be."[1]



Members of the society have debated the abolition of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, limiting the power of the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies, limiting the reach of gender equity laws (Title IX) and voting rights laws, and expanded powers of war-time presidents. The organization also hosts panels discussing recent Supreme Court decisions, the constitutionality of school vouchers, and the scope of the commerce clause.[7] The Federalist Society does not officially lobby and does not litigate cases.

Interesting!

 

[Astronuc]

Senator Christopher Dodd's perspective on the lost emails concerning the firing of Federal prosecutors.

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) — Reports that the White House may have lost e-mails relating to the firing of federal prosecutors is part of a pattern of stonewalling Congress, Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd said Friday.

"I can't even feign being shocked. They would have shocked me if they produced them," the Connecticut senator said of e-mails requested by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is investigating whether eight U.S. attorneys were dismissed by the Justice Department for political reasons.

. . . .

"There's such a pattern of behavior, this is one example after another of this administration's refusal to support basic law and to respond to legitimate inquires for information," he said.

from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070414/ap_on_el_pr/on_the2008_trail;_ylt=AmDz.Xp_45E.O7.iP1ANReOtOrgF

In the article, Obama compares rappers to Imus.

 

[edward]

Monica Gooding, the AG's former top aid and liaison to the White House, resigned last week. She also refused to testify before congress citing her constitutional protection against self incrimination.

Apparently she didn't want to possibly end up in jail with Scooter.

Gooding is one of the 150 graduates of Pat Robertson's, Regent University, who work in the Bush administration. A religious agenda was definitely involved in the firing of some of the State AG's.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Gonzale's testimony is delayed until Thursday due to the tragedy at Va Tech.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

...But even conservative Republicans expressed outrage at how Gonzales had handled the issue, putting his continued tenure at risk. Sen. Thomas Coburn (R-Okla.) asked the attorney general, "Why should you not be judged by the same standards you judged these U.S. attorneys?" When Gonzales said, "We all make mistakes" and asked for time to correct his failings, Coburn replied, "Mistakes have consequences."

Disavowing allegations of partisan motive in the firings -- "I know that's the politics of the blood sport that we're playing," he said -- Coburn argued, "The best way to put this behind us is your resignation."

Still, after the testimony, President Bush expressed continued confidence in his attorney general. "President Bush was pleased with the attorney general's testimony today," deputy press secretary Dana Perino said in a statement. "After hours of testimony in which he answered all of the senators' questions and provided thousands of pages of documents, he again showed that nothing improper occurred." [continued]

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-ex-gonzales20apr20,1,5012003.story?coll=la-headlines-politics

CNN is just now reporting that in private, even White House aides say that Gonzales "went down in flames".

...that one Senator counted "I don't know" or "I don't recall" as an answer over one-hundred times, in a hearing for which Gonzales has prepared for weeks.

With this much smoke, must be a fire somewhere.

 

[denverdoc]

If he doesn't resign or be fired, I imagine that impeachment articles will be brought.

 

[Astronuc]

Senators Renew Bipartisan Call for Gonzales to Go
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9515295

Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) complained at the hearing's end that they still did not know – after hours of testimony – how the names of the attorneys had ended up on a list of those to be fired. Schumer said he counted close to 100 "I don't knows" or "I don't recalls" in Gonzales' answers.

Sen. Sessions: 'Sad Day' for Gonzales and Agency
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9692298

Inquiry into Fired U.S. Attorneys
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7791372

 

[edward]

Gonzo is now having memory problems.

"You have answered `I don't know' or `I can't recall' to close to 100 questions. You are unfamiliar with inner workings of your department," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., scolded. "I urge you to re-examine your performance, and for the good of the department and the good of the country, step down."

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/nation/17104984.htm

 

[mathwonk]

in my accidental pause on pat robertson's channel i heard him say gonzalez was "weak". after that he accused republicans of not lining up behind gonzalez. what a weasel. then he started attacking salt in food. does anyone listen to this lying cynical money grubber?

then he gave a phone number for sending for his educational materials, and one to send money. good lord. are there actually voters listening to this guy? answer is yes because one of my friends does so.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Based on the reporting that I have seen today, it seems to be conclusive among "Washington insiders" that Gonzo is gonzo, and all eyes are now on the missing emails and Rove.

As for Pat Robertson... hmmmm, can't say that here.

 

[mathwonk]

sorry, i have broken my rule against stating things clearly in public forums, because these screwups are getting serious. these guys are close to ruining our world for ours and our childrens' lifetimes.

i mean they are not only killing people, but changing the climate for hundreds of years to come. they are annihilating whole species, melting glaciers, and changing the future of the planet. these are the people kirk and spock warned us about!several decaDES AGO THE AMERICAN ELECTORATE ACCEPTED THE IDEA THAT PEOPLE smarter then average like Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, should run things. Now it seems we prefer people dumber than average like GW.

GW and his gang are so incompetent, even Republican senators cannot stand them any longer. I guess the only thing they liked about him was that he wAS WINNING ELCTIONS FOR THEM. NOW THAT is over they have dumped him like a hot rock.

I am glad even Republicans are offended by the "defense" Gonzalez has presented. Apparently they do not enjoy being lied to either. When Rove will go is a matter of time now. He has been tolerated for the same reason as Bush, his slime ball tactics were working. That is at an end.

I would like to think republican senators are offended by his lies but they waited until the public spoke before objecting to them. It seems to take about 6 years for the US public to give up even on a totally hopeless leader whose incompetence has been all too evident from the beginning.

 

[Astronuc]

As for Pat Robertson and the like . . .

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40F13FA385B0C708DDDAD0894DF404482&n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fPaul%20Krugman
By PAUL KRUGMAN, NY Times OP-ED, April 13, 2007

In 1981, Gary North, a leader of the Christian Reconstructionist movement — the openly theocratic wing of the Christian right — suggested that the movement could achieve power by stealth. “Christians must begin to organize politically within the present party structure,” he wrote, “and they must begin to infiltrate the existing institutional order.”

Today, Regent University, founded by the televangelist Pat Robertson to provide “Christian leadership to change the world,” boasts that it has 150 graduates working in the Bush administration.

Unfortunately for the image of the school, where Mr. Robertson is chancellor and president, the most famous of those graduates is Monica Goodling, a product of the university’s law school. . . .

The infiltration of the federal government by large numbers of people seeking to impose a religious agenda — which is very different from simply being people of faith — is one of the most important stories of the last six years. It’s also a story that tends to go underreported, perhaps because journalists are afraid of sounding like conspiracy theorists.

But this conspiracy is no theory. The official platform of the Texas Republican Party pledges to “dispel the myth of the separation of church and state.

. . . And it’s clear that unqualified people were hired throughout the [Bush] administration because of their religious connections.

. . . .

One measure of just how many Bushies were appointed to promote a religious agenda is how often a Christian right connection surfaces when we learn about a Bush administration scandal.

. . . .

access requires subscription or purchase of article

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The basic debate at this point is whether Gonzo is being deceptive, as D Sen Leahy claims, or if he is just incompetent, as R Sen Specter claims. Given those choices, it is nice to know that this is the man who determined for the Bush admin what was and was not legal - gitmo, torture, wire taps, etc.

The Constitution? I don't recall...

 

[edward]

As for Pat Robertson and the like . . .

access requires subscription or purchase of article

The fact that Bush never funded the "Faith Based Initiative" as he promised in 2000 should have given the Christian right a clue that they were being had. It didn't.

It was recently reported that the Bush campaign had e-mailed members of the clergy, soliciting help in identifying "friendly" congregations that would do the campaign's bidding in their areas. When the e-mail came to light, legal experts warned that any religious organization that endorsed one candidate over another could lose its tax-exempt status. A few days later, House Republicans added a measure to a tax bill working its way through Congress called the "Safe Harbor for Churches" act, which would allow any religious organization to make as many as three "unintentional" political endorsements in a calendar year without jeopardizing its tax-exempt status.

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=7858

 

[Astronuc]

By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 16, 2004; Page A25

House Panel Drops 'Safe Harbor for Churches' Measure

The House Ways and Means Committee has killed a proposal that was intended to give clergy members freedom to endorse candidates for political office without endangering the tax-exempt status of their congregations.

The provision, titled "Safe Harbor for Churches," was removed from a corporate tax bill during a committee markup of the legislation Monday night, staff members said.

Watchdog groups -- including Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Interfaith Alliance and People for the American Way -- opposed the provision as a step toward dismantling the constitutional ban on state-sponsored religion. Some also called it a "back-door" attempt to help reelect President Bush, whose campaign is focusing on churches as potential centers of support.

But the proposal's fate was sealed when religious groups, including the Southern Baptist Convention and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, also expressed strong reservations.

In a letter to House members last week, the Rev. Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptists' Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, criticized the provision for making distinctions that would have required more scrutiny of churches by the Internal Revenue Service, not less. For instance, the provision would have allowed a clergy member to engage in political campaigning as a private citizen but not at "an official function" of a church.
. . . .

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Low-key office launches high-profile inquiry
The Office of Special Counsel will investigate U.S. attorney firings and other political activities led by Karl Rove.

...The new investigation, which will examine the firing of at least one U.S. attorney, missing White House e-mails, and White House efforts to keep presidential appointees attuned to Republican political priorities, could create a substantial new problem for the Bush White House.

First, the inquiry comes from inside the administration, not from Democrats in Congress. Second, unlike the splintered inquiries being pressed on Capitol Hill, it is expected to be a unified investigation covering many facets of the political operation in which Rove played a leading part.

"We will take the evidence where it leads us," Scott J. Bloch, head of the Office of Special Counsel and a presidential appointee, said in an interview Monday. "We will not leave any stone unturned." [continued]

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-probe24apr24,0,3535547.story?coll=la-home-headlines

It looks like the WH may have new image problems given that this is a presidential appointee.

 

[turbo]

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-probe24apr24,0,3535547.story?coll=la-home-headlines

It looks like the WH may have new image problems given that this is a presidential appointee.

I am confident that this WH appointee will leave no stone unturned. Letting the WH investigate itself is always best because they are in a position to know where the skeletons are.

 

[Astronuc]

This may have been mentioned already -

http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/03/15/rove_attorneys/index_np.html

The Bush administration's first instinct was to shield Karl Rove from scrutiny when Congress began inquiring about the unusual firings of eight U.S. attorneys. Among the replacements, the proposed new U.S. attorney for Arkansas happened to be one of Rove's most devoted underlings, his head of opposition research, Tim Griffin, who boasted during the 2000 presidential election about the effectiveness of the negative campaign against Al Gore: "We make the bullets!" Griffin also posted a sign in his department at Bush headquarters: "Rain hell on Al!" A letter written by the Department of Justice in late February informed Congress: "The department is not aware of Karl Rove playing any role in the decision to appoint Mr. Griffin." Despite this categorical disavowal, a sheaf of internal Justice Department e-mails released this week to Congress under subpoena revealed Kyle Sampson, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff, writing in mid-December 2006, "I know getting him appointed was important to Harriet, Karl, etc." Harriet, of course, was Harriet Miers, then the White House legal counsel.

The Justice Department's statement on Karl Rove was simply one part of its coverup. . . . .

Karl Rove and the one party state
Is Karl Rove the greatest threat to American democracy since the civil war?

...Two academics, Donald C. Shields of the University of Missouri and John F. Cragan of Illinois State University, studied the pattern of U.S. attorneys' prosecutions under the Bush administration. Their conclusions in their study, "The Political Profiling of Elected Democratic Officials," are that "across the nation from 2001 through 2006 the Bush Justice Department investigated Democratic office holders and candidates at a rate more than four times greater (nearly 80 percent to 18 percent) than they investigated Republican office holders and seekers." They also report, "Data indicate that the offices of the U.S. Attorneys across the nation investigate seven times as many Democratic officials as they investigate Republican officials, a number that exceeds even the racial profiling of African Americans in traffic stops." Thus what the 85 U.S. attorneys who were not dismissed are doing is starkly detailed.

If the Democrats hadn't won the midterm elections last year there is no reason to believe that the plan to use the U.S. attorneys for political prosecutions -- as they have been used systematically under Bush -- wouldn't have gone forward completely unimpeded. Without the new Congress issuing subpoenas, there would be no exposure, no hearings, no press conferences -- no questions at all.

. . . .

http://www.prospect.org/print/V15/2/kuttner-r.html

Politics
With Carl M. Cannon
National Journal White House Correspondent

What role is Karl Rove playing in the Bush administration? How has he made the transition from political consultant and campaign strategist to White House insider? Is Bush's decision to move toward war with or without the United Nations in America's long-term interests?

 

[Astronuc]

Monica Goodling may be offered immunity, if she has already received the offer, in which case she may be compelled to testify.

House Panel May Give Monica Goodling Immunity
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9626752

All Things Considered, April 17, 2007 · The House Judiciary Committee may grant immunity to former Justice Department official Monica Goodling as early as Wednesday. Goodling, a central figure in the unfolding scandal over the firing of eight federal prosecutors, has refused to answer questions from the committee, citing her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself.

Well it apparently happened.

House Judiciary Panel Gives Goodling Immunity
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9833666

All Things Considered, April 25, 2007 · The House Judiciary Committee has voted to extend immunity from prosecution to Monica Goodling, who was the Justice Department's White House liaison and senior counselor to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Committee leaders want to know about the White House's role in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys in 2006.

. . .

Dems vote subpoenas in widening probes
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070425/ap_on_go_co/congress_subpoenas

WASHINGTON - Putting their congressional control to work, Democrats approved new subpoenas Wednesday — and a grant of immunity — for probes ranging from the prosecutor firings and White House political activities to President Bush's justification for the war in Iraq

Democrats said the broad array of investigations represents a revival of Congress' role after six years of little oversight of the Bush administration by Republican lawmakers.

The White House is pushing back, refusing to allow officials to testify under oath about the firings and arguing that top officials — including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, subject of one of the subpoenas — already have answered questions about the administration's now-discredited claim that Iraq was seeking uranium for a bomb.

. . .

Congress' effort isn't driven solely by Democrats. Republicans have barely restrained their disdain for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' accounting of the firings, including his claims of a faulty memory.

Sen. Arlen Specter ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, co-signed a letter with Leahy Wednesday urging Gonzales to freshen his memory and provide answers within a week.

. . . continued

So, according to some sources, Goodling has been granted immunity.

 

[edward]

John Stewart on Bill Moyers program talking about Gonzo's testimony.

 

[Astronuc]

John Stewart on Bill Moyers program talking about Gonzo's testimony.

I think Stewart pegged it - pinhead! And a very well paid pinhead at that.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

So the real test was whether or not he could evade Congress, and not to show that he is competent as attorney general, or if he broke the law, of if he has lied. I think that pretty much says it all except for the most memorable line, "and you did it for me".

 

[edward]

This speaks for itself.

Karl Rove's Coaching Session

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, May 4, 2007; 1:50 PM

Back on March 5, several top Justice Department officials were summoned for an emergency meeting at the White House. On the agenda: Going over "what we are going to say" about why eight U.S. attorneys had been summarily fired.

Deputy White House counsel William Kelley sent an e-mail over to Justice early in the afternoon, saying that he had "been tasked" with pulling the meeting together, and that "we have to get this group together with some folks here asap."

The meeting was held at the White House later that day. And who did Kelley mean by "some folks here"? Well, among others, Karl Rove -- the White House's chief political operative, and the man who may very well have set the unprecedented dismissals in motion in the first place.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html

Gonzo is still around and Rove is still running the show.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Apparently nothing short of impeachment will do. Gonzo only proved to Congress that this admin has no credibility.

The investigations are continuing. Immunity has been given.

 

[Skyhunter]

The attorney firings are part of the Rovian plan for a Republican century.

From http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/05/10/voting_rights/index.html (non members can view an ad)

One of the aims of the abortive purge of U.S. attorneys was to punish those who refused to toe the line on the new emphasis on alleged voter fraud. A few fired prosecutors would serve as examples to the rest –- either move to criminalize the election process or face dismissal.

But the assault on voter fraud was a solution looking for a problem. As part of the Help America Vote Act, Republicans insisted on creating the Election Assistance Commission, which commissioned studies of the asserted problem. When the studies failed to turn up evidence of fraud nationwide, appointed Republican officials on the EAC insisted that the language say only that "there is a great deal of debate on the pervasiveness of fraud in elections" -- the same approach to inconvenient evidence that's made the Bush global-warming policy the envy of the world.

If you couple this with Rove's caging lists, and the power of Choicepoint at their disposal:

The Spies Who Shag Us

The Times and USA Today have Missed the Bigger Story -- Again
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Greg Palast

The leader in the field of what is called "data mining," is a company, formed in 1997, called, "ChoicePoint, Inc," which has sucked up over a billion dollars in national security contracts.

Worried about Dick Cheney listening in Sunday on your call to Mom? That ain't nothing. You should be more concerned that they are linking this info to your medical records, your bill purchases and your entire personal profile including, not incidentally, your voting registration. Five years ago, I discovered that ChoicePoint had already gathered 16 billion data files on Americans -- and I know they've expanded their ops at an explosive rate.

They are paid to keep an eye on you -- because the FBI can't. For the government to collect this stuff is against the law unless you're suspected of a crime. (The law in question is the Constitution.) But ChoicePoint can collect it for "commercial" purchases -- and under the Bush Administration's suspect reading of the Patriot Act -- our domestic spying apparatchiks can then BUY the info from ChoicePoint.

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/06/05/con06189.html

Suddenly it becomes clear why Republican lawmakers are hesitant abandon Rove/Bush. The RNC is complicit.

And Greg Palast has the emails.

Key voters on Griffin’s hit list: Black soldiers and homeless men and women. Nice guy, eh? Naughty or nice, however, is not the issue. Targeting voters where race is a factor is a felony crime under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In October 2004, our investigations team at BBC Newsnight received a series of astonishing emails from Mr. Griffin, then Research Director for the Republican National Committee. He didn’t mean to send them to us. They were highly confidential memos meant only for RNC honchos.

However, Griffin made a wee mistake. Instead of sending the emails — potential evidence of a crime — to email addresses ending with the domain name “@GeorgeWBush.com” he sent them to “@GeorgeWBush.ORG.” A website run by prankster John Wooden who owns “GeorgeWBush.org.” When Wooden got the treasure trove of Rove-ian ravings, he sent them to us.

http://www.gregpalast.com/bushs-new-us-attorney-a-criminal/

I left the Republican party in Reagans first term.

I don't even recognize it anymore.

 

[edward]

ChoicePoint doesn't exactly have a great track record securing their data.

February 16, 2005
Criminals broke into a database that contains information on virtually every U.S. citizen, exposing as many as 100,000 consumers to identity theft and other crimes. The thefts occurred last October but are just being admitted by the company.

The database is operated by Georgia-based ChoicePoint, which has mailed letters to at least 35,000 Californians who have potentially been affected. The letters say that consumers' personal information, including bank account, credit card and Social Security numbers may have been accessed by unauthorized individuals.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/choicepoint.html

That is just great , Now not only does ChoicePoint, the NSA and PNAC have all of our personal information, So does the Nigerian scammers.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/comments/?a=/news/national/2005/02/21/51790.htm&c=9064

Edit: Ironically it appears that after all of billions spent by the NSA to prevent terrorism through the use of intense data mining, the Ft. Dix incident info was turned over to authorities by an employee of Best Buy.

 

[Skyhunter]

Edit: Ironically it appears that after all of billions spent by the NSA to prevent terrorism through the use of intense data mining, the Ft. Dix incident info was turned over to authorities by an employee of Best Buy.

I had to laugh when I read that story and saw how hyped it was.

Six guys with paintball guns who couldn't afford an extra recorder to copy their video.

The way the media was hyping it I thought originally that Bush had prevented another 9/11.

Then I realized it was just a store clerk paying attention.

Won't stop the neo-right from declaring it a victory and justification for their policies though.

 

[Skyhunter]

DBT/Choicepoint was the company that Jeb Bush and Kathleen Harris hired to create their Democratic purge lists for the 2000 Presidential election. The lists that disenfranchised 55,000 registered voters in Florida.

What was the margin of victory in 2000, 400+?

Florida Voter File Contract
In 1998, the state of Florida signed a $4 million contract with Database Technologies (DBT Online), which later merged into ChoicePoint, for the purposes of providing a central voter file listing those barred from voting. As of 2002, Florida is the only state which hires a private firm for these purposes. Prior to contracting with Database Technologies, Florida contracted with a smaller operator for $5,700 per year. The state of Florida contracted with DBT in November 1998, following the controversial Miami mayoral race of 1997. The 1998 contracting process involved no bidding and was worth $2,317,800.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ChoicePoint

Here is Choicepoints official statement.

I like the part about the list being 99.9% accurate using a 90% match criteria.

Here is the piece that BBC newsnight did.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/newsnight/1174115.stm

The "liberal" American media ignored it.

BBC has never retracted a word of it.

My thoughts are;

The attorney firings are part of a larger election fraud scheme implemented very effectively by the RNC. They plan to shave about 3 million votes in 2008 while keeping the American people distracted by high profile investigations and allegations of voter fraud.

Accuse individuals voters of fraud, wrong precinct, felony record, immigration status, etc. At the same time the RNC commits election fraud, while the media hypes the individual "investigations".

In the end there will be no significant convictions, yet it will stir a flurry of legislation further restricting access to suffrage by the "wrong type" of voter.

Welcome to Neo-America.

 

[edward]

ChoicePoint's Florida scrub list is very troubling. This is all very Rovian.

One elections supervisor, Linda Howell of Madison County, was so upset by the errors that she refused to use the Harris/ChoicePoint list. How could she be so sure the new list identified innocent people as felons? Because her own name was on it, 'and I assure you, I am not a felon'.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,409137,00.html

 

[Astronuc]

New Evidence that Administration Withheld Emails About Rove
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2007/05/4406_new_evidence_th_1.html


Administration Withheld E-Mails About Rove
http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/070510nj1.htm

The Bush administration has withheld a series of e-mails from Congress showing that senior White House and Justice Department officials worked together to conceal the role of Karl Rove in installing Timothy Griffin, a protégé of Rove's, as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

The withheld records show that D. Kyle Sampson, who was then-chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, consulted with White House officials in drafting two letters to Congress that appear to have misrepresented the circumstances of Griffin's appointment as U.S. attorney and of Rove's role in supporting Griffin.

In one of the letters that Sampson drafted, dated February 23, 2007, the Justice Department told four Senate Democrats it was not aware of any role played by senior White House adviser Rove in attempting to name Griffin to the U.S. attorney post. A month later, the Justice Department apologized in writing to the Senate Democrats for the earlier letter, saying it had been inaccurate in denying that Rove had played a role.

Seems like obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to violate federal law.

And then

Secret Order By Gonzales Delegated Extraordinary Powers To Aides
http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/070430nj1.htm

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales signed a highly confidential order in March 2006 delegating to two of his top aides -- who have since resigned because of their central roles in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys -- extraordinary authority over the hiring and firing of most non-civil-service employees of the Justice Department. A copy of the order and other Justice Department records related to the conception and implementation of the order were provided to National Journal.

In the order, Gonzales delegated to his then-chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, and his White House liaison "the authority, with the approval of the Attorney General, to take final action in matters pertaining to the appointment, employment, pay, separation, and general administration" of virtually all non-civil-service employees of the Justice Department, including all of the department's political appointees who do not require Senate confirmation. Monica Goodling became White House liaison in April 2006, the month after Gonzales signed the order.

Confidential or secret orders pertaining to domestic affairs - which have nothing to do with a criminal matter or national security.

Sounds like they are trying to hide something - something like illegal activity.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Watch the "recent video" titled "House AG" and dated 5/14/07
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/index.jhtml

 

[Skyhunter]

Watch the "recent video" titled "House AG" and dated 5/14/07
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/index.jhtml

I have to laugh at the absurdity, when I want to cry for the stupidity.

Is it the shows or the candidates? Both IMO.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Feinstein and Schumer are calling for a "no confidence" vote on Gonzales.

If the republicans don't publicly insist that Gonzales be removed, they have made an enemy for life. What have these idiots done to my party and my country? UNBELIEVABLE!