KARL ROVE: AN AMERICAN TRAITOR
By Bill Gallagher
DETROIT -- It is the holy of holies, the sanctum sanctorum, the secret underground bunker where Vice President Dick Cheney, the Bushevik Buddha, holds court, shares his wisdom and issues orders. It is also a crime scene. It's the dark cave where Cheney and other conspirators plotted the outing of an undercover CIA officer. And when their treasonous deed was exposed, they used this vile den to map their cover-up plan, which mounting evidence shows may well have included perjury and obstruction of justice.

President George W. Bush was certainly involved as the initiator of the crimes, and he bears the ultimate responsibly for the felonious behavior of his loyal followers. Given his short attention span, aversion to details and unwillingness to work long hours, the sordid task was delegated to others.

The president never saw the implications of selling the big lie that Saddam Hussein was seeking enriched uranium in Niger to use as fuel for an imaginary nuclear weapons program. First of all, Bush had sold so many lies -- as he does to this day, linking Iraq to 9/11 -- that he figured, no big deal about the Niger hoax.

And never forget, our "war president" only sees the world in clear, unequivocal terms. Saddam is "evil." We are fighting for "freedom." So if the president must exaggerate, deceive or flat-out lie to make his case, George W. Bush just shrugs.

When former ambassador Joseph Wilson went public and challenged the Bush administration's phony claims that Iraq was trying to acquire uranium for its nuclear program, the president may have cared little about the exposure, but men around him smelled big trouble.

They knew that, when Wilson told the truth, others might follow. Nip it in the bud. Punish Wilson and fire a warning shot to intimidate others. You talk, and you'll pay a price. While the president went to work in his own way -- trying to learn how to ride a new bike, pumping iron, playing video games and watching sports on TV -- three of his closest confidants knew what needed to be done and began the dirty work.

Karl Rove, Bush's "brain," relished the task. It involved his specialties: vengeance and destroying enemies. I can hear it now. The year is 2003. Rove, in the midst of a White House Bible-study class, ducks out for a minute and gets on the phone with Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's chief of staff.

Rove: "Scooter, did you read what that f----r Joe Wilson wrote in the New York Times? We'll f--k him like no one has ever f----d him."

Libby: "Right you are, Karl. We've got to break his legs and I know just how. His wife is in the CIA. I saw the State Department memo on her. She's been doing covert stuff for years. You'd never know it. She keeps a real low profile and does WMD analysis. She does her job and she's a babe."

Rove: "Scooter, I can't believe this. I'll bet she got the Africa assignment for Wilson and he got paid to go out and screw us over."

Libby: "No, she didn't, Karl. It was one of those other f---ks in Langley who tried to scuttle us at every turn. But she did know he was going over there. Her name is Plame, Valerie Plame. But she sometimes goes by Wilson."

Rove: "Does Dick know this?"

Libby: "Sure, he showed me the memo. He's down in his den. Let's check in with him."

Rove: "I'll be there in 10 minutes. I've got Cardinal Law on hold, and I've got to wrap up my Bible-study class."

The next scene takes place 10 minutes later in Cheney's secret bunker.

Cheney: "What's up, guys? Don't bring me any bad news and spoil my day. The price of sweet crude is going out of sight and Rummy just told me he ordered his auditors to lay off Halliburton and quit all this chicken-sh-t documentation stuff. Hell, we're at war. What's up?"

Libby: "Remember that State Department memo about Joe Wilson's wife?"

Cheney: "Of course. I still can't understand what she sees in that bastard Wilson."

Rove: "Dick, Scooter and I were sort of thinking out loud about that and one way to f--k Wilson and send a message to any other loudmouth liberal traitors might be to drop his wife's name and her connections on a few friendly reporters."

Cheney: "She's fair game, my friends. Who'd you have in mind?"

Rove: "Well, Bob Novak, of course. He'll do it in a minute. I thought about Brit Hume, but it's too obvious. We can't use Fox all the time. Maybe we should drop a dime on a few others to cover our tracks?"

Libby: "I could call Tim Russert. He's usually helpful, and he likes you, Dick."

Rove: "Matt Cooper from 'Time' would go for it, and we could ask Chalabi to slip it to Judy Miller at the Times. She'll repeat anything he tells her. Besides, we owe her for all those front-page stories."

Cheney: "Do it yourself, Karl. Chalabi will ask for money. Sounds like a plan. Let me know what happens."

Rove: "Any down sides to this?"

Cheney: "Don't get caught. But, Karl, remember, all we have to do is win another term and this will all be behind us."

Libby: "Besides, this is all about national security and we can use that to protect ourselves."

Rove: "Should I tell the president?"

Cheney: "I'll handle that, Karl. I'll tell him what we've decided."

Unfair? Implausible? No. This dramatic re-enactment creates scenes that portray the Busheviks just as they are -- ruthless apparatchiks willing to do and say anything to crush an enemy. Their actions were unlawful and treasonous. When they got caught in their treachery, they lied and broke more laws in an attempt to save their own hides.

While Karl Rove is usually viewed as the central figure in this blossoming scandal, Dick Cheney's dirty fingerprints are found everywhere in these serial crimes and deceptions.

Cheney, more than anyone else in the Bush administration, was eager to make the public case that Saddam Hussein was a dangerous threat to our national security and that the invasion of Iraq was the only way to stop him.

Since the facts didn't support those wild claims, Cheney was hell-bent to fabricate them any way he could. He had his old pal, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, set up his own operation in the Pentagon to cherry-pick, shape and "fix" intelligence to ramp up the case against Iraq.

Cheney would personally handle the troublesome CIA. He, Libby and others would pull up to CIA headquarters on Saturday mornings to review the work being done on the Iraq "threat." Like mafia heavies, they'd pull up in their big black cars, burst through the doors and oversee the intelligence-refining process.

Munching on doughnuts, they'd look over the shoulders of professional CIA intelligence analysts, looking for holes in their work and scouring for any scintilla of evidence that Saddam was planning to build nukes.

There wasn't much to go on. But when Cheney's thugs would find crumbs, they'd slip them over to Rummy's boys, who would try to make them into something more tasty for Lord Halliburton to chew on.

That's why Cheney went crazy when Joe Wilson blew the lid off their lies. If he got away with it, what about others at the CIA? This could open up floodgates at the Pentagon, the State Department and the National Security Council. Not to mention what the Brits might reveal about the phony reasons for war (See: Downing Street Memo).

So Cheney, Rove and Libby set out to discredit and harm Joe Wilson, a career diplomat George H.W. Bush had hailed as a "hero" when Wilson served as acting U.S. ambassador to Iraq during the first Gulf War. The slimy plot failed in part. They outed Valerie Plame, but her husband kept talking. We'll never know, though, how many others were driven into silence.

The plot began unraveling when former attorney general John Ashcroft, in a moment of forced candor, had to admit he had too many conflicts of interest to conduct a fair investigation into who leaked the identity of the CIA officer. The probe required a special prosecutor.

Now, Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor, is moving beyond the question of whether White House officials broke the law when they exposed an undercover agent into far more dangerous waters for the conspirators. The prosecutor is after the big sharks.

The Los Angeles Times and Washington Post are both reporting that Fitzgerald's team is looking at possible perjury in Rove and Libby's statements to FBI agents and in their testimony before a federal grand jury. The two most powerful White House staffers are also suspected of obstructing justice by trying to cover up their prominent roles in leaking Plame's identity.

Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, told the Los Angeles Times his client "has, from the beginning, been candid, forthcoming and accurate." Matt Cooper, of "Time" magazine, says he phoned Rove to discuss Plame's CIA job and that Rove confirmed she worked at the agency. It turns out Rove never mentioned this conversation during his first interview with the FBI. Candid? Forthcoming? Accurate?

The Washington Post reports Libby testified that he learned about Plame from NBC's Tim Russert. But Russert flatly denies that story. In a written statement, the Post reports Russert "told the prosecutor that 'he did not know Ms. Plame's name or that she was a CIA operative' and that he did not provide such information to Libby in July 2003." Someone committed perjury and I don't think it's that fine Irish-Catholic lad from Buffalo.

People in the intelligence community are outraged over Plame's outing and the administration's cavalier attitude.

James Marcinkowski is a former CIA operations officer and was a classmate of Plame's when they trained for service in the agency.

Marcinkowski now works as an attorney for the city of Royal Oak, Mich., and we have had several conversations about the scandal. He told me the identities of covert officers have been revealed in the past, but said, "Never in the history of the CIA has the White House been responsible and that's what makes this so outrageous."

Scene: Cheney's secret bunker, last Thursday night, 8 p.m., just before the president's bedtime.

President: "Hey, Dick. What's all this stuff about ole Turd Blossom and Scooter being in deep sh-t? They can't really send them to jail. What the hell did they do wrong? Ya know, I'm a war president. You're my vice president. We're up against evil. We're being strong leaders."

Cheney: "Well, sir, that's right, but they might have some problems. That's why we have the best lawyers anywhere lined up. In the worst-case scenario, if Karl and Scooter are convicted, all you have to do is pardon them. I'll explain what you have to do when the time comes. I feel terrible about this."

President: "Me too, Dick. Hey, I got an idea. I'll give 'em both Presidential Medals of Freedom. I like doing that and it does make people feel better when they really f----k-up big time. I was wonderin', though -- Laura mentioned this -- are me and you in any trouble on this thing?"

Cheney: "No, sir, not in the least. We cannot be charged with crimes while in office. The only way they can get at us is through impeachment and we control the Congress."

President: "That's good. But I hate to think people would start talkin' impeachment about trivial things, like that stuff we said about Saddam, the war and what we did to that liberal traitor Wilson."

Cheney: "No, sir. Don't worry. Impeachment is for grave, serious matters. Good night, Mr. President."

President: "You bet, D.C. Dick. By the way, can't tell ya enough what a great job yer doin' fur my administration."

Cheney: "Thank you, sir." (Muttering under his breath) "Go f--k yourself."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Gallagher, a Peabody Award winner, is a former Niagara Falls city councilman who now covers Detroit for Fox2 News. His e-mail address is gallaghernewsman@sbcglobal.net.
Niagara Falls Reporter www.niagarafallsreporter.com July 26 2005

http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/gallagher223.html

Worked pretty well, and had lots of people who agreed, when that argument was used by Bubba.

Really Tom... but does that make it right?

No, it doesn't.

Point was that there's no shortage of people who have any compunctions using the argument, when it's their guy being defended.

You've made that point... repeatedly... jUSt like Arturo...

Since there's no shortage... perhaps you shouldn't add yourself to their numbers.

So that makes it a perfectly legitimate defense for Bush supporters to spew?

I didn't like politicians when Clinton was president and sure the fork don't like these criminal Iran/Contra fargs we have in office now.

I'd like to see just ONE of those sobs be held accountable for ANYTHING.

But there is a Republican dominated senate and house so we know there will be no ethics, no desire for ethics and no hope at all, period, for ANYTHING even remotely resembling either ethics or accountability.

Scum sucking corporate whores own the government now and they will do ANYTHING to retain power.

What that everyone gets/gives blow jobs?

Clinton is likely more correct then those saying "everyone outs CIA agents."

July 26, 2005 --


Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) intends to interfere in Fitzgerald probe. Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, announced that his commitee will be "reviewing" the criminal probe by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald of the White House leak of the identities of covert CIA agents. If Roberts is serious and not just grandstanding, this may indicate that the White House is looking to give Fitzgerald's targets (Karl Rove, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and others) congressional general immunity from prosecution in return for their testimony before Roberts' committee.

This was the method by which John Poindexter and Oliver North were able to avoid jail time for their roles in Iran-contra, their convictions being overturned by a federal appeals court because of their previously granted congressional immunity. There is also a bit of Watergate redux in Roberts' statement. Pressure by the GOP on Fitzgerald is reminiscent of the Nixon administration's decision to fire Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox. That prompted the resignations of Nixon's Attorney and Deputy Attorney General.

Meanwhile, the Karl Rove/neocon spin machine is stepping up its criticism of ex-CIA officers who are defending Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson. The Project for a New American Century (PNAC) director Gary Schmitt penned a screed in William Kristol's and Rupert Murdoch's Weekly Standard attacking former CIA officer and Valerie Plame colleague Larry Johnson, who gave the Democratic weekly radio response to Bush's address on July 23. The neocon attack on CIA veterans, including the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), began in earnest on the/Republican Freerepublic.com site, a bevy of white supremacists, JDLers, and John Birchers largely based in California's San Joaquin Valley and Orange County.

http://waynemadsenreport.com/

Yep

I'm going to donate to this guy's campaign. Sounds like a winner to me.

Dogfight in Ohio
A Marine who fought in Fallujah is trying to become the first Iraq war vet to serve in Congress -- and give Democrats hope that Ohio is not permanently lost.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Bill Frogameni



July 26, 2005 | Paul Hackett remembers being in Kuwait, waiting to be shipped home after a seven-month tour of duty in Ramadi and Fallujah, watching CNN America with his fellow Marines. What he saw enraged him. "All I saw on TV was Terri Schiavo," he says. "The federal government and the Florida state government came screeching to a halt to intervene into the private lives of this family during this tragic time ... Like that scene out of 'Network,' I felt like the guy who stood in the spotlight and said, 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.'" Not long after he returned to Ohio, he decided to run for Congress.

Hackett, a 43-year-old personal injury lawyer and Marine Reserve major who volunteered for service in the Iraq war, has little prior political experience, only having served as a city councilman in a small town. But he's a contender in a special congressional election taking place in Ohio on Aug. 2 to fill the 2nd District seat vacated by Republican Rob Portman, who's now serving as the U.S. trade representative.

Hackett, a Democrat, is surely the underdog. The 2nd District, which includes Cincinnati, has been solidly conservative in a state that's thoroughly dominated by the GOP and that decided the 2004 election for President Bush. His better-funded opponent, Jean Schmidt, is well-connected and, as a former state representative, has a more extensive political résumé. But Hackett hopes his credentials -- Iraq war vet and plain-spoken self-described moderate -- will give him a much-needed edge.

Hackett hopes he's part of a seismic political shift happening in Ohio -- a shift driven in part by recent outrage against Ohio Republicans over a high-profile, multimillion-dollar accounting scandal that has cast a cloud over the state party and may find its first political fallout victim in Schmidt, the first major Republican candidate to face the voters since the scandal broke.

A victory for Schmidt would mean continued Republican dominance in this district that voted 65 percent in favor of Bush last November. If Hackett wins, however, it would make him the first Iraq war veteran in Congress -- and would also give Democrats hope that Ohio has not gone completely and irreversibly to the GOP.

On the issues, the candidates both describe themselves as fiscal conservatives, but on the Iraq war and the so-called moral values questions, they stand in stark relief. Hackett is a critic of Bush's Iraq war policy and believes America was led to war unnecessarily. Schmidt is a strong backer of Bush's handling of the war. Hackett is pro-choice. Schmidt is president of Cincinnati Right to Life. Schmidt voted against gay marriage in the Ohio House of Representatives, while Hackett's take is: "Gay marriage -- who the hell cares?"

Hackett, who is married, says he doesn't feel the need to defend his marriage through the national Defense of Marriage Act, or any other anti-gay marriage legislation. "If you're gay you're gay -- more power to you," he said. "What you want is to be treated fairly by the law and any American who doesn't think that should be the case is, frankly, un-American."

Hackett's left-of-center views on social issues may not go over well with conservative Ohioans, and Schmidt is so far beating him financially, but last week Hackett got a profile boost when former Democratic Sen. Max Cleland campaigned with him. By bringing in Cleland and highlighting his military service, Hackett hopes to neutralize any criticism Schmidt could levy concerning his stance on the war.

Schmidt commends Hackett for his service, but believes Hackett should "stand with the president" by "supporting the Iraqi war effort and our troops that are over there," her campaign manager Joe Braun said. (Through Braun, Schmidt declined to speak with Salon.) When asked to answer that charge, Hackett is blunt: "The only way I know how to support the troops is by going over there." He doesn't hesitate to criticize Schmidt's support of the war: "All the chicken hawks back here who said, 'Oh, Iraq is talking bad about us. They're going to threaten us' -- look, if you really believe that, you leave your wife and three kids and go sign up for the Army or Marines and go over there and fight. Otherwise, shut your mouth."

In spite of her endorsement from the NRA, Hackett steals some of Schmidt's thunder when it comes to guns. Hackett says he's an NRA member and, when asked about gun control, he answers with an old saw: "Gun control is when you point your gun and hit what you aim for." Local pundits have noted Hackett's macho appeal to the crossover voter (his time in the Marines, his 6-foot-4-inch frame, his blunt talk), and Hackett acknowledges this appeal is further enhanced by his hands-on appreciation for hunting and gun culture.

With only a week to go before the election, it's hard to gauge the state of the horse race. Given his limited financial resources, Hackett says he decided not to commission any polls. Braun says the Schmidt camp has done "tracking" but declined to release any specific numbers. Braun does, however, see Hackett as a legitimate contender.

And recent ethical questions surrounding Schmidt's campaign may work in Hackett's favor. Among other things, Schmidt had to pay back $644 for a gift she took last fall from a lobbyist but failed to report as required by law. The lobbyist worked on behalf of the Chiron Corp., which was at the center of last winter's flu vaccine controversy. Schmidt enjoyed a free dinner and then a free Cincinnati Bengals game courtesy of the lobbyist, but claimed she didn't know the gift came from the lobbyist. Rather, she has said, she thought the tickets came from former Bengals quarterback "Boomer" Esiason.

Then there's the $10,000 that Schmidt's campaign accepted from one of Tom DeLay's political action committees. Hackett criticized Schmidt for taking DeLay's money. "Tom DeLay," says Hackett, "is the poster child for corruption in Washington." Braun dismisses Hackett's criticism as political opportunism and says, if the situation were reversed, Hackett would take $10,000 from the Democratic leadership.

Finally, a Cincinnati paper ran a report last week suggesting that Fritz Wenzel, Schmidt's media manager, was working for her campaign while simultaneously working as the top political reporter and columnist at the Blade, Toledo's news daily and a major Ohio paper. Wenzel's last day at the Blade was Friday, May 13. Two weeks before he left to become a political consultant, according to the report, Wenzel made scathing comments about Schmidt's Republican primary opponents on a personal blog he maintained. The blog entries have since been pulled off the Web, and reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show that Wenzel's company, Wenzel Strategies, was paid $30,000 on Monday, May 16, by the Schmidt campaign.

May 16 was also the day his last column ran in the Blade, but Wenzel made public his plans to start a consulting business weeks prior to that. Braun praises Wenzel's work and denies Wenzel was working for Schmidt inappropriately. Wenzel and Braun both claim Wenzel drummed up the work for Schmidt over the weekend after he left the Blade. "I had a busy weekend," Wenzel reportedly told the Cincinnati paper. Hackett doesn't buy this explanation. "It's more of the same," he says, lumping this alleged ethical lapse in with the others. "If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck."

It's unclear how damaging any of these ethical questions will be for Schmidt as the campaign hits its home stretch.

At present, both campaigns say they're going full bore. Braun feels Schmidt's chances are good, but confines himself to saying, "We're working hard." As for Hackett, he knows he's got an uphill challenge, but says he's ready. "There's nothing about this election that can faze me," he says. "After Iraq, everything seems like a walk in the park."


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About the writer
Bill Frogameni lives and writes in northwest Ohio.


Related stories
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An Ohio government scheme to invest public dollars in rare coins loses millions -- and all scandalous roads lead back to a Bush Pioneer.
By Bill Frogameni
06/10/05


http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/07/...midt/print.html

Are you kidding me? Jeez, that would be about right.

Iran/Contra x 1000

Same cast with more experience...

...Libby, for example, was running errands for Ollie while advising the dimpled chinned moron; this cast has been all too prominent since Howdy Doddy's second term, all of them getting rich by investing in enterprises that their policies would funnel money to. Corrupt to the core this bunch, every time they wave the flag they smear sh!t on it.

I didn't know Libby was slumming with gOllie. It doesn't surprise me in the least.

Daley blasts Republicans for reward offer

July 27, 2005

BY MAURA KELLY LANNAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mayor Richard Daley assailed the Cook County Republican Party Chairman on Wednesday for offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Daley's indictment and conviction.

The Daley administration has taken a hit as federal prosecutors have widened their investigation of City Hall to include its hiring practices. The mayor has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, a federal judge refused to throw out a corruption charge Wednesday against a former city official accused of participating in a plot that gave well-connected applicants a break during job interviews and falsified interview scores to ensure they got the positions.

Daley called Cook County Republican Party Chairman Gary Skoien's reward idea "deeply offensive" and "completely over the top."

"These are challenging, difficult times. But no one, no one, whether in public life or anyone, ever should put a bounty on someone else's head," Daley said. "That stunt was below the belt."

"This guy may disagree with me, he may not like me, he may not like my political party or my political philosophy, but for him to do what he did yesterday takes things to quite a low," Daley said.

The reward follows last week's announcement by federal prosecutors that they had charged two City Hall officials with rigging the city's hiring system to flout a court order that bars City Hall from considering politics when filling most city jobs.

Daley reacted to the charges by proposing that municipal hiring be turned over to an independent commission.

Robert Sorich and Patrick Slattery, both 42 and of the city's Bridgeport neighborhood-- the political base of the Daley family-- are accused of participating in a plot that included sham interviews and the falsification of interview scores to ensure politically connected applicants got jobs.

Sorich, from his post in the Department of Intergovernmental Affairs, told officials in the departments of water management, streets and sanitation, transportation and aviation which applicants to hire, according to court papers. Prosecutors said Slattery carried out those instructions from his post at the Streets and Sanitation Department.

On Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole allowed a mail fraud charge to stand against Sorich.

"I think there has been more than ample evidence to demonstrate that a crime has been committed," Cole said.

Attorneys for both men have said they will fight the charges.

The case is an outgrowth of an ongoing federal investigation of bribes being given in return for jobs in a $38 million program in which the city outsourced hauling work. Twenty-one people have pleaded guilty in that probe.

Also on Wednesday, Daley said he was not aware of specific violations of the court order barring City Hall from considering politics when filling most city jobs.

An attorney who got that court order has asked a federal judge to hold Daley in contempt of court for violating the decree. Michael Shakman argued in a document that "substantial" civil fines should be imposed on Daley and other city officials for what he says are "systemic, widespread violations" of the decree that bears his name.

He suggested that "hundreds and perhaps thousands" of qualified jobseekers who were wrongfully passed over for city jobs be placed at the top of the list for new openings.

Shakman did not allege that Daley had been aware of specific violations, but he blamed the mayor for a "culture of disregard for the law and disrespect for court orders."

"If anyone's suggesting that I personally knew that violations were occurring, anyone (was) breaking the law, and I didn't stop them, they're completely wrong," Daley said Wednesday. "I never knew anybody to violate the Shakman decree."

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/28daley.html

Another Dole or McCain ???

I liked Bob Dole and so did Bob Dole.

Maybe.

Maybe a Bob Kerry, maybe (I hope not) a John Kerry.

Maybe an also ran.

He's running for a seat in the House, not for president, I hope he wins. Listening to him on MSNBC last night, he sounds like a real straight shooter.

I like Dole and McCain. They're pretty much what USED to be meant by "conservative", before radicals appropriated the word.

Hell, I VOTED for Dole and McCain, even when I had to write in McCain.

I voted for Goldwater, mostly because he proposed to win in Vietnam. He was not about to touch off a nuclear war as neither Russia or China really had anything to defend there other than bleeding and vexing us.

What he proposed to do Johnson and Nixon did anyway but incrementally and thus wrongly, (piecemealing is always a military mistake) giving North Vietnam and her supporters time to adjust to the slower escalation. I also considered Barry an honest man who had more than paid his dues.

I also watched them both on MSNBC hardball....
Watching his body movements and facial expressions....he is the guy

she interrupted and just went with her campaign crapp....pinched face fast talking did not answer the questions...

there might be hope for politicians providing more are like the man from Ohio.... Mr Hackett...

i agree.... he will be good for congress......

I heard something about Republicans turning their vicious attack dogs on him already.

Of course calling Bush a chickenhawk right off the bat helps.

They would have turned their guns on him in any case but now he's marked.

"I am against government by crony."

Harold L. Ickes


Too bad the son isn't up to the father.

2 Aides to Rove Testify in C.I.A. Leak Inquiry


By DAVID JOHNSTON
Published: August 3, 2005

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 - Two aides to Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, testified last Friday before a federal grand jury investigating whether government officials illegally disclosed the identity of an undercover C.I.A. operative, according to a person who has been officially briefed on the case.

The aides, Susan B. Ralston and Israel Hernandez, were asked about grand jury testimony given on July 13 by Matthew Cooper, a reporter for Time magazine, the person who was briefed said. Mr. Cooper has said that he testified about a July 11, 2003, conversation with Mr. Rove in which the C.I.A. officer was discussed.

The aides' grand jury appearances were first reported by ABC News and provided the first sign that the prosecutor in the case was interested in following up on Mr. Cooper's testimony with more questions for the White House about Mr. Rove. A person sympathetic to Mr. Rove said that the questions seemed typical of those posed by a prosecutor wrapping up the loose ends of an inquiry.

That person and the one who has been briefed spoke only on the condition of anonymity because the prosecutor has warned people not to discuss the case.

At one point, the aides were asked why Mr. Cooper's call to Mr. Rove was not entered in Mr. Rove's office telephone logs. There was no record of the call, the person who has been briefed said, because Mr. Cooper did not call Mr. Rove directly, but was transferred to his office from a White House switchboard.

The aides have worked closely with Mr. Rove, screening his calls and coordinating his activities with other White House officials. Mr. Hernandez had been an aide to President Bush since his successful campaign for governor of Texas in 1994, and Ms. Ralston is known as one of Mr. Rove's most trusted associates.

Ms. Ralston still works with Mr. Rove, while Mr. Hernandez has moved to the Commerce Department. Telephone calls to their offices on Tuesday were not returned.

The telephone conversation between Mr. Rove and Mr. Cooper is one of two conversations in a one-week period in July 2003 that the prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, has focused on. The second was between Mr. Rove and Robert D. Novak, the syndicated columnist, as Mr. Novak was preparing a column in which he named the C.I.A. officer.

Mr. Fitzgerald has focused on whether in the identification of the officer, Valerie Wilson, there was a deliberate effort to retaliate against her husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, for his criticism of the Bush administration's policy on Iraq. In an Op-Ed article in The New York Times on July 6, 2003, Mr. Wilson, a former diplomat, wrote that when he traveled to Niger in 2002 as a government emissary, he found little evidence to support a claim made by Mr. Bush a year later that Iraq had tried to acquire nuclear fuel there.

On July 14, 2003, Mr. Novak wrote that Mr. Wilson had been sent to Africa by his wife, who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. Mr. Fitzgerald is examining whether anyone in the government violated a law making it a crime to disclose the name of a covert officer deliberately.

In an article in Time last month about his grand jury appearance, Mr. Cooper wrote that he had telephoned the White House and been transferred to Mr. Rove's office.

"I believe a woman answered the phone and said words to the effect that Rove wasn't there," Mr. Cooper wrote, "or was busy before going on vacation. But then I recall she said something like 'hang on,' and I was transferred to him."

Mr. Cooper wrote that Mr. Rove told him that Ms. Wilson had worked at the C.I.A. and had been responsible for sending her husband to Africa. But Mr. Cooper added that Mr. Rove did not identify Ms. Wilson by name or suggest that he knew of her status as a covert officer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/03/politics/03leak.html

A letter from the local paper.


LaHood's vote on Patriot Act driven by politics

Monday, August 8, 2005

Congressman Ray LaHood votes against extension of the Patriot Act and the Journal Star editorial board believes "it took some courage" for him to do so. Really.

Of all the words that pop to mind to describe the actions of Ray LaHood, "courage" isn't exactly a list topper. After years of stomping individual rights beneath the heel of corporate lobbyists, religious zealots and fear-mongering nationalists, Mr. LaHood has now somehow managed to come to his senses?

Surely the editorial board understands the value of context. Congressman LaHood's awakening, like Senator Frist's flip-flop on stem-cell research, was brought on by political opportunism, not idealism. After spending months raising hundreds of thousands of dollars, Congressman LaHood has commissioned a poll to help him decide if he'd like to be governor. His sudden realization that Americans have liberties is certainly part of that calculus.

The Journal Star's July 30 editorial seemed to imply a false choice of liberty versus security. Should Mr. LaHood decide to seek the highest office in the state, he will learn the hard way what Americans who live outside of fear have always known - that politicians who believe they can limit our freedoms aren't capable of defending them.

http://pjstar.com/stories/080805/FOR_B75EELFV.059.shtml

Army Whistleblower Draws Fire After Questioning Deals for Halliburton, Other Contractors
By DEBORAH HASTINGS
The Associated PressThe Associated Press

WASHINGTON Aug 7, 2005 — In the world as Bunnatine Greenhouse sees it, people do the right thing. They stand up for the greater good and they speak up when things go wrong. She believes God has a purpose for each life and she prays every day for that purpose to be made evident. These days she is praying her heart out, because she is in a great deal of trouble.

Bunnatine "Bunny" Greenhouse is the Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting ("PARC" in the alphabet soup of military acronyms) in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Lest the title fool, she is responsible for awarding billions upon billions in taxpayers' money to private companies hired to resurrect war-torn Iraq and to feed, clothe, shelter and do the laundry of American troops stationed there.

She has rained a mighty storm upon herself for standing up, before members of Congress and live on C-SPAN to proclaim things are just not right in this staggeringly profitable business.
Top Stories

She has asked many questions: Why is Halliburton a giant Texas firm that holds more than 50 percent of all rebuilding efforts in Iraq getting billions in contracts without competitive bidding? Do the durations of those contracts make sense? Have there been violations of federal laws regulating how the government can spend its money?

Halliburton denies any wrongdoing. "These false allegations have been recycled in the media ad nauseam," the company said in response to a list of e-mailed questions from The Associated Press.

Now Bunny Greenhouse may lose her job and her reputation, which she spent a lifetime building.

She is a black woman in a world of mostly white men; a 60-year-old workaholic who abides neither fools nor frauds. But she is out of her element in this fight, her former boss said.

"What Bunny is caught up in is politics of the highest damn order," said retired Gen. Joe Ballard, who hired Greenhouse and headed the Corps until 2000. "This is real hardball they're playing here. Bunny is a procurement officer, she's not a politician. She's not trained to do this."


<snip>

In June, she was asked to testify before the Democratic Policy Committee formed by Democrats who said their efforts to get the Republican-controlled Congress to investigate alleged war profiteering had been repeatedly denied.

She was joined by a former Halliburton employee who said KBR fed spoiled food to American troops and charged the government for thousands of meals it never served.

Halliburton would not specifically address the former employee's claims. Norcross said taking care of troops is "our priority."

"I thought she was very courageous to come forward and blow the whistle," Rep. Henry Waxman of California said of Greenhouse. "The administration ran around her and ignored her. We owe her a debt of gratitude."

And if she is forced out?

"I would find that outrageous," Waxman replied. "They should be promoting her."

Greenhouse is a registered independent. Her husband, Aloyisus Greenhouse, is retired after a long Army career as a senior procurement officer. They have three grown children.

Bunny grew up in the segregated South, where her parents taught her and her siblings to be proud and hardworking. Her brother is Elvin Hayes, the Hall of Fame basketball player. She followed her husband's military postings, moving and moving and then moving again. In each place she found her own way, and her own job.

Her husband watches what is happening to her and tries to bite his lip.

"Bunny has a lot of faith. She really believes that someone will stand up and say, 'This is wrong.' But I don't think a person exists like that in the Department of Defense."

But in her world, Bunny Greenhouse's faith still beams.

"I simply believe that we have callings and purposes in this life. I walk through this life for a purpose. I wake up every day for a purpose. And every day I say, 'Here I am. Send me.' "


http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1016504&page=1

If she'd have helped the Bush administration scam billions for their allies or been central to one of their cover ups she'd be a 4 star General by now.

SALUTE!! (Hey Haw??)

http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/
a project of essential information, a non-profit, non-partisan organization, working to stop corporate threats to democracy

nice rundown. thanks.

i got the description from a "LINK LIST"
i could not have described it that accurately

Not much on this yet. Four stories on Google news.

Fraud Indictment Expected for Abramoff

By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, August 11, 2005

(08-11) 09:53 PDT MIAMI (AP) --

Federal prosecutors are seeking bank fraud charges against lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a key figure in investigations involving House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, The Associated Press learned Thursday.

The charges stem from the 2000 purchase by Abramoff and his partners of SunCruz Casinos and the alleged use of a fake wire transfer of $23 million aimed at influencing lenders to provide millions of dollars for the deal. Exact details of the charges were not immediately available.

A grand jury, meeting in Miami, could hand up indictments against Abramoff as early as Thursday, federal law enforcement sources said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the grand jury indictment had not been finalized.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../a093930D64.DTL

Millions wash up for Texas shoreline
Money from energy bill might pay for new beach along Galveston's Seawall Boulevard





GALVESTON - The comprehensive energy bill signed into law this week by President Bush includes $240 million that Texas can use to fight coastal erosion and repair shoreline damaged by storms in recent years.

The money, expected to begin flowing in 2007, could pay for a new, wide beach along Galveston's Seawall Boulevard, as well as beach protection and restoration projects all along the state's 400-mile shoreline, state officials say. The Texas General Land Office and Gov. Rick Perry will decide what projects will be funded.

The money could give a big boost to efforts by coastal counties and communities to draw beachgoers and their tourism dollars. It also may be used to protect habitat for shorebirds and keep waterways open for commercial shipping and recreational boaters, officials said.

On Galveston Island, where some of the worst erosion on the Texas coast occurs, news of the appropriation, under the federal Coastal Impact Assistance Program, brings new hope that the island's 32 miles of public beach will be preserved.

"We're hoping to do real big beach-restoration projects," said Jerry Mohn, president of the West Galveston Island Property Owners Association.


http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3305590

FEC finds misreporting by DeLay committee
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A federal audit of a political fundraising committee founded by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay found that it failed to report more than $300,000 in debts owed to vendors and incorrectly paid for some committee activities with money from another DeLay-connected political committee.


The Federal Election Commission's report didn't indicate whether it would pursue enforcement action against Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee.

ARMPAC's executive director, Jim Ellis, was indicted in Texas in connection with a separate DeLay-connected committee, Texans for a Republican Majority. In that case, Ellis is charged with money laundering and accepting illegal political contributions for state legislative campaigns. DeLay has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case.

DeLay also has been mired in controversy over his connection to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whose work for several Indian tribes is under federal investigation.

The FEC's audit of ARMPAC was posted Thursday on the Web site of PoliticalMoneyLine.com, which tracks political fundraising and spending. The audit's contents were made available earlier to ARMPAC officials, who filed corrected reports on contributions and spending in May and June.

A spokesman for DeLay's office referred calls to ARMPAC. Attorneys for DeLay could not be immediately reached.

The FEC found that ARMPAC misreported receipts and the ending cash balance for 2001 activities and the beginning cash-on-hand, receipts, disbursements and ending cash-on-hand for 2002.

ARMPAC also failed to report $322,306 owed to 25 vendors. ARMPAC disclosed the debts in amended reports, the FEC said.

ARMPAC's state, nonfederal arm paid some expenses and costs for events and activities that should have been paid by ARMPAC, the report said. ARMPAC representatives are reviewing that portion of the audit and understand "a payment from the federal account to the nonfederal account may be required," the FEC said.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3306260

No doubt it will help the efforts of the private bidnesses that have to clean up their mess down the shore a bit in Seadrift, Texas.

It was the most polluted piece of real estate in America not too long ago.

I think they think we all forgot.

Why are we buying them a beach? Are they claiming oil rigs have destroyed their beach?

This one, I think, qualifies for a Golden Fleece.

Wasn't Carter's "Superduperfund" supposed to make sure all that got handled?

Turns out to be a lawyer fund, not a cleaning fund.

Oh, more of a "Superfraud"!

Superfund was written by lawyers, for lawyers, for the purpose of enriching lawyers, and incidentally ended up cleaning up a tiny little bit of of toxic waste by accident, in the process slaying half the Canadian forests to supply the Superfund environmental effort with paper.

It's the reason I think the EPA needs to be reformed out of its misery.

This happened in the late 1980s, so Carter had nothing to do with it. This type of corprit/gubmint badness is what leads folks like Diane Wilson to start code pink.



Well-written book, Jim Hightower reccomends it. I was pleased to be hired to do a bit of work on it. (The book--not the activism)

Good for her. She did it out of a sense of duty, rather than for gubmint giveaways. *applause*

While such a testimonial might carry some weight with libs, that holds no more water for folks like me, than David Horowitz commenting on how great Ann Coulters latest screed is, would be to you.

Yes, isn't interesting that her experiences led to to become a radical lefty?

I am afraid that Jim Hightower, as well as Molly Ivins (who also reccomends the book) used to be considered moderates. Many folks still consider them so. Can't say the same for Horowitz. He's always been a fringe kinda guy. He just likes to change the the edge he's on. I don't put them in the same catagory at all. Maybe if you said Pat Buchanan or William Saffire, I'd buy your comparison.

In re : The "Superfund"


Actually he (President Carter) was the President who signed it into law:

"Key Dates in Superfund
Key dates in the Superfund program are included for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), Hazard Ranking System (HRS), National Priorities List (NPL), and Construction Completion List (CCL).

CERCLA - Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
enacted December 11, 1980 — trust fund of $1.6 billion is authorized over 5 years
amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), enacted October 17, 1986 — trust fund of $8.5 billion is authorized over 5 years
extended to September 30, 1994 — additional $5.1 billion is authorized..."

Source: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/action/law/keydates.htm

See also: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/action/law/cercla.htm

Just FYI.

must be why Carter nade bernard godbrick's top 100.

*sigh*

Remember when we thought a few billion was a lot of money?

Ooopsie! Looks like the truth came a-calling again!

By whom?

Maybe when the left controlled everything they may have appeared as such, but since the political power has shifted away from their particular POVs --not hardly conservative (whatever that's supposed to mean any more)-- but definitely away from them, it has become evident that they've pretty much always been on the faaaar left. Hell, the only place you even see Hightower's stuff is in those free fringe lefty tabloids you can find in most big cities.

One of Carter's lame duck moves after being soundly defeatd by Reagan.

Who the hell ever considered Molly Ivans a moderate?