[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Ninong

If 75 senators vote against Gonzo, that would test the limits of the president's capacity to ignore reality and continue to pretend that he's the Decider.

I would agree if we were talking about logical, thoughtfull man. We aren't, so I think he may still pretend that he is the thoughtful Decider that is immerced deeply in reading books (like 30 a month or so ) and pondering fate of this nation...

[Ninong]

Gene,

It won't be long now. I don't see how Gonzo can last much longer. Bush is being hardheaded to the very end but he always does that. He insists someone has his full confidence all the way up to the day before he fires them.

Earlier today the White House press office spokesman repeated the official line that the attorney general has the president's "full confidence" but nobody believes that anymore. Sooner or later someone is going to have to explain to Gonzo that it would be better if he tendered his resignation for the good of the Justice Department so that the president can blame it all on the Democrats in Congress for making a big deal out of nothing. Sort of like the Wolfowitz debacle.

Gonzo will say that even though he knows he did nothing wrong, he's stepping down in the interest of the Justice Department because the Democrats are hounding him so much that he can't do his job. And Bush will praise him as the bestest attorney general in the history of the country and thank him for his service. He might even get a Medal of Freedom a few months from now.

I think it will take Mitch McConnell and Trent Lott counting Republican noses in the Senate to see how many of them will vote in favor of the no-confidence resolution and then passing that information on to Josh Bolten. If half or more of the Republicans in the Senate join all of the Democrats in voting against Gonzo, he's done. We can stick a fork in him.

[Ninong]

OK, this is really off-topic, but I don't feel like dragging up an old thread just for this one GOP sleazeball.

Republican Ted Klaudt, a former South Dakota legislator, was arrested today. You can read the official affidavit here.

The first 20 pages or so detail his various sex crimes perpetrated against teenage girls who were in his foster care and the last five or six pages detail the questions and answers between himself and law enforcement. That last part is really funny. The rest of it is just plain sick!

You can see a picture of Mr. Klaudt here. He reminds me of someone who passed away recently.

P.S. -- Looks like Mr. Klaudt was first elected in 1998 but was defeated in 2006.

P.P.S. -- Here's a more recent photo of former Republican legislator and amateur gynecologist Ted Klaudt:


UPDATE 1/18/08: He was sentenced to 44 years in prison.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Ninong

Wow! This is better than I thought it would be!

It looks like this is a fight between North Carolina Republicans! Don't you just love it when they eat their own children?

I'm not saying it's not voter fraud, it probably is, but it looks like it's something being pushed by rival Republicans!

Reference

I have a feeling Patrick McHenry deserves a thread of his own but what the heck, he's already in here with the other GOP bozo, Gonzo the Magnificent, so...

McHenry was honored as Countdown's Worst Person in the World this past Wednesday for claiming he was the victim of a political smear even though the prosecutor is a fellow Republican who co-hosted a fund-raiser for him.

But that's not the news, the news is that this guy has more stuff hidden in his closet than we knew. Besides having his aide and former roommate, Michael Aaron Lay, indicted for felony voter fraud, we now learn that McHenry was in trouble in 2004 for serving beer to underage campaign workers.


McHenry is holding the giant lollipop.

Besides Michael Aaron Lay, McHenry also had his chief of staff, Jason Jent Deans, registered to vote as a resident of his house. And one blogger ran a criminal records check on Deans and came up with a whole bunch of stuff, mainly relating to driving without insurance and speeding but also including one charge of "death by vehicle" back in 1995, plus a "worthless check" charge. Some of McHenry's previous staffers have had run-ins with the law, too.

[Ninong]

A bill of no-confidence in Gonzo will be introduced in the House of Representatives Monday. Unlike the Senate, you don't need a 60% super majority to cut off debate, so the bill can't be blocked by the Republicans. If the Senate version gets to a vote, it will pass easily but there is always the possibility that the Republican leadership in the Senate will try to stall the vote with endless debate on the wisdom of such a "meaningless gesture."

The more you go back and review what Gonzales has already said under oath before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, the more lies pop out at you. He said there was no serious disagreement within the Justice Department over the warrantless wiretapping program but we now know that Attorney General Ashcroft, Deputy Attorney General Comey, FBI Director Mueller and at least another six or eight high-ranking staffers were prepared to resign over this program as it was being run at the time.

Someone from the White House dispatched Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card to Ashcroft's hospital room in the middle of the night to try to strong arm him into signing off on a program he had determined was illegal. Comey has testified that the President himself is the one who called Mrs. Ashcroft at the hospital to tell her that Gonzales and Card were on their way but Comey has also testified that Gonzales and Card told him later that night that Dick Cheney and his counsel David Addington wanted the program renewed. That was during the meeting at the White House that same night following Gonzales and Card's visit to Ashcroft's hospital room. Card called Comey minutes after they left the hospital demanding that he come to the White House immediately. Comey informed Card that he was on his way as soon as he could get Ted Olsen, the Solicitor General, to accompany him as a witness. The acting Attorney General of the United States informed the White House Chief of Staff and the White House Counsel that he would not meet with them without a witness present.

It is interesting to note that when Bush was reelected in 2004, Ashcroft was not reappointed. Comey remained for about a year into the second Bush term before leaving and being replaced by Paul McNulty, who was recently forced out by Gonzales for being a little too truthful in his Senate testimony. And let's not forget that Bush reauthorized the program even though the Justice Department had ruled it illegal. The only reason Bush called Comey into his office the day after the program had been reauthorized was because he had been informed that Comey was resigning. It was during that meeting that Comey informed Bush that Ashcroft and Mueller would also be resigning, along with another half a dozen top staffers. Bush then called in Mueller to see if that was true. It was during that meeting that Bush told Mueller to get with Comey and do whatever they deemed necessary to make the program legal. The program continued in its previous form for several weeks before the changes were made. Even the revised program was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge and has since been changed to require court approval before surveillance can be conducted. This only happened after the existence of the program was revealed in the New York Times.

Another point to remember is that all of these guys are right-wing Republican conservatives. Ashcroft, Comey and McNulty are not moderates by any stretch of the word. Whatever the previous program was, it was so repugnant that even right-wing Republicans considered it unconstitutional, but not neo-cons like Dick Cheney and David Addington, who replaced Scooter Libby as Cheney's chief of staff.

Bush said he doesn't know what all the fuss is about. He told Gonzales to bring a get-well card to Ashcroft, not Andy Card.

[Ninong]

The Godfather, Part IV: Fredo's Revenge

[Ninong]

Go over to MSNBC and vote. 482,480 votes so far with 88% saying yes.

[Ninong]

Anything new on Randy Cunningham?

Two investigative reporters who broke the story of the corruption of former Republican Congressman Randy "Bandit 12 o'clock high" Cunningham (aka federal inmate #94405-198) have written a book, The Wrong Stuff, detailing just how big a crook Cunningham really was. It's full of salacious details. Even his bribers were repulsed by his behavior.

Here's an interesting interview with one of the book's authors. It's rather brief. Actually it's just six questions and answers. Check it out. Don't miss the part where Randy told his commanding officer that he wasn't interested in the Navy Cross, he was "holding out for the Medal of Honor."

Here's a brief piece on Randy's hot tub on the Duke-stir. It's funny creepy. It gives a whole new meaning to the term "dirty politician."

P.S. -- For all the good stuff on Cunningham, refer back to this thread starting with post #55.

[Ninong]

Susan Ralston, the former executive assistant to top White House adviser Karl Rove, invoked her rights against self-incrimination while she was being asked to answer questions by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Committee's Chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, announced in a memo Tuesday. The deposition for which she sat concerned contacts between convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Rove, as well as the White House more broadly.

"The subjects this morning that she will be unable to testify to...are the subjects of the relationship between Jack Abramoff and his associates and White House officials, including Ms. Ralston, and the subject of the use by White House officials of political e-mail accounts at the RNC," Ralston's lawyer, Bradford Berenson said, during the May 10 deposition. "She has material, useful information about both of those subjects."

According to Waxman's memo, which was sent to Oversight Committee members, Ralston is seeking immunity from prosecution.

"She is more than willing to provide it to the committee. However, she will, as we have previously discussed, require a grant of immunity before she is comfortable going forward," Berenson also said in the deposition.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Ninong

Check out this YouTube video of the Administrator of the General Services Administration's appearance before Henry Waxman's committee:

Lurita Doan, head of the GSA pretending that she doesn't remember anything about a briefing Karl Rove's deputy gave to GSA employees asking them to use their official positions in the GSA to aid GOP candidates in the 2008 elections. Remember, these people are in charge of $60 billion in government contracts. They are being asked to do whatever they can to aid certain GOP candidates who are in peril of losing their seats in 2008 and to assist in defeating 20 Democrats targeted by Karl Rove as being vulnerable in 2008.

She doesn't remember anything, she doesn't recall the statements she made, she doesn't know why her press spokesperson made certain comments because she has no recollection of what was said at that meeting by Mr. Jennings (Rove's deputy) or anyone else, including herself. Her mind is conveniently completely blank. Admitting what took place would put her in violation of the federal Hatch Act.

Another Bush Administration Official GUILTY!

An Office of Special Counsel report has found that General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal officials from partisan political activity while on the job, sources say.

The report addresses a Jan. 26 lunch meeting at GSA headquarters attended by Doan and about 40 political appointees, some of whom participated by videoconference. During the meeting, Scott Jennings, the White House deputy director of political affairs, gave a PowerPoint presentation that included slides listing Democratic and Republican seats the White House viewed as vulnerable in 2008, a map of contested Senate seats and other information on 2008 election strategy.

According to meeting participants, Doan asked after the call how GSA could help “our candidates.”

Doan has until June 1 to respond to the OSC report, which was delivered to her May 18, according to officials. The officials asked to remain anonymous because the report has not been made public.

[Ninong]

The US House of Representatives today passed a bill that closes a "loophole" that allowed President Bush to circumvent the Senate confirmation process for federal prosecutors.

The legislation, authored by Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA), passed the House with a vote of 306-114. It has already cleared the Senate (94-2), and it is expected that Bush will sign it into law.

The provision that this legislation will change was inserted into the USA Patriot Act reauthorization last year, and allowed the Attorney General to appoint US Attorneys indefinitely without Senate approval.

[Ninong]

Monica Goodling testified before the House Judiciary Committee today. She admitted she "crossed the line" in using political party affiliation when filling career positions. She explained that she frequently interviewed applicants for either career or political positions and that she probably asked them questions that shouldn't be asked of applicants for career positions, but she "didn't mean to do it."

When asked if she had any previous experience "hiring and firing," she pointed out that as president of Messiah College's student association for the 1994-1995 school year she was in charge of some student staffers. When Linda Sanchez explained that she was asking about "professional experience," Monica said that she interviewed applicants during her stint in the opposition research section of the Republican National Committee.

Ms Goodling characterized Alberto Gonzales' previous congressional testimony as inaccurate. She contradicted some of Kyle Sampson's previous testimony and she accused Paul McNulty of deliberately misleading statements and incomplete testimony in his previous appearances. She also recalled details of meetings that Alberto Gonzales attended that Gonzo has testified he can't recall.

When asked if she was involved in the evaluation of which US Attorneys should be fired, she said that was done by Kyle Sampson and Alberto Gonzales!!! Ouch! She doesn't recall ever talking to Karl Rove or Harriet Miers about any of the US Attorneys but she did talk to Rove's assistant a few times.

She said that Gonzales discussed possible congressional testimony with her just before she left the Justice Department. It was along the lines of the AG volunteering what his recollection might be and asking her what her reaction would be if that was what he testified was his best recollection of what had happened. She claims she was unresponsive to his inquiry. This conversation took place AFTER it was known that Congress was seeking testimony from both Gonzales and Goodling. Such discussions could be considered witness tampering or obstruction of justice.

Gonzales' office immediately released a statement from the Attorney General explaining that he was "just comforting Ms. Goodling" and not trying to influence her pending testimony.

The bottom line is that Goodling admitted she probably "crossed the line" in her hiring and firing decisions, she insisted that she had virtually no say-so whatsoever in deciding which US Attorneys deserved to be replaced -- she said that was handled by Sampson AND Gonzales -- and she accused Gonzales, McNulty and Sampson of inaccurate and incomplete testimony.

Oh, well...

I'm sure Gonzo retains the president's "full confidence."

Don't forget to check out Monica's Regent U. homepage. A few gems under the Friends link: She refers to "that wild togo party." I wonder if that's the same as a toga party? Who knew Messiah College and/or Pat Robertson U. were virtual Animal Houses?

"Quick memories include: talking to Greg in the basement of Fry in a fluffy green Victoria Secret bathrobe with my dripping hair up in a pink turben at midnight." If I'm reading that right, she was in the basement with some guy same Greg at midnight and she was wearing a fluffy Victoria's Secret bathrobe and had her dripping wet hair up in a pink turban. I think "turben" is probably the same as turban.

Here's a cryptic comment: "...and several kidnapping experiences that are best forgotten." Kidnapping? At a fundy college? How biblical!

Under Family Addictions we learn that her father was addicted to military service and that he was recently awarded a "metal" of valor. And her "step-dad loves food of all kinds."

[Ninong]

Looks like the White House is lawyering up!

I guess Fred Fielding, White House Counsel, expects things to heat up soon. He's hiring nine new attorneys to help him defend the president. Note that three of them previously worked for Wiley Rein & Fielding, LLP.

[Ninong]

Sen. Chuck Schumer released a statement saying the Senate will take up the no-confidence vote next Monday.

I suspect the Republicans in the Senate may try to block this from even coming to a vote. The White House is putting enormous pressure on those GOP senators who have expressed a lack of confidence in Gonzo to not go along with this no-confidence vote, even though it carries no legal weight whatsoever.

[Ninong]

As expected, the no-confidence vote was blocked by the Republicans in the
Senate. This was a foregone conclusion, Reid had counted noses several days ago. He needed 10 Republicans and all he had was 7.

The judiciary committees in both the House and the Senate are still investigating and still taking testimony. It's amazing how these Justice Department political appointees can get away with lying to Congress. The last one was so bad at it that his lies were all over the blogosphere within hours, so he wrote a letter to Sen. Leahy the very next morning "revising" his testimony of the previous day.

The DOJ just released more emails. These are emails that should have been released months ago. These latest emails clearly show that the White House was intimately involved in the process of firing "unhelpful" US Attorneys and replacing them with political hacks. What's more interesting is that these latest emails show that the White House was routinely using the RNC email accounts for official business. This is a violation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978. The latest emails are between Karl Rove's office (Sara Taylor and Scott Jennings) and the DOJ (Kyle Sampson) and they are on RNC accounts. They discuss how to handle the fired US Attorneys who are "talking" and "stirring up the Senators" and what to say about Tim Griffin, Rove's little friend who was appointed to replace the fired Bud Cummins in Arkansas without Senate confirmation (Patriot Act loophole appointment).

Anyway, Sen. Leahy was pissed so he issued subpoenas for Harriet Miers and Sara Taylor. Miers, you might remember, was the White House Counsel who was considered the bestest qualified person in the whole world to be a Supreme Court Justice. She was a keen judge of character, too. She once said that George W. Bush was the most intelligent man she had ever met. Obviously Harriet didn't get around much.

Sara Taylor reported to his satanic majesty Karl Rove. Scott Jennings reported to her. Sara resigned last month because she could see the handwriting on the wall.

I don't know where all of this will end up but I do know what it has already uncovered. We now know without a doubt that the White House was using the Department of Justice as a political arm of the Republican National Committee. They were installing loyal Bushies throughout the department, regardless of qualifications, to act on behalf of the RNC in a drive to ensure one-party rule as far into the future as possible. We're NOT talking about political appointees here, we're talking about career positions that by law are supposed to be filled without regard to political party affiliation. They destroyed the civil rights division. More than half of the career employees quit because they were fed up with the new hires who were blocking their work.

The same thing happened in other governmental agencies. We need look no further than FEMA for a good example of George W. Bush's approach to government. He put Michael Brown in charge of FEMA even though Brown had no experience whatsoever in emergency management. Brown (Brownie to Bushie) had been the head of the Arabian Horse Association. He ran horse shows. And he was FIRED from that job because of some financial irregularities.

Bush did the same thing throughout government. He appointed people based on their loyalty to him, not based on their qualifications. And these appointees proceeded to fire anyone not considered "loyal" enough and replace them with new political hacks, even in career GS positions. The only reason Porter Goss was named Director of the CIA was so that he could go in there and clean out all the career employees who were considered not loyal Bushies -- people who had been hired during the two previous administrations, Bill Clinton's and Bush the Elder's. And he succeeded. Most of the highest ranking career CIA employees left the agency, especially after Goss named Dusty Foggo as the Executive Director. Dusty, as we all know by now, was on the take. He's the highest ranking CIA official ever to be charged with a felony. And he's the only CIA official to have had his office raided by the hated FBI. That must have been a sight to behold.

Anyway, the evidence is overwhelming that the Bush Administration is filled with criminals who are willing to lie under oath to protect their masters. Lying before a congressional committee is a felony. According to the Presidential Records Act of 1978, the President is responsible for preserving all official records of the President and the Vice President and that includes emails and Secret Service logs. The Bush Administration was routinely using RNC email accounts for sensitive communications that they didn't want preserved for public scrutiny in violation of the PRA. And last month, Deputy Leader Dick ordered the Secret Service to shred all of their logs that recorded who visited him on official business.

No wonder Bush has purchased a ranch in Paraguay, just in case. And I can see why they decided to add nine more attorneys last week to the Office of the White House Counsel.

[Ninong]

Looks like it was both Judiciary Committees (House and Senate) that issued subpoenas for Harriet Miers and Sara Taylor:

Said House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers in a statement: "Let me be clear: this subpoena is not a request, it is a demand on behalf of the American people for the White House to make available the documents and individuals we are requesting to help us answer the questions that remain," said Chairman Conyers. "The breadcrumbs in this investigation have always led to 1600 Pennsylvania. This investigation will not end until the White House complies with the demands of this subpoena in a timely and reasonable manner so that we may get to the bottom of this."

Added Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy: "The White House cannot have it both ways -- it cannot stonewall congressional investigations by refusing to provide documents and witnesses, while claiming nothing improper occurred. The involvement of the White House's political operation in this project, including former Political Director Sara Taylor and her boss Karl Rove, has been confirmed by information gathered by congressional committees. Some at the White House may hope to thwart our constitutional oversight efforts by locking the doors and closing the curtains, but we will keep asking until we get to the truth."

[Ninong]

Check out this YouTube clip: Highlights of Gonzo the Magnificent's Senate testimony.

They have it condensed down to just 3 minutes.

[Ninong]

Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act

We talked about this back in January when Senators Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Mark Pryor (D-AR) introduced it into the Senate. This is the bill that would prevent the Bush Administration from circumventing the Senate confirmation process in the appointment of U.S. Attorneys. It was made necessary because the Bush Administration last year inserted a sneaky little provision into the Patriot Act reauthorization that allowed them to appoint interim U.S. Attorneys to serve for the remainder of Bush's term without having to be confirmed by the Senate. This was a deliberate move dreamed up by Karl Rove to replace current U.S. Attorneys who were causing problems with more compliant "loyal Bushies." "Loyal Bushies" is the official term used by the Bush Administration.

This is what Attorneygate is all about. It's about the Bush Administration firing perfectly fine U.S. Attorneys who were doing an excellent job but who weren't doing as they were told by Karl Rove and his two acolytes who were installed at the Justice Department to actually run things. Alberto Gonzales was just the front man. He was ordered to delegate extraordinary powers to Kyle Sampson and Monica Goodling, the two thirty-something RNC hacks who had virtually no experience other than running oppostion research at the RNC. Monica Goodling is the dippy drugstore blonde whose primary qualification for the job was that she was a graduate of Pat Robertson's Regent University School of Law. Regent brags that 150 of their law school graduates work in the Bush Administration. In the Justice Department, these people are referred to as "holy hires."

The bill to close the loophole in the Patriot Act -- S. 214 Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act -- passed the Senate by a 94-2 margin on March 20 and the House by a 306-114 vote on May 22. That's a veto-proof margin in both chambers -- 98% in the Senate and 73% in the House. The bill was sent to President Bush for his signature (or veto) on June 4. The President has NOT YET signed it.

Why is that? Why wouldn't the President sign this bill that has such overwhelming bipartisan support?

Could it be that Attorney General Gonzales intends to appoint more interim U.S. Attorneys using the old sneaky Patriot Act loophole? Would the Bush Administration dare to flout the will of the American people in such a brazen manner? Could they possibly be that arrogant?

The answer, boys and girls, is apparently yes!

Alberto Gonzales intends to appoint George Cardona tomorrow as interim U.S. Attorney in the Central District in California according to reliable sources. Under the provisions of the Patriot Act loophole, he would be able to serve until January 2009 without having to be confirmed by the Senate.

Bush doesn't care what the American people think. He never has. After all, he answers only to God.

[Ninong]

FBI now estimates they have misused the NSL authority in Patriot Act "several thousand times."

Three months ago the FBI told Congress they had discovered 22 instances where their agents violated the law by misusing the secret National Security Letter provision of the Patriot Act. They have now reviewed approximately 10% of their national security investigations since 2002 and they find that they have violated the law more than 1,000 times.

You can read the full article here.

P.S. -- The agents were doing what they were told to do. This is obviously a misreading of the provisions of the Patriot Act. The next question is, was it a misunderstanding or a deliberate abuse of power? In any case, it came down from the top.

P.P.S. -- In case you're unfamiliar with the provisions of the Patriot Act, you may want to read it someday. You might be surprised at what innocent actions on your part trigger a report by your bank to the feds.

[Ninong]

Another Justice employee is resigning!

Michael Elston, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General, is out. This is another one of those late Friday afternoon firings. He's leaving next week.

This is the guy who called three of the fired U.S. Attorneys and made an implicit threat that the Justice Department would detail the reasons for their firings if they didn't stay quiet.

It has been reported that he rejected a large number of applicants to Justice Department positions because they were Democrats.

When Carol Lam, the former U.S. Attorney for San Diego, asked to stay on the job longer in order to deal with some outstanding prosecutions (the expanding Duke Cunningham case), Elston told her not to think about her cases, that she should be gone in "weeks, not months" and said "these instructions were 'coming from the very highest levels of the government.'"