Category: White House
A real eye opening article
This is a real eye opener, it comes via The Republic Broadcasting Network:
John Yoo: The President’s Executioner (via Global Research)
The title of this article – The President’s Executioner – is a play on words. It refers to professor John Yoo, who teaches law at Boalt Hall, University of California, Berkeley. But this man – mild-mannered by all appearances – is not what he seems. He is the man who was, more often than nearly any other, behind the White House decisions to violate the international laws of war. He was the one who told the White House how to get away with committing war crimes. While he may have been a henchman for others who instructed him to make the arguments he did, he repeatedly refused to reverse himself, both while he worked in the Department of Justice and after he left that office and returned to academia.
But it was also during this time period, as we now know, that the Department of Justice became “politicized.” Instead of executing the laws as it should have been doing, the Justice Department became an instrument of President Bush, executing his wishes.
And John Yoo executed White House wishes to twist the law into something it was not and was not meant to be.
Yoo, however, did more than execute orders. The so-called “Torture Memos,” in the writing of which Yoo was an active and primary participant, opened the door to such abuse of the laws that some detainees were actually murdered. For all practical purposes, they were executed, without a trial or guilty verdict.
Thus, the President’s Executioner.
Go read the whole thing, it’s quite the eye opener. 
Cross-Posted @ The American Nationalist News Service
Editorial: I just lost all respect for Hillary Clinton
Undoubtedly, you already know what it is that I am referring. The statement by Hillary Clinton that she would obliterate Iran, that country attempted an attack on Israel with nuclear weapons.
Here is the snippet of the interview, that is coming up on Good Morning America.:
She did, however attempt to back off the statement on MSNBC:
My friends, this is nothing more than a page out the George W. Bush playbook. Was it not Hillary Clinton, when confronted by some facts about her policies, fly into a screeching premenstrual rage, about Barack Obama’s tactics being right out of the playbook of Karl Rove? Now, with the table’s turned and Hillary being under the gun, Hillary herself does the same exact thing, only notches up the rhetoric more. Yet, she gets a free pass, because she is trailing, because she is the underdog. Not from this writer she does not.
This Nation, for the last 6 years, has been in quagmire called Iraq. We were lead into this war, based upon intelligence that, in fact, was found to be false. Yet, this administration has continued to move the goal posts as to the reason we had to remain in Iraq. Yet our President in his stubbornness and blind allegiance to a totally flawed and poisonous political ideology has almost strained our Military to the point of almost breaking the back of those of whom we entrust our safety, our lives, our well being.
Now we have some so-called underdog Presidential candidate who is attempting to compare herself to Franklin D. Roosevelt, or John F. Kennedy, both paramount leaders in the annals of the history of America, all so she can attempt to appeal to those who think striking Iran might just be a good idea.
The tough reality is, that involving this country in another military escalation of this sort would do nothing more than further strain and possibly destroy what military we have left. This is outside of the scope of instituting a military draft. Not to mention, any sort of Military action, outside of the approval of the United Nations would result in further destabilization of that very region. Not to mention the United States relations with our allies in the region.
I am not sure exactly what Hillary Clinton is attempting to do, but it could spell the very end of her bid for the office of President of United States.
More Coverage At Memeorandum
A Video, that everyone needs to watch…
I think everyone needs to watch this:
It’s pretty scary, but all true.
If you enjoyed this video, please consider a donation to this Blog. Click here to listen to a message from me, about why I need the donations.
John Aravosis has questions for McCain….
Valid Questions.
Does John McCain require his mistress to wear a flag pin? (via AMERICAblog)
McCain is going on Stephanopoulos’ show this Sunday, so I’m hoping Stephanopoulos will be pushing McCain hard on the following issues…
Oh, and before the outrage machine kicks in – ABC just asked a presidential candidate on national television if his pastor loves America. After that little ditty, what isn’t fair game?:
1. Adultery. McCain reportedly was seeing his second wife while still married to his first wife. And, then we have the issue of the blond lobbyist who looks like McCain’s second wife. America deserves answers.
2. Does John McCain require his mistresses to wear a flag pin?
3. McCain working for the enemy. If a US soldier made propaganda tapes for the enemy (like John McCain did), then went on to run for president as a Democrat, the Republicans would eviscerate that candidate. I want George Stephanopoulos to ask John McCain if he loves America as much as soldiers who didn’t make propaganda tapes for the enemy while in captivity. Oh, and in case you think I’m kidding, here are McCain’s own words:
Later, I made a second, feebler attempt at suicide. On the fourth day, I gave up. I signed a confession that "I am a black criminal and I have performed the deeds of an air pilot".
The guards ordered me to record my confession on tape. I refused, and was beaten until I consented.Well, I’m sure a POW has never been beaten before, so it’s totally understandable why McCain betrayed his country during his "hero" years in Vietnam. (Or are we to assume that all American POWs betray their country while in captivity, right?)
4. Old age. John McCain is old, everyone knows it. I love my parents, they’re in their late 70s, they’re great people, but they probably shouldn’t be president at this age. John McCain would be the oldest new president EVER if he gets elected (and we all saw what happened to Reagan in his second term). I hope we’ll be seeing some hard hitting questions about McCain being simply too old.
5. That enormous thing on the side of McCain’s face. McCain had skin cancer a few years ago. He now has some enormous thing on the side of his face that no one is talking about. I want to know why we shouldn’t be worried that John McCain is going to get sick and die in office.
6. Cindy McCain’s drug addiction. What message does it send to America’s children to have a drug addict, who actually stole drugs, as first lady?
7. Would John McCain quit a church that had his wife as pastor?
8. Is John McCain going to jail for 5 years? McCain has illegally pulled out of the public campaign finance system. That’s a crime punishable by 5 years in prison. Is Stephanopoulos going to break media silence on this issue and ask John McCain whether he’s too old to go prison?
9. Will McCain make propaganda tapes while he’s in prison?
WOW! 
I thought I was harsh…
But they are valid questions. How much you want to bet, that they won’t get asked? 
Others: Oliver Willis and The BRAD BLOG
From the "D’ oh!" File, Special Hillary Clinton Edition
Oy…. From the Chi-town Tribune:
Quote:
Barack Obama can take some solace out of Hillary Clinton’s new television ad in Pennsylvania. At least one of her supporters featured in the spot hammering Obama for his small town comments isn’t registered to vote in Pennsylvania.
Clyde Thomas, who sports a goatee in the ad and says, “the good people of Pennsylvania deserve a lot better than what Barack Obama said,” is actually registered in New Jersey. He voted there for Clinton Feb. 5. He only recently moved to Bethlehem, Pa.
“It shouldn’t be a big deal. I explained it to the campaign,” Thomas said in an interview. “I see Pennsylvanians for what they are. I grew up with the values of Pennsylvanians.”He added: “I am from a perspective of someone coming into Pennsylvania new like Barack Obama is, and seeing how great they are and how they welcome me.”
Thomas said he was born in Scranton, but has lived his entire life in Somerville, N.J. He is a 46-year-old unemployed environmental engineer.
He said he has been volunteering for the campaign in recent weeks, handing out literature and making phone calls. He said the campaign approached him about appearing in the ad, which was filmed in Bethlehem, a city of about 72,000 residents in eastern Pennsylvania where Bethlehem Steel once stood tall.“They gave me no script,” he said.
Asked about the fact that Thomas isn’t registered in Pennsylvania, Clinton campaign spokesman Mark Nevins said: “Clyde has deep roots in Pennsylvania and is moving back to the state after having voted in New Jersey in their primary for Hillary Clinton.”
Thomas said he plans to register to vote in Pennsylvania ahead of the November election.
Oh, Snap! That’s gonna leave a mark or two… 
Others: The Swamp, Pennsylvania Ave., Publius Endures, Spin Cycle, Marc Ambinder, Commentary, Gateway Pundit, Oliver Willis and AMERICAblog and other related stuff via Memeorandum
Hillary losing her ground in Pennsylvania and Indiana
I knew this was coming.
The Article: Hillary Clinton loses traction over Barack Obama in Pennsylvania, Indiana (Via Los Angeles Times)
With three crucial Democratic primaries looming, Hillary Rodham Clinton may not be headed toward the blockbuster victories she needs to jump-start her presidential bid — even in Pennsylvania, the state that was supposed to be her ace in the hole, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.
The survey found the New York senator leading Barack Obama by 5 percentage points in Pennsylvania, which votes next Tuesday. Such a margin would not give her much of a boost in the battle for the party’s nomination.
What is more, the poll found Clinton trailed Obama by 5 percentage points in Indiana, another Rust Belt state that should play to her strengths among blue-collar voters.
In North Carolina, an Obama stronghold, he is running 13 percentage points ahead.
The race remains volatile, however, because many likely voters in the Democratic primaries are still undecided — 12% in Pennsylvania, 19% in Indiana and 17% in North Carolina.
I have an opinion as to why this is the case. Firstly, I believe that people just are not going to hold the Reverend Wright story against Obama. Because, the main reason is, it was not Obama saying the stuff, it was Reverend Wright. Secondly, I think that whole "Elitist" thing was overplayed by the media and pundits alike and I think most people saw right through it. I know I saw through that, from the minute it broke, this is why I did not whip out a Editorial on it. Because I thought it was quite silly.
It also seemed like Hillary was just piling on, and that might have cut into her likeability factor a bit.
There is going to be a debate tomorrow. I most likely will not be watching it. I mean, there’s been so many, and after a while, they’re repeating the same talking points over and over and over…. it gets kind of old. I will be interested, however, to see how this primary turns out. I am really wondering, if Hillary will drop after the Pennsylvania Primary or not.
It should be interesting and I look forward to it.
Others on this: THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, The Moderate Voice, The Fix, The Sleuth, Hot Air, The Swamp, TalkLeft, Daily Kos, American Street, Marc Ambinder, AMERICAblog, Liberty Street, The Raw Story, Viking Pundit, Donklephant, TPM Election Central, CQ Politics, Dick Polman’s American Debate, WCAU-TV and The Trail – Related Stories via Memeornadum
Ha! Good luck with that one!
Yeah, like that will ever happen………….
The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on Congress to demand an independent prosecutor to investigate possible violations by the Bush administration of laws including the War Crimes Act, the federal Anti-Torture Act, and federal assault laws.
“No one in the executive branch of government can be trusted to fairly investigate or prosecute any crimes since the head of every relevant department, along with the president and vice president, either knew or participated in the planning and approval of illegal acts,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “Congress cannot look the other way; it must demand an independent investigation and independent prosecutor.”
Fredrickson added, "Congress is duty-bound by the Constitution not only to hold the president, vice president, and all civil officers to account, but it must also send a message to future presidents that it will use its constitutional powers to prevent illegal, and immoral conduct
I think we got a better chance of a Meteor hitting the planet, than this ever happening, while Bush is in office.
I wish the ACLU all the best on it, but I just don’t think it will happen.
Others: TalkLeft, Hullabaloo, Booman Tribune, Emptywheel and TPMMuckraker
No Job for Gonzo?
No, not that Gonzo!
Update: I just freakin’ noticed that picture up there of Gonzo, has a gun it it’s hand… Believe me, I didn’t mean a thing, by posting that. I just wanted a funny Gonzo Picture… It was just something I grabbed off of Google Images. I think everyone is smart enough to know that… but you never know… so, I’m just letting everyone know!
This one: (H/T New York Times)
Quote:
Alberto R. Gonzales, like many others recently unemployed, has discovered how difficult it can be to find a new job. Mr. Gonzales, the former attorney general, who was forced to resign last year, has been unable to interest law firms in adding his name to their roster, Washington lawyers and his associates said in recent interviews.
Well, I would guess so, seeing how he basically assisted George W. Bush destroy America’s Constitution.
He has, through friends, put out inquiries, they said, and has not found any takers. What makes Mr. Gonzales’s case extraordinary is that former attorneys general, the government’s chief lawyer, are typically highly sought.
A longtime loyalist to George W. Bush dating to their years together in Texas, Mr. Gonzales was once widely viewed as a strong candidate to be the first Hispanic-American nominated one day to the Supreme Court. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he carried an impressive personal story as the child of poor Mexican immigrants.
Despite those credentials, he left office last August with a frayed reputation over his role in the dismissal of several federal prosecutors and the truthfulness of his testimony about a secret eavesdropping program. He has had no full-time job since his resignation, and his principal income has come from giving a handful of talks at colleges and before private business groups.
“Maybe the passage of time will provide some opportunity for him,” said one Washington lawyer who was aware of an inquiry to his firm from a Gonzales associate. “I wouldn’t say ‘rebuffed,’ ” said the lawyer, who asked his name not be used because the situation being described was uncomfortable for Mr. Gonzales. “I would say ‘not taken up.’ ”
Party Loyalty has it’s downside, eh Gonzo? Karma is such a terrible thing.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7 KJV)
Amen.
Others on this: Shakesville, MoJoBlog, DownWithTyranny!, Rox Populi, Donklephant and Cliff Schecter …
Cross-Posted at my other Blog: The American Nationalist News Service
Editorial: Answer to a very stupid Question
Tom Blumer at Pajamas Media asks this question.
Quote:
The current president has done more than any other to combat the spread of AIDS in Africa. Why haven’t the media noticed?
Two Reasons, for one there is an election taking place, just in case you forgot, and the main stream media is also too busy covering our President ripping our Constitution to shreds and violating the various Geneva conventions.
Let me give you some working examples…:
These Videos come from one of the best political shows on American television, his reporting transcends political parties and appeals to Americans who still believe in that Constitution and the values it stands for.
The Videos:
and finally, one of the most telling of videos ever to be broadcast on National American Television, This Commentary, by one of the highest rated Political Television Commentators out there:
Now as to your question about AIDS, While I know and personally believe AIDS is a horrible and dreadful disease, it is being over shadowed by a Presidency that is, in the most Conservative of terms, shameful. George W. Bush and his clan of Neo-Conservative, war-mongering, thugs have disgraced America, Disgraced the Republican Party, possibly to the point of never, ever, being able to gain access to the White House, for the next four to six years or possibly and quite frankly, hopefully, for longer than this. Why? All because a very simple minded man, who felt he needed to out accomplish his Father, and in the process has put the United States of America in one of it’s worse positions in foreign relations, in it’s many years of existence as a Nation.
Now it would be easy, to dismiss me as some disenfranchised, Anti-American, Liberal with an attitude, but allow me to make some very valid points here. When the John Birch Society, Writers at NewsWithViews.com, WorldNetDaily, like Dr. W.R. Marshall, Ph.D, Cliff Kincaid, Chuck Baldwin, Devvy Kidd, Joseph Farah, Ilana Mercer are saying that the President of the United States of America has abused his powers, disgraced the Nation and totally ignored the Constitution all for his perverted and rather narrow sighted political view, then something is very wrong.
And yet, the Republicans just continue to sit, like mindless trolls and continue to allow this man to completely and abjectly, lie to them and tell them that he is protecting America. All because of a now dead, half baked, Former Democrat, Former President told some reporters, "Thou Shall not speak against thy fellow Republicans". I am sorry, But I do not, for one second, believe that Ronald Reagan meant that you should sit idly by and watch as some criminal warmonger destroys America, the values it was based upon and the Constitution that serves, as the very underpinnings of founding principles of this Nation.
I will end this rather lengthy Blog entry, turned editorial with this thought, if the Republican Party and Conservatives in America do not wake up to the fact that they have been betrayed, lied to, and double crossed by the most evil of persons, within the Conservatives and within the Republican Party. The Republican Party will, in fact, go the way of the Whig Party of old.
I truly hope that they awake from their slumber before then.
Republicans Reportedly "transitioning" away from the FISA Telecom Immunity fight….
Glenn Greenwald Reports that The Hill is reporting the following:
I’m still traveling and so have only a little bit of time to comment, but The Hill is reporting that the GOP is de-prioritizing their efforts to enact the Rockefeller/Cheney FISA bill:
"House Republicans are poised to shift their focus from national security to the economy, hoping to rally opposition to what they claim are Democratic plans to raise taxes amid the economic downturn.
Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is expected to announce Thursday that the House GOP floor emphasis will transition away from passing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and earmark reform to "stop the tax hike.""
I tend to think that the Republicans, at least the ones in the Senate realize that they are not going to win this fight and that it could cost them some serious votes in the coming election. So, I tend to think they’ve changed their priorities.
Unlike some of the more of the ardent Right Wingers or as the rest of the World calls them, the Right Wing Lunatic Fridge, I know that if these companies get immunity, America’s Justice system would be totally undermined. Now, do I believe that the Bush Administration broke the law? I do not know that, as I have zero proof of such claim.
My feelings are, if the Bush Administration has done nothing wrong, then what do they have to hide? If they’ve done nothing wrong, they should not have a problem with the investigations or lawsuit, because they would be vindicated.
Unlike some of the more far right Conservatives, I do not believe that Corporate power should be protected. Every American, of any Religious persuasion, and yes, that does include Muslim, have the right to legal recourse, if they feel that they’ve been unfairly investigated. That is one of our Nation’s founding principles.
Others: Think Progress
Did Petraeus Overplay His Hand?
Philip Carter thinks so…
The Article: Petraeus Overplays His Hand (Via Intel Dump @ WaPo)
Except that in making this pitch, Petraeus and Crocker overplayed their hand. They overstated the threat posed by al-Qaeda in Iraq in an effort to justify the mission — a mindset that has generated a deeply flawed strategy. They also overplayed the surge’s success — downplaying or discounting factors that likely did more to create today’s improved security conditions. While their "Anaconda" strategy looks cool on a PowerPoint slide, it confuses the issues of control and influence, putting too much stock in America’s ability to engineer success in Iraq. And, perhaps most tellingly, the two men made the case for perseverance without placing Iraq in the context of vital U.S. national interests, offering only apocalyptic predictions of what would happen if we don’t stay the course.
Andrew Sullivan weighs in:
But that was their carefully prescribed task. I don’t fault them. They’re not responsible for overall strategy. At one point last year, I was worried that Petraeus was being used politically. I was wrong. He’s been a magnificent general, in a near-impossible situation. Ditto Crocker. Along with Patrick Fitzgerald, they strike me as among the most impressive public servants of our time.
Now that is a bit overstated, I think, Because I personally believe that General Patraeus is, in the Bush Administration’s eyes, a pawn. A Pawn in a Neo-Conservative chess game.
While I admire Patraeus for doing his job, I think he knows what he is doing. He’s keeping his head down, and doing his job, and when the President is out of office. He will write a book, that will basically indict his bosses. I could be wrong, but I think General Patraeus is holding his cards to his vest and will tell all, when it’s all over with.
Should be interesting indeed.
Others: Washington Post and SWJ Blog
No end in sight…
Hmmmmm… I guess that movie was correct.
The Article: Frustrated Senators See No Exit Signs (via washingtonpost.com)
Asked repeatedly yesterday what "conditions" he is looking for to begin substantial U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq after this summer’s scheduled drawdown, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said he will know them when he sees them. For frustrated lawmakers, it was not enough.
"A year ago, the president said we couldn’t withdraw because there was too much violence," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). "Now he says we can’t afford to withdraw because violence is down." Asked Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.): "Where do we go from here?"
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said: "I think people want a sense of what the end is going to look like."
But the bottom line was that there was no bottom line. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker echoed what they said seven months ago in their last update to Congress — often using similar words. Iraq’s armed forces continue to improve, overall levels of violence are lower than they were last year, and political reconciliation is happening, albeit still more slowly than they would like.
That’s because with this Presidential Administration, there is no exit sign!
That’s the way his Neo-Conservative planners wanted it. To keep us in that war forever! That’s because Neo-Conservatives believe in perpetual war! Even at the expense of the Nation’s Military.
That’s Neo-Con Game, and we’re playing it…. At our Tax Expense.
A good Movie:
Buy the Movie:
Amazon.com: No End in Sight
Others: Washington Wire, Slate, Times of London, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, Real Clear Politics, New York Times, SWJ Blog, Sister Toldjah, New York Post, Connecting.the.Dots and Intel Dump and more via Memeornadum
White House does John Conlee?
Seems so…
Via Think Progress:
During today’s White House press briefing, deputy spokesman Tony Fratto admitted that the White House has, at least up until recently, been looking at Iraq through “rose-colored glasses.” Responding to a question about the rising violence in Iraq, Fratto said, “I think we have thrown out all of the rose-colored glasses in how we look at Iraq and try to look at it through clear lenses as to what is going on in the country.” Fratto later added: “Like I said, we threw out the rose-colored glasses. I think we have a clear-eyed view of what’s happening in Baghdad.”
Think Progress has the video.
Cue John Conlee:
But then again, hasn’t George W. Bush’s Presidency been served by looking through those glasses?
Others: Salon and The Carpetbagger Report
Living proof that our Government is staffed blatant idiots….
I saw this and I thought, "Has common sense went totally out the window?"
The Article: For the Record: Seriously, What is the FBI Doing? (via Investigative Project on Terrorism)
Quote:
In February, we exposed the latest FBI (and CIA) outrage, advertising for recruits in a pro-terrorist, anti-American magazine, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (WRMEA) – (see: Looking Under a Rock: FBI and CIA Hit New Low in Recruitment Drive). Both of our top national security agencies had placed online advertisements on the webpage of a magazine that included a hagiography to a terrorist the FBI had worked almost a decade to investigate and prosecute, Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Sami Al-Arian.
Just over a month later, it is clear that the FBI has learned nothing. The agency is advertising for recruits in the Arab American News, another publication with a long history of support for terrorism, terrorists and terrorist organizations. The current edition has an editorial titled, "Let our people go!," under an ad banner recruiting for the FBI (which also appears on the home page of the website), about accused Iraqi spy Muthanna al-Hanooti, which states:
Arab American political activist Muthanna al-Hanooti was arrested and jailed this week by federal officials upon arrival at Detroit Metropolitan Airport returning from a trip to the Middle East. The following day he was charged with two counts of conspiracy and three counts of lying to the FBI about working for agents with the Iraqi Intelligence Service under Saddam Hussein. (emphasis added)
Screen shot of said website:
I mean, really gentleman, can we be anymore stupid than this? Advertising on a pro-terrorist website??!?! Somebody dropped a huge ball here, somewhere along the line.
That’s our wonderful government, being ran incompetent ogres, who base their terror warnings on "Gut Feelings".
…..and we PAY these people??!?!
Others: The Jawa Report and Little Green Footballs
The Yoo Torture memo is released
And boy is it a whopper, I look for Keith Olbermann to be all over this.
No quotes here, Just go read the reactions from around the Blogosphere. This is going to be the big story of the day.
I look for hearings to come out of this one.
Wow.
Hillary Clinton fired from Lawyer Job
This juicy bit of info came out yesterday and I didn’t get chance to Blog about it.
This comes via the guys over at HotAir.com.
An Article by Dan Calabrese basically removes any varnish off of Hillary Clinton’s Lawyer days. Calabrese quotes Jerry Zeifman, a life long Democrat as saying the following:
Quote:
As Hillary Clinton came under increasing scrutiny for her story about facing sniper fire in Bosnia, one question that arose was whether she has engaged in a pattern of lying.
The now-retired general counsel and chief of staff of the House Judiciary Committee, who supervised Hillary when she worked on the Watergate investigation, says Hillary’s history of lies and unethical behavior goes back farther – and goes much deeper – than anyone realizes.
Jerry Zeifman, a lifelong Democrat, supervised the work of 27-year-old Hillary Rodham on the committee. Hillary got a job working on the investigation at the behest of her former law professor, Burke Marshall, who was also Sen. Ted Kennedy’s chief counsel in the Chappaquiddick affair. When the investigation was over, Zeifman fired Hillary from the committee staff and refused to give her a letter of recommendation – one of only three people who earned that dubious distinction in Zeifman’s 17-year career.
Why?
“Because she was a liar,” Zeifman said in an interview last week. “She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee and the rules of confidentiality.”
It is being reported that this isn’t really news, however, it is the first time that I have heard of it. So, far only Conservative Blogs are talking about it, I haven’t seen any movement by the bigger Blogs, but if this did catch fire, it could spell the end of Hillary Clinton. Because basically, she’s used her years as a lawyer to say she is ready for the White House.
Zeifman goes on to say at his website:
After hiring Hillary, Doar assigned her to confer with me regarding rules of procedure for the impeachment inquiry. At my first meeting with her I told her that Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter Rodino, House Speaker Carl Albert, Majority Leader “Tip” O’Neill, Parliamentarian Lou Deschler and I had previously all agreed that we should rely only on the then existing House Rules, and not advocate any changes. I also quoted Tip O’Neill’s statement that: “To try to change the rules now would be politically divisive. It would be like trying to change the traditional rules of baseball before a World Series.”
Hillary assured me that she had not drafted, and would not advocate, any such rules changes. However, as documented in my personal diary, I soon learned that she had lied. She had already drafted changes, and continued to advocate them. In one written legal memorandum, she advocated denying President Nixon representation by counsel. In so doing she simply ignored the fact that in the committee’s then most recent prior impeachment proceeding, the committee had afforded the right to counsel to Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas.
I had also informed Hillary that the Douglas impeachment files were available for public inspection in the committee offices. She later removed the Douglas files without my permission and carried them to the offices of the impeachment inquiry staff — where they were no longer accessible to the public.
Hillary had also made other ethical flawed procedural recommendations, arguing that the Judiciary Committee should: not hold any hearings with – or take depositions of — any live witnesses; not conduct any original investigation of Watergate, bribery, tax evasion, or any other possible impeachable offense of President Nixon; and should rely solely on documentary evidence compiled by other committees and by the Justice Departments special Watergate prosecutor.
If any of the above is true, Hillary Clinton could be in deep trouble should this story begin tread water among the main stream media.
Ed Morrissey on this:
The right to counsel is considered one of the inviolable tenets of our justice system. It doesn’t speak well of ambitious attorneys working on a highly-charged political investigation that she wanted to deny someone the right to an attorney. Small wonder Zeifman questioned her ethics.
If all she did was to propose that as a tactic, that would not make it terribly concerning — but she did much more than just spitball ideas. When informed that public evidence showed a precedent for the right to counsel, she absconded with the files to eliminate the evidence. Does that remind anyone of later incidents in the Clinton narrative, such as the billing records for the Rose Law offices and the 900+ raw FBI files on political opponents of the Clintons?
For the sake of the Democrats and for the sake of this election, I am hope that this story just dies off and goes away. I mean, the Democrats have enough trouble right now as it is.
Should be interesting indeed.
Others: protein wisdom, TBogg, Power Line, Doug Ross, Stop The ACLU, PoliGazette, Pat Dollard, North Star Writers Group, NewsBusters.org, QandO, Secular Blasphemy and Digg (via Memeorandum)
US Military to recruit Bloggers to spread Pro-War Propaganda
That is the report from "Danger Room", A National Security Blog at Wired.com.
Quote:
A study, written for U.S. Special Operations Command, suggested "clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent Bloggers."
Since the start of the Iraq war, there’s been a raucous debate in military circles over how to handle blogs — and the servicemembers who want to keep them. One faction sees blogs as security risks, and a collective waste of troops’ time. The other (which includes top officers, like Gen. David Petraeus and Lt. Gen. William Caldwell) considers blogs to be a valuable source of information, and a way for ordinary troops to shape opinions, both at home and abroad.
This report does not surprise me, nor is a huge revelation. I believe that US Military in Iraq, at some point, when the Iraq War began to turn sour, began to instruct some of it’s Military personnel to sign up for Blogs, say on Blogspot and WordPress, under false Iraqi names, like Omar and Mohammad, and to begin to preach the good values of this War and the Bush Administration.
One of these blogs already exists. It is called "Iraq, The Model"; it has been in existence since November of 2003. It is "supposedly" run by someone in Iraq.
Sorry, I am not buying it. The English is too good. I accused the person that owns this Blog of being a covert American once and he flew into a rage and called me a liar, and then amazingly my comments on the Blog disappeared. As if he did not want to arouse anyone’s suspicions, I suppose.
My question is, does the Bush Administration really believe that the American people are that damned gullible? That we are just going to blindly buy the lie that this war is just going along smoothly and everything is perfect. I mean really!
Coupled with that and continued moving of the Goal posts as to why we should be there! First, it was to topple Saddam, and then it became to fight against Al-Qaeda, and so forth. I mean, somewhere along the line, the American people realized that the Bush Administration was full of crap.
It just cracks me up, that George W. Bush and his Administration actually sit up there, in the White House thinking of ways that they can deceive the American people into believing that this war was even remotely justified. Everyone knows, that actually reads the news, which is good percentage of America, that the whole invasion of Iraq was an abdication of U.S. Intelligence, from the ground up. Does anyone remember, "Slam Dunk"?
Mr. President, in case you have been away or a bit busy, this is not 1941! We do have the thing called the Internet and a thing called Blogs and various other kinds of Alternative news sources! You cannot control the type of news that comes out of Iraq. No matter how hard you try! You would think a man that ended up in the White House would be smart enough to know this sort of a thing. But then again, we are talking about George W. Bush, the former cokehead, the former womanizer, the former Drunk, the guy who walked away from the Military, the Former Black sheep of the Bush Family, are we not?
Of course, upon further reflection, this is the mindset of the Republican Party, the party of the wealthy in our society. The sick and twisted mentality of "They are just stupid common people, they’ll believe anything we tell them.” The sad part is, within the Republican Party, there does exist a certain amount of that sort of Mentality. It is generally made up of the viewers of the Fox News Channel. In fairness, there are liberals like that too. "Believe what you are told and shut up and accept it and get back to work!" is the mentality of the good part of America. Thank God for people like Edward C. Marrow, and Keith Olbermann and many others, including those in the Blogging community, that have stood up and said, "No More!" and have sought to expose this Administration for what it is. Corrupt.
I am not sure how I feel about this story, angry or sad. Angry because of the Blatant stupidity that it exhibits, or sad for our nation, sad because the American government is having to stoop to the level of hiring professional Bloggers to print lies about this war.
November 2008 cannot come quick enough for me.
Others: THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, Think Progress, Shakesville and Left in the West (via Memeoradum)
Clinton not paying her bills
No wonder people want her to drop out!
Quote:
Among the debts reported this month by Hillary Rodham Clinton’s struggling presidential campaign, the $292,000 in unpaid health insurance premiums for her campaign staff stands out.
Clinton, who is being pressured to end her campaign against Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, has made her plan for universal health care a centerpiece of her agenda.
The campaign provides health insurance to all its employees, their spouses, partners and children — and that wasn’t interrupted by any lag in payments to insurance providers, said Jay Carson, a Clinton campaign spokesman.
He said the campaign this month paid off all outstanding bills to Aetna Healthcare and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. Those payments will be reflected on a report the campaign will file this month with the Federal Election Commission, which Carson said will show “zero debt owed to both vendors.”
“Sometimes invoices are not paid immediately because we need additional information for our records, or to verify expenses,” Carson said in a statement e-mailed to Politico. “Sometimes invoices arrive at the very end of the month at the cutoff of the reporting period, which means that we are required to report them as a debt on the current FEC report, even where they are paid in regular course during the next month.”
But the unpaid bills to Aetna were at least two months old, according to FEC filings.
Wow. Just Wow.
If she doesn’t destroy the Democrat Party, She’ll end up bankruptcy court. Either way. Life’s not going to be kind to Hillary.
I wish Dean would get off his lazy behind to deep six this woman’s campaign. But we all know that ain’t happening!
Stupidity, Innate Stupidity.
Update: Speaking of Innate Stupidity, I called Hillary a Republican by Mistake! I was a bit tired when I wrote that. Oops!
Others: Pandagon, The Opinionator, Weekly Standard Blog, Hot Air, Prairie Weather, Daily Kos, Political Machine, Real Clear Politics, The Sundries Shack, Don Surber and A Blog For All
As if President Bush needed any more troubles, Now this….
Like Wow! It must be open season on his Administration.
Article: Report Says HUD Secretary Will Resign (via New York Times)
Housing Secretary Alphonso R. Jackson is expected to resign Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday night.
Mr. Jackson has scheduled a news conference for 9:45 a.m., 15 minutes before Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. is supposed to outline plans for dealing with the financial crisis set off by the risky mortgage lending.
If Mr. Jackson steps down, it would remove a key player from the administration team dealing with the problem.
It is an interesting read. Corruption at the highest level.
Funding the very terrorists we’re supposed to be fighting against
That’s right folks.
Via WorldNetDaily:
Just days after it was announced the U.S. would transfer $150 million directly to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ government, members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, the declared military wing of Abbas’ Fatah party, were told they would receive cash grants, WND has learned.
According to Palestinian militant sources familiar with the issue, earlier this month, 20 members of the Brigades leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah complained to PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad they did not have enough money to pay their bills, including, for many of them, rent for their apartments.
Last week, according to the informed sources, Fayyad told the complaining Brigades leaders he would provide them with a one-time grant of $3,000 each, or $60,000 to the Ramallah-based Brigades leadership.
The sources said after Brigades leaders in other West Bank cities, including Hebron and Nablus, heard of the grants, they also demanded pay increases.
"Some of the other fighters accused Fayyad of favoring the Brigades leaders in Ramallah since that’s where Fayyad lives," said a militant source. "So he gave grants also to other cells."
Unreal. Can the lies and deceptions, from this feckless administration, be any clearer?
I guess Ron Paul was correct.
Clinton Camp on Richardson’s Endorsement…"Doesn’t Matter"
"I’d kiss you, but these people and my wife would never understand…"
Via WSJ:
Quote:
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson finally made up his mind and endorsed Sen. Barack Obama today, but a senior adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign — which likewise spent months courting the former Democratic presidential candidate’s nod — dismissed its significance.
“Look, I think that everyone has their endorsers,” said senior Clinton strategist Mark Penn, adding — with a little huff — “I think New Mexico is a state that, actually, we won.”
“The time that he could have been effective has long since passed,” he continued. “I don’t think it is a significant endorsement in this environment.”
Perhaps sensing that it may not be effective to dismiss out of hand a popular Hispanic governor’s political clout, campaign spokesman Phil Singer chimed in. “We respect Gov. Richardson,” he clarified. “But at the end of the day this campaign is about Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama.”
Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe told reporters today that Richardson made up his mind “just very recently” and — unsurprisingly — saw significance in it. “We obviously think it’s very meaningful,” Plouffe said, referencing the behind the scenes jockeying the Clinton and Obama campaigns had conducted since Richardson withdrew from the presidential race in early January. “That process has been going for some time now,” Plouffe noted.
I normally do not use this source for entries, because of who owns them, and their newly discovered Republican and quite conservative slant. But this one warrants a posting.
The quote that bothers me is….:
“The time that he could have been effective has long since passed,” he continued. “I don’t think it is a significant endorsement in this environment."
Yeah, Okay Markus, then why the fuck did Bill Clinton basically invite himself to Richardson’s House to watch the damn Super Bowl? I know it wasn’t because they were best buddies.
Like I said in a previous entry, she can’t win, by a long shot, and now she’s in spin and denial mode.
So typical.
Others: The Huffington Post, TPM Election Central, Donklephant, culturekitchen, Wonkette, Balloon Juice and Hotline On Call (via Memeorandum)
The Left is being played like a fiddle….
A sad, but true fact.
The story, Which comes via Newshoggers, who saw it at Rising Hegemon. A story that appeared in the Village Voice, the story of how the Republican Operatives are strongly trying to weaken the chances of a Democratic Nominee of winning in November. Now in the interest for fairness, this is really nothing new, this sort of Political underhandedness has been going on for years. Nixon did it, as did others. But the reason why it is so bad in this race, for one, is because there is no fairness doctrine anymore, opening up the ability to editorialize the coverage of the election process, another factor is, that you have a Republican propaganda machine, known as Fox News, or as I like to call it, Faux Noise. But, because I am fair, Fox News is not the only ones that do this sort of thing. MSNBC does it, CNN does, even the so-called NPR, which is supposed to be a-political, has a noticed liberal slant to it. So, all in all, the Bias is on both sides of the camp.
Anyhow, on with the story….
Quote:
The prime movers of both political parties have long tried to game the presidential nominating process—not only to choose their eventual winner, but also to pick their November opponent. And in this landmark election without incumbents, the media wing of the Republican Party, in particular, has quite visibly been playing that game. Right-leaning pundits for months now have very openly not just called for Hillary Clinton’s head, but also coddled and promoted Barack Obama, salivating over the prospect of facing him in November.
Meanwhile, voters have been echoing that program: Barack Obama has been beating Hillary Clinton in part because Republicans are helping him.
Sixteen of the 45 Democratic primaries and caucuses held before this week were open affairs, allowing Republicans and independents to take part, and Barack Obama has won 11 of those contests. He almost invariably carried the Republican vote, which accounted for as much as 9 percent of the total in Wisconsin and Texas, and frequently ran even stronger among independents, who represented a fifth or more of Democratic primary voters in state after state. The 75 percent of the Republican vote that he won in Missouri, for example, may have pushed him over the top, and certainly, when combined with his 67 percent of the state’s much larger independent vote, it delivered many of the district-apportioned delegates to him. Republicans in Obama states like Washington, Wisconsin, and Virginia were even freer to cross the aisle, since by the time they voted, John McCain had already sewn up the GOP nomination. While Obama often won some of these states so handily that Republicans and independents could not have provided his margin of victory, there is no way to know how many delegates in close congressional-district contests will wind up in Denver because of the impact of Republican or independent voters. And there is no exit-poll data to measure their impact on the caucuses.
I highly recommend that you read the rest of this story, as it paints a tale of how the Republicans are attempting to destroy the Democrat nomination in November. The sick and sad part is, they are doing by using the old, outdated system of nomination and voting.
Cernig at Newshoggers weighs in:
In every case, these rightwing mouthpieces have ignored their own previous overt race-baiting to accuse the Clintons of being closet racists, have ignored their own open misogyny to accuse Obamites of sexism and generally muddied the waters every way they could.
Limbaugh, Novak, Kristol, Bennet, York, Hannity, George Will – all have their gamesmanship exposed by this must-read column. They’re all on the same page of the GOP playbook. It’s the page headed "Divide and Conquer".
Truly, this is a sad case, I just hope that Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton have the ability to overcome the negative press coverage and can be elected. Because we do not need four to six more years of the Neo-Conservative nightmare in this country. Now, if McCain nabs the Presidency, I won’t jump off a building or anything. But it will set this Country a great deal if he does. Not to mention, it will be the biggest embarrassment to the Democrat Party.
Here is hoping that things will work out, and the underhanded folk, on both sides, will be exposed, for what they are.
Obama’s church published Hamas terror manifesto
Now, I wonder if this here will make the headlines?
The Story: Obama church published Hamas terror manifesto (Via WorldNetDaily.com)
Sen. Barack Obama’s Chicago church reprinted a manifesto by Hamas that defended terrorism as legitimate resistance, refused to recognize the right of Israel to exist and compared the terror group’s official charter – which calls for the murder of Jews – to America’s Declaration of Independence.
The Hamas piece was published on the "Pastor’s Page" of the Trinity United Church of Christ newsletter reserved for Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., whose anti-American, anti-Israel remarks landed Obama in hot water, prompting the presidential candidate to deliver a major race speech earlier this week.
Hamas, responsible for scores of shootings, suicide bombings and rocket launchings against civilian population centers, is listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department.
The revelation follows a recent WND article quoting Israeli security officials who expressed "concern" about Robert Malley, an adviser to Obama who has advocated negotiations with Hamas and providing international assistance to the terrorist group.
In his July 22, 2007, church bulletin, Wright reprinted an article by Mousa Abu Marzook, identified in the newsletter as a "deputy of the political bureau of Hamas." A photo image of the newsletter was captured and posted today by the business blog BizzyBlog. The Hamas piece was first published by the Los Angeles Times, garnering the newspaper much criticism.
This is an interesting story, it says much about Obama’s Pastor. I have noted that Obama’s Church is a member of the very liberal United Church of Christ.
The information on Obama’s Pastor continues to flow, like an open tap. I will stay on top of this.
Hopefully someone else in the Blogging World will start bringing this up as well.
If Obama is a terrorist sympathizer, what does that say about the man?
I also wonder, was he there, when this was published?
I think the Democratic Party really needs to revaluate whether or not they want this man in there or not. I mean, this could be seriously disastrous for this party.
Others: The Strata-Sphere, Sadly, No!, Gateway Pundit and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS(via Memeorandum)
Obama Passport-Gate
This new Obama story that will bury the Rev. Wright Scandal.
The Story: 2 fired over Obama passport breach (msnbc.com)
Quote:
Two contract employees of the State Department were fired and a third person was disciplined for inappropriately looking at Democratic Sen. Barack Obama’s passport file.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the department itself detected the instances of "imprudent curiosity," which occurred separately on Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14. He would not release the names of those who were fired and disciplined.
"We believe this was out of imprudent curiosity, so we are taking steps to reassure ourselves that that is, in fact, the case," McCormack said.
This was Keith Olbermann’s Lead story tonight and I believe he dedicated the rest of his show to it. As did Dan Abrams.
I have been reading around and listening to the coverage. People are comparing this to the 1992 breeching of President Clinton’s passport records, of which, I must confess, I knew nothing of.
There has also been, already, comparisons to Watergate. Which I think is a bit of a stretch, if you ask me. Although, I believe before it is over, someone will be charged over this or at least will be publicly shamed.
This will be an interesting story to follow.
Others: Crooks and Liars, The Huffington Post, The Moderate Voice, Attytood, Boston Globe, Bang the Drum, Oliver Willis, Corrente, Sister Toldjah, Blue Girl, Red State, The Agonist, Political Machine, Cliff Schecter, Washington Times, Associated Press, Think Progress, Redstate, Fox News, Hot Air, Macsmind, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Brilliant at Breakfast and Obsidian Wings