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Details of the Duke Cunningham scandal continue to unfold. TPM is now reporting that the mysterious first time $140,000 contract that Cunningham cutout Mitchell Wade scored to provide services to Dick Cheney turns out to have been for…anthrax screening of White House mail:
Why did a company like Wade's, which had no track record whatsoever and had only been approved to receive federal government contracts two months earlier, get a contract from the White House to screen the mail of the President of the United States? Was Wade actually working in concert with or as the cut out for accused fellow Cunningham briber Brent Wilkes? And what role might Doolittle and Ney have played? And what about Wade's claims of having pull with the Vice President? Is that what got him the deal?
The Wilkes-Wade business model was corrupting members of Congress and the executive branch in order to obtain pricey government contracts, often but not always for worthless products and services, and almost always stashed away in classified programs where the light of day could never expose their corrupt practices. And Wade's first contract was with the White House itself. So whose palm got greased?
Remember that two weeks after the deal, Wade purchased a yacht for Cunningham — for $140,000. If Dick Cheney pushed this deal through, I think Shooter's got some 'splainin to do.
(And no, the photo has nothing directly to do with the story, except tangentially. I just like it.)
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FITZ!!!!!!!!!
Go!
Fitz!
EPU’d:
Abu Gonzalez’ new ad campaign to protect children — like, say, a bunch of 35 year old kids deciding which of their betters are “loyal Bushies” — from online predators:
Think Before You Post
Bwahahaha!
Scheduled to take 15 minutes of questions, Gonzo cut the press conference short after less than 3 minutes.
Gonzalez has got to resign soon. It’s clear that he can’t even do the basic PR functions of his job any more.
Video at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/…..;cset=true
I thought it was for “Dick Cheney’s office furniture and computers”.
I think its deliciously ironic that the yegg who introduced water-boarding and other forms of torture into Americana can’t even take the heat of a couple of questions by journalists. What a friggin’ wuss.
“Karl, you told me this wouldn’t happen. You promised me!”
Froomkin Link
There is a whole lot more here. This is just the tiny view. Mash has a post over at Taylor Marsh about this:
http://www.taylormarsh.com/arc…..p?id=25338
And my comment:
EPU’d from last thread, (sort of) I think we should caption the photo. My entry is that he is thinking up his playback retort, but this time instead of “Madness! Madness!” it is “Drivel! Drivel!”
Thank you Carol Lam for putting Duke Cunningham behind bars.
Now for the rest of these crooked bastards……
Shit, meet fan.
Does anyone know if Abu met with Fitz today or did he cancel that as well. He was supposed to but I am not sure it happened.
O what a tangled web we weave…
Funny how they never caught the anthrax terrorist…
It’s beyond calculation how many words that picture is worth.
Thanks Jane.
rxbusa @ 9
I suspect Fitz’s response would be a little more on the drier side, something like, “I’m really not distinguished enough to have any comment on the matter.”
God,I love this photo…I can see this look of utter distain…
flatford39 @ 12
See link at post 3.
Damn, it’s getting to where I’ll have to buy a third computer just to keep all the scandals straight.
Good to see Fitz around the Lake again.
You know he reads the papers daily and you’d be a fool to think the US Attorneys do not talk amoung themselves. These professionals keep themsleves well informed with regard to issues that effect their job security as does any senior professional person. There’s been chatter going on since Pearl Harbor Day, when Gonza lowered the boom on six of Fitz’s peers. And because of that, there’s a wall between Gonzo and Fitz that didn’t necessarily exist before. All of this to ask the question,
Whatis Fitz thinking?
I ask again:
Is there anything about the Bush administration that isn’t corrupt?
O.T.
mark april 5th on your calender…thats when the russ think we hit Iran
Bustednuckles @ 11
Such as John Doolittle…Jerry Lewis…and let’s not forget that moron, Virgil Goode.
Makes me wonder who sent the “mysterious powders” in the first place.
(And no, the photo has nothing directly to do with the story, except tangentially. I just like it.)
Jane,
I think you would love to see Patrick investigate Alberto! Another trial to cover!
noblejoanie @ 15
Ah, protection money. 140K for nothing.
JGabriel @ 4
That video is hilarious. It almost looks like he’s gonna crack. He can’t even stand up to those mean reporters….wahhhhh….how can this wimp protect our kids? He coulda just said “I’m not answering questions about that. We’re here to talk about ‘the children.’” Bye, bye Abu….
Caption: Channeling Olberman
“Has anyone seen this guy’s diploma?”
Re the pic at the top of the thread: Fitz has a thought balloon: “This man does not believe that I am entitled to the writ of habeas corpus.”
See this video where Alberto says that “the Constitution never granted habeas corpus. It only prohibits taking it away.”
Well, fer goshsakes, why would the Constitution prohibit taking away something that does not exist?
Sounds like that was scripted by his buddy John Yoo.
Ganzales testifies before Congress
Funny how Rudy was there on 9/11, in ondon for the subway bombing, and buys the American Media buiding. His website, Guilliani Partners, hasn’t been updated since 2004, according to the website’s press releases.
AZ Matt @ 27
God,the thought of Fitz on the ass of this corrupt administration….
I do like the fact that Dooooolittle is tied into this.
Neil @ 20
As he’s looking at Gonzo? I’m sure Fitz is thinking, “This is the face of corruption. This is why I am honest.”
noblejoanie @ 15
Funny as in ha ha or funny as in suspicious?
snuffy @ 23
link?
http://www.giulianipartners.com/press.aspx
*xyz @ 22
No.
This has been another lesson in Simple Answers to Simple Questions.
Curious in Central Texas @ 36
It’s being reported at Kos that Webb is introducing something to prevent an attack on Iran without Senate approval.
bonkers @ 27
It’s amazing, isn’t it? And I thought the same thing you just said — all he had to do was announce that he was there to take questions on the safe child project.
It might not have worked, but the truly telling thing is that: he didn’t even try.
Go ahead Jane, just propose to Fritz.
Fritz who?
From the Raw Story:
Curious in Central Texas @ 37
Google Downstream Ventures.. ez board link..petrolum markets..read&weep…also http://www.theoildrum.com…water in the gas tank by stuart staniford…peak is here and now..they have been useing the Iraq oil to mask the size of the collapse of the saudi oil feilds..est. at 8%last year
Neil @ 35
Wish there was something to laugh about with this, but it is odd the timing of the anthrax letters, the recipients (Dems and “liberal” media) and that no one has ever been arrested.
Curious in Central Texas @ 35
I heard it on Thom Hartmann today – the original links are in French – here’s the latest one and here’s one with a link to a translation.
i saw that photo earlier today at the tribune and i just cracked up. ya think abu gonzo was feeling a tad uneasy there with fitzgerald eyeballing him. and as far as life stories go, i think patrick fitzgerald has a comparably humble background…
Potential caption: *This* is the guy that gave me low job rating? Ha!
I want to know why the FBI investigation of the anthrax attack suddenly stopped.
Who told them to stop and why. People know what happened, I hope someday the public will know.
“A Democratic House committee chairman yesterday told the Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney ‘04 campaign to retain copies of all e-mails sent or received by White House officials using e-mail accounts under their control, raising the political stakes in the congressional inquiry into U.S. attorneys’ firings.
“Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) said his broadly written request was based on evidence that White House officials — particularly aides to top political adviser Karl Rove — have used their politically related e-mail accounts to hide the conduct of official business regarding the prosecutor firings and other matters being investigated by Congress.”
R. Jeffrey Smith, The Washington Post LINK
mui @ 48
Alternate potential caption:
We *pay* you?
So: the White House needed a virgin contractor, with no federal experience or screening expertise, to ensure the mail coming into the executive office was clear? The mail wasn’t being screened before July 2002? And the amount of the contract exactly matched the previously negotiated price of Duke’s yacht, purchased just two weeks after the award?
Cheney must be howling tonight — his war plans are in check, his graft is exposed, his AG is running from reporters, and his lesbian daughter’s spawn is about to make headlines soon.
I wonder if they’ve told Chimpy how bad it really is?
noblejoanie @
45
And wasn’t it weapons-grade anthrax, limiting the sources considerably?
This whole Duke Cunningham scandal is so complex that it’s hard to keep straight. What ever happened to the hookers in the hotel? And the Limo scandal? I don’t know how they’re going to unwind it all let alone get the media to cover an issue that can’t be explained in 20 words or less.
AZ Matt @ 44
So WHEN are the MSM gonna start reporting how that provision got put into the Patriot Act in the first place – and STOP giving Specter credit for “criticizing” the administration about the way they’ve handled GonzoGate?
Good question for Cafferty – or Keith – I haven’t heard one peep from anyone about how it happened – aren’t they even curious? (stupid question)
TeddySanFran @ 52
Well, if we see him waving to Laura’s Xan*x fairy . . .
noblejoanie @ 15
Best story I’ve heard on this is that it was a–successful–plot to destroy the files of the tabloid in FL whose offices were the first to get the anthrax letters. Said tabloid had lots of dirt on Bushes in their files, if I remember correctly. Ds in Congress were a red herring, though it would have been good for the plotter if some had died.
I love Josh, but why so all enigmatic with the last sentence.
Whose palm got greased?
Easy answer.
linda @ 47
Fitzgerald grew up in Brooklyn of humble origins, son of a father who was a doorman in Manhattan, and went to Catholic school, studied economics and math at Amherst, law degree at Harvard. Played rugby at Amherst, as recounted by fellow alumna Marcy Wheeler.
TeddySanFran @ 53
Bush’s Monica Problem
Those Whom the Gods Seek to Destroy They First Make Mad.
Of course, with Bush that brings up a chicken and the egg problem.
This thought did occur to me: wouldn’t being able to screen the White House mail offer tempting blackmail opportunities?
Its just getting stranger and stranger.When the soviet union collapsed,that was the first thing the people said happened…the sense of “normalicy”was the first thing that went away
I am so happy the furniture story is coming to light … when we were all talking Cunningham when all this first came up, that was the contract that looked esp weird …
crime family indeed!
noblejoanie @ 45 “Wish there was something to laugh about with this, but it is odd the timing of the anthrax letters, the recipients (Dems and “liberal” media) and that no one has ever been arrested. “
I wasn’t disagreeing. We’re to assume it was terrorists who tried to terrorize and Leahy and Daschel and terrorize the rest of the country and yet after 4.5 years there has been no official report.
Hell it only took 18 months for the army to decide there was no criminal wrongdoing in the Tillman fratercide. (I find it incredible that no senior civilian official was responsible for trying to keep this lie under wraps, just like the Abu Grhaib policy, a few bad apples.)
I think its time for the offical report so we can all feel safe from the terrorists when we open our mail.
I wonder if anyone ever asked Daschel who he thinks sent him the letter.
Slothrop @ 59
Cheney WISHES that was his bod!
The Secret Service turned screening of the VPs mail over to these yahoos?????
snuffy @
18
I repeat [EPU’d]: Fitz thinking “you lying sack of crap.”
Mauimom @ 69
Heck, how about a caption of what we are all thinking?
We need a special prosecutor to get to the bottom of this fired US attorneys mess, and we have the ideal candidate in mind.
ifthethunderdontgetya @ 68
put the bong away
ifthethunderdontgetya @ 69
GREAT TITLE!
From the last thread, I read that this Goodling, M-O-N-I-C-A (Don’t ya love it!) Fundie is MIA..
My posit was: I do not think one can simply have your lawyer send a “No thanks – 5th” letter and be a no-show. I think one has to show up and answer each question with the appropriate answer. Eg; What if they asked her if the light bill in her office was paid so she could work? In other words, I think the forum has the power to compell attendance, and you have the right to plea the 5th for each question. GREAT THEATRE, eh?
Also, I have only read on blogs and MSM that the Leahy committee “Authorized” subpoenas, which is different than “Issued” subpoenas.. BIG difference.
Anyone have any facts on these issues?
And no, the photo has nothing directly to do with the story, except tangentially. I just like it.
And well you should! Patrick Fitzgerald is hella sexy. :-)
Jane I love that picture too.
If I were a lying sack of sh*t I wouldn’t want that gaze trained on me.
Goodling went to “Pat Robertson’s law school”. KO
Mr. Gonzales has none of the poise of a former large law firm partner, or an appointed Texas Sec’y of State or S.Ct. judge. He was the personal legal adviser to the President of the United States? His personality couldn’t possibly hold its own against Addington, or Libby, who makes a steel spring look like a rubber band. He’s now the chief lawyer for the United States?
Mr. Gonzales’ apparent meekness and malleability must be one of his chief attractions to Mr. Bush. A sock puppet who makes George feel that he’s not one.
Mr. Gonzales must be under the legal thrall of Addington or others at the White House. Presumably, he was as informed about the US Attorney changes as he needed to be – that is, virtually not at all – because he had no say in the matter.
The WH really has internalized every important position – and personality – into itself. From being the key node in WH-DOJ comms, that must be something else about which Ms. Goodling has valuable insight. I wonder who’s mountain cottage she has run off to?
Fitz for AG after AbuG finds the door.
–’ere…
“~}
Caption:
“If I stare at him hard enough, will his head pop?”
About Anthrax, the Sun-Sentinel a south Florida paper had the best stories on it published beginning of last October; five year anniversary.
I believe that they indicated perhaps at least indirectly that the Anthrax was not all that special and that the Academic/Scientist that the FBI was going after was probably not correct target. I wonder what is the status of his lawsuit? 60 Minutes had a story several weeks ago indicating the likely lawsuit.
I always wondered whether the Anthrax in South Florida at the Enquirer was the same as that in D.C. and New York. Not sure that was made public? They must know by now.
Jane, a bit back you stated that even if Joe defects we keep the chairs. How is that. If he defects the Senate is split 50/50. Won’t shooter be able to then be the tiebreaker in a leadership struggle and hand control back to those who see no evil, hear no evil, but do evil?
Pat Tillman’s mom on KO.
Mary Tillman said she was not excluding the possibility that her son was shot intentionally.
“Pat was used,” she said. “Once he was killed, I think they saw this as an opportunity.” She noted that April 2004 was the worst month up to that time in the year-old Iraq war, and the shooting occurred right after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke.
The latest investigation “only presented the points of view of the soldiers in the vehicle” who fatally shot her son and an Afghan soldier and wounded two others, she said.
For the latest news, email archives, hearings, legal filings and other essential documents on the Bush DOJ prosecutor firings, see:
“The U.S. Attorney Scandal Documents.”
katymine,
re: MZM/Wilkes/Wade
I didn’t know Taylor was on that – thanks for the link !
here’s another Kos diary from a week later – gonna look at them both simultaneously via Firefox and see if anything new emerges
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/10/114820/90
If that picture is from today I’ve been dying for one. Penny for your thoughts, Fitz?
carolyn urban @ 74
Hmmm, I’d phrase that slightly differently: I’d be a lyin’ sack o shit to say I wouldn’t want his gaze trained on me! He IS hella sexy, HH@73!
Dang I double posted sorry
mbbsdphil @ 76
Agreed. Abu G. is more like a little toy dog, a pet of an attorney general and not an attorney general in fact.
He rolls over, plays dead, fetches, growls and yaps on cue; what a nice little doggie.
But hardly a real attorney general. The sorriest part is that this guy is better than “Of the Devil” Chertoff; if Katrina’s aftermath is any hint, can you begin to imagine what nightmarish crap would have been engendered under Chertoff as AG?
mui @ 48
How about: Low job rating, hmmm, the jury is still out on that!
Oh, woo-hee, both the former and “new” Misses USA are coming to “Scarborough Country” [Joe Scarborough’s vile show on MSNBC]. I guess there weren’t any blondes missing tonight.
True.
mbbsdphil @ 76
This is probably true. Gonzales was probably not calling the shots, as that would be the job of Rove. But Gonzales was in the information loop and he knew what was going on. Therefore, as the Attorney General of the United States, sworn to uphold the rule of law, firing USA’s for the purpose of influencing elections (as this appears to be the underlying motive), Gonzales most likely deserves to be impeached. The ultimate criminal however, is Karl Rove, and by implication, his boss, George Bush.
bill maher on olbermann…
chucktaylor @ 78
60 Minutes just a rehash with some new interviews but no new info. Hatfil would not comment, but his lawyer was pretty POed.
I would guess all antrax was from same source in part because no one has denied that it was, and secondly, how random would it be to have 2 attackers ready to go at same time?
Weak, pliant, and stupid is no way to go through life son
or
Mindless, Mindless, Mindless !
Lindy if you’re reading here you and I had a big misunderstanding which I am so sorry for. Please accept my apology. I was trying to -defend- you and also trying to keep our discussion on the upcoming war rather than the one 100 plus years ago.
If I have offended you or added to your post Katrina burden I am truly, truly sorry.
Neil @
21
That was exactly what I asked myself the instant I saw that picture. The look in Fitz’s eyes really makes you wonder.
This bizarre crime — Cheney paying $140k to felon (and 1st-time federal contractor) Mitchell Wade for non-existent furniture, then seeing that money buy a yacht for Duke Cunningham — is an essential part of the RICO prosecution of the Republican Party. It’s a crime syndicate, folks, and we can bring it down.
Remember how the Southern Poverty Law Center took apart the KKK? We can do that to the Republican Party. It’s a criminal conspiracy, and we can end it.
egregious for ambassador
mbbsdphil @ 76
I hate to admit what I think of when I see Gonzo. He looks to me like a mob flunky. And that’s so very very sad.
Speaking of Our Benighted Emperor liking sock puppets (and other lap-dog, lackey-toad types) it seems to me – and this is not a “gender comment” necessarily – that the women Bush has as his lackey toads tend to be Fundies.
Almost all the female fundie evangelicals that I know, have a political/cultural/religious belief that men deserve to be the leaders and they must submit to the support role. I know, I know! Honest, I am not stereotyping, BUT, this is sort of what they are taught. Aren’t they? Isn’t this one of the axioms of Baptist teaching?
Has any one ever done a list of the supplicants in the Naked Emperor’s administration to review the percentage of Fundies? And, or, a list of the female advisors and whether there is a preponderance of Fundies there? Is this where Pat Robertson gets his influence? Sort of religious brainwashed robots in the bowels (don’t ya’ love that metaphor?) of the Evangelical Emperor’s administration
Touchy subject, but there are other trends on resume’s that seem to be in the news these days.
Just wondering.. Sounds Rove-ian… Don’t ya think?
What was Fitz thinking in that picture?
“Karma is a Bitch”
Check out Bill Maher’s lipstick– he looks like a fucking streetwalker!
eCAHNomics @
92
I have read that the FBI destroyed all of the Anthrax samples. This means that there is now no way to know were it came from. The last speculation was it was weaponized Anthrax, stolen from Ft. Detrick(sp) by party or parties unknown.
I think one explanation for the lack of progress and the destruction of the samples is that they know that it came from Ft. Detrick. If its source was proven, it would be a violation, by the USA, of the bio-weapons treaty. I guess the Bushies don’t wont the world to know that they are doing bio-weapons research and production.
hungrycoyote @ 95
He is inscrutable, isn’t he? I don’t think I’d want to play poker with him – he gives nothing away.
Riesz Fischer @ 101
I was wondering what the h*** that was: chapped lips? lipstick? Whaaa?
You know what I don’t get?
Why on earth are we tolerating a government operated by a political officer?
Cripes, the Soviets and the PLC have had political officers; since when do we have them? and why are we tolerating the head political officer turning every federal law enforcement agent into political officers, too?
This is the kind of stuff that should induce rioting in the streets — but unfortunately, a substantive portion of our population no longer remember the Soviets, and they think of China as Walmart’s manufacturing subsidiary.
Really…Fitz is staring intently at a political officer. Makes me think of Roddy Piper in “They Live” once he started seeing “them” without the special glasses…
RealWorld @ 80
Because the Senate always begins the session with what’s called “organizing legislation.” The bill organizing the Senate this time did NOT say that the committees go to the party with the majority of senators.
No, the bill NAMED specifically the chairs of the committees for the entire session, BY NAME. Patrick Leahy for the Judiciary Committee, etc.
Even if the Senate flips, the committees and the agenda are controlled as named in the bill.
Pretty smart.
Raven @ 81.
Three bullets to the head.
How likely is it that some brand spankin’ new contractor who no one has ever heard of nails a contract to screen, scan and send the Vice President of the United States mail? Was WH security notified? Did the screeners undergo a background check? What security measures were in place to insure that the documents did not fall into the wrong hands? How many people were involved in this? Is there any evidence that the scanning process actually took place? Why was a contract for a mail scanning service purchased as “furniture and computers”? Furniture and Computers are real, tangible, traceable objects. A contract to perform work is considerably less so.
And why is it that this private company gets to see White House communications at the highest level but Congress can’t? Isn’t the possibility of blackmail high under these circumstances?
And what was wrong with the Anthrax scanning measures that were already in place?
This is beyond suspicious.
Re: photo
Talk about your “withering glances.”
Mrs. K8 @ 98:
It’s no accidnt that Bush’s pet name for him is “Fredo.” The Godfather = probably the only movie Bush has ever seen.
From Andrew Sullivan, who quotes a study:
This is classic Goebbels “Big Lie” theory of propaganda… The bigger the lie by the government, the more outrageous, the more people think; “Well then, it must be true. Nothing could be that outrageous and not be true.”
RealWorld @ 88
Let’s see the ratings criteria for the US Attorneys. Fitz was Phi Beta Kappa at Amherst. If I’m not mistaken, his lowest grade was an A. He scored 800 800 on SATs. Wanna bet he aced Harvard Law too? What idiot in DOJ gave him an average job performance grade? Anybody else out their convict a former Governor of corruption?
Neil @
107
Yea, and the Ranger who fired said he didn’t do target ID, he wanted to be in a firefight.
The USSR called them Zampolits..
Karl Rove is a Zampolit
Rayne @ 105
My caption for the above photo, a thought balloon above Fitzgerald’s head:
‘You’ll surely look cute in your orange jumpsuit’
;>)
dab_from_ct @ 104-
Since this is the public face of Fitzgerald, it really is meant to be inscrutable, no doubt. Given his background, the only thing I could possibly read on that face might be a profound disappointment…
And what about encryption? Was the scanned email encrypted before it was sent? And given the high level of security, technology, etc, isn’t $140,000 a pretty fricking low bid?
Neil @ 109
I think that could be too easily misconstrued and taken out of context as something other than a
suggested caption. Please be careful, we do have company watching.edit: my bad, the comment numbers shifted, raven’s now at 82. But you can see why the confusion; you may need to add more context to comments like that.
Anybody else think this “what was he thinking” conversation is kinda silly?
He’s thinking, “I’m one of the best prosecutors this damn government has and I’m working for this putz?”
It’s sort of depressing when you think about it.
noblejoanie @ 15
Funny how they never caught Osama either.
enough @ 66
yanno, when I think about this . . .
Bush/Cheney & Co. don’t mind it if other people are put in harm’s way, but they sure take care of themselves. So, in giving the contract to screen the mail to a crony, they must believe either
1) There really isn’t that much of a real threat (as opposed to manufactured threat), or
2) They know where the threat is coming from and are not particularly threatened by it.
Loved the Fitz/Gonzo photo too…
I will really sit up and take notice that the End of W is Near when the name Jeff Guckert resurfaces in the MSM.
Hasten the day!!
Caption :
“This wanker is my boss“.
darkblack @ 117
HA!! Or how ’bout this:
“Do they make orange jumpsuits in a 40 extra short?”
I don’t understand why anyone would think an outsourced mail screening contract would have anything to do with “anthrax”.
I would be willing to bet this has to do with intercepting “useful” mail before it became recorded in the WH archives. This would be yet another way to bypass the automatically archived communication that could expose nefarious activities.
john yoo a perfectly normal looking kind of man………monster, wrote the torture scripts……….ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
was on lehrer report the other night looking completely normal…..
problem is, everyone needs to look up habeas corpus, so they know what is being given away……..and what john yoo sculpted. torture author of the w administration…..he’s the guy that wrote it…….take him out………
Fitz shoulda’ knocked him out with a big and might punch! What a friggin’ little punk.
IntelVet @ 128
Ah. Bingo!!
I’d had a similar thought, but couldn’t wrap my head around it.
What if they really did offer this service, scanning mail…but the scanned images went two different directions. One copy to the White House, the other copy of relevant mail to the home of gwb43.com where it would be outside the Executive Office.
In Rove’s Shop.
Rayne @ 119
Exactly. I read that Tillman was killed with three bullets in the head. I was suprised, no atonsihed rally, to read the report that said there was no coverup.
The Bill with the timetable goes to the pResident. He issues a signing statement saying he can take the money and run. Screw the timetable.
That’s why it’s called a kleptocracy
Neil @ 130
Yea, I gotta enough problems!
Not long ago…
IntelVet @ 126
If that were the case, isn’t this incredibly risky? You are asserting that they VP set this system up to workaround the law. This suggests that the screening company might not be the most ethical people in the world. And now you are potentially routing confidential and possibly secret documents to them? Again, where was the WH security office on this deal? Did they vet the company, sign off on it, request encryption, require virus scanning software? It is so unbelievably stupid and insecure it’s amazing. If someone didn’t go on record demanding secure measures to be followed, that would be beyond incompetence. It’s criminal.
IntelVet @ 127
Bingo.
carolyn urban @ 97
second
mbbsdphil @ 75
It’s true about Fredo lacking the big firm partner aspect in a general sense, but in most big firms there are partners who are not there because of legal talent; their talents lie in other directions. V&E was full of partners and associates with great legal skills (think Harry Reasoner) and egos/personalities to match when I clerked there for two summers in the 80s. I remember most if not all of them but Fredo wasn’t on the radar screen. Doubtless he did what he was told then and does what he is told now. Apart from Rove, Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Addington, is there anyone on W’s team who does more than that?
Puesto @ 99:
“Has any one ever done a list of the supplicants in the Naked Emperor’s administration to review the percentage of Fundies? And, or, a list of the female advisors and whether there is a preponderance of Fundies there? Is this where Pat Robertson gets his influence? Sort of religious brainwashed robots in the bowels (don’t ya’ love that metaphor?) of the Evangelical Emperor’s administration”
Good question. The conservative evangelicals and dominionists have their pipelines into government service. Someone posted at Kos today a link to Robertson’s Regent University, with the brag that 150 of their graduates have been employed by the Bush administration.
There’s Patrick Henry College in Virginia, where home schooled “Christians” matriculate. Check out their mission statement at the link below.
http://www.phc.edu/about/default.asp
We’d never heard of Messiah College until Monica Goodling came to our attention. How many others like them are out there?
Bottom line. These people have a plan, and an infrastructure and pipeline to help realize it. And, they’re patient. We’re foolish if we underestimate or ridicule them.
OT – Folks in the following states should be looking at the date these folks’ terms end and whether there is a viable Democratic Senate candidate that is recruitable, groomable, and financeable right now:
Norm Coleman (MN)
Susan Collins (ME)
John Cornyn (TX)
Liddy Dole (NC)
Pete Domenici (NM)
Mitch McConnel (KY)
Pete Sessions (AL)
John Sununu (NH)
John Warner (VA)
These people must be replaced as they are the obstruction to a veto-proof Senate. They self-ID’d during the vote on the timeline by voting to remove the timeline.
Coleman already has a viable opposition candidate in Al Franken, but what about the rest? And even in Franken’s case, is there a Plan B candidate on standby?
Hop to it, FirePups. The ‘wingers have known what they are going to do in these same districts/states for years; we need to play catch up, and then pass them.
LindaR @ 122
Or
3) The real screening is done by someone else and they just randomly used this as the pretext for the award of the $140K contract.
OT-Dude, you just fucked up your Ferrari…
Celtic Music @ 138
Here’s where she went to law school
Regent
Agree Celtic, these Christian madrassas are cranking out lots of conservo-bots and we need to be prepared to deal with them.
Found this cogent comment, re: Bush, in a post by Hunter at DKos…
Celtic Music @
138
Ok, for the record, Messiah College is a Christian college founded by Mennonites and Methodists. It is not a Bob Jones University or Pat Robertson spinoff. It’s been around for awhile and it has a pretty good reputation. However, you will probably find fundy evangelical students there because it offers a more culturally conservative college experience. The dorms are sex segregated by floor or building. There are probably a lot of activities that are either banned or not tolerated. They have several different types of religious worship services including traditional and gospel. You don’t have to jam with a Christian rock group, speak in tongues or go to Jesus Camp. It’s not that kind of Christian college.
I suspect Monica’s parents didn’t give her many choices for colleges to attend. If you are fundy, you are kept scrupulously from worldliness of any kind and this might have been the best school for her academically that didn’t encourage licentiousness in the heart of sleepy central PA.
raven 69
as always, you crack me up
“home-grown… ” He’s referring to us. He knew he had to do something before the election. With the right USA’s in place… bammo/pushback against those DFH’s…
dmac @ 146
as always, you crack me up
It’s a thankless task but someone has to do it!
As portia.vz noted above, $140,000 is chump change for a full-scale biosweeping mail clearance operation intended to divert anthrax spores from the President’s nostrils.
So, if that’s really what Wade’s company was hired to do, we have yet to learn what the real contract totalled and whether, where, and how any portion of the serious money changed hands. Is it not possible that the real contract, if it existed, was classified? And if so, where’s that money?
And if the full extent of the contract really was this trifling yacht-sized pittance, well, why create a cover story (anthrax screening) so ludicrous that it needed its own cover story (furniture)?
Rayne -
Susan Collins will likely be challenged by Congressman Tom Allen, and I’m guessing Chellie Pingree will run for Tom’s seat.
Collins is well liked in Maine, but is vulnerable for many reasons – especially for her lack of oversight on the Committee for Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Mainers are frugal folks and won’t take kindly to her negligence in the disappearance and waste of tens of billions of their tax dollars.
I hope Tom and Chellie get some support from Blue America.
neokneme @ 147
Arrggghghhg! I am associating with bad influences and like minded people! Get the iodine! Get the hot water!
Celtic Music at 138:
Evangelical Fundie “Manchurian Candidate” …
Only in America!
“When Fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross“
- Sinclair Lewis (The First American to win the Nobel Prize, 1930)
“God wants me to run for President” – George Bush Circa 1996 – AKA “The Messiah”
ATTENTION: ePluribus Media team members have a post up now regarding the non-governmental email servers used by DOJ and White House personnel:
The GOP, GeorgeWBush.com and the line that jumped the Congressional Firewall
This story will likely be published to DailyKos shortly, please recommend if you see it.
inmymind’seye @ 150
I spose it would be bad taste to mention the way she talks?
I like the focus on FITZ!
We know he’s got that which evades this administration: INTEGRITY
I wonder how those ETHICS classes went at the White House. Remember those?
raven @ 154
raven – you seem to be on a roll, so why not?
inmymind’seye @ 152
I hope so, too; do they have strong grassroots support already, among folks in local DFA and PDA organizations? That would be a great start.
Collins is well liked in Maine, but is vulnerable for many reasons – especially for her lack of oversight on the Committee for Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Mainers are frugal folks and won’t take kindly to her negligence in the disappearance and waste of tens of billions of their tax dollars.
I hope Tom and Chellie get some support from Blue America.
I spose it would be bad taste to mention the way she talks?
raven – you seem to be on a roll, so why not?
Watching the Keithies is an inspiration!
raven@154
I note on her website that she seems never to have been married.
Rayne @ 153
Yeah, that’s pretty accurate. The firewall has been breached 5 ways to Sunday. There is no sugar-coating this unfortunately. If they were not scrupulous with their security, it is a very serious breach. Some things you just can’t exaggerate. Cheney has a lot of explaining to do.
Portia.vz @ 145: Thanks for the correction on Messiah. That’s one of the great things about getting news on the toobz…instant correction and clarification before misinformation gets amplified.
eCAHNomics @ 159
Nah, it’s too easy.
Celtic Music @ 161
You’re welcome. They have a website. Really, they are the harmless Christians.
Rayne @
157
I hope so, too; do they have strong grassroots support already, among folks in local DFA and PDA organizations? That would be a great start.
I know Chellie has, and I’d imagine Tom does too, but I’ll check it out.
He can’t even stand up to those mean reporters….wahhhhh… how can this wimp protect our kids? He coulda just said “I’m not answering questions about that. We’re here to talk about ‘the children.’” But suppose the reporters ask him about the ‘children’ in Texas… the ones who were assaulted (raped) by Gonzo’s friends, but “didn’t suffer any pain”. I’m suffering pain just thinking about those poor kids.
Jane’s upstairs
New thread, sweeties.
What to make of Gonzalez’ very close ties to Halliburton/Cheney pre-2000? Is this relevant to current scene?
You’re welcome. They have a website. Really, they are the harmless Christians.
If having a website made you harmless. . .think of the ramifications!
He is referring to FDL, C&L, TPM, etc. etc…
This is getting out of these guys’ control, so… they are panicking. Beware backing a wild beast into the corner…
And, since the fake Messiah is supposed to be the “Beast” beware backing Naked Emperor Bush into the corner.. He’ll get ya’
Probably having the FBI picking up this comment right now! Well, in that case:
“Your mama (Barbara) wears no underwear, ya Fascist pinhead!” Put that in your fucking FBI file and smoke it, ya Fascist storm troopers…
neokneme @ 147
ifthethunderdontgetya @ 60
IF THIS was flipped, would it be…Monica’s BUSH problem?
portia.vz @ 151
Wait till you read the thread backwards!
“..harmless Christians” at least in Our Benighted Emperor’s government MIGHT be an oxymoron … IMNSHO
portia.vz @ 163
Puesto @ 171
She does too…And it’s made of R-20 fiberglass insulation, which works out very well for her.
;>)
portia.vz @ 145
True. But Goodling still went to Regent, which is *that* kind of Christian college.
[Cheney’s] “lesbian daughter’s spawn“
CRACK ME UP!!
What’s up with her/he/it?
Twisted Martini @ 143
Just in case anyone has missed Chris Hedges’ American Fascists, he describes Radical Christians’ successful attempts to connect with with law enforcement at every level.
chuteh @ 168
in edit re: http://www.commondreams.org/views/121800-105.htm
Rayne@139: Mr. Dido & I are watching Liddy Dole. If the Democrats can find somebody strong to go up against her, she’ll lose her seat. Richard Burr, however—he should just be recalled. What a waste of space he is, and we’re stuck with him for another 4 years.
I believe I read Gonzo was employed, or on the Board …or had some official connection… with Kenny Boy’s ENRON…
Is there any doubt we are being run by a corporate Fascist state?
chuteh @ 178
Kathy @ 165
I thought the same thing. It might not have worked, but the really telling response is that: he didn’t even try.
I suspect Major Depression.
Rayne -
gaaak! try to recall an email I sent ya about 2 weeks ago wherein I mentioned finding a ’source’ – well that source has turned out to be 90% dead on and 10% crazy uncle in the basement – I just got back from e pluribus media link and that Ohio GOP link is something this source was alluding to almost a month ago – good gravy!
Blue Dido – if Dole attemps re-election she is in for the Katherine Harris treatment – Goopers don’t like losin’ :)
portia.vz @ 134
Yeah, so what else is new with this admin.
I never said the VP directly had anything to do with this (from knowing him personally, believe me, he is not that smart). The mail would be intercepted well before anyone in the WH got their hands on it.
The mechanism is quite secure.
Seems Waxman may have some other questions to ask……if he wants.
cbl @ 182
I sure hope so. Maybe she’ll start putting on that Cruella DeVil makeup. It’s amazing how this state ended up with two non-entities for senators (don’t get me started on how Erskine Bowles, whom I actually like, ran really lousy campaigns against both of them, and basically gave away those senate seats).
neokneme @
147
link please
darkblack @ 174
Can they hear me laughing very loudly at that? Ha!
cbl @ 184
It’s bad, cbl. We could see it was a long time ago, but the document dumps from both Abramoff and USA investigations have helped finish with the last dots in the line.
There are some very serious breaches of security here. Bad. As a former IT admin person, I can’t minimize this stuff.
just got home from work, haven’t read the comments but i just gotta say to Fitz’ girlfriend (if she’s lurkin here)
can you please burn that goddawful suit of his?
i’ll take up a collection, we’ll get him a new one, seriously.
Fancy yacht $140,000.
Dick Cheney’s adviser, Scooter Patooter indicted on four counts — three years of hard work for Fitz and company.
Good vs. Evil photo — Priceless!!!
Thanks for putting a smile on my face tonight.
neokneme @
27
Well, if they turned the 140K around and used it for Cunningham, that doesn’t leave anything for actually doing any screening, now does it?
I actually know a bit about this, having contact with people that do bulk gamma-ray irradiation; they were working on food sterilization pre-9/11, but had all their effort converted to sterilizing mail after the Anthrax mailings.
IT’S NOT CHEAP. $140K doesn’t even get you started.
So I’d bet that they didn’t do any sterilization at all. Besides, it makes the mail all discolored and crinkly.
But, but, but! How could they leave the VP unprotected?
Easy, if the VP was sure that he’d never get an anthrax letter. And how would he know that? Oh,
that’s right, only democrats get targeted. Silly me.
Marie Roget @116
I would agree with that. Considering the Washington Post’s hatchet job on Fitz courtesy of Ms. Toensing, he could probably even empathize with being the target of the attacks.
Gonzales is lying in a bed of his own making, though. It’s not incompetence that has gotten him where he is today, anymore than incompetence lands a bank robber in jail. It is interesting to note that Gonzales was White House counsel who wanted Fitz’ friend, James Comey to sign reauthorization for the NSA wiretapping. Unable to get him to do something he thought was illegal, Gonzales trots it over to Ashcroft to sign in the hospital.
I think Mr. McNulty also just couldn’t stomach serving up the B.S. anymore and decided to tell the truth. It’s probably why Gonzales is staying out on the road. How many more people working in the DOJ are sick of all of the B.S. peddled by the “Bushies” and want to set the record straight?
I think it’s all about black ops run out of OVP. Wasn’t MZM also involved with planes that were used for rendition?
leolabeth @ 177
Thank you for this opportunity –I read somewheres {?} Im a beginner at this — That BLACKWATER was founded by a leading Christian Fundie — {whose name escapes me, of course – Link how?) Searching for Blackwater, It is the largest Private Security Contractor in the world. They currently provide over 100,000 PRIVATE contractors in Iraq They have the contract in Paraguay to protect the Bush land holdings… etc There is a book currently on the shelf about this ‘group’ paid 4,5 times what our troops are paid, same work.
The $140K contract was purportedly for “office furniture.” I don’t understand why the administration felt it had to lie about the purpose of the contract. No one would have objected to the installation of mail screening equipment in the White House. Fishy.
I never comment here because everything of import and alot not always seems to be said in the end. I was finally moved to voice my appreciation for Jane’s title reference for this piece (and for other’s I might add). Sometimes more can be conveyed by an oblique reference than 20 lines of explanation – I hear the title of this piece as it was sung . . . artful/potent. Bravo.
way EPU’d -
I think Gonzo knows where several of Bush’s skeletons are buried (that drunk driving thing, for one) so Bush can’t cut him loose without making sure Gonzo’s ’safed’.
I proposed the caption for this at Needlenose:
‘Please don’t draft me to investigate this one!’ [after Libby, he needs a rest]
This case is half of the iceberg. The other half is how Rove wanted to rig elections/voting in those 8 states.
‘gate’ is a whithered appellation.
Bush really deserves his own scandal suffix.
I wonder if Wade was contracted to check Bushie’s bike shorts for little vials of white powder.
Looking at the photo I wonder if Fitzgerald looks at all of the soon-to-be-condemned like that
…don’t care what anyone says…Fitzgerald looks like a hunk of burnin’ love here
linky-poo for snuffy @185 and all… find home-grown after the middle about…
Here’s more vintage AbuG…
If you google Wilkes and Foggio and Iran Contra you see where this story really got started. It looks like they were CIA operatives -even ? running drugs -
for the Prez back in the good ol days.
maybe that’s when they developed their WH/Cheney contacts that came in so handy recently.
Does the analogy, physical, of Fitz and Gonzales sitting together at a children’s meeting raise any red flags? Have any of you come to the conclusion that Fitz is a dyed in the red Wingnut? Why else would he sit next to the pathetic Gonzo at a kiddies presser? Sure, I respect Fitz as much as the next peep, but why in gum did he agree to sit next to Gonzo?
how serious was the white house about the anthrax threat if this is where the first anthrax deterring contract went? was the white house complicit in the initial anthrax threats?
the “why” is a seeming no-brainer……the “how”?!
M. Tooley @ 204
Um, because the event was hosted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago — as the local arm of the Department of Justice. (Same is true at the other locations around the country.)
Guess who the U.S. Attorney in Chicago is? His name is Fitzgerald, Patrick. Fitzgerald was next to his agency’s director, i.e. his boss.
No red flags.
p.s. I don’t think the word “analogy” means what you think it means.
It didn’t matter that they had no competence with anthrax because the anthrax thing was an inside job anyway. Notice just like bin Laden they’ve never caught the anthrax guy either.
JGabriel @
175
Yes, but Regent isn’t Messiah or vice versa. Guilt by association isn’t fair to the Mennonites.
First of all, I don’t believe for one minute (duh) that the $140k was for anthrax mail detection or anything like that. On another note about anthrax that I find intriguing, and I don’t know who had the contract or if there even was one, but the anthrax selected attack seems to have something to do with the manufacture of anthrax vaccine that needed a market and was subsequently administered to the troops without proper FDA approval. I’d like to see where that particular thread leads.
Dynomite pic!
Can we have a repost of the Fitz pic with him holding a bowling ball with reflection of WH in ball (and him with the funny cap). But tjis time with reflection of Fredo as lead pin Fitz is about to strike?
Um, because the event was hosted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago — as the local arm of the Department of Justice….Guess who the U.S. Attorney in Chicago is? His name is Fitzgerald, Patrick. Fitzgerald was next to his agency’s director, i.e. his boss.
Fair enough. But why then was Gonzo invited? Or did he invite himself? Seems like awfully good press coverage for Goonzo — until he split — and a major PR compromise for Fitz.