zed

Sweet Jane!!

Emptywheel !!

MARCY! Great article this morning at your blog. Now to read this one.

I’m just glad they’re all going under oath, unlike the last six years when it appeared NO one was under oath.

There’s always more DC Madam.

Oversight is addictive!

I’m particularly looking forward to May 3.

OT – Any California folks here going to be at the Dem state convention tomorrow?

I received a ticket to hear Edwards’ speech.

Whoa, I didn’t know the bankruptcy bill was going to be in the daylight. I have great credit, but used one of the credit card checks. I was floored when I got the first statement and saw the interest rate was 35%. Fortunately, I was able to pay it in full, but crimany, many people can’t. I cannot believe that is legal.

“Mr Comey, here’s a list of all of the senior people you knew who still have their jobs at the Department of Justice. We’d like you to put a check mark next to all of the ones that you believe have an ounce of integrity in their bodies. Would you like to borrow my pen?”

Comey: “No, thanks. I can do it without one.”

Meanwhile Alberto Gonzales still defies the odds of the bookies on whether and when he’ll be forced out.

And this Nick Anderson cartoon explains how and why Gonzo defies the bookies’ odds…

Marcy: great summary!

Yesterday, you had an item concerning the FBI agent forced (?) to resign after making comments supporting Carol Lam in San Diego.

Q. What are the legalities here? Can an FBI be forced out for speaking to the press?

I have a question that I posted a couple threads down.

I remember during the Iran-Contra and Watergate hearings that the committees hired attorneys to do some of the questioning. Why hasn’t this happened in any of the DOJ testimony?

Marcy,
on April 30th, you might have meant “dreadful” but deadful works too.

Loo Hoo @
10

Whoa, I didn’t know the bankruptcy bill was going to be in the daylight. I have great credit, but used one of the credit card checks. I was floored when I got the first statement and saw the interest rate was 35%. Fortunately, I was able to pay it in full, but crimany, many people can’t. I cannot believe that is legal.

The first thing I did this year after cashing in the final retirement pieces to live was pay off ALL the plastic. I’ve had great credit all along but then got my next statement from one of the cards and was charged interest for the period from the previous statement date until date of pay-off. Since I had more than one account with that particular institution, I told them they had a choice: erase the interest charged after pay-off or lose ALL business with me. It took a couple of days and half a dozen phone calls, but it got cleared. I keep asking them to stop the cc checks they send but it doesn’t seem to penetrate so I just shred ‘em all.

Meanwhile Alberto Gonzales still defies the odds of the bookies on whether and when he’ll be forced out.

thanks for reminding me… i owe the kitty for being wrong on my prediction of abu gone by tuesday. will pay up as soon as i get my ibook up and running again (hard drive crash).

Woodhall Hollow @ 14

I have a question that I posted a couple threads down.

I remember during the Iran-Contra and Watergate hearings that the committees hired attorneys to do some of the questioning. Why hasn’t this happened in any of the DOJ testimony?

Yeah, that’s how Fred Thompson got his start. Richard Ben-Veniste was the Demo side.

Marcy, what do you know about Judge John Bates?

I am really looking forward to the Condi and Karl show. Meanwhile:

“To put this in a simple army metaphor, the Commander-in-Chief seems to have gone AWOL, that is ‘absent without leave.’ He neither acts nor talks as though he is in charge. Rather, he engages in tit-for-tat games.”

From Lt.General William Odom (Ret.) today.

It certainly helped me plan my “calling in to work well” days

It saves so much time if you know in advance when you will not have been feeling well. And that this coincides with interesting political events? Utter coincidence.

selise @ 17

Meanwhile Alberto Gonzales still defies the odds of the bookies on whether and when he’ll be forced out.

thanks for reminding me… i owe the kitty for being wrong on my prediction of abu gone by tuesday. will pay up as soon as i get my ibook up and running again (hard drive crash).

I paid my $20.00, selise.

I think this is a fairly interesting scandal that just materialized. Wonder how many billions were given away so this guy could get laid.

Randall L. Tobias, the deputy secretary of state responsible for U.S. foreign aid, abruptly resigned yesterday after he was asked about an upscale escort service allegedly involved in prostitution, U.S. government sources said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..id=topnews

Zee @
9

OT – Any California folks here going to be at the Dem state convention tomorrow?

I received a ticket to hear Edwards’ speech.

I won’t be there (was there last year) but I know a bunch of people who are delegates, including Firepups (mostly lurker) Donna Marie and, I don’t know if Mommybrain (from Monrovia) is a delegate again – if you run into either one, say Hi for me.

Hope you have a good time

What are the odds that Andy Card will be asked about Jeff Gannon’s extended stays at the WH while Card was CoS?

Was Andrew Card the same guy in the classroom with Bush on 9-11?

egregious @
21

It certainly helped me plan my “calling in to work well” days

It saves so much time if you know in advance when you will not have been feeling well. And that this coincides with interesting political events? Utter coincidence.

I consider it managed gestation periods.

Charlie Savage’s article about the September 2003 memo about how to appoint a US Attorney without Senate confirmation was excellent.

The topic seems odd for anyone expecting to seek Senate confirmation in the first place. The timing seems odd. But not if the DOJ were already dreaming up ways to put “reliable” USA’s in place in time for the 2004 election. Perhaps we need to look at that one again.

Georgesimian @ 23

I think this is a fairly interesting scandal that just materialized. Wonder how many billions were given away so this guy could get laid.

Randall L. Tobias, the deputy secretary of state responsible for U.S. foreign aid, abruptly resigned yesterday after he was asked about an upscale escort service allegedly involved in prostitution, U.S. government sources said.

washingtonpost.com

So you don’t believe him when he said no sex was involved? He claims to have just had “massages”. No reason to doubt him, right?

Fred Thompson’s opposite in Watergate was Sam Dash. Ben-Veniste may have been second chair for the majority. I think that was what got him the Iran-Contra gig.

Zee @ 29

Georgesimian @ 23

I think this is a fairly interesting scandal that just materialized. Wonder how many billions were given away so this guy could get laid.

Randall L. Tobias, the deputy secretary of state responsible for U.S. foreign aid, abruptly resigned yesterday after he was asked about an upscale escort service allegedly involved in prostitution, U.S. government sources said.

washingtonpost.com

So you don’t believe him when he said no sex was involved? He claims to have just had “massages”. No reason to doubt him, right?

Thought it was pretty interesting that he waited until late Friday afternoon to resign (for personal reasons of course).

and when will we get odds on Cheney or Rove’s respective ousters? Never? Do we have to wait until Bush starts his “he’s doing a great job” BS?

Zee @ 29

Georgesimian @ 23

I think this is a fairly interesting scandal that just materialized. Wonder how many billions were given away so this guy could get laid.

Randall L. Tobias, the deputy secretary of state responsible for U.S. foreign aid, abruptly resigned yesterday after he was asked about an upscale escort service allegedly involved in prostitution, U.S. government sources said.

washingtonpost.com

So you don’t believe him when he said no sex was involved? He claims to have just had “massages”. No reason to doubt him, right?

Why would he resign if it was just massages? That just doesn’t make sense.

dipper @
15

Marcy,
on April 30th, you might have meant “dreadful” but deadful works too.

Ah, so I did. Now I wonder why the spell check specifically said that sentence was perfect teh way it was?

ccmask @ 26

Was Andrew Card the same guy in the classroom with Bush on 9-11?

Same guy: http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..ent-655359

Loo Hoo @
19

Marcy, what do you know about Judge John Bates?

Not much. But I can tell you that–regardless of which judge it was–it’d be a very long shot for the suit not to get thrown out. So I wouldn’t put too much hope in the Wilson’s getting to subpoena Turdblossom, sorry.

tbsa @ 31

Zee @ 29

Georgesimian @ 23

I think this is a fairly interesting scandal that just materialized. Wonder how many billions were given away so this guy could get laid.

Randall L. Tobias, the deputy secretary of state responsible for U.S. foreign aid, abruptly resigned yesterday after he was asked about an upscale escort service allegedly involved in prostitution, U.S. government sources said.

link

So you don’t believe him when he said no sex was involved? He claims to have just had “massages”. No reason to doubt him, right?

Thought it was pretty interesting that he waited until late Friday afternoon to resign (for personal reasons of course).

ABC knew Thursday. Per NPR he gave ABC some kind of an interview.

poor tobias – if he only had”massages” why is he leaving? hmmm………….. its to laugh

Ed*ard Teller @
25

What are the odds that Andy Card will be asked about Jeff Gannon’s extended stays at the WH while Card was CoS?

Not high, I think. I’ll be pleased if he even gets asked about the 11 hour gap.

And frankly, JimmyJeff GannonGuckert really is only one of many pressing security issues.

ot for l.a. fire pups: got a postcard today from writers bloc alerting me to al gore in conversation w/harry shearer, 5/22 7:30pm @ wilshire theatre. tix $20 still available at ticketweb.com.

WRT the AlQuida guy they sent to Gitmo this weekend. You would think that would have been Monday morning news instead of a Friday dump also.

Blank Kludge @ 30

Fred Thompson’s opposite in Watergate was Sam Dash. Ben-Veniste may have been second chair for the majority. I think that was what got him the Iran-Contra gig.

I actually remember watching the “What did the president know and when did he know it?” moment between Thompson and Butterfield. I would like to see some similar fireworks with this issue–rather than the Dems just shaking their heads as nobody remembers anything.

Speaking of which, I think Jon Stewart has offered the most plausible deconstructed why Bush was so pleased with Gonzo’s performance. They shouldn’t be a allowed to plead stupid so easily.

Georgesimian @
33

Zee @ 29

Georgesimian @ 23

I think this is a fairly interesting scandal that just materialized. Wonder how many billions were given away so this guy could get laid.

Randall L. Tobias, the deputy secretary of state responsible for U.S. foreign aid, abruptly resigned yesterday after he was asked about an upscale escort service allegedly involved in prostitution, U.S. government sources said.

washingtonpost.com

So you don’t believe him when he said no sex was involved? He claims to have just had “massages”. No reason to doubt him, right?

Why would he resign if it was just massages? That just doesn’t make sense.

Do you really think he only got massages?

Finally got around to watching the Bill Moyer special off of VHS.
Some random thoughts:

1. Peter Beinart can be taken as a working definition of “callow youth”.

2. Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes and Bill O’Reilly can be taken as a working definition of “axis of evil”.

3. Given what have turned out to be Chalabi’s close ties to the Shiite mullahs and Iran, I think a full-blown Congessional search for Iranian agents-of-influence in the Administration and media is called for.
Think of it as a kinder, gentler verion of McCarthyism.
If the Dems don’t do something like this,
the Republicans will run in ‘08 accusing the Dems of having lost Iraq.

juslin @ 38

poor tobias – if he only had”massages” why is he leaving? hmmm………….. its to laugh

It wasn’t his back they massaged?

juslin @ 38

poor tobias – if he only had”massages” why is he leaving? hmmm………….. its to laugh

And he admits to having just recently contacted and other “agency” to get massages from central american, um… specialists.

Lordy, I’ve lost count of the hypocrites in this administration.

Why do you think the Wilson’s suit will be thrown out? Because of what has been done to the justice system or because it lacks merit or why, Marcy?

“I just had a massage – every week,” is what you tell your wife or your boss when the credit card slip floats by. It’s not what you tell the FBI under oath. Given how few other people have jumped ship, and how many hang on long after death, Tobias’ claims are highly suspicious. Nice distraction from more important news though, eh.

Why would he resign if it was just massages? That just doesn’t make sense.

The humiliation factor. Can you imagine facing Condi every morning after such a revelation? The other reason would be to get out of town ASAP and into a rehab clinic to escape the wrath of the wife.

I think a lot about Iraq, Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian situation. If the Democrats want to win big in 2008, my party needs to start talking about the widening and deepening gulf between the haves and the have nots of this nation. The Dems need to propose something solid on the economic front, AND the war front. Unless I missed something, there wasn’t one word uttered about the poverty of the middle class or working poor of this country in that so called debate the other night. The working men and women of America are hurting. While the rich Republicans get wealthier.

Joe Klein’s conscience @ 43
Ummm. No.

Dash’s obit;

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..May29.html

Mr. Dash’s 53-year legal career touched some of the most important moments in American, and sometimes world, politics. He dramatically resigned in 1998 after four years as the ethics counselor to independent prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr, charging that Starr became an “aggressive advocate” of impeaching President Clinton. He said Starr exceeded the independent counsel’s mandate, which was part of a statute that he helped draft.

snip

It was a point of pride for Mr. Dash that, as a result of Watergate, all accredited law schools require a course in professional responsibility.

In the 1970s, he helped Chief Justice Warren E. Burger devise the American Bar Association’s ethical standards for prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers.

While on the Starr commission, he helped persuade White House intern Monica Lewinsky to testify. But his relationship with Starr was thorny; Mr. Dash’s liberal supporters had been shocked when he agreed to take on the job, and he threatened to quit five times before he finally did on Nov. 20, 1998.

It was his timing and style as much as the fact of his resignation that was dramatic; it came the day after Starr testified for 12 hours before the House Judiciary Committee, and it came in a stinging two-page letter that charged Starr with “abuse of your office” for exceeding his mandate to report to Congress any impeachable offenses he had discovered.

Mr. Dash cultivated a reputation for independence and was an advocate for legal ethics throughout his career. In 1951, while a teaching fellow at Northwestern University near Chicago, he conducted an undercover investigation into corruption at the Municipal Court of Chicago that resulted in a seminal report on legal corruption.

For the International League for Human Rights, he investigated the killings of Northern Ireland Catholic youths by British paratroopers in 1972, during what became known as “Bloody Sunday,” and published a report that helped influence the British parliament to award compensation to the families of the dead and wounded. Twenty-five years later, the report helped influence the British prime minister’s decision to reopen the inquiry.

Tobias at C&L: http://www.crooksandliars.com/…..t-service/

Blank Kludge @
30

Fred Thompson’s opposite in Watergate was Sam Dash. Ben-Veniste may have been second chair for the majority. I think that was what got him the Iran-Contra gig.

Thanks for the correction. I know Ben-Veniste was in there somewhere.

4. And, of course, Ted Kenedy was right in Septemember, 2002, when he said that a war with Iraq would increse terrorism:

Annual terrorism report will show 29% rise in attacks

By Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON – A State Department report on terrorism due out next week will show a nearly 30 percent increase in terrorist attacks worldwide in 2006 to more than 14,000, almost all of the boost due to growing violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. officials said Friday.

Notice the byline. At least they still have jobs.

Loo Hoo @ 47

Why do you think the Wilson’s suit will be thrown out? Because of what has been done to the justice system or because it lacks merit or why, Marcy?

Because it is very very very very difficult to get standing to sue the government–or government employees.

emptywheel @ 56

Loo Hoo @ 47

Why do you think the Wilson’s suit will be thrown out? Because of what has been done to the justice system or because it lacks merit or why, Marcy?

Because it is very very very very difficult to get standing to sue the government–or government employees.

Even with the spotlight on this case?

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert denied Saturday telling a German magazine earlier in the day that Iran’s nuclear program could be severely harmed by an attack of 1,000 cruise missiles fired over 10 days.

In the meantime:

Israeli soldiers have shot dead three Palestinian activists and critically wounded another near the border, east of Gaza city.

In a separate incident in southern Gaza, a Palestinian civilian was killed on Friday night by what local medics and residents said was an Israeli tank shell. The Israeli army said it was not involved.

Woodhall Hollow @ 49

Why would he resign if it was just massages? That just doesn’t make sense.

The humiliation factor. Can you imagine facing Condi every morning after such a revelation? The other reason would be to get out of town ASAP and into a rehab clinic to escape the wrath of the wife.

I think, rather, it’s because of the hypocrite factor. As AIDS czar, he fought making AIDS treatment available to prostitutes on mock-moral grounds. Can’t very well claim to be opposed to prostitutes if he’s working the gals himself.

ABC knew Thursday. Per NPR he gave ABC some kind of an interview.

On the way out the door, Tobias must have grabbed the ABC folks and asked for 24 hours so he could tell his wife and resign before the feces hit the fan publicly. That’s my guess, anyway.

y’know fellow pups – the unmitigated GALL of the bushco crowd is astounding!! i mean i know we can be simple-minded at times but goddamn – how STUPID do they think we are? not that fucking stupid believe me!! its difficult to maintain composure with these bastards

Zee @ 57

Even with the spotlight on this case?

Yes, even with the spotlight on the case.

ccmask @ 26

Was Andrew Card the same guy in the classroom with Bush on 9-11?

Yes

emptywheel @ 62

Zee @ 57

Even with the spotlight on this case?

Yes, even with the spotlight on the case.

As much as we would like it to, the public spotlight doesn’t change the law or precedents.

Imagine that. Bush appointees are even outsourcing their prostitution services.

-GSD

Woodhall Hollow @ 49

Why would he resign if it was just massages? That just doesn’t make sense.

The humiliation factor. Can you imagine facing Condi every morning after such a revelation? The other reason would be to get out of town ASAP and into a rehab clinic to escape the wrath of the wife.

Condi must be used to being surrounded by hypocritical perverts. She probably gets “massages” too.

The real crime here is that the massages were contracted out.

Blank Kludge @ 52
Dash’s obit;

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..May29.html

[snip]

It was a point of pride for Mr. Dash that, as a result of Watergate, all accredited law schools require a course in professional responsibility.

[snip]

Inquring minds would like to know:
What does the syllabus of the “professional responsibility” course at Regent look like?

Even if he only got massages because of a certain kind of… dysfunction, he was still committing a sort of adultery, at the very least. Dollars to donuts he believes gays in love, and not HE, is what is hurting love and commitment.

ccmask @
45

juslin @ 38

poor tobias – if he only had”massages” why is he leaving? hmmm………….. its to laugh

It wasn’t his back they massaged?

professional masseuses call the kind of massages he was getting “locals”…. and isn’t all this a simple misunderstanding? Tobias went there for what he thought was a “message service,” right?

allan_in_upstate @ 44 says:

1. Peter Beinart can be taken as a working definition of “callow youth”.

Young SnarKassandra is half his age and twice as intelligent and credible.

Remember when Bush said he was going to bring morals back to the white house in the year 2000? Then, they went inside to their new offices and stole the w’s off the keyboards.

Come on, guys. He didn’t just get massages from an escort service! That’s not where you go to massages.

ccmask @ 26

Was Andrew Card the same guy in the classroom with Bush on 9-11?

Here’s the infamous video of Bush responding to 9/11. Card appears about one minute into the video.

Bush’s Presidential Response to 9/11

RE the Tobias resignation, it is absurd that he expects people will believe he uses an escort service to get a massage (as opposed to as licensed masseur/masseuse). When he claims to have had no sex he may be using the Clintononian definition of “sex” as penetrative intercourse. The more likely answer is that this guy is into some kinky stuff that transcends your usual definition of “sex” if you get my drift.

I understand the madam has 46 pounds of phone records. There has to be more than Tobias in there….

Georgesimian @ 72

Come on, guys. He didn’t just get massages from an escort service! That’s not where you go to massages.

I think you’re missing the snark and sarcasm.

Thanks for the Andy Card answer all.

If the Dems don’t do something like this,
the Republicans will run in ‘08 accusing the Dems of having lost Iraq.

I agree the republic party is going to blame the Dems for losing Iraq, however, I also think that bush’s stubborn refusal to change course in Iraq has done more to bring about the change of heart with the American people than anything. I am really hoping bush digs in his heels on the appropriations bill because Americans are getting more disgusted by the minute. Maybe it will put Impeachment back on the frikin table where it belongs.

TheOtherWA @ 64

emptywheel @ 62

Zee @ 57

Even with the spotlight on this case?

Yes, even with the spotlight on the case.

As much as we would like it to, the public spotlight doesn’t change the law or precedents.

I guess that’s actually a good thing.

It would be a great time to get all those quotes from when Bill did wrong, huh?

dreamcatcher @ 72

ccmask @ 26

Was Andrew Card the same guy in the classroom with Bush on 9-11?

Here’s the infamous video of Bush responding to 9/11. Card appears about one minute into the video.

Bush’s Presidential Response to 9/11

RE the Tobias resignation, it is absurd that he expects people will believe he uses an escort service to get a massage (as opposed to as licensed masseur/masseuse). When he claims to have had no sex he may be using the Clintononian definition of “sex” as penetrative intercourse. The more likely answer is that this guy is into some kinky stuff that transcends your usual definition of “sex” if you get my drift.

Interesting thought. Mebbe he had some fun drugs too, like the earnest preacher man.

Georgesimian @ 72

Come on, guys. He didn’t just get massages from an escort service! That’s not where you go to massages.

Wha’? That’s what my husband tells me! I’ll be right back.

TheOtherWA @ 64

emptywheel @ 62

Zee @ 57

Even with the spotlight on this case?

Yes, even with the spotlight on the case.

As much as we would like it to, the public spotlight doesn’t change the law or precedents.

Fuck precedents, the Supreme Clown Court has already demonstrated their ability to consider precedents.

Woodhall Hollow @
14

I have a question that I posted a couple threads down.

I remember during the Iran-Contra and Watergate hearings that the committees hired attorneys to do some of the questioning. Why hasn’t this happened in any of the DOJ testimony?

Back in the day, when I was in High School during Iran-Contra, and a Reagan koolaid drinker, I thought William Kunstler was some kind of devil worshipper for questioning Ollie North and not kissing Ronnie Raygun’s ring

Of course I’ve long since come to my senses

EW — are you referring to sovereign immunity? Because I don’t think there’s any question Valerie Plame has standing wrt having suffered an injury.

Meanwhile in Iraq the US announces another 9 US troop deaths. Add that in with an attack near a shrine in Najaf and it is looking like a surge of deaths and destruction.

-GSD

Congratulations, John!

Card did as Rove told him to. The difference in the two men’s job titles means nothing.

emptywheel @ 56

Loo Hoo @ 47

Why do you think the Wilson’s suit will be thrown out? Because of what has been done to the justice system or because it lacks merit or why, Marcy?

Because it is very very very very difficult to get standing to sue the government–or government employees.

So–could they not argue that it Rove is an RNC employee, at least in part? If any of his dirty work wsa conducted off-the-clock, using RNC emails, for example…that would be actionable, no?

He had both a fed job and a non-fed job. The fed job doesn’t immunize the non-fed job from wrongdoing, does it?

Georgesimian @ 72

Come on, guys. He didn’t just get massages from an escort service! That’s not where you go to massages.

‘Massage’ is the GoTo story with the Repig/fundies: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2627142

I really really really want Congress to ask Rove to come in and tell them how great the Katrina cleanup has gone. He was, after all, the Katrina czar.

I hope someone will be asking Condi about her views on abstinence and condoms now that we know her Deputy has been frequenting “Central American” escorts.

Come to think of it, I’m not sure if Condi is on the record about her own personal sense of abstinence.

Hope they are guilty of obtruction. IANAL but after googling “Arthur Andersen & Supreme Court” and “Frank Quattrone” I have my doubts. If someone with law degree would like to discuss the impact of those cases it might be helpful.

john in sacramento @
83

Woodhall Hollow @
14

I have a question that I posted a couple threads down.

I remember during the Iran-Contra and Watergate hearings that the committees hired attorneys to do some of the questioning. Why hasn’t this happened in any of the DOJ testimony?

Back in the day, when I was in High School during Iran-Contra, and a Reagan koolaid drinker, I thought William Kunstler was some kind of devil worshipper for questioning Ollie North and not kissing Ronnie Raygun’s ring

Of course I’ve long since come to my senses

i saw Kuntsler speak twice in 1970, once immediately after the end of the Chicago 7 trial and again about six months later. The second time was at Western Kentucky Univ. As everyone else was walking out exclaiming what a radical he was, I was saying, “Wow! He’s mellowed!” Time and perspective are everything.

dreamcatcher @ 73

The more likely answer is that this guy is into some kinky stuff that transcends your usual definition of “sex” if you get my drift.

I think you’re onto something here. Kinky Republicans!

Sad comment that when an aide to Tony Blair suggested post-9/11 would be a good time to slip controversial legislation in under the radar, she was humiliated and forced to resign. Mr. Bush has built his entire administration on that philosophy.

Slothrop @ 91

I hope someone will be asking Condi about her views on abstinence and condoms now that we know her Deputy has been frequenting “Central American” escorts.

Come to think of it, I’m not sure if Condi is on the record about her own personal sense of abstinence.

I don’t know about the abstinence, but there are rumors that Condi, uh, doesn’t need condoms. So to speak.

Slothrop @ 91

I hope someone will be asking Condi about her views on abstinence and condoms now that we know her Deputy has been frequenting “Central American” escorts.

Come to think of it, I’m not sure if Condi is on the record about her own personal sense of abstinence.

naw, she’s clean…..a one-bush kinda gal.

john in sacramento @ 83

Woodhall Hollow @
14

I have a question that I posted a couple threads down.

I remember during the Iran-Contra and Watergate hearings that the committees hired attorneys to do some of the questioning. Why hasn’t this happened in any of the DOJ testimony?

Back in the day, when I was in High School during Iran-Contra, and a Reagan koolaid drinker, I thought William Kunstler was some kind of devil worshipper for questioning Ollie North and not kissing Ronnie Raygun’s ring

Of course I’ve long since come to my senses

I expect Kunstler would have been their man on Iran/Contra. I spoke w/o googling…and have since googled – to no avial on Ben-Veniste. Although, he did have a hand in the 9.11 Commmision.

oddmommy @ 84

EW — are you referring to sovereign immunity? Because I don’t think there’s any question Valerie Plame has standing wrt having suffered an injury.

I agree with you–but I’m just repeating what I’ve heard from some close to the case. In spite of all the good reason to think Valerie should have a right to half Cheney’s fortune, it’s only going to happen if the Wilson’s get very very luck, over and over, all the way to SCOTUS.

Blank Kludge @ 98:

Per wiki:

He served as an assistant U.S. attorney from 1968 to 1973, including the turbulent period of the Watergate scandal. Mr. Ben-Veniste was a leading figure in the prosecution of this scandal. He served as chief of the Watergate Task Force of the Watergate Special Prosecutor’s Office.

So he would have been in the news all the time prosecuting the slugs.

emptywheel @ 99

oddmommy @ 84

EW — are you referring to sovereign immunity? Because I don’t think there’s any question Valerie Plame has standing wrt having suffered an injury.

I agree with you–but I’m just repeating what I’ve heard from some close to the case. In spite of all the good reason to think Valerie should have a right to half Cheney’s fortune, it’s only going to happen if the Wilson’s get very very luck, over and over, all the way to SCOTUS.

And we all know where SCOTUS will take them.

god i’d hate to see rove et al get away with plamegate….want to see that smirk wiped off his face when he’s hauled before the hearings to come ;o}

“April 30: World Bank hearing at which Paul Wolfowitz begs to keep his job”

They’re actually letting him speak on his own behalf now? last week they were so *ffed off at him, they told him they were just going to investigate and decide his fate without talking about with him.

In addition to the forgoing (and the student loan scandal looks HUGE now) I submit that we need to expand the scope of inquiries to the HHS. Not only have infant mortality rates gone up and medically insured Americans gone down, but now this remarkable statement from Secretary Leavitt today, denouncing NY State for daring the expand the number of poor children covered by the state’s public insurance programs:

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said if other states followed New York’s proposal, it would mean that 71 percent of the nation’s children would be on “public assistance.”

‘Cause uninsured kids are clearly the better alternative..

Blub @ 103

“April 30: World Bank hearing at which Paul Wolfowitz begs to keep his job”

They’re actually letting him speak on his own behalf now? last week they were so *ffed off at him, they told him they were just going to investigate and decide his fate without talking about with him.

In addition to the forgoing (and the student loan scandal looks HUGE now) I submit that we need to expand the scope of inquiries to the HHS. Not only have infant mortality rates gone up and medically insured Americans gone down, but now this remarkable statement from Secretary Leavitt today, denouncing NY State for daring the expand the number of poor children covered by the state’s public insurance programs:

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said if other states followed New York’s proposal, it would mean that 71 percent of the nation’s children would be on “public assistance.”

‘Cause uninsured kids are clearly the better alternative..

But I think the US has less say than they used to have in whether he keeps his job.

Someone from the GOP needs to take a walk to the WH and tell that jerk the AG has got to go. Of course they may not take that walk knowing full well the prez will just smirk and dismiss the demand out of hand.

ccmask @
41

WRT the AlQuida guy they sent to Gitmo this weekend. You would think that would have been Monday morning news instead of a Friday dump also.

Thought. Our media, well Guardian, reported Petreus’s comments about the immense complexity of the Iraq situation were bad for Bush. What better than a related bright shiny object immediately after?

Oklahoma kiddo @ 105

Someone from the GOP needs to take a walk to the WH and tell that jerk the AG has got to go. Of course they may not take that walk knowing full well the prez will just smirk and dismiss the demand out of hand.

They’ve been saying that, although maybe not officially to the preznit’s face.

Oklahoma kiddo @
105

Someone from the GOP needs to take a walk to the WH and tell that jerk the AG has got to go. Of course they may not take that walk knowing full well the prez will just smirk and dismiss the demand out of hand.

Don’t forget, it took explicit knowledge that Nixon had been involved in the H2Ogate cover-up before Hugh Scott and Barry AUH2O made their walk to tell him he head to go.

Georgesimian @ 33

Why would he resign if it was just massages? That just doesn’t make sense.

Back with the family…
At least the story has a happy ending.

ccmask @
41

WRT the AlQuida guy they sent to Gitmo this weekend. You would think that would have been Monday morning news instead of a Friday dump also.

But, of course we need to increase the number of terroristiacs bagged in advance of shrub’s impending veto.

Blank Kludge @ 98

I expect Kunstler would have been their man on Iran/Contra. I spoke w/o googling…and have since googled – to no avial on Ben-Veniste. Although, he did have a hand in the 9.11 Commmision.

I just could never forget the hair.

I thought, “Who is this crazy guy? And how dare he question ‘Dear Leader’?”

And only later found out that Ronnie Raygun made decisions that cost the lives of thousands if not tens of thousands of people

Loo Hoo @ 22

I paid my $20.00, selise.

you rock! don’t let me get away without paying… hopefully my ibook is almost up and running again – it had major surgery today (hard drive replacement).

Blank Kludge @
52

Dash’s obit;

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..May29.html

Mr. Dash’s 53-year legal career touched some of the most important moments in American, and sometimes world, politics. He dramatically resigned in 1998 after four years as the ethics counselor to independent prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr, charging that Starr became an “aggressive advocate” of impeaching President Clinton. He said Starr exceeded the independent counsel’s mandate, which was part of a statute that he helped draft.

snip

It was a point of pride for Mr. Dash that, as a result of Watergate, all accredited law schools require a course in professional responsibility.

In the 1970s, he helped Chief Justice Warren E. Burger devise the American Bar Association’s ethical standards for prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers.

While on the Starr commission, he helped persuade White House intern Monica Lewinsky to testify. But his relationship with Starr was thorny; Mr. Dash’s liberal supporters had been shocked when he agreed to take on the job, and he threatened to quit five times before he finally did on Nov. 20, 1998.

It was his timing and style as much as the fact of his resignation that was dramatic; it came the day after Starr testified for 12 hours before the House Judiciary Committee, and it came in a stinging two-page letter that charged Starr with “abuse of your office” for exceeding his mandate to report to Congress any impeachable offenses he had discovered.

Mr. Dash cultivated a reputation for independence and was an advocate for legal ethics throughout his career. In 1951, while a teaching fellow at Northwestern University near Chicago, he conducted an undercover investigation into corruption at the Municipal Court of Chicago that resulted in a seminal report on legal corruption.

For the International League for Human Rights, he investigated the killings of Northern Ireland Catholic youths by British paratroopers in 1972, during what became known as “Bloody Sunday,” and published a report that helped influence the British parliament to award compensation to the families of the dead and wounded. Twenty-five years later, the report helped influence the British prime minister’s decision to reopen the inquiry.

Don’t think so. The inquiry was solely, and successfully, part of the price for encouraging the IRA to close down. Not everything in the world happens because of the USA (oops, that acronymmeans United States of America, it’s got a new meaning here, hasn’t it?)

I hope you good people will keep us posted on the Comey testimony on Thursday.

Safe prediction: Condi will claim ‘unitary executive privilege’ until the last possible moment, and will lie like one of Lindsay Graham’s rugs thereafter.

A review of her studiedly glaring incompetence in matters of State (recent example: a former Stanford provost and Senior Director of Soviet and East European Affairs in the Bush 41-era National Security Council referring to the current Russian administration as ‘the Soviets‘, for heaven’s sake) will prove most entertaining.

I’m thinking medal of freedom, here

;>)

A few hours ago, ABC radio news reported that not only the clients of the DC Madam were being looked at, but so were the employees. They claimed some were women with important jobs in DC.

This could get really interesting, if it’s true.

Chetnolian @ 113

Blank Kludge @
52

Dash’s obit;

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..May29.html

Mr. Dash’s 53-year legal career touched some of the most important moments in American, and sometimes world, politics. He dramatically resigned in 1998 after four years as the ethics counselor to independent prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr, charging that Starr became an “aggressive advocate” of impeaching President Clinton. He said Starr exceeded the independent counsel’s mandate, which was part of a statute that he helped draft.

snip

It was a point of pride for Mr. Dash that, as a result of Watergate, all accredited law schools require a course in professional responsibility.

In the 1970s, he helped Chief Justice Warren E. Burger devise the American Bar Association’s ethical standards for prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers.

While on the Starr commission, he helped persuade White House intern Monica Lewinsky to testify. But his relationship with Starr was thorny; Mr. Dash’s liberal supporters had been shocked when he agreed to take on the job, and he threatened to quit five times before he finally did on Nov. 20, 1998.

It was his timing and style as much as the fact of his resignation that was dramatic; it came the day after Starr testified for 12 hours before the House Judiciary Committee, and it came in a stinging two-page letter that charged Starr with “abuse of your office” for exceeding his mandate to report to Congress any impeachable offenses he had discovered.

Mr. Dash cultivated a reputation for independence and was an advocate for legal ethics throughout his career. In 1951, while a teaching fellow at Northwestern University near Chicago, he conducted an undercover investigation into corruption at the Municipal Court of Chicago that resulted in a seminal report on legal corruption.

For the International League for Human Rights, he investigated the killings of Northern Ireland Catholic youths by British paratroopers in 1972, during what became known as “Bloody Sunday,” and published a report that helped influence the British parliament to award compensation to the families of the dead and wounded. Twenty-five years later, the report helped influence the British prime minister’s decision to reopen the inquiry.

Don’t think so. The inquiry was solely, and successfully, part of the price for encouraging the IRA to close down. Not everything in the world happens because of the USA (oops, that acronymmeans United States of America, it’s got a new meaning here, hasn’t it?)

Just curious, is that the view from London or Belfast? Or, Dublin? Or, perhaps, all three? THough that would be extremely rare.

darkblack @
115

Safe prediction: Condi will claim ‘unitary executive privilege’ until the last possible moment, and will lie like one of Lindsay Graham’s rugs thereafter.

A review of her studiedly glaring incompetence in matters of State (recent example: a former Stanford provost and Senior Director of Soviet and East European Affairs in the Bush 41-era National Security Council referring to the current Russian administration as ‘the Soviets‘, for heaven’s sake) will prove most entertaining.

I’m thinking medal of freedom, here

;>)

Hopefully Condi will work with the Ottoman’s as a bulwark against the Soviets.

-GSD

TheOtherWA @
116

A few hours ago, ABC radio news reported that not only the clients of the DC Madam were being looked at, but so were the employees. They claimed some were women with important jobs in DC.

This could get really interesting, if it’s true.

Paging Jeff Gannon.

-GSD

TheOtherWA @ 116

A few hours ago, ABC radio news reported that not only the clients of the DC Madam were being looked at, but so were the employees. They claimed some were women with important jobs in DC.

This could get really interesting, if it’s true.

And to think, some people watch soap operas on the teevee…

I’ve also heard that Conyers wants to hear from Goodling before he has Gonzales in, so we may hear from Goodling in the next 10 days or so.

Ooooo, happy dance, happy dance! What a busy and wonderful spring and summer we’re going to have.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her top aides had considered postponing or downplaying the release of this year’s edition, due to the extreme political sensitivities, several officials said. But ultimately, they decided to issue the report on or about the congressionally mandated deadline of Tuesday, the officials said.

Say what? They considered postponing a congressionally mandated report because it might be inconvenient for the president’s war policy? Is there some kind of “political sensitivities” exemption in the law? (Kevin Drum)

from: The Washington Monthly

At least 66 dead and 122 injured in Karbala. (Think Progress).

cleter @ 96

Slothrop @ 91

I hope someone will be asking Condi about her views on abstinence and condoms now that we know her Deputy has been frequenting “Central American” escorts.

Come to think of it, I’m not sure if Condi is on the record about her own personal sense of abstinence.

I don’t know about the abstinence, but there are rumors that Condi, uh, doesn’t need condoms. So to speak.

Why? Are you implying she is gay or celibate? I vote celibate.

Blank Kludge @
117
Chetnolian @ 113
Blank Kludge @
52

Dash’s obit; WaPo link

Mr. Dash’s 53-year legal career touched some of the most important moments in American, and sometimes world, politics. He dramatically resigned in 1998 after four years as the ethics counselor to independent prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr, charging that Starr became an “aggressive advocate” of impeaching President Clinton. He said Starr exceeded the independent counsel’s mandate, which was part of a statute that he helped draft.

snip

It was a point of pride for Mr. Dash that, as a result of Watergate, all accredited law schools require a course in professional responsibility.

In the 1970s, he helped Chief Justice Warren E. Burger devise the American Bar Association’s ethical standards for prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers.

While on the Starr commission, he helped persuade White House intern Monica Lewinsky to testify. But his relationship with Starr was thorny; Mr. Dash’s liberal supporters had been shocked when he agreed to take on the job, and he threatened to quit five times before he finally did on Nov. 20, 1998.

It was his timing and style as much as the fact of his resignation that was dramatic; it came the day after Starr testified for 12 hours before the House Judiciary Committee, and it came in a stinging two-page letter that charged Starr with “abuse of your office” for exceeding his mandate to report to Congress any impeachable offenses he had discovered.

Mr. Dash cultivated a reputation for independence and was an advocate for legal ethics throughout his career. In 1951, while a teaching fellow at Northwestern University near Chicago, he conducted an undercover investigation into corruption at the Municipal Court of Chicago that resulted in a seminal report on legal corruption.

For the International League for Human Rights, he investigated the killings of Northern Ireland Catholic youths by British paratroopers in 1972, during what became known as “Bloody Sunday,” and published a report that helped influence the British parliament to award compensation to the families of the dead and wounded. Twenty-five years later, the report helped influence the British prime minister’s decision to reopen the inquiry.

————————————————————–
Don’t think so. The inquiry was solely, and successfully, part of the price for encouraging the IRA to close down. Not everything in the world happens because of the USA (oops, that acronymmeans United States of America, it’s got a new meaning here, hasn’t it?)

——————————————————–

Just curious, is that the view from London or Belfast? Or, Dublin? Or, perhaps, all three? THough that would be extremely rare.

———————————————————-

None of the above, but an observation from an interested Brit who was as obsessed by the Peace Process as you all are by Plamegate and the Attorneys.

Loo Hoo @ 123

At least 66 dead and 122 injured in Karbala. (Think Progress).

But we’re making progress.

clean-up on aisle 125.

dakine01 @ 93

john in sacramento @
83

Woodhall Hollow @
14

I have a question that I posted a couple threads down.

I remember during the Iran-Contra and Watergate hearings that the committees hired attorneys to do some of the questioning. Why hasn’t this happened in any of the DOJ testimony?

Back in the day, when I was in High School during Iran-Contra, and a Reagan koolaid drinker, I thought William Kunstler was some kind of devil worshipper for questioning Ollie North and not kissing Ronnie Raygun’s ring

Of course I’ve long since come to my senses

i saw Kuntsler speak twice in 1970, once immediately after the end of the Chicago 7 trial and again about six months later. The second time was at Western Kentucky Univ. As everyone else was walking out exclaiming what a radical he was, I was saying, “Wow! He’s mellowed!” Time and perspective are everything.

I once slept in a bed that William Kunstler slept in while he was working on a case in VT. But not while he was in it. ;-) Though I did have the pleasure of meeting him on a number of occasions. I was very young and quite intimidated!

My own candidate as a “dark horse” which might provide a bunch of actual criminal indictments is the Spelling hearing on education. The hearing itself might be dry, but I think there’s a big pile of corruption lurking there.
But an investigation will be REAL tedious, and involve examination of thousands of pages of contracts, proposals, etc. I think it will come down to the capability and resources of the committee investigators.

Ghostman

Oklahoma kiddo @ 126

Loo Hoo @ 123

At least 66 dead and 122 injured in Karbala. (Think Progress).

But we’re making progress.

Apparently we won’t know until September.

Loo Hoo @ 130

Oklahoma kiddo @ 126

Loo Hoo @ 123

At least 66 dead and 122 injured in Karbala. (Think Progress).

But we’re making progress.

Apparently we won’t know until September.

Of which year? ;0)

Does anyone know what type of immunity Goodling was proffered? Use or transactional?

Loo Hoo @ 123

At least 66 dead and 122 injured in Karbala. (Think Progress).

This didn’t happen…
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/…..ar-shrine/

…according to the WH:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/…..lty-counts

Ghostman @ 128

My own candidate as a “dark horse” which might provide a bunch of actual criminal indictments is the Spelling hearing on education. The hearing itself might be dry, but I think there’s a big pile of corruption lurking there.
But an investigation will be REAL tedious, and involve examination of thousands of pages of contracts, proposals, atc. I think it will come down to the capability and resources of the committee investigators.

Ghostman

Agree, the DOE thing may well blow up and bring Neil Bush along with it.

GSD @ 119

TheOtherWA @
116

A few hours ago, ABC radio news reported that not only the clients of the DC Madam were being looked at, but so were the employees. They claimed some were women with important jobs in DC.

This could get really interesting, if it’s true.

Paging Jeff Gannon.

-GSD

Prostitution can’t possibly be a crime in DC.

Of course part of the resume of probably the most famous congressional counsel reads like …

… assistant counsel, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations 1953; assistant counsel, Hoover Commission 1953; chief counsel to the minority, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations 1954, and chief counsel and staff director 1955; chief counsel of Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field 1957-1960; …

So, who is he? Click

Did anyone else happen to see a short piece on FOX News friday regarding a question of ethics why Hillary Clinton would guest blog on a website called Firedoglake run by Jane Hamsher, who is responsible for posting in the past a picture of Joe Lieberman in blackface? Jane, Fox is attacking you personally for racist images.

Geez, Lou Costello, that’s hard to put in the head.

Archivists work to save 9/11 history By AMY WESTFELDT, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK – It started with a clogged dust mask that fell onto the desk of Jan Ramirez on the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001. A friend had used the paper mask to breathe while fleeing downtown Manhattan as the air was filled with grit and smoke from the World Trade Center towers.

“That dust mask is going to be an important artifact some day,” Ramirez recalled the friend telling her.

Today, the mask has become a museum piece, one small part of the largest records trove ever assembled to document a single event.

Millions of pieces of paper documenting government investigations, BlackBerry messages written by survivors as they fled, children’s finger-paintings and family photographs are also part of the archive, preserved in many different places including state offices, museums and on the Internet.

Saving all things Sept. 11 was a mission embraced from the time of the attacks by professional archivists and grassroots collectors.

“Pearl Harbor, there are only so many pictures of,” said Nancy Shader, regional administrator in New York for the National Archives. “This, as we know, was captured in so many ways.”

Archivists immediately set out to compile the most complete picture ever of one historic event, and already are planning for decades ahead. They shared data with museum officials and individual collectors at a symposium last month.

“Our goal is to make sure we all know who’s got what stuff,” said Kathleen Roe, a New York state archivist who is storing more than 1,000 boxes of government records — such as the 9/11 Commission report — in boxes in Albany.

Roe said she and other major archivists met in New York two weeks after the terrorist attack to ensure that no piece of paper was discarded. It was the first time archivists had met so early to begin collecting artifacts after such an event, she said.

Mary Fetchet saved a 43-second telephone message left on the morning of the attacks by her son, Brad, who later died in the south tower. Brad Fetchet, 24, called his mother after the first hijacked airliner struck, but before the second plane crashed into his building.

“We’re fine, we’re in World Trade Center Two. I’m obviously alive and well over here, but obviously a pretty scary experience,” Fetchet told his mother.

Mary Fetchet, founding director of the Voices of Sept. 11 family group, says: “I want people 100 years from now to be able to listen to that message.”

The organization, with several thousand members, is dispensing advice to family members on preserving audio recordings, videotapes and photographs of their loved ones, as well as important papers, including condolence letters from the president.

The group is developing an Internet archive she calls a “living memorial” that will eventually hold commemorative information about all the 2,973 victims, as well as survivors and rescuers. So far, it has Web pages that pay tribute to about 300 victims.

Tom Scheinfeldt, a history professor at George Mason University, is one of the coordinators of the 9/11 Digital Archive, which stores 150,000 items including paper, audio and photographs relating to the attacks.

Included in that archive are e-mails from survivors who typed as they fled the towers, and the heart-rate monitor readout of a jogger who was crossing the Brooklyn Bridge when he saw one plane crash into the north tower, causing his heart rate to spike.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..sDTUuyFz4D

#134, emptywheel: Bingo. And it perfectly fits the MO of brother Bush. He likes to run under the radar and do his skimming from the “boring” matters of Federal Gov’t.

Ghostman

In short, does the word ‘justice’ have any meaning?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1972)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saville_Inquiry

again, from Dash’s WaPo obit:

report that helped influence the British parliament to award compensation to the families of the dead and wounded. Twenty-five years later, the report helped influence the British prime minister’s decision to reopen the inquiry.

Also, I should have asked about the view from Derry as opposed to Belfast. London no doubt has their own view.

FWIW, repeatedly posting the same comment does not free the first one from moderation any faster.

Thanks.

Sangemon @
132

Does anyone know what type of immunity Goodling was proffered? Use or transactional?

I believe it is Use but IANAL.

In a troubling sign for the American-financed rebuilding program in Iraq, inspectors for a federal oversight agency have found that in a sampling of eight projects that the United States had declared successes, seven were no longer operating as designed because of plumbing and electrical failures, lack of proper maintenance, apparent looting and expensive equipment that lay idle.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04…..ref=slogin

ccmask @
45

juslin @ 38

poor tobias – if he only had”massages” why is he leaving? hmmm………….. its to laugh

It wasn’t his back they massaged?

probably his toes

Blank Kludge @
141

In short, does the word ‘justice’ have any meaning?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1972)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saville_Inquiry

again, from Dash’s WaPo obit:

report that helped influence the British parliament to award compensation to the families of the dead and wounded. Twenty-five years later, the report helped influence the British prime minister’s decision to reopen the inquiry.

Also, I should have asked about the view from Derry as opposed to Belfast. London no doubt has their own view.

Assume this is for me. I made no comment on whether justice was achived by the outcome of the inquiry, For what it’s worth, I doubt it. Don’t make assumptions as to my views please, it’s offensive. Actually my views on Ireland emanate from personal knowledge of the UK, especially the West of Scotland, and of Derry, Belfast and Dublin.

Chetnolian @ 146

Blank Kludge @
141

In short, does the word ‘justice’ have any meaning?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1972)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saville_Inquiry

again, from Dash’s WaPo obit:

report that helped influence the British parliament to award compensation to the families of the dead and wounded. Twenty-five years later, the report helped influence the British prime minister’s decision to reopen the inquiry.

Also, I should have asked about the view from Derry as opposed to Belfast. London no doubt has their own view.

Assume this is for me. I made no comment on whether justice was achived by the outcome of the inquiry, For what it’s worth, I doubt it. Don’t make assumptions as to my views please, it’s offensive. Actually my views on Ireland emanate from personal knowledge of the UK, especially the West of Scotland, and of Derry, Belfast and Dublin.

Yes. Thank you.

someone had to refer tobias and harlan k. ullman to palfrey’s services. i mean seriously.

you think they looked up in the yellowpages?

there’s gonna be lots more to come on this, some of it may not be so pretty, but i reckon most of it will be deeeelightful.

moi @ 148

someone had to refer tobias and harlan k. ullman to palfrey’s services. i mean seriously.

you think they looked up in the yellowpages?

there’s gonna be lots more to come on this, some of it may not be so pretty, but i reckon most of it will be deeeelightful.

Maybe they’re in the Yellow Book

More Tobias:

Official Caught Using Escort Service Demanded Anti-Prostitution ‘Loyalty Oaths’
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/…..stitution/

Zee @
27

egregious @
21

It certainly helped me plan my “calling in to work well” days

It saves so much time if you know in advance when you will not have been feeling well. And that this coincides with interesting political events? Utter coincidence.

I consider it managed gestation periods.

Heh heh – you two fracture me! :~)

Apologizing in advance for three off-topic comments (like this whole thread hasn’t gone astray).

First, what’s to stop Monica Goodwife from claiming “I did the whole thing myself, nobody helped me, such a pity I’ve been immunized. And by the way, all those votes for Sanjaya – that was me.”

Second, When bush vetos the Iraq funding bill, why not just give up and say “Oh, well. We tried. I guess the generals better start moving out while there’s still money.”

Last, every once in a while, I like to send thanks to the person most resposnible for saving our democracy, if we do. Cindy Sheehan. She stood by a roadside in Texas in the Hot August sun to ask why her son died and I believe it was Bush’s inability to handle that that threw him off-balance before stumbling so badly after Katrina and falling from grace with the general public. She deserves to be placed in our pantheon next to Rosa Parks.

stratocruiser, I really like your second point. I wonder why they don’t do that?

juslin @
38

poor tobias – if he only had”massages” why is he leaving? hmmm………….. its to laugh

He should have designated “back” massages.

Steve E @ 154

juslin @
38

poor tobias – if he only had”massages” why is he leaving? hmmm………….. its to laugh

He should have designated “back” massages.

yeah, he just had to work out a few kinks.

dakine01 @ 143

Sangemon @
132

Does anyone know what type of immunity Goodling was proffered? Use or transactional?

I believe it is Use but IANAL.

According to an earlier thread (by Christy IIRC) it is use.

Has anyone read this diary at dKos?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/28/165814/698
USAs: Disrupting Money Laundering Investigations at Indian Casinos?
by mswsm

where is everyone?

is this the twilite zone?

Margot @ 157

Has anyone read this diary at dKos?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/28/165814/698
USAs: Disrupting Money Laundering Investigations at Indian Casinos?
by mswsm

Interesting stuff. Thanks.

Marcy, it is a good thing I am retired. I would have used up all my sick days for the year in just the first quarter.

lolo @
158

where is everyone?

nice day here. I’m going back outside…

hey lolo, perhaps everyone ran over to read that Kos diary.

Oklahoma kiddo @
50

I think a lot about Iraq, Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian situation. If the Democrats want to win big in 2008, my party needs to start talking about the widening and deepening gulf between the haves and the have nots of this nation. The Dems need to propose something solid on the economic front, AND the war front. Unless I missed something, there wasn’t one word uttered about the poverty of the middle class or working poor of this country in that so called debate the other night. The working men and women of America are hurting. While the rich Republicans get wealthier.

The recession hasn’t quite gotten to the voting class, yet.

But it will, something fierce.

What happened to SUSAN RALSTON?

Didn’t Ralston testify during that first week in April when there were hearings while everyone else was on break? I’m trying to remember…

Suzanne @ 163

hey lolo, perhaps everyone ran over to read that Kos diary.

That’s what I figured. I went over there too very interesting.

Suzanne @
161

Marcy, it is a good thing I am retired. I would have used up all my sick days for the year in just the first quarter.

I was always fond of this one:

Any employee wishing to miss work because of death or serious illness, please notify the office by 11:00am on the day of the game.

EW thank you for this, makes marking the calendar as easy as apple pie.

Help…been held hostage all day by teenagers, forced to go shopping in teeny-bopper stores. My ears are beginning to bleed.

Nice calendar of events — think I need to add them to the Raising The Blinds Google calendar…

Hi Rayne.

I try not to remember those shopping trips, Rayne. Just thinking of the store Hot Topic makes me break out into a cold sweat.

(slipped obsessed’s comment in #165)

Anyone know if any of the committees have tried to get Susan Ralston to testify? I wouldn’t mind if she was offered immunity in return for some WH skinny.

New Thread

lolo – hi back!

Suzanne – ugh, were we ever that young? I think I just paid $60 for something the size of a handkerchief, and all I have to show for my efforts is a massive, throbbing techno-driven headache.

Did I mention that I detest shopping? I could really, REALLY use a cocktail and about an hour of peace and quiet in a lounge chair. But unfortunately I have to go and cook dinner; maybe I could put the still-throbbing rhythm inside my head to use, chop-chop-chopping vegetables to the beat-beat-beat.

GSD @
118

darkblack @
115

Safe prediction: Condi will claim ‘unitary executive privilege’ until the last possible moment, and will lie like one of Lindsay Graham’s rugs thereafter.

A review of her studiedly glaring incompetence in matters of State (recent example: a former Stanford provost and Senior Director of Soviet and East European Affairs in the Bush 41-era National Security Council referring to the current Russian administration as ‘the Soviets‘, for heaven’s sake) will prove most entertaining.

I’m thinking medal of freedom, here

;>)

Hopefully Condi will work with the Ottoman’s as a bulwark against the Soviets.

-GSD

Cherryblossom

Loo Hoo @
80

RE the Tobias resignation, it is absurd that he expects people will believe he uses an escort service to get a massage (as opposed to as licensed masseur/masseuse). When he claims to have had no sex he may be using the Clintononian definition of “sex” as penetrative intercourse. The more likely answer is that this guy is into some kinky stuff that transcends your usual definition of “sex” if you get my drift.

Interesting thought. Mebbe he had some fun drugs too, like the earnest preacher man.

This may have been an intentional pun on your part but Tobias was head honcho at pharma giant Eli Lilly (yes, they make AIDS drugs) when he took over the job overseeing AIDS control.

It is so like Bush to give the job to someone who has a drug perspective on AIDS as opposed to preventing AIDS. It is no surprise then that he denied funds to groups that advocated use of condoms to prevent AIDS.

He had to resign because he has no credibility left as a moral spokesman for the religious right.

stratocruiser @ 152

Apologizing in advance for three off-topic comments (like this whole thread hasn’t gone astray).

First, what’s to stop Monica Goodwife from claiming “I did the whole thing myself, nobody helped me, such a pity I’ve been immunized. And by the way, all those votes for Sanjaya – that was me.”

Second, When bush vetos the Iraq funding bill, why not just give up and say “Oh, well. We tried. I guess the generals better start moving out while there’s still money.”

Last, every once in a while, I like to send thanks to the person most resposnible for saving our democracy, if we do. Cindy Sheehan. She stood by a roadside in Texas in the Hot August sun to ask why her son died and I believe it was Bush’s inability to handle that that threw him off-balance before stumbling so badly after Katrina and falling from grace with the general public. She deserves to be placed in our pantheon next to Rosa Parks.

I hope someone can answer your first comment and the second two are both worth repeating.

plovering@ 164

all too true my friend – when it hits its going to be a bitch……

MayDaze @ 156

dakine01 @ 143

Sangemon @
132

Does anyone know what type of immunity Goodling was proffered? Use or transactional?

I believe it is Use but IANAL.

According to an earlier thread (by Christy IIRC) it is use.

Thanks!

dakine01 @ 143

Sangemon @
132

Does anyone know what type of immunity Goodling was proffered? Use or transactional?

I believe it is Use but IANAL.

From Wikipedia:

Grants of immunity
If the government gives an individual immunity, then that individual may be compelled to testify. Immunity may be “transactional immunity” or “use immunity”; in the former, the witness is immune from prosecution for offenses related to the testimony; in the latter, the witness may be prosecuted, but his testimony may not be used against him. The Supreme Court has held that the government need only grant use immunity to compel testimony. The use immunity, however, must extend not only to the testimony made by the witness, but also to all evidence derived therefrom. This scenario most commonly arises in cases related to organized crime.

Now we’re outsourcing prostitution to Central America?

Ahh, the USAID money Tobias had to throw around on massages and so forth.

dreamcatcher @ 177

I forgot to add: he was also demanding a “loyalty oath” from groups getting AIDS funding that they would not use their resources to help prostitutes. And then he is implicated in a sex-for-hire scandal. He had to go. At least the guy has that amount of decency in him, unless he was pushed.

“Heckuva job, Condi!”… Think of the possibilities…

Schadenfreude Saturday and all…

Margot @
157

Has anyone read this diary at dKos?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/28/165814/698
USAs: Disrupting Money Laundering Investigations at Indian Casinos?
by mswsm

Yes! I suggest working this angle, especially because it might open the door to the 750,000 emails McCain’s(?) committee on Indian Affairs got, back when oversight was an afterthought.
Thar’s gold in them thar bills! heh.

Bob in HI

Margot @
157

Has anyone read this diary at dKos?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/28/165814/698
USAs: Disrupting Money Laundering Investigations at Indian Casinos?
by mswsm

Yes! I like the idea of following up on this especially because it might provide access to the 750,000 emails McCain’s committee on Indian Affairs (??) obtained back when oversight was almost an afterthought.

Bob in HI

The Condi Rice subpoena to explain how she let the Niger claim into the SOTU

well, how could she POSSIBLY remember how that made it into the sotu address?

really marcy, do you know how LONG ago that was?

if she remembers anything that will surely be a miracle

Meanwhile Alberto Gonzales still defies the odds of the bookies on whether and when he’ll be forced out.

when speculation first began that he would resign shortly I told everyone this was a no option for the president

once abu torture is “resigned” in disgrace, every single claim he’s made can be considered irresponsilbe

abu torture leaving positition is the something they have to avoid at all costs…until it appears the president will go down unless abu torture is resigned he will stay

this is not the decision of abu torture, it is the decision of rove and it happens to be the correct decision as far as his position is, which is to allow the president to hang on as long as possible

dipper @ 178

Apologizing in advance for three off-topic comments (like this whole thread hasn’t gone astray).

First, what’s to stop Monica Goodwife from claiming “I did the whole thing myself, nobody helped me, such a pity I’ve been immunized. And by the way, all those votes for Sanjaya – that was me.”

ianal BUT;

since this is “use” imunity, if she admits guilt she can still be tried but her testimony can’t be used against her…easy enough to gather the evidence that incriminates her once she says she did it

Second, When bush vetos the Iraq funding bill, why not just give up and say “Oh, well. We tried. I guess the generals better start moving out while there’s still money.”

ya, I made this point a while ago;

oncce the president vetoes the bill the democrats really should go on the TEEvee and say

“we gave the president more funds then he requested, we finally gave our military the resources that are required for their tours, something that has not happened with the republican congress…yet the president wants to make a political statement and use the troops as his personal puppets

the president needs to understand our armed forces are not there for him to experiment with bizzare and novel excursion invented by civilians

he has decided to take the resources we gave the troops away which we think is irresponsible

he has the funding he’s asked and more, he is required to obey the will of the people and they insist he begin the process of bringing his war to an end so we can once again replenish the military to which the president has brought to levels too dangerous for confort

if the president refuses to fund the troops that is his perogative, we will be happy to fund their return home, we miss our children and need them here where they belong”

emptywheel @
36

Loo Hoo @
19

Marcy, what do you know about Judge John Bates?

Not much. But I can tell you that–regardless of which judge it was–it’d be a very long shot for the suit not to get thrown out. So I wouldn’t put too much hope in the Wilson’s getting to subpoena Turdblossom, sorry.

I recall looking into him a while back. He is a Bush appointee and had some other things that made it look like he was a bad draw for them. He was appointed to the FISA court by Roberts which does not bode well I suspect.

Da-ummm! Ain’t oversight a BITCH?!!!

On Wolfowitz, the World Bank board has agreed to allow him to appear before the Ctee to defend himself. Does this mean that they are picking up the tab for Bill Bennett’s fee? In my experience in Corporateland, characters like Wolfowitz never, ever pay for such things themselves. Anyone have any info on this?

As far as Goodling is concerned, its hard to imagine that she will nottestify before May 10. It would be an inexcusable tactical error if she testifies after Gonzalez appears before Judiciary on the DOJ appropriations bill.