More Videos On Gonzales, Lies, Illegal Wiretaps, Obstruction Of Justice

I'm feeling remiss that I haven't changed my voter registration from Republican to Independent. I am so ashamed that at any time, I have supported this party. I bought the bullshit they were shoveling about respect for the US Constitution and the Rule of Law. Some things they stood for, like mixing religion and politics bothered me, but I wrongly thought that the US Constitution would be a check against abuses in this realm.

Tony Snowjob makes the point that going after criminals is a partisan action. all crime fighting is clearly anti-Republican as this party is the defender and promoter of crime. They are the sworn enemy of the US Constitution and the ideals of our Republic.

Republicans clearly, hate us for our Freedoms.

Let us remember that the Republicans appointed Alberto Gonzales because he was the best and greatest Republican Prosecutors there is. He's one of the greatest living Republicans alive today, and he represents all Republicans in his duties.

Thank you, Talking Points Memo for making videos of these proceedings available.

Schumer on Gonzales Testimony


House Vote on Contempt


TPMtv: Alberto Gonzales: Lying Liar Edition


Schumer on Ashcroft


In the following, we learn that Gonzales gave vice presidential aids, access and permission to interfere with ongoing criminal investigations.

White House Access


In this one, Alberto hangs Monica Goodling out to dry.

Leahy on Goodling


In the following short clip, we learn that the Wire Tapping program is different than what we were led to believe and Gonzales can't tell us about it. and recently we've learned no one that is on top Secret Homeland Security Committee is allowed to know about it either. Its so top secret that the people on the front lines on the War on Terrorism are allowed to know about it. Its so secret it can't even be used in the War on Terrorism... How ironic.

Specter


Torture


Alberto explains that he doesn't know if promoting a political party on Federal Property, using Federal Monies and Federal Time, is in violation of the Hatch Act with prohibits these activities. He says he needs to study this issue. It seems to me that a lawyer that is this stupid, can't be the best the Republicans have to offer. But he's proven me wrong. The greatest Republican Lawyer alive today, can't even answer this simple legal question.

The Hatch Act


The following is getting Alberto into hot water. He tells us that there were multiple wiretapping unknown programs going on.

He explains that previously he has given the committee false testimony, but he corrected it in a public press conference. Then he explains that his correction misleading and wrong. So he explains that he corrected the record with the reporter later. He doesn't remember the name of the reporter, but his aides do. Then he says he never spoke to the reporter, an unknown aid did in his stead. Then he explains that he has no clue what the unknown aid said. Finally we learn that he still won't give a straight answer, after giving us a string of lies and excuses.

Schumer


This is all I can really handle for now. See Josh Marshall's page on YouTube for more.

Tony Snowjob, Lies, Obfuscates, Does His Pretzel Imitation

h/t Crooks And Liars

I guess he doesn't want to talk about the charges, so he keeps saying none have been made.

The charge is that the President's Wire Tapping Program violates the US Constitution and Federal Law.

He says that everyone and everything has been made available. As a reporter points, out, they are available so long as they aren't under oath and transcripts of their interviews are not kept. And Bush has specifically ordered a number of people not to testify. Currently Harriet Meir's and Josh Bolton have refused to testify and have been declared in 'Contempt'.

It seems that every word, every sentence, everything that comes out of the White House now is composed of lies.



An also found on Crooks And Liars, we have this lovely video about the dangers of Red Communism. This sounds remarkably like Bush's plan to make us safer by eliminating our freedoms, so the terrorists will quit hating us for our freedoms.



Jon Stewart on Contempt Charges.

Despotism & Democracy

When Bush Becomes The Supreme Ruler

In the event of a terrorist attack on US soil, the Patriot Act makes the President the Prime Ruler of the USA. What is the secret plant that will be enacted in this event? No one but the Top members of the White House knows.

Homeland Security, Congressmen, Senators and other people with the highest levels of security are not allowed to know what powers that Bush will have as Supreme Ruler, if the US is hit with a terrorist attack.

h/t Crooks And Liars
Congressman Denied Access To Post-Attack Continuity Plans
By JEFF KOSSEFF

WASHINGTON — Constituents called Rep. Peter DeFazio's office, worried there was a conspiracy buried in the classified portion of a White House plan for operating the government after a terrorist attack.


As a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, DeFazio, D-Ore., is permitted to enter a secure "bubbleroom'' in the Capitol and examine classified material. So he asked the White House to see the secret documents.

On Wednesday, DeFazio got his answer: DENIED.

"I just can't believe they're going to deny a member of Congress the right of reviewing how they plan to conduct the government of the United States after a significant terrorist attack,'' DeFazio said.

Homeland Security Committee staffers told his office that the White House initially approved his request, but it was later quashed. DeFazio doesn't know who did it or why.

"We're talking about the continuity of the government of the United States of America,'' DeFazio said. "I would think that would be relevant to any member of Congress, let alone a member of the Homeland Security Committee.''

Bush administration spokesman Trey Bohn declined to say why DeFazio was denied access: "We do not comment through the press on the process that this access entails. It is important to keep in mind that much of the information related to the continuity of government is highly sensitive.''

Norm Ornstein, a legal scholar who studies government continuity at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said he ``cannot think of one good reason'' to deny access to a member of Congress who serves on the Homeland Security Committee.

"I find it inexplicable and probably reflective of the usual knee-jerk overextension of executive power that we see from this White House,'' Ornstein said.

This is the first time DeFazio has been denied access to documents. DeFazio has asked Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., to help him access the documents.

"Maybe the people who think there's a conspiracy out there are right,'' DeFazio said.

(Jeff Kosseff can be contacted at jeff.kosseff(at)newhouse.com)

What Are Young People Listening To?

This is AndyMcKee. My 15 year old nephew just discovered him and thinks he's a great guitarist. He has good taste.



And here's a tune that he says he's trying to learn.

Dick Durbin / Fillibuster

Go Dick Durbin!

h/t Crooks And Liars

I Saw Sun!

Here in North Central Texas, the rain seems to have finally loosened its grip.

During our deluge, our lakes went from being thirteen feet under to more than two feet over. Then it kept raining.

The rushing river in the drainage ditch behind my home, lapped up to my fence line on occasion.

As to my garden, it has mostly been a disaster. All of my squash, melons and cucumbers died from over watering. My tomatoes had little sun, and are just now producing. One is turning pink today.

I have gotten a bumper crop of green beans. I went to trellis beans this year and they are taking over.

Surprisingly, after the rain is over, I've been weeding and have found the earth dry around the roots. Evidently I need to get more organic matter tilled in. And probably tilled in deeper. So this year I'm making a big effort to collect as many leaves and grass clippings from neighbors as I can.

And Yay! My neighbor cut down a dead tree and gave me the large logs. I have a couple of garden areas they they be used to border. I have one log to replace, that my dogs destroyed. It rotted and they discovered it was full of tasty things. I replaced it with stone, but logs are better.

Anyway... Here's what I'm listening to today...

Sharon Astyk on The Reality Report

And check out Sharon's Blog!

The Bush Comedy Lounge - Grand Re-Opening

As if this room wasn't already a joke.

h/t Crooks And Liars

Gulliani vs the FDNY

Chertoff The Super Hero!

Chertoff announced today that his gut, tells him that the US will suffer a terrorist attack this summer.

He cited a number of probabilities and guesswork to come to this conclusion. He pointed out that terrorist attacks are common in the summer months, pointing out 9/10 as an example.

Of course the date was really 9/11 and September is in Autumn, not summer, but don't interrupt him, he's on a roll.

As was pointed out by Bob Scheiffer on the morning news, he's either making this up or he has inside information about the upcoming attack. Another possibility is that he has superhuman psychic powers of prediction.

Assuming he's not a super hero, what do the other two options tell us?

If he's just making crap up, why? Is he trying to say that Bush's policy of sacrificing our young women and men in Iraq, doesn't force terrorists to fight us only in Iraq? That the Republican plan of creating a terrorism zone in Iraq, doesn't prevent terrorists from making attacks elsewhere? Wasn't that the noble cause that my nephew went to Baghdad for? Is Chertoff saying that our young men and women are dying for nothing and that Bush has failed?

Or, does Chertoff know details of the attack? Does he know of specific persons involved, and is powerless to direct Homeland Security to stop it? Is Chertoff telling us that even if we knew an attack was coming, who was involved and how it would be carried out, then the Bush Administration would be powerless to prevent it? If Chertoff has details of the attack and will not prevent it, shouldn't some Republican take on the Jack Bauer role and torture him until he gives up the intel? Isn't that how we do things now?

So Chertoff is just making crap up or, he won't stop an attack that he knows is coming. Nothing has really changed, has it?

The Sally Gardens

Ok, I'm done getting stressed for now.

Here's one of my favorite Irish songs. My grandfather used to sing it when I was a child.

US Iraq Chief Warns Of Long War (400 years?)

h/t Crooks And Liars

US Iraq chief warns of long war

Petraeus interview
The head of US forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus, has told the BBC that fighting the insurgency is a "long term endeavour" which could take decades.

Speaking to the BBC's John Simpson in Baquba, Gen Petraeus said there was evidence that the recent troops surge was producing gains on the ground.

But he warned that US forces were engaged in a "tough fight" which will get "harder before it gets easier".

His comments come as US calls for a rapid troop withdrawal gather strength.

Gen Petraeus was keen to emphasise that the ongoing unrest in Iraq is not something he expects to be resolved overnight.

"Northern Ireland, I think, taught you that very well. My counterparts in your [British] forces really understand this kind of operation... It took a long time, decades," he said.

Jeez! Petraeus needs a history lesson. England and Ireland were at odds for over four hundred years!

Is this the plan for Iraq? A Four Hundred Year War?

And how did that war get resolved? Britain declared peace on Ireland. They quit oppressing the Irish and allowed them self government. They let IRA militants / declared terrorists out of prison. They did things that we call, appeasing the terrorists.

If Petraeus really wants to follow the British model, then he'll be resigning soon.

As it is, the Britsh / Irish model is one of an invading nation enslaving another. Is that the US and Iraq? Petraeus says so.

Pete Sessions

Finally some video of my Representative, Congressman Pete Sessions-R Texas.

In this one he talks about being pro-troops. Yet he's consistently voted to reduce their benefits. He's voted to increase the time that stay in Iraq. He's voted against bills to protect their families.

for Pete Sessions, the phrase, 'Supporting Our Troops', means to make them stay in Iraq until they are dead or maimed. what he really means is, 'Supporting The Undefined Mission".

Until recently Pete and other Republicans told us that setting goals in Iraq was bad for the troops. That goals = losing.

I guess they've given up on the idea that a lack of goals is a good thing. Now they want goals / benchmarks.

But still we need to define what the mission is. And that mission has to be one that we can succeed at, by using military force. This is something that both parties seem to miss as htey rally around the troops. As long as we don't have a mission that can be accomplished by simply slaughtering human beings, then we don't have a mission that can be accomplished by war.

The Republicans say that our mission is to make Iraq a free and democratic society. But this has historically been accomplished by defeating and driving out an invading nation. The world knows that Iraq can't be property of the US Military and be a free and democratic nation at the same time.

Until the US leaves, Iraq will remain a military dictatorship, under the command of US Generals.

A free and democratic Iraq would have the freedom to choose sides against the US. Our Washington leadership can never let this happen. If it did, Iraq would want its own oil. It would be free to choose who pumps their oil. They would not have to sell off all of their public property to foreign corporations. They would be free to re-Nationalize public works that have been sold to foreigners.

For these reasons, the publically stated mission is at odds with our strategy.

The private mission is clearly to enslave the people of Iraq. To make the nation private property under the ownership of the new incarnations of the East India Company.

Perhaps we should be clearer about this, so that we can move forward with resolve, or better yet, admit that this isn't what the People of America want?

Its clear now that our politicians will continue to support the war even after millions of Iraqis are killed. Their purpose now is to enslave the people of Iraq and to slaughter those that won't embrace slavery. Isn't it about time they just said so?

Ingersol And A Hobo

Live From Congress: Rep. Ingersoll's Murder of a Hobo

Plame Was Covert....

Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have done an incredible job helping to destroy America by endlessly repeating the lie, that Valerie Plame was not covert when the White House revealed her secret identity.

h/t Crooks And Liars
Plame was ‘covert’ agent at time of name leak

By Joel Seidman
Producer
NBC News
Updated: 3:24 p.m. CT May 29, 2007

WASHINGTON - An unclassified summary of outed CIA officer Valerie Plame's employment history at the spy agency, disclosed for the first time today in a court filing by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, indicates that Plame was "covert" when her name became public in July 2003.

The summary is part of an attachment to Fitzgerald's memorandum to the court supporting his recommendation that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former top aide, spend 2-1/2 to 3 years in prison for obstructing the CIA leak investigation.

The oft repeated meme is that the whole world knew that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent. That she was not undercover at the time of the link.

But the truth is that she was managing hundreds of agents that were doing important Middle East surveillance work.

As a result of the leak, those agents had to be pulled from their assignments. Not long after this, Iran announced that traitors in their own country had been identified and executed.

The outing of Valerie Plame damaged our ability to know what is going on in Iran and other parts of the Middle East. So now we're left with The White House and radio pundits just making stuff up and passing it on as gospel. Our ability to really know what is going on in Iran, has been severely crippled by the White House.

Our enemies were given aid and comfort by this act. Outing a covert CIA agent is an act of espionage and during World War II, we hanged people who were convicted of this crime. Now we'll probably hand out Medals of Freedom for espionage against the US.

Rush Limbaugh and others want to tell you that Libby's conviction for obstructing an espionage investigation is no worse than Clinton lying about a blow job in a civil trial. Yet Clinton was never convicted and Libby was. The penalty for Libby's crime can go as far as execution as a traitor. To my knowledge the US has never handed down the death penalty for a civil perjury case, when the defendant was not under oath.

In earlier years, I would've wondered why people would defend traitors to our nation and try to downplay espionage as a non-existent crime. But now the loudest voices in our great nation have proven that they are not loyal to our country, but only to our party. They promote espionage and the destruction of the US Constitution in order to further the criminal behavior of one party. Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are devoted followers of the Republican Party and hide behind patriotism, even as they promote traitors and traitorous acts. They know no shame.

When we look at Libby's pardon/commutation, the same pundits are calling it a pardon for conviction of a crime for which no law exists. As if espionage or the obstruction of a an espionage investigation isn't illegal. Then they argue that the punishment was too harsh. So Libby does zero time, and donors cover his fine. Libby hasn't been punished for his crime at all.

Is insider stock trading a worse crime than espionage? Sure it is. Martha Stewart did time for her indiscretion, proving that being convicted of traitorous acts is worse than this.

Is possession of Marijuana worse than being a traitor to the US? Sure looks that way. If you're caught with a joint, you can get landed in jail or prison. No millionaires are going to donate money to your defense.

Espionage is now a non-crime in the US. Heck, betray your country and there might be a Medal of Freedom in it for you. President Bush might even kiss you.

Impeach Cheney

Sign the Impeachment Petition.

More at this Robert Greenwald Site.

Bush Endorses Criminal Behavour

In a move designed to demonstrate President George Bush's contempt for the law, he has commuted Scooter Libby's Sentence.

Scooter Libby as you remember was involved in Plame Gate affair in which he and others committed espionage against the US, by outing CIA agent Valerie Plame. Her outing exposed hundreds of other agents that worked with her and under her management, and completely destroyed our ability to communicate with intelligence assets in Iran.

He was convicted on perjury and obstruction charges. In essence, he kept his mouth shut and took the fall.

His commuted sentence is clearly a reward for his sacrifice in protecting the ongoing corruption, prevalent in the White House.

Good Job Bush! Way to go in protecting enemies of America! Keep the scandals coming!