Year: 2007

The Sanjaya of Secretaries of State

Jon Ponder

Condoleeza Rice and Sanjaya.

Sanjaya Malakar is the long-haired guy on “American Idol” who seems to think a big smile can mask his inadequacies as a singer.

I knew he reminded me of someone, and then it hit me: Condoleeza Rice. As Donald Trump said about her, “She gets off the plane, she waves, she sits down with some dictator – 45 degree angle, they do the camera shot. She waves again, she gets back on the plane, she waves – no deal ever happens.”

…Smiling all the while to cover her inadequacies as a diplomat.

Former Bush Interior Official Pleads Guilty to Lying to Congress in Abramoff Case

Jon Ponder

Stephen Griles, a former oil company lobbyist who served as second-in-command in the Interior Department during Pres. Bush’s first term, pleaded guilty today to lying to Congress about his relationship with the lobbyist and now convicted felon Jack Abramoff.

In November 2005, Griles told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that he did not know Abramoff. However, emails showed that he had carred out requests inside the Interior Department for Abramoff to benefit Abramoff’s Indian-tribe clients that had been funneled to him by his girlfriend, Italia Federici. Federici was head of a Washington, D.C.-based anti-environmentalism front group, the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), which appeared to have little other funding than donations from Abramoff.

The timing of emails from Abramoff to Federici requesting “favors” from Griles at Interior with donations to CREA from Abramoff’s clients suggests a quid pro quo. Abramoff donated between $225,000 and $500,000 to Federici’s group in the early years of the decade.

CREA was founded by Grover Norquist, the rightwing idealogue and associate of Karl Rove who issues daily talking points to GOP operatives, and Gail Norton, the anti-environmentalist whom Bush installed as his first secretary of the interior. It appears to have no offices, just a mail drop. Recent checks found that CREA’s website (GOP4environment.org) is gone, and that there is no corporate registration for the group in Washington, and no record that it ever paid taxes.

Griles was sentenced to five months in jail and five months in a halfway house or under house arrest.

Brainless Florida Republicans Attempt to Brainstorm Tax Cuts

Trish

Florida’s Republican-controlled state legislature is wrestling with property tax reform, and hardly a day in session passes without some new and even more ridiculous proposal to solve the problem.

So many proposals have been tossed about to increase taxes that a t-shirt from a Disneyworld hotel gift shop will cost about $19.95 and the tax will be $124

The St. Petersburg Times nailed the current state of lunacy in an editorial.

Republicans in the Florida House have achieved something truly extraordinary. They have managed to rewrite their terribly flawed tax relief proposal and make it worse, a feat previously thought to be impossible. It is time for adult supervision from the governor and the Senate to steer this debate back into reality.

Forcing drastic cuts in government spending through property tax rollbacks, abolishing property taxes on homesteads and replacing some of the money by raising the state sales tax by 2.5 cents would be short-sighted and irresponsible…Better ideas have been drawn up on cocktail napkins as bartenders served a final round.

I won’t bore non-Floridians with the details but suffice it to say that property values (and therefore, assessments) have skyrocketed over the past few years. Homeowners are getting it on two ends — increased property taxes and out of sight insurance premiums.

But the cure could be worse than the disease. Republicans, who adore “not taking anything off the table,” offered up the idea of just eliminating all property taxes. Hold on, Florida’s 67 counties said, what will we do for money? Cut back, the brave legislators replied. Yes, and then what, the counties rejoined.

So a new plan was hatched — raise the state sales tax! After all, it’s you tourists who will pay most of it, they said, plus all those freeloading renters. So many proposals have been tossed about to increase sales and bed tax rates, and to tax things that were previously exempt that a t-shirt from a Disneyworld hotel gift shop will cost about $19.95 and the tax will be $124. Should do wonders for tourism.

Mystery of Tainted Pet Food Might be Solved

Trish

The world’s bread basket imports wheat from China? Who knew?

As surprising as that fact is, it’s even more amazing that the rat poison they use on the wheat in China could be so potent that it kills animals when it gets into processed pet food.

Ever since the government under the neocons abdicated its regulatory role, food has been unsafe for both man and beast.

With the death count at 241 and counting, there’s finally been a break in the Menu Foods case. A press conference will be held this afternoon, and it’s likely a chemical called aminopterin, which is illegal in this country, will be revealed as the source of the pet poisonings.

If, like me, you’ve been wondering with every can of dog and cat food you open if this is the one that will kill your beloved pet, here’s help. ABC deserves a public service award for posting all the brands of all the pet food in the recall, along with specific batch numbers. They also list the symptoms of you should watch for in your pet:

    Uncharacteristic lethargy
    Severe loss of appetite
    Vomiting
    Profound changes in eating and drinking
    Increased urination

While this chemical might not be the problem, and there might be more tainted food than currently identified, it’s a start.

Once they get the bad food off the shelves and the dying stops, can someone please look into how this happened? Ever since the government under the neocons abdicated its regulatory role, food has been unsafe for both man and beast.

Did a ‘Bushie’ U.S. Attorney Give a GOP Pol a Pass on Fraud Charges?

Jon Ponder

The investigation into Pres. George Bush’s firing of eight U.S. Attorneys last December has prompted a second look at some questionable actions by federal prosecutors since Bush took office.

“My information was that [Attorney General John Ashcroft] prohibited the U.S. Attorney’s Office in North Carolina from interrogating Charles Taylor.”
— Attorney for defendant in fraud case at Taylor’s S&L

In 2003, a U.S. Attorney in western North Carolina was accused of deliberately failing to interrogate a powerful Republican congressman who was directly implicated in a bank fraud matter. The accuser also stated that the federal prosecutor, Robert Conrad Jr., excluded the congressman from being investigated at the behest of then-Attorney Gen. John Ashcroft. The record shows that within two years of the case in question, Conrad was appointed to the federal bench by Pres. Bush.

The congressman was Rep. Charles Taylor, who represented N.C. 11th for 16 years before his defeat last year by former pro-football player, Heath Shuler, a Democrat. Taylor was a member of the Appropriations Committee, and was listed as one of the 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress. He was also the owner of Blue Ridge Savings, based in Asheville, which was the subject of a federal investigation in 2001 into fraudulent loans that produced guilty pleas from Taylor’s campaign manager and one of his biggest donors, although Taylor was never charged.

The case involving questionable practices by U.S. Attorney Conrad was tried in 2003, and resulted in the conviction of Thomas Jones for attempting to defraud Blue Ridge Savings with bad loans:

Testimony in the trial, along with FBI interviews that were introduced as evidence, raised questions about [Rep.] Taylor as well. Jones and other defendants testified that Taylor knew about and even encouraged the fraudulent loans… In Asheville, investigators never interrogated Taylor…

“My information was that [Attorney General John Ashcroft] prohibited the U.S. Attorney’s Office in North Carolina from interrogating Charles Taylor,” [Jone’s attorney, Forrest Ferrell,] recalled last week. He’d give no other details. “My information was confidential,” he said…

The U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina at the time, Robert J. Conrad Jr., filed a vigorous response, saying the claims of interference weren’t true.

“The premise of the defendant’s motion is simply wrong,” Conrad wrote…

In 2005, Conrad was appointed a U.S. district judge. He couldn’t be reached for comment.

Revelations in the investigation so far show that staffers in Attorney General Abu Gonzalez’ office rated U.S. Attorneys based on their loyalty to Pres. Bush. The USAs rated most loyal to Dear Leader were referred to as “Bushies.” Conrad was not on the DOJ list of federal attorneys because he’d already been promoted, so we don’t know whether Gonzalez’ people thought of him as a loyal Bushie.

Still, on the face of it appears that powerful Republicans obstructed justice in the Blue Ridge S&L fraud case. How will we know unless Ashcroft, Taylor and Conrad are interrogated about it under oath?

Big H/t to GBacon

Where’s Rudy?

Trish

Almost everyone has been touched in some way by breast cancer; I have a friend fighting that battle now. So we all feel for Elizabeth and John Edwards today as they struggle with the news that her cancer is not in remission.

The list of current and former presidential candidates and their spouses sending prayers and good wishes at press time to the Edwards was notably missing someone.

Well…maybe not “all” of us. The list of current and former presidential candidates and their spouses sending prayers and good wishes at press time to the Edwards was notably missing someone.

Edwards’ 2004 democratic ticket-mate Sen. John Kerry, D-MA., himself a prostate cancer survivor, issued a statement of support…

2008 presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., said, “Elizabeth Edwards is a wonderful and strong woman,” she said. “I admire her optimism and I’m encouraged by her resolve…

Other presidential candidates’ campaigns issued statements of support, including Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Gov. Bill Richardson., D-N.M., Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the wife of Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, former Sen. Mike Gravel, D-Ak., and GOP ’08 contenders Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Ma., and former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark.

I guess Rudy was having a really busy day today and multitasking is such a drag. On the other hand, maybe the man who didn’t attend his son’s graduation or his daughter’s school plays, and informed his second wife in a press conference that he was ready for wife number three just simply has his head up his ass.

If you would like to send your good thoughts to Elizabeth Edwards, you can do so here.

Watch ‘War Zone Diary’ Tonight on MSNBC

Buck Banks

A slew of TV critics are urging Americans to watch NBC correspondent Richard Engel’s documentary of his experiences covering the war in Iraq for three years. It’s supposed to be harrowing and contains some of the most gruesome images yet broadcast in Western news media, but is being hailed as an important window into what life in Baghdad is like for journalists covering the war. Airs at 10 p.m. tonight on MSNBC.

Breaking News: George Bush Joins Navy Intelligence

Buck Banks

It’s no joke: George P. Bush, our president’s nephew who made a big splash at the Repug national convention, has joined the U.S. Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer, according to The Politico.

Bush, 30, said in a telephone interview from his office at a real estate development firm in Fort Worth, Texas, that he was moved to join the service in part when he attended the rainy commissioning in October of the aircraft carrier named for his grandfather — the USS George H.W. Bush.

“My grandfather’s my hero, and what really sold me on the ultimate decision was having the chance to see the CVN-77 be commissioned under his name,” he said. “That was pretty moving, and I had a chance to meet some Navy admirals, as well. I had a chance to talk to them briefly about the opportunity, and I was won over.”

George Prescott Bush, the oldest son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, said the death of Pat Tillman, the NFL player and Army Ranger who was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 in what was later determined to be a friendly-fire incident, “was a wake-up call for me.” He said he even “looked into active duty” and had somber conversations with his wife about the possibility.

Bush said he had not intended to announce his plans. “Honestly, I’m kind of a little disappointed that the word got out,” he said. “I was hoping to keep this as confidential as possible. I’m not doing it for political purposes or anything along those lines. I’m just doing it because I’ve been inspired by the friends of mine that have served, either through the JAG (military law) program or through the Reserves. I thought this was a small way that I could get involved.”

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

The revolutions of the future must be directed not against the rich but against the poor. The poor have been the slop-pails of capitalism, repositories for all the filth and brutality of a filthy, brutal world. Do not liberate the poor; destroy them.

— Kenneth Patchen (1911-1972), American writer

Former DOJ Prosecutor Says Bush Political Hacks Interfered with Tobacco Racketeering Case

Jon Ponder

Yesterday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy suggested that if the White House stalls on sending top aides Karl Rove and Harriet Miers to testify under oath, they risk the wrath of career employees at the Department of Justice who are unhappy about political interference from the Bush political office.

Eubanks said three political appointees were responsible for the last-minute shifts in the government’s tobacco case in June 2005: then-Associate Atty. Gen. Robert McCallum; then-Assistant Atty. Gen. Peter D. Keisler; and his deputy at the time, Dan Meron.

It appears Leahy was right. Sharon Eubanks, the former leader of the DOJ team that prosecuted the tobacco companies on racketeering charges said yesterday that Bush political hacks inside the department forced her to pull her punches at the last moment, including dropping the companies’ fines from $130 billion to $10 billion

[Eubanks said] that Bush administration political appointees repeatedly ordered her to take steps that weakened the government’s racketeering case.[She also said that] Bush loyalists in Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales’ office began micromanaging the team’s strategy in the final weeks of the 2005 trial, to the detriment of the government’s claim that the industry had conspired to lie to U.S. smokers.

She said a supervisor demanded that she and her trial team drop arguments that tobacco executives be removed from their corporate positions as a possible penalty. He and two others instructed her to tell key witnesses to change their testimony. And they ordered Eubanks to read verbatim from a closing argument they rewrote for her, she said.

“The political people were pushing the buttons and ordering us to say what we said. And because of that, we failed to zealously represent the interests of the American public,” she said.

Eubanks, who served for 22 years as a lawyer at Justice, said three political appointees were responsible for the last-minute shifts in the government’s tobacco case in June 2005: then-Associate Atty. Gen. Robert McCallum; then-Assistant Atty. Gen. Peter D. Keisler; and his deputy at the time, Dan Meron.

This story was buried on page A13 of the Los Angeles Times today. If it gains traction, Sharon Eubanks can expect to be the target of a devasting campaign of smears and lies from the West Wing.

Let’s hope that there are other courageous people inside Justice Dept. who will come forward to tell the truth about Bush political hackery at DOJ. The American people need to know the truth about full extent of George W. Bush’s defiling of the United States justice system.