Year: 2009

Turley: Failure to Prosecute Bush on Torture Would Make Obama an ‘Accessory’ to War Crimes

Jon Ponder

Before they left office, both George Bush and Dick Cheney defended their administration’s practice of torturing of suspects in terror cases. Bush characteristically attempted to deflect responsibility for what his operatives euphemistically called “interrogation techniques” on the grounds that a lawyer in his employ said the practices were legal.

“[Failure to prosecute Bush officicals] wouldn’t make Obama an apologist, it would make him an accessory. He would be preventing the investigation of war crimes.”
– Turley

“I firmly reject the word ‘torture,’” Bush told Fox News. “Everything this administration does had a legal basis to it; otherwise, we would not have done it.”

Cheney freely admitted his role in approving torture. “I was aware of the program, certainly,” he said, “and involved in helping get the process cleared.”

Semantics aside, earlier this month, Susan Crawford, a Bush Pentagon appointee who served as the “convening authority” — apparently a role that has aspects of both judge and prosecutor — for the Guantanamo military commissions told a reporter that Mohammed al-Qahtani, the “20th hijacker, had, without a doubt, been tortured.

These admissions present Pres. Obama with a problem. Torture is not only illegal in the United States, it is also banned by international treaties that the United States has signed. Under these treaties, prosecuting torture is not an option. It is required.

On MSNBC’s “Countdown” last night, Jonathan Turley, a professor of constitutional law at George Washington University, told Keith Olbermann that these treaties compel the president to investigate all allegations of torture, and that failure to do so would be obstructing justice, which would make him complicit in the crimes.

A rough transcript, follows…

[…]

Grand Jury Says Hell Yes, We’ll Investigate Florida House Speaker

Trish

Florida Rep. Ray Sansom, center, has ‘splainin’ to do

I haven’t wanted to bore you non-Floridians out there with the details of our House speaker’s misuse of power and conflicts of interest, but his case just got way less boring. Unless you consider being investigated by a grand jury and your fellow legislators dull.

A grand jury decided Monday to look into allegations that House Speaker Ray Sansom abused his position by taking a six-figure job at his hometown college.

“From this point on, we’ll be calling witnesses,” State Attorney Willie Meggs said at the Leon County Courthouse.

Troxler: Sansom predicts he will be found “clean, innocent.” And, what the heck, maybe he will be. This is Florida.

The trouble for State Rep. Sansom (R-Destin) began on what should have been a Very Good Day. After all, how often do you get sworn in as speaker of the House and find out you’ve been selected for a $110,000 a year job? Not only that, but the job is a newly created position pretty much tailor-made for you, at the community college you once attended, and to which you just steered $25 million in state funds, even though only $1 million was in the original appropriation. But wait, it gets better.

Although college officials dispute it, public records show that the airport facility Northwest Florida State College plans to build with tax money secured by House Speaker Ray Sansom is the same hangar Sansom’s friend wanted for his jet business…

Indeed, the hangar that [Developer Jay] Odom had proposed using $6-million in state money to build is virtually the same as what Northwest Florida State plans to build with $6-million Sansom obtained during the 2007 legislative session.

There’s one other little problem (that we know of so far).

[…]

Citigroup Using Bailout Money to Buy $50 Mil Jet

Jon Ponder

Is it time to sharpen the guillotines yet?

Beleaguered Citigroup is upgrading its mile-high club with a brand-new $50 million corporate jet – only this time, it’s the taxpayers who are getting screwed.

Even though the bank’s stock is as cheap as a gallon of gas and it’s burning through a $45 billion taxpayer-funded rescue, the airhead execs pushed through the purchase of a new Dassault Falcon 7X, according to a source familiar with the deal.

The French-made luxury jet seats up to 12 in a plush interior with leather seats, sofas and a customizable entertainment center, according to Dassault’s sales literature. It can cruise 5,950 miles before refueling and has a top speed of 559 mph.

There are just nine of these top-of-the-line models in the United States, with Dassault’s European factory churning out three to four 7Xs a month.

Citigroup decided to get its new wings two years ago, when the financial-services giant was flush with cash, but it still intends to take possession of the jet this year despite its current woes, the source said.

The bank owns two 10-year-old Falcon 900EXs that are reportedly for sale.

P&G Only Advertiser to Go Near Rick Warren’s New Venture

Trish

Follow Warren and you, too, can end up like this.

Today is the big launch of Pastor Rick Warren’s “multimedia platform.” A new web site, www.purposedriven.com, new magazine, “Purpose Driven Connection,” an online community, DVDs, you name it, thanks to Readers Digest, Rick is CASHING IN, BABY.

RDA President-CEO Mary Berner said Purpose Driven Connection is much more than a magazine. She sees the quarterly — which makes its debut today after a year and a half of planning — as just one piece of a network, and that readers become members, not subscribers.

“We’re not just launching a magazine; we’re launching a multimedia, multiplatform community,” she said. “That is absolutely at the core of what our strategy is globally and in the U.S.”

Of course, the faithful aren’t getting anything for free.

For an annual fee of $29.99, members receive the magazine, four spiritual DVDs, four workbooks and access to a social-networking website that aims to be a Christian Facebook. The magazine will also be sold in retail stores such as Walmart for $9.99, and congregations get a discounted rate of $19.99 for the entire package.

It’s nothing but blue skies — and dollar signs — ahead for America’s pastor. Oh wait, is that a storm cloud?

Purpose Driven Connection “could appeal to a variety of advertisers,” said Stephen Carlson, media director for Publicis Groupe’s Spark Communications, part of Starcom Mediavest Group, which also owns Starcom, the agency of record for Procter & Gamble.

“Inspirational lifestyle could be a big fit for a lot of people,” he said. “The community has a big following, and if you could connect with that community, there is an opportunity to sell a lot of products.”

Mr. Carlson noted, however, that “there are some things you’d have to give a heads up” about; for example, Mr. Warren supported California’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage — and that this might turn off some advertisers.

In the debut magazine issue, Procter & Gamble is the only mainstream brand to advertise. It bought a two-page spread promoting its Children’s Safe Drinking Water effort. All other advertisers were Christian organizations or Mr. Warren’s own products.

Here’s a very safe bet: a boycott on Proctor & Gamble before nightfall.

Florida Republican Vows to Block Bailout

Trish
Mica and his quite natural-looking rug

Floridians don’t expect much from Rep. John Mica (R-Winter Park). After all, this is the guy who pitched a tantrum and stormed out of the room when he realized he couldn’t sit in the big chairman’s chair anymore. It was 2006 and the Democrats had taken control of the House, forcing Mica to forfeit the number one position on the Transportation Committee.

More recently, John risked losing his toupee on camera when he head-butted an ABC reporter at the Republican national convention. The guy had tried to ask Mica questions as he exited the big Tom DeLay lobbyist-funded soiree.

But even with low expectations for this jerk, I am appalled at the constituent email that arrived today.

As Congress embarks on its 111th session, I want to keep you posted on some of my activities and some of the current challenges we are attempting to address in Washington.

It was my honor to be elected for another two year term as the Republican Leader of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Note: Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.) is the committee’s chair. Mica is only the ranking Republican. I don’t want you to be confused, although Mica might.

Mica seems to have missed the memo about post- partisanship

With a significant portion of the proposed economic stimulus package directed to job creation through infrastructure projects, our efforts continue to keep the measure from being a spending free-for-all. Currently transportation and infrastructure funding will be primarily limited to projects that can be “shovel ready” or under construction within 120 days.

Florida has submitted $6.9 billion in projects that fall into that category. However, only about $90 billion of the proposed $825 billion economic stimulus package is devoted to infrastructure. The transportation and infrastructure portion of the House stimulus proposal includes $30 billion for highway construction; $31 billion for federal and other public infrastructure; $19 billion for clean water, flood control and environmental restoration investments; and $10 billion for mass transit and rail.

It is estimated that every billion dollars in infrastructure spending creates between 28,000 and 30,000 jobs. Approximately 2.7 million jobs could be created with about one-tenth of the proposed package. Having been disappointed with both bailout measures, I believe my vote in opposition was appropriate.

Well I don’t. Job creation is indeed one — and only one — aspect of the economic recovery plan. For Mica, it ends there.

Additionally, I was pleased to name two new Republican Leaders* to vacant Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee leadership positions. Representative Frank LoBiondo of New Jersey will lead the U.S. Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee and Representative Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida will head the Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management Subcommittee.

With a new Congress, a new Administration and significant challenges, I am ready to roll up my sleeves and get things moving. Please know as we begin this new year and Congressional session, I welcome hearing from you.

Mica seems to have missed the memo about post-partisanship. To him, the world is made up Ds and Rs, and you’re either with the Rs or you are to be hunted down and shot like the rotten traitor bastard you are.

This bully and jerk had very weak opposition from the Democrats in 2008, but 2010 is just around the corner and I sincerely hope we do better. John Mica’s Bush-era sentiments are indeed shovel-ready.

* Random capitalization is Mica’s

Suing to Keep Donors Secret, Prop 8er Claims to ‘Have Nothing to Hide’

Jon Ponder

“We have nothing to hide here,” Frank Schubert, campaign manager for Proposition 8, said to the Los Angeles Times, apparently without irony. “We are really trying to protect the privacy of people.”

The real reason for this lawsuit may be nothing but old fashioned greed.

Schubert, who has a gay sister but who nonetheless commissioned Prop 8’s scurrilously false ad campaign, is referring to a lawsuit filed by anti-gay groups that seeks to overturn California laws that require that the identities of donors to political campaigns be made public.

The purpose of the law is to prevent money-laundering. The fact that the donor disclosures exposed a few bigots to their customers, colleagues and neighbors is a bonus.

Anti-gay operatives say the law must be overturned because their donors have received death threats and their homes have been vandalized. But these incidents have not been well-documented, and apparently no arrests have been made.

On the other hand, there have been many highly publicized incidents in which donors were shamed and scorned and lost their jobs when their secret antipathy toward gay people was revealed.

What’s really going on with this lawsuit, however, is likely nothing more than greed. Anti-gay groups have raised hundreds of millions of dollars by fanning the flames of homophobia. With this lawsuit, professional anti-gay operatives and consultants are seeking to give their donors cover so that they can contribute to the next anti-gay ballot campaign operation in secret.

State Attorney General Jerry Brown, a Democrat, and the Fair Political Practices Commission, California’s ethics agency, are fighting the lawsuit, and legal analysts say it has little likelihood of success.