all day long this sentence has been nagging at me:

“Boy, you guys sure like to talk about smutty governors, don’t you?”

why?

because that was the whole point of having the spitzer news show up on this monday, wasn’t it?

for the bush administration

the spitzer “affair” is just like

- the arrest of the “dirty bomber”

- or that of the miami voodoo cult of haitians,

- or that of the “we’ll cut up the brooklyn bridge with propane torches” gang,

- or the admin flashing “code orange” every time there was a lesser political embarrassment looming.

that’s what the release of spitzer “affair” info at this time is all about –

turning heads

misdirecting.

while the defense department publishes a report that says that a central underpinning of the invasion of iraq had not a smidgen of info to validate it,

the nation is focusing on where and when gov spitzer pulled out his dick.

if i were spitzer’s defense attorney

i would make some claims right now,

and i would make them publicly, loudly, and repeatedly

- that the news story of the gov’s behavior was released to the news media around monday mar 10

by the bush justice department

for the specific purpose of drawing media attention away from

the far more important story that the bush administration,

and v.p. dick cheney in particular

had knowingly, and repeatedly, lied to the american people

about a collusion between saddam husein and the saudi al quaeda in pre-invasion iraq.

- and that the bush administration,

deliberately targeted a democratic governor

using its self-ordained, and illegal, powers of eavesdropping on phone conversations, e-mails exchanges, and bank accounts

which that admin had claimed were to be used solely for the purpose of fighting terrorism,

for political purposes.

if i were spitzer i would not resign without a fight.

and in addition to the above arguments,

i would publicly offer to resign,

only in the company of

sen david vitter and sen larry craig,

en masse.

let’s see how the bush admin likes them apples -

and how much more damage to the justice dept/fbi this administration will engage in

or how much more damage doj shepard mukasey will allow.

Best LA Views

On the Pentagon report, there is a huge gap. It’s the same gap that has been in everything I’ve seen so far. That gap is the “intelligence” touted by Powell at the UN – the “source” that “gave” the information about Hussein training al-qaeda.

The gap is the torture-to-Cheney’s-spec of al-Libi.

All the pages from all the sources, and no one talks about that specific allegation made by Powell. No one talks about the torture success there – the ‘non-ticking, no time bomb, but we need false information so we can go bomb babies and send American soldiers to be blown up’ success of the torture of al-Libi.

Com’on. Where are the brave men and women who should stand up and, if only behind a screen with altered voice, take their patriotic bow and reap their just praises for that episode?

Every death in Iraq, every torture, every orphan, the destruction of the American military – where are the brave patriots, lined up to get their medals for that?

I mean, surely those paragons of literary excellence – Feith, Tenet, Goldsmith – surely they’ve raced to explain who can claim the glory?

Yeah, right.

It does give the telecoms special privileges. But it also gets to the question of whether or not accepting an authorization from the President’s lawyer can be considered good faith.

Boy, you guys sure like to talk about smutty governors, don’t you?

We like to talk more about smutty DOJ who is using banking data and the US Attorneys as tools to prosecute Democrats.

Bank Data Is Sifted by U.S. in Secret to Block Terror

Targeting bad Democrats

Amnesty is essential for the Bush administration not only to protect itself after illegal wiretapping, but to perpetuate the platform they have setup now to use Herbert Hoover’s method of taking down political opponents.

Glenn writes:

As this week’s red-district election to Congress of anti-telecom-amnesty candidate Bill Foster demonstrates, they’re not doing these things because it’s politically necessary. They’re doing it because more than enough Democrats believe in the virtues of telecom amnesty and warrantless eavesdropping — just as they believe in the continued occupation of Iraq, the abolition of habeas corpus, the “enhanced interrogation techniques” authorized by Military Commissions Act, concealing Bush’s illegal eavesdropping programs, and a long array of other radical Bush policies that now have bipartisan Congressional support.

LOVED this story too!

The Justice Department announced guidelines Monday to prevent the sort of conflict-of-interest accusations that followed its decision to steer a private contract worth tens of millions of dollars to former Attorney General John Ashcroft to monitor a large out-of-court settlement.

The announcement came on the eve of scheduled congressional testimony by Ashcroft to explain the circumstances of the no-bid 18-month contract, worth $28 million to $52 million, that calls for him to monitor a settlement between the government and an Indiana medical supply company.

Until now, the Justice Department has allowed individual federal prosecutors who do not work in Washington to select outside lawyers to monitor out-of-court settlements involving large companies, with the companies paying the monitors’ fees.

Under the new guidelines, the monitors must now be chosen by a committee and approved in Washington by the office of the deputy attorney general, the department’s No. 2 official.

The timing of the announcement appears intended to undercut some of the criticism of Ashcroft and the department that is expected to emerge Tuesday at a hearing of the House Judiciary

More here:

http://www.iht.com/articles/20…..hcroft.php

Enjoy the ocean view…

O/T Did you read Lichtblau today re FISA?

Instead of blanket immunity, the tentative proposal would give the U.S. courts special authorization to hear classified evidence and decide whether the phone companies should be held liable. House Democrats have been working out the details of their proposal in the last few days, officials said, and expect to take it to the House floor for a vote on Thursday.

The Democrats’ proposal would fall far short of what the White House has been seeking.

President George W. Bush has been insisting for months that Congress give retroactive immunity to the phone companies, calling it a vital matter of national security. The Senate gave him what he wanted in a vote last month that also broadened the government’s eavesdropping powers.

But House Democratic leaders have balked at the idea.

More here:

http://www.iht.com/articles/20…..11fisa.php

IDA Does it Again on Iraq

Got to drive in to work. Read you all later. EW, it’s supposed to be 73 & sunny in S.M. after the morning clouds burn off. Enjoy!

your persistence is a boon to us all.