Gonzales Aide to Take Fifth
Attorney General Gonzales’ senior counsel (and DOJ liaison to the White House) Monica Goodling recently began a leave of absence:
WASHINGTON (AP) - Monica Goodling, a senior Justice Department official involved in the firings of federal prosecutors, will refuse to answer questions at upcoming Senate hearings, citing Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, her lawyer said Monday.
Gonzales’ [...]
Gratuitous Video Feed
Donald Fagen’s “New Frontier” pokes fun at the Cold War paranoia of his youth.
Shakespearean Daily Diss
“It cannot but turn him into a notable contempt.”
—Twelfth Night, 2.5.203-4
How’s That Surge Workin’?
Not very well, it seems. Not today.
BAGHDAD - Roadside bombs killed five U.S. soldiers in Iraq Sunday, including four in a single strike in a volatile province northeast of the capital, the military said.
In Baghdad, gunmen on rooftops opened fire on Iraqi soldiers, prompting fierce fighting in the narrow streets and alleys of one [...]
Why Fire U.S. Attorneys, Anyway?
McClatchy puts it together:
Last April, while the Justice Department and the White House were planning the firings, [Karl] Rove gave a speech in Washington to the Republican National Lawyers Association. He ticked off 11 states that he said could be pivotal in the 2008 elections. Bush has appointed new U.S. attorneys in nine of them [...]
No Budget Left Behind
The only agenda Bush ever had has been the dismantling of the federal budget to enrich cronies. Blogger Mandevilla connects the dots nicely in the matter of the so-called No Child Left Behind Act, tracking down the Bush buddies enriched while our children’s educations suffer. Follow the money in part six of the series:
The Associated [...]
Of Course
Attorney General Gonzales tried to portray himself as out of the loop in the matter of the fired US attorneys. The Friday news dump says otherwise. Not every word that Gonzales speaks is necessarily a lie, but that’s the way to bet.
The Nov. 27 meeting, in which the attorney general and at least five top [...]
Get In Line
Oil lobbyist (then Bush Deputy Secretary of the Interior, then lobbyist again, of course) pleads guilty to lying to Congress:
Mr. Griles entered the plea shortly after 11 a.m. Eastern time at a hearing before United States District Judge Ellen Huvelle. Sentencing was set for June 26.
Under a plea agreement with Mr. Griles, the Justice [...]
Gratuitous Video Feed
Carlos Santana with John Lee Hooker: “The Healer”
What We’ve Lost
On the subject of lost morality, the Red Cross isn’t afraid to call American interrogation techniques torture:
The history of participation by psychologists and psychiatrists in national security researches into interrogation, mind control and torture, continues apace. What is so striking is the vast scope of the program and the involvement of prominent behavioral scientists and [...]
