TOP BUSH AND ROVE AIDE, DAN BARTLETT JUMPS SHIP

The White House, March 13th, 2007...

Q Dan, can you talk a little bit about, by the White House's own account, Senator Domenici at some point went to the President and urged him to fire the U.S. attorney in New Mexico, specifically? What did the President do with that information, after Senator Domenici asked him? And what did the President say to Attorney General Gonzales, when they did speak about this?

MR. BARTLETT:It's important to back up a bit. The issue of U.S. attorneys, as many of you know, these U.S. attorneys serve at the discretion of the President. Many of these U.S. attorneys have served four-year terms. There was a management review process and there was a determination made to remove seven U.S. attorneys for cause. And the members of the Justice Department have been sharing that information, the particulars on each of those cases, as to why those U.S. attorneys were removed, which is completely within the managerial discretion of the Attorney General and something that the President supported.

Particularly, as you can imagine, at the White House, when it comes to complaints, we receive a lot of complaints, whether it be from members of Congress, state leaders, local leaders. Oftentimes that is the job description of a White House employee, is to field complaints. That is not limited to U.S. attorneys. And over the course of several years we have received complaints about U.S. attorneys, particularly when it comes to election fraud cases -- not just New Mexico, but also Wisconsin and Pennsylvania...."

Washington D.C.--Long-term presidential adviser Dan Bartlett has announced he will no longer give counsel to the president after July 4th. His reasons are the same as those of convicted former-congressman Bob Ney (ex-R-Oh.): "I have to take-care of my family now." He didn't sound scared, not at all, and neither does Bartlett when he says it.

This is coming the day after congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.) asked the BBC for former U.S. Attorney (like the pattern here?) Tim Griffin's e-mails on "caging" techniques that caused thousands of Black Americans to be stricken from voting rolls, generally having their votes challenged and disqualified. What we could have here is a nationwide attempt that successfully stole the 2004 elections through disenfranchisement. There were serious questions in 2000 as well, though any serious investigations have yet to occur on that front. Greg Palast writes in a mass e-mail I received today that:

Tim Griffin, formerly right hand man to Karl Rove, resigned Thursday as US Attorney for Arkansas hours after BBC Television ‘Newsnight’ reported that Congressman John Conyers requested the network’s evidence on Griffin’s involvement in ‘caging voters.’ Greg Palast, reporting for BBC Newsnight, obtained a series of confidential emails from the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign. In these emails, Griffin, then the GOP Deputy Communications Director, transmitted so-called ‘caging lists’ of voters to state party leaders. ... [John]Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee investigating the firing of US Attorneys, met Thursday evening in New York with Palast. After reviewing key documents, Conyers stated that, despite Griffin’s resignation, “We’re not through with him by any means.” ('US Attorney Resigns Following Conyers’ Request for BBC Documents,' Greg Palast, 06.01.2007)

Yes, it's dueling e-mails on the internet these days, and Tim Griffin sent some of his own out containing general information on voter caging to a satirical website that had a similar Internet address as the Bush campaign's. The results are already explosive with two prominent Bush appointments dropping two days in-a-row, it being a new record for the administration and the GOP. The rest of the media in the United States don't want you to know this, and they're doing their best to white-out the caging scandal with Lindsay Lohan's drinking-binge, but it's not working.

Surely Bartlett is leaving because Karl Rove ordered these caging techniques--he was once employed by Rove's consulting firm, and joined the Bush inner-circle in 1993. He sees the writing on the wall. This man is only 36, but looks 47. I look younger than he does. Luckily, he has a family that prosecutors will be able to dangle over his head (like the fact that he won't see them for 20-30 years if he doesn't start talking). But it's going to be Tim Griffin who talks first, as House Judiciary Chairman Conyers will surely be issuing him a subpoena within the next two weeks.

Serving as counselor to the president, Bartlett also worked in Bush's first campaign as governor of Texas and two subsequent presidential races. Before joining Bush, Bartlett worked for presidential adviser Karl Rove's company back in Texas, an Austin-based political consulting firm. Bartlett graduated from the University of Texas with a bachelor's degree in political science. (FOX/AP, 06.01.2007)

You know, besides Charles Whitman, that's the worst strike against Austin yet, how sad. Bartlett and Rove are pretty close to the president--they're the keys to the kingdom of all the crimes committed under the authorization of George W. Bush. Bartlett's former boss Karl Rove will be following him shortly on the subpoena list, but you never know: he might precede him.

They'll all plead the Fifth amendment on numerous points in their testimony and all will claim ignorance as Attorney General Gonzales has. We'll be seeing a lot of people claiming memory-loss regarding specific incidents, conversations, and evidence contradicting previous statements. How do I know this? Because I'm psychic, of course.

Republican incumbents will have no basis to complain since the evidence is already ample to investigate, but they will anyway as we all know. Part of the reason is that this is familiar territory: Watergate, Iran-Contra, the war in Iraq, warrantless surveillance, the continued suspension of habeus corpus, and more. The RNC--and the GOP generally--act very much like Bolsheviks, and it's time they were collared by the rule of law.

Again, let's get back to Dan Bartlett and his family, who he seems to suddenly want to be with more:

Bartlett said he was leaving for no other reason than to get a job in the private sector and concentrate more on his family. He has retained Washington lawyer Robert Barnett to help him in his search. "I've had competing families. And unfortunately, the Bush family has prevailed too many times, and it's high time for the Bartlett family to finally prevail," Bartlett said. (Reuters, 06.01.2007)

Well, that's kind of mean. He decided this after 13 years and nine months? Surely, something prompted it. And you know, I always get a lawyer when I'm looking for a new job--especially if I thought I might be making license plates soon. Wouldn't you? Sure you would...

Reuters today: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSWBT00707320070601?src=060107_1507_DOUBLEFEATURE_

FOX/AP Today: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,276998,00.html

Greg Palast, the last living American journalist spotted this year: www.gregpalast.com

Dan Bartlett, letting-on about more than he suspected on March 13th, 2007: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070313-4.html

YET ANOTHER GOP SHOE FALLS: ABRAMOFF-LINKED CALIFORNIA REP. JOHN DOOLITTLE

Oakton, Virginia--This must be a bad day to be a Republican, but what day isn't being one of the cursed? Today, it was John Doolittle's house being raided by the FBI, so it appears that the Bush administration didn't fire everyone they needed to, and that Jack Abramoff is still talking to federal investigators. You've got to love these prosecutors--they've been the firewall protecting our liberties against the GOP and this administration for some time, and especially after 9/11. No, they're not perfect, but many of them have been exemplary.

Today, in Oakton:

The search on the Doolittles’ home came the same day that Kevin Ring, a former Doolittle aide who went on to work for Abramoff, abruptly resigned his law firm job without explanation. Doolittle’s ties to Abramoff have been under investigation in the ongoing probe that already sent one former Republican congressman, Bob Ney of Ohio, to jail on a guilty plea to charges of conspiracy and making false statements. Doolittle is a Northern California conservative and ally of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. (AP, 04.20.2007)

Or maybe it was Doolittle's former aide, Kevin Ring who squealed? Both? Mugsy don't like it. Expect many-many more of these stories. The GOP seems intent on assuring a Democratic majority in the House for the next-twenty years, or why would they hamstring themselves so badly? Even Spiro T. Agnew was smarter than this, but they thought their majority would last long enough that they could escape investigation. A landslide occurred in our midterms, and they couldn't steal another election, it's that simple. People were watching the polls closer in 2006 as well. The public had had enough.

What we will learn once all of this has ended--in ten years--is that this really was a widespread criminal conspiracy throughout the body of the GOP. This is the third time in 35 years that they've attempted to subvert the Constitution they are all sworn to uphold. This period goes way-beyond that, and into the realms of gutter criminality.

Rep. John Doolittle, in measured but defiant terms, said Friday that he won't resign his House of Representatives seat and will battle the federal government if it brings charges of political corruption in connection with his and his wife's relationship with convicted super lobbyist Jack Abramoff. "If there is anything we should have learned from the Duke (University) lacrosse case, it is that the destruction of the reputations of innocent people can occur when the government, the press and the public jump to unfounded conclusions," Doolittle, R-Calif., said in prepared remarks opening a telephone news conference. (McClatchy Newspapers, 04.20.2007)

Except who said the Duke players are innocent (of holding a woman against-her-will in a bathroom, making her think she would be murdered...) except them, their lawyers, and their wealthy parents? That story isn't over yet because you and them say so.This should all be handled by our criminal justice system, one that has proven itself to be more loyal to the common good than most elected officials currently occupying the White House and Capitol Hill.

I'm actually proud of many of them, and would like to take this moment and saying thank-you to all these professionals who have refused to allow the investigative process to be criminally-tainted! Yes, it's people within the bureaucracy who have been trying to stop the Bush administration and their criminal fellow travelers in Congress. What will we find in the Supreme Court?

Future generations are going to be shocked at the period we're living in, and we should give them the appropriate follow-up: several decades of radical reforms that rollback the influence of Big business and finance.

AP Today: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18202794

McClatchy Newspapers Today: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/nation/17110700.htm

FIRST CONGRESSIONAL SUBPOENAS ISSUED OVER FIRINGS OF US ATTORNEYS

Washington D.C.--Finally, finally, finally, the Democrats get some guts. Not one committee member of the GOP was present for this move on the House Judiciary committee, but that's because they know that the game is over.

Nobody is impressed with this "symbolic gesture." For at least four years (longer for Foley), the former GOP majority in Congress had obstructed justice in the investigations surrounding the Bush administration, as well as within their own ranks: Mark Foley, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, and Bob Ney are just a few examples of this fact.

The US Attorney who convicted former congressman Cunningham was part of the mass of firings by President Bush (Attorney General Gonzales will appoint new ones "indefinitely" under a law the GOP had hidden in a renewal of the Patriot Act at the end of the 109th Congress).

But, the subpoenas aren't for anyone in the Bush administration--yet. They're being issued to question all of the US Attorneys who were fired, to get their side of the story. We've already begun to hear about some of what happened from former US Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico.

He has stated bluntly he will tell the committee the names of two GOP congressmen who pressured him to investigate a Democratic congresswoman under oath. It's going to be pretty hilarious to see their reactions. They'll be the next-ones being subpoenaed.

Democrats contend the removals were politically motivated. They say a flaw in the Patriot Act allows the president to sidestep Senate confirmation of U.S. attorneys in some cases. "Is this an effort to diminish the independence of the people who uphold our laws? It's very troubling to me that there seems to be this undercurrent here," said Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif). She heads the subcommittee on commercial and administrative law. Republicans said the hearing was a case of "political grandstanding." The committee's top Republican, Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, said the GOP would not help "provide votes for political subpoenas." (AP, 03.02.2007)

Funny, the vote was 7-0, so he must be lying again and the subpoenas are going through. After all, you're not driving the bus now.

Blather all you want GOP, but the truth is coming-out. Former US Attorneys "Carol Lam of California, David Iglesias of New Mexico, H.E. "Bud" Cummins of Arkansas and John McKay of Seattle" (ibid) are all going to testify. Corrupt congresspersons can expect the worst, and the GOP is going to get their jaw-jacked. The committee meeting on the subject lasted less than five minutes, which is impressive.

In the case of Iglesias, he was never told of why he was fired, but he had a pretty good idea why:

Two months after the firings first began to make waves on Capitol Hill, it has also become clear that most of the prosecutors were overseeing significant public-corruption investigations at the time they were asked to leave. Four of the probes target Republican politicians or their supporters, prosecutors and other officials said. (Washington Post, 02.19.2007)

Yeah, I know, the laws don't work in your favor, so you violate, obstruct, and change them. If Democrats are guilty, investigate and convict them too. It's indefensible in any developed nation that claims to be one of law and order to have these firings.

These claims of upholding the law no longer have any weight with the GOP that they used to, and this is just one example of why. You hire a man, and he tries to do the job you hired him for--what the hell were they thinking? Jaw-jack time is coming, yet it's really all about upholding the law of the land.

The Washington Post 02.19.2007:

http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/57249.html

AP: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070301/ap_on_go_co/congress_prosecutors_7

OH, DEMON ALCOHOL: BOB NEY GETS 30 MONTHS IN THE PEN

"I will continue to take full responsibility, accept the consequences and battle the demons of addiction that are within me."
--Bob Ney at today's sentencing. (AP, 01.19.2007)


Washington D.C.--Corrupt former Ohio congressman Bob Ney was sentenced to 30 months in a Federal pen at Morgantown, West Virginia by U.S. District Judge Ellen SegalHuvelle. The sentence was harsher than the prosecution or the defense had wagered. Judge Huvelle noted:

The sentence was harsher than recommended by prosecutors or Ney's lawyers, Huvelle said, because Ney had violated the trust place on him as a public official. "Both your constituents and the public trusted you to represent them honestly," she said. Ney apologized to his family and constituents during a brief speech to the judge. (AP, 01.19.2007)

This is pretty hard to disagree with, but Ney's still taking the "devil made me do it" defense--it wasn't the gall, it was demon alcohol. It wasn't his greed, or that he was a lowly-criminal behind his expensive suits and seersuckers--it was demon alcohol. It wasn't the fact that Mark Foley was a calculated pedophile who tried to get-away-with-it for years-and-years--it was demon alcohol.

This has happened before with the GOP, many-many times. We know "the decider" has had an alcohol problem, and probably still does. YET, White House Press Sec. Tony Snow remarked that Ney "isn't a reflection of the Republican party." Well, yeah, except he is, and so is the President, Vice President--hell, even Rumsfeld had a battle with the booze. Space literally doesn't permit this author from listing all the examples, but the President will suffice. We might be finding-out more details of his early-1970s DUI arrest soon.

Why do they drink so much? Nerves? Not getting any leg? Fear of exposure on other crimes and corruption? Ney's doctor said that his drinking worsened in 2001.

OK, the events of September 11th, 2001 could have contributed to this, but wasn't it really the GOP's moment of glory? They will never have those approval-ratings in twenty-years. Ney has past business-ties to Saudi Arabia (a security company). Did he have an insight into 9/11 that others didn't? He was Tom Delay's assistant. Surely, he had a bird's eye view of a lot. Considering the ongoing criminality under the GOP majority, he might have had good-reason to drink, and heavily. His nerves couldn't take it, he just wasn't the sociopath that many of his peers were (and are).

Why? Why, when the GOP had the White House and one House of Congress? The next-year, they had both Houses, and even the Supreme Court. What drove Bob Ney to drink more during this period? Was it knowledge of extraordinary crimes committed by the White House? It had to have been a knowledge of a multitude of things that the public still doesn't know. He was coping-with an external-pressure.

So what was it? It must be major. Do a google search, and you will find another oddity: many of the article headlines fail to mention Ney's party affiliation, while some articles don't mention it at all. This has occurred before, during the elections regarding Lieberman, and the scandal surrounding Mark Foley. The reasons for this kind of behavior should be clear. It was the booze, but they'll carry him back to Old Virginny regardless.

Verdict Please:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070119/ap_on_go_co/ney_corruption

Bloomberg:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=afqAImMOqAP0&refer=us

How it All Began:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1121052scanlon1.html

Bob Ney resigns today

Washington D.C.--Today was Bob Ney's (R-Oh.) last day as a congressman.

It's a mixed-bag situation: Ney is one of three Republicans in Congress who voted-against the Patriot Act in 2001.

Ney also voted against normalizing trade relations with China in 2000.

All-in-all, he's a moderate Republican in an ocean of GOP-Bolshevism. But, he's still corrupt. He's the one member of Congress so far who has admitted criminal acts in the Abramoff scandal involving illegal lobbying. One has to wonder if he's the fall-guy they needed, enabling the others (less-moderate incumbents?) in the GOP who haven't been served a subpoena to breath free-air a little longer.

Or at least long enough to keep protecting George W. Bush and his administration as well as all the other crooks in Congress (counting Democrats too) who are obstructing justice by not seriously investigating the rampant criminality that has been a hallmark of this presidency. I'm hoping several Lieberman-like Democrats get caught in the Abramoff net, like Hillary Clinton.

The timing of Ney's resignation is strange, it must have been touch-and-go whether the Bush administration would still need him to retain a majority after November. Apparently, they know something at the GOP that we all don't (a different tactic to steal the elections again?). Maybe they expect a domestic insurrection over this election? The third time's a charm.

WHY HASN'T OHIO REP. BOB NEY RESIGNED YET?

Washington D.C.--That's a rhetorical question.

The answer is obvious: the GOP will do anything, and I mean anything to keep their majority. Why? To continue shielding the Bush administration. The Democrats don't really want a genuine house-cleaning either because most of them are dirty too.

They are all basically complicit with the Bush administration, and bipartisan goof on their part. Cold busted. The Bush years will be remembered in history for being the time when the public finally had the scales fall from its collective-eyes, and discovered that their political system needed an overhaul.

Ney isn't resigning because Bush and Cheney need him for that margin majority. They have to have to avoid prison, and the fear is becoming palpable throughout the political culture. Even the pundits and ideologues like Bill O'Reilly seem more restrained lately. That's because they had better shut-up. Washington DC's culture has always been one of blackmail, and this whole affair with Foley is a cream dream for politics junkies. Why it didn't occur during Clinton is beyond me, but who cares? It's happening now.

BOB NEY CONFESSES FOR THIRD TIME: "OK, THIS TIME YOU'VE REALLY GOT ME."

Washington D.C.--Bob Ney says that he's resigning. This is news? Ten year olds knew this. He plead guilty? The evidence was well-known, though everyone should have due process, right? Not to the GOP, unless it involves themselves. At least they're consistent on this point. Like Mark Foley, Ney's considering getting treatment for alcoholism.

Let's see...we have George W. Bush, Winston Churchill, Dick Cheney, Boris Yeltsin, Ted Bundy, Tip O'Neill, J. Edgar Hoover, Leonid Brehznev, George H.W. Bush, Spiro Agnew, Nikita Khruschev, Mark Foley, Herman Goering, Bob Ney, Richard Nixon...I could go on-and-on. When you know that you are a pig who is forcing American families into-the-streets, you would drink too. A whole lot.

We know where this leads: pedophilia, because Mark Foley said so. Are those gin-blossoms on Dennis Hastert's nose? What's most-irksome is, yesterday, Ney claimed he wasn't going to resign! Apparently, he sobered-up and reality sank in...then he had another drink.

Is Convicted GOP Governor Bob Taft an Alcoholic? http://governor.ohio.gov/releases/060306Prevention.htm

Detox this:http://tailrank.com/616032/Rehab-The-last-refuge-of-scoundrels

The Political culture of 'the Hooch':
http://www.health24.com/mind/Sexual_dysfunction/1284-1300,34254.asp

Newt Gingrinch, the best Literary reviewer since Poe (not really).There is
no-way he read some of these, but he's had the time. Here's to him having more:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A27WFYW9ZJ5DN1/ref=cm_aya_pdp_profile/102-6113671-6488152

Ney Bob! Ney Bob! Ney Bob! : Ney finally admits he's been lying for a living

O-HI-O--Bob Ney has plead-guilty to taking bribes from Jack Abramoff, because Federal prosecutors have the goods on him. On August 8th, Ney was asked/told by House Majority Leader John Boehner not to run for reelection.

This would mean that Boehner knew full-well of Ney's guilt during the investigations and didn't notify prosecutors. At least Ney did it all for his family, especially the free meals and the golf trip to Scotland. [Ed., 09.19.2008-But did someone have the common decency to get him laid?] Maybe Sitting Bull is getting his revenge after all.

The Democrats will probably win a majority thanks to all the convictions on the other side of the aisle. His hairpiece still looks worse than William Shatner's, which is saying a lot. Just wait, more are going to fall.

Bob Ney: "Hey man, I got a FAMILY!!"

Washington D.C.--And so did concentration camp guards, Bobbie. Maybe you never read the minutes from the Nuremburg trials--"I was just following orders", isn't a defense. GOP Rep. Bob Ney (Ohio) is now the third GOP scumbag to go down (pun-intended) because he took-bribes from Jack Abramoff.

The Washington Post's Johnathan Weisman is reporting today that Ney was "urge[d]" by House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Oh.) not to seek reelection.

Well, Bobbie being the kind of moron to take orders regardless of the consequences did just that since being a congressional representative means mindless obedience to people who are going to fuck you.

It didn't take much persuasion, they just did what all employers do to Americans: they held his family and their future over-his-head, ..."reminding him that with a son in college and a daughter nearing college age, he will need money," according to several congressional Republican aides.

If he lost his House seat for the party, Boehner is said to have cautioned, Ney could not expect a lucrative career on K Street to pay those tuition bills, along with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees piling up." How nice it was for him to sweeten-the-pot, except it was with corn syrup. Like a "good" American, Bobbie bent-over and took it. Hell, we all do.

In his statement issued to the press, he said, “Ultimately this decision came down to my family. I must think of them first, and I can no longer put them through this ordeal." I honestly think this poor dumb schmuck with the horrible hairpiece really did think of his family. Too much, because he put himself and his family above the common good, and the obvious interests of his constituents and this nation. This is hardly unique, most Americans think this way, and it's erroneous and amoral.

Do I think Ney's guilty? Absolutely, he's even had staff-members being subpoenaed about whether-or-not he took free meals (man, these guys come-cheap!) and a Golf trip to Scotland (sound familiar?) from lobbyists.

Wine me, dine me...you know the rest.

This blog wishes the GOP luck in finding someone in Ohio who isn't tainted to take Ney's place, they'll need it. All of this is about distancing liabilities like Bob Ney from the GOP, but when they're all corrupt, where do they turn? On each other--naturally--which is good. Calling another Willy Lohmann, death of a congressman. A-men.