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February 25, 2006
GOP Prepares Domestic Detention Centers
Abu Ghraib, U.S.A.?
Maybe. Is it any surprise that our Crazy New Order just gets crazier?
Consortiumnews.com, has pieced together two typical Bush-era slices of news that, together, illustrate a frightening (though perhaps not wholly unexpected) situation: the Republican-controlled U.S. government is making preparations to detain thousands of Americans at army bases across the country.
Crazy? Ten years ago...perhaps. Today? The possibility concerns me, but hardly seems inconceivable.
On February 6, Senator Lindsey Graham lent his support to Bush's illegal wiretapping program during a Senate Judiciary hearing (see partial transcript from the Washington Post, archived here if that link goes dead), telling Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that he believed President Bush "has not only the right, but the duty, in my opinion, to pursue Fifth Column movements... I stand by this President’s ability, inherent to being Commander in Chief, to find out about Fifth Column movements, and I don’t think you need a warrant to do that."
Fifth Column, the term for individuals working within a country to further an invading enemy's military and political aims, originated during the Spanish Civil War.
Of course, today, anyone who questions the actions of the Bush administration is labeled an Al Qaeda sympathizer.
So, add to this the news that, two weeks before Graham's statement, Halliburton's Kellogg Brown & Root unit announced it had landed a $385 million contract to build detention centers at unused U.S. military bases.
"The contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs," reads a Halliburton press release (archived here, in case the link ever goes dead).
"New programs"? Uh...
"The contract may also provide migrant detention support to other U.S. Government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, as well as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency, such as a natural disaster. In the event of a natural disaster, the contractor could be tasked with providing housing for ICE personnel performing law enforcement functions in support of relief efforts."
Next Katrina, housing the homeless need not be a problem!
Keep your eyes and ears open.
Posted by MJuhre at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2006
Rick Santorum's Questionable Bank Transaction
I've no time to conduct any substantial bloggery until at least another week (stay tuned for Culture Freak's March Madness). In the meantime, I suggest you read Will Bunch's investigative story on Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) in The American Prospect.
***
With A Little Help From His Friends
Exclusive: An investigation into the private and public finances of Rick Santorum suggests that the Senate GOP might want to reconsider making him its ethics czar.
By Will Bunch
“In far too many families with young children, both parents are working, when, if they really took an honest look at the budget, they might find they don’t both need to.”
-- U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, in his 2005 book, It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good
***
Bunch took an honest look at Santorum's family and political budgets and discovered some things that could betray the Senator's dream to become the GOP's poster boy on ethics.
Posted by MJuhre at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)
February 17, 2006
The Shot Heard Round the World and the One That Got Away
Cheney's Post-Traumatic Cocktail Disorder
In case you missed it:
After accidentally shooting his friend in the face and chest with a shotgun, rather than accompany him to the hospital like a normal person would, Dick Cheney went back to the house of lobbyist and hunting-party host Katharine Armstrong, and pored himself a drink.
"Armstrong, a longtime friend of the Cheney family, told CNN before the vice president's interview that she never saw Cheney or Whittington 'drink at all on the day of the shooting until after the accident occurred, when the vice president fixed himself a cocktail back at the house.'" [CNN - original - archive (if original disappears)].
Then Cheney ate dinner, with the rest of the hunting party, while his friend lay in the hospital full of birdshot. "[Armstrong] said Cheney stayed 'close but cool' while the agents and medical personnel treated Whittington, then took him by ambulance to the hospital. Later, the hunting group sat down for dinner while Whittington was being treated, receiving updates from a family member at the hospital. Armstrong described Cheney's demeanor during dinner as 'very worried' about Whittington." [AP, via the Atlanta Journal Constitution].
"My demeanor," said Al Franken Show staff member Andy Barr Feb. 16, "had I just shot a friend in the face, could best be described as 'at the hospital eating out of the vending machines.'"
Precisely. Who, but a completely self-absorbed person would have a drink and dinner, rather than accompany their injured friend to the hospital? (Today, Franken posited that either Cheney was too drunk to go to the hospital -- remember, the Secret Service turned local authorities away and told them to come back to question Cheney the next morning -- or "he's just an enormous jerk.")
Was Cheney 'cool' after shooting his friend because he was afraid he'd have heart attack if he got upset, or because his heart has never worked properly, and he just has no emotions or empathy? I truly wonder if Cheney is one of those people who, due to some mild mental illness, is incapable of thinking about anyone but himself.
Was he 'very worried' about his friend, or himself? I have yet to read or hear anything Cheney has said that he is sorry for his mistake
"The image of him falling is something I will never be able to get out of my mind," Cheney said. "I fired, and there's Harry falling. And it was, I'd have to say, one of the worst days of my life, at that moment." [Cheney thinks to self: "I just felt so sorry for myself that I had to go through this."]
"He literally was more concerned about me and the impact on me than he was on the fact that he'd been shot," said Cheney, who visited Whittington in the hospital Sunday before returning to Washington.
[Cheney thinks to self: "And Frankly, so was I."]
Posted by MJuhre at 10:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 16, 2006
Evil Dick: Trigger Happy Cheney Leaked Plame Name
First, read this (Then we connect the dots below):
Cheney's remark on leak may help Libby
By Pete Yost
Associated Press
Published February 16, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney disclosed Wednesday that he has the power to declassify sensitive government information, authority that could set up a criminal defense for his former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
Cheney's disclosure comes a week after reports that Libby testified under oath that he was authorized by superiors in 2003 to disclose highly sensitive prewar information to reporters. The information, about Iraq and alleged weapons of mass destruction, was used by the Bush administration to bolster its case for invading Iraq.
When special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald revealed Libby's assertions to a grand jury that he had been authorized by his superiors to spread sensitive information, the prosecutor did not specify which superiors.
But in an interview on Fox News, Cheney said there is an executive order that gives the vice president, along with the president, the authority to declassify information.
"I have participated in declassification decisions," Cheney said.
A legal expert, former Whitewater independent counsel Robert Ray, said Cheney's television appearance could foreshadow a Libby defense. He said Cheney's ex-chief of staff could point to authorization from his superiors as part of his strategy at trial.
On Oct. 28, Libby was indicted on five counts of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI about how he learned of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame and what he told reporters about it.
A defense that Libby was authorized by superiors to leak sensitive data about Iraq would not appear to provide any help on the charge of making false statements.
But Ray noted that setting up defenses before a jury involves more than simply constructing legal arguments.
"You're trying to present a persuasive case that your client should not be found guilty," Ray said. "You're saying that even if my client did it, this is not a case that warrants conviction."
______________________________________________________________
Now Connect the dots:
1) Scooter Libby claimed under oath that he was authorized by superiors to leak classified information to reporters because:
2) Vice President Cheney (formerly Libby's boss) claims has "participated in declassifcation decisions" information in the past and that he has the authority to "declassify" information under an executive order by George Bush. In an exclusive interview with FOX News (duh), Britt Hume asked, "Have you ever done it ['declassify'] unilaterally?" Cheney responded "Uh, I don't wanna get into that." Ergo, Cheney's claim that he has authority to "declassify" is actually a claim that he has immunity to the crime of leaking classified information, since no official declassification procedures were followed when Cheney decided to "declassify" sensitive information to which he was privy.
3)This means Libby's lawyers are engineering a defense that Cheney gave the go ahead to leak Plame's name to reporters.
4) Ergo, Dick Cheney leaked Plame's name, and is ultimately responsible for deliberately exposing the non-official cover of a CIA officer (particularly heinous, perhaps, since it now appears that Plame had been working on Iran's nuclear proliferation issues, when Cheney outed her).
Yes, Cheney knew this was the perfect time to throw out his "I can declassify" claim. While the world is distracted by his having gone nuts with a shotgun ( after drinking beer -- remember he does have two DWI convictions under his belt, whereas Dubya only has one), hHis claim can now filter in, under the radar, to the back of the mind of the public consciousness, from which it might (might) later emerge with an air of legitimacy.
Had Cheney claimed "But I can declassify" two years ago, when Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame first went public and before the investigation that ultimately lead to Scooter Libby and Cheney's office, the American people might (might) have cried foul.
This will be interesting to watch...
Posted by MJuhre at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)