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Well if it is Friday it's time for the Weekly (C)Wrap-Up! Been a busy week in Bizarro World so strap in and let's ride! First up and I brought you this information yesterday in a post entitled "You Can't Make This Shit Up - The Smoking Gun?!?"
Was Gonzales' Emergency Visit Illegal?
...In response to questions on the legality of Gonzales' hospital room conversation, Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the National Security Division of the Justice Department, said, "I am not going to speculate on discussions that may or may not have taken place, much less attempt to render a legal judgment on any such discussions." A Senate investigator says the Judiciary Committee is weighing whether to investigate the matter formally. One consideration will be whether the Justice department itself decides it should be investigated. Gonzales, as head of the department, would be conflicted in the matter. "The fact that you have a potential case against the Attorney General himself calls for the most scrupulous and independent of investigations," says Georgetown's Katyal.
For all the questions concerning any potential violation the conversation may represent, others are more disturbed by the apparent contradiction between the Administration's unusual secrecy about the program and Gonzales' and Card's apparent willingness to discuss it in the open. Initially only eight members of Congress were informed of the program's existence, a strict legal requirement, and after it came to light the Administration refused repeated demands from both Republicans and Democrats for a closed briefing on the program for the entire intelligence committees of the House and Senate.
Weeks after the program was revealed in the New York Times in December of 2005, President Bush held a news conference to address it and said, "It's important for people to understand that this program is so sensitive and so important, that if information gets out [on] how we do it, or how we operate, it will help the enemy." Asked about the hospital visit at a press conference today, President Bush declined to provide specifics, saying that the program was "highly classified." Bush also declined to say whether he himself had authorized Gonzales to have the conversation with Ashcroft, as Comey suggested during his testimony may have been the case. MORE!
It's hard to overstate the importance of Former Deputy AG James Comey's incredible testimony earlier this week. At a press conference today with outgoing British PM Tony Blair, NBC's Kelly O'Donnell asked President Bush about Comey's startling allegations. Needless to say, he refuses to answer the question and instead opts to remind us how much the Evil Scary Islamofascists want to kill us, and how Very Important this program is in order to "protect" us.
Download (4227) | Play (4908) 
Download (1715) | Play (2917) (rough transcript)
O'Donnell: There's been some very dramatic testimony before the Senate this week from one of your former top justice department officials, who describes a scene that some Senators called stunning about a time when the warrantless wiretap program was being reviewed. Sir, did you send your then chief of staff and White House counsel to the bedside of John Ashcroft, while he was ill to get him to approve os that program and do you believe that kind of conduct from White House officials is appropriate?
Bush: Kelly, there's a lot of speculation about what happened and what didn't happen and I'm not going to talk about it…It's a very sensitive program…
John Amato: Why didn't Bush just answer "no" to the question?
Update: Greenwald has a great post up: "What will be done about James Comey's revelations?
James Comey's testimony amounts to a statement that — even according to the administration's own loyal DOJ officials — the President ordered still-unknown spying on Americans, and engaged in that spying for a full two-and-a-half-years, that was so blatantly and shockingly illegal that they were all ready to resign over it. And the President's Attorney General then lied to ensure that this episode remain concealed. Mere one-day calls for a Congressional investigation are woefully inadequate here…read on
I am with Amato here...Why didn't Shrub say he didn't do it? Or yes he did if there was nothing improper about it?! He did remind us though that "our enemies want to do us harm!" I am surprised he did give a complimentary 911 remark...When don't our enemies want to do us harm?!
The fact that the President implemented the program even after the DOJ refused to sign off on it is "IMPEACHABLE!" From Salon:
Comey's testimony raises new and vital questions about the NSA scandal
(Updated below - Update II - Update III - Update IV)
The problem is that ABC or CBS hasn't once reported on this story...The "Liberal Media"...Yeah right or is that left?!
Since this is called the Enemies of the state issue I guess I got to mention the rest of the criminals that are running around acting like they are above the law...I wanted to start with AG but there is bigger fish to fry...Cheney for example...From Think Progress:
Cheney seeks immunity in Plame lawsuit.
Attorneys for Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby said “told a federal judge today they cannot be held liable for anything they disclosed to reporters about covert CIA officer Valerie Plame or her husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV.” Cheney’s attorney argued that the vice president is “legally akin to the president because of his unique government role, and has absolute immunity from any lawsuit.” May 17, 2007 7:38 pm | Comment (84)
First thing is he is not immune or exempted from prosecution that is a presidential thing and although he is "acting" president he is not the president...
Also if he is innocent why is he asking for immunity? These people are not above the law...The Rule of Law that they claimed they were bringing back when they stole the election in 2k...ITMA!
What discussion about "Enemies of the State" would be complete without an appearance from Abu Al Gonzales...I mean he literally was at what could have been Ashcroft's death bed sweating him about a program that he wouldn't sign off on because he thought it was illegal...Who would have thought Ashcroft was a champion of civil liberties
No-Confidence Vote Sought on Gonzales
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, May 18, 2007; Page A03
Two leading Senate Democrats called for a vote of no confidence in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales yesterday as political pressure for his resignation intensified in the wake of revelations about the plan to dismiss U.S. attorneys and Gonzales's role in a 2004 government crisis.
Sources yesterday identified four additional prosecutors who were considered for termination, bringing to 30 the number of prosecutors who were placed on Justice Department firing lists between February 2005 and December 2006. That accounts for about a third of the nation's 93 U.S. attorney positions. Nine were fired last year.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales speaks at a news maker event, Tuesday, at the National Press Club in Washington. (Ron Edmonds - APHoping to pounce on Gonzales's sagging support among Senate Republicans, Sens. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said they will offer the no-confidence resolution on the Senate floor as early as next week. MORE!
Twenty-five years ago we, like you, graduated from Harvard Law School. While we arrived via many different paths and held many different views, we were united in our deep respect for the Constitution and the rights it guaranteed. As members of the post-Watergate generation who chose careers in law, we understood the strong connection between our liberties as Americans and the adherence of public offi cials to the law of the land. We knew that the choice to abide by the law was even more critical when public officials were tempted to take legal shortcuts. Nowhere were we taught that the ends justified the means, or that freedoms for which Americans had fought and died should be set aside when inconvenient or challenging. To the contrary: our most precious freedoms, we learned, need defending most in times of crisis.
So it has been with dismay that we have watched your cavalier handling of our freedoms time and again. When it has been important that legal boundaries hold unbridled government power in check, you have instead used pretextual rationales and strained readings to justify an ever-expanding executive authority. Witness your White House memos sweeping aside the Geneva Conventions to justify torture, endangering our own servicemen and women; witness your advice to the President effectively reading Habeas Corpus out of our constitutional protections; witness your support of presidential statements claiming inherent power to wiretap American citizens without warrants (and the Administration’s stepped-up wiretapping campaign, taking advantage of those statements, which continues on your watch to this day); and witness your dismissive explanation of the troubling firings of numerous U.S. Attorneys, and their replacement with others more "loyal" to the President’s politics, as merely "an overblown personnel matter." In these and other actions, we see a pattern. As a recent editorial put it, your approach has come to symbolize "disdain for the separation of powers, civil liberties and the rule of law." MORE!
We have to talk about that neo-clown Wolfowitz also...Now he said he was going to resign but he was definitely "pushed" out...He is one of the Neo-Clowns that pushed really hard for this Occupation in Iraq...From TP:
World Bank reacts to Wolfowitz resignation:
“‘Everyone ran into the hallways and were clapping and hugging each other,’ one employee, who declined to be named, said.” 12:20 am | Comment (49)
You know the decider was all broke up about his people's getting canned...I guess Wolfie will be getting his Medal of Honor soon though...The real kicker is the girlfriend that ultimately got him fired has left him also...Just rumors but it would be poetic justice...
Okay this is part two...
Let's start with Abu Al...Senator Schumer ripped into him and this administration...From Crooks & Liars:
By: Logan Murphy on Friday, May 18th, 2007 at 9:02 AM - PDT
Thursday night on "Hardball", Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) talked with Chris Matthews about Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the impending vote of no confidence in the Senate. Schumer gives what is probably the most frank and harsh criticism of Gonzales heard publicly from any member of Congress to date. Following the devastating testimony from former Deputy Attorney General James Comey this past Tuesday, Schumer, like most Americans, is stunned and disturbed by what he heard and renews his call for Gonzales to step down.
Schumer: "The Attorney General, unlike all the others, doesn't just follow the President's orders, but he's the chief law enforcement officer of the land. And the antics, what we saw went on, is reminiscent of something in a third world dicatatorship, not the United States of America and it's hard to believe that the President and his inner circle doesn't get that."
Still no movement on the funding bill...The Dem's made a lot of compromises but the Shrub refuses to play ball...Crooks:
By: John Amato on Friday, May 18th, 2007 at 1:01 PM - PDT
Dana Bash: Well, from what we just heard from Democrats right after this meeting this morning with the White House, they are anywhere but at a compromise on how to fund the war. In fact, Democratic leaders, the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, just had a press conference, and they essentially said that they are going to now write this bill on their own, because, what they said is that the White House is simply not allowing them to hold the President accountable. Listen to what the House Speaker said…
Nancy Pelosi: …Clear that the difference between the Democrats and the President is the issue of accountability. He will not accept any accountability or responsibility for what is happening there. MORE!
You can read the whole letter by clicking the more link above...
That is about it for me...I wanted to add some Jon Stewart clips but the embed function is not working for me so you can use the d/l links for this one from Crooks:
By: SilentPatriot @ 2:03 PM - PDT
Deputy AG Paul McNulty played a negligible role in the USA purge. Well, until he announced his resignation; then he was blamed for the entire thing. Memo to Gonzo: We don't throw away the old tapes of what you say. Jon juxtaposes the two contradictory statements and breaks down the significance of the blockbuster Comey testimony.
Gonzales on April 19: “Looking back, things that I would have done differently…? I think I would have had the Deputy Attorney General more involved, directly involved.”
Gonzales on May 15: “The Deputy Attorney General would know best about the qualifications and experiences of the minds; it’s a community and he signed off on the names.”
BTW, Don't forget this man wants to be your next president and is actually the front-runner for the GOP...Bwahahahahahahahahahahaaa....
Impeach These MF's Already!
10-acious_D
The New Defenders Of Freedom
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