Firings

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"Two contract employees of the State Department were fired and a third person was disciplined for accessing passport records of Sen. Barack Obama "without a need to do so," State Department officials confirmed to NBC News." This is continuing to develop so more is coming in each minute.read more | digg story

I did some playing around with the Parody Motivator Generator from Despair, Inc. I came up with this image which is based off of the old line, “The beatings will continue until moral improves.” It uses Donald Trump’s line from his NBC series The Apprentice, “You’re fired!”

Get this.Harriet Miers was told by President Bush to not show up in response to a Congressional subpoena. She obeyed, like the good little puppy she is. Even though she was ordered to do this by her master, she is legally in contempt of Congress and should be prosecuted accordingly.The House Judiciary Committee has already requested that Miers be held in contempt, but in order for the case to continue, the grand jury must be convened by the DC US Attorney.The DC US Attorney is Jeffrey Taylor, who is refusing to move forward to convene the grand jury.Jeffrey Taylor is a former counsil to Alberto Gonzales. His name was one of those kicked around to replace Carol Lam of San Diego after their purge, who was likely fired because of her investigations of Republicans such as Duke Cunningham. However, before Carol Lam could be canned, Gonzales and friends granted Jeffrey Taylor the DC US Attorney position. His is an interim appointment, which has not been confirmed by the Senate, because of th

After the work I have done on Starbucks (SBUX), I ended up in correspondence with people intimate with the recent Ethiopian negotiations (on the Ethiopian side). In response to a question I asked I got the following response.... "At this moment, SBUX and Ethiopia are working out the terms of a licensing agreement acknowledging Ethiopia's ownership of three coffee marks. An Ethiopian official told me today that he hopes an agreement will be concluded in the coming week or two. SBUX was... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) opens the Alberto Gonzales hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, on April 19, 2007. Patrick Leahy addresses the crowd about the purpose of the hearings. Leahy stats that the purpose of the meetings is to determine the reasons of the dismissals of the eight U.S. attorneys and to determine if the firings were political or not. "If the White House did nothing wrong than prove it. If nothing to hide then the White House should stop hiding it. Quit claiming the emails cannot be produced. ...Show us the documents," Leahy said. Senator Kohl (D-Wisconsin) questions Gonzales about possible voter fraud in Wisconsin and why that U.S. attorney was not fired for not prosecuting those cases. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) questions Gonzales about recess appointments of U.S. attorneys and Patriot Act revisions.

BOSTON (March 29) - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, amid a growing clamor for his resignation, acknowledged Friday confusion about of his role in firing eight U.S. attorneys but said he doesn’t “recall being involved in deliberations” over which prosecutors were to be ousted. Source I LOVE IT! Done in true Bill “Bubba” Clinton style.

Kennedy: Justice firings are keyed to '08 voteExcerpt:"Senator Edward M. Kennedy yesterday accused President Bush of using the Department of Justice to further his administration's "right-wing ideology," saying that veteran prosecutors were replaced by political operatives in key states to ensure that "reliable partisans" are in place in time for the 2008 presidential election."http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/03/29/kennedy_justice_firings_are_keyed_to_08_vote/Alex

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday dismissed any comparison between the firing last fall of eight U.S. attorneys with the replacement of 93 U.S. attorneys when her husband became president in 1993. “That’s a traditional prerogative of an incoming president,” Clinton said in an interview with The Associated Press. Once U.S. attorneys are confirmed, they should be given broad latitude to enforce the law as they see fit, she said. “I think one of the hallmarks of our democracy is we have a devotion to the rule of law,” Clinton said. She conceded that should she win the presidency in 2008, she likely would replace all of the U.S. attorneys appointed by President Bush. She said that’s merely following traditions in which presidents appoint prosecutors of their own party. Clinton argued that the Bush administration’s firing of the eight federal prosecutors has caused an uproar because it is seen a

As James Madison famously said, "if men were angels, no government would be necessary," (Federalist #51). The founding father also said, in Federalist #10, that "No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity." And to think Madison wrote all this before the discovery of modern genetics and the advent of evolutionary biology.Why are those two disciplines relevant? Unless you are a creationist, you must acknowledge that mankind is the result of billions of years of evolution. And the singular quality of all those billions and billions and billions of creatures that stayed alive long enough to reproduce is selfishness--the biological imperative to wrest from the environment the resources necessary for survival. That imperative is still with us today to some degree. Certainly the selfish impulse varies from individual to individual (just as other traits vary genetically from individual to

Senator Patrick Leahy in the Capital. Leahy is chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is seeking answers from the administration on the the issue of the attorney firings. Photo by REUTERS. President Bush said on Tuesday he would not let his top aides testify under oath over the dismissal of United States attorneys. Bush also placed a call in the morning to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to issue his support to the man who has been under intense fire by members of both parties to resign or be replaced because of his handling of the firings. President Bush said he would only allow his top aides to be interviewed privately by members of congress and not under oath. “We will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honorable public servants,” Bush said. Bush’s reason for not wanting to have his aides called before congress was that he did not want the people working for him to have to worry about the kind of advice they give him bcause they might be hau

Bush on Firings of U.S. Attorneys, (3/20/2007) FULL STREAMING VIDEO. File is windows media format running time is 12:04.Transcript of Media Availability with Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, FULL STREAMING VIDEO, March 13, 2007 - 2:20 P.M.5:45 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Earlier today, my staff met with congressional leaders about the resignations of U.S. attorneys. As you know, I have broad discretion to replace political appointees throughout the government, including U.S. attorneys. And in this case, I appointed these U.S. attorneys and they served four-year terms. The Justice Department, with the approval of the White House, believed new leadership in these positions would better serve our country. The announcement of this decision and the subsequent explanation of these changes has been confusing and, in some cases, incomplete. Neither the Attorney General, nor I approve of how these explanations were handled. We're determined to correct the problem. Today I'm also announcing t

In the past I had always had the utmost respect for Karl Rove. I think he’s a brilliant strategist and anyone that drives the libs as nuts as he does gets kudos from me. I have to say though that I have been having bad feelings about the last two years of the Bush administration. Their attempts at merging the US with Mexico just infuriates me no end. Driving home tonight I heard of increased reports of a parasite called “chagas” that has infected the Red Cross blood supply and guess where it comes from? Yeah, Mexico and South America. It was virtually unknown in the US until the Mexican hordes were allowed to invade our country. But I digress….I have this feeling that the wheels are about to come off of this administration. Things just seem to be unraveling at an increasing rate lately. This whole issue of the fired US Attorneys was originally a non-issue. Administrations have almost always “cleaned house” to make way for political appointees. But by their denials of involvement

The Bush administration is in the midst of yet another political, potentially legal, scandal as details surface about the firings of dozens of federal attorneys that apparently were not favored by the Bush White House.MTB is currently working on obtaining the original emails, but a preliminary leak of the documents show the following: (UPDATE: VIEW PDF of "Karl Rove Email")Attorney General Alberto Gonzales considered eliminating low-performing federal prosecuters but was told by a top aide that such a house-cleaning "would certainly send ripples through the U.S. attorney community if we told folks they got one term only."The emails between Gonzales and his former chief aide, Kyle Sampson, indicate that at least 15 percent to 20 percent of federal prosecutors were slated to be eliminated. An email between two White House staffers dated Jan. 6, 2005 is causing particular concern for the Bush administration. The email, titled "Question from Karl Rove," "Karl Rove stopped by to ask you (ro

I am always impressed when someone has the balls to be honest like this. ~RJH Times article link Where Credit Is DuePosted by Jay CarneyTwelve days ago, after David Iglesias went public, I said that if there turned out to be a broad conspiracy behind the firing of the U.S. Attorneys, "I will take my hat off to Marshall and others in the blogosphere and congratulate them for having been right in their suspicions about this story from the beginning."My hat is off. Josh Marshall at TalkingPointsMemo and everyone else out there whose instincts told them there was something deeply wrong and even sinister about the firings, and who dug around and kept writing about them while Iglesias decided whether to talk to the press or go quietly on to his next job, deserve tremendous credit.When this story first surfaced, I thought the Bush White House and Justice Department were guilty of poorly executed acts of crass political patronage. I called some Democrats on the Hill; they were "

I believe the firings of the seven prosecutors were truly a political move. At least some of them seem to have obvious political rationales in my mind. Here are my opinions on what might have happened here;Bud Cummings- Eastern District of Arkansas-Fired and replaced by Tim Griffin, 37, a close friend of Karl RoveMY OPINION: Republicans hold NO statewide elected office in Arkansas. The only Republican of note in the whole state at the moment is Rep. John Boozman of Fort Smith. Boozman is not considered too strong statewide. My belief is that the White House is trying to build the Republican bench in Arkansas (a state Bush won twice,) and nothing does that better than a 37 year old Republican who could be the next Governor, Senator or could challenge the liberal Vic Snyder for his Little Rock congressional seat. Federal Prosecutors do sometimes run and get elected to public office (see: Rudy Giuliani)Carol Lam- Southern District of California-Fired on December 7th because of "performanc

I guess that I shouldn't really be surprised should I? I hear the President talking all the time about securing our borders and enforcing immigration laws and I know he's lying straight to our faces. Why should I expect anything different on any subject now? I can't believe how much I supported this administration in the past. I feel like such a fool now. I wonder where this and the travesty involving ex Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean are going to lead? Is it going to turn out that Mexico was pulling Bush's strings on immigration all along? Nothing shocks me anymore.  ~RJH Washington Post story link Firings Had Genesis in White HouseEx-Counsel Miers First Suggested Dismissing Prosecutors 2 Years Ago, Documents ShowBy Dan Eggen and John SolomonWashington Post Staff WritersTuesday, March 13, 2007; A01The White House suggested two years ago that the Justice Department fire all 93 U.S. attorneys, a proposal that eventually resulted in the dismissals of eight prosecutors last

While it is entirely normal for an administration to replace en-masse political appointees in the beginning of a term it's unusual to do so mid term like this. And it is of course the White House's prerogative to do so. Initially the White House said it was strictly routine turnover but then later "clarified" that saying that while they had no direct inout they had replaced: "prosecutors they believed were not doing enough to carry out President Bush's policies on immigration, firearms and other issues". I think it's fair to assume that they are dumping the people that they think haven't embraced the Presidents open borders policy as enthusiastically as they wished. And they did admit that one was a simple political appointee that is a friend of the President. The allegations by US Attorney David Iglesias are that he was fired because he hadn't pushed for investigations against two Democrats as forcefully as two New unnamed Mexico legislators had requested