Once again the Democrats showed they have no balls what-so-ever, and just because George Bush said so, they went ahead and changed the rules so that Bush can spy on Americans with little or NO court oversight. F*ck you Democrats! So what, George would not let you go on vacation so you handed him the right to screw the 4th Amendment, was vacation that important?

From the Washington Post (bolds are mine)

The 60 to 28 vote, which was quickly denounced by civil rights and privacy advocates, came after Democrats in the House failed to win support for more modest changes that would have required closer court supervision of government surveillance. Earlier in the day, President Bush threatened to hold Congress in session into its scheduled summer recess if it did not approve the changes he wanted.

The legislation, which is expected to go before the House today, would expand the government’s authority to intercept without a court order the phone calls and e-mails of people in the United States who are communicating with people overseas.

As currently written, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act already gives U.S. spies broad leeway to monitor the communications of foreign terrorism suspects, but the 30-year-old statute requires a warrant to monitor calls intercepted in the United States, regardless of where the calls begin or end.

Not any more, thanks to the Democrats old George can do what he wants to Americans, without any court looking out for us, all so Democrats could go on vacation? The kicker here is that the bill at least said that the American in question had to be suspected of terrorist links, but they even dropped that language, you can now be spied on without a warrant for anything Bush wants. You have failed the American people (again) Democrats, you have caved to an evil man doing evil things, and you sold Americans out for a vacation 2 times longer than most Americans ever see. For shame…

I am going to start posting the same thing over and over that I am going to just make a form…

Today, _____________, Republican [ ] Senator [ ] Representatives of _______ , ____________________ had their house reaided by the FBI today.

[insert new story]

I will fill this out for today

Today, _Monday______, Republican [X] Senator [ ] Representatives of __AK___ , __Ted Stevens ________ had their house reaided by the FBI today.

From the AP

FBI agents executed a search warrant on Monday at the Girdwood home of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, an agency spokesman said.

The warrant was served with agents of the Internal Revenue Service, said Dave Heller, FBI assistant special agent in charge of the Alaska office.

Reached at 2:30 p.m. Alaska Daylight Time, Heller said the federal investigators had arrived at the home in Girdwood minutes before.

Heller said he could not comment on the nature of the investigation and referred inquiries to the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice.

An e-mail statement issued by Stevens through his Washington, D.C. spokesman said federal agents had alerted his attorneys that they wanted to search his home.

“I continue to believe this investigation should proceed to its conclusion without any appearance that I have attempted to influence its outcome,” he said. “I will continue my policy of not commenting on this investigation until it has concluded.”

He said the interests of justice would be best served if he commented after the investigation.

Oh yah, now I remember

RawStory

Attorney General helped cover up Bush drunken driving conviction

Alberto Gonzales’s difficult relationship with the truth has led to calls for a special prosecutor to investigate claims that the attorney general perjured himself during Senate testimony. But as the Washington Post points out Monday, Gonzales and honesty have had a shaky relationship stretching back more than a decade.

“Whether Gonzales has deliberately told untruths or is merely hampered by his memory has been the subject of intense debate among members of Congress, legal scholars and others who have watched him over the years,” report the Post’s Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein. “Some regard his verbal difficulties as a strategic ploy on behalf of a president to whom he owes his career; others see a public official overwhelmed by the magnitude of his responsibilities.”

Gonzales’s apparent willingness to dissemble in order to protect himself or President Bush stretches back to at least 1996, when he intervened to prevent then-Gov. Bush from serving jury duty in Texas, the Post notes. Not until its second-to-last paragraph, however, does the Post article remind readers that by not serving jury duty in the drunken driving case Bush was able to keep his own drunken driving conviction a secret for several more years.

“He’s a slippery fellow, and I think so intentionally,” University of Texas public affairs professor Richard L. Schott told the Post. “He’s trying to keep the president’s secrets and to be a team player, even if it means prevaricating or forgetting convenient things.”

Questions about Gonzales willingness to protect Bush in relation to the drunken driving case were first raised last year by Newsweek investigative reporter Michael Isikoff. If Bush had served on the jury he would have had to reveal his own past conviction, but Gonzales convinced the defense attorney to ask that Bush be kept from the jury on the grounds that he may be called on to pardon the defendant.

I think that Congress can impeach Alberto, so lets get started.

From USAToday

Documents show that eight congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration’s terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004, contradicting sworn Senate testimony this week by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The documents, obtained by The Associated Press, come as senators consider whether a perjury investigation should be opened into conflicting accounts about the program and a dramatic March 2004 confrontation leading up to its potentially illegal reauthorization.

A Gonzales spokesman maintained Wednesday that the attorney general stands by his testimony.

At a heated Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Gonzales repeatedly testified that the issue at hand was not about the terrorist surveillance program, which allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on suspects in the United States without receiving court approval.

Why is it when you Google Rep. Don Young, his site tag reads…

Official web site for Representative Don Young (D - AK)

He is a REPUBLICAN, and he is in hot water 

In what can only be seen as an unexpected show of testicular fortitude, the Democrats have done something! In a 22-17 vote the House Judiciary Committee voted to charge former White House hack Joshua Bilton, and almost Supreme Court Justice (she never had a chance) and questionable legal mind (oh and former White House Counsel) Harriet Miers for contempt of Congress for their failure to comply with subpoenas.

The vote was along party lines, no surprise the republicans have refused to stand up for constitutional democracy for over a decade now, so why start now.

The showdown will begin, because if you will recall, the Justice Department, headed by uber-discredited Alberto Gonzales, has stated that the Attorney General for the District of Columbia does not have to execute the charges laid out by Congress, which has basically destroyed the creditability of the Justice Department as a neutral arbiter of the law, and laid waste to the idea of checks and balances.

The question every American should be asking is, “If, as they claim they have nothing to hide, then why are they hiding SO MUCH?”

RIP USA

You know Hitler never broke the law, he just made the illegal, legal. Welcome to Bush’s America…

The Bush Administration has now done what we all knew was coming, they have turned our Justice System into a bonified arm of the political process. The Washington Post is reporting that the Justice Department will not be allowed to pursue contempt charges no matter what Congress says. That’s it folks, you have just seen that the President has in proclamation stated that he and his administration is about the law, in fact, he says he is the law.

Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion of executive authority yesterday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege.

Under federal law, a statutory contempt citation by the House or Senate must be submitted to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, “whose duty it shall be to bring the matter before the grand jury for its action.”

But administration officials argued yesterday that Congress has no power to force a U.S. attorney to pursue contempt charges in cases, such as the prosecutor firings, in which the president has declared that testimony or documents are protected from release by executive privilege. Officials pointed to a Justice Department legal opinion during the Reagan administration, which made the same argument in a case that was never resolved by the courts.

“A U.S. attorney would not be permitted to bring contempt charges or convene a grand jury in an executive privilege case,” said a senior official, who said his remarks reflect a consensus within the administration. “And a U.S. attorney wouldn’t be permitted to argue against the reasoned legal opinion that the Justice Department provided. No one should expect that to happen.”

We are beyond the need for impeachment, the congress should send the US Marshals to arrest and try George and the rest of them for treason, and act accordingly.

The National Intelligence Estimate is out and you know what it says? It says that the 3600+ soldiers Bush sent to die in Iraq, the trillions on tax dollars we have spent, and the huge erosion of civil liberties Americans have suffered are ALL for not, that those that perpetrated 9/11 are still free, and are stronger than ever.

If for no other reason, Bush should be impeached, indited, and jailed for totally loosing the War on Terror. The whole world after 9/11 was with us, even Iran, and Bush and his administration found a way to squander the will of the world, kill hundreds of thousands, including Americans, squander sums of money that would make your head explode, and still wants more.

For the love of god, STOP THIS WAR, STOP THIS SHIT HEAD IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

From the NY Times

Bits and pieces of the new estimate have leaked already, including the giveaway title, “The Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland.” Scooping up those leaks over the past week has kept The Associated Press busy, reporting that Al Qaeda is seen as strong as before, and is more determined than ever to attack the United States.

According to The A.P.. the estimate will say that Al Qaeda has re-established three of the four elements needed to mount an attack on United States soil. “It could not immediately be learned what the missing fourth element is,” the news agency added ominously.

The intelligence community’s assessment of Al Qaeda’s influence on the war in Iraq will be important. Critics say that President Bush has greatly oversimplified the nature of the insurgency in Iraq and its relationship with the Qaeda leadership. Last year’s estimate on Iraq saw a diverse set of fighters there:

Iraqi society’s growing polarization, the persistent weakness of security forces and the state in general, and all sides’ ready recourse to violence are collectively driving an increase in communal and insurgent violence and political extremism.

Check back with us after the estimate is posted at 11 a.m. Eastern time over at the intelligence chief’s Web site. We’ll be covering this all day.

It is nice to know that the top law officer in America, the one that we trust to enforce the law is a compulsive Liar, and knowingly liked to congress.

From Reuters

Embattled U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced a new firestorm on Tuesday sparked by a report he may have misled lawmakers in 2005 about civil liberty violations by the FBI.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, responded by promising that Gonzales would face tough questions about this and other matters at a hearing planned by his panel later this month.

And Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat who chairs a House Judiciary subcommittee, renewed calls for Gonzales to resign and called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to determine if he had misled Congress, “a serious crime.”

But President George W. Bush brushed off the flap about his longtime friend, who earlier served as White House counsel.

“The president has said repeatedly that he has great faith in the attorney general, and that has not changed,” said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that Gonzales assured Congress in 2005 that the FBI had not abused powers granted under the anti-terror USA Patriot Act despite having received reports of potential violations.

George Bush may have made a fatal error when he used his power to help cover-up a crime he helped perpetrate. The American people are done with this pile of crap and his partisan minions. A new poll from the non-partisan American Research Group shows that the approval for the “president” and his actions has dropped further (as if it could). The poll found that only 31% of Americans approve of Bush’s move to pardon Libby. Keep in mind he has no room to go from here because 30% of Americans also think Jesus will appear in a tortilla within the next few months. 30% also think that the moon makes it’s own light, not the reflection of the sun. So in short, only the dumbest of Americans approve of Bush and his acts of treason.

What is very fascinating about this poll is that 46% of Americans want the House to start impeachment proceedings to remove this partisan hack [Bush] from office.

The White House is going to stop another person who has been order to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee from doing so. In another case of “executive privilege.” Sara Taylor uber-hack for Bush has been order to testify, but her lawyer responded to the chairman of the committee, Patrick Leahy, was told,

“Ms. Taylor expects to receive a letter from [White House Counsel Fred] Fielding on behalf of the President directing her not to comply with the Senate’s subpoena. These contrary directions undoubtedly create a monumental clash between the executive and legislative branches of government. This clash may ultimately be resolved by the judicial branch.…

[Taylor] is unquestionably loyal to and committed to the President and his agenda. …

As you can see, according to her lawyer, she is a hack if ever there was one. Furthermore, it shows that the White House wants to fight. To Leahy credit his response was…

The White House continues to try to have it both ways — to block Congress from talking with witnesses and accessing documents and other evidence while saying nothing improper occurred. I hope the White House stops this stonewalling and accepts my offer to negotiate a workable solution to the Committee’s oversight requests, as so many previous White Houses have.

ThinkProgress has more.

Today George Bush said that the rule of law means nothing to him.  In what can only be described as obstruction of justice by a sitting president, George Bush commuted the sentence of Scooter Libby.  This is actually worse than pardoning him, because it leaves the White House with its very well-worn canned response to any question about Scooter , “the White House will not comment on any ongoing investigations for court trials.”   It also leaves alive Scooter Libby’s ability to plead the fifth is brought before Congress, because technically while the president has made it so that he does not have to serve jail time, he is still guilty of a crime, that he can still appeal.

The irony here is that while Bush was governor state of Texas over 157 people asked for the same privilege he granted scooter today, they’re all dead.  What’s more, George Bush commuted the sentence in order to ensure that Scooter does not have to ever reveal the criminal acts that all fingers are pointing to in the White House.

It is a sad day here in America, unfortunately one of countless sad days we’ve had the Bush administration has occupied the White House.

He is off to jail. Bush better get his pardon pen ready, or this criminal will have to see jail time!

Rawstory

A federal appeals court ruled that I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby must begin his jail sentence in a federal penitentiary pending an appeal of his conviction. Libby, who was a top White House adviser and former Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted earlier this year of perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements in a federal investigation of the outing of former covert CIA Agent [tag]Valerie Plame Wilson. He was sentenced to 30 months in jail.

“A federal appeals court has refused to delay the imprisonment of former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who was sentenced in the CIA leak case,” a breaking AP news release stated.

CNN’s Political Ticker added, “In an order handed down Monday, a three judge panel wrote Libby ‘has not shown that the appeal raises a substantial question’ that regular appeals court will consider when its next term begins in September.”

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has not set a date for Libby to report to jail. CNN added that Libby could still seek relief from the Supreme Court.

Are you shitting me, Libby thinks that he has any standing to seek relief from the US Supreme Court, what is his argument does Libby really think he deserves more justice than that of every other crook and liar?

I am almost starting to think that this administration sees Nixon as a play book, not a mistake. The only difference is now we have a congress to spineless to impeach. Well the cover-up over the US attorneys has gone up a noch. In the letter that the team of lawyers in the White House sent to congress telling them to shove their subpoenas up their asses they showed there cards a little. Back in March of this year Bush said, “the Justice Department made recommendations, which the White House accepted.” This was a total lie. Today in the “Screw You Congress” memo attorney Paul Clement wrote confirmed what we have all known, the White House had there grubby little hands all over the attorney purge.

ThinkProgress says it best…

In his letter, Clement reveals what investigators have suspected from the very beginning — that the White House was intimately involved in the attorney scandal. Upon examination of the White House documents, Clement writes:

Among other things, these communications discuss the wisdom of such a proposal, specific U.S. Attorneys who could be removed, potential replacement candidates, and possible responses to congressional and media inquiries about the dismissals.

Well I am sure that the Republicans are kicking them selfs in the ass right now, because their witch hunt of Clinton for the most part blew the claim of Executive Privilege right out of the water. We are about to see if the government is real anymore, because the courts are going to get evolved, and people are going to have to choose to do their job, or Bush, and then we as Americans will know who stands for what…

From Forbes

President Bush, moving toward a constitutional showdown with Congress, asserted executive privilege Thursday and rejected lawmakers’ demands for documents that could shed light on the firings of federal prosecutors.

Bush’s attorney told Congress the White House would not turn over subpoenaed documents for former presidential counsel Harriet Miers and former political director Sara Taylor.

“With respect, it is with much regret that we are forced down this unfortunate path which we sought to avoid by finding grounds for mutual accommodation,” White House counsel Fred Fielding said in a letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. “We had hoped this matter could conclude with your committees receiving information in lieu of having to invoke executive privilege. Instead, we are at this conclusion.”

Thursday was the deadline for surrendering the documents. The White House also made clear that Miers and Taylor would not testify next month, as directed by the subpoenas, which were issued June 13. The stalemate could end up with House and Senate contempt citations and a battle in federal court over separation of powers.