The Hollywood Liberal

Bush administration under a cloud

AP
Excerpt
A rundown of Bush appointees who left under a cloud or face conflict-of-interest allegations

_Scooter Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in a grand jury investigation into the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. His trial also implicated top political adviser Karl Rove and Cheney in a campaign to discredit her husband, Iraq war critic and retired ambassador Joe Wilson (news, bio, voting record). Libby, who plans an appeal, is awaiting a June 5 sentencing.

• Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is fighting to hold onto his job in the face of congressional investigations into his role in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. Two top aides have resigned in the investigation into whether the firings were politically motivated. Emails and other evidence released by the Justice Deparment suggest that Rove played a part in the process. Other e-mails, sent on Republican party accounts, either have disappeared or were erased.

• Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank and a former deputy defense secretary, acknowledged he helped arrange a large pay raise for his female companion when she was transferred to the State Department but remained on the bank payroll. The incident intensified calls at the bank for his resignation.

• J. Steven Griles, an oil and gas lobbyist who became deputy Interior Secretary J., last month became the highest-ranking Bush administration official convicted in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, pleading guilty to obstructing justice by lying to a Senate committee about his relationship with the convicted lobbyist. Abramoff repeatedly sought Griles’ intervention at Interior on behalf of Indian tribal clients.

Navy sifts Blue Angels wreck for clues

AP
Excerpt
PENSACOLA, Fla. – Investigators looked through wreckage Sunday to determine what caused a Navy Blue Angel jet to crash during a maneuver, while the military identified the fallen pilot as a 32-year-old who was performing in one of his first air shows with the team.

At Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina, the site of Saturday’s crash, a somber crowd watched Sunday as six jets flew overhead in formation. Smoke streamed behind one of the jets as it peeled away from the others to complete the “missing man formation,” the traditional salute for a lost military aviator.

“The spirit of the pilot is in the arms of a loving God,” said Rob Reider, a minister who was the announcer for the air show.

The crash happened as the team was performing its final maneuver Saturday afternoon during the air show. The team’s six pilots were joining from behind the crowd of thousands to form a triangle shape known as a delta, but Davis’ jet did not join the formation.

Moments later, his jet crashed just outside Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, hitting homes in a neighborhood about 35 miles northwest of Hilton Head Island, S.C. Debris — some of it on fire — rained on homes. Eight people on the ground were injured, and some homes were damaged

The last fatal Blue Angel crash was in 1999, when a pilot and crewmate died while practicing for air shows with the five other Blue Angels jets at a base in Georgia. Saturday’s crash was the 26th fatality in the team’s 60-year history

HLs Take
So what is the story with this BS. These guys fly in formation inches apart to try to look cool. Why? Everytime I go to a Football game now you get the 4 planes doing a “flyover” during the national anthem. Everytime I say “what is the purpose of that?” to let everyone know that we live in a militaristic country run by a war mongering madman. Whenever I saw that I said to myself “one of these days those idiots are going to crash into each other, hopefully not over a stadium full of people. Turns out 26 pilots have been killed. That means 26 multi-million dollar aircraft have also been destroyed. Thats coming out of our pockets people. We pay for that useless spectacle. Not to mention the jet fuel we also have to pay for. It’s time this garbage was put to a stop.

The ACLU is hand delivering a petition to congress demanding our civil rights are restored.

JOIN THE CALL TO RESTORE OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

For almost seven years, George W. Bush has repeatedly violated the Constitution and stripped away the fundamental rights that define our country. Congress and the American people have let it happen.
The America we know is disappearing, and the time to reverse this trend is now. I urge you to act immediately to:

1. Restore habeas corpus and due process.
2. Pass the Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007.
3. End torture and abuse in secret prisons.
4. Stop extraordinary rendition: secretly kidnapping people and sending them to countries that torture.
5. Close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay and give those held there access to justice.
6. Investigate wrongdoing and ensure those who broke the law are held accountable.
7. Restore American values and the rule of law.

HL’s Advertisers keep this site going so go on over and sign the petition for America

Democrats weigh post-veto Iraq options

Huffington Post
Excerpt
The options are being weighed as Bush and Congress head toward a showdown this week on his Iraq policy. House and Senate appropriations committees meet Monday to negotiate a final bill that, if approved by both chambers, could reach the president’s desk as early as the end of the week…
Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), D-Pa., who chairs the House panel that oversees military funding, said he wants a bill that would fund the war for just two or three months. Before that second bill would expire in summer, Democrats would try again to pass legislation calling for an end to combat.

Bush has said the military needs more than $90 billion through September, most of which would finance combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Murtha’s proposal would give Democrats time to try to rally support among Republicans growing increasingly frustrated with the war who have so far been reluctant to tie the hands of their GOP president.
The tact also would attract party liberals in the House who don’t want to fund the war at all.

Karl Rove Gets Thrown Under the Stop Global Warming Bus

Huffington Post
Excerpt
We asked Mr. Rove if he would consider taking a fresh look at the science of global warming. Much to our dismay, he immediately got combative. And it went downhill from there.

We reminded the senior White House advisor that the US leads the world in global warming pollution and we are doing the least about it. Anger flaring, Mr. Rove immediately regurgitated the official Administration position on global warming which is that the US spends more on researching the causes than any other country.

We felt compelled to remind him that the research is done and the results are in (www.IPCC.ch). Mr. Rove exploded with even more venom. Like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum, Mr. Rove launched into a series of illogical arguments regarding China not doing enough thus neither should we. (Since when do we follow China’s lead?)

At some point during his ramblings, we became heartbroken to think that the President of the United States and his top advisers have partially built a career on global warming not being real. We have been telling college students across the country for the past two weeks that government does not change until people demand it… well, listen up folks, everyone had better get a lot louder because the message clearly is not getting through.

In his attempt to dismiss us, Mr. Rove turned to head toward his table, but as soon as he did so, Sheryl reached out to touch his arm. Karl swung around and spat, “Don’t touch me.” How hardened and removed from reality must a person be to refuse to be touched by Sheryl Crow? Unphased, Sheryl abruptly responded, “You can’t speak to us like that, you work for us.” Karl then quipped, “I don’t work for you, I work for the American people.” To which Sheryl promptly reminded him, “We are the American people.”

HL’s Take
Karl Rove is not used to being touched by girls. He must have really freaked out. It must have seemed so “gay” to him.
Its OK thought there will be plenty of time for him to be touched by lots of guys in prison. He has afterall committed treason many times.

Republican Congressman Dana Rohrbacher just can’t stand to be interrupted, so when members of Codepink did so during a recent Congressional Hearing, he said he hoped their families suffer the consequences of the next terrorist attack. See for yourself.

Wolfowitz Backed Friend for Iraq Contract in ’03

NY Times
Excerpt
WASHINGTON, April 19 — Paul D. Wolfowitz, while serving as deputy secretary of defense, personally recommended that his companion, Shaha Ali Riza, be awarded a contract for travel to Iraq in 2003 to advise on setting up a new government, says a previously undisclosed inquiry by the Pentagon’s inspector general.

The inquiry, as described by a senior Pentagon official, concluded that there was no wrongdoing in Mr. Wolfowitz’s role in the hiring of Ms. Riza by the Science Applications International Corporation, a Pentagon contractor, because Ms. Riza had the expertise required to advise on the role of women in Islamic countries.

Mr. Wolfowitz’s office said it could not comment on the latest disclosure. Ms. Riza’s lawyer, Victoria Toensing, did not respond to a request for a comment.

The disclosure of Mr. Wolfowitz’s role in Ms. Riza’s contract in 2003 provides a new indication of his involvement in her employment, at a time when the World Bank’s board is investigating his role in arranging for a large salary increase, a promotion and a transfer for Ms. Riza when he came to the bank in 2005.

The disclosure also came on a day of swirling pressure at the bank, where the 24-member executive board met into the evening to discuss the situation amid mounting calls for Mr. Wolfowitz’s resignation.

Bank officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were divulging proceedings that were not supposed to be made public, reported that the rift between employees and the president had become a major distraction from their work, with some employees wearing blue ribbons in a display of defiance against his leadership.

“People feel paralyzed,” one official said. “No one is doing any work at all. This genie can never go back to the bottle.”

HLs TakeLooks like Wolfie is on his last legs. Of course as long as Bush has anything to say about it he’s got a job for life.

You just know the people that answered the political questions voted for Bush, each and every one. These are the people that keep our country in the chaos it is in right now.

SCOOP: US Attorney for Delaware is being replaced?

Daily Kos
Excerpt
No one else has this story. The US Attorney for the District of Delaware, Colm F. Connolly, is being replaced by Keith M. Rosen, an attorney from the New York office of Chadbourne & Parke LLP.

In light of Gonzogate, one has to consider what the real reasons for the replacement are. And, again, one has to wonder why there are no press releases or public announcements of this replacement. I discovered it purely by accident.

This diary is short at the moment, but, I will be updating it throughout the day with details of the former and future US Attorney for Delaware. It may simply be that Karl Rove is positioning Connolly to run against Joseph Biden. Who knows? If anyone has ideas, please comment.

I. Introduction

While reading the recent court documents filed in the US v Rosen AIPAC spy case, one of the defense attorneys, Abbe Lowell, said something that caught my eye. It was a hearing before Judge Ellis, and is customary, the names of each of the attorneys present is made part of the transcript by each identifying him or herself.