David Corn

I think Stein nailed it when he posted:

"[...]Justice Department or congressional investigation, I doubt it.

People: Jane Harman is a Democrat. Last time I checked, the White House and Congress were in the hands of the Democrats.

And tell me this: How will the Republicans reopen this can of worms when one of their own wriggling at the bottom is Alberto Gonzales?

They can't."

*****

If any investigation is opened it will be neutered from the start by both sides.

How about a Reyes investigation?

"The inspector general of the government’s General Services Administration looked into the serious failures of a $239 million network of cameras and sensors along the Mexican and Canadian borders, an investigation that focused in part on the contractor’s employment of Reyes’s daughter Rebecca."

"IMC’s performance on the program was so bad it verged on criminal, according to later investigations. Millions of dollars in overcharges were alleged, installation was so bad that some cameras never worked properly, and the entire exercise wasted money and “placed. . . national security at risk,” according to a GSA inspector general report. “[The program's failures] placed Americans in danger,” onetime Border Patrol chief Carey James said, according to the Post.

Despite the failings — which happened, by nearly all accounts, only because of the near-complete lack of oversight by the company’s management or the government — Rebecca rose to become vice president of contracts for IMC. Oh — did I mention that the company also hired Reyes’ son, Silvestre Jr., to work as a technician?"

Is there a living, breathing politican in the federal government who is not shady?

Shady politicians?

"On July 15, 2008 it was reported that Charles Rangel was allegedly soliciting up to $30 million in donations to fund his own academic center. Reports indicate that this type of fundraising exhibits the potential for companies and investors to feel coerced into donating money due to Rangel's position. The story comes on the heels of a report stating that Rangel rents four apartments and uses one as a campaign office, when the city of New York requires that rent-controlled apartments be used as a primary residence only."

Shady politicians?

"Barney Frank's controversy with male prostitute Gobie is directly related to Franklin Scandal Omaha. He deliberately used his knowledge of gay members of Congress to protect himself... and in the process helped to bury the Franklin Scandal and its connections to the White House call boy ring 1989 as reported by CBS and NBC"

More shade.

"In 1987, Leahy, then a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was accused of leaking information to a reporter. Though there was no criminal violation, because the information was not classified, Leahy nevertheless resigned from his position on the Committee."

Shade, from the top down!

"Reid has also been criticized for several potentially self-enriching tactics. In 2005 Reid earmarked a spending bill to provide for building a bridge between Nevada and Arizona that would make land he owned more valuable. Reid called funding for construction of a bridge over the Colorado River, among other projects, 'incredibly good news for Nevada' in a news release after passage of the 2005 transportation bill. He owned 160 acres (0.65 km2) of land several miles from the proposed bridge site in Arizona. The bridge could add value to his real estate investment.[31] A year later it was reported that Reid had used campaign donations to pay for $3,300 in Christmas gifts to the staff at the condominium where he resides,[32] federal election law prohibits candidates from using political donations for personal use."

Nancy Pelosi.

'Nuff said.

Denmac seems to imagine that the political right is as pure as the driven snow. Unfortunately, any sane human knows that corruption is a right wing invention that was picked up on by the left since the right was getting so rich via corruption.

I believe it was Republican who defined an honest politician as man who once bought and paid for stays bought and paid for and no longer seeks to sell the same betrayal of the public to another bidder. Being bought is the hallmark of the GOP. They selll anyone any legislation they wish to buy.

Hard to take a bushbot seriously.

*brushes shoulder*

Re:

"Unfortunately, any sane human knows that corruption is a right wing invention that was picked up on by the left since the right was getting so rich via corruption."

Using kalpal and capt as the measuring stick of "sane", all I can say is YOU Win!

Repugs invented corruption ... and crossing the border is not a crime ... and the 9/11 terrorists entered the US throug Canada ... and Nancy Pelosi was never informed of enhanced interrogation methods.. and Obama will pull troops out of Iraq 90 days after election ... and Joe Biden spent "Hours" alone with Bush in the Oval Office ... and -

A Clinton Investigation, Really?

"Richard Clarke has written that the decision by the U.S. government to take Tal`at Fu'ad Qassim into custody in 1995 was stirred by a recognition within the Clinton administration of the seriousness of the threat posed by international terrorism. Clarke refers to Qassim's capture as a "disappearance."[63] Clarke also states that, unbeknownst to the U.S. government at the time, Qassim and other foreign Muslims fighting in Bosnia were part of al-Qaeda.[64]
Before his forced transfer to Egypt, Qassim was allegedly questioned aboard a U.S. navy vessel and the handover to Egypt took place in the middle of the Adriatic Sea.[65] Qassim's case is the first known rendition by the U.S. government to a third country with a record of torture. "

Rendition ... does the left still believe everything Richard Clarke says? If so, this torture under Bill Clinton's administration is what will "neuter" further investigations of ANY administration's actions regarding terrorists.

Do politicians live and breathe?

I can't help but cut and paste part of Glenn Greenwalds tongue in cheek blog from Salon dated April 21st:

So if I understand this correctly -- and I'm pretty sure I do -- when the U.S. Government eavesdropped for years on American citizens with no warrants and in violation of the law, that was "both legal and necessary" as well as "essential to U.S. national security," and it was the "despicable" whistle-blowers (such as Thomas Tamm) who disclosed that crime and the newspapers which reported it who should have been criminally investigated, but not the lawbreaking government officials. But when the U.S. Government legally and with warrants eavesdrops on Jane Harman, that is an outrageous invasion of privacy and a violent assault on her rights as an American citizen, and full-scale investigations must be commenced immediately to get to the bottom of this abuse of power. Behold Jane Harman's overnight transformation from Very Serious Champion of the Lawless Surveillance State to shrill civil liberties extremist.

But I'm really wondering: as serious as it is when a member of Congress is the target of government eavesdropping, can we really afford to investigate this? After all, we have so many very important things to do. It really seems like we need to be looking forward, not backwards. The Bush administration is gone. This all happened in 2005 -- years ago. Is this really a time to be pursuing grudges, to be re-litigating old disputes? What kind of partisan witch hunt is Harman after? We can, and surely should, reflect on what happened to her -- in fact, let us now pause together for a moment of quiet reflection on what was done to Jane Harman -- but this is not a time for retribution or looking back. "Most Americans" want the people's business done, not "abuse of power" investigations.

Besides, if Jane Harman didn't do anything wrong -- as she claims -- then what does she have to hide? Only Terrorists and criminals would mind the Government listening in. We all know that government officials have better things to do than worry about what innocent Americans are saying. If she did nothing wrong -- if all she was doing was talking to her nice constituents and AIPAC supporters about how she could be of service -- then Bush officials obviously weren't interested in what she had to say.

Beyond that, even if there were "illegal" acts committed here, surely we should be rushing to retroactively immunize those responsible, just as Harman eagerly advocated and engineered and then voted for when it came to the telecoms who broke our laws and enabled illegal spying on American citizens. That was when she voted to gut FISA protections and massively expand the Government's power to eavesdrop on Americans with no warrants as part of the Cheney/Rockefeller/Hoyer Surveillance State celebration known as the "FISA Amendments Act of 2008."

you can read the whole thing over there, but I sprayed coffee all over my monitor reading this. It is very apt. I am a democrat, voted for Obama, am mostly happy w/ the guy, but I am a firm believer in investigating the political elite for possible crimes regardless of which party they register under. It will be interesting to see how this whole Jane H. thing plays out.

Reagan On Torture Prosecutions

From his signing statement ratifying the UN Convention on Torture from 1984:

"The United States participated actively and effectively in the negotiation of the Convention . It marks a significant step in the development during this century of international measures against torture and other inhuman treatment or punishment. Ratification of the Convention by the United States will clearly express United States opposition to torture, an abhorrent practice unfortunately still prevalent in the world today.

The core provisions of the Convention establish a regime for international cooperation in the criminal prosecution of torturers relying on so-called 'universal jurisdiction.' Each State Party is required either to prosecute torturers who are found in its territory or to extradite them to other countries for prosecution."

My italics. Reagan was admant about prosecuting torture, but also prosecuting inhuman treatment that some might claim was not full-on torture. Now go read National Review or The Weekly Standard. And look what has happened to conservatism in America.

http://tinyurl.com/cuxob6

The whole statement from Ronny Raygun:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1079/is_n2137_v88/ai_6742034/

Sad what passes for "con"servative these days

So I made a point about right wing corruption and someone takes umbrage. How sad? I( retract it all. GW Bush makes Einsteing like a congenital idiot and Cheney is the nicest, warmest human being ever to walk the face of the earth. All right wingers are destined to go to heaven because they are so pure, honest, moral and ethical. Bah humbug.

You can't define a the word politicain without a discussion of the willingness to lie and make promises you have no intention of keeping. No politician in this nation cares more about America than he or she does about holding on to power and collecting some more graft.

Obama ends 100 Day Middle Class Tax Cut! So now, it's higher taxes for all!

And now his minions are hitting the circuit, actually saying things like "He never specified how long the cut would last"!!

And by the way, kalpal, you didn't just make a point, you expressed an opinion with NO empirical evidence to back it up.

Just for reference, which Republican are you referrring to as "Patient Zero" in the government corruption outbreak? Just curious. Let me know, I'll do the research.

DAY 94: Homeless man and Obama doppelgänger Tom Banks meets the president outside a D.C. restaurant and convinces him to secretly trade places for a week, a decision Obama will come to rue.

DAY 93: Taking his cue from President Obama's $800 billion stimulus bill, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan goes on a spending spree not seen since the days of Caligula.

DAY 92: Secretary of Energy Steven Chu converts self into a sentient ball of energy.

DAY 91: Rahm Emanuel takes a deep breath, counts to 10, and reminds himself that it's not the envelope's fault.

DAY 90: Although he disagrees with many of his predecessor's policies, President Obama has to admit Bush left behind a pretty sweet home entertainment system.

DAY 89: To make up for missing the Opening Day first pitch, President Obama closes out the ninth for the Nationals.

DAY 88: White House senior adviser David Axelrod has to rush home to Chicago when he suddenly realizes he left his car in a two-hour parking zone in January.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/94533?utm_source=b-section

If she's talking to foreign government officials about interfering in espionage cases, how does she manage to keep her high security clearance?

Scary - Could this be a "Man caused disaster", perpetrated as part of an "Overseas Contingency Operation"?

"The first case was seen in Mexico on April 13. The outbreak coincided with the President Barack Obama’s trip to Mexico City on April 16. Obama was received at Mexico’s anthropology museum in Mexico City by Felipe Solis, a distinguished archeologist who died the following day from symptoms similar to flu, Reforma newspaper reported. The newspaper didn’t confirm if Solis had swine flu or not. "

Obama golfs as innocent foreigners die, and US citizens are struck down -

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1151ap_us_obama_golf.html

Didn't the Looney Left want Bush impeached for the same crime? Let's form an investigatory panel, and get this "out of touch" megalomaniac out!

Obama unauthorized war policy kills 2 innocent Iraqis -
"Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Sunday that a US raid in which a policeman and a woman were shot dead was a "breach" of a landmark security pact signed with Washington in November."

I guess the only question is, was this done, as John Kerry has suggested, in the "dark of night"? Can't wait to hear the OUTRAGE from the left on this one!

Lets start Republican corruption with the first Republican administration to take over the presidency after I arrived in this country. I offer Nixon and Agnew as the start of gross and pervasive corruption in the US starting in 1969. Reagan and his crew were a bunch of criminials and the Bush gang followed suit. You may do as much research as you need to prove that they were all honest, pure, moral, ethical and fine exemplars of humanity.

For a long time I have held that Republicans are 100% bad. The Democrats are about 99.5% bad. That margin gives me all the hope I will ever have that corruption might someday abate in a country that approves of bribery via political donations in return for legislation that harms the nation in favor of the donors.

I was thinking more along the line of Jack Kennedy and his mafia connections.

Or, before that, the Truman administration -

"Truman's military aide, Harry Vaughan, a long-time associate of the President since World War I, was often at the center of these allegations. Vaughan clearly sought government favors for friends and businessmen; he even accepted seven freezers from an associate, one of which he gave to Bess Truman. (The freezers, however, were defective, and Bess's freezer broke after a few months.) In 1950, Democratic senator J. William Fulbright (D-AR) headed an investigation into Vaughan's activities, finding Vaughn guilty of only minor ethical and legal breaches."

Just scratching the surface, though.