Review of Kyle Sampson's testimony Before the Judicial Committee-Post 1

So, yesterday, John comes to me and says matter of fact, I want you to cover the testimony of Kyle Sampson for the blog tomorrow. I said, make sure you introduce the topic tomorrow, and yet…..Hmmmmmm….I see no topic this morning. Great!!!

Lol, I’m sure all of you who know John or me personally understand exactly why I had to write that joke as my opener. So, I thought how am I going to do this? Looking for a detour to sitting in front of the TV and watching the prelude to the event, I decided I should work out. As I finished my workout, I turned on the TV to watch. MSNBC, the more credible has the same old thing, strategists, who know everything that should be going on. I thought to myself, hmm…..good times to meet with local officials and provide there perspective on our upcoming IPTV Shows. Letting their knowledge flood my mind, I heard there thoughts on what we really know as the public, what was really going to be exposed today, and how much damage could be done by his testimony? It is all speculation of the worst, as is usual with the mainstream media. I wonder, could we balance the worst with the best. Or, could we just wait and see what he will tell us in his testimony, using this time to promote the groups of the local community and how they will be impacted by the testimony. Hmmm……Interesting thought for another time.

So, I come back in from the workout and talk with John’s wife a little. I turn on MSNBC again and they are still reviewing their own thoughts while we are waiting for the proceeding to begin.

While waiting, I did some research on Google about Mr. Sampson. From the LA Times:
WASHINGTON — The former Justice Department official who orchestrated the firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year plans to tell Congress today that such dismissals are appropriate when prosecutors prove ineffective from "a political perspective." In his first public remarks on the firings, D. Kyle Sampson says the process of identifying underperforming U.S. attorneys "was not scientific nor was it extensively documented," according to testimony prepared for delivery to the Senate Judiciary Committee.None of the prosecutors was asked to resign for "improper reasons," notes a copy of Sampson's statement obtained by The Times, but an unusually broad standard was used to decide on proper grounds for dismissing them
End of quotation from the LA Times...

He didn’t see a difference, it appeared, between firing someone for policy or political differences in any of his opening statement. In his opening remarks, he did make statements that things were mishandled—“poor judgments, word choices...” He talked of a “good faith attempt to carry-out management operations” and then one sentence later, admitted that actions have caused “misunderstandings and embarrassments”. He also indicated that he was not asked to resign, but instead chose to resign his post in an effort to hold himself accountable for what he “could have and should have done to prevent this”. He went on to assure the committee that he genuinely—“honestly and in good faith”—“never sought to conceal...facts...from anyone” within the department. Going far enough to state the “others in the department knew”. But, when discussing what happened in his opening statement, he simply stuck to the language already reflected in the LA Times excerpt above.

Reports from MSNBC say that he is currently being grilled on the language he has chosen to hear. But, they are not covering it live, and neither is CSPAN 1 AND CSPAN 2. I need to find a live feed to the proceeding and I will get our readers more. How does one get a press pass to this stuff, anyway?

Have any suggestions, email or call me.
Jeremy
(614) 519-3026

At first the article in this link pi$$e& me off...

At first I heard our President say:

"We will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honourable public servants,"


But then I read what Patrick Leahy said and felt a little better:

"Testimony should be on the record and under oath. That's the formula for true accountability," he said.
He said Mr Bush's offer "is not constructive and it is not helpful to be telling the Senate how to do our investigation, or to prejudge its outcome".

Thanks BBC

Then I saw this article and these few lines:

"Republicans forced a delay in a vote on Senate subpoenas a week ago, and it was not clear whether any of the GOP members of the panel were now prepared to support them."

and then this classic deal from Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania:

The Senior Republican on the panel, floated a compromise in which Rove and others would answer questions from selected lawmakers without being sworn in but with a transcription made.

But then Sen. Harry Reid had this to say in response:

"Anyone who would take that deal isn't playing with a full deck,"

and then I saw this article in which the first paragraph said:

A House panel authorized subpoenas Wednesday requiring Karl Rove and four other senior Bush administration officials to testify under oath in the inquiry into the dismissals of eight federal prosecutors.


Further down the article:

“I think the Democrats are overplaying their hand,” said Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi.

[Wow, thank you #2 guy in the Republican party! You are supposed to say that, but that doesn't make it true.]

Well, this can only get better,

Go get 'em Leahy

Pat Leahy announced today that he will go after White House staff to testify. He also said he did not want to have a "private briefing" with the White House. Here is his quote found in the linked yahoo article.

"I want testimony under oath. I am sick and tired of getting half-truths on this," Leahy said. "I do not believe in this, we'll have a private briefing for you where we'll tell you everything, and they don't."

Pressure is building on this story.

Grape Juice = Good for you

"Grape and Berry Juices: Elixers for Long Life? Grape Juice-Industry-Funded Study Finds They May Help Prevent Alzheimer's, Heart Disease" By AMMU KANNAMPILLY

Antioxidants are good for you but don't overate them.

Grape Juice is good for you but not as good for you as cranberry and pomegranate juice. It is better for you than orange juice and grapefruit juice, but you should still have oj and gf juice weekly. They are citrus fruits and contain the only fruit that contain a certain type of antioxidant.

House of Reps. (except 94 republicans) pass Whistleblower Legislation

The house agreed to a bill that will protect scientists from political interruption into their work. They will be able to expose and be protected from having their findings impeded or influenced. I wonder why 94 of our house reps did not think this should pass. Anyone want to tell me (us)?

Click on the Link--Thread for The Worst Company In America

"Consumerist.com's "Worst Company in America" battle is down to the final round: RIAA vs. Halliburton. Go vote." I had to blog this article I found on Digg.com. The thread has a bunch of companies squaring off.


http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/worst-company-in-america/
read more digg story

Attorney General, Karl Rove, The plot thickens

Kyle Sampson-attorney general's chief of staff--Subpoenaed.

This is a link to an article written by Ari Shapiro found at npr.

"As more documents dribble out, they continue to damage Gonzales' standing with critics. "

"The exchange also shows White House adviser Karl Rove playing an early role in planning the dismissals. "

As for Karl Rove, Ari highlights a note left for a White House Lawyer that said, "Karl Rove stopped by to ask you how we planned to proceed regarding U.S. attorneys. Whether we were going to allow all to stay, request resignations from all and accept only some of them, or selectively replace them, etc."

Hmmm.


Rove had this to say:

""I just ask the American people and ask Congress to look fairly and carefully at what's being said and done now."

Ok.

Patrick Leahy, as reported earlier, has subpoenaed 5 Justice officials



and it goes on...

Iran Sanctions Agreement

The Big Six (Britain, United States, France, Russia, China and Germany) agreed to some sanctions on Iran to decrease weapons development and shipping. The 15 member U.N. security council will vote on the sanctions next week.

Some of the sanctions include (from Reuters Article in the link):

"a ban on Iranian arms exports, an assets freeze on individuals and firms involved in Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and a call for nations and institutions to bar new grants or loans"

The president of Iran had this to say:

"Issuing such torn pieces of paper ... will not have an impact on (the) Iranian nation's will,"


I am glad that the U.N. was able to get "the powers" to actually meet and develop sanctions this time. We'll see if it works. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems more obstinate and passive aggressive than Saddam.

Can tiny little Vermont ruin this administration?

The link in the title goes to Raw Story and describes with some detail the announcement this morning that Patrick Leahy D-Vermont, wants a comprehensive questioning of all White House administration and Attorney General staffers. He seems pretty adamant that they will either give out all of the details covering arguments that the attorney general's office was carrying out the will of the White House. I also hear there was documented proof of this argument :) Here is the video clip that is available at CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/video/partners/clickability/index.html?url=/video/politics/2007/03/14/blitzer.leahy.interview.cnn


I am sure this story will only get better and I will continue to post as we move forward.

Swamp Bubbles Post-- Chris Meyers Canidate for Toledo School Board

A round of support on this site for Chris Meyers, local blogger, change advocate, and web activist and his announcement of running for school board. Chris is a welcoming member of the community and seems to look for collaborative solutions and good ideas. We will keep you posted on his campaign at our site.

You Go Vermont

Six towns in Vermont have gathered signatures to file paperwork to Impeach President Bush. The congress representative does not want to investigate their claims of "unanswered questions" about 9/11, so they are doing it on their own.

You go, Vermont. Let's see how far you get!

Can You Tube Help Elect the next president

If you are a presidential canidate, you better have a you tube account for your campaign. It seems most of the "bigger name" hopefuls already have their videos up.

Let's look at some stats from the link:

McCain

Joined: 2 weeks ago Videos: 13 Viewed: 9,877

Edwards

Joined: 11 months ago Videos: 23 Viewed: 26,518

Biden

Joined: 1 month ago Videos: 15 Viewed: 6,069

Romney

Joined: 1 month ago Videos: 33 Viewed: 13,934

Clinton

Joined: 7 months ago Videos: 14 Viewed: 30,226

Guliani

Joined: 2 weeks ago Videos: 5 Viewed: 16,555

Richardson

Joined: 1 month ago Videos: 3 Viewed: 9,832

Kucinich

Joined: 2 weeks ago Videos: 4 Viewed: 7,340

Obama

Joined: 6 months ago Videos: 22 Viewed: 81,618


OBAMA, leader of the You Tube generation!

Democrats Set Timetable for Iraq

The Democrats are trying to set a timetable for Iraq. Fall 2008. Of course Republicans are already attacking the plan. Here is the article, from the El Paso times, as an AP report.

The filing will also include 1.2 billion in funds to support military action in Afghanistan for a supposed "spring offensive" by the Taliban.

Let's see where this legislation will go. I think unless the "political aspect"(see the post right before this one) is figured out in Iraq, fall of 2008 is too far away. At least there is some healthy planning and debate going on.

New General in Iraq-- A Military Solution is Not Enough

Even for those who believe there is no civil war going on in Iraq, the new US Commander General Patraeus, says an end to the war would only come by bringing in the "militant" groups and giving them a voice at political tables.

He is quoted in the article with the following thoughts:

"There is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq. Military action is necessary to help improve security... but it is not sufficient. There needs to be a political aspect.”

I want to know what the extent of "political aspect" covers. Does he mean economic development, rebuilding, and policy/ strategy. Or does he mean political power and decision making? Or could it be a combination of both?

What is clear is that we can have as many troops as we want there to keep the peace and stop "militants" but the "War" will not be won without some other form of development. Remember, we are "building a democracy" where it has never really existed, so this type of bloodshed is really just "resistance to change". What is clear is that even the top military leaders of this "War" believe that a military presence alone CANNOT WIN THE WAR! There needs to be other plans in place for economic and political development. I sure hope someone in Washington is going to listen to General Patraeus and make a plan for the "political aspect."

SCOOTER LIBBEY = Found Guilty

AP reports and others, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libbey, was found guilty in the CIA leak trial. His lawers were disappointed and will seek an appeal or retrial.

He was found guilty of "Libby was convicted of one count of obstruction, two counts of perjury and one count of lying to the FBI"

No one will be charged with the actual leak.

This is what Patrick Fitzgerald, special prosecutor for the case had to say, according to the report (if you click on the title of this post) , "It's sad that we had a situation where a high-level official person who worked in the office of the vice president obstructed justice and lied under oath. We wish that it had not happened, but it did."


Also in the report was this information from Dana Perrino, White House deputy press secretary:

"the president respected the jury's verdict but "was saddened for Scooter Libby and his family."

and that

"I would not agree"{ with any characterization of the verdict as embarrassing for the White House. }

Hmmm.

Two FBI Whistleblowers Confirm Illegal Wiretapping of Government Officials and Misuse of FISA

Here is a press release from the National Security Whistleblowers Commission. A former spacial agent for the FBI is claiming that there is “... reasonable belief that the request for ELSUR [electronic surveillance] coverage was a subterfuge to collect evidentiary information concerning public corruption matters.”

The press release also states that "Graham blew the whistle on this illegal behavior, but the actions were covered up by the Department of Justice and the Attorney General’s office."

Dennis Hastert is reported as having this to do with the activities: "involved in illegal activities with the Turkish organizations and personnel targeted in FBI investigations"

Sibel Edmonds--former (she was fired, of course) FBI language scpecialist was quoted by David Rose of Vanity Fair as saying, "...much of what Edmonds reportedly heard seemed to concern not state espionage but criminal activity. There was talk, she told investigators, of laundering the profits of large-scale drug deals and of selling classified military technologies to the highest bidder.”


The unclassified report is available online

Please click on the link for the full press release.

I hope Dick Cheney is ok

Although, not my favorite guy in the world (actually not even close) , I hope and am sure he should have an easy and speedy recovery. I would bet he can't wait until 2008! I think I speak for about 50% of America when I say "Dick, I completely understand if you would want to retire at this very unfortunate time."

I would not take the same road as Bill Maher, suggesting that if Mr. Cheney were not here, lives would be saved. Thanks Fox News for getting that article!

Congress Fucks Up Another One

It seems there are already some discrepancies of royalties that have to be paid by internet radio broadcasters as opposed to your Clear Channel and Cumulus conglomerates. the author of the article has had his been slowly building his own Internet Radio Channel over the internet.

Here is the gist of the argument from Kurt Hanson:

The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has announced its decision on Internet radio royalty rates, rejecting all of the arguments made by Webcasters and instead adopting the "per play" rate proposal put forth by SoundExchange(a digital music fee collection body created by the RIAA).

Bill Goldsmith from Radio Paradise had this to say:

"while Internet stations like ours are being told they must pay royalty fees that exceed their income, sometimes by several times over, FM stations - including those owned by media conglomerates like Clear Channel - pay nothing at all!"


All of this came about because of this legislation:

music industry lobbyists persuaded Congress to include wording in two pieces of legislation (the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995 and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998) that drew a sharp division between analog and digital broadcasts. Their reasoning was that a digital radio transmission was not a radio broadcast at all, but a sequence of perfect digital copies of music performances provided to the user, who could then copy them rather than paying to own a CD.


"Radio is radio, whether it comes in digital or analog form." says Goldsmith. Hey congress, not every lobbyist that come through the door has American citizens best interests at heart. When they tell you everyone will be stealing digital music, don't believe them! Not everyone has that technology just sitting around their house.

It may get worse before it gets better, but there is no better time than now to stop overt corporate control of our government.

Check out Radio Paradise

OOPS...She did it again

"BRITNEY Spears has flipped her lid in rehab, trying to hang herself with a bedsheet after screaming "I am the anti-christ" to frightened staff."


I just had to post this article for the hell of it. How do you say "she is fucking nuts" in Northwest Ohio. Oh yeah, she is fucking nuts.

Leave it to San Francisco

University of California at San Francisco has been smoking pot again, oh I mean studying pot. It looks like the "devil weed" has properties that relieve pain that most legal narcotics cannot alleviate.
It seems it can help this crazy "hippie" ailment called Neuropathic Pain. Oh Yeah sure! Here is what the alternet article said:

"Neuropathic pain is notoriously resistant to treatment with conventional pain drugs. Even powerful and addictive narcotics like morphine and OxyContin often provide little relief. This study leaves no doubt that marijuana can safely ease this type of pain."


Then as if that wasn't far fetched enough, to top it off the article reported that the researchers had the audacity to say the "illegal" weed the government gave them wasn't good enough:

"As all marijuana research in the United States must be, the new study was conducted with government-supplied marijuana of notoriously poor quality. So it probably underestimated the potential benefit."

So if they had some Maui Wowie (this website is called grass city, for a minute I thought Lisa Renee at Glass City changed her format!!) or Acapulco Gold who knows what ailments may up and disappear. Pizza delivery drivers beware!

Ann Coulter is a moronic you know what!

She is an idiot, another ultra conservative minion, who goes around spewing hate at every turn. Does she attract a lot of attention? I know Brian Wilson from WSPD loves to have her on, and she has wrote a few books. C'mon people, do you really want to hear drivel like this:

“I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot,’ so I — so kind of an impasse, can’t really talk about Edwards,” she said, speaking to an overflow room of activists.-- link from The Caucus

She needs rehab of her whole routine, the problem is she believes herself and so do others.