Assist immediately please
Dear Madame/Sir:
Compliments of the day. I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.
I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion USD. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.
I am working with Mr. Phil Gramm, lobbyist for UBS, who (God willing) will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a former U.S. congressional leader and the architect of the PALIN / McCain Financial Doctrine, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. As such, you can be assured that this transaction is 100% safe.
This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.
Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.
Yours Faithfully in the Name of God,
Minister of Treasury Paulson
U.S. Attorney Became Target After Rebuffing Justice Dept.
By Amy Goldstein and Carrie Johnson
The night before the government secured a guilty plea from the manufacturer of the addictive painkiller OxyContin, a senior Justice Department official called the U.S. attorney handling the case and, at the behest of an executive for the drugmaker, urged him to slow down, the prosecutor told the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday.
Leahy issues subpoena for Rove
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Thursday issued a subpoena for top White House adviser Karl Rove to compel him to testify about the firing of several U.S. attorneys.
By Klaus Marre
‘Totally anathema to a democratic society’
The subject on Bill Moyers Journal last night was Impeachment…the impeachment of Bush AND Cheney, that is, with historical reference to Clinton. Conservative Bruce Fein (who wrote one of the impeachment articles on Clinton) and liberal John Nichols (of The Nation mag) discussed. (PBS.org has the full transcript.). BTW, Dem House Speaker Pelosi will not be pleased with what was said about her position of impeachment being “off the table.” ~Larry
Not all would put a heroic sheen on Thompson’s Watergate role
The day before Senate Watergate Committee minority counsel Fred Thompson made the inquiry that launched him into the national spotlight – asking an aide to President Nixon whether there was a White House taping system — he telephoned Nixon’s lawyer.
Bush justice is a national disgrace
As a longtime attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, I can honestly say that I have never been as ashamed of the department and government that I serve as I am at this time.
By John S. Koppel
The Bushites Have Outsourced Our Government to Their Pals
By Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown
The sprawling $43 billion homeland security department is known for being in charge of America’s color-coded terrorist-threat alarm system, a sham that obscures HSD’s real mission: to serve as a giant federal cookie jar for corporate America.
Justice official is said to have favored GOP Loyalists
Bradley Schlozman is slated to testify Tuesday in the U.S. attorneys investigation.
“He viewed me as the enemy. He viewed most career attorneys as the enemy,” said Joseph D. Rich, a former chief of the department’s voting-rights section.
Grand Jury Indicts Louisiana Rep. Jefferson in Bribery Investigation
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to push this week for Jefferson to be stripped of his seat on the Small Business Committee, according to a leadership aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not yet been announced.
He should resign immediately.
Suit Sheds Light on Clintons’ Ties to a Benefactor
The company, infoUSA, one of the nation’s largest brokers of information on consumers, paid $146,866 to ferry the Clintons, Mr. Gupta and others to Acapulco and back, court records show. During the next four years, infoUSA paid Mr. Clinton more than $2 million for consulting services, and spent almost $900,000 to fly him around the world for his presidential foundation work and to fly Mrs. Clinton to campaign events.
Related:
What is the ‘benefactor’ involved in?
Bilking the Elderly, With a Corporate Assist
Six Questions for Marcus Stern on Duke Cunningham
You have a man who achieved hero status during the Vietnam War and yet later in his life he’s exposed as being completely besotted with greed
Résumé of Doom
May 20, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
By MAUREEN DOWD
Paul Wolfowitz may be out of a job soon, but think of what an amazing résumé he’ll be shopping around:
Work Experience
President of World Bank: 2005-2007
Responsibilities: Reining in European lefties, raining tax-free money on Arab girlfriend, and giving anti-corruption efforts a bad name.
Achievements: Paralyzed the international lending apparatus to the point where small countries had to max out thei (more…)
All Hail the King
Under Bush, loyalty has reigned supreme. But as his presidency unravels, his obligation to his faithful servants — from Gonzales to Wolfowitz — has become perilously relative.
By Sidney Blumenthal (more…)
Wolfowitz Resigns From World Bank
…a special investigative committee of the bank concluded that he had violated his contract by breaking ethical and governing rules in arranging the generous pay and promotion package for Shaha Ali Riza, his companion, in 2005.
French judge searches lawyer’s office in probe into Sarkozy smear
PARIS: Judges investigating a smear scandal that targeted president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy searched the office of one of his lawyers Friday but were blocked by staff when they tried to enter offices of a leading satirical weekly, judicial officials said
[Merci RC]
Karl Rove Directed DOJ Voter Suppression Project
Karl Rove orchestrated a large-scale effort to suppress voter turnout among potentially Democratic constituencies
Tenet Healthcare Hands Jeb Bush a Big Windfall
Jeb Bush will get over $450,000 in the next year from Tenet for being a board member — about three times what the average director makes at major U.S. corporations.
Coulter Voter Fraud News
AP says: Conservative pundit Ann Coulter has been cleared of allegations that she falsified her Palm Beach County voter’s registration and voted illegally — this, after a high-level FBI agent made unsolicited phone calls to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office to vouch for Coulter.
Bradblog: FBI Agent who interceded in Ann Coulter Voter Fraud case alleged to be her former boyfriend
The fired-attorneys case: a truly appalling possibility
Through the controversy over the eight U.S. Attorneys who were fired, I’ve been personally most interested in a potential ninth name on the list, since the ramifications involve the Congressman from Redlands, California, my home town. Details on this at the end of this post. But there is a new development involving the original eight attorneys that potentially dwarfs in outright evil anything said, suggested, or suspected in the whole saga up till now. Indeed, the implications would be so appalling, if true, that for now I find it hard actually to believe the worst.
James Fallows
Corps asked to explain pump contract
Did a Rigged Bid Lead to New Orleans’ Destruction?
In a letter dated April 13, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., called on the Corps to look into how the politically connected company got the post-Hurricane Katrina contract. MWI employed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, President Bush’s brother, to market its pumps during the 1980s, and top MWI officials have been major contributors to the Republican Party.
Ex-CIA analyst: Forged ‘yellowcake’ memo ‘leads right back to’ Cheney
Appearing on MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson Show, Ray McGovern who served in the CIA for twenty-seven years, said, “the [forged] memo leads right back to the doorstep of the Vice President of the United States
A Woman Wrongly Convicted and a U.S. Attorney Who Kept His Job
Opponents of Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin spent $4 million on ads last year trying to link the Democratic incumbent to a state employee who was sent to jail on corruption charges. The effort failed, and Mr. Doyle was re-elected — and now the state employee has been found to have been wrongly convicted. The entire affair is raising serious questions about why a United States attorney put an innocent woman in jail.
Judges for Sale
From the archives:
December 12, 2006
Talking Points
By DOROTHY SAMUELS
It was bound to happen sooner or later. Special interests have long targeted candidates for executive offices, like president and governor, and legislative offices, like Congress and state legislatures. It was just a matter of time before well-heeled business and other interests would expand their influence-peddling efforts, and begin pouring large amounts of money into previously sleepy judicial campaigns. (more…)
More potential 2004 election illegalities rock Ohio’s Hocking County as Cleveland braces for a legal firestorm
As the third of four members of the Cuyahoga (Cleveland) County Board of Elections resigns under pressure from Ohio’s new Secretary of State, additional potential illegalities in Hocking County have resurfaced with new weight against a GOP executive director already under serious fire.
by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
The Marriage of Corruption & Hypocrisy In Democratic Washington
Why bother to be consistent, when you can just buy off the new majority? By David Sirota
Ex-Deputy of Interior Dept. Pleads Guilty
J. Steven Griles pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and lying about his ties to Jack Abramoff.
RJ Eskow: The Times Misleads On Prosecutorgate “News” And Presents Facts As Opinion
Is New York Times reporter David Stout incapable of performing basic research, or is he parroting Administration talking points in today’s article on Prosecutorgate? That’s not a rhetorical question. His article distorts the context for Congressional requests for testimony. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the the Times simple factual assertions are being presented as editorial opinion.
Leahy Says He’ll Subpoena Rove, Discusses Potential Crimes Involved In Attorney Purge
Wednesday on CNN’s Situation Room, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) blew off White House signals that Karl Rove and other senior Bush officials may resist testifying before Congress on the U.S. Attorney purge.
“Frankly, I don’t care whether [White House Counsel Fred Fielding] says he’s going to allow people or not. We’ll subpoena the people we want,” Leahy said. “If they want to defy the subpoena, then you get into a stonewall situation I suspect they don’t want to have.” Asked whether he’ll subpoena Rove, Leahy answered, “Yes. He can appear voluntarily if he wants. If he doesn’t, I will subpoena him.”
GOP Lawmakers Tried to Influence Federal Investigation
The alleged involvement of the two Republican lawmakers raises questions about possible violations of House of Representatives and Senate ethics rules and could taint the criminal investigation into the award of an $82 million courthouse contract.
Walter Reed Official Had Own Charity
Hospital Investigates Former Aid Chief
By Dana Priest and Anne Hull
Affidavit: McVeigh had high-level [FBI] help
According to Oklahoma bombing conspirator, ranking officials were involved in the attack
Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols says a high-ranking FBI official “apparently” was directing Timothy McVeigh in the plot to blow up a government building and might have changed the original target of the attack, according to a new affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Utah.
The Project
President Bush wanted the ‘right’ people in charge of the reconstruction of Iraq. Unfortunately for the country, that meant loyalty to the president rather than expertise – including a 24-year-old estate agent put in charge of the stock exchange, writes Rajiv Chandrasekaran in the second exclusive extract from his new book
Justice Official Bought Vacation Home With Oil Lobbyist
A senior Justice Department official who recently resigned her post bought a nearly $1 million vacation home with a lobbyist for ConocoPhillips months before approving consent decrees that would give the oil company more time to pay millions of dollars in fines and meet pollution-cleanup rules at some of its refineries.Sue Ellen Wooldridge, former assistant attorney general in charge of environment and natural resources, bought a $980,000 home on Kiawah Island, S.C., last March with ConocoPhillips lobbyist Don R. Duncan. A third owner of the house is J. Steven Griles, a former deputy interior secretary, who has been informed he is a target in the federal investigation of Jack Abramoff’s lobbying activities.
How the US sent $12bn in cash to Iraq.
Special flights brought in tonnes of banknotes which disappeared into the war zone
What? Don’t tax dollars grow on trees in America?
Ney to Serve 2.5 Years in Abramoff Bribery Scandal
Did you hear how he would start the day at 730 a.m. with Bud Light? What will he start with in the slammer? Hm.
Surging and Purging
January 19, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
By PAUL KRUGMAN
There’s something happening here, and what it is seems completely clear: the Bush administration is trying to protect itself by purging independent-minded prosecutors.
(more…)
Scooter Libby’s Time-Travel Trial
By Robert Parry (A Special Report)
January 17, 2007
The trial of former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby is being billed by the Big Media as a case study of a favorite Washington cliché – “it’s not the crime but the coverup” – a smugly delivered line suggesting that Libby committed no real offense beyond trimming a few facts when questioned by overzealous investigators.
A Failed Revolution
December 29, 2006
By PAUL KRUGMAN
After first attempting to deny the scale of last month’s defeat, the apologists have settled on a story line that sounds just like Marxist explanations for the failure of the Soviet Union. What happened, you see, was that the noble ideals of the Republican revolution of 1994 were undermined by Washington’s corrupting ways. And the recent defeat was a good thing, because it will force a return to the true conservative path.
(more…)
Refocusing the Impeachment Movement on Administration Officials Below the President and Vice-President:
Why Not Have A Realistic Debate, with Charges that Could Actually Result in Convictions?
By JOHN W. DEAN
Stockman under investigation for fraud
Reagan Budget Director Under Investigation
Auto Official May Testify
