Rove, Bush and Cheney belong in prison. Not Don Siegelman.

[Octafish]

In fact, Don Siegelman for president in 2016

[libodem]

1. Absolutely

[Octafish]

2. Ever notice the rush to 'move on' all the time?

...Florida...ENRON...9-11...Iraq...Torture...Banksters...NSA Spying...

[libodem]

4. Our memories are very short

And the next new shiny object induces amnesia while it briefly captures our attention.

Nothing up my sleeve. Look over here. Holds up a quarter. All heads turn.

[Octafish]

6. Some people want to take down Gov. Siegelman's official portrait...

...but not a majority.



Most readers say leave Don Siegelman's portrait hanging in Capitol despite criminal conviction

[libodem]

8. I can not stand this complete

Miscarriage of justice and can not comprehend why and how this has not been reversed.

The Dems need some billionaires on our side to make American justice work, apparently?

[Octafish]

9. That's the problem: Money trumps peace AND justice.

Know your BFEE: Siegelman Judge is a big-time War Profiteer



U.S. Judge Mark E. Fuller, the guy who helped railroad Gov. Don Siegelman.

Fuller just happens to be the owner of a company that's made a huge fortune off the Pentagon and War Inc via no-bid crony War on Terror largesse.

The Pork Barrel World of Judge Mark Fuller

By Scott Horton
Harper's August 6, 2007, 5:14 pm

For the last week, we’ve been examining the role played by Judge Mark Everett Fuller in the trial, conviction, and sentencing of former Alabama Governor Don E. Siegelman. Today, we examine a post-trial motion, filed in April 2007, asking Fuller to recuse himself based on his extensive private business interests, which turn very heavily on contracts with the United States Government, including the Department of Justice.

The recusal motion rested upon details about Fuller’s personal business interests. On February 22, 2007, defense attorneys obtained information that Judge Fuller held a controlling 43.75% interest in government contractor Doss Aviation, Inc. After investigating these claims for over a month, the attorneys filed a motion for Fuller’s recusal on April 18, 2007. The motion stated that Fuller’s total stake in Doss Aviation was worth between $1-5 million, and that Fuller’s income from his stock for 2004 was between $100,001 and $1 million dollars.

In other words, Judge Fuller likely made more from his business income, derived from U.S. Government contracts, than as a judge. Fuller is shown on one filing as President of the principal business, Doss Aviation, and his address is shown as One Church Street, Montgomery, Alabama, the address of the Frank M. Johnson Federal Courthouse, in which his chambers are located.

SNIP...

Doss Aviation and its subsidiaries also held contracts with the FBI. This is problematic when one considers that FBI agents were present at Siegelman’s trial, and that Fuller took the extraordinary step of inviting them to sit at counsel’s table throughout trial. Moreover, while the case was pending, Doss Aviation received a $178 million contract from the federal government.

CONTINUED...

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/08/hbc-90000762

The guy's a wife beater, too.



Siegelman Judge Mark E Fuller got off scot-free for Domestic Violence, just like Ray Rice...

There's a special place for Judge Fuller, and it's not in the federal judiciary, unless one includes prison.

[ReRe]

20. Charming (NOT)

Why is it not a conflict of interest for judges to have their hands in everything besides his/her duties as a judge? Last I heard there was a back-log in the judicial system. Is there a back-log because the judge is too busy with his other "interests?" If a judge wants to be a judge, he should BE a judge. If he wants to be a business man, then be a business man. This country is corrupt from top to bottom.

[FiveGoodMen]

36. That's why we can't let all the money fall into a few hands

(Well shouldn't have)

[Octafish]

28. Notice his right hand in the portrait...

...it rests next to a children's book, symbolizing his support for public education, and in front of an SUV model, symbolizing the Mercedes Benz manufacturing plant that builds about half their annual US sales.



Alabama has long appreciated German engineering.

[99th_Monkey]

10. But, what color is the dress?

^THIS^ kind of BS on evening nooz has "everyone wondering".

[Octafish]

11. The Powell Memorandum

I learned about this on DU and not in college like I should have:



Confidential Memorandum: Attack of American Free Enterprise System

[99th_Monkey]

46. Very Interesting.

I wish the nation had listened more carefully to Michael Moore, who's been
saying for years that the 1% 'have their shit together, and know where
they are going, and how to get there" meanwhile 'we on the Left/99% are still
looking for their car keys'.

[maddiemom]

13. So obvious in modern politics, with a dash of projection.

They can't move on from Benghazi, etc.

[suffragette]

3. K&R

[Octafish]

7. Bush and Cheney lied America into war. Now that's ''NAZI Conspiracy Theory''...

Federal Appeals Judge Compares People Who Say Bush Lied To Rise Of Nazis

A federal appeals judge wrote in a column published on Sunday that people who accuse former President George W. Bush of lying about the Iraq War are peddling myths like those that led to the rise of Hitler.

Laurence H. Silberman, a federal appellate judge appointed by President Ronald Reagan, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the idea the Bush administration "lied us into Iraq" has gone from "antiwar slogan to journalistic fact."

"It is one thing to assert, then or now, that the Iraq war was ill-advised," he wrote. "It is quite another to make the horrendous charge that President Bush lied to or deceived the American people about the threat from Saddam."

After re-litigating the case for invading Iraq, Silberman wrote that the charge could have "potentially dire consequences."

"I am reminded of a similarly baseless accusation that helped the Nazis come to power in Germany: that the German army had not really lost World War I, that the soldiers instead had been 'stabbed in the back' by politicians," he wrote.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/laurence-silberman-bush-lied-nazis

SILBERMAN knows no shame to come up with that one.

I compiled a nice data dump on the fellow, suitable for filing or future prosecution:

Know your BFEE: Judge Laurence Silberman, Go-To Guy of the Military Industrial Complex

Seeing the title, suffragette, made me realize that some people on DU feel that way, too. Thanks for understanding!

[libodem]

5. Yep

http://www.minerals.net/mineral/pyrite.aspx

It's shiny. It looks real. Holds up iron pyrite

[Octafish]

14. Behold...a nugget of purest Green.

Lord Percy Percy: I've done it, my Lord! I've discovered how to turn things into gold! Pure gold!

Blackadder: You have? Show me!

Lord Percy Percy: (takes lid off melting pot, and Baldrick, Percy and Blackadder are bathed in a green glow) Behold!

Blackadder: Percy... it's green.

Lord Percy Percy: Yes, my Lord!

Blackadder: Now, look, Percy, I don't mean to be pedantic or anything, but the color of gold... is gold. That's why it's called gold. What YOU have discovered, if it has a name, is some... Green.

Lord Percy Percy: (removes lump of Green from pot) Oh, Edmund... can it be true? That I hold here, in my mortal hand, a nugget of purest Green?

Lord Percy Percy: Yes indeed, Percy, except that it's not really a nugget but more of a splat.

Blackadder: Yes, my Lord. A splat today, but tomorrow, who knows, or dares to dream...

[libodem]

43. AWESOME

[Octafish]

44. Then Lord Percy Percy made clear to Blackadder who he meant by ''We'' is.

And thus Baldrick, the only one willing to actually ever do work to help out, got cut out of the partnership and anything coming in on the deal.

[samsingh]

12. agreed

[Octafish]

18. Equal justice under the law?

by H. Brandt Ayers
The Anniston Star, Sunday, March 1, 2015

If there is such a concept as the words written on the pediment of the U.S. Supreme Court building, it is hard to discern in the dramatic difference in the sentences awarded in four high-profile cases.

Last Friday, former Virginia First Lady Maureen McDonnell was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison on corruption charges. Earlier her husband, former Gov. Bob McDonnell got two years on the same charge.

In February 1994, Alabama Gov. Guy Hunt began serving a five-year probation for illegally pocketing $200,000. The parole board later pardoned Hunt, but no judge would sign the required document.

In 2006, Gov. Don Siegelman was convicted on a charge of corruption and sentenced to seven years in federal prison. He is still in prison.

Two years, a year and a day, probation and…seven years! Who can explain such drastic differences in punishment for alleged misuse of office?

Three who received relatively light sentences each benefitted personally from their acts, and each was a Republican. The only Democrat, Siegelman, didn’t make a nickel from his office but got the harshest sentence.

SNIP...

While Judge Spencer rendered relative mercy to the McDonnells, Alabama District Judge Mark Fuller unleashed Old Testament fury on Don Siegelman.

The former governor was brought into the courtroom shackled hands and feet as if he were some monster accused of unspeakable acts. The Washington Post, which covered the McDonnell trials, mentioned no similar personal indignity.

Siegelman’s crime? He accepted a $500,000 check to a campaign for a lottery whose proceeds would go to education. The donor, Richard Scrushy, was reappointed by the governor to a health regulatory board to which he had been previously appointed by three Republican governors.

If that is a crime, every president who has appointed major contributors to cushy embassy posts ought to be in a federal prison.

The personal indignity and excessive sentence suffered at the hand of District Judge Mark Fuller, a George W. Bush appointee, raises doubts about the temperament of the judge.

CONTINUED...

http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/article_d6a93f26-bed9-11e4-bd8e-2f5752747fe1.html

Now THAT is a newspaperman.

[chknltl]

15. Disagree! Re: Bush Cheney, you've put cart in front of horse here.

Trial first, a big fat well televised-fully discussed in the media trial first. Let the American voter watch such trials and be allowed to come to their own enlightened conclusions. Let the entire world watch these trials and make their own conclusions as well. Then the world will be better suited to judge We The People by our actions. (Imo, it's about us anyway, it is our government, our responsibility and our responsibility to the world as it's biggest super power).

As to Gov. Siegelman, Imho he deserves a Presidential Pardon.

[cstanleytech]

22. He wont get a pardon though or atleast the odds of one being given are slim.

He has a better chance though of getting his sentence commuted like Bush did to reward Libby for taking the bullet.

[byronius]

16. Karl's gotta be the most guilty unconvicted multi-felon in history.

Hundreds of thousands of deaths. The betrayal, dismantling and sale of the United States of America.

Many if not most of the world's modern ills are linked to this criminal. That he still walks free is astonishing.

Dick's almost there; Karl holds the Crown Of Evil, IMO.

[Rex]

25. You think Karl can replace Kissinger?

Or at least equal him in guilt?

[byronius]

26. Good one. Tossup.

Did Henry ever blow a CIA op cover and cause deaths of American agents, though? That's a tough one to match.

[Rex]

27. He (and the CIA) did oust a democratically elected leader in Chile to replace him with a dictator.

I agree, this is a tough call.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

51. Boys, boys, settle down...let's just all agree they are both lower than the scum at the bottom

of a garbage can behind a restaurant at rush hour

Both would be comfortable in a Walker presidency,by the way

[Octafish]

31. Department of Just-Us

[font size="8"][font color="green"]Bu$h's Brain[/font color][/font size]

[font size="8"][font color="red"]He's got the Military-Industrial-Complex Pay-to-Play game rigged, from the banks to the courthouse.* [/font color][/font size]

Was Carol Lam Targeting The White House Prior To Her Firing

By Faiz Shakir on Mar 19, 2007 at 1:52 pm

lamReferring to the Bush administration’s purge of former San Diego-based U.S. attorney Carol Lam, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) questioned recently on the Senate floor whether she was let go because she was “about to investigate other people who were politically powerful.”

The media reports this morning that among Lam’s politically powerful targets were former CIA official Kyle “Dusty” Foggo and then-House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA). But there is evidence to believe that the White House may also have been on Lam’s target list. Here are the connections:

– Washington D.C. defense contractor Mitchell Wade pled guilty last February to paying then-California Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham more than $1 million in bribes.

– Wade’s company MZM Inc. received its first federal contract from the White House. The contract, which ran from July 15 to August 15, 2002, stipulated that Wade be paid $140,000 to “provide office furniture and computers for Vice President Dick Cheney.”

– Two weeks later, on August 30, 2002, Wade purchased a yacht for $140,000 for Duke Cunningham. The boat’s name was later changed to the “Duke-Stir.” Said one party to the sale: “I knew then that somebody was going to go to jail for that…Duke looked at the boat, and Wade bought it — all in one day. Then they got on the boat and floated away.”

– According to Cunningham’s sentencing memorandum, the purchase price of the boat had been negotiated through a third-party earlier that summer, around the same time the White House contract was signed.

CONTINUED w/LINKS...

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2007/03/19/11209/carol-lam-white-house/?mobile=nc

The CIA or FBI or whatver classified above "Citizen" retroactively classified Jack's files and cleaned them out from under the family.

"It's my father's legacy," said Kevin N. Anderson, a Salt Lake City lawyer and one of the columnist's nine children. "The government has always and continues to this day to abuse the secrecy stamp. My father's view was that the public is the employer of these government employees and has the right to know what they're up to."


http://archive.truthout.org/article/fbi-wants-jack-andersons-papers

Thinks Just-Us.

* Not shouting at you, Byronius -- at the "Money trumps peace" crowd and their supporters on DU.

[JPZenger]

17. Violent rapists don't spend this much time in prison

Even if he was guilty as charged (which he isn't), there no way he should STILL be in prison.

[Octafish]

37. I think you, of all DUers, will appreciate this editorial, JPZenger...

H. Brandt Ayers: Equal justice under the law?

http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/article_d6a93f26-bed9-11e4-bd8e-2f5752747fe1.html

[on point]

19. Don't forget Condi "the con" Rice

[Octafish]

38. Putting the con on Ukraine.

A great article from Katya Soldak of Forbes from two years' back.

Message from Condoleezza Rice to Ukraine:

"The World is Watching You"

Katya Soldak
Forbes, 9/19/2012

Recently, Condoleezza Rice, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Gordon Brown, Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan congregated at Livadia Palace in Southern Ukraine, the summer retreat of the last Russian tsar, Nicolas II—a Renaissance style building on the top of a hill, with the Black Sea rolling below. The same place as where Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin met at their famed Yalta conference of 1945.

The difference is that back then the rulers of the powerful countries met to make real decisions about the world’s future. This past weekend, Rice, and other guests of the 9th annual Yalta European Strategy meeting came to share their thoughts about the world’s challenges. Discussions today could influence policymakers and lead to making tomorrow’s decisions.

Among the matters discussed were the economic future of Europe and the role of the United States in dealing with economic and political issues of today. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian theme continued throughout the two-day conference. The government imprisoned former prime minister and opposition leader, Yulia Tymoshenko, and this has drawn criticism by the West; Ukraine tightens conditions for independent media and freedom of speech; the parliamentary elections coming up this October have already caused concerns among democratic observers on the subject of fairness and transparency.

Condoleezza Rice made it clear in her speech that the world is interested in Ukraine and is carefully watching all its developments: “Country like Ukraine with consolidation of democracy is watched carefully,” she said. Rice emphasized the importance of freedom of speech and free elections. “If Ukraine speaks in one voice, this voice would be heard.”

SNIP...

Indeed, the 9th annual Yalta conference – by many opinions, one of the best international platforms for discussions among high-profile politicians and innovative thinkers – is organized by Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk’s foundation and is taking place in Ukraine at a time when European leaders have recently boycotted the Euro 2012 soccer championship over Tymoshenko’s arrest and detainment. The fact that American politicians like Condoleezza Rice and Britain’s Gordon Brown attended, can’t be attributed to good relationships between Ukrainian and Western governments.

CONTINUED...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/katyasoldak/2012/09/19/message-from-condoleezza-rice-to-ukraine-the-world-is-watching-you/

In retrospect, it appears the Neocons -- the axis of Wall Street and Secret Government -- have stayed on top since the days of Reagan. And, like their ilk did to Iran in 1953, the Ukraine Operation will not benefit the American people as a whole. It will benefit the owners of Big Oil and Condoleeza Rice.

Absolutely, on point. Instead of making money off of war, Condi should be making license plates.

[cstanleytech]

21. I agree with you about Bush, Cheney and Rove but I have no real opinion on Siegelman.

[Octafish]

32. You should get more familiar with the facts.

Equal justice under the law?

By H. Brandt Ayers
The Anniston Star, Sunday, March 1, 2015

If there is such a concept as the words written on the pediment of the U.S. Supreme Court building, it is hard to discern in the dramatic difference in the sentences awarded in four high-profile cases.

Last Friday, former Virginia First Lady Maureen McDonnell was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison on corruption charges. Earlier her husband, former Gov. Bob McDonnell got two years on the same charge.

In February 1994, Alabama Gov. Guy Hunt began serving a five-year probation for illegally pocketing $200,000. The parole board later pardoned Hunt, but no judge would sign the required document.

In 2006, Gov. Don Siegelman was convicted on a charge of corruption and sentenced to seven years in federal prison. He is still in prison.

Two years, a year and a day, probation and…seven years! Who can explain such drastic differences in punishment for alleged misuse of office?

Three who received relatively light sentences each benefitted personally from their acts, and each was a Republican. The only Democrat, Siegelman, didn’t make a nickel from his office but got the harshest sentence.

CONTINUED...

http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/article_d6a93f26-bed9-11e4-bd8e-2f5752747fe1.html

Gov. Siegelman has been railroaded by gangsters, at best, traitors, most likely. Please help spread the word.

http://www.donsiegelman.org/

[cstanleytech]

39. Thank you but I'm aware of the facts I just dont have an opinion one way or the other on it and

the last time I heard we dont have to form an opinion on everything.

[Octafish]

40. Absolutely. Please forgive my tone. (NT)

[ReRe]

23. K&R

When is Don's political sentence up? When will he walk free?

[Pastiche423]

29. Gov Don went into prison

for the second time on September 11, 2012. He will be a Federal Prisoner till June, 2018, unless we can get him out earlier.

[ReRe]

30. Thanks for the info...

... it would astound us all if we knew exactly how many political prisoners we have in this country. Wish PO would pardon him.

[Octafish]

53. 2017

From Jeffrey Toobin:

...The heart of the case against Siegelman came down to a single conversation that he had with Nick Bailey, a close aide of the Governor’s, about a two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar check from Scrushy for the lottery campaign. As summarized by the appeals court:

Bailey testified that after the meeting, Siegelman showed him the check, said that it was from Scrushy and that Scrushy was “halfway there.” Bailey asked “what in the world is he going to want for that?” Siegelman replied, “the CON Board.” Bailey then asked, “I wouldn’t think that would be a problem, would it?” Siegelman responded, “I wouldn’t think so.”

In 2006, after a district-court trial before Judge Mark Fuller, Siegelman was convicted of seven counts, including bribery, conspiracy, and fraud. He was acquitted of twenty-two charges and sentenced to seven years in prison. (An appeals court overturned two of the seven convictions and allowed Siegelman out on bail during some of the time his case was on appeal.) Siegelman is currently incarcerated in a federal prison in Oklahoma; his projected release date is in 2017....

http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/obama-pardon-don-siegelman

If this was a nation of equal justice under law, Siegelman would never be in prison and those who worked to put him there would be for the rest of their lives.

[ReRe]

58. My BP goes up every time...

... a politician says this is a country of laws. A miscarriage of laws is what we actually have. Upside down law. I'm not real crazy about Jeffrey Toobin, but I sure agree with him on this one. Hope PO took it to heart.

[Rex]

24. Wow, even Karl Rove says the guy is innocent?

What does Don know that has the PTB so scared of his freedom to walk among the rest of us?

[Octafish]

41. Turd Blossom embodies corrupt nature of the Beast, the War Party...

Traitors who lied America into war get to paint and go along on their merry way.

Whistleblowers who called out the war crimes rot in prison as traitors.

Regarding the Alabama GOP and the Bush-Cheney-Rove Axis of Evil, war is a money maker:

War is big business. It's an insider's game. It's why we have so much secret government.

The last remaining enormous wads of cash in the Treasury are to be had for purchasing today's modern military industrial intel complex.



There's more than a trillion to be grabbed -- just for the Lockheed-Martin F-35.

Now keeping tabs on us -- people interested in using some of the nation's treasure for more peaceful purposes -- are for-hire spies. How do I know this? Julian Assange and Anonymous:

WikiLeaks' Stratfor Dump Lifts Lid on Intelligence-Industrial Complex

WikiLeaks' latest release, of hacked emails from Stratfor, shines light on the murky world of private intelligence-gathering

by Pratap Chatterjee
Published on Tuesday, February 28, 2012 by The Guardian/UK

What price bad intelligence? Some 5m internal emails from Stratfor, an Austin, Texas-based company that brands itself as a "global intelligence" provider, were recently obtained by Anonymous, the hacker collective, and are being released in batches by WikiLeaks, the whistleblowing website, starting Monday.

The most striking revelation from the latest disclosure is not simply the military-industrial complex that conspires to spy on citizens, activists and trouble-causers, but the extremely low quality of the information available to the highest bidder. Clients of the company include Dow Chemical, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, as well as US government agencies like the Department of Homeland Security, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Marines.

SNIP...

Assange notes that Stratfor is also seeking to profit directly from this information by partnering in an apparent hedge-fund venture with Shea Morenz, a former Goldman Sachs managing director. He points to an August 2011 document, marked "DO NOT SHARE OR DISCUSS", from Stratfor CEO George Friedman, which says:

"What StratCap will do is use our Stratfor's intelligence and analysis to trade in a range of geopolitical instruments, particularly government bonds, currencies and the like."

CONTINUED...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/02/28-10?print

If it weren't for Anonymous and WikiLeaks, we probably wouldn't know about any of that.

It's no joke. It's no unimportant story. It's no boring history. Run by insiders, the secret government is key to making the system run on behalf of the few -- the 1-percent of 1-percent. Central to that is intelligence -- economically, politically and military useful information.

Which brings up the nation's purported free press, the only business mentioned by name in the entire United States Constitution, and how the organizations therein have miserably failed to feature prominently the sundry and myriad ways the insiders on Wall Street and their toadies in Washington do the work for Them.

The problem is systemic. The corruption is systemic.

Because it involves oversight of secret organizations -- the Pentagon, Homeland Security, CIA, etc -- Congress and the Administration often have no clue, let alone oversight, to what is happening because the corruption is marked "Top Secret."

Secret government also means We the People can't do our job as citizens, which is to hold them accountable and find the ones responsible in order to vote the crooks out and, it is hoped, the honest ones in.

With no citizen oversight, anything goes. And it doesn't stop.

Remember this fine fellow, US Navy fighter ace Randy "Duke" Cunningham?

Later a member of the United States Congress, he used his position to feather his nest, Big Time.



In his political career, Cunningham was a member of the Appropriations and Intelligence committees, and chaired the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Human Intelligence Analysis and Counterintelligence during the 109th Congress. He was considered a leading Republican expert on national security issues.

Currently, he's in USP Tuscon or another fine facility where he gets three squares, medical and dental.
He's due for release in a year or so. He'll be able to pick up his pension.

"The Duke Cunningham Act, also known as the Federal Pension Forfeiture Act, was introduced by U.S. Senator John F. Kerry in 2006. The bill would have denied pension benefits to any members of Congress convicted of bribery, conspiracy or perjury. The bill died in committee. (Source: The Press Enterprise)

Duke wasn't alone. He really was just one snake in a long line of snakes. Remember Dusty Foggo, Number 3 at CIA and close associate of CIA Director and former Congressman Porter Goss? Swells sitting atop the peak of political and military secrecy and power.

Unfortunately, when it comes to modern governance, no oversight means means the insiders are getting away with murder, and warmongering and treason and all the power that they bring. Appointed pretzeldent George W Bush on Valentine's Day 2007 put it in words: "Money trumps peace."

Secret government warmongering and war profiteering are systemic. Secret government is rotten to the core. What's more, in a democracy that once really was land of the free and home of the brave, secret government poses the greatest threat to true national security.

[Rex]

42. Jezus I forgot about all that!

Always the same players too! The CIA has done so much damage to this country, I am convinced JFK was about to disband the department. After they tried to humiliate him at the Bay of Pigs.

[libodem]

45. .

[Octafish]

47. Guy who recommended 'moving on' from war crimes is Cass Sunstein.

Government Nanny Censoring "Conspiracy Theories" Is Also Responsible for Letting Bush Era Torture and Spying Conspiracies Go Unpunished

Washingtons Blog, Oct. 7, 2010

EXCERPT...

[font color="purple"]Prosecuting government officials risks a “cycle” of criminalizing public service, (Sunstein) argued, and Democrats should avoid replicating retributive efforts like the impeachment of President Clinton — or even the “slight appearance” of it. [/font color]

SOURCE w links n details: http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2010/10/main-obama-adviser-blocking-prosecution.html?m=1

Personally, I've never conflated government service and treason. Then, again, not even Ian Fleming dared dream that one day the government of the United States would be hijacked by warmongers and banksters.

[red dog 1]

34. K&R, thanks for posting, Octafish

New York Times
January 13, 2015

"Lawyers for Don Siegelman, Ex-Governor of Alabama, Again Seek His Release From Prison"


ATLANTA -- "For the second time in less than a month, lawyers for former Governor Don E. Siegelman of Alabama on Tuesday took his corruption case into a federal courtroom in an attempt to speed his eventual release from prison.

BUT A JUSTICE DEPARTMENT LAWYER, JOHN-ALEX ROMANO, INSISTED THAT JUDGE MARK E. FULLER HAD IMPOSED AN APPROPRIATE PRISON SENTENCE - 78 MONTHS - AND THAT THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE INQUIRY, HAD SUFFICIENTLY HONORED HER PLEDGE TO RECUSE HERSELF FROM THE CASE."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/14/us/lawyers-for-don-siegelman-ex-governor-of-alabama-again-seek-his-release-from-prison.html


Why did Obama do this?
Why does Obama want an innocent Democrat to rot in prison for a crime he did not commit?

[Octafish]

48. President Obama even appointed the lawyer in all that to the Supreme Court.

From DUer autorank:

Elena Kagan - Willing Accomplice

By Michael Collins

Then, when Siegelman appealed his case to the Supreme Court in 2009, President Obama's Attorney General dispatched Solicitor General Elena Kagan to argue against the appeal in November.

Before accepting the case, Elena Kagan knew or should have known: that the U.S. Attorney who began the Siegelman investigation was closely tied to Karl Rove; that Siegelman never benefited personally from the contribution to an education funding initiative; that the case was so outrageous, forty-four attorneys general petitioned Congress; and, that the presiding judge in the case owned a major interest in a defense firm that received a $178 million federal contract between Siegelman's indictment and trial, a massive conflict of interest.

Most revealing, before her argument against the former governor's appeal, Kagan knew or should have known the following. After two charges had been dropped in a 2009 appeal, Justice Department attorneys recommended a twenty year sentence instead of the seven years already rendered. Fewer offenses for sentencing meant thirteen additional years by the strange logic of federal justice.
Kagan knew or should have known all this and more. That didn't stop her from arguing that Don Siegelman should be kept in jail. ...

That judgment is that Elena Kagan was a willing accomplice in one of the most outrageous political prosecutions of our time. Why should anyone ever trust her?

Her nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States should be rejected unanimously.

Why, I don't know. But I imagine it has to do with threats against his family and friends more than his future employment opportunities.

Thank you for understanding the situation, red dog 1. These are the par'lous times the Founders were talking about.

[red dog 1]

54. "threats against his family & friends more than his future employment opportunities"?

Threats against whose family & friends?....Obama?

[Octafish]

56. Ray McGovern talked about what was happening...

Last edited Sun Mar 8, 2015, 07:27 PM - Edit history (1)

Between NSA spying, FBI black bagging, and CIA manipulating, it's gotta be scary be in the Oval Office and oppose the secret government.

BradBlog and other DUers know much more about this than me:

In a conversation at the end of the hour (audio and transcript below), as I was trying to pin him down for an opinion on whether or not he felt it was appropriate for CIA Director Leon Panetta to have reportedly attempted to block a lawful investigation into torture and other war crimes committed by the CIA, McGovern alluded to a book about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and noted he felt it likely that both Panetta and President Obama may have reason to fear certain elements of the CIA.

"Let me just leave you with this thought," he said, "and that is that I think Panetta, and to a degree President Obama, are afraid --- I never thought I'd hear myself saying this --- I think they're afraid of the CIA."...


McGovern went on to note "the stakes are very high here," in relation to Attorney General Eric Holder's recently announced investigation of the CIA now under the direction of Panetta. "His main advisers and his senior staff are liable for prosecution for war crimes. The War Crimes statute includes very severe penalties, including capital punishment for those who, if under their custody, detainees die. And we know that at least a hundred have, so this is big stakes here."

He then recommended James W. Douglass' new book, JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters.

"He makes a very very persuasive case that it was President Kennedy's, um, the animosity that built up between him and the CIA after the Bay of Pigs, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, because he was reaching out to the Russians and so forth and so on. It's a very well-researched book and his conclusion is very alarming," the long-time CIA veteran noted in what turned out to be a chilling end to our interview in which he described "two CIAs".

One, he says, was created by President Truman to "give him the straight scoop without any fear or favor. And then its covert action arm, which really doesn't believe --- which doesn't belong in this agency." McGovern referred to that CIA "advisedly" as the President's "own personal gestapo" which acts without oversight by the Congressional committees once tasked to do so.

"And so if you're asking why Obama and Panetta are going very very kid-glove-ish with the CIA, I think part of the reason, or the explanation is they're afraid of these guys because these guys have a whole lot to lose if justice takes its course."

"So, it's pretty scary. Yes, it is," he concluded.

SOURCE: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7408

The great DUer bobthedrummer met Ray McGovern a few years earlier -- mid 2000s -- at an event around the time McGovern had confronted Donald Rumsfeld and asked him about war crimes. Bob asked McGovern for his thoughts on the assassination of President Kennedy. Ray said he never would have believed such a conspiracy possible, but had come to the conclusion that it was likely.

[red dog 1]

57. Thanks for clearing that up for me

Brad Blog is great, and so is Ray McGovern, IMO.

Thanks for the outstanding posts!

[wildbilln864]

35. k & r ! n/t

[Octafish]

50. Dana Siegelman hopes to get word with President Obama about her father

By Mike Cason
AL.com on March 06, 2015 at 4:53 PM

Dana Siegelman, daughter of former Gov. Don Siegelman, plans to try to talk to President Barack Obama about her father's case on Saturday in Selma.

The president is coming to Alabama for the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the voting rights march.

Dana Siegelman has been one of the most active advocates for her father, who claims his prosecution on corruption charges was orchestrated by Republicans seeking to end his political career.

A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in Siegelman's case in January.

Siegelman's lawyers said there was new evidence suggesting that a prosecutor with ties to the Republican party remained involved in the case despite her recusal.

Prosecutors said the court has already rejected that claim.

A federal jury in 2006 convicted Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy of bribery and other charges for swapping an appointment to a state board for Scrushy arranging $500,000 in contributions to Siegelman's 1999 lottery campaign.

Siegelman is serving a six-and-a-half year sentence and is at the federal prison in Oakdale, La. He is scheduled for release in August 2017, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Obama's former White House counsel, Gregory P. Craig, is one of Siegelman's lawyers.

CONTINUED...

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/03/dana_siegelman_hopes_to_get_wo.html

I'd quote Rahm, but I'd be in danger of being banned.

[madokie]

49. Along with a few more of the war criminals

Don Siegelman was set up from what I can gather more so than guilty of a need to be imprisoned crime. Bushco have been responsible of thousands, no make that ten's, no make that 100s of thousands of deaths, possibly millions. They're who we have laws against and hire lawmen to arrest and courts to put on trial by a Judge and a jury of their peers.

We are a land of laws, or on paper, we are anyway

[Octafish]

52. With all the new private prison costruction, there's plenty of room.

Experts agree.

Tony Blair and George Bush should face trial over Iraq war, says Desmond Tutu

Toby Helm, political editor
The Observer, Saturday 1 September 2012

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called for Tony Blair and George Bush to be hauled before the international criminal court in The Hague and delivered a damning critique of the physical and moral devastation caused by the Iraq war.

Tutu, a Nobel peace prize winner and hero of the anti-apartheid movement, accuses the former British and US leaders of lying about weapons of mass destruction and says the invasion left the world more destabilised and divided "than any other conflict in history".

Writing in the Observer, Tutu also suggests the controversial US and UK-led action to oust Saddam Hussein in 2003 created the backdrop for the civil war in Syria and a possible wider Middle East conflict involving Iran.

"The then leaders of the United States and Great Britain," Tutu argues, "fabricated the grounds to behave like playground bullies and drive us further apart. They have driven us to the edge of a precipice where we now stand – with the spectre of Syria and Iran before us."

But it is Tutu's call for Blair and Bush to face justice in The Hague that is most startling. Claiming that different standards appear to be set for prosecuting African leaders and western ones, he says the death toll during and after the Iraq conflict is sufficient on its own for Blair and Bush to be tried at the ICC.

CONTINUED...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/sep/02/tony-blair-iraq-war-desmond-tutu?intcmp=239

It appears MOCKINGBIRD is not a thing of the dim past, at all. Consequently, a pretty good case can be made for a Free Press playing a role in the restoration of Justice. That's why the Constitution only mentions one business as critical for the nation's success: a Free Press. Thank Moon for DU and DUers who give a damn about democracy. Thank you, infinitely, Madokie.

[MrMickeysMom]

55. That reminds me...

I have more "Bush/Cheney for Prison" bumper stickers. No one's keyed the car yet.

Very liberating when you speak truth to power of that fetid administration who saw to it to silence and make an example of Siegelman.

[Octafish]

60. My fave, yours. Then this can go around the vanity ''Visit Historic Leavenworth'' Kansas plates...

[MrMickeysMom]

61. "Visit historic Leavenworth"...

YessssireeeeBOB!

[sabrina 1]

59. I wonder if Avaaz might be able to do something about Don Siegelman. They have over ten

million members, worldwide, and Siegelman's case is such a gross and cruel example of corruption at the highest level, demonstrating the worst kind of political influence in so-called Democracies, that they might be willing to take on his case.

It is absolutely disgraceful that Rove was allowed to get away with this, and so much else.

Thank you Octafish, for not forgetting about this wonderful man who has suffered greatly simply for being opposed to Rove/Bush/Cheney's criminal policies, and for speaking out about the stolen 2000 election.

It's sad how quickly we forget those who stood up to the powerful when few had the courage to do so, when they become victims themselves.