I don’t often feel compelled to write to politicians, nor am I naïve enough to think that anything I can say to the Obama campaign will prompt reconsideration of their policy on holding the Bush administration accountable. Nonetheless, for some reason this one was clearly going to bug me until I did it.  So, a few days ago, I sent this letter (below) to the Obama campaign.

The point: Congress (and apparently the Obama campaign, as expressed by legal advisor Cass Sunstein) have made a short term, political "cost/benefit" assessment about holding Bush administration officials accountable for their crimes.  They all seem to have decided that the cost is too high, the benefit too small.  For everyone’s sake, I suggest they recalculate with an eye on the mid-to-long-term costs of NOT holding these criminals accountable.

WASHINGTON — A Justice Department plan would loosen restrictions on the Federal Bureau of Investigation to allow agents to open a national security or criminal investigation against someone without any clear basis for suspicion, Democratic lawmakers briefed on the details said Wednesday.

. . . .

The Huffington Post is reporting that Jackson Browne has filed a copyright infringement action against John McCain's campaign and the Ohio Republican Party for failing to obtain a license to use his song "Running on Empty."

Story on the flip.

Dear Attorney General Mukasey:

Your comments the other day to the American Bar Association sicken me as an attorney.  Your comments start out with a plea for sympathy that because attorneys at the DOJ do not make salaries comparable to attorneys in private practice, we should have some level of sympathy for them.

A federal appeals court today upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit accusing U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, former White House political adviser Karl Rove and former Cheney aide I. Lewis Libby of illegally conspiring to reveal the identity of a CIA agent.

It is still a federal crime to knowingly reveal a covert CIA operative's identity.  But as the AG announced while unveiling the new DoJ motto in front of the American Bar Association: "Not all violations of the law are crimes."  So treason is still a violation of the law, but it is not a crime for Bush & Co. because Congress gave them an exemption to infringe on individual privacy.

In keeping with this overhaul of government mottos, Sec. Rice will be unveiling the new State Department motto later today:  Oderint dum metuant.   Next week, the Pentagon will announce the return of human sacrifices to prime time TV.  Asked to comment, Sen. Obama called this "deplorable" and vowed to change it.  Sen. McCain could not be reached by phone.

The New York Times reports that Mukasey Won't Pursue Charges in Hiring Inquiry.  This isn't surprising.  It fits a pattern of the Department of Justice.  What I do find surprising is Mukasey's defense.

[I]t is important to stress that those people hired under the circumstances described in the report have been, and will be, regularly evaluated... If anyone – whether Democrat or Republican, whether appointed through a flawed process or a flawless one – is found to be handling or deciding cases based on politics, and not based on what the law and facts require, there will be a swift and unambiguous response.

Color me unimpressed.  This is the same employee evaluation process that the Department hid behind in the political firing of six US attorneys.  Now I'm supposed to believe it will protect our interests against politically motivated hiring?

But Mukasey's snow job gets worse...

The DailyKos seems to me to be to overly critical of our President.  Below the fold I wish to discuss the positive things that the Bush Administration has accomplished.

Check. This. Out. Literally. I figure with some 150+ thousand users we can run down a few questions...

After Army BioWarfare and Vaccines Researcher Bruce Ivins' suicide, We've heard a vertible gush of motives offered via Bush's Justice Department as to "Prime Suspect" Ivins "guilt" in the Anthrax attacks of 2001. We've heard the guy was motivated by a desire to be "needed", that he had a troubled home life and that he may have had addiction problems, mental illness, etc. Well, THAT should narrow down the Adult Male Suspect pool to 30 or 40 Milliion guys. For all the bullshit the Administration, the Justice Department and the FBI is flinging on the wall, surely some of it will stick and our questions will be answered, no?

Funny, because you'd think Cheney and the Pentagon might take the lead on this , huh?? < Crickets >

I'd like some F@*#!^& Answers after reading two reports that ARE in the Public Domain, noted below.

The Word – Honest Belief

copyright © 2008 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org

Of this, I believe.  I believe in honesty and empathy.  I trust in reports that reveal in 2002, the Department of Justice assured the Central Intelligence Agency interrogators who violated anti-torture laws they would be safe from prosecution. Emissaries only need a sincere "faith they caused no "prolonged mental harm."  I believe that neither branch of government cares for what I hold dear.

The FBI and IRS raided the offices and homes of a Cuyahoga (home county of Cleveland, OH) County Commissioner and Auditor on Monday. It is a sad comment on how low Bush and Rove and Cheney and the Bushites have degraded the Dept of Justice that it's just as likely that this raid on Democratic office holders is following the standard Rove script as it is that the FBI and IRS really have reason to do the raids in the first place

In a report released yesterday, the Justice Department concluded that Monica Goodling, the former White House liaison for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, violated federal law and DOJ policy by discriminating against job applicants who weren't faithful Republicans or conservative activists.  As it turns out, 14 months after Goodling admitted to Congress "I believe I crossed the line, but I didn't mean to," the Bush DOJ determined that she did.  More important, the report demolished the knee-jerk "criminalization of politics" defense of her Republican allies.

Everyone was all up in arms Monday because former Justice Department flack Monica Goodling was revealed to have asked prospective job candidates, “What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?” This was interpreted to be an inappropriate question because aspirants to career DoJ positions are not supposed to have to pass a partisan litmus test for what are intended to be apolitical jobs.

While Goodling might still have been feeling around for some sort of fealty, I think that folks are reading her question all wrong. Not unlike the folks at Star-Kist, this star-struck Regent University grad wasn’t looking for people that thought GW Bush had good taste; she wanted employees that thought GW Bush tasted good.

Note: Tybalt had a diary up on this a few hours ago, but unfortunately it scrolled off. - o.h.

The just-released report (PDF file) from the Department of Justice's inspector general and the Office of Professional Responsibility surprised no one here with its finding that the Alberto Gonzales-led DOJ broke the law with its handling of the hirings and firings of federal prosecutors.

There is news out this afternoon in the form of an internal report from the Inspector General of the Justice Department that could be particularly politically potent heading into the fall election season.

The Inspector General reviewed the personnel processes in the Department of Justice under Alberto Gonzales and found that politics was inappropriately injected into the process time and again, such as in the infamous dismissals of the nine U.S. Attorneys who were replaced by Rove and Bush minions.

That is not exactly breaking news here at this Web site, but it does hold some wider potential, IMO.

(More)

In light of these recent revelations of cronyism and worse in the Bush Administration, I thought it appropriate to reprise something I wrote last year. Incompetence is immaterial when sycophants are elevated to positions of authority. It seems that genuflecting to the Altar of Bush is all that is required to advance in this administration.
-- jp

“Goodling’s use of political considerations in connection with these details was particularly damaging to the Department because it resulted in high-quality candidates for important details being rejected in favor of less-qualified candidates. For example, an experienced career terrorism prosecutor was rejected by Goodling for a detail to EOUSA to work on counterterrorism issues because of his wife’s political affiliations. Instead, EOUSA had to select a much more junior attorney who lacked any experience in counterterrorism issues and who EOUSA officials believed was not qualified for the position.” (136)

Thank you Monica Goodling

Goodling passed over hundreds of qualified applicants and squashed the promotions of others after deeming candidates insufficiently loyal to the Republican party, said investigators, who interviewed 85 people and received information from 300 other job seekers at Justice. S

Goodling regularly asked candidates for career jobs: "What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?" the report said.

The DOJ's report (compiled by the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Office of the Inspector General) on politicized hiring practices contains a politically explosive finding that could be a valuable weapon in the Democrats' arsenal against the Republican party as we prepare for the fall elections.

Two weeks ago, when I first posted my interview with Ben Carter, many people applauded him for having the courage to come forward and talk about his first-hand experience in Iraq with Halliburton subsidiary KBR. He described, in great detail, KBR's negligence in their contract to provide safe non-potable water to the troops. Hundreds and hundreds responded by e-mailing DoD Chief Financial Officer Tina Jonas, telling her not to give KBR another penny of thegovernment's money until a full public investigation was fulfilled. Note: After receiving an influx of emails from activists, Ms. Jonas blocked her email address. We have now made the action into a petition which will be delivered to her.

We also shared Ben's testimony on the Brave New Films documentary, Iraq For Sale

Not everyone was supportive though...