There are different levels of corruption, starting with relatively benign things like cops fixing parking tickets and accepting free meals.
When a cop or prosecutor covers up a serious crime that's bad, but when they arrest and prosecute in innocent it's far worse. Cops and prosecutors are supposed to protect and serve, not loot and pillage.
So far the Bush mob hasn't been caught engaging in murder, but we have almost a whole year left in his term.
Posted by myiq2xu at February 3, 2008 01:32 AMI'm simply astounded.
Who was this threat to the community? Sue Schmitz is a diminutive, 63-year-old retired social studies teacher who has lived in the town for 38 years [...] She launched a program called “We the People,” designed to build civic spirit and interest in participatory democracy among school children. And Sue Schmitz’s advocacy of civic engagement led directly to her conflict with U.S. Attorney Alice Martin, who considers it to be criminal. But one other fact figures directly in this drama. Schmitz is a Democratic member of the state legislature.
The Rethuggernaut in the Bush era continues its unbroken streak for showing themselves to be capable of of more and worse abuses of rights & govt than we know.
If this is what they do on the public racord, I shudder to think of what the scumbags have classified, buried or outright erased to get rid of the paper trail during the Bush era. There's also all that stuff from GHW Bush's presidency and Reagan's, due to be declassified, that Bush REclassified.
(I was talking to a visiting relative from the Old Country, who is a historian and forensic expert on documents. He described some records from a medical examiner in a town where fascists overran local government. The death certificate for a local dissident listed the cause of his death as "suicide by hanging with both hands tied behind his back."
That was the local doctor and healer endorsing a partisan murder that would never be tried -- and even enjoying a laugh with his buddies about it.
The Republicult / fascist network is already in place throughout the govt. How far are we from that kind of flagrant abuse, even if we have a Dem in the WH in '08? We need to draw back the curtains and unbury the people's archives, which won't happen as long as this Let's Be BiPartisan with the Thugs! nonsense drives the campaigns.)
Posted by Ellie at February 3, 2008 02:24 AMCalm down. The GOP's demise isn't as imminent as some would have it.
"Maybe we are not seeing the crackup of the GOP. Rather America is more likely to be at the start of an intense and exciting election. The contest will be hard fought, the actions of the candidates each day hugely significant. It's far too early to draw sweeping conclusions about the health of either party; the presidential race, after all, has barely begun. Lots of surprises lie ahead."
Karl Rove, NEWSWEEK contributor.
It's that last sentence that made my blood run cold.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/107568
Posted by Judith at February 3, 2008 02:51 AMYesterday, Bush signed the Defense Authorization Bill, including Section 1222 prohibiting permanent military bases in Iraq, with the now customary "signing statement" declaring that he has no intention of enforcing the law of the land, including this provision, though bound by oath and Constitution to do so.
To seal the deal, with the expectation of binding future presidential successors, Bush and al-Maliki are in the process of negotiating a "status of forces agreement" that would commit the U.S. military to combat any internal or external factions the Iraqi government deemed a threat. This represents a one-directional security treaty cloaked in the form of an agreement not subject to Senate ratification. And it guarantees U.S. involvement in age-old Iraqi sectarian conflict for decades to come.
The costs to the American taxpayers, who the Republicans constantly say they care about, of a fifty year American presence in Iraq will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars, not to say the potential tens of thousands of American casualties ("casualty;" killed or wounded).
Of course, the next Democratic president can simply cancel this back-door deal. But Karl Rove will have those pictures of half-finished bases to use in future elections to prove the Democrats soft on terrorism.
Seems Bush is not going out without fucking this Country until the last second of his pResidency. Republicans should also be aware that a Democrat in the Oval Office can also use signing statements, although the Republicans heads would explode at that thought.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-hart/the-burdens-of-empire_b_83899.html
Naturally being a democrat activist, she must have had a higher calling for perpetrating fraud and stealing tax payers' money.
Posted by sonar at February 3, 2008 05:11 AM"So far the Bush mob hasn't been caught engaging in murder, but we have almost a whole year left in his term."
Paul Wellstone and Mel Carnihan may disagree.
Posted by Judith at February 3, 2008 05:34 AMThanks for posting this story. The modern Republican party has become a collection of thugs. It's all about power at any cost. The Democrats need a couple of decades to fix the damage Bush has done to our government. This sort of crap should remind us that any Democrat is preferable to any Republican.
Posted by MarvyT at February 3, 2008 05:48 AMLots of surprises lie ahead."
Karl Rove, NEWSWEEK contributor.
It's that last sentence that made my blood run cold.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/107568
Posted by Judith at February 3, 2008 02:51 AM
IT WILL GET COLDER. STAY TUNED JUDY
No wonder kkKarl Pigboy Rove "left" the administration when he did. He had already completed fully politicizing and corrupting the DOJ ...all the pieces and loyal rnc-Bushbot brownshirt USA's were safely in place....and there were only a few minor casualties (poor Monica Goodling and former AGAG)....but the network is firmly entrenched. kkKarl knows the only way these people can win anything is by cheating...because he knows 3/4 of the American people despise this party it's policies and people like him that should be in jail.
Wonder if any major corporate cable/television channel will pick up on this obvious and blatant abuse of power done by the thugs kkKarl put in place...I won't hold my breath. Here's hoping KO shines a bright spotlight on this story.
Posted by emal at February 3, 2008 06:33 AMYes jj, because when you are the Party of no perimeters and no conscious, the path to dirty campaigning, lying, cheating, fraud, and manufacturing false stories is wide open. I'm quite sure Karl knows exactly what is coming for a Democratic candidate.
Posted by Judith at February 3, 2008 06:35 AMYes and we all know there are far more important crimes to solve, because I've heard and read more about how the boy that is alleged to have killed Holloway lied and their will be a major television special on it...yet when the Downing street memo came out...narry a peep about how Bush/cheney/Tony Blair lied us into a War...narry a peep about how Bush/Rove/Cheney lied about Plame..narry a peep. Must have our priorities in order right msm....too bad this woman is a redhead and isn't blond...then maybe it would get the coverage that this story so deserves. kkKarl Rove's Amerika indeed Mary.
Posted by emal at February 3, 2008 06:42 AM"too bad this woman is a redhead and isn't blond...then maybe it would get the coverage that this story so deserves."
Emal, please allow me to corrrect you. Too bad this woman isn't blond, beautiful, and twenty years old.
Posted by Judith at February 3, 2008 07:10 AMAll correctly oriented cadres know that the organs of state security exist to serve the needs of the Party, and not the other way round, because it is the Party that has the unique role of Vanguard of the Revolution.
Posted by Davis X. Machina at February 3, 2008 07:49 AMForget Mexico, we need to build a fence around Alabama.
Posted by iamcoyote at February 3, 2008 08:56 AMKarl Rove, NEWSWEEK contributor.
Yes, Karl, many surprises lie ahead. It's the surprise of having the FBI confiscate all of your records one cold day. It's the surprise that all of your records have been stored in the FISA sweep. It's the surprise of a Federal prosecutor prosecuting you for war crimes. It's the surprise of the steel door clanging shut and your first full body cavity search. It's the surprise of your family losing everything they own because of you. Indeed, many surprises lie ahead for you. Just stay tuned.
IT WILL GET COLDER. STAY TUNED JUDY
The coldness republi-cons face in a Federal prison at the end of a short fall with the noose yanking their skulls from their spines for crimes against humanity.
Posted by phidipides at February 3, 2008 09:09 AMMore news you won't hear 24/7 from our corrupt corporate media (doesn't involve a young pretty blonde ). Thank goodness for reporters and coverage from McClatchy and Jonathan Landay. Go read the whole thing...it's another reminder of what reporting should look like. my bold.
"Make no mistake, NATO is not winning in Afghanistan," warned an Atlantic Council of the United States report last week. The report was directed by retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, the former top NATO commander. "What is happening in Afghanistan and beyond its borders can have even greater strategic long-term consequences than the struggle in Iraq."In Pakistan, the army, trained for conventional warfare against India, has declined to send major forces into battle against the Islamists, fearful that heavy casualties could unhinge the military along ethnic and sectarian lines. The U.S. and its allies can do little more than help train some Pakistani troops because a major U.S. military role in Pakistan would further enrage a population that's already seething with anti-government and anti-U.S. rage.
The threat of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the West by jihadis indoctrinated and trained in the frontier zone is now higher than ever.
"The Taliban in Afghanistan now control more of the country than at any time since 2001, and their confederates in the tribal areas of Pakistan are expanding their operations almost day by day. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del., told McClatchy.
sigh...and we don't really hear much about this significant problem on the campaign trail either, Instead we hear about cackles, cleavage,race, gender, and kewl kid punditry obsession with polls...and how is it that repukes are better on the National Security issue.
Oh why oh why can't we have a better media.
Oh why oh why can't we have a better media.
You can thank Ray-gun and Clinton.
Posted by phidipides at February 3, 2008 09:59 AMNo serious corruption of goverment's possible without substantial corporate media collusion. It's good to see the craven Newhouse newspapers step forward to assume this role in service to the degenerate Alabama GOP.
Posted by Pvt. Keepout at February 3, 2008 10:41 AMThanks Mary for putting up this story. It's truly sobering information. Thuggery is the word that describes republican action in Alabama. It becomes a metaphor considering that the woman arrested was a civics teacher for so many years.
Posted by Copeland at February 3, 2008 07:13 PMphidipides: The coldness republi-cons face in a Federal prison at the end of a short fall with the noose yanking their skulls from their spines for crimes against humanity.
Only in a just world. In our world there will be NO Nuremburg-style trials of our war criminals.
Posted by Gay Veteran at February 4, 2008 11:12 AM