wrongdoing

Rebekah Brooks Resigns

Rebekah Brooks, the loyal lieutenant of Rupert Murdoch, resigned Friday as chief executive of his embattled British newspapers, becoming the biggest casualty so far in the phone hacking scandal at a Sunday tabloid.

Murdoch had vigorously defended Brooks in the face of demands from politicians that she step down, and had previously refused to accept her resignation.

Brooks was editor of News of the World between 2000 and 2003, the time of the most explosive allegations to hit Murdoch's News Corp. media empire, and she has been in charge of News International's four British newspapers since 2007.

Of course this does not absolve her of any wrongdoing, but the fact that the Murdoch's accepted her resignation doesn't bode well for the media empire, especially with the announcement yesterday from the FBI that they have launched an investigation into the possible hacking of 9/11 victims here in the U.S.

Media

Beck’s Fraudulent Sponsors

One of Glenn Beck’s big gold sponsors is in some serious trouble:

Glenn Beck might, for once, be right: the government iscoming for your gold. But only if you happened to buy it from one of Beck's advertisers, the Superior Gold Group. At the request of prosecutors from LA County and Santa Monica city who have filed a civil suit against the company, Los Angeles County judge has ordered that Superior Gold be placed into receivership and all of its assets—bank accounts, real estate, and presumably gold stored for customers—frozen. On Monday, a court-appointed lawyer actually physically seized control of the company, presumably to prevent further wrongdoing. The lawsuit alleged that among other things, Superior had defrauded its customers by overcharging them, fraudulently inducing them to buy overpriced collectors' coins rather than the bullion that they wanted, and taking customers' money for coins they never produced. The prosecutors hope that the lawsuit will provide restitution for all of the company's ripped off customers. The judge will hold a hearing later this month to decide whether the company's assets should remain frozen until the case goes to trial.

(h/t Cesca)

Reminder – Huckabee Has Done This Before

Maurice Clemmons wasn’t the first person that Huckabee released from Prison, only to have them go out and continue a life of crime. Wayne Dumond was a rapist who Huckabee released, only to go out and rape and kill a woman shortly after being freed:

New sources, including an advisor to Gov. Mike Huckabee, have told the Arkansas Times that Huckabee and a senior member of his staff exerted behind-the-scenes influence to bring about the parole of rapist Wayne Dumond, who Missouri authorities say raped and killed a woman there shortly after his parole.

Huckabee has denied a role in Dumond’s release, which has become an issue in his race for re-election against Democrat Jimmie Lou Fisher. Fisher says Huckabee’s advocacy of Dumond’s freedom, plus other acts of executive clemency, exhibit poor judgment. In response, Huckabee has shifted responsibility for Dumond’s release to others, claiming former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker made Dumond eligible for parole and saying the Post Prison Transfer Board made the decision on its own to free Dumond.

Again – Huckabee denies any wrongdoing on his part. This is beyond the pale, and for this man to be the GOP’s front runner for 2012 spells nothing but trouble for the opposition party.

John Conyers Wife Convicted Of Conspiracy To Commit Bribery

We all knew this was coming, but now its official:

Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers pleaded guilty this morning to conspiring to commit bribery and is free on personal bond.

U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn said, "The defendant now stands convicted."

The one count of conspiring to commit bribery is punishable for up to five years in prison.

[SNIP]

Conyers, the wife of powerful Democratic congressman U.S. Rep. John Conyers, appeared before Cohn to answer charges in connection with the wide-ranging probe of wrongdoing at Detroit city hall.

She has long been under suspicion in the Synagro bribery probe, not least because she had been a vocal opponent of the contract before suddenly switching her sentiments. She became the deciding voice in the city council’s 5-4 vote to approve the sludge-hauling deal in November 2007.

A crook is a crook, it doesn’t matter if they are a D or a R. I’m glad justice caught up with her.

DHS May Keep Your Laptop Indefinitely

Not only that, but also your cell phone, camera, or any electronic device that has storage:

Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"The policies . . . are truly alarming," said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who is probing the government's border search practices. He said he intends to introduce legislation soon that would require reasonable suspicion for border searches, as well as prohibit profiling on race, religion or national origin.

Welcome to communistic America - the Republican dream come true.

Office Of Special Council Raided

Looks like more trouble happening in our government:

F.B.I. agents on Tuesday raided and temporarily shut down the offices of a small federal watchdog agency that is charged with protecting the rights of government whistle-blowers but has been accused of retaliating against whistle-blowers in its own ranks.

The raid on the downtown Washington headquarters of the agency, the Office of Special Counsel, and another at the home of its director, Scott J. Bloch, followed accusations that Mr. Bloch had destroyed evidence on government computers that might demonstrate wrongdoing.

Mr. Bloch, who has held the post of special counsel since January 2004, has denied intentionally destroying evidence from his agency’s computers, though he has acknowledged paying $1,000 of public money to a technology company, Geeks on Call, to scrub his own government computer in 2006. He has said he was trying to rid the computer of software viruses, an assertion challenged by members of Congress and by lawyers representing current and former employees of the office.

Another Bush appointee in a criminal scandal. What's the odds of that?

Two More Troops Face Murder Charges

Stories like this are becoming all too common:

Two U.S. soldiers have been charged with premeditated murder in the death of an Iraqi near the northern city of Kirkuk last month, the U.S. military said Thursday.

The charges were brought against Sgt. Trey A. Corrales of Texas and Spc. Christopher P. Shore of Georgia, following "reports of the alleged wrongdoing made by fellow soldiers to military authorities," the military's statement said.

The U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Division is conducting an ongoing investigation.

The announcement came hours after a Marine corporal was convicted of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit offenses including murder in connection with the death of an Iraqi man in Hamdaniya last year.

As I have been saying, we can't blame just the soldiers in these crimes. They are stuck in this never ending war and being deployed more often with less time at home. The stress gets to them. Of course the Republicans don't understand this basic concept and still protect Bush at the expense of our brave men and women.

Could Ohio Be Looking At Another State Level Scandal?

I haven't heard much on this, but it is very interesting. Last year all state offices in Ohio went to Democrats with the exception of the State Auditor. That was won by Republican Mary Taylor. Now that the Democrats have moved in, they are trying to go throw what the Republicans have done and found some interesting items, particularly involving the former Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell:

Brunner has asked Taylor, who has a masterâ€™s degree from the University of Akron, to do a thorough audit of her officeâ€™s finances and operations under her predecessor, former Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, who was by most accounts one of the sorest losers of the November campaign after being trounced by Strickland.

In a letter hand-delivered last week, Brunner cited five major concerns: shredding of documents, the disappearance of the shredding machines, more than $80,000 in bonuses Blackwell paid to departing employees, a depleted budget and 50,000 unsent letters to businesses canceling their corporate charters.

A spokesman for Blackwell has denied any wrongdoing and accused Brunner of playing politics. Playing politics? In state government? Really?

This entire article in the Cantonrep is very interesting. The article also posses the money question on this issue:

The challenge for Taylor as the only Republican nonjudicial statewide officeholder in a sea of Democrats is whether politics will influence her response to Brunner. A spokesperson said the auditorâ€™s office is conducting a normal two-year review of the finances of the secretary of stateâ€™s office from July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2006. Taylor and Brunner have talked about Brunnerâ€™s request.

Drudge's Disconnect From Reality

Drudge is trying to spin FoleyGate so bad that he is looking more like and idiot than people already knew. He is now saying that the pages conducted these email and IM exchanges with Foley as a "prank":

Faced with claims by the conservative political website The Drudge Report on Thursday that lurid instant message exchanges between disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) and the former page who was outed on a conservative website yesterday were the result of an elaborate prank, insiders at ABC News say the network stands behind its story.

Even if it was a "prank" to these children, it was not a "prank" to Foley. He obviously was very much into the reality of these messages. Trying to dismiss any wrongdoing because it was a "prank" would also mean the thousands of would-be molesters, who are behind bars because the children they thought they were talking to were actually police officers, would not be in jail.

ABC is Also planning on releasing much more information on Foley, including more messages:

RAW STORY has also learned that ABC plans to release additional stories that indicate that Foley's behavior extended to other congressional pages who served on Capitol Hill during different sessions of Congress.

Stay tuned - this story is far from over.

And Ney Pleads

This is the true culture of corruption:

Rep. Bob Ney agreed Friday to plead guilty to federal criminal charges he made false statements and conspired to commit fraud and violate federal lobbying laws in the congressional corruption probe spawned by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Ney, R-Ohio, who for months had defiantly denied any wrongdoing, said he was "very sorry for the pain" he has caused. Now he faces up to 10 years in prison. The Justice Department said prosecutors will recommend that he serve 27 months based on federal sentencing guidelines. Ney became the first lawmaker to admit wrongdoing in the election-year investigation.

Ney agreed to plead guilty to making false statements and conspiracy to commit "wire and mail fraud," make false statements and violate post-employment restrictions for former congressional staff members.

Ney signed the plea agreement Wednesday, but it was not approved by the Justice Department or filed with the U.S. court until Friday.

Ney acknowledged accepting all-expense-paid and reduced-price trips to play golf in Scotland in August 2002, to gamble and vacation in New Orleans in May 2003 and to vacation in New York in August 2003. The total cost of all the trips exceeded $170,000, prosecutors said. Ney also admitted accepting meals and sports and concert tickets for himself and his staff.

Officer Calls Haditha Killings "Routine"

WTF?

The Marine officer who commanded the battalion involved in the Haditha killings last November did not consider the deaths of 24 Iraqis, many of them women and children, unusual and did not initiate an inquiry, according to a sworn statement he gave to military investigators in March.

"I thought it was very sad, very unfortunate, but at the time, I did not suspect any wrongdoing from my Marines," Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani, commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Marines, said in the statement.

"I did not have any reason to believe that this was anything other than combat action," he added.

Chessani's statement, provided to The Washington Post by a person sympathetic to the enlisted Marines involved in the case, helps explain why there was no investigation of the incident at the time, despite the large number of civilian deaths, and why it took several months for the U.S. military chain of command to react to the event.

It also provides a glimpse of the mind-set of a commander on the scene who, despite the carnage, did not stop to consider whether Marines had crossed a line and killed defenseless civilians.

It suggests that top U.S. commanders have been unsuccessful in urging subordinate leaders to focus less on killing insurgents and more on winning the support of the Iraqi people, especially by providing them security.

Lies That Cost America's Security

There are so many 9/11 conspiracies out there that it is impossible to keep track of them all. I have read everything from the administration hired the hijackers to there was C4 planted inside of the World Trade Towers.

I am not one that prescribes to these theories. I do believe that the administration had more knowledge of what was about to happen then they let on to and had a seriously flawed response, but these ideas that people planted explosives to take down the towers are absurd (and I do not need people making a big ordeal over what C4 can do. I have actually handled C4 and am trained in explosive ordinance disposal).

Now having said all that. Even if the administration hired hijackers and planted C4 inside the WTC, we will never know. These are the kind of things the government will make sure the American people never know because of the ramifications it holds. This country would erupt and we would be facing civil war like conditions if something like this ever came out.

So why bring this up? Well some of my fears about that day are looking more true. This is from today's Washington Post:

Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon's initial story of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort to mislead the commission and the public rather than a reflection of the fog of events on that day, according to sources involved in the debate.

Our Best Option For Iraq - LEAVE

The probe into the Haditha killings has found they were unprovoked:

A preliminary military inquiry found evidence that U.S. Marines killed two dozen Iraqi civilians in an unprovoked attack in November, contradicting the troops' account, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

Forensic evidence from corpses showed that victims had bullet wounds, despite the initial statements by Marines that the civilians were killed by a roadside bomb that also claimed the life of a soldier, a defense official said.

Of course Bush is promising action on this:

President George W. Bush said on Wednesday there would be punishment if an investigation turns up evidence of wrongdoing by U.S. Marines in the killings in the Iraqi town of Haditha.

"I am troubled by the initial news stories," Bush said. "I am mindful there is a thorough investigation going on. If in fact laws were broken there will be punishment."

I guess that action would be criminal punishment for the actual shooters and medals of freedom for the people who covered it up. And for those who don't believe there was a cover-up check out the following.

Exhibit A:

The three-week probe was the first official investigation into the killings.

White House Involved In Phone Jamming?

This right here should be enough to spark an investigation into every single election since Bush was appointed President in 2000:

Key figures in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in 2002 had regular contact with the White House and Republican Party as the plan was unfolding, phone records introduced in criminal court show.

The records show that Bush campaign operative James Tobin, who recently was convicted in the case, made two dozen calls to the White House within a three-day period around Election Day 2002 — as the phone jamming operation was finalized, carried out and then abruptly shut down.

The national Republican Party, which paid millions in legal bills to defend Tobin, says the contacts involved routine election business and that it was "preposterous" to suggest the calls involved phone jamming.

The Justice Department has secured three convictions in the case but hasn't accused any White House or national Republican officials of wrongdoing, nor made any allegations suggesting party officials outside New Hampshire were involved. The phone records of calls to the White House were exhibits in Tobin's trial but prosecutors did not make them part of their case.

Amazing that we are finding out more and more about how the Republicans are trying anything and everything to lead us to a dictatorship. This should be the merit for independent council to investigate -someone not tied to this administration. Might I suggest Patrick Fitzgerald.

Also - Check out what Brad has uncovered in regards to Ann Coulter's voting problems.

Stop The Boat Captain Ed - Here Comes An Iceberg Of Truth

Continuing my readings of the backlash surrounding Ben Domenech's resignation at the Washington Post, I came across another very interesting view from Captain's Quarters:

The entire tempest surrounding the hiring and termination of Ben Domenech as the Washington Post's designated conservative blogger shows that the blogosphere has a lot of growing up to do. Between the hysteria, the personal attacks, the revelation of wrongdoing and the triumphalism that followed, bloggers did tremendous damage to themselves.

We had anticipated a lively debate in the Washington Post once Ben started blogging -- but instead we got a slew of ad hominem attacks from bloggers determined to sabotage the Post's experiment. All one has to do is spend a couple of hours surfing through the various Red America links at Memeorandum to understand just how unhinged the attacks were, especially in the beginning. Charges of racism and bigotry flew mighty quickly and with no substantiation, but the accusations themselves took on their own life as a meme. It interfered with the real revelations of plagiarism discovered by some of the same bloggers who had been throwing dishes at Domenech and the Post from the moment Jim Brady announced the effort.

OK Captain Ed - full engine stop right there sailor. It must be nice to sit in the comfort of your little computer den and look at the world through the red eye's. Some of us prefer to see more purple though.

Here is the problem, and if you bothered to actually read up on the situation you may have realized it. The Washington Post hired Ben because they wanted to "balance out" their views. Yeah the Washington Post is such a left leaning newspaper. The same Washington Post that labels any blog that disagrees with Bush and his failed policies as "liberals". Of course the Washington Post could not even answer if they had any "liberal bloggers" on their site.