I think it was the timing of the end of the torture investigation that hurts most of all. Just days ago, Harold Koh was boasting of the Durham investigation to the UN. Then Bush started his dog and pony show, including his proud admission to have ordered up torture. All of which made today’s announcement, that no one will be charged for covering up evidence of torture, almost anti-climactic.
Of course no one will be charged for destroying the evidence of torture! Our country has spun so far beyond holding the criminals who run our country accountable that even the notion of accountability for torture was becoming quaint and musty while we waited and screamed for some kind of acknowledgment that Durham had let the statute of limitations on the torture tape destruction expire. I doubt they would have even marked the moment–yet another criminal investigation of the Bush Administration ending in nothing–it if weren’t for the big stink bmaz has been making. Well, maybe that’s not right–after all, Bob Bennett was bound to do a very public victory lap, because that’s what he’s paid for.
The investigation continues, DOJ tells us, into obstruction of the Durham investigation itself. Maybe they think they’ve caught someone like Porter Goss in a lie. But at this point, that almost seems like a nice story the prosecutors are telling themselves so they can believe they’re still prosecutors, so they can believe we still have rule of law in this country.
This inquiry started long before Obama started looking forward, not backward. It started before the White House allowed the Chief of Staff to override the Attorney General on Gitmo and torture. It started before we found out that someone had destroyed many of the torture documents at DOJ–only to find no one at DOJ cared. It started before the Obama DOJ made up silly reasons why Americans couldn’t see what the Vice President had to say about ordering the leak of a CIA officer’s identity. It started before the Obama White House kept invoking State Secrets to cover up Bush’s crimes, from illegal wiretapping, to kidnapping, to torture. It started at a time when we naively believed that Change might include putting the legal abuses of the past behind us.
This inquiry started before the Obama Administration assumed the right to kill American citizens with no due process–all the while invoking State Secrets to hide that, too.
This inquiry started before Bush and then Obama let BP get away with serial violations of the laws that protect our workers and environment, and then acted surprised when BP ruined our Gulf.
This inquiry started before Obama helped to cover up the massive fraud committed by our banks, even while it continued to find ways to print money for those same banks. It started, too, before the Obama Administration ignored mounting evidence that banks–the banks employed by taxpayer owned Fannie and Freddie–were foreclosing on homes they didn’t have the legal right to foreclose on, going so far as to counterfeit documents to justify it. This inquiry started when we still believed in the old-fashioned principle of property rights.
This inquiry started before banksters got excused when they mowed down cyclists and left the scene of the crime, because a felony would mean the bankster would lose his job.
The ACLU’s Anthony Romero reacted to this news saying, in part, “We cannot say that we live under the rule of law unless we are clear that no one is above the law.”
I think it’s clear. We cannot say we live under the rule of law.
Spending by outside groups may help determine the re-election chances of incumbent Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski who�s battling for her political life in the nation�s Last Frontier.
With Murkowski, the perceived front-runner in Alaska�s U.S. Senate race, not even on the ballot, it�s close to chaos for pollsters. But that hasn�t stopped outside groups from making significant investments in a state with cheap media markets.
All told, outside groups trying to influence the state�s general election have spent $2.4 million and counting on independent expenditures, such as TV ads, mailers, phone banks or canvassers that explicitly advocate for or against a federal candidate that are not coordinated with any candidate�s campaign, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis.
That�s on top of $573,300 that was spent during August's GOP primary, in which Murkowski lost to attorney Joe Miller, a favorite of the Tea Party and her nemesis, former Republican Gov. Sarah Palin. Nevertheless, Murkowski continued on as a write-in candidate, trying to become the first politician in more than 50 years to win a Senate seat via a write-in candidacy. (Strom Thurmond of South Carolina was the last, in 1954.)
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which endorsed Miller after Murkowski�s defeat, spent more than $311,900 touting Miller last week alone.
The national party committee has also spent another $91,000 and counting attacking Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Scott McAdams, the current mayor of Sitka.
In Murkowski�s corner, a new �super PAC� called Alaskans Standing Together has spent $1.26 million on independent expenditures aiding Murkowski.
As a �Super PAC,� officially known as an independent expenditure-only committee, Alaskans Standing Together can raise unlimited amounts of money from individuals and corporations for political advertisements and other expenses -- so long as it doesn�t contribute that cash directly to any politician. And Alaskans Standing Together�s contributions have come exclusively from corporations -- Alaska Native corporations, as the Sunlight Foundation recently reported.
Another new group, American Action Network, has also spent money on Murkowski�s behalf.
American Action Network is a 501(c)4 nonprofit group organized under U.S. tax code as a social welfare organization. It is headed by former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who narrowly lost a re-election bid to Democrat Al Franken in 2008.
American Action Network shares office space with American Crossroads and Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, the conservative, big-spending outfits heavily promoted by Republican operatives Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie.
Neither American Crossroads nor Crossroads GPS has yet spent money in the Alaskan Senate race, one of only a handful of high-profile Senate races where the groups have yet to invest, as OpenSecrets Blog previously reported.
American Action Network, meanwhile, has spent $20,000 in support of Murkowski.
During the course of the primary and general elections so far, groups spent $1.36 million supporting Murkowski in outside messages, the Center�s research indicates.
Political committees, meanwhile, have spent $1.56 million supporting Miller during his primary and general election bids, the Center�s research indicates.
In addition to the political action committee of the Tea Party Express, which helped deliver Miller�s unexpected victory, other conservative groups backing Miller with independent expenditures include the National Right to Life Committee, the Susan B. Anthony List, the Family Research Council, South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint's leadership PAC, the Club for Growth and the Club for Growth�s new �super PAC.�
The only spending targeting McAdams so far has been the $91,000 from the NRSC. No liberal groups have yet to report independent expenditures on his behalf.
Not even the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has reported independent expenditures in Alaska. Instead, the group has during the past two weeks pumped money into Senate contests in Illinois, Connecticut, Nevada, West Virginia, Washington, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
eric seigerConsumers, the life's blood of the American economy, have shown a growing willingness to spend, but this might play havoc with the Federal Reserve's bold plans to revive the recovery.
When news aggregation goes wrong: Fox News republished a USA Today article called "Obama Shares Dreams for His Kids in Book About 13 Americans." Fox News' headline? "Obama Praises Indian Chief Who Killed US General."
Great news: Dems ready to push amnesty during lame duck session.
eric seiger I think it was the timing of the end of the torture investigation that hurts most of all. Just days ago, Harold Koh was boasting of the Durham investigation to the UN. Then Bush started his dog and pony show, including his proud admission to have ordered up torture. All of which made today’s announcement, that no one will be charged for covering up evidence of torture, almost anti-climactic.
Of course no one will be charged for destroying the evidence of torture! Our country has spun so far beyond holding the criminals who run our country accountable that even the notion of accountability for torture was becoming quaint and musty while we waited and screamed for some kind of acknowledgment that Durham had let the statute of limitations on the torture tape destruction expire. I doubt they would have even marked the moment–yet another criminal investigation of the Bush Administration ending in nothing–it if weren’t for the big stink bmaz has been making. Well, maybe that’s not right–after all, Bob Bennett was bound to do a very public victory lap, because that’s what he’s paid for.
The investigation continues, DOJ tells us, into obstruction of the Durham investigation itself. Maybe they think they’ve caught someone like Porter Goss in a lie. But at this point, that almost seems like a nice story the prosecutors are telling themselves so they can believe they’re still prosecutors, so they can believe we still have rule of law in this country.
This inquiry started long before Obama started looking forward, not backward. It started before the White House allowed the Chief of Staff to override the Attorney General on Gitmo and torture. It started before we found out that someone had destroyed many of the torture documents at DOJ–only to find no one at DOJ cared. It started before the Obama DOJ made up silly reasons why Americans couldn’t see what the Vice President had to say about ordering the leak of a CIA officer’s identity. It started before the Obama White House kept invoking State Secrets to cover up Bush’s crimes, from illegal wiretapping, to kidnapping, to torture. It started at a time when we naively believed that Change might include putting the legal abuses of the past behind us.
This inquiry started before the Obama Administration assumed the right to kill American citizens with no due process–all the while invoking State Secrets to hide that, too.
This inquiry started before Bush and then Obama let BP get away with serial violations of the laws that protect our workers and environment, and then acted surprised when BP ruined our Gulf.
This inquiry started before Obama helped to cover up the massive fraud committed by our banks, even while it continued to find ways to print money for those same banks. It started, too, before the Obama Administration ignored mounting evidence that banks–the banks employed by taxpayer owned Fannie and Freddie–were foreclosing on homes they didn’t have the legal right to foreclose on, going so far as to counterfeit documents to justify it. This inquiry started when we still believed in the old-fashioned principle of property rights.
This inquiry started before banksters got excused when they mowed down cyclists and left the scene of the crime, because a felony would mean the bankster would lose his job.
The ACLU’s Anthony Romero reacted to this news saying, in part, “We cannot say that we live under the rule of law unless we are clear that no one is above the law.”
I think it’s clear. We cannot say we live under the rule of law.
Spending by outside groups may help determine the re-election chances of incumbent Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski who�s battling for her political life in the nation�s Last Frontier.
With Murkowski, the perceived front-runner in Alaska�s U.S. Senate race, not even on the ballot, it�s close to chaos for pollsters. But that hasn�t stopped outside groups from making significant investments in a state with cheap media markets.
All told, outside groups trying to influence the state�s general election have spent $2.4 million and counting on independent expenditures, such as TV ads, mailers, phone banks or canvassers that explicitly advocate for or against a federal candidate that are not coordinated with any candidate�s campaign, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis.
That�s on top of $573,300 that was spent during August's GOP primary, in which Murkowski lost to attorney Joe Miller, a favorite of the Tea Party and her nemesis, former Republican Gov. Sarah Palin. Nevertheless, Murkowski continued on as a write-in candidate, trying to become the first politician in more than 50 years to win a Senate seat via a write-in candidacy. (Strom Thurmond of South Carolina was the last, in 1954.)
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which endorsed Miller after Murkowski�s defeat, spent more than $311,900 touting Miller last week alone.
The national party committee has also spent another $91,000 and counting attacking Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Scott McAdams, the current mayor of Sitka.
In Murkowski�s corner, a new �super PAC� called Alaskans Standing Together has spent $1.26 million on independent expenditures aiding Murkowski.
As a �Super PAC,� officially known as an independent expenditure-only committee, Alaskans Standing Together can raise unlimited amounts of money from individuals and corporations for political advertisements and other expenses -- so long as it doesn�t contribute that cash directly to any politician. And Alaskans Standing Together�s contributions have come exclusively from corporations -- Alaska Native corporations, as the Sunlight Foundation recently reported.
Another new group, American Action Network, has also spent money on Murkowski�s behalf.
American Action Network is a 501(c)4 nonprofit group organized under U.S. tax code as a social welfare organization. It is headed by former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who narrowly lost a re-election bid to Democrat Al Franken in 2008.
American Action Network shares office space with American Crossroads and Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, the conservative, big-spending outfits heavily promoted by Republican operatives Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie.
Neither American Crossroads nor Crossroads GPS has yet spent money in the Alaskan Senate race, one of only a handful of high-profile Senate races where the groups have yet to invest, as OpenSecrets Blog previously reported.
American Action Network, meanwhile, has spent $20,000 in support of Murkowski.
During the course of the primary and general elections so far, groups spent $1.36 million supporting Murkowski in outside messages, the Center�s research indicates.
Political committees, meanwhile, have spent $1.56 million supporting Miller during his primary and general election bids, the Center�s research indicates.
In addition to the political action committee of the Tea Party Express, which helped deliver Miller�s unexpected victory, other conservative groups backing Miller with independent expenditures include the National Right to Life Committee, the Susan B. Anthony List, the Family Research Council, South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint's leadership PAC, the Club for Growth and the Club for Growth�s new �super PAC.�
The only spending targeting McAdams so far has been the $91,000 from the NRSC. No liberal groups have yet to report independent expenditures on his behalf.
Not even the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has reported independent expenditures in Alaska. Instead, the group has during the past two weeks pumped money into Senate contests in Illinois, Connecticut, Nevada, West Virginia, Washington, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
eric seigerConsumers, the life's blood of the American economy, have shown a growing willingness to spend, but this might play havoc with the Federal Reserve's bold plans to revive the recovery.
When news aggregation goes wrong: Fox News republished a USA Today article called "Obama Shares Dreams for His Kids in Book About 13 Americans." Fox News' headline? "Obama Praises Indian Chief Who Killed US General."
Great news: Dems ready to push amnesty during lame duck session.
eric seigereric seiger
eric seigerConsumers, the life's blood of the American economy, have shown a growing willingness to spend, but this might play havoc with the Federal Reserve's bold plans to revive the recovery.
When news aggregation goes wrong: Fox News republished a USA Today article called "Obama Shares Dreams for His Kids in Book About 13 Americans." Fox News' headline? "Obama Praises Indian Chief Who Killed US General."
Great news: Dems ready to push amnesty during lame duck session.
eric seigerI think it was the timing of the end of the torture investigation that hurts most of all. Just days ago, Harold Koh was boasting of the Durham investigation to the UN. Then Bush started his dog and pony show, including his proud admission to have ordered up torture. All of which made today’s announcement, that no one will be charged for covering up evidence of torture, almost anti-climactic.
Of course no one will be charged for destroying the evidence of torture! Our country has spun so far beyond holding the criminals who run our country accountable that even the notion of accountability for torture was becoming quaint and musty while we waited and screamed for some kind of acknowledgment that Durham had let the statute of limitations on the torture tape destruction expire. I doubt they would have even marked the moment–yet another criminal investigation of the Bush Administration ending in nothing–it if weren’t for the big stink bmaz has been making. Well, maybe that’s not right–after all, Bob Bennett was bound to do a very public victory lap, because that’s what he’s paid for.
The investigation continues, DOJ tells us, into obstruction of the Durham investigation itself. Maybe they think they’ve caught someone like Porter Goss in a lie. But at this point, that almost seems like a nice story the prosecutors are telling themselves so they can believe they’re still prosecutors, so they can believe we still have rule of law in this country.
This inquiry started long before Obama started looking forward, not backward. It started before the White House allowed the Chief of Staff to override the Attorney General on Gitmo and torture. It started before we found out that someone had destroyed many of the torture documents at DOJ–only to find no one at DOJ cared. It started before the Obama DOJ made up silly reasons why Americans couldn’t see what the Vice President had to say about ordering the leak of a CIA officer’s identity. It started before the Obama White House kept invoking State Secrets to cover up Bush’s crimes, from illegal wiretapping, to kidnapping, to torture. It started at a time when we naively believed that Change might include putting the legal abuses of the past behind us.
This inquiry started before the Obama Administration assumed the right to kill American citizens with no due process–all the while invoking State Secrets to hide that, too.
This inquiry started before Bush and then Obama let BP get away with serial violations of the laws that protect our workers and environment, and then acted surprised when BP ruined our Gulf.
This inquiry started before Obama helped to cover up the massive fraud committed by our banks, even while it continued to find ways to print money for those same banks. It started, too, before the Obama Administration ignored mounting evidence that banks–the banks employed by taxpayer owned Fannie and Freddie–were foreclosing on homes they didn’t have the legal right to foreclose on, going so far as to counterfeit documents to justify it. This inquiry started when we still believed in the old-fashioned principle of property rights.
This inquiry started before banksters got excused when they mowed down cyclists and left the scene of the crime, because a felony would mean the bankster would lose his job.
The ACLU’s Anthony Romero reacted to this news saying, in part, “We cannot say that we live under the rule of law unless we are clear that no one is above the law.”
I think it’s clear. We cannot say we live under the rule of law.
Spending by outside groups may help determine the re-election chances of incumbent Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski who�s battling for her political life in the nation�s Last Frontier.
With Murkowski, the perceived front-runner in Alaska�s U.S. Senate race, not even on the ballot, it�s close to chaos for pollsters. But that hasn�t stopped outside groups from making significant investments in a state with cheap media markets.
All told, outside groups trying to influence the state�s general election have spent $2.4 million and counting on independent expenditures, such as TV ads, mailers, phone banks or canvassers that explicitly advocate for or against a federal candidate that are not coordinated with any candidate�s campaign, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis.
That�s on top of $573,300 that was spent during August's GOP primary, in which Murkowski lost to attorney Joe Miller, a favorite of the Tea Party and her nemesis, former Republican Gov. Sarah Palin. Nevertheless, Murkowski continued on as a write-in candidate, trying to become the first politician in more than 50 years to win a Senate seat via a write-in candidacy. (Strom Thurmond of South Carolina was the last, in 1954.)
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which endorsed Miller after Murkowski�s defeat, spent more than $311,900 touting Miller last week alone.
The national party committee has also spent another $91,000 and counting attacking Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Scott McAdams, the current mayor of Sitka.
In Murkowski�s corner, a new �super PAC� called Alaskans Standing Together has spent $1.26 million on independent expenditures aiding Murkowski.
As a �Super PAC,� officially known as an independent expenditure-only committee, Alaskans Standing Together can raise unlimited amounts of money from individuals and corporations for political advertisements and other expenses -- so long as it doesn�t contribute that cash directly to any politician. And Alaskans Standing Together�s contributions have come exclusively from corporations -- Alaska Native corporations, as the Sunlight Foundation recently reported.
Another new group, American Action Network, has also spent money on Murkowski�s behalf.
American Action Network is a 501(c)4 nonprofit group organized under U.S. tax code as a social welfare organization. It is headed by former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who narrowly lost a re-election bid to Democrat Al Franken in 2008.
American Action Network shares office space with American Crossroads and Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, the conservative, big-spending outfits heavily promoted by Republican operatives Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie.
Neither American Crossroads nor Crossroads GPS has yet spent money in the Alaskan Senate race, one of only a handful of high-profile Senate races where the groups have yet to invest, as OpenSecrets Blog previously reported.
American Action Network, meanwhile, has spent $20,000 in support of Murkowski.
During the course of the primary and general elections so far, groups spent $1.36 million supporting Murkowski in outside messages, the Center�s research indicates.
Political committees, meanwhile, have spent $1.56 million supporting Miller during his primary and general election bids, the Center�s research indicates.
In addition to the political action committee of the Tea Party Express, which helped deliver Miller�s unexpected victory, other conservative groups backing Miller with independent expenditures include the National Right to Life Committee, the Susan B. Anthony List, the Family Research Council, South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint's leadership PAC, the Club for Growth and the Club for Growth�s new �super PAC.�
The only spending targeting McAdams so far has been the $91,000 from the NRSC. No liberal groups have yet to report independent expenditures on his behalf.
Not even the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has reported independent expenditures in Alaska. Instead, the group has during the past two weeks pumped money into Senate contests in Illinois, Connecticut, Nevada, West Virginia, Washington, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
eric seiger
eric seigerConsumers, the life's blood of the American economy, have shown a growing willingness to spend, but this might play havoc with the Federal Reserve's bold plans to revive the recovery.
When news aggregation goes wrong: Fox News republished a USA Today article called "Obama Shares Dreams for His Kids in Book About 13 Americans." Fox News' headline? "Obama Praises Indian Chief Who Killed US General."
Great news: Dems ready to push amnesty during lame duck session.
eric seiger
eric seigerConsumers, the life's blood of the American economy, have shown a growing willingness to spend, but this might play havoc with the Federal Reserve's bold plans to revive the recovery.
When news aggregation goes wrong: Fox News republished a USA Today article called "Obama Shares Dreams for His Kids in Book About 13 Americans." Fox News' headline? "Obama Praises Indian Chief Who Killed US General."
Great news: Dems ready to push amnesty during lame duck session.
eric seigerConsumers, the life's blood of the American economy, have shown a growing willingness to spend, but this might play havoc with the Federal Reserve's bold plans to revive the recovery.
When news aggregation goes wrong: Fox News republished a USA Today article called "Obama Shares Dreams for His Kids in Book About 13 Americans." Fox News' headline? "Obama Praises Indian Chief Who Killed US General."
Great news: Dems ready to push amnesty during lame duck session.
eric seigerConsumers, the life's blood of the American economy, have shown a growing willingness to spend, but this might play havoc with the Federal Reserve's bold plans to revive the recovery.
When news aggregation goes wrong: Fox News republished a USA Today article called "Obama Shares Dreams for His Kids in Book About 13 Americans." Fox News' headline? "Obama Praises Indian Chief Who Killed US General."
Great news: Dems ready to push amnesty during lame duck session.
eric seiger eric seiger eric seiger
eric seiger eric seigerConsumers, the life's blood of the American economy, have shown a growing willingness to spend, but this might play havoc with the Federal Reserve's bold plans to revive the recovery.
When news aggregation goes wrong: Fox News republished a USA Today article called "Obama Shares Dreams for His Kids in Book About 13 Americans." Fox News' headline? "Obama Praises Indian Chief Who Killed US General."
Great news: Dems ready to push amnesty during lame duck session.
eric seigerConsumers, the life's blood of the American economy, have shown a growing willingness to spend, but this might play havoc with the Federal Reserve's bold plans to revive the recovery.
When news aggregation goes wrong: Fox News republished a USA Today article called "Obama Shares Dreams for His Kids in Book About 13 Americans." Fox News' headline? "Obama Praises Indian Chief Who Killed US General."
Great news: Dems ready to push amnesty during lame duck session.
eric seigerConsumers, the life's blood of the American economy, have shown a growing willingness to spend, but this might play havoc with the Federal Reserve's bold plans to revive the recovery.
When news aggregation goes wrong: Fox News republished a USA Today article called "Obama Shares Dreams for His Kids in Book About 13 Americans." Fox News' headline? "Obama Praises Indian Chief Who Killed US General."
Great news: Dems ready to push amnesty during lame duck session.
eric seiger
