Giuliani’s Wise Guy

By- Suzie-Q @ 10:35 PM MST

By any reasonable measure, Rudy Giuliani’s many scandalous associations should effectively end his presidential campaign, but it’s Bernie Kerik that should embarrass Giuliani to the point of humiliation.

Today, the NYT offers a detailed, comprehensive look at the bizarre relationship between the former NYC mayor and his disgraced former police commissioner. The piece adds some details that I hadn’t seen before, all of which makes Giuliani look even worse. (Yes, apparently that’s possible.)

There are, for example, the warnings Giuliani received about Kerik’s suspected ties to organized crime, before Giuliani made him police commissioner. Asked about the allegations, Giuliani initially said, “I was not informed of it.” Later, Giuliani testified that he couldn’t remember if his city investigations commissioner, Edward J. Kuriansky, briefed him on Kerik’s alleged criminal activity.

But a review of Mr. Kuriansky’s diaries, and investigators’ notes from a 2004 interview with him, now indicate that such a session indeed took place. What is more, Mr. Kuriansky also recalled briefing one of Mr. Giuliani’s closest aides, Dennison Young Jr., about Mr. Kerik’s entanglements with the company just days before the police appointment, according to the diaries he compiled at the time and his later recollection to the investigators.

The additional evidence raises questions not only about the precision of Mr. Giuliani’s recollection, but also about how a man who proclaims his ability to pick leaders came to overlook a jumble of disturbing information about Mr. Kerik, even as he pushed him for two crucial government positions.

“Rudy can fall for people big time, and sometimes qualifications are secondary to loyalty,” said Fran Reiter, a former Giuliani deputy mayor who now supports Hillary Clinton. “If he gets it in his head he trusts you, he is extremely loyal.”

Why does this sound so familiar? A chief executive who’ll put loyalty above merit, even if that means putting suspected criminals in positions of power and authority — just what the country needs right now.

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Al Martino – Speak Softly Love– Theme Song for the “The Godfather”

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The People vs. The Profiteers

By- Suzie-Q @ 3:00 PM MST

Americans working in Iraq for Halliburton spin-off KBR have been outraged by the massive fraud they saw there. Dozens are suing the giant military contractor, on the taxpayers’ behalf. Whose side is the Justice Department on?

On first meeting him, one might not suspect Alan Grayson of being a crusader against government-contractor fraud. Six feet four in his socks, he likes to dress flamboyantly, on the theory that items such as pink cowboy boots help retain a jury’s attention. He and his Filipino wife, Lolita, chose their palm-fringed mansion in Orlando, Florida, partly because the climate alleviates his chronic asthma, and partly because they wanted their five children to have unlimited access to the area’s many theme parks.

Grayson likes theme parks, too. Toward the end of two long days of interviews, he insists we break to visit Universal Studios, because it wouldn’t be right for me to leave his adopted city without having sampled the rides. Later he sends me an e-mail earnestly inquiring which one I liked best.

He can be forgiven a little frivolity. In his functional home-office in Orlando, and at the Beltway headquarters of his law firm, Grayson & Kubli, Grayson spends most of his days and many of his evenings on a lonely legal campaign to redress colossal frauds against American taxpayers by private contractors operating in Iraq. He calls it “the crime of the century.”

His obvious adversaries are the contracting corporations themselves—especially Halliburton, the giant oil-services conglomerate where Vice President Dick Cheney spent the latter half of the 1990s as C.E.O., and its former subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root, now known simply as KBR. But he says his efforts to take on those organizations have earned him another enemy: the United States Department of Justice.

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Afternoon Jukebox… Big Girls Don’t Cry

By- Suzie-Q @ 2:55 PM MST

Fergie – Big Girls Don’t Cry

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Mukasey… Who Is He And Why Won’t He State Waterboarding Is Illegal?

By- Suzie-Q @ 10:30 AM MST

Good Morning/Afternoon All You Justice Bloggers!

A couple of nights ago, GEF says to me, “Q, we need to start writing our own stuff for the blog.” I said, “Yes, I know but that is gonna take even more time, which we don’t have much spare time as it is.” GEF thought about that for a second and said, “Yeah, I know but we gotta do it Suzie-Q!”

So, Justice Bloggers, bear with me as I attempt to impress my guy and all of you, as I take my first shot at this! LOL It may even make you laugh…

______________________________________

So, I’ve been seeing this name in the news a lot lately, Mukasey, (what kind of name is that anyway?) and decided I should do a little research on this guy, after all, Bush wants him for Attorney General and that makes me suspicious right away…

Looking at the Wikipedia article above, I noticed this…

Mukasey’s son, Marc L. Mukasey, leads the white-collar criminal defense practice in the New York office of Bracewell & Giuliani. The Mukaseys have a professional relationship with Rudy Giuliani; Mukasey and son are also justice advisers to Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign. Mukasey swore in Mayor-elect Giuliani in 1994 and 1998.

And, that makes me go… “Hmmmm…” and so I read on…

Tony Fratto, a presidential spokesman affirmed that Mukasey has a close friendship with former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. He also said that Mukasey will recuse himself from any case involving Giuliani. Newspaper reports assumed that Mukasey will further recuse himself from cases involving Bernard Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner under Giuliani. (Kerik is under federal investigation for bribery and other offenses.) Neither Mukasey nor the presidential press secretary returned New York Times reporters’ requests for confirmation of potential recusal from the Kerik case.

Dang, this could almost be a Soap Opera… and I thought “Dallas” was good…

As of November 1, 2007 five senators – Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Joseph Biden of Delaware, John Kerry of Massachusetts, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont – had announced their intention to vote against Mukasey’s confirmation due to concerns about his stance on torture.

So, okay, the big controversy with Mukasey seems to be water-boarding and his refusal to state that it is illegal. However, I recall that I posted an article a couple of months ago about the CIA Bans Water-boarding In Terror Interrogations.

Why won’t Mukasey just admit that water-boarding is illegal?

What do you think Justice Bloggers? I want to hear your opinions.

Here is Jon Stewart’s take on Water-boarding and torture

P.S.

Have a great weekend!

Metallica- Nothing Else Matters

WordPress.com Political Blogger Alliance

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Retired General Dunlavey: Guantanamo Mission Came Straight From Bush, Rumsfeld

Sudhan@18:40 CET

Orders From The Top

 

 

By Lisa Thompson | Ernie Times News (Pennsylvania), November 2, 2007

When military investigators questioned Erie County Judge Michael E. Dunlavey about reported prisoner abuse during his tenure at the Guantanamo Bay camp for suspected terrorists, Dunlavey told them he got his “marching orders” from President Bush, according to a new book about U.S. policies regarding torture.

The book, “Administration of Torture: A Documentary Record from Washington to Abu Ghraib and Beyond,” relies on government documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act to trace the development of what the authors claim was prisoner abuse and torture that emerged in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The book uses Dunlavey’s words to place him, a retired two-star general in the U.S. Army Reserve, at the advent of the development of what have become disputed interrogation policies.

In a statement Dunlavey provided to a U.S. Air Force lieutenant general investigating FBI reports of detainee abuses at Guantanamo Bay, Dunlavey explains that as leader of interrogations at Guantanamo, he reported directly to President Bush and then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

He acknowledged the use of loud music and dogs and shackling prisoners in the fetal position during interrogations, but stressed repeatedly that the standard was to treat detainees humanely. The military investigation into the claims of abuse at Guantanamo Bay found no reason to reprimand Dunlavey.

Keep reading . . .

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Rice to be subpoenaed in espionage case

Sudhan@11:00 CET

Judge OKs calls for intel officials to discuss talks with pro-Israel lobbyists

 AP Associated Press

updated 4:37 p.m. ET Nov. 2, 2007

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and more than a dozen other current and former intelligence officials must testify about their conversations with pro-Israel lobbyists, a federal judge ruled Friday in an espionage case.

Lawyers for two former American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbyists facing charges have subpoenaed Rice, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams and several others to testify at their trial next year. Prosecutors had challenged the subpoenas in federal court.

Lobbyists Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman maintain the Israeli interest group played an unofficial but sanctioned role in crafting foreign policy and that Rice and others can confirm it. If they ultimately testify in court, the trial in federal court in suburban Alexandria, Va. could offer a behind-the-scenes look at the way U.S. foreign policy is crafted.

Keep reading  . . .

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Walking Eagle

by Geezer Power …12:23 am

President Bush was invited to address a major gathering of the American Indian Nation in Arizona. He spoke for almost an hour on his future plans for increasing every Native American’s present standard of living. He referred to his career as Governor of Texas, how he had signed “YES” 1,237 times for every Indian issue that came to his desk for approval. Although the President was vague on the details of his plan, he seemed most enthusiastic about his future ideas for helping his “red brothers.”

At the conclusion of his speech, the Tribes presented the President with a plaque inscribed with his new Indian name — Walking Eagle. The proud President then departed in his motorcade, waving to the crowds.

A news reporter later inquired to the group of chiefs of how they come to select the new name given to the President. They explained that Walking Eagle is the name given to a bird so full of s**t it can no longer fly.

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