Month: October 2005

” Fitzgerald is an Irish doorman’s son who attended a Jesuit high school, then Amherst College — where he was a Phi Beta Kappa mathematics and economics major — and Harvard.

He registered to vote in New York as an independent. When he discovered that Independent was a political party, he re-registered with no affiliation. Illinois citizens know him for pursuing Republicans and Democrats with equal fervor. Former governor George Ryan (R) is on trial on corruption charges, and a growing number of aides to Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) face influence-peddling charges.”

A witness in the case said of Fitzgerald – “As White House staffers, ..you had generals and Cabinet secretaries being deferential to you. He didn’t care what you’d done or how well you knew the president.” Washpost

This man is a politician’s worst nightmare. He doesn’t “care what you’d done or how well you knew the president.”

He reminds me of the portrait of Robert Kennedy in Richard Mahoney‘s book, “Sons and Brothers.” Relentless, dogged, thorough, a workaholic who goes home to Chicago on the weekends. He has priorities and they are not all about his career.

Men like this are not driven by self-interest so much as they are by an internal demand for justice and virtue in the world.

He is unimpressed by the argument that “we have always done it that way.” Graft, character assasination as political “business as usual,” influence peddling? Men like this are outraged by such things.

Norah O’Donnell of NBC news said last week that she had been told by someone interrogated by Fitzgerald that he could best be described as “pious.” That strikes me as apt.

Piety can be religious or it can be civic as the Romans would have understood this virtue, as Marcus Aurelius would have understood it. In either case, Fitzgerald’s piety is “bad news” for a number of people.

He will do what he is going to do, and partisan hand-wringing will not affect him.

Get ready.

– Pat Lang

Read More

foreboding tales from Liberal Street Fighter

… and I have no power to stop it.”

Torture in Iraq – By Human Rights Watch

Residents of Fallujah called them “the Murderous Maniacs” because of how they treated Iraqis in detention. They were soldiers of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, stationed at Forward Operating Base Mercury (FOB Mercury) in Iraq. The soldiers considered this name a badge of honor.(2)

    One officer and two noncommissioned officers (NCOs) of the 82nd Airborne who witnessed abuse, speaking on condition of anonymity, described in multiple interviews with Human Rights Watch how their battalion in 2003-2004 routinely used physical and mental torture as a means of intelligence gathering and for stress relief. One soldier raised his concerns within the Army chain of command for seventeen months before the Army agreed to undertake an investigation, but only after he had contacted members of Congress and considered going public with the story.

    According to their accounts, the torture and other mistreatment of Iraqis in detention was systematic and was known at varying levels of command. Military Intelligence personnel, they said, directed and encouraged Army personnel to subject prisoners to forced, repetitive exercise, sometimes to the point of unconsciousness, sleep deprivation for days on end, and exposure to extremes of heat and cold as part of the interrogation process. At least one interrogator beat detainees in front of other soldiers. Soldiers also incorporated daily beatings of detainees in preparation for interrogations. Civilians believed to be from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) conducted interrogations out of sight, but not earshot, of soldiers, who heard what they believed were abusive interrogations.

Read More

What’s Your Price To Kiss Some Ass?

Maybe you have a bad job now: low pay, stupid boss, stupid clients. Or, maybe you have no job, and the tension with the family is BAD.

So, you here about this job. It utilizes your skills. But, it is clear you will have to try to pass as a Kool-Aid addict.  Maybe it’s something like a Program Manager at KBR. (Kellogg, Brown, and Root/Halliburton.)  You know, upscale grooming and wardrobe,  reactionary small talk, martinis, golf. The job is for two years.  

What’s your price?

$100K/year?  More, Less?    

I hate ass-kissing.  I gotta say in all honesty,  I’d start thinking about it at $150K/year.   AArgh – my self-esteem just exploded!!!

Read More

I had promised myself I wouldn’t get involved in the Plame case again, but I’ve been following along and kept feeling like something was missing.

Today I know what that is. Bush.

The focus has been on Rove, Libby, Cheney, Hannah, etc. but what of the esteemed W? Perhaps Fitz has been widening his net a bit further than previously thought?

Let’s look at the statements that were either spoken directly by Bush or were official statements from the WH immediately following the leak…

Read More

Despite continual public attempts by Bush to make it appear that he is completely in control of his staff and his senses regardless of all of the scandals swirling around his White House, insiders tell the NY Daily News that, behind closed doors, he is as out of control as a rabid dog. Unlike a rabid dog, however, Bush brought all of this on himself.

Thomas DeFrank has the scoop in his article, Bushies feeling the boss’ wrath. Noting the unrelenting insurgency in Iraq, the loss of 23 US soldiers this past week, the US death toll nearing 2000, the controversy of the Miers nomination and, of course, the pending probable indictments in the Plame investigation (writes DeFrank: “Many Bush staffers believe indictments are likely.”), DeFrank gives us a glimpse into the madness of the modern-day King George.

Excerpts:

WASHINGTON – Facing the darkest days of his presidency, President Bush is frustrated, sometimes angry and even bitter, his associates say.

[…]

“He’s like the lion in winter,” observed a political friend of Bush. “He’s frustrated. He remains quite confident in the decisions he has made. But this is a guy who wanted to do big things in a second term. Given his nature, there’s no way he’d be happy about the way things have gone.”

Bush usually reserves his celebrated temper for senior aides because he knows they can take it. Lately, however, some junior staffers have also faced the boss’ wrath.

“This is not some manager at McDonald’s chewing out the help,” said a source with close ties to the White House when told about these outbursts. “This is the President of the United States, and it’s not a pleasant sight.”

That’s what happens to control freaks. When things go wrong, they have a very nasty meltdown and no one around them is spared.

DeFrank’s sources have many more adjectives to describe Bush’s bad behaviour:

Presidential advisers and friends say Bush is a mass of contradictions: cheerful and serene, peevish and melancholy, occasionally lapsing into what he once derided as the “blame game.” They describe him as beset but unbowed, convinced that history will vindicate the major decisions of his presidency even if they damage him and his party in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

What was it Bush said about how the history books would remember him as if he didn’t care? “History, we don’t know. We’ll all be dead.” Right.

Apparently, Cheney hasn’t been spared the wrath of Bush either and is getting the blame for the mess in Iraq:

“The President is just unhappy in general and casting blame all about,” said one Bush insider. “Andy [Card, the chief of staff] gets his share. Karl gets his share. Even Cheney gets his share. And the press gets a big share.”
The vice president remains Bush’s most trusted political confidant. Even so, the Daily News has learned Bush has told associates Cheney was overly involved in intelligence issues in the runup to the Iraq war that have been seized on by Bush critics.

That’s what happens when you give your vice president unrestrained power, Bush. Guess what? That’s your fault, not his.

If indictments of those in Bush’s inner circle are forthcoming this week, the White House will be faced with making major staff changes. If WH staffers think things are bad now, just wait until the end of the week. The rabid dog’s foaming at the mouth will no doubt reach every exposed surface in those hallowed halls and no one will be able to escape that horridly ugly scene.

Read More