The Office of Special Counsel has found gross and knowing violation of the Hatch Act by the Bush White House and specifically its Office of Political Affairs. The OSC Report found that the Bush White House allowed the office to directly support Republican congressional candidates and even allowed the Republican National Committee to work out of the White House. The violations were found to be a “gross abuse of the public trust.”
What is striking about the report is that there could be no serious question that these violations were knowingly committed. The Hatch Act bars the use of federal employees and resources in political activities.
The OSC found “OPA employees, particularly during the 2006 midterm election season, methodically coordinated administration support to aid the campaigns of Republican candidates.” Once again, despite clear violations of federal law by Bush officials, there is only belated action and no one is held accountable. People like Karl Rove and Kenneth Mehlmann simply went on with their careers — uninhibited by such violations. Just one more yawn from folks in the Beltway.
Source: CNN
Jonathan Turley
“the bimodal averages of outliers.”
OMG…thank you for the sticky gum I’ll be mentally masticating for hours!
as for bimodals and their reapercussives…I hope it’s just part of the learning curve and not a final stop on the bozo bus route…I find outliers to be very good company, especially when they move beyond the standard (often unpleasant) source to a healthy deviation 🙂
I will submit the man is, in all likelihood, a decent person. The love binding his family is certainly real, and the source of much of who he is. He spent too much time in church for my tastes, enough to take on crippling blinders.
Because how is it that an (alleged) Constitutional lawyer cannot see that America’s perception and role in the world have soured not because we don’t “trade enough” or are “green enough” or “have too much debt” or any of that happy-crappy? We lost it because we are torturing, arms-dealing, crusading war-mongers who still, in the year 2010, find it necessary to sell death-from-sky to Saudi Arabia, virtually assuring this death will ultimately fall on civilian heads. We have blood on us in every conceivable crack and crevice.
One does not put a gun on the wall in Act I one does not intend to use in Act III.
I go back to Gerald Ford’s pardon of Nixon as catalyst and enzyme, for it taught bad little Dickys and Rummys and Wolfies exactly what the consequences for converting our democratic Republic into a religious oligarchy would be: both Bup and Kis.
This led to the cheese-headed actor playing President, and his bumbling Veep, and his rather more bumbling son. Auf, und so Wieter.
What I have always loved about the ‘Prof is he saw our useless, banal, illegal aggression for what it was, and these values he had both before and after that teahadist feast of the dead known as 9/11. W had to have engravings of war drawn for him so he knew at all times he was on a crusade. The Joint Chiefs, through this moment in time, are dominated by a sick theology that assures we will be at war long beyond my years, and I’m only half done.
When we cross into torture, perjury, obstruction, conspiracy, and treat abrogation, we leave the political realm, and those who stand accused are blessed with the right to remain silent. There are no longer two sides to the argument. Ergo, we can not really have the debate we so desperately need to have.
Not until these (unprintable) bastards face what they have done. Until then, ALL their names are O’ccomplice.
I would welcome any suggestions on how to make that day tomorrow.
RE: Woosty’s still a Cat 1, January 26, 2011 at 2:51 pm
“No, I mean to not be mean, nor mode nor median.”
were you aiming for above average?….cause there will always be those who are inspired to meanness by those whose actions are ever so less so……
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Artistic humour. Oops, typo on purpose, Autistic humor…
Frequentistically, I ask the late Rev. Bayes for help, as a Theorem of being a dis-central-tendenciast.
Since I theoremize that measures of central tendency tend to standardise my deviation from traditional social norms, including folkways and mores, there is mores that I may yet learn about the abnormal curve.
I would no mores aim for above average as for below average, as I would for the bimodal averages of outliers.
Since Obama and Holder have said repeatedly that they don’t care if ANYONE from Chimpy’s reign broke any law, up to and including mass murder (WAR CRIMES), do you expect anything to come from this??
Not in our life-times..
“No, I mean to not be mean, nor mode nor median.”
were you aiming for above average?….cause there will always be those who are inspired to meanness by those whose actions are ever so less so……
Okay, I’ll ask the question. The RICO law allows people to sue criminal enterprizes civilly, even before criminal convictions have been obtained.
Can those involved in the OPA be sued by taxpayers under civil RICO? I suggest this as a way to avoid the Obama Justice Department from deciding to “look forward and not behind” again.
One of these days, someone who can do something will happen to read through a decent intro psych. text and then an intro social psych text and then an intro abnormal psych. text…
And then the word “situational” and its scientific psychology sense of meaning will perhaps mean something to someone who may mean to do something not mean, if you get what I mean…
No, I mean to not be mean, nor mode nor median.
Jill; “I’m not surprised by the criminals who run the govt. I am surprised by decent people who refuse to speak up and oppose the powerful. We are being the “Good Americans”. ”
I am truly sorry to disagree here…people have been speaking up…and speaking up….and speaking up…for decades now. We are not simply being ignored…we pay serious consequences for speaking up. The shock is that politicians and other ‘legal tender’ continue to use public apathy as excuses for their actions and inactions….we are far from apathetic, we are simply tired of being forced to pay for our truthful voices in blood to corrupt forces. How many deaths do you need?
Truth is a threat to those who use power and all its darker aggregates to persuade and conquer….
I agree with Jill on this and the words that come to mind as descriptive are Corporate Oligarchy merged with the need of the super wealthy to show they are better than the rest of us (think feudalism). While it’s fair to say that the citizenry allows it, I think that sometimes we ignore the effect of incessant propaganda on the opinions of the populace. A high percentage of humanity are prone to being followers and when their leaders are scum, bad things happen.
Color me shocked….Good one James in LA…
jimm,
I’m not surprised by the criminals who run the govt. I am surprised by decent people who refuse to speak up and oppose the powerful. We are being the “Good Americans”. That is a mistake.
An honest person doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming president these days. We shouldn’t be surprised when criminals perform illegal acts.
Moar,
Well said.
“If the President does it, it is not illegal”
It’s not often you can trace a trend in society back to one specific event, but you can here. Nixon spoke and we all listened, and quite a few of us thought that sounded like a damn fine idea.
Just one more example of the law breakng that was rampant during the Bush Administration. Let’s see what if anything is done about it. I am not holding my breath.
Clearly, our system of govt. has broken down. The founders depended on “ambition countering ambition” to maintain the rule of law, instead of the rule of fiat, one man–a king. What has happened is that ambition has colluded with ambition to form even more damaging consequences.
Under the rule of law, even the wealthy and connected should be arrested and tried for their violations. Of course, this nation has seriously lacked in this regard since its inception. But, it was a tenant of our nation, something people demanded of their govt., for example during the civil rights movement.
Now the govt. has clearly declared the rule of law dead, replacing it with the rule of fiat. Laws are “useful”. If soemone is your enemy, the govt. uses the full force of the law (and some extra illegalities) to go after them (see Private Manning). When someone is your friend, the are guaranteed a free pass.
This should truly worry people, liberal and conservative alike. Yet it is as if our population lives in some weird dream state, remaining motionless while actions which remove the very foundation of our govt. are being written into law. While I find the “leaders” of this nation actions horrifying, I find the citizen’s acquiescence to these illegalities much worse. I don’t know what happened to people when we started accepting the destruction of the rule of law. I do know that the consequences of this acceptance will destroy everything that is most precious about our nation.
The Office of Special Counsel has a keen sense of the obvious. I think the bigger question is – what did the Bush Administration do that was actually legal?
I heard in passing that the OSC will not pursue any criminal charges. Well, color me shocked.
What a farce.
“Until then, his name is O’ccomplice.”
Good one, James.
In the immortal words of Marge Simpson (and she’s been quoted by so many), “Well, duh.” Line up the previous criminal enterprise posing as a presidency for their mugshots at The Hague, and we’ll talk. Until then, his name is O’ccomplice.