House alleges administration crimes

Yesterday the House Judiciary Committee released a report alleging that WH and DoJ officials engaged in illegal activity in its firings of the Gonzales 8 US attorneys.

From the Washington Post:

The report says that Congress's seven-month investigation into the firings raises "serious concerns" that senior White House and Justice Department aides involved in the removal of nine U.S. attorneys last year may have obstructed justice and violated federal statutes that protect civil service employees, prohibit political retaliation against government officials and cover presidential records.

The key importance of this report, which the article fails to point out I might add, is that a presidential "executive privilege" claim is much weaker in the face of an actual criminal investigation.

Should this go to the courts the administration will now be much harder pressed to show why their blanket claim of that privilege is valid.

Government of the crooks, by the crooks, for the crooks

Of late, the trend in the political blogosphere has been towards group blogs and I have a theory as to why.

The Bush administration.

I know I've talked about this before, but I suspect BushCorp™'s myriad sins have simply left solo bloggers like your CaliBlogger too exhausted for proper outrage.

Torture.

Renditions.

Gitmo.

Abu Ghraib.

Illegal surveillance.

Katrina.

Global warming.

War in Iraq.

War in Afghanistan.

War in Iran.

"Justice" Department.

Alberto Gonzales.

Right wing Supreme Court.

And now, Scooter Libby.

Sigh.

I started this blog in order to express my rage and incredulity over the outcome of the '04 elections. At that time I couldn't bear the thought that my fellow citizens had really re-elected this idiot.

And in the intervening time I've done my level best to keep up, but, in the face of so much incompetence and corruption I'm frankly overwhelmed.

So, though I suppose that commuting the sentence of a convicted perjurer in a country where possessing an ounce of pot can land you in jail should put me in a proper lather, I find it does no such thing.

It just makes me feel tired.

So, for those of you seeking some proper outrage I can only recommend checking out a few of my brethren in the blogosphere:

Shaun Mullen:

It would have been one thing if the Libby commutation had been an aberration. But here is a man who as governor of Texas openly mocked a woman whom he had just put to death by pursing his lips and squeaking “please don’t kill me” after she had appealed to him for clemency.

Digby (multiple posts).

mcjoan (at Daily Kos) has a nice roundup of candidate reactions.

And if you want some true hair-singeing, read the comments to MissLaura's news post on Libby (also at Kos).

I could go on, there's plenty of well-earned bile out there.

But frankly I need a nap.

And a shower.

Dogs of War: The New York Times

As BushCorp™ hawks continue to push for war with Iran, no-one serves them so obsequiously as the press.

And especially guilty in this regard is the nation's "paper of record", the New York Times and this week's stenographer, Michael Gordon.

So, unsurprisingly, given their cheer leading for the fiasco in Iraq, the Times is now frontpaging more Dod dictation.

Read Glenn Greenwald for the gristly details.