The Abrams Report: Bush League Justice, But No Justice For Siegelman
By Nicole Belle Friday Feb 29, 2008 7:11am
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With any luck, the attention that Dan Abrams has committed to bring to the Don Siegelman case will manifest itself into pressure on the Alabama State Attorney General to move towards examining this miscarriage of justice. On last night's show, Abrams spoke with former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, who was interviewed for the 60 Minutes piece and is one of the 52 current and former Attorneys General who have signed a letter raising concerns of politicization in this case. Woods again pointed out some of the red flags that have that bipartisan group calling for a special investigation:
I think our main point is there’s a million red flags on this case. And that doesn’t necessarily mean it will all come to something, but it means there’s just too much out there for it not to be investigated. For context, you should remember that the governor, when he ran for re-election, went to bed having been declared by everybody the winner, he was awakened a few hours later and said, “oh, um, you know, there was some…a foul up in a rural county and uh some votes were switched, so now you lost.”
Now we flash forward a few years, he’s going to run to try to get back into office and they bring charges against him and they go to trial. Pretty big deal, charge a former governor who is getting ready to run again. And the prosecutor gives his opening argument and the judge dismisses the case after the opening argument. That just doesn’t happen. That’s how bad that case was, and they still don’t give up. So they go after him again, and have now a different prosecutor, as you mentioned, the wife of one of the people who have been working for years politically against him and then I think Mr. Kilborn has said that they were all assured that nothing was going to come of it, that the charges were no good. All of the sudden there’s a top to bottom review and charges are brought.
If you would like to send Siegelman your support, his address is here. If you'd like to call for an investigation, you can contact the Alabama State Attorney General's office here. Larissa Alexandrovna has much, much more...
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can they get MSNBC in Alabama?
After I saw this last night, I could not believe that no other network picked up on it. Could it be if this happended to a Republican the fanatical right would be screaming bloody murder? And now I'm listening to the finacial network and, get this, their blaming the middle class for spreading the rumor of a recession! Christ! I need a drink.
P.D. @ 2:
Yeah, I heard this one. It's already circulating in K-street, that if you talk about recession, they you are siding with the enemy, that you are doing more harm than good. "American is built on trust, what happens if that trust is broken, as in our economy is tanking ?!!". Such is the attitude of Republicans that are high on hilly-billy cocaine. They won't admit the problem, to them all others are the problem.
AAA Rule #1: You want to fix the problem, admit it first, then plan a course of action to solve it. Our commander in chief still won't admit it, so how can we even begin to solve the problem?
It really gets me when one of these news/talk-show guys gets an informative, articulate guest on their show and then spend their time over-talking and interrupting. I realize they have some time issues, but they seem to be concerned only that they leave time for them to spout off. I suppose that we should be grateful that Abrams is covering it at all, but when you've got a good guest, let 'em talk. That's the thing I enjoy about The News Hour on PBS, they take the time to allow a story to unfold and are aware enough to know when the subject is 'on track' and keep it moving.
This is a horrible miscarriage of justice and Mr. Siegelman needs to be reinstated or instated, as the case may be. Isn't it interesting what can happen to you when those with the money decide they don't want you around, huh?! Effed up and absolutely criminal. Those "girls" who assisted in this need to go directly to jail. Same for one of the girl's husband... fucktards the lot of them!
At least I can count on Oberman and Abrams. If it weren't for these two you would think Georgie Boy rode off in the sunset and took Darth Cheny with him. The networks are using filler crap to get Americans to not think about this disasterous adminstration. Between Obama and Hilary coverage the coporate media thinks we all sheep. I pray were more savvy than that.
[Deleted. Off topic-Sitemonitor]
Don Siegelman was represented at his trial by the best legal defense team money can buy. After all the evidence against him was presented in open court; he was convicted by a jury of his peers. Siegelman will continue to serve his sentence pending his appeal; just like tens of thousands of convicted felons throughout the United States who are currently appealing their convictions. He will not receive special treatment. He will not be released from custody just because he is rich. There will be no double standard of justice.
don siegelman was represented at his trial by the best legal defense team money can buy. After all the evidence against him was presented in open court; he was convicted by a jury of his peers. Just like tens of thousands of convicted felons throughout the United States, Siegelman will continue to serve his sentence pending his appeal. He will not receive special treatment. There will be no double standard of justice. He will not be released just because he is rich and powerful.
Hopefully Abrams covers this every night for the next five thousand years. Karl Rove needs to be in prison.
Looks like Bush has picked up some old habits from his buddy Pooty Poot.
abob @ 9:
Only if you're Scooter Libby or others in this pnaczi regime who commit treason will you be let off the hook.
wild_idea @ 3:
I think you meant AA Rule #1. AAA rule #1 is put on your hazard lights, pull off on the shoulder, and wait in your vehicle for the tow truck.
"I think our main point is there’s a million red flags on this case. And that doesn’t necessarily mean it will all come to something, but it means there’s just too much out there for it not to be investigated."
That same sentence gould be used regarding 9/11, as well as several hundred other major disasters brought on the world by Chimpy and his oorgan grinder.
Apparently abob has a problem with reading comprehension. The critical "evidence" was suppossed eye witness testimony that was improperly coerced and coordinated. The denial of release of a non-violent offender pending appeal is the exception not the norm. That they were able to find a jury comprised of 12 mouth breathing, room temperature IQ rednecks like abob to go along with the scam in Darwin's waiting room (Alabama) is hardly surprising.
weldon @ 1:
"Yes, but only when the network has something pro-bush.
Wasn't this posted yesterday for a few minutes? I was going to comment, but then "POOF!" it was gone. Now in my senility I can't for the life of me remember what I was going to comment. Sigh. I'm losin' it.
Corruption!
There are also rumors that some on the jury were bribed by people in high places.
Welcome to Nazi America!
I'm sure Siegelman's name did not inspire any particular zeal on anyone's part while Alabama Justice was being meted out.
abob @ 9:
it was the special treatment that was the reason siegelman went to jsil in the first place.
21
CoIntelPro Says:
abob @ 9:
---------
jsil = jail
Speaking of justice. Seems Russia just had a "rigged" election following the US once again. So now we have the US with 2 rigged elections, Canada with 1 and Russia with 1, for those keeping score. It's no wonder these nations despise the democracy in Iran, Cuba and Venezuala. How dare they let the people decide?!!!!!!!!
I could never again argue that keeping the country together was a good thing for lincoln to do.
Alabama, you got
the weight on your shoulders
That's breaking your back.
Your Cadillac
has got a wheel in the ditch
And a wheel on the track
Oh Alabama.
Can I see you
and shake your hand.
Make friends down in Alabama.
I'm from a new land
I come to you
and see all this ruin
What are you doing Alabama?
You got the rest of the union
to help you along
What's going wrong?
-- from "Alabama" by Neil Young
The Alabama Attorney General is not going to do squat. Jeff Sessions (R. Senator) is up to his neck in this also. I believe Siegelmans' only hope if for a Congressional investigation. This is all political and everything and everyone in Alabama is Republican. Siegelman was the only democrat left in Alabama politics. Hence. I believe they made their point.
Remember when we read about things like this happening in other countries and thought how great the USA was that it couldn't happen here?
I guess this is what happens when people think that winning at politics is more important than anything. And if they can destroy other peoples lives in the process, so much the better.
Every country has the government it deserves. - Joseph de Maistre
Free Siegelman, Mr. Botha.
"Where the law ends, tyranny begins." - John Locke
SassySandy @ 26:
and so it goes....
Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey on Friday rejected referring the House's contempt citations against President Bush's chief of staff and former counsel to a federal grand jury.
ConcernedCanuck @ 23:
you left out the 1998 midterm elections!
speaking of justice ...........
Judge Gives Wikileaks Site Its Address Back By JONATHAN D. GLATER
At a hearing, the judge appeared at times visibly frustrated that technology might have outrun the law and that, as a result, the court might not be able to rein in information disclosed online.
So more whistleblowers can remain anonymous.
Why was Rove so determined to hold onto Alabama? Or was this a testing ground to see how far they could push their own form of justice?
SassySandy @ 26:
The Alabama State Legislature actually has a Democratic majority (House +19, Senate +11).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_House_of_Representatives
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_Senate
In addition to Sessions, former state Attorney General and current Federal Judge, Bill Pryor is muddled up in this, both were also implicated in the Healthsouth investigation, but NOT prosecuted.
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1668220,00.html
kablooie @ 29:
we're already there.
SWoods @ 33:
Alabama,
Mississippi,
Jena, Louisiana,
Tennessee,
Florida,
.....
The Confederate States are the strongest voting bloc in the nation and the most rigged.
More justice courtesy of NY Police:
"I would have shot Sean Bell myself if my officers weren't shooting so much" -
Commander Testifies He Felt 'Under Fire' Outside Nightclub By JOHN ELIGON
The commanding officer at the time of a fatal shooting testified that he was ready to add to the fusillade of 50 shots that claimed Sean Bell's life.
-------------
They don't lynch you in NY. They join the police force.
After Obama becomes President ....
think of the Bush Administration as a giant corrupt,decayed Pinata' filled to to the bursting point waiting for just one whack from a real Attorney General.
t-bone @ 15:
Abob is a bloody moron.
bobswire @ 38:
Now THAT is a friggin great analogy, lol!!!
Don Siegelman
#24775-0001
Satellite Prison Camp
Post Office Box 5010
Oakdale, LA 71463-5019
CoIntelPro @ 31:
So many fraudulent elections to keep up with...so little time.
abob @ 8:
You mean he won't get the Libby treatment.
A name worth googling is the whistle blower Charlie Grapski , some very nasty things being done to him down in Florida.
Unlawful eviction from town council meeting before he could ask financial questions, arrested on false charges multiple times, beaten up in jail, photographed by corrupt LE people in his cell in a bloody mess, photos incorporated into a Youtube video with the music 'I fought the law, and the law won' released to ridicule him by the people trying to keep him in jail and silenced.
Rather a stalinist campaign going on down there to keep him off the streets and quiet.
They also are interfering with his bank account which is rather a serious felony affair, definitely a Federal crime by the perps scheming against him to cover up their land and property corruption.
abob @ 8:
justice? you call that justice? nevermind that the first judge threw it out of court.nevermind that the second judge threw out 24 of the 32 charges.nevermind that this was all politicaly motivated. justice?
no,to get justice,this needs to be re-investigated for any wrong doing by the DA and the GOP.
And, on Siegleman as well.
Karl Rove would never do anything this under handed, would he?
abob @ 9:
Do I have your attention now?
He will not be released because this country is no longer being run by the rule of law
It's time El Presidente Bushito was led away in shackles -
and not the kind Jeffy Guckert/Gannon uses on them!
snark snark
You know, I really try to resist this notion, but it does seem like the government of this once great nation is really just one large mafia type operation (apologies to the mafia everywhere).
I am embarrassed by the complete lack of morals and integrity by large chunks of the government and our population.
It is truly obscene.
abob the hit-n-run troll, where are you? Busy giving a greasy handjob to Karl Rove?
weldon @ 1:
They receive MSNBC in Georgia;but they don't get it!
feb 26th 2007 rival election candidates disqualified, incumbents stay in office no election
feb 27th 2007 Charlie Grapski evicted (from council chamber before asking question) arrested and almost tasered.
you gotta love Florida and similars version of American democracy, very feudal. Worked well in 2000 and 2004 too.
Oops---Alabama!
solid @ 48:
Abramoff and certain players in the GOP are the MAFIA or have very close personal ties to them.
Sun Cruz, the Indian Casino lobby money protection racket, the vast amounts of dollars funneled to the GOP and some DINOs prove this.
solid @ 48:
Spot on analogy. Comparing to the mafia is EXACTLY what government has become. Sad.
THEFT is the sole object of the criminals in our political system ie siphoning off our taxpayer monies, one way or another.
We have to work for a living and struggle to pay our bills and expenses, they expect to steal and live like hogs at our expense.
A sad state of affairs for a constitutional democracy which is supposed to be founded and run on the rule of fair laws.
A few Congresscritters have a semblance of a backbone we need Nancy and the others to call out the crooks and uphold their oaths and the Constitution.
Uphold your oaths of office or resign.
solid @ 48:
The Republican Party is nothing more than a criminal conspiracy predicated on money and maintaining their stranglehold on the reins of power. RICO needs to be used to break up this conspiracy as it was used to take down the Mafia.
Ok, I just copied and pasted all these comments and processed them in Microsoft Word and printed them and put them, along with the story, in an envelope and put a stamp on it and will place it into the mail. Maybe it will give this guy some hope and something to read. Maybe one or two of you can find another article on another blog and do the same? It would be cool.
Don Siegelman
#24775-0001
Satellite Prison Camp
Post Office Box 5010
Oakdale, LA 71463-5019
What do you think the chances are he will ever get the letter in this third world prison system?
" "Karl Rove asked you to take pictures of Siegelman?" asks Pelley.
"Yes," replies Simpson.
"In a compromising, sexual position with one of his aides," clarifies Pelley.
"Yes, if I could," says Simpson. "
http://www.oliverwillis.com/archives/2008/02/21/how-karl-rove-the-republ...
This is why they look idiotic when they reach for their fainting couches when the media occasionally reports bad news about cons.
A Republican operative in Alabama says Karl Rove asked her to try to prove the state’s Democratic governor was unfaithful to his wife in an effort to thwart the highly successful politician’s re-election.
Rove’s attempt to smear Don Siegelman was part of a Republican campaign to ruin him that finally succeeded in imprisoning him, says the operative, Jill Simpson.
...
Simpson spoke to Pelley because, she says, Siegelman’s seven-year sentence for bribery bothers her. She recalls what Rove, then President Bush’s senior political adviser, asked her to do at a 2001 meeting in this exchange from Sunday’s report.
"Karl Rove asked you to take pictures of Siegelman?" asks Pelley.
"Yes," replies Simpson.
"In a compromising, sexual position with one of his aides," clarifies Pelley.
"Yes, if I could," says Simpson.
I'd love to understand the following: why we allow an illegal or fraudulent election result to be counted as real and the office awarded to a candidate who "wins" fraudulently.
As it stands now, if a campaign does somethig illegal, the FCC can fine them - post-election, and can even charge someone with a crime, as in the NH case where a Republican operative took a dive for his party and is in jail for election fraud, BUT the cadidate who won through these fraudulent means is allowed to keep the office.
WTF?????
The Repugs learned what corporate bean-counters learned long ago: if the profit is great enough to offset the possible economic set-backs, pay the fine and keep breaking the law. That's why health insurance companies risk occassional lawsuits when they deliberately deny coverage, why Big Pharma considers a certain number of deaths "acceptable" for a new drug, why Bush et al consider thousands of dead Americans an acceptable price for the profit center that is Iraq, and why this administration just keeps on breaking the law every day they are in office. Because it's so damn profitable.
Just so with election fraud. So what if they break the law and undermine the Constitution? The profit is worth any potential cost, because they get to keep the prize, no matter how much they cheated to get it.
This isn't new, we've just never seen it taken to the level that the Bush Crime Syndicate has taken it to.
But why are we letting them get away with it?
This is like saying that if someone breaks in your house and gets away with robbing you blind, he'll get 30 days in jail but get to keep what he stole.
There comes a time when you have to admit that if you're still being taken in by the same lies over and over again, you're as much to blame as the liar.
abob @ 9:
And who are you to make these pronunciations? One of the"girls'" little flunky? Guess what dittohead!?! This freakshow in Alabama and it's idiot redneck governor and the equally corrupt "girls" right along with Rove's days are numbered. This gravy train is coming to an end. Soon these corrupt conservatives will have no other place to hide. Their protectors and enablers voted out of office.
Oh... slightly OT but President Obama and Vice President Clinton need to promptly cancel the contract awarded to Airbus for 600 aerial tankers over Boeing. Airbus bribed the US Taxpayers by "giving" us a mere pittance that some of the planes parts will be assembled in Mobile AL. After reading about this corrupt republican government there I say these rednecks do not deserve the bribe. Furthermore this is yet another example of the corrupt conservatives idiot president outsourcing American jobs as fast as he can. Good riddance to this dick-head and his "girl" McCain who *ucked Boeing out of the original deal!
Would someone bring me up to snuff? I think that Congress has had some hearings, or at least one hearing, on the Siegelman case. Has anything come out of it? This is a case which they need to fast track to Mukasey to reopen the investigation, and yes, I know the DOJ has refused to reconsider it before. But Congress needs to keep coming back and coming back to the DOJ on this one so that it picks up steam across the nation and not just on a cable channel or 60 minutes during the Academy Awards. My God, they're pushing a Roger Clemens investigation but being the typical cowards they are on a former Democratic governor.
BTW. ambob is a troll who goes by the name of ammobob on HuffingtonPost if you guys still wish to continue feeding him.
naschkatze@61
thanks for the heads up on the troll.
when she returns,I'll pass it on.
Having trouble believing that a governent and it's media henchmen would go to such lengths to destroy someone as has happened to Gov. Siegelmen?
This would be an interesting time to review the difference between the treatment by the law and the media of the following events: Gary Condit & Chandra Levy, where a popular Democrat was deliberately labeled a murderer by the media for a crime he did not commit - when there wasn't even a body to file charges over, and Joe Scarborough, (now of MSNBC, how cozy is that?) & Lori Klausutis, where an actual suspicious death with an actual dead body found inside a Republican Congressman's office was admittedly covered up by local police, local media, the state Medical Examiner and then Gov. Jeb Bush. All of whom stated that they acted to protect Scarborough from media scrutiny.
Condit was a popular philandering California Democrat who was systematically destroyed by the right-wing noise machine when Levy went missing. Scarborough was a popular philandering Florida Republican, whose potential scandal was so effectively covered up that while almost anyone reading this knows who Chandra Levy was, and probably still thinks Condit killed her, almost nobody reading this will know who Lori Klausutis was.
There's a reason why you've never heard of Lori Klausutis. Her death was so effectively covered up that there is virtually nothing to be found about her, even though she held an office in her state Republican Party, and worked for her local Congressman; Joe Scarborough. Even her college pictures were removed from her university's website. She has been effectively disappeared.
I have no doubt that these are people capable and willing to destroy anything and anyone for even the most petty and venal of their objectives. It is who they are.
God bless the rethuglicans. I feel so much safer knowing that they are out there.
Yikes, if this can happen to a governor, just think what could happen to one of us poor slobs. But I guess, that's how Rover wants us to feel.
Ask the Alabama Justice Department to investigate? Are you kidding? That's like asking the Texas Attorney-General to investigate Roger Clemens for steroid use.
Nobody in power in Alabama is going to investigate anything that the Bush White House doesn't want him to investigate. Period. And Bush doesn't want this. Why do you think Mukasey won't pursue contempt of Congress citations against Bolten and Miers? This isn't a democracy, folks. It isn't even a republic any more.
Just another tank in the Rove/Cheney "Blitzkrieg of Corruption". There is no better way to put the corrupt work of this administration. They are so aggressively corrupt on so many levels as to overwhelm those of us who would stop them. One does not know where to start. Events preceding 911? Lies leading up to the Iraq War? The treasonous outing of Covert CIA agent and counterproliferation expert Valerie Plame Wilson? Voter Fraud in the 2000 and 2004 Federal Elections? No bid contracts in Iraq? 9 billion dollars cash in Missing in Bagdad? Bin Ladens escape from Torra Borra? The falling dollar? The rising deficit? Illegal Wiretapping? Enron? ETC., etc., etc. The list goes on and on and on to the extent that there would have to be 10 Senates and Houses to investigate all that needs to be investigated. It is an onslaught, a blitzkrieg if you will. The sickest thing about it is Bush and Cheney's friends at here and abroad are all getting richer by the minute due to their corruption. Call Bush and the neocons and friends what you will but when all is said and done they will be so fat that it won't matter that the rest of this country has gone to hell. They will move to Dubai and live in luxury.
abob @ 8:
So why was this Republican talking point posted twice?? Repeating it doesn't make it so, just like the Neo-cons' hero Kristol saying we have won Irag. Like Stewart said, " I can understand the need to say that to yourself over and over."
According to the Press-Register, the producers of the CBS television show "60 Minutes" are guilty of sloppy journalism in their clumsy attempt to portray former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman as the victim of a Karl Rove-led conspiracy. Nothing presented by "60 Minutes" changes the basic facts of the case. The former governor was prosecuted by career federal prosecutors who were spurred on by stories in the Press-Register and several other Alabama newspapers which exposed Siegelman's long history of corruption.
Fuck yeah for Dan Abrams.
It is so refreshing to see people using their platforms for just, productive, helpful purposes. I do think he and his show, and in some ways his network, are getting better with time. And all the while other networks like FAUX just look like bigger and bigger piles of the raw sewage that they are.
Good for Dan Fuckin Abrams. He should get together with another of my favorite lawyers, Mike Papantonio. They could go far.
Press Register ~ HAHAHAHHAHHAHHAHA ~ good joke. They won all those Pulitzer Prizes right? OOps, guess not. Abutt, go back to your cheetos and colt45''s.
Call the Alabama Attorney General and raise hell ~ 334-242-7300
Maybe this time we finally get to see Karl Rove frogmarched off to prison.
What a beautiful "up yours" it would be if the people of Alabama re-elected Don Siegelman to the Governorship after all is said and done. Just a big UP YOURS to the scumbags known as Karl Turdblossom Rove and Company. Or perhaps better would be if Karl received an uninterupted visit from Zed and Maynards' twin brothers.
abob @ 69:
Abob, how do you explain the 52 former Attorney Generals calling for an investigation? You cannot label them partisan because they are both Republicans and Democrats. I daresay they have a little more going on upstairs than you do.
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