Is the Bush administration protecting <i>corrupt</i> Justice Department contractors?
By John Amato Tuesday Apr 29, 2008 11:01amOK, yea I know. Another BushCo. corruption case coming out of the DOJ. What's new, right? Well, everything. Bush keeps telling us that his presidency can't be measured correctly until years and years have passed us by.
Bush says an accurate analysis of his legacy, and the war’s role in it, is impossible now. He suggests it might take decades. “There’s no such thing as an accurate history of an administration until time has lapsed — unless you’re doing little-bitty things,” he says.
Sorry Charlie, I believe after more time has elapsed I think we'll uncover more and more cases like this new story that Murray Waas has broken on ABC.com:
The Department of Justice has secretly agreed to settle conflict of interest allegations against the executive director of a group that has received $97 million in federal grants to improve the nation's family courts, according to people familiar with the matter.
Mary Mentaberry, of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), failed to disclose that her husband had received $94,000 in real estate commission for helping the organization secure new office space. Mentaberry agreed to pay $16,500 in the settlement, which has not been previously been made public, to the consternation of some Justice Department officials.
"You would expect a nationwide association of judges to follow the rules," said one official, who called the matter an embarrassment not only to the group but also to the Department of Justice, which has given so many millions of dollars to the group.
Earlier this month, the same group paid $300,000 to settle claims that it overcharged the Justice Department.
In the case involving her husband's real estate commission, the Justice Department's inspector general said Mentaberry had an obligation to inform officials of the potential conflict of interest because of the group's heavy reliance on federal money.
I don't think it's a stretch to say that an association of Judges should actually know and understand the laws. Am I right? And then the story begs a question: Why did the government do the settlement in complete secrecy? The only hint the story gives is this:
The separate agreements by both the council and its executive director come at a time when several members of Congress have questioned whether the Bush administration appointees in the Justice Department have sidestepped federal regulations in awarding grants on the basis of political favoritism and not merit. The Department official said that he believed that there might have been an effort to keep the agreement with Mentaberry confidential so as to not attract additional attention from Congress regarding the awarding of Department grants.
So fraking judges and the executive director get off the hook because to disclose what she did-or for DOJ to disclose it-would raise cause DOJ to look more closely at DOJ's contracting practices? Yea, that sounds about right to me. Keep quiet and don't rattle the cage anymore. It will all go away Dorthothy. I'm sorry, but the hubris with which they operate is nauseating and should be investigated to the fullest. You know there's more big news coming on the heels of this .
And it's not the first time we've seen this before. remember the sweetheart contracts that former Attorney General John Ashcroft got from DOJ after he stepped down after President Bush's first term? But he's beyond reproach isn't he? Being a man of GOD---he anointed himself in Crisco oil a few times so he would never do something like that, would he?
And----if you've done something wrong---as a JUDGE no less---you get off the hook from the DOJ because they don't want Congress to know about your creepy, money grubbing deals that got you the contract in the first place. Stay tuned because I'm sure there's dirt on its way real soon....
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I wish the President would leave his "little bitty things" outta dis.
Between half assed comments coming faster and faster, and mindless "stream of unconsciousness" press conferences like the one the other day, it's becoming clear that the Chimp is rapidly becoming unhinged.
I expect the bombs to begin falling on Iran very soon.
leave me alone I have done nothing but make this country safer from Crawford sage brush. FTW
Judge (I assume) Mary Mentaberry, failed to disclose that her husband had received $94,000 in real estate commission, and then agreed to pay $16,500 in a top secret settlement with the DOJ!!!!
Real simple math question, under this Administration, does $16,500 now equal $94,000?????
I know that math was fuzzy, but this is downright crooked math.
This says alot:
SEN DORGAN explains the latest..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uba37udqF9A
For generations now, the Bush family and associates has been involved in robbing our country blind.
Then you have to ask: Hey its 2008...
Why are they not banned from public office.
I would say I am shocked! But, I am completely out of shocked with this cast of cast of crooks.
History will say that in this era we were in the advanced stages of decline as a society.
Breathing a little fire today, huh John? Frakin' A!
So fraking judges and the executive director get off the hook because to disclose what she did-or for DOJ to disclose it-would raise cause DOJ to look more closely at DOJ’s contracting practices? Yea, that sounds about right to me. Keep quiet and don’t rattle the cage anymore. It will all go away Dorthothy. I’m sorry, but the hubris with which they operate is nauseating and should be investigated to the fullest.
The Bushies don't answer to Congress, they cooked the DOJ and in response to this report Cheney says, "So!"
Christ! It never ends! The way the right-wing hounded Bill Clinton over Monica, and Georgie has his hand in everything criminal! What the Hell is going on. Is there any politician who isn't corrupt?
I just wish SOMEBODY would suffer the consequences, which includes not only pay-backs of overspending, but being put on the blacklist for government contracts for the next five years. More fraudulent scams between the administration and its buddies than can be counted have been pulled using taxpayer money. Goddammit! I Want somebody to go to jail!
Yes
“You would expect a nationwide association of judges to follow the rules,” said one official
You'd expect the President and the Vice President to follow the rules as well, but we've seen how that goes.
When will the nightmare end? If McSenile get's elected, it will be 4 more years of this.
No!!!! Bush Co protect their Buds? I mean the adults are in charge man!!! Bringing integrity back to the White House was first on Bushes agenda back in 01!!!
I can't believe Bush Senior isn't hanging his head with shame. What this son of his has foisted upon the citizens in this country is unbareable. I feel hopeless.
Then of course we always have the patented Bush Bot philosophy, defense, apology.
"Thanks to all you left wing liberals, left wing politicians, democrats and environmentalists for $118.00 per barrel oil and $3.65 per gallon gasoline at the pump. You have all have won! No drilling in Alaska, or off the coasts of California, Florida, Georgia or Alabama. No oil drilling on any of the lands that have been "locked up" under the pretext of environmentally off limits by the Clinton administration. Thanks for no new nuclear power plants in the last 30 years. Thanks for not approving and blocking a nuclear storage facility for spent nuclear fuels, past and future. Thanks for all of the laws that won't allow new gasoline refining plants in the US for the past 30 years. Thanks for passing all of the laws that restrict any new coal fired power plants to be constructed to generate electricity. And, coal mining laws that restrict productivity and drive up the production cost of coal. Thanks for forcing us all to depend on foreign oil to run our economy. Thanks for putting a heavy economic burden on the working middle class for the fuel they need to heat their homes, feed their families and get to and from work every day. Thanks for putting such an economic energy burden on many American businesses that they have had to seek opportunities on foreign soil in order to compete and stay in business. Thanks for blocking any kind of congressional legislation that might have lead to the passage of a comprehensive energy bill for the past 7 (seven) years. You liberal politicians are really special! Thank you very much. Well, you all have won and we all hope that you are proud of yourselves. See you all in November after the election. You all want change? It’s coming….."
When you control the tv,you control the stupid,when you control the stupid, you control the world! I think I saw on tv that hilter said that....CEO
CEO,citizens,eyes,open @ 17:
This is your brain on TV. (The end result anyway)
http://tinyurl.com/5bm5u7
Is the Bush dictatorship enabling corruption? You have to ask? Please explain in some future posting, one where you illustrate yet another example of the way things are, a) what you would like your readers to do to correct the situation, and b) what C&L is doing to correct the situation. It's been an abundant eight years for people opposed to Republicans to comment on the injustice, the unfairness, the immorality existing during their rule. For all the words, for all the emotion, what if anything is happening to change any of this?
Maybe we should go the way of Rome. The American citizens are no longer represented by anyone in this government. How long can we put up with this? They are literally destroying the foundation of this country.
Patty D. @ 20:
Go the way of Rome? We're seven years into it already.
L.A. Confidential @ 18:
Buy Now Pay Later!!!!! No money down no interest for one year! Easy Credit!!!
this country doesn't even BEGIN to heal until someone in authority ACKNOWLEDGES the crimes that have been committed by this admin.
i think we're going to be in a big hurt for a long, long time.
Somewhere, Ernst Janning is shaking his head sadly from beyond the grave.
Haulin' Oates @ 23:
The neocons last ace-prize for now is an Iran attack and they are hoping that Americans will turn their rage on Iran and not them.
Good luck on that.
Well I was happy when the Democrats picked up millions of new voters, but the Neo-cons will probably steal this election too.
Patty D. @ 20:
I hope you don't mean that we should also have the same end result, meaning the f'kers voted that criminal Berlusconi back in. Good grief.
Judges following the rule of law and exhibiting ethical behaviour?
What mythical wonderland do you live in that you would expect such a thing.
I learned a long time ago that the state of the judiciary in this country is an appalling mass of incompetent ladder climbing cronies. As one judge commented to me years ago, "We're brothers and sisters of the Bar" - meaning we cover all ills for our brethren. And that includes contractors, contributors, political allies, golf partners, and college chums.
Lawyers, Judges, and the Bar associations they are part and parcel of oversee their own actions. Judges are bought off and appointed as favors to political powers. There is NO accountability. Where do you complain when confronted with a corrupt system when there IS NOWHERE to lodge a complaint, and no one to enforce compliance? The specious argument is that higher courts exist to mediate such concerns. That mechanism is absolutely and completely faulty when considering the funds required (at $200-500 an hour, overbilled) - the up front costs to make it to your State's Supreme Court can be hundreds of thousands of dollars. Pro se litigants are summarily dissmissed - you are essentially required to pay the same "self-policing" pettifoggers you are attempting to attach. There are no bounds to what they may do and who they may do it to - unless the potential victim possesses huge sums of money with which to do battle. Any attorney so foolish (or not high-profile enough to attract media attention) as to attempt to take on this corrupt system has tossed his career by the wayside.
In GA and several other southern states, "religious groups" are amassing fortunes and fielding or supporting candidates who represent their particular views and their particular special interests.
People, your courts and political systems are corrupt lairs of filthy, self-serving hyenas who will destroy anyone, anytime it pleases them. There is no justice and there is no remedy for those who become victims of the pay to play, stacked deck of legal treachery known as your judicial system. Avoid it at all costs.
Welcome to the most sophisticated Banana Republic in the world.
CORRUPTION, CORRUPTION, CORRUPTION!
Liberal AND Proud @ 2:
Did you see him pound his fist into the podium? Hitler used to do the same thing when he would speak.
to La confidential@18 Thats kind of sad but I don't feel to badly for someone who buys stuff just to buy stuff. Tv may prove to be the biggest WMD in history. What other weapon can take control of a country without a shot being fired or blood being spilled? And more so, what weapon can take control and have it go unnoticed for the most part?
We need to gain control of this deadly weapon before it burns our country to the ground. Untill we do nothing will change! They are using this weapon against us every single day.
fixed it!
Dr. Know @ 28:
zactly!
I suppose the point of that last rambling missive is that this is not new, and has been going on since the dawn of civilization. The current adminstration has simply honed it to a fine point - and there's not a damned thing you can do except beat your gums together. Look, a shiny thing....
fiver @ 7:
Frak that. Speak 'Merican. This ain't BSG.
Is the Bush administration protecting corrupt Justice Department contractors?
That's a rhetorical question, right John?
to La confidential@18 Yea thats sad, but I don't believe in buying stuff just to buy stuff. Tv may be the worst WMD in history. What other weapon can take control of a country without firing a shot? And more so what weapon can take control and go unnoticed for the most part? We must take control of this weapon or nothing will change, they use it against us each and every day! It's to bad because tv can be a most powerful learning tool. The real sin of man-- science breakthrough= new weapons
Dr. Know @ 28:
Lawyers are worthless. All they do is send your paperwork to a legal secretary or paralegal to have it filled out then they show up in court and tell the judge the exact same things that the judge would ask you anyways. If you ever need something done; I would strongly recommend finding a legal secretary to fill out your paperwork and file it yourself.
So that is what's meant by the term 'Activist Judges'. Was wondering.
Damn ,double post sorry---new fanggled inventions
You know, the Nixon, Reagan and Harding administrations just look better and better.
He's actually stating the truth. It will take years and years to dig up and bring to light all the BS he's done.
L.A. Confidential @ 21:
Rome didn't fall until after it became a Christian Empire. We're not quite there... yet.
38 I like Pie Says:
What you say is true for your average real estate transaction and even minor misdemeanours, but unfortunately not applicable to actions which involve high profile litigants - whether they be contractors, clergy, major contributors, politicians, or basically anyone who has more money or clout than you.
The traffic laws and portions of the criminal system, especially the "war on drugs" are predominately a cash mill.
And by the way, Pie, what you suggest is illegal in many states. You may appear pro se, but no one may help you who is not a member of the Bar.
It's a scam, of course.
I worked at a 13-screen multiplex years ago as an usher. Now ushers had no "station" where they were supposed to be. Typically we were just told to gather at whatever theater was breaking and help out, and then tear tickets. Sometimes we had particular buildings we were in, but mostly we were warm bodies to haul trash and get people in and out.
Bill was one of my co-workers. Bill never did jack shit. He had one technique of assuring that he never had to do jack shit, which was to carry a lightbulb in his pocket. At a 13-screen multiplex theater, which was roughly the size of a suburban high school, you could always be on your way across the complex to change one of the ten thousand light bulbs that were ALWAYS burning out. So Bill was always just going to change a light bulb.
Bush reminds me of him. He's always just about to get something accomplished, but in reality he's a useless fuckoff who should have been fired seven years ago.
The difference is, even Bill was working for a living. Bush has NEVER worked for his living, so isn't even smart enough to come up with an effective lie to keep his job. He's instead the beneficiary of a cowed and spineless political and media elite who are unable or unwilling to call him out on his catastrophic dereliction of duty and active buggering of his organization. I can't decide which is sadder: Bush's rank incompetence and complete blithering idiocy; or the fact that our system has been so rigged as to permit someone like him to stay where he is for so long.
Great analogy, Mr. Toad.
Amazing isn't it? It's no wonder that many people, like myself, no longer have any faith or support for what used to be the United States. In eight years (seems more like twenty) Bush$Co have managed to utterly destroy any credibility, trust or respect America ever had. Not only internationally, but also domestically. As it stands now every level of our Government is infested with criminals and thugs. In those eight years NOTHING has been done to clean it up. NOTHING has been done to hold these criminals accountable. That is truly the terrifying part. If Bush is allowed to get away with so much destruction, I shudder to think what the next King (or Queen) will be allowed to get away with. It's Code Blue....and Uncle Sam is the one laying on the table.
Mr. Bush's view of historical analysis is nothing more than a typically convoluted version of "The ends justify the means."
Patty D. @ 9:
Sorry to have to tell you but it won't end until we throw them ALL out of office, including the judges and police agency crooks.
It will take a social upheaval. You know, people won't do it until there is nothing left to loose. Maybe the coming Depression will convince us to act? All you have to do is QUIT. Just do it. Don't go to work. Don't turn on the electricity (except for the net), don't shop, don't drive, don't travel. Just quit. Tell the slobs in power we quit until they leave our Capitol. Get the hell out of here NOW should be the message. Take their crooked elections and stuff them. Just quit. Like Ghandi taught. Like MLK taught.
At least I am not calling for insurrection like Rush Limbaugh did. He calls for a riot and stays on the air! What does that say to the rest of us who are afraid to talk about what to do? You KNOW what they would do to US.
So, as the Christian fanatics say, "We're a Christman Nation" Where? How? Our goernment, our judges,
The day will come when the people of the USA will ask, how did it happen? Just like the people of Germany and the world did after Hitler's rein. I'm sure there is very little difference between the two.
To cocntinue my remarks, since my message was posted before I finished, Can we possibly consider us a Christian Nation, though that is not correct, anywway, the behavior of our government, no matter at what level is hardly what anyone would consider decent or honest, let alone Christian. Perhaps it's too much to expect that honesty or decency will ever make it to the White House or the DOJ. But, we, the people of this country are getting very sick and tired of scandals, or greed, of manipulating the news, the actions of whoever has a position of influence. Our young people are being killed, a country is being destroyed, simply because it has oil. Where are our real people?
Patty D. @ 15:
Instead of being ashamed of his son, Bush Sr. has regarded the American presidency as a finishing school for his bumbling idiot of a son.
Give Me Convenience @ 19 asks what C&L is doing to correct the situation. Well, for one thing, it gives us all a forum to ask questions, give opinions and get our frustrations out. Our governments don't seem to care what we think. C&L and other similar sites provide us with a way to communicate, commiserate, and in some instances make change. The Don Siegelman case is a good example.
I am relatively new to posting comments. I felt as a Canadian I didn't have the right to criticize Americans and their leaders. We're all in this mess together now, however, and I want my voice heard too. We might not be able to make big changes but it sure as hell feels good to express my feelings with other like-minded people (as well as those that might disagree with me).
C&L provides an indispensible service. It makes me think, at times it makes me angry, but it also frequently makes me laugh out loud with the comments of your witty and intelligent regulars. Thank you all (especially John Amato). You have saved my sanity. Peace.
Is the Bush administration protecting corrupt Justice Department contractors?
Uh?
Does the pope wear funny hats?
Does Dolly Parton sleep on her back?
'nough said...
"Is the Bush administration protecting corrupt Justice Department contractors?"
Is this a trick question?
Is the Bush administration protecting corrupt Justice Department contractors?
Does Rose Kennedy own a black dress?
Where is Bunnatine Greenhouse? Really, does anybody know? She was the Pentagon contract reviewer who questioned--and refused to sign off on--a Halliburton "emergency" single-vendor bid contract, among others. (An emergency contract with a duration of 4 years!) Last I heard she was being punished and had lost her job in that office.
Flori-DUH @ 4:
No Mentaberry is neither judge nor lawyer.
Jane Doe @ 60:
No she's now judge or lawyer. She has had her fingers in the pot for a long time. She may not have been officially sitting in the Directors chair but she was backstabbing her predecessors to get there. She was fully aware of what she was doing and not doing with the federal monies she was receiving.
I've always wondered how a non profit director could walk around with Prada bags, expensive cars, expensive vacations, expensive weddings for children and live in a million dollar home. Shame on you Mary Mentaberry you dishonor the good work that those hardworking, probably underpaid staff and associates do on a daily basis.
Whew, when did Republicans become a bunch of welfare kings and queens, looking for handouts from the federal government, often involving utterly corrupt conflicts of interest, with even so-called "rule of law" Republican judges bending the law to suit their welfare king or queen mentality???
Do Republicans have any morals left at all...especially after almost eight years of the most amoral and immoral Republican administration in American history??? I guess not. Every day another story emerges of corrupt Republicans out-corrupting the previous corrupt Republican story.
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