Countdown's Bushed! - Justice Department's Do As I Say, Not As I Do Edition
By Nicole Belle Thursday Jul 03, 2008 9:00pm
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Download | play (h/t Heather)
From Wednesday's Countdown, with guest host Rachel Maddow (MSNBC, for pity's sake, give this woman a show already!), we give you the latest in the never-ending list of scandals that is the Bush administration:
First up, the truth that proves the lie that the private sector handles government functions more efficiently than the government could. Turns out, not so much...in fact there is currently a backlog of more than 900 cases languishing alleging federal contractors defrauding the federal government because the Justice Department could not keep pace with the number of whistleblowers coming forward.
"Even if no new cases are filed, it might take 10 years for the Department of Justice to clear its desk. Cases in the backlog represent a lot of money being left on the table," said Patrick Burns, a spokesman for Taxpayers Against Fraud, which advocates for Justice to receive more funding to support cases by whistle-blowers and their attorneys.
Supporters of federal intervention in the cases say the dividends are substantial: In recent years, verdicts and settlements have returned nearly $13 billion to the U.S. government.
And that's just for the 100 or so cases on average per year that Justice has been able to litigate. Forget Iraqi oil, seems like if the DoJ could actually keep pace with all the fraud, we could finance the Iraqi War with the proceeds, or at least put a significant chunk of the national debt away.
Next up is the disturbing variation of IOKIYAR where it turns out that military trainers arrived in Guantanamo for interrogation training with a class based entirely on a Chinese treatise on how to elicit propaganda fodder through torture of US troops during the Korean conflict. Maddow:
That chart was taken from an article called, “Communist Attempts To Elicit False Confessions From Air Force Prisoners of War.” This was a study of how the Chinese tortured propaganda fodder out of Americans in the Korean War. Prolonged standing, exposure to cold, all that ‘enhanced interrogation’ stuff? We called it torture when the Chinese did it to our guys in Korea. And we know it produces false confessions. So why are we using these techniques?
I hope that the administration remembers this before they work themselves up into any lather over mistreatment of our soldiers in the Middle East...we can hardly hold them to higher standards than we hold for ourselves. And finally, and most poetically, it turns out that the politicization and careful hiring practices of the DoJ, as described by Gonzales' protege Monica Goodling and Bradley Schlozman, has put the DoJ in a bit of a bind, because you see...it was illegal. And now who is left to represent the DoJ but those idiots who passed their ideology and partisan thresholds. Oops.
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I want rachel maddow.
First?
yeah the chinese know how to get your ass bent over the barrel!
I think this clip was from Wednesday night. MSNBC closed up shop and ran "Cops"-like reruns last night so the gang to follow KO out of town (he left after Tuesday night's show, much to the delight of all of us Maddow fans).
watercarrier4diogenes @ 3:
"so the gang COULD follow" sheesh
alexandrite @ 1:
Not if I have anything to say about it (unfortunately, though, I don't **sigh**).
Rachel is a wonderful news person! It's about time. Looked like they were dying off as a breed there, until Kieth stepped up and now Rachel, too.
Now, to be serious...rachel is an intelligent, articulate pundit. And MSNBC is tolerable only because of her and Keith Olbermann.
Scarborough, Matthews, and Tucker are lame. Buchanan is getting old and tired. While his books are fairly good, he can't debate very well any more.
There is no justice. Our country, namely, this administration more than most, bombs, plunders, rapes, pillages, destroys, steals, lies through propaganda, and just takes the natural resources from other countries so we all can maintain our way of life. We make up 5% of the world's population and use 25% of the natural resources.
People in other countries are denied the weapons to stop us or to threaten us. We do not negotiate because it would mean giving up to achieve equality for all.
Our corporations use human misery and slavery to produce goods and they buy our senators and representatives so that they, not we, will be represented.
Our media is owned, by and large, by 5 corporations who are hell bent for leather to eradicate the internet and free speach.
Our military, which is suposed to protect us, is being supplanted by roving fascist mercenaries who will kill and torture for money.
Our schools do not teach civics. They do not create minds able to question authority or to think critically.
Our food is poison. From dyes and additives to fat and high fructose corn syrup to frankenfood that has not been tested to protect ourselves or our environment.
And our environment is in crisis.
We have lost habeus corpus, the right to privacy, and god knows what else on the whim of a madman and his Iago.
There is no justice.
Of course we can hold them to higher standards. Remember, it's not torture if we do it.
What a great press secretary she would be.
This is a classic.
Chinese torture manual indeed.
the doj, under bush/cheney, is just like a dog
chasing it's tail while standing on the edge of
a cliff.............oops
We have lost our Justice System thanks to the Bush appointed Attorney Generals. Musk Rat is in office to stall the cases until Bush leaves office. Ashcroft was not qualified and Gonzales was appointed in title only as Rove and Cheney ran the DOJ office. A new department will have to be set up to clean up the corruption by the DOJ in the 8 years Bush held office. We have some great lawyers who are honest but can't work for this corrupt Administration. Gonzales spoke of the billions of dollars he got from the Congress for the youth program but never spent a dime on it. Musk Rat is hiding as there are to many liars coming out and he must save Karl Rove like Gonzales did when Rove was indicted by the Grand Jury.
The actions of torture the Bush Administration has put in policy will soon come back to bit the US in the butt. Notice how Russia isn't saying a word now that's scary.
they hired attorney's from tier 3 law schools...wow
Maddow has it all wrong. This in fact proves the point that the private sector can handle government functions more efficiently than the government. "Even if no new cases are filed, it might take 10 years for the Department of Justice to clear its desk." Sounds like just more bureaucracy. Seems to me that the solution is to privatize the Department of Justice. Maybe move it off-shore to the Bahamas with a call center in Bangalore.
We need more people like Rachel. She's smart, savvy, knowledgeable, and she scares the pants off the little sissy-boys at MSNBC. Good for her.
btw, Nicole, every day you work so hard and put up with so much crap ... all I can say is ... You Rock, girl !
Nicole: :) Thanks, darlin'. Right back at ya.
"Rachel Maddow"
"A Glimmer of Hope for America ?"
Rachel - " Do not give up".
But we do. We do it all the time. Of all the perversions of the past eight years, thats the most glaring. We hold other countries to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. And yet we consider ourselves the greatest country in the world. And we announce this to the world every day, with a straight face, and we think they don't notice.
On a micro, or domestic, level, same thing: The Bush regime thinks that being a public "servant" means that you have MORE privileges and rights than other citizens, not fewer. They can spy on us, but they don't have to tell us what they're doing.
Watching segments like these stirs my yearnings for a massive migration project. Everyone who thinks that we need to live under the brave, new authoritarian world of Bushism in order to survive can have half the states. Those of us who remain partial to liberty, equality and rationality under a Constitutional system of government can have the other half. We'll all move to the proper land, and in a few years, we'll be able to see which half is really the better place to live.
Propaganda through Chinese torture techniques, anyone else think of "The Manchurian Candidate"?
Yet, through it all, instead of impeachment, the Democrats in Congress are calling for acts of war against Iran. Do any of these people realize that the Iraqi government is basically allied with Iran? Also, our supply lines in Iraq are very long and very vulnerable, and they start in the Shia controlled port of Basra. All this mayhem because Iran wants to sell its oil for Euros.
The revelation that the White House modelled their "enhanced interrogation techniques" on Chinese torture methods proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the White House authorized torture, KNEW it authorized torture, and knew false confessions would result.
Jay Bookman puts these revelations into perspective.
Administration’s Cynicism on Torture Breathtaking
.. more at link ..
I've always enjoyed Rachel Maddow on Air America, and thought that she should have her own cable news program. I suspect that a show for her is being brewed on MSNBC as we speak.
Isn't it inappropriate and TMI for the USDOJ to get to know lawyers and court justice's political views upon hiring or rejecting them? Justice normally implies impartiality, not a monopolized (neo)-conservative ideology!
I've reached the saturation point with this administration. Start the impeachment proceedings now. Keep the idiots busy so they can't start a war in Iran.
Jo @ 8:
and so it goes, doesnt it ? we have been sold out , sold a bill of goods not worth the takeing, garbage , and they shove that garbage down our throuts, and collaboratiors go along with all of it, now a half a loafs better then none !the glass is half full, politicians have to play the game , even the war to end all wars had thier sellouts , vichy quislings ,
I have a hunch that Rachel Maddow will be given a show when the 08 race is done, and Race for the White House is over with. I think MSNBC sees the talent they have here. She's still a little weak on some aspects of hosting but they're giving her a chance to warm up before giving her a daily hour.
I think I'm in love with Rachel Maddow. She is beyond beautiful.
Rachel's a pro.
She's been picking up on the Olbermann's mannerisms, apparently. Kinda funny. (: Maybe she could replace Tucker Carlson or some of those idiots MSNBC has. Not Chris Matthews, actually; he may be a sexist pig, but he's certainly no Sean Hannity.
I watch Rachel Maddow and then think about all the people who have the top spots on tv news and opinion. Not one of them can hold a candle to her. She's the best.
More talent and an open mind , go woman , hope we are around to see you in 50 years .
Why don't we just cut out the middle man, let those GOOD lawyers sue those 900 deadbeat no-bid contractors on behalf of the Justice Department, and if they win the suits they can keep the money instead of suing the government for it.
That way we'd at least break even! The alternative is to let those dumbass Republican hack lawyers in the Justice Department true to get our money back from the contractors and fail, and try and defend us from the good lawyers and fail there as well. We lose double the money by keeping them on.
Yeah! RIGHT! They can't figure out how to stop Billions of dollars from being stolen by Blackwater, KBR, Halliburton, et al, but it only takes them 2 seconds to figure out if a disabled person still owes money on a student loan so they can make sure they keep your stimulus check or garnish your social security check. They can't garnish a social security check if you make less than $700 a month for back taxes, but they can take 1/3 of it for a student loan, even if it leaves you in the street. NICE! I'd like to throw ALL OF THEM into the streets.
Is it just me, or is the incredible Rachel Maddow INSANELY beautiful? She's like a cross between the unstoppable Katherine Hepburn and the gorgeous Angelina Jolie! How wonderful it is to have such a smart, insightful, WITTY, well prepared, well spoken, and photogenic chick smacking down insanity wherever it comes from. Keep it up, Rachel! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!
(here that, MSNBC?)
Yeah, I just have to add my voice to the chorus of praise for Rachel Maddow. I'd love to see her get her own show, except for the fact that it would mean that 'Countdown' would lose an absolutely superlative substitute host. I used to be just about crestfallen when I'd see that Keith was not hosting on a particular night. It's still not the same, but hearing Rachel's voice in the intro bucks me up a bit. Like Keith she has this way of striking such a great balance on the show between the serious and the goofy. Understanding when to be witty and when to be outraged...and when to combine the two, is such a valuable talent. 'Countdown' is lucky to have her.
Makes me recall the days when that lightweight Brian Unger was subbing the show. Oof.
Marc Krizack @ 15:
Don't forget to register the company in the Caymans, so you don't have to pay any taxes or pesky Workman's Comp!
Brightest light on the airwaves and on television.
Privatizing state functions has been a very successful endeavor for conservatism. It has crippled government efficiency, dispirited the civil service and increased corruption by unaccountably diverting public money to private enterprises that financially support conservative politics. Ironically, the most promising career paths left for those seeking federal employment are entry level positions with Homeland Security that haven't been outsourced yet.
Actually, I like it more when she fills in for David Gregory. I think she does a much better job than he does. Why they gave Gregory his own show is beyond me, though I do like the format.
Go Rachel.
moniker @ 10:
NO, NO, NO!!! Rachel is too smart to be a press secretary and she's not a brainless, blonde bimbo which seems to be the only requirement for the job.
Bwaahaahaahaa
For the love of god GIVE THIS WOMAN A SHOW MSNBC!
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