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Lawrence O'Donnell recounts the pathetic saga of the former New York City Police Commissioner and Bush nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security.

From Bernie Kerik's wikipedia page:

On November 8, 2007, in White Plains, New York, Kerik was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy, tax fraud and making false statements. Prosecutors say Kerik received about $255,000 in renovations to his Riverdale, Bronx, apartment from a company seeking to do business with the city of New York and concealed the income from the Internal Revenue Service. The indictment also charges Kerik made several false statements to the White House (in his background information statement regarding his Department of Homeland Security appointment) and other federal officials. If convicted on all 16 counts in the indictment, Kerik could face a maximum sentence of 142 years in prison and $4.7 million in fines. He was released upon payment of a $500,000 bond.

On October 20, 2009, Kerik's bail was revoked and he was remanded to jail, after he allegedly disclosed information which was under seal.

It's always hard to know where to begin with Tasers. I mean, they're a nightmare for the citizens against whom they're used, the lawsuits will end up costing millions of taxpayer dollars and they inevitably suppress freedom of speech and assembly. Why are they still in such widespread use?

I suppose it didn't hurt that right-wing heroes Rudy Guiliani and Bernie Kerik were so heavily involved in marketing them to police departments around the country. (Did you know the police officers recruited to demonstrate them to their departments receive stock options and/or payments? That explains a lot.)

On Sept. 24, in Brooklyn, N.Y., a 35-year-old man named Iman Morales fell to his death after a 22-minute standoff with New York Police. Morales, who was described as "emotionally disturbed," had climbed onto the fire escape of a building in Bedford-Stuyvesant, naked and waving a metal pole. Unable to talk him down, one officer, under order from his lieutenant, shot Morales with a Taser gun, at which point he fell to the sidewalk, head-first.

He was taken to the hospital, where he was declared dead.

One week later, the officer who gave the order, Lt. Michael W. Pigott, drove to Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field, a former air base used by the NYPD, took a 9mm Glock from a locker room, and shot himself in the head.

It's hard to know which are more ubiquitous at this point: stories of accidental death by Tasers, or stories of police brutality involving bullets. Just this week, in New York, a Bronx man was shot and killed after he allegedly waved a baseball bat at police officers who entered his home. In theory, these sorts of confrontations are the reason such "non-lethal" weapons as Tasers exist. But news reports tell a different tale. In the United States and Canada, more than 400 people have died after being Tasered since 2001.

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Whipping Post  [NY Daily News article no longer online]

Earth to the New York Post: Your "world exclusive" front-page story yesterday that billionaire Marc Rich was a middleman in Saddam Hussein's oil-for-food scandal was first reported by ABC News, and then our newspaper, 12 days ago on Dec. 2.

Then you bury a story on the fall of Bernard Kerik. Were you being "fair and balanced" or were you just emptyhanded - unlike The News' Russ Buettner, who uncovered Kerik's shady dealings with Mob-related contractors, unreported cash gifts, stock-option windfalls and extramarital affairs?

Next you'll be reporting the major scoop that there'll be a partridge in the pear tree for Christmas. Try to print it by Dec. 25th.

MSNBC pulled the plug of the "Imus in the Morning" show today, when Bo Dietl appeared as his guest and started to discuss his longtime friend Bernard Kerik. As they talked about Mr. Kerik, Dietl went into a long tirade about his several pairs of $46,000 dollar shoes. Abruptly MSNBC cut away from Imus and went to their MSNBC studios for the final thirty minutes or so of the show.

Was MSNBC trying to silence Dietl? He was recently hired by FOX and arrogantly went after Andrea Mackris, the ex-FOX employee that sued Bill O'Reilly for sexual harrasement. Bo had appeared on many TV shows and openly threatened her.

I was just informed that MSNBC cut away for the Golden globe nominations. Okay... we stand corrected. 

Spike Lee said." It's the shoes!"

According to the NY Post and John PODHORETZ  No.  "The Kerik fiasco isn't even a bump on the road."

I heard that Rudy used a lot of his "capital" by urging the President to nominate Kerik.

The Post is in damage control mode . Expect a lot more from the  Reublican noise machine as this story unfolds to protect one of their golden boys.

Also the NY Post thinks: KERIK'S WITHDRAWAL  "he's a patriot for doing the right thing when it truely matters."

Is making the Preident look like a fool the patriot thing to do?

From Talkleft:

Bernie Kerik Withdraws From Consideration as HSA Chief

Bernie Kerik withdraws his name from consideration as Homeland Security Chief--word is it has something to do with his position as a director of the stun gun Taser company--from which he has made $6.2 million. He says it's for "personal reasons."

Kerik said the problematic issue arose as he was completing documents required for Senate confirmation. "I uncovered information that now leads me to question the immigration status of a person who had been in my employ as a housekeeper and nanny. It has also been brought to my attention that for a period of time during such employment required tax payments and related filings had not been made."

Kerik said he feared that the disclosure of the issue would generate intense scrutiny that would "only serve as a significant and unnecessary distraction to the vital efforts of the Department of Homeland Security."