This may come as a shock, but a prominent anti-homosexual Republican attorney general has apparently been caught having homosexual sex intercourse with his homosexual gay male assistant. Bonus: The dude’s wife caught him, in their bed. This is the rumor that the AG’s office has officially denied, so now of course everybody is spilling the sordid details.
AG in question is Troy King, who, of course, is only interested in outlawing homosexuality and sex toys. His gay lover is either a college “buddy,” or a very young youngster and “Homecoming King” from Troy University. What are the odds of a dude named Troy King getting caught in bed with a Homecoming King from Troy University? This seems like a wacky sitcom plot, on a gay porn channel. (Is this what that Will & Grace was about?)
WASHINGTON, DC—In another high-profile inning, Republican leaders praised homosexual Rep. Tom Priegle (R-AL) as “a dedicated husband and father who’s fighting for old-fashioned values.” “Rep. Priegle, your deep commitment to the family and the homespun values that made America great are what this party is all about,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said of the now secretly gay Priegle. “You are to be commended for your dedication to God and country.” Priegle is the fifth member of Congress to be inned by the GOP since 1996.
The WSJ reported that “Honda Motor Co. plans to meet growing U.S. demand for small cars while maintaining North American jobs by moving production of two bigger models from Canada to Alabama,” according to Thursday’s comments by Chief Executive Takeo Fukui. “Honda’s Pilot sport-utility vehicle and Ridgeline pickup, now rolling off its plant in Ontario, Canada, will be produced in Alabama, allowing the Canadian plant to increase production of the Civic sedan.”
B’Man: How does it feel to be considered a low-wage country?
B’Man: I have said this on numerous occasions: it will be the armed forces that stop our imperialization efforts. It will be from within that finally stops these attempts at world domination. You have heard from many retired officers (who were NOT paid by the government to mislead you like may were) that have come out verbally against the illegal occupation.
You have heard from groups like IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War) and the “winter soldiers” (service members from that group who tell their harrowing stories) who have been verbal since their tours and service was over.
In this case, we have a guy who is being called “stop-loss” back into an area he knows (and the majority of Americans know) to be illegal and wrought with war crimes that he doesn’t care to be a part of (nor would any other decent human being). If he knows this “war” to be bogus and wrong, he would be un-American to go… knowing what was being done by a few maniacs in high places in his name was so horrible.
Matthis Chiroux is the kind of young American U.S. military recruiters love.
“I was from a poor, white family from the south, and I did badly in school,” the now 24-year-old said.
“I was ‘filet mignon’ for recruiters. They started phoning me when I was in 10th grade,” or around 16 years old, he added.
Chiroux joined the U.S. army straight out of high school nearly six years ago, and worked his way up from private to sergeant.
He served in Afghanistan, Germany, Japan, and the Philippines and was due to be deployed next month in Iraq.
On Thursday, he refused to go, saying he considers Iraq an illegal war.
“I stand before you today with the strength and clarity and resolve to declare to the military, my government and the world that this soldier will not be deploying to Iraq,” Chiroux said in the sun-filled rotunda of a congressional building in Washington.
“My decision is based on my desire to no longer continue violating my core values to support an illegal and unconstitutional occupation… I refuse to participate in the Iraq occupation,” he said, as a dozen veterans of the five-year-old Iraq war looked on.
Minutes earlier, Chiroux had cried openly as he listened to former comrades-in-arms testify before members of Congress about the failings of the Iraq war.
The testimonies were the first before Congress by Iraq veterans who have turned against the five-year-old war.
Former army sergeant Kristofer Goldsmith told a half-dozen US lawmakers and scores of people who packed into a small hearing room of “lawless murders, looting and the abuse of countless Iraqis.”
He spoke of the psychologically fragile men and women who return from Iraq, to find little help or treatment offered from official circles.
Goldsmith said he had “self-medicated” for several months to treat the wounds of the war.
Another soldier said he had to boost his dosage of medication to treat anxiety and social agoraphobia — two of many lingering mental wounds he carries since his deployments in Iraq — before testifying.
Some 300,000 of the 1.6 million US soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from the psychological traumas of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or both, an independent study showed last month.
A group of veterans sitting in the hearing room gazed blankly as their comrades’ testimonies shattered the official version that the US effort in Iraq is succeeding.
Almost to a man, the soldiers who testified denounced serious flaws in the chain of command in Iraq.
Luis Montalvan, a former army captain, accused high-ranking U.S. officers of numerous failures in Iraq, including turning a blind eye to massive fraud on the part of U.S. contractors.
Ex-Marine Jason Lemieux told how a senior officer had altered a report he had written because it slammed U.S. troops of using excessive force, firing off thousands of rounds of machine gun fire and hundreds of grenades in the face of a feeble four rounds of enemy fire.
Goldsmith accused U.S. officials of censorship.
“Everyone who manages a blog, Facebook or MySpace out of Iraq has to register every video, picture, document of any event they do on mission,” Goldsmith said after the hearing.
“You’re almost always denied before you are allowed to send them home.”
Officials take “hard facts and slice them into small pieces to make them presentable to the secretary of state or the president — and all with the intent of furthering the occupation of Iraq,” Goldsmith added.
Chiroux is one of thousands of U.S. soldiers who have deserted since the Iraq war began in 2003, according to figures issued last year by the US army.
But while many seek refuge in Canada, the young soldier vowed to stay in the United States to fight “whatever charges the army levels at me.”
The US army defines a deserter as someone who has been absent without leave for 30 days.
Chiroux stood fast in his resolve to not report for duty on June 15.
“I cannot deploy to Iraq, carry a weapon and not be part of the problem,” he said.
Watch video footage of Matthis Chiroux’s announcement here.
Last night, I appeared on MSNBC’s Verdict with Dan Abrams to discuss Karl Rove’s outrageous refusal to appear before Congress regarding serious allegations that he used the US Justice Department to take down a prominent Democratic politician. It is alleged that Mr. Rove personally instigated the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegleman. The case has been criticized by legal experts, and 52 former state attorney generals – both Republicans and Democrats – have criticized the case and called for an investigation. (You may view the clip here.)
If Rove refuses to testify voluntarily and ignores the subpoenas that will certainly be issued, he should be held in Inherent Contempt of the House of Representatives. No American is above the law. None of us should be able to ignore Congress without consequence. If Mr. Rove ignores a subpoena from the Judiciary Committee, then the House of Representatives should pass an Inherent Contempt citation and exercise our right to send the House Sergeant-of-Arms to gather Mr. Rove and bring him before Congress to testify.
I do not advocate this option lightly, but the reality is that Congress has few options left against an Administration that totally refuses to submit to any type of reasonable Congressional oversight. Congress has both the right and obligation to investigate these matters. Never before has an Executive so upset the checks and balances inherent in our Constitution. If we back off or delay, we effectively forfeit the power of Congress to investigate the Executive branch.
Rove is not the first White House official to ignore Congress. We have seen a pattern of refusals based on laughable claims of executive privilege. First, White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers ignored subpoenas on the investigation into the firing of US Attorney Generals for partisan political motives.
Their refusal to testify was unprecedented: never before have executive officials totally refused to even show up before Congress. Bolten and Miers are the highest officials ever held in contempt of Congress. Unfortunately, Attorney General Mukasey – in a dereliction of duty – has refused to enforce the contempt decree and now Congress is suing them in District Court to demand compliance. Then, the Vice President’s Chief of Staff, David Addington, refused to testify on the investigation into the Bush Administration’s ordering of torture. Now, Rove continues this executive arrogance by also refusing to testify.
Enough is enough. We have a Constitutional obligation to provide accountability to a White House that is trying usurp the constitutional powers of Congress.
These are the very reasons why I have been pushing for impeachment hearings for Vice President Cheney. The Bush Administration has been running roughshod over the Constitution for eight long years. We should not allow the promise of a positive election be used as an excuse to ignore our duty to investigate crimes that weaken the very fabric of our Democracy.
I thank you again for your commitment to the causes that we hold so dear.
B’Man: I don’t use the word “patriot” lightly. Wexler, no matter what you think of his other policies, is definitely doing EXACTLY what his duties call for him to do. There are other Dems who, for whatever political expediency that keeps them from joining in on their sworn duties, as well, are in need of a quick wake-up kick to the ass. Even if it kicks their sorry asses to the curb next election.
It is high time that these people do what is right and what is their duty as sworn officials.
Also, Mr Siegleman has gotten screwed on this deal. It is a wonder his life isn’t totally ruined by these neocon, Bushie water-carrying, crooks. I hope and pray they all are finally held accountable and jailed for their law-breaking. You can help. Get involved.
This one, in and of itself, is quite strange, seeing how GE is so damn profitable in its military and other ventures. I just so happen to have been working on a good sized expansion for the GE Decatur, AL plant ($50K in conveyors and other components). I worked with the engineers to spec in our conveyors and have quoted them to all the systems integrators who were going to bid the job.
Now, this news (which also explains the “slight delay” from the engineer in charge).
General Electric may auction appliance unit
In a page-one story, the Wall Street Journal reports that “General Electric Co. (GE) plans to start an auction for its appliances business,” according to people familiar with the matter. If completed, the “sale could end more than 100 years of GE’s involvement with appliances.” The Journal notes, “With appliance sales getting hit by the slowing U.S. economy and the housing bust, jettisoning the business could help GE reach its long-term goal of boosting profits by at least 10 percent annually.”
In a story on the front page of its Business Day section, the New York Times adds, “The division, based in Louisville, Ky., has faced increased pressure in recent years from Chinese manufacturers, which have been growing at double-digit rates thanks in part to significantly lower costs.”
According to Bloomberg, GE has “hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to explore options that include a spinoff or auction.”
The AP reports, “The sale could yield between $5 billion and $8 billion.” The company “last year took in $11.6 billion in its sale of its plastics division.” GE “Chief Executive Jeff Immelt has been under pressure to restructure the industrial and financial conglomerate, particularly since last month’s surprising first-quarter earnings report that profit fell 6 percent.” Reuters and BusinessWeek also covered the story.
B’Man: The pawn shop craze is back. Selling whatever one can, or finding crap steel and recyclable metals to load up the ‘89 Nissan to take to the Recycling shop for a few bucks just to get a little gas money (the story I heard from my little brother yesterday). Unfortunately, he has already sold all his shit at the pawn shop (can’t get a job, no income other than the odd job here and there… raking leaves, wiring an old house, mowing a yard when he can find someone with the money). Our country is falling apart while rednecks just go along with these fools who are pillaging our lives. Saying nothing. Letting them screw us all due to the redneck ignorance.
In the wake of the housing crash and rising food and energy prices, Americans are pawning their clothes, furniture and more.
want you to think of President Mondo Fucko’s total shock at hearing gas would hit $4/gallon and how blissfully isolated his precious ass is from actual Americans as you read this item:
Struggling with mounting debt and rising prices, faced with the toughest economic times since the early 1990s, Americans are selling prized possessions online and at flea markets at alarming rates.
To meet higher gas, food and prescription drug bills, they are selling off grandmother’s dishes and their own belongings. Some of the household purging has been extremely painful — families forced to part with heirlooms.
…At Craigslist, which has become a kind of online flea market for the world, the number of for-sale listings has soared 70 percent since last July. In March, the number of listings more than doubled to almost 15 million from the year-ago period. Craigslist CEO Jeff Buckmaster acknowledged the increasing popularity of selling all sort of items on the Web, but said the rate of growth is “moving above the usual trend line.” He said he was amazed at the desperate tone in some ads.
Like a Georgia teenager whose mother lost her job and whose ad pleaded, “Please buy anything you can to help out.” Or like Alabama mobile home resident Ellona Bateman-Lee, whose husband was disabled in 2006 by an electric shock on the job as a dump truck driver: “Among her most painful sales: her grandmother’s teakettle. She sold it for $6 on eBay.”
Now, according to conservative philosophy, private charity is supposed to step in and help these struggling Americans in their time of need. That’s the whole plan: Let people keep their tax money, starve the government, subcontract welfare to via faith-based initiatives to private charity, who will be phat with donations from the Americans who have been allowed to keep more of their income care of tax breaks.
But guess what?
The trend may be hurting secondhand stores too. Donations to the Salvation Army were down 20 percent in the January-to-March period. George Hood, the charity’s national community relations and development secretary, said that was probably partly because people were selling their belongings instead.
There’s your trickle-down economics at work, right there.
Big Military has a stronghold on this country… to the detriment of us all. We are being forced into a militaristic country and economy, just like the Roman Empire did to its demise. Just as Nazi Germany and The Soviet Union.
Being the world’s only Super Power is costing us everything. But rednecks don’t understand this. I had a good friend brag about the jobs that the military is providing the country while the other manufacturing that has fed him and his family for years is drying up and blowing away. Oblivious, just like Big Business planned for him.
I asked him if he had a job aligned in military once the furniture he has been supporting has completely left for China. No answer.
I monitor the extravagances and business cycle of Big Military and wanted to update those of you who may not know (and especially the lone redneck searcher who may have happened upon this blog):
Defense firms expand in Alabama Several defense companies are expanding their operations in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin, for example, grew its work force by 9% in 2007. “From Lockheed Martin’s perspective, we recognize that there is a lot of growth potential here in the community,” said John Holly, top executive for Lockheed Martin Huntsville. The Huntsville Times (Ala.)
Officials hope to double missile production by 2015 Missile Defense Agency officials want to double the production rate for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense and Aegis ballistic missile by 2015. They noted a final decision would be made during the process of creating the 2010 budget. AviationWeek.com
Mark Crispin Milleremailed Don Siegelman yesterday inquiring about things, especially the following, which is one of the more powerfully sensitive issues surrounding the Governor’s case (the original post can be found here):
The other, more important thing is this: As you may or may not know, the one aspect of your long ordeal that the press has stubbornly refused to mention–or, I think, even to perceive–is the theft of that election in 2002. Like you, I believe that that was crucial; but the press, quite typically, won’t mention it. Frankly, I believe that they, and most leading Democrats, are in denial about it, as its implications are too frightening.
Just as they’ve looked away from all the evidence of vast election fraud throughout Bush/Cheney’s reign, therefore, they’ve also looked away from the subversion of that gubernatorial race in Alabama. And so that chapter of your story is unknown to most Americans, even those who’ve lately heard the rest of it.
Governor Siegelman replied:
Mark, I mention the vote stealing in every interview. 60 Minutes cut it out. Don Abrams didn’t want to go there either. I have told the story to the Washington Post and LA Times.
The hook is Rove’s fingerprints are found there too. First, in that Rove’s friend Jack Abramoff hires Dan Gans, who was in charge of ” electronic ballot security” in Baldwin County, Alabama, where the votes were stolen. Gans, working for the Alexander Strategies Group, claims credit for the win on his website, which he then takes down when Abramoff gets arrested. The second is Rove’s business partner, Kitty Mc Cullough (a/k/a Kelly Kimbrough) is given credit for the electronic vote switch by the state Republican Party.
The first question that came to my mind is why didn’t they want to “go there”. If they are truly trying to illuminate the potential illegal activities, this would be an excellent one to look in to, wouldn’t it?
The MSM cannot be trusted, even when it appears they are doing something worthy of admiration, one should always be suspicious.
For when it comes down to it, they will not allow something to be aired that will cause them to lose money. Somehow, we need to figure out what, in this case, would cause them to lose money by telling the story.
My suspicion is that somehow, even in silence, they are complicit.
According to Redstate (I don’t like linking there, since I’m revolting from all things “redstateish“) there is no difference between the two when comparing our occupying Iraq to Germany, Japan, and the “South” (as in the confederate states). The Familographer hooked me up with this article by Bill Scher that explains to the koolaid crowd why this is so asinine.
But hey, at least Germany and Japan are like Iraq in that they are other countries.
I can’t believe I am wasting 15 seconds of my life to type this, but having military bases in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina does not constitute a permanent occupation. Does RedState really believe that 140 years after the Civil War, American troops have a “peace time standing presence” in the American south?
Conservatives are still flogging the notion that they hold an innate superiority on national security and foreign policy.
The disaster of Iraq has already stripped the veneer off of that fallacy.
Trying to claim that having military bases in Iraq for 100 years — when our own intelligence community says “fear of Western domination” is what fuels the “jihadist movement” — is just like having military bases in our own country, is probably not the best way to regain the public’s trust on national security.
A federal judge has ordered the United States to pay legal fees, costs and interest to a Huntsville entrepreneur who was wrongly charged by U.S. Attorney Alice Martin with violations of arms export rules. While the exact amount of the award remains to be fixed, attorneys for the claimant say they will be seeking more than $500,000.
Alice Martin, the U.S. Attorney in Birmingham, brought the case and was directly involved in managing it. She appears to have withdrawn opposition to the claims for reimbursement in an effort to avoid being forced to give testimony in a case in which she is accused of being motivated by improper, possibly racist, motives. As previously noted, the defense contended that Martin set out consciously to destroy Alex Latifi and the Huntsville-based manufacturing business that he ran. Latifi, an Iranian-American, had beat out some major defense industry interests by putting in a low bid for the manufacture of some helicopter parts. Martin sought pre-emptive relief, freezing Latifi’s business assets and effectively putting him out of business a year before she secured an indictment. But as the case came to its first days in court, it turned out that Martin had no basis for her actions and that Latifi was clearly innocent of the charges she had brought against him and fanned aggressively in the press.
Judge Inge Johnson ended Martin’s case after concluding that the prosecutors had no evidence for the charges they were bringing. When Martin moved to have it concluded with no further consequence, Judge Johnson concluded the exoneration of Latifi did not end the case. There was a major issue to be confronted: Latifi’s claims for damages based on the misconduct of the U.S. Attorney. In a related matter, another federal judge allowed a defendant to withdraw a guilty plea obtained by Martin and dismissed the case, suggesting that the guilty plea arrangement was a “manifest injustice.” The Birmingham News reports:
Latifi, an engineer trained at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, will be able to collect about $500,000 in expenses, said his Birmingham attorney, Henry Frohsin. Latifi contends that he was selected for prosecution under arms-export laws because of his ethnic background. “I can’t understand destroying someone’s life for no reason,” said Latifi, a 1973 immigrant who became a citizen in 1980. “All I can be thankful for is that I am not in jail.”
Latifi faced 25 years in prison for his alleged crimes. His Huntsville machine shops are silent after government business disappeared. Axion had been making machined parts for the U.S. military since 1984. The judge’s ruling filed late Wednesday said the fees were awarded under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act, a 2000 law designed “to give owners innocent of any wrongdoing the means to recover their property and make themselves whole after wrongful government seizures.”
The ruling came unexpectedly. A hearing in the matter at which testimony was to be taken was set for April 12. Latifi’s counsel had promised that it had commanding evidence concerning the misconduct of Martin and her office.
Johnson’s ruling also said the government has withdrawn its request for a certification from the court endorsing the asset seizure as having had a reasonable cause. That eliminates any chances for Axion’s lawyers to demand a hearing to examine the Justice Department’s memos, legal papers and investigative methods, said Frohsin, a lawyer with the Birmingham office of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz. “What was so important that they were trying to hide?” said Jim Barger, another Baker, Donelson lawyer who worked on the case.
It looks to me as if Alice Martin was concerned about the prospect that she would be placed under oath. Martin filed a motion to quash the subpoena issued against her, which was denied, then a motion to reconsider. These documents reflect a slithering invocation of prosecutional discretion to cloak misconduct and threaten the court with the involvement of Solicitor General Paul D. Clement–the sole senior Department official to survive the recent scandals over politically abusive conduct–in the matter. The court record reflects an extraordinary seven days of hearings and argument related to Martin’s efforts to avoid being forced to testify under oath. When these efforts failed, Martin withdrew her request for a finding that she had acted with reasonable cause and agreed to an award of damages under the claimant’s most aggressive theory. The only upside of this for Martin was that it would bolster her arguments against being forced to testify about her management of the case. However, although the current procedural setting of the case is complex, it appears that Martin and some of her associates may still be required to testify.
In sum: the taxpayers may be out $500,000 or more on account of prosecutorial misconduct (not taking into account the taxpayer’s funds expended on bringing a bogus case, which was probably several million), and Martin’s handling of the case now appears to be driven by her fear of being forced to account for her own conduct under oath. This case cries out for an internal Justice Department probe.
Dam Abrams had Don Siegelman on his show again last night (The Verdict has been one of the most vocal TV shows regarding the Siegelman case I have seen or heard of).
Last night, Dan explained to Gov Siegelman that they had contacted Karl Rove’s attorney and asked if Karl would testify.:
We asked this question to his attorney: Will Karl Rove agree to testify if Congress issues a subpoena to him as part of an investigation into the Siegelman case? The answer we got — “Sure.”
When it came to testifying in front of Congress, responding to the firing of the US Attorneys, KKKarl refused and was held in “contempt” (as if that seems to matte to anyone in Congress or the Justice Department). Should we make a poor man’s wager that he never testifys in Siegelman’s case?
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Former Governor Don Siegelman of Alabama, released from prison today on bond in a bribery case, said he was as convinced as ever that politics played a leading role in his prosecution.
In a telephone interview shortly after he walked out of a federal prison in Oakdale, La., Mr. Siegelman said there had been “abuse of power” in his case, and repeatedly cited the influence of Karl Rove, the former White House political director.
“His fingerprints are smeared all over the case,” Mr. Siegelman said, a day after a federal appeals court ordered him released on bond and said there were legitimate questions about his case.
Mr. Rove has strenuously denied any involvement in the conviction of the former governor, who was sentenced to serve seven years last June after being convicted in 2006. He could not immediately be reached for comment today.
Mr. Siegelman served nine months while his lawyers appealed a federal judge’s refusal to release him on bond, pending the ex-governor’s appeal of his conviction. That refusal was overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Thursday.
B’Man: This is wonderful news and a great sign that some justice may take place. EVERYTHING this Bush Administration does or is involved with is corrupt and smells like shit.
This may come as a shock, but a prominent anti-homosexual Republican attorney general has apparently been caught having homosexual sex intercourse with his homosexual gay male assistant. Bonus: The dude’s wife caught him, in their bed. This is the rumor that the AG’s office has officially denied, so now of course everybody is spilling the sordid details.
