By Dave Lindorff

A federal district judge appointed by President George W. Bush to
the bench has done the right thing, ruling definitively this morning
that the President’s claim of absolute immunity for his advisors from
Congressional oversight and subpoena is “entirely unsupported by
existing case law.”

The ruling, by Judge John Bates, is as important as much because of
who issued it as it is for its impact upon Congressional investigations
into presidential wrongdoing.

Certainly the ruling will open the way for Democrats in Congress to
move harder to investigate the abuses of the current administration,
which have been stymied by administration refusal to provide witnesses,
even to come in and plead the Fifth Amendment protection against
self-incrimination.

Harper's Scott Horton just dropped da turd in da tank. Seems as though a few "movement conservatives" got some "private time" with the "independently minded" Judge Mukasey. They made two offers he couldn't refuse. First, don't appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the US Attorneys scandal - that's essential to protect the Bush toadies Rove and Miers. Secondly, they wanted Mukasey's assurance that he would continue the protection of the authors of the waterboarding torture program.

Welcome, folks, to the world of Alice in Wonderland, as we peer down into the rabbit's hole, reading Senator Schumer's (ir)rationalization for endorsing Mukasey:

"...the job will not be finished until we get a strong and independent attorney general. I believe Judge Mukasey is that type of person. Should we reject him, it is almost certain that an acting, caretaker attorney general will take office without the advice and consent of the Senate. Inevitably, that would enable those in this administration, who do not believe in the rule of law, and have done things that caused even former Attorney General Ashcroft to threaten resignation, to have the complete upper hand.

MoveOn is finally moving on to talk about the possibility of impeachment proceedings!

Sign their petition:
http://pol.moveon.org/subpoena/

It states:

"Congress must force Vice President Cheney to respond to its subpoenas. If he continues to obstruct justice and disregard the rule of law, Congress has no choice but to begin impeachment proceedings against him."

Richard M. Mathews

In a five part series, Jill Simpson tells the story of her affidavit filed in the interest of seeking justice against the Bush and Riley political machines in the case of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman and deposed HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy.

The Locust Fork Journal

Glynn Wilson
Editor & Publisher
The Locust Fork News and Journal
http://www.locustfork.net/news/
http://www.locustfork.net/blog/

As we all know, it's ultimately about Karl Rove...

Judiciary Chairmen Conyers, Leahy Issues Subpoenas For White House Officials, Documents

Senate, House Judiciary Panels Compel Former White House Officials To Provide Testimony, Information In Connection With Investigations Of U.S. Attorney Firings And Politicization Within Dept. Of Justice

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., today issued subpoenas to two former White House officials compelling them to provide testimony and related information as part of ongoing congressional investigations into the mass firings of well-performing federal prosecutors and the politicization of hiring and firing within the Department of Justice.

Leftblogs are boiling mad at James Comey's dramatic testimony about the 2004 trip by Alberto Gonzales and Andy Card to then-AG John Ashcroft's hospital bed to pressure Ashcroft to approve the illegal NSA wiretapping program.

("Loyal Bushie" David Johnston of the NY Times featured Bush's role in ending the conflict by siding with Comey, but failed to report that Bush started the conflict by approving the blatantly illegal program and then personally calling Mrs. Ashcroft to arrange the shocking visit.)

Bush, Gonzales, and Card would have gotten their way if Comey hadn't raced over to the hospital and arrived before Gonzales and Card. Even more shockingly, Comey had to persuade FBI director Mueller to order the FBI agents outside the hospital room to ignore any order from Gonzales and Card to eject Comey. Ultimately, Comey and Ashcroft had to threaten to quit in order to get Bush to reluctantly agree to something resembling the rule of law - although the "legality" of the final action remains a deep dark secret.

Let's Give Gonzales A PUSH, Shall We?

ACTION PAGE: http://www.millionphonemarch.com/goodbye_gonzales.php

The thing we must remember about people who ABUSE power is they do not volunteer to give it up. It's not just Gonzales, look at what's going on with Wolfowitz at the same time, with the entire World Bank staff in open revolt. So if Gonzales has not resigned by the time you read this, please contact your members of Congress and push them to speak out, to tell Gonzales it's time to go.

And if the testimony of the Attorney General clinging to power before the Senate Judiciary Committee was not enough of a comedy sketch, we offer the following:

FOX PROMISES TO INVESTIGATE HEN DISAPPEARANCES

Prepared Statement of The Fox:

Oh, how the high and mighty are falling. A mini-Monicagate in the making! Gonazales' lawyer takin' the fifth... What next? A midnight flight to Bushco's new Paraguayan ranchero....

Gonzales Aide Won't Answer Senate Queries
WASHINGTON, March 26, 2007 (CBS/AP) Monica Goodling, a key Justice Department official involved in the firings of U.S. prosecutors, will invoke a constitutional privilege against self-incrimination and refuse to answer questions at upcoming congressional hearings, her lawyer said Monday. "The potential for legal jeopardy for Ms. Goodling from even her most truthful and accurate testimony under these circumstances is very real," said her lawyer, John Dowd... (more)

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science."
- Albert Einstein

Under the Microscope
by Glynn Wilson

My favorite answer to just about any political, social or technological question these days is: "It's a mystery."

When it concerns the workings of computers and the Internet, it's "a dang old dot dot dot mystery."

Life is full of mysteries. Love them or hate them, you can't avoid them.

There are things we can know; things we can't.

For a journalist or a scientist, even a social scientist, this can be infuriating.

But you learn to live with it.

Due primarily to Kos, the biggest progressive blogs have avoided impeachment like the plague. But thanks to ProsecutorGate, that avoidance is finally coming to an end.

Atrios sent a pretty clear signal in a post entitled Impeaching Abu G

If the White House stalls the investigation, then impeaching Abu G should pretty much be a no brainer.

Atrios then published in full the 3 Articles of Impeachment against Richard Nixon.