Entries by emptywheel

The Thaw that Started Five Months Ago

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The press is agog that Hillary and Richard Mellon Scaife made nice last week. But that peace-making follows five months after an earlier one between Bill Clinton and Richard Mellon Scaife. I’m not sure what that means, as far as Scaife’s motives (I presume the Clintons would just like his support, or, barring that, would like him to avoid funding a bunch of wingnut bloodhounds to sniff their panties and boxers). But it does suggest the thaw is much more than a one-off thing.

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The Rhetoric of More of the Same

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The summary of Paulson’s proposed changes to our banking system is a remarkable document. It uses a bunch of rhetorical moves to deny the current crisis, all so it can propose loosening regulation, rather than tightening it.

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The DNC Email Ruling

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The Democratic National Committee has been suing the DOJ in DC District Court to obtain some 68 pages of emails relaing to the US Attorney purge. There are two issues to be contemplated here. The first is the relative propriety of Huvelle’s decision, and foundation therefor, in the DNC case, and the second is what implications it may have for the greater mass of contentious email issues that are percolating in our midst.

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Listening To You – Mukasey Plays The Emotion Card

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The Bush Administration and their never say die FISA/Immunity push are like cockroaches. You can’t kill em, and they never go away. Well, they’re back again. Attorney General Michael Mukasey has graduated from DC water carrier to full fledged traveling snake oil salesman for the Cheney/Bush Administration and their sordid attempts to cover their own criminal wrongdoing via retroactive immunity for telcos. We need to saddle up and get ready as well; because next week is time to get back to work on slaying the twin headed FISA/Immunity beast.

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Bushco Rolled Out A Parade Of Liars To Squelch Lichtblau, Risen & NYT

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A fairly significant article just posted at Slate by Eric Lichtblau on the jaded history of the publication, and withholding of publication for well over a year, of his and Jim Risen’s seminal story on the criminal warrantless wiretapping by the Bush Administration. Some of it we knew, some of it we guessed and some of it is first impression. As a whole however, it is stunning to digest.

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