Thugs, all of them. Justice isn't blind, obviously. If you aren't rich and powerful, and Republican, you are fuc-ed!!

The headline sez it all

U.S. Attorney Became Target After Rebuffing Justice Dept.

Once more, with feeling: The Republican Party is a criminal enterprise masquerading as a political organization.

Can we call them criminals now?

Can we call them criminals now?

Isn't Mary Jo White a former US Attorney herself (Southern District of NY)?

Has anyone created a wiki to keep track of all the details of all the various GWB admin scandals?

Krugman was right. The real scandal will be the US Attorneys who weren't fired.

That is, the ones who were fired were probably fired for not playing ball. The rest played ball. What corruption were they up to?

Now can we IMPEACH?

They should have gone to him sooner.

CLICK THE LINK. ALWAYS CLICK THE LINK. Correlation is not causation. Just because Brownlee declines eight days before he was put on the list does not mean there is a causal link between the two incidents.

Furthermore, as Justice Department officials explain, this is merely an example of colleagues who have difference of opinions on an issue. Unlike the more repressive Clinton Administration, the Bush Administration encourages a healthy debate among officials who have different points of views so that the best decision is made after a healthy debate.

"Justice Department officials said it was not unusual for senior members to weigh in on major criminal cases, and a spokesman, Dean Boyd, said the department "encourages healthy internal debate and discussion on complex cases like this one.""

And just because you say idiotic things 100% of the time does not mean 100% of idiotic things are said by you, Al. That's only, like, 90.

Isn't Mary Jo White a former US Attorney herself (Southern District of NY)?

YES. The very same, apparently brought in to the defense team in order to get a sweetheart deal with Main Justice. White has outstanding credentials, having handled the prosecution of Sheik Abdel Rahman, Marc Rich, and others. Still, I have to wonder what she thought she was doing by going over a USA's head to the Justice department... would be fun to call her in to Congress and make justify herself.

"Justice Department officials said it was not unusual for senior members to weigh in on major criminal cases, and a spokesman, Dean Boyd, said the department "encourages healthy internal debate and discussion on complex cases like this one.""

The night before a settlement? Please!

These people have no redeeming value...

These people have no redeeming value...

Disputo: Has anyone created a wiki to keep track of all the details of all the various GWB admin scandals?

The closest thing is TPM Muckraker

It's nothing personal, it's just business (as usual).

mary jo white?! is now a defense lawyer for big pharma. goddamn. i really thought she had more integrity than that. fuck.

I dunno if you can pin it all on Mary Jo White.

It would be interesting to ask the following Congresscritters whether or not they had contacted the DOJ regarding the case against Oxycontin manufacturer Perdue Pharma:

Deal, Nathan (R-GA) $1000
Isakson, Johnny (R-GA) $1000
Davis, Thomas (R-VA) $1000
Sensenbrenner, F. James (R-WI) $1000
Rogers, Michael (R-MI) $1000
Enzi, Michael (R-WY) $2000
Ferguson, Michael (R-NJ) $2000
Whitfield, Edward (R-KY) $2500
Boucher, Rick (D-VA) $3000
Issa, Darrell (R-CA) $4000
Burr, Richard (R-NC) $5000
Coburn, Tom (R-OK) $6800
Shays, Christopher (R-CT) $8000
Norwood, Charles (R-GA) $8000
Lieberman, Joseph (I-CT) $10000

You see, the folks listed above were recipients of campaign funds from Perdue Pharma, via a political action committee. I'd start with the ones on the Oversight committee.

Well that is discouraging. Mary Jo White has been critical of the politicization of the Justice Department. I guess a defense lawyer's gotta do what she's gotta do, but I'm pretty sure Mary Jo wouldn't have liked somebody going over her head while she was the US Att'y for the Southern District of New York. It really does stink.

Do you know how much free speech Perdue Pharma has laying around? Some of it was bound to be heard by McNulty and those congressmen. They can hardly help it.

A question from someone who is not paying close enough attention:

Here we see that Elston put Brownlee on The List. Now, nailing down the author(s) of The List (and their motivation) has been a central question in the investigation into the propriety of the USA firings.

Is this the first time we have known that a particular person (Elston) put a USA name (Brownlee) on The List?

Furthermore, as Justice Department officials explain, this is merely an example of colleagues who have difference of opinions on an issue. Unlike the more repressive Clinton Administration, the Bush Administration encourages a healthy debate among officials who have different points of views so that the best decision is made after a healthy debate.

That is the most hilarious joke anyone has ever posted on Political Animal.

That's extremely disappointing behavior from Mary Jo White, whom I had a very high opinion of in her days as a public servant.

Unlike the more repressive Clinton Administration, the Bush Administration encourages a healthy debate among officials who have different points of views so that the best decision is made after a healthy debate.

Best. Unintentionally funny lie coming out a Republican't. Today.

Would those differing points of view be those of the PretzelDunce, or the Wanton Shooter of Fellow Hunters?

Don't ever think that Republican'ts have reached the limits of their corrupt traitorous behavior. They'll sink lower every time...

The DOJ was of course absolutely correct. The government has no business controlling the manufacturing and distribution of drugs.

The government has no business controlling the manufacturing and distribution of drugs.

gregor, I'm sure you'll feel the same way when you lose your mother to a new diabetes pill. isn't there an Ayn Rand forum somewhere with a seat open for you?

Where's the checks and balances?

Elsewhere in the Department of Injustice, somebody (would be nice to know who) thought it would be a good idea to tip off Sen. Stevens that his house was going to be raided: "Stevens said...his attorneys were advised of the impending search yesterday morning."

Tipping the scales of justice. Just another day at the DOJ.

I think that was sarcasm, shams.

"You understand Michael,it was only business"

The New York Times apologized for its support on threadbare evidence of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and solemnly promised not to let such a thing happen again.

It is happening again, though, as The Times lends its support to a Bush Administration propaganda effort aimed at convincing the nation that the so-called "surge" indeed is successful despite continuing evidence that the situation in Iraq is becoming more and more desperate as the days pass with a corrupt government neither willing nor able to act, a military and police force that refuses to follow orders and bodies of Iraqis strewn about Baghdad as an unrlenting insurgency continues along with sectarian violence on a scale that can only be described as civil war. At the same time, U.S. forces now are supporing Sunni thugs in a last-ditch effort to contain violence and is embarking upon an alliance with Turkey to root out and kill belligerent Kurds in an effort to prevent for a time a Turkish invasion of Northern Iraq. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has embarked upon its own offensive by supplying arms and money to Sunnis insurgents engaged in guerrilla warfare with the dominant Shias, which in turn are supported by Iran.

The Times, for reasons of its own, chooses to overlook these and other indications of a worsening situation in favor of a propaganda effort orchestrated by the Bush Administration not unlike that which led up to the invasion.

A stopped clock is right twice a day. The DOJ almost certainly intervened for corporate crony reasons but the War on Pain Control is a real problem. Oxycontin is very good for chronic pain. My wife had a steady diet of for a couple of years while dieing of cancer. The time release feature left her mentally sharp and comfortable. Our doc understood pain is subjective and let her dose herself. Many docs are afraid of the DEA and leave people suffering. I have several friends with bad backs and the docs approach to pain control is all over the map. Addicts need treatment, thru universal health care not a War on Drugs.

This reads less like The Godfather and more like The Wire.

We also know they screwed the pooch on the Tobacco Settlement and probably the Microsoft Settlement as well. Bush has given American the best government money can buy. No wonder Republicans are happy with him: money, like crap, flows downhill until it covers 'em all.

It's Michael Elston, right? And Paul McNulty? Just a minor typo in the post.

Isn't Mary Jo White a former US Attorney herself (Southern District of NY)?

Posted by: qwerty on August 1, 2007 at 2:27 AM | PERMALINK
*************************************************

Yes, she was appointed by Bill Clinton in 1993.

This is hilarious really - a former DEMOCRATIC US Attorney tries to call in a favor with a contact in DOJ to get a delay. Her pal says to the US Attorney it might be a good idea to delay the case. The US Attorney diagrees, doesn't delay, gets his conviction, and is still in his job.

And this is supposed to be a Godfather-like situation. A Republican US Attorney doesn't give in to attempted pressure from a Clinton-era US Attorney?

Woah.... mods, what happened to my reply to Campesino? There was only one link, and it was one of my least vitriolic posts all day!

I do have a question - is it common that a defense attorney tries to get special favors by calling up the official in charge of the prosecuting attorney? Couldn't that be looked on as obstruction of justice? And the request was simply for a postponement? And has anyone looked into what the CEO/CFO/other company officers were doing (selling stock, perhaps?)?
I also find the date rather intriguing, just over a week before the elections. Significant or not?

The DOJ almost certainly intervened for corporate crony reasons but the War on Pain Control is a real problem.

They were being prosecuted for advertising the drug by falsely claiming that Oxycontin is not addictive. Thousands of addicts and ruined lives later, the DOJ was able to prove that they deliberately concealed the facts.

In other words, the problem isn't that they produced an addictive pain drug -- the problem is that they lied about it so more doctors would prescribe it. Seriously, it's like the makers of heroin claiming it has no addictive potential.

Seriously, it's like the makers of heroin claiming it has no addictive potential.

Nothing "like" about it.

That is *precisely* what it is.