Just one day after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told Americans to "get over" the 2000 decision that handed the presidency to George W. Bush, the Supreme Court today rubber stamped an essential tactic in the all-out Republican war to suppress the turnout of minority - and likely Democratic - voters.  By a 6-3 vote, the Court upheld an Indiana voter identification law purportedly designed to address what most experts deem a non-existent problem.  By so doing, the Roberts Court has guaranteed that the GOP's strategy of divide, suppress and conquer is alive and well in 2008.

Don't Go Postal!

Fund urges in today's Wall Street Journal, his screed today against a mail-in primary in the states of Michigan and Florida.

It seems the U.S. Inspector General is about to recommend criminal charges against Alberto Gonzales, according to a Spokesman Review article, Gonzales could be prosecuted; hires defense lawyer.

The U.S. Inspector General may recommend criminal prosecution of departed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the conclusion of an investigation, possibly as early as next month, the fired former U.S. attorney for Western Washington told a Spokane audience Friday.

His refusal to open a federal criminal investigation into voter fraud allegations in Gov. Chris Gregoire’s razor-thin victory over Republican challenger Dino Rossi in 2004 may be the reason he was fired, John McKay told the Federal Bar Association.

More below the fold...

If you're in Seattle today, and have a couple of hours free in the afternoon, you might stroll on down to 700 Stewart St. and drop in to U.S. District Court Judge Marsha J. Pechman's courtroom (Room 14206) from 1:30 to 3:30.

Judge Pechman has scheduled two hours for oral argument on two pending motions.

What's this all about?  

In brief, a homeowner whose property abuts the US-Canadian border built a retaining wall inside the 10-foot buffer zone that, by treaty, is supposed to be kept free of structures.  When the bi-lateral International Boundary Commission found out, it told the property owners to tear down the wall or it would be torn down for them.  

For details, see  Bizarre Wingnut Meltdown in WA leads to the White House

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This afternoon while browsing Goldy's blog, I read an interesting comment on a somewhat related theme:

I’m amazed that more people haven’t picked up on Bush’s attempt at firing the International Boundary Commissioner (even though he has not authority to do so). It’s like watching a train wreck within the Republican Party.

I love train wrecks. But usually only when they involve the current Republican Party.

Your daily drivetime update on the US Attorney Purge...

 In an online chat at the Washington Post today, former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias stated his belief that "Ms. Lam, Mr. Bogden, Mr. McKay and me" were forced out in an attempt "to derail or interfere with on-going cases or investigations."  I don't think Iglesias has been so explicit before about his belief that Lam, McKay, Bogden and himself were fired illegally.  

Robert Greenwald, director of Uncovered, Outfoxed and Iraq For Sale has produced a video which calls for the Impeachment of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (Sign The Petition Now) based on his false House and Senate Testimony on the phantom firings of possibly as many as dozen U.S. Attorneys.

It's about time...

As mentioned at Talking Points Memo, eleven sets of new documents are available from the House Judiciary Committee as of this evening.

Murray Waas has another good article in the National Journal today.  Although it is, like much of Waas writing, somewhat dense reading, the upshot is that D. Kyle Sampson is going to get even more pressure put on him, and it helps put together the pieces for a prosecution of him based on his misrepresentations to Congress.  That, at least, is the main thrust of the body of the article.  There are, however, a couple of other big pieces of news in the article.

Your daily drivetime update on the US Attorney Purge...

Just want to summarize prior to more of Gonzo's upcoming testilying (no that's not a typo), to try to keep the shifting reasons (and there are so many of them) straight.  Readers, please feel free to add on other purged prosecutors who were not on the original list.

Your daily drivetime update on the US Attorney Purge...

I resume my call to impeach Alberto Gonzales. In an interview today with The Seattle Times, fired U.S. Attorney John McKay recalls this:

McKay said he began to have concerns about politics entering the Justice Department in early 2005, when Gonzales addressed all of the country's U.S. attorneys in Scottsdale, Ariz., shortly after he took over as attorney general.

"His first speech to us was a 'you work for the White House' speech," McKay recalled. " 'I work for the White House, you work for the White House.' "

McKay said he thought at the time, "He couldn't have meant that speech," given the traditional independence of U.S. Attorneys. "It turns out he did."

He looked around the meeting room and caught the eyes of his colleagues, who gave him looks of surprise at Gonzales' remarks. "We were stunned at what he was saying."

If Gonzales understood anything about being Attorney General, it was that he had to keep at least the appearance of independence from the White House. And it was all about that appearance in his opening statement at his confirmation hearing:

With the consent of the Senate, I will no longer represent only the White House; I will represent the United States of America and its people.

I understand the differences between the two roles.

In the former, I have been privileged to advise the president and his staff; in the latter, I would have a far broader responsibility: to pursue justice for all the people of our great nation, to see that the laws are enforced in a fair and impartial manner for all Americans.

Wherever we pursue justice, from the war on terror to corporate fraud to civil rights, we must always be faithful to the rule of law.

And this was about appearances, too, from the same day of testimony:

And I feel a special obligation, maybe an additional burden coming from the White House to reassure the career people at the department, and to reassure the American people that that I'm not going to politicize the Department of Justice.

"I work for the White House, you work for the White House."

Alberto Gonzales perjured himself in his confirmation hearing! He did not believe what he was telling the Senate Judiciary, he lied through his teeth in expressing his commitment to the pursuit of justice over the pursuit of his boss's political whims.

Never again can a White House counsel be made Attorney General. Never again can a real estate lawyer turned presidential lackey be elevated to a position where he or she can so much damage to our country. And this particular Attorney General is not fit to serve. Impeach Gonzales.

(H/T TPMmuckraker)

Your daily drivetime update on the US Attorney Purge...

Usually I'm full of snark.  Usually my outrage doesn't make it to the surface.  But there are some days when you can just put your face deep into a pillow and scream for hours and hours, and your horror still not be wholly vented.

So why does this particular story hit me so hard?  It's nothing compared to what else has been perpetrated on the American people and the people of the world by this amoral administration.  It's merely another piece of damning evidence in a LONG LINE of damning evidence in the USA-Purge story.

Kyle Sampson, Attorney General Gonzales' former chief-of-staff, told congressional investigators that he believes he "may" have recommended fired U.S. Attorney John McKay for removal back in 2005 because of conflicts with senior Justice officials over their lax investigation of the 2001 murder of federal prosecutor Tom Wales.  But don't be distracted by this latest ex post facto explanation.  At least five of the fired U.S. attorneys were presiding over major public-corruption probes targeting Republican politicians or their supporters.  

Bloomberg News is reporting that

Monica Goodling, at the time an aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, sobbed for 45 minutes in the office of career Justice Department official David Margolis on March 8 as she related her fears that she would have to quit, according to congressional aides briefed on Margolis's private testimony to House and Senate investigators. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity.