As the great wheel turns, and the gloaming fades into the summer night, I place my hands once more on the monitor. Once more, the distance between us dissolves, and I am overwhelmed by your insistent voices. Oh yes, I sense you out there in the dark American night, and yes, I still have my suspicions about you.

Yesterday Rachel Maddow and Jonathon Turley talked about the Bush's lawyers, legal justification for torture and war crimes prosecution.  Watching the exchange will make your blood boil.

The Bard wrote

The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.

John Yoo, Monica Goodling, Kyle Samson and their king Alberto Gonzales make this sound like a great idea.

Two reports today confirm that under Bush the Justice Department has politicized everything it touches, even programs for the young.

Not that we should have needed any further proof of the obvious after AG Gonzales' deputy, Monica Goodling, confessed last May to illegally discriminating in hiring along partisan lines. But now it's official: DOJ hiring committees went to great lengths to exclude Democratic, liberal, and activist job applicants under both John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales. A new report (PDF) investigates Republican manipulation of the Honors and Interns programs, which together bring new lawyers into DOJ. Ashcroft restructured the programs in 2002 specifically to ensure that more conservatives and fewer liberals were hired. He removed career officials from the hiring committees and replaced them with highly partisan political appointees.

Justice Department officials over the last six years illegally used "political or ideological" factors to hire new lawyers into an elite recruitment program, tapping law school graduates with conservative credentials over those with liberal-sounding resumes, a new report found Tuesday.

The blistering report, prepared by the Justice Department’s inspector general, is the first in what will be a series of investigations growing out of last year’s scandal over the firings of nine United States attorneys. It appeared to confirm for the first time in an official examination many of the allegations from critics who charged that the Justice Department had become overly politicized during the Bush administration.

"Many qualified candidates" were rejected for the department’s honors program because of what was perceived as a liberal bias, the report found. Those practices, the report concluded, "constituted misconduct and also violated the department’s policies and civil service law that prohibit discrimination in hiring based on political or ideological affiliations."

The DOJ's political elves went to extraordinary lengths to root out what they called "wackos" and "extremists", blackballing applicants for affiliation with such groups as The Nature Conservancy and The American Constitution Society. They invested much time in combing through applicants' backgrounds searching for disqualifying hints of liberalism or the belief that the world might somehow be improved. Even exceptionally distinguished liberal applicants were routinely denied job interviews, whereas mere membership in the Federalist Society was considered sufficient to guarantee an interview. Among the political appointees whom the report rebukes is the rather nasty former counsel to the Associate AG. Monica Goodling had put her in charge of the interview process.

Esther Slater McDonald..."wrote disparaging statements about the candidates' liberal and Democratic Party affiliations on the applications she reviewed and ... she voted to deselect candidates on that basis," said the report by Inspector General Glenn Fine.

Sen. Leahy's response to the report was pointed.

It confirms our findings and our fears that the same senior Department officials involved with the firing of United States Attorneys were injecting improper political motives into the process of hiring young attorneys. I suspect further reports from the Inspector General will continue to shed light on the extent to which the Bush administration has allowed politics to affect - and infect - the Department's priorities, from law enforcement to the operation of the crucial Civil Rights Division to the Department's hiring practices.

Republican Rep. Lamar Smith, by contrast, characteristically tried to paint lipstick on the pig:

"I'm disappointed by findings that in 2006 a few individuals within the Justice Department apparently violated Department policy and possibly federal law in the hiring of Honors Program lawyers and Summer Law Interns..."I am encouraged, however, by the Inspector General's findings that several political appointees within the Justice Department raised concerns about the actions of their colleagues through the appropriate channels and spoke candidly with investigators. The misdeeds of a few individuals should not tarnish the reputation of the Department of Justice as a whole.

Those few individuals, all Republicans, are right at the top of the DOJ, however. They're the ones who shut down those objections from career employees. They're the ones who perverted the frickin Justice Department.

And despite Smith's confidence that things have surely improved under Michael Mukasey, that's far from clear. You remember two weeks ago when news leaked out that DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention was doling out grants to politically well connected Republicans (for example, to a program run by Bill Bennett's wife) while rejecting applications that were actually worthy? After employees blew the whistle on OJJDP director Robert Flores' corruption, DOJ started an investigation. No, not into the corruption; it was an investigation of the whistleblowing.

But Flores' corruption just is too egregious to cover up. Murray Waas has another revelation today. Under pressure from another political appointee, Steven McFarland (director of DOJ's Faith-Based and Community Initiatives task force), Flores awarded a massive grant to Lisa Trevino Cummins, formerly of the WH Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Cummins' application previously had been deemed unacceptable by Department reviewers, partly because fully a third of the grant was to go to her consulting firm just for helping the intended recipient spend the money. Cummins also planned to have the grant overseen by Kelly Cowles, who was under investigation by the Ohio Inspector General for mismanaging a similar grant.

And the ostensible recipient of Flores' largesse, with an assist from the well-connected Cummins?

Victory Outreach describes itself as a "church-oriented Christian ministry called to the task of evangelizing and disciplining the hurting people of the world, with the message of hope and plan of Jesus Christ."

Now that sounds like a real plan for addressing juvenile delinquency. Good news indeed...that Mukasey has put an end to the politicization of the Justice Department, I mean.

I know, the AP doesn't like people linking its stories, but I'm going to do it anyway.

Going back to May 2007, the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Justice Department's Inspector General investigated charges of applicants being turned down for jobs within the department based solely on political leaning.  What did they find?  [flip]

Earlier this week, NPR reported that the Justice Department is investigating whether US Attorney Leslie Hagen was fired last year because of rumors she is gay.

In the fallout from its larger inquiry into the political firings of US attorneys under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the DOJ's inspector general has come across evidence that one of Gonzales's notorious senior counselors -- Monica Goodling, who resigned last year before admitting she "crossed the line" in her dismissal of several US attorneys for political reasons -- opted not to renew Hagen's contract because she had personal problems with her sexual orientation:

After a 100% absolutely positively craptacular day, posting this diary and seeing the great comments and free flow of ideas from everyone here and from my "blogger buddies" will be the best part. You all have become quite important to me, so thanks for making my days so gosh-darned interesting!

How hard has it been to be a career employee in the Justice Department?  Ask Leslie Hagen:

Hagen received the highest possible ratings for her work as liaison between the Justice Department and the U.S. attorneys' committee on Native American issues. Her final job evaluation lists five categories for supervisors to rank her performance. For each category, a neat X fills the box marked, "Outstanding." And at the bottom of the page, under "overall rating level," she also got the top mark: Outstanding.

The form is dated February 1, 2007. Several months before that evaluation, Hagen was told her contract would not be renewed.

What a surprise?

Today, Attorney General Michael Mukasey "rejected referring the House’s contempt citations against two of President Bush’s top aides to a federal grand jury. Mukasey says they committed no crime." Mukasey claimed that White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers "were right" to ignore Congress’s subpoenas in the U.S. attorney scandal.

Yet again, the nations top law enforcement official refuses to enforce the law.  Rather than requiring that Bolten and Miers answer questions about how nearly a dozen U.S. Attorney's ended up in the unemployment line without a valid reason - while their positions were filled with political hacks like the one that prosecuted Don Sieglman - Mukasey has decided to pass.

But the story isn't over - not hardly.

News Item: Breaking: Monica Goodling Is Engaged!

This is just too damned funny not to share with y'all.  Mike Krempansky, co-founder of Red State, and Monica Goodling, Abu Gonzales' and Karl Rove's counsel and lying weasel-in-chief, are engaged to be married.  So much snarky goodness!

I guess flabby, gone to seed True Christian True Conservatives need lovin' too.  Can everybody say "Lowered Expectations"?

It was only a matter of time before the conservative chattering classes extended the Republicans' perpetual "criminalization of politics" defense to the exploding CIA tapes scandal.  On Friday, the Wall Street Journal obliged, claiming the Justice Department's probe into the spy agency's destruction of detainee interrogation videos was the equivalent of "criminalizing the CIA."  Following the script from the Tom Delay, Valerie Plame outing, U.S. attorneys purge and other Republicans scandals, the Journal's contortion is just the latest right-wing effort to recast potential conservative criminality as mere political disagreement.

The Bush Administration's stunning managerial incompetence (at least on anything remotely related to effective governance) seems so broad and deep that it raises its own research questions:

1. Is it possible for such massive incompetence to arise in a natural manner?

2. Why do incompetents hire so many other incompetents? Why don't they mask their weakness by hiring competent people to cover for them?

Yes, Virginia, there is a science to incompetence. Like any other natural phenomenon, scientists can study it - and they have discovered a few interesting things about the way that incompetence actually works. Follow over the fold for the deeper truths.

Hey y'all, remember back in 1999 and 2000 when then Governor Bush promised to restore "honor and integrity" to the White House?  Yunno, after all those years of trashy Clinton behavior that ran the gambit from private sexual activities to non-existent law breaking covering a variety of invented scandals all "uncovered" on your tax dollar?

President 24%'s track record in the honor and integrity department is let's say a little less than stellar. The latest travesty? Bringing a sure-fire Presidential Medal of Freeeeeedom winner, Paul Wolfowitz, back into the Executive Branch.  Not enough travesty?  How about destroying evidence of CIA torture? Or the Rove/Bolton Contempt of Congress citations?  Or the Justice Department's refusal to enforce those citations?

The hits, they just keep acomin'.

Let's take a walk down nightmare memory lane, shall we?

Not to mention Bush, Cornyn, Gonzo/Goodling/Taylor, Bloomberg, and tyrants and authoritarians in general, as seen in a NY Times article today, in a way that is not at all comforting, and which alarmingly parallels our own political situation at present.

I assume that everyone's heard about Pakistani General Pervez Musharraf's recent declaration of martial law, suspension of Pakistan's constitution and arrest of hundreds of political opponents, activists, judges, lawyers, journalists and others who are or are seen as a threat to his rule, under the excuse of maintaining order after a series of terrorist attacks and mounting political tension in Pakistan.

Well, Musharraf's defending this action by invoking, of all people, Abraham Lincoln and his suspension of Habeas Corpus during the Civil War. When in reality he is clearly invoking entirely other people of a decidely less prudent and more tyrannical sort. Read on for the details and decide for yourselves.

CLG: Judge to Hear 'DC Madam' Selective Prosecution Argument --Memo from Monica Goodling to 'detail politicization of the Department of justice' --Subpoenas to be sought By Lori Price 21 Oct 2007

US Attorney Rachel Paulose from Minnesota whose lavish swearing in ceremony and reported strong handed rule over her office is under Federal Investigation.

The internal upheaval that roiled the upper ranks of the U.S. attorney's office in Minnesota last spring has prompted an investigation by an independent federal agency that looks into whistleblower and discrimination complaints involving federal employees.

The investigation by the Office of Special Counsel was revealed Tuesday morning by Eric Black on his blog, ericblackink.com.

Citing unnamed sources, Black said the matter grows out of allegations that U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose mishandled some classified documents by failing to secure them properly in her office, and that she demoted First Assistant U.S. Attorney John Marti after he discussed the alleged security breach with her, then reported it up the chain of command.

Experts long ago realized that the Bush administrative was highly secretive. But, new dangers are lurking on the horizon.

Recently, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it was creating a new program allowing domestic federal agencies greater access to information from "spy" satellites that will now focus on the U.S., not only foreign countries.  This effort, which will blur the lines between domestic and intelligence agencies will have the effect of forcing domestic agencies to create an infrastructure to protect the information, resulting in more reclassification of jobs in areas like sociology, science and disaster response to include requirements for security clearances. It is part of a larger trend, one among several trends that appear destined to transform the bulk of federal government into a highly restricted enclave of government officials walled off from the view of ordinary citizens, a "forbidden city."