8 Things to Know about Acting Attorney General Keisler

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Thursday September 20, 2007 · 7:49 AM PDT

2007/09/20 · 07:49

On Monday, TPMuckracker noted something hidden in the Michael Mukasey announcement: the appointment of Peter Keisler as Acting Attorney General.

8 things to know about Peter Keisler:

Keisler was a co-founder of the Federalist Society;

The Federalist Society was a checkbox in Goodling's evaluation of U. S. Attorneys;

Keisler oversaw the Administration's fight against habeas corpus for Guantanamo;

Keisler allegedly interfered with the Tobacco conspiracy trial;

Keisler received a recess appointment at age 24;

Keisler testified against extending whistleblower protections using arguments contradicting existing federal statutes;

Keisler defended secrecy for all Warrantless Surveillance info, arguing that even confirmation or denial of its existence threatens national security;

Keisler defended the Interior Department in Cobell v. Norton - a tour de force of legal maneuvering and alleged DOJ obstruction of justice.

Extensive research diary continues below fold

HeyThereItsEric

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Monday September 17, 2007 · 12:45 PM PDT

2007/09/17 · 12:45

Bush just snuck one by us. He's found a way to have a recess appointment without even a recess.

TPMuckracker focused on an announcement within the announcement of Michael Mukasey: the replacement of Acting Attorney General Paul Clement by Peter Keisler . That is, co-founder of the Federalist Society Peter Keisler will be our Acting Attorney General until someone is confirmed. Clement is gone, Keisler is in, and there's no possibility of congressional review. Abracadabra.

HeyThereItsEric

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Monday July 24, 2006 · 9:36 PM PDT

2006/07/24 · 21:36

Over-familiar sentence introducing diary topic, including the words "guys", "y/all" and/or "hey".

Long introductory statement involving reference to Nixon, or perhaps Reagan, it's hard to tell. Diarist's statement of surprise at being first to discover article everyone's already read. Woefully inadequate sentence diarist believes to be snarky, which serves as introduction to article:

Poorly chosen break between Intro and Extended Body. Read More

Hurricane Pam Exercise Background CD

HeyThereItsEric

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Sunday September 04, 2005 · 1:25 AM PDT

2005/09/04 · 01:25

Update [2005-9-4 21:23:4 by HeyThereItsEric]:: I just figured out that the first link is the Hurricane Pam Exercise Background CD. Title changed to reflect this.

This CD was produced by the Center for the Study of Public Health Impacts of Hurricanes (CSPHIH) at Louisiana State University to aid participants to the Hurricane Pam Exercise better understand the impact of a Category 3 hurricane on the greater New Orleans area as well as SE and Central Louisiana.*

Update [2005-9-4 4:45:2 by HeyThereItsEric]:: It sounds like I need to delete this, but I can't find mention of the "COASTAL LAND LOSS" document elsewhere on Kos [snip]. I hope someone more awake can follow up in a better-written diary.

There are several documents at
http://hurricane.lsu.edu/floodprediction/PAM_Exercise04/

HURRICANE PAM EXERCISE
July 2004
From the document COASTAL LAND LOSS: HURRICANES AND NEW ORLEANS

Floodwaters would have residence times of weeks. The resultant mix of sewage, corpses and chemicals in these standing flood waters would set the stage for massive disease outbreaks and prolonged chemical exposure.

HeyThereItsEric

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Saturday August 27, 2005 · 2:07 PM PDT

2005/08/27 · 14:07

The word "Privacy" leaves me cold.

The concept of "Privacy" makes my heart race. It seems so fundamental to democracy that I can't figure out why people could even argue it. The problem is that they do - or rather, they argue against Privacy as a proxy for something else. "Privacy," as the word is used in the legal sense, sounds like jargon. No matter how precise, jargon can always be painted as abstract and alien to those who are unfamiliar with its actual meaning. All it takes is a little verbal trickery to transfer confusion abut the term to confusion about the topic.

The word "Privacy" doesn't even appear in the Constitution. But the concept pervades it. The concept appears more explicitly in another document - a document of founding principles - in one of the most stunning sentences in political history. Read More

Another reason to love Reid

HeyThereItsEric

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Wednesday April 27, 2005 · 6:53 PM PDT

2005/04/27 · 18:53

From USAToday article Donations link DeLay, ethics panel

WASHINGTON -- All five Republicans on the House ethics committee have financial links to Tom DeLay that could raise conflict-of-interest issues should the panel investigate the GOP majority leader.

Turns out there's some precedent for ethics Committee panel members to recuse themselves from an investigation. Guess who set it? More below. Read More

Republican talking points RE: Ethics

HeyThereItsEric

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Wednesday April 27, 2005 · 6:46 PM PDT

2005/04/27 · 18:46

Rawstory has posted a scan of what it believes are the Republican talking points regarding the Ethics Committee rules reversal. I'm retyping several of the key points here because it is a scan. (Thanks to Jonathan for the link)

Get out your Lysol; you'll want to disinfect. Reading this is like scooping out a litterbox into your eyes.

House Republicans stand by the changes... but believe it is more important for the institute to have a functioning Ethics Committee that may be flawed, than to have a more perfect, but non-operational Committee.

Ollie North: GOP headed towards train wreck

HeyThereItsEric

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Thursday April 21, 2005 · 10:29 PM PDT

2005/04/21 · 22:29

The dogs are turning on each other. From Ollie North's April 22nd column at GOPUSA

It's easy to blame liberal Democrats for derailing judicial nominees because it's true. But the GOP locomotive doesn't seem to have anyone at the controls as it heads down the track toward a train wreck.

HeyThereItsEric

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Wednesday April 20, 2005 · 8:14 PM PDT

2005/04/20 · 20:14

I just sent this message to Time Magazine as an e-mail Letter to the Editor. I had only two issues left, but I just had to cancel right now.

Dear Time Magazine,
I have been a subscriber to your magazine since September of 1993, and witnessed much rich and compelling scholarship in that time. I still keep the September 11th issue on my bookshelf; Nancy Gibb's extraordinary untitled cover story helped me come to grips with the horror of that terrible day.
I have since lost my respect for Time Magazine, and it saddens me.

HeyThereItsEric

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Monday April 18, 2005 · 3:03 PM PDT

2005/04/18 · 15:03

I am tremendously excited by the new Harris poll number that puts the president's disapproval rating at its highest level. Why? Because it broke through a 45% positive, 55% negative support. If Bush's approval were a stock, it's time to sell.

You'll want to read this in the context of this fascinating chart from Pollkatz. Read More

RSS

8 Things to Know about Acting Attorney General Keisler

Bush's new recess app't: Peter Keisler UPDATE 6 or so

INAPPROPRIATE CAPS: Misleading title 4 exclamation points

Hurricane Pam Exercise Background CD

Liberty cannot exist without Privacy

Another reason to love Reid

Republican talking points RE: Ethics

Ollie North: GOP headed towards train wreck

Time Magazine: I Canceled My Subscription (LTE)

Bush rating breaks through its support (Harris)