The definition of a “two-tiered justice system”

by Glenn Greenwald

Aside from the intrinsic dangers and injustices of arguing for immunity for high-level government officials who commit felonies (such as illegal eavesdropping, obstruction of justice, torture and other war crimes), it’s the total selectivity of the rationale underlying that case which makes it so corrupt.  Defenders of Bush officials sing in unison:  We shouldn’t get caught up in the past.  We shouldn’t be driven by vengeance and retribution.  We shouldn’t punish people whose motives in committing crimes weren’t really that bad.

There are countries in the world which actually embrace those premises for all of their citizens, and whose justice system consequently reflects a lenient approach to crime and punishment.  The United States is not one of those countries.  In fact, for ordinary citizens (the ones invisible and irrelevant to Ruth Marcus, Stuart Taylor, Jon Barry and David Broder), the exact opposite is true:

Homeless man gets 15 years for stealing $100

A homeless man robbed a Louisiana bank and took a $100 bill. After feeling remorseful, he surrendered to police the next day. The judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

Dream a Little Dream For Me…

(For all of you slathering on the creme-de-la-bliss that is the flashy, corporate sponsored Democratic Convention of Change-Pitching, let me remind you, Obama was never our choice, he was theirs. Now you can lie to yourself all you want to, but if Bush/Cheney is fascism, Obama/Bidden is just fascism-lite. Glenn Greenwald did a little article and a video (at the site) and it’s very telling about how the general masses are viewed by not only this administration, but also by those surrounding your new hero. At some point you are going to realise that it isn’t JUST Nancy and Steny and Conyers that detests the rest of us not in their little club. At some point you are going to realise what a farce this whole Democratic Primary was. But, take your time…. no big rush. Just keep running on your self-satisfying, self-aggrandizing little dream of “change”. After all, you’re just consumers, and this is the biggest marketing campaign since, well since the Kerry/Edwards product roll-out of 2004.)

 AT&T thanks the Blue Dog Democrats with a lavish party

by Glenn Greenwald:Last night in Denver, at the Mile High Station– next to Invesco Stadium, where Barack Obama will address a crowd of 30,000 people on Thursday night — AT&T threw a lavish, private party for Blue Dog House Democrats, virtually all of whom blindly support whatever legislation the telecom industry demands and who also, specifically, led the way this July in immunizing AT&T and other telecoms from the consequences for their illegal participation in the Bush administration’s warrantless spying program. Matt Stoller has one of the listings for the party here.

ABC News Is Selling the Governments Anthrax Story Once Again

by Scott Creighton

ABC News is at it again, folks. Someone email Glenn Greenwald, he’ll love this.

On the front page of ABC News’ website, you will find a storyabout Dr. Bruce Ivins but don’t expect it to be an example of journalistic integrity. At all.

All it is, is ABC News’ attempt to help the feds put this anthrax story to bed before the end of the Bush/Cheney regime. Kinda like they did back in 2001 when they helped sell the Bush/Cheney plan for war with Iraq by reporting the false claim that the anthrax used in the Sept. 2001 attacks contained an additive that proved Saddam was behind it; all based on “4 high ranking sources” that turned out not only to be wrong, but to have completely invented that story altogether. 

You Have To Read Glenn Greenwald’s Anthrax/ABC News Article

I don’t know what else to say about this article. You have to go read it. ABC News is withholding information about who fed them the lies that connected the anthrax attacks to Iraq.

Vital unresolved anthrax questions and ABC News

by Glenn Greenwald. (Who will be on Rachel Maddow’s radio show tonight at 8:30 p.m. EST to discuss this story.  Link to the broadcast, here.)

The Criminalization of Politics and Other Fine Talking Points

by Scott Creighton

Yesterday, during the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing ”Executive Power and it’s Constitutional Limitations“, as an argument for not opening an investigation into criminal acts by this administration, the same talking point came up time and time again; these “demented” people who call for impeachment are trying to “criminalise” political differences: the Criminalization of Politics. 

Now this would normally fall into the silly smoke screen category (especially after what we KNOW happened at the Department of Justice with Carl Rove’s help) …if we hadn’t heard it before. But of course the interesting thing about this is where we have heard it before.

Olbermann Spins His FISA-Flip; Rove Must Love This

by Scott Creighton

Last night, Keith Olbermann delivered another of his “Special Comments“, this time, to do damage control on a position he took last week justifying Barack Obama’s support of the FISA Bill that promises to not only give immunity from civil prosecution to the telecom companies but it also greatly enhances the powers of the White House allowing them to secretly listen in to ALL communications without real oversight from a FISA court.

To sum up Olbermann’s position, he claims that the timing of the Housing legislation that ran over and forced the actual vote of the FISA Bill to be pushed back till June 8th is a great opportunity for Obama; to vote FOR THE BILL.

That’s right, Olbermann’s position is that Obama should vote FOR THE BILL.

There’s allot of convoluted thinking that takes place in Keith O’s comment, so we will take it one step at a time, shall we?

Keith Olbermann; Then and Now

(Olbermann is no Edward R. Murrow; never was, never will be. His self righteous indignant rants about George Bush or Scooter Libby are mearly window dressing; a “brand” if you will to buy him our credibility. But I have always suggested they are the hollow howlings of a “star” working for one of the largest military contractors in America. And now, Keith O has shown his true nature in a way that is impossible for him to deny. His complete reversal on his position on the FISA bill has exposed Keith for what he really is. I wrote earlier that his full hour devotion to the Scott McClellan revisionist history about Bush was remarkably obtuse for a newsman who considers himself in the company of the likes of Murrow. Turns out, it wasn’t obtuse at all; it was design. They have crafted a pundit that the liberal majority can trust, and now they are gently using that trust against us. And Keith O, just like Bill O, goes along for the ride. Keith’s support of Obama’s position on FISA undermines all of his credibility with us, what little he had after the McClellen debacle.)

by Glenn Greenwald, from Salon, here.

On January 31 of this year, Keith Olbermann donned his most serious face and most indignant voice tone to rail against George Bush for supporting telecom immunity and revisions to FISA. In a 10-minute “Special Comment,”the MSNBC star condemned Bush for wanting to “retroactively immunize corporate criminals,” and said that telecom immnity is “an ex post facto law, which would clear the phone giants from responsibility for their systematic, aggressive and blatant collaboration with [Bush's] illegal and unjustified spying on Americans under this flimsy guise of looking for any terrorists who are stupid enough to make a collect call or send a mass email.”

Olbermann added that telecom amnesty was a “shameless, breathless, literally textbook example of Fascism– the merged efforts of government and corporations that answer to no government.” Noting the numerous telecom lobbyists connected to the Bush administration, Olbermann said: