The Garlic: 07/01/2007

Friday, July 06, 2007

Let's Hear It For The Quid Pro Quo ... New Garlic Song - Hush Little Libby

Well, we had to do something to feat the remarkable occasion, before the end-of-the-week.

It's not every day you witness the President of the United States work his end of-the-deal of a Quid Pro Quo, which, as we all know, is what down this past Monday afternoon.

The Bush Grindhouse was in peril.

One of there loyal own was about to be carted off to jail, despite the Bush Grindhouse's efforts to pack the courts with "their kind of judges".

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby did his part, back in 2002-2003, exposing covert CIA Agent Valerie Plame, kept doing his part, lying and obstructing justice during the subsequent investigation, in the Grand Jury, and completed his part during his trial earlier this year, by not calling his boss, the Vice President to testify, and by not testifying himself.

And he waited, if not nervously, patiently, through the sentencing and through the appeal to remain free on bond.

Then, without warning, The Commander Guy morphed into The Commutation Guy and Cheney could rest easy in his Secret Bunker, perhaps his first night, in many, without sleeping with the defibrillator nearby.

The Quid Pro Quo was complete.

Scooter Skates.

So, if he is going to skate, he needs a soundtrack, something he can groove and sway to as he rolls off into the sunset,

Everybody, sing along, it's an old school lullabye!

Hush Little Libby

Hush little Libby don't say a word
Cheney's gonna get your sentence deferred

If that Decider does his thing
It'll piss off the whole left wing

If the left wing bites our ass,
Cheney's gonna buy you a looking glass

If that looking glass gets broke,
Our asses will be covered by the Neocon folk

If those Neocon folk don't push,
We can just blame good ol' George W. Bush

And If George Bush doesn't fold his tent,
We can easily win this arguement

If the spin we spin won't bark,
Rove'll get Fredo to fire another shark

And if this deal just won't go down,
You'll still be the sweetest little liar in town

Bonus Links

Elizabeth de la Vega: Bush's Real Fourth of July Message to Nation: Unprintable

David Shuster dismantles Fouad Ajami’s comparison of Libby to our fallen soldiers

Impeachment Fever: America's Got It!

Update

John Dean: Bush’s Commutation Conflicts With His Own DoJ Guidelines

Libby and the Scooterettes

Of Blackboards, Chalk and Legacies ... The Constitutional Crises Continues

Okay, so it's been a holiday week, I should stifle my impatience that Congress hasn't filed the Impeachment papers, or the call for a Citizen's Arrest has gone down yet.

Everyone must be waiting for a clean news cycle to spring into action.

The Blackboard and Chalk Part

So much for the faulty memory.

It appears I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby remembered very clearly, that he better hustle his ass off and pay the $250,000 fine related to his felon conviction - and within 72-hours of being bailed out by The Commutation Guy - before anyone gets the wiser and messes up his "Hush and Keep Quiet" deal.

And, as Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise, Surprise!", we have a legal kerfuffle brewing, thanks to The Commander Guy (just at the moment he was morphing into The Commutation Guy).

The presiding Judge, His Honor Reggie Walton, has pointed out to the Bush Grindhouse, of said felon, Scooter Libby, that the statute doesn't accommodate probation if a convicted felon doesn't serve any part of his sentence.

The Scooter Man didn't serve any part of his 30-Month sentence.

The Bush Grindhouse still insists that the commutation was legit and Libby is not receiving any special treatment.

So, speculation is this will be settled in the following manner;

Scooter Libby will stay after work, and write on a blackboard:

"I WILL NOT LIE OR OBSTRUCT JUSTICE" 500 times.

There. Done. Punished.

The Legacy Part

Boy, the legacy building is really tough these days, especially when you break the law, cloak your work in secrecy and, otherwise, don't do anything positive.

And he can't, technically, claim getting elected President on the Legacy Ledger - that was handed to him by the Supreme Court.

So, you compensate, right?

You build a new Iraq Embassy that could probably house a few dozen Spruce Gooses' (and, apparently, following Mr. Hughes' lead in using, how should we say, different materials).

You keep sending in troops - and even more mercanaries - to a war that was long lost.

And there's the arm-twisting whatever remains of his deluded supporters, to kick in big-time, for a presidential library.

The only mystery or suspense about what would be housed in a Bush Presidential Library, with his (or Cheney's) penchant for burying everything, is if there'll be a copy of 'My Pet Goat' in it.

But thanks to Glenn Greenwald yesterday, The Uniter/The Decider/The Commander Guy can peek at what awaits him, as he shallowly and embarassingly cuts the ribbon (assuming they don't put that out on a No-Bid Contract) on his post-Presidency whatever-you-call-it building.

The tragic collapse of America's standing in the world

And there's this caveat;

And in what is perhaps the most tragic aspect of the Bush legacy, large numbers of people around the world, over the last six years, have abandoned their belief in U.S. democratic values -- the exact opposite result, literally, of our ostensible objective in everything we have done in the last six years

Maybe we need to get Bush to write on a blackboard 500 times;

"I WILL NOT LIE, COOK INTEL, START PHONY WARS, ILLEGALLY WIRETAP, EXPOSE COVERT CIA AGENTS, FILL THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WITH CRONIES, ISSUE ANYMORE SIGNING STATEMENTS, OR IGNORE THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS"

Send chalk to:

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Bonus Links

Lewis Libby owes his freedom to our corrupt political elite

Late Nite FDL: News Flash! They Don’t Hate Us for Our Freedom.

Washington, Lincoln Most Popular Presidents: Nixon, Bush Least Popular

Update

Arianna Huffington: Oh, the Hardship: It Takes Libby Nearly Three Days to Pay His Quarter Mil Fine

Frank Rich: When the Vice President Does It, That Means It’s Not Illegal

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Garlictorial: Happy 4th of July ... Okay, It May Be Down To This .... Citizen's Arrest!

The FBI guys promised me a deal. So I made up a lot of stuff about Michael Corleone. Because then, that's what they wanted. But it was all lies. Everything. They said Michael Corleone did this, Michael Corleone did that. So I said, "Yeah, sure."

Frank Pentangeli from the film 'Godfather II'

President Bush (or The Commutation Guy) looked absolutely lost yesterday, leaving Walter Reed Medical Center and offering his first comments to reporters on his commutation of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby's sentence. He looked about as comfortable as Frankie Five Angels did testifying to Congress.

Maybe Cheney didn't brief him thoroughly. Or, perhaps, Cheney flew in Jeb, standing him behind the reporters, but in clear view by the President, just enough to shake him up, toe the line.

Happy 4th of July .. We're back up in Kennebunkport again this stretched out holiday ... No Flies this year - Even they find the setting too rancid ... Either that, with Putin around, they were afraid the food might be laced with polonium-210 ...

What better way to celebrate the birth of our nation then to settle into a mushrooming Constitutional Crises.

Where do you want to start?

The build-up to the invasion and occupation of Iraq? ... The soon-to-follow CIA Leak Case?... Hurricane Katrina?... The Injustice Department?... The Cheney split-off to a fourth branch of government?

In case Congress wasn't paying attention, perhaps distracted by Lindsey Lohan's 21st birthday, Bush's commutation of Libby's sentence is, clearly, not a shot across the bow, but a direct, carefully-aimed targeted blast at them, telling them, "Yeah, sure ... Go ahead, investigate all you want ... No under my watch is going to do any time"

I mean, if the Bush Grindhouse (and the new Cheney branch) are so willing to fuck over a federal judge, a federal court, and an Appellate Court, what would make Congress believe that what they do would have any weight?

Let's face it, The Decider Guy has, gleefully, been altering and rewriting their work via his handy Signing Statements - undeterred and unchecked - for virtually the entire run of his stolen presidency.

So, what to do ...

Unfortunately, the historic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, early on, stated that Impeachment was "off the table" (and The Garlic, not too long ago, called for Pelosi to reconsider, pointing out the obvious - We need a bigger table).

Many since have come out, and while wishing it could be undertaken, have said Impeachment wouldn't work ... That the Bush Grindhouse would drag out time in court over Executive Privilege... That no way you could get enough Senators - and in particular, Republicans - and Congressmen to vote in favor for it.

You have to think, that if it were brought forward (Hey guys, you can see Dennis Kucinich to get up-to-speed on this), Pelosi and Reed could coral the Democrats behind Impeachment.

And for the Republicans ... See the words above - Constitutional Crises.

That doesn't limit or define itself to one party. That means the country is in peril - the Red part and the Blue part.

If you don't notice the cinder block of the Iraq Invasion and Occupation tied to your leg as you jump in the 2008 pool, this weeks' Libby fiasco is the Bush Grindhouse tying another one to the other leg.

And if the Commutation Guy morphs into The Pardon Guy, before he leaves office, and before the 2008 election, you might as well save your money, pull back and sit this one out. You'll set precedents for embarrassing, lopsided losses.

One more thing.

Your party went way, way overboard in their rush to impeach President Bill Clinton - for a blow job.

A blow job that didn't;

Endanger our National Security
Invade and occupy a country that made no such action on us
Kill or wound any U.S. Soldiers
Expose any covert CIA agents
Ignore and strand the City of New Orleans
Fire any U.S. Attorneys for partisan politics
Run its' agenda via Signing Statements
Declare it was neither part of the Executive or Legislative Branch

You owe us big time on this!

Citizen's Arrest

Now, the Declaration of Independence, thankfully, does gives us hope-filled instructions.

That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

So, if Congress doesn't pick up the bat on this one, we may be down to our last option.

There must be some tiny hamlet, some Main Street USA berg that would be willing to put themselves on the map, become the saviors of our nation. A Sheriff with balls, a U.S. Attorney ready to swing back for justice.

Think Truth or Consequences, New Mexico... You can change your name to Citizen's Arrest and really cash in on it.

Leave history for a moment. For starters, think of the economic boon it would be.

The MSM media camped out for weeks, eating in your diners, sleeping in your motels (if you have a hotel, even better), shopping in your stores. Same for the protesters that will show up.

We're talking millions here.

Anderson Cooper will likely become your best friend ... Morning interviews on the Today Show (and, if the timing is right, perhaps you'll make it into a "Where In The World Is Matt Lauer" segment) ... Diane Sawyer ... Larry King ... Weeks-and-weeks of MSNBC Doc-Blocks ... 24/7 baby, all the way.

Yeah, Bill O'Reilly and Fox Noise might launch a jihad against you, but we can get Keith Olbermann to handle them.

And there's other revenue streams.

Bush and Cheney in orange jumpsuits - Priceless!

Will suggest here that you bypass the MSM and go straight to eBay with the photos ... Or better yet, GoldenPalace.Com... It won't cost you much to stencil on the jumpsuits, or use Velcro, to plaster their logo to them ...

And if you have a Mayberry-style, two-cell jail, all the better.

Support ... You'll have about half the country and a loyal blogosphere behind you.

If there were blogs and cell phone cameras back when Jim Garrison was investigating the JFK Assassination, he'd be a hero instead of a joke ... We'd have Garrison civic buildings and Garrison Avenues all across the land.

And here's the best part of making the Citizen's Arrest.

You can use the Patriot Act ... Declare the dynamic duo enemy combatants - you won't even have to charge them with anything, for years, anyway ...

The closing of Gitmo has been called for, among many reasons, as a means to demonstrate to the world that we are a nation of laws, that we wish to rejoin the world community as a trusted friend.

The quickest way to do that - and it would send an even louder declaration of our good will - will be to impeach President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney. Put them before the World Court, for their crimes against humanity.

Let's make America, America again

So you small towns out there, get a glove, get in the game.

Make millions and save the country ... Not a bad end-of-the-stick you'll have there ...

And, oh so such an appropriate way to celebrate the 4th of July.

Update

A Declaration The President Ignores

Update II

Bush and Cheney walk, too; Even as the president confesses that Scooter Libby engaged in a cover-up -- after all, that was the verdict -- he completes the ultimate obstruction of justice in the Plame affair.

Update III

David Halberstam: The History Boys
In the twilight of his presidency, George W. Bush and his inner circle have been feeding the press with historical parallels: he is Harry Truman - unpopular, besieged, yet ultimately to be vindicated - while Iraq under Saddam was Europe held by Hitler. To a serious student of the past, that's preposterous. Writing just before his untimely death, David Halberstam asserts that Bush's "history," like his war, is based on wishful thinking, arrogance, and a total disdain for the facts.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Minced Garlic - New Keith Olbermann Special Comment: Bush, Cheney should resign

“I didn’t vote for him,” an American once said, “But he’s my president, and I hope he does a good job.”

The man who said those 17 words—improbably enough—was the actor John Wayne

That's how Keith Olbermann kicked off another sterling Special Comment, "Olbermann: Bush, Cheney should resign", this evening.

Although, about half the country, back in 2000, wouldn't have come close to uttering The Duke's optimistic lament. And I don't think, as conservative as Wayne was, that he would have been hip to Bush & Cronies, LLP (Losers, Liers and Perjurers) stealing the election.

From that moment, we haven't seen such a speeding, downward crash since ABC Wide World of Sports last aired, and that poor ski jumper, Vinko Bogataj, who tumbled off the ramp week, after week.

Stealing the election was just the opening chip. There were bigger stakes to play for and the Bush Grindhouse, as we have now seen, stacked the deck, the big pots going to their no-bid friends, or the Pat Robertson college grads wearing the same color arm band.

Olbermann rattled off, gattling gun-style, a list of indictments against The Commutator Guy and Darth Vader, beginning with;

"I accuse you, Mr. Bush, of lying this country into war."

And ending with;

“And I accuse you now, Mr. Bush, of giving, through that Vice President, carte blanche to Mr. Libby, to help defame Ambassador Joseph Wilson by any means necessary, to lie to Grand Juries and Special Counsel and before a court, in order to protect the mechanisms and particulars of that defamation, with your guarantee that Libby would never see prison, and, in so doing, as Ambassador Wilson himself phrased it here last night, of becoming an accessory to the obstruction of justice

Something the right-wing dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds conveniently forget, when they clamor and froth that "there was no underlying crime" and "Libby wasn't the first to leak her name". And, of course, the throughly debunked squeaking that "she wasn't even undercover".

They forget that there was a victim in the felonies Libby was convicted of.

Her name is Valerie Plame.

She lost her job, her livelihood, which, ironically, was investigating and thwarting the very thing that The Commander Guy lied about in getting us mired in Iraq - Weapons of Mass Destruction.

And, in yet, an unending display of balls, The Commander Guy made a joke out of it.

So while The Decider Guy was mouthing off the now-famous 16-words, and Cheney was getting sucked-off by Tim Russert, boasting of Iraqi's role in Sept. 11th, and Condi was orgasming about mushroom clouds, this same crew was plotting the destruction of one of their government colleagues for the purpose of not being outed as liars.

Olbermann wrapped up with the most wishful, optimistic hope since an 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to Santa Claus.

“It is nearly July 4th, Mr. Bush, the commemoration of the moment we Americans decided that rather than live under a King who made up the laws, or erased them, or ignored them—or commuted the sentences of those rightly convicted under them—we would force our independence, and regain our sacred freedoms.

We of this time—and our leaders in Congress, of both parties—must now live up to those standards which echo through our history: Pressure, negotiate, impeach—get you, Mr. Bush, and Mr. Cheney, two men who are now perilous to our Democracy, away from its helm.

For you, Mr. Bush, and for Mr. Cheney, there is a lesser task. You need merely achieve a very low threshold indeed. Display just that iota of patriotism which Richard Nixon showed, on August 9th, 1974.

Resign.

Who would of thunk it - That Nixon would actually have someone beneath him on the Worst President list.

Links

Read "Special Comment, Olbermann: Bush, Cheney should resign"

Video - Watch Keith Olbermann's "Special Comment: Bush, Cheney should resign"

Glenn Greenwald: "Lewis Libby owes his freedom to our corrupt political elite"

Dan Froomkin: "Obstruction of Justice, Continued"

New Barry Crimmins Essay - The Devil and Dick Cheney

Just in time for the long, long, holiday weekend.

A new essay from America's best satirist, Barry Crimmins, that is, oh, so, right on-the-money - even without the most current of events coming from the Bush Grindhouse.

It's a Cheneypalooza all unto itself!

Read Barry Crimmins' The Devil and Dick Cheney: A recently declassified communique from one evildoer to another

Visit Barry Crimmins' website

Other Barry Crimmins on The Garlic

You Got Away With It Once, Cheney, But We're Watching You ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll

Perhaps, it was the festive momentum of our recent Cheneypalooza, but, more likely, our Garlic Poll Voters know - despite The Commutation Guy's heinous actions yesterday - that Vice President Dick Cheney committed treason in the outing of covert CIA Agent Valerie Plame.

So, it may be that the CIA was less in the market for redemption, but rather letting Darth Vader know that they can pull off his mask at the drop of a illegal wiretap.

And Cheney has to think, with all the spooks and black bag ops - the ones off-the-books, operating without any official backing or cover - that the hardcore alliance doesn't take kindly to a bloated, over-reaching, wannabe-warrior exposing one of their own.

The Bush Grindhouse can bury and burn all the records and emails it wants.

These guys know payback and the Vice President will have to live out the rest of his days, never knowing when it will come, or from what direction.

In a warped way, we're sure the Vice President will appreciate and respect the secrecy of such action

The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll June 25 - July 2 2007

The CIA releasing its' "family jewels" probably has to do with ...

1. Not-so-subtle warning to Dick Cheney, to not expose any more covert agents Tally 36%

2. Needing to clean out files and storerooms, to make way for new, clandestine, black bag ops Tally 33%

3. CIA Director Col. Michael Hayden bucking for his own Medal of Freedom award Tally 22%

4. Hoping someone makes a movie about them, so they can collect royalties Tally 9%

This week’s Poll - Instead of giving Scooter Libby clemency, President Bush should have ...

Scroll up to the top right corner to place your vote

Monday, July 02, 2007

"What Did He Know and When Did He Know It" ... The Monday Massacre

"I respect the jury's verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison."

Well, it only took a few hours for The Commander Guy to become The Commutation Guy.

What a crock of shit!

A few minutes ago, Jeffrey Toobin on CNN called Libby getting "a very special brand of justice".

Our nation's leader just usurped a special prosecutor (Republican, no less), a sitting Judge (also Republican), a jury of HIS peers - 12, unbiased American citizens - and, just today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (also Republicans).

Not to mention the obvious conflict-of-interest.

Since it was Our Decider Guy, who gave, via the amended Executive Order 12958, Cheney the authority to declassify information at-will, and Cheney then used declassified information, instructing his minion Libby to go out and destroy Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson, we are now entering, eerily and sadly, 1973-Land, and, perhaps have to start asking THE QUESTION;

What Did He Know and When Did He Know It?

This is, and it is quite the understatement, a developing story.

Links

Bush Commutes Libby Prison Sentence

Statement by the President

TreasonGate - What Did Bush Know, And When Did He Know It?

Update

Firedoglake: BREAKING: MSNBC Reports Bush Commutes Libby’s Sentence

Think Progress: BREAKING: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence

Update II

Fitzgerald Questions Whether Equal Justice Prevails in Libby Case

Speaker Pelosi: A Betrayal of Trust of the American People

Jane Hamsher: Outrage

Keith Olbermann Video

Wilson and Plame: We're outraged!

House of scandal

Legal ramifications of Libby pardon