Dick Cheney’s crime stories

Medea Benjamin at Common Cause argues that Dick Cheney's new book, In My; Time, should be sold in the "Crime" section of bookstores. Here's her first two reasons (of ten):

1. Cheney lied; Iraqis and U.S. soldiers died. As Vice President, Cheney lied about (nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein’s (nonexistent) ties to the 9/11 attack as a way to justify a war with a country that never attacked us. Thanks to Cheney and company, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and over 4,000 American soldiers perished in a war that should never have been fought. 2. Committing War Crimes in Iraq. During the course of the Iraq war, the Bush/Cheney administration violated the Geneva Conventions by targeting civilians, journalists, hospitals, and ambulances, and using illegal weapons, including white phosphorous, depleted uranium, and a new type of napalm.

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Since we need to amend the Constitution anyway . . .

Perhaps we ought to follow the example of the government of Taiwan, and carve out two new branches of government.   In addition to three branches of government matching the American branches of the Executive, Judicial and Executive, the Taiwanese have two additional branches of government: 1. The Control Yuan is an investigatory agency that monitors the other branches of government . . . No member of the Control Yuan can hold another public office or profession while serving in the branch (according to Article 103 of the constitution), and members must be able to perform absent of partisan control or influence.  Wouldn't it be helpful to have such an independent branch of government to root out corruption and prohibit pork? 2. The Examination Yuan is in charge of validating the qualification of civil servants in the Republic of China.  Wouldn't it be interesting to see whether which of the candidates currently campaigning for President of the U.S. could pass a civil service test or, better yet, the U.S. Foreign Service Examination.

Continue ReadingSince we need to amend the Constitution anyway . . .

Trillions in secret loans by the Fed reveal massive welfare for too-big-to-fail banks

Thanks to incorruptible Senator Bernie Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, the Federal Reserve has been forced to reveal information regarding loans that it tried hard to keep secret.   Here's what we are finding, according to IPS:

The Fed provided loans to JP Morgan Chase bank to acquire Bear Stears, a failed investment firm; provided loans to keep American International Group (AIG), a multinational insurance corporation, afloat; extended lending commitments to Bank of America and Citigroup; and purchased risky mortgage-backed securities to get them off private banks’ books. Overall, the greatest borrowing was done by a small number of institutions. Over the three years, Citigroup borrowed a total of 2.5 trillion dollars, Morgan Stanley borrowed two trillion; Merryll Lynch, which was acquired by Bank of America, borrowed 1.9 trillion; and Bank of America borrowed 1.3 trillion.
I'd call it welfare for the too-big-to-fail. Phase One of the bailout was to address a legitimate liquidity crisis. Phase Two went far beyond this, and was kept secret because the public would never have consented to the above actions Here's how Economist Randall Wray sums up Phase Two:
"But then it turned to phase two, which was to try to resolve problems of insolvency by increasing Uncle Sam’s stake in the banksters’ fiasco. That never should have been done. You close down fraudsters, period. The Fed and FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Commission) should have gone into the biggest banks immediately, replaced all top management, and should have started to resolve them," Wray said.

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Low bar fail on political gift-giving

Look what passed as necessity for Condoleeza Rice:

In 2008, Rice historically became the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit Tripoli since 1953. She and Gaddafi are reported to have enjoyed a private dinner, during which a State Department report indicates the Libyan leader also showered his visitor with an estimated $212,000 worth of gifts -- including a diamond ring in a wooden box, a lute and an accompanying DVD, and a locket with Gaddafi's own picture inside.

Also included among the gifts: "Wonder-Womanesque wristbands" and an autographed copy of his revolutionary Green Book with an inscription that expressed his "respect and admiration," according to The New York Times.

There are, of course, strict rules about the acceptance of gifts by public officials but when it comes to foreign leaders, diplomatic concerns take priority, as "non-acceptance would cause embarrassment to donor and U.S. Government."

[More . . . ]

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Obama = Corrupt

Glenn Greenwald has written a blistering article describing the decision of the Obama Administration to put pressure on the New York Attorney General to sign on to a deal to immunize big mortgage banks from criminal prosecution in return for meager civil fines. This is a terrible position for the President to take, but it's not surprising given Obama's track record:

[Yves Smith's] entire analysis should be read.  The President -- who kicked off his campaign vowing to put an end to "the era of Scooter Libby justice" -- will stand before the electorate in 2012 having done everything in his power to shield top Bush officials from all accountability for their crimes and will have done the same for Wall Street banks, all while continuing to preside over the planet's largest Prison State . . . for ordinary Americans convicted even of trivial offenses, particularly (though not only) from the War on Drugs he continues steadfastly to defend.  And as Sam Seder noted this morning, none of this has anything to do with Congress and cannot be blamed on the Weak Presidency, the need to compromise, or the "crazy" GOP.

The lack of decent compensation for victims is the tip of the iceberg. The problem is the the Obama Administration has decided to shield the banks from being investigated at all. No bank executives will face prison time despite immense damage that they've done to the U.S. economy.  In short, Obama is helping to sweep this entire sordid economy-crushing scandal under the rug.
Aside from robosigning, which was all over the funny papers last year, the Administration and the AGs have made sure they have no facts. A member of the Administration who was involved in the settlement talks confirmed what we have long said on this blog: there was no investigation of any kind, despite Iowa attorney general Tom MIller’s lies claims to the contrary. They didn’t even bother getting to first base, namely making document requests.
Greenwald cites to Joseph Stilitz in his article. I followed that link to this sobering paragraph:
Growing inequality, combined with a flawed system of campaign finance, risks turning America’s legal system into a travesty of justice. Some may still call it the “rule of law,” but it would not be a rule of law that protects the weak against the powerful. Rather, it would enable the powerful to exploit the weak.

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