Filed under: 2-party system, CIA, Dick Cheney, FBI, federal crime, George Bush, Henry Waxman, House, House Subcommittee, John Conyers, Karl Rove, left right paradigm, Media, Michael Mukasey, MSNBC, Nancy Pelosi, neocons, Neolibs, Valerie Plame, White House | Tags: contempt, linda sanchez, Subpoena
Rove refuses subpoena, leaves country
Nick Juliano
Raw Story
July 10, 2008
Update: Conyers gives Rove 5 days to comply before pursuing ’all available options’
Former White House adviser Karl Rove has ignored a subpoena from congressional Democrats to testify about allegations of political pressure at the Justice Department and his alleged role in the prosecution of a former governor of Alabama.
A House subcommittee voted 7-1 Thursday to reject Rove’s claim that executive privilege freed him from an obligation to testify, leaving open the possibility the Republican political guru will be held in contempt.
During the hearing, Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) revealed that Rove was out of the country. According to the liberal blog ThinkProgress, Rove’s lawyer’s confirmed that Rove was out of the country on a trip scheduled long before the subpoena was sent.
Karl Rove failed to appear before the House Judiciary subcommittee. His lawyer revealed that he was out of the country.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Wax..ontempt_unless_0708.html
Pelosi Opposing Contempt for Rove
http://noworldsystem.com/2008/07/09/pelosi-opposing-contempt-for-rove/
Filed under: 9/11, 9/11 hijackers, 9/11 Truth, Abu Zubaydah, CIA, CNN, Congress, CPAC, Department of justice, Detainee, Dick Cheney, DOJ, Extraordinary Rendition, George Bush, Guantanamo, Habeas Corpus, Impeach, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Michael Mukasey, neocons, Torture, War Crimes, War On Terror, waterboarding, White House, Wolf Blitzer
Cheney: ‘Damn right’ I back Bush use of waterboarding
Raw Story
February 7, 2008
http://youtube.com/watch?v=w2aNncCkSgY
The controversial interrogation technique of waterboarding was a hot topic in a House Judiciary Committee hearing today, at which Attorney General Michael Mukasey said the Justice Department would not investigate the legality of the actions of U.S. interrogators on terror detainees.
CNN’s Situation Room reports that Vice President Dick Cheney, an ardent defender of U.S. tactics in the war on terror, was “defiant” about the use of waterboarding on suspects in an appearance today at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.
Cheney said that he supported President Bush’s national security decisions, which included the approval of waterboarding along with other harsh interrogation tactics. “I’ve been proud to stand by [Bush], by the decisions he’s made,” said Cheney, who then asked aloud, “Would I support those decisions today?”
“You’re damn right I would,” he answered himself, to loud cheers.
CIA Chief: We Waterboarded
ABC News
February 5, 2008
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HnI-mu_l9AQ
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/feb2008/tort-f07.shtml
Filed under: 2008 Election, al-qaeda, bilderberg, Cintra, citigroup, colombia, Credit Suisse, Fred Thompson, global elite, Globalism, Goldman Sachs, GOP, Greg Abbott, Mexico, Michael Mukasey, money laundering, NAFTA Superhighway, neocons, North American Union, Pakistan, Rick Perry, Rudy Giuliani, Texas, Toll Roads, TTC, TxU, Vicente Fox | Tags: Cliff Kincaid, Gonzáles Parás, Greg Abbott, Grupo Modelo heiress María Asunción Aramburuzabala, Kohlberg, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Macquarie, Mary Peters, PAC, spain, Terri Hall, Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, Texas Pacific Group Hafiz Naseem, tony garza, TURF
The Ties That Bind Rick Perry & Rudy Giuliani
Aaron Dykes
JonesReport
December 14, 2007
As Texas Governor Rick Perry goes on the road to stump for Giuliani’s campaign, it is increasingly clear that the two figureheads not only share a penchant for presiding over thinly-veiled corruption, but do their presiding in the same globalist circles.
Perry’s appearance at the secretive Bilderberg meeting in 2007 gives credence to whispers about the Texas Governor becoming a GOP running mate alongside Giuliani, even as Perry denies interest in being VP. Bilderberg has a noted and well-deserved reputation as kingmaker.
Together, Rick Perry, as Governor, and Rudy Giuliani, as a named partner in the Houston-based Bracewell & Giuliani, have been instrumental in selling off Texas infrastructure and utilities while ushering in agents of globalism and (North American Union) regional control.
TRANS-TEXAS CORRIDOR
Giuliani’s law firm is heavily tied to Rick Perry’s Texas-style ‘Big Dig’– a highly contentious and very real Trans-Texas Corridor that has foreign firms building up on land seized in the face of opposition from both the state legislature and the people.
Bracewell & Giuliani is exclusively representing the Spanish-owned Cintra and essentially won the contract to build the first ever private toll road in Texas. The Online Journal refers to Bracewell & Giuliani as “the ‘guiding’ law firm on the privatization of Texas State Highway 121”
Cintra is further partnered with the Australian company Macquarie, who “previously acquired the business and assets of an investment bank known as Giuliani Capital Advisors,” according to Cliff Kincaid who further observes:
Terri Hall, founder and director of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF), notes that Giuliani clients with an interest in acquiring Texas roads and infrastructure have also invested in his presidential campaign. She comments, “This could explain why Giuliani has spent so much time fundraising in Texas. The monied proponents of the Trans-Texas Corridor, of which there are many, would like to see this man become President.“
Perry’s advocacy for the TTC has been unwavering and he has refused to back down even after the legislature passed a two-year moratorium. Perry called in U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters to lobby against the moratorium while publicly declaring that there is no alternative to toll roads (Peters has, of course, been present at a number of NAFTA super-highway meetings as well).
Bracewell & Giuliani gave Rick Perry $20,000 in PAC money in the 2006 cycle. Current Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott was also a partner in Bracewell & Giuliani, which Lobby Watch suggests was related to his run for office after stepping down from the Texas Supreme Court. He received $25,000 in PAC contributions in the 2006 cycle.
TxU BUYOUT
As we previously reported, the ‘largest ever’ buyout of TxU (now slashed from $45 billion to $32 billion) was managed by KKR, who are represented annually at Bilderberg by partner Henry Kravis.
“Energy Future bought TXU Corp. in a $32 billion leveraged buyout that closed in October. It was formed by Kohlberg, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., TPG, formerly Texas Pacific Group, and other investors,” reports the Dallas Morning News.
The deal stalled over environmental issues with TxU’s plans for new coal plants, but never faltered thanks to cheerleading by Rick Perry as well as personal appearances by Henry Kravis, who is known as a virtuoso in the world of leveraged buyouts (see Barbarians at the Gate which dramatizes his infamous high-priced buyout with R.J. Reynolds and also features a younger but no less-aged Fred Thompson).
Governor Perry was involved in facilitating the TxU buyout, including the issuance of an executive order to instigate fast-track approval for TxU plant deals:
“Last year, after private meetings with TXU executives, Perry fast-tracked the permitting process for TXU’s 11-plant expansion through an executive order, slashing the time frame in half, to six months….”
“The bottom line: Only Governor Perry and TXU, which stands to make a lot of money, are championing these plants.”
Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston (both deeply nested in Bilderberg) were also involved in the deal while Bracewell & Giuliani represented TxU (as they handle a number of energy companies). A number of criminal insider trading cases involving Pakistani financiers working inside these firms– including Hafiz Naseem– have already been prosecuted as a result of the buyout. Others, still under investigation, are potentially outstanding.
In fact, Hafiz Naseem, then a Credit Suisse investor, was defended by Bracewell & Giuliani’s Marc Mukasey, who is the son of U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Bracewell’s Mukasey commented that the “case is inference built on inference built on inference.” However, prosecutors were investigating other links to alleged inside trading that went as high as Pakistani Prime Minister Aziz, who is also a former Citigroup chairman. Investigators also believe there was a link to al Qaeda money laundering.
MEXICO
And what about Mexico? If a continent-wide merger is underway, it seems to coincide with the cozy relationship Perry and Vicente Fox had as contemporaries. As WND reports, the vision to expand the Corridor into Mexico is heavily discussed and well under way.
On May 24, Gonzáles Parás announced during his recent meetings in Austin, Perry had agreed the envisioned Trans North America Corridor would pass through Laredo and connect with San Antonio, just as Mexico ultimately planned to extend the superhighway south into Colombia.
Note also that the current U.S. ambassador to Mexico is none other than Bracewell & Giuliani partner Tony Garza (who is, incidentally, married to Mexico’s richest woman, billionaire Grupo Modelo heiress María Asunción Aramburuzabala).
What is the ‘North American Union’?
Filed under: 2008 Election, 9/11, Alberto Gonzales, Big Brother, FBI, George Bush, Jose Padilla, larry silverstein, Michael Mukasey, Patriot Act, Rudy Giuliani, Surveillance, War On Terror, World Trade Center
Attorney General Nominee: Pro-Patriot Act, Giuliani Campaign Advisor, Contributor
Also presided over Larry Silverstein WTC litigation
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
September 17, 2007
President Bush’s nominee to replace Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General has written op ed pieces and given speeches praising the virtues of the Patriot Act, and is also a contributor and legal advisor to Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign.
A brief scan of the bio of Michael B. Mukasey reveals some issues that have conservative groups concerned.
From Wikipedia:
In May 2004, while still a member of the judiciary, Judge Mukasey delivered a speech (which he converted into a Wall Street Journal opinion piece) that defended the Patriot Act; the piece also doubted that the FBI engaged in racial profiling of Arabs and criticized the American Library Association for condemning the Patriot Act but not taking a position on librarians imprisoned in Cuba.
Mukasey’s son, Marc L. Mukasey, leads the white-collar criminal defense practice in the New York office of Bracewell & Giuliani. The Mukaseys are justice advisers to Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign, with Mukasey himself also having made campaign contributions to Giuliani for president.
During his tenure on the bench, Mukasey presided over the criminal prosecution of Omar Abdel Rahman and El Sayyid Nosair, whom he sentenced to life in prison for a plot to blow up the United Nations and other Manhattan landmarks uncovered during an investigation into the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Mukasey also heard the trial of Jose Padilla, ruling that the U.S. citizen and alleged terrorist could be held as an enemy combatant, but was entitled to see his lawyers. Mukasey also was the judge in the litigation between developer Larry Silverstein and several insurance companies arising from the destruction of the World Trade Center, a case which ultimately ended with a federal court deciding that insurers owed a maximum of $4.6 billion, more than the $3.5 billion term of the insurance policy.
“He knows what it takes to fight this war [on terror] effectively,” Bush told the press today, referring to Mukasey’s experience in terrorism cases.
“Thirty-five years ago, our foreign adversaries saw widespread devastation as a deterrent. Today, our fanatical enemies see it as a divine fulfillment,” Mukasey said, outlining his intentions as Attorney General.
Bruce Fein, a former deputy attorney general in the Reagan administration, has said Mukasey is “not the right person for the job.”
“I do not believe, despite certainly substantial credentials, that he has the national stature and strength in Congress to resist White House overtures to insist that he bend the law to assist the political agenda,” said Fein, a constitutional and international lawyer with Bruce Fein & Associates and the Lichfield Group.
Other conservative groups have also voiced concern over Mukasey’s record on abortion.
Related News:
Bird Cage Liner Changed, Illegal Spying Stays
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/august2007/280807_bird_cage.htm
Gonzales Helped Cover-Up Bush DUI
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Paper_details….sty_0730.html
Exclusive: For Alberto Gonzales, a Decade of Scandals, with a Child Molestation Cover-Up to Boot
http://www.realinsidenews.com/governmentnews007.html
Rove’s good-bye kiss: Critics of ‘clear-eyed’ Bush will be wrong like critic of Vietnam war
White House spokesman Tony Snow stepping down
Gonzales Contradicts Prior Statements, Confirms Existence Of Other Spying Programs
Attorney General Gonzales steps down
Rove Going, Executive Privilege Staying
Keith Olbermann on Karl Rove Resigning
Payback Time: FBI Raids Home of Suspected NSA Leaker
FBI raids DOJ attorney’s home in search for warrantless wiretap information leaker
Gonzales: I’m Sticking Around To Fix Problems
Rove blamed for Attorney firings in Gonzales hearing; Specter raises prospect of impeachment
Lawsuit Against Wiretaps Rejected