nightly nolo 08.27.07 — gonzales resigns; and bush spins the torture-approver like a gyro-scope. . .

since you tube is being sorta’
quirky tonight — as, no doubt
all the other would-be amateur
video pundits file their “alberto resigns“
reports — i’ll try blogger’s
new BUGGY video-upload button — well,
here goes nuthin‘! yep, it was. . .

“nuthin. . .” — not working — here
is the more-reliable youtube version:

i guess that will work. . .

will bradley schlozman comply tomorrow — august 28, 2007?

tomorrow, bradley schlozman — who recently
resigned from his position in the justice de-
partment, after plainly lying about his role,
and his culpability, in various matters now
under investigation by congress — is due to
give his written explanations for his self-
contradictary testimony before the senate
judiciary committee on june 5, 2007.

take a look at the bolded portions:

August 23,2007

Mr. Bradley J. Schlozman
c/o Executive Office for United States Attorneys
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 2242
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear Mr. Schlozman:

According to news reports, you have confirmed that you resigned last week from the Department of Justice, Yet, the Judiciary Committee is still waiting for your responses to written questions from Committee Members following your June 5 testimony at the Committee’s hearing on “Preserving Prosecutorial Independence: Is the Department of Justice Politicizing the Hiring and Firing ofU,S, Attorneys?-Part V.” These responses were due June 28, nearly two months ago.

In addition, during your appearance before the Committee, you testified about your preparation for the hearing, the unprecedented U.S. attorney replacements, the use of partisan considerations in career hiring, and your role as the interim U.S, Attorney and while at the Civil Rights Division in pressing certain cases in connection with recent elections. Your answers to questions made clear the importance of certain emails and other documents the Committee has still not received from the Department of Justice.

Your answers and these documents are especially important after you appeared to mislead the Committee and the public about your decision to file an election eve lawsuit in direct conflict with longstanding Justice Department policy. Despite testifying at least nine times at the hearing that you were directed to file this suit by the Public Integrity section, you sent a letter a week after the hearing that you were not, in fact, directed to do so. I asked you repeatedly about this case at the hearing because of concerns that it was done to use law enforcement power improperly to affect the outcome of the election, which is the reason the Department instituted the policy as a safeguard against such manipulation.

The Committee has authorized subpoenas, which I have not issued, for the information you have failed to provide. Please send your written responses to the Committee, including any and all requested documents, no later than August 28, to avoid any further action to compel them.

Sincerely,

alberto gonzales resigns effective september 17 — chertoff to be nominated by bush as attorney general?

UPDATED — FOR VIDEO!

‘berto resigns; bush spins!

and, all in a convenient 1:25 package!

do take a look!

now, file this under either — depending
on how you see yourself — take your pick:

if you are an optimist — “a good start“.

if you are a pessimist — “too little; too late“.

chertoff, eh?

what are the chances the
senate will approve him?

UPDATED: some senate sources
now say bush will not nominate
michael chertoff. but actually, who
cares? whomever bush picks will
likely be a crony, and thus will
likely not win senate confirmation.

whomever he picks will serve as an
interim — until the 2008 election
outcomes are known. . .

the small chance that bush would pick
someone with integrity — like patrick
fitzgerald — is the only chance for a
quick confirmation. and it is plainly
not in bush or cheney’s interest, given
their own clear wrong-doing, to pick any-
one with integrity, or anyone with independence.

so, my best guess is that we will see an
interim u.s. attorney — an insider — serve
lamely, like a wounded duck — until novemeber 2008.

and so, what are the chances anyone
will be held to account for
torture, warrantless wiretapping
of wholly-innocent americans, and
the firing of u.s. attorneys for
refusing to prosecute cases to achieve
karl rove’s “math” [political
outcomes, not responsible prosecutions,
to benefit the republicans]?

slim, to very slim. . .

what will happen, now?

let’s hear from senator patrick leahy:

August 27, 2007Under this Attorney General and this President, the Department of Justice suffered a severe crisis of leadership that allowed our justice system to be corrupted by political influence. It is a shame, and it is the Justice Department, the American people and the dedicated professionals of our law enforcement community who have suffered most from it.

The obligations of the Justice Department and its leaders are to the Constitution, the rule of law and the American people, not to the political considerations of this or any White House. The Attorney General’s resignation reinforces what Congress and the American people already know — that no Justice Department should be allowed to become a political arm of the White House, whether occupied by a Republican or a Democrat.

The troubling evidence revealed about this massive breach is a lesson to those in the future who hold these high offices, so that law enforcement is never subverted in this way again. I hope the Attorney General’s decision will be a step toward getting to the truth about the level of political influence this White House wields over the Department of Justice and toward reconstituting its leadership so that the American people can renew their faith in its role as our leading law enforcement agency.

and, chairman conyers had this to say:

It is a sad day when the Attorney General of the United States resigns amid a cloud of suspicion that the system of justice has been manipulated for political purposes. More than accountability, we need answers.Unfortunately, the continued stonewalling of the White House in the U.S. Attorney scandal has deprived the American people of the truth. If the power of the prosecutor has been misused in the name of partisanship, we deserve a full airing of the facts. The responsibility to uncover these facts is still on the Congress, and the Judiciary Committee in particular.