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 Cheney and Gonzales indicted
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the_ignored
SFN Addict

2562 Posts

Posted - 11/19/2008 :  16:15:15  Show Profile Send the_ignored a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Here's the story:

A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on state charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County's federal detention centers.


Cheney's indictment on a charge of engaging in an organized criminal activity criticizes the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees because of his link to the prison companies.

Megan Mitchell, a spokeswoman for Cheney, declined to comment on Tuesday, saying that the vice president had not yet received a copy of the indictment.

The indictment accuses Gonzales of using his position while in office to stop an investigation in 2006 into abuses at one of the privately-run prisons.

Gonzales' attorney, George Terwilliger III, said in a written statement, "This is obviously a bogus charge on its face, as any good prosecutor can recognize. Hopefully, competent Texas authorities will take steps to reign in this abuse of the criminal justice system."


It'll be interesting to watch, but I doubt anything will come of it...one would think that there'd be a bunch more charges that could be laid at the feet of those people.


>From: enuffenuff@fastmail.fm
(excerpt follows):
> I'm looking to teach these two bastards a lesson they'll never forget.
> Personal visit by mates of mine. No violence, just a wee little chat.
>
> **** has also committed more crimes than you can count with his
> incitement of hatred against a religion. That law came in about 2007
> much to ****'s ignorance. That is fact and his writing will become well
> know as well as him becoming a publicly known icon of hatred.
>
> Good luck with that fuckwit. And Reynold, fucking run, and don't stop.
> Disappear would be best as it was you who dared to attack me on my
> illness knowing nothing of the cause. You disgust me and you are top of
> the list boy. Again, no violence. Just regular reminders of who's there
> and visits to see you are behaving. Nothing scary in reality. But I'd
> still disappear if I was you.

What brought that on? this. Original posting here.

Another example of this guy's lunacy here.

Kil
Evil Skeptic

USA
13477 Posts

Posted - 11/19/2008 :  16:32:12   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Kil's Homepage  Send Kil an AOL message  Send Kil a Yahoo! Message Send Kil a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I hope this is just the beginning. Oh, how I hope that it is...

Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.

Why not question something for a change?

Genetic Literacy Project
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filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 11/19/2008 :  17:31:34   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Sweet! But I wonder what will come of it; we are dealing with a couple of well-supported scumbags here, who know too much, and I fear there might be presidential pardons in the works even as we speak.




"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

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Paulos23
Skeptic Friend

USA
446 Posts

Posted - 11/19/2008 :  18:07:28   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Paulos23's Homepage Send Paulos23 a Private Message  Reply with Quote
The indictment has not been signed by the judge yet, so don't hold your breath.

You can go wrong by being too skeptical as readily as by being too trusting. -- Robert A. Heinlein

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. -- Aldous Huxley
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Simon
SFN Regular

USA
1992 Posts

Posted - 11/19/2008 :  21:49:44   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Simon a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Man; these guys are even worst scumbags than I thought

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996
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chaloobi
SFN Regular

1620 Posts

Posted - 11/20/2008 :  05:56:54   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send chaloobi a Yahoo! Message Send chaloobi a Private Message  Reply with Quote
If this were a serious indictment, Bush would pardon them anyway. I can't wait to see all the pardons that asshole writes. Can he pre-emptively pardon people, before charges are even leveled?

-Chaloobi

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filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 11/20/2008 :  07:11:35   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Everybody relax; ain't nothin gonna happen, ain't nothin gonna change. This is turning into just another, judicial clown show.
Arraignment set for Cheney, Gonzales in prisoner abuse caseAssociated Press
Published: Thursday November 20, 2008

CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
AP News

Nov 19, 2008 21:25 EST

A Texas judge has set a Friday arraignment for Vice President Dick Cheney, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and others named in indictments accusing them of responsibility for prisoner abuse in a federal detention center.
And then, don'tcha know:
An attorney for the private prison operator The GEO Group filed motions accusing Guerra of "prosecutorial vindictiveness."

One motion said Guerra had hijacked "the grand jury process and disregarded the requirements of the Code of Criminal Procedure designed to protect defendants' due process rights."

Some attorneys argued that Banales may not have the authority to schedule an arraignment because the indictments were invalid. One lawyer said Guerra never should have been allowed to present the cases to the grand jury because at least four of the indictments deal with people who had some role in the investigation of his office last year.
And it gets better, or worse, depending on your point of view. The best we peons can expect is a few laughs and a little embarrassment for Gonzie and the swine Cheney.

Hope I'm wrong, but don't think I am.




"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

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Ricky
SFN Die Hard

USA
4907 Posts

Posted - 11/20/2008 :  09:48:44   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send Ricky an AOL message Send Ricky a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by chaloobi

If this were a serious indictment, Bush would pardon them anyway. I can't wait to see all the pardons that asshole writes. Can he pre-emptively pardon people, before charges are even leveled?


Ford did so with Nixon.

Why continue? Because we must. Because we have the call. Because it is nobler to fight for rationality without winning than to give up in the face of continued defeats. Because whatever true progress humanity makes is through the rationality of the occasional individual and because any one individual we may win for the cause may do more for humanity than a hundred thousand who hug their superstitions to their breast.
- Isaac Asimov
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard

USA
5310 Posts

Posted - 11/20/2008 :  10:09:39   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Gorgo a Private Message  Reply with Quote
The other question will Bush try to preemptively pardon himself?

I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter



Edited by - Gorgo on 11/20/2008 10:10:07
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Simon
SFN Regular

USA
1992 Posts

Posted - 11/20/2008 :  10:17:35   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Simon a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Can he?

I guess, an interesting strategy for the scumbags would be to have friends accusing them so that they could go through the indicted/forgiven cycle quickly, before W. leaves office rather than risking somebody else found out after.
You can be charged once for the same crime after all.

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard

USA
5310 Posts

Posted - 11/20/2008 :  10:26:24   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Gorgo a Private Message  Reply with Quote
No, I don't think it's legal, but that has nothing to do with anything when it comes to Bush. Or most U.S. presidents for that matter.

I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter



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Dude
SFN Die Hard

USA
6891 Posts

Posted - 11/20/2008 :  15:31:55   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Dude a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Read a piece by a constitutional law scholar that concludes W does have the authority to pardon himself.

See if I can find a link later.


Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson

"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin

Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth
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Simon
SFN Regular

USA
1992 Posts

Posted - 11/21/2008 :  10:36:37   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Simon a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Can Obama revert the decision and de-pardon the scumbags?

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996
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Randy
SFN Regular

USA
1990 Posts

Posted - 11/21/2008 :  15:17:30   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Randy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
WTF?!.....Here's Friday's update....
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/gen/ap/TX_Cheney_Indicted.html

"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."

"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson
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Simon
SFN Regular

USA
1992 Posts

Posted - 11/21/2008 :  16:08:23   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Simon a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Apparently, Guerra was indicted under a bogus charge and the judge kept the indictment for 18 months, long enough to keep him from getting elected and probably trying to paralyse legal actions so that not to undermine the GOP.

No he is moving as fast as he can to dismiss charges against Cheney and co.


I'd say Guerra is paranoid, but in this case, paranoia is the correct response.

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996
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HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts

Posted - 11/22/2008 :  02:39:58   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I think what we're really seeing is far less a serious indictment of Cheney and Gonzales, and much more an example of local politics played out "to the knife" with typical Texas flair and theatrics. Good theater, though!


Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.
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