RED FLAG ALERT: Telecom Immunity is a distraction from Telecom Prosecution! Oh, BUSH too!

[L. Coyote]

If you prosecute the telecoms, you have to go after the people asking them to commit the crimes too.

All the antics surrounding telecom immunity seem to be a giant noise machine establishing the bar
of what the dialogue topic is. Well, the topic should be, if we know crimes were committed,
WHAT THE HELL are the cops doing? Shouldn't there be some criminal procedure, instead of
constant begging for immunity until the staute of limitations expires.

WHAT THE HELL is going on? Has law been suspended inside the Beltway?

And, why isn't there another, greater noise machine shouting down the crooks?

So what if Big Oil's Corrupt Bastards Club installed a Junta in the US Executive?
Let's take complete control of the dialogue, and start asking the right questions.
Apparently, the White House cannot answer them to the satisfaction of the House!

MORE:

TELECOM COVER-UP? Nacchio and Qwest: Another Political Prosecution?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2935817

Are ALL COMMUNICATIONS routed overseas to circumvent US law and the Constitution?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2245762

[spanone]

1. i believe that law has been suspended inside the beltway

taking impeachment off the table is like the police telling criminals there will be no arrests....

[Subdivisions]

2. Has anyone or any group gone down to the DC and Park

Police and filed a criminal complaint against any of these people. Surely the local police have the jurisdiction to arrest and detain for investigation of crimes, do they not?

[hootinholler]

5. I've often wondered if we drew up a solid complaint list...

And then thousands of people filed it with the FBI, what would happen?

-Hoot

[L. Coyote]

12. If you offer them evidence of election irregularities, they do not reply. SAYS IT ALL!

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

3. Here's something. The judge who presided over Nacchio's case used an escort service. Funny, huh.

"allegedly"

Allegations against Spitzer don't affect Nacchio case, experts say
By Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Wednesday, March 12, 2008

First, 9News reported last week that Chief Federal Judge Edward Nottingham, who presided over Nacchio's insider-trading criminal trial, may have been a customer of an escort service.

Now, New York Governor and former prosecutor Eliot Spitzer, who once sued Nacchio in connection with stock sales, allegedly was a client of a pricey escort service.

"You can't help but note the irony that two of the people most responsible for Joe Nacchio's justice-system problems are almost simultaneously in the news with alleged ethical problems of their own," former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman said Tuesday. "Somewhere in New Jersey, a man (Nacchio) is probably smiling."

But as Silverman and other experts point out, none of the past week's events detract from the legal actions against Nacchio.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/mar/12/allegations-against-spitzer-dont-affect-nacchio/

edited title, didn't mean to post that way.

[L. Coyote]

14. TELECOM COVER-UP? Nacchio and Qwest: Another Political Prosecution?

Chief federal judge investigated for alleged involvement with prostitutes
3/7/2008 - http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=87702

DENVER – 9Wants to Know has learned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit is investigating Chief U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham for the third time in the past year.

He is being investigated for improper judicial conduct after his full name and personal cell phone number appeared on a list of clients from a Denver prostitution business.

The business called Denver Players or Denver Sugar was shut down in January after IRS and Denver Police investigators served search warrants at the brothel on Fillmore Street.

Nottingham ascended to chief judge in 2007 and presided over the insider trading trial of Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio. ........

-----
from: TELECOM COVER-UP? Nacchio and Qwest: Another Political Prosecution?
Feb-28-08 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2935817

[seasat]

4. Yep, the telecoms likely already have indemnification agreements

I posted this about a week ago. It rang true to me and is a important issue that is not being covered. Kevin Drum posted about this on his blog. According to lawyer that tries wiretapping cases, the telecoms get an agreement from the government that makes the government responsible for any damages resulting from a law suit for any government requested wire tapping. He stated that this was standard practice. They have no liability other than getting verdict against them. He also stated that these agreements are probably classified. The telecoms will just state that they were following orders from the US government and not suffer too much in publicity or costs. You're right. The real issue is that it'll lead to us finding out the extent of Shrub Inc's abuse of power.

[wildbilln864]

6. I'm sick of these adds...

playing here saying to call house reps and tell them to pass the immunity! :grr: You guys seeing those to I would assume? :shrug:

[lonestarnot]

11. They are playing here in AZ over and over.

[wildbilln864]

13. someone needs to pay for the counter ad...

IMHO. I would if I could. The way it's presented is so deceptive. The war on terra is a hoax. Actually it's a war of terror on us. Fear, fear, fear...

[L. Coyote]

15. Yes, TELECOM IMMUNITY ads on CNN cable today!

Who is footing the bill?

[seemslikeadream]

7. ..

[bleever]

8. I think this is a big, big story.

If the House keeps their backbone, it threatens to be the rock that fatally cracks the keel of this rotting hulk of a presidency.

[lonestarnot]

17. Please let them hang tough!

[Norrin Radd]

9. kr

[Mabus]

10. Something else to add to the mix

Jim Slattery, a telecom lobbyist for the D.C./K Street firm Wiley Rein since he left politics in Kansas, is considering running for Senate from Kansas. Now why would a current Virgina resident, with a lucrative career as one of the nation's top telecom lobbyists, want to leave it all behind to run for Senator? Could it be that he has interests other than being a good public servant?

Wiley Rein & Fielding Rated Top Telecommunications Lobbyists
June 17, 2004

Washington, DC—The Hill, a newspaper covering Congress and its members, has rated Wiley Rein & Fielding’s Richard E. Wiley, Susan Buck, Mimi Dawson and Jim Slattery as top telecommunications lobbyists. The rating is based on conversations with the major players on K Street, congressional staffers and other Washington insiders.

Of the group the paper said, "Nearly every telecom lobbyist in town recognized former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Richard Wiley and his group as the top outside experts on telecommunications policy. His legislative team includes former FCC Commissioner and Senate Commerce Committee aide Dawson, one-time Sprint lobbyist Buck, and former Rep. Slattery (D-Kan.), a 12-year member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee."
http://www.wileyrein.com/news_release.cfm?press_release_id=1245

Here's what a more recent quote about Wiley Rein's telecom lobbyist, how powerful they are and where some of their past employees are working now:

To critics who would accuse him of selling out the very public-interest safeguards he helped put in place as F.C.C. chairman during the Ford administration, Mr. Wiley says simply that his policy views are now different because the industry is different.

***

But his vantage point, as the managing partner of Wiley Rein & Fielding for the last 20 years, has changed as well. The firm has the most enviable list of clients in the field. It has supplied more lawyers to the important telecommunications posts in the Bush administration than any other firm, and it is perceived to be the best-connected law practice in the field.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9902E3D71530F931A35755C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Talk about being connected. How much more influence would they have if one of their top telecom lobbyists made it to the Senate? Would Slattery turn his back on the firm that has employed him since he got trounced in his failed bid for Kansas Governor in 1994? Or will he use his Senate seat to help protect his former clients?

fwiw, I don't like Slattery. When he was representing Kansas in the House he helped with legislation for a trafficway project to pave over pristine wetlands that once belonged to Haskell and which are still being used by students at Haskell Indian Nations University. He worked with Bob Dole (whose wife Elizabeth was Sec. of Transportation at the time) to get legislation through both the House and the Senate.

Not surprisingly, the trafficway (the South Lawrence Trafficway, a.k.a. the "SLT") is back on the table in Kansas and is badly in need of financing. The developers want their road (and many of them would like to shut down Haskell). I may sound tinfoil but it is just too convenient for Slattery (whose son is running for a state legislative office this year) to want to return to Kansas. One of the reasons (some misguided) Kansans are excited about Slattery returning and running for the Senate is because he can raise money. Well, duh. When you accept contributions from local developers and the telecom industry, of course it is easy to raise money.

[L. Coyote]

16. Thanks for this. Lobbyists as Bush appointees is a real sell-out to special interests.

"the foxes are guarding the foxes, and the middle-class hens are getting plucked."
from: 30 U.S. attorneys investigate BILKING BILLIONS, Medicare, Medicaid, Military’s Healthcare
May-13-07 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x877011

http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/04/05/24.php

To understand why government policies affecting healthcare, drug safety, food safety and the environment appear to promote industry interests at the expense of public safety and health, the Denver Post has investigated the administration's top regulatory officials (excerpt below). Anne Mulkern found that 100 top government regulators appointed by President Bush are advocates for the industries they are supposed to regulate.

"In at least 20 cases, those former industry advocates have helped their agencies write, shape or push for policy shifts that benefit their former industries. They knew which changes to make because they had pushed for them as industry advocates."

..........

Bush's embrace of lobbyists marks a key difference because it allows "those who are affected by the regulations to determine what the ground rules should be," said David Cohen, co-director of the Advocacy Institute, which helps teach nonprofits how to lobby in Washington.

While previous Republican presidents hired lobbyists, "the Bush administration has made it rise in geometric proportions," Cohen said, meaning Bush is "capturing the instruments of government and using them for the ends" that favor Bush's political supporters.

"In the Bush administration," said U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., "the foxes are guarding the foxes, and the middle-class hens are getting plucked."

..................

======================
Advocates turned regulators:



======================
Alliance for Human Research Protection
AHRP is a national network of lay people and professionals dedicated to advancing responsible and ethical medical research practices, to ensure that the human rights, dignity and welfare of human subjects are protected, and to minimize the risks associated with such endeavors.

[Mabus]

19. I forgot to mention that Sprint is pretty big in KC

They have their Sprint World HQ in Overland Park, KS, a suburb of KC. http://www.sprint.com/hr/worldheadquarters.html

Wonder who will be donating to Slattery's campaign as well as the campaign of his kid?

[lonestarnot]

18. I hope he gets crushed.

[Mabus]

20. So do I

I lived most of my life in Kansas. I've been battling the trafficway for 22 years now. Slattery was one of the main instigators of the trafficway and at one time suggested that Massachusetts Street (the main street through downtown) be extended through the middle of the Haskell campus so it could connect with the proposed trafficway. This would have split the Haskell campus in half and eventually given the feds a reason to shut it down completely. We went to federal court to stop the trafficway in the late 90's. We won that court case. The next year the feds cut Haskell's budget.

My tribe, the Southern Cheyenne-Arapaho, were the first full bloods to attend Haskell when it was an Indian Industrial Training School. My tribe was given the choice: give us your children or starve. This was during the era of "kill the Indian, save the man." A relative of mine was the first child to die at Haskell. He was 6 months old. He and over one other children are buried on that campus. The BIA admitted that there may be over 1,000 children who died while they attended Haskell that are buried in those wetlands south of campus.

Over the years Haskell has struggled to stay alive. Right now, Haskell is a fully accredited four year college and is still growing. World-class athletes like Jim Thorpe and Billy Mills have attended the school. It produced some of the Commanche and Navajo Code Talkers and many Indian leaders over the years. My nephew is currently a student at Haskell. My mother, my brothers and a lot of my relatives have attended Haskell over the years.



The SLT was one of Slattery's pet projects. Making sure that Slattery is not elected as a Senator is now one of mine. I know Slattery is a Democrat but he is the type of Democrat who places power over people.

I have fought the trafficway for over 20 years. I will not let greedy developers and their politicians pave over the graves of children who were taken from their families without a fight. I am not going to let them destroy Haskell. Slattery will help destroy Haskell and the future of many Native Americans.

[L. Coyote]

21. That could happen in a Red state with a candidate so linked to one corporate interest.

[Marr]

22. You know, that's an excellent point. This should be in court right now.

They can beg for immunity all they like on the side, but it doesn't change the fact that the spying is illegal right now. We don't postpone murder cases because the defendant would like to spend 3 years arguing that Congress should grant him immunity.