VIDEO: Bybee could face impeachment as a result of DoJ report

By GottaLaff

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Light at the end of the proverbial tunnel:

After a four-year probe, the Department of Justice has finally come out with its report on the torture memos–and it seems like they won’t be recommending prosecuting the lawyers who helped write them. But Michael Isikoff, the veteran investigative correspondent for Newsweek — says the report will be a bombshell and could recommend the impeachment of Bush White House counsel Jay Bybee.

Good, good, and good. But here's the part that stood out to me last night, as I watched the Tee Vee Machine:

Additionally, Isikoff emphasized that the ethics division’s recommendation of no criminal charges isn’t decisive.

The “no criminal prosecutions headline that is getting a lot of attention tonight — I’m not sure that’s quite as significant as people think,” he said. “The office of professional responsibility is the ethics unit. It’s not the criminal division of the Justice Department. They don’t make decisions on criminal prosecutions and there’s an entire separate track of potential criminal investigations flowing from this as we reported this week in Newsweek an ongoing criminal investigation into the CIA destruction of tapes and e-mails in this report could well shed light for the criminal division so I don’t think this is by any means over yet.”

I haven't heard one peep from any of the punditiots about this. Even Rachel followed right up by going back to her frustration over the "slaps on the wrist" issue. That puzzled me. My ears perked right up after hearing Isikoff's comments as stated above. That glimmer of hope was what all I needed... for now.

BREAKING: A.G. Holder "is seriously considering" a torture investigation.

By GottaLaff

On Rachel Maddow's show right now:

Holder is not at all settled on the White House conclusions about prosecuting CIA (interrogators) officers OR officials.

Holder "is seriously considering" a torture investigation.

Michael Isikoff is reporting. Here's an excerpt from his article in Newsweek:

But the Obama administration is not off the hook. Though administration officials declared that CIA interrogators who followed Justice's legal guidance on torture would not be prosecuted, that does not mean the inquiries are over. Senior Justice Department lawyers and other advisers, who declined to be identified discussing a sensitive subject, say Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. has discussed naming a senior prosecutor or outside counsel to review whether CIA interrogators exceeded legal boundaries--and whether Bush administration officials broke the law by giving the CIA permission to torture in the first place. Some Justice officials are deeply troubled by reports of detainee treatment and believe they may suggest criminal misconduct, these sources say. Even if prosecutions prove too difficult to bring, an outside counsel's report could be made public. For his part, Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is still pushing for a "truth commission." In a democracy, the wheels of justice grind on--and the president, for good reason under the rule of law, does not have the power to stop them.

Read the whole thing here.

The next step: Bush wants satellites for domestic spying

By GottaLaff

This video is from MSNBC’s News Live, broadcast June 28, 2008.

MSNBC’s Alex Witt talked to Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff about a new proposal by the Bush administration to use satellites for domestic surveillance.

First FISA, now this:

"First of all, there are strict laws about the act that limits the use of the U.S. military for law enforcement purposes. But the precision of these satellites, they can literally capture crystal clear images of your car as you leave the studio this afternoon. And capture them in computer databases — in the government computer databases. And it raises all sorts of concerns. To some degree, the administration is paying the price of what is for — what many in congress see as way over stepping — in the electronic surveillance era.”

Read Michael Isikoff’s Newsweek article here.

As Isikoff points out, this for our own good, because BushCo cares so much about our safety, and spying would come in handy "in case of emergency". Uh huh. I posted about Bush's little emergency directive here.

Check that out carefully. Bush calls all the shots. The president, and only the president, “coordinates” everything. Yes, everything. He didn’t call himself the Commander Guy for nothing.