by TChris

The Justice Department has been tight-lipped about its year long investigation of Jack Abramoff, which has apparently “focused until now on accusations that Mr. Abramoff defrauded Indian tribes who paid him millions of dollars in lobbying fees on behalf of their gambling operations.” The Republican chair and senior Democrat on the House Resources Committee have asked the Department to expand the investigation to include “a flurry of accusations of wrongdoing involving Mr. Abramoff’s multimillion-dollar lobbying on behalf of the Northern Mariana Islands.”

Assuming the Justice Department accepts that invitation, will its efforts have an impact on Tom DeLay?

The Resources Committee request could suggest new scrutiny for Mr. DeLay, because he worked closely with Mr. Abramoff for years to block Washington from imposing the federal minimum wage on large clothing factories in the Northern Marianas.

Update July 13, 4:45 pm: Texas searchers are giving up and going home. And the judge will issue a ruling Thursday on whether either or both the Kalpoe brothers must return to jail and whether Joran van der Sloot's father can continue visiting him in jail.

Update 8 pm: The news continues to dwell on growing resentment of Arubans to the Holloway criticism of their legal system. On Greta: The prosecution is appealing the decision to release the brothers. The appeal will be decided by three judges from Curacao after a hearing.

As a sign of how little real news there is, Greta will be "re-walking Natalee's mother through her first 24 hours" after she learned of Natalee's disappearance.

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7/6/05 10:00 am

Natalee Holloway's parents finally may have overstayed their welcome and overplayed the sympathy card with Arubans. Resentment is building.

A latent but growing resentment here became evident for the first time when more than 200 people, some wrapped in Aruban flags, said they were incensed by statements made by the mother of a missing American teen. Those assembled outside the colonial courthouse in this Caribbean capital Tuesday night said they fear their tiny island nation is falsely being portrayed as not doing enough to find Natalee Holloway, the Alabama girl who vanished May 30 on a graduation trip with her high school class.

larger version

Natalee's mother may have gone too far with these comments about the release of the Kalpoe brothers:

by TChris

Further proof that no good deed goes unpunished:

A San Marcos man was arrested after rescuing a swimmer from the swirling waters near a restaurant on the San Marcos River over the weekend. Police say Dave Newman, 48, disobeyed repeated orders by emergency personnel to leave the water. The police report does not mention Newman's rescue of 35-year-old Abed Duamni of Houston on Sunday afternoon.

"I was amazed," Newman said after getting out of Hays County Law Enforcement Center on $2,000 bail Monday morning. "I had a very uncomfortable night after saving that guy's life. He thanked me for it in front of the police, and then they took me to jail."

by TChris

Update: The Washington Post writes about the four other U.S. citizens detained by the U.S. after being arrested in Iraq.

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Cyrus Kar was born in Iran, but he's lived in the United States since he was two years old. He's a naturalized citizen who played high school football in Utah and Washington before serving in the Navy. Kar's ambition was to make a documentary about "an ancient Persian king who championed tolerance and human rights." To that end, he traveled to Iraq to film archeological sites. But tolerance and human rights, increasingly scarce commodities in the U.S., are even less in fashion in Iraq. Kay was busted in Bhagdad, supposedly because "suspected bomb parts" were in the taxi in which he was riding.

Since then, Mr. Kar has been held in what his relatives and their lawyers describe as a frightening netherworld of American military detention in Iraq - charged with no crime but nonetheless unable to gain his freedom or even tell his family where he is being held.

Although an FBI search of Kar's LA apartment (and the contents of his computer) found no evidence that Kar supports terrorism, the Bush administration has been stonewalling the efforts Kar's relatives are making to find him.

Lawrence O'Donnell would like to ask Robert Luskin, Karl Rove's lawyer,

You told Newsweek that your client “never knowingly disclosed classified information.” Did Rove ever unknowingly disclose classified information?

Joseph Wilson, Valerie Plame's husband, says in his book, when discussing McClellan's defense of Rove at an October, 2003 press conference:

.... the administration's defense is extremely narrow: the leakers and pushers of the story did not know the undercover status of Valerie Plame, and therefore, though they may have disclosed her name, they did not commit a crime.

In May, 2004, Salon published an excerpt from Joe Wilson's book, in which he presents his thoughts about who leaked his wife's name.

In recent months I have tried to piece together the truth about the attacks on myself and the disclosure of Valerie's employment by carefully studying all the coverage and by speaking confidentially with members of the press who have been following the story.

by TChris

The Bush administration has been dismissive of "collateral damage"--the innocent lives taken when the bombs fall--but the government in Afghanistan wants the Bush administration to know that it takes those lives seriously.

In a rare rebuff, Afghanistan's government sharply criticized the U.S. military Tuesday for killing up to 17 civilians in an air strike and ordered an immediate inquiry. ... It marked unusual criticism from the government of President Hamid Karzai, often viewed by critics as an American puppet.

Killing innocent civilians is no way to win the hearts and minds of a population, but it's a great way--whether in Afghanistan or Iraq--to encourage anti-U.S. sentiment while providing a recruiting tool for terrorists.

DC Jail

As I wrote earlier today, Fitzgerald is playing hardball with Matthew Cooper and Judith Miller in terms opposing home detention. I have just finished reading Fitzgerald's 14 page motion (pdf), and see that he also opposes a federal prison camp for Miller. He either wants her to go to the D.C. jail or a federal detention facility.

That forms of confinement other than jail in the district where the grand jury sits may be possible does not mean that this is an exceptional case warranting a special form of confinement. Like any other contemnor, Miller should be confined in a federal detention facility so as to produce the coercive effect contemplated by 28 U.S.C. § 1826.

Federal detention centers are not much different than maximum security facilities. They house people who cannot make bond or who are denied bond - including those accused of violent persons.

Lawrence O'Donnell has three questions for Robert Luskin, Karl Rove's attorney. The first is whether Luskin was notified that Rove is a subject (as opposed to target) of the grand jury - Lawrence explains the difference. (So do I, here.)

On 10/16/04, (available on lexis.com)the New York Times reported:

"....Mr. Luskin said Mr. Rove was not discussing his testimony because prosecutors had asked him not to do so. In addition, Mr. Luskin said, Mr. Rove has been notified in writing that he is not a target of the inquiry."

"... In the inquiry into the unauthorized disclosure of Ms. Plame's name, the prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, has told most of the people who have testified that they are subjects of the investigation."

''He has been cooperating fully from the beginning,'' Mr. Luskin said after the grand jury appearance. Mr. Rove has previously testified to the grand jury, although multiple appearances do not necessarily signify that a witness is suspected of wrongdoing. He was also interviewed at least once by F.B.I. investigators, who last fall conducted a preliminary inquiry in the case."

I'm getting quite a few e-mails letting me know that murder suspect Joseph Duncan, accused of kidnapping 8 year old Shasta Groene, and being investigated for the posible death of her brother Dylan and perhaps other family members, was a blogger, and that he blogged about TalkLeft. Here's his blog and here's his TalkLeft-related post:

I'm beginning to think there may be clues we've overlooked in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the district court's denial of Cooper and Miller's motion to quash the subpoenas. Let's start with the subpoenas themselves:

The first subpoena to Cooper related to two specific Time articles dated July 17, 2003, and July 21, 2003, to which Cooper had contributed. After losing a motion to quash, Fitzgerald and Cooper made an agreement that Cooper would identify a specific person in whom the grand jury was interested. Cooper complied. (This was Libby who agreed to be identified.)

After Cooper complied, he got another subpoena dated September 13, 2004, seeking:

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is wielding every ounce of power he has over Time Reporter Matthew Cooper and New York Times Reporter Judith Miller:

A federal prosecutor on Tuesday demanded that Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper testify before a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA officer's identity, even though Time Inc. has surrendered e-mails and other documents in the probe.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald also opposed the request of Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller to be granted home detention -- instead of jail -- for refusing to reveal their sources.

What is Fitzgerald looking for with Cooper? Is it perjury or conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice or making a false statement to a federal official? I can think of a few questions Fitzgerald might want to ask Cooper to circumstantially establish Rove's possible criminal intent - but while they might amount to probable cause and be enough to indict, I'm not sure any of them would be enough for proof beyond a reasonable doubt.