On Darkness And Death Penalties

Today's Washington Post describes yet another aspect of the sick, septic core that is our Federal government; and yet another instance of the rot infesting the Department of Justice. The article by Amy Goldstein describes how the United States Attorney for Arizona, Paul Charlton, was fired for properly exercising his ethical prosecutorial discretion in relation to death penalty cases in his jurisdiction.

Justice Department officials had branded Charlton, the former U.S. attorney in Phoenix, disloyal because he opposed the death penalty in that case. But Charlton testified yesterday that Gonzales has been so eager to expand the use of capital punishment that the attorney general has been inattentive to the quality of evidence in some cases -- or the views of the prosecutors most familiar with them.
.....
Charlton said he believed the case, which has not yet gone to trial, did not warrant the death penalty because police and prosecutors lacked forensic evidence -- including a gun, DNA or the victim's body. He said that the body was evidently buried in a landfill and that he asked Justice Department officials to pay $500,000 to $1 million for its exhumation.

The department refused, Charlton said. And without such evidence, he testified, the risk of putting the wrong person to death was too high.

Charlton said that in prior cases, Ashcroft's aides had given him the chance to discuss his recommendations against the death penalty, but that Gonzales's staff did not offer that opportunity. He instead received a letter, dated May 31, 2006, from Gonzales, simply directing him to seek the death penalty.

Charlton testified that he asked Justice officials to reconsider and had what he called a "memorable" conversation with Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty. Michael J. Elston, then McNulty's chief of staff, called Charlton to relay that the deputy had spent "a significant amount of time on this issue with the attorney general, perhaps as much as five to 10 minutes," and that Gonzales had not changed his mind. Charlton said he then asked to speak directly with Gonzales and was denied.

Last August, D. Kyle Sampson, then Gonzales's chief of staff, sent Elston a dismissive e-mail about the episode that said: "In the 'you won't believe this category,' Paul Charlton would like a few minutes of the AG's time." The next month, Charlton's name appeared on a list of prosecutors who should be fired, which Sampson sent to the White House.

As an attorney, it is hard to envision a more gross and complete dereliction of ethical and moral duties than described here on the part of Alberto Gonzales and his inexperienced, unfit senior staff. Every one of them should be disbarred for life. Hardly surprising though; after all, Alberto Gonzales earned his stripes finding ways for Bush to execute people in Texas. "Culture of life" my ass, these despicable, pathetic excuses for human beings don't give a damn about human life whether it is in the criminal justice system, the rotting aftermath of Katrina, the young American soldiers in Iraq or the citizens of that country perishing as a result of our invasion and occupation.

There is nothing but darkness in our Federal government, whether it is the Department of Justice scandals, the decimation of our Constitution, Cheney, Bush, our warmongering foreign policy or any other visible facet. It is a giant black hole sucking the essence of our country and the hopes of the world into a void of despair. And thus we come to the discussion engendered by my fellow bloggers here in the last few days regarding the value of the internet, and the ability of bloggers to freely and openly access it. The blogosphere, especially the progressive segment, is the growing ray of light that is the counter-force to the darkness. The main stream media is slowly coming around, and it is because of the forces generated by the blogosphere and determined activists and writers like the incredible contributors to Watching Those We Chose and so many other blogs.

The awakening and change in attitude and direction being brought by the participants in this effort is palpable. An acceleration and re-doubling of the effort is critical. We are individually expendable; the ideals and values we fight for are not. I read with profound sadness the passing of our compatriot, the Mandarin. I did not have the pleasure of knowing the Mandarin, but I can sense the measure of his character, values and passions by his association with this blog. So let the Mandarin, and the values he lived for and passed with, continue on and flourish through our resolute efforts to restore light to the darkness that has encroached upon us.

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Renzi Near Resignation?

The Phoenix Business Journal reports that

U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., could soon step down in the wake of a federal investigation into his involvement in a federal land swap deal and FBI raids of an insurance agency owned by his wife.

His resignation could come as early as today.

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The Prosecutor v. The Crook

It is beginning to look like Paul Charlton, the former US Attorney in Arizona was canned because he resisted efforts to slow the investigation of Congressman Rick Renzi. According to a New York Times Editorial Published April 26, 2007

Mr. Renzi was fighting for his political life when the local press reported that he was facing indictment for a suspect land deal. According to The Wall Street Journal, federal investigators met unexpected resistance from the Justice Department in getting approval to proceed and, perhaps as a result, the investigation was pushed past the election.

The unexpected delays were reported in the Wall Street Journal on April 25, 2007.

Investigators pursuing the Renzi case had been seeking clearance from senior Justice Department officials on search warrants, subpoenas and other legal tools for a year before the election, people close to the case said.

A few weeks later Charlton was fired. Sound familiar?

The Washington Post, among others, is reporting that one of Renzi's aides called the U.S. Attorney's office to ask about the probe. Charlton's office reported the call as required. Charlton is the third of the eight fired US Attorney's contacted by Republican members of Congress or their staffs about politically sensitive investigations they were supervising.

The former U.S. attorney for New Mexico, David C. Iglesias, has told Congress he felt pressured to speed up an indictment of Democrats during phone calls last October from Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) and Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-N.M.). And former U.S. attorney John McKay of Seattle has said he was called by the chief of staff to Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) about a preliminary inquiry into voter fraud in Washington state.

The Justice Department denies wrongdoing.

Or maybe they just can't remember doing anything wrong.

The Justice Department doesn't seem to deny the appearance of impropriety, but that old standard is so 20th century. The current behavior standard applied to the Justice Department and its Attorney General is not being convicted of a crime.

In any event we have three of the most important papers in the country closing in on both Renzi and the Justice Department's handling of the case. Any guesses where this leads?

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The Renzi Story You Haven't Heard

There is starting to be a steady flow of information and discussion on the curious dealings of Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz) and the recent FBI raid of his wife's office in relation to a corruption investigation of Rep. Renzi. So far, the story has centered on the putative link to the US Attorney Purgegate and the wrongful firing of Arizona's excellent US Attorney, Paul Charlton. Charlton was in charge when the current investigation first came to public knowledge shortly before the November 2006 elections. Predictably, Alberto Gonzales and the Bush Administration claim this had nothing to do with Charlton's termination. Of course they would say that; they are proven liars. Well, the upshot is that it appears the Administration was not able to get one of their precious "good Bushie" theocratic ringers in place to fill the USA-AZ post before the purge excrement starting hitting the fan from Josh Marshall and TPM's outstanding work exposing and pushing the story. As a result, the USA office in Arizona is still being driven largely by the team Paul Charlton had in place. They were pretty timid at first (can't blame them for that); but seem to be gaining strength as the DOJ Main is being handcuffed by the Purgegate/Gonzales scandal; thus the Renzi investigation has suddenly been reinvigorated and percolated back up into the national conscience.

That is the story you have heard. Here is the portion you haven't heard. The following is quoted from the excellent work of beyonddelay.org:


"In 2003, Rep. Renzi sponsored legislation (signed into law in November 2003) that earmarked hundreds of millions of dollars to his father’s business while, according to environmentalists, devastating the San Pedro River. The provision, which was added to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004, exempted the Army’s Fort Huachuca base in Sierra Vista, Arizona from maintaining water levels in the San Pedro River as called for in an agreement made in 2002 with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Rep. Renzi claimed he introduced the measure to prevent the closing of the Fort and to promote its enlargement. Environmentalists, however, concerned about the impact Fort Huachuca’s expansion may have on water consumption and the fate of the San Pedro River, argued that as the fort expands, so too would the local population, draining water from the river. Notably, neither the fort nor the river is located in Rep. Renzi’s district."

"A key beneficiary of Rep. Renzi’s legislation was ManTech International Corp., a Fairfax, Virginia based defense contractor where Rep. Renzi’s father, Retired Major General Eugene Renzi, is an executive vice president. General Renzi served at Fort Huachuca during his career in the military. ManTech had $467 million in contracts at Fort Huachuca with options for an additional $1.1 billion between 2004 through 2008. In addition, the company, which has an office in Sierra Vista, Arizona, was the largest contributor to Renzi’s 2002 congressional campaign and the second largest in his 2004 campaign."


This information is extremely critical to the Renzi equation, in spite of the fact that it is not what the superficial mainstream media are focusing on. Ft. Huachuca is not just a nice town near the fragile San Pedro River, it is an important, if not critical, military intelligence facility. Renzi's father is much more than a simple pass through for money on the land deals you are hearing about. Renzi's father is Gene Renzi, who is one of the owners and chief executives of a not so nice, and not so little, company by the name of ManTech International. www.mantech.com If you are not aware of ManTech, take a look at them. If you ever wondered what in the world was the general template for rogue security outfits like Blackwater Inc; here is your answer and more; and what is in the public domain is a mere fraction of what they appear to really have going on.

There has been a long running controversy over the groundwater/environmental contamination issue, with much of the effort being led by a firebrand local environmentalist by the name of Dr. Robin Silver and his group, the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity. Dr. Silver has been tilting at both Renzis for years, is tenacious, and is owed a debt of gratitude for pressing the case against Rick Renzi from the outset. It has long been rumored that there is much more than the groundwater/environmental bit going on the Renzi/ManTech front, and that giant digital fiber optic trunk lines carrying all types of critical information and data, including some highly secure, i.e. the kind that all the illegal and warrantless Total Information Awareness programs might would desire and require, are involved.

All of this is just a rumor, of course; there has never been any substantive confirmation, nor any hard evidence at all. Of course that is what you would expect if it is just a loony conspiracy theory; it is also what you would expect if the rumors were true. This much is known: Eugene Renzi is a very major, under the radar, VERY connected player in the absolute highest levels of intelligence gathering, data mining and analysis. With, and through, John Poindexter (Gene Renzi and Poindexter have a long, tight, decades long parallel path in Naval and Army Intel, with Gene Renzi reportedly being tasked or associated with Poindexter on spook type NSA programs during the Reagan/Bush41 years), Gene Renzi is said to be directly connected to Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld. There appears to be far more here than could have been imagined.

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