Sarah Palin: Abuse of Power

A bipartisan legislative council found that Sarah Palin violated state ethics law and abused her power when she tried to get her ex-brother in law fired. CNN has the breaking story here.

“Gov. Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda,” the report states.

“I conclude that such claims of fear were not bona fide and were offered to provide cover for the Palins’ real motivation: to get Trooper Wooten fired for personal family reasons,” Branchflower wrote.

The Branchflower report states Todd Palin used his wife’s office and its resources to press for Wooten’s removal, and the governor “failed to act” to stop it. But because Todd Palin is not a state employee, the report makes no finding regarding his conduct.

Thank you, Sullivan

One of the only commentators who writes about civil liberties and torture.

If you aren’t creeped out by what has been going on these past two weeks in America, you are not paying attention.

President Obama and the Pursuit of Justice

Recently Joe Biden implied that they might be interested in investigating crimes that may have been conducted by the Bush administration. 

If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued.

At first this struck me as somewhat disingenuous. I must admit that Obama’s compromise on the FISA bill really took the wind out of my sails. After vowing to fight against retroactive immunity for the telcos, he failed to stand on principle.

After thinking about it, I could see the logic in this, “don’t punish the telcos, punish the one who instigated the act.” This would be more in line with Obama’s world view. I believe the telcos are complicit in illegal activities, and have a quid pro quo relationship with government. Not to mention the big party that AT&T hosted at the conventions.

At the end of the day, as much as I would like this all to be true, I think it is in conflict with Obama’s message about ending the conflict in Washington. If charges were pursued, their would be all out war across the aisles. There is already so much animosity over the Democratic shutout during the Republican controlled years, which is was a reaction to the Republican shutout during the Democratically controlled years, etc., etc., etc.

I am torn between the idea of effective government and the pursuit of justice. Ultimately, if justice is pursued aggressively, publicly and fairly, it will win out. The question is are there enough people in Washington untainted enough to act.