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The Daily Muck
Officials from the Justice Department and the Inspector General’s office informed Congress that although government contractors commit fraud in Iraq, the problem is not nearly as severe as many critics have suggested. But that's certainly not due to overzealous enforcement: the Justice Department has opted out of at least 10 whistle-blower suits that alleged fraud in Iraq reconstruction. As one critic put it at the hearing: there "isn't much of an incentive not to steal. At this point, there is nothing more profitable than fraud." (Associated Press, Boston Globe)
Susan Ralston, former aide to Karl Rove, gave a deposition to the House Oversight Committee last month. Excerpts from her testimony show that Rove never stopped using his RNC email account. Even sadder, Ralston confirmed suspicions that Mr. Rove might indeed be a BlackBerry addict. You can read Ralston's deposition (she was not asked about her other former boss, Jack Abramoff) here (pdf). (CREW)
Harper’s Ken Silverstein went undercover to explore the nature and transparency of lobbying firms who service corrupt, authoritarian regimes. The whole article is worth a diligent read, and an excerpt can be found here.
(Harper's Magazine)
Here’s a new easy rule for lawmakers on whether to accept gifts suggested (sub. req.) by the House Ethics Committee: if you aren’t sure its ethical, don’t do it. Thank goodness we have finally cleared that up. (Roll Call)
Scooter Libby has filed an appeal to delay his impending prison sentence. (Washington Post)
Post-traumatic stress disorder: it's not just for soldiers anymore. According to the vice president of the American Foreign Services Association, forty percent of State Department diplomats who serve in conflict areas are reporting symptoms. (Washington Post)
The SEC has named sixteen public companies that are potentially violating a U.S. ban on doing business with Sudan. Check out the list of firms here. (ABC’s The Blotter)
The ACLU is targeting the immigration officials and the Department of Homeland Security in a recent lawsuit that alleges government agents forcibly drugged aliens who were being deported. (Washington Post)
Comments (18)
Anonymous wrote on June 20, 2007 9:33 AM:Supposedly Blackberry messages are stored longer, and separately, from ordinary email. I’m sure someone here knows the process, but if congress acted promptly (stop laughing) it’s possible those communications could be recovered.
Anonymous wrote on June 20, 2007 9:33 AM:Supposedly Blackberry messages are stored longer, and separately, from ordinary email. I’m sure of the details, someone here knows the process, but if congress acted promptly (stop laughing) it’s possible those communications could be recovered.
foggylady wrote on June 20, 2007 9:56 AM:*************it’s possible those communications could be recovered.******
unless of course the Blackberry server crashes and all the e-mails are erased and it takes 24 hours to restore the system..
oh...wait...that happpened last month, didn't it?
Mrs Panstreppon wrote on June 20, 2007 9:59 AM:Two of my TPM Cafe posts about the American Center for Voting Rights and the Free Enterprise Coalition are listed "as must-reads for ACVR junkies" on the Brad Blog - link below.
One is about major GOP operative, Alex Vogel, being both the "de facto" executive director of the ACVR and a Free Enterprise Coalition representative.
The other is about the operations of the Free Enterprise Coalition, a GOP front that spent almost $2.5 million between 2004 and 2005 on election-related legal expenses.
empy1000 wrote on June 20, 2007 10:05 AM:Susan Ralston was asked about her former boss, Mr. Abramoff, but declined to provide any answers to any questions relating to him or his involvement with anyone at the White House.
Mrs P wrote on June 20, 2007 10:30 AM:I'm reading through Ralston's deposition (link below) and noticed that she is now a consultant.
Ralston was Executive Assistant to Karl Rove from 2001 to 2004. In 2003 to 2004, she was the WH liason to the Bush-Cheney '04. At the end of 2004, she got a commission to become Special Assistant to the President.
Interesting stuff. Ralston's emails are probbly a gold mine of useful information.
Billy Pilgrim wrote on June 20, 2007 10:32 AM:Ken Silverstein's article in Harper's is a fascinating store about the grotesque whores in Washington lobbydom -- they'll do ANYTHING for a buck. Literally anything. For your piece of gold, they'll represent cannibals and PR them as beacons of virtue. To get the story, Ken posed as an agent of the brutal authoritarian regime in Turkmenistan. With no credentials, Ken was able to get two of DC's top lobbying firms to offer proposals for creating a favorable PR spin on Turkmenistan, despite its pariah status. Comically, the only item available to indicate human rights progress in the country was the opening of of two internet cafes in Ashgabat, where soldeirs are posted at the door and the fee exceeds the daily average wage.
Mrs P wrote on June 20, 2007 10:56 AM:C 92, In her depostion, Ralston said that Rove. com was one of Karl's email addresses. I checked it out on Robtex.com (link below).
Have you come across Prismnet.com before? That's not the one in Texas that we took a look, is it?
Check out names:
beast.prismnet.com
cyclops.prismnet.com
gambit.prismnet.com
rogue.prismnet.com
storm.prismnet.com
wolverine.prismnet.com
Mrs P wrote on June 20, 2007 11:05 AM:C 92, The internet archive has no record of rove.com. Catch this - all of the pages on rove.net have been blocked by text robots.
Mrs P wrote on June 20, 2007 11:10 AM:C 92, Here is the Whois reg for Rove.com:
Registrant:
Karl Rove & Company
4925 Weaver Terrace NW
Washington, DC 20016
US
Domain Name: ROVE.COM
Administrative Contact:
ROVE, KARL
no.valid.email@worldnic.com
PO BOX 1902
AUSTIN, TX 78767-1902
US
512 479 6601 fax: 123 123 1234
Technical Contact:
PrismNet, Inc.
support@prismnet.com
PrismNet, Inc.
11500 Metric Blvd
Austin, TX 78758
US
(512)821-2991 fax: (512)821-2995
Record expires on 28-Jul-2007.
Mrs P wrote on June 20, 2007 11:35 AM:Record created on 29-Jul-1995.
Database last updated on 13-Apr-2007 14:57:17 EDT.
C 92, The server that hosts PraxisList.com. TomDelay.com and Olsen-Shuvalov.com (link below)seems to have something to do with Prismnet.com because Scottsboroband.com is on both servers.
osage wrote on June 20, 2007 11:45 AM:WHY do we repeatedly here the "emails were destroyed", when it is my understanding that it would be an involved and deliberate effort to attempt to do so if it can be accomplished at all? Am I wrong about that? Can emails really be "inadvertently" destoryed?
osage wrote on June 20, 2007 11:45 AM:WHY do we repeatedly here that "emails were destroyed", when it is my understanding that it would be an involved and deliberate effort to attempt to do so if it can be accomplished at all? Am I wrong about that? Can emails really be "inadvertently" destoryed?
C 92 wrote on June 20, 2007 12:17 PM:Mrs. P:
Prismnet.com seems to be a local Austin, TX based ISP. It is not the one we were looking at earlier -- I'll have to check my notes on who and why that came up. On first blush, it doesn't look like they're under and GOP thumb. But it could very well be run by a kid in his parents' basement.
What is important to note is Rove's continued association with his former business. As you recall, Olsen-Shuvalov used to be known as Karl Rove & Co before KR had to sell it to become a government bureaucrat (ethics rules). The rub of course is that Olsen-Shuvalov (or KR&Co) has earned its greatest profits since Bush came to the WH.
Now, if you're Rove, that's exceedingly tough luck that the company YOU built with your own hands gets to deliver huge profits to your former business partners - where YOU get nothing. All because of government ethics rules.
We know how Karl feels about ethics. I think he's still getting a slice of the illegal profits somehow, despite his government job. And his continued links with Praxis, Rove.com and the fact that he maintains the nascent corporate registration in Texas for "Karl Rove & CO" stokes those suspicions.
I also think that KR&Co had a different e-mail address back when they existed (different than Rove.com, that is).
whidbeygrl wrote on June 20, 2007 1:08 PM:In Ralston's deposition.
she states one of her titles was
Special Assistant to the President, but she reported to Karl Rove. ( p. 31)
Then a bit further on, same page, she states she carried out her WH job functions while at same time working on the 04 campaign with Rove.
In the White House.
Even more interesting: Ralston states Rove was responsible for 4 offices, which were:
1.White House Office of Strategic Initiatives. which
is a staff unit within the Executive Office of the President of the United States established **immediately *** ( repeat: immediately) following Bush inauguration. Purpose of office is
" to focus on ideas and possible presidential actions to address issues which will contribute directly to the President's political standing."
Is this even legal??????
2. Office of Public Liaison..which
"promotes Presidential priorities through outreach to concerned constituencies and public interest groups. This includes planning White House briefings, meetings, and large events with the President, Vice President, and other White House staff."
3. Office of Intergovernmental Affairs:
serves as the President's liaison to state, local, and tribal governments.
4.The Office of Strategic Initiatives plans, develops, and coordinates a long-range strategy for achieving Presidential priorities. The office conducts research and assists in message developmen
So, Rove controls all the political connections through WH offices.
Wonder if he gets paid for each job description he has?
whidbeygrl wrote on June 20, 2007 1:39 PM:ooops...
duplicate info. in previous post
Missing from my above post is is Rove's 4th
tjallen wrote on June 20, 2007 2:44 PM:Office, the Office of Political Affairs...from which , Ralston says, Rove REPEATEDLY violated the Hatch Act by sending Federal employees out to work on elections..
se p. 44, 45 etc. of her testimony...
gambit.prismnet.com
rogue.prismnet.com
storm.prismnet.com
wolverine.prismnet.com
It's not unusual for sysadmins to give funky names to the servers; these are named for comic heros.
Note the fake Fax number 123 123 1234 (not a required field, he could have left it blank), a trivial violation of guidelines against intentionally false registration content.
cosmo wrote on August 26, 2007 7:59 PM:During recent months, one of the activities by network administrators at Sidley Austin, Ralston's attorney's law firm, has been recovery of lost e-mails, specifically e-mails deleted from a system after 90 days. My informant did not divulge whose e-mails or the contents.