An Inconvenient Murder
The inclusion of John McKay, US Attorney for Western Washington State, with those whose jobs were terminated for what seem as the days go by with not a whit of evidence otherwise to be wholly political and partisan ideology (and hence almost certainly illegal) always struck me as odd. Not to take away from the helter-skelter whacko aspect of the firings in general. No explanation other than overreaching by folks already so deep into felonious behavior in multiple arenas and yet still walking the street (hi KKKarl - can you spell "hubris"??) is needed. These are repeat-offenders, feeling themselves above the law - and they have been explicit in that belief.
The question is, have we as a nation lost the gumption to tell them where to get off? Criminal sentences are already obviously needed for pretty much the entirety of the so-called "Executive" branch of government. The Supreme Court made a mockery of "justice" and anything resembling a reasonable application of the law when they installed our little new england/texas playboy in the first place. The Department of Justice is obviously going to be renamed very shortly the Laughingstock of Justice, thanks to Alberto, the most embarrassing hispanic-toady-of-all-time. The CIA, FBI, and DOD are clearly in full failure mode in terms of staffing, performance of their stated function, and credibility with the American people.
But the initial hypothesis for McKay, i.e. his failure to be the sort of vote-fraud thug-prosecuter that apparently many of the US Attorneys were willing to be for the clear purpose of gaming elections for the Republican Party, always seemed shaky.
There is another, much more sinister hypothesis now, more Rove/Cheney/Bush-like in its nasty combination of sucking up to power and money. This theory is so plausible and consistent with the now-known psychopathic tendencies of this administration that I believe we must consider it truth until proven otherwise.
Dan Eggen seems to have broken the story in the Washington Post:
A U.S. attorney in Seattle was singled out for dismissal in part because he clashed with senior Justice Department officials over the investigation of a federal prosecutor's murder, and he was recommended for removal 18 months earlier than was previously known, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews.
D. Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, told congressional investigators that he believes he may have recommended former U.S. attorney John McKay's removal in March 2005 because of conflicts with senior Justice officials over the investigation of the 2001 murder of federal prosecutor Tom Wales, according to congressional aides and Sampson's attorney.
Several officials familiar with the investigation said McKay and other officials in Seattle believed that senior Justice officials were not paying enough attention to the case. Sampson did not cite specifics, saying only that McKay had demanded actions that led to conflicts, congressional aides familiar with his account said.
The suggestion of a connection between the firing and the unsolved Wales murder case generated angry reactions from McKay and others in western Washington yesterday.
"The idea that I was pushing too hard to investigate the assassination of a federal prosecutor -- it's mind-numbing" that they would suggest that, McKay said. " . . . If it's true, it's just immoral, and if it's false, then the idea that they would use the death of Tom Wales to cover up what they did is just unconscionable."
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I'm not the gambling sort, but you can make book on this being full-out felony-level crime by someone appointed by our little Drugstore Cowboy. Of course almost all folks with an IQ over 80 (thus excepting those still supporting the president in every respect) know that this is only another such violation, which even with as little as we yet know must amount to scores of felonies.
There has for good reason been more than a little followup on that article, including this at Down With Tyranny:
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As James Fallows notes in the aforementioned blog entry (which we'll come back to), Wales "was shot, through the window of his home, as he sat working at his computer late at night." On October 11, 2001, to be exact.
Astonishingly, in all these years, given an event as momentous as the murder of a federal prosecutor, no one has ever been arrested. It turns out, though, that the case hasn't necessarily gone unsolved. In fact, almost from the start, local law-enforcement officials and local FBI personnel identified a suspect. Then, mysterously, the local FBI office had the case yanked away by nameless superiors in Washington.
The local law-enforcement people don't seem ever to have wavered in their belief that they know who the perpetrator is. Incredible as it may sound, there are all too plausible reasons to believe that the Bush administration deliberately derailed the investigation for political reasons.
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And then there's this, at Anonymous Liberal:
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Now for some background. Tom Wales was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Seattle U.S. Attorney's Office. He was murdered in his Seattle home on the night of October 11, 2001. He was shot in the neck through his basement window as he sat at his computer. The story was big news in Seattle, and for obvious reasons. First and most obviously, Wales was a federal prosecutor. As the Seattle Times has noted, "[i]f Wales was killed because of his work, he would be the first federal prosecutor in U.S. history to be slain in the line of duty." But Wales was more than just an anonymous prosecutor. He was the president of an organization called Washington Ceasefire and an outspoken advocate of stricter gun control laws. His activities on behalf of this organization had angered a number of people in the gun-rights crowd.
Indeed, the prime suspect in the case is a Bellevue airline pilot and gun-enthusiast whom Wales prosecuted for fraud in 2000. Wales eventually dropped the prosecution, but the pilot--furious with the government about the case--sued for wrongful prosecution (his suit was later dismissed). According the Seattle Post Intelligencer:
In the middle of the pilot's suit to recover attorney's fees, terrorists attacked America on 9/11. Wales, a leading anti-gun activist, argued on television against calls to arm commercial pilots. One federal criminal justice source later speculated that the pilot, whom he called a "Second Amendment nut" who owned several guns, saw Wales on TV and "went over the edge."
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The question is, have we as a nation lost the gumption to tell them where to get off? Criminal sentences are already obviously needed for pretty much the entirety of the so-called "Executive" branch of government. The Supreme Court made a mockery of "justice" and anything resembling a reasonable application of the law when they installed our little new england/texas playboy in the first place. The Department of Justice is obviously going to be renamed very shortly the Laughingstock of Justice, thanks to Alberto, the most embarrassing hispanic-toady-of-all-time. The CIA, FBI, and DOD are clearly in full failure mode in terms of staffing, performance of their stated function, and credibility with the American people.
But the initial hypothesis for McKay, i.e. his failure to be the sort of vote-fraud thug-prosecuter that apparently many of the US Attorneys were willing to be for the clear purpose of gaming elections for the Republican Party, always seemed shaky.
There is another, much more sinister hypothesis now, more Rove/Cheney/Bush-like in its nasty combination of sucking up to power and money. This theory is so plausible and consistent with the now-known psychopathic tendencies of this administration that I believe we must consider it truth until proven otherwise.
Dan Eggen seems to have broken the story in the Washington Post:
A U.S. attorney in Seattle was singled out for dismissal in part because he clashed with senior Justice Department officials over the investigation of a federal prosecutor's murder, and he was recommended for removal 18 months earlier than was previously known, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews.
D. Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, told congressional investigators that he believes he may have recommended former U.S. attorney John McKay's removal in March 2005 because of conflicts with senior Justice officials over the investigation of the 2001 murder of federal prosecutor Tom Wales, according to congressional aides and Sampson's attorney.
Several officials familiar with the investigation said McKay and other officials in Seattle believed that senior Justice officials were not paying enough attention to the case. Sampson did not cite specifics, saying only that McKay had demanded actions that led to conflicts, congressional aides familiar with his account said.
The suggestion of a connection between the firing and the unsolved Wales murder case generated angry reactions from McKay and others in western Washington yesterday.
"The idea that I was pushing too hard to investigate the assassination of a federal prosecutor -- it's mind-numbing" that they would suggest that, McKay said. " . . . If it's true, it's just immoral, and if it's false, then the idea that they would use the death of Tom Wales to cover up what they did is just unconscionable."
-clip-
I'm not the gambling sort, but you can make book on this being full-out felony-level crime by someone appointed by our little Drugstore Cowboy. Of course almost all folks with an IQ over 80 (thus excepting those still supporting the president in every respect) know that this is only another such violation, which even with as little as we yet know must amount to scores of felonies.
There has for good reason been more than a little followup on that article, including this at Down With Tyranny:
-clip-
As James Fallows notes in the aforementioned blog entry (which we'll come back to), Wales "was shot, through the window of his home, as he sat working at his computer late at night." On October 11, 2001, to be exact.
Astonishingly, in all these years, given an event as momentous as the murder of a federal prosecutor, no one has ever been arrested. It turns out, though, that the case hasn't necessarily gone unsolved. In fact, almost from the start, local law-enforcement officials and local FBI personnel identified a suspect. Then, mysterously, the local FBI office had the case yanked away by nameless superiors in Washington.
The local law-enforcement people don't seem ever to have wavered in their belief that they know who the perpetrator is. Incredible as it may sound, there are all too plausible reasons to believe that the Bush administration deliberately derailed the investigation for political reasons.
-clip-
And then there's this, at Anonymous Liberal:
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Now for some background. Tom Wales was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Seattle U.S. Attorney's Office. He was murdered in his Seattle home on the night of October 11, 2001. He was shot in the neck through his basement window as he sat at his computer. The story was big news in Seattle, and for obvious reasons. First and most obviously, Wales was a federal prosecutor. As the Seattle Times has noted, "[i]f Wales was killed because of his work, he would be the first federal prosecutor in U.S. history to be slain in the line of duty." But Wales was more than just an anonymous prosecutor. He was the president of an organization called Washington Ceasefire and an outspoken advocate of stricter gun control laws. His activities on behalf of this organization had angered a number of people in the gun-rights crowd.
Indeed, the prime suspect in the case is a Bellevue airline pilot and gun-enthusiast whom Wales prosecuted for fraud in 2000. Wales eventually dropped the prosecution, but the pilot--furious with the government about the case--sued for wrongful prosecution (his suit was later dismissed). According the Seattle Post Intelligencer:
In the middle of the pilot's suit to recover attorney's fees, terrorists attacked America on 9/11. Wales, a leading anti-gun activist, argued on television against calls to arm commercial pilots. One federal criminal justice source later speculated that the pilot, whom he called a "Second Amendment nut" who owned several guns, saw Wales on TV and "went over the edge."
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posted by Sir Gumbo at 9:51 PM
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