Since February, the Pentagon has notified about 85 inmates or their attorneys that they are eligible to leave after being cleared by military review panels. But only a handful have gone home, including a Moroccan and an Afghan who were released Tuesday. Eighty-two remain at Guantanamo and face indefinite waits as U.S. officials struggle to figure out when and where to deport them, and under what conditions.

So, 80+ people are cleared to go, but are still in lock up because we don't know where they go. And of course, we can't let them go at Gitmo because the only place they can go from there is into the ocean (the Cubans don't want them), nor would they be released into the US because thems is like trrests. They may have been better off if the Bushies had simply murdered them because now they're being killed by inches (which is a great way to make more trrests!).

82 Inmates Cleared but Still Held at Guantanamo - washingtonpost.com

When the committees began to inquire into the firings of the U.S. attorneys, the official said, Congress had a right to know that the firings were part of an ambitious effort to install administration loyalists throughout the department. The official spoke on the condition that neither his position nor agency be identified, because he feared retaliation from his superiors and the White House for disclosing aspects of the program.

Referring to the firings of the U.S. attorneys and the broader plan targeting other Justice employees, the senior official said, "You cannot separate one from the other. They were one and part of the same plan by the White House."

Murray Waas once again showing why he may be the best political reporter in all of Washington (his only competition coming from Sy Hersh).

NATIONAL JOURNAL: Secret Order By Gonzales Delegated Extraordinary Powers To Aides (04/30/07)

The saddest legacy of the Bush Administration’s six-year trail of cronyism and corruption is that it contributes to the public’s already cynical view of government. This makes it even more difficult for those of us who believe that the purpose of government is to secure a better future for our country and all of its people. Repairing this sorry legacy is the first challenge our next President will face.

Hits the mark dead on with this. Cleaning up this mess will take years.

Rahm Emanual - Brookings Institute

Since March 1, at least 16 army and national police commanders have been fired, detained or pressured to resign; at least nine of them are Sunnis, according to U.S. military documents shown to The Washington Post.

Although some of the officers appear to have been fired for legitimate reasons, such as poor performance or corruption, several were considered to be among the better Iraqi officers in the field. The dismissals have angered U.S. and Iraqi leaders who say the Shiite-led government is sabotaging the military to achieve sectarian goals.

Surge+Purge=Religious Cleansing.

Maliki's Office Is Seen Behind Purge in Forces - washingtonpost.com

Republican officials then allowed speakers to defend and refute the resolution. One speaker, who was identified as "Joe," said illegal immigrants were Marxist and under the influence of the devil. Another, who declined to give her name to the Daily Herald, said illegal immigrants should not be allowed because "they are not going to become Republicans and stop flying the flag upside down. ... If they want to be Americans, they should learn to speak English and fly their flag like we do."

Two things completely wrong here. One, immigrants are pretty much anything but Marxist, they're just trying to get money to send home so their families aren't living in abject poverty. Two, flying the flag upside down is not an accident, it's the symbol for distress (thanks you to "The Last Castle" with Robert Redford and James Gandolfini for that) and if they're flying the flag upside down (which I have neither seen nor heard of them doing) means they think the country is going in the wrong direction.

If this is the standard the Republican Party is basing their decisions on these days, they need to disband and start over.

Convention ends with Satan and immigrants

A senior Justice Department official has resigned after coming under scrutiny in the Department’s expanding investigation of convicted super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to a Justice Department official with knowledge of the case.

Making the situation more awkward for the embattled Department, the official, Robert E. Coughlin II, was deputy chief of staff for the criminal division, which is overseeing the Department’s probe of Abramoff.

Whoops! Who could have seen this one coming? At this rate? Anyone. Find a henhouse and figure whoever George has put in charge of it is a fox raiding it.

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 04/27/2007 | Justice Dept official resigns over investigation connected with Abramoff

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 Friday or soon after, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Well that went pretty quick...

Renzi could soon resign U.S. House seat - The Business Journal of Phoenix:

The two senior congressional aides spoke only on the condition of anonymity because the document in question hasn't been made public and because the Justice Department has allowed investigators to read it but not to photocopy it. One of the aides, who also was familiar with Sampson's closed-door testimony to investigators earlier this month, said that Sampson couldn't recall specifics but said he'd been told that senior Justice officials had concerns about Heffelfinger.

The Justice Department Thursday declined to confirm or deny the report.

Heffelfinger's case interests congressional investigators because he worked in one of the states that White House political adviser Karl Rove identified as an election battleground, and because he was replaced by a 34-year-old Bush administration loyalist who'd been a member of Gonzales' inner circle.

He left before he could be fired and his replacement is so hated the department heads all took pay cuts so they wouldn't have to deal with her. Yep, that sounds about right for these guys.

Bush administration targeted another top federal prosecutor

The administration maintains that the previously undisclosed meetings were appropriate. Those discussing the briefings on the record yesterday uniformly described them as merely "informational briefings about the political landscape.

How much will you give me for this bridge?

Political Briefings At Agencies Disclosed - washingtonpost.com

Extended overseas deployments affecting soldiers serving in Afghanistan and other locales overseen by U.S. Central Command should help to alleviate the stress on the Army, a senior U.S. officer in Afghanistan told Pentagon reporters today.

Holy shit, the brass is in the kool-aid. How in god's green earth do they even come up with this?

DefenseLink News Article: Extended Deployments Should Lessen Army Stress, Commander Says