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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (214554)	8/4/2007 10:16:42 PM
From: Jaknik2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793965

Brumar, it's almost humorous to read Lokness Monster's posts. It's as if prior to the Bush 9/11 era no civil rights were ever violated. Here are a couple of non-GWOT examples of REAL violations: October 2, 2005 Two Schumer staffers at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee hacked into the credit report of Maryland Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. Privacy rights deferred at Clinton White House - Clinton Administration scandals – 4 Nov 1996 New evidence in the `Big Brother' computer and Filegate scandals suggests the first couple may have masterminded these bizarre schemes. Capitol Hill investigators now are turning up the heat on the Clintons. White House documents obtained by House investigators, and testimony before a Senate committee, indicate the president and first lady may have broken federal privacy laws when they commissioned the White House Office Data Base and when the White House surreptitiously retrieved hundreds of FBI personnel files on GOP appointees. According to documents turned over to a House subcommittee, the White House used its new $1.7 million computer database primarily to coordinate President Clinton's contacts with top political supporters. The taxpayer-funded computer system, nicknamed "Big Brother," has been used to manage Clinton's "early supporter outreach" in conjunction with the Democratic National Committee and his campaign, the documents show. Appropriations laws prohibit the use of federal funds for campaign-related purposes or for purposes outside the appropriation. Insight broke the story on the sophisticated Clinton database, which had 487,440 files on individuals and groups by June 27 and was created on the orders of the president and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, the White House documents show. Scott said she was reporting to senior presidential adviser Bruce R. Lindsey on the progress of the database's creation but needed McLarty to ask the White House senior staff to give "their full cooperation." In January 1994, Scott assured the first lady that secrecy was being maintained on project records and the use of career government employees. "All of our records and computers are kept in this locked room," Scott told the first lady and Lindsey in a confidential memo dated Jan. 26,1994. "I have checked with counsel and, although Mark [Bartholomew] is a career employee, his work on this project is not subject to FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] as long as we keep it separate from his other work. To insure this, his notes and discs are kept in my offices." The memos are among 25,000 White House documents just turned over to the House Government Reform and Oversight subcommittee on National Economic Growth, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs, which is investigating the database. A subcommittee hearing scheduled for Oct. 3 had to be canceled because the White House refused to allow Scott, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes and Associate Counsel Cheryl Mills to testify. Rep. David M. McIntosh of Indiana, chairman of the subcommittee, will reschedule the hearing and move to subpoena witnesses if the White House remains uncooperative, a spokesman said. Meanwhile, in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, D. Craig Livingstone's former assistant has contradicted White House claims that hundreds of FBI files on former Reagan-Bush appointees were acquired in 1993 and 1994 "by mistake." Contrary to Livingstone's sworn statement, Mari L. Anderson told investigators for the Senate Judiciary Committee that the White House deliberately sought FBI background files of Billy R. Dale, the former White House Travel Office director, and Dale's deputy at the time they were fired in May 1993. Anderson, in a deposition, said Livingstone and Anthony B. Marceca acquired the FBI files on hundreds of former Republican White House aides after acknowledging to her there was no official reason to do so. In earlier sworn testimony, Livingstone denied seeking Dale's file and said acquisition of more than 900 FBI records of former Republican officials was an innocent mistake. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, chairman of the committee, said Anderson's testimony shows the improper FBI files acquisition "was not a mere bureaucratic snafu, as the White House has spuriously insisted.... It now appears that the White House ordered FBI files on prior-administration officials knowing full well that ... there was no legitimate basis for doing so." Hatch said he would send copies of testimony by Livingstone, Marceca and Lisa Wetzl, another security assistant, to Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, who also is conducting a criminal investigation of the FBI files affair. The testimony could be the basis for perjury charges. COPYRIGHT 1996 News World Communications, Inc. I don't see Lokness having his panties in a twist over these events.......... Jak