Thursday, March 29, 2007

Bu$hCo Limited DOJ Case Against Big Tobacco


I just watched Sharon Eubanks talking with Tweety yet I've yet to find a clip. I can send you to an interview she recently did with Bob Schieffer of CBS plus the recent WaPo reporting of Carol Leonnig.
Reading the most recent (Dr. Alterman reminds us that the story really first broke back in 2005 via Eric Lichtblau of the NYT) coverage will get you started but once you watch this I'll bet you'll find her side of the story persuasive. If not ... then no worries of course. Before you walk away, however, I'd like to remind you to look at just the Robert D. McCallum connection. This political appointee is a former Department of Justice Associate Attorney General yet is now the Ambassador to Australia. Dr. Alterman also tells you a little about his college experience at Yale and how things have gone for him since those early aristocratic days. He, with clear illustrations of "Bush Administration Attention Deficit Disorder" in the prior link as a bonus, writes

McCullum sought to reduce the fraud and racketeering penalties leveled against the tobacco industry from $130 billion to $10 billion. Mr. McCallum, No.3 at the department, is a close friend of President Bush from their days as Skull & Bones members at Yale, and he was also a partner at Alston & Bird, an Atlanta law firm that has done legal work for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, part of Reynolds American, a defendant in the case. Despite complaints from Congressional Democrats and journalists, an internal Department of Justice investigation found McCullum innocent of any wrongdoing or political motivation.
Note the INTERNAL portion of the above paragraph. Given how completely DOJ is tainted one can only hope Congress will now provide long overdue oversight. This allegation, if true, ought to be the nail in the coffin for this corrupt administration. Peace ... or War!

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