A government of clowns.

What is Bushco trying to coverup now?

Hey wait a minute, this sounds to be a very good thing. Study that next to the last paragraph of the article.

Unless I'm reading it wrong. Apparently Block was doing a Cheney/Rove act and maybe the chickens are coming home to roost.

Kem has a point. The title is a bit misleading. But if this Bloch fellow was up to no good, get him FBI!

"Block dismissed whistleblower cases with little investigation"!!

Did Bush arrive in the scene of the raid and proclaim "heck of a job, Scotty"?

Stories elsewhere - even in MSM press - seem to indicate this is positive.

We just need to see where it goes from here.

They probably did not get Mukasey's input or it may not have been carried out.

My comments are being "moderated" now.

I don't think Bush is gonna like this one at all. It might be the first domino. We'll see.

It looks good to me too. Bush's power is waning now and maybe finally we will get some investigations...well hope springs eternal ...Imagine if we actually had an honest government...

A gal named ~Hope~ was my first girlfriend. Hope had a pet turtle she named Eternal. She fastened coil springs to it's feet so she could take it for walks. "Hope sprung a turtle".

The first thing I thought of when I read this was, do they have information that whistleblower Sibel Edmonds has been seeking for so long? I HOPE so! Of course, I've never been sure whether it's the FBI or the Justice Dept. that has frustrated her years-long effort to get the truth out.

Also, I wonder who's behind this raid. Is it conceivable that Michael Mukasey has some integrity? That would be refreshing.

I've been waiting for someone to go after Bloch. It's funny that people above could not believe their eyes on this story. I agree, it runs against the tide. Maybe the tide is turning. Mukasey is there to protect Bush, not the entire Republican Party. Or maybe this is a political ploy, to show some Republican integrity to voters. We'll see how it runs out. After all, he's still not doing anything about the firing of prosecutors.

Good call, Kem.

kathyodat

KEM: You owe me a keyboard! I laughed so hard that coffee shot out my nose all over the keys.....

Mukasey doesn't direct the FBI! Remember that the FBI was none too happy about being anywhere close to the whole torture mess. So.....who IS directing the FBI to do this raid?

Oh, I almost forgot....Who gets the files that the FBI just took? Who gets to see them? Who gets to hide them? Who gets to classify them as "Top Secret"?

Just askin'.....

Something smells a little fishy with this whole story... It's hard to come to a solid understanding of the situation... more information is required.

Kem Patrick: My comments are being "moderated" now.

I contacted CD a while back and asked them to post their "commenting policy" as to when comments will be moderated and/or deleted... of course there was no response.

Indeed fishy. Sounds good (for whistleblowers) on the surface, but hope and eternal seem sprung and gone to me (thanks Kem).

Similar to the district attorney 'scandal' (why scandal, they have gotten away with it), the problem is the attorneys and the agency heads who did NOT get replaced. It is still those in office that daily do their dirty deeds.

A while ago someone I know requested information from a government department under the FOI act. Of course there was the usual backpedalling and obstruction, but eventually a pile of documents was forthcoming. It was expected that anything incriminating would have been removed for the usual reasons, however right in the middle was one memo that was clearly the one they had been trying to hide.

You have to bear in mind that most people who work are merely wage-slaves (as I am), and once in a while they 'accidentally' screw up.

Oliver North shredded files to cover-up criminal covert actions that was labeled as Iran-Contra, including those on Martial Law proposals. He was convicted, and on appeal was overturned on an impunity technicality.

The entire administration is a fascist cabal, and while I know nothing of Scott Bloch until now, I remember that George Tenet was a staffer for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. And how does one go from and aid to Director of the CIA? Or a federal judge become director of the FBI and then DCI - Director of Central Intelligence (CIA)? That was William Webster.

Least we forget both DCI William Casey and DCI William Coley, meet more than suspicious and convenient deaths.

How many other staffer, judges, and journalist are covert CIA or Mossad operatives?

Intriguing and disturbing, but what the hell, "this is America!" - look at the George Jr and his horse play according to his wife, Laura! The decadence of the Roman Empire, and heading for a great fall, or has it happened already?

Hi CJM--You'll want to know that I was offered the opportunity to edit your post.

karlof1: What the hell does that mean?

This version of the story is a bit confusing. I found a clearer one here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90223448

And KEM PATRICK is right. Something fishy is going on at CD lately. I've also had entire posts that contained nothing offensive but had several links to back up my claims disappear. Trouble logging on too. Let's see if this one see's the light of day.

As for CJM on FOIA, you might be right about screw-ups, but possibly some of the "wage slaves" are true patriots and doing the best they can to reveal things to us without being caught.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/06/fbi-raids-dojs-office-of_n_100403.html

"The fact is, this office is not functioning, this office does not protect whistle-blowers and this office is not meeting its mission," said Debra Katz, an employment lawyer representing the Special Counsel employees who filed the 2005 complaint. "President Bush needs to just tell this man that he needs to resign. There has been misconduct and he should not be allowed to continue his mission."

sadly this...

http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2007/04/bloch.html

Karl Rove's Least Likely Interrogator: Scott Bloch and the Office of Special Counsel

News: The controversial director of the OSC is launching the most high-profile (and politically fraught) investigation of his stormy, three-year tenure. Is it a courageous effort to expose White House malfeasance, or a last ditch attempt to save his own hide?

By Daniel Schulman

April 25, 2007

"Bloch is gearing up for a large-scale investigation into the administration's political operation, zeroing in on the man who has turned that operation into a veritable satellite office of the Republican National Committee: Karl Rove."

.......................

It might be the investigation of rove that got bloch into trouble.

Probably was ~Colleen~. That would figure. But just maybe it's a better story,__ we'll see.

Sorry about the keyboard Rebel, sometimes I just can't help myself.

Hi Rebel--As you know, after you post a comment, a "clock" appears announcing the amount of time remaining to edit your comment. Presumably, editing can only be done by the author, the author determined by log-in and cookies. On this occasion, I was not logged in, but still offered the chance to edit.

Now I comment on only a few blogs, and on only two of those is there an edit function; and only here is there a clock attached to the function. Like Kem, I've been singled out for "moderating" previously, an act I believe connected to antispam software. I imagine there's also a software problem related to this issue. I posted the incident as an act of informing others.

Rince it lightly with a solution of vinegar water and gently dry with a hair dryer set on low. __ Plain vinegar.

From Cactus Pie's link to the NPR version:

"One of Bloch's first official actions was to refuse to investigate any claims of discrimination based on sexual orientation. When the news of his refusal was leaked to the press, career employees in his office say, Bloch blamed them for the leak. He retaliated, the employees said, by creating a new field office in Detroit and forcing them either to accept assignments there or resign."

- Ari Shapiro, NPR

HAH! (Or really a complete un-hah) Bloch-head was committing the very crimes that he's supposed to prevent!!!

You've been invaded by "bug" Karloff. Too tu to tu too tu to to. ___ Call the men in black.

I heard part of this story on npr. "Career employees" in the office have been complaining about Bloch for some time. He once blatantly stated he would not investigate descrimination against gay couples, and has played politics with everything. Apparently the scene was right out of a movie with 20-some FBI agents turning off the power, rushing in, seizing files and computers, and sequestering Bloch in a room.

It looks like friend and foe smell the end of the Dubya administration. In DC the pros are getting out from under the hacks, and Dubya's oil industry buddies are raping us while they still can. Less than 8 months!

Colleen: Thanks for the Mother Jones article. It took me a while to figure out that this was written back in April of 2007. Last year. What I can't figure out is if there is a Rove connection why did it take the administration a full year to shut this guy down? This is not making a lot of sense to me. And I'm not to good at figureing out is in the evil minds of our masters at this point. I have the sinking feeling, however, that there is a cover-up in all this. There is something on those computers that somebody wants. Bloch had been in trouble for a long time with the White House but they didn't move in on him. Was he black mailing them with something? Weird!

KEM: I ain't going to try the vinegar thing. You still owe me a keyboard! :)

If Bloch was assigned to investigate Rove, it would have been a whitewash.

Well I for one will not hold my breath on this one.
I suspect that we will not hear anything more about this.
Washington DC protects it's own . . . They are all so heavy into everything the spill over would bring the whole place down. Watch my words folks . . . Nothing more will appear about this raid or anything else about it . . . .
I have found that there are times when something will pop up and make you think something is really happening. Then poof it's gone . . . Nothing more is said.

Okay REB. How about 20 pounds of beans and rice instead?

We'll see Mendo Chuck. based upon past history, yu have a very valid point. However, it usually takes months for the FBI to investigate before they move in on an important case. Thay do like to have all of their ducks lined up. Hope they do on this one.

karlof, I had that happen to me with somebody elses post a while back. I clicked it just to see and got nothing.

Can't correct (yu) to (you). I didn't write it the screen says. So I didn't spel yu wrong.

KEM: As you know, I have already stockpiled plenty of beans and rice. And I don't want any of your pepper. So we're down to is the amenities and luxuries at this point. What else do have to offer for the keyboard?

Rebel Farmer--I have a spare keyboard sitting in a box on the floor I'd be happy to donate.

Kem--Thanks for the chuckle, but you didn't get me to trash my keyboard.

NMBill--One supposes a CD staffer reads the comments and has picked up our observations.

Rooting for the FBI to do the right thing seems like an oxymoron--kind of like rooting for the Gestapo.

Hey, Karlof1, thanks for the offer. I also have an extra keyboard, but that isn't the point. I wanna see what I can get outta KEM.

And I REALLY like your comment about rooting for the FBI. I just KNOW that there is a motive for this raid that we can't see. I can't even imagine the FBI being the good guys in white hats at this point.

P.S. I gotta go eat and feed the dogs. I'll check in the morning to see if KEM has a better offer.

I agree with you; it's hard to tell who, if anyone, are the good guys here, Rebel Farmer. But maybe the rats are turning on one another trying to save their mangy hides, and the truth will come out in the process. Bush's tenure is coming to an end, and if McCain isn't there to protect all of those who have abused their power and broken the laws during the obscene Bush and Dick show, people could end up in the slammer.

Twenty pounds of dried seaweed?

There are no white knights in Washington only dark days. Today we can safely assume that everything Bush and Cheney touch is corrupt. No more surprises, it's all dark.

What's this about a week after the murder of Debra Jean Palfrey (the DC Madame)who was going to write a tell all book that would have exposed many of her 150,000 clients.

Very strange indeed..

Whether or not this office is "not functioning", it seems to be the one office that could do some good for whistleblowers if its officers were inclined to do so. If this is like a typical executive branch office, the ones running the show are political lackeys loyal to Bush, but the rest of the staff is full of career bureaucrats who (on the whole) are decent people who want to do the right thing (thats seems to be a disappearing legacy from past generations-- god help us when all government employees are either political lackeys or private contractors). Locking up the whistleblower case files in the FBI is NOT going to be good for the whistleblowers, right?

Ever hear of a woman hanging herself? ___ I haven't.

Overdose on drugs, sleeping pills, slashed wrists, jumping off a bridge or a high rise, running their vehicle into a tree at 100 mph, a shot in the head with a 45. I've heard of all of those type suicides, ____but not hanging. Especially where her mother would find her hanging. I don't buy it. A suicide note was found. Was that forced to be written, did she actually write it?