Since they couldn't hold him in jail, things are taking a turn toward a typical Rovian smear-and-destroy campaign: if you can't deport him, take away his livelihood (Dennis Cogswell, Herald-Palladium, reg. req'd):
Frustrated because they have been unable to get Ibrahim Parlak deported to Turkey as a terrorist, federal officials are now going after the Harbert restaurant owner's business and family, his spokesman claims.
Martin Dzuris of New Buffalo says Department of Homeland Security agents went to the Michigan Liquor Control Commission (MLCC) in order to have Parlak's liquor license at the Cafe Gulistan revoked. "They're going full out against his business, his family, everything," Dzuris said. "You fight in court, you don't try to take away people's livelihoods."
He said he learned of the Homeland Security involvement from someone in the MLCC and added the wording of the complaint against Parlak is very similar to that in charges filed against him by the federal agency.
"If they can't get you through the courts, they'll make your life miserable," Dzuris said. "That's not the way the system is supposed to work. That's (the possible loss of the liquor license) going to kill his business."
[...]
"We don't have a personal vendetta," [Homeland Security spokesman Greg] Palmore said. "We abide by due process.
"Our job is to protect the homeland. There is nothing personal about this. We're going about our task, which is to uphold the law."
[...]
Ibrahim Parlak, 43, is free on $50,000 bond while he appeals a judge's order deporting him to Turkey because of his ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which was declared a terrorist group in 1997.
Homeland Security claims Parlak failed to disclose his conviction in Turkey for Kurdish separatist activities when he was granted asylum in the U.S. in 1992.
With the liquor license issue undecided, Dzuris said Parlak has been unable to open an addition to the restaurant because it would have to be included under the license.
"He's got all his money invested in an addition he can't use. By the time he can use it, the (tourist) season will be over."
Dzuris said the Parlak brothers want nothing more than to be left alone.
"All they want is what so many immigrants want - to run away from persecution and live free."
Unfortunately, Ibrahim Parlak did not own a magic time machine in 1992 when he was granted asylum in the US. Otherwise he would have known that five years later the Kurdistan Workers' Party would be declared a terrorist group and that he would be held somehow accountable for their actions.
Interestingly, neither did George W Bush own a magic time machine in August 2001 while he was on his annual month-long vacation. Yet he was mysteriously not held accountable for the breach of homeland security that happened a month later, despite receiving a personal memo with the headline: "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US."
It all goes to show — when it comes to Homeland Security, the incompetence of this administration is destroying lives left and right.
⇒ More on Ibrahim Parlak at the Chicago Sun-Times from Carol Marin.
Prosecutors have focused on an incident caught in published photographs, when the two [interrogating] men allegedly cornered a naked detainee and allowed the dogs to bite him on each thigh as he cowered in fear.
The dog handlers [at Abu Ghraib] also allegedly participated in a "contest" to see who could make more detainees urinate or defecate on themselves, but defense attorneys contended that there is no actual witness to such a game and that the claims were merely rumors that spread throughout the prison.
The Guantanamo-Abu Ghraib connection could hardly be clearer. "Bad apple" Lynndie England could not have invented the interrogation techniques at Guantanamo — the few bad apples are in the White House, Cabinet, and Pentagon.
The disconnect between the detainees and any actual national threat of terrorism, coupled with therse extreme interrogation techniques, is a form of American barbarianism.
Senator Durbin, don't apologize to barbarians. Choose your words more carefully, and go back and talk about this issue until the real guilty parties are held accountable.
After deliberating less than 24 hours over four days, a Houston federal court jury acquitted three of the men on some charges and deadlocked on most of the Enron Broadband Services case.
The five men faced various charges relating to their roles in allegedly misleading investors regarding the success of the Internet venture.
It's the second blow in less than two months for the Enron Task Force: The U.S. Supreme Court earlier overturned the obstruction of justice conviction against the Arthur Andersen accounting firm.
On Wednesday, jurors declared themselves deadlocked on many charges and prosecutors asked the judge to order them to keep trying. U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore refused to do so, and declared a mistrial on the dozens of counts on which the jury could not agree.
"This verdict is a reflection of the complexity of this prosecution," said Robert Mintz, a New Jersey-based legal expert who follows the cases. "It spells trouble for the government trying to convince jurors in this case and others in the future."
He and other legal experts said the acquittals and mistrial can only bode well for ex-Enron executives Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling and Rick Causey, who face off with the humbled prosecutors next January.
The case was bungled from the start. And quite probably by design.
Dubya's daddy complex, the neocons' devotion to nominal democracy, Halliburton/Bechtel cash flow: none of these is enough to explain the expenditure of blood, sweat and tears (not to mention cash) that went into this war. The invasion of Iraq was a hugely public expression of a handful of private desires — but whose? And which?
If Rove is indicted, Fitzgerald becomes the target. Runaway prosecutor and all. Cooper will be slimed, but it's clear that it won't be Cooper's testimony that makes the difference. Remember, once indictments issue, all this stuff will start playing out in public. There will certainly be witnesses aside from Cooper.
This is a smart prediction of the near future. Wilson and Cooper will vanish from the public eye along with Iraq, Abu Ghraib, and the Downing Street Memos, as the entire Republican machine will focus on defaming Fitzgerald.
UPDATE: TPMCafe has a whole thread on this subject entitled Rove Slime Machine Watch: "Help us chart the movements of the Rove Slime Machine. Have you seen media attacks on Matt Cooper and/or Patrick Fitzgerald?"
Final arguments began Tuesday in the Enron Broadband Services trial, with the prosecution telling jurors they got to see behind the scenes and under the rocks at Enron — a view carefully hidden from investors.
"You learned the inside story never matched up to the outside story," prosecutor Ben Campbell told the jury in U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore's court.
On trial for the past 13 weeks are five former Enron Broadband Services executives accused of conspiracy and fraud in two schemes to fool investors and Wall Street about Enron's earning and technological capabilities. All five defendants testified that they did nothing wrong.
"We all know that money can corrupt people," Campbell said. "These five men lied for personal profit and professional advancement."
He said the simple motive was greed.
The inside story never matched up to the outside story. Seeing behind the scenes and under the rocks of a stage-managed narrative. Schemes to fool the people who want to support you.
Here's an old post from January 15, 2004 that I thought was worth revisiting, now that Karl Rove's crypto-Christian tactics (ahem, Schiavo) are failing as quickly as his criminal reputation grows:
Last night I was reminded of South Park Republicans while watching a rerun in which the following exchange takes place (Kyle is questioning Cartman's motives in starting a Christian rock band):
Kyle: But you don't know anything about Christians! Cartman: I know enough about them to exploit them.
I guess I never noticed Cartman's resemblance to Karl Rove before. Right down to his chinny-chin-chin.
Enron Corp. agreed to a $356 million settlement with about 20,000 current and former Enron employees who lost money in their retirement plans when the company collapsed in 2001, though they likely will see only a fraction of that amount.
[...]
However, it is likely that participants will get only 15% to 20% of the claim, said Lynn Sarko, an attorney with Keller Rohrback in Seattle who represented the Enron employees, as the final amount paid depends on the total amount of assets available for distribution in the bankruptcy court.
Quick review: Enron faked profits through a variety of schemes (including its participation in the California energy scam) to pump up its stock price and create imaginary wealth which it then used to become the the largest contributor to Bush-Cheney 2000. Enron executives participated in secret energy policy meetings with Dick Cheney a month after he took office, the minutes of which are still secret despite court challenges.
After Enron's demise, Bush-Cheney went on to a second term proposing a massive privatization of Social Security assets (read: benefit cut) which would essentially divide the massive Social Security insurance pool into millions of tiny 401(k)-like puddles of assets. Privatization is essentially the opposite of an economy of scale — smaller accounts mean more, not less, administrative fees that significantly reduce long-term return. The Bush crock was sold to the American people on the premise that it's your money and you ought to decide how to invest it no matter how ill-informed you are or how little you have to do with the management of the concerns in which you invest.
And now we learn that in an analogous scheme former Enron employees will get 15% of their own money. Not of possible future benefits — they will only receive 15% of the money they paid into the system.
Here it is: a preexisting model for Bush-style privatization, courtesy of his largest contributor. The result is an 85 percent loss within five years.
And after jacking her utility bills and taking her retirement money, the sad irony is that the Bushies won't even let Grandma Millie call Dr. Kervorkian.
(AP) - SAN JOSE, Calif.-Selling items on eBay Inc.'s online auction site is a pastime for some people, but for Ellen Lee it's a matter of paying for some of life's necessities.
Ellen, 59, and her husband, Peter, 57, worked as a nurse practitioner and family physician, respectively, until they retired in the late 1990s, with the goal of slowing their hectic lives. But when they needed health insurance, Ellen's pre-existing medical condition prevented her from getting affordable coverage.
The couple was already selling some books on eBay when their accountant asked if there was some type of business they could start to qualify for affordable health insurance offered to small-business owners. They set up a business in June 2001 to more formally sell items on eBay.
The Lees are part of a contingent of eBay sellers 55 and older who retired or were laid off from traditional full-time jobs and now sell online for income. The company doesn't have statistics about the number of sellers who fit that description, but spokesman Hani Durzy said eBay is seeing more of them attend classes the company sponsors on how to sell items.
