HELLO?!? - O’Keefe and pals are not just pranksters - Wake Up & Start Sniffing!

[kpete]

Interesting history on Madigan.


Michael J. Madigan


Michael J. Madigan is a litigation partner in Orrick's Washington, D.C. office. Mr. Madigan has more than 30 years of experience in white collar criminal investigations, congressional and corporate investigations, corporate governance issues and Washington, D.C., legislative and political issues. He began his legal career by serving as a federal prosecutor where he tried more than 100 jury trials, successfully prosecuting murderers, rapists, armed robbers, drug cartels and major fraud cases. At age 30, he served as Counsel to Senator Howard Baker on the historic Senate Watergate Committee. In addition, Mr. Madigan has served as Chief Counsel for Senator Fred Thompson’s Campaign Finance investigation, Counsel to the Church Committee and Minority Counsel of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Baker on the historic Watergate Committee.

Michael Madigan, O'Keefe's lawyer, said Wednesday that his client was not trying to wiretap or interfere with Landrieu's phones, but he would not explain why O'Keefe was there. He also would not say whether O'Keefe was working for someone or was on his own.

Consequently, O’Keefe and pals obviously are not pranksters. Otherwise, Okeefe would not need Madigan.

He is also on the “Superlawyers” list for high end white collar crime.
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/01/29/teabugger-okeefe-liberate-the-tapes-no-not-those-tapes/#comment-217400
http://www.orrick.com/lawyers/Bio.asp?ID=222266
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Baker


IS THIS THE SAME MADIGAN?

The prosecution will call Libby "a very bright guy at the highest levels of government with motivation to prevent Fitzgerald and the grand jury from learning the true source" of Libby's information about administration critic Joseph Wilson.

After the indictment, Cheney issued words of praise in Washington but made no mention of his departing chief of staff on a trip later in the day to Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. Cheney's speech to base personnel was on terrorism, the topic that, along with Iraq, has consumed his and Libby's time and energy.

"This is nothing new for a White House having to counter its critics, particularly when the administration believes the criticism to be false," said Washington lawyer Michael Madigan, a former Republican counsel in the Senate investigation of Clinton-era campaign fund-raising abuses. "The trouble the White House encountered in this case is that some of the information was classified."

If he were representing Libby, lawyer David Schertler said he would present character witnesses to testify about Libby's dedication to public service.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latest-news/libby-said-to-concoct-story-in-leak-case

OH AND LOOK AT THIS

Re: OT Libby takes one for the team

Michael Madigan
Tue, 06 Mar 2007 15:57:02 -0800

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 15:57:02 -0800

That's correct, just like Iran Contra, there was no
crime committed.

--- Stephen Russell <> wrote:

>
> Just like Ollie North, Libby did the right thing and
> kept the VP out of the
> hot seat.
>

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

Re: Scooter Libby pardon

Michael Madigan
Thu, 14 Jun 2007 22:05:20 -0700

Lying to congress? That's not the charge.

> Saw on the news how Libby might face 2.5 years in
> the slammer for lying
> to Congress.
>
> How much do you want to bet that GWB pardons him in
> the 11th hour just
> like Clinton did with Marc Rich?




http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg21420.html
http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg29170.html

[Botany]

1. Well so far possible links to:

1 maybe 2 U.S. Attorneys
1 US Senator ..... Vitter
1 US Congressperson ..... U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin
Fox News
The CIA
Andrew Breitbart


"They" need to stop this thing cold because if the US DoJ follows this
thread far enough it will be like "Goodfellas" there will be bodies
all over the place.

[monmouth]

3. Oh yeah, I see a "Movie of the Week" on this one.....n/t

[rocktivity]

6. DING DING DING! Botany, you're our grand prize winner

...if the US DoJ follows this thread far enough it will be like "Goodfellas"...

I was fifteen when I heard a radio news report about a break-in at an office complex in Washington DC. Day by day, the story 'just growed.'

And of course, his connections make his Bluto Blustarky "prankster" defense just shrinks...

:headbang:
rocktivity

[Quantess]

18. That would be exciting to behold.

[malaise]

26. Great post

There will be bodies.

[donquijoterocket]

45. plus

Beyond The very definite ties to official republicondom, and as Olbermann illustrated the other evening ties to the right wing's unofficial official dirty tricks academy via the college republicons. Guy was auditioning to be the next Donald Segretti or maybe Unka Karl Rove except he got outed on his first op and now his value is diminished. About the only future for this twit should he actually serve time is as a "Political analyst" on fux noise.Aside from this twit maybe doing some time in some jail or the other the greatest benefit has been the marginalization of some of his sponsors like Andrew nottoobreitbart and possibly some of the stink will cling to fux noise.I've noticed in touring around the intertubez net thingy that even places which used to vigorously rise to his defense are much less enthusiastic these days.

[SpiralHawk]

52. G. Gordon Liddy and Ollie North (R - Traitors) can make use of him

They know the republicon 'rehab' route -- and the republicon rehab cashmoneybucks scene -- doubleplusungood.

[mmonk]

78. Also I think with a coordinated assault

by the Family Research Council and The Chamber of Commerce.

[Atman]

2. And obviously, somebody big is bankrolling this assclown O'Keefe!

Jeebus, this stinks to high heaven. Good for the GOP they own the whole goddamn media, otherwise this might get some serious coverage.

.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Wow. I had to rec to cancel out the unreccers. n/t

[kpete]

5. where are the DU hounds

this needs sniffing out - is this the same MM I am quoting?
Come on DUERs SNIFF already, kp

[Fla Dem]

42. Where do you even see the count for unrecs....all I ever see are counts for recommened. n/t

:shrug:

[CLANG]

66. I've wondered that myself! I've seen other people ask this question

but nobody ever answers!

[PuraVidaDreamin]

7. How can this young prankster afford this high hitter attorney?

Who's bank rolling him?

[Botany]

8. My guess

He made the phony ACORN videos for them.



They were using him too.

[glinda]

15. Fox was going to run with whatever damage O'Keefe would conjure up. Am sure the

initial "appearance" of "said crime" was NOT the actual CRIME that they were going to make happen. I think it is something much much bigger.

[Celebration]

9. exactly

Whoever is paying this high power attorney may have been in on it. If so there is a big conflict of interest, as it could be in his client's best interest to spill the beans.........but then there is the matter of getting the legal bill paid.

[Bitwit1234]

10. So these were just "kids"

Weren't the guys who attacked the Twin Towers younger than these guys. We sure as heck didn't see them as kids. Just the right's way of spinning so they can get them off.

[sabrina 1]

11. There are lots of people who might be behind

O'Keefe's little 'pranks'. He himself said that Morton Blackwell funded him. But then he scrubbed that from his blog.

It's interesting that the lawyer refused to just say that 'no one is behind him'. He would if he could, so that means he was not acting alone. Which I for one, never thought he was. All his schemes are classic Rovian/Blackwell schemes. Always aimed at 'liberal' groups or the poor and minorities.

[protect our future]

12. So O'Keefe and pals say they were just trying to find out

why Landrieu's constituents were having problems reaching the Senator's office.

I think they knew why.

Because so many callers are not constituents at all, but instead are phoning in from other states and, inspired by the Teabaggers and cloaked in anonymity, leaving messages -- for days, weeks -- messages often much worse than what we've seen Teabaggers saying on TV. Cursing, death threats, all sorts of vile stuff, trying to terrorize whoever is in the office answering phones. Of course, O'Keefe isn't going to show us that in his "documentary."

That's an awful lot of people who are not "constituents" swamping the phones and filling up the inbox.

It's happening to other Congress people. O'Keefe must know that. So let's follow the money and dig deeper, please.

[BeFree]

13. Other congress people

I can affirm that. Been personally told by a congress person that many death threats had been received.

[vanlassie]

39. So he put on his Telephone Repairman Costume and went in to offer his services!!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. Profiling works two ways.

They are enjoying the upside of profiling.

[starroute]

16. And it sure isn't O'Keefe's parents paying for this

His father has an electrical equipment business in New Jersey -- online listings say it does $200,000 in net sales per year (that's sales, not profits) and has three employees. His mother is a physical therapist. So, securely middle class -- but in the range where it would pinch to hire even a cheap lawyer, let alone a high-profile one.

I'd just love to know who's paying for this. My best bet is that it ultimately goes back to Scaife and the other right-wing foundations that give so generously to the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the Leadership Institute, and the Capital Research Center, all of which appear to have been behind aspects of O'Keefe's endeavor.

[glinda]

44. I think it all branches out from the Federalist Society members working in tandem.

[glinda]

17. Video of his speech at the Federalist Society. I think he is too closely tied to political figures

and so this must be big. Haven't viewed this yet but....


http://www.fed-soc.org/publications/pubid.1037/pub_detail.asp

[glinda]

20. More

Cheney, Fox, Federalist Society, the Supreme Court spoilers.... all the fun people hanging in a clump.

What the Federalist Society Stands For
Group Is Haven for Conservative Thought

By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 29, 2005

-snip-

After President Bush tapped John G. Roberts Jr. for the Supreme Court, the nominee was widely reported to be a member of the Federalist Society -- an assertion that White House officials vigorously disputed.

-snip-

* Launched 23 years ago by a group of conservative students who felt embattled by liberals on the campuses of some of the nation's most elite law schools, the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies has grown into one of the nation's most influential legal organizations.

-snip-

Through the years, the Federalist Society, which has a $5 million budget, has also received substantial financial backing from a network of foundations that has supported a diverse menu of conservative causes, including promoting school vouchers and investigating the personal life of former president Bill Clinton. These include the John M. Olin and Charles G. Koch foundations. Conservative activist Richard Mellon Scaife is also a major benefactor.

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/28/AR2005072801779.html

Cheney and the Federalist Society:
http://www.fed-soc.org/publications/id.4/author.asp

I think he us hoping that this will go all the way up to the SC to his friends. This could be nasty.

[peacetalksforall]

19. Let's slow this down a little to savor it:

"Michael J. Madigan is a litigation partner in Orrick's Washington, D.C. office.

Mr. Madigan has more than 30 years of experience in
white collar criminal investigations,
congressional and
corporate investigations,
corporate governance issues and
Washington, D.C., legislative and political issues."

Including Libby.

What is hitting me with a jolt of lightening is their stating what the four were not going to do, but they refuse to state what they were going to do. It could simply mean that they are going to concoct something and need time, however, couldn't they just get by with a lawyer on a lower level - to make something sound juvenile to get these guys off just as the freepers are trying to free them with their cavalier 'move-along' ramblings.

Cheney Madigan Libby ?

Is Madigan only working for O'Keefe, not all four?

What doesn't make any sense is why someone at the upper levels of dirty tricks would let this guy do anything. After I saw the key Acorn video where he grabs his prop cane and tosses that ridiculous prop fur over his skinny shoulder and with his prop hat floating tipped on the top of his head, I immediately labeled him a loner-loser. Come to find out - he has connections.

He gets paid to lecture at high level Republican events?

He gets camera time at a worldwide right wing tv network?

He is praised in Congress and a certain number of them document their praise for posterity in Congressional Records over the Acorn stunt? ????????????????????????????

Yes - let's do call it a -gate.

Thanks for this post. I have barely been able to read since noon - this is great stuff.

I just keep thinking - patsy.

[glinda]

21. Madigan deals with big clients, Corporate, Political figures, etc... He either wants

to stop the process early to protect the possible "paying client" or he wants it to go up to his friends at the SC where by all accounts he will possibly go for more dismantling of the Government and our Constitution by including "Freedom of Speech". Gee there seems to be a theme. Faux has their version of Freedom of Speech.... he seems big on Government corruption or perception of and Government overstepping it's bounds. Works good for him since he rakes in the bucks.

Alito needs to be impeached. Now.

[glinda]

22. Palin is also a Federalist

[northzax]

57. um, no

the Federalist Society is comprised of attorneys and law students. Sarah Palin is a lot of things, but a lawyer she isn't.

[ThomThom]

60. I have never understood why a group that opposes the federal

government would call themselves federalists. Shouldn't they be anti-federalists.

[northzax]

74. I think they'd argue

That since they are strict constructionists that the exact texts Hamilton, Madison and Jay wrote as Publius are in favor of the exact Constitution ad it was written, they're fine. Of course, an interpretation of the Federalist Papers isn't allowed, the actual text is all that matters.

[glinda]

75. she considers herself as much. She is NOT in the Federalist Society which is made up of legal people

[dixiegrrrrl]

62. Madigan was a partner in Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP

Had its beginnings in ...Dallas.
THE biggest Republican law firm, they have their hands in every pie, nationally and internationally.
They HOSTED the 2008 Republican Convention.
I cannot tell you how many times their name has surfaced when I have been looking up some
nefarious Repub.
Clients include Deutsche Bank, Wyndham International, AIG and Liberty Mutual.
They make a fortune handling bankruptcies for huge companies.

Naturally the questions arises...why is OKeefe being represented by such a giant and expensive firm???
One which has lobbyists everywhere.

[kpete]

32. patsy

is right, thanks for noticing!
kp

[go west young man]

23. Link to NY Times article on the initial arrest with affidavit attached.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/us/politics/27landrieu.html

One thing to take note of is that their defense now is that they were using their new media methods to show that Senator Landrieu doesn't answer calls. The affidavit says that the witness saw O'Keefe use his phone to record Flanagan and Basel attempting to call the senators phone. However their alibi does not fit in with the fact that Flanagan and Basel then went up to a different floor without O'Keefe to access the main phone terminal. That presumably would not have been filmed by O'Keefe. Unless they were to video themselves there. But if that was the case why would they need O'Keefe recording in the first place if they could do it themselves? Something doesn't add up.

Taking the right wing mind into consideration I believe that their current defense is their fall back alibi. They most likely thought it through in case they got caught. Could they seriously have not thought what they were doing in a senators office was not a serious crime against the United States? They apparently thought it was worth the risk. Judging from their powerful connections and the extent they went to I perceive that they thought they would receive great rewards in their political futures. I believe that risk they were taking was to bug the senators phone and use any info attained to embarrass/smear the senator. The political connections amongst the bad guys and Louisiana politics and the GOP are many. There is obviously much more to be learned here.

From an earlier DU post: Flanagan, 24, is the son of William J. Flanagan, the acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, based in Shreveport. William Flanagan declined to comment through an office assistant.

Flanagan may have had a personal motive. Landrieu has proposed a replacement for his father, and President Obama has nominated her. That’s typical when the White House changes parties. A president nominates U.S. attorneys from his own party.



I hope the prosecutors dig deep.

Here's a TPM Muckraker link on some other connections: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/landrieu_phone_bugging_case_what_is_the_pelican_in.php

[go west young man]

24. Additional link to Blackhatjacks DU thread on the case.

He has an interesting take on things. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7583625

[mod mom]

25. Witness saw him pick up the handset of the phone & manipulate it. These are NOT kids.

These are not pranksters. These are well connected criminals!

According to the Phillips Foundation's Web site, Dai was the editor-in-chief of the GW Patriot, an alternative conservative student newspaper, when he attended The George Washington University in 2006. According to information Dai posted in September 2007 on the university's online alumni directory, he lived in Naperville, Ill., helped run a "Defense Deparment regional defense counterterrorism/irregular warfare program" and then became assistant director of the Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence at Trinity Washington University, which prepares undergraduates for careers in intelligence.

-snip
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/01/acorn_gotcha_man_arrested_for.html

WHAT IS IRREGULAR WARFARE?

http://www.iwsp.cttso.gov/


Enterprise
Exploit adversary economic, financial, logistical, and information business processes.

Sanctuary
Deny adversaries safe operating zones from the physical to the virtual.

Organization
Deter, disrupt, interdict, and disable threat networks using advanced law enforcement tools, training, tactics, techniques, and procedures.

Motivation
Motivate, educate, and equip indigenous partner forces to directly combat violent, extremist ideologies and their practitioners

[glinda]

30. sounds like a case of "Gamers" gone bad in regards to Irregular Warfare

[Selena Harris]

36. You mean Father Flanagan's phones

were ACTUALLY working? I'm truly surprised they were not SWAMPED with calls, as they allege Landireu's were.

[glinda]

46. I am not buying their "excuse for why they were doing" what they were doing.

[RetroLounge]

27. K&R

RL

[onehandle]

28. Oh, 'boys will be boys.' Like that precocious Timothy McVeigh.

He was a Rascal!

[H2O Man]

29. Way recommended!

Thanks.

[kpete]

33. lots of ?s i believe -

thanks H20 Man - I thought this was worth taking a 2nd look at, kp

[H2O Man]

34. It has to be

viewed in a larger, historical context. It was not a "mere prank." I fully appreciate the OP, and think that the majority of DUers understand that there is far more to this picture than meets the eye.

[Kingofalldems]

31. Kick and rec for the sneaky freepers

[madmom]

35. The "they are just kids" excuse..if they are saying that they are just kids and need

to be given special treatment, then maybe we should look into some of the other adult activities they may be engaging in. Do they drink, smoke, drive, vote, have sex, live on their own? These are all adult activities that no mere "kid" should be engaging in so ...........

[MinM]

37. Most recently on the Ben Watmore connection (he may be the handler for the whole crew)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7578398#7603883

Larisa Alexandrovna: Ratfuckers Strike Again
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7579406

Stan Dai apparently a CIA Junior Commissar & Recruitment Officer
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7578398

The O'Keefe Wiretapping Operation May Be More Serious Than We First Imagined...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7583625

Whether the O'Keefe Gang were just pranksters, or more than that, is what needs to be investigated. I'm not sure why even some supposedly more liberal sites, e.g., HuffPo, have chosen to downplay this story? At the very least, even if it turns out to be "pranks", it's important to expose these Ratfuckers!

:dem: & R

[rusty fender]

38. Although no phone tapping devices were

found on them, they could have been on a reconnaisense(sp?) mission to determine how difficult it would be to gain access to the phone system. Their intent was likely illegal, not a prank.

[SlingBlade]

40. "Wake Up & Start Sniffing!" , That's a dangerous concept

round these parts nowadays. :)

[starroute]

41. Madigan was also a high-powered lobbyist with Akin Gump

Though he phased out the lobbying after 2002, in that year his client list was:

https://www.fecwatch.org/lobby/lobbyist.php?lname=Madigan%2C+Michael+J&id=Y00000011760&year=2002

Alliance of American Insurers
American Financial Group
Bechtel Group
Cassava Enterprises
Citigroup Inc
Corrections Corp of America
FirstEnergy Corp
Fremont Investors
Johnson & Johnson
Liberty Corp
Municipal Financial Consultants
Nationwide Mutual Insurance
New York Public Library
Northpoint Technology
PayPal Inc
Sequoia Ventures

Some of those names really jump out at me -- Cassava Enterprises, for example, is an online gambling company owned by Israelis and incorporated in Gibraltar, which was particularly active around 2002 in trying to head off Congressional attempts to shut down online gambling. Northpoint Technology was either a promising but unsuccessful venture or an outright scam (hard to say which) that attracted a lot of politically connected people looking for a get-rich-quick scheme and was lobbying hard to get the rights to unused capacities of existing communications satellites.

Bechtel has been involved in so much crap (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechtel) it's hard to say just what they would have been lobbying over in 2002. And Sequoia Ventures is tied in with Bechtel.

FirstEnergy is a well-known polluter that was for many years the target of an EPA lawsuit. And American Financial Group is the company of Carl Lindner -- who was also the head of Chiquita at the time of human rights abuses in Colombia that provoked a Federal case where Madigan was one of the lawyers for the defense.

So there's a fairly consistent pattern here (with the possible exception of the New York Public Library) and it ain't pretty.

[glinda]

47. Lobbying. The fellow that owns "Big Hollywood, Big, what-evers has focused in on

Lobbying and "illegal favors. Didn't he bankroll O'Keefe? Forget his name.... He pushes the Federalist Society as recommended readings. I think Landreau and the whole getting a so called "favor" to vote for HEalth Care is it. I think that the intention was to somehow get info while they were there and to somehow tie her and someone higher up in scandal. Maybe Obama? Maybe someone else?
All; these friends of O'Keefe's are in the Federalist Society also. I think the bottom line is that the intention of O'Keefe was to attempt in the end to do more dismantling of the Constitution. I think the "go ahead" was the recent ruling by the Federalist SDC Judges. They felt emboldened. But what do I know.

[Selena Harris]

67. Cassava=any connection to the timeline involving Abramoff?

[AllieB]

43. Has anyone visited the James O'Keefe Facebook page?

There are so many liberals posting there and pooping all over it that it's hilarious. People have put up links to his white supremacist leanings.

[Buns_of_Fire]

48. You'd think with the right-wingers' money, they'd hire people more competent then O'Keefe & Co.

No one involved in the Watergate break-in was ever in consideration for a Nobel Prize, either. *sigh* It's so hard to get good help these days.

[glinda]

49. As said before "patsies" but with criminal minds. Fearless and stupid. Perfect!

[Buns_of_Fire]

54. I can agree with that, but to what end?

What in hell are they doing (or planning on doing) that would require a patsy to draw away the heat? Or is it a case of "let's try this and see if it works"?

[protect our future]

50. More about this here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7607035

DU's KittyWampus has uncovered some interesting info.

[glinda]

55. Health Care. Somehow connected to that and more....

[SpiralHawk]

51. Republicon Family Lawyer for Republicon Family Felons

Ptoooey on perverted republicon family crime against America.

[invisible]

53. O’Keefe and pals are thugs who belong in prison.

O’Keefe and pals are thugs who belong in prison.

[indy legend]

56. fitting isn't it ?

O'Keeffe gets his start playing pimp and ho. Not much of a stretch for a conservative republican. They've been whoring themselves out and pimping their constitutes out to the highest bidder since Ronald Reagan. At least if this little bitch goes to prison he will then get to play the part of the ho on a daily basis. He will get to experience tea-baggin first hand then and his new pimp in prison can sell him on an hourly basis for a cigarette or a candy bar. Have fun pal you will learn to like it. It only hurts the first time. Republican voters have been proving that for 30 years cause they always come back for more.

[tom_paine]

58. Sadly, we've been down this road dozens of times before.

Let me make the disclaimer that I wish it were not so

But it is.

So, let's be clear about the pattern of what is coming that we all know is coming:

1) No one and I mean NO ONE in the Corporate M$M is going to start looking at a damned thing. From Lori Klausutis and onward, many crimes (Bushies hacking Dem Judiciary computers comes to mind but there are literally dozens to choose from) the same lunatic upside-down-Soviet-double-standard has occurred. If the RW Lie Machine doesn't drive the "investigation", the "me, too" Corporate M$M sure won't.

2) The intelligence connection almost certainly means that key evidence has already likely gone missing. What patriotic cop wouldn't "turn the other way" upon seeing that pretty NSA/CIA badge and hearing the words "National Security"? One can never guess exact details, but one thing is sure - it is the logical extension of stuff the Bushies have been doing in 3rd World countries for decades and anyone can see they have turned those tried-and-tested CIA methods on US.

Like most kinds of Bush state crimes, where the benefit is to have other loyal Bushie criminals themselves in charge of the Bushie-committed crime scene, so to speak.

3) One way or another, the "prank meme" takes hold, and miraculously, the most advantageous ending for our Bushie Operatives with their links to the Intelligence Community (probation, sentences followed by overturned convictions to provide "Plausible Deniability", prosecutorial "malfeasance" leading to a dismissal, who knows what exactly it will be this time?) WILL happen.

As the Bushies laid out in their now declassified 1968 CIA book "Coup D'Etat: A Practical Manual" by Ed Luttwak, the power they wield stems from their massive wresting of control in key areas of the government (judicial, law enforcement, intelligence, military, media) to control the parts of the government they briefly have to relinquish to pretend we have a Free System.

THAT is the problem and it is as deep and systemic as anything in Commu-Capitalist China or the old Soviet Union.

[eleny]

59. "No one and I mean NO ONE in the Corporate M$M is going to start looking at a damned thing"

Times change and Rachel Maddow has been doing a heck of a job with her research team on various subjects. For instance her delving into "The Family".

So just on that one point I'll disagree for now. I'm sure that intelligence is being dealt with. But we do have the reigns of government and we've learned how electronic data has a way of sticking around and then being uncovered by skillful people.

I'm also counting on O'Keefe's arrogance. It's made him sloppy. He likes to brag. Over time he's talked to people. No doubt, it's gotten him laid and it's made him jealous enemies. People talk when offered cash. You just never know who else is doing research and uncovering stones to find critters willing to crawl out and share info.

I see O'Keefe's personal weaknesses as a pathway. So I'm staying tuned. Meantime, it's going to keep some big players very busy. And that will provide clues, too.

Scooter Libby should never, ever have spent a second mired in the Plamme mess. Look how well connected he is - to the godfather of all time. And yet, he got burned.

Stay tuned and keep the faith. If this whole deal is as deep as we surmise, the one who reveals it stands to gain a lot. The book, the appearances, the scandal sheet sales, the personal success could be enormous. For that reason alone folks like Maddow, Greenwald, Olbermann and the scandal newspapers have their dogs out scratching and sniffing.

[glinda]

76. "Mad-again" gave a lecture on point #2

[TheeHazelnut]

61. I hate this creep, but think he will probably sell his story and get rich.

I can just picture it now. He'll have an autobiography ghost-written, a movie will be made, etc. The guy is going get rich. What he's selling a lot of rich men and right-wing idiots voting against their own interests want to buy.

[indy legend]

63. and the book tour will be sponsored by Fox News.

Isn't it ironic how the right works ? People who have never read a book have someone write a book for them then go on tour to sell the book to people who can't read. Only in America.

[eleny]

70. I don't think he's going to gain much

I believe it's the people who have been around him, his young peers, who will be blabbing for bucks but on the down-low.

A guy like this has enemies and some stupid friends who can be coerced by cash.

But O'Keefe is hooked up to some very powerful people who have told him to zip it or be zipped. He may posture some but he won't be spilling any beans. Not unless he gets a new face and new address far, far away.

[Enthusiast]

64. I fear we can't even begin

to imagine the number and nature of dirty tricks these filthy Republicans are planning, or have already put into operation. The most damaging of these is the SCOTUS ruling.

[glinda]

68. SCOTUS ruling brought to you by the same Group as O'Keefe's Attorney.It is full

assault on our Constitution and we oddly have a Constitutional Lawyer Perz. What are the chances of that? Hey Barack! Are you ready???

[Enthusiast]

77. Needless to say,

it is deeply disturbing. We are so like that toad in the gently warming water that will be in danger of being boiled unless it recognizes the danger, and soon.

[Enthusiast]

65. Danger, Will Robinson!

While we are looking over here at James O'Keefe, they are pulling something far more outrageous over there. I hope the Democratic Party has a full time security operation.

[pnorman]

69. I'll wait patiently for a clear link to "higher ups" (CIA and/or RNC?).

From what I gather, the bug & associated receiver a few blocks away indicate some pretty sophisticated equipment. I may be a decade or so behind in technology, but can someone answer me this: Is that the sort of equipment that a "civilian" can legally acquire?

[glinda]

71. Where did you read what kind of equipment they had? Link?

[pnorman]

72. I believe it was reported here on DU,

that a teanm of 2 was nabbed in a car a few blocks away with "listening gear". That to me, indicates not only a very sophisticated and compact "bug", but a very sensitive receiver. Later, I'll do a web-search, but my gut feeling is this isn't the sort of stuff that's sold to "civilians".

[glinda]

73. I also heard it was a cell phone. What was it really though?

[pnorman]

79. I'm reasoning back from that listening equipment found in a car a few blocks away.

I'm still looking for reliable details, but rightaway that doesn't sound like a hare-brained "prank".

[suffragette]

80. K&R