W's Leniency Liberates Libby

While I'm not surprised that Scooter Libby is serving no hard time I am surprised that his sentence was commuted rather than him being given a full pardon.

From the WaPo:

President Bush commuted the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby yesterday, sparing Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff 2 1/2 years in prison after a federal appeals court had refused to let Libby remain free while he appeals his conviction for lying to federal investigators.

Bush, who for months had sidestepped calls from conservatives to grant Libby a reprieve, broke his silence early yesterday evening, touching off an immediate uproar from Democrats who accused the White House of circumventing the rule of law to protect one of its own.

The president announced his decision in a written statement that laid out the factors he had weighed. Bush said he decided to "respect" the jury's verdict that Libby was guilty of four felonies for lying about his role in the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity. But the president said Libby's "exceptional public service" and previous lack of a criminal record led him to conclude that the 30-month sentence handed down by a judge last month was "excessive." more

However I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone affiliated with the GOP paid off Scooter Libby's fines and he either lands a cushy lobbying job or ends up working for the GOP. Not to mention the fact that W can still slip in a parting presidential pardon.

Libby Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison, Fined $250K

By Amy Goldstein and Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, June 5, 2007; 3:30 PM

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000 for lying to investigators about his role in leaking the identity of an undercover CIA officer.

The federal judge who presided over the case indicated that he may not be sympathetic to allowing Libby to remain free pending appeal, but scheduled a hearing on the matter for next week.

"Evidence in this case overwhelmingly indicated Mr. Libby's culpability," U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said moments before he handed out the sentence. The judge said he was sentencing Libby "with a sense of sadness. I have the highest respect for people who take positions in our government and appreciate tremendously efforts they bring to bear to protect this country."

At the same time, Walton said, "I also think it is important we expect and demand a lot from people who put themselves in those positions. Mr. Libby failed to meet the bar. For whatever reason, he got off course."

Just before Walton pronounced the sentence, Libby briefly appealed to the judge. After thanking Walton for the court's courtesy and kindness during the lengthy proceedings, Libby said: "It is respectfully my hope that the court will consider along with the jury verdict my whole life. Thank you your honor."

As the judge announced the sentence, Libby stood between his two lead attorneys, utterly impassive.

The judge sentenced Libby three months after a federal jury found Cheney's one-time top aide guilty of four felonies for failing to tell the truth to a federal grand jury and the FBI about the disclosure of former CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity. Libby was convicted of two counts of perjury, one count of making false statements to FBI agents, and one count of obstructing justice. He was acquitted of a fifth count. more

Let the pardon countdown begin!

Anyone know if an online betting pool is legal?

In all seriousness the judge will decide next week if Mr. Libby can stay out on bail until his appeal is heard. So it is possible that if his attorneys stall enough and W pardons him he'll never see the inside of a cell.

Jury Indicts Rep. Jefferson in Bribery Probe

By Jerry Markon and Allan Lengel
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, June 4, 2007; 2:40 PM

Rep. William J. Jefferson was indicted today in a longstanding FBI corruption probe centering on allegations that he took bribes to promote high-tech business ventures in Africa.

The Louisiana Democrat faces charges that include racketeering, money laundering, wire fraud and conspiracy to solicit bribes by a public official. The 16-count indictment was returned by a federal grand jury in Alexandria.

Federal officials have scheduled a 3:30 p.m. news conference to discuss the 94-page indictment, which could land Jefferson in prison for life if he is convicted on all counts. The charges cap a long and tumultuous investigation that was stalled for months because of a legal battle over the constitutionality of an FBI raid on Jefferson's office last May. The raid came after the FBI found $90,000 in the freezer of his Capitol Hill home.

A political and legal maelstrom followed the raid, prompting President Bush to intervene and seal the seized documents for 45 days. In July, U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan, who had signed the search warrant, ruled that the raid was constitutional. The U.S. Court of Appeals has yet to rule on the matter.

Jefferson, 60, is a potential political embarrassment for Democrats, just months after they took over control of Congress. Democrats had campaigned last year on the theme that Republicans had created a culture of corruption. In July, the House officially expelled Jefferson from the prestigious Ways and Means Committee.

At the time, then House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the allegations against Jefferson were too egregious to wait for a legal resolution.

"This isn't about proof in the court or law; this is about an ethical standard," she said. more

My magic 8 ball states definitely when I ask it if he will be found guilty on the majority of indictments. This case also shows that no party is without stain. After all the Democrats just hid all of their spending earmarks after promising transparent ethical government. Not the way to win big in 2008.
The more things change the more things stay the same it seems.

King of Spam Canned

Finally a great victory in the war everyone supports.

Longtime 'Spam King' Charged With Fraud

By Alan Sipress
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 1, 2007; A01

From his 17th-floor Seattle apartment overlooking Puget Sound, Robert A. Soloway allegedly ran an illicit network of computers around the world, secretly commandeering the machines of thousands of unsuspecting bystanders. Prosecutors say Internet users who clicked on infected e-mails and Web sites inadvertently took part in his criminal endeavor: spam.

Soloway, 27, used his empire of hijacked "zombie" computers to send tens of millions of unsolicited e-mail messages over the past four years, prosecutors allege. Described as a spammer since he was a teenager, he allegedly covered his digital tracks using Chinese servers, fabricated Web sites and the purloined identities of hundreds of Internet users whose names and e-mail addresses were slapped on the bulk mailings. He opened and closed bank accounts faster than creditors could track them, prosecutors said.

But federal authorities caught up this week with the man prosecutors call the "spam king" and arrested him on 35 charges of fraud, identity theft and money laundering, casting a light on the byzantine, highly lucrative underworld of mass e-mail marketing. Soloway pleaded not guilty.

"He is one of the bad ones. He's one of the longest-running and uses criminal methods all the time," said John Reid, an investigator with Spamhaus, a European organization that fights spam. "Anyone on the Web for a while would have received one of Soloway's spams."

Spamhaus had included him on its list of the 10 worst spammers until last year, when he was overtaken by more-sophisticated operators, primarily in Russia and Ukraine, Reid said.

A lawyer for Soloway could not be reached for comment. more

New Strategy in The War Against Spam

Hey, at least its a war that everyone can support.

From the BBC:
Backing for tool to battle spam

The DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) system is a method of validating the identity of the sender of an e-mail.

Spammers hide their identity by using a false, or spoofed, address in the millions of messages they send out.

DKIM uses encrypted digital signatures to prove a message's origin and a draft standard has been accepted by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

The IETF is the umbrella group representing firms such as Yahoo, Cisco, Sendmail and PGP Corporation.

The firms have pledged to work with ISPs, businesses and financial institutions to roll out the technology as soon as possible.

Protecting e-mail users from scams was a top priority, said Mark Delany, lead architect for Yahoo Mail and author of DomainKeys.

"DomainKeys Identified Mail is positioned to become the pre-eminent standard for e-mail authentication," he said.

Key consideration

Although 90 to 99% of e-mail comes from senders known to the recipient, establishing the identity of a sender remains a key consideration in the protection against spam.

Spammers get away with sending spoofed e-mails because mail servers only check if a domain mentioned in these spoofed addresses - such as @madeupmailname.com - is known to be used by spammers.

DKIM lets honest e-mail senders prove they sent a message by encrypting a two-part signature, or key, in a selected part of the mail.

The e-mail provider, such as Yahoo, puts an encrypted private key into the e-mail when it is sent.

It is linked to a public key held by the internet's domain name system - the phonebook of the internet.

The mail server which receives the e-mail checks to ensure that the private and public keys match, proving that the message has come from a genuine sender.

But in order for the technology to work, both the sender and recipient need their mail services to be signed up to DKIM.

"DKIM is an example of major players coming together to do the right thing, sacrificing short term competitive edge to ensure safety, security and trust on the internet," said Eric Allman, co-founder of messaging service Sendmail.

Since a huge amount of the resources of the net are used to transport spam this could potentially save the web from death by spam traffic, save ISPs tons of money in bandwidth costs, and prevent financial loss from phishing emails. Its a win win situation for everyone.

Lingere store clerk to be labeled a sex offender

Police Raid Lingerie Shop
LUBBOCK, TX -- An obscure law sends one local lingerie store clerk to jail. And now she may forever have to register as a sex offender.
The lingerie store, Somethin’ Sexy was raided by police last week for violating Lubbock`s sexually oriented business ordinance.

"I feel like I`m in 1690 Salem, Massachusetts and we`re looking for a witch to burn" says the store’s owner.

The witch: the owner of Somethin’ Sexy. He`s speaking out about the raid of his shop and the arrest of his employee. Now, if convicted, the clerk will have to register as a sex offender.

"I think it`s ridiculous. She`s not a sex offender, she was selling something that I had instructed them it was ok to sell, I think it`s ridiculous" he says.

Earlier this month, four officers raided the shop, confiscating several toys deemed to be illegal by the Texas penal code. The code states "a person who possesses six or more obscene devices is presumed to possess them with intent to promote the same." In other words, intent to sell. more

There have been several stories not unlike this one in the local papers including crackdowns on a company that hosts novelty parties in private homes. I for one am not fond of overly judicious usage of the sex offender database which now includes teenagers convicted of statutory rape (2 years age difference required). Maybe I'm morally bankrupt for thinking that an 18 year old shouldn't be branded a pariah for life for engaging in sex with a 16 year old (or a 17 and a 15 year old) . The usage of the sex registry law needs to be restricted to its original intent.. But what lawmaker is is going to give his political opponents that much ammunition against them by standing up to fight for "known pervs"?

Note: A similar Alabama law is to be presented to the Supreme Court shortly.

H/T to Pagan Vigil

Should a Group of Radical Environmentalists Be Considered Terrorists?

From ABC News:

A Group of 11 Militant Environmentalists Could Be Sentenced as Terrorists Without Having Killed a Soul
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN

The FBI has called them "the No. 1 domestic terrorism threat," and their members include four of the Bureau's 11 Most Wanted homegrown terrorists. Yet in more than 1,100 acts of arson and vandalism, the members of the Earth Liberation Front have never killed a single person.

Defining terrorism has always been tricky, and in trying to do so, the federal government has acknowledged that there is "no single universally accepted definition of terrorism." But just as when it comes to identifying pornography, lawyers and law enforcement officers have traditionally relied on an ability to know it when they see it.

The government saw it 16 months ago when federal agents arrested 10 members of the loose-knit activist group and an affiliate organization, the Animal Liberation Front, in an action called Operation Backfire.

At the time of their arrest, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales called the cell's $40 million dollar arson campaign -- which targeted, throughout five Western states, a horse slaughterhouse, SUV dealerships, a scientific research center, logging companies and a ski resort -- "a pattern of domestic terrorism activities."

Lawyers and activists defending the saboteurs insist, however, that the terrorist label is a scare tactic. Acts of arson and property damage, they claim, have never been the stuff of terrorism indictments, and the label is intended by the government to stir public outrage, increase the length prison terms and augment the government's rolls of imprisoned terrorists.

Today in Eugene, Ore., a federal judge will sentence Stanislas Meyerhoff, 29, the first of the 10-member cell that called itself "the family." The other nine defendants will each be sentenced over the next several weeks.

If government prosecutors can convince Judge Ann Aiken that Meyerhoff and the others -- all of whom have pleaded guilty to conspiracy and arson charges -- are terrorists, then they will be sentenced following federal "terrorism enhancement" guidelines, which could multiply their sentences sevenfold and land them in supermax prisons. more

I'm of the opinion that they shouldn't be sentenced as terrorists for several reasons. First being the fact that no human was harmed or killed in the process of their crimes. Secondly because once we have used the laws to stiffen punishment for property damage what is left when there is an actual loss of life? Either life is of greater value than property or it isn't. Finally should they be sentenced as terrorists it sets a really strange legal precedent in which having a political motivation to commit a crime becomes as or more important than the severity of the actual crime.

One thing is for certain, should they be sentenced as terrorists these cases will be the appellate courts for years and could end up before the Supreme Court. I'td be safer in the long run to just give them the max on all 5 charges and be done with it. But then again, I'm not a prosecutor out to make a name for myself.

6 arrested in plot to kill soldiers at Fort Dix

From the Star Ledger:

Federal investigators last night arrested six Islamic radicals who were planning a heavily armed attack against soldiers at Fort Dix as part of a jihad against America, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

In a statement released this morning that confirmed an earlier report on nj.com, The Star-Ledger's Web site, the U.S. Attorney's Office said the men planned to "kill as many soldiers as possible."

The alleged plot included conducting surveillance of the Army base and purchasing multiple firearms, including hand guns, shotguns and semi-automatic weapons, according to the federal complaint released this morning.

The bust came after several of the suspects were lured by a secret informant to a meeting with an arms-seller, according to the complaint.

Some of the would-be attackers have been living illegally in the United States, while others are legal immigrants, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Four are ethnic Albanians, one was born in Turkey, and a sixth was born in Jordan, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
(snip)

The men - several of whom are relatives - had videotaped their practice sessions in Pennsylvania, according to the complaint. That videotape, in which they fired assault weapons and railed against America, led to their arrests.

They made the mistake of bringing it to a retail store, seeking to get a copy burned to a DVD, according to the complaint. A store employee who later watched the tape called the FBI who began immediately investigating. full article

Kudos to the FBI.

But my question is what kind of idiot turns that kind of stuff over to a clerk? Thats even more stupid than taking naked pics of your significant other to the photomat. And what kind of suspicious behavior did they have to exhibit for the clerk to watch the tape? Walk into the store and say,"Excuse me, Imperialist Infidel, I need this tape transferred to DVD."?