Ha!  About time someone reminded congress that they are public servants, not higher beings who are not answerable to the laws of mortal men.

Judge Rules FBI Raid on Rep. Jefferson’s Office Was Legal

WASHINGTON — An FBI raid on a Louisiana congressman’s Capitol Hill office was legal, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan said members of Congress are not above the law. He rejected requests from lawmakers and Democratic Rep. William Jefferson to return material seized by the FBI in a May 20-21 search of Jefferson’s office.

In a 28-page opinion, Hogan dismissed arguments that the first-ever raid on a congressman’s office violated the Constitution’s protections against intimidation of elected officials.

"Congress’ capacity to function effectively is not threatened by permitting congressional offices to be searched pursuant to validly issued search warrants," said Hogan, who had approved the FBI’s request to conduct the overnight search of Jefferson’s office.

Click here to read Judge Hogan’s ruling.

Jefferson had sought the return of several computer hard drives, floppy disks and two boxes of paper documents that FBI agents seized during an 18-hour search of his Rayburn Building office.

At issue was a constitutional provision known as the speech and debate clause, which protects elected officials from being questioned by the president, a prosecutor or a plaintiff in a lawsuit about their legislative work.

"No one argues that the warrant executed upon Congressman Jefferson’s office was not properly administered," Hogan wrote. "Therefore, there was no impermissible intrusion on the Legislature. The fact that some privileged material was incidentally captured by the search does not constitute an unlawful intrusion."

The raid on Jefferson’s office angered members of Congress, some of whom threatened to retaliate by tinkering with the FBI and Justice Department budgets.

President Bush stepped in and ordered the solicitor general to take custody of the seized materials so Congress and the Justice Department could work out procedures to deal with similar situations in the future.

The answer to that depends on which side of the aisle you sit in Washington DC apparently.

The news has slowly leaked out that some shells with Sarin and Mustard gas were found.  Republicans hail this as proof Bush did not lie, and Democrats dismiss it as old weapons that don’t count.

Note:  I am sick and tired of partisan wrangling about this.  There was nerve gas there, and it was left unguarded where terrorists could use it.  I had chemical training in the Air Force, as I was on an emergency response team.

I know how dangerous this crap is.  It is seriously hazardous even in an old state.

Tell me, is it worth the threat to dismiss this so you can ensure Bush looks bad?

Regardless of how old they are, the chemicals in those stashes are still dangerous and were outlawed by the UN resolutions.  Since Saddam claimed they were destroyed, then he is at least culpable for their existence. 

Whether they meet the burden of the suspected arsenal is another question to debate, and a valid one at that, but they are, along with the other recent stories about Saddam and his program, proof that he was not the compliant benevolent leader he often claimed.

More to be told I am sure, but the fact rec mains that despite the Bush haters accusations, yes, we did in fact find WMD’s and proof of programs for their production.  Not as many as we anticipated, but there were indeed some.

Republican lawmakers cite shells as WMD proof

Congressional Republicans are at odds with Democrats — and the Bush administration — over the significance of 500 munitions found in Iraq since 2003 and recently disclosed by the Pentagon. 

    The rocket and artillery shells hold deadly sarin and mustard gas, a small part of the vast weapons of mass destruction (WMD) arsenal that Saddam Hussein built in the 1980s.

     Republican lawmakers say the 500-plus shells, with more likely to be found in the coming months, are evidence that Saddam was still concealing WMDs in 2003 in violation of United Nations resolutions to disarm after Iraq’s failed invasion of Kuwait. 

Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) has reached a new high (or low maybe).

Greg Palast, wrote:

Friday, June 30 — GEORGE Bush’s operatives have plans to jigger with the upcoming elections. I’m not talking about the November ‘06 vote in the USA (though they have plans for that, too). I’m talking about the election this Sunday in Mexico for their Presidency.

I don’t have time today to look over his accusations today, so I will follow up with that later.

I just found it hilarious that BDS and accusations of election stealing have now spread to Mexico.

Will Canada be next?  Discuss.