Discover the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.
White House lost FIVE MILLION e-mails, CREW reveals
americablog.blogspot.com — The Bush White House, in clear violation of federal law and White House rules, somehow "lost" 5 million emails concerning official White House business. How? Because they used the Republican National Committee's email system, covertly, rather than use the White House system which would have kept a permanent record of the emails, as required by law
aravosis- 1539 diggs
- digg it
- kenvsryu, on 10/12/2007, -3/+147George if you need a gmail invite I have one. Infinity plus one capacity, no need to delete.
- bcasper1, on 10/12/2007, -5/+130When the ***** can we get these crooks out of Washington?!
- Monolith2, on 10/12/2007, -81/+9No. They used the RNC email system to keep political stuff separate from public stuff (which they used the white house email system for). Why? Because its required BY LAW that the white house equipment not be used for political purposes. Way to twist the circumstances here and try to turn this into some sort of giant scandal.
And has everyone really forgotten when Al Gore "lost" 90 *days* worth of email back in the Clinton era? - wtfersk8s, on 10/12/2007, -3/+119How much more does it take to impeach this guy?
- jsearch, on 10/12/2007, -48/+3All caps for FIVE and MILLION I can see, but I would have only put "Million" in all caps. Five isn't much of a number, but a Million is pretty big. As to why CREW is in all caps is a mystery.
Um...this story is neat? Errr profit? $$ I didn't read it, sorry. - heavensblade23, on 10/12/2007, -2/+60Monolith2: Come on, you buy that excuse? I don't. They were deliberately skirting the email archiving. You just don't go "Whoops I lost 5 million emails over the course of several years" unless that was your intent all along. Oh, and by the way, we were ignoring our own guidelines for how email communications should be handled.
- neoform, on 10/12/2007, -4/+56>No. They used the RNC email system to keep political stuff separate from public stuff (which they used the white house email system for). Why? Because its required BY LAW that the white house equipment not be used for political purposes. Way to twist the circumstances here and try to turn this into some sort of giant scandal.
Nice try, they've already shown that those email systems were being used for political/work purposes. - Misogyny, on 10/12/2007, -3/+34Monolith,
Have you forgotten WHY congress is asking for these emails? - neoform, on 10/12/2007, -4/+43"How much more does it take to impeach this guy?"
Republicans to wake up and vote to impeach.
People who blame pelosi or the democrats for not impeaching are blaming the wrong people. they'd do it if they could get republicans on board and vote in favor. - theheadguy, on 10/12/2007, -8/+30"No. They used the RNC email system to keep political stuff separate from public stuff (which they used the white house email system for). Why? Because its required BY LAW that the white house equipment not be used for political purposes. Way to twist the circumstances here and try to turn this into some sort of giant scandal." - Monolith2
Hey Monolith, What LAW would that be you ***** right wing nutjob? Back up your statement right here, right NOW. - Cwo655321, on 10/12/2007, -10/+4the bush (system) administration has gone too far now
lawl - mehss, on 10/12/2007, -18/+4Hay guys what's going on in this flame fest of a sub thread?
- mikedoth, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13kenvsryu
Are you sure you want him as a friend in your Gmail IM list? - specsaregood, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15@theheadguy
If you read the actual meaty article, not just the blog post you would find that he is probably referring to this:
"Hatch Act Excuse: The administration has claimed that Rove, Jennings and other staffers use RNC accounts to avoid violating the Hatch Act. This is untrue. The Hatch Act prohibits White House staff from using official resources for purely "political" purposes. "Political" refers to the president's role as either a candidate for office or as the leader of his party. Email communications regarding presidential appointments for U.S. Attorney and Interior Department positions clearly fall within the PRA as making appointment is an official presidential function and does not relate to the president's role as party leader."
http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/27603 - silvaran, on 10/12/2007, -2/+27@theheadguy
"Hey Monolith, What LAW would that be you ***** right wing nutjob? Back up your statement right here, right NOW."
Monolith is incorrect, but on a different issue than you seem to think. They WERE in fact using the RNC e-mail system for white house purposes. In terms of that law to which you allude does not exist, "The Hatch Act of 1939 is a United States federal law whose main provision is to prohibit federal employees (civil servants) from engaging in partisan political activity."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatch_Act_of_1939
Sorry to have to do your homework for you. And here's why Monolith is incorrect, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/04/12/BL2007041200941.html:
"But when I asked Stanzel to read out loud the White House e-mail policy, it seemed clear enough to me: 'Federal law requires the preservation of electronic communications sent or received by White House staff,' says the handbook that all staffers are given and expected to read and comply with." - Daisuke, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3theheadguy:
calm down. campaigning and work need to be kept strictly separate, which means separate computer systems, separate offices, and yes, separate email systems. i'm not going to pass judgement on what exactly they were using this email system for (c'mon, can anybody here say they know beyond a shadow of a doubt they're concealing something? right now it looks suspicious as hell, but really folks...), BUT headless' statement is true. if it weren't, obama would not be in a potential spot in trouble by bringing his campaign manager into his "work" office in washington.
edit: thanks silvaran for that link. now that looks more than just suspicious. - theheadguy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Thanks for the "homework"... I am so tired of right wing nutjobs making statements that are most of the time not true. For more info see here: http://www.osc.gov/ha_fed.htm#may
So, this little alternate e-mail system is not flying. They can't even be in a government office doing this, period, let alone just having to use a different e-mail system. - EricCiccone, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10@Monolith
5 Million > 90 days worth - InfamousAtheist, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10Is this finally the straw that will break the camel's back?
I honestly believe that this will destroy the Republican party for the next 30 years or so, similar to what Watergate did to them.
It's almost over everyone. The writing is finally on the wall. - woojoo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I know how they lost them: we dugg their servers.
- Osjpr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7So they hired forensic investigators to permanently destroy the emails and hard disks to make sure they are gone for good...oh whoops, i meant search for and retrieve the emails. "This will take some time. We have to sort through the emails to determine which ones can be destroyed and let our staff steal the hard disks if they can't successfully be destroyed"-WH
- jamessavik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14George:
SysAdmin available. 20+ years experience in network management including secure email, encrypted web services and firewalls. NEVER LOST A FILE. ALL PROJECTS ON TIME, UNDER BUDGET. Top Secret clearance major govt lab: 1986-1990.
Will fix your problem: $3,500,000 - opiniastrous, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3@JSearch,
Yeah, you're right, a million is pretty big, and five really isn't (seeing as it only comes after four and all that), so kudos for spotting that. But you see, together (and I know this sounds strange!) the words 'five' and 'million' make 'five million', which is actually a pretty big number too!
PS: Sorry, I didn't mean to be a prick. I just had to point that out! - limxdul, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5cd /;rm -rf *.-- oh shi-
- limxdul, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@everyone who wants to impeach bushy bush
http://www.impeachbush.org/
http://www.avaaz.org/ - macmcrae, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5$500 dollars says bush wouldn't know an email if it bit him on the ass.
- Bluteau, on 10/12/2007, -5/+44.99 million of those emails were from Bush to his lover Jeff Gannon.
"Sgt. Gannon, is your meat missile ready for launch???" - tehloki, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1surely THIS...
- adc86, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Common, we all know the two symbols for the Republican party: an elephant, and a fat, middle-aged white guy afraid of change. Now think about both of those two things and their computer skills. I rest my case.
- crazyjeff0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Those bastards should be locked up. America is about truth and freedom, not lies and *****.
- Horseshoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I just sent him a Gmail invite...
want to join in? try this email:
comments@whitehouse.gov
Maybe they will get the picture...
- Anonymously, on 10/12/2007, -2/+91The White House has the NSA and other government agencies scanning emails and monitoring phone calls of U.S. citizens, without a warrant and in violation of Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, but at the same time, they're deleting millions of emails that they are required by law to retain under the Presidential Records Act.
I feel safer already!- EntropyMan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+41Hey, that's a really good point. If these emails went over AT&T network lines, the NSA probably has a copy!
BTW, given that the administration lies about everything else, the chances that the emails are, as of today, actually deleted are not that high. There should be backups, and even drives with recoverable information on them, if only the FBI would look. - MarkCiccone, on 10/12/2007, -7/+50But Bush and his administration NEED to be able to delete these emails, they are for our protection! If we saw what was really going on, if we saw the lies they were telling us, why, we'd want to throw all of them out! We can't have that, America can't have that!
- MarkCiccone, on 10/12/2007, -20/+2^Woah -1 diggs?... sarcasm anybody? Sheesh....
- EntropyMan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+41Hey, that's a really good point. If these emails went over AT&T network lines, the NSA probably has a copy!
- chicoer2001, on 10/12/2007, -4/+29I'm sure the FBI can find them
- wonderchemist, on 10/12/2007, -2/+42I'm sure they won't.
- mightydavefish, on 10/12/2007, -3/+51Thanks, President Traitor!
Nothing like knowingly circumventing policies put into place to ensure transparancy and accountability!
Seriously, who supports these scumbags?
Right wingers, THIS is what you want from a government? Can't you guys see you are cheering for the scumbags?- Aeaus, on 10/12/2007, -14/+9Stupid democrats are the cause of this problem you know.
(Yes, believe it or not, the work to describe this post starts with an s and ends with arcasm.) - smackhero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7yea, and at the same time neocons call Hugo Chavez a dictator because the Venezuelan parliament only recently gave him the power to make presidential decrees in certain areas of government much narrower than the scope of our own president's power of executive order (which he used to create the outright unconstitutional faith-based initiative).
- captnkurt, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3 --Stupid democrats are the cause of this problem you know.
--(Yes, believe it or not, the work to describe this post starts with an s and ends with arcasm.)
And still I dugg you down.
(Yes, believe it or not, what was lacking in your post starts with an f and ends with unny.)
- Aeaus, on 10/12/2007, -14/+9Stupid democrats are the cause of this problem you know.
- fuzzmeister, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19They say they are getting "computer experts" to work on recovering the files. Does anyone seriously believe that if an incriminating email comes up, they won't just delete it? Someone needs to get a hold of these servers ASAP.
- saska, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Why worry about the servers? You can bet a bunch of racketeering Republican senators still have copies of e-mail on their RNC-issued laptops just in case they need to call in a favor from somebody. What they NEED to do is send the FBI in to unceremoniously collect the laptops. Of course, the FBI won't do that because they're really busy surveilling potential criminals in the American populace at large. And if congress yaps about it long enough, the e-mails really *will* be deleted.
- Sil369, on 10/12/2007, -3/+24Ctrl + Z
- understudy, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15
Incompetence or cover-up? Either way...
_- amoirae, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9An incompetent coverup by the intellectually incontinent.
- SlimFastForYou, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0OK I am just plain sick of people painting our President and his administration as incompetent. Incompetence on that order is in actuality is rare. Everyone tries to explain every administration "mis-step" as oh ha ha our president looks kinda like a monkey maybe he thinks like one too. Make no mistake, our President is not stupid.. at least not in the way people make him out to be. He's got two college degrees, one from Yale and the other from Harvard. It's 2007 people, incompetence was already a pretty shaky explanation years ago. These are the most powerful people in the world and they're competent enough to be considered responsible for their own actions!
- hcl40u, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Its also not a surprise that this isn't the first time something like this has happened. I wonder how many document shredding machines do they use...
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/04/12/lost_documents/index.html- gwinerreniwg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15I have a feeling the reason Bush has spent so much time "on vacation" at his home in Crawford, was because he was able to meet in secret, with no incriminating recordings. I'd like to know exactly how much government business was conducted unmonitored at the second Whitehouse in Crawford.
- Osjpr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I recently read somewhere that Gonzalez has also been missing or unseen.
- marix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24Once upon a time there were 18 minutes of audio track missing from this one tape, I think 5 million emails is comparable.
- overtoke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+55 million fragments of conversation would fill far more than 18 minutes of tape
- h3smith, on 10/12/2007, -3/+28You can't "lose" what you delete.
- lemon67, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10There..... I mean...... Woops
- waterboy1628, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15Who would let Republicans be in charge of dealings with technology.
That's like putting monkeys in charge of developing a program in C++. - grendel59, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17Does anyone believe they "lost" those emails?
- InfamousAtheist, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Nope.
But the neocon apologists will make up every ***** excuse in the book to defend their precious administration.
/waits for the inevitable "Clinton did it!" - anachronaut, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Well, Monolith2 already gave it the old college try with his "B-b-but Gore did it in the Clinton era" statement. Pathetic.
- InfamousAtheist, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Nope.
- Misogyny, on 10/12/2007, -1/+32We are talking about the same administration that "lost" several billion dollars in cash...
- ICSU, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Yeah, don't worry. I am sure someone found it.
- cambob76, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24And why the hell is Bush not being impeached? What is going to be the final straw? He's giving a big "f*ck you" to everyone.
- armyofbees, on 10/12/2007, -2/+24the bush white house: you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
- kazoolist, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1"the bush white house: you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."
How about Al-Qaeda? Done and done.
Moonbat. (that's right, your comment was offensive enough I've resorted to name calling!)
- kazoolist, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1"the bush white house: you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."
- azAZ09, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I bet most of them are still there. Sieze the hard drives by order of congress, then get a private forensics firm with top secret clearance. Send the invoice for the cost of recovery to the white house. If the drives are set up in a raid array, they could send drives from the same servers to different companies for validation.
- Allymarie, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4so many red flags... who will stand up to these blundering religious nut monkeys?
i'm just waiting for the straw that breaks the camels back. - geronimo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7For their sake I hope they hid their tracks well. If it is found by looking at deleting inodes/disk blocks that they purposely erased emails then it could make things worse. No one "loses" 5 million emails.
- conna, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Another reason to fire the filth in the white house. The administration is a disgrace to the people of the United States.
- aburd, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9Is there a source for this story that doesn't suck? It sounds realistic but a blog linking to a report on a political action committee's website isn't really credible...
- geekee, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3What a source with a liberal bias on Digg? But, but, but Fox News...
- overtoke, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3do you not feel action should be taken?
- adc86, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Not without a credible source, no. That's what we call mob mentality. We can't all go running around like chickens with their heads cut off screaming "Impeach!" simply because a blogger... blogged.
[though we probably could for other things this administration has done]
- edgeoforever, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Maybe bus should look for them under his bed like he did with the WMDs to amuse his swooning propaganda press...
- jakenovak, on 10/12/2007, -18/+4Five million sounds like enough for it to be a technical error, guys. You can't pin everything as a scandal on that oh-they're-so-bad Bush Administration... if the Dem's try this one, they'll be kissing '08 goodbye.
- SOULEVENT, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6yeah, everything is an error or bumbling to them, right. There is a reason why everyone is after these people...its not because they hate America, it because they hate LIARS and THIEVE...with plenty of Murder on TOP.
Liberal that bitches. - stepnw1f, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Sorry to let you down, but it looks pretty deliberate. I guess a jury will have to decide in the end. All in time though...
- Osjpr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10"FIVE MILLION sounds like enough for it to be a technical error, guys." Are you smoking something right now? xD
There is no kind of "technical error" that can selectively destroy a specific range of emails relating to specific events that are being scrutinized.
- SOULEVENT, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6yeah, everything is an error or bumbling to them, right. There is a reason why everyone is after these people...its not because they hate America, it because they hate LIARS and THIEVE...with plenty of Murder on TOP.
- gubin09, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2Where are my republicans out there!
- bl4h, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10yeah just like the pentagon LOST 2.2 trillion dollars in 2001 and 2 trillion in 2002. They did, look it up.
- dustjacket, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Must have been outlook- ever try to recover those crazy .pst files?
- minox, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3This is like that time I gave my teacher my gmail instead of my .edu
- norml2000, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Another crooked Bush operation.... I'm not surprised one bit....
- m00dy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Who has ever received email from the white house?
- drmobutu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Didn't the Patriot Act have a provision requiring the retention of ALL emails?
Something about National Security Letters...? - SOULEVENT, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Religous? heh
- jjcausey, on 10/12/2007, -8/+0The Republican National Committee set up the accounts for about 20 Bush aides, such as Karl Rove and his deputies, who get involved in politics, spokesman ScottStanzel said. Having the GOP create non-White House addresses and provide separate BlackBerries, laptops and other communications gear was designed to avoid running afoul of Hatch Act rules barring federal employees from engaging in political activities with government resources or on government time, he said.
- bjornski, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7And they set up those e-mails and blackberries so that their political planning wouldn't be recorded on a public machine.
So the RNC basically had an entire separate computer network IN the white house to avoid scrutiny.
Naw, nothing going on there. - wageslaven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Hey, dummy, the emails they are looking for is w/r/t Gonzales setting up a banana republic justice system.
As in "firing employees of the government" that has nothing to do with the RNC. They used this 'second communication channel' SPECIFICALLY to avoid having their crimes documented.
Pay attention.
- bjornski, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7And they set up those e-mails and blackberries so that their political planning wouldn't be recorded on a public machine.
- stepnw1f, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Checkmate, Rove/Bush. It was the cover-up that gets you too, just as it did Nixon. Merry Fitzmas!!!!
Larry Johnson: "I love the smell of perjury in the morning. Scooter may get some bunk mates."
http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/04/more_obstructio.html - WaltDismal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10So, let me get this straight. We elected people to run the country, and since 911 they and their aides spend time in the White House sending 5 million emails on partisan matters to lock themselves further into power instead of spending the time making this country safer? Sounds fair to me.
- AaronS2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Wow, the "but Clinton" crowd is digressing to "but Gore" now... Only four months into the new term and so much has been uncovered. I can't wait to see what the next "20 months of hell" will reveal from the past 6 years of GOP supermajority. I would like to thank America for waking up a little bit in the last election. We all deserve a pat on the back for the attempt at repairing our current situation. Even republicans deserve a pat for not convincing enough people to sink in the USS Unaccountability.
- phroph, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Some one should tell them,
"If your not a criminal you should have nothing to hide." - DigitalJester, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2This never happened to santa. Why on earth has it happened to the white house?
I think they need to re-consider how tall and pointy the ears are of the people are that run their networks. - rubored, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5All too convenient for the Bush Administration
- lilypads, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8wow that is just completely and utterly ridiculous.
Clinton gets a bj and is impeached, Bush ***** over the country in countless ways and still has a fairly high approval rating?
anyone else see anything wrong with this? - deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5It's a shame they lost so many e-mails. I wonder if their strategy to win the war in Iraq was lost in there too? (or perhaps they never had one)
- craka, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2this is funny
- tinkertim, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5If I was caught discussing my company's business and not using my company e-mail account to do so, or representing my company in any way without using my company e-mail , I'd be fired, sued, drawn and quartered, tarred and feathered (well, you get the point).
So, I'd like to have them eat the same banana flavored words they fed to the banana company Chiquita :
"Anything you can't legally do directly , you can not do indirectly."
Our government is a business, and its time someone dusted a broom before that business gets run into the ground. Its not this particular act that frightens me the most, its the blantant stupidity obviated by the act that frightens me combined with the fact that nobody in this adminstration seems to be held accountable for anything. - turbakt, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Most of it was spam anyways.
- FloppyLlamaDigg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1is 'anyways' really a word?
- omnithought, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Can we just fire all these bastards?
- wageslaven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Have them arrested.. all you have to do is push the Congress and the DOJ to charge these villans.
- lopla, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5And what will come of this? NOTHING. Bush is above the law. Might as well accept it and move on because change is impossible.
- appetite, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5yea but did you guys hear what imus said? "nappy-headed hos".
- nonchai, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Impeachment is too good for them.
What is the federal punishment for treason ?. If anyone has been un-patriotic in this affair it has to be the US Administration.
Dont hold out much hope though - anyone remember the Iran contra scandal ? the Reaganites got away with "murder" simply by wrapping their misdemeanours in "patriotism" language. - rockybullwinkle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Just add "spoilation" to the list of crimes of which the Bush Administration is guilty. The failure to archive thousands of email messages generated by top White House employees over the past several years may well end up becoming a key piece of evidence in a case of obstruction of justice against Bush, Rove, Cheney and the other 50-odd people who frequently used non-governmental email systems to carry on their daily activities. In comparison, it makes the Watergate coverup conspiracy look small.
US law obligates organizations who use email technology to implement and use document retention systems. To do otherwise is reckless, irresponsible behavior that can and is punishable. Of course, "reckless and irresponsible" are two of the best words I can think of to describe the Bush Administration.
"Spoilation". Look it up. - nonchai, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Where is the Democrat equivalent of "Starr" ? how come Clinton nearly got impeached merely for lying about a blow job and this Bush guy is getting away with something vastly more sinister ?
- slimnickyy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5There was nothing innocent about these "loses". Not like anyone in America or Congress really cares or will really do anything about it. A majority of the administration are criminals and should not be in office, but jail.
- wageslaven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3My prediction is Bush and Cheney flee the country after they leave office. Otherwise, they are going to jail.
These total *****-***** in the corrupt GOP has pushed the planet too far... Im betting they go up for war crimes internationally and/or domestically.
Subsequent Presidents and Congress in the USA are going to discover the depths of their corruption and charge these people with crimes. - Horseshoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They will probably end up in Dubai with a Haliburton army...
yeah, that can happen...
- wageslaven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3My prediction is Bush and Cheney flee the country after they leave office. Otherwise, they are going to jail.
-
Show 51 - 61 of 61 discussions
Digg is coming to a city (and computer) near you! Check out all the details on our 
© Digg Inc. 2008 —
Content posted by