In all his glory

To quote the Inspector 
General's report "We concluded that Bratt and Lake committed egregious 
misconduct'' in obtaining visas for Russian women to enter the country 
under false pretenses. These women had been denied visas in the past 
and were only given visas when Bratt assured Embassy Officials in 
Moscow that these women would be working for DOJ in the future. The IG 
concluded that this was a false statement. The IG concluded that Bratt 
and Lake offered explanations for their conduct and denials regarding 
the visas for the Russian women which were "not credible.'' The IG 
also concluded that Bratt's "intimate involvement'' with these Russian 
women left him vulnerable to blackmail and presented a security 
concern. The IG report indicates that Bratt may have pressured other 
DOJ employees to mislead the IG inspectors. And the IG found that Bratt 
had DOJ computers sent to a school in Virginia where a girlfriend 
works.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2000/grassley.html

It's a free jazz Saturday morning. Alper leaves for Istanbul this weekend. We'll miss him, but the planning for an excursion to Turkey begins immediately. It may take some time (my kids may be in college) but we'll get there eventually.

Have a great trip, Alper.

Eric, Ornette? Take us out . . .

To start things off, I'll include this picture taken on our night to bid bon voyage to Alper from the Brewer's Art. I snapped this with my phone while Chris and Alper were off either fetching beers or using the bathroom. I suppose it would have been nice to have a picture with the three of us, but the table candle and the dregs of Alper's beer will have to do.