Missing the Deployed Military for the Trees
In his post on the story that Cheney wanted to use the military to capture the Lackawanna Six, Scott Horton somewhat bizarrely claims that the October 23, 2001 memo was written (seemingly exclusively) for the kinds of actions Cheney envisioned. But we know it was also written to authorize domestic surveillance.
Dodd and Conrad: The Appearance Of Impropriety
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bmazBoth Connecticut's Chris Dodd and North Dakota's Kent Conrad steadfastly deny any knowledge or fact of preferential treatment in their real estate loans from Countrywide Mortgage, but the fact the story keeps hanging around is disquieting. And apparently it has been doing quite a bit more than hanging around, there have been hearings and testimony.
The Yoo Tumor
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bmazJohn Yoo is a cancer on the Constitutional body politic of the United States, and he won't go away. For some inexplicable reason, Carrie Johnson, and her editors at the Washington Post, have decided to fluff the one man self rationalization and obfuscation tour Yoo has been on as of late:
Crazy Pete Hoekstra's Pre-Emptive Disavowal of C Street
Is Crazy Pete Hoekstra named in Chip Pickering's chronicle of his hypocritical affair?
The Libby Non-Pardon: From the Department of Pre-Spin
Here's the factual story about Bush's decision not to pardon Scooter Libby.
Sexual Harassment Claim or Attempt to Silence?
Why is the military spokesman in Gitmo accusing the best reporter in Gitmo of harassment?
Suspension of Posse Comitatus for 9/11 Anniversary?
Note what the NYT doesn't tell you: Dick Cheney was trying to impose military rule just in time for the first anniversary of 9/11.
ACLU Torture Tape Working Thread
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bmazNew filings by the ACLU. Dissect and discuss.Here andHere.
Speed Freak$: Wall Street's Fast & Furious MOTUs
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bmazEvery day there is a new reminder that the only thing thing that changed on Wall Street as a result of the financial meltdown is that the "too big to fail" entities got bigger through consolidation and they now have all of the taxpayer's wealth instead of just most of it. Here is today's installment of hyper-greed.
Media Failure: Gates And Crowley Need To Personally Lead
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bmazPresident Obama, with his response to a question about the Henry Gates arrest taken at Wednesday night's prime time healthcare press conference, set the nation off on a discussion of race and law. Unfortunately, the discussion has cleaved and both sides fell into regrettable, and sadly predictable roles. We are missing the important lessons the moment should be teaching us.
Road Trip Friday
Turns out my family seems to be convening on the East Coast this weekend. So McCaffrey the MilleniaLab are road tripping out to join them today.
bmaz has the keys and I've stocked up the liquor cabinet (so you all can bust in there and feel like you're pulling over a fast one on more again).
The Bush Fairy Tale on the Libby Pardon
Time has allowed a bunch of Bush partisans to put a nice spin on his non-pardon of Libby.
Henry Louis Gates' Contempt Of Cop
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bmazAt tonight's nationally televised press conference, a reporter asked President Obama a question about the July 16 arrest of famed Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates. Obama set off a firestorm by defending Gates; but despite the righteous words, Obama may have hurt Gates with his words.
A New Mission for the WH Press Corps
If Obama refuses to tell us what health industry insiders have access to the White House, then why can't the White House press corps tell us?
C Street's Waterloo
Jim DeMint's "Waterloo" comment is not just an indication of how little Republicans care about the American people. It's also one of C Street's members prominently seeking to impede any improvement in Americans' lives.
Is DOD So Sure They Weren't Involved in the Rashid Dostum Massacre?
Last Monday, I noted two particular details of the Obama Administration's response to news of spiked investigations into General Rashid Dostum's massacre of up to thousands of prisoners in 2001. First, DOD said it didn't need to investigate because there was no evidence American personnel were involved.
There's DOD, which bases its opposition to an investigation on the claim that there's no evidence US forces were involved in the massacre.
Days after Cronkite Passes with Little Notice from CBS, Rather Gets Discovery
One of the indignities of Walter Cronkite's death on Friday was that CBS ignored his passing in favor of their regular crappy Friday night lineup. At the time, I hoped Rather would soon get discovery to expose CBS in its cravenness. And today, Rather got that discovery.
"Protecting" President Cheney, Too
Obama's DOJ is still inventing an "embarrassment exemption" for FOIA, to prevent us from learning what Dick Cheney said to Patrick Fitzgerald as part of the CIA Leak investigation.
"Protecting" President Cheney
Dick Cheney not only just got six more months of taxpayer paid protection from having to hear from taxpayers, but his friends suggest he's going to ask for such protection indefinitely.
