Energy Policy? Check. Foreign Policy? Check.
As with McCain’s energy policy, his foreign policy was developed by a lobbyist actively lobbying the Senate on those same issues.
Author Archive for: emptywheel
Entries by emptywheel
The Yoo “Exclusivity” Opinion: More Outrageous Hackery
Senator Whitehouse finally got the Administration to declassify the jist of the John Yoo opinion used to dismiss the exclusivity provision in FISA. And boy is it a doozie.
Why Is McCain’s Former Campaign Chair Stumping for Obama?
Why is McCain’s 2000 Campaign Co-Chair backing McCain’s opponent in this year’s Presidential election?
FISA Update (And Why Is John Boehner Crying Again?)
The week starts off with Main Core, Glen Fine’s much anticipated IG Report has been released, today is another state election (Kentucky) in the most hotly, and closely, contested primary that many of us can remember, and, now, the tragic and deflating news that Senator Ted Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor and … FISA is back! There is important news on the granting of retroactive immunity and it is time to get back to work.
Did George Bush Break the Clean Air Act?
The Clean Air Act does not allow the EPA Administrator to take cost into account when he sets new standards for things like ozone levels. Now, as Henry Waxman’s Oversight Committee makes clear, on several occasions, the EPA Administration changed his preferred policy to one much less beneficial for the environment after speaking to the White House.
CIA Once Again Buries Information on Abu Zubaydah’s Torture
The CIA prevented DOJ’s OIG from interviewing Abu Zubaydah for their report on detainee interrogation methods. As when they destroyed the tapes of Abu Zubaydah’s interrogation, CIA seems to have been intent on preventing any evidence of what they did to Zubaydah from coming out.
DOD and Torture Declassification Timing
Do you think it’s a coincidence that DOD first provided its declassification comments to the DOJ IG report on torture in the weeks after Jim Haynes left, just three days before DOD declassified the Yoo torture memo?
Out of Scope: The DOJ IG Report
The scope of DOJ’s IG report on torture says as much as the rest of the conclusion: when DOJ appealed to the National Security Council to resolve the problems created by CIA’s and DOD’s use of torture, those appeals went nowhere.
Main Core
Radar provides an explanation for what so offended Jim Comey about the warrantless wiretapping program. They were using the warrantless wiretaps to collect information for a database called Main Core, which is basically a database of anyone the federal government considers potential enemies of the state.
You Can’t Clean the Stench Out of the Straight Talk for Lobbyists Express
McCain seems to think getting rid of active lobbyists from his campaign, one year in, will cleanse the campaign of the stench of impropriety. But how do clean the stench off the policy positions formulated in the last year, when the lobbyists had ready access to McCain on the Straight Talk for Lobbyists Express? McCain’s policies will always be the policies of the lobbyists of his campaign, whether or not they’ve left of “retired” from lobbying.
