Entries by emptywheel

The Latest Terrorism Leak

In his post on the latest Bush exposure of counter-terrorism resources, Noah Schachtman links to this long profile on the woman and firm exposed by BushCo. Two things stick out from the article:

Taking two staff members from the Investigative Project, Katz set upher own office. She got by on small government contracts.

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Society of “Professional” “Journalists” Proves It Is Neither

Via RawStory, I see that Bob Novak claims that Joe Wilson didn’t warn him strongly against outing Valerie in his column.

Columnist Robert Novak said Saturday Ambassador Joe Wilson did notforcefully object to the naming of his CIA operative wife, ValeriePlame Wilson, when Novak spoke to him prior to the publication of acolumn that sparked a federal investigation and sent White House aideI.

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Watergate, the Farce

I happen to be reading Stonewall right now. And I gotta say, I’ve already said what Bernstein said several times.

Watergate would not have played out the same way today because Congressno longer performs its oversight role, said Carl Bernstein, one of thejournalists famous for uncovering the story.

“The difference with today is that the system did its job.

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“It’s Too Expensive to Reveal Our Role in Mine Disasters”

Elaine Chao (and her acting solicitor Jonathan Snare) must have spent a lot of time with Alberto Gonzales. Because she seems to be parroting him, in an attempt to refuse to comply with Congress’ oversight requests.

The Labor Department said Friday that it could cost millions of dollarsand take months to respond to a House committee’s subpoena looking atthe agency’s oversight of the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah, site of a fatal

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Progress?

I’ll withhold judgment until I see the text of the bill, but from this story, it appears the Progressive Caucus made some progress–though not on all counts–in their efforts to ensure the permanent FISA amendment safeguards privacy and civil liberties.

House Democrats plan to introduce a bill this week that would let asecret court issue one-year “umbrella” warrants to allow the governmentto intercept e-mails and phone calls of foreign targets and would

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Spying on Your Friends and Enemies

Laura’s right. Jeff Stein’s article detailing the several ways in which Senator Richard Shelby spied on Anthony Lake and similar activities raises all sorts of questions.

Tenet also wrote that, “National Security Agency officials told usthat Shelby staffers had been asking whether there was derogatoryinformation in their communications intercepts on Lake.”

But the NSA refused Shelby’s entreaties, two sources said, and there was no derogatory information in the FBI’s files.

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Is This Just a Reference to Libby’s Harrassment?

A lot of folks have noted Tweety’s latest chirping.

Chris Matthews had barely finished praising hiscolleagues at the 10th anniversary party for his “Hardball” showThursday night in Washington, D.C. when his remarks turned politicaland pointed, even suggesting that the Bush administration had “finallybeen caught in their criminality.”

In front of an audience that included such notables as Alan Greenspan, Rep.

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The Legislative Branch Shows Signs of Life

When I was at the Duke conference last week, I premised a question to ACLU’s Legal Director that ACLU was having more success in the courts than in Congress of late. He responded by joking about my faint praise. Perhaps I reverse jinxed him. Because we’re beginning to make some progress in Congress.

Rep.

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Wherein emptywheel Disagrees with PatFitz

As some of you might remember way back, I first got sucked into the Plame investigation when Judy Miller was heading to jail. I found her appeal to a non-existent reporter’s privilege a farce, given that her relationship with the Bush Administration had long dropped any pretense of journalism.

So it may surprise you that I think Patrick Fitzgerald uses the wrong approach in his editorial lobbying against the shield law

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Cathie Martin’s Working Media on One Side

And her FCC Chair hubby, Kevin Martin, is working media on the other side. The LAT reports (h/t Sirota) that the FCC is leaking information on key votes to big stakeholders. Since there’s a restriction on lobbying in the week before a vote, this has the effect of making it impossible for those representing citizens to lobby in a timely fashion.

People are allowed to submit comments and meet with FCC commissionersand

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