Unreliable Sources
In what might be the best testament to the wisdom of mounting primary challenges, Jane Harman has turned into a bulldog debunking this Administration's lies to drum up support for expanded surveillance. On Olbermann yesterday, she revealed that the terror threat the Administration used to scare up support for the FISA amendment came from a source deemed to be unreliable.
Well the chatter was up all summer at the level of pre-9/11
The Price Tag for War
Does this look like a budget request for a war that is going to end any time soon?
Gates says another $42 billion is needed to cover additional requirements. The extra money includes:$11 billion to field another 7,000 MRAP vehicles in addition to the 8,000 already planned;$9 billion to reconstitute equipment and technology;$6 billion for training and equipment of troops;$1 billion to improve U.S.
UAW and Health Care
The UAW is about to become one of the country's biggest purchasers of health care.
Under the agreement, responsibility for the retiree health plan willshift to a Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association managed by theunion. Details about how the VEBA will be funded have not beendisclosed. But it is expected to involve a one-time payment of as muchas $35 billion by GM, providing the union with money to invest and useto pay for
Did Duke--or the 13 Congressmen--Make Wilkes Do It?
Paul Kiel notes the most curious of the three recent filings from the Wilkes/Michael case, in which prosecutors attempt to prevent Wilkes from citing duress as his defense against the bribery charges. I think the target of this filing is not--or not just--Duke Cunningham. Rather, I think prosecutors filed this to stave off Wilkes' Congressional testimony ploy.
Who Owns the UN's Computer Systems?
Via ThinkProgress, USA Today reports that the cheat sheet for Bush's speech got placed on the UN website today.
Apparently, a marked-up draft of the president's speech popped up onthe U.N.'s website as President Bush delivered his remarks this morningbefore the General Assembly, USA TODAY's David Jackson reports. Thedraft included phonetic spellings of some names and countries, and thecellphone numbers for Bush speechwriters.
Press secretary Dana Perino downplayed the incident, and saidphonetic spellings
Historic Compartmentalization
There's something that Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell has suggested in the past, but which he has made crystal clear in his testimony today. The Administration has compartmentalized him out of the warrantless wiretapping program as it existed before he became DNI earlier this year. Senator Leahy made this clear--but then dropped the obvious follow-up.
Chuck Grassley Agrees with the Netroots
Like many of us, Grassley argues that if you bring an issue that has widespread support among the electorate up for a vote often enough, you will eventually convince intransigent Republicans to vote for it.
Grassley said if he were the Democrats, he would send the SCHIPexpansion to a vote every three months, along with campaignadvertisements accusing Republicans of abandoning children.
The Real Reason
I've got a different interpretation of the news--via ThinkProgress--that Bush is advising Democrats to keep their options open to sustain the permanent war in Iraq.
Bush has “been urging candidates: ‘Don’t get yourself too locked inwhere you stand right now. If you end up sitting where I sit, thingscould change dramatically.’ â€
Bolten said Bush wants enoughcontinuity in his Iraq policy that “even a Democratic president wouldbe in a position to sustain
The Upcoming Resolution for War on Iran
Reading through the Kyl-Lieberman amendment (hat tip Laura Rozen), you'd think that the Ryan-Crocker dog and pony show was designed to justify war on Iran. And you might be right. The amendment cites four Petraeus statements about Iranian influence in Iraq and four Crocker statements. And intersperses those with cherry-picked citations to create the illusion that Iran is the only outside force causing trouble in Iran.
Dick Kicked Over Condi's Soapbox
Via TP, Howie Kurtz reveals that the networks don't want Condi anymore.
The secretary of state has always been considered a prize catch for the Sunday talk shows. But when the White House offered Condoleezza Rice for appearances eight days ago, after a week focused on Iraq, two programs took the unusual step of turning her down.
Executivesat CBS and NBC say Rice no longer seems to be a key player on the
Strike!
My state's a mess: we still have no budget, and today the UAW launched its biggest strike in 30 years. (At least the football world is back to normal, with UM beating JoePa and the Lions losing badly).
A lot of people bitch and moan about bad American cars and use that as an excuse to bitch about UAW.
Novak and Rove Un-Break Up
There's a fascinating detail in Novak's self-hagiography about his break-up with his BFF Karl Rove during the CIA Leak investigation. In the middle of a longish description of their relationship, Novak describes missing Rove's company--as well as his leaks--during the three years when he and Rove didn't talk.
Indeed, in fourty-four years as a Washington reporter, I never had better access to a White House as I did to start the George
NSA Takes Over Internet Security from DHS
That's not exactly what this article says--but it's close. The NSA--our nation's most effective spy agency--is going to adopt major new duties in policing our public internets.
In a major shift, the National Security Agency is drawing up plans fora new domestic assignment: helping protect government and privatecommunications networks from cyberattacks and infiltration byterrorists and hackers, according to current and former intelligenceofficials.
[snip]
The plan calls for the NSA to work with the Department
Clarence Thomas' Most Important Contribution To Date
Every time I see mention of the Jena 6, I can't help but think of Clarence Thomas' single most positive contribution of his tenure on SCOTUS, as brought to you by Dahlia Lithwick.
Out of nowhere booms the great, surprising "Luke-I-am-your-father"voice of He Who Never Speaks. Justice Clarence Thomas suddenly asks aquestion and everyone's head pops up and starts looking madly around,like the Muppets on Veterinarian Hospital.
No Shiite Sherlock
Kudos to Spencer Ackerman for FOIAing the rationale behind General Petraeus' Magic September numbers out of the military. Generally, Ackerman explains that the numbers for sectarian violence don't count attacks on same sect people or on the Iraqi government.
Interestingly, attacks against "same-sect civilians," U.S. forces, theIraqi government or Iraqi security forces "are excluded and not definedas sectarian attacks." So even though Sunni insurgent groups loathe theShiite-controlled government, insurgent attacks on it
The Israeli Bombing Run in Syria
Glenn Kessler and Robin Wright have the most comprehensive story, to date, on the mysterious bombing run Israel did in Syria on September 6. They confirm the story that had been floating around--that Israel's target was a suspected nuclear site, supplied by North Korea. The story is interesting mostly for the exchange of intelligence it portrays.
They Really DO Want Monica to Do FISA Applications!
I joked earlier that the Administration had requested FISA be expanded so that Monica Goodling could make FISA certifications.
I'll come back to his summary of the extra goodies the Administrationis requesting (the short version: they want to make it impossible forany case relating to wiretapping to go through normal courts, and theywant to expand the universe of people who can make FISA certificationsto include Monica Goodling non-Senate approved people the President
Two More Details on the Rather Complaint
Hey! Howie Kurtz has decided to do some reporting!!
He has two pieces on the Dan Rather lawsuit today. In a piece based on an interview of Rather, he notes that Moonves and Heyward demanded Rather resign the day after Bush was re-[s]elected.
Rather insisted to reporters on Nov. 23, 2004, that his decision tostep down as anchor the following spring was entirely voluntary.
"Whenever It Is Convenient for You"
Anonymous Liberal found the Wainstein testimony I said I was going to go look for. I'll come back to his summary of the extra goodies the Administration is requesting (the short version: they want to make it impossible for any case relating to wiretapping to go through normal courts, and they want to expand the universe of people who can make FISA certifications to include Monica Goodling non-Senate approved people the
And Now the Saudis
Argentine meltdown, here we come. The Saudis are showing signs of disinterest in going down the economic tubes with their friend George.
Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the USFederal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulfkingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move thatrisks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East."This is a very
