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
The Lobbyist-In-Chief Invites His Friends Over
I criticize Mikey Isikoff a lot, but I'm very grateful for this story, via Laura Rozen. Isikoff and Hoseball reveal that the telecom industry is launching a full court press to get Congress to give telecoms immunity for having broken the law in helping Bush spy on Americans.
The nation’s biggest telecommunications companies, working closely withthe White House, have mounted a secretive lobbying campaign to getCongress to quickly approve a measure wiping
$1.40
Atrios points out that the Euro has just pushed past $1.40.
Let's see. In the last two days, the Fed has cut interest rates by half a point, making what is probably a futile attempt to staunch the subprime crisis. And yesterday, Henry Paulson asked Congress to raise the debt limit before we once again hit our debt limit on October 1--which will make the fifth time Bush has had to
The 1% Leadership Solution
scout prime catches Michael Chertoff looking like the self-important incompetent he is. She finds that:Michael Chertoff has a blog. Yes, that's right folks. And his blog is called How to Kill a City. No wait. I'm sorry. It's called Leadership Journal.Faced with yet another intractable crisis, the Bush Administration is doing what it always does.
CBS Collaborates in Torture
The most interesting thing about the Dan Rather complaint, IMO, is the description it gave of CBS and Administration attempts to spike the Abu Ghraib story.
In late April 2004, Mr. Rather, as Correspondant, and Mary Mapes, a veteran producer, broke a news story of national importance on 60 Minutes II--the abuse by American military personnel of Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison.
The Pre-Emptive Cave on Immunity
Glenn Greenwald catches the Democrats preparing to cave to Administration demands for retroactive immunity for the telecoms.
Mr. McConnell argued on Tuesday that the expanded surveillancepowers granted under the temporary measure should be made permanent.
Healso pushed for a provision that would grant legal immunity to thetelecommunications companies that secretly cooperated with the N.S.A.on the warrantless program.
No Input from DOJ
The WaPo reveals that the White House pulled the Clement-Keisler headfake with no input from DOJ.
While Mukasey's nomination is pending, the Justice Departmentwill be run by former civil division chief Peter D. Keisler, aconservative appointee who this week was a surprise replacement in thatrole for Solicitor General Paul D. Clement.Clement, who was publicly tagged last month as the temporaryreplacement for Gonzales, wound up officially taking the helm at 12:01a.m.
House Rules
The WaPo has more on the logic behind the refusal of the 13 Congressmen subpoenaed yesterday to testify.
As required by House rules, the subpoenas were read into theCongressional Record late Monday evening. John D. Filamor, assistantHouse counsel, wrote Geragos on Sept. 6 to object to the subpoenas,citing House rules that forbid members from testifying in judicialproceedings unless their testimony is "material and relevant."
Filamor also cited the "speech or debate" clause of
Mr. Sulzberger, Tear Down That Wall
My buddy Pinch Sulzberger wrote me today. He said:
We are ending TimesSelect, effective today.
The Times's Op-Edand news columns are now available free of charge, along with TimesFile and News Tracker. In addition, The New York Times online Archiveis now free back to 1987 for all of our readers.
Why the change?
Sincewe launched TimesSelect, the Web has evolved into an increasingly openenvironment.
Diplomatic Convoys
Two days ago Iraq said it was kicking Eric Prince and his mercenary thugs out of Iraq. Yesterday, Iraq said it would review all the mercenary thugs (and legitimate security entities) to see if they could stay in Iraq. And today, the US announces a curb on land-based civilian travel.
The United States on Tuesday suspended all land travel by U.S.
Congressional Subpoenas Are the New Graymail
The AP has the list of Congressmen whom Brent Wilkes has subpoenaed to appear at his trial. There are virtually no surprises on the list--all are either former or current Chairs of the Committees that knew of Wilkes' behavior and/or noted earmarkers in their own right. Here's why I think each person was subpoenaed.
Duncan Hunter, R-CA:
