Reasonable people know this –
August 16, 2008 by Gee Carol · 3 Comments
Do not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Do not replace the current administration — or Democratic members of Congress — with another set of inept Republicans; it would be a strain the nation could not survive. Voters must select enough Democrats to assure that Congressional majorities can prevail in crucial votes. And I am not saying all Republicans need to go down to defeat. There are a number of good independent thinkers out there whom I admire. And their proposed president, John McCain could be just as bad as ourcurrent president (OCP), given his consistent mental lapses. I suspect I am not alone in this thinking.
What would we do without a little muckraking to help us find out the things voters need to know about the candidates? Looking past the law or the rules seems far too easy for Republicans. Here are just a few examples. The Federal Election Commission lawyers are claiming that John McCain may be able to change his campaign financing deal in midstream. Senator Ted Stevens says his arrest was unconstitutional. Senator Norm Coleman may be using undisclosed gifts to his personal advantage.
With possible massive economic collapse a possibility, and loss of privacy a certainty, and an ever-growing “military industrial complex” threat a reality, we do not need to replace leaders who already know
about, and act to combat, these risks to the nation’s well-being. If soldiers stationed in Iraq can favor Senator Obama, then Clinton supporters need to be clear-eyed voters, not angry Dem spoilers. It is time to close ranks, forgo catharsis, and get on with the general campaign. Reasonable people know this.
(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)
My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.
Technorati tags: news news and politics politics republicans congress 2008 elections
Congress, Bush & the Environment — dirty little secrets
August 12, 2008 by Gee Carol · Leave a Comment
Today in Congress, to prevent the Bush administration from making recess appointments, there was only a pro forma session of the Senate scheduled. But things are bubbling beneath the surface, particularly on the oil/energy issue. Polls reveal that the people of the U.S. want something stronger done. And, predictably, Speaker Pelosi has reversed her position on the matter: CNN reports that Pelosi said on Larry King Live that she would be open to a vote on offshore drilling as part of a larger energy package. To quote:
On Monday night, Pelosi said the vote would need to be part of a larger discussion that would include investing in renewable energy resources and releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Those options would help bring both immediate and long-lasting solutions to the energy crisis, she said.
Fox to Watch the Hen House - Recess appointments may be out for our current president (OCP), but that has not stopped the administration to quietly gut the Endangered Species Ace via rule-making fiat while Congress’ back is turned. The Washington Post of August 12, 2008 has the story: “Endangered Species Act Changes Give Agencies More Say,” by Juliet Eilperin. To quote:
The Bush administration yesterday proposed a regulatory overhaul of the Endangered Species Act to allow federal agencies to decide whether protected species would be imperiled by agency projects, eliminating the independent scientific reviews that have been required for more than three decades.
The new rules, which will be subject to a 30-day per comment period, would use administrative powers to make broad changes in the law that Congress has resisted for years. Under current law, agencies must subject any plans that potentially affect endangered animals and plants to an independent review by the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service. Under the proposed new rules, dam and highway construction and other federal projects could proceed without delay if the agency in charge decides they would not harm vulnerable species.
. . . “I am deeply troubled by this proposed rule, which gives federal agencies an unacceptable degree of discretion to decide whether or not to comply with the Endangered Species Act,” said Rep. Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, who asked for a staff briefing before the proposal was announced but did not receive one. “Eleventh-hour rulemakings rarely, if ever, lead to good government — this is not the type of legacy this Interior Department should be leaving for future generations.”
. . . An aide to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, said she, like Rahal, had requested but not received a briefing. The panel is drafting a letter to Interior and will hold an oversight hearing, the aide said.
In a statement, Boxer called the rules change “another in a continuing stream of proposals to repeal our landmark environmental laws through the back door” and added: “I believe it is illegal, and if this proposed regulation had been in place, it would have undermined our ability to protect the bald eagle, the grizzly bear, and the gray whale.”
McCain to Senate: No vacations – But is this a reason to make McCain our new president? “Chutzpah Watch: McCain calls on lawmakers to spend more time on the job in Congress,” is by Steve Benen at The Carpetbagger Report (8/5/08). To quote:
. . . McCain told a biker rally, “Tell em’ to come back and get to work. When I’m president of the United States, I’m not going to let them go on vacation.”
This strikes me as amusing for two reasons: the hypocrisy and the misplaced priorities.
On the latter point, McCain hasn’t been “willing” to leave the campaign trail for anything, but all of a sudden, he’s ready to head back to his day job to tackle a coastal drilling bill that wouldn’t do any good anyway.
Hatch Act Violation? – “How Karl Rove’s Plan to Kill Salmon Led to a GOP Senator’s Reelection,” by Jason Leopold, The Public Record August 05, 2008, reveals that Karl Rove may have tried to influence employees of the Interior Department regarding electing an Oregon Republican. To quote from the story:
In January 2002, at a retreat in West Virginia, Karl Rove gave a PowerPoint presentation to at least 50 managers at the Department of the Interior to discuss polling data, and emphasized the importance of getting Oregon Senator Gordon Smith, a Republican, reelected that year.
The way to get Smith reelected to another term, Rove reportedly told the Interior Department officials, would come via the agency’s support of a highly controversial measure: diverting water from the Klamath River Basin to farms in the area that were experiencing unusually dry conditions, thereby supporting the GOP’s agricultural base.
If Rove and other White House officials discussed campaign strategy at federal office buildings, that would appear to be a violation of the Hatch Act. Recently, Congress launched an investigation into a briefing that J. Scott Jennings, the deputy director of political affairs, held at the General Services Administration. In the presentation, Jennings outlined polling data from the 2006 national elections and issued a list of the Republican Party’s electoral targets for 2008. Jennings’s presentation may violate a law known as the Hatch Act, which prohibits the use of government resources for political purposes.
That investigation is still ongoing.
Earlier dirty little secrets - A link from “betmo from CREW, Citizens for Responsibility Ethics in Washington: “Citizens diverting campaign funds to Kin,” Loophole in Ethics Rules Is One That the Senate Did Not Close Last Year. It always comes back to this, those dirty little violations of ethical campaigning.
(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)
My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.
Technorati tags: news news and politics [politics congress environment energy mccain republicans scandal
Progressive Texans are on to the “awl bidness”
August 5, 2008 by Gee Carol · 3 Comments
Happy Birthday, dear Barack. Senator Barack Obama turns 47 today. He took the initiative and gave a major energy speech in Lansing Michigan. With the following Memeorandum headline, Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet set my blog’s energy agenda for today: “Energy fueling Monday’s agenda. Obama, 47 today, acts, McCain reacts.” To quote:
The Obama campaign jumped in first to try to set the storyline of the day, producing a new spot called “Pocket,” hitting McCain by picturing him with oil man President Bush and for taking contributions from “Big Oil.”
The GOP is giving out tire gauges according to Memorandum’s headline, “GOP won’t let go of its new tire-gauge toy.” They are attempting to make a mocking point against Obama’s suggestion that drivers keep tires properly inflated to save gasoline. Meanwhile Memorandum is also reporting that House Republicans are trying to force Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call a vote on the offshore oil drilling question. Their ploy is not likely to be successful, in my opinion.
Texas progressive Alliance Weekly Round Up Aug 4, 2008, by nytexan who blogs at Bluebloggin. The roundup reports threats from Big Oil against my fellow Texas blogger, Txsharon*; efforts to defeat Blue Dogs; and a possible replacement for Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Some Alliance exerpts:
Last week on Bluedaze , Big Oil threatened TXsharon*. In “Big Oil” Threatens Harm to My “Lovelies” and Me she calls out the abuser and includes a new PR plan that will save Chesapeake Energy millions of dollars and help clean up Big Oil’s act.
Mike Thomas of Rhetoric & Rhythm is critical of a campaign to knock off Blue Dog Democrats , even if it means electing Republicans, all in an effort to punish Democrats for failing to hew the line on certain progressive issues.
Vince at Capitol Annex notes that Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones is going to run for U.S. Senate if and when Kay Bailey Hutchison vacates her seat to run for Governor.
Texas’ fierce opponent against energy corporation exploitation of the oil crisis — Her point is that House Republicans grand stand play is rather easy to penetrate. “Off Shore Drilling: Fool Me Once, Fool Me Again and Again and Again…,” by Txsharon* (8/2/08)at Bluedaze. To quote:
Today, I heard people trying to make the case for off shore drilling because, suddenly oil prices dropped and all it took was Bush calling for off shore drilling.
. . . Maybe if you think real hard, you can remember another time or two when oil suddenly and mysteriously dropped. Hint: Just before the last two elections. . . This is manipulation and speculation.
Another fierce advocate, Firedoglake’s Blue Texanventures snarkily that, “McCain’s Solution To High Gas Prices Is To Obey Those Making Record Profits Off High Gas Prices” (7/23/08). Barack Obama, meanwhile, is talking about reviving the “windfall profits” tax. Quoting the post conclusion:
He’s gonna go with the appeal to authority logical fallacy … to oil executives? That’s like asking child molesters what we should do about kiddie porn. Memo to the McSame campaign: people really, really hate oil companies. Pimping their agenda is politically retarded.
Progressive Texans are all over the corporate greed coming out of the “the awl bidness.” Exxon made record profits this past quarter. At the same time Texan Boone Pickins is looking to make a profit from the wind “bidness.” And the big wind, Hurricane Edouard barrels down on the Texas Gulf Coast. Things are not so quiet in the Lone Star State these days.
*Bonus from Txsharon - fabulous and unusual pictures of a Texas cloud.
Additional References from Propublica:
- “Expansion of Pipeline Stirs Concerns Over Safety: Natural-Gas Grid Increasingly Reaches Into Sensitive Areas.” By BEN CASSELMAN at the Wall Street Journal, August 4, 2008.
- “Texas: Report Faults BP on Refinery,” from the AP at The New York Times, 7/29/08.
- “Government Could Lose Billions to Oil Industry on Royalties,” by Joaquin Sapien - May 28, 2008 original in Propublica.
(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)
My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.
Technorati tags: news news and politics politics obama energy oil prices texas blogs
Why were they surprised?
August 1, 2008 by Gee Carol · Leave a Comment
Today’s big Intelligence Story — on the revision of Executive Order 1233 — gets even bigger. It turns out that Congress got by-passed with the revisions and they were hurt and surprised. We are not a bit surprised. And the “Two Mikes,” may have a bit of negotiating to do as Mike McConnell-DNI takes over a bit more power from Mike Hayden-CIA. As follow-up to an earlier post, “Bush Orders Intelligence Overhaul” (NYT – updated the afternoon of 7/31/08). To quote:
The [House Intelligence] Committee believes it has not been consulted or informed about critical intelligence matters. These include the executive order; Israel’s bombing of an alleged Syrian nuclear facility last summer; changes in U.S. intelligence on Iran; the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program; and the CIA’s destruction of interrogation videotapes.”This president is making it impossible for Congress to do oversight of the intelligence community,” the committee’s top Republican, Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, told The Associated Press. ”The only effective oversight that can be done is out of the executive branch. And this is the fox guarding the chicken coop.”
. . . Even before the executive order was released Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union condemned it.
”We have secret laws governing secret agencies that are engaging in secret spying against Americans, and they’re using our own tax dollars to do it. This isn’t keeping us safer it’s only making all Americans suspects in the eyes of the government,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU’s legislative office in Washington.
. . . the latest version of Executive Order 12333 gives the national intelligence director new power to oversee those relationships, including how much information and the type of information to be shared with a foreign government; the CIA still will carry out day-to-day contacts. The intelligence director is also gaining oversight of covert operations, an area where the CIA has been the traditional authority.
Exactly how disagreements will be worked out between the two is to be determined. CIA Director Michael Hayden told agency employees in an e-mail message Thursday that CIA officers on ”the front lines” will have ”a strong voice” in working out the new procedures.
Here are a few more Intel Committee walk-out details from “The Crypt” at Politico.com. (7/31/08) “House Republicans walk out of meeting with DNI McConnell.” To quote:
A group of House Republicans, led by Rep. Pete Hoekstra, walked out of a meeting with DNI Mike McConnell on Thursday, to protest what they see as a lack of consultation from the administration on intelligence matters.
. . . Earlier in the day, President Bush approved revisions to Executive Order 12333, the order that governs the activities of America’s intelligence agencies. Many members of Congress felt they were note properly consulted throughout the revision process.
. . . Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes agreed with Hoekstra, saying he was “deeply disappointed” that the president did not seek congressional input.
“We were only shown the document after it was complete and on its way to the President for his signature,” said Reyes.
“After seven years of a go-it-alone presidency, perhaps I should expect nothing more from this White House. But this order will be binding on future administrations as well. For that reason, we must conduct effective oversight, so that we can advise the next President of whether this order should remain in effect or should be repealed.”
Mike McConnell must really be feeling his oats these days. I have a hunch that the next thrust will be to coopt their adversaries. That is my dark view of this story. I may just be looking for trouble. The headline reads, “DNI McConnell to Intelligence Analysts: Go Talk to Juan Cole.” It was written by emptywheel (7/30/08) at Firedoglake. To quote:
In a post on AJ Rossmiller’s Still Broken, I pointed out that bloggers probably knew more than Condi Rice leading up to the 2005 Iraqi elections because 1) we were reading Juan Cole, 2) we didn’t censor out news we didn’t like:
When AJ was asked how he got the 2005 election right, one of the things he pointed to, half-seriously, was the open source work of Juan Cole.
Well, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell just conceded that AJ was right for reading Juan Cole.
In conclusion, I know you all will be so excited to learn that as of June 5, 2008, DNI McConnell is willing to stay on for six months to assist with the presidential transition. Why are we not surprised? To quote from an earlier story.
CNN has learned that the Director of National Intelligence Admiral (retired) Michael McConnell is letting it be known he is willing to stay for up to six months in the next Administration to help facilitate any transition, if a new president wishes him to.
Reference: Executive Order 12333 Amended (pdf 40 pgs).
View my current slide show about the Bush years — “Millennium” — at the bottom of this column.
(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)
Technorati tags: news national intelligence mike mcconnell dni
“I pledge allegiance
. . . to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stood,”
said Daniel Ellsberg, July 25, 2008, on Glenn Greenwald’s Salon Radio program debut. Ellsberg stated that this is the way he would have to say the Pledge of Allegiance today, given the recent passage by Congress and signing by the President, of the new Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Congress fails to uphold the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution – Greenwald and Ellsberg both feel that the Senators and Representatives who voted for this legislation failed to uphold their basic oaths of congressional office. Though Ellsberg said he will vote for Senator Barack Obama, he does not feel that any president, including Obama, will willingly cede presidential powers once they have been conferred. Salon’s debut podcast yesterday did not disappoint. I recommend this a fascinating half hour plus conversation on history joined with the current sorry state of Constitutional protections in the USA. Ellsberg believes that the republic is no more; Greenwald’s term for the current definition of our form of government is “empire.” To quote from Greenwald’s post:
Knowing that he was risking life imprisonment, Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in an attempt to alert the public to what the Government was doing . . .
For his efforts, Ellsberg was subjected to extensive warrantless eavesdropping by the Nixon White House, had his psychoanalyst’s office invaded and searched at Nixon’s behest in an attempt to obtain incriminating information about him, and was arrested and then brought to trial where he faced life imprisonment for having leaked the report (though the charges were ultimately dropped as a result of the Nixon administration’s misconduct towards him).In countless ways, Ellsberg embodies exactly what our political system has been so conspicuously and tragically lacking, and he has become one of the most insightful analysts of our current political crisis. My discussion with Ellsberg can be heard here by clicking PLAY below [Glenn has the link]:
Congressional leaders fail to uphold ethical standards – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. John Boehner will jointly appoint former House Member and head of the CIA, Porter Goss, to the new House ethics board. (HT to “emptywheel.”) To quote from The Hill’s story:
The appointment of Goss, a prickly personality who left the CIA after a short, turbulent tenure, surprised even some Republican members of Congress. Several shook their heads in disbelief when told he was named to the board.
While he was chairman of the House intelligence committee, Goss opposed launching an investigation into the Valerie Plame CIA leak case.
Goss is close to Boehner and served with Pelosi on the intelligence and ethics panels. . .
Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam (Fla.) said he supported Goss’s appointment, although he didn’t know why the former senior GOP member would want to come out of retirement to take it.
“[Goss] is a man of impeccable character, integrity and conviction and I can’t imagine why he wanted to take this job,” Putnam said.
Congress fails in its oversight responsibilities – The House Judiciary Committee has been holding hearings on Presidential power, and on the Bush administration’s use of torture against its enemies. It has not yet taken up the remedy of impeachment, and in all likelihood will not do so during its current term. Dandelion Salad posted about last night’s pertinent episode of “Bill Moyer’s Journal: Torture Hearings + Jane Mayer + Fritz Hollings.” It offers video links to the committee’s torture hearings, and to Moyers’ interview with Jane Mayer, author of a recent book, THE DARK SIDE: THE INSIDE STORY OF HOW THE WAR ON TERROR TURNED INTO A WAR ON AMERICAN IDEALS. The third video link is to Moyers’ program-concluding interview with former Senator Fritz Hollings on the place of money raising in the lives of people in Congress. His book is MAKING GOVERNMENT WORK.
Additional references from Dandelion Salad:
- ACLU Obtains Key Memos Authorizing CIA Torture Methods
- Tell Congress: Reject Endless War and a Torture Cover-Up + video
- Terror, Torture, and the Dark Side + Bush officials could be charged with war crimes
- Bill Moyers Journal: Philippe Sands
(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)
My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.
Technorati tags: news news and politics politics fisa torture congress constitution
March’s secret meeting to Declare Martial Law if things keep getting worse as they are!
July 26, 2008 by jim · 2 Comments
As you know, I am very concerned this election too will be stolen from us too in any number of a growing myriad of ways. This Government manufactured “perfect” storm is going to get much worse but its affect is coming to a head. This morning I was listening to more bail outs coming up for financial Institutions, the shocking price to heat my house, drive my car, eat, foreclosures up nation wide 121% since this time last year and here in Massachusetts up 330%. I thought I would check into what Polishifter said about the secret meeting many of us heard Congress held last March on declaring Martial Law if things continue to get much worse and sure enough!
A secret meeting of Congress discusses immanent martial law? B A Brooks The United American Freedom Foundation March 13, 2008 On March 13th 2008 there was a secret closed door meeting of The United States House Of Representatives in Washington. In the history of The United States this is only the fourth time a secret meeting was held by the house. Even though Representatives are sworn to secrecy by House Rules XVII, some of the members were so shocked, horrified, furious, and concerned about the future of America by what was revealed to them inside the secret meeting, that they have started to leak this secret information to independent news agencies around the world. The mass media said almost nothing about the secret meeting of the House, mentioning only one of the items being discussed. (The new surveillance techniques that are going to be used by the US Government to watch all American citizens).
* The story was first released in a newspaper out of Brisbane, Australia revealing the contents of the secret US Government meeting and plans for America including all of it’s citizens. Shortly there after, David J Meyer from Last Trumpet Ministries found it and made it more available for the world to see… Here is what was revealed: The imminent collapse of the US Economy to occur sometime in late 2008 The imminent collapse of the US Government finances sometime in mid 2009 The possibility of Civil War inside the United States as a result of the collapse The advance round-ups of “insurgent US Citizens” likely to move against the government The detention of those rounded up at The REX 84 Camps constructed throughout the United States The possibility of public retaliation against members of Congress for the collapses The location of safe facilities for members of Congress and their families to reside during massive civil unrest The necessary and unavoidable merger of The US with Canada and Mexico establishing The North American Union The issuance of a new currency called the AMERO for all three nations as an economic solution. Except for a few hundred thousand US Patriots, most Americans have no clue what has really been going on within The United States over the past 100 years, and the sad thing is that most do not want to know the truth.
The further you look into the rabbit hole, the deeper it gets. Go to any currency conversion site and convert US dollars to Euros so you can see for yourself the massive decline of the dollar. Look at how much money is and has been spent on the Iraq War to date, ($12 billion per month)… Look at our currency and when it stopped being backed by gold… The Federal Reserve is not federal but a private bank who does not have Americans best interests at heart. We no longer have any manufacturing really based out of America and there is no way that our economy can survive this incredible strain very much longer… The IRS strong arms every American yearly with income taxes, yet there are no laws saying an income tax is to be paid… The CIA is involved in everything from global drug trafficking and covert military missions, to assassinations around the world and including US Soil. Look at JFK for instance. It did not take long after JFK announced that he was going disband the CIA that he was shot in Texas… America’s new Stasi The Department Of Homeland Security is and has been slowly eradicating our rights for a few years now based organization called House Bill H.R. 1955/S-1959 was read by the senate and then sent to DHS for some reason, but is now back and sure to pass. Once passed, this bill introduced by Jane Harman (D/CA), will be the proverbial last nail hammered into every American patriots coffin. H.R. 4279 or the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008 which was recently passed by the US House of Representatives, will give the government draconian powers to do just this…
This legislation gives the government the power to seize property that facilitates the violation of intellectual property laws The legislation also mandates the formation of a formal Intellectual Property Enforcement Division within the office of the Deputy Attorney General to enforce this insanity… It has been revealed that F.E.M.A. has been building internment camps all over America granting Halliburton a massive $385 million dollar construction contract to make this happen. Most of these sites only need refurbished because they are mostly closed prisons, old WW2 internment camps still intact and other facilities taken over by the government. Some people have referred to them as FEMA Death Camps where the infamous Red list/Blue Lists will be used to decide who goes where…
Whether you believe that The NWO/Illuminati/Globalization is real or not, there is a lot of proof that exposes definite plans or plots by the rich, political and religious elite to bring on an era of the end times. It is almost like some individuals are trying to make bible prophecy come true in their own sick and twisted ways. Not to mention that the world only has about 10 to 15 years of drinking water left before the wars fought for oil today will be fought for water in the near future. It has been said that these powers want to depopulate the planet of over 30% of it’s human inhabitants in the coming years… Examine all of the executive orders that have been signed into place allowing the president to basically become dictator in control of all government from tribal to federal in the event of any national emergency… If you did not know, In late 2006, Congress revised the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act to make it far easier for a president to declare martial law. Those changes were repealed at the end of this January as part of Public Law 110-181 (HR 4986), the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (signed into law by President Bush on January 28, 2008)… Unfortunately it is not the great victory in which one might think because of the total militarization of all local and State police forces all across America… Will there be martial law? Is martial law coming soon to America? When you see law enforcement being armed with automatic weapons, bullet proof vests and riot gear in small towns that have not had a murder or crime in years, then you have to ask yourself why… please read you need to know the rest
** Mind blowing! We have not been wrong once yet but are always laughed at and dismissed as conspiracy theorists so the real conspiracy the destruction of America can be carried out. The perfect manufactured storm to achieve that end is coming to a head. Stay united and be prepared please!
James Joiner
Gardner Ma
Crossposted at www.anaveragepatriot.com
Congress’ July 4 Recess — Implications For FISA
July 1, 2008 by Gee Carol · 2 Comments
Congress will be away from Washington for a time to celebrate our nation’s birthday. Given the manner this congress has been operating, it is often a good thing for our senators and representatives to be out of the city. Less mischief happens that way. As my regular readers know, much mischief has happened regarding the erosion of citizen privacy over the past few years. And Congress has aided and abetted that assault on the Fourth Amendment. The current fight is over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the “FISA” bill set for revision. The best post on the current and future situation regarding the FISA bill, as yet unresolved by Congress, was put up about a week ago by — guess who — my favorite, Glenn Greenwald, writing for Salon.com. Another of his excellent posts sets the stage for what is likely to happen to the FISA bill when Congress comes back from its July 4 recess. To quote (includes his links):
UPDATE: Two Democratic Senators actually fighting against the FISA bill — Russ Feingold and Chris Dodd — succeeded in blocking a vote in the Senate until after the July 4 recess (the vote is now scheduled for July 8). Jesselyn Radack — the DOJ lawyer who became the whistleblower concerning the Bush administration’s treatment of John Walker Lindh — writes here about this success. It’s only a temporary reprieve, but delays of this sort can enable further opposition to build and/or allow unanticipated events to intervene.
There is a surprisingly vigorous feud among three of my favorites over the future of FISA. Glenn Greenwald and Keith Olbermann are going at it over Senator Barack Obama’s unwelcome support for a bad FISA bill. Former White House Counsel John Dean is also in the middle of it. In my opinion, the disagreements are not so much over the back and forth criticisms between Greenwald and Olbermann over Obama’s FISA stance, as they are about a general frustration due to the country’s inability to stop the FISA bill’s apparent momentum to passage. Empty Wheel weighs in with some helpful insight into this whole bizarre controversy. We all want the same things out of Congress on this matter; we just disagree on how to get there. Congress needs to exercise vigorous oversight over a law-breaking Executive. It needs to defend the Constitution. And it needs to stop caving in to the nasty tactics of Republicans.
View my current slide show about the Bush years — “Millennium” — at the bottom of this column.
This day in history: Constitution Convention, July 1, 1787. Washington called Rhode Island’s absense from the convention “scandalous.”
Technorati tags: news news and politics politics fisa domestic surveillance congress
Crossposted at South by Southwest.
FISA Reader to Weep by, alas
June 19, 2008 by Gee Carol · Leave a Comment
graphic filched from Mike Harding’s blog.
Read ‘em and weep . . . Final FISA deal reached, vote in House may come on Friday, according to Reuters. There is a chance that the FISA bill will be voted on at the same time as the Supplemental Appropriations bill, which is even sneakier. What follows are the best posts to be found on the subject, along with a few more traditional references.
Blogasm — Strange Bedfellows: Bloggers from the left and right team up with the ACLU to fight telecom immunity (6/19/08 - 12:37 AM)
ACLU – Condemns FISA Deal, Declares Surveillance Bill Unconstitutional (6/19/2008)
Emptywheel — The FISA bill (6/19/08 - 10:15 AM) FYI: Here are the first two comments after the post:
1) Bushie — June 19th, 2008 at 10:21 am. I called the Obama campaign today and asked Obama to come out publicly against immunity. The person who I talked to said he’d had several calls on this and would pass it along. Call 866-675-2008 option 6 to speak to someone.
2) wavpeac — June 19th, 2008 at 10:33 am. No answer and no way to leave a message on the above number. When you ask to transfer to an attendant by pressing zero you go back to the original message. IT’s a circle with no way to leave a message. My guess is that his machine is full?? I am going to the web at www.BarackObama.com. Just letting you know.
TPM Muckraker — Lawmakers reach deal over government surveillance powers (6/19/08 - 11:37 AM)
Firedoglake — FISA: Screwed, Blued and Tattooed (6/19/08 - 12:00 PM)
Glenn Greenwald @ Salon.com – George Bush’s latest powers, courtesy of Democratic Congress (6/19/08 - 12:26 PM) Memeorandum listing for this and many related stories.
ProPublica – Surveillance bill compromise likely to deliver immunity for telecoms (6/19/08 - 12:55 PM)
Carpetbagger Report – ‘Compromise’ reached on surveillance powers, retroactive immunity gets green light (6/19/08 - 12:40 PM)
Obsidian Wings — FISA “Compromise” (6/19/08 - 1:31 P.M)
Threat Level — Dems agree to expand domestic spying, grant telecoms amnesty (6/19/08 - 3:09 PM)
Think Progress – New wiretapping bill dubbed ‘repugnant’ and ‘a capitulation.” (6/19/08 - 3:39 PM)
For Reference Only:
- Wall Street Journal – Lawmakers reach deal to expand surveillance (subscription required)
- Red State – The Republican view - Ugh!
- Copy of the bill/Courtesy of Politico — 114 pages, pdf.
- New York Times – Deal Reached in Congress to Rewrite Rules on Wiretapping (6/20/08)
I have no words left for this at this point. I am stunned.
(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)
The Reality Of The American Political Establishment?
May 16, 2008 by Big Fella · 3 Comments
While this video from The Onion, may be mildy humorous, we believe that a strong case could be made that this is the reality of the Bushliburton administration and the Republican controlled (through the early and middle years of the Bushliburton) Congress. What concerns us more, though, is that this well may be the reality of either a Democratic or Republican controlled Congress, under a Billary administration:
Send Hillary back to the Senate, and send Bill back to Chappaqua.
Putting My Tinfoil Hat On
May 1, 2008 by Jolly Roger · 2 Comments
You know I’m not one for conspiracy theories. Although I firmly believe Chimpy is covering up a lot of stuff related to the September 11 attacks, I still think he’s doing it to conceal how incompetent he and Lecondel were in ignoring the multiple warnings they got. I have a feeling that the story of exactly what was going to happen was relayed to the Reign of Error, and they just blew it off. That kind of publicity for the “security” Goppers would be, as Rummy once said, unhelpful.
This, however, is just too damned convenient. Deborah Pelfrey has said many times now that she had plenty more names in her phone records for us. Vitter, she assured us, was only the beginning.
Now, in the space of a fairly short time, Ms. Pelfrey went from naming names to killing herself? I’m sorry; I just don’t see this one. This reminds me of all those “suicides” that occurred after Kennedy was assassinated (like Dorothy Kilgallen, who assured people just before her demise that she was going to blow the lid off the Kennedy assassination. Or Lisa Howard, who was acting as Kennedy’s emissary to Fidel Castro.)
Iraq Moratorium Day #8; April 18
Following is from iraqmoratorium.org:
The Iraq Moratorium, a nationwide grassroots movement uniting individuals and groups against the Iraq war, will be observed on Friday, April 18.
Since September, the Iraq Moratorium has asked people and groups opposed to the war and occupation to take some action on the third Friday of every month to end the war.
Individual actions can range from wearing a black armband or a button to school or work to writing letters, putting up signs, calling members of Congress, and a wide variety of other actions. The group’s website, www.IraqMoratorium.org offers ideas, and lists planned group actions across the country.
Since it began eight months ago, the Iraq Moratorium has sparked more than 800 group events – vigils, rallies, marches, speakers, films, and other actions – listed on the group’s website, with reports, photos and videos.
The Iraq Moratorium encourage local organizers to “do their own thing” on the third Friday of the month – but to do something, whatever it is, to end the war. It is all a loosely-knit national grassroots effort operating under the Iraq Moratorium umbrella.
“Two-thirds of the people in the United States want this war to end,” said Eric See, a Moratorium organizer in California. “Our goal is to get that Silent Majority to speak out, in whatever way they choose, as a way to inspire others to action and build a movement that will end this senseless bloodshed.”
“Doing something on Friday, even something small, is a first step toward ending the war,” See said. “It all makes a difference, and our individual actions are magnified when we all act on the same day. The Moratorium asks that people interrupt business as usual and do something to end the war.”
Florida’s Congressional merry-go-round..
January 25, 2008 by Dusty · 3 Comments
Seems the Rethug Dave Weldon isn’t going to seek reelection. That’s a good thing of course and it seems there are plenty of Republican’s that are seeing the writing on the wall this election cycle. Can I get an amen on that?
Another good thing for Florida is Alan Grayson. He is running for Congress, and he is a progressive Democrat. Alan is a pro-peace, pro-impeachment pro-justice candidate at a time when American needs just that. He has been written up in Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone , The Wall Street Journal (subscription, but you can read a transcript here ), CBS, and others. Alan Grayson knows more about what is REALLY going down if Iraq than almost anyone in this country.
Jet, a writer here at Sirens, has been pounding the digital pavement trying to help Alan tap into the broader Netroots community and it is about to pay off. This Saturday Howie Klein, with the support of Jane from FDL and John from Crooks and Liars will help promote Alan to a wider audience. They have come to believe Alan is exactly the kind of person the Netroots community should support. If you want to help Alan get elected, you can vote for him here at Democracy for America (DFA). To read a bloggers perspective on Alan, check out Down with Tyranny here.
Let’s help Alan Grayson get elected..lord knows there aren’t enough progressive Congressman in office.
