Buck Naked Politics

Arlen Specter Stands Up for the Senate's Version of a Media Shield Law

Posted by Damozel | Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa) ---the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee --- has responded to Michael Mukasey's argument in The Washington Post.  An earlier article provides a nutshell summary of the pertinent parts. It seems a very moderate sort of shield to me, so I find the fact that Mukasey and other Administration officials oppose it distinctly worrying. 

The bill would protect a reporter's source unless a federal judge, "by a preponderance of the evidence," ruled that the identity sought is "essential to the resolution of the matter." In a criminal case, the judge must determine that "there are reasonable grounds to believe that a crime has occurred."

When classified information is involved, the judge must conclude that the leaker is "a person with authorized access" to the information and that the disclosure "has caused or will cause significant, clear, and articulable harm to the national security."

Looking for a High-End Real Estate Investment? Try the Green Zone!

Posted by Damozel | One of the Pentagon's current projects is development of a high-end area around the Green Zone---luxury hotels!  high-end shopping! condos! --- where the $1 billion embassy we've built ourselves is located.  Sound improbable?  Never underestimate the determination of developers.  A $5 billion plan, backed by the Pentagon, is already in place.

For the moment...it's mortars and rockets — not investment money — pouring into the Green Zone, which includes the U.S. and British embassies, key Iraqi government offices and other international compounds. Militants have escalated their shelling of the enclave since Iraqi forces began a crackdown on Shiite militias in late March.

Shoddy Work by Military Contractors Killing US Troops?

Posted by Damozel | D Cupples has typed her little fingers to the bone on the subject of the government's use of contractors, but I don't think we will ever be able to repeat too many times exactly how detrimental to the interests of taxpayers has been the Bush Administration's use of military contractors in Iraq.  I'm always glad to see the mainstream press on the case.  How long before the outrage begins?  How long before it reaches critical mass so something is done?   

We can but try:

In October 2004, the United States Army issued an urgent bulletin to commanders across Iraq, warning them of a deadly new threat to American soldiers. Because of flawed electrical work by contractors, the bulletin stated, soldiers at American bases in Iraq had received severe electrical shocks, and some had even been electrocuted.

Is the Bush Administration Planning an Attack Inside Iran's Borders?

Posted by Damozel | Did you know that George W. Bush a/k/a 'Richard Cheney' is still commander-in-chief of the US Armed Forces?  It's true.  Will it surprise you to learn that he -- or rather 'they' --- are gearing up for a military strike in Iraq?

The US military is drawing up plans for a “surgical strike” against an insurgent training camp inside Iran if Republican Guards continue with attempts to destabilise Iraq, western intelligence sources said last week. One source said the Americans were growing increasingly angry at the involvement of the Guards’ special-operations Quds force inside Iraq, training Shi’ite militias and smuggling weapons into the country.  (ToL)

By 'the Americans', the aforementioned 'source' meant 'the Bush Administration,' of course, and by 'the Bush Administration,' specifically --- or, rather, especially --- frustrated puppet-master-in-chief Richard Cheney.

Hillary Gets Bill O'Reilly to Admit (in Front of Fox Viewers) that Working Americans Deserve Health Care Safety Net

by D. Cupples |   During her interview with Fox's Bill O'Reilly, Sen. Hillary Clinton has done what I thought would be impossible: argued with O'Reilly and forced him to concede that "hard working American families" do deserve government help with health care.  She also refuses to back down on closing the income gap and taxing the rich.  The video clips are after the jump.

Warning: though Hillary tries to get past this non-issue, O'Reilly brings up the Rev. Wright and persists until Hillary makes a comment.  She credits Obama with having spoken "forcefully" yesterday, and O'Reilly finally let her move on to other issues (including taking on OPEC and the oil companies).

Doan Forced out of GSA

by D. Cupples |   Lurita Doan, head of the General Services Administration (which oversees billions in government contracts) has been forced out of her position.  The New York Times reports:

"In a stormy two-year tenure as the agency's administrator, Ms. Doan has been accused of improperly mixing government business with politics and of trying to steer government contracts to her friends. Democrats in Congress said she violated the Hatch Act, which makes it illegal for government employees to take action that could influence an election."

Back-Room Deal re: Telecom Amnesty? (plus video)

by D. Cupples |   We've covered here and here (and here) why retroactive immunity for Telecoms that knowingly broke laws while helping the Bush Adminsitration spy on Americans is a bad idea for us taxpayers and citizens.  So far, Democrats in Congress have retarded the Administration's (and its corporate and congressional allies') push for Telecom Amnesty.

Reportedly, Sen. Jay Rockfeller has teamed up with fellow Democrat and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to renew the fight for Telecom Amnesty.  Firedoglake reports:

Joint Chiefs Tell Iran to Knock it Off...or Else

Posted by Damozel | Did you know that George W. Bush is still president?  It's true.  And yesterday, 'a second American aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf on Tuesday as the Pentagon ordered military commanders to develop new options for attacking Iran.' (CBS News)

One concern is the Iranians' participation in the Iraq war.  '"What the Iranians are doing is killing American servicemen and -women inside Iraq," said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.'   They are certainly smuggling weapons into Iraq. (CBS News)   Current reports state that they are increasing aid to Iraqi militias.(CBS News)  The military claims to have evidence of this:

Petraeus Picked to Lead CentCom -- but What About the 190,000 Missing Weapons?

The New York Times reports:
 

"David Petraeus, the four-star general who led troops in Iraq for the past year, will be nominated by President Bush to be the next commander of U.S. Central Command, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.

"Gates said he expected Petraeus to make the shift in late summer or early fall. The Pentagon chief also announced that Bush will nominate Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno to replace Petraeus in Baghdad. Central Command oversees the wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan."

Bush's Approval Ratings: Worst of Anyone's Since the Invention of the Gallup

Posted by Damozel | Meanwhile, did you know that Bush is still president?  It's true.  And his approval ratings, which we'd previously thought were about as low as they could go, have now seeped through the bedrock.  Once the president with the highest approval ratings in the history of the Gallup polls, he is now the president with the worst.  Hey, but at least he's the best at being the worst!

Iraq 2006: Even Bush Didn't Believe What He Was Telling Us

Posted by Damozel | Bush seems to be in a confessional mood lately.  If your approval ratings are as low as his are, it really must seem that there is nothing to lose.  But were Democrats --- or McCain ---really listening last week when he said he knew about and approved of  Cheney & Co.'s orchestration (or 'choreographing') of detainee torture?

The following is via Kevin Drum, who commented on Martha Raddatz's ("fearless combat journalist and tenacious interrogator")  ABC News interview with Bush.  It is fraught with interest.

First Civilian Contractor on Trial for Allegedly Stabbing another Contractor

Reuters reports:

"Alaa Mohammad Ali, who holds Iraqi and Canadian citizenship, has been charged with aggravated assault, accused of stabbing another interpreter while working for U.S. forces at a combat outpost in the western Iraqi town of Hit."

The Bush Administration: A 'Constitutional Dictatorship' Primed to Lead Us Even Further Up the Creek?

Posted by Damozel | Did you know that George W. Bush is still president?  While you were busy throwing stones across the barricades at your fellow Dems, he and Cheney were busy beating the war drums.  If you can't hear them over the screaming, stop for a minute.  Listen.

Let's begin with a quote of a quote of a quote.  Right: at Balkinization, Sandy Levinson quotes this excerpt from a Dan Froomkin round-up.

"On his radio show this morning, Bill Bennett told the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol -- who had a personal meeting with President Bush yesterday -- that a 'conclusion' he drew was that the hearing was 'less an argument for getting out of Iraq than going into Iran.' After suggesting that Iran may 'have to pay some price at some point on their own soil,' Kristol said that President Bush authorizing an attack of some kind before he leaves office is not 'out of the question.'

Bush Confirms Torture Policy (Part 2) to the Sound of Crickets Chirping

Posted by Damozel | Why isn't this story all over the news?  Why are we talking about anything else? It's the very same weekend when Bush blandly confirmed that oh yeah, he knew all about it?  Why aren't he and Cheney and the whole crew about to be impeached?   Have the wheels of justice really rusted to a complete stop?  Are we really so cynical that we're past being shocked or thinking there's anything we can do about this? 

Not all of us.  Digby writes:

I thought I was long past the point of being shocked at anything the Bush administration did. They suspended the constitution after 9/11 and set forth a series of legal opinions that said the president can do anything he deems necessary to "protect the country." Once you truly absorb that fact, it's hard to be emotionally affected by anything else you learn.

The Daily Show's Tribute to Fox News

Via The Huffington Post, a Daily Show smackdown of Fox News' Fighting to the Finish assembled by John Oliver.  Part I:

Bush Aware of National Security Team's Discussions of Torture

Posted by Damozel |   Did you know that George W. Bush is still president?  It's true.

And while the Dems were sniping at one another last week, we learned that  the top officials in the  Bush Administration not only approved but specifically authorized the use of torture in the interrogation of terror suspects.(BN-Politics)  Cheney, Powell, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, and Tenet all were named as participants in these discussions. (BN-Politics)  ("Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly," Ashcroft worried. (ABC News))  But Bush's name was not listed among those present and in fact, they took care to "insulate" him. (AP)

In fact, of course, he did know all along.

Another Whistle Blower Says Telecom has Domestic-Spying System

Democracy Now reports:

"Babak Pasdar is a computer security expert who was hired in 2003 to help restructure the tech infrastructure at a major wireless telecommunications company. What he found shocked him.

"The company had set up a system that gave a third party, presumably a governmental entity, access to every communication coming through that company’s infrastructure. This means every email, internet use, document transmission, video, text message, as well as the ability to listen to and record any phone call."

Bush's Newest Domestic Spying Program

by D. Cupples |   If President Nixon's staffers had access to our technology, they wouldn't have sent five guys to break into and tap the phones in the Democratic Party's offices at the Watergate complex.  And we likely wouldn't have learned of the Nixon Administration's violations of law and abuses of power.

That said, the Bush Administration seeks to greatly expand its domestic spying powers -- without having satisfied Congress as to procedures and safeguards.  The Washington Post reports:

10 More Dead in Iraq; What Does This Say About Us? (John Cole Discusses)

by D. Cupples |   The Washington Post reports:

"The U.S. Military said it fired two Hellfire missiles just before 10 a.m. [yesterday] after spotting fighters in Sadr City with at least five rockets. Officials said another missile was fired a few minutes later at a black sedan near a rocket launch site.

"Ten people were killed and 22 wounded in Sadr City on Thursday and late Wednesday night, according to the Sadr office in the area, which did not specify how many people were killed in the airstrikes."

So far this month, 18 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.  John Cole offers interesting commentary on the political implications of the war:

Sources Tell ABC News: Bush Administration Officials Participated in War Crimes

Posted by Damozel | Did anyone ever doubt that certain top administration officials were involved every step of the way in authorizing the interrogation techniques used on al-Qaeda?  Most of the people I know certainly thought so. 

Everyone, in fact, except my mom.  So I am not surprised, though somehow I am quite shocked.  There is quite a bit of difference between 'knowing' and knowing.  And now the 'highly placed sources' have come out of the woodwork.  What took you so long, highly placed sources?