Feed the Generals Catfood, Too
I had a bit of fun with Michael O'Hanlon on Tuesday. At the America's Future Now conference, he was pitted against Juan Cole in a debate over the future of our Afghan war. I took the first question to note that we weren't just facing a choice…
Dawn Johnsen: Finish the Job of Fixing Office of Legal Counsel
Dawn Johnsen has a must-read op-ed today describing how the Bybee memo damaged the Office of Legal Counsel.
In 2004, the leak of a controversial memo on the use of torture catapulted the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel into the…
Judge: One Night at a Zubaydah-Related Guest House Not Grounds for Indefinite Detention
As McClatchy reported yesterday, Judge Henry Kennedy granted a the habeas petition of a Yemeni man, Mohamed Hassan Odaini, several weeks ago. That brings the total number of men held at Gitmo who have won habeas petitions to 36.
Kennedy's ruling…
Oil Flow Rate More Than Double What BP and Government Have Said
BP and the US government have yet again been dishonest about the nature and size of the oil gusher leaking into the Gulf of Mexico water; it is over twice the highest estimates to date.
The Blind Leading the Blind
The WaPo is scouring the business world looking for the perfect talent to lead the failing company. Today, they announced they've hired the guy who drovem GM into the ditch to its board.
Rick Wagoner, who was fired as chief executive of General…
David Boies: Prop 8 Trial Establishes as "Matter of Fact" that Marriage Equality Doesn't Hurt Straight Marriage
The lawyers for the plaintiffs in Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial had a conference call to preview what they will say in next week's closing arguments (which Teddy, bmaz, and I will cover from the courthouse).
The most interesting response from…
Chamber of Commerce Flip-Flops on Retroactive Legislation
As you've likely heard, the Chamber of Commerce has officially endorsed government welfare to limit corporate risk. (Again.)
The head of the United States Chamber of Commerce said Friday that his group is not yet lobbying against legislative…
The Value of Advice and Consent: Clapper Nomination
I'm going to have more to say about James Clapper's nomination to be Director of National Intelligence. But for now I want to point out similarities between how the Administration's treated that nomination and its involvement in primaries.
Two…
Prediction: Media Will Be Angrier About AT&T Breach than Illegal Wiretapping
Anyone want to bet that Rahm Emanuel will be more incensed that AT&T made his Gmail address vulnerable than about the illegal wiretapping the telecom did for Dick Cheney?
Apple has suffered another embarrassment. A security breach has exposed…
The US Prison Colony
I'm not in the least surprised by the LAT report that Obama is trying to come up with a compromise plan that would allow it to use Bagram as its terrorist prison even after it hands over the prison to the Afghans.
The Obama administration wants…
Congress Thinks BP Commission Needs Subpoena Power, Too
A bunch of hippie members of Congress noticed the same thing about Obama's BP Commission that I noticed: it lacks subpoena power.
So Lois Capps and Ed Markey in the House and Jeanne Shaheen and several of her colleagues are pushing legislation…
Bhopal Justice, Sort Of
Twenty-some years after one of the biggest industrial disasters in history, seven former Union Carbide executives have been sentenced to a few years in jail.
A court in central India ruled Monday that seven top executives and the company they…
BP Well Bore And Casing Integrity May Be Blown, Says Florida's Sen. Nelson
Senator Bill Nelson indicates the most horrific possible outcome is at hand in the BP Gulf Oil Spill, namely that basic well integrity is truly shot and oil and gas have breached the well casing and well bore and are escaping into the rock and out into the ocean through the sea floor.
Jose Rodriguez Briefed Pelosi and Goss in Deceptive Abu Zubaydah Briefing
As MadDog noted, Judicial Watch just got some new documents detailing briefings Congress received. Or rather, they got new documents providing further proof that CIA has no fucking clue what it said to Congress during some key briefings (this…
Alleged Wikileaks Leaker Arrested
Wired reports that authorities have arrested a military intelligence analyst who had boasted that he leaked two videos, an intelligence report on Wikileaks, and hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables to Wikileaks.
Federal officials have…
Allowing Human Experimentation under the War Crimes Act
I felt like they were experimenting and trying out techniques to be used later on other people. -- Abu Zubaydah to the Red Cross
Physicians for Human Rights just released a report documenting what Jeff Kaye and more recently Jason Leopold have…
Our Former Coup Client Speaks
As I've said before, one of the best ways to see the absurd nature of the relationship between our government and BP as they partner to try to fix BP's disaster is to remember that fifty-some years ago, the CIA overthrew the democratically elected…
The Illegal War on Latin American (!) Terrorism
I linked to this Jeremy Scahill post already, but I wanted to point out a few things about Scahill's elaboration on the WaPo's covert ops story of the other day.
First, Scahill provides a list of locations where Obama's expanded special operations…
Obama Monty Hall To Give Lovely Parting Gifts To BP Death Victims
Obama has suddenly announced his determination to have an empathy fest with the family and friends of the deceased victims of the criminally negligent BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. they deserve much better, and more, than that.
BP Gulf Disaster and Its Failed Russian Experiment
A couple of interesting, tangentially related things happened today.
First, in a bid to wall off the PR disaster of the Gulf spill from the rest of the company, BP has assigned someone--an American BP employee--to take charge of cleanup efforts.
BP…