People Might LIKE Haggis, But They Don't Want to Eat It
People in PA generally approve of the job that Arlen "Scottish Haggis" Specter is doing. But they don't exactly want him to keep doing it--particularly not the Independents his mushy centrism is supposed to attract.
Judge Walker Busts A Move: The Legal Foundation For It
Immediately below, Marcy described Judge Vaughn Walker's new homework assignment to the parties in the consolidated litigation in NDCA. In this post, I want to delve into the legal underpinnings of Walker's Order, and where he is going with it.
Vaughn Walker: Okay Mr. Holder, I'd Like to See YOUR Work Now
Vaughn Walker wants more homework from Eric Holder on retroactive immunity. And he's demanding that Holder do his own work this time.
Domenici Gets a Subpoena
Nora Dannehy's grand jury just subpoenaed Pete Domenici.
The Senate State Secrets Bill
The protectors of the Constitution in the Senate also introduced a State Secrets Bill today.
The State Secret Protection Act
A number of Congressmen have submitted the State Secret Protection Act, modeled on CIPA, in an attempt to rein in the use of State Secrets to avoid criminal prosecution.
CEO's Eating Their Own Toxic Products
The Peanut CEO's response to being invited to eat his own toxic product was invoking his Fifth Amendment Rights. But the bank CEOs? No one has yet asked them to eat their own toxic products.
Maybe We've Got Each Other By the Nuts...
Is Geithner trying to recruit "private investors" in the form of Sovereign Wealth Funds by threatening to devalue their significant stash of dollars with inflation?
Senate Stimulus: Steal from the Poor to Give to the Affluent
ProPublica has done a comparison of the House and Senate stimulus packages which shows in stark fashion the degree to which the Senate bill steals from the poor to give to the affluent. The Senate bill gives more in tax cuts to the upper middle class--in the form of the AMT patch and the house flipping subsidy--than they give in all the programs targeted to the poor.
Foul Balls: The Legal Fixation On Athletes
The Washington DC juggernaut is at it again with the persecution/prosecution of athletes. Today it is announced that charges have been filed against Houston Astros, and former Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics, shortstop Miguel Tejada. Funny that they have time for this rinky-dink stuff, but not to go after Alberto Gonzales and other serious malfeasants.
Leahy: Congress Will Do Truth Commission with or without POTUS
Patrick Leahy says Congress will do a Truth Commission with or without the Obama Administration.
The MI GOP: Leading Their National Party to Twit Failure
The Chair of the VA GOP just on-upped Crazy Pete Hoekstra in his Twitter idiocy: He botched an attempt to flip the Senate by tweeting about it first.
Don't Drill Baby, Don't Drill
Ken Salazar just reversed Bush's plan to drill offshore.
Is Geithner Planning on a Public-Private Partnership with the Sovereign Wealth Funds?
Tim Geithner used the gimmick of a public-private partnership to avoid nationalizing the banks today. But that gimmick may well depend on the continued investment from Sovereign Wealth Funds--the investment arms of nations like China, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Kuwait, South Korea, and UAE. That seems to present many more potential problems down the road.
Mary Beth Buchanan's Going Away Present: Jack Murtha?
Is Mary Beth Buchanan refusing to step down as US Attorney because she intends to take down Jack Murtha before she leaves?
Boy, That Anthrax Attack Sure Led to an Expansion of Our Anthrax Program, Huh
At the still-unsolved anthrax attacks in 2001, people were raising concerns that we were breaking our treaty obligations not to do such research. But the attack led directly to a ten-fold expansion of our program.
USAMRIID Can’t Keep Track of Its Microbes
Now, what do you make of the fact that USAMRIID, the lab at which Bruce Ivins was alleged to have made the anthrax used in the 2001 attacks, is having problems cataloging and tracking their high-risk microbes and biomaterials (h/t Danger Room)?
The…
Pat Leahy Calls for Truth Commission
I want prosecutions for Bush era wrong-doing. But barring that, we need to have some accounting for what was done. Today, Pat Leahy joined others in calling for such an investigation.
James Jones on the NSC Under Obama
James Jones addressed some of the upcoming changes at the National Security Council.
BREAKING: Obama Continues Bush Policy On State Secrets
Earlier this morning, Looseheadprop wrote about the case of Binyam Mohamed, the British subject tortured at the hands of the United States at Gitmo, including having his genitals carved selectively with a scalpel. The Mohamed case is of critical significance for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that there was an oral argument in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco this morning in which the Obama Administration has shown its true colors and continued the assertion of state secrets to conceal US torture policy.