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:
Iraq Will Review All Contractors
Following on yesterday's announcement that it was withdrawing the license of Blackwater, Iraq's government has announced it will review all the security contractors doing business in Iraq.
The Iraqi government said today that it would review the status of all foreign and local security companies working in Iraq after a shooting that left eight Iraqis dead.
I'm as skeptical as I was yesterday that this is going to achieve anything.
Banana Cream Pie
Remember that banana scandal, where a high-powered Republican lawyer advised Chiquita to go on paying right wing terrorists even though it was a felony? Where said high-powered Republican lawyer alleged that Michael Chertoff--the guy now in charge of protecting our country--told him that he could go on funding terrorists so long as he also cooperated with Administration investigations of the terrorists?
The United States of AT&T
Back in June, the Bush Administration invited one of AT&T's key lobbyists, Ed Gillespie, to serve as White House counselor. A few weeks after that, BushCo expanded AT&T's resident lobbyist's role to include most of Karl Rove's portfolio. Just days after Gillespie took over that role, the DOJ made an unusual intervention into the FCC's request for comments on Net Neutrality, weighing against Net Neutrality.
Well today, one of AT&T's former key
Orange County GOP Narrowly Avoids Horrible Embarrassment
Well, faced with losing his job, Michael Drake found a way to un-un-hire Erwin Chemerinsky.
UC Irvine Chancellor Michael V. Drake and Erwin Chemerinsky havereached an agreement that will return the liberal legal scholar to thedean's post at the university's new law school, the universityannounced this morning.
With the deal, they hope to end the controversy that erupted whenChemerinsky was dropped as the first dean of the Donald Bren School ofLaw.
The Five Star Hotel Was on the Taypayer's Dime
That five star hotel that Tommy K was staying in in Greece? You and I are paying for it, it looks like.
A federal judge allowed a New York man who has admitted bribingformer North County U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham to remain free onbond, after an Assistant U.S. Attorney said at a hearing this morningthat the man's recent trip to Greece was at the direction of federalagents.
U.S.
Why Keisler
Wildarseguess here. But I have a hypothesis for why Bush pulled his Clement-Keisler headfake this morning.
Recall that, just last week, BushCo made an unusual intervention into the FCC's deliberations over Net Neutrality.
Well, a lot of people have noted that Keisler's most notable achievement at DOJ was his role in spiking the tobacco settlement.
Clement Headfake
So Paul Clement was Acting Attorney General for all of four hours this morning. But then Bush replaced him with the former (re-current?) head of the Civil Division, who had resigned but I guess is sticking around for a while (hat tip Pontificator).
It's a pivotal time for our nation, and it's vital that theposition of Attorney General be filled quickly.
Mukasey
A lot of you have asked what I think of the Mukasey nomination. I'm in the middle of day job stuff at the moment, so let me point you to what Glenn and looseheadprop have to say on Mukasey (which is really more valuable than what I could say anyway, since they're the ones with JD after their name--LHPJD; it's like a secret code!
Security
If you win the battle to keep the troops in Iraq, but then get forced to withdraw your pet security firm, have you actually won the battle to keep troops in Iraq?
The Iraqi government said Monday that it was pulling the license of anAmerican security firm allegedly involved in the fatal shooting ofcivilians during an attack on a U.S.
Too Late
Two more exhibits in too little, too late to keep the Republican party in the mainstream. First, Chuck Hagel calling General Petraeus General Betray-Us Bush's used car salesman.
Maher: Isn’t a dirty trick on the American people when you send a military man out there to basically do a political sell-job?â€
Hagel: It’s not only a dirty trick, but it’s dishonest, it’s hypocritical, it’s dangerous and irresponsible.The fact is this is not Petraeus’
12 People
The AP reveals how it is that a top legal scholar can be un-hired by the University that just signed him.
A conservative Los AngelesCounty politician asked about two dozen people in an e-mail last monthhow to prevent the University of California, Irvine from hiringrenowned liberal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky as its founding law schooldean, a spokesman for the politician said Friday.
Making Chemerinsky the head of the law school "would be likeappointing al-Qaida
Domestic Spying
I've got more questions about the Patriots spy scandal than I do answers. Will the Pats do measurably worse now that the league is going to be watching for them videotaping their opponents defensive calls?Are the great halftime coaches really just users of illegal spy techniques, as is the logical progression of Brian Dawkins' thoughts?
Public Intellectual
Kudos to Hugh Hewitt and Douglas Kmiec, who criticized Michael Drake's decision to "un-hire" Erwin Chemerinsky.
"Even though I agree with him on only about one out of 100 issues, Ibelieve he is one of the top legal minds in the United States," saidHugh Hewitt, a law professor at Chapman University and host of a dailyradio talk show.
