The end of an era, and the last season for the controversial show, '24'. Via The New York Times:The torture sequences were misleading, Mr. Danzig said, because they contributed to a “pervasive myth” that torture was effective. He recalled that Gary Solis, the former director of West Point’s law of war program, once called “24” “one of the biggest problems” in his classroom.
| At a United Nations conference on racism in Geneva on Monday, the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, launched in to a tirade against Israel. Delegates from a number of European countries walked out in protest.
The U.S., Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and Israel all boycotted the conference as they had expected Ahmadinejad to use the conference as a forum to “focus on maligning Israel rather than on the global problems of discrimination, replaying the disputes that marked the first United Nations conference on combating racism in Durban, South Africa, in 2001.”
The countries that walked out: Austria, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic (has left the conference for good), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, , Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, St. Kitts and Nevis
Image courtesy of The NYT.
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| The release of the Bush torture memos last week caused many on the left to become more vocal, urging the current administration to hold 
accountable those who directed others to violate U.S. and international law. On Tuesday, President Obama stated publicly for the first time, that he is open to prosecution of the people responsible for directing others to commit acts of torture. Bolding is mine.From The New York Times:
But in response to questions from reporters in the Oval Office, he said, “if and when there needs to be a further accounting,” he hoped that Congress would examine ways to obtain one “in a bipartisan fashion,” from people who are independent and therefore can build credibility with the public.
Image of the scales of justice on top of the Old Bailey in London, by Andrew Parsons, courtesy of the BBC.
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| Congress is back in Washington this week, after a break for Easter recess. At the top of their agenda is the budget, healthcare, and credit cards.
The president has said that he expects Republicans to come back with a more “constructive attitude toward health care, energy and other administration initiatives.” David Axelrod via Huffpost:
"No one expects the Republican Party to fully embrace what we're doing," Axelrod said. "What they would like is for us to ratify the policies that we've had for the last eight years that have gotten us into the mess we're in. We have two parties for a reason, but there are areas of common interest, and we ought to pursue them."
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| On Monday, President Obama directed his cabinet to cut spending by $100 million, acknowledging that it’s a drop in the proverbial bucket.
The cabinet was directed to go through the expenses in each of their areas, and eliminate a total of $100 million from the budget.
Obama said the $100 million would come from "efficiencies" in agency operations, and would be in addition to future cuts in programs that aren't working.
Yet the red ink in the annual budget is currently in the hundreds of billions. He was asked if the efficiency saving isn't just "a drop in the bucket".
"It is," he replied. "None of these things alone are going to make a difference. But cumulatively, they make an extraordinary difference because they start setting a tone ... $100 million there, $100 million here _ pretty soon, even here in Washington, it adds up to real money."
__________________________ | In signing legislation that will triple the size of the Americorps program, President Obama called on students to volunteer to improve their communities. .
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| MEDIA MATTERS log, April 20 - April 26, 2009
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I got a late start on this last night, so will be finishing it piecemeal, throughout today. Check back later for more.
Political News Summary: Friday, April 17 – Sunday, April 19, 2009
| Last Thursday, President Obama directed the DOJ to release the Bush Torture Memos as part of an ongoing court case. The fallout has been wide, and varied.
In an editorial on Sunday, The New York Times called for the impeachment of federal judge Jay Bybee, the author of the memos, and John Yoo's boss.
“These memos make it clear that Mr. Bybee is unfit for a job that requires legal judgment and a respect for the Constitution. Congress should impeach him.”
President Obama has also drawn fire from the left, when he made it clear that he would not hold accountable those who actually committed the acts of torture. From Think Progress:
Yesterday, as he released four Bush-era legal memos authorizing the torture of terrorist suspects, President Obama made it clear he would not support any prosecutions of low-level interrogators who actually carried out Bush’s policies. “[I]t is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution.”
The ACLU's lead counsel, Jameel Jaffer, told Glenn Greenwald that Obama was very careful in his wording, and that nothing the President or Eric Holder had said precludes prosecution of the people responsible for these policies.
By the way, I read some of the torture memos myself, and they are as ugly and grotesque as you might imagine.
RELATED: :: The case for impeaching Jay Bybee.
:: Fox News Defends Bush Administration’s Use Of Torture
:: Hayden: The Torture Memos Show The ‘Outer Limits’ That ‘Any American’ Would Go To In Interrogations
:: Scott Atran: The Moral Measure of a Civilization Is in Its Treatment of Enemies
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Continue reading "IPD Political News Summary: Monday, April 20, 2009" »
:: The AP reports that close to 100 CIA terror interrogation tapes were destroyed, many more than previously acknowledged.
The 'good' news continues to be revealed in this ongoing disgrace to our country.
WASHINGTON — New documents show the CIA destroyed nearly 100 tapes of terror interrogations, far more than has previously been acknowledged.
AP photo.
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Eliminating the Bush system will mean that we will get no more information from captured al Qaeda terrorists. Every prisoner will have the right to a lawyer (which they will surely demand), the right to remain silent, and the right to a speedy trial.
Relying on the civilian justice system not only robs us of the most effective intelligence tool to avert future attacks, it provides an opportunity for our enemies to obtain intelligence on us.
In fact, the Army Field Manual explicitly permits good cop-bad cop interrogations under the name of “Mutt and Jeff” interrogations, which involve two interrogators “display[ing] opposing personalities and attitudes toward the source.” The Field Manual says the “goal of this technique is to make the source identify with one of the interrogators and thereby establish[ing] rapport and cooperation.”
Response to Yoo, from Think Progress:
Yoo has no idea what he’s talking about. Nothing requires anyone to “be polite” — although the rapport building method has often proved to be interrogators’ most effective technique. And the notion that good-cop/bad-cop would be banned is simply false, Media Matters pointed out earlier this week:
It’s no secret that Yoo is an ardent torture enthusiast: He famously said that only those techniques that inflict pain equivalent to “death, organ failure or permanent damage resulting in a loss of significant body functions” constitute torture, and last year refused to agree that the president could not order a detainee buried alive. With Obama signaling a clean break from the Bush administration’s terrorism policies, it’s no wonder Yoo is desperate to restore his crumbling torture regime.
AP photo.
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House Republican Whip Eric Cantor [1], a rising star in the Republican party, has been a prominent voice demanding accountability in how the government doles out hundreds of billions for bank bailouts.
This Thursday, Cantor cast a high-profile vote opposing release of another $350 billion in bailout funds. Unpublicized until now was a recent development: The Treasury Department used $267 million of taxpayer funds to buy preferred stock in a private banking company that employs Cantor's wife.
The bailout for New York Private Bank and Trust (NYPBT) [2] came earlier this month as part of a Treasury Department program to boost "healthy banks" with extra capital. NYPBT is the holding company for Emigrant Bank [3], a savings bank with 35 branches in and around New York City. Diana Cantor runs the Virginia branch of Emigrant's wealth-management division, called Virginia Private Bank & Trust, which targets an ultra-rich clientele.
Hmm...and where exactly is your accountability re this direct conflict of interest, Mr. Cantor?
Mark Wilson/Getty Images.
George Stephanopoulos' Exclusive Interview with President-Elect Barack Obama
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Hello, again. In nine days he will be president of the United States. This morning Barack Obama is our exclusive headliner. Welcome back to THIS WEEK.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT-ELECT: Thank you, George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Does it feel like you're president already?
OBAMA: No.
“Fox News published a report Thursday slamming Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison by featuring a discredited “terrorism expert.” Ellison’s hajj pilgrimage to Mecca last month, an important part of his Muslim faith, was paid for by the Muslim America Society of Minnesota, an organization that has earned the respect of the Minnesota Council of Churches, the St. Paul Police Department and former Vice President Walter Mondale, but also has been a target by mainly right-wing blogs and think tanks.
Steven Emerson called the Minnesota nonprofit “the Muslim equivalent of the neo-Nazi party.” Of Ellison he said, “It’s very troubling that he is trying to project an image of moderation, but he is tied to these radical groups.” Fox News did not disclose Emerson’s ample volume of false reports, anti-Muslim diatribes, frivolous lawsuits and discredited statements.”Source: The Minnesota Independent
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:: Obama vows that his administration will not allow torture.
This is great, but I would like to know if he intends to appoint a special investigator.
I am torn as to whether Bush and company should be prosecuted. They certainly deserve to be, but I can not think that it would be good for this country if they are.
“"I was clear throughout this campaign and was clear throughout this transition that under my administration the United States does not torture," Obama said, when asked at the news conference whether he would continue the Bush administration's policy of harsh interrogation. "We will abide by the Geneva Conventions. We will uphold our highest ideals."”Source: MSNBC
Continue reading "Political News Summary: Friday, Jan. 9, 2009" »
Cartoon by Bob Lang.
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:: CNN Chief Medical Correspondant, and neurosurgeon, Sanjay Gupta, is believed to be Obama's choice for Surgeon General.
Continue reading "Political News Summary, Tuesday, January 6, 2009" »
Schapiro is currently the CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Politically, she is an Independent.
“If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Schapiro will take over an agency whose reputation has been tarnished by its failure to detect Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50 billion fraud and to prevent the collapse of investment banks Bear Stearns Cos. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. The SEC’s relevance and competence will be scrutinized as Congress weighs overhauling market regulation.
“The agency is at a critical juncture in its history,” said William McLucas, a former SEC enforcement director. “What the agency needs right now, more than ever, is leadership. She is going to be exactly what the agency needs.””
Bloomberg.com
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“You can't put a price on silence or solitude. You can't quantify the beauty of wilderness. And yet that's not going to stop the Bush administration from trying to sell off what should be the birthright of future generations.
In three days, this Friday, 110,000 acres of majestic Utah wild lands go on the auction block, to be sold to the highest bidders in the oil and gas industry. It's a last-ditch effort by a corrupt administration to further enrich its friends in the dirty fuels business. If they succeed, they'll leave a wasteland behind them.
Never mind that we the People of the United States just rejected the failed energy policy of "drill, baby, drill!" Never mind that once industrialized, these precious lands will be marred for centuries. Ravaging these places will put cash in the pockets of greedy speculators, even if it won't solve our energy problems.”
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“Here's the thing: If members of the Bush administration would have at least acted like they might have done something wrong, a truth-and-reconciliation-type Congressional commission like the one currently under consideration could have found out what happened, and we could have learned our lesson and moved on. At least maybe. But if Cheney is going to go on national television and endorse torture, I feel like he has tied the hands of the country. How can we change our image, both to the rest of the world and to our own citizens, if we allow a sitting vice president to confess to supporting a policy of torture and do nothing about it?”
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According to the Chicago Tribune, Peoria, Illinois congressman Ray LaHood, who is a moderate Republican with an excellent rep on Capitol Hill, has been asked to take a cabinet position in the Obama administration.
“LaHood, a long-time staff aide to the affable then-House Minority Leader Bob Michel (R-Ill.) who took his boss's seat when Michel retired, was elected along with a tide of Republicans led by Newt Gingrich. But he did not follow the same highly partisan path that characterized the class elected with him.
Among those LaHood maintained a friendly relationship with over the years is White House chief of staff- designate Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), whose aggressive style infuriated many Republicans but whom LaHood praised publicly for competence and pragmatism.”
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“No one in New York politics knows more about the state than Liz Moynihan. No New Yorker knows more about how to do the job of senator than Liz does, especially after living through the day-to-day duties of Pat Moynihan's years as chairman of two committees including Finance, the senate's most important committee. And no one else can tell us what Pat Moynihan would think about who should be the next person to take his old seat in the Senate. Liz Moynihan has just released this statement about Caroline Kennedy:
“Caroline is a very intelligent, serious person with a long interest in government and the Constitution. As a US Senator she could be a great help to New York. I'm sure Pat would be thrilled to see her in that seat.””__________________________
“In one of the craziest elections in American history, he overcame a lack of experience, a funny name, two candidates who are political institutions and the racial divide to become the 44th President of the United States.”
“Mr. Vilsack, who has spent the fall semester as a political fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, works as a lawyer in Des Moines. Four years ago, he was among those who were considered to be a running mate for Senator John Kerry. He was not on the short list of candidates to join Mr. Obama’s ticket this year, but agreed to join the Obama-Biden cabinet as Agriculture Secretary.
At a press conference here on Wednesday, Mr. Obama is set to name Senator Ken Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, as his Interior secretary and Mr. Vilsack to lead the Department of Agriculture.”
Image credits: Wikimedia Commons
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In an outreach heretofore unseen from an incoming president, Obama is reaching out to GOP members of the House and Senate with personal phone calls.
““It appears to me that he has made a very genuine and aggressive attempt to reach out,” said Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.), ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, who received what he described as “a very nice courtesy call” from Obama.
“He said he wanted to work with me and I said that I wanted to be as constructive as possible,” said Gregg, describing the conversation. “I very much appreciate it. I think there’s not any question it makes a difference. It sets the right tone and it’s the way to get things done.”
Rep. Pete King (N.Y.), the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, said that Obama’s earliest calls to Republicans with power over economic and security issues shed light on his priorities for the 111th Congress.
“It shows that he’s focusing on security and the economy,” said King. “I welcome the outreach.””
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In the IPD daily summary yesterday, we told you that former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, had ripped in to RNC chairman, Mike Duncan, for his blatant attempts to tie Obama to the disgraced governor. Today, more Republican voices have joined with Gingrich in their condemnation of the RNC tactic. A wise, self-preservational move if you look at the poll numbers detailed in an article from the Washington Post.
“The sentiments expressed publicly by Gingrich and Ruffini are echoed privately by a number of Republican strategists who view the attempts to link Blagojevich and Obama as nothing more than a fool's errand given the lack of evidence that the public sees any real connection between the two men.”
“Calling the video a "destructive distraction," Gingrich added: "This ad is a terrible signal to be sending about both the goals of the Republican Party in the midst of the nation's troubled economic times and about whether we have actually learned anything from the defeats of 2006 and 2008."
His chorus of dissent was joined later in the day by Patrick Ruffini, a prominent online voice for Republicans. (Ruffini was the e-campaign director for the RNC during the 2006 election cycle and did the same for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign.)
In a post on post on The Next Right (a new-ish online gathering place for conservatives), Ruffini wrote:
"It's fair to say that any residual connections Obama may have with Gov. Blagojevich as a result of being an Illinois Senator are not the strongest part of our argument. I can understand the desire to go at Obama. But with Obama at 76% approval for the transition, our hits against him have to be clean hits, or they will blow up in our face."
The sentiments expressed publicly by Gingrich and Ruffini are echoed privately by a number of Republican strategists who view the attempts to link Blagojevich and Obama as nothing more than a fool's errand given the lack of evidence that the public sees any real connection between the two men.
As we wrote earlier this week, the strategy adopted by the RNC poses a real risk to the party because of Obama's strength and Republicans' weakness in the eyes of voters.
A new Washington Post/ABC News poll more than three in four voters approve of the way Obama has handled the transition and a majority (51 percent) of of independents said he had done enough to explain any conversations his aides had with Blagojevich.
Compare those solid numbers to a new national poll from Gallup that shows just one in four adults approving of the way Republicans in Congress are doing their job while 69 percent disapprove. (In fairness, congressional Democrats' numbers weren't much better: 37 approve/55 disapprove.)
So, what should Republicans do -- given that they are out of power at the executive and legislative level?
Gingrich boils it down to a single sentence: "Republicans should be eager to work with [Obama] when he is right, and, when he is wrong, offer a better solution, instead of just opposing him."
Ruffini is more expansive -- offering three solutions, the savviest of which is to push the idea that Democrats are seeking to rob voters of a say in Illinois by refusing to pass legislation that would create a special election to fill Obama's Senate seat.
The RNC may be listening. Duncan released a statement Tuesday evening on the need for a special election. "We agree with President-elect Barack Obama that his Senate seat belongs to the people of Illinois," said Duncan. "The only way the people's voice will be heard and Illinois can end the taint of the Blagojevich scandal is to have a special election."”
►Is Impeachment now out of the question? Bush admin rids us of a reg from the Reagan years.
From Think Progress:
“Interior Dept. overturns regulation, clearing the way for concealed, loaded firearms into national parks”
“Today, the Department of Interior overturned a Reagan-era regulation, permitting loaded firearms at 388 of 391 national park sites. The decision allows guns in parks in “any states with concealed carry laws, not just those that allow guns in their state parks as originally proposed.” While the Department cited safety concerns as a factor, the National Park Conservation Association notes.”
Continue reading "Daily Political News Round-Up - Friday, December 5, 2008" »
In a November 30th op-ed piece published on the Washington Post, Matthew Alexander [writing under a pseudonym for security reasons] discusses the interrogation techniques used by those who refused to use torture.
Techniques which led to the capture of “Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the mastermind of the campaign of suicide bombings that had helped plunge Iraq into civil war.” A fascinating and enlightening look at the other American side, the side that did not use torture to achieve goals.
“I learned in Iraq that the No. 1 reason foreign fighters flocked there to fight were the abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Our policy of torture was directly and swiftly recruiting fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq. The large majority of suicide bombings in Iraq are still carried out by these foreigners. They are also involved in most of the attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. It's no exaggeration to say that at least half of our losses and casualties in that country have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our program of detainee abuse. The number of U.S. soldiers who have died because of our torture policy will never be definitively known, but it is fair to say that it is close to the number of lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. How anyone can say that torture keeps Americans safe is beyond me -- unless you don't count American soldiers as Americans.”
Sunday, November 30, 2008 ►Top Indian security official resigns as death toll reaches 183, and questions are asked regarding India's preparedness for this type of attack. “As an investigation moved forward, there were questions about whether Indian authorities could have anticipated the attack and had better security in place, especially after a 2007 report to Parliament that the country’s shores were inadequately protected from infiltration by sea — which is how the attackers sneaked into Mumbai. ................................................................................................................ Saturday, November 29, 2008
Home Minister Shivraj Patil, responsible for public safety and internal security as one of the most senior members of the government, resigned on Sunday to take responsibility for the failure of the country’s intelligence services and military to prevent the attacks in Mumbai.” NYT
Continue reading "The Siege in Mumbai Ends - IPD Weekend Update Nov. 29-30, 2008" »
An excellent op-ed piece by Andrew Sullivan of The Daily Dish, Sullivan refuses to go with the popular practice of using euphemisms to describe what exactly was authorized by the American government concerning the use of torture, and forces the reader to look at the reality.
“This is the defining line of torture: not some arbitrary comic book technique, but a psychological and physical fact: pushing another human being to the point where choice becomes unavailable to him or her. You can do this in any number of ways; it can take three seconds of electrocution or it can take two months of sleep deprivation, hypothermia and darkness. But the line it eventually crosses is the same line.
(Photo: a detainee killed by US forces in Abu Ghraib prison, after being beaten and forced into a position with his arms bent back over and behind his head, with a hood restricting his breathing. All the techniques used against him were authorized by president George W. Bush.)” [.....]
RELATED - RECENT POST
>Full Transcript and Video of President-elect Obama's Weekly Video Address to the Nation, November 22, 2008
>Video of President-elect Obama's Weekly Address to the Nation as He Promises to Take Action on the Economy Immediately Upon Taking Office
>Jon Stewart and the Somali Pirates
>Sarah Palin and the Turkeys
>Daily Political News Round-Up - Friday, November 21, 2008
>The Obama Administration: a Listing of the Obama Cabinet, White House Staff, and Cabinet - Level Positions
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