When Will This White House Learn You Cannot Negotiate With Terrorists?

"When Will This White House Learn...": Baratunde Thurston (aka Jack Turner of jackandjillpolitics.com) argues that those that have used fear as a political weapon domestically in order to derail Obama's not-even-radical agenda are no different than the people we are ostensibly fighting over seas.

When a major Republican figure in the health care negotiations spreads the death panel lie (Grassley), you see him for what he is, realize you’re dealing with a group of psychopaths, and reset the objectives. “Oh, so that’s how it’s gonna be? Cool. Good to know what we’re dealing with. Thanks for your time. We won’t be needing your services anymore. We’re taking our ball and playing somewhere else.” Negotiations require trust and trust assumes that all parties are not completely batshit crazy.

"Uncivil Discourse"

"Uncivil Discourse": Bill Moyers speaks truth to power. I wish all old guys were this cool!

Bill Maher asked me on his show last week if America is still a great nation. I should have said it's the greatest show on earth. Forget what you learned in civics about the Founding Fathers — we're the children of Barnum and Bailey, our founding con men. Their freak show was the forerunner of today's talk radio.

Enjoy!

Working Without Laws

Working Without Laws: Annette Bernhardt, Ruth Milkman, and Nik Theodore expose the brutality that occurs everyday in the American workforce. This is not just the case of a couple of bad eggs...it is what I spend every day fighting as an organizer-in-training for Service Employees International Union (SEIU). I'm sure some day I will write some longer diatribe explaining my views. For now, this article will have do.

Real Tyranny

Real Tyranny: One of my least favorite abuses of power is the government's use of material witness warrants as all-purpose excuses for detaining people when they have no actual evidence of any wrongdoing.' So I'm very pleased to hear that the 9th Circuit Court has not only ruled that such behavior is reprehensible and obviously unconstitutional, but that former Attorney General John Ashcroft can be held personally responsible for it:

Members of the panel, all appointees of Republican presidents, characterized Ashcroft's detention policy as 'repugnant to the Constitution, and a painful reminder of some of the most ignominious chapters of our national history.'

....[Abdullah] Kidd, a former University of Idaho running back...was handcuffed, strip-searched and shuttled among interrogations in Virginia, Oklahoma and Idaho before being released 16 days later and ordered to surrender his passport and live with his wife and in-laws in Nevada.' The arrest led to Kidd being denied a security clearance and losing his job with a government contractor.

....Georgetown Law professor David Cole said that Ashcroft adopted an aggressive 'preventive paradigm' after Sept. 11 designed 'to incapacitate people who government officials thought suspicious but lacked evidence of any wrongdoing. They were locked up and then investigated, rather than the other way around.' Virtually all of the targets had nothing to do with terrorism, Cole said.

....The judges, alluding to the George W. Bush administration, said that although 'some confidently assert that the government has the power to arrest and detain' suspects without evidence of wrongdoing, the panel considered such preemptive detentions 'an engine of political tyranny.'

Yep, boys and girls, that's what the seeds of real political tyranny look like.' Somebody please tell Glenn Beck and the rest of the fever swamp crowd.

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(Via MoJo Blogs and Articles.)

Ashcroft Can Be Sued In Detention Case, Court Says

Ashcroft Can Be Sued In Detention Case, Court Says: "

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the former attorney general can be held liable for people who were wrongfully detained as material witnesses as part of the Bush administration's post-Sept. 11, 2001, detention policies. Abdullah al-Kidd says his civil rights were violated when he was detained as a material witness for two weeks in 2003.

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(Via Top Stories.)

White House Does 180 on Visitor Records!

White House Does 180 on Visitor Records: Remember those Secret Service logs of White House visits by health care and coal industry execs the Obama adminstration was refusing to make public? Or the records of visits by lobbyist Stephen Payne, who was caught on tape peddling access to senior US officials in exchange for a sizable donation to the George W. Bush presidential library, that the Bush administration fought to keep secret? Details of those visits will soon be made public by the Obama White House, which up until now had been following its predecessor's policy of blocking access to the Secret Service logs. But not just that. Going forward, the adminstration is planning to implement an historic transparency policy, releasing the names of most White House visitors, along with other information, on an ongoing base.

This policy shift comes as the Obama administration moved to settle four cases related to public access to White House visitor logs filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. This morning's release from CREW:

CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan praised the White House, stating, ‘The Obama administration has proven its pledge to usher in a new era of government transparency was more than just a campaign promise.' The Bush administration fought tooth and nail to keep secret the identities of those who visited the White House.' In contrast, the Obama administration - by putting visitor records on the White House web site - will have the most open White House in history.' Because visitor records will now be available online, CREW dismissed its lawsuits.’' Sloan continued, ‘Providing public access to visitor records is an important step in restoring transparency and accountability to our government.' CREW is proud to have been part of this historic decision.’

Yesterday’s agreement stems from lawsuits CREW filed after the Bush and later the Obama administration refused to provide White House visitor records in response to CREW’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.' Visitor records are created by the Secret Service as part of its statutory responsibility to protect the president, vice president, their residences, and the White House generally.

In lawsuits for records of visits by Christian conservative leaders and lobbyist Stephen Payne, the Bush administration argued the records were presidential records, not agency records of the Secret Service, and therefore exempt from the FOIA’s mandatory disclosure requirements.' U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth disagreed, ruling twice that the records are subject to the FOIA and not within any of the claimed exemptions.' The government appealed those decisions to the District of Columbia Circuit Court.

After President Obama took office, CREW sought records of visits to the White House by health care and coal executives to determine the degree of their influence on health care and energy legislative proposals.' The government initially refused to turn over these records, but now has agreed to produce them, as well as the Bush era records, as part of the settlement.' In turn, CREW has agreed to dismiss all the pending litigation.

Here's what Obama had to say about his decision to allow access to the visitor logs, in a statement emailed to reporters this morning:

'We will achieve our goal of making this administration the most open and transparent administration in history not only by opening the doors of the White House to more Americans, but by shining a light on the business conducted inside.' Americans have a right to know whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process.'

There will be some exceptions to the administration's new policy, which goes into effect September 15. According to the White House:

Aside from a small group of appointments that cannot be disclosed because of national security imperatives or their necessarily confidential nature (such as a visit by a possible Supreme Court nominee), the record of every visitor who comes to the White House for an appointment, a tour, or to conduct business will be released.'

Any way you look at it, a pretty momentous win for transparency advocates.'

(Via MoJo Blogs and Articles.)

Another Gem from Glenn

Obama continues to squash lawsuits with claims of state secrets:

From the article:

"What was abusive and dangerous about the Bush administration's version of the States Secret privilege -- just as the Obama/Biden campaign pointed out -- was that it was used not (as originally intended) to argue that specific pieces of evidence or documents were secret and therefore shouldn't be allowed in a court case, but instead, to compel dismissal of entire lawsuits in advance based on the claim that any judicial adjudication of even the most illegal secret government programs would harm national security. That is the theory that caused the bulk of the controversy when used by the Bush DOJ -- because it shields entire government programs from any judicial scrutiny -- and it is that exact version of the privilege that the Obama DOJ yesterday expressly advocated (and, by implication, sought to preserve for all Presidents, including Obama)."