U.S. attorney, IRS, FBI investigating Florida GOP, including Marco Rubio

By GottaLaff

Mmm, I love the smell of corruption in the morning.

Back in March, I posted about Marco Rubio's Code Red status. Let's reminisce:

Code Red:

Marco Rubio was barely solvent as a young lawmaker climbing his way to the top post in the Florida House, but special interest donations and political perks allowed him to spend big money with little scrutiny.

About $600,000 in contributions was stowed in two inconspicuous political committees controlled by Rubio, now the Republican front-runner for the U.S. Senate, and his wife.

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald did a blow-by-blow analysis of Rubio's expenses and wow. A must-read. Here's a teaser:

• Rubio failed to disclose $34,000 in expenses — including $7,000 he paid himself — for one of the committees in 2003 and 2004, as required by state law.

• One committee paid relatives nearly $14,000 for what was incorrectly described to the IRS as "courier fees" and listed a nonexistent address for one of them. Another committee paid $5,700 to his wife, who was listed as the treasurer, much of it for "gas and meals."

• He billed more than $51,000 in unidentified "travel expenses'' to three different credit cards — nearly one-quarter of the committee's entire haul.

Now it seems it's Code Scarlet. The U.S. Attorney's office, the FBI, and the IRS are involved:

Federal law enforcement agencies have launched a criminal investigation into the use of American Express cards issued by the Republican Party of Florida to elected officials and staff, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Tallahassee, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service are all involved in the inquiry, which grew out of the state investigation into former House Speaker Ray Sansom.

Oh, but it gets more interesting. Let's play a game. I shout, "Marco!", you answer, "Rubio!" every time you smell a scandal. Ready? Marco!

The IRS opened the so-called "primary'' investigation into Rubio, the leading Republican candidate for Florida's open U.S. Senate seat, and the two former state GOP officials to see if there's enough evidence to support a full-fledged criminal inquiry, according to a source familiar with the IRS examination.

Rubio!

One more time... Marco!

At this stage of the IRS investigation, agents are looking at federal tax records, state financial disclosure forms and other documents to see whether Rubio, Greer and Johnson may have personally benefited from using their GOP American Express cards without reporting or paying taxes on additional income.

Rubio!

Between Crist and Rubio, Florida's getting all kinds of free publicity.

H/t: Markos

VIDEO: President Obama Orders Review of Mine Safety

By GottaLaff

While I work on an exclusive story, this should tide you over:

The President reports that in the wake of the West Virginia mining tragedy, he has ordered an investigation into the incident as well as a comprehensive review of mine safety regulations and inspections.

Rubio's "special interest donations & political perks allowed him to spend big money with little scrutiny"

By GottaLaff

Why what have we here? Marco! Polo! Keep waving that flag!

Ahem, calling all Marco Rubio opponents: Code Red:

Marco Rubio was barely solvent as a young lawmaker climbing his way to the top post in the Florida House, but special interest donations and political perks allowed him to spend big money with little scrutiny.

About $600,000 in contributions was stowed in two inconspicuous political committees controlled by Rubio, now the Republican front-runner for the U.S. Senate, and his wife.

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald did a blow-by-blow analysis of Rubio's expenses and wow. A must-read. Here's a teaser:

• Rubio failed to disclose $34,000 in expenses — including $7,000 he paid himself — for one of the committees in 2003 and 2004, as required by state law.

• One committee paid relatives nearly $14,000 for what was incorrectly described to the IRS as "courier fees" and listed a nonexistent address for one of them. Another committee paid $5,700 to his wife, who was listed as the treasurer, much of it for "gas and meals."

• He billed more than $51,000 in unidentified "travel expenses'' to three different credit cards — nearly one-quarter of the committee's entire haul.

Ouch, this is painful. But in a good way.

Rubio's high-roller political spending belies his image as an outsider riding a wave of antiestablishment fervor and gunning to knock off Gov. Charlie Crist for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination. A Times/Herald review of other legislators' committees shows they typically contributed far more to other candidates and reported vastly fewer credit card payments.

This can't end well, I just know it.

Campaign adviser Todd Harris:

"Marco put his on a credit card and the other guys put theirs on a debit card. So sue us."

Don't tempt us.

Um, not so sure he can. Not any more.

House votes to open ethics probe of Dem leaders on Massa

By GottaLaff

Yesterday, case closed. Today, not so much:

From the Department of Here We Go Again:

The House voted Thursday to open an ethics investigation into what and when House Democratic leaders knew of allegations of sexual harassment against former Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.).

The House overwhelmingly backed a privileged resolution offered by GOP Leader John Boehner (Ohio) that will have the Ethics Committee look into what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), and other Democratic leaders and staffers knew about allegations of sexual harassment against Massa, and when they became aware of the situation.

494-2, and the two were Republicans.

What did they know and when did they know it? Here goes another 24/7 scandal cycle...

Xe-ing the light: Carl Levin asks for DoJ investigation into Blackwater contract

By GottaLaff

Carl Levin is Xe-ing the light:

The Senate’s top Democrat on military matters is pressing the Department of Justice to investigate whether the company formerly known as Blackwater and Raytheon Co. made false or misleading statements when bidding for an Army contract in Afghanistan.

A Senate Armed Services Committee investigation, spurred by chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), recently found that Xe Services’ (formerly Blackwater) contractors had no regard for policies and rules in Afghanistan. The panel found multiple irresponsible acts by the contractors and troubling gaps in government oversight.

The State Department needs to cut them off completely. They are currently contracted to be in Afghanistan.

Then DoJ has to nail Blackwater to the wall. Finally.

All the details are here.

Watchdog Wants Investigation of Senate ‘Holds’

By GottaLaff

Again, Roll Call is subscription only, so this is all we have:

A government watchdog group asked the Senate Ethics Committee on Wednesday to investigate the ongoing use of secret legislative “holds,” asserting lawmakers are bucking ethics reform law banning the practice.

Now on to stories that give us more than one sentence.

Subpoenas issued in probe of ex-Interior secretary Gale Norton

By GottaLaff

A grand jury is investigating whether former Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton violated federal laws before going to work for Shell.
(Haraz N. Ghanbari / Associated Press / March 20, 2006)

BushCo just can't seem to avoid the wrong kind of spotlight. Legal problems chase them the way Mark Sanford chases Argentinian lovers:

A federal grand jury has subpoenaed records from Royal Dutch Shell PLC as part of a Justice Department investigation into corruption allegations against former Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton, according to sources close to the investigation.

The subpoenas and the inclusion of a grand jury are signs of escalation in the investigation, which focuses on whether Norton violated a federal law barring government officials from overseeing any process that could financially benefit a company that the official is negotiating with for future employment.

Investigators are also examining whether Norton broke a broader federal law that bars government officials from denying "honest services" -- violating the public trust by, for example, steering government business to favored firms or friends.

Cronyism? A Bushie? Never! Never, I say!

Okay, sometimes.

Okay, often.

Prosecutors are investigating whether Norton was discussing future employment with Shell before she stepped down as Interior secretary in March 2006, when she was in charge of a process that resulted in Shell winning three lucrative leases to research and develop oil shale projects on federal land in Colorado.

Big Oil's involved, too! Who could ask for more?

Nine months after resigning, Norton accepted a job in a Shell division that includes its oil shale efforts.

I may not be a pro, but my sharp, insightful, white hot instincts tell me she shouldn't have done that.

Shell received three of the six leases the Interior Department issued as part of a Bush administration effort to unlock the Mountain West's vast resources of oil shale -- rocks that release liquid petroleum when heated to extreme temperatures -- for commercial development.

Combined, those leases could bring Shell hundreds of billions of dollars' profit at today's oil prices, according to analyses by Shell and a Rand Corp. expert.

Now, now, let's not be hasty. I'm sure it's all some kind of innocent misunderstanding... just as the non-existent WMD in Iraq were. Yeah, that's it.

The VIDEO- Breaking Investigation: Gun Show Undercover

By GottaLaff

Earlier I posted about a sting operation that caught illegal gun sales in progress. Here is the video I promised:

Breaking Investigation: Gun Show Undercover

By GottaLaff

(click on image to enlarge)

UPDATE: Apparently, I wasn't clear. I left this in comments, but I'll repeat it here. We got this info before anyone else did, in an e-mail, along with the photos (more than I posted here), plus the entire report in pdf format. I was not allowed to post until after Bloomberg did.

It's nice to have reliable anonymous sources. Very few people have this information. Enjoy:

Bloomberg investigated 7 gun shows in three states and found people pretending to be collectors to avoid federal law, who were selling hundreds of guns, selling to people they didn't believe could pass a background check (the investigators openly admitted they couldn't)...

This will be the left's ACORN video, it's that good.

Here is a link to Bloomberg's post on HuffPo. And here is a related post. Hidden camera videos will be released later today.

UPDATE: Here is the video.

In the meantime:

California investigates HMO claims-rejection rates

By GottaLaff

The idea of a public option is such a pain. Fighting that Rushpublic minority is way too hard. Besides, we wouldn't want to make Big Insurance compete with unsuccessful Big Scary Government programs like Medicare. It's so much more preferable to continue this kind of thing:

California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown is joining state regulators in scrutinizing how HMOs review and pay insurance claims submitted by doctors, hospitals and other medical providers.

His announcement came Thursday as regulators said they had stepped up scrutiny of the payment practices of the state's seven largest health plans in response to complaints from physicians and hospitals.

The increased attention also comes on the heels of a first-of-its-kind report issued this week that said the California health insurers reject 1 in 5 medical claims.

Six of the state's largest insurers rejected 45.7 million claims for medical care, or 22% of all claims, from 2002 to June 30, 2009, according to the California Nurses Assn.'s analysis of data submitted to regulators by the companies.

Nope, wouldn't want to disturb that trend. That would be unAmerican.

The rejection rates ranged from a high of 39.6% for PacifiCare to 6.5% for Aetna for the first half of 2009. Cigna denied 33%, and Health Net 30%.

Anthem Blue Cross, the state's largest for-profit health plan, and Kaiser, the state's largest nonprofit plan, each rejected 28% of claims.

Blue Shield, a nonprofit with 3.4 million California members, is the only large health plan that does not report claims-denial figures in its annual report to the state Department of Managed Health Care.\

Yep, TeaDeathers, we have the best system in the whole wide world. How could we have ever doubted you?

Astroturf Firm Bonner Institutes New No-Forgery Policy

By GottaLaff

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Remember Bonner and Associates? Rachel Maddow has done a great job of exposing their little antics. I guess they heard her... and Congress:

Bonner & Associates, the DC 'strategic grassroots' firm facing a Congressional investigation for sending forged letters opposing the climate bill to members of Congress, is instituting a new No Forgeries ethics program to get out in front of the emerging scandal and ensure its astroturf campaigns are not tainted in the future.

"This is a very rare occurrence," says a Bonner spokesman who asked that his name be withheld as a condition of talking to TPMmuckraker. "In response to it, as of August 11, the company has introduced a five-point check against this sort of thing. And every employee at Bonner has signed it and dated it."

Rule number one: no forged letters.

Wowee, good for them. It's not every day we get a check list that assures us of no forgeries.

Funny...Most firms wouldn't feel the need to so much as consider including something like that... Oh, but leave it to Bonner, they don't miss a trick. Always thinking of The People.

With reassurance like that, who needs investigations?

More details over at TPM, and they're important to read, but let me leave you with their last sentence. It's swell!

In other words: Bonner clients can be sure of ethical, best practices astroturf campaigns from here on out.

Mark Sanford Faces Ethics Investigation

By GottaLaff

I have a funny feeling that long after Argentina Sanford and Death Panel Barbie are retired for good, they'll still provide us with stories galore. And looky here, they have something in common! Ethics investigations:

Although South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) wants to move on, the Columbia State reports he may still have some explaining to do.

The state attorney general today asked the state Ethics Commission to investigate allegations that Sanford "misused state planes and other potential violations of state ethics laws."

"Sanford's state expenses have come under scrutiny since he vanished for six days in June and announced, upon his return, that he was having an extramarital affair with an Argentine woman."

Two very bizarre, hypocritical individuals.

Torture Ministers must explain destruction of CIA 'torture flight' papers

By GottaLaff

Remember when Boy Georgie said he and Tony Blair were bffs? Partners? Soul mates? Fellow Colgate users? Remember the U.S. and Britain were paired up the way the Enquirer paired up Sarah the Quitter and the First Dude's business partner?

This is what happens when you're inextricably linked to a partner... in crime-- investigations begin to overlap:

Ministers must explain why crucial documents relating to CIA "torture flights" that stopped on sovereign British territory were destroyed, a panel of MPs has said.

A damning appraisal by the influential foreign affairs select committee on Britain's role in the rendition of terror suspects and alleged complicity of torture condemns the government's lack of transparency on vital areas of concern.

In particular, the MPs, in a report released today, call for an explanation for the missing papers, which might explain the role of Diego Garcia, the British overseas territory, in the US's "extraordinary rendition" programme. [...]

It also criticises the government's inability to offer assurances that ships anchored outside Diego Garcia's waters were not involved in the rendition programme. [...]

Amnesty International said the MPs' verdict underlined the need for a full, independent inquiry into the UK's involvement in "war on terror" and human rights abuses.

The committee also voiced disquiet over claims that British intelligence officers were complicit in the torture of detainees held overseas. [...]

Details of the investigations the government has carried out into any of the claims should be made public, according to MPs. Mike Gapes, chairman of the committee, said it was time ministers also disclosed the guidance given at the time to intelligence officers interviewing suspects.

He said details of people captured by UK forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and placed in US custody should be divulged as part of a drive to improve transparency.

*******************************************

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

U.S. District Judge Orders Release of Kuwaiti Detainee from Gitmo

By GottaLaff

(click on image to enlarge)

I got some great news via an e-mail from Lt. Col. Barry Wingard today. First, he said the following:

Looks like DOJ has lost its 27 of 32 cases it has reviewed under "any evidence" to justify detention standard, never mind a specific crime or "beyond a reasonable doubt.

Yeah, about that...

And then the very, very good news about one of the remaining Gitmo detainees (not Fayiz al-Kandari):

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 29, 2009

U.S. District Judge Orders Release of Kuwaiti Detainee from Guantanamo

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly rules there is insufficient evidence to continue the detention of Kuwaiti citizen Khaled Al-Mutairi

WASHINGTON, DC – A federal judge today ordered the release of Kuwaiti citizen Khaled Al-Mutairi from the Guantanamo Bay prison, where he has been held for nearly eight years without any charges being filed against him. The U.S. government had its chance under the rule of law to demonstrate the basis for Al-Mutairi’s detention during his habeas corpus hearing, but a judge ruled that the government lacks sufficient evidence to continue his detention. Al-Mutairi was taken into U.S. custody in Pakistan in 2001.

“The Government is directed to take all necessary and appropriate diplomatic steps to facilitate the release of Petitioner Al Mutairi forthwith,” U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her order.

“Since his imprisonment, all that Khaled Al-Mutairi and his family have asked for is a fair hearing before an independent, impartial court to test the evidence against him. After more than seven long years of imprisonment, justice has finally been served for Khaled,” said David Cynamon, lead attorney for the Kuwaiti detainees and a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. “We now want the U.S. Government to follow the court order and promptly return Khaled to Kuwait. That is what the rule of law is all about.”

“While he will never regain the years he has lost, we look forward to his return to his family and his country with open arms,” said Khalid Al-Odah, head of the Kuwaiti Family Committee and father of Guantanamo detainee Fawzi Al-Odah. “But we cannot forget Kuwait’s three remaining sons who await their fair hearings that the U.S. Supreme Court has promised.”

Al-Mutairi was taken into custody in Pakistan in 2001 after he traveled to Afghanistan to build a mosque and to provide funds for schools and orphans. His family has long been actively engaged in charitable works.

“We must remember that Khaled Al-Mutairi is just one of the four Kuwaitis remaining in Guantanamo. Our work is not done until all of these men receive the fair hearings to which the Supreme Court held they are entitled more than a year ago,” Cynamon added.

There were originally 12 Kuwaitis in Guantanamo Bay. In 2005 and 2006, the United States returned eight of them to Kuwait, where that country’s courts charged, tried and cleared them of wrongdoing.

Three additional Kuwaitis remain in Guantanamo, where they, like Khaled al Mutairi, have been imprisoned for nearly eight years. The court has scheduled habeas corpus hearings for Fawzi Al-Odah and Fouad Al Rabiah to take place in August. Fayiz al-Kandari’s habeas corpus hearing is scheduled for September 2009.

A copy of Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s order is attached to this release. An unclassified version of Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s opinion is expected to be available within a few days.

About the Kuwaiti Family Committee:

The Kuwaiti Family Committee’s mission is to seek justice for the remaining Kuwaiti detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The organization is led by Khalid Al-Odah, the father of Guantanamo detainee Fawzi Al-Odah, and includes in its membership approximately 100 relatives of the prisoners. They are only asking for due process of law for their fathers, brothers, and sons, including speedy proceedings either to release them or to charge and try them in a fair process.

Kahled Al-Mutairi's story is so similar to Fayiz's, isn't it? An innocent man doing charity work gets swept up, imprisoned for 8 years, and most likely abused and/or tortured (again, like Fayiz) for absolutely no good reason.

His family suffered, and continues to suffer, for absolutely no good reason. Lives have been damaged, or ruined completely, for absolutely no good reason.

This continues today.

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

Torture Watch: Yoo too

By GottaLaff

Sully makes this so easy to understand:

Holder should start with Yoo and work his way up. My worry is that if he doesn't, his investigation of the extremes legitimizes the non-extreme torture and abuse; and integrates the precedent into American government and way of life. Torture, following Bush and Cheney's embraceof it as a moral necessity, has gained great new life around the world; and I'm sure, in the netherworld of America's prison system, Cheney methods are now quite popular.

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

H/t: Cody

Legal experts raise questions about Rove testimony deal

By GottaLaff

Controversy surrounding KKKarl Rove? No way! Whoever could imagine such a thing?

A deal brokered by the Obama White House to obtain Karl Rove’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee contains a number of unusual provisions, prominent legal scholars say.

Rove testified before the Judiciary Committee on July 7 concerning his alleged involvement in the December 2006 firings of seven US Attorneys and the prosecution of Don Siegelman. The Committee is being extremely tight-mouthed about the result, and Rove himself has also declined to comment.

The secrecy is in line with the agreement (pdf) worked out last March to secure testimony from Rove and from former White House Counsel Harriet Miers, which guaranteed that no information would be released until the completion of all interviews. However, under the terms of that agreement it appears likely that certain crucial facts, especially about the US Attorney firings, may never come out.

Legal experts consulted for this article are also concerned about the role played by current White House Council Greg Craig, who negotiated the arrangement made by Miers and Rove with the House Judiciary Committee.

Need wall. Must find wall. Head needs to bang into wall.

Perhaps the most mysterious clause in the agreement is a reference to four pages of material which Congress will not be allowed to see but will only have described to them: “With the exception of 4 pages of particularly sensitive privileged material (which will be described for Committee staff by a representative of the former President), Committee staff (majority and minority) will be allowed to review the documents for the period December 2004 through March 8, 2007.”

The House Judiciary Committee refused to comment or elaborate on this question.

However, Scott Horton, a Columbia Law School professor and contributor to Harper’s Magazine, believes the “4 pages” may relate to briefings of the former president on either the US Attorney firings or the Siegelman prosecution. [...]

If those four pages are being kept secret under the presidential communications privilege, it could imply that Rove may have discussed one of the two scandals with President Bush at the time of its occurrence.

This is a lengthy piece. Go here to read the whole thing.

Ah! Here's a wall now!

And here's one of my old Don Siegelman/Rove posts for background.

Yet another Republican apology, this time from John Ensign

By GottaLaff

(click on image to enlarge)

Just keep talking, John, because sometimes a letter just isn't enough. And don't worry, your family--er, The Family-- will be there for you. C Street's loyal that way.

By the way, can I borrow $96,000? I'm a little short, and I need decent health care:

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) issued a statement to the local media attempting to explain himself after facing criticism for his silence surrounding a sex scandal that has been plaguing him for weeks. [...]

"I am very sorry this issue has caused a great deal of embarrassment and pain for my family, the Hamptons, and many of my supporters," Ensign said in the prepared statement, which The Las Vegas Sun posted online late Friday.

Ensign said that potential investigations by the Federal Election Commission and Senate Ethics Committee make public comment on his extramarital affair inadvisable.

Psst! John! Extramarital affairs are inadvisable, too. But did that stop you? Nooooo.

“I know there are questions regarding my affair with Cindy Hampton that people want to know the answers to,” the statement says. “It was reported, however, that CREW was planning to file complaints with the Senate Ethics Committee and the Federal Election Commission, so I have been advised not to publicly comment further at this time.”

CREW, short for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan government watchdog group, has called for ethics, election commission, and federal criminal investigations of Ensign’s actions in relation to the affair with Hampton last year.

“If any inquiries are undertaken, then I am confident they will be resolved in my favor and those questions will be answered,” Ensign said.

You're that confident, huh? What, did you pay CREW off, too, or just write them a carefully crafted letter with a little help from the C Street Frat Boys?

Russ Feingold Challenges Dennis Blair on Cheney/CIA investigation

By GottaLaff

Via DKos:

After the House Intelligence Committee announced that they would investigate:

... whether the CIA broke the law by not informing Congress promptly about a secret program to deploy teams of killers to target al-Qaida leaders.

...then this Uh-Oh Moment happened: Obama Official Says Secret CIA Program Was Legal, Breaks With Dems

That official was Dennis Blair. Then I updated...

Rebuke time, and you can count on more coming:

Rep Jan Schakowsky, a key House intel committee member and a leading critic of the program, sent me a statement rapping Blair, Obama’s director of national intelligence.

“The issue of lying, misleading, or withholding information from the Congress is a very serious issue and deserves the full attention of the House Intelligence Committee,” she said.

Looks like I wasn't too far off:

And today, Sargent reports that Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) also took note and has challenged Blair to put up or shut up, writing:

According to a story on Thursday in the Washington Post, you stated that the failure to notify the congressional intelligence committees about a program recently cancelled by CIA Director Leon Panetta did not violate the law. I disagree and believe that the program in question fit squarely within the notification requirements of the National Security Act. I therefore request that you provide me with your analysis, and any analysis by the DNI General Counsel, supporting your conclusion.

As sternly worded letters^tm go, this one cuts right to the chase, and as Sargent points out, it:

... creates an awkward choice for the White House. It can either walk back Blair’s comments, or openly defend the program as legal, putting the White House at odds with House Dems who are probing the program for possible lawbreaking.

To be continued...

Tortuous Road to the Truth: Scrubbed?

By GottaLaff

Very strange. Doyle McManus had a column in today's L.A. Times Op-Ed section called "Tortuous Road to the Truth", and it is not available online. They replaced it with another one. When I Google it, it leads me to this. Was it scrubbed, or is this just a glitch? Tortuous road to the truth, indeed.

I therefore cannot link to it, and I'm forced to type out the excerpts. There was so much to the piece, but here's the gist. It's a good thing I still subscribe to an actual newspaper [sic]:

Whenever he's asked about the scandals of America's war on terror-- the torture, the wrongful detentions, the legal corners cut-- President Obama has responded with some version of this statement: "We have to focus on getting things right in the future as opposed to looking at what we got wrong in the past."

But that approach can't work. The unanswered questions are too many, the lawsuits too numerous, the fundamental questions of accountability too nagging. We need a public reckoning-- and, much as they might like to avoid the distraction, Obama and his people must know it.

McManus goes on to explain what's been going on over the past view months, vis a vis all the torture reports, controversies, and pending investigations. You can read about those if you follow my links at the end of this post. I've documented most, if not all, of them. Continuing:

Obama may pefer to soar above painful questions about what his predecessor's CIA officers did, but he is unlikely to have that luxury, even if Holder backs off. A series of looming disclosures are likely to keep the debate over accountability alive.

The inspector general's 2004 report is due to be released (with secrets blacked out) by Aug. 21 in response to a lawsuit by the ACLU. The Justice Dep't's own ethics office is about to release a report judging the dep't. lawyers who drew up the so-called torture memos that offered legal justification for detainee abuse. A federal prosecutor is investigating the CIA's decision in 2005 to destroy 92 videotapes of detainee interrogations, including repeated waterboarding of Al Qaeda figure Abu Zubaydah. And Feinstein's Senate Intelligence Committee staff is grinding away at a comprehensive report on interrogations that may not be complete before the end of the year.

"All of these strands are converging to create what could be an ugly summer," noted Jeffrey H. Smith, a former CIA genreal counsel who has informally advised Obama aides on intelligence issues. "The CIA feels once again that they are the ham in the sandwich."

There are two ways to resolve these nagging problems. One is the long and bumpy process of responding passively, letting Congress and the courts do what they will. That's the path Obama has taken until now. Far better, though, for the president to grasp the nettle, deal with problems quickly and put safeguards in place to prevent their recurrence. Only then can he foucs fully on "getting things right in the future."

Whew! That was a lot of typing. But if it was important enough to scrub, it was important enough to type.

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

Senate Intel Committee Wants Detainee Information Made Public

By GottaLaff

Has anyone else noticed the pace picking up on these various threads of detainee/Gitmo/torture stories? I am getting more hopeful:

[...] [T]he leaders of the Senate intelligence committee, Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.), have announced that the committee’s unanimously agreed on fiscal year 2010’s intelligence-funding authorization bill. (The full bill isn’t public yet.) Among its requirements is this curious provision, according to a bill summary:

Require the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency to make publicly available unclassified versions of four documents regarding information gained from high-value detainees.

[...] Other noteworthy provisions: A requirement for the Director of National Intelligence to report to Congress on compliance with “laws, international obligations, and executive orders on the detention and interrogation activities of the Intelligence Community”; the creation of an inspector general for the Director of National Intelligence; making certain intelligence leadership provisions subject to Senate confirmation, like the director of the National Security Agency and the CIA’s deputy director; and to

Change congressional notification requirements in law to make clear that there is no exception to the obligation to brief Congress on intelligence activities and covert actions; to require that notifications include the legal authority on which activities are undertaken; and to require that all members be informed when only the Gang of Eight is briefed, and the main features of such briefings…

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.