CT GOP Sen. candidate Linda McMahon warned steroid doctor of investigation

By GottaLaff

This won't exactly be a 2010 vote-getter:

In December 1989, as federal investigators were zeroing in on a Pennsylvania doctor who would soon be convicted of selling steroids to professional wrestlers, Linda McMahon sent a confidential memo to a fellow executive at Titan Sports, the family company that operated what was then known as the World Wrestling Federation.

The WWF, she wrote, should alert Dr. George T. Zahorian III that a criminal investigation could be heading his way, according to court documents reviewed by The Day.

"Although you and I discussed before about continuing to have Zahorian at our events as the doctor on call, I think that is now not a good idea," McMahon wrote in the memo. "Vince agreed, and would like for you to call Zahorian and to tell him not to come to any more of our events and to also clue him in on any action that the Justice Department is thinking of taking."

How above board and transparent of her. Who could ask for a better candidate than one who meddles in legal affairs that include steroidy drugs?

I'm sure she has a perfectly good explanation, though:

In an interview last week, McMahon said she could not explain the reason she directed Pat Patterson, a former wrestler, WWE executive and consultant, to alert Zahorian to the fact that he was under investigation.

See?

Connecticut can do better. Sneaky memos about secret drug dealings just won't cut it in a candidate. Then again, escapades like this are par for the GOP these days.

There is a whole lot more. Toddle on over and take a look-see.

H/t: TPM

RNC memo re: Voyeur Club- "We have requested by repayment of the $1946.25 from the individual who was reimbursed"

By GottaLaff

It pays to have Republican friends sometimes, and I have a wonderful one who passed this RNC memo on to me:

From the RNC...

Chairman Steele and Co-Chairman Mariner wanted me to update you on media reports circulating today regarding expenditure of RNC funds. Specifically, the reports point to a reimbursement of $1946.25 to an individual in California for an expenditure at a club named Voyeur West Hollywood.

Our investigation has determined that following a Young Eagles event in Los Angeles, a group of individuals did attend such a club on their own. This was not an RNC sanctioned event and was not associated in any way with any RNC official event.

Subsequently, a request for reimbursement to the private individual was submitted by a RNC staff person. That person was aware that this activity was not eligible for reimbursement and had been previously counseled on this very subject. Accordingly, that staff person has been terminated.

Additionally, we have requested by letter repayment of the $1946.25 from the individual who was reimbursed. He has verbally agreed to repay the funds to the RNC.

I want to ensure you that at no time was Chairman Steele or Co-Chairman Larimer or any member of the senior staff aware of the purpose of this reimbursement or present at the afterhours non-official get together.

I speak for all the staff when I say we fully understand the responsibility with which we have been entrusted.We are dedicated to the efficient use of RNC funds to ensure as many victories in 2010 as possible. We look forward to working with each and every one of you to bring about those victories.

Ken McKay
Chief of Staff
Republican National Committee

To quote my friend, "dumbasses". He's fed up. Can't imagine why.

VIDEO: Weiner rips into GOPer who read hoax memo on House floor

By GottaLaff



I officially declare today Rep. Anthony Weiner day (follow links, it's worth it):

[An] obscurely sourced (at best) memo purporting to detail Democrats' messaging plan on health care reform traveled in just a few hours this afternoon from a Republican lobbyist to political reporters to Hill aides and onto high-profile news websites before Democrats beat the story back with cries that the memo was a "hoax."

Here's the memo:

(click on image to enlarge)

H/t: rosierifka

Note to Readers: Paddyless in Indiana

By GottaLaff

Today may, or may not, be a light posting today. Just a heads up.

Paddy tried to get a good deal on a decent computer today, but still couldn't afford one, even after your generous donations. She's hitting the Sunday sales tomorrow, so for today at least, I'm on my own.

Ordinarily, that's fine with me, but I'm still under the weather (flu is over, long story, this could last a while).

So... being that my energy level is that of the half-cylinder's worth in Palin's brain on a bad day, I'm playing it by ear.

Thank you for understanding.

VIDEO: MSNBC's Griffin Memo To Keith and MoJo: Stop Fighting

By GottaLaff



Tsk, tsk. Boys, boys... Infighting forbidden. Smile, play nice, and everything will be better in the morning.

Via Mediaite:

MSNBC President Phil Griffin sent a memo to staff reminding them “we do not publicly criticize our colleagues,” in the wake of Joe Scarborough tweeting that Keith Olbermann’s recent Scott Brown rant was “reckless” and “sad.” Huffington Post has the full memo. [...]

Here’s part of Griffin’s memo:

We have many strong personalities with differing, passionate opinions, but it is important to remember that we are all on the same team. I want to reiterate my long-standing policy: We do not publicly criticize our colleagues. This kind of behavior is unprofessional and will not be tolerated.

Let me be clear: I encourage you to keep doing what you do best. Give the viewers your perspective and a vigorous debate on the issues they care about. But do not turn substantive differences into personal ones.

It got personal when Scarborough tweeted his thoughts and called out Olbermann by name ...

There is more at Mediaite, including updates.

Note to Readers: Light posting alert

By GottaLaff

Dear TPC Readers,

Sunday and Monday, I'll be unavailable to post much, if at all. That leaves Paddy to sit in front of her computer in a room where there is no heat, as I recall.

I'll be gone most of today, too.

So please bear with us. I should be back full time by Tuesday.

Thanks!

Love,

Laffy

Dep't. of Expecting Miracles: Fox memo outlines new zero tolerance for stupid errors

By GottaLaff

Red: The perfect color for all things ClusterFox. This time, however, it's their faces, for blowing a series of so-called "news" reports:

First Fox got caught lying about the crowd at Michele Bachmann's healthcare protest, then it got caught lying about the size of the crowd at Sarah Palin's book-signing. But the straw that broke the camel's back came last week when producers showed a screenshot of a horrible cruel attack on Sarah Palin called Going Rouge when they should have showed a screenshot of a brilliant sacred book by Sarah Palin called Going Rogue.

So a memo has been issued. That makes it very FoxOfficial. Everyone put on your Serious Faces! In part:

Subject: Quality Control We had a mistake on Newsroom today [...] the kind of thing that can fall through the cracks on any day with any story given the large amount of elements and editorial we run through our broadcasts. Unfortunately, it is the latest in a series of mistakes [...] We have to all improve our performance in terms of ensuring error-free broadcasts.

Wait. Stop. Right. There. "Error free"? ClusterFox is striving for... perfection?

Let's put it this way: Not holding my breath. When pigs fly. Hell icing up.

Now back to our memo already in progress:

Effective immediately, there is zero tolerance for on-screen errors. Mistakes by any member of the show team that end up on air may result in immediate disciplinary action against those who played significant roles in the "mistake chain," and those who supervise them.

There goes their entire staff. Oh well, easy come, easy go I always say.

That may include warning letters to personnel files, suspensions, and other possible actions up to and including termination, and this will all obviously play a role in performance reviews. [...] [E]ffective immediately, Newsroom is going to "zero base" our newscast production.

"Zero base"! Wowzers! That sounds ultra super duper mega double important!

To share a key quote from today's meeting: "It is more important to get it right, than it is to get it on."

Okay, no, ew. I simply won't associate "Fox" with the words "getting it on" in any way, shape, or form. Taking a moment to breathe... Inhaling... exhaling...

I'm good. You? Alrighty then, moving on:

We may then build up again slowly as deadlines and workloads allow so that we can be sure we can quality check everything before it makes air, and we never having to explain, retract, qualify or apologize again. Please know that jobs are on the line here. I can not stress that enough.

It's so reassuring to know that with one measly directive, a network that has been so wrong will from this day forward get it completely 100% absolutely right. It's positively magical.

I can't wait for tonight's first slip-up. Heads will roll and we shall point and laugh and everything will go right back to ClusterFoxNormal.

To read more, including the entire memo, please go here.

Memo to readers: Light posting day today

By GottaLaff

Anti-Reform Group Internal Memo: “Rumors Of Death Of Public Option Greatly Exaggerated”

By GottaLaff

(click on image to enlarge; via)

Rick Scott's group, CPR, has put out a memo, and it is all too reminiscent of 2004:

In a clear sign that conservatives are worried that the public option could still survive, an internal memo from a top anti-health care reform group claims that “rumors of its death” have been “greatly exaggerated,” discusses plans to run new ads targeting it, and vows to redouble efforts to foment opposition to it at town hall meetings. [...]

The memo discusses a “Martha’s Vineyard ad strategy” that’s set to kick in next week. According to a source familiar with the group’s plans, this is a reference to a planned national ad targeting the public option that will reference the President’s vacation.

Shades of the Swiftboaty anti-Kerry wind surfing campaign? Oh yes, yes indeedy:

“Rumors of the death of the public option have been greatly exaggerated,” reads the memo, which is likely to be taken by liberal groups pushing for the public option as a sign that they need to redouble their fundraising and organizing efforts.

Read the memo. It's all there in blech-ch and white.

And speaking of blech-ch! Here's a brief refresher course on Ricky, plus another reason why you should re-read this earlier post and take action:

CPR chief Rick Scott was ousted as a hospital exec amid a 1990s fraud probe, and the memo will alarm pro-reform forces, because it shows that the anti-reform camp is beginning to sense that victory is within reach on their top goal: Killing the public option.

Don't fret, don't whine, don't cry. Just get on the phone and call.

Alberto Gonzales Regrets Enemy Detainee Memo

By GottaLaff

Think his fingers were crossed when he apologized?

Well, heck, as long as he's sorry, let's just shake hands and put all that torture behind us:

Alberto Gonzales expresses regret over a memo he wrote defending the harsh treatment of enemy detainees. Some argue that the 2002 memo cleared the way for prisoner abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The former U.S. attorney general said he shouldn't have used the words "quaint" and "the Geneva Conventions" in the same sentence.

I shouldn't use the words Gonzo and dick in the same sentence either, but I am, and without a hint of regret.

Hey Alberto, the word "quaint" isn't the only thing you should be apologizing for. Not by a long shot.

What you should apologize for is only touched upon below. It's also what you should be imprisoned for:

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.

VIDEO-- John McCain: "One Is Too Much. Waterboarding Is Torture"

By GottaLaff

McCain, who, as a P.O.W., gave false information to his own torturers, had this to say:

This morning on Fox News, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) responded to the startling information — first noted by blogger Marcy Wheeler — that detainee Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times. [...]

Despite his outspoken advocacy against torture, he said it was a “serious mistake” for the Obama administration to release the torture memos. “The release of these memos helps no one, doesn’t help America’s image, does not help us address the issue.” Obama adviser David Axelrod said the president’s belief in “the law and his belief in transparency” ultimately convinced him to release the memos.

McCain touted his sponsorship of the Detainee Treatment Act, which “prohibited torture.” In fact, that legislation contained a loophole permitting CIA agents to continue engaging in torture.

Releasing the memos "was a serious mistake"? Why? If we're never going to torture again, then the arguments about releasing the memos' contents are moot.

Axelrod On Torture Prosecutions

By GottaLaff

Via Ambinder:

From CBS's Face The Nation... Read carefully what senior adviser David Axelrod.....

SMITH: On the other hand, groups like the ACLU and others have said this proves there are prosecutable crimes that need to be acted on. What's your response to that?

AXELROD: Well, the president has said, if there were agents of the United States government acting on legal advice that what they were doing was legal and appropriate, that they should not be prosecuted.

If people acted outside the law, that's a different issue. But the main point is the president has banned these enhanced interrogation techniques. We have turned the page on this episode in our history. We have so many challenges in front of us, in terms of our national security, our relations in the world.

And remember, these techniques, far from enhancing our safety, really become a recruiting and propaganda tool for Al Qaida and the extremists around the world. We're moving past all of that. And to revisit it again and again and again isn't, in the president's view, in the country's interest.

I read it carefully.

Update: I read it again, carefully. Note the words "agents" and "acting on legal advice." That doesn't sound like "officials" who created/wrote/advised/ordered the advice to me. That sounds like CIA interrogators. Then again, I'm never good at deciphering these things.

NYT editorial calls for impeachment of Judge Jay Bybee

By GottaLaff

Rachel Maddow mentioned the possibility of Bybee's impeachment the other day. Now the New York Times echoes the sentiment:

In his capacity as former head of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), Jay Bybee’s “name appears as the author of the August 1, 2002 memo justifying and authorizing clear acts of torture by the CIA.” For his willingness to engage in torturous legal reasoning, Bybee was awarded a lifetime seat on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals by President Bush.

And he was approved by the Senate by a wide margin. Maybe he and Mukasey can become Facebook friends. The New York Times:

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.

The California Democratic Party, which is holding its convention next weekend, will consider “a resolution from grassroots activists calling for Jay Bybee’s impeachment.”

I'm sure the Rushpublics would most certainly include him in their "activist judge" category.

Kidding... I'm kidding.

CIA Memo footnotes: There was unnecessary waterboarding

By GottaLaff

We've been told ad nauseam by the Rushpublics that waterboarding was necessary. It was necessary because it produced results, they insist. It produced results, so it was justified, they claim. America is safer because of all that torture, they aver. Oh, and did I mention how necessary they say it was?

Oh, um, except for that (at least) one time when....

We spotted one in footnote #28 on page 31 of a May 30, 2005, memo from the Department of Justice, where the DOJ admits that waterboarding of a detainee may have been used unnecessarily “on at least one occasion.”

The CIA’s inability to figure out which detainees had useful information “may have resulted in what might be deemed in retrospect to have been the unnecessary use of enhanced techniques,” the partially redacted footnote states.

Don'tcha hate when that happens?

In this case, the CIA “reasonably believed” Mr. Zubaydah was withholding important information that might help protect the U.S. against terror attacks, says the memo, so it was acceptable to waterboard him even though the belief was later proved false. The memo is signed by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Steven Bradbury.

I believe I had to kill that guy because I believed it was in self defense because I believed he was carrying a gun and I believed he was thinking about killing me. Never mind that the guy was 7 and didn't have a gun.

I don't believe in BushCo's belief systems. And I don't want my country using their belief system to justify torture.

I believe torturing people is wrong, self-defeating, unreliable, illegal, and immoral. That's what I believe.

Obama consulted widely on memos

By GottaLaff

I'm having one of those days where everything is going a little wacky, so posting may be a little lighter than usual. Here's a copy and paste while I work on things at my end:

White House senior adviser David Axelrod says President Barack Obama spent about a month pondering whether to release Bush-era memos about CIA interrogation techniques, and considered it “a weighty decision.”

“He thought very long and hard about it, consulted widely, because there were two principles at stake,” Axelrod said . “One is … the sanctity of covert operations … and keeping faith with the people who do them, and the impact on national security, on the one hand. And the other was the law and his belief in transparency.”

The president consulted officials from the Justice Department, the CIA, the director of National Intelligence and the Homeland Security Department, according to his adviser.

“It was a weighty decision,” Axelrod said. “As with so many issues, there are competing points of view that flow from very genuine interests and concerns that are to be respected. And then the president has to synthesize all of it and make a decision that’s in the broad national interest. He’s been thinking about this for four weeks, really.”

Secret Interrogation Memos to be Released

By GottaLaff

File under Doing the Right Thing:

"After a tense internal debate, the Obama administration this afternoon will make public a number of detailed memos describing the harsh interrogation techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency against al Qaeda suspects in secret overseas prisons," the New York Times reports.

"The interrogation methods were among the Bush administration's most closely guarded secrets, and today's release will be the most comprehensive public accounting to date of the interrogation program that some senior Obama administration officials have said used illegal torture."

The Wall Street Journal says that while "some operational details" of the interrogation program will be revealed, the administration will "keep secret the names of detainees and the way techniques were applied to particular prisoners."

Joshua is angry

By GottaLaff

I love the Joshua Blog. Joshua is a cool guy who is responsive to my Tweets on The Twitter Machine. I went over to his place, and I found a very angry Joshua. He has graciously invited me to copy and paste his entire post:

Now I'm really starting to get pissed off. What the hell is he thinking?! He refused to go after Bush officials for torture, he embraces Bush's executive power grab and protects the domestic spying program and it's telecom conspirators, blackmailed by the Senate GOPers with filibusters his appointees & threatened by the CIA with God only know what, he decides not to release the torture memos as planned and now this bullshit?!

From the NY Times:

Obama to Appeal Detainee Ruling

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Friday that it would appeal a district court ruling that granted some military prisoners in Afghanistan the right to file lawsuits seeking their release. The decision signaled that the administration was not backing down in its effort to maintain the power to imprison terrorism suspects for extended periods without judicial oversight.

In a court filing, the Justice Department also asked District Judge John D. Bates not to proceed with the habeas-corpus cases of three detainees at Bagram Air Base outside Kabul, Afghanistan. Judge Bates ruled last week that the three — each of whom says he was seized outside of Afghanistan — could challenge their detention in court.

Tina Foster, the executive director of the International Justice Network, which is representing the detainees, condemned the decision in a statement.

“Though he has made many promises regarding the need for our country to rejoin the world community of nations, by filing this appeal, President Obama has taken on the defense of one of the Bush administration’s unlawful policies founded on nothing more than the idea that might makes right,” she said.

read more

NOT OK.

Joshua has a point. I really don't want to get this upset with President Obama, he's really terrific in so many ways... but regarding these topics, I'm starting to simmer. I'm still in wait-and-see mode before I get to the same boiling point as Joshua, but right now, I don't like what I'm seeing while I wait.

Let's hope there's more to this than meets the eye, and that we will feel some sense of relief, not dread or vindication for our outrage.

CIA Interrogation Tapes Predated Torture Memo

By GottaLaff

Get out the blood pressure cuffs, or as I like to call them, sphygmomanometers. After that, maybe we can all get together and organize a nationwide grassroots tea tantrum... only ours will be for a real cause by real citizens who are outraged enough to undertake a real uprising who are retaliating against a real crime:

The CIA began videotaping interrogations of two alleged “high value” terrorist detainees in April 2002, four months before Bush administration attorneys issued a memo clearing the way for CIA interrogators to use “enhanced interrogation techniques,” the Justice Department disclosed in court documents.

However, in a letter to a federal court judge Thursday, the Justice Department only agreed to provide details on the harshest interrogations of prisoner Abu Zubaydah that occurred in August 2002 – after the Bush administration's lawyers had provided the legal cover for waterboarding and other brutal tactics.

That letter prompted ACLU lawyers to express concern over why the government offered no promises regarding the preceding months. Amrit Singh, an ACLU staff attorney, said the government’s “motivations in confining its [latest] response to the month of August are highly suspect.”

The ACLU is suing the CIA to release documents related to 92 interrogation videotapes that were destroyed by the CIA in 2005 as public attention began focusing on allegations that the Bush administration had subjected “war on terror” detainees to brutal interrogations that crossed the line into torture.

Lev Dassin, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the government intends to provide the civil liberties organization “contemporaneous records that described the interrogations at issue … for the month of August 2002 (approximately 65 documents)." [...]

“It seems like the letter provides no explanation for why records for other months should not be included in the government’s work plan,” the ACLU’s Singh said in an interview. “We already know that an FBI agent who witnessed Abu Zubaydah’s interrogation prior to August 2002 said he believed it to be ‘borderline torture.’”

Much more here.

H/t

GOP threatens Obama’s legal nominees over release of torture memos

By GottaLaff

As usual, the Rushpublics put torture, self-interest, and secrecy ahead of the well-being of their own country:

Harper’s Scott Horton reports that the Senate Republicans are determined to protect the Bush torture legacy, “promising to ‘go nuclear’ and filibuster [President Obama’s] legal appointments” if he releases legal memos regarding the previous administration’s torture policies [...]

A Republican Senate staffer told Horton that the nomination of Dawn Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Counsel has particularly raised the hackles of Senate Republicans. “Not a single Republican indicated an intention to vote for Dawn Johnsen, while Senator John Cornyn of Texas was described as ‘gunning for her,’ specifically noting publication of the torture memos.” (HT: Joshua Blog) [...]

[Laffy Note: Go here from my post about why she's such a threat]

Hilzoy at the Washington Monthly writes: "[W]hat the Republicans are trying to do is to dictate to the President a matter that is purely his prerogative: deciding whether or not to unclassify documents. This is insane: it's as though Obama threatened to withhold funding for the Senate unless Mitch McConnell fired some staffer he didn't like."

Glenn Greenwald has more.

The Woman Who Could Nail Bush

By GottaLaff

Fasten your seat belts. It's gonna be a bumpy ride:

Until recently, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, often considered the “brains” of the department, has been known mostly to legal experts. But for the past eight years it was the epicenter of allegations of political manipulation—and worse—the source of infamous memoranda on torture. In tapping Eric Holder as attorney general, President Obama has promised to restore standards of professionalism to the department. For Republicans this is tantamount to a declaration of partisan war. [...]

Republican leaders, it appears, are playing with the notion of making [Dawn] Johnsen the target of their first filibuster. [...]

The highly credentialed Johnsen is an improbable target, and OLC was long viewed as an obscure post. But Johnsen served as a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. [...]

Johnsen is labeled a “radical, pro-abortion activist,” although her views on the abortion issue line up very closely with the mainstream. While the noise surrounding the Johnsen nomination appears on the surface to be about the abortion issue—over which her position at OLC would have very little influence—discussions with Republican stalwarts reveal that their main concerns lie elsewhere.

I'll say. Ready for revelations about the obvious?

The real reason for their vehement opposition is that Johnsen is committed to overturning the Bush administration’s policies on torture and warrantless surveillance that would clip the wings of the imperial presidency. Even more menacingly from their perspective, she is committed to disclosing some of the darkest skeletons of the Bush years. Already, publication of OLC memoranda authorizing torture, approving warrantless surveillance, and pronouncing the First and Fourth Amendments a dead letter in connection with domestic military operations has rocked the public. More memos, potentially even more disturbing, I have learned, are about to be made public soon. Yet these are difficult issues on which to attack Johnsen, other than through vague suggestions that she is “weak on national security.” Hence the steady stream of accusations linked to her largely irrelevant views about abortion rights. [...]

The Obama nominees, presenting the sharpest possible contrast, have drawn sputtering fire from Republicans in Congress and have come under broad attack from religious right leaders who previously had strong influence in Justice Department picks. Dawn Johnsen is an interesting test case. If the Republicans opt for filibuster or move to line up a unanimous G.O.P. vote in opposition, it will be a shot across the bow of the Obama Justice Department.

I want her in so badly I can taste it. As usual, it's uncanny how completely out of touch the Rushpublics are with the rest of America.

Go here for more. It's a good piece.