Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views made him a TV lightning rod, plans to announce Wednesday that he is leaving the network, two network employees said.
A CNN executive confirmed that Mr. Dobbs will announce his resignation plans on his 7 p.m. program. His resignation is effective immediately; tonight’s program will be his last on CNN. His contract was not set to expire until the end of 2011. [...]
The CNN employees said Wednesday that they did not know if Mr. Dobbs was moving to another network.
Of course they didn't... right. But we do.
Oh, and in CNN world, "resignation" means "you're fired".
I won't stop posting about this until things change for the better. The good news is, Americans are becoming much more aware of the injustices that exist, and the atrocities that began with BushCo:
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.
A new report in the Washington Post reveals that some interrogators threatened to quit over harsh methods used in interrogations. Joby Warrick talks with MSNBC's Chris Jansen [sic].
In April 2002, as the terrorism suspect known as Abu Zubaida lay in a Bangkok hospital bed, top U.S. counterterrorism officials gathered at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., for a series of meetings on an urgent problem: how to get him to talk.
Put him in a cell filled with cadavers, was one suggestion, according to a former U.S. official with knowledge of the brainstorming sessions. Surround him with naked women, was another. Jolt him with electric shocks to the teeth, was a third.
One man's certitude lanced through the debate, according to a participant in one of the meetings. James E. Mitchell, a retired clinical psychologist for the Air Force, had studied al-Qaeda resistance techniques.
"The thing that will make him talk," the participant recalled Mitchell saying, "is fear."
Now, as the Senate intelligence committee examines the CIA's interrogation program, investigators are focusing in part on Mitchell and John "Bruce" Jessen, former CIA contractors who helped design and oversee Abu Zubaida's interrogation. These men have been portrayed as eager proponents of coercion, but the former U.S. official, whose account was corroborated in part by Justice Department documents, said they also rejected orders from Langley to prolong the most severe pressure on the detainee. The former official's account, alongside the recollections of those familiar with events at the CIA's secret prison in Thailand, yields a more nuanced understanding of their role than has previously been available.
Interviews with nearly two dozen current and former U.S. officials also provide new evidence that the imposition of harsh techniques provoked dissension among the officials charged with questioning Abu Zubaida, from the time of his capture through the period when the most grueling torments were applied.[...]
The CIA team lowered the temperature in Abu Zubaida's cell until the detainee turned blue. The FBI turned it back up, setting off a clash over tactics.
This is also covered thoroughly in The Dark Side, by Jane Mayer (referenced below). There seems to be a steady stream of information coming out about the use of torture and its consequences lately, as you can tell by the growing number of posts I've done on the subject. But there is so much more that we don't know.
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.
JUNEAU, Alaska -- Where is Sarah Palin? A day after surprising even her closest friends by announcing she would step down as Alaska governor more than a year before her term was up, the controversial hockey mom was nowhere to be found. Her spokesman, David Murrow, said Palin told him she was flying to Juneau, the state capital, for the Fourth of July weekend, but he wasn't sure what activities she planned to attend.
The governor didn't show up at a 50th anniversary statehood celebration or Juneau's parade. She wasn't in the Capitol's office. And no one answered the door at the governor's mansion.
(snip)
In fact, the only peep out of Palin on Saturday came on the social networking site Twitter, where she told military families: "Most special July 4 shout-out to you! Spouses, kids, parents, families of troops -- THANKS for supporting our true heroes."
At the same time, Palin informed Murrow early Saturday that someone using the name "exgovsarahpalin" on Twitter was spreading a false rumor that there was to be a party at her suburban home in Wasilla, outside Anchorage. Palin was afraid her home would be mobbed, and security was dispatched, Murrow said.
Juneau Fourth of July parade director Jean Sztuk said Palin rode in a convertible last year and was invited again to this year's event. She never responded, but parade organizers drew up banners in case she showed.
She didn't.
But she did manage to get a Facebook posting out slamming the media and (as usual) being hyperbolicly nonsensical. (Ben has the whole thing here)
The response in the main stream media has been most predictable, ironic, and as always, detached from the lives of ordinary Americans who are sick of the “politics of personal destruction”. How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it’s about country. And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make. But every American understands what it takes to make a decision because it’s right for all, including your family.
I think the blogger gods sent this one just for us.
With this letter I tender my resignation as the Inspector General of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, effective April 11, 2009.
I have been honored to serve the United States over the past seventeen years, first at the Office of Government Ethics, then at the White House, and for the last seven years as Inspector General.
A new Inspector General will find an organization with extraordinarily talented employees dedicated to rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse and promoting the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of NASA.
At NASA, the seemingly impossible is turned into marvels of human achievement. Challenges facing NASA are many, but I am confident that they will be ably met by your Administration, working with NASA's gifted scientists, engineers, institutional leaders, and contractor workforce.
More coming. For now, the Tweet states just what the title says:
BULLETIN -- ELEVEN A.I.G. EXECUTIVES RESIGN.
I'll update as soon as I find a link. So far, nada. UPDATE:
New York, NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) --A number of A.I.G. executives have resigned amid a growing scandal involving excessive bonuses, the AFP news agency reported on Tuesday.
The agency reported eleven executives had left the company but a spokesman for A.I.G., when speaking with BNO News, was not immediately able to comment on the report.
Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says the company paid bonuses of $1 million or more to 73 employees, including 11 people who no longer work for the company, the Associated Press reported.
Rumor has it that there have been not one but TWO resignations from the Governor’s office in the last 24 hours.
Kelly Goode, Palin’s Legislative Liaison resigned yesterday, just 10 days before the start of the legislative session. [...] This is pretty big news, and will mean that whoever replaces her will be Palin’s fourth Legislative Liason in a little over two years. [...]
Also, Janice Mason, long-time scheduler and executive secretery, submitted her resignation on the same day. Mason is one of those infamous bunch of state employees who were subpoenaed by the Legislature in the Troopergate investigation. And yes, she didn’t show up. And no, there have been no consequences yet.
So that means two members of Palin’s “inner sanctum” have headed for the hills less than two weeks before the start of session. We raise our collective eyebrow, and anxiously await further developments.
White House chief of Staff Joshua Bolten sent a memo Dec. 1 to all of President Bush's political appointees asking them to tender their resignation effective Jan. 20 -- the day President-Elect Barack Obama is sworn into office.
"To provide the President-elect maximum flexibility in assembling his Administration, and consistent with past practice, President Bush is requesting letters of resignation from all non-career appointees except Inspectors General and those individuals that hold termed positions," Bolten writes.
Since when has BushCo done anything "consistent with past practice"? Well, unless it's been the past practice of a dictator, alcoholic, or felon...
"Non-career Senior Executive Service and Schedule C appointees at independent and regulatory agencies headed by termed appointees" are also excepted.
Bolten even offered up a template for those employees who were as simple as his boss, in case this request went over their hollow little Bushie heads:
"Dear Mr. President," it reads, "I hereby tender my resignation as (title). I anticipate that my last day of service will be January 20,2009, and I understand that you will act on this offer no later than noon, January 20, 2009."
"Sincerely, Name and title."
Dear Mr. President and Co., I hereby wish you all a speedy, if not premature, exit.
Sincerely, Laffy, President of TPCers for Impeach BushCo Now
The military and civilian chiefs of the Air Force are resigning, U.S. officials said Thursday.
Defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne to step down. [...]
Press secretary Dana Perino said President Bush knew about the resignations but that the White House "has not played any role" in the shake-up. [...]
Wynne is the second civilian chief of a military service to be forced out by Gates.
Let's do an Air Force recap:
The Air Force has endured a number of embarrassing setbacks over the past year. In August, for instance, a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown across the country. The pilot and crew were unaware they had nuclear arms aboard. [...]
Gates also has been trying to learn more about how fuses for Air Force ballistic missiles were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan. Gates was briefed last week on the conclusions of an internal investigation of that matter but the results have not been made public. [...]
In another incident, the Pentagon inspector general found in April that a $50 million contract to promote the Thunderbirds aerial stunt team was tainted by improper influence and preferential treatment. No criminal conduct was found.
Everything runs so smoothly under the War President. Speaking of things running smoothly, and slightly off topic because I feel like having fun, compare and contrast.
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