|
Rescind President Obama's 'Transparency Award' Now |
 |
|
Tuesday, 14 June 2011 17:53 |
|
Sibel Edmonds and Coleen Rowley write: "The giving of an unmerited award, however, whether for transparency or peace, is not entirely benign. No one knows better how destructive secrecy is for maintaining systems of justice, ethics and democracy than these self-proclaimed 'open government' watchdogs. Especially when such a false accolade emanates, as in this case, from those who are supposed to serve as counters to secrecy and to retaliation against government whistleblowers."
Pfc. Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of leaking classified diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. (photo: File)
Rescind President Obama's 'Transparency Award' Now
By Sibel Edmonds and Coleen Rowley, Reader Supported News
14 June 11
The Obama administration's record on secrecy and surveillance is a disgrace and should not be sanitised by unearned prizes.
 n 28 March 2011, President Obama was given a "transparency award" from five "open government" organisations: OMB Watch, the National Security Archive, the Project on Government Oversight, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and OpenTheGovernment.org. Ironically - and quite likely in response to growing public criticism regarding the Obama administration's lack of transparency - heads of the five organisations gave their award to Obama in a closed, undisclosed meeting at the White House. If the ceremony had been open to the press, it is likely that reporters would have questioned the organisations' proffered justification for the award, in contrast to the current reality:
- President Obama has not decreased, but has dramatically increased governmental secrecy. According to a new report to the president by the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) - the federal agency that provides oversight of the government's security classification system - the cost of classification for 2010 has reached over $10.17bn. That's a 15% jump from the previous year, and the first time ever that secrecy costs have surpassed $10bn. Last month, ISOO reported that the number of original classification decisions generated by the Obama administration in 2010 was 224,734 - a 22.6% jump from the previous year (see The Price of Secrecy, Obama Edition).
- There were 544,360 requests for information last year under the Freedom of Information Act to the 35 biggest federal agencies - 41,000 requests more than the year before. Yet the bureaucracy responded to 12,400 fewer requests than the prior year, according to an analysis by the Associated Press.
- Obama has invoked baseless and unconstitutional executive secrecy to quash legal inquiries into secret illegalities more often than any predecessor. The list of this president's invocations of the "state secrets privilege" has already resulted in shutting down lawsuits involving the National Security Agency's illegal wiretapping - Jewel v NSA and Shubert v Obama; extraordinary rendition and assassination - Anwar al-Awlaki; and illegal torture - Binyam Mohamed.
- Ignoring his campaign promise to protect government whistleblowers, Obama's presidency has amassed the worst record in US history for persecuting, prosecuting and jailing government whistleblowers and truth-tellers. President Obama's behaviour has been in stark contrast to his campaign promises, which included live-streaming meetings online and rewarding whistleblowers. Obama's department of justice is twisting the 1917 Espionage Act to press criminal charges in five alleged instances of national security leaks - more such prosecutions than have occurred in all previous administrations combined.
- The Obama justice department's prosecution of former NSA official Thomas Drake, who, up till 9 June, faced 35 years in prison for having blown the whistle on the NSA's costly and unlawful warrantless monitoring of American citizens, typifies the abusive practices made possible through expansive secrecy agreements and threats of prosecution.
- President Obama has set a powerful and chilling example for potential whistleblowers through the abuse and torture of Bradley Manning, whose guilt he has also publicly stated prior to any trial by his, Obama's, military subordinates.
- Obama is the only president who has reenacted Fahrenheit 451 by actually having his agency collect and burn a book due to a never-justified classification excuse: Lt Col Tony Shaffer's Operation Dark Heart.
- Under President Obama, the FBI has launched a series of raids and issued grand jury subpoenas targeting nearly two dozen antiwar activists. Over 2,600 arrests of protesters in the US have been made while Obama has been president, further encroaching on the exercise of first amendment rights.
- President Obama has initiated a secret assassination programme, has publicly announced that he has given himself the power to include Americans on the list of people to be assassinated, and has attempted to assassinate at least one, Anwar al-Awlaki.
- President Obama has maintained the power to secretly kidnap, imprison, rendition, or torture, and he has formalised the power to lawlessly imprison in an executive order. This also means the power to secretly imprison. There are some 1,700 prisoners outside the rule of law in Bagram alone.
- The Obama administration is also busy going after reporters to discover their sources and convening grand juries in order to target journalists and news publishers.
- President Obama promised to reveal White House visitors' logs. He didn't. In response to outrage over his refusal to reveal the names of health insurance CEOs he had met with and cut deals with on the health insurance reform bill, he announced that he would release the names going forward, but not those in the past. And going forward, he would withhold names he chose to withhold. White House staff then began regularly meeting lobbyists just off White House grounds in order to avoid the visitors' logs.
- President Obama has sent representatives to aggressively pressure Spain, England and Germany to shut down investigations that could have exposed the crimes of the Bush era, just as he has instructed the US justice department to avoid such matters. This includes his refusal to allow prosecutions of the CIA for torture, following a public letter from eight previous heads of the CIA informing him that he had better not enforce those laws.
The "transparency award" in question was described as "aspirational", similar to the rationale for awarding Obama the Nobel Peace Prize early in his presidency when he had done nothing yet to further the cause of peace. Participants admitted they used the private meeting in March to try and lobby Obama to do more to earn their award. If the president doesn't change course as a result of the lobbying and "award," there are some who would shrug and say, "no harm, no foul."
The giving of an unmerited award, however, whether for transparency or peace, is not entirely benign. No one knows better how destructive secrecy is for maintaining systems of justice, ethics and democracy than these self-proclaimed "open government" watchdogs. Especially when such a false accolade emanates, as in this case, from those who are supposed to serve as counters to secrecy and to retaliation against government whistleblowers, such appearance of approval will tend to cover up and mask the reality of the executive's increasingly undemocratic and illegal use of secrecy.
Therefore, the undersigned call on these organisations: OMB Watch, the National Security Archive, the Project on Government Oversight, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and OpenTheGovernment.org, to publicly take back their "transparency award", as difficult as that may be, from Barack Obama. The watchdog organisations should, of course, continue to promote aspirations for open, democratic government, reduced secrecy and adherence to the rule of law, in more genuine, legitimate ways than giving unmerited awards to the executive. Such false awards only stand to backfire and hurt the cause of open government.
Drafted by FBI whistleblowers Sibel Edmonds and Coleen Rowley.
Whistleblowers:
Raymond L McGovern, former analyst, CIA
Colonel Ann Wright, US Army Reserve (ret) and former US diplomat
Daniel Ellsberg, former official, department of defence and department of state
Lt Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski, US Air Force (ret), veteran policy analyst, department of defence
Lt Colonel Tony Shaffer, senior intelligence officer (Operations), DIA
Jesselyn Radack, former attorney, department of justice
John M Cole, former veteran intelligence operations specialist, FBI
David "Mark" Conrad, agent in charge (ret), internal affairs, US Customs
P Jeffrey Black, air marshal (ret), Federal Air Marshal Service, department of homeland security
Bogdan Dzakovic, former red team leader, FAA
Russ Tice, former senior intelligence analyst, NSA
Sandalio Gonzalez, special agent in charge (ret), DEA
John Vincent, veteran special agent, counterterrorism, FBI
Bill Bergman, financial market analyst, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Steve Jenkins, intelligence analyst, NGIC, US Army
Linda Lewis, policy analyst (ret), US department of agriculture
David MacMichael, PhD, former senior estimates officer, CIA
William H Russell, computer specialist, R&E Division, NSA
William Savich, special agent, bureau of diplomatic security, department of state
Julia Davis, customs and border protection officer, department of homeland security
Tom Maertens, counterterrorism official (ret), department of state
Joseph Carson, PE, nuclear safety engineer, department of energy
Gabe Bruno, manager (ret), flight standards services, FAA
Dr Jeffrey Fudin, founder, VA Whistleblowers Coalition
Organisations:
National Security Whistleblowers Coalition
National Whistleblowers Centre
Green party of the US
Citizens for Legitimate Government
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
Campaign for Peace and Democracy
September 11th Advocates
Code Pink
Consumers for Peace
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
WarIsACrime.org
OSC Watch
Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence
Socialist party of Central Virginia
Environmentalists Against War
High Road for Human Rights
Broken Covenant Campaign
Bring Our Troops Home Coalition
Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains
United for Peace and Justice
Americans Who Tell the Truth
Veterans for Peace Chapter 27
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
• This petition can be signed at takeawardback.org
 |
|
|
The Weiner Dilemma |
|
|
Sunday, 12 June 2011 20:11 |
|
As the Anthony Weiner flap grows, Democrats - and particularly Progressives - face the prospect of calling for the head of a champion of good causes. How serious is it? Does he really have to go? Anthony Weiner is not without his loyalists. -- ma/RSN
Jim Sideris (L), a supporter of Congressman Anthony Weiner, argues with Kevin Hiltunen (R) rallying for Weiner's resignation outside his office in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York, 06/12/11. (photo: Getty Images)
The Weiner Dilemma
By Marc Ash, Reader Supported News
12 June 11
Reader Supported News | Perspective
 he original title for this piece was penciled in as "Anthony Weiner, Step Down." But the comments from our readers over the past 48 hours leave no doubt that such a headline and position would be premature. Within the RSN community Anthony Weiner still has substantial support. So we are left with a dilemma.
Life as a public official is harsh. It's an arena more than a job, often replete with lions laying in wait for the less-fortunate contestants. Anthony Weiner knew it when he took the job, and he knew it when he sent the photographs at the center of the firestorm that now envelopes his congressional career.
One has to wonder if Anthony Weiner wasn't taking unjustifiable risks to appease some inner need to live, on the edge, so to speak. Who would take such risks with nothing to gain? The thought process seems to come from a Scorsese film.
Taken on the whole, Weiner's social networking indiscretions are tame when viewed against the backdrop of today's digital interactions. Everybody's doing it: Yahoo!, and Twitter! and Facebook! If you were offended by what Anthony Weiner did, remain calm; it gets a lot wilder than that out there in cyberland. Former NFL quarterback and hall of fame candidate Brett Favre was another high-profile sexting suspect. It's not clear that Favre's intimate anatomy was indeed featured in the images said to have been sent by him, but whoever's intimate anatomy was featured in those images was even more, how shall we say, "liberated" than Anthony Weiner.
It's particularly galling that Weiner would be dragged into this media frenzy by Andrew Breitbart, a creature of such low moral character that a common alley rat would appear noble in comparison. Anthony Weiner's professional work, on the other hand, is steeped in dedication to principle and devotion to good cause.
It's not fair, it's politics.
Nonetheless, social progress and reform, all causes Weiner championed, are too important to be jeopardized by Anthony Weiner's poor judgment. It is now time for his closest colleagues to close ranks and put the best interest of the communities they serve back in the forefront. Anthony Weiner consistently and tirelessly fought for the best interests of the people he served. If his political career is to survive these indiscretions, it will be due in large measure to the support of a community that appreciates his dedication.
Chances for Anthony Weiner's survival in congress: I'll say 40%.
Note to all social-networkers: Be careful what you upload, things move quickly in cyberland.
Marc Ash is the founder and director of Reader Supported News, as well as Truthout.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
|
|
Ron Paul v. Michele Bachmann: High Noon on the Right |
|
|
Sunday, 12 June 2011 11:36 |
|
Brent Budowsky begins: "Ignore the cable pundits. Trump's campaign was a joke. Gingrich's campaign was a farce. Palin will not run. I have said these things from the beginning. The real battle is not between Palin and Bachmann, but between Dr. Paul and Bachmann. Remember where you heard it. This will be a big story soon."
Minnesota Representative and conservative siren Michele Bachmann, 06/28/09. (photo: public domain)
Ron Paul v. Michele Bachmann: High Noon on the Right
By Brent Budowsky, The Hill
12 June 11
 gnore the cable pundits. Trump's campaign was a joke. Gingrich's campaign was a farce. Palin will not run. I have said these things from the beginning. The real battle is not between Palin and Bachmann, but between Dr. Paul and Bachmann. Remember where you heard it. This will be a big story soon.
Ron Paul can stake a fair claim to being the father of the Tea Party movement. He has made his arguments intelligently and well for many years. Depending on the final field, he could emerge the kingmaker at the convention if his votes are near the ceiling of his potential, rather than the floor.
While I view Palin as a lightweight creation of television opiners who have a long history of being almost always wrong about politics, I have suggested for some time that Michele Bachmann is a major league player who should not be underestimated. Bachmann is hiring first-rate staff and has been brushing past Palin for some time now.
As the campaign gets serious and the debates get attention, watch the battle unfold between Paul and Bachmann in the high noon showdown on the right of the GOP.
Dr. Paul will have to get past Bachmann to approach the higher end of his potential support. Michele Bachmann will have to get past Paul and become the final candidate of the right.
You read it first right here on The Hill. The battle between Paul and Bachmann for the post position on the right will be one of the big stories in the 2012 campaign, very soon.
|
|
|
Blocking Elizabeth Warren |
|
|
Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=6401"><span class="small">Joe Nocera, The New York Times</span></a>
|
|
Saturday, 11 June 2011 17:27 |
|
Intro: "It's official: Elizabeth Warren will return to the torture chamber known as the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on July 14. Earlier this week, Darrell Issa, the California Republican who is chairman of the committee, tweeted the news. Apparently, Democrats aren't the only ones who use Twitter to harass women. The last time Warren appeared before the committee, on May 24, she was mauled by the Republicans in a brutal hearing during which a North Carolina freshman named Patrick McHenry twice accused her of lying, while conducting a Perry Mason-style interrogation ('Yes or no, Ms. Warren') that was at once ludicrous and shameful. Afterward, Issa expressed outrage because she had dared to defend herself and demanded that she return for another round of browbeating. Hence, July 14."
Republican subcommittee chairman Patrick McHenry accused Elizabeth Warren of lying to Congress while he conducted a Perry Mason-style interrogation. (photo: AP)
Blocking Elizabeth Warren
By Joe Nocera, The New York Times
11 June 11
t's official: Elizabeth Warren will return to the torture chamber known as the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on July 14. Earlier this week, Darrell Issa, the California Republican who is chairman of the committee, tweeted the news. Apparently, Democrats aren't the only ones who use Twitter to harass women.
The last time Warren appeared before the committee, on May 24, she was mauled by the Republicans in a brutal hearing during which a North Carolina freshman named Patrick McHenry twice accused her of lying, while conducting a Perry Mason-style interrogation ("Yes or no, Ms. Warren") that was at once ludicrous and shameful. Afterward, Issa expressed outrage because she had dared to defend herself and demanded that she return for another round of browbeating. Hence, July 14.
Ostensibly, the House Republicans are outraged that Warren, in her capacity as a special adviser to the White House, offered "secret" counsel to the states' attorneys general, who have been investigating the big foreclosure robo-signing scandal. Never mind that she has repeatedly acknowledged that she offered her advice, which they had asked for - and that there is nothing wrong with a federal official advising state officials.
No, the real reason Warren has become a piñata is that, as a Harvard law professor, she dreamed up the idea of a federal agency that could help prevent consumers of financial products - like, oh, predatory subprime mortgages - from being taken advantage of. Then she lobbied to turn it into reality, as part of the Dodd-Frank reform law. And now, working for the administration, she is busy setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which will "go live" in less than six weeks.
What's worse, she's been doing a pretty good job of it so far. When she was first appointed to set up the agency, I heard rumbling that she had no management chops and would make a hash of things. This prediction has turned out to be spectacularly wrong. She has attracted first-rate talent for virtually all the top jobs. The new bureau's first move was to persuade two government agencies to combine mortgage forms into one easy-to-read document - no easy task given how government works. She has consistently talked about making bank disclosures easier for consumers to understand.
You would think that Republicans would like this sort of thing. Instead, they portray Warren as a polarizing ideologue bent on creating an agency that, as Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, put it recently, "could be a serious threat to our financial system." How, precisely, an agency that tries to keep financial consumers from being gouged threatens the system is something no one ever explains. (Unless, of course, gouging consumers is central to bank profitability. Hmmm...)
On the Senate side, the approach of the Republicans has been to claim that their real issue is not with Warren but with the structure of the new bureau. Some 44 Republican senators recently sent a letter to President Obama saying that they would not approve any director without major changes. In particular, they want to deprive the agency of automatic financing, so that, unlike other bank regulators, it would have to go through an annual appropriations process. Which, of course, would then allow the Republicans to starve it via budgetary deprivation.
Unfortunately, the president's response has been to dither. Despite the impending start date for the bureau - and despite the fact that Warren is the clear and obvious choice to run it - he still hasn't been able to pull the trigger. For months, there were rumblings that he would name Warren in a "recess appointment," which wouldn't require Senate confirmation. But that is simply not going to happen: There are parliamentary maneuvers that will allow the Senate to remain "in session" even when there are no actual senators in the vicinity.
Besides, this is a president who sees himself as a consensus-seeker. His first instinct is to try to cut a deal. Thus it was that just a few days ago, the White House floated the name of Raj Date as a possible compromise candidate. Date is one of Warren's terrific hires; he's a former banker who, in recent years, has been a vocal consumer advocate. McConnell, however, quickly shot down the idea, and stuck to his guns: no structural changes, no director. End of story.
In politics, there are certainly times when compromise is the right approach. But this is not one of those times. The agency needs to begin its life unafraid to do its job, which won't happen if the White House backs down now. By contrast, nominating Elizabeth Warren, who is nothing if not unafraid, would send exactly the right signal.
Yes, the nomination would spark a partisan fight, and, yes, there is a high likelihood that she would not win confirmation. But it would redound nicely to the president's advantage. Americans would be able to see, in the starkest way imaginable, who's trying to help them - and who's not.
|
|
Koch-Funded AFP Papers Detroit Homes With Fake Eviction Notices |
|
|
Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=6358"><span class="small">Steve Benen, Washington Monthly</span></a>
|
|
Wednesday, 08 June 2011 10:17 |
|
Intro: "The Koch Brothers' attack operation is all class. The state director of the conservative group Americans for Prosperity offered no apologies today for papering homes in Detroit's Delray district Monday with fake eviction notices."
Americans for Prosperity, a Tea Party-affiliated organization, posted fake eviction notices on Detroit homes, 06/06/11. (photo: Detroit Free Press)
Koch-Funded AFP Papers Detroit Homes With Fake Eviction Notices
By Steve Benen, Washington Monthly
08 June 11
Fake eviction notices? Seriously?
he Koch Brothers' attack operation is all class.
The state director of the conservative group Americans for Prosperity offered no apologies today for papering homes in Detroit's Delray district Monday with fake eviction notices.
Bearing the words "Eviction Notice" in large type, the bogus notices told homeowners their properties could be taken by the Michigan Department of Transportation to make way for the New International Trade Crossing bridge project.
Apparently, if this bridge project goes forward, it's likely to draw traffic and toll revenue away from a nearly privately-owned bridge. So, Americans for Prosperity is lobbying heavily against the state project, and the Koch-financed group's campaign now includes fake eviction notices.
AFP said the flyers were intended to get local residents' attention. To that extent, the stunt worked - it caused panic among many families in struggling communities who thought they were losing their homes.
Atrios asked, "What is wrong with these people?"
I wonder the same thing every day. I'm left with the impression that right-wing attack dogs like those with Americans for Prosperity have no sense of limits and no concept of integrity.
Steve Benen is a contributing writer to the Washington Monthly, joining the publication in August, 2008 as chief blogger for the Washington Monthly blog, Political Animal.
|
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 3411 3412 3413 3414 3415 3416 3417 3418 3419 3420 Next > End >>
|
|
Page 3412 of 3432 |
