Thursday, May 31, 2007

Senate Intel Committee Wants Legal Review of CIA Torture (8:52 pm)

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has demanded a legal review of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program for terrorism suspects as part of its version of the fiscal 2008 intelligence authorization bill.

In its report on the measure yesterday, the panel acknowledged that the CIA’s harsh interrogation methods have led to the disclosure of the identifies of terrorists and have disrupted plots, but it questioned whether such methods are “the best means to obtain a full and reliable intelligence debriefing of a detainee.”

The panel’s chairman, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), said that “significant legal issues about the CIA detention and interrogation program remain unresolved,” along with questions about the agency’s decision to operate under rules different from those governing military and law enforcement officers.

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

YouTube in Music Deal with EMI (8:47 pm)

Reuters reports:

YouTube, the Google video-sharing site, has agreed to a deal with the EMI Group to give YouTube users broad access to music videos by EMI artists.

The companies said Thursday that YouTube users would be allowed not only to watch and play authorized videos and recordings from EMI artists like Coldplay, Norah Jones and David Bowie, but also to incorporate elements of the videos in their own “user-generated content.” No financial terms were disclosed.

“With this deal, all four of the world’s major music companies are now official YouTube partners,” said Chad Hurley, chief executive and a founder of YouTube.

Last year, the Warner Music Group, the Universal Music Group and Sony BMG Entertainment each signed content deals with YouTube.

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Barbara Lee: Bush is “Dangerously Out of Touch With Reality” (10:34 am)

Josh Marshall has posted this statement by California Democratic Representative Barbara Lee on the newly announced White House Iraq policy:

“The White House announcement that they view South Korea as the model for a permanent U.S. military presence in Iraq is further evidence of how dangerously out of touch with reality this administration is.

“On a strictly historical level, the comparison is comical. A high school student could tell you that there are virtually no similarities between the Korea and Iraq. The administration’s inept attempts to come up with tortured historical analogies to try to justify a failed policy should be another reminder just how little credibility they have on the issue.

“The frightening truth is that there are obviously people within the Bush administration who believe that it is a good idea to occupy Iraq military on a permanent basis, which is why we have fought so hard in Congress to establish a clear policy to prevent permanent military bases in Iraq.

“The overwhelming majority of Iraqis want an end to the occupation, and for the White House to suggest that it will continue for another fifty years, or perhaps permanently, only fuels the insurgency and further endangers our troops.

“The American people are also calling for an end to the occupation, and the fact that the administration has responded by saying they think the occupation should be permanent just underlines not only how out of touch they are, but how critical it is for Congress to intervene to bring an end to this failed policy.”

posted by Brian Zick | 1 comment

House Hearings: “The Constitution in Crisis: The State of Civil Liberties in America” (10:25 am)

Jesse Lee at The Gavel reports:

Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-08), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, announced a series of hearings titled “The Constitution in Crisis: The State of Civil Liberties in America.” In these hearings, the Subcommittee will examine the Bush Administration’s policies, actions and programs that threaten Americans’ fundamental constitutional rights and civil liberties and also hear proposals for potential legislative fixes.

The series will begin with a hearing on June 7, 2007, which will examine the National Security Agency’s wiretapping program and the Administration’s proposals for expanding it.

“This Congress must void the blank check the White House has enjoyed for the last six years,” said Rep. Nadler. “The time for real accountability and meaningful oversight is now, and this Subcommittee will fulfill its constitutional duty to protect the fundamental freedoms of all Americans.”

Topics to be covered by the hearings include:

· The National Security Agency’s wiretapping program and proposed expansions;
· The erosion of Habeas Corpus through the Military Commissions Act;
· The sanctioning of torture through the Military Commissions Act and other government policies;
· The practice of “extraordinary rendition,” or government sponsored kidnapping;
· PATRIOT Act threats to privacy rights, including the FBI’s abuses of the National Security Letter authority and intrusions into Americans’ “Freedom to Read”;
· Government surveillance of First Amendment-protected activities; and
· The gutting of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights and Voting Rights Divisions.

“Most importantly, we will carefully examine this White House’s seeming disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law,” added Rep. Nadler. “Secret, warrantless spying, the erosion of habeas corpus, the sanction of torture, and this Administration’s contempt for the other two branches of government - these issues demand close scrutiny and congressional action.”

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Bush Administration Fights Against Meatpacker Who Wants to Test for Mad Cow Disease (6:58 am)

Rick Perlstein at Common Sense passes along this report:

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture tests less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Arkansas City-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows.

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive test, too.

A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. The ruling was to take effect Friday, but the Agriculture Department said Tuesday it would appeal — effectively delaying the testing until the court challenge plays out.

Mad cow disease is linked to more than 150 human deaths worldwide, mostly in Britain.

There have been three cases of mad cow disease identified in cattle in the U.S. The first, in December 2003 in Washington state, was in a cow that had been imported from Canada. The second, in 2005, was in a Texas-born cow. The third was confirmed last year in an Alabama cow.

The Agriculture Department argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry. U.S. District Judge James Robertson noted that Creekstone sought to use the same test the government relies on and said the government didn’t have the authority to restrict it.

Rick encapsulates the motivating philosophy:

There’s your conservatism, America: not extremism in defense of liberty. State socialism in defense of Mad Cow.

via Christy at firedoglake

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Judge Walton to Release Letters to Court at Libby Sentencing Hearing (6:33 am)

Emptywheel at The Next Hurrah reports that Judge Walton will release letters sent to the court, which

has received more than one hundred and fifty sentencing letters in this case, some urging for leniency for the dependent and some expressing opprobium at the defendant’s actions and calling for the imposition of a substantial prison sentence.

She quotes several passages from Walton’s order, including this:

To the extent that the defendant believes that the sentencing letters contain private information about the letters’ authors (other than home addresses and telephone numbers) that should, in his estimation, be redacted before the letters are publicly disclosed, he should immediately, but no later than 9:00 a.m. on June 4, 2007, identify this information to the court in an ex parte submission. However, the Court advises the defendant that it will not be inclined to redact such information unless it is plainly sensitive or confidential.

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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Republicans Way Ahead of Democrats as Subjects of Criminal Investigation (9:07 pm)

Charles Babington for AP reports:

A half dozen federal investigations into the activities of Republican lawmakers are raising new worries for GOP leaders who hope to regain the House majority they lost last fall.
(…)
Two House Democrats are the focus of federal investigations. Rep. William J. Jefferson, D-La., has been under scrutiny in a bribery investigation since at least 2005, when FBI agents found $90,000 in his home freezer. The Justice Department also is investigating whether Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., benefited from steering federal funds to nonprofit groups he helped start. Both Jefferson and Mollohan easily won re-election last year.
(…)
Ethics cases elsewhere aren’t helping Republicans. Democrats are using subpoenas to dig into the administration’s firing of several federal prosecutors. They’re also monitoring news reports from Alaska saying that business associates, friends and a son of veteran GOP Sen. Ted Stevens are under investigation in a long-running corruption probe.

The situation troubles some conservative activists. Especially under criticism is the House GOP leaders’ decision to replace one embattled member of the coveted Appropriations Committee with another.

Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., left the committee in April after FBI agents raided his Washington-area home. His wife, Julie, ran a business from the home in which she received commissions as a paid fundraiser for her husband’s campaigns and her clients included now-jailed GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Doolittle’s committee seat went to Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif. The FBI retrieved copies of Calvert’s annual financial disclosure statements following reports last year that Calvert... read more

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Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility Investigate DoJ for Illegalities (8:47 pm)

Margaret Talev and Greg Gordon for McClatchy report:

The Justice Department is expanding its internal inquiry to look into new allegations that senior department officials improperly filled career jobs based on applicants’ Republican or conservative credentials.

In a joint announcement Wednesday, officials at the department’s Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility said their inquiry now included scrutiny of hiring in the Civil Rights Division, which oversees voting rights.

Politicization of civil service positions could violate department policy or federal law.