ThinkFast: July 9, 2009
ThinkFast: July 9, 2009
“CIA Director Leon Panetta recently testified to Congress that the agency concealed information and misled lawmakers repeatedly since 2001, according to a letter from seven House Democrats to Panetta made public Wednesday.” But the letter “contained no details about what information the CIA officials allegedly concealed, or how they purportedly misled members of Congress.”
“President Obama threatened to veto the pending Intelligence Authorization Bill if it included a provision that would allow information about covert actions to be given to the entire House and Senate Intelligence Committees, rather than the so-called Gang of Eight.” The White House claimed an expansion would undermine “a long tradition spanning decades of comity between the branches regarding intelligence matters.”
The state of Massachusetts sued the U.S government yesterday over the federal Defense of Marriage Act, a law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, arguing that it “interferes with the right of Massachusetts to define and regulate marriage as it sees fit.” Massachusetts was the first state to legalize gay marriage.
As the G8 met yesterday, the “world’s biggest developing nations, led by China and India” refused at a separate meeting to “commit to specific goals for slashing heat-trapping gases by 2050.” Instead, negotiators “embraced a goal of preventing temperatures from rising more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, and developing nations agreed to make ‘meaningful’ if unspecified reductions in emissions.”
Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and an occasional economic adviser to President Obama, said he thinks a second stimulus may be necessary. “I think that a second one may well be called for,” he told Good Morning America today. But, he added, “you hope it doesn’t get watered down in many ways.”
Although two-thirds of country “lives in large metropolitan areas, home to the nation’s worst traffic jams and some of its oldest roads and bridges,” these cities and their surrounding regions are “getting less than half the money from the biggest pot of transportation stimulus money.” Urban advocates worry that the disparities could “hurt the nation’s economic engines.”
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) “knew more than a year ago” that Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) was “having an affair with a staffer –- and he reportedly urged Ensign to end the relationship and pay a substantial sum of money to the staffer and her husband.” When asked about the allegation, “Coburn’s office confirmed that the he knew about Ensign’s affair and had urged him to end it.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is “looking to force a vote as early as this week on the stalled nomination of Robert Groves to lead the Census Bureau,” despite the fact that Sens. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Tom Carper (D-DE) continue to have holds on his nomination.
President Obama has selected Dr. Francis Collins, a scientist who led the Human Genome Project, to be the next director of the National Institutes of Health. He has been a champion of “personalized medicine,” which hopes to harvest the fruits of the genomics revolution in the form of better and safer clinical care.
And finally: The Daily Show’s John Oliver excoriated the media at yesterday’s Campus Progress National Conference. When some students insisted that the Daily Show was more valuable than cable news, Oliver replied that the statement was “not a compliment to us, it’s a well-aimed insult to them.” He subtly dinged MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, and said that Fox News’s Glenn Beck and right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh were “almost a joke within themselves…beneath contempt.”
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Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) “knew more than a year ago” that Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) was having an affair with a staffer –- and he reportedly urged Ensign to end the relationship and pay a substantial sum of money to the staffer and her husband.” When asked about the allegation, “Coburn’s office confirmed that the he knew about Ensign’s affair and had urged him to end it.”
Coburn’s “idea” was for Ensign to pay off the husband like he’s some kind of pimp ?
Guess this is the GOP’s idea of a personal stimulus package…..
July 9th, 2009 at 9:04 am“CIA Director Leon Panetta recently testified to Congress that the agency concealed information and misled lawmakers repeatedly since 2001,
well, duh
Still, it’s chilling to hear it finally admitted to
July 9th, 2009 at 9:08 am“President Obama threatened to veto the pending Intelligence Authorization Bill if it included a provision that would allow information about covert actions to be given to the entire House and Senate Intelligence Committees, rather than the so-called Gang of Eight.” The White House claimed an expansion would undermine “a long tradition spanning decades of comity between the branches regarding intelligence matters.”
It’s sad how power corrupts.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:11 amTransparency my ass.
“CIA Director Leon Panetta recently testified to Congress that the agency concealed information and misled lawmakers repeatedly since 2001, according to a letter from seven House Democrats to Panetta made public Wednesday.”
George Tenet made the decision to be Bush’s butt boy himself.
He has to live with that decision now.
He rolled over & played dead with Valerie Plame when he got ‘Cheneyed’, too.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:11 amThat’s why he got the ‘Medal of Freedumb’…
developing nations agreed to make ‘meaningful’ if unspecified reductions in emissions.”
And the health insurance industry is going to commit to reducing costs of an unspecified amount sometime in the future…
Can I bid on a bridge somewhere?
July 9th, 2009 at 9:13 amThis is really disappointing, I didn’t work my butt off campaigning in the red state of Indiana and taking all the crap from the righties for Obama to get this result, too much politics as usual – standing in the way of real progress.
Senate Democrats Still Seeking GOP Support
Balance of Power Not Changed Much By Supermajority
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/08/AR2009070803884.html?hpid=topnews
‘caucus leaders and President Obama would like at least some Republican backing on key measures so they can say they are enacting a bipartisan agenda’
Why does it matter that there is backing from the party of failure?
July 9th, 2009 at 9:13 amRUCeriousMaggot! Says:
——————————————————————————–
developing nations agreed to make ‘meaningful’ if unspecified reductions in emissions.”
And the health insurance industry is going to commit to reducing costs of an unspecified amount sometime in the future…
Can I bid on a bridge somewhere?
July 9th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Start with the one in Alaska………..
July 9th, 2009 at 9:14 amMcMetal, aren’t you surprised that Coburn didn’t blackmail Ensign into videotaping for his private porn collection?
July 9th, 2009 at 9:14 amJustJohn….It’s like someone’s thinking…
If we just kiss their butts enough the party of NO will turn into the party of ON!
July 9th, 2009 at 9:15 amRUCeriousMaggot! Says:
——————————————————————————–
McMetal, aren’t you surprised that Coburn didn’t blackmail Ensign into videotaping for his private porn collection?
July 9th, 2009 at 9:14 am
I’m more surprised he didn’t ask to be in it…………
July 9th, 2009 at 9:15 amhttp://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Pool-Boots-Kids-Who-Might-Change-the-Complexion.html
There may be more to this story, as the various spin machines start working. But I’m appalled that there are still pockets of this country still living in the 1950’s. Even if it’s a private club.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:16 amThe state of Massachusetts sued the U.S government yesterday over the federal Defense of Marriage Act, a law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, arguing that it “interferes with the right of Massachusetts to define and regulate marriage as it sees fit.” Massachusetts was the first state to legalize gay marriage.
It’s nice that we get way more ‘good news’ now that Bush the Decider is gone… I’m not holding my breath, but I do hope we’ve learned our lesson about the importance of electing smart people who weren’t born with silver spoons in tehir mouths.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:16 amWhite House Threatens Veto Of Bill To Alter National Security Briefings
We know paneta is a lying liar and that the cia has been lying about its activities, avoiding accountability, for many many years.
The real question should be “WHY IS OBAMA SELLING-US OUT ON HIS PLEDGE FOR “TRANSPARENCY”.
No wonder paneta thinks his agency can lie to congress and everyone else. In this example, he is so smug and thumbing his nose at them in his testimony.
Why is obama letting this thug run the show and why won’t obama deliver on the transparency he ran on.
This should not be about paneta, he’s doing what he was hired to do. It should be about this administration failure to deliver on campaign promises.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:16 amThe CIA concealed information and mislead lawmakers repeatedly since 2001
No shit Sherlock. Duh!
They were under orders from the self-appointed ‘decider’, chimpy-in-chief to break the law.
Lying to Congress is a FELONY!
Butt then, chimpy said that the Constitution is just a God damned piece of paper
Nuremberg II 2009
July 9th, 2009 at 9:16 amHang the bastards
Pannetta admits the CIA misled Congress repeatedly since 2001.
Let the wave of apologies to Nancy Pelosi begin.
What? No Republicans lining up to apologize to her? How unlike them.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:18 amGo for it Mass! Let’s see how wide the conservative’s ”
July 9th, 2009 at 9:18 amstance” on states rights stance really is.
Constantly ignored in the reprting on the Ensign Affair…ummm affair…is the fact that the wife and Ensign kept going at it, whilst the hubby and his weird Christian cabal tried to figure out how to end it.
So why was the bubby putting up with the continuing affair?
Why was the wife continuing the affair?
And it seems to me like she is being treated as chattel( and I’ve no sympathy for her), as in old timey BIBBLE times.
“Hey stop buying my wife!”
“Why? She likes it!”
“Okay then, I’ll rent her to you”
What a quality bunch of people!
July 9th, 2009 at 9:18 amJustJohn – it appears that some need an excuse to sell us out. Rather than accept responsibility for the disjoint between their rhetoric and actions, many dems (and obama) would rather pretend that “YES WE CAN” only means if the marginalized folks responsible for dur chimpfurher’s faided policies approve.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:19 amJustJohn Says: Why does it matter that there is backing from the party of failure?
Great question.
Waiting for Republics to do the right thing is a complete waste of valuable time.
They’ve had a chance to display bipartisanship, & abhor the idea. They actually think cooperation will make them look weak to their base.
Look at what they’re doing to Sotomoyar. They’re trying to make it into some kind of racist soup. They don’t care what the facts are, their only purpose is to delay, obfuscate and derail any positive outcome to progressive efforts.
Republics, you’ve been given adequate time to play nice…it’s time we kicked you off the playground.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:20 amSlow down, Uncle Ho, the current administration has done nothing but back the previous administration in these areas so far.
Yes, hold the chimpy criminal cabal behind dur chimpfurher, but that can’t happen if obama gets a free pass on the same issues.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:21 amWhen some students insisted that the Daily Show was more valuable than cable news, Oliver replied that the statement was “not a compliment to us, it’s a well-aimed insult to them.”
Precisely why Education Reform is so critical. We’re making sheep, not thinkers because the Conservative choke hold on the US under-Eucation system prevents actually challenging students, teaching them critical thinking skills, or anything else useful. Because people believe everything that CNNMSNBCFox tells them, they vote against their own self-interests.
Were it not for the internet, 1984 would be playing out in reality in our country right now.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:21 amJust a thought on Obama’s decision to limit intel to the “Gang of 8″ vs. the entire Congress…
While I would prefer a bit more openness, I wonder if this is a sign of President Obama coming to the realization just how little he can trust Republican members of Congress with sensitive information, and therefor, feels more comfortable liming that information to a very select group of pre-screened representatives?
July 9th, 2009 at 9:23 am5th Estate – was it three-way or perhaps wife swapping?
July 9th, 2009 at 9:23 amAnother Joe..,
The only reason I can think of that Obama is maintaining some of Bush’s secrecy policies is that the intelleginece community ( and DOJ) is still so riddled with ‘bad actors’ that he has to winkle them out ‘behind the scenes’, other wise a more public effort for reform would be publicly sabotaged by those same ‘bad actors’.
I;m not saying that IS Obama’s reason, I’m just saying that would be a good reason (and its the only one can think of).
(So the secrecy policies work for him in the corridors of power, but they work against him in the public arena.)
July 9th, 2009 at 9:24 ammugsy – maybe he is getting thought rays beamed into his head from republican-leaning aliens that have taken over control of his thought process…
interesting speculation, but endlessly making up “strategic” reasons why obama’s actions do not match his campaign rhetoric just gives them a “free pass”.
Occam’s razor applies here.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:27 amAnother Joe Says: 5th Estate – was it three-way or perhaps wife swapping?
July 9th, 2009 at 9:29 amSorry, AJ, I’ve been sworn to secrecy ( by which I mean I’ve just been appointed head of the Bin Laden unit in Antigua, plus unlimited skidoos. I am 19 ). :D
5th estate – who knows, maybe legitimate point. But if that was the case, surely there is a better way to take care of it than continuing to enable and empower those “bad actors”.
If what you say is true – that is even more reason to hold their feet to the fires and insist on accountability.
We do not help the Obama and the dems by accepting the morph into republican light. That plays into their hands and will be their downfall.
Biden is already stating that the stimulus package was oversold – failure to create meaningful change means that in time, the mainstream media and repugs/neocons will eventually successfully dump responsibility for dur chimpfurher mess into obama’s lap.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:31 amI’ve just been appointed head of the Bin Laden unit in Antigua
Oh oh – does this mean that you are also rooting for bin laden to attack us again?
July 9th, 2009 at 9:34 amJustJohn Says
July 9th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Why does it matter that there is backing from the party of failure?
_____________________________________________________________
At this point, most of us can see that the GOP is committed to being a hindrance, and all efforts to include them in any process are futile. It appears President Obama remains optimistic for bipartisanship, but I wonder how long that will last. In the “lead, follow, or get out of the way” list of options, the GOP needs to be made to go with the last one, since they’ve failed at leading and they’re clearly not interested in following.
Imagine being on a boat, and it’s sinking. The only hope of saving the boat is to bail like mad and attempt to fix the leaks — an effort that would be much easier if everyone on board pitched in to help. However, there’s a group on board who not only refuse to help, they do everything they can to block access to the bailing buckets. Why? Because they WANT the boat to sink, so they can blame the captain for it. In this situation, the captain has to move forward with an aggressive plan to save the ship without the participation of the naysayers. Yes, there’s a chance the ship might still sink anyway. But there’s a bigger chance the ship can be saved and made seaworthy again.
At some point, President Obama will have to quit trying to build consensus with people who are only focused on his destruction and move ahead without them.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:34 am“CIA Director Leon Panetta recently testified to Congress that the agency concealed information and misled lawmakers repeatedly since 2001
And cue the Right Wing apology to Nancy Pelosi in 3… 2… 1…
– uh, what?
Whaddaya mean it’s not gonna happen?
July 9th, 2009 at 9:36 amSen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) “knew more than a year ago” that Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) was having an affair with a staffer –-
Everytime one of these Republicans gets busted we hear that all the other Republicans knew about their transgressions all along. What the hell is going on with these guys?
July 9th, 2009 at 9:37 amAnother Joe says:
True, breaking the law by Bush was wrong then, and is just as wrong under Obama. No free passes for Obama for continuing Bush’s perversion of basic rights.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:37 amI voted for Obama, and he’s disappointed many of us by tacking right after the election, continuing many of chimpy’s policies, and not arresting the Bushies.
Sorry, Mugsy… I see you beat me to the punch.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:38 amRe: the Security committee there’s the troublesome issue of Garbage In = Garbage Out.
That applies to both the information given them by the CIA, and the committee members themselves.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:39 amThe lack of rational cynicism nad exhibited by the committee regarding the Iraq justifications and wire-tapping was absolutely staggering to me.
That it never seemed to occur to some of them that there might be an agenda behind the claims and demands, and the failure to independently question what they were being told was impressively naive and amateurish.
Obama, being a middle of the road democrat, not a progressive democrat, will always side with the status-quo when it comes to the CIA and intelligence issues. People who bought the line that Obama was the most left leaning Senator in congress, got suckered by the repug BS. Obama is only a small step in the direction this country needs to go, before we really get a progressive in the white house.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:41 amAnother Joe “We do not help the Obama and the dems by accepting the morph into republican light”
Well maybe if the Republicans would quit being such whining sexy-time secessionist drama queens and just STFU for a bit, we could spend more time getting Obama’s and the Dems attention ( THEY have to deal with that crap too). :D
July 9th, 2009 at 9:45 amangels81, you nailed it.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:45 amAnyone who has read his books sees middle of the road, conciliationist, incrementalism at the core of his political philosophy.
Well said, angels.
The Right screamed “Most Liberal Senator” as a shriek of alarm, but it seems many progressives bought it as a hope for the future. Never mind that Obama’s record said otherwise, or that the Right had screamed the exact same thing about John Kerry four years earlier.
As annoying as Another Joe and his comrades in the Left-wing “Obama Sux” brigade can be, they do raise an important point; it’s up to the Left to push Obama into places he’s politically uncomfortable to go. I suppose overwrought hysterics could be an effective part of that effort…
July 9th, 2009 at 9:49 amYou are so right about President Obama. When the idiots on the right were screaming that he was Karl Marx, I kept trying to tell them that he is really Bill Clinton.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:49 amThe mistake some on the left have taken, is they think Obama is one of us, and they expect him to be something he is not. We on the left will have to fight hard to get Obama to become more progressive when it comes to issues like the CIA and intelligence, healthcare, the war ect, ect. His strong suit is he is a middle of the road politician who will always look for consenus, that is why he is only a small step in the right direction to fixing this country.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:52 amThe more President Obama pushes for bipartisanship, the more the Republican Party pushes back. As noted above, they, in unison, block, delay, decry, and otherwise try to destroy any progressive attempt.
Evangelical christians now make up the base and bulk of the Republican Party, which has driven off true conservatives. People now see the Republican Party as the party of social conservatives. It has the mind-set of a cult.
True conservatives, and the country needs those folks as a counterbalance, are left to become either libertarians or independents.
Evangelical christians, like any cult, will never compromise. They see the world as black and white. If you are one of them, you are good (no matter what you do). If you are not one of them, you are of the devil and therefore bad (no matter what you do).
Obama’s push for bipartisanship is one way to aid the Republican Party complete its purge of thinking people. Anyone who expresses independent thought is not “one of us” to an evangelical christian. We’ve seen that by how those who do are immediately and visciously ostracized. If 70% of Republicans would now support a Palin candadicy, that is a clear indication of how few thinking people still identify themselves as Republicans.
The upside of this is that the Republican Party is contracting. The downside is – well, think Jonestown, on a national level.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:53 amThe state of Massachusetts sued the U.S government yesterday over the federal Defense of Marriage Act, a law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, arguing that it “interferes with the right of Massachusetts to define and regulate marriage as it sees fit.”
What’s a COPer to do? Decry Massachusetts opposition to DOMA, or applaud STATE’S RIGHTS?
Awkwaaaardd!
July 9th, 2009 at 9:53 am(My guess is that they’ll side with DOMA, ‘cos any state that acknowledges gays as equal citizens therefore rescinds its equality with proper God-fearing states–according to them).
“…and developing nations agreed to make ‘meaningful’ if unspecified reductions in emissions.”
OK, since China and India have all of our jobs now, can we stop referring to them as “developing nations”?
July 9th, 2009 at 9:53 amat least 2 times now i’ve seen/heard jon stewart/the daily show
“ding” olbermann and even rachel, equating them to fox/limpbone…
pisses me off.
no no no, jon et al… there is a HUGE difference – TRUTH.
jeez… we finally get some truth tellers on the tv and a comedy show tries to knock tham down…
it’s about the TRUTH, jon… the TRUTH.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:07 amThe problem seems to arise in defining truth…
July 9th, 2009 at 10:35 amI don’t hold it against Obama when he wants to limit the number of persons available to classified information on sensitive issues. Haven’t we seen enough of repugs who put party over the best interests of the nation?
July 9th, 2009 at 10:46 amI realize the seeming inconsistency between what I decried in Buch&CO with what I can accept in Obama, but Bush never gave Dems full information even if their status allowed it, kept them out of meetings they should have attended, and then used it against the Dems. Obama wants to keep the bipartisan briefings but he doesn’t want more than necessary.
He’s bipartisan to the point of being maddening – we shouldn’t knock him when he wants to impose limits even if those limits affect dems as well as repugs.
So, pelosi calls for a “truth commission” to get to the bottom of the “torture” issue. “Truth Commission” finds proof that pelosi was involved and now she’s blocking the “truth commission” from releasing their findings? Unbelievable!
July 9th, 2009 at 11:12 amNancy tortured people?Must be those San Fran values of her’s…
July 9th, 2009 at 11:15 amdbadass, I think our Republican friend who claims to love facts is laboring under some misconception of what exactly a “fact” is.
He seems to think “fact” is another word for “Pop-Tart™”.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:17 amSeeing the flurry of PANETTA SAID, PANETTA DENIED HE SAID, CIA DENIED, etc.
Is there any question left that we need to get these guys under an official deposition so their words are recorded (both on paper and in a legal sense ?)
July 9th, 2009 at 11:53 amralph the wonder locust says:
RLF seems to think “fact” is another word for “Pop-Fart”
I fixed it for you. LOL
July 9th, 2009 at 12:15 pmAlthough two-thirds of country “lives in large metropolitan areas, home to the nation’s worst traffic jams and some of its oldest roads and bridges,” these cities and their surrounding regions are “getting less than half the money from the biggest pot of transportation stimulus money.
Two points:
1. Infrastructure stimulus money was a relatively small portion of the plan, especially in comparison to China’s simulus plan.
2. The Obama team pushed infrastructure via a separate $10 billion National Infrastructure Bank. Private equity underwriters (PEU’s) have billions in infrastructure funds ready to invest. They want money making projects, one with population densities to generate tolls, fees, etc. The Obama stimulus fits with socialize the losses (rural infrastructure(, privatize the gains (urban infrastructure).
July 9th, 2009 at 12:23 pmGood morning, all – very impressive comments this morning, especially from missmolly, angels81 and Briseadh!!
Gotta tell ya, MissM – if those Republicans were in MY lifeboat – I’d throw their asses overboard right quick. ;o)
July 9th, 2009 at 12:37 pmLeftside Annie says:
July 9th, 2009 at 12:46 pmI concur-any Repiggies in my boat would be shark-bait real quick.
Marie @ 48,
July 9th, 2009 at 1:40 pmExcellent point about not giving the regreedicans too much info. They would just put their own spin on it and use it against Obama.
The CIA lied to a bunch of self serving politicians who have repeatedly divulged and leaked information for personal and political gain in the past? WOW that is encouraging. At least our premier international intelligence gathering apparatus is learning. Unfortunately the American people seem to be lagging on the learning curve as usual…
July 9th, 2009 at 3:01 pmHow does this reconcile with Panetta’s pushback on Rep. Pelosi over her statements on torture briefings?
July 9th, 2009 at 4:03 pmThanks
July 9th, 2009 at 7:35 pmAn honest politician is one who when he is bought will stay bought. – Simon Cameron, US politician, 1860
Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him. -Charles de Gaulle, French soldier and Statesman, 1962
The most distinctive characteristic of the successfjul politician is selective cowardice. -Richard Harris, British actor, 1968
A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar. – H.L. Menchen, US Essayist, philologiest and critic 1958
Reminds one of the Republican party, doesn’t it?
July 10th, 2009 at 2:22 pm