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ThinkFast PM: June 12, 2006

By ThinkProgress on Jun 12, 2006 at 6:40 pm

Wired.com is courtroom-blogging the ACLU’s suit against the federal government over warrantless domestic surveillance.

“The former coal industry executive who told the U.S. Senate the nation’s mining laws are adequate — just weeks after a series of disasters killed 15 miners — faces a critical vote Tuesday in the Senate, as the Bush administration attempts to make him the top coal mine safety cop.”

With college debt rates at crippling levels, Rep. George Miller (D-CA) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) have proposed legislation that would cut interest rates on student and parent college loans in half beginning July 1, 2006. Click here for a calculator to show how much you’d save.

Billmon has a great compilation on permanent bases in Iraq, Base Motives.

Conservative talk host Michael Savage says liberals could turn Zarqawi “into a hero even though he killed thousands of people and was arrested for sexual molestation in Jordan. … He was an altogether piece of human offal, you know. He was like a [Rep. John] Murtha — he was like a human Murtha.”

Santorum’s mixed messages: The English version of Sen. Rick Santorum’s (R-PA) website “referenced the ‘amnesty-ridden proposal’ the U.S. Senate adopted to deal with illegal immigration. But the version for Spanish readers ‘made no mention of amnesty in its discourse on immigration.’”

And finally: Volvo moves one step closer to Mr. Fusion, creating a prototype car that runs on five different types of fuels.

What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.

Security

NSA Blocking Whistleblower From Telling Committee About Shocking, Illegal Activities

By Faiz Shakir on Jun 12, 2006 at 3:47 pm

Last month, ThinkProgress reported that NSA whistleblower Russell Tice would meet with members of the Senate Armed Services Committee to discuss undisclosed unlawful activity that the Agency has engaged in. “I think the people I talk to next week are going to be shocked when I tell them what I have to tell them,” Tice said.

Since that time, little has been reported of Tice’s meeting. CongressDaily (sub. req’d) follows-up today, “Tice met last month in a closed session with senior staff from the Senate Armed Services Committee. Tice said he told the staffers everything he knew. But he said the aides did not say how, or if, they would follow up on his allegations.”

CongressDaily also reports that House Government Reform National Security Subcommittee, through its Chairman Christopher Shays (R-CT) and ranking member Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), is seeking to interview Tice, but the NSA is resisting.

Tice said his information is different from the terrorist surveillance program that President Bush acknowledged in December and from news accounts last month that the NSA has been secretly collecting phone call records of millions of Americans. Because he worked on special access programs, however, it has not been clear on Capitol Hill which committees have jurisdiction to debrief him. Shays and Kucinich gave the NSA until Friday to explain any legal reason why they cannot interview him. But that deadline passed without a response, and a subcommittee aide today called the missed deadline troubling.

Shays and Kucinich had originally asked the NSA to give them a reason by May 26, but the agency asked for an extension until June 9. NSA spokesman Don Weber said today that the agency “is performing due diligence in developing a response to the committee’s request,” but added that Tice has not notified the agency of the alleged illegal activity. Tice said he does not believe he needs to notify the agency of his allegations.

Congress deserves to hear from Tice, who has a history for blowing the whistle on serious misconduct. He was one of the sources that revealed the administration’s warrantless domestic spying program to the New York Times.

Politics

“Apologizing for Iraq,”

By ThinkProgress on Jun 12, 2006 at 3:19 pm

by the National Review’s John Derbyshire: “The lazy-minded evangelico-romanticism of George W. Bush, the bureaucratic will to power of Donald Rumsfeld, the avuncular condescension of Dick Cheney, and the reflexive military deference of Colin Powell combined to get us into a situation we never wanted to be in, a situation no self-respecting nation ought to be in, a situation we don’t know how to get out of.” (Actually, we have a pretty good idea of how to get out of it.)

Politics

SOURCE: Obscure Trade Settlement Could Create $480 Million Slush Fund for White House

By Judd Legum on Jun 12, 2006 at 1:54 pm

The resolution of an obscure trade dispute involving imports of Canadian lumber to the United States could result in a $480 million slush fund for the White House, according to a lawyer familiar with the case.

For years, the United States has been in contentious litigation with Canada over tariffs imposed on Canadian lumber imports. Canada maintained that tariffs imposed on lumber imports to the United States violated the rules of NAFTA and the WTO. Pending the resolution of the litigation, the Department of the Treasury held these tariffs in an account which now contains five billion dollars.

The United States lost virtually every major aspect of the litigation for the last five years, and as a result, a settlement seem elusive. Then, last April, the United States and Canada reached a surprise agreement. Here’s what we know about the deal from public sources:

– $4 billion dollars from the account will be returned to Canada. $1 billion will be returned to the United States. Of the $1 billion dollars that will remain in the United States, half is designated to the U.S. lumber industry.

– The remaining $500 million is to be split between “a joint initiative benefiting the North American lumber market” and “meritorious initiatives in the United States” such as “Katrina reconstruction.” (The New York Times reported that it is “not clear what will happen” with the money slated for this purpose.)

– The deal was struck after direct communication between President Bush and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who are political allies and personal friends.

ThinkProgress spoke with a lawyer familiar with the case, who said the following about the agreement:

– The United States is requesting $480 million for “meritorious initiatives” and just $20 million of the joint initiative benefiting the North American Lumber market.

– The agreement contains a complicated escrow system that may allow the $480 million to be funneled from the Treasury Department to the White House.

– It is the position of U.S. negotiators that Congress does not need to have any involvement in the deal.

ThinkProgress contacted the U.S. Office of the Trade Representative. A spokesman said that he didn’t know if the White House would be involved in dispersing the funds or if Congress would be consulted, and was doubtful he would “be able to discern” this information in the future.

The fact that hundreds of millions of dollars may be headed to the White House with no oversight raises the possibility of abuse — especially five months before a federal election. This is a significant amount of money and the administration should explain exactly how it will be spent and who will be overseeing the process.

Media

Friedman Defends Repeated Prediction That ‘The Next Six Months Are Crucial’ In Iraq

By Judd Legum on Jun 12, 2006 at 11:20 am

Since 2003, Tom Friedman has repeatedly predicted that “the next six months are crucial” in Iraq. (FAIR documents it here.) This weekend on CNN, Friedman defended his remarks, saying “the story’s evolving.” He also attacked those on the left and right who criticize him, saying they “want to be proven right.” Watch it:

At no point did Friedman admit — or even suggest — he was ever wrong.

Full Transcript: Read more

Politics

ThinkFast AM: June 12, 2006

By ThinkProgress on Jun 12, 2006 at 9:03 am

The neoconservative think tank Project for a New American Century “looks to be heading toward closing” because there is a sense of “goal accomplished.” Founders included Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and “Scooter” Libby, who argued in 1998 that “removing Saddam Hussein and his regime…now needs to become the aim of American foreign policy.”

In a federal district court in Detroit today, ACLU lawyers will argue that the NSA’s wiretapping programs violate the U.S. Constitution and the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The ACLU is asking the program be halted, while Justice Department lawyers have asked the judge to dismiss the suit because it would reveal state secrets.

The proportion of students who are leaving college with some level of unmanageable debt “” debt they can’t repay without significant hardship “” is swelling. The average college senior graduated this year with more than $19,000 in debt. Policy choices – like the freezing of the minimum wage and the shift in the tax burden from the rich to the rest – “have starved public services while leaving ordinary Americans more dependent than ever on debt.”

With Bush administration support, states are now moving aggressively to transform Medicaid, the nation’s largest public health insurance program. Having won greater freedom from federal rules, states are adding fees, restricting benefits, and privatizing parts of the program that covers 55 million poor and disabled Americans.

After the suicides of three Guantanamo detainees, the European Union has called for the prison to be closed. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Colleen Graffy drew criticism for describing the suicides as a “good PR move to draw attention.” Read more

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