Fitz!

Fiona is 1st.

“Our guest for the Blue America chat this Saturday will be Roger Sharpe, in the toughest race we’ve introduced so far. It’s in North Carolina’s Piedmont area (NC-05)”

YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Being front-paged gives me the tingles!

Re: previous thread:

from Dan Froomkin’s column: The Associated Press reports; “President Bush will make a prime-time address from the Oval Office on Monday to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

“White House press secretary Tony Snow said the administration had requested network time for the address at 9:01 p.m. EDT. The address is expected to run 16 to 18 minutes, he said. . .

Is this a clue that there’s been a change in programming? Or were/are they planning to interrupt the miniseries for this speech from Bush?

Thanks for posting the link to the “Have You Had Enough?” video. I love it too and Mike is working on versions for supporters of Jerry McNerney (CA-11), Nancy Johnson (CT-05), Charlie Brown (CA-04) and for several other races. Meanwhile, we’re trying to collect donations at the Blue America PAC to put the 60-second radio spots up for our favorite congressional races. I’m eager to hear which races FDL community members are most excited about us concentrating on.

I was about to correct you about there being no WA-35 district, then I realized that’s the 35th state legislative district, which looks like this. It’s on the southern end of the Olympic Penninsula, and includes Bremerton, Silverdale, Shelton, and at least part of Tumwater. Other than that, it’s sparsely populated, and is, or at least was, prime timber country.

Thanks for the heads up on Sheldon, Howie.
Makes me wonder if he and McGavick are BFF.

(((((TOMMY, HOWIE, and RICKIE LEE)))))

D’ja see the good news for Jay Fawcett this morning too?

Ratchere!

Check out NY Times review of Path to 9/11. Seems that Allessandra Stanley got an advance copy. You know she’s going to softball ABC with the statement that
” All mini-series Photoshop the facts’The Path to 9/11′ is not a documentary, or even a docu-drama; it is a fictionalized account of what took place.” She also states that ABC is “under assault by bloggers”.

My favorite quote:

“The Sept. 11 commission concluded that the sex scandal distracted the Clinton administration from the terrorist threat.”

She goes on to acknolwedge that the scandal was a result of the right wing impeachment, but then makes a bizarre comparison of such republicasn to “widows sickened by the memory of spats about dirty dishes and gambling debts.”

I didn’t read the commission report but did they make such a determination???

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09…..8path.html

In the WA 35 race, just wondering if there’s another dem on the ticket against Sheldon (as we have not had our primary yet). The state Senate majority is not that large for the Dems so at least want to make sure it remains in Dem hands. That being said, Sheldon is good buds w/ my ex, who is also a state legislator.

Busted (#7), when you get a chance, read that transcript I link to. Close your eyes and you’ll swear you’re listening to an even nastier version of Lieberman.

Howie –

During Wednesday’s Blue America, you asked if twice a week is too much. Absolutely not — in fact, I think you should go to a three times a week schedule: Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

The election season is upon us, and our Blue America Democrats need all the help they can get. The more they see of the netroots, the better the chances they will pick up some fightin’ Democrat attitude.

moe99 (#10)– yes, a great one. The woman who was endorsed by the Democratic Party– and by conservation groups, women’s groups, native American groups, gay groups, civil rights groups, every progressive organization in the state– is Kyle Taylor Lucas.

Just got back from the mall. I was just about to pay for a new pair of pajamas until I noticed the Disney tag hanging. Alas, I had to put them back on the rack. I really needed new bolg attire too…….thanks Disney.

OfT, FWIW

I just received this, this morning from my ABC affiliate. It looks to me like their standard response.

John –

Thank you for your e-mail comments on The Path to 9/11, the ABC Network
program scheduled to be aired on Sunday and Monday.

We are aware that there has been a great deal of advance publicity and
speculation about this network presentation. We urge interested viewers to
watch the show and make up their own mind about the content. ABC has
provided the following statement and will use graphics during the program
to reinforce the fact that this show is a dramatization:

“The Path to 9/11 is a dramatization, not a documentary, drawn from a
variety of sources, including the 9/11 commission report, other published
materials and from personal interviews. The events that lead to 9/11
originally sparked great debate, so it’s not surprising that a movie
surrounding those events has revived the debate. The attacks were a
pivotal moment in our history that should never be forgotten and it’s
fitting that the discussion continues.”

Thank you for taking the time to contact WISN-TV with your concerns.

Margie Gehrman
WISN 12 Administration
414-935-3402 – phone
414-342-4486 – fax

I will continue to keep up the pressure as time allows.

moe99 @ 10:09am (#10)

In the WA 35 race, just wondering if there’s another dem on the ticket against Sheldon (as we have not had our primary yet). The state Senate majority is not that large for the Dems so at least want to make sure it remains in Dem hands. That being said, Sheldon is good buds w/ my ex, who is also a state legislator.

Yes, Kyle Taylor Lucas is running against him. According to Howie’s article, the Washington State Democrats endorsed Taylor. They had a debate, and here’s the transcript (h/t DownWithTyranny):

http://www.theolympian.com/app…..22006/1103

This may be off topic, but I thought I would mention that US Senator Russ Feingold is having a Question and Answer Session in Jacksonville, Florida, this Sunday.

Russ Feingold

Event Date: Sunday, September 10, 2006
Event Time: 1:00 PM

Venue Name: University of North Florida Fine Arts Center

Here is the DFA link.

Just in case anyone else on FDL lives in this god-forsaken part of Florida.

OT – VIDEO: Bill Bennett Says ABC Should ‘Correct Those Inaccuracies’ in Path to 9/11

When propaganda becomes entertainment
the terrorists have won.

-ck- (#12), oy!

I don’t want to stress out everyone’s credit cards. But the response was so overwhelming that we don’t go back to once a week, that I’ll keep doing Wednesdays and Saturdays. By the way, the money came flooding in for Chris Carney. Last time I looked we were over $2,000.

I really do want everyone to think about which race or two we should target with out “Have you Had Enough” ads. SayNoToPombo already has their customized version up at their My Space page. And Chris Murphy supporters in CT-05 tell me they will be able to raise money on their own, just in the district, to run the 60-second radio spots there.

pooch @ 10

Check out NY Times review of Path to 9/11. Seems that Allessandra Stanley got an advance copy. You know she’s going to softball ABC with the statement that
” All mini-series Photoshop the facts’The Path to 9/11′ is not a documentary, or even a docu-drama; it is a fictionalized account of what took place.” She also states that ABC is “under assault by bloggers”.

My favorite quote:

“The Sept. 11 commission concluded that the sex scandal distracted the Clinton administration from the terrorist threat.”

She goes on to acknolwedge that the scandal was a result of the right wing impeachment, but then makes a bizarre comparison of such republicasn to “widows sickened by the memory of spats about dirty dishes and gambling debts.”

I didn’t read the commission report but did they make such a determination???

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09…..8path.html

No, they concluded exactly the opposite (about Clinton, that is)…

Howie Klein @ 6

Thanks for posting the link to the “Have You Had Enough?” video. I love it too and Mike is working on versions for supporters of Jerry McNerney (CA-11), Nancy Johnson (CT-05), Charlie Brown (CA-04) and for several other races. Meanwhile, we’re trying to collect donations at the Blue America PAC to put the 60-second radio spots up for our favorite congressional races. I’m eager to hear which races FDL community members are most excited about us concentrating on.

As soon as you add Roger Sharpe to the Act Blue page, I’m in.

Howie Klein @ 12

Busted (#7), when you get a chance, read that transcript I link to. Close your eyes and you’ll swear you’re listening to an even nastier version of Lieberman.

HOLY CRAP!!!
A quote from the debate transcript.

Duke, Shelton: I’ve listened to Sen. Sheldon speak at various Democratic Party functions, and he says he wants the support of the Democratic Party. But when they were debating the governor’s election, he said that he wasn’t there to represent the party.

snip

I did vote for Bush in 2004.(Sheldon)

snip

(Lucas) Specifically I would point to votes he’s taken siding with pharmaceutical companies and against affordable medication for working families, voted against small business opportunities to provide affordable health care. And if we want to look at building healthy ecologies in this district, his vote against a septic cleanup bill last year — Hood Canal is in dire straits, and the shellfish industry is struggling. It was incomprehensible to me that he would vote against that bill.

DINO. He needs to be out on his ass.

I am sworn to secrecy, but the people who know me know which race I am talking about. There will be some amazing polling news released very soon about a certain supposedly better-dead-than-not-red congressional district.

LindaR– what time?

For those calling ABC affiliates, here’s an important tip from folks at Kos:

Ask to speak with the SALES department – these are the people who have the most to fear from a boycott.

The SALES PEOPLE are the ones who will generate the most pressure to pull the movie.

SALES!

LindaR @ 25

I am sworn to secrecy, but the people who know me know which race I am talking about. There will be some amazing polling news released very soon about a certain supposedly better-dead-than-not-red congressional district.

::Doing my Snoopy happy dance::

we compile lists so you don’t have to:

over at skippy we have a list of email addresses to disney you can simply copy and paste into your “send to” box in your email.

.

.

Howie Klein @ 26

LindaR– what time?

It’s driving me crazy — I’m waiting for an email saying I can blab, but I heard the numbers last night.

A blogger is running a story that states a christian ministry group headed by the father of David Cunningham, the director of the ABC 911 film had a major involvement financially and editorially in the making of this film. Please check this out ASAP

http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/

There is a terrific diary at KOS about all the different ways you can pressure ABC.

A lot of things I hadn’t thought of, like deleting ABC from your DVR (because it sends a record of your viewing habits to ABC).

Here’s the link. I highly recommend you take a look, and act on its recommendations:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…..2711/37922

Whoa FS – that is extremely interesting. I would like to see more people start digging into that story.

Bustednuckles @ 10:21 am (#23) – [Sheldon is a] DINO. He needs to be out on his ass.

Agreed. It’s clear that I haven’t been paying enough attention to state politics. This guy should have been gone years ago, but I hadn’t known this about him. Voting for Bush in 2004? What kind of progressive would do that?

pooch @
10

Check out NY Times review of Path to 9/11. Seems that Allessandra Stanley got an advance copy. You know she’s going to softball ABC with the statement that
” All mini-series Photoshop the facts’The Path to 9/11′ is not a documentary, or even a docu-drama; it is a fictionalized account of what took place.” She also states that ABC is “under assault by bloggers”.

My favorite quote:

“The Sept. 11 commission concluded that the sex scandal distracted the Clinton administration from the terrorist threat.”

She goes on to acknolwedge that the scandal was a result of the right wing impeachment, but then makes a bizarre comparison of such republicasn to “widows sickened by the memory of spats about dirty dishes and gambling debts.”

I didn’t read the commission report but did they make such a determination???

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09…..8path.html

There’s a nice rebuttal from Roger Ailes here.

Cujo (#33)- a Lieberman kind

Speaking of Air America, what the hell is going on in NYC? I turned them on Tuesday and that lickspittle douche bag armstrong williams and some other rightest hack is on. I’m forced to listen to NPR on my way to work.

HotFlash @ 34

There’s a nice rebuttal from Roger Ailes here.

Shorter Ailes: She ain’t nuthin but a ho, ho, ho.

Petition Letter to Iger:

“Pull the made for tv movie, “Path to 9/11″. It is unfair to air anything about 9/11 that does not give dignity and respect to those who died. Fiction has no place on this 5th anniversary of the attack.”

Cujo359 @ 34

Bustednuckles @ 10:21 am (#23) – [Sheldon is a] DINO. He needs to be out on his ass.

Agreed. It’s clear that I haven’t been paying enough attention to state politics. This guy should have been gone years ago, but I hadn’t known this about him. Voting for Bush in 2004? What kind of progressive would do that?

I have heard of him, offhand. I just never realized just how bad he was. Unfortunately for my sorry behind, I tend to pay more attention to the local aspect of politics.( Vancouver area) But that is already changing. H/T FDL and
several left coast blogs.

FS@31 If that is true then it answers the question of WTF was Disney thinking. They were sold on a “History” project for 911, management didn’t do their job and the corp. was sandbagged by rightwing christian wackos.

Steve @ 41

FS@31 If that is true then it answers the question of WTF was Disney thinking. They were sold on a “History” project for 911, management didn’t do their job and the corp. was sandbagged by rightwing christian wackos.

How stupid do you have to be to be sandbagged by rightwing christian wackos?

HotFlash, I especially admire this passage from your Roger Ailes link:

Bush was fully informed about the threat from Bill Clinton himself, Richard Clarke, etc. and did nothing. If Bush had “ample warning,” then how did the Clintonites “know better.” What the fuck was the Clinton administration supposed to do, refuse to turn over power until all terrorists were eliminated? Stay in office until Bush passed a reading comprehesion test? If Bush was not prepared to deal with terrorism from day one, he should have never stolen the election in the first place.

Mumf mumf mumf.

Okay, whaddya think — was I laughing just now? or crying?

Rant alert

Since the media are still very much on topic, I thought I could segue into something I saw last night on Charlie Rose. The editors of Time and Newsweek, Richard Stengel and Jon Meacham, were on. It was like watching two gentlemen discussing a genteel competition at their country club. It was all very Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Blogs, of course, were dismissed early on and along with them the interactivity that they represent and that people like Stengel and Meacham abhor. Stengel said that you would always need good mainstream investigative reporting like Michael Isikoff on the Monica Lewinsky affair. Yes, that was his example. You see people need to come away after reading their magazines with the feeling “that they’ve learned something” although not necessarily with what they need to know. They stressed that the magazines’ role was to present the world to the reader too busy to do it for him or herself. But they never discussed what that world was. They never discussed their coverage of the last 6 years. They never mentioned their feature articles comparing Bush to Churchill and Roosevelt of not so long ago. They never pointed out those sterling examples of investigative journalism a la Isikoff that laid bare at the time the lies and manipulations that led to Iraq or underlay Bush’s tax cuts. They did not bring up their exposes on the 2000 and 2004 elections or what they found out about Bush’s “lost years” and National Guard experience. They did not boast about how they broke the story behind Abu Ghraib and the trail that led straight back to Rumsfeld and from there to Alberto Gonzales and the White House. Nor did they hype their timely investigations into signing statements, NSA wiretaps, and secret CIA prisons. No, they were too modest or perhaps that was not the world they wished to “present” to their patient, passive, gullible readers.

/rant

Someone was wondering about the writer the other day. His bio says born in Boulder, CO; his family fled Iran during the ‘takeover by Islamic militants’.
I can’t verify the birthplace, but he was born in 1956/1957 (genealogy has its accesses), so if he was born in the US, his parents must have been here for school or military training, then gone back (assuming the story about fleeing Iran is true; a lot of people came long before that to escape the secret police). I wonder how truthful his bio is…..

for jasonb from last thread @153 and other looking for factual review of relavant scenes from PT911. Editor & Publisher staff review is here:

http://www.editorandpublisher……1003087654

This is the only detailed analysis of the film’s questionable scenes by an unbiased source I’ve read and have yet to see a detailed take-down by anyone else who has actually been allowed to preview it. Here’s a small excerpt from E&P:

After ABC airs an interview with bin Laden, O’Neill gets the okay to “snatch” bin Laden if he can, with a legal OK from the Justice Dept.
U.S. operatives hook up with Massoud, the anti-Taliban leader of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, and he takes them to a village where bin Laden is staying. A 15-man attack team is formed.

Meanwhile, back at CIA headquarters in Langley, the nervous Nellies — i.e. Sandy Berger, the Clinton national security adviser, and (off and on) CIA director George Tenet — raise questions, such as how to get money for this program, how covert should it be, aren’t women and children in the village at risk? Besides, Massoud is a drug dealer. A decision is put off.

Clarke explains to O’Neill afterward that “they are worried about political fallout” and “legalities.” O’Neill complains that terrorism is “perceived by this administration as a law and order problem.” A CIA planner angrily declares, “It’s not about sitting around a conference room covering your ass.”

Right away comes a quick cut to Clinton making his famous statement about not having “sexual relations” with Lewinsky. Clarke tells O’Neill that Clinton won’t give the order to get bin Laden in this climate, with Republicans calling for his impeachment. O’Neill says that Clinton wants bin Laden dead — but not if he has to order it. “It’s pathetic,” he declares.

Back in Afghanistan, the operatives plan for the snatch job anyway, hoping for approval once it’s clear they have their man. One night, they call Langley — they are ready to get bin Laden, he is nearby. “Do we have clearance?” they ask. Berger says he doesn’t have authority, he would have to check, they’re not all on “the same page.”

A CIA official tells Berger the president has approved snatches in the past. Berger wonders about the quality of the intelligence. The CIA woman says it’s never 100%. With that, Berger punts and asks Tenet if HE wants to offer a recommendation to the president. Tenet asks: Why does the buck always stop with me, like with the Waco disaster?

At that point, Berger simply hangs up — and the operatives abroad pack up and leave. Massoud asks if they are “all cowards in Washington.” Again there is an immediate cut to Clinton, parsing sexual terms in his taped testimony on the Lewinsky case — and then a clip of him hugging Monica. (The New York Times story today — see below — notes that Clarke disputes much of this scenario.)

A little later in the film, the U.S. embassy in Nairobi is attacked, with many deaths. A CIA agent in tears yells at Tenet, saying he should have ordered the killing of bin Laden when they had the chance. O’Neill to Clarke: “Clinton has to do SOMETHING.”

Editor & Publisher has alot of other interestiong items on the controversy, particularly the PT911’s claim that a leak by the Washington Post scuttled intel efforts to listen in on OBL’s phone traffic. It was actually the conservative Moonie Washingtom Times that leaked the item, and the leak probably was harmless as OBL was very aware of US Intel’s listening efforts directed at AQ. Link here:

http://www.editorandpublisher……1003087653

Raw Story linking to a story that claims the Bolton nomination is dead.

ExcuseMe (18)..

Thx for the info on the Fiengold event at UNF! It’s so rare that national Democrats are invited to events around here. I’ll see if I can make it Sunday. Russ is at the top of my list for 2008 right now and I’d love to hear him in person.

Mary@42 Stupidity or greed? I can’t wait for discovery or for bloggers to document the money trail.

Love the tune, love the idea, LOVE the people involved.

Thanks so much.

OT-

http://www.2006joe.com

How stupid do you have to be to be sandbagged by rightwing christian wackos?

Well, I cain’t rightly say, Mary McC — all I know is, it’s a threshold that mighty few elected representatives these days can clear.

Time we retired their jiggly butts, yes?

From WAPO,

Bruce R. Lindsey, who runs Clinton’s foundation, wrote Kean last night that he was “shocked” by the former New Jersey governor’s role, saying: “Your defense of the outright lies in this film is destroying the bipartisan aura of the 9/11 Commission and tarnishing the hard work of your fellow commissioners.”

Snap.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01454.html

OT – below thread – defamation, public figure, actual malice.

IMO, ABC has a tough row to hoe, because they have now been put on notice, prior to their major distribution, that their content is false and defamatory. This isn’t like the normal – publish, THEN find out, and the argument becomes whether or not you had intent – if you publish in the face of warnings the material is not correct (and you even acknowledge it is not correct) then if any of it is defamatory – you are pretty much stuck on malice.
**********
Belowthread – Kimba1970 – thank you.
**********

BTW – I think Howie Kurtz is getting taken with Christy & Jane. ;)

can someone check, this please? Can’t get through firewall here at the salt mine.

It’s on the DU board. Says, “Breaking – ABC will not air 911 movie”

http://www.thewashingtonnote.c…..001632.php

Link to Bolt-On story.

T- @ 54

can someone check, this please? Can’t get through firewall here at the salt mine.

It’s on the DU board. Says, “Breaking – ABC will not air 911 movie”

Disney are now saying they will not release a film politicizing 9/11 so close to an election.

Oops, my mistake, sorry… It was 2 years ago and the movie was called Fahrenheit 9/11.

Bad joke.

T- This is what it says:

BREAKING – Disney caves in, will not air 911 movie

Disney are now saying they will not release a film politicizing 9/11 so close to an election.

Oops, my mistake, sorry… It was 2 years ago and the movie was called Fahrenheit 9/11.

doh!

T- @
54

can someone check, this please? Can’t get through firewall here at the salt mine.

It’s on the DU board. Says, “Breaking – ABC will not air 911 movie”

full story there

Disney are now saying they will not release a film politicizing 9/11 so close to an election.

Oops, my mistake, sorry… It was 2 years ago and the movie was called Fahrenheit 9/11.

excellent.

Who would expect them to at least be consistent?

Urban Pirate @
51

OT-

http://www.2006joe.com

http://www.LiebermanForLieberman.com

Well, we wuz all ovah that one like Chimpy on Rice, weren’t us?

Just got off the phone with the assistant to the General Manager of our local (but ABC owned & operated!) ABC affiliate, KGO-7. She said they are contractually obligated to run the show. I said I was calling because, unlike the network and half of the network sponsors, KGO has answered NONE of my emails the past two days. She said the General Manager was in a meeting, and that they were forwarding all the emails to the network right now.

It sounds like the affiliates are feeling the heat — I told them I would contact LOCAL sponsors of KGO-7 today to tell them I wouldn’t be buying their products either. I told her that as patriotic Americans, the management of KGO-7 should think hard about maligning those who served their country and tried to protect us from terrorism during the Clinton Administration, but that more than the slant, I was concerned that the inaccuracies were falsehoods that dishonored the victims of 9/11. I asked her, and her boss the General Manager, to consider that there might be a higher calling than their contractual obligations — namely, their patriotic duty AND their interest in advertiser dollars.

She said my comments would be added to the list and thanked me for my concern. They sound quite spooked.

Bay Area ‘pups, call KGO-7 at 415-954-7777. Ask the harried switchboard operator to connect you to the General Manager’s office. Please add your voice to mine.

If ABC owned & operated affiliates are still communicating their viewers’ displeasure to the network in New York this late in the game, there may be an opportunity to STOP this tripe.

==============
Had Enough, America?
==============

Guess I’ll have to go on over to the joeblog to cheer myself up!

Very good news here. Larry Johnson’s first take on the Senate Intel Committtee’s Phass II report:

http://noquarter.typepad.com/m…..el_co.html

No wonder they’re pushing Path to 911 out now and hyping the War On Terra’ non-stop. This looks to be DEVASTATING for the Bushies….

And the Bolton nomination is really dead?

Wow what a week!

klyde @
37

Speaking of Air America, what the hell is going on in NYC? I turned them on Tuesday and that lickspittle douche bag armstrong williams and some other rightest hack is on. I’m forced to listen to NPR on my way to work.

Are you listening to the old station or the new one at 1600AM?

Tues. morning Mark Riley said something about not being heard in NY, but he never said why.
*shrug*

You know, even though I think there were a lot of problems in the Clinton years, I wonder why no one ever really does ask about and follow up on the Cole situation.

I happened right before Bush won, the responsiblity was pinned to al-Qaeda in January 2001 wasn’t it?

I never see anyone ask what the Bush adminsitration response was to the Cole?

Anyone?

Any answers?

What they really should do, if someone was ready for guts tv, is a documentary. One that give pointed questions and times and doesn’t pull punches with some of the players like Clarke, Sheuer etc. who are at very different ends of the spectrum. Unfortunately, someone like Tenet who should be a central player is so tainted as untrustworthy and untruthful and corrupted by the administration, and everyone in the current administration or with relations to them has earned a minus 100 starting point on the truthiness scale, that I don’t know how you really get to the truth.

But it should be an ongoing dialog – not a five hour miniseries.

*ilson46201 @ 61

Urban Pirate @
51

OT-

http://www.2006joe.com

http://www.LiebermanForLieberman.com

http://www.joey2006.com

T (at 54) and others: You are cruel. I got taken for that brief 5 seconds that spins the head. Mean! On Bolton nomination being dead – yes and it is thanks to Chaffee (RI). If he and other so-called moderates (like Susan Collins) had any integrity, grit, responsibility to the voters in their states, and care about this country and its future, this shouldn’t have come this far. Many people I know wrote to Collins over the Alito vote and said if you vote wrong, you are toast. Hopefully Mainer Dems will begin putting together an alternative candidate.

166TheOtherWA @ 67

klyde @
37

Speaking of Air America, what the hell is going on in NYC? I turned them on Tuesday and that lickspittle douche bag armstrong williams and some other rightest hack is on. I’m forced to listen to NPR on my way to work.

Are you listening to the old station or the new one at 1600AM?

Tues. morning Mark Riley said something about not being heard in NY, but he never said why.
*shrug*

1600AM. I e-mailed Riley and asked what’s the deal so far no response. Makes me efing sick.

FS @ 30

A blogger is running a story that states a christian ministry group headed by the father of David Cunningham, the director of the ABC 911 film had a major involvement financially and editorially in the making of this film. Please check this out ASAP

http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/

Oh yeah, YWAM should definitely be on our “to do” list after this weekend. Creepy indeed.

Urban Pirate @ 68

*ilson46201 @ 61

Urban Pirate @
51

OT-

http://www.2006joe.com

http://www.LiebermanForLieberman.com

http://www.joey2006.com

http://www.LieberBlog.com

For a great photo go here:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…..35818/8140

Sorry Richmond, didn’t mean it.
Go on over to the joeblog to get right.

Come right back y’hear?

Taylor’s just reported that a new poll shows Harold Ford, Jr. is now in a statistical dead heat with Bob Corker for the Tennessee U.S. Senate seat. The Rasmussen poll has now changed this race from “leans Republican” to “tossup”.

*ilson46201 @ 73

Urban Pirate @ 68

*ilson46201 @ 61

Urban Pirate @
51

OT-

http://www.2006joe.com

http://www.LiebermanForLieberman.com

http://www.joey2006.com

http://www.LieberBlog.com

http://www.vetojoe.com

:)

Urban Pirate @ 76

*ilson46201 @ 73

Urban Pirate @ 68

*ilson46201 @ 61

Urban Pirate @
51

OT-

http://www.2006joe.com

http://www.LiebermanForLieberman.com

http://www.joey2006.com

http://www.LieberBlog.com

http://www.vetojoe.com

:)

http://www.DumpJoe2006.com

T- Somehow it feels good to get taken. Wakes me up to get back to the manu. I was chuckling.

OT – a little bit – Received a call last night from the Patty Wetterling campaign asking if I would put a yard sign up. I said of course, but consider I am in a trailer park, on a cul-de-sac road with only 2-3 drivers turning around by my house each day. NOT alot of traffic.

But I asked how Patty was doing considering how Kos had a poll up on many of the house races showing only Patty and one race in FL not having a lead or within the margin of error. She was surprised because their polling was different and the race competitive. Certainly that could very well be true. But I directed her to Firedoglake and specifically to Howie Klein to try and get Patty Wetterling to be one of the candidates that Howie highlights.

Many people know Patty Wetterling because after her young son was kidnapped she became a voice for a quicker response from police and has testified many times in Congress. But she is a quiet person by nature and not a gangbuster, go all out candidate. Just a mother wanting better for her state and our country.

Hoping that Patty’s campaign contacts Howie through this blog to put her name into the candidate mix.

Fresh Froomkin, anyone?

Cheney Lost — But How Much? includes this glum item:

Office of Hostage Affairs

Agence France Presse reports: “The White House revealed what may be a U.S. diplomatic first: the U.S. embassy in Baghdad houses a formal ‘Office of Hostage Affairs’ to handle abductions of American citizens and other nationals.

“‘The United States, through the Office of Hostage Affairs in Embassy Baghdad, is addressing the scourge of kidnapping in Iraq, a key source of terrorist financing,’ the White House said in an official document.”

Cakewalk, flowers and sweets, last throes, an’ all like that.

Hi Howie,
Hope you don’t think we are neglecting such an honoured guest! It’s just that Jane and Christy’s Multi-tasking Mad Firedogs ™are having a great time barking at a certain mouse.

So glad to see you taking the lead on presenting *real* choice at the polls. For all concerned Americans, Dem or Repub, priority #1 is getting the Congress back from BushCo — and that includes a lot of folks who have D after their name. I’m telling my Republican friends/relatives that the K Street guys have highjacked *their* party, and it’s time to vote Dem even if it means holding their noses. And I’m telling all my Dem and other friends, “Hey, there’s a real choice now!” and to get out there and support Act Blue candidates in the remaining primaries and again on Nov 7.

A donation question for you: The info I can find say foreign citizens may not contribute to US candidates, but I am dual (US born, naturalized Cdn). Anybody know if I can donate as a dual citizen? So far all our donations have been made in my husband’s name, he is US only.

Our old home district back in MI is 100% Repub(Candace Miller) w/no serious challenger, so we are backing likely progressive contenders whereever they may be, like Colleen Rowley (she’s my hero!) Chris Carney and now Roger (pleased to meet you). Thanks to you and Jane and the Blue America gang for finding these great candidates and pointing them out to us!

Richmond (alternative candidate) Collins- of course- is a gooper- maybe I don’t understand your post.

HotFlash – so proud to have Colleen Rowley running to representent Minnesota. And she and Patty Wetterling (See my # 80) have campaigned together at DNC events, along with Amy Klobachar. The trifecta in my estimation.

lotus @ 43

HotFlash, I especially admire this passage from your Roger Ailes link:

… What the fuck was the Clinton administration supposed to do, refuse to turn over power until all terrorists were eliminated? Stay in office until Bush passed a reading comprehesion test?

Mumf mumf mumf.

Okay, whaddya think — was I laughing just now? or crying?

Oh! That was Mickey Camus!

T- @ 63

Guess I’ll have to go on over to the joeblog to cheer myself up!

I was there a little earlier. The comments are extremely funny. People are actually compiling a list of serious questions (gasp!) they want Dan Gerstein to answer on Holy Joe’s behalf!

TeddySanFran @ 64

Just got off the phone with the assistant to the General Manager of our local (but ABC owned & operated!) ABC affiliate, KGO-7. She said they are contractually obligated to run the show. I said I was calling because, unlike the network and half of the network sponsors, KGO has answered NONE of my emails the past two days. She said the General Manager was in a meeting, and that they were forwarding all the emails to the network right now.

It sounds like the affiliates are feeling the heat — I told them I would contact LOCAL sponsors of KGO-7 today to tell them I wouldn’t be buying their products either. I told her that as patriotic Americans, the management of KGO-7 should think hard about maligning those who served their country and tried to protect us from terrorism during the Clinton Administration, but that more than the slant, I was concerned that the inaccuracies were falsehoods that dishonored the victims of 9/11. I asked her, and her boss the General Manager, to consider that there might be a higher calling than their contractual obligations — namely, their patriotic duty AND their interest in advertiser dollars.

She said my comments would be added to the list and thanked me for my concern. They sound quite spooked.

Bay Area ‘pups, call KGO-7 at 415-954-7777. Ask the harried switchboard operator to connect you to the General Manager’s office. Please add your voice to mine.

If ABC owned & operated affiliates are still communicating their viewers’ displeasure to the network in New York this late in the game, there may be an opportunity to STOP this tripe.

==============
Had Enough, America?
==============

Somebody somewhere — I’ve read hundreds of posts and links in the past 24 hours — said that stations have to get licenses renewed by FCC, so send a complaint to FCC, or threaten to. Said it hardly ever happens so even one letter hits like a , um, bunkerbuster.

Peterr linked this ealier, but I want to toss it in again,

Values we have to hide abroad

Eugene Robinson actually addresses the issue of torture and war crimes that keeps being swept under the state secrets rug.

Interesting – while I was there I took a look at Krauthammer & Hoagland. Krauthammer fesses up that Iraq is a civil war and has been for some time. Actually wants to discuss goals, options and possiblities as opposed to ranting about appeasement. What a difference a looming election makes. Hoagland is at “goodness gosh golly” the Rumsfeldian three Gs Maybe we need some international cooperation (other than those handy dandy Egyptian torture chambers)? He mentions that the US might need to adjust its “rhetoric” but somehow never quite gets to the indictments in Italy, or the two rendition/torture flights investigations in Europe, and the fact that we are going to have an increasingly tough time getting assistance when we are engaging in actions recognized by our “allies” as crimes.

Jane Mayer had this piece about some of the deaths in detention – Killer Questions

The mindset to torture first, evidence (from the torture) later – if there are survivors – is not a) going to win widespread cooperation from other countries haven’t descended to the BushAmerica State Sponsorship of Torture level yet, and b) isn’t going to help get informants and human intel with ties to the work with a DOJ that will hand them over to be tortured.

We’re seeing the Bush/Rove perspective rejected all over, which partly accounts for the favorable polls and shifts we’re also seeeing.

Shades of Pachacutec: “It’s not a war on terror,” by the Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenat…..on/7119330

Bush/Cheney view of Iraq was false:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09…..r=homepage

Bush/Cheney/Addington/Gonzalez view of military tribunals being rejected by Republicans: [may need sign in]

http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?…..a0526dQ2Fr)XqrEQ3BQ51.5Q3BQ3BQ27HrHQ60Q60irQ60Q2FrQ60Ir)Q24.DSaQ7BQ27Q3BarQ60IZXQ7BQ24ZgDQ27!Z

And three courts have now rejected Bush/Gonzalez/Yoo view wrt to standing in surveillance law suits:

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot…..html#links

T- @ 54

can someone check, this please? Can’t get through firewall here at the salt mine.

It’s on the DU board. Says, “Breaking – ABC will not air 911 movie”

T, It was a joke…and not funny:

Disney are now saying they will not release a film politicizing 9/11 so close to an election.

Oops, my mistake, sorry… It was 2 years ago and the movie was called Fahrenheit 9/11.

Dear Mod, if you can free me at 81, Mary may join me in the thanking (not so much for my sake as for the Froomkin).

ccmask @
15

Just got back from the mall. I was just about to pay for a new pair of pajamas until I noticed the Disney tag hanging. Alas, I had to put them back on the rack. I really needed new bolg attire too…….thanks Disney.

I *only* blog in my Tweetie(tm) jammies now!

OT – From Anderson 360, CNN

HOLMES: Well, funnily enough, I spent today with several Iraqis, just ordinary Iraqis, an academic, a journalist, and others, preparing for another story.

Those speeches, it has to be said, among those I have spoken with, do not go down very well at all. When — when you say, and they hear, the president say that Iraq is central to the war on terror, well, they say, well, it wasn’t until you invaded us.

When they say that — the president says that this is now a haven for terrorists, they again say, well, it wasn’t until you invaded us.

And — and those I spoke with today also expressed real dismay that — that CNN poll showed that 43 percent of Americans still believe that — that Saddam Hussein caused 9/11. And — and they are stunned at that level of — of ignorance. So, yes, they are not real impressed — John.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRA…..cd.01.html

rwcole – of course Collins is a gooper, but she (along with the other Maine gal) has gotten a pass from Dems (little opposition), because purportedly she is a moderate who represents the interests of a majority of Mainers. She has been hugging and kissing Lieberman of late. Bad news.

Whoa, look what just got EPU’d:

Nemo @ 266

Check out the info in this diary from Kos:

Christian YWAM $$$ behind PT911
by bewert
Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 10:33:35 AM PDT
The $40M question that’s been bugging me has been “who paid for this crapola?” And I think I’ve found the answer.

It’s the Christian organization Youth With A Mission (YWAM), through their auxiliary – The Film Institute (TFI). Loren Cunningham, the founder of YWAM, is the father of PT911 director David Cunningham.

Follow me over the flip for more stuff!

bewert’s diary :: ::
I was led to this by a comment from everhopeful and I am ever hopeful we can shitcan this crapola hit piece.

YWAM members Mark and Krista Harris commented on their website:

As we have looked around, we’ve noticed a lot of big-mouthed giants running around, but not many young warriors brave enough to stake everything on God.

So that’s what we’ve decided to do. Starting in July, along with our ‘normal’ discipleship efforts in YWAM, we will officially join The Film Institute – a new auxiliary branch of Youth With A Mission focused on tranforming film and television from the inside out. TFI’s first project is a doozy: simply being referred to as: The Untitled History Project, it is already being called the television event of the decade and not one second has been put to film yet. Talk about great expectations!

Our goal is to help filmmakers, actors, technicians, etc. realize their God given potential and purpose in perhaps the most influential sphere of modern culture – film and television.

The “Untitled History Project” was the working title, as this Fox story shows. It was produced by in Toronto by UHP Productions. This quote from writer Cyrus Nowrasteh is particularly rich:
“Anything about 9/11 will be controversial,” he said. “I commend ABC because they have continually asked me to be as truthful and honest as I can be. The producers have made every effort to be objective and tell the story truthfully — because that’s what the subject matter, and our audience, deserves.”
This article from Hamilton (a city near Toronto) even has the publicists phone number:
UHP Productions Ltd.
Contact Phone:
(416)778-8454
And from the site YWAM Founders Site we get:
Mark Harris spoke following Braulia and showed a DVD clip by film director David L. Cunningham, who together with others has formed a YWAM auxiliary called The Film Institute (TFI). One goal of TFI is to fast-track UofN School of Digital Film interns, placing them within the film industry, not to give them jobs, but so that they can begin to impact and transform Hollywood from the inside out.

I’m trying to dig up more, but a lot has been scrubbed…thank god for Google!

Mary4 — don’t you think it’s interesting that Rove/Bush would deliberately reraise the issue of whether we should use torture (up to homicide) with detainees, when they knew the Senate had voted 90-9 for the anti-torture bill and that Republicans/McCain has held firm on that despite intense Cheney pressure? They must have known that reporters would discover that the Manual did not apply to CIA and the Military Justice folks would object to the military tribunal proposals.

http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?…..Z61CIgQ26f

Though related to the WOT, these aspects are not the President’s strongp oints — these are the points on which public support for Bush is the weakest. Yet they invited that. More evidence that (1) Rove is an idiot or (2) they are really grasping at straws now or (3) ????

And thanks for the link to Eugene Robinson. I like his final comment: none of the 14 people just transferred to Gitmo were captured in Iraq!

Lotus – I’ll join you. Froomkin just gets better and better.

Coz – interesting.

How come our own MEDIA is not STUNNED at the level of ignorance THEY HAVE PROMOTED!

If they can drill “stay the course” and “cut and run” into people’s heads, they can drill the message that Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11 and Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

Why don’t they? Hmm?

Y’all remember Bill Rogers, Nixon’s first Sec’y of State? Well, guess what his son is up to these days:

In the Defense of Basic Rights, an Official Led a City’s Defiance

Cozumel 93: thanks for CNN link/quote. What Mary4 said — but now we’re seeing a growing chorus of reporters asking better questions. This could not have happened a year ago.

The newly-released parts of the 9/11 commission phase two report are now avaliable online. I was trying to scroll down to the summary when this passage caught my eye:

(Background: Al-Libi was a source who claimed Al-Qaida had made efforts to obtain training in Iraq, but then he changed his story. In the following passage he explains why he lied in the first place.)

From the report part called “Accuracy”, Page 80:

Al-Libi told CIA debriefers in january 2004 that when he was detained by the United States in early 2002 one of his american debriefers told him he had to tell “where bin Laden was and about future operations, or the US would give al-Libi to [another foreign service.]” Al-Libi claimed that the debriefers told al-Libi that he would have to sleep on the floor of his cell if he did not talk. Later, according to al-Libi, the debriefers repeated the threat to send him to another country. [Redracted] instructed him to remove his heavy socks and gloves and placed him on the floor of his cell. Although al-Libi only remained on the cold floor for fifteen minutes, he claimed he “decided he would fabric any information the interrogaters wanted to gain better treatmant and avoid being handed over to [a foreign government].”

Those harsh interrogation methods the administration claims are necessary to fight the war on terror really paid of, didnt they?
But theres also the issue of how to get reliable intelligence. First this guy was threatened to be sent someplace where hed suffer torture or death unless he told interrogaters exactly what they wanted to hear. And then the intelligence community considers him a reliable source?
Who are these people?!!!??

Oh God. I just read the following paragrafs. It gets worse. After al-Libi started lying to interrogators, he was transfered to another country where the local interrogators

“explained to him a long list of methods could be used against him which were extreme” and told “him he would confess, because three thousand individuals had been in the chair before him and each had confessed”.

Go read for yourself if you can stomach it.
http://intelligence.senate.gov/phaseiiaccuracy.pdf

mary and scarecrow,

All the more reason the ABC thing needs to be yanked. Half our population is stuck on stupid. Grr…

New TV ad from the California Democratic Party is hammering Ahnold with his own words (and chants) from the 2004 Republican Convention.

He’s shown (with that ugly green tie) at the podium with Dubya and Laura directly behind him. Dub’s face is prominent throughout, and he looks like a man displeased with all the cheers directed at another man.

“Let’s go out and re-elect George W. Bush!” cries Ahnold. Then he keeps shouting “George W. Bush” while words appear beneath him on the screen. Stats about the war. The 3 trillion increase in the debt. That sort of thing.

It ends with Ahnold’s call to action, “Let’s go out and re-elect George W. Bush!” And on the screen–
Arnold Schwarzenegger is for George W. Bush.
Is he for you?

The ad is colorful, loud, simple, and attention-getting. If it mentions Phil Angelides at all, I didn’t notice. The point, of course, is that active support for Bush and his policies is sufficient reason for people to vote against you.

scarecrow – I think maybe 3)? has some application.

The only benefit I give to any of the current mess is that someone (my guess a group of someones that involve Hayden) has decided that they have left so many people in this administration who were relying on their superiors and trying to do their job open to reams of criminal charges, that something needed to be done.

I give a small amount of grudging credit to the much belated “oh my gosh, Addington is a big idiot after all and people really have been breaking the law” effort to grasp some wide eyed innocence and wrap it around the aging naked whores they created.

So if they wait until a Dem house starts issuing subpoenas, more bad cases get kicked out, a Dem House starts holding up legislation, or a new President starts being briefed on kidnap victims we are illegally torturing abroad – it starts to get really late in the day to fix things.

Granted, the things may not need much fixing, since even Dems Congress appear to have embraced their inner Rwanda, but things like murder and maiming and kidnap with assault and continuing conspiracies to cover up etc. have long long statutes.

Someone figured out that after 6 years of people putting their lives, morals, souls, careers and families on the line for this jackass in office, he needed to at least be in a position to ante up by punching through legislation to protect them or, if that fails, pardons.

IMO, fwiw. And it’s the only thing I give credit on. OLC, DOJ, Hayden, Cheney, Gonzales, Ashcroft and the long list – they all owe a duty to the people they pretty much forced to become criminals. If someone has smacked them hard enough to get their attention, then its the least they can do.

I don’t agree with the approaches and I’ll fight as best I can, but the only respect I have in the whole debacle is that there is some glimmer now of trying to make sure they don’t eat all their young.

The Senate Intelligence Committee said today that there is no evidence that Saddam Hussein had prewar ties to Al Qaeda and one of the terror organization’s most notorious members, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The report, sure to intensify the debates over terrorism and the Iraq war before the November elections, contains dozens of pages of findings about the former Baghdad dictator and the terrorists who plotted and carried out the Sept. 11 attacks, and finds that they had little in common.

“Saddam only expressed negative sentiments about bin Laden,” the former Iraqi foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, told the Federal Bureau of Investigation when he was asked about Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda’s leader.

As for the clich� that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Saddam Hussein has told interrogators since his capture in December 2003 that his government had not cooperated with Mr. bin Laden. “He specified that if he wanted to cooperate with the enemies of the U.S., he would have allied with North Korea or China,” says a passage in the nearly 400-page report.

– NYT

Sara – I’m going to read through it later – unfortunately a lot of it isn’t super new news, bc I have read the info in other sources, just not as much detail.

Sounds like this is about to get considerably worse for ABC. First report coming shortly over at TPMmuckraker.com.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

hmmm!?

Does anyone at FDL know about a Christian group call Youth With a Mission? There’s a diary on Dailykos which speculates it might be the 40 million dollar backer of Path to 9/ll. There’s a family connection with the director. Read the diary for more details, but please post any information you may have about it. Thanks.

Sara in Stockholm

It is devastating and I plan on reading it this weekend. I saw Senators Rockefeller and Levin lambasting the admin today. The Senate is recessed now and it is just a crying shame this came out on a Friday afternoon. Not unexpected, though. I pray that this is not buried by the corporate media.

Lamont raps Lieberman’s 1998 Clinton rebuke

lotus #104,

While it is good that the Senate Intelligence Committee has come out with this, an Arab friend of mine and I were laughing about the Saddam Hussein-al Qaeda connection 4 years ago in the run up to but before the invasion of Iraq. It wasn’t like we were especially perspicacious. It was more like someone telling you that Timothy McVeigh and Al Sharpton were having an affair. And it wasn’t just us. Everyone in the Arab world knew this. It is one of the reasons that we have so little credibility there. It is not some cunning propaganda campaign mounted against us. It is our own lamebrained lies.

Mary4 @ 105

Sara – I’m going to read through it later – unfortunately a lot of it isn’t super new news, bc I have read the info in other sources, just not as much detail.

Youre right. Thank you for not leaving me all alone in EPU-land!

Ceee @ 107

Does anyone at FDL know about a Christian group call Youth With a Mission? There’s a diary on Dailykos which speculates it might be the 40 million dollar backer of Path to 9/ll. There’s a family connection with the director. Read the diary for more details, but please post any information you may have about it. Thanks.

Ceee, It’s all over this thread.

Here

Hugh @ 110

lotus #104,

While it is good that the Senate Intelligence Committee has come out with this, an Arab friend of mine and I were laughing about the Saddam Hussein-al Qaeda connection 4 years ago in the run up to but before the invasion of Iraq. It wasn’t like we were especially perspicacious. It was more like someone telling you that Timothy McVeigh and Al Sharpton were having an affair. And it wasn’t just us. Everyone in the Arab world knew this. It is one of the reasons that we have so little credibility there. It is not some cunning propaganda campaign mounted against us. It is our own lamebrained lies.

Indeed, Hugh, it was so like “Timothy McVeigh and Al Sharpton having an affair” that even backwoods flowahs laughed their petals off at the very idea. It has, however, grown less amusing over time . . .

Bong! ‘Ere your own self!

Hi lotus! Care for an afternoon relaxer?

‘ere!

:-)

lotus: quick draw mcgraw!

Sara, much thanks for all your good comments lately. From your writing, I can’t tell whether you’re a Swede or an ex-pat, but either way, it sure is good to have you in on this with us.

(high-tens the mod)

Granted, the things may not need much fixing, since even Dems Congress appear to have embraced their inner Rwanda

Zing! I may use that in my next letter to Senators Pryor and Lincoln. Cluster bombers deluxe.

lotus #113,

Well to be honest we were laughing in that way when somebody tells you something really stupid but you’re right it was never funny.

lotus- one word (((Kiss)))

Ye gods, Ahnie.

Schwarzenegger: Cubans, Puerto Ricans ‘all very hot’

SANTA MONICA, California (AP) — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger apologized Friday for saying during a closed-door meeting that Cubans and Puerto Ricans are naturally feisty and temperamental because of their combination of “black blood” and “Latino blood.”

He said the tape-recorded comments “made me cringe” when he read them in Friday’s Los Angeles Times.

“Anyone out there that feels offended by those comments, I just want to say I’m sorry, I apologize,” Schwarzenegger said. He added that if he heard his children make similar comments, “I would be upset.”

[…]

And right back atcha, Eureka!

Hugh @ 120

lotus #113,

Well to be honest we were laughing in that way when somebody tells you something really stupid but you’re right it was never funny.

Hugh, it honestly did crack me up … before I appreciated how many of my compatriots were swallowing without chewing.

Post story on resolving two year debate re: detainees

You know, from several different sources it has been more than a “two year debate.” Several sources indicated early early on (in connection with the Afghanistan invastion) that the issue of what was going to happen with captures was at issue. CIA and DOD knew already the President’s approach wasn’t a criminal prosecution approach, so the warehousing issue came up early – with the Army wanting to hand off to CIA and vice versa.

In the end, Army got stuck with GITMO and CIA got to become Penitentiary Pals with Egypt and got a crash course on its own in being third world jailers.

The WaPo article, and everything else I see, pretty much ignores the Seeton Hall studies and the cases that have created an unrefuted factual record that we are holding people who have (or at least had – hard to say how they feel now, after years of wrongful detention, abuse and isolation) no relationship with al-Qaeda or terrorism whatsoever.

It’s no wonder that Addington and Cheney were worried the release of the “road to Guantanamo” detainees to Britain might open floodgates. Bc even the Presidential “enemy combatants” farce (now smacked around by Hamdan) didn’t leave a heck of a lot of cover if you don’t have someone who is an enemy combatant.

Frontline had a great series of interviews on its site on the torture issue, but the all, ALL, started with the assumption that the GITMO detainees were “enemy combatants” as the term could arguably be argued. Now the factual record shows that is dead wrong for at least some of the detainees whose lawyers were given access to the courts – even, sadly, to courts that issued opinions saying the Kafkaesque Govt approach left the court no recourse to the wrongful detentions.

From the WaPo article:

Two months later, in January 2005, the four men were sent home to Britain and immediately freed. But as Cheney’s lawyer David Addington had predicted, the decision opened up the floodgates of Guantanamo Bay. Over the coming months, every European prisoner was sent home and a total of 100 detainees were released.

Policymakers including Cheney and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales who were heavily invested in the detainee program were losing ground

How Congress went forward with Gonzales and how anyone works for him, is beyond my ability to understand life. YOu can see why Dana Priest is on his hit list, though.

A turning point in the debate, senior administration officials said, came 10 months later, when The Washington Post reported the existence of the secret CIA prisons in November 2005. At the time the White House refused to confirm or deny the program but said the report had harmed national security.

Apparently, European govts who still have prosecution wings that believe in prosecuting crimes, even those involving acts perpetrated on terrosim suspects, were getting pretty nervous. My understanding is that the “black sites” and “rendition flights” reporting in Europe has been much more aggressive than here and shows much less signs of going away.

Given all the problems, it is almost comical, if not so depressing, that they acknowledge no one even THOUGHT about what might happen if a court called foul on the illegal State Sponsorship of torture track they were on.

Even though comments from the justices at oral argument had suggested that they might rule against the administration’s detainee policies, the White House counsel had made no contingency plans for a loss and was stunned by the decision.

If they are truly so stupid as to be stunned by it, that is almost frightening. If stunned is just more cya, that’s is predictable in the fiction over fact setting they have created.

It would be interesting to see who the “other lawyers’ were:

Most senior Justice Department lawyers believed the ruling would force the government to close the CIA’s “black sites.” Other lawyers disagreed.

and to hear what kind of “passion” is generated in defense of torture, murder and kidnap:

…Bush convened his principal advisers at the end of August to make a final decision. Several had moved far away from the impassioned defenses of secret prisons that they had mounted a year earlier.

*s* All a pretty sad mess with a bunch of people who bailed all their integrity to keep that ship afloat. Interesting that they are now spinning more of the ‘isn’t Condi wonderful, wouldn’t you like to have a cup of coffee with her’ storyline.

Somehow I keep picturing her in Africa, AirForce 1, saying “are you sure you’re done with this” and my coffee urges fade.

[Rice] noted that the secret sites were having a corrosive effect on the nation’s ability to win cooperation on a range of intelligence issues. Rice urged the president to resolve the issue rather than hand it off to his successor.

Of course, IMO, the latter part is the real issue they were trying to address. What if the successor doesn’t feel the same way – what if there is not new legislation or pardons?

Mary, re those “other lawyers” in DoJ. I wonder how many of them are nearing retirement, or even if not so chronologically, are so worn out with fighting Addington/Gonzales (or ducking to stay out of their sight) that they’ll be leaving en masse in a couple of years. I wonder how many of them are inveterate diary-keepers. I wonder how many of them we’ll be encountering in NYT’s Book Review section before too long . . .

New thread: watertiger!