So I’m sitting here and spouse is watching Lehrer’s Newshour. I mentioned to him about the story that got a Pulitzer—that little thing about how the news media hired the military contractors/former brass to “analyze” aka pimp the war. And up on the screen is Lehrer announcing the Pulitzers—all of the big ones except that particular story.

It doesn’t matter where you look—Pelosi’s office, the MSM, DoJ, the Fed, Obama, they are all corrupt to the hilt.

I really wonder how these people can sleep at night.

Sure would be nice if we knew the truth behind all of this! And I wonder just how much blackmail was truly going on by the NSA, Bush and Gonzo of the Democrats during the whole FISA fiasco?? I mean one minute FISA is dead and the next thing we see it is being passed! Something seemed fishy then and now maybe we now know why!!
OH and NO DIGG from ME!

They consume a lot of Ambien, Valium and other substances that make them forget the face they see in the mirror every morning.

It’s easy, the TeeVee tells you so. Torture? Theft? Influence peddling got you down? Take a pill. Everything is going to be all right.

In my experience Pelosi is very difficult to contact. I’ve tried several times to call her DC offices over the last 2+ years but as a rule the phone is busy or rings through to a full-up answering system. I live in CA, but since I’m not in her district my email attempts are regularly rejected. I think I finally got through to her San Francisco office once, but let’s face it, that office is pretty far away from the action in our infamous capitol. My efforts to make contact usually leave me feeling frustrated and powerless. And I’ll point out that this has been a problem with my senators, too. The only phone that is regularly answered by a human being is my that of congresswoman, Ellen Tauscher, but since she’s likely heading to the State Department I don’t have a lot of faith in her determination to rock the boat on anything.
I’ll keep trying…

A retrospective (1/3/07) look at the Pelosi-Harman “catfight” over the Intel Chair (my bold):

In 2003, Pelosi handpicked Harman to become the ranking Democrat on the panel, a post that Pelosi had occupied. But Pelosi made it known last year that Harman was out if Democrats took back the House. Pelosi and other liberal Democrats believed that Harman, a moderate, failed to challenge the administration’s alleged abuses of intelligence. Harman was stunned by the news and launched an overtly aggressive campaign to win the chairmanship, which only served to strengthen Pelosi’s resolve. A former House member who knows both women well said Harman “really needs to grow up” and “she’s not simply entitled to a chairmanship.”

And Wonkette offers this current speculation on the “catfight” of yore:

Harman-Pelosi Feud Was Maybe About Dirty Intelligence Matters, Not Hairdos Or Whatever

Way back in 2006, everybody wondered why newly appointed Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t let Jane Harman run the House Intelligence Committee, since Harman had been its ranking Democrat through the long Republican Reign of Terror. People assumed it was just ladies hatin’ on other ladies, as is their wont, being so hormonal.

But maybe it actually had something to do with this juicy bit of news: that Harman was caught on an NSA wiretap having a very crooked-sounding conversation with a suspected Israeli agent about how to get espionage charges against two AIPAC officials reduced. In other words: catfight. Probably went something like this. [CQ Politics]

not just aipac. how the hell did we end up with reyes?

i mean he may be a wonderful person, but a process that selects house intelligence committee chair and ends up with someone who doesn’t know (in 2006!) if AQ is sunni or shia doesn’t sound like a process that is primarily concerned with national security or intelligence.

San Francisco phone-answerer informed me that no statement has been issued, she does not know whether one is forthcoming. Any statement would issue from the DeeCee office, and the phone-answerer does not know the Speaker’s whereabouts.

Pelosi and other liberal Democrats believed that Harman, a moderate, failed to challenge the administration’s alleged abuses of intelligence.

i don’t buy that explanation either. if pelosi wanted someone who was going to challenge the administration she would have gone with someone like holt.

Sorry , but Teddy, why are you having us ‘bomb’ Pelosi’s office with phone calls? Seems like they have enough to do right now. Why tie up her phones? She dumped Harmon and the rest of it is what someone else said. What good is it giong to do to harrass her? I can see call-bombing her office if she lies about it or isn’t forthcoming in the near future.
I don’t get it.

Seems like it’s Harmon’s office we should be bombing with calls, not Pelosi. Unless it’s to call Pelosi to pressure Harmon to step down. Given their history I doubt that they are taking each others’ calls.

demi put up katymine’s free call list today–
1 (800) 828 – 0498
1 (800) 459 – 1887
1 (800) 614 – 2803
1 (866) 340 – 9281
1 (866) 338 – 1015
1 (877) 851 – 6437

Skipping Harman and Hastings seemed to be Pelosi’s priority at the time; we now may know more about the Harman skip. The Hastings skip was widely seen as due to his prior impeachment as a federal judge.

Reyes had a little hot water over his brother early on; that seems to have calmed down.

Harman has issued a statement already.

Pelosi can add to the narrative.

Whether you consider my posting her phone numbers a request for a ‘bomb’ is entirely in the eye of the beholder, I guess.

what did harman say? link?

i agree here. pelosi was the loby-ee, not the lobby-or and in the end told harman to piss off. i’d wait to see if anything more develops. i really don’t even want to see her put out more than a perfunctory statement.

You can get to Pelosi at
speaker.gov or //democraticleader.house.gov/contact

I never heard anybody say congresscritters were smart. They take orders from lobbyists quite well but any moron can do that.

katymine’s free call list today

What’s that mean?

The CQ Politics story simply recycles three year-old discredited reporting of largely unsourced material to manufacture a ’scoop’ out of widely known and unremarkable facts – that Congresswoman Jane Harman is and has long been a supporter of AIPAC, and that some members of AIPAC regarded her as well-qualified to chair the House Intelligence Committee following the 2006 elections. Congresswoman Harman has never contacted the Justice Department about its prosecution of present or former AIPAC employees and the Department has never informed her that she was or is the subject of or involved in an investigation. If there is anything about this story that should arouse concern, it is that the Bush Administration may have been engaged in electronic surveillance of members of the congressional Intelligence Committees.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi…..c_case.php

Unless I am missing something, what Harman is accused of is a crime. If Pelosi has information that is relevant to that, she should make it public. That’s how we’ll learn if a crime was actually committed. No need to follow the “no investigations until proven guilty approach” that has been advocated for Bush Admin defenders.

Here:

The CQ Politics story simply recycles three year-old discredited reporting of largely unsourced material to manufacture a ’scoop’ out of widely known and unremarkable facts – that Congresswoman Jane Harman is and has long been a supporter of AIPAC, and that some members of AIPAC regarded her as well-qualified to chair the House Intelligence Committee following the 2006 elections. Congresswoman Harman has never contacted the Justice Department about its prosecution of present or former AIPAC employees and the Department has never informed her that she was or is the subject of or involved in an investigation. If there is anything about this story that should arouse concern, it is that the Bush Administration may have been engaged in electronic surveillance of members of the congressional Intelligence Committees.

all the explanations, at the time, seemed a little contrived. wonder if we will ever know.

Exactly. Thank you.

a couple of years ago katymine found those great tollfree numbers. as far as i know they’ve been referred to as her’s ever since. just a way to acknowledge her find i think.

Here goes.

Congresswoman Harman has never contacted the Justice Department about its prosecution of present or former AIPAC employees …

Doesn’t say whether Jane ever chatted Gonzo up, does it? Also coming from a person who is, or at least so we are told, capable of using the “This conversation does not exist” maneuver, categorical denials of contacts are a wee bit iffy.

…and the Department has never informed her that she was or is the subject of or involved in an investigation. …

Welp, to the extent that they had the crime on tape in their laps, no investigation per se would have been needed, just analysis.

…If there is anything about this story that should arouse concern, it is that the Bush Administration may have been engaged in electronic surveillance of members of the congressional Intelligence Committees.

First off, they claim Jane was a contact of the surveillance subject, not that she herself was the subject, so that softens things a bit — unless she thought she as an Intel Committee member was supposed to have an automatic pass from the Hoover machine…? That said, even if we were to grant the flawed premise, why would it be any worse for Intelligence Committee members than, say, Judiciary, Commerce, or any plain Joe in Congress?

i am sure she will add to the narrative, but not so sure she will directly answer any of the questions. the court case would preclude her from doing that. even if she would. which i doubt.

well, i’m ‘beholding’ that it’s all there but the command.
‘ready, set, –’ oh, you didn’t say ‘go’…so it doesn’t count. : ) my brother used to do that.

seems like tying up her phone lines during a time when people need to get through for other issues going on right now, well, i don’t agree with it. i tried many many many times today to get through about the dawn johnsen nomination and the memos released and never did get through. bugging her for answers she can’t or won’t offer is more tied-up phone lines for me and everyone else.
that’s all i’m sayin’.

i tried off and on all day to reach her office. it was a ‘pain’. more phone calls for something that it isn’t going to ‘hurry up’ makes it harder to get through.

thanks, bl and teddy

toll-free numbers for the congressional switchboard in washington.

Way way OT — Huh: al-Haramain… Harman… what an odd, meaningless coincidence of letters.

Haramain – Harman = ai. As in AIPAC.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a huge pile of freshly spilled toothpicks to go flash-count…

I’m ready for some govt. issued SOMA. Any ideas where I can get some?

I will leave you in charge of what issues rise to the level of phone calls to The Speaker in the future. *g*

ot: this headline in the nytimes is rubbing me the wrong way big time:

“Obama Urges C.I.A. Not to Be Discouraged by Memos”

if she was involved in any way, then she should be reporting it to the officials first. that may take a day or two at least to be interviewed by everyone. and then the people involved in prosecuting the court case. then a statement.
a lot more involved here. calling her isn’t going to hurry up the process.

i wish nuance could be heard on here. i have great nuance. *g*

i really am quite likeable. you can’t hear ‘amusement’ in my text.

someday we well have speakertext.
((teddy))

Thanks. I thought that might be the case.

listen to spectre. oh wrong choice.

listen to whitehouse.

If we could be assured that all that was happening, I would agree. But since we cannot be so assured, this might hurry the process, as it will be in her interests to do whatever is necessary to allow her to make a public statement.

Yeah, well.

(dmac)

did he say anything today that would be encouraging to the democratic wing of the democratic party?

Just wondering if there is a democratic wing left.

yeah, obama spoke to cia employees today–they showed it on cspan…he spoke of their ’secret lives’ and then when he was finished the camera stayed on him and showed everyone shaking his hand. so either the ’secret talk’ was for show and it was office employees or someone screwed up.
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/…..d=285394-3

we can’t be assured (or reassured). but there is a minimal process that takes a few days. that we do know. after that, and still no information from her–then call-bomb the hell out of her.

he’s backing dawn johnsen for the olc. for sure. christy covered it today.
so, sleep well with your personal soma whitehouse.

Good to know that we can rely on you not only for decisions about whom to call, but also when!
*g*

Just wondering if there is a democratic wing left.

just one. i believe his name is bernie sanders. but he’s too democratic for the democratic party. *g*

maybe feingold too, but i didn’t hear him vote for sanders’ amendment for a temporary tax on the well off to help pay for the tarp last fall.

can’t call tonight (it’s too late dc time) but will try to remember tomorrow.

Well,well,well…the plot sickens.I found this:

Obama Administration Endorses Continued Spying on Americans
Justice Department Moves to Squash NSA Spying Suits

It seems to me that some of the research I’ve done shows that Israel pretty much has the lock on the Homeland Security surveillance industry. Perhaps that’s why no one wants to piss them off…that and the debts $$$$ we owe them

If there’s a Dem primary I come out of the radical sea and re-register as a Dem. Before the general I switch back to NPA and slither back into the water. Gov Dean has been very quiet lately. I think before long DFA is gonna really piss off the Rethugs with some new roots initiative. heh heh heh

lol

was the first thing that went through my mind when i heard it–how many people she legally has to talk to first before she can open her mouth, if she opens it.

i bet she is pissed as hell. she didn’t need this shit pile in her way and eating her time right now. if she didn’t hate harmon already she hates her guts right now.

how strange.

i do make a few calls. and letters.
timing does matter.
you know that.
:)

Way back when they opened registration for the ‘09 Netroots Nation I said that we’d either come together with something to celebrate or we would come together and be on the warpath. I left the option open. I’m kinda seeing the writing on the wall . . .

at the first convo someone had a workshop in the hallways making tin foil hats. This time I think it will be pitchforks and torches.

is it close enough for you to stay home and drive back and forth?

Sure hope they have one in central FL in the near future. Unless I hit the Lotto I’m stuck.

last year it was here in austin and i had to be in california. it’s still bothering me.

from the Brits:

Lawyers for the government have admitted that a senior MI5 officer gave false evidence to the high court in the case of former Guantánamo Bay prisoner Binyam Mohamed.

The admission, combined with an apology, is contained in a letter from Treasury solicitor David Mackie to Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones, who tomorrow will hear fresh demands from lawyers representing Mohamed, and the media, for the disclosure of information about who was complicit in his interrogation and torture. . . . . .

Police from Scotland Yard’s specialist crimes directorate are investigating “possible criminal wrongdoing” by another MI5 officer, known as Witness B, who interrogated Mohamed in a Pakistani jail shortly after he was seized in 2002.

Former shadow home secretary David Davis yesterday described the government lawyers’ letter to the high court as “extraordinary”. He added: “The state is using secrecy to cover up embarrassment.”

read the whole thing.

no. Pittsburgh is, believe it or not, a 7 hour train ride from the western burbs of Philly where I’m at.

A 7 hour train ride to Pittsburg from Philly?!?! Holy moly. They usin’ an old wood burner from the 1860s?

i just went to googlemaps. it’s opposite ends of the state.

some years in the summer i go to a little place in warforsburg, pa called the “farm of peace” for a sufi retreat. it’s really beautiful there – rolling hills. it’s near the borders of pa, w.va and md.

sounds nice. That’s closer to Pittsburgh than I am. But I am looking forward to NN this year. Much of the FDL gang did not go last year—hopefully this year they/we will.

AIPAC Summit..Oct 22/06..Melvin Dow, past president, denies AIPAC involvement with Harman. It occurs from 2:27 to 2:29.(PDF)
************

http://www.aipac.org/Publicati…..t-2006.pdf