Tightening those Leaks!

The Dept. of Homeland security is requiring that the 180,000 or so employees amd contractors will have to sign a three page secrecy pledge.
Paula Zahn says the pledge covers sensitive but unclassified information, and it comes just after the 9/11 commission report criticized the gov't for over-classifying information.

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Add to that, the purging of the CIA because of disloyalty to President Bush. According to Newsday, "The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Ladin..." An even tighter shroud of secrecy begins.

Not helping matters is Porter Goss telling the Central Intelligence Agency employees that their job is to "support the administration and its policies in our work.'' I didn't know the CIA was an extention of White House policy? Aren't they in the business of supplying intelligence?
Porter tried to make up for it those words with: "We provide the intelligence as we see it - and let the facts alone speak to the policymaker.''
How can you have it both ways Mr. Goss?

"Senator, that I don't recall remembering." With those six words uttered during the furor over his purge of U.S. prosecutors, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales likely etched his epitaph. But as it turns out, "hypothetical" may be the most important word Gonzales ever spoke to Congress. New revelations this week suggest that in the spring of 2002 then-White House Counsel Gonzales personally approved the use of waterboarding, months before the Justice Department's infamous Bybee memo blessed the practice. By labeling such questions "hypothetical" during his 2005 confirmation hearings, Attorney General Gonzales may well have committed perjury.

As NPR reported this week, Gonzales apparently played a central role in authorizing the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques months before the August 2002 Bybee memo defined torture as "equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death." In April and May 2002, it was White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales who gave CIA interrogation contractor James Mitchell the greenlight to waterboard detainee Abu Zubaydah:

One source with knowledge of Zubaydah's interrogations agreed to describe the legal guidance process, on the condition of anonymity.

The source says nearly every day, Mitchell would sit at his computer and write a top-secret cable to the CIA's counterterrorism center. Each day, Mitchell would request permission to use enhanced interrogation techniques on Zubaydah. The source says the CIA would then forward the request to the White House, where White House counsel Alberto Gonzales would sign off on the technique. That would provide the administration's legal blessing for Mitchell to increase the pressure on Zubaydah in the next interrogation.

But that's not what Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee during his January 2005 confirmation as Attorney General.

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So were these officials actively undermining Iraq's government - or are they political rivals taken out with one big swoop?

If the latter, then Bush certainly has turned Iraq into his kind of "democracy":

BAGHDAD, Dec. 18 -- At least 34 Iraqi security officials inside Iraq's Interior Ministry have been arrested, possibly in connection with corruption and working to rebuild an illegal party formed by supporters of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, according to several ministry officials.

Those arrested, both Sunnis and Shiites, include high-ranking generals at the Interior Ministry, which oversees the country's police and other security services. Most of those arrested -- at least 17 -- were members of the traffic police, including the general who leads the department, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The arrests were made by a special counterterrorism task force that reports to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the officials said.

It was unclear precisely why the officials were arrested. Some said it was because they were involved in corruption involving the issuing of fake documents and car license plates. Others described a more diabolical plot to resurrect al-Awda, or the Return, a party composed of Hussein's loyalists that has been banned by the government. "It's a political group to resist against the government," said an Interior Ministry officer.

Also unknown was whether the officials were trying to plot the overthrow of Maliki, who has been trying to cement his power in recent months, raising tensions with various political parties. At least six additional officials were being sought for arrest, the officials said.

The Big Picture: Many experts point to the Financial Modernization Act as one of the causes of our current financial crisis. Byron Dorgan was one of the few senators to speak out strongly against the legislation then. Looking back, his predictions in 1999 seem prophetic and, looking forward, his views raise more questions about the $700 billion bailout plan.

The Brad Blog: New study details massive voter roll purge underway in at least 19 states.

Media Nation: Gwen Ifill? What about NBC's "McCain liason," Tom Brokaw?

TheZoo: Psychogeezer says he gets foreign policy advice from Palin -OMG

Rolling Stone: Make Believe Maverick: A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty.

Spiegel Online: The end of arrogance

The U.S. Attorney Purge scandal may be over, but the Bush administration hasn’t changed its habit of ridding itself of those guilty of independent thinking.

The battle over dioxin contamination in this economically stressed region [of Michigan] had been raging for years when a top Bush administration official turned up the pressure on Dow Chemical to clean it up.

On Thursday, following months of internal bickering over Mary Gade’s interactions with Dow, the administration forced her to quit as head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Midwest office, based in Chicago.

We’ve learned quite a bit in recent days about the White House interfering with EPA regulations on dioxin contamination, but it’s especially bold, even for the Bush gang, to fire the one career official who was looking out for the public’s interests.

For the past year, Gade has been locked in a heated dispute with Dow about long-delayed plans to clean up dioxin-saturated soil and sediment that extends 50 miles beyond its Midland, Mich., plant into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron. […]

Though regional EPA administrators typically have wide latitude to enforce environmental laws, Gade drew fire from officials in Washington last month after she sent contractors to test soil in a Saginaw neighborhood where Dow had found high dioxin levels.

Michigan Environmental Council President Lana Pollack called Gade a “woman of unquestioned credentials and integrity who was doing her job enforcing our environmental laws.”

In this administration, that’s not a compliment.

David Seaton's News Links: A good question and a good answer

cab drollery: The hazards of wasting a vote on Ralph Nader, Ross Perot, Ron Paul, et al

The Satirical Political Report: GOP defends Spitzer's prostitution activities, but slams him for doing it with "undocumented hookers."

The Brad Blog: The insidious nexus between phony GOP charges of "voter fraud" and the U.S. Attorney Purge scandal will finally explored in a Senate hearing this week.

WTF is going on? Anatomy of a scam.

ANNALS OF JOURNALISM: This explains everything...An Ombudsman stumbles around...A politician actually speaks sensibly on security and fraidy-cat authoritarianism, while a store-bought GOP shill just lies...McCain BBQ and our insipid press corpse...Violent framing...Cancer scare tactics...News you may have missed...like our press keeps missing stuff

I wasn't going to post about this, but what the heck. It's too funny ...Apparently, there's a "Save Tucker" movement trying to flourish and they have a website to prove it. And a three-time Democratic office seeker is helping out...I wonder how long it will take Howard Kurtz to do a feature on it, but I digress. Here's where the fun begins...

MSNBC executives are considering cancelling 'Tucker' with Tucker Carlson which airs on MSNBC at 6:00pm EST weekdays. This decision by MSNBC will silence a [bleating, whiny, intensely irritating-ed.] conservative voice, part of a move by MSNBC to swing left and become "FOX for the Liberals," dropping any pretense of objectivity or balance.

Any guy willing to go on "Dancing with the Stars" and treat guests both left and right with spirited but congenial debate should not be purged in some ideological marketing plan. We respectfully urge NBC to reconsider this decision and save TUCKER!

I think all his problems are essentially illustrated in this pesky little ratings graphic below....

(click pic to make it larger) h/t TV Newser...Anyway, TRex started a new blog and talks more about this...

Informed Comment: It now appears that the insurgency in Iraq has succeeded in interfering with food delivery to U.S. personnel

AlterNet: Cast your vote for the worst offenders on the Corporate Hall of Shame

Les Enragés: Must see videos from Greg Palast on the prosecutor's purge

ArmsControlWonk: Tech, politics, and perspective on Iran

The Satirical Political Report: A Tale of Two Monicas'--Top Ten comparison

ANNALS OF SCIENCE: Some big flaws in this man's thinking on global warming...We can educate ourselves, or, like this deluded fantacist, believe "aliens cause Global Warming"...Maybe a change in terminology is in order...Wingnuts declare war on Rachel Carson...Here's your Guide to Global Warming Denialists...A quote from Darwin... The World Health Organization's 2007 compendium of statistics have some interesting highlights...

Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey seems to have raised eyebrows throughout the political world with his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony yesterday. While the prosecutor purge was supposed to be the key topic of the hearing, Comey’s story about the 2004 reathorization of the NSA warrantless-search program turned out to be the big news.

As Anonymous Liberal put it, “Comey’s testimony today reads like the script of a Hollywood movie."

Watch Comey tell this truly amazing story:

Dan Froomkin said, "Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey's gripping testimony yesterday about his high-speed race to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital bedside -- and the ensuing standoff with senior White House aides over the administration's warrantless wiretapping program -- may turn out to be the political-scandal equivalent of the tune nobody can get out of their heads."

Prairie Weather: More revelations in Attorneygate...drip, drip, drip

the talking dog: An internal survey conducted by the Army indicates that BUSHCO's cavalier attitude toward treating local populaces with dignity and respect and with humanely treating those captured has filtered down to the troops

Washington Babylon: Reporter, Laura Rozen (War and Piece) is better informed and sourced than just about anyone writing on Iran, and consistently breaks news and offers smart analysis. I recently asked her six questions about the Bush Administration's Iran policy.

Think Moderate: Debunking the assertion that recently-passed Hate Crimes legislation somehow criminalizes certain thoughts and/or speech.

Consortiumblog: It’s finally accepted wisdom in Washington that the intelligence that G-Dub used to to justify invading Iraq was garbage. But the pattern of twisting the truth about Iraq continues unabated and the President is rarely called on it.

HOLY CRAP: America's holiest congressmen (h/t The Omnipotent Poobah)...Evolution a reality...Texas legislature wants religion in the public schools...Coral Ridge Church shuts down its political arm...More that $3 million has flowed from Moonie interests to Bush family interests since G.W. Bush took office...Man planning to rise from the dead for a press conference...A great series on The Catholic Right...These Catholics don't want President Bush to speak at their college because his behavior is "at odds with our values. Values that—rather than being unique to Catholicism—are universal."...Perhaps, before calling Darwin--a man who was an outspoken opponent of slavery--a racist, it would be better for The Discovery Institute to purge its own ranks...Rebranding Intelligent Design...Wal Mart hates nuns...Federally funded abstinence program requires a relationship with Jesus...It appears that PBS stations are burying "A Brief History of Disbelief"