"The military commission system is back: "The White House said on Friday that some Guantánamo detainees would be prosecuted in a military commission system that was a much-criticized centerpiece of the Bush administration's strategy for fighting terror."

Wow, another major policy reversal by 0bama and a continuation of the Bush policy of holding terrorists indefinitely without trial.

How can you good liberals continue to support such a war criminal I'll never know. LOL

Michael Steele and Michele Bachmann are teaming up to attack ACORN

Squirrel fight!

"As of this afternoon, 57 senators support Dawn Johnsen's OLC nomination, with four undecided on whether to let the Senate vote on her confirmation: Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Arlen Specter, and Ben Nelson."

Figures it would be four Republicans holding things up.

If Specter and Nelson want to be known as Democrats, they're going to have to start voting like Democrats as far as I'm concerned.

Having a "D" next to their name means nothing if they're just going to enable the bad guys anyway.

Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), a key House centrist, has endorsed a compromise climate-change bill after negotiations with Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). Al Gore seems encouraged by the bill, calling it "a good start."

Unfortunately this 'good start' needed to come about a decade or so ago.

Chico--

If I recall correctly, when Bush was running the first time, he said that he didn't believe in nation building, would reduce the size of the federal government, and would seek to reduce CO2 emissions. And these items just scratch the surface of his lies. Yet, you voted for him again the second time around. Why?

Look in the mirror, hypocrite.

How can you good liberals continue to support such a war criminal I'll never know. -Chicounsel

Support, for liberals, is not Boolean. We can support a government official in general and hope they are successful, but disagree with policy decisions along the way.

I'm sure many progressives are appalled, as am I, concerning the decision to continue this policy. My position hasn't changed because the President has.

It's called consistency. I'm quite sure you're not used to noticing it among your ilk.

The military commission system is back: "The White House said on Friday that some Guantánamo detainees would be prosecuted in a military commission system that was a much-criticized centerpiece of the Bush administration's strategy for fighting terror." Obama has expanded the legal rights of defendants, banned evidence via torture, restricted evidence from hearsay, and extended more flexibility to defendants to choose their own lawyers.

Another nail in the coffin of why I worked my ass off for this guy.

He's for "cram-down" to keep people in their homes, except when he needs to push for it in Congress, and then he lets the scumbag banks win without even putting up a fight.

Secretary of the Interior Salazar says he wants to follow "scientific evidence" and then decides that the Yellowstone Wolves constitue three different populations, with the "Wyoming wolves" endangered and needing protection, while the "Montana wolves" and "Idaho wolves" are not endangered and can be hunted for trphies without injury - this despite the fact that last summer it was proved in court (with scientific evidence) in a suit against the Bushscum that there is one population of wolves, all of whom are endangered. And Salazar also said he wanted to re-examing the evidence and "revisit the decision" on the polar bear being listed as threatened rather than endangered, then affirms the Bushscum position because "I don't believe the Endangered Species Act should be used to deal with global warming" despite the fact that global warming is endangering more species than just the polar bear.

Then there's Obama's decision to appoint the scumbag General who played coverup over the death of Pat Tillman, the inventor of the lies and the bullshit, as head of the Imperial Legions in Afghanistan.

I won't even go into the bill of indictment against the incompetent Geithner and the criminal Summers as they manage to make things worse and kowtow deeper to the Wall Street scum who created the mess we all deal with, since there isn't enough bandwidth here to deal with that.

Then there's Obama's "support by silence" for Max Baucus' position that "single payer is off the table" this week regarding health care "reform" while he stands with the insurance scum who created the problem while they all sing "can't we all just get along?"

Obama has now personally reversed himself on every policy position that was why I voted for him. I regret raising a dime for him, let alone the $350K I did raise.

Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values. As the Agency indicated previously in response to Congressional inquiries, our contemporaneous records from September 2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing "the enhanced techniques that had been employed." Ultimately, it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened.

Leon Panetta

First, a reminder that a real "healthcare breakthrough" would have to seriously involve single-payer proposals.

Second, keep reminding people that the torture issue isn't just about maybe doing the wrong thing for the right reason is somehow tolerable. We're finding (as per below threads etc. that much of what BushCo did was doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons (like forcing a link between Saddam and bin Laden.) That is absolutely intolerable and even envelope-pushers can't try to justify that. It should be brought up against attempts to justify the "justifiable" sorts of torture.

If the Obama administration were a car, I would take it in for a front end alignment, since it keeps pulling to the right. Is Wall Street hiring? Everybody else continues to be screwed.

The military commission system is back:

Big disappointment.

Steve, once again I appeal to you and your fellow celeb bloggers to ratchet back on the fluff "wingnuts are teh stoopid" coverage and start actually dealing with substantive crap like what the Obama admin is doing.

"...How can you good liberals continue to support such a war criminal I'll never know." Chicounsel @ 5:25 PM.
"...Obama has expanded the legal rights of the defendants, banned evidence via torture, restricted evidence from hearsay, and extended more flexibility to defendents to choose their own lawyers."
Let's see now: BANNED evidence attained via torture, RESTRICTED evidence from hearsay, EXPANDED the legal rights of the accused. Sounds to me as if the Military Commissions and regular court proceedings won't be too much different; but then, although I do probably have as much time in a courtroom (zilch) as Chicounsel, what do I know?
Enough of troll-baiting. Does anyone want to place any bets on 90%, or more, of the cases being tossed for lack of evidence?

Panetta wasn't there. He's reporting what the records indicate for the purpose of maintaining the morale of CIA staff. Those meetings were with and the records were kept by Bush/Cheney yes men. They're only as reliable as the guys who kept them (not very).

Panetta wasn't there. He's reporting what the records indicate for the purpose of maintaining the morale of CIA staff. Those meetings were with and the records were kept by Bush/Cheney yes men. They're only as reliable as the guys who kept them (not very).

Yep. This is all based on an internal memo that Panetta sent out to CIA staff that was leaked to the Hill.

When Panetta holds a press conference, or at least sends out a press release, denouncing Pelosi, then I'll take this seriously.

Bachmann Steele Overdrive.

*

Keep your shirts on, guys. Military commissions may be back, but with a new set of rules that respect American laws about admissibility of evidence and representation of the accused. It isn't the system of military justice that's corrupt, it's the grotesque way that Bush/Cheney tried to use it to get predetermined results.

This is pretty consistent with Obama's approach so far: to reform Bush-era abuses, but not to throw everything out and start over from scratch. We knew the guy was a pragmatic moderate when we elected him. I don't like every pragmatic decision he's made, with the reneging on releasing the torture photos as exhibit A, but I'm not going to hit the ceiling over this, at least not yet. If there are reports that evidence obtained through torture is still being admitted and that lawyers for the defendants are still being blacklisted, and judges instructed in advance to convict, THEN I'll hit the ceiling.

Pining for the good old days of Gridlock...

As of this afternoon, 57 senators support Dawn Johnsen's OLC nomination, with four undecided on whether to let the Senate vote on her confirmation: Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Arlen Specter, and Ben Nelson.

Remember way back in 86, deep in the heart of gridlock, when our government functioned? Reagan nominated Scalia that year. He passed 98-0 with only the Republicans Barry Goldwater and Jack Garn not voting. Even Mario Cuomo liked Antonio's cologne...

Crikey.
Now?

We can't even get an up and down vote on a wildly popular president's choice to head some bullshit post most Americans have never even heard of.

WTF happened to America?
How did we go from functional gridlock to dysfunctional stupidlock in 25 years? And does anybody out there really believe that at this glacial pace of progress the 21st century belongs to America?

If you do, please quit smoking the OxyContin and snorting the testosterone...
Our empire is cooked. It is so absolutely obvious. Make way for the Chinese Renminbi please...

Now, Pelosi is saying the CIA told the truth. She got them mixed up with the Bush Administration:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0509/Panetta_to_CIA_employees_We_told_Pelosi_the_truth.html

Wonder what Graham's notes will say?

Keep your shirts on, guys. Military commissions may be back, but with a new set of rules that respect American laws about admissibility of evidence and representation of the accused.

No it doesn't. Read the fine print.

Obama is replacing a system of no due process with one with substandard due process. Those of us concerned with human rights and the rule of law should not be happy about this development.

As of this afternoon, 57 senators support Dawn Johnsen's OLC nomination, with four undecided on whether to let the Senate vote on her confirmation: Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Arlen Specter, and Ben Nelson.

I think the Democrats should fight for Dawn Johnsen, go to the mat, spend the capital.

Check out the right up on the intlawgrrls:

http://intlawgrrls.blogspot.com/2009/05/job-1-for-ag.html

How can you good liberals continue to support such a war criminal I'll never know. LOL
Posted by: Chicounsel on May 15, 2009 at 5:25 PM | PERMALINK*********************************************

why don't you get the pot pipe out of your mouth and think for yourself for a few seconds. War criminals? You want to talk about war criminals? and then you, you Republiban* asshole, you want to point a finger at Obama?!! What a putz, what a pansy, what a total ignoramus you display yourself to be. *(rebubicant+taliban)

statement from Pelosi's office:

"We all share great respect for the dedicated men and women of the intelligence community who are deeply committed to the safety and security of the American people. My criticism of the manner in which the Bush Administration did not appropriately inform Congress is separate from my respect for those in the intelligence community who work to keep our country safe. What is important now is to be united in our commitment to ensuring the security of our country; that, and how Congress exercises its oversight responsibilities, will continue to be my focus as we move forward."

Does that mean that the internal CIA memos that Panetta relied on are reliable? What does it mean?

Ross Best (@18:57) *is the best* :)

I'm sure that dates me, but I am as old as I am and never tried to pretend otherwise.

Does that mean that the internal CIA memos that Panetta relied on are reliable? What does it mean?

It means Steny Hoyer's getting a bigger office.

New news. Salt Lake papers say Jon Huntsman, Utah Gov., and a R, is resigning to become Ambassador to China.

Ture ? TO be announced Sat ?

Re the military commissions, John at Americablog:
http://www.americablog.com/2009/05/obamas-decision-to-continue-military.html
notes this passage in the NYT article:

"And in a clear rebuke to Mr. Obama, Democratic leaders refused to include $80 million the White House had sought for closing Guantánamo. Senate Democrats also said the administration must provide a plan for relocating more than 200 detainees still held at the prison. The Senate Appropriations Committee advanced its version of the military spending bill Thursday with the $80 million but banned the transfer of detainees to the United States."

John says: "It appears we're having a case of "terrorist NIMBY." Let's prosecute them all, even if they're just innocent farmers, and lock 'em up forever, damn it! But not in my backyard, thank you very much. It seems Republicans and Democrats in Congress are afraid of having any of these terrah-ists shipped to prisons in their own states."

Perhaps the president needs to fight a little harder... on MANY issues.

The GM and Chrysler dealers who are fighting the loss of their franchises might have been able to count on widespread public support for their cause, except that after decades of being among the most customer-unfriendly of all businesses they've pretty much alienated most people. You're not likely to champion the cause of a dealer who charged you $500 for "fabric sealant" on your last new car purchase.

Another nail in the coffin of why I worked my ass off for this guy.
Posted by: TCinLA on May 15, 2009

Well there is nothing for me to say. You said it for me. Thank you. I am so sad!

Did I miss it, or did Benen post anything about how the Health Care Industry threw cold water on his optimism that they were going to work constructively with the Obama admin?

Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. - Panetta

In other words, In a perfect world we don't lie. And our current report says the same thing as the notes written at the time.

My criticism of the manner in which the Bush Administration did not appropriately inform Congress - Pelosi

In other words, I'm not talking about the CIA as an institution. I'm talking about political appointees working with the CIA. And if I don't believe what they told me, why would I believe what they wrote in their internal notes?

Emptywheel has an interesting read on torture, Iraq and Valerie Plame.

While the FTC is at it, can they investigate all the calls we keep getting telling us that our credit card interest rate is about to go up/our chance to lower it is about to expire? (Yes, we are on the do-not-call list.)