An Iranian opposition group based in Iraq is receiving protection from the American military despite being considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. The MEK is blamed for bombings in Iran but also credited with helping expose Tehran's secret nuclear program. The U.S. designation of MEK as a terror group means no American can give support to its members.
President Bush kept making the point over and over that allowing his staff members (i.e. Karl Rove) to testify under oath would hamper his ablility to "get quality advice," but as ThinkProgress noted earlier today, 31 of Clinton's top aides testified before Congress on 47 different occasions. Something tells me that this fact won't preclude the Bush-apologists from invoking Clinton again, though.
UPDATE: Senator Leahy and Rep. Conyers respond to the the White House's offer.
Since December 2006, the Central Intelligence Agency has been using Facebook.com, the popular social networking site, to recruit potential employees into its National Clandestine Service. It marks the first time the
CIA has ventured into social networking to hire new personnel.
The CIA's Facebook page (login required) provides an overview of what the NCS is looking for in a recruit, along with a 30-second promotional YouTube video aimed at potential college-aged applicants. U.S. citizens with a GPA above 3.0 can apply.
"It's an invaluable tool when it comes to peer-to-peer marketing," says Michele Neff, a CIA spokeswoman.
Michele Neff, a CIA spokeswoman
CIA is an "exempted agency," meaning it has its own hiring authority and isn't audited by OPM
Ozer says that there's no way we can be sure what the CIA is up to online.
"It seems if they would go to the trouble to infiltrate peace groups that they are also online looking at information."
Before Tonight's State of the Union Address, a Look Back at What Promises Were Kept and What Were ForgottenIn an effort to push the Republican-led Congress to pass legislation making his first-term tax cuts permanent, Bush said in the 2006 State of the Union speech, "We need more than temporary tax relief. I urge the Congress to act responsibly, and make the tax cuts permanent."
Bush's first-term tax cuts expire by the year 2011. While Democrats have said they won't seek to repeal Bush's major first-term cuts, they oppose legislation making the tax cuts permanent.
In last year's speech, Bush said, "I am pleased that members of Congress are working on earmark reform, because the federal budget has too many special-interest projects. And we can tackle this problem together, if you pass the line-item veto."
Supporters of the presidential line-item veto power argue that it would serve to cut down on the process of slipping earmarks into spending bills. However, opponents argue the line-item veto would give the executive branch far-reaching powers over legislation created by elected representatives.
The House of Representatives passed legislation (H.R. 4890) on June 22, 2006, that would have given Bush a six-year line-item veto, and would have allowed him to strike spending and tax provisions from legislation without vetoing the bill.
However, a bipartisan group of senators opposed the measure, and the Senate never took up the House bill.
In his 2006 State of the Union speech, Bush said, "We must have a rational, humane guest worker program that rejects amnesty, allows temporary jobs for people who seek them legally, and reduces smuggling and crime at the border."
However, the 109th Congress reached an impasse on illegal immigration, with the House Republican majority insisting on an approach that strongly emphasized enforcement.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan Senate group -- backed by Bush -- sought broader changes, including guest worker programs and pathways to legal status for illegal workers.
In 2006, the president said his administration would "do more" to make health coverage portable, so workers could switch jobs without having to worry about losing their health insurance.
Today, Americans are no closer to having portable health-care coverage, and health care is widely seen as a problem that needs fixing.
Arguing that medical malpractice lawsuits drove good doctors out of business, President Bush urged Congress to pass medical liability reform.
The House passed a bill (H.R. 5) that would limit medical malpractice awards, setting a $250,000 limit. The House passed similar bills twice in the 108th Congress, but the measure repeatedly failed in the Senate to draw the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture or limit debate.
In 2006, Senate Republicans offered a new proposal capping liability damages at $750,000. They hoped that it would win them more support than previous bills. However, the measure failed in a vote in the Senate on May 8, 2006.
"I ask you to join me in creating a commission to examine the full impact of baby boom retirements on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid," President Bush said in last year's speech.
However, a commission examining the impact of baby boomers does not exist and was never set up.
President Bush said he would encourage "bolder private-sector initiatives in technology" by proposing to make permanent the R&D tax credit. However, the federal R&D credit is currently expired.
On March, 17, 2005, Republican Sen. Sam Brownback introduced a bill (S. 658) that would amend the Public Health Service Act or prohibit human cloning.
A companion bill was introduced in the House (H.R. 1357) in May 2005 by Republican Rep. Dave Weldon. However, the bills never made it out of committee.
Bush raised eyebrows last year when he called for using switch grass as an alternative source for ethanol, but we are no closer today to seeing that become a reality.
ABC News reported in February 2006 that experts who worked in the alternative fuel industry said that research was already well under way, and that what's really needed was a commercial plant to convert switch grass to ethanol on a large scale.
In 2006, President Bush said, "I ask Congress to reform and reauthorize the Ryan White Act, and provide new funding to states, so we end the waiting lists for AIDS medicines in America."
In Washington, the D.C. AIDS Agency has lost count of its cases because it has so many. The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act is federal legislation that addresses the unmet health needs of persons living with HIV disease (PLWH) by funding primary health care and support services.
The CARE Act was named after Ryan White, an Indiana teenager whose courageous struggle with HIV/AIDS and against AIDS-related discrimination helped educate the nation. However, Congress has not reauthorized the Ryan White Act.
In last year's State of the Union, President Bush said, "We will also lead a nationwide effort, working closely with African-American churches and faith-based groups, to deliver rapid HIV tests to millions, end the stigma of AIDS, and come closer to the day when there are no new infections in America."
On Sept. 21, 2006, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued "unprecedented" new guidelines, urging doctors and all health-care providers to make HIV screening a routine part of medical care for everyone from 13 to 64.
President Bush began 2006 talking about the need for tough immigration enforcement -- and won. National Guard troops started arriving along the U.S.-Mexico border June 15, 2006, and 6,000 were in place by August 2006.
In his 2006 speech, he said, "Keeping America competitive requires an immigration system that upholds our laws, reflects our values, and serves the interests of our economy. Our nation needs orderly and secure borders. To meet this goal, we must have stronger immigration enforcement and border protection."
On Dec. 27, 2006, the Department of Energy announced the selection of five projects totaling nearly $12 million that targeted cost-effective technologies to improve the performance and economics of near-zero emission, coal-based power-generation systems.
On Dec. 6, 2006, the United States Advanced Battery Consortium, an organization composed of the Big Three U.S. automakers and half-funded by the Department of Energy, awarded a $15 million lithium iron phosphate battery technology development contract to A123Systems of Watertown, Mass.
The consortium awarded the contract in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop lithium iron phosphate battery technology for hybrid-electric vehicle applications.
The contract is for 36 months with a focus on systems that are high power, abuse tolerant and cost effective.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that it was some new restriction on free speech in Communist China. But it isn't. The U.S. Government wants to force bloggers and online grassroots activists to register and regularly report their activities to Congress in the latest astounding attack on the internet and the First Amendment.
Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of GrassrootsFreedom.com, a website dedicated to fighting efforts to silence grassroots movements, states:
"Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill currently before the Senate, would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate to 500 or more members of the public on policy matters, to register and report quarterly to Congress the same as the big K Street lobbyists. Section 220 would amend existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive intrusion on First Amendment rights ever. For the first time in history, critics of Congress will need to register and report with Congress itself."
In other words Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats may redefine the meaning of lobbying in order that political communications to and even between citizens falls under the same legislation.
Under current law any 'lobbyist" who 'knowingly and willingly fails to file or report." quarterly to the government faces criminal charges including a possible jail term of up to one year.
The amendment is currently on hold.
This latest attack on bloggers comes hot on the heels of Republican Senator John McCain's proposal to introduce legislation that would fine blogs up to $300,000 for offensive statements, photos and videos posted by visitors on comment boards.
McCain's proposal is presented under the banner of saving children from sexual predators and encourages informants to shop website owners to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who then pass the information on to the relevant police authorities.
Despite a total lack of any evidence that children are being victimized en mass by bloggers or people who leave comments on blog sites, it seems likely that the proposal will become legislation in some form. It is well known that McCain has a distaste for his blogosphere critics, causing a definite conflict of interest where any proposal to restrict blogs on his part is concerned.
Specter pushed back. “Wait a minute. The constitution says you can’t take it away, except in the case of rebellion or invasion. Doesn’t that mean you have the right of habeas corpus, unless there is an invasion or rebellion?” Specter told Gonzales, “You may be treading on your interdiction and violating common sense, Mr. Attorney General.” Watch it:
As McJoan noted, the right of habeas corpus is clear in Article I, Section 9, Clause 2 of the Contitution: “The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.”
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House says Iran is supplying militants in Iraq, and that's why the U.S. needs to pursue people suspected of putting "our people at risk."
The comments come as American military officials in Baghdad say five Iranians arrested in Iraq last week have been linked to an Iranian faction that funds and arms militants in Iraq.
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley tells ABC's "This Week" that the U.S. needs to deal with what -- quote -- "Iran is doing inside Iraq."
Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Vice President Cheney warned that "Iran is fishing in troubled waters inside Iraq.
"To oppose everything while proposing nothing is irresponsible," Bush said.
In a pitch to lawmakers and the American people, Bush said the United States will keep the onus on the Iraqi government to take charge of security and reach a political reconciliation. He countered Democrats and his fellow Republicans who argue that Bush is sending 21,500 more U.S. troops into Iraq on the same mission.
"We have a new strategy with a new mission: Helping secure the population, especially in Baghdad," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "Our plan puts Iraqis in the lead."
The president asked for patience from lawmakers who grilled Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when they testified before Congress in defense of the president's new plan.
Democratic leaders in the House and Senate intend to hold votes within a few weeks on Bush's revised Iraq policy. The non-binding resolutions would be one way to show their opposition to any troop buildup and force Republicans to make a choice about whether they support the president's plan.
Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., said that he, along with most Democrats and an increasing number of Republicans, believe sending more troops compounds a bad situation. Walz, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, said diplomatic and political solutions are needed, not more troops.
"Before moving forward with this escalation, we owe it to these troops, to their families, and to all Americans to ask the tough questions and demand honest answers about this policy," Walz said in the Democrats' Saturday radio address.
"Is there a clear strategy that the commanders on the ground believe will succeed?" Walz said. "What are the benchmarks for success, and how long does the president believe it will take to achieve them? Is this a policy that will contribute to the America's security in the larger war on terror, or distract from it?"
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has charged that what Democrats really want to do is cut off funding for the troops. Democrats deny that.
"Members of Congress have a right to express their views, and express them forcefully," Bush said. "But those who refuse to give this plan a chance to work have an obligation to offer an alternative that has a better chance for success. "
In his radio broadcast, Bush replayed the highlights of his Wednesday night address to the nation.
He said the 21,500 troops being sent to Baghdad and Anbar province, a base for al-Qaeda, have a changed mission.
"This time there will be adequate Iraqi and U.S. forces to hold the areas that have been cleared," Bush said.
Bush said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has pledged that political sectarian interference with security operations will not be tolerated. "This time, Iraqi and American forces will have a green light to enter neighborhoods that are home to those fueling sectarian violence," he said.
The president also said the United States will hold the Iraqi government to its pledge to take responsibility for security in all of Iraq's provinces by November, pass legislation to share oil revenues among all Iraqis and spend $10 billion of its own money on reconstruction that will create new jobs.
"The Iraqi government knows that it must meet them, or lose the support of the Iraqi and the American people," Bush said.
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