From: “Government Further Delays Release Of Crucial CIA Inspector General Report, (7/2/2009), CIA's Fourth Delay Seeks Extension Until August 31

The following can be attributed to Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project:

"The CIA has already had more than five months to review the inspector general's report, and the report is only about two hundred pages long. We're increasingly troubled that the Obama administration is suppressing documents that would provide more evidence that the CIA's interrogation program was both ineffective and illegal. President Obama should not allow the CIA to determine whether evidence of its own unlawful conduct should be made available to the public. The public has a right to know what took place in the CIA's secret prisons and on whose authority."

The following can be attributed to Amrit Singh, staff attorney with the ACLU:

"It is apparent that the CIA report is not being delayed for legitimate reasons, but to cover up evidence of the agency's illegal and ineffective interrogation practices. It is time for the president to hold true to his promise of transparency and once and for all quash the forces of secrecy within the agency. The American public has a right to know the full truth about the torture that was committed in its name."

The CIA's letter to Judge Hellerstein is available online at: www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/40116lgl20090702.html

The ACLU's letter in response to the CIA's letter is online at: www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/40118lgl20090702.html

http://www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/40120prs20090702.html

This smug, supercilious, patronizing dismissal of Helen Thomas is no more becoming in Obama than it was in Bush.

Despite attempts to infuse a Warm 'n Wonderful human dimension to Obama, including a string of homey wire service reports about going out for a burger, or finding Quality Time with the First Family, etc., I find him cold as ice.

He's like a Kool Frat Boy profiling on the Frathouse steps. And actually, it's worse than that-- even if one accepts the pretense that it's just good-natured teasing, it's still harassment if there's a power relationship in which the object of the teasing is hamstrung.

In other words, Helen is not free to counterattack; I'm confident she would give better than she gets if she were allowed to take off the gloves. Instead, Class Act that she is, she can only come back and try again.

Emperors are more civil and accomodating to those eager to ask about their New Clothes-- showing off the outfit du jour is the reason for the Emperor to show up in the first place, after all.

one final note this evening, from The Merchant of Venice:

Salerio: Why, I am sure, if he forfeit thou wilt not take his flesh: what's that good for?

Shylock: To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge.

This, I fear, is the attitude of our "elite".

I'd like to know who, in your opinion or that of the commenters here, is the worst offender (or the best stenographer)?

From Andy Worthington:

Release of the 'Holy Grail' of Torture Reports Delayed Again http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/07/02-7

White House officials had told political allies that they intended to "declassify it for public release when the debate quiets over last month's release of the Justice Department's interrogation memos.

From the Torturous Timeline:

February 17, 2006 - In an apparent response to the February 2006 UN special rapporteur report on Guantánamo, an “internal email relating to Guantánamo detainees scheduled for release” is written. It recommends “hold[ing] off on return flights for 45 days or so until things die down. Otherwise we are likely to have hero’s welcomes awaiting the detainees when they arrive.” The email also recommends transfer in a smaller, more discrete plane and has attached a reference to the United Nations (UN) report released around that time criticizing Guantánamo. [72] [74]

http://www.webdsi.com/jebbie/tline.html

Although the local KPBS station has been running a good series on the San Diego water shortage, they ran a promo today that blamed the problem on drought and the need to protect endangered fish in the Sacramento Delta. No need to make this too complicated -- just blame it on the wacky environmentalists! That's your liberal NPR for you!

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/02/26/king/

Booz Allen is one of the nation's biggest defense and intelligence contractors. Under McConnell's watch, Booz Allen has been deeply involved in some of the most controversial counterterrorism programs the Bush administration has run, including the infamous Total Information Awareness data-mining scheme. As a key contractor and advisor to the NSA, Booz Allen is almost certainly participating in the agency's warrantless surveillance of the telephone calls and e-mails of American citizens. . . . .

- - Glenn Greenwald, February 26, 2008

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http://www.boozallen.com/about/article_news-ideas/42347396

It’s Booz Allen’s fifth year as co-sponsor of the prestigious event, which brings together global leaders in government, business, science, the arts, and academia.

The 2009 Aspen Ideas Festival, presented in partnership by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic from June 29 to July 5, is a week-long exploration of some of the most innovative ideas and important issues facing the world and our nation today.

[...] Representatives from Booz Allen will again participate in the event [...]

- - Booz Allen

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http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/06/omnibus_blog_post_written_at_5.php

29 Jun 2009 06:32 am

Blogging will be light today, as I am wending my way west towards the Aspen Ideas Festival, where I'll be blogging, and moderating a few panels. If I have time between flights, I will try to provide you with a couple of posts on intellectual property and other goodies. Meanwhile, a few thoughts [...]

- - Megan McArdle

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The moral is, don't sell a little salon at the publisher's house.

Do it big.

And make sure to hire Megan McArdle as a moderator.

That always adds a touch of class.

Don't forget to include the word "detainee" to the list of euphemisms. Soldiers stationed at GTMO are trained not to use the word "prisoner." So is the media and, therefore, the public. "Camp America" is a euphemism for "prison camp."