Mike McConnell: caught again trying to deceive Congress

Digby

….DNI Michael McConnell? I understand that spooks, by nature and profession, are liars, but this fellow is not supposed to be political, and we are ostensibly in a democracy in which government employees — all government employees — work for the people. They are not allowed to lie to the people’s representatives, even if they think it’s for our own good.

McConnell’s position is supposed to be non-partisan and apolitical. And yet he is known to have consciously misled the congress, threatened them with “being responsible for American deaths” if they don’t do what he says and, it’s quite clear, strategized the FISA bill abortion last August with the White house, which is a big no-no. It’s a bad idea to trust anyone with the kind of power this man wields without strenuous oversight. It’s political malpractice to trust a man this manipulative and dishonest. He is a problem.

Here’s the latest example of his blatant (and disturbingly sloppy, which explains why our intelligence agencies can’t find water if they fall out of a boat) misleading of the congress:

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell told Congress last week that a May wiretap that targeted Iraqi insurgents was delayed for 12 hours by attempts to comply with onerous surveillance laws, which slowed an effort to locate three U.S. soldiers who had been captured south of Baghdad.

But new details released this week portray a more complicated picture of the delay, which actually lasted about 9 1/2 hours and was caused primarily by legal wrangling between the Justice Department and intelligence officials over whether authorities had probable cause to begin the surveillance.

…
This is why all this “trust us, we’re keeping the boogeyman rom killing you in your bed” is so dangerous. Michael McConnell has repeatedly lied to congress. You can’t trust liars. If they needed this power for legitimate reasons they would have no reason to make up scenarios to justify it. They can always go behind closed doors and share classified information with the people’s representatives who are authorized to receive it. Indeed, we expect them to o it. The only conclusion you can come to is that they are using this power for nefarious reasons.

Michael McConnell has given interviews that call his judgment into question. He is a proven liar. He has shown himself to be a tool of the Bush Administration. What in the world is this man doing in charge of some of the most delicate intelligence functions in the government? He had a reputation for rectitude before took the job. but he either became tainted by the Cheney/Addington paranoid vision or he was highly overrated. Either way, the congress should never take his word for anything. There’s something very wrong with him.

Can’t Bill Kristol confine himself to making mistakes about killing people in the Middle East?

For some reason, he expresses his desire to see American kids meet the same fate right here in the US.

Bush’s impending Veto of the SCHIP bill which would cover an additional 4 Million more children seems to have really made Republicans happy. Almost giddy even.  They really like the idea of denying health benefits to children, arguing that it shows that they are “fiscally responsible” and remain opponents to “big government.”

On Fox News Sunday Bill Kristol stated “I’m happy that the President is willing to do something bad for the kids…”

Bush wants you to live like the Chinese

Washington Post:

The Environmental Protection Agency‘s pursuit of criminal cases against polluters has dropped off sharply during the Bush administration, with the number of prosecutions, new investigations and total convictions all down by more than a third, according to Justice Department and EPA data.

The number of civil lawsuits filed against defendants who refuse to settle environmental cases was down nearly 70 percent between fiscal years 2002 and 2006, compared with a four-year period in the late 1990s, according to those same statistics.

Bob Cesca: America used to be really goddamned awesome

link

On watching Ken Burn’s The War:

One day long ago, it was okay to wish for an end to a war, without being accused of hating the soldiers who were fighting it. It was once a given that socialized public education, police, fire departments, roads, parks, national defense and the constitutionally mandated General Welfare & Domestic Tranquility were simply a part of the American way of life and would always be there.

And when our nation had to go to war, we would be there for her.

Conversely, when we crumble to the pressure of our reactionary and authoritarian elements, we get Japanese internment camps, the rise of the military industrial complex, and men turned away from service due to the color of their skin. Some of our greatest failures have been conceived when our irrationality, fear and lust for power overrule our traditional American ideals — even during our finest hours as a nation.

And now, 50 years later, in our lives and times, we get President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney.

The Bush Years have been a monumental, cataclysmic failure on most fronts due to its inattention to what has, historically, made American great. The president and his thinning ranks of fawn-eyed Hannities don’t understand this yet. They don’t understand it mostly because they’re too ignorant — blinded by sloganeering — to the very basic reality that Bush Republican style government, in practice, is about as successful and practical as a paper condom. It always has been.

Nowhere is this more apparent than when they compare the Bush Wars to World War II. It’s a desperate notion, one that seeks to conflate our current president with greatness he doesn’t deserve and an historical legacy he will never achieve. It’s also meant to inflate our current “enemies” to Hitler status, and thus proving the case for war.

The comparison is pure horseshit.

Will Bush’s pals in Dubai prevent war with Iran?

It’s all about the money and the cronies:

As the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East was leaving the Al-Jazeera television studios after an interview, one of the station managers shook his hand and joked: “Sir, you just made apartment prices jump in Dubai.”

The reason: Adm. William Fallon just said he didn’t believe war with Iran was looming.

“It’s all about trying to contain Iran without turning this into a war,” said Ali al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington.

Fallon was peppered with questions about Iran at every stop in his trip.

Gulf rulers fretted about how conflict would derail their nations’ galloping growth as malls, villas and skyscrapers — including the world’s tallest in Dubai — sprout in the vanilla-hued sand. Dubai currently hosts about one-quarter of the world’s construction cranes, according to local boosters.

The Gulf’s military brass presented their own worries. Most of them were spun around grave scenarios in which an Iran-US war would quickly swallow the entire region and make the Iraq battles seem like a sideshow.

In related developments,

IRAQI Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has secured a pledge from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to help sever weapons, money and other support to militiamen in Iraq, US and Iraqi officials said.

The US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, said there were signs of a drop in the types of attacks associated with Shiite militants since the pledge was made last month. He dangled the possibility that US and Iraqi officials might be able to do something in return, but it was too early to tell whether there had been a real reduction in Iran’s support.

 al Maliki:

He said his government has begun a dialogue with Iran and Syria and has explained to them that their activities are unhelpful. As a result, he said, “our relationships with these countries has improved to the point that they are not interfering in our internal affairs.”

Asked about Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Forces, which the U.S. military charges is arming, training and directing Shiite militias in Iraq, Maliki said: “There used to be support through borders for these militias. But it has ceased to exist.”

If it were true that we were “winning” in Iraq….

would it be possible that the entire propaganda network of the United States government, Pentagon, military, State Department, Fox News Network, Wall Street Journal, National Review, American Enterprise Institute, and literally dozens of pundits cannot make the American public, the Iraqis, and the world believe it? and that these assembled echoing sources need another infusion of 15 million dollars to catapult the propaganda? is that reasonable?

The Republican Party: sex crimes r us?

Family values? don’t make me laugh.

you want the list? I’ll give you the list.

And that doesn’t include multiple marriages and adultery. Yes, Rudy, Fred, John, I’m lookin at you.

and it doesn’t include the “alleged” and indicted situations recently in FL, or the Foleys who get off because Republican authorities shield them.

There’s something seriously wrong there, people.

Republican Congressman and his “housemate/man” swindle DC out of property taxes

It’s difficult to sort out all the parts of this story; sort of combines the usual Republican behavior: greed, closet homosexuality, lawbreaking, voter fraud, and lying.

 Congressman Patrick T. McHenry (R-NC), right, purchased a residence in Washington, DC’s Capital Hill neighborhood with another man, PageOneQ has learned. While he owned the home, McHenry and co-owner Scott G. Stewart claimed eligibility for the District of Columbia’s Homestead Tax Deduction, a tax reduction program to encourage homeownership and residence in DC. At the same time McHenry was registered to vote, and did so, in Gaston County, North Carolina.

Oh, and massive hypocrisy. Check out his website.

Assistant US Attorney pleads “it’s okay, I’m a Republican”

Assistant US Attorney J Roy Atchison of Gulf Breeze, FL, entered a not guilty plea to charges related to alleged bad business with the internet and 5 year old girls; while the predominantly Republican community of Gulf Breeze went on with its business:

“Fortunately, none of his actions had any impact here in the community – that we know of,” said Gulf Breeze Mayor Lane Gilchrist. “Our main concern is the impact for his family that lives here.”

“He’s squeaky clean,” said one local official, on condition of anonymity. Another says there was no indication of any untoward behavior on his part as a coach and president of the Gulf Breeze Sports Association (GBSA).

I mean, certainly he never did anything like that around where he lives…..strictly an out of town type perv….

Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) blames Iran for bathroom sting operation

Craig says they train undercover cops to use against American politicians. Calls for “bathroom buster” attack against Iranian training camps.
Steve Fossett was unavailable for comment.