WOW!

Has Rahm backed down?

Have Joe and Lindsay starting whining yet?

OMG Jane, I’m so out of touch. I was expecting bad news and, instead, HOPE!!!

Thank you!!! Thanks to all the pups.

I didn’t have time or brain-space to quarrel or even reason with unknowns today, so I simply sent a thank you and stay firm e-note to Marcy Kaptur, soon to be our Rep. as soon as we touch base after moving next month.

Call me a coward or whatever. Our house is drawing strength from yours these days. This sounds like GOOD news!

If I knew kung-fu, I would know what the Hell was going on here.
There used to be only one double-edged sword hanging over this mess. Seems like more now.

Is it possible they know that if the abuse photos are released the Iraqis will kick our soldiers out of their country? This could be a backdoor way of getting us out of there! Could be and I would be happy with this if it’s the case. I don’t know, but I think it’s time we as a nation see what the Bush Regime wrought, take action (war crime trials!), and then move forward.

I couldn’t agree more. Let’s see the photos.

Absolutely. Seeing the atrocities wrought by Hitler makes us never forget and helps to learn from it. Seeing these abuse photos of what the Bush Regime wrought will remind us how we should never forget human rights no matter how much we may dislike our enemies, because we end up no better than them in the end if we don’t.

Of course, on the other hand, Obama also indicated his continuing determination to blow up the FOIA, shield governmental malfeasance and contribute to the obstruction of justice. A pretty bittersweet victory. That said, the legislation codifying this BS would have been far worse, and I thank you for the fight against it.

How silly the WH is to think that the Iraqi people don’t know what’s been going on. They must have seen the
earlier pics and are far from stupid. I can’t imagine that the pics would cause more danger for our troops – seems to me that having someone shoot at you, for whatever reason, is pretty dangerous.

I had to read the letter twice, because although it sounds like he’s not supporting G/L amendment and its gutting of FOIA (good news), he is still pressing for legal and/or legislative suppression (bad news).

Still not so transparent.

I will continue to take every legal and administrative remedy available to me to ensure the DoD detainee photographs are not released. Should a legislative solution prove necessary, I am committed to working with Congress to enact legislation

Obama says lets drop this hot potato for now. We can always put it in later after we get the War Funding and the IMF Funding.

“I couldn’t agree more. Let’s see the photos.”

Yes…but Obama is fighting that another way…asking the Supremes to block the pictures while ensuring funding for ME aggression. :

“As you know, I have no higher priority than ensuring the safety of our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq…”

The Endless War goes on and on. He gets to have it both wsys pretty slithery.

Yep, you got it.

Jane, I think somebody in the WH reads this blog. You counted each and every one as they moved to the NO corner – pound, pound, pound. Thanks you, Jane, and also everyone who added their voice.

So OB is saying we have everything under control.The supremes have assured me that they have our asses covered on this and we’ll get legislation that will gut the FOIA.I don’t see anything good in this at all.Graham has said he’ll find a way to get this into a bill one way or another.Rename it or make it invisible or as a last resort change the wording AFTER the main bill passes.
I don’t care that much about the photos but the FOIA is one of the few tools there are left to keep tabs on these thugs since congress won’t unless it’s politically expedient.
Thank God for the ACLU

I need to update the whip list. I’m actually delighted with how well we’ve done – they still don’t have the votes from what I’m hearing.

And now the Blue Dogs are taking a pounding from the Republicans, as Howie predicted. Should be an interesting week next week…

Seconded.

Got something to hide???? Huh? Nope, nothing to hide at all. Congress’s behavior on this, and Obama’s is making them all look guilty as shit.

On May 13, I announced I would resist the release of additional detainee photos because I did not believe it would add any additional benefit to our understanding of what happened in the past, and that the most direct consequence of releasing them would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and to put our troops in great danger. Earlier today, the Second Circuit granted the Government’s motion that will stay the earlier court order to release the detainee photos, and we will now move forward with a petition to the Supreme Court to appeal the case.

Sounds like Obama doesn’t want to waste political capital trying to get this in a bill in Congress but feels like he has a good shot at suppression of the photos in the courts.

Could anything be more wrongheaded and disingenuous than the passage I bolded? Obama could care less about our understanding. He’s afraid that a release of the photos would force investigations due to the negative reactions to them here and around the world.

Doesn’t look to me like there’s a single adult in DC. (Potentially one or two depending on the topic.)

I would not be surprised if SCOTUS did back Obama on this. The radical conservatives on the Court tend to back the President on national security issues as long as the Executive doesn’t infringe on the Court’s turf as it did in all the Guantanamo cases.

That should certainly be the null hypothesis.

So the big objectives are getting the war funding and the IMF money. There are 3 pieces he wants and will do a variety of shuffles until he gets what he wants. If the courts don’t shield the photos he will come back again some other way.

Hard to see how he doesn’t win on this one. And if he wins on it, we lose.

How has Kennedy been on this kind of issue? I’m seeing a 5-4 spilt but don’t know in which direction.

~~Hey, Boo.
scout

…And now the Blue Dogs are taking a pounding from the Republicans, as Howie predicted. Should be an interesting week next week…

Which makes me laugh. All the trouble the Blue Dogs go to emulate Repugs and they still get pissed on by their “heroes”.

Oh the irony! *g*

Apparently the Medacity of Nope still remains as a mantra from the last eight years. Obama is a lot of things, apparently a true agent of change is not among them… or if he is, he’s hiding it awfully well.

I suspect that until the Democrats learn to grow a collective spine, get rid of Pelosi, Reid and stop cowering in front of the Blue Dogs and their republican brethern we’ll see more “caves” on issues we progressives care about.

The Rs piss on everyone. No gratitude or ability to bargain. They are nothing anymore, except mean. (The Rs were always mean but they used to have a few other aspects, some not all bad. Now they’re left with just plain mean.)

Glenzilla thinks they’ll punt and refuse to hear it.

That’s something to hope for. Will they decide before they adjourn for the summer?

The real question is when the Court will hear this case. I think the Court will be going on vacation in a couple of weeks and won’t be back in session until October. So the key justice in this could be Sotomayor who should be confirmed by then.

It seems Rahm doesn’t have the votes to get the photo ban through with both the IMF and war funding, but DOES have the votes to get the IMF and war funding without the photo ban.

That’s certainly a possibility but maybe less of one if the Appeals Court rules against Obama.

We still need to keep pushing against both the IMF and the war funding.

This is good news, but he waited for this:

Earlier today, the Second Circuit granted the Government’s motion that will stay the earlier court order to release the detainee photos, and we will now move forward with a petition to the Supreme Court to appeal the case.

So, if this hadn’t happened, would Obama have written the letter? Cynical politics, in my book. Still, if this legislation dies, that’s something (though fighting rear-guard actions is probably not what we thought we’d be doing in the Obama years).

I don’t know that the president’s statement here represents good news at all. The AP reports the story this way:

After a flare-up over controversial detainee abuse photos, House-Senate negotiators sealed agreement on a crucial war-funding bill Thursday night when President Barack Obama personally guaranteed the photos would never be released.

To reassure Democratic moderates who had balked at House demands that Congress not interfere in a lawsuit to force the release of photos of U.S. troops abusing detainees, Obama promised to use every available means to block their release. His powers include issuing an order to classify the photos, thus blocking their release under the Freedom of Information Act.

So we defeat the add on amendment and get the president’s personal guarantee that these photos will never see the light of day, apparently even if he has to resort to abuse of the classification system in order to do it.

Good thing there’s nothing particularly bad about these photos (which is sort of what the president said when he first flip-flopped on their release), otherwise the administration might actually be willing to go through some trouble to stop ‘em.

Here’s another possibility to scare ya: Israel wants to nuke Iran and the M.E. peace talks break down, so they go ahead. If the photos enrage people enough to end peace talks then you would have to ask yourself if you felt in any way responsible.

Justice for Bushies can wait a bit.

I wish you all would face reality. The photos will never, ever be released. Thank God Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel – two incredibly honest progressives who really do care about doing the right thing are running this show.

Sarcasm Ahead. I recommend we just let Liebermann teleconference to the senate from Tel Aviv. No need to keep up the charade and Joe’s gettin’ old anyway.

“NEW YORK — The U.S. government can keep pictures of detainee abuse secret while it asks the Supreme Court to permanently block release of the photographs on the grounds they could incite violence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, a federal appeals court said Thursday.

The one-paragraph ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan came after the Obama administration asked the court to keep the pictures secret so it could appeal to the nation’s highest court.”
“House-Senate negotiators reached agreement late Thursday on a $105.9 billion wartime spending bill after last-minute assurances from President Barack Obama that he will use all his powers to prevent the disclosure of controversial photographs depicting the treatment of detainees held by the U.S. military.

http://www.politico.com/news/s…..tQZ&D
House-Senate negotiators reached agreement late Thursday on a $105.9 billion wartime spending bill after last-minute assurances from President Barack Obama that he will use all his powers to prevent the disclosure of controversial photographs depicting the treatment of detainees held by the U.S. military.

http://www.politico.com/news/s…..tQZ&D
House-Senate negotiators reached agreement late Thursday on a $105.9 billion wartime spending bill after last-minute assurances from President Barack Obama that he will use all his powers to prevent the disclosure of controversial photographs depicting the treatment of detainees held by the U.S. military
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..14616.html

Not very encouraging about Obama’s and the Vichy Dems’ efforts to assume Bush’s mantle of torture, illegal spying, oppression, and constitutional asswiping. Droopy Dog must be wetting his chaps.

Wink, wink…we’ll back off for now but we’ll take care of it later, like we did with telecom immunity.

I am tired of the meme about putting our troops in danger. Obama is now using our troops as a political tool just the way the Bush Administration did. It is disgusting in the extreme.