Politics Plus

When the Obama administration announced that it was phasing out Blackwater (now hiding behind their name change to Xe), I was quite pleased.  Now this:

A leading member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has told The Nation that she will launch an investigation into why two Blackwater contractors were among the dead in the December 30 suicide bombing at the CIA station at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan. "The Intelligence Committees and the public were led to believe that the CIA was phasing out its contracts with Blackwater and now we find out that there is this ongoing presence," said Illinois Democrat Jan Schakowsky, chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, in an interview. "Is the CIA once again deceiving us about the relationship with Blackwater?"

In December, the CIA announced that the agency had canceled its contract with Blackwater to work on the agency’s drone bombing campaign in Afghanistan and Pakistan and said Director Leon Panetta ordered a review of all existing CIA contracts with Blackwater. "At this time, Blackwater is not involved in any CIA operations other than in a security or support role," CIA spokesman George Little said December 11.

But Schakowsky said the fact that two Blackwater personnel were in such close proximity to the December 30 suicide bomber–an alleged double agent, who was reportedly meeting with CIA agents including the agency’s second-ranking officer in Afghanistan when he blew himself up–shows how "deeply enmeshed" Blackwater remains in sensitive CIA operations, including those CIA officials claim it no longer participates in, such as intelligence gathering and briefings with valuable agency assets. The two Blackwater men were reportedly in the room for the expected briefing by the double agent, Humam Khalil Muhammed Abu Mulal al-Balawi, who claimed to have recently met with Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri.

"It’s just astonishing that given the track record of Blackwater, which is a repeat offender endangering our mission repeatedly, endangering the lives of our military and costing the lives of innocent civilians, that there would be any relationship," Schakowsky said. "That we would continue to contract with them or any of Blackwater’s subsidiaries is completely unacceptable."

Under the Obama administration, Blackwater continues to work for the Department of Defense, the State Department and, as evidenced by the December 30 bombing, the CIA in Afghanistan. The company even maintains its own forward operating bases in Afghanistan, including one along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. "This is the closest base to the [Pakistani] border," Blackwater’s owner Erik Prince recently bragged to Vanity Fair. "Who else has built a fob along the main infiltration route for the Taliban and the last known location for Osama bin Laden?"… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <The Nation>

I fully support Jan Schakowsky’s position here.  These GOP SS storm troopers have been nothing but trouble since Bush and the GOP dragged them from beneath a slimy rock.  I realize that Bush and the GOP entwined these monsters so deeply in US operations that completely extricating them will take some time.  They can’t just disappear.  They need to be replaced with qualified service personnel who take their orders from the C-in-C, not from ChickenHawk Cheney’s undisclosed location.  In the meantime, lying to Congress about their involvement is completely unacceptable.

Yesterday I heard the distinctive sound of military jets, thought that they were flying lower than usual, and dismissed it.

Two F-15 fighter jets escorted a passenger jet that had been headed for Hawaii back to Portland International Airport in Oregon after a passenger in coach became "uncooperative," an airline official said Wednesday.

Hawaiian Airlines Flight 39 took off from Portland at 10:10 a.m. with 231 passengers and a crew of 10 when — 90 minutes into the flight — its captain decided to turn around the Boeing 767, said Keoni Wagner, the airline’s vice president of public affairs.

The fighter jets intercepted the plane at 1 p.m., North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a written statement.

It landed at 1:16 p.m. without further incident, the TSA said.

Upon the plane’s return, the passenger — a 56-year-old Salem, Oregon, man — was escorted from the plane with his female companion without incident, the FBI and the Port of Portland said in a joint statement.

The FBI said it was not releasing his name because he had not been charged.

FBI agents and Port officers interviewed the passenger and his companion, the flight crew and others, then released the two and referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for review.

Local and federal officers searched the plane, then allowed it to depart again for Hawaii, absent the pair.

Oregon Air National Guard spokesman Sgt. John Hughel said command post officials told him they did not know who had placed the call for the escort.

In a statement, the Transportation Security Administration said the captain decided to return the plane to Portland "due to a suspicious passenger who made threatening remarks and refused to store his carry-on bag."

Port of Portland Public Information Officer Martha Richmond told CNN that the plane was turned around "due to concerns the crew had."…

Inserted from <CNN>

If nothing else, this incident demonstrates that the Obama administration is taking the threat of terrorism seriously.  Let’s compare it to how Bush and the GOP handled a more serious threat.  Since the early 1970s, it has been the standard operating procedure of the military to provide an armed fighter escort to all hijacked airliners over or near US territory, to shoot them down if they appeared to be about to crash into a city.  Although Bush had personally received a specific warning that AQ intended to attack the US using airplanes, less than a month before, and although there were four hijacked airplanes over US territory, no fighters were scrambled to intercept them until after the second tower had been struck.  The fighters had been ordered to stand down.  Who issued that order, and why, remains classified.

Considering the above, who do you think is better prepared to defend the US against such threats: Obama or the GOP?

In a major surprise, two leading Democratic Senators have announced that they will not seek reelection in 2010.

Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the embattled Connecticut Democrat who was facing an increasingly tough bid for a sixth term in the United States Senate, has decided not to seek re-election this year, Democrats familiar with his plans said Wednesday.

Mr. Dodd, 65, a pivotal figure in the major debates now confronting Congress, is to announce his decision at a news conference Wednesday afternoon in Connecticut…

…The developments underscored the fragility of the Democrats’ 60-vote Senate majority, which is just enough to block Republican filibusters. Democratic incumbents also face serious challenges in Arkansas, Colorado, Nevada and Pennsylvania among other states.

In this case, Mr. Dodd was already considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats facing re-election this November, and party officials had been privately hoping he would step aside. His move opens the way for the state’s highly popular attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, to run. Democrats and Republicans said he would be a much stronger candidate in what is a Democratic state…

Inserted from <NY Times>

I look at Dodd’s resignation as more of an opportunity than a loss.  Dodd’s support for banksters over the American people will not be missed.  Now we have a chance to replace him with a genuine progressive.

In a statement released this afternoon, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) announced that he will not be running for re-election:

I would like to do some teaching and would also like to work on energy policy in the private sector.

So, over this holiday season, I have come to the conclusion, with the support of my family, that I will not be seeking another term in the U.S. Senate in 2010. It is a hard decision to make after thirty years in the Congress, but I believe it is the right time for me to pursue these other interests.

Let me be clear that this decision does not relate to any dissatisfaction that I have about serving in the Senate. Yes, I wish there was less rancor and more bipartisanship in the U.S. Senate these days. But still, it is a great privilege to serve and I have the utmost respect for all of the men and women with whom I serve.

Dorgan is perhaps most remembered for his prescience in predicting the negative consequences of repealing the Glass-Steagall financial regulatory reforms, which broke down the barriers between investment and depository banking. Upon passage of the bill in 1999, Dorgan predicted, “I think we will look back in 10 years’ time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930’s is true in 2010.” Watch it:

 

During the recent health care debate, Dorgan introduced a measure to allow Americans to import foreign drugs, thus lowering the cost of prescription medications for millions of Americans. Under his direction, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee reported on the tremendous waste and abuse of military contractors operating in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dorgan has been a crusader for the middle class…

Inserted from <Think Progress>

The loss of Byron Dorgan, on the other hand, is a major hit.  Perhaps he feels frustrated over the disingenuous tactics of the GOP to trash the country in hopes of gaining political advantage.  They have made it virtually impossible for the Senate to do their work.  I wish he would stay.

Nevertheless, let us thank him for his service to the nation, and wish him the best.  His telephone number is (202) 224-2551.

Disclaimer: don’t say I didn’t warn you!  Have your barf bags ready and an empty trash can handy in case of overflow!!  This blogger will not be responsible for drenched keyboards!!!

As you may recall, over the summer Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) urged Americans to protest the ACORN-Census conspiracy by refusing to comply with the decennial census.

But now it’s becoming clear that if her constituents heed her advice, she might end up losing her seat in Congress.

Why? Because the results of the census determines how many seats each state has in Congress. Heading into each census there are always states "on the bubble" of either losing or gaining an extra seat, and as it turns out, in 2010 Minnesota is one such state:

State demographer Tom Gillaspy has been warning for months that the next census could result in the loss of one congressional seat in Minnesota.

The irony was not lost on the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

It’s ironic that a Minnesota member of Congress, Republican Michele Bachmann, went so far last summer to declare her intention to only partially complete her census forms, and to suggest reasons for others not to comply with the census law. If Minnesota loses a congressional seat, Bachmann’s populous Sixth District could be carved into pieces. She likely would have to battle another incumbent to hang on to her seat. We’ve noticed that her anticensus rhetoric has lately ceased. We hope she got wise: Census compliance is not only in Minnesota’s best interest, but also her own.

Of course, if Minnesota does lose a seat, Bachmann will undoubtedly decry the government conspiracy against counting people who refuse to be counted…

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

My message here is for Republicans and teabaggers everywhere, especially those in her district.  Michelle Bachmann is a very wise woman.  Follow her advise.  The census is a Nazi, Socialist, Communist, ACORN, African conspiracy to deprive you of your freedom.  Do not fill out your census form, especially if the census worker does not present you with a birth certificate proving that he/she is a real American!

The rest of you know better.