obama's approach to protecting 'state secrets' at issue from washington post: Civil liberties advocates are accusing the Obama administration of forsaking campaign rhetoric and adopting the same expansive arguments that his predecessor used to cloak some of the most sensitive intelligence-gathering programs of the Bush White House. The first signs have come just weeks into the new administration, in a case filed by an Oregon charity suspected of funding terrorism. President Obama's Justice Department not only sought to dismiss the lawsuit by arguing that it implicated "state secrets," but also escalated the standoff - proposing that government lawyers might take classified documents from the court's custody to keep the charity's representatives from reviewing them. The suit by the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation has proceeded further than any other in challenging the use of warrantless wiretaps, threatening to expose the inner workings of that program. It is the second time the new Justice Department has followed its predecessors in claiming the state-secrets privilege, which would allow the government to exclude evidence in a civil case on grounds that it jeopardizes national security.
obama doesn’t talk like bush, he just acts like him from ted rall: You can’t blame Dick Cheney for being annoyed at Barack Obama. Obama is closing Guantánamo. He’s ordering the CIA to interrogate prisoners according to the rules written in the Army Field Manual, which doesn’t allow torture. He’s even phasing out such classic Bushian phrases as “enemy combatant” and “war on terror.” But the dark prince of neoconservatism should relax. Obama’s inaugural address may have promised to “reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals,” but — in all the ways that matter — he’s keeping all of Bush’s outrageous policies in place. Sure, he talks a good game about “moving forward.” But nothing has really changed. From reading your e-mails to asserting the right to assassinate American citizens to bailing out companies whose executives pay themselves big bonuses, Obama’s changes are nothing but toothless rhetoric.
obama nominates former freddie exec as 'housing commissioner' from cnsnews: President Barack Obama has named a former Freddie Mac executive to head the federal housing commission. The White House on Monday named David Stevens as assistant secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The position requires Senate confirmation and would put Stevens in charge of the government's housing mortgage-insurance program. Stevens now is the head of Long and Foster Companies, a real estate and mortgage firm. He previously worked at World Savings bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. At Freddie Mac, Stevens was a senior vice president in charge of affordable lending, sales and marketing.
obama opens secret laboratories to germany (like truman & the paperclip nazis?) from spiegel: The Americans have always kept their research into anti-terrorism technologies top secret - until now. A new treaty between Germany and the US will give German scientists access to highly restricted laboratories. It was a productive start to the week for US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and German Research Minister Annette Schavan. The two women met at 7:15 a.m. on Monday for breakfast at a five-star hotel in Berlin to discuss one of the most explosive issues in the era of international terrorism: How can the population and infrastructure be protected against catastrophic attacks without Western democracies being turned into Orwellian regimes? ... The research offensive began after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and has been fueled with huge sums of money ever since. Universities, companies and secret laboratories are carrying out research into highly sensitive surveillance cameras, bomb detectors, biometric analysis software and vaccines against biological weapons, among other things. Until now, neither the general public nor the governments of the US's Western allies have learned much about the contents of that research.
obama vows to continue to invest in military from reuters: President-elect Barack Obama vowed on Monday to continue to invest to strengthen the U.S. military, increase ground forces and ensure success against al Qaeda and the Taliban. Announcing his national security team, Obama said Defense Secretary Robert Gates had agreed to remain in office, and reiterated his intention to announce a new mission as soon as he took office to end the war in Iraq. "We will also ensure that we have the strategy - and resources - to succeed against al Qaeda and the Taliban," Obama told a news conference. "And going forward, we will continue to make the investments necessary to strengthen our military and increase our ground forces to defeat the threats of the 21st century."
meet the new boss... from danger room: As predicted, Robert Gates will be staying on as Defense Secretary in the new Obama administration. Count me as psyched. I've been of fan of Gates', for quite some time.
obama to be next neocon US president? from presstv: The next US government might not be able to keep its promise on 'Change' and might turn into a war-oriented administration, a prominent historian says. President-elect Barack Obama, who inspired Americans during his presidential campaign, defeated his Republican rival John McCain thanks to the new slogans in a historic election last month. During his transition time, Obama has been trying to name his administration among American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobbyists, foreign relation advisers, and congressmen. Selecting Joe Biden as vice president who supported the Iraq war before it became unpopular was a surprising decision when Obama himself opposed the war. "He [Biden] is a strong supporter of Israel. He even made a statement 'I am a Zionist'," Stephen Sniegoski, US historian and author, told Press TV correspondent in Washington.
obama picks former fed chair to head economic advisory panel from washington post: Barack Obama's appointment yesterday of former Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker to the growing team advising him on the nation's deepening financial crisis only heightens a central leadership challenge the president-elect will face: how to manage a stable packed with big brains and bigger personalities - and how to make decisions when those high-powered experts disagree. Volcker, as chairman of Obama's new Economic Recovery Advisory Board, will join New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy F. Geithner, who will lead the Treasury Department, and former Treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers, who will run the White House's National Economic Council. The appointment of Volcker, who led the fight to rejuvenate the U.S. economy after the stagflation of the 1970s, is part of Obama's effort to seek "the best minds in America" to deal with the current crisis, as the president-elect put it this week.
obama’s unusual transition: already a co-president from mcclatchy: America has never seen anything quite like this: The president and president-elect acting like co-presidents, consulting and cooperating on the day's biggest crises. "It's pretty unusual," said George Edwards, a presidential expert at Texas A&M University, in College Station.
obamccain camps coordinated on staff rosters for next govt from the washington note: A senior Obama campaign official shared with The Washington Note that in July 2008, the McCain and Obama camps began to work secretly behind the scenes to assemble large rosters of potential personnel for the administration that only one of the candidates would lead. Lists comprised of Democrats and Republicans were assembled, sorted into areas of policy expertise, so that the roster could be called on after the election by either the Obama or McCain transition teams. This kind of out-of-sight coordination is rare between battling presidential camps and provides some indication that both Obama and McCain intended to draw expertise into their governments from both sides of the aisle - or at least they wanted to appear interested in doing so if the information leaked out about the list development process. Fascinating tidbit on cooperation behind battle lines.
obama tells disappointed supporters: 'i am the change." from gateway pundit: Oh, brother... Barack Obama told his disappointed supporters who voted for him on the promise of change only to find him appoint old Clintonites and Bush cabinet members not to be upset - 'I am the change.' McClatchy reported: "President-elect Barack Obama essentially said Wednesday that he is the change, striving to assure Americans that he'll shake up Washington despite filling his administration with old hands from the Clinton administration and the capital's corridors of power. "Understand where the vision for change comes from, first and foremost," Obama said. "It comes from me. That's my job, is to provide a vision in terms of where we are going, and to make sure, then, that my team is implementing." Halleluiah.
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from kurt nimmo: On March 18, Rep. George Miller, a Democrat from California, tacked an amendment on H.R. 1388, entitled “Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act,” or GIVE (to government), Obama’s plan to require mandatory service for all able young people. Miller’s amendment will “prohibit organizations from attempting to influence legislation; organize or engage in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; and assist, promote, or deter union organizing,” according to GovTrack.us, a site that tracks Congress. In other words, Obama’s “volunteer corps” act, passed by the House with a 321-105 margin and requiring the government to develop a plan for indentured servitude, would deny millions of people their right to oppose and organize against government legistation under the First Amendment. “This is as close to a sedition act, a violation of 1st Amendment rights, as has been proposed in recent history. A basic right as a part of our natural, inalienable rights, is to resist government. Our founders not only knew it was a right but it was a responsibility. This legislation begins to break that down significantly,” writes Gary Wood for the Examiner.
from washington post: Civil liberties advocates are accusing the Obama administration of forsaking campaign rhetoric and adopting the same expansive arguments that his predecessor used to cloak some of the most sensitive intelligence-gathering programs of the Bush White House. The first signs have come just weeks into the new administration, in a case filed by an Oregon charity suspected of funding terrorism. President Obama's Justice Department not only sought to dismiss the lawsuit by arguing that it implicated "state secrets," but also escalated the standoff - proposing that government lawyers might take classified documents from the court's custody to keep the charity's representatives from reviewing them. The suit by the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation has proceeded further than any other in challenging the use of warrantless wiretaps, threatening to expose the inner workings of that program. It is the second time the new Justice Department has followed its predecessors in claiming the state-secrets privilege, which would allow the government to exclude evidence in a civil case on grounds that it jeopardizes national security.
from spiegel: The Americans have always kept their research into anti-terrorism technologies top secret - until now. A new treaty between Germany and the US will give German scientists access to highly restricted laboratories. It was a productive start to the week for US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and German Research Minister Annette Schavan. The two women met at 7:15 a.m. on Monday for breakfast at a five-star hotel in Berlin to discuss one of the most explosive issues in the era of international terrorism: How can the population and infrastructure be protected against catastrophic attacks without Western democracies being turned into Orwellian regimes? ... The research offensive began after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and has been fueled with huge sums of money ever since. Universities, companies and secret laboratories are carrying out research into highly sensitive surveillance cameras, bomb detectors, biometric analysis software and vaccines against biological weapons, among other things. Until now, neither the general public nor the governments of the US's Western allies have learned much about the contents of that research.
