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POPSA historian's account of Democrats and Bush-era war crimes
What made those detainee photographs so important from the start is that they depict brutal abuse well outside of the Abu Ghraib facility and thus reveal to Americans -- and the world -- that America's torture was not, as they've been constantly told, limited to rogue sadists at Abu Ghraib and the waterboarding of three bad guys. Instead, our torture regime was systematic, pervasive, brutal, fatal, and -- becuase it was the by-product of conscious policies set at the highest levels of government -- common across America's "War on Terror" detention regime. These photographs would have documented those vital facts; combated the false denials from torture apologists; fueled the momentum for accountability; and revealed, in graphic and unavoidable terms, what was truly done by America's government. But a Democratic-led Congress, at the urging of a Democratic President, is now taking extraordinary steps -- including a new law which has no purpose other than to suppress evidence of Americ
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POPSLibertarian Group To Sue Administration for Failing to Disclose Global Warming Docs Moreover, Treasury redacted portions of the documents. One internal memo on cap-and-trade said that "given the administration's proposal to auction all emission allowances, a cap-and-trade program could generate federal receipts on the order of $100 to $200 billion annually," but the Department blacked out the $100 billion-$200 billion figure. Horner said Treasury redacted the figure because it was "highly embarrassing" for the administration. Days later, Treasury re-released the same documents without any portions redacted. Treasury said they are currently considering the appeal.
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POPSJudicial Watch Files Lawsuit Against HUD to Obtain ACORN Documents (These states are California, Texas, Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and Louisiana.) By law, HUD had 20 days to respond to Judicial Watch's request. Judicial Watch filed its lawsuit on September 23, 2009. Judicial Watch seeks the following records: 1. Any and all documents concerning money given to the ACORN and/or any of its affiliates (since January, 2000). 2. Any and all documents concerning any actions and/or disbarments against ACORN, for reasons including but not limited to abuse of grant money, misconduct, etc. (since January, 2000). Over the last two weeks, the U.S. Senate has voted to deny ACORN access to housing funds, while the House of Representatives voted to deny ACORN all federal funds. The U.S. Census Bureau, meanwhile, has severed its partnership with the organization for the 2010 U.S. Census. The IRS also just severed a program relationship with ACORN.
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POPSAdministration Privately Admits Cap-And-Trade Could Cost Families $1,761 A Year: FOIA Documents
So there you have it, from an internal Treasury Department document that cap-and-trade could generate federal receipts, i.e. tax revenue, in the range of $100 to $200 billion a year. Does that cost sound familiar to you? The Heritage Foundation has long predicted that: "The annual cost of emissions permits to energy users will be at least $100 billion by 2012 and could exceed $390 billion by 2035." This raises a whole other issue, that the $100 to $200 billion estimate by Treasury has no date or timeline of any kind. While Heritage follows the trajectory through to 2035, and even to 2050, the Treasury Department doesn't provide any further analysis or calculations. In a different memo, prepared by President Obama's transition team after the election, they throw this out there: "Economic costs will likely be on the order of 1% of GDP, making them equal in scale to all existing environmental regulation." That's another prediction offered up without any details as to . . .
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POPSLawsuit to Obtain Treasury's Documents on Bailout of Freddie & Fannie Treasury Department officials requested a 10-day extension to conduct a document review. However, since that time, Treasury has provided no documents and no indication when documents will be forthcoming. On his first day in office, President Obama promised that "transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency." The president further declared that "the Freedom of Information Act is perhaps the most powerful instrument we have for making our government honest and transparent, and of holding it accountable." Earlier this year, Judicial Watch had to sue the Obama Treasury Department in order to obtain documents regarding an historic meeting held by former Treasury Secretary Henry "Hank" Paulson with top bank executives. The documents show that Paulson and other officials, including then-NY Fed Reserve head and current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner forced the executives to take the government's $250 billion "investment" (and resulting control).
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POPSJudicial Watch Obtains Obama Documents Detailing ACORN Partnership for 2010 Census * Overall, 8% of the applicants, or over 300,000 people, were considered risks for hire. According to the U.S. Census documents, among other things, census data is used to allocate $300 billion in federal funds. Census data also "determines how many seats each state will have in the House of Representatives as well as the redistricting of state legislatures, county and city councils, and voting districts." "Given its history of illegal activity and fraud, ACORN should be nowhere near the 2010 Census," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "And shame on the Obama Commerce Department for continuing to demonize conservatives by lumping together law enforcement and anti-immigration groups with 'hate groups.' This discriminatory policy raises First Amendment concerns. Indeed, these documents provide further evidence that the Obama administration is politicizing the 2010 Census." Census Bureau refuses to partner with "Hate Groups, Law Enforcement, Anti-Immigrant
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POPSDocuments Detail Historic Treasury/Bankers Meeting # "CEO Talking Points" used by former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson confirming that the nine bank CEOs present at the October 13 meeting had no choice but to accede to the government's demands for equity stakes and the resulting government control. # "Major Financial Institution Participation Commitments" signed by the nine bankers on October 13. The CEOs not only hand wrote their institution's names but also hand wrote multi-billion dollar amounts of "preferred shares" to be issued to the government. # Email documenting that, on the very day of the meeting, the Chief of Staff to the Treasury Secretary and other top Treasury staff did not know the names of any of the banks that would be in attendance. # Email showing Treasury officials wanted to use the Secret Service to help keep the press away from the CEOs arriving at the meeting. # Email showing a public relations effort, run in part out of the Bush White House, to tamp down public concerns about "nationalizing the banks."
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POPS Truth? They Can’t Handle the Truth Americans will only be getting the pre-selected slice of the picture of the interrogation story from this administration. I realize the mainstream media is obsessed with the “Cheney — Is he hurting the GOP?” storyline. But that’s silliness on stilts. Cheney’s not running for anything. (And I suspect some ad campaign eighteen months from now harping on the former vice president would bring looks of incredulity from average voters, who unlike the MSM, have “moved on.”) Cheney is however doing real and material damage to the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats – revealing their craven politicization of national security, half-truths, and hypocrisy. Now the American people have a glimpse of what’s going on and it is not pretty. The vendetta against the Bush administration has turned into a series of revelations about the gamesmanship and lack of candor by those who would rather the American people not learn why we did what we did . . . . . .
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POPSNYT Sues Fed and Treasury The Times accuses the government of violating FOIA by requiring an upfront agreement on fees and by not abiding by the time limits set under the Act.
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POPSObama Exempt's Freddie Mac Records From FOIA The Obama administration rejected a Tribune request under the Freedom of Information Act to review Freddie Mac board minutes and correspondence during Emanuel’s time as a director. The documents, obtained by Falcon for his investigation, were “commercial information” exempt from disclosure, according to a lawyer for the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Bob Secter and Andrew Zajac of the Chicago Tribune report that, while researching what went at Freddie Mac during the period White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel served on the government sponsored enterprise’s board of directors, they were unable to get minutes of board meetings and other information: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-rahm-emanuel-profit-26-mar26,0,5682373.story?page=2 Freddie Mac is by no means a private company anymore
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POPSIHateTheMedia.com Files Freedom of Information Act Request Seeking Video Of President’s Latest Teleprompter Mishap “We didn’t want to take this action,” the spokesman continued, “but the Obama White House must learn that it is not above the law.” Let’s see if this will force the White House to release the potentially embarrassing footage. Check back at IHateTheMedia.com for the latest updates. — TEXT OF FOIA LETTER LINK — http://www.ihatethemedia.com/ihatethemedia-files-freedom-of-information-act-request-video-of-obama-teleprompter-mishap
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POPSPelosi's Issued Unprecedented Demands for Military Aircraft & Wasted Taxpayer Resources with Last "Not only does Speaker Pelosi issue unreasonable requests for military travel, but her office seems unconcerned about wasting taxpayer money with last minute cancellations and other demands." The following are a few highlights from the documents, which are linked in full below: here's no need to block every weekend 'just in case'..." The email also notes that Pelosi's office had, "a history of canceling many of their past requests." One DOD official complained about the "hidden costs" associated with the speaker's last minute changes and cancellations. "We have...folks prepping the jets and crews driving in (not a short drive for some), cooking meals and preflighting the jets etc." The documents include a discussion of House Ethics rules and Defense Department policies as they apply to the speaker's requests for staff, spouses and extended family to accompany her on military aircraft. In May 2008, her husband join her on a Congressional Delegation into Iraq.
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POPSObama: All agencies to "favor disclosure" Ashcroft wrote guidelines ordering agencies to prove reason to disclose; Obama demands agencies "should not wait for ... requests from the public" but "adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure."
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POPSObama Opens Up Government UPDATE: President Obama issued two more documents related to government transparency today. A new executive order reverses changes made in recent years to the Presidential Records Act, while a second memorandum provides the Administration's general policy on transparency and open government. 1st memo (on the Freedom of Information Act): http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/foia/2009foia.mem.rel.pdf Executive Order on the Presidential Records Act: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20090121/2009_PRA_EO.pdf 2nd memo (on the Administration's general policy on transparency and open government): http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20090121/2009_transparency_memo.pdf
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POPSWhy Was the White House on Cipro on 9/11? Cipro is the antibiotic for anthrax prevention and cure. Judicial Watch represented postal workers and tried to investigate. Guess who obstructed? Why would they not answer forthrightly a simple question, unless there was something to hide?
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POPSFreeeeeedom! of Information (National Security Archive) So much information, great site! National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Books provide online access to critical declassified records on issues including U.S. national security, foreign policy, diplomatic and military history, intelligence policy, and more. Updated frequently, the Electronic Briefing Books represent just a small sample of the documents in our published and unpublished collections. A tax-exempt public charity, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding; its budget is supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and individuals. On March 17, 2000, Long Island University named the National Security Archive as winner of a Special George Polk Award for 1999 for "piercing self-serving veils of government secrecy" and "serving as an essential journalistic resource."
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