by Frank James
A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important or interesting (or both) Washington-related stories.
The CIA will declassify hundreds of pages of documents detailing numerous illegal activities in past decades including assassination attempts, domestic spying and the infiltration of leftist groups.
Vice President Cheney recommended closing an executive branch oversight office after officials there expressed concerns about how the vice president's office handled classified information.
Walking on patrols is increasingly seen by U.S. military members as the best protection against the Iraqi insurgents' use of projectiles that can cut through armor and even seriously damage tanks.
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft told the House Intelligence Committee in closed session about the internal disputes in the Bush Administration over the domestic surveillance program but one lawmaker said Ashcroft didn't give details about what concerned him in 2004, instead giving "long, rambling, non-specific answers."
House Democrats narrowly passed a bill that would allow taxpayer money to be used in family planning programs abroad. But the close vote indicated that the legislation would not get past a presidential veto.
Required average fuel mileage of U.S. vehicles would rise to 35 miles a gallon from 25 miles, if legislation approved by the Senate becomes law. It was a defeat for the auto industry.
The Supreme Court, in a 9-0 decision, upheld restrictions on high school's recruiting of young athletes, saying the First Amendment doesn't protect the free speech rights of high-school coaches who violate school district rules to lure youngsters to their sports programs.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee warned that they would seek a contempt of Congress motion if the White House failed to produce documents subpoenaed as part of the probe into the controversial firing of federal prosecutors.
Lawmakers, seeking to increase spending on social programs, are expanding their efforts to raise taxes on private-equity firms, hedge funds and other investment structures that have been some of the biggest financial winners in recent years but paid relatively little in taxes.
Conservatives are seeking to revive their movement by reconciling over differences and seeking younger leaders.
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Comments
The CIA declassification makes me wonder how long it will take re-write our history books because now the truth is out about what really went on then? Will we have the same situation 30 years from now when the truth comes out about our current administration? Ourr students are never really educated about our history when the government is allowed to keep these secrets from the public for so long.
The only thing transparent in government is the glass in the windows where the leaders reside.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | June 22, 2007 9:20 AM
Consider a short quiz suggested by today's NY Times page 1 headlines. We now know that an eldest child has an IQ three points higher, on average, than younger siblings but the eldest may be less adventurous, less prone to radical innovation. We also know that Dick Cheney's handling of official records led to questions from the cognizant oversight office - as we all know that would be.....the National Archives, Security Oversight Office (NASOO). My guess is that NASOO officials (Nassooers) were willing to look the other way when the Vice President classified every single document (witness Freedom of Information Act releases with 98% of text redacted) but they finally tried to draw the line when Cheney demanded Top Secret classification for his toe nail clippings. Enraged, Cheney's office resisted any further oversight. The courageous Nassooers objected and Dick went outside the box with a bold move to eliminate NASOO and exile the brave Nassooers to the darkness outside the beltway.
The quiz? Is Cheney the eldest - he was admitted to Yale (albeit as the only applicant from Wyoming and one who drooped out after a year) and met with much success as a conventional legislator and staffer early in his career) or is he a younger sibling - massive counterattack on unsuspecting Nassooers suggests potential for radical innovation. Imaginative none of the above answers (triplet son of Darth Vader born simultaneously with Luke and Leia) will be accepted.
Posted by: michael j hassett | June 22, 2007 9:27 AM
Having Cheney control the oversight of the executive branch is like have an ex-CEO of an oil services company run the country's energy policy. Hey. wait a minute....
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport | June 22, 2007 9:39 AM
So the CIA is going to declassify documents of illegal activities that took place "from the 1950s to the 1970s," according to the NYT article. So are they saying that two of the most prominent Democrats in American history (JFK and LBJ) allowed the CIA to engage in such illegal activities? Well, of course not. We know that Democrats would never have done something like that. No doubt it was only Ike and Nixon who were to blame, because as we all know, only Republican presidents authorize illegal spying activity. Or start unpopular wars in faraway places.
Posted by: JB | June 22, 2007 11:31 AM
Maybe after that we can learn which right wingers (in the highest levels of government) ordered the assasination of JFK, RK and JFK Jr. And maybe even learn who the actual shooters were.
And then we can get the congress to finally dismantle the CIA.
When they present a photo of Agent Joannides (during the fifties), what he was doing at the same hotel Robert Kennedy was murdered at, on the same evening, then we'll know they're being upfront and forthcoming.
We went from being a banana republic to an oil republic; from the excuse of fighting communism to the excuse of fighting terrorism; from protecting the business interests of United Fruit company to protecting the business interests of Haliburton and Shell oil.
They (on the right) twisted the interpretation of patriotism from dissent to an oppressive government, to obedience and loyalty to the state (to fight communists and terrorists.) They evolved from business conservatives to neocons. We are either with them or against them. After one giant on the beach dies they invent another (terror.) Usually the enemy is the one they themselves have created by their irrational, unethical and brutal business practices in foreign countries (with help from either the Marines or the CIA).
Millions of Americans have perished on their battlefields, and millions of foreigners (usually peasants) have been tortured, dissappeared or murdered. And every now and then they remind us we are spreading morality and democracy (god is on our side.)
The American sheep buy into it everytime because ever major newsmedia outlet is the property of all these big business entities (with huge assets in foreign countries.)
We are ready CIA, lets see the dirty laundry leading up to November 22, 1963. Show us what you have on Andrew Dulles (CIA dir 50's thru 60's, Board Member of United Fruit Co) before JFK fired him. Show us anything you have on Vice President Nixon (and his buddy, during the 50's, 60's and 70's, in the CIA Howard Hunt.) Show us all the documents on George Herbert Walker Bush (his United Fruit Co subsidiary Zapata Oil.) Explain why his SEC financial statements, for Zapata Off-Shore Oil, are missing from 1961 thru 1966. Show us what you have on Bush's business partner, in Zapata Oil, Liedtke and why he was later accused of laundering $100,000 of Nixon's campaign money (linking H.W. to Nixon and the early sixties when JFK was murdered.)
Show us any documents proving the CIA never spied on JFK Jr, and if they did then prove to America the CIA had nothing to do with his plane crashing into the sea - knowing he was planning to become a politician ( to thoroughly investigate the CIA about a conspiracy by the US government to assasinate his dad in Dallas, Texas.)
Whenever a country (government) maintains a secret spy entity, sooner or later it will breed paranoia and conspiracy theories, especially after a U.S. President, his brother and the former president's son is assasinated.
Posted by: The Cha-king of conspiracy | June 22, 2007 12:09 PM