Continuing Wiretapping, Abu Ghraib Porno, and Obama's Cairo Visit

Kathleen Parker
Joeseph Lieberman
Matthew Yglesias


"In partisan warfare, it's never too soon to open fire." - K Parker

"Politicians really don't think that they can survive with voters hating them. I, of course, have proven that you can prosper when people hate you. But then again, I'm not a politician." - Rush Limbaugh


If you want to slog through Justice Sotomayor's rulings on certain issues, the Washington Post has them in pdf form. I would rather wait for the peer review and report from the Bar Association... The good thing from all of the talk and accusations of racism, gender bias, and affirmative action, is that it opens a national dialogue where everyone can join in, and proves how much farther we have to go to make these topics irrelevant...

While we've all been distracted by the trash talking over Sotomayor, another American tragedy has occurred: the fate of 1000 Obama bobblehead dolls. The Christian Science Monitor has the story: "This shocking, and perhaps terrifying story of potential government abuse, comes from Charleston, West Virginia. It seems that the town’s minor league baseball team (the West Virginia Power) ordered 1,000 presidential bobbleheads to be given away at their home game on Saturday night.

The bobbleheads arrived in Los Angeles from an unknown country on May 20. They then remained under lockdown at the hands of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency for nine straight days.

Despite numerous calls from the baseball team, they couldn’t get the bobbleheads released. The team reportedly even tried calling the White House perhaps hoping that the president would get the Navy SEALS involved (they had great success last time)." 1000 Obama bobbleheads, 1000 corrupt officials threatened to be arrested in Iraq. Coincidence? I think not...

Well, the fumbling of the wiretapping football is continuing on through Eric holder's tenure. The classified documents that the Bush administration mistakenly gave the defense, then took back, are now the subject of a court order to produce them. Holder thinks they are too incriminating and embarrassing to release, but the judge is adamant. From the N Y Times: "The Al-Haramain case has been a focal point for civil liberties groups questioning the legality of the warrantless wiretapping program, and has become one of several instances where the current administration has taken its cue from the Bush administration in citing national security as justification for keeping secrets.

Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered a review of all state secrets used by the Bush administration to protect anti-terrorism programs from lawsuits. But the Obama administration is also fighting the court-ordered release of prisoner-abuse photos and is reviving, in a revised form, military tribunals where suspected terrorists have limited access to information.

The Bush administration inadvertently turned over the top secret document to Al-Haramain lawyers, who claimed it proved illegal wiretapping by the National Security Agency.

The document was returned to the government, and the lawyers have argued they need the document back to prove their case."

It gets worse - the reason that the Justice Department isn't releasing the Abu Ghraib pictures, is because they are sexually degrading and explicit. You would want to hunt these guards down and bring them to humiliating justice. Much of the unofficial blame has been given to the former head of Guantanamo prison, who came with his team to Abu Ghraib with the express purpose to torture and humiliate people he deemed second class, barely above animal status. From the Daily Beast: "A senior military officer familiar with the photos told me that they would likely provoke a storm of outrage if released. The well-informed source confirmed, just as reported in the Telegraph, that many of the photographs are sexually explicit, including those mentioned above. The photographs differ from those already officially released. Some show U.S. personnel engaged in sexual acts with prisoners and each other. In one, a female prisoner appears to have been forced to expose her breasts to be photographed. In another, a prisoner is suspended naked upside down from the top bunk of a bed in a stress position.

The Telegraph article quoted retired Major General Antonio Taguba, who directed the official inquiry in 2004 into the abuses at Abu Ghraib. Taguba told the Telegraph that the “pictures show torture, abuse, rape, and every indecency.” The Telegraph reported: “At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee. Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire, and a phosphorescent tube. Another apparently shows a female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed to expose her breasts.”

Finally, the media begins to write about Obama's trip next week to the Middle East and concerns over his speech at the University of Cairo: "But that is not the only message he will be sending, say many Egyptian democracy activists. They worry the visit signals the new administration's support for Egypt's autocratic President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled for 28 years, and that the man who came to office promising "Yes, we can," did not include Arabs in that promise.

Human rights have long been the electrified third rail of the Egyptian-American relationship. The Bush administration pressured Egypt on democracy and human rights in 2005, only to later reverse course, seeming to choose stability over human rights and democracy. Activists now express concern that Mr. Obama's choice of Cairo shows his intent to carry on that policy.

"Delivering a message to the Muslim world from a capital whose ruler is authoritarian does not speak very well of Obama's stand on democracy and human rights in Egypt or the Arab and Muslim world"

And the world dialogue over Israel and the Palestinian problem spins off from there. Obama has amended his trip to include Saudi Arabia, probably to talk about making changes in the 2002 Saudi Peace Plan. From the BBC: "The West Bank was occupied by Israel in the 1967 war and all efforts to plant Israeli population centres there contravenes international law, although Israel disputes this.
The 2002 Arab peace initiative has been embraced by the Obama administration, although Washington may be seeking amendments, correspondents say.
The Saudi-authored document offers Israel normal ties with all Arab states in return for a full withdrawal from the lands occupied in 1967, creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.
Mr Netanyahu has proposed immediate negotiations but backed away from questions of Palestinian independence or permanent deals over land withdrawals.
On 11 May, King Abdullah of Jordan said the US was working on a "57-state solution" including the 57-member Organisation of The Islamic Conference to recognise Israel in return for a halt in construction and expansion of settlements, and its agreement to withdraw from land seized in 1967."

late night jokes:

"Hey, last night at a fundraiser in Beverly Hills, people paid $30,000 to attend a dinner and a discussion with President Barack Obama. The subject of the discussion? The struggling economy." --Jay Leno

"Let me tell you something, if you spend $30,000 on dinner, aren't you legally a Republican at this point? I think so." --Jay Leno

"There were actually two fundraisers last night -- a higher priced celebrity dinner and a second, cheaper dinner. See, that's what I love about L.A. Even when we all come together as one nation to support our leader and face the most difficult challenges, you never forget that there's always an A-list and a B-list." --Jay Leno

"In fact, you know who was there? Kiefer Sutherland. I saw him down there. His job was to head-butt Joe Biden if he got near a microphone." --Jay Leno

"Actually, there was a performance by Earth, Wind & Fire, which ironically is also the Democratic energy policy -- earth, wind and fire.'" --Jay Leno

"President Obama flew back to Washington this morning. And you can tell even he's feeling the economic pinch. Show him leaving today. Here he is getting on the plane. Can we pull out? Look at the plane. Look, see? It's Southwest." --Jay Leno

"Oh, you see that video online of the wind knocking down Joe Biden's teleprompter at the Air Force graduation? See, that's when you know you're talking to too much -- when even Mother Nature goes, 'Shut up. Okay? Just shut up.'" --Jay Leno

"The big story here in California -- the Supreme Court has decided to uphold the ban on gay marriage. However, gay unions are still legal. See, that shows how little I know about this subject. I didn't even know gay people had their own union." --Jay Leno

"Well, actually, according to a new Gallup poll, 52% of people say they're opposed to gay marriage, 45% of people say they're in favor of it. That means the remaining 3% are for gay rights, they just hate going to weddings." --Jay Leno

"President Obama has picked Federal judge Sonia Sotomayor as the Supreme Court nominee. So that means the Supreme Court will have seven men and two women. Like speed dating night at the Burbank Holiday Inn." --Jay Leno

"Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will appear together in Toronto, on Friday, for a two-hour conversation, where George Bush plans on being the first person ever to lose a conversation." --Jimmy Fallon

"The Illinois Senate passed a bill on Wednesday to legalize medical marijuana. The bill was passed after the state senator said, 'Come on, dude, pass it. Come on.'" --Jimmy Fallon

"You could tell that the senators were determined that afternoon. They passed the same bill five times. They were just like: 'Seriously, pass it again. That's a pretty good bill.'" --Jimmy Fallon

"Burger King is adding a new kids' meal that's lower in fat, sodium and calories. It's called the 'I Don't Want That.'" --Jimmy Fallon