Seymour Hersh - Cheney Ran a Secret Assassination Squad

The Alaska Democratic Party brought John Dean up to Palmer for our 2008 Convention. Last night, on the Keith Olbermann Show, Dean addresses legal aspects of this emerging, but "unresolved" question:

Max Blumenthal for Al Jazeera on the Charles Freeman Withdrawal

Tuesday, former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and so-called State Department "realist," Charles Freeman felt compelled to withdraw his name as head of President Obama's National Intelligence Council, an important coordinating group. Various ultra-Zionists, in congress and out, felt drawn to take credit for this victory. New York Senator Charles Schumer was one.

Another was far right idealogue Daniel Pipes. Pipes was happy to share credit with Steve J. Rosen:

What you may not know is that Steven J. Rosen of the Middle East Forum was the person who first brought attention to the problematic nature of Freeman's appointment, in a February 19 blog titled "Alarming appointment at the CIA." Within hours, the word was out; and three weeks later Freeman has conceded defeat. Only someone with Steve's stature and credibility could have made this happen.

Talking points Memo founder, Josh Marshall, observed Tuesday about Rosen what Pipes misses:

The man who led the campaign against the Chas Freeman appointment is currently awaiting trial on charges of espionage.

Marshall links to Max Blumenthal's Daily Beast feature about weird and pathetic aspects of Freeman's withdrawal. It is the first link to Blumenthal's work I've noticed by Marshall. Phil Weiss, at mondoweiss, has been featuring Max more and more.

Max, as some PA readers may remember, came up to Alaska to cover Sarah Palin's links to millennial dispensationalists and far-right militias. He was based out of our house. Max and Dave Neiwert are writing a book on the subject.

Pipes, in his email about the Freeman withdrawal, erroneously credits a Max Blumenfeld for having noted Rosen's key role. But a click on the link brings one to Max Blumenthal.

I wrote to Max yesterday, about the error. He wrote back, addressing me as "Mr. Mungerstein." I love it!

I guess that's partially in recognition of being the only Alaskan to attempt covering I/P and AIPAC-related issues comprehensively.

Thanks, Max.

Here's Max on the the Al Jazeera report:

Is THIS Bristol's Next Boyfriend?

Probably not. For one thing, he's married. For another, he's Catholic.

He's certainly going to be one of the people Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will do almost anything to meet up with, on her upcoming trips down below.

He's Ross Douthat. An intelligent right-wing blogger, whose numerous early columns for The American Scene appear to have been recently scrubbed, Douthat has been hired by Time Magazine to replace Palin worshipper William Kristol.

Most recently, Douthat has been blogging and writing for The Atlantic, where he was an early fan of Palin, writing soon after (August 30th) she was chosen by John McCain:

At the moment, I'm probably rooting harder for Sarah Palin to succeed than I have for any politician in recent memory. Just something to keep in mind while you're reading my commentary.

That was an early reaction. He learned, though, throughout the last two months of the 2008 presidential campaign. This was his immediate reaction to columnist Chris Orr's op-ed on the Couric-Palin interviews:

If you watch her pre-nomination interviews - with CNBC, say, or with C-SPAN - and then compare them to the Couric performance, the difference is staggering. Obviously a lot of this just has to do with the difficulty of talking about national issues she doesn't know that much about, versus state issues she knew extremely well, and doing so under the kind of microscope that most national politicians spend months and years preparing for. But the marked decline in her coherence and fluency just from the Gibson interview - where she was bad, but not epically bad - to this one suggests something like the confidence-destroying dynamic Chris describes is playing out as well.

Roy Edreso at the Village Voice has a blog entry on this, with lots of hyper-links to other material on Douthat's past work. Unlike William Kristol, Douthat appears to be able to learn from experience, and even more unlike Kristol, Ross is sometimes right.

Here's a link to a discussion he authored at TPM Book Club on the book he has co-written with Teihan Salam, called The Grand New Party.

Here he is explaining his view on the future of American conservatism, at the Humphrey Institute:


hat tip to Teddy Partridge for alerting me to Douthat's new role

Who's On Next? - Updated!

(Updated near the bottom of this post)

Former Alaska Republican Party luminary and state legislator Beverly Masek plead "guilty" an hour or so ago to Federal conspiracy crimes. She will be sentenced May 28th.

Writing Raven at Alaska Real writes of the Corrupt Bastards Club, and of Masek:

But I really am tired of the whole thing. This last one, I am really trying to see it as a loss for the Native community, but Masek never lifted a finger for Native interests, so I think it's just a loss for ... uh... hold on.

I'll get back to you on that one.

Really, I can at least point to this as an example of why you just don't take "any Native," or "any Republican" or... for crying out loud, look at their resume at least!

Steve, at What Do I Know?, writes:

The only question was whether she would plead or go to trial. The prosecution is much more interested in getting people to plead. That way they don't have to risk a jury, they don't have to work so hard presenting the evidence, and they don't have to expose what they know and how they operate so publicly. But we knew that Masek was in their sights. This was a sad situation all the way through.

AK Muckraker, at The Mudflats, observes:

She will enter her plea of “guilty” tomorrow [Thursday] morning before U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline, the same guy who sentenced Senator John Cowdery yesterday. I think he’s having a “theme week”.

Will Masek get six months hanging out at home on the Barcalounger, in front of the big screen TV like Cowdery? I’m guessing not. But you just never know with Corrupt Bastards Theatre.

So, time to melt the butter, pop the corn and settle in for the next Act, entitled “Here We Go Again.”

An interesting note is that in Wednesday afternoon's earliest version of the Anchorage Daily News coverage, written by Alaska's best investigative reporter, Richard Mauer, detail of the legislation noted by the Feds in their information was minimal. Later in the day, Mauer updated the story extensively. That version - similar to the one now in the ADN - includes far more detail about the legislation withdrawn by Masek, along with several quotes from Alaska's greatest muckraker, Ray Metcalfe.

For those of us who have been following the ADN's neglect of Metcalfe over the years, this revision is rich in irony. Is is sad that Mauer, in his revisions, fails to note that Metcalfe called Mauer with the the information included in the revision, not the other way around. You can still fix that, Richard.

Here's a choice quote from Richard's story:

Over the next several months, Masek had more meetings with Allen and Smith where she pleaded for money and a job. They declined to pay her outright, but suggested that Masek, a musher who had competed in five Iditarods, get back into sled-dog racing. That way, they could launder money to her through sponsorship of her kennel and team, the charge said.

There was no sign that ever occurred.

At least there's no sign that ever happened to Bev Masek, eh?

The Mudflats carried a quote of Ray Metcalfe. He had been hoping to speak up at John Cowdery's sentencing on Tuesday, but wasn't allowed to. This is a version of what he had hoped to say. It should be distributed to every Alaska politician:

The difficulty in prosecuting politicians like Cowdery is that much of what you would think is illegal is not. Politicians have exempted themselves from punishment through loopholes. Prosecutors find themselves relying on statutes made intentionally flimsy by the politicians they prosecute. To remedy this, I am collecting signatures to put the following proposition on the ballot.

“Anyone found using their public office to enrich themselves, their relatives, close friends, business associates; past, present, or anticipated employers or contributors, is guilty of a class A felony. Anyone found securing enrichment by inducing public officials to violate this statute is guilty of bribery, a class A felony.”

Believe it or not, what you just read is not illegal. If you’re willing, I need 100 sponsors to submit my proposal to the Lieutenant Governor’s office. I will be at Café del Mundo 341 East Benson Blvd at noon Monday the 16th. PS: Class A felonies = 20 years in jail.

Alternatively, print out one or more copies of the attached petition, get a few signatures and mail them to: Ray Metcalfe, PO Box 233809, Anchorage Alaska, 99523.

(note - I am on the board of Mr. Metcalfe's new muckraking organization).

So, who IS on next? Here's my list of Probable, followed by a list of Possibles (with DZ's additions in italic):

Probable:
Ben Stevens
Don Young
Jerry Ward
Mike Chenault
Trevor McCabe

Possible:
Rick Halford
Lyda Green
Scott Ogan
Frank Murkowski
Jim Bowles

Meanwhile, let's find out Who's on First:

Saradise Lost - Book 2 - Chapter 34 -- Couric Wins Cronkite Award for Actually Asking Questions

Saradise Found - Chapter Three -- Chuck Vogan Draws Her in Three Minutes

Maybe we can get somebody to do a YouTube of this in reverse...

This One's For You, Prof. Steiner!

I'm celebrating.

Just found out that the pain in my butt (actually - lower back and thighs) I've been experiencing since chopping wood during Super Bowl halftime isn't something like cancer or some other wasting malady. More like nerve damage. Anyway, I'm going to celebrate, by celebrating two of my heroes - Rick Steiner and Richard Dawkins.

Progressive Alaska was the first Alaska medium to seriously take up the case of University of Alaska Anchorage oceanography professor Rick Steiner, when he sought full information on correspondence between State of Alaska scientists, regarding the classification of Polar bears by the Federal government. Although several Alaska and national blogs have now taken up the probable de-funding of the Federal part of Steiner's UAA Sea Grant program duties, PA has sought to tie Steiner's treatment to his wider role in our state's college system, and in the debates on free exchange of information, and science education.

Science education has been important to me for a long time. My wife and I have fully supported school programs, from elementary school science fairs (where I've been a judge), through middle school and high school programs, such as the Science Olympiad (where both our kids were Alaska champions), and college (where one kid has graduated with a science degree, the other one working on his).

Since so-called "creationism" reared its modern head in the early 1980s, I've tried to stay well-informed on the activities of these superstitious people who hurt our national discourse, bankrupt school districts, and stunt the growth of our economy. I've tried to inform others of their activities and broader beliefs.

Creationists worldwide despise Richard Dawkins even more than oil company shills and apologists in Alaska dismiss Rick Steiner. Recently, Dawkins ran afoul of state legislators in Oklahoma. Here's a hilarious YouTube, splicing his opening remarks there last week, with other material:


This is a remarkable time. So many patently false memes (a term Dawkins had a hand in initially defining) evaporating, so many faulty paradigms crashing into concrete walls, so many blistered, feverish, rabid lemmings rushing off cliffs:


hat tip - Deirdre Helfferich

Cowdery to Mouthpiece - "Kick That Guy With the Camera in the Nuts!"

CBC Charter Member, John Cowdery, outside the Federal Courthouse in Anchorage, late this morning. He gets to stay at home.

CNN's Weekend Alaska Report with Dennis Zaki

I hope Dennis becomes a regular feature on CNN.

Sen. Vitter Fingered for Screwing With Top Scientists

On Saturday, Progressive Alaska covered the holds put on the nominations of Dr. John Holdren, to be director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and on Dr. Jane Lubchenco, to head the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Since posting on it, I've gotten emails confirming that the holds have been placed on these two scientists by Louisiana Sen. David Vitter.

A call to one of the Senators on the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation in Washington D.C. early this afternoon confirmed that the holds have been requested by Sen. Vitter. Nobody felt at liberty to tell me why the holds have been placed, but my last source stated, "We want these nominations to proceed as soon as possible."

Sen. Vitter was the only Senator to make a fuss during the February 12 nomination hearings. Here's how Mike Dunford from the Panda's Thumb described part of Vitter's questioning of Holdren:

Vitter asked Dr. Holdren about a statement that Dr. Holdren made back in 1986, where Dr. Holdren said that global warming could cause the deaths of 1 billion people by 2020. The key word in that sentence is "could." Just in case you are as unfamiliar with the English language as Mr. Horner's source appears to be, allow me to point out that "could" is not in fact a synonym for "will".

Dr. Holdren responded by saying that he thought that was unlikely to happen. For the comprehension impaired, which apparently includes both Mr. Horner and his hearing room confidant, that means that he doesn't actually think that's going to happen.

Vitter interrupted him, saying, "do you think it could happen?" Dr. Holdren said that he though it could happen. Vitter interrupted him again, saying, "so you would stick to that statement?" Dr. Holdren replied that he didn't think it was likely. Vitter repeated his question again, and Dr. Holdren agreed that it could. Vitter clarified by asking, "one billion by 2020?" and Dr. Holdren responded by saying, "It could."

At the end of his questioning, immediately after being chastized by the chair for already being well over his allotted time, Mr. Vitter returned to the topic, asking yet again if Dr. Holdren thought that 1 billion deaths was still a possibility. Dr. Holdren agreed that it is in fact possible.

Anyway, we now have somebody to watch. Here's more on Sen. Vitter, whose upcoming campaign is also being watched by Max Blumenthal: