'Casino Jack' in DC

365: I know this picture sucks, but it was a dark theater and I didn't want to use the flash from two rows back. From left, WaPo's Jonathan Capehart, 'Casino Jack' director Alex Gibney, former congressman -- the only one that was indicted for dealings with Jack Abramoff -- Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and former staffer for both Ney and Abramoff Neil Volz at E St. Theater.

It was the first public showing in DC of 'Casino Jack', the new documentary on the story of uber-lobbyist Abramoff's rise and fall. We saw the director's cut, so this version was bit exhaustive and very detailed. That was fine with me. It was a bit hacky and cheesy at times in its use of footage of 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' to punctuate some kind of loss of innocence Abramoff supposedly symbolizes (Washington was corrupted and corrosive long before, and long after, that movie, so let's stop pretending and telling ourselves lies). Though that doesn't take away from the on-key editing and expansive research into Abramoff's (and associates') deceit and decadence.

The world needs Lil' Dead Pope

In honor of the latest news of the Pope's abandonment of innocence in his career as a fierce protector of rapists, molesters and pedophiles, it's time to revisit a Wonder Showzen's Beat Kids classic, Lil' Dead Pope (The link will have to suffice. There was no embed option.).

Obama administration still insists they care about civil liberties

Stay with me.

The Washington Times' Eli Lake today:

President Obama is coming under pressure from Democrats and civil liberties groups for failing to fill positions on an oversight panel formed in 2004 to make sure the government does not spy improperly on U.S. citizens.

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, or PCLOB, was recommended initially by the bipartisan September 11 commission as an institutional voice for privacy inside the intelligence community. Its charter was to recommend ways to mitigate the effects of far-reaching surveillance technology that the federal government uses to track terrorists.

The panel was established in 2004 under President Bush as part of the executive office of the president. Its independence was unclear for several years. Congress responded by increasing the board's budget, expanding its powers and moving it outside the presidential executive office in 2007.

Since taking office, Mr. Obama has allowed the board to languish. He has not even spent the panel's allocation from the fiscal 2010 budget.

SOME lawmakers are pushing the administration to act. Then Lake gets a comment from the Obama team.

Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, defended the administration's record in general but acknowledged the Democrats' criticisms and said the White House would soon act on them.

This president has made clear his commitment to civil liberties through the actions of his administration, and appreciates the congressional interest in this important issue. The White House has allocated funding for the PCLOB, and looks forward to appointing its leadership soon, he said.

(Emphasis mine)

That's beyond rich. Obama tried to peddle that line of thought in his State of the Union too.

Lake begins to chronicle proof that Rhodes is brimming with deception:

For example, the Obama administration pressed a British court last year to keep secret details of how terrorism suspect Binyam Mohammed was treated while in U.S. and Pakistani custody. The administration has also embraced in some cases the concept of indefinite detention for some terrorism suspects apprehended during the Bush presidency, and it has increased the practice of targeted killings in Pakistan and Yemen through unmanned aerial vehicles.

On the issue of surveillance, Mr. Obama during the presidential campaign voted for reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, a bill criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union for providing only minimal court oversight to expansive electronic intelligence-collection programs.

It goes on.

Outside of authorizing torture (and we have no proof torture isn't still going on since no one's allowed to observe overseas prisons), Obama is a direct heir of the Bush/Cheney legacy. The constitutional law professor and his own attorney general, in refusing to hold those guilty of what we'd call war crimes if another country did it, are beyond being accessories to the ugliness and are now the prime drivers of this illegal, shameful and immoral activity.

We're desperate, get used to it

While the world chippers about a couple of starfucking attention whores getting into the White House, our president is about to add 30,000 troops into a sinkhole of a war. But that's tomorrow, when the Salahi's will probably get a TV show on Bravo. What about today? Today's ignored national affront goes to the noble Supreme Court further -- and maybe permanently -- suppressing torture photos.

NYT:

The justices sent the case back to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in Manhattan, which ruled in 2008 that the pictures should be released to the public. But at the request of the Obama administration, the Second Circuit later postponed its own order, setting the stage for the administration to take the case to the Supreme Court.

On Monday, the justices told the Second Circuit to give “further consideration” to the issue in light of a Congressional action authorizing the Defense Department to keep the pictures from the public. With the issue on its way back to the Second Circuit, a final decision will probably not be made for months.

In light of tomorrow, that is downright a tragedy masterpiece. This is the week to remember Obama's first year by.

I hope Black Francis gives the White House the finger tomorrow night.

The United States of Goldman Sachs

The Obama administration invites another fox to guard the henhouse:

The Securities and Exchange Commission has hired a 29-year-old Goldman Sachs alumnus as managing executive of its enforcement division.

Adam Storch, who joined the securities watchdog this week, was a vice-president in the Business Intelligence Group at Goldman, a division that checks trades and investment banking deals for signs of fraud or reputational risk.

[...]

His hiring comes after a week in which Goldman has produced hand-wringing in Washington for its healthy bonus payments and amid long-standing concerns over the “revolving door” between the bank and government agencies.

“I am honoured to join the SEC at this crucial time,” said Mr Storch in a statement released by the commission. “I look forward to working with the talented and dedicated staff of the SEC.”

The managing executive role is a new job in a division that is going through extensive restructuring and is still reeling from its failure to spot frauds, including the Ponzi scheme of Bernard Madoff.

Allowing former Goldman Sachs executives to clean up a mess that Goldman Sachs was explicitly involved in creating is ludicrous and criminal in my mind. This is nothing new of course: former Bush adm. Treasury secretary Hank Paulson was a Goldman Sachs executive. He was on the phone with them constantly a year ago, when the financial crisis came to a head and institutions like Goldman were begging -- or ordering -- their boy Paulson to bail them out, as they were "too big to fail."

It's no better these days. The AP got access to Sec. Tim Geithner's phone records, via a FOIA request.

The calendars, obtained by the AP under the Freedom of Information Act, offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the continued influence of three companies — Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. — whose executives can reach the nation's most powerful economic official on the phone, sometimes several times a day.

[...]

What the calendars show, however, is that only a select few can call the treasury secretary.

After one hectic week in May in which the U.S. faced the looming bankruptcy of General Motors and the prospect that the government would take over the automaker, Geithner wrapped up his night with a series of phone calls.

First he called Lloyd Blankfein, the chairman and CEO at Goldman. Then he called Jamie Dimon, the boss at JPMorgan. Obama called next, and as soon as they hung up, Geithner was back on the phone with Dimon.

Glenn Greenwald has more, including a reminder that Goldman was the top contributor to Obama's presidential campaign. Round and round we go.

Graf of the Day

Gleen Greenwald:

In other breaking news, Erik Prince announces that he believes criminal prosecutions of Blackwater are unwarranted; Wall Street CEOs -- past and present -- conclude that an investigation of fraud and abuse among investment banks would serve no real purpose; Alberto Gonzales reveals his opposition to any proceedings against DOJ lawyers who acted in bad faith; police unions announce that the problem of brutality is overstated and there's no need for added oversight; medical doctors agree that malpractice lawsuits need to be limited; and a poll of felons currently in prison reveal that 99% of them believe that the country would have been better off if it had just let bygones be bygones and decided not to proceed with prosecutions in their particular case.