Alex Pareene raises a good question about the WikiLeaks Afghanistan war documents at Salon.com. The New York Times reporters who had semi-exclusive access to the files briefed the White House before publishing their story, and they say the administration praised their careful handling of the information.
The White House did not, it appears, tell the Times that publishing stories based on the leaked documents would endanger our soldiers.
So why, Pareene asks, was the information classified in the first place? And why is it OK to praise the New York Times while blasting the guy behind WikiLeaks?
My eyes have just rolled up into my head. Just when I start to cut President Obama some slack, a story like this comes along.
You’d think our space agency’s prime directive would be to, you know, explore space. Under the Obama administration, however, it seems the mission is a bit more down-to-Earth:
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a recent interview that his “foremost” mission as the head of America’s space exploration agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world.
Though international diplomacy would seem well outside NASA’s orbit, Bolden said in an interview with Al Jazeera that strengthening those More >
Glenn Greenwald has another excellent column at Salon.com on the imperial presidency. Where is the outcry from so-called conservatives over President Obama’s claim of authority to order the assassination of American citizens without oversight of any kind?
That’s right. This administration has a secret hit list of “dozens” of American citizens considered a threat. Aside from Keith Olbermann, of all people, and a couple of passing mentions in The Washington Post and the New York Times, this is a story that’s gone MIA from the major media.
Here’s the big question from Greenwald for Obama supporters:
[I]f you’re someone who believes, or are at More >
Gen Stanley McChrystal didn’t rise to his position in the Army by being an idiot. He had to know what would happen when he allowed himself and his staff to speak freely around a reporter, especially one writing for a publication like Rolling Stone.
So this explanation of “poor judgment” just doesn’t wash. Anyone over the age of 18 knows you don’t diss management when there’s a chance the boss will hear about it.
So the question then is why McChrystal felt compelled to sacrifice his career to let the world know how he feels about President Obama. Is the White House More >
Sometimes you wonder whether there shouldn’t be restrictions on just who is eligible to vote:
Leaders of the Democratic Party in South Carolina rejected a protest Thursday evening of the stunning U.S. Senate primary win by a man charged with a felony.
The party’s executive committee ruled that Alvin Greene, an unemployed veteran, is the official nominee.
Greene was charged in November with showing obscene Internet photos to a college student during a computer lab at the University of South Carolina.
Greene’s opponent in the primary, Vic Rawls, is a Charleston county councilman and a former judge.Rawls filed a protest with the Democratic Party More >
