Neoliberalism could become neo-torturism with Obama

And civil liberties take a back seat

Reportedly, Barack Obama, he of the FISA 45 percenters among Congressional Democrats this summer, thinks “bipartisanship” extends to torture lite. At least, many of his transition team foreign policy and national security advisors are pushing for that kind of “centrism.”

Hey, if Rep. Jane Harman is seriously getting discussion as Homeland Security Secretary or Director of National Intelligence, that shows you just how much President-elect Obama cares about civil liberties.

That Kool-Aid gets “tastier” all the time, doesn’t it?

News briefs – Jane Harman lying and William Jefferson surviving?

Is Jane Harman lying about FISA?

Rep. Harman, the former ranking minority member of the House Intelligence Committee (and thank doorknobs, not its chair) claims that, contrary to a book interview, she was not ignorant of BushCo breaking the law with unauthorized snooping for FISA reasons, before the New York Times broke the story in 2005. Given Harman’s track record in this issue, I’ll certainly take interviewing author Eric Lichtblau’s word over hers.

Is William Jefferson breathing easier?

The allegedly money-laundering and bribe-taking Congressman can put up a little stouter legal defense now, courtesy of the Supreme Court. SCOTUS refused to accept a Justice Department appeal of a D.C. Court of Appeals ruling that the FBI had no right to search Jefferson’s office, even with a warrant, without consulting the Congressman.

Why? The appellate court said the Constitution’s Speech and Debate Clause, which says Members of Congress:

shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony, and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their attendance at the Session of their Respective Houses, and in going to and from the same, and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

That said, it’s arguable that his office, especially when he is not there, counts as “going to and from attendance.”

And, it’s not at ALL arguable that he has been accused of, and indicted for, the commission of felonies.

SCOTUS blew this one, IMO. Especially, I don’t get not even accepting the case.

Rep. Jane Harman on FBI hotseat over Israeli-linked PAC investigation

Time says the FBI is investigating whether or not the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Harman broke the law to get Harman reappointed as the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee.

Given that Harman is well-known in politics as a war hawk, and arguably even “neocon-lite,” I can’t see this as being anything but good news for putting the neocon movement on one more bit of notice.

Of course, with the election coming up, for Democrats, it raises the Iraq issue in a less-than-ideal way, pointing out the party’s lack of unity on Iraq, indeed its papering over of the issue.

Time also puts the issue into larger context:

The case is a spin-off of a probe that has already led to charges under the Espionage Act against two AIPAC lobbyists, whose case is still pending, and to a 12-and-a-half-year prison sentence for former Defense Intelligence Agency official Lawrence A. Franklin.

In this same investigation, the Justice Department has previously suggested that AIPAC had questionable motives in trying to help a valued government contact remain in a sensitive national security post. The Justice Department alleges in its indictment of Franklin that he asked one of the two AIPAC lobbyists to “put in a good word” for him in seeking assignment to the National Security Council. The document says the AIPAC official noted that such a job would put Franklin "by the elbow of the President" and said he would “do what I can.”

As to whether House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was off-put by the lobbying strong-arm or acceded to it, we shall see, I guess.