Tag Archives: Democrat Party

Commentary

The Obama administration’s weak response to WikiLeaks

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From Investors Business Daily.

Excerpt:

The horror we feared would happen is here. Friday, the New York Times reports the Taliban is studying 75,000 classified U.S. documents posted on WikiLeaks for names of informants, potential defectors and others who cooperated with American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

“We are studying the report,” a gleeful Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the Times. “If they are U.S. spies, then we know how to punish them.”

That means death for any Afghan who ever cooperated with us because those reports are loaded with names, identifying villages, parentages and potential defectors. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange threatens to publish more documents and publicly sneers at the prospect of deaths, mockingly saying the U.S. should launch criminal inquiries on U.S. soldiers instead.

[…]Last year, President Obama committed to the counterinsurgency plan of General Stanley McChrystal… [which] …requires soldiers to enter villages, develop informants and prioritize protecting civilians instead of wall themselves off in fortresses without intelligence. The WikiLeaks leak pretty well blows years of that hazardous and delicate work out of the water.

But the immediate problem is the death sentences ahead for Afghans who have cooperated with us — and any U.S. soldier who may die now that Afghans can no longer trust us.

And the White House response to Assange:

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen warns that Assange may “already have blood on his hands.” The White House response is to focus on begging Assange, who leaked the documents, to stop.

“Well, we can do nothing but implore the person that has those classified, top secret documents not to post anymore,” said spokesman Robert Gibbs on Friday.

The Democrats are imploring Assange to stop. Begging him to stop undermining the safety and security of our country. Begging him to stop exposing American forces to attacks. Is that strong leadership on national security?

Can you imagine that many people in the armed forces actually voted for Obama?

News

Freedom of Information Act request processing delayed by Democrats

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Story from the Washington Post. (H/T ECM)

Excerpt:

For at least a year, the Homeland Security Department detoured hundreds of requests for federal records to senior political advisers for highly unusual scrutiny, probing for information about the requesters and delaying disclosures deemed too politically sensitive, according to nearly 1,000 pages of internal e-mails obtained by The Associated Press.

The department abandoned the practice after AP investigated. Inspectors from the department’s Office of Inspector General quietly conducted interviews last week to determine whether political advisers acted improperly.

The Freedom of Information Act, the main tool forcing the government to be more open, is designed to be insulated from political considerations. Anyone who seeks information through the law is supposed to get it unless disclosure would hurt national security, violate personal privacy or expose confidential decision-making in certain areas.

But in July 2009, Homeland Security introduced a directive requiring a wide range of information to be vetted by political appointees for “awareness purposes,” no matter who requested it. The government on Wednesday estimated fewer than 500 requests underwent such political scrutiny; the Homeland Security Department received about 103,000 total requests for information last fiscal year.

Career employees were ordered to provide Secretary Janet Napolitano‘s political staff with information about the people who asked for records – such as where they lived, whether they were private citizens or reporters – and about the organizations where they worked.

If a member of Congress sought such documents, employees were told to specify Democrat or Republican.

This, despite President Barack Obama‘s statement that federal workers should “act promptly and in a spirit of cooperation” under FOIA, and Attorney General Eric Holder‘s assertion: “Unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles have no place in the new era of open government.”

The special reviews at times delayed the release of information to Congress, watchdog groups and the news media for weeks beyond the usual wait, even though the directive specified the reviews should take no more than three days.

The foot-dragging reached a point that officials worried the department would get sued, one e-mail shows.

A new era of transparency and accountability! Not at all like paranoid Richard Nixon! No, no, no!

And we’re still operating without a budget – they don’t want to say how large the deficits are before the election!

News

California Democrat paid $800,000 to manage city of 38,000 people

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UPDATE: Rizzo and a bunch of other Democrats have been arrested!

Excerpt:

Today, eight city council members were arrested in Bell, California for what Los Angeles County District Attorney labeled “corruption on steroids.” Thus far, every major news outlet that has reported on the story has omitted the fact that all eight individuals arrested are Democrats.

These glaring omissions come only weeks after NewsBusters reported that of the 351 stories on the then-brewing controversy, 350 had omitted party affiliations, and one had mentioned they were Democrats only in apologizing for not doing so sooner.

ABC, CBS, the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, Bloomberg, USA Today, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and the San Francisco Chronicle all reported on the arrests today without mentioning party affiliations.

Here’s the previous story about the salaries.

Story here from Bloomberg News. (H/T ECM, Hot Air)

Excerpt:

Hundreds of residents of one of the poorest municipalities in Los Angeles County shouted in protest last night as tensions rose over a report that the city’s manager earns an annual salary of almost $800,000.

An overflow crowd packed a City Council meeting in Bell, a mostly Hispanic city of 38,000 about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, to call for the resignation of Mayor Oscar Hernandez and other city officials. Residents left standing outside the chamber banged on the doors and shouted “fuera,” or “get out” in Spanish.

It was the first council meeting since the Los Angeles Times reported July 15 that Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo earns $787,637 — with annual 12 percent raises — and that Bell pays its police chief $457,000, more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck makes in a city of 3.8 million people. Bell council members earn almost $100,000 for part-time work.

City Attorney Edward Lee said the council members couldn’t discuss salaries in public without advance notice. The council then adjourned for a private session. About an hour later, the council members returned, and Hernandez read a statement saying the city would prepare a report on the salaries and seek public comment at the next council meeting, scheduled for Aug. 16.

Residents shouted in protest. Lee said he would have the room cleared if people continued to speak out of line. Police Chief Randy Adams said the fire department wanted to end the meeting because the crowd outside was blocking the door.

Here’s something I found on my own while searching for his party affiliation.

Excerpt:

Authorities discovered a methamphetamine lab at a Bell home owned by the city’s mayor early today and arrested two men, officials said.

Narcotics investigators raided a home in the 3800 block of Bell Avenue about 1:30 a.m. and found a “super lab,” capable of producing 20 pounds of methamphetamine at one time, said Deputy Guillermina Saldana of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. The investigators were part of a multi-agency state task force.

Saldana said two men were taken into custody, and two young children, ages 2 and 3, were placed in protective care. The suspects’ identities were not immediately available.

The home, one of three units on the lot, is owned by Bell Mayor Oscar Hernandez, who said in a phone interview that it was one of several properties he owns and that he rented it out to a young couple in their 20s. He said the husband was one of the men arrested. Hernandez said that although his son and daughter live in one of the units, his family knew nothing about the lab and had nothing to do with it.

“Nobody smelled nothing. I never got any complaints, and it’s a small community and the houses are close to each other,” said Hernandez, who runs a corner grocery store down the street and has been the city’s mayor since March.

I guess it goes without saying that he’s a Democrat. Not that any news stories will mention that he is a Democrat. But he is a Democrat.