"Potentially problematic" privacy concerns deleted. End of problem!
The WaPo reports:
"The Bush administration made more than 200 revisions to the first report of a civilian board that oversees government protection of personal privacy, including the deletion of a passage on anti-terrorism programs that intelligence officials deemed 'potentially problematic' intrusions on civil liberties, according to a draft of the report obtained by The Washington Post. One of the panel's five members, Democrat Lanny J. Davis, resigned in protest Monday over deletions ordered by White House lawyers and aides."
White House spokesperson Dana Perino says 'what's the big deal, this sort of editing is "standard operating procedure." Of course, it is, that's the problem with everything this administration does. The EPA has issues a scientific report about Global Warming, you have your American Petroleum Institute hack, Phillip Cooney, do some crative editing. NASA issues a report about the Big Bang, you get a 24-year PR flack, George Deutsch, to insert the word "theory" into the text.
Naturally, this sort of thing is SOP at the White House, no news story there. My main question about the PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES OVERSIGHT BOARD is why Congress made it beholden to the very Executive Branch that it's supossed to be watching over. What kind of Bull is that?
According to the WAPO, chairwoman of the board, Carol Dinkins, "Said she did not share most of Davis's concerns but was disappointed he resigned. The White House and other board members believed they had resolved them when Davis signed on to the report's final version, she said."
Part of the reason she may not have as many quams about the White House swooping in to red- line the whole report is due to the fact that, according to NEWSWEEK, she's a:
"Former senior Justice official under Ronald Reagan and former law partner of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales."
And you know that Alberto Gonzales is a virtual byword for indepenence and integrity!
"The Bush administration made more than 200 revisions to the first report of a civilian board that oversees government protection of personal privacy, including the deletion of a passage on anti-terrorism programs that intelligence officials deemed 'potentially problematic' intrusions on civil liberties, according to a draft of the report obtained by The Washington Post. One of the panel's five members, Democrat Lanny J. Davis, resigned in protest Monday over deletions ordered by White House lawyers and aides."
White House spokesperson Dana Perino says 'what's the big deal, this sort of editing is "standard operating procedure." Of course, it is, that's the problem with everything this administration does. The EPA has issues a scientific report about Global Warming, you have your American Petroleum Institute hack, Phillip Cooney, do some crative editing. NASA issues a report about the Big Bang, you get a 24-year PR flack, George Deutsch, to insert the word "theory" into the text.
Naturally, this sort of thing is SOP at the White House, no news story there. My main question about the PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES OVERSIGHT BOARD is why Congress made it beholden to the very Executive Branch that it's supossed to be watching over. What kind of Bull is that?
According to the WAPO, chairwoman of the board, Carol Dinkins, "Said she did not share most of Davis's concerns but was disappointed he resigned. The White House and other board members believed they had resolved them when Davis signed on to the report's final version, she said."
Part of the reason she may not have as many quams about the White House swooping in to red- line the whole report is due to the fact that, according to NEWSWEEK, she's a:
"Former senior Justice official under Ronald Reagan and former law partner of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales."
And you know that Alberto Gonzales is a virtual byword for indepenence and integrity!
posted by William Duane at 12:16 PM
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