[Washington Examiner] When they published their revealing book last August about the nation's fight against terrorism, the authors, two New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... national security news hounds, immediately felt heat from the Pentagon for dishing too much operational info about the killing of the late Osama bin Laden. ... who abandoned all hope when he entered there... "I was stopped by a very senior officer in the special operations community who basically wanted to rip my lungs out," said Thom Shanker, who co-authored "Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America's Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda," with Eric Schmitt.
But, he revealed at a counter terrorism expo this week, the info came directly and officially from the White House, not some garbage can digging operation. "I said to him, 'Sir, that information came officially to us from the podium at the White House,'" Shanker said.
He added, "Your civilian leaders make choices about describing missions, perhaps for their own partisan political ends, perhaps to show the nation that their tax dollars are being spent well, but that's the way it is."
Shanker, an acclaimed Pentagon news hound and author, said he had a little advice for the unidentified officer: If you make general, "this is part of your new world."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Ah pissing off and endagering the people trained to kill people like Shanker in a vast variety of ways, and then giving them patronising advice.
That's modern journalism. Wonder how those newspaper sales are going?
President Obama's reelection campaign launched a national drive Friday to counter new restrictive voter-access laws, which advisers said threaten his electoral chances in November.
Organizers will fan out in key swing states this weekend to teach volunteers and voters how to navigate a series of laws passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures imposing stricter identification requirements, limiting early voting and making it harder to organize voter-registration drives.
In 2011, more than 30 states debated changes to their voting laws. A dozen passed more restrictive rules requiring voters to present state-issued photo IDs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, although Democratic governors in four states vetoed them. Florida and Ohio cut the number of days for early voting by nearly half, and Florida lawmakers reversed rules that had made it easier for former felons to vote.
Voting rights groups and multiple-votes rights Democrats, meanwhile, have decried these measures as deliberate attempts to suppress voters and swing elections. They say there have been few cases of voter fraud, given the millions of ballots cast and compared to the high number of poor and minority voters who will be affected. Some of these groups have brought lawsuits against some of the new legislation.
Twenty-five percent of African American voters do not have a valid government-issued photo ID, compared with 8 percent of whites, according to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's law school. The report also found that 15 percent of voters earning less than $35,000 per year do not have such an ID. So they are driving without a license?
How do they cash their paychecks without ID?
But as governor of a critical swing state with a large swath of moderate voters, [Virginia Governor]McDonnell is cognizant of the possibility that the law may be seen as a vehicle for voter suppression. Earlier this year, he unsuccessfully lobbied fellow Republicans in the legislature to allow for a signature comparison for voters with no ID. And on Friday, he issued an executive order calling on the state elections board to issue a registration ID to all voters so that "on election day this year, every Virginia voter will have at least one valid ID." I hope there is a limit of one to a customer.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/19/2012 13:14 ||
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#1
How hard is it to "navigate" showing your ID? Just pretend you are at the store buying a 40.
#2
Republicans should write the legislature linking the ID needed to purchase self defence equipment and the ID needed to vote as both are constitutional rights, and deserve an equal level of check.
#3
So what for what other things do you need an ID?
To:
Buy cigarettes, beer, rolling papers, and tobacco.
Obtain a driver's license.
Obtain utility services.
Fly or travel on public transportation.
Get a library card.
To obtain food stamps/welfare.
Make apply for a credit card.
To make large credit card purchases.
Obtain a car loan.
Obtain a house mortgage.
Apply for a job.
Open a bank account.
Respond to a police officer who flags you down for a traffic violation.
Be admitted to a hospital.
Get a marriage license.
Show ID to join the military.
If Obama says we shouldn't be required to obtain ID to vote, we also shouldn't be required to show ID to purchase a firearm and we shouldn't need a concealed carry permit to carry a firearm.
#4
The local grocery store cards everyone for beer and wine. I'm 63 and they card me. They also enter the age in the computer, so they are well-protected against claims of selling to minors.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/19/2012 16:10 Comments ||
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#5
The puppy blender had a article about nanny state Britain but it's crept up on you too!
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Washington Examiner] When they published their revealing book last August about the nation's fight against terrorism, the authors, two 
