Panetta: CIA Misled Congress

CIA director Leon Panetta told Congress in a recent briefing that the agency misled them on “significant actions” for a “number of years.”

In a letter written to Panetta on June 26 by seven Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee, the CIA chief is urged to “publicly correct” an earlier statement he made in which he insisted that it was not agency policy to mislead Congress.

As the letter details, Panetta apparently acknowledged in an earlier briefing that this statement was not, in fact, true.

The “significant actions” that were concealed were Bush interrogation policies.  I presume apologies …

New Doubts About Palin’s Stated Reason For Quitting

Even though she is not a quitter, Sarah Palin’s primary stated reason for quitting has been cast in a new light. Taxpayers, it turns out, are not spending millions to defend her with dollars that would otherwise go to cops, firefighters and other good Alaska services.  Amanda Erickson at Plumline got the scoop.

David Murrow, a spokesperson for the Governor, said in an interview that much of this money was budgeted to the lawyers in advance and would have gone to them anyway, even if state lawyers hadn’t been defending against these ethics complaints.

In response to our questions, …

On Wednesday’s Radio Show…

• Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) responds to the Obama administration’s plan to continue holding some detainees even if they’ve been acquitted of terrorism charges.

• Could legalizing marijuana reduce budget deficits? Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project thinks so, and he’ll tell Alan how.

• Alan examines the latest example of Republicans twisting science to support their political agenda.…

Cue Conservative Outrage in 3… 2… 1…

It won’t be long before self-proclaimed Defenders of Family Values blow a gasket over this.

HuffPost:

USA Today has news of GM’s racy new promo spot for its Camaro, which was posted on YouTube to support Chevrolet Gay Days At The Movies in Los Angeles. The video features “go go boys” in tight bathing suits washing a Camaro. Subtle it is not.

This strikes me as a bit disingenuous:

GM told USA Today it wasn’t specifically targeting gay men with Camaro promotions.

I can’t say that I’m sure this is the best way for GM to target gay men, …

One Congressman Won’t Acknowledge That Slave Labor Built DC

And that would be Congressman Steve King of Iowa, who bravely stood against 299 of his colleagues by refusing to allow a plaque that would honor slaves who helped construct the US Capitol.  King says he doesn’t like what he views as frivolous resolutions, although in 2007 he was upset with Democrats who didn’t sign on to his resolution, “recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith.”…

Arizona State Senator Climate-Change Denier: Earth Is Just 6,000 Years Old

Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen wants to open up uranium mining in her state.  After all, she says, the earth is 6000 years old, has been here long before anybody had environmental laws, “and so far it hasn’t been done away with.”  Ironically, had she known the true age of the earth (estimated to be 4.55 billion years), she would have had a better argument.

…

I “Googled” “Search Engines” And The First Result Was “Dogpile”

But what about Bing?  Is it better than Google?…

Sen. Jim DeMint: Hondoran Coup Is Same As Peaceful Transition Of Power

South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint seems to believe that a bloody coup overthrowing a democratically elected president is no different than how Gerald Ford became president or how Al Franken became a senator.

…

How Much Has Alaska Really Spent On Ethics Investigations?

Sarah Palin said one of the reasons she’s leaving office is because of two million dollars it cost taxpayers to investigate her.

Every one – all 15 of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. We’ve won! But it hasn’t been cheap – the State has wasted THOUSANDS of hours of YOUR time and shelled out some two million of YOUR dollars to respond to “opposition research” – that’s money NOT going to fund teachers or troopers – or safer roads.

But the personnel board says the cost of ethics investigations is $296,000, and some of the expenses were brought …

On Tuesday’s Radio Show…

• Did she raise more questions than answers? Alan analyzes Sarah Palin’s latest interviews.

• As the world pays tribute to Michael Jackson, we’ll debate the King of Pop’s controversial legacy.

• Alan responds to the latest right-wing claim that President Obama doesn’t want to protect America.…

The Palin Pattern

Sarah, “I am not a quitter” Palin is profiled by Karen Tumulty in her “I-Quit-arod” Swampland piece (beautifully named as RightWingWatch notes).  She did five colleges in five years.  She also abruptly quit her job as head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, claiming she didn’t want to keep quiet about ethics violations.  But she was told by the Alaska Department of Law she could not discuss these issues even if she resigned.

Palin said frustration over the gag order made her conclude it was time to quit, but she said it wasn’t the only reason. …