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First Bell - On Education:
No City of Akron basketball tonight
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Pet telethon re-airs
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Chipmunks "Squeakquel" on DVD/BD March 30
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Late surge gives Zips ugly road win
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9
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NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
Varsity Letters:
Garfield at Buchtel basketball
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions
Akron Law Café:
Law, Love and Chocolate
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
OFCCP Report
Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
Obama likely to resist Bush-era investigation that distracts from his agenda
By Pete Yost
Associated Press
Published on Monday, Jul 13, 2009
WASHINGTON: Six months into Barack Obama's presidency, his Democratic allies are pushing for twin investigations into Bush-era torture and anti-terrorism policies.
Two senators, including the head of the intelligence committee, suggested Sunday that the previous administration broke the law by concealing a CIA counterterrorism program from Congress.
The assertion that Vice President Dick Cheney ordered the concealment came amid word that Attorney General Eric Holder is contemplating opening a criminal probe of possible CIA torture.
A move to appoint a criminal prosecutor is certain to stir partisan bickering that could prove a distraction to Obama's efforts to push ambitious health-care and energy reform.
Obama has repeatedly expressed reluctance to probing alleged Bush-era abuses. He resisted an effort by congressional Democrats to establish a ''truth commission,'' saying the nation should be ''looking forward and not backwards.''
Regarding the eight-year-old counterterrorism program, the Bush administration's failure to notify Congress ''is a big problem, because the law is very clear,'' said Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
Congress should investigate the secrecy because ''it could be illegal,'' Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said.
According to Feinstein, CIA Director Leon Panetta told Congress last month that ''he had just learned about the program, described it to us, indicated that he had canceled it and . . . did tell us that he was told that the vice president had ordered that the program not be briefed to the Congress.''
''We were kept in the dark. That's something that should never, ever happen again,'' Feinstein said.
Feinstein said she understood the need for strong countermeasures after the Sept. 11 attacks. However, ''I think you weaken your case when you go outside of the law,'' she added.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he agreed with Feinstein that the CIA should keep Congress informed. But Cornyn said the new assertion ''looks to me suspiciously like an attempt to provide political cover'' to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats. Pelosi has accused the CIA of lying to her in 2002 about its use of waterboarding, or simulated drowning.
''This continued attack on the CIA and our intelligence gathering organizations is undermining the morale and capacity of those organizations to gather intelligence,'' said Republican Judd Gregg of New Hampshire.
WASHINGTON: Six months into Barack Obama's presidency, his Democratic allies are pushing for twin investigations into Bush-era torture and anti-terrorism policies.
Get the full article here.
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