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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Eric who wrote (11159)	7/11/2009 5:13:57 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 86355

Looks like Pelosi lies again, that can't be good for her...oh wait she's a dem the are allowed to lie. AP Interview: Hayden says Congress was informed Jul 11 04:08 PM US/Eastern By PAMELA HESS WASHINGTON (AP) - Former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden angrily struck back Saturday at assertions the Bush administration's post-9/11 surveillance program was more far-reaching than imagined and was largely concealed from congressional overseers. In an interview with The Associated Press, Hayden maintained that top members of Congress were kept well-informed all along the way, notwithstanding protests from some that they were kept in the dark. "One of the points I had in every one of the briefings was to make sure they understood the scope of our activity 'They've got to know this is bigger than a bread box,' I said," said Hayden, who also previously headed the National Security Agency. "At the political level this had support," said the one-time CIA chief, jumping foursquare into an escalating controversy that has caused deep political divisions and lingering debate on the counterterrorism policies of an administration now out of power. Hayden was reacting to a report issued Friday by a team of U.S. inspectors general which called the surveillance program in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks "unprecedented." The report also questioned the program's legal rationale and the excessive secrecy that enshrouded it. Hayden, who in 2001 designed and carried out the secret program, told The AP he is distressed by suggestions that Congress was not fully informed. He said that he personally briefed top lawmakers on the entire surveillance operation and said he felt that they supported it. The details of the wider surveillance program described by the federal investigative report remain classified. The program included the wiretapping of American phone and computer lines and was intended to detect communications from the al-Qaida terrorist network. That was revealed by the New York Times in 2005 and later confirmed by then-President George W. Bush. Several Democratic members of the House and Senate expressed surprise and concern Friday about the still-secret surveillance program. Hayden asserted that just weeks after Bush approved the activity, senior Republicans and Democrats on the intelligence committees in the House and Senate started getting briefed regularly on its details. He said these sessions happened about four times a year. Hayden also said the number of lawmakers informed was intentionally kept small because the program was highly classified. On occasion, he said, the briefing audience was expanded to include top members of the House and Senate leadership as well. Hayden also said that the members of Congress who were briefed were told the average daily level of surveillance activity and the cumulative activity since the program started. And he said the meetings nearly always occurred at the White House, with Vice President Dick Cheney in attendance. The Bush surveillance program has been contentious since it was first revealed, raising concerns about the extent of secret activities undertaken since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington and the potential violation of civil liberties. Indeed, the report released Friday said that most of the information gathered under the wider program ultimately did not have any connection to terrorism. It was so secret that few members of Bush's inner circle were "read in" on program. Even John Ashcroft, who was attorney general at the time, got an accurate description of one surveillance activity only two years after he first certified it as legal. And his initial request to brief his chief of staff and deputy on the program were refused by the White House. Just what those activities involved remains classified, but the report released Friday pointedly said that any continued use of the information gathered in the secret programs must be "carefully monitored." Bush authorized the warrantless wiretapping program under the authority of a secret court in 2006, and Congress approved most of the intercepts in a 2008 electronic surveillance law. The fate of the remaining and still-classified aspects of the wider surveillance program is not clear from the report. In the interview Saturday, Hayden called the program extremely valuable and said that it served as an early warning system to help prevent further al-Qaida attacks. Some members of Congress are calling for a full independent inquiry and others are urging further congressional investigations. Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., told The AP Friday that she was shocked by the report. She said she asked former White House counsel Alberto Gonzales—after the wiretapping was revealed in 2005—whether the government was conducting any other undisclosed intelligence activities. She said he told her there were no additional operations. Robert Bork Jr., Gonzales' spokesman, said Friday: "It has clearly been determined that he did not intend to mislead anyone." In a separate but related move, House Democrats are pressing for legislation that would expand congressional access to secret intelligence briefings. The Obama administration has threatened to veto it over concerns about protecting secrecy.

To: Eric who wrote (11159)	7/11/2009 6:00:33 PM
From: longnshort	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86355

Montana gov blasts GM mine contract cancellation Jul 10 04:10 PM US/Eastern By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press Writer BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - Gov. Brian Schweitzer is calling on the Obama administration to force General Motors to honor its contract with a Montana mining company instead of going overseas to buy the precious metals used to control vehicle pollution. By failing to shield Stillwater Mining Co.'s platinum and palladium mines, Schweitzer said Friday that the administration had shown a bias against his state at a time when other U.S. jobs were protected with a "buy American" clause in the $787 billion stimulus act. Details of the case paint a more complex picture: GM was effectively subsidizing production at the Montana mines, often paying above market prices for the metals. And since 2003, the mines have been majority-owned by a Russian company, Norilsk Nickel. GM, which emerged from bankruptcy protection Friday, canceled its contract with Stillwater as part of a reorganization that will infuse the automaker with $50 billion in government loans. The loans are separate from the stimulus bill. Stillwater executives said the decision means GM will have to import its supply of precious metals. "When it comes to protecting the industries of the Midwest it's buy American first," Schweitzer said. "When it comes to Montana, they say buy anywhere but Montana. What are we going to do if we have a mine strike in South Africa? Shut down the car industry?" Platinum, palladium and a third metal produced by Stillwater, rhodium, are used to make catalytic converters that control pollution in car emissions. The Columbus company employs more than 1,300 people and runs the only mines in the United States producing the metals. Its mines are about 90 miles southwest of Billings. The company is heavily dependent on sales to GM and Ford Motor Co., although company representatives have declined to offer specifics. With platinum and palladium mined in just two other countries, Russia and South Africa, Schweitzer said GM's cancellation would put the United States at a strategic risk and hurt the mining industry. A White House spokesman declined immediate comment. GM defended its decision to cancel the Stillwater contract, saying the deal had been "uncompetitive" and could have hobbled its efforts to repay the government loan. "We will continue to make difficult decisions that best position the new GM for long-term viability," said GM spokesman Dan Flores. "There is an obligation to the taxpayers to provide a return on their investment to our company." The contract set a floor price requiring GM at times to buy metals at prices above those on the open market. It also set production volumes, meaning GM had to keep buying a set amount from Stillwater even as its vehicle production fell from 9.2 million cars in 2006 to 8.4 million last year. The Ford contract has similar terms. At recent palladium market prices, the contracts had been shielding Stillwater from the equivalent of $57 million in lost annual sales, according to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All the palladium produced by Stillwater's mines currently goes toward filling its automaker contracts. The company employs 1,322 people at its two mines near Nye and a smelter and refinery in Columbus. Majority shareholder Norilsk Nickel controls 53 percent of Stillwater's stock. Stillwater had been drafting a challenge to GM's contract cancellation in federal bankruptcy court. But with GM emerging from bankruptcy, it was unclear if that legal avenue remained open, said Stillwater spokesman John Beaudry. "Our legal people are actively involved in our objection to the (GM) petition to void our contract," Beaudry said. "Stillwater Mining Co. very much appreciates the governor's support on this issue." If the Obama administration does not intervene and Stillwater cannot pursue a restoration of its contract through GM's bankruptcy case, the company likely will have to file a claim for its losses and line up alongside the automaker's many other creditors. It's not uncommon in such cases for creditors to walk away with pennies on every dollar owed. Beyond its GM contract woes, Stillwater Mining has been hit by falling commodity prices that last year led it to shed 16 percent of its work force. The company in May reported a first-quarter loss of $11.6 million, on revenue of $85.8 million. That's down from a 2008 first-quarter profit of $2.8 million, on revenue of $186.4 million.

To: Eric who wrote (11159)	7/11/2009 8:16:38 PM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86355

Politics of energy connection? ----------------------------------------------------- A secret counter-terror program since 2001? Gee whillikers, who woulda thought. Congress is likely mad cause the CIA did something that didn't get leaked. Unlike the terror finance tracking program, the secret prisons, etc. Or maybe they didn't do much of anything after all: this program never went fully operational If something "never went fully operational" what is it you're keeping secret?