Creepy GOP congressman wants records of everyone's FOIA requests

NYT:

Representative Darrell Issa calls it a way to promote transparency: a request for the names of hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens, business executives, journalists and others who have requested copies of federal government documents in recent years.

Mr. Issa, a California Republican and the new chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, says he wants to make sure agencies respond in a timely fashion to Freedom of Information Act requests and do not delay them out of political considerations.

But his extraordinary request worries some civil libertarians. It “just seems sort of creepy that one person in the government could track who is looking into what and what kinds of questions they are asking,” said David Cuillier, a University of Arizona journalism professor and chairman of the Freedom of Information Committee at the Society of Professional Journalists. “It is an easy way to target people who he might think are up to no good.”

He's a GOP congressman and a known conservative creep, there is no way he's not on a fishing expedition to use this records request as a backdoor method of spying on American citizens he doesn't like. Read the rest of this post...

Frank Rich: The Tea Party wags the dog

Frank Rich has an interesting column on Obama's State of the Union address and its two Republican aftermaths. It's a tale worth telling.

After a workman-like opening that details Obama's hoped-for comparison with Reagan — "Obama’s rhetorical Morning in America is exquisitely timed to coincide with the Gipper’s centennial—and, of course, the unacknowledged start of his own 2012 re-election campaign" — Rich moves to the meat of his article, the Republican Tea Party:

[O]nce Obama segued into a rambling laundry list and the “prom night” bipartisan photo ops lost their comic novelty, the night’s storyline inevitably shifted to the reliable diva antics of Michele Bachmann, the founder of the House’s Tea Party Caucus. For all the Republican male establishment’s harrumphing, it couldn’t derail her plan to hijack the party’s designated State of the Union response with one of her own. More Katherine Harris than Sarah Palin, Bachmann is far more riveting television bait than Paul Ryan, the bland congressman officially assigned the Bobby Jindal memorial slot after the New Jersey governor Chris Christie was savvy enough to take a pass.

"More Katherine Harris than Sarah Palin" — a fair assessment of la Bachmann.

Rich has interesting information about the wrangling for TV coverage (our comments on CNN's coverage are here):

The G.O.P. grandees’ consternation was palpable. Earlier in the day Bachmann had dispatched an e-mail announcing that her speech would be carried live by Fox News. But when the time came, Fox relegated the live feed to its Web site, forcing viewers to scurry to CNN, of all places, and delaying its own television recap until after prime time in the East. Rupert Murdoch’s other major organ, The Wall Street Journal, toed the same line, burying Bachmann’s speech in a half-sentence in its print edition the next morning. By then, John Boehner, seconding the disdain of Eric Cantor, was telling reporters that he hadn’t watched Bachmann because of “other obligations.”

That consternation is poll-based (pdf), as Rich correctly shows.

So what's going on? According to Rich, the Republican professionals are aware that they have an unpopular position the minute their proposed budget cuts get specific, and the Tea Party, the group that's "driving sales" (my phrase) in the GOP, is pulling no punches in getting very specific indeed. This is good for the teabags, but bad for the party as a whole, which has no choice but to hold on for the ride.

Rich concludes:

It tells you all you need to know about Ryan’s tilt to the right that, for all his professed disapproval of increasing the debt limit during an Obama administration, he voted to do so twice himself during the gushing deficits of the Bush years. Funny he didn’t mention that Tuesday night. It tells you all you need to know about the G.O.P.’s overall tilt to the right that not just the Tea Party is making barely veiled threats to play dangerous political games with the debt limit. Mitch McConnell and Cantor did so last weekend, as have a plethora of potential 2012 presidential candidates, from Tim Pawlenty to Gingrich. The Bachmann-Beck-Palin tail is now firmly wagging the Republican dog.

Nice set of links, by the way, for those who want to go exploring. And a good article in his walk from start to end.

This should be interesting. It seems the Republicans are caught on the horns of their base, so to speak. That base, bless its heart, isn't a bunch of showmen and hired and salaried retainers, but true and eager believers. Who vote Republican. In large number.

Bad news for Boehner, good news for Obama, according to Rich. But I'm not sure if it's bad news for us or not; in some ways, I wish we had that problem on our side.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Why Egypt's revolution is not Islamic

Haroon Moghul, Executive Director of The Maydan Institute, on HuffPost:

Commentators are having a difficult time understanding the dynamics of the Arab world and especially the role of religion in this latest apparent revolution. Many wonder why this isn't an Islamic Revolution, and are audibly breathing a sigh of relief that it isn't -- assuming that somehow Egypt would follow Iran's rather unique trajectory in 1979 and thereafter. So why isn't Egypt's revolution an Islamic one? And what sets Tunisia and Egypt apart from Iran? […]

While many Iranians before the revolution were religious in a non-political way, the country's elite tended to see Islam and Persianness as mutually incompatible. On the other hand, Egypt is a proudly Arab society (hint: the Arab Republic of Egypt) which has never seen Islam as incompatible with their specific ethnic and national project. […]

In fact, the non-political Egyptian Islam of the last few decades has succeeded in deeply Islamizing Egyptian culture, making Muslim piety interwoven with the everyday rhythms of Egyptian life. We saw this in the protests after the Friday prayers today, in the spontaneous congregational prayers that took place in the heat of demonstrations--and we can see it in the number of Egyptian women who veil (though many don't and still strongly identify with Islam, whether culturally or religiously, personally or publicly).

Egypt's society is a deeply Muslim one, and the very success of this non-political religious project has negated the need for a confrontational Islam. Egyptians know their religious identity is not under threat. ElBaradei, for example, joined in Friday prayers today before going out into the streets. Whether Egyptians identify with political Islam or secular democracy, their Arabness and Islam tend to be mutually supportive, and certainly not incompatible.

Where there is a danger is that if the United States does not come out explicitly in favor of the people, subsequent events will become more confrontational, and may even see the introduction of a more cultural and civilizational rhetoric. The Shah monopolized power and sought to erase a culture. Mubarak, for all his brutality, has had no such grandiose presumption.

Read the rest of this post...

Moving video of Egyptian protester in London

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Al-Jazeera live blog of Egyptian protests

Al-Jazeera excerpts ElBaradei's speech:

You have taken back your rights and what we have begun cannot go back...We have one main demand -- the end of the regime and the beginning of a new stage, a new Egypt...I bow to the people of Egypt in respect. I ask of you patience, change is coming in the next few days...

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Protests continue in Egypt as officials close Al-Jazeera bureau in Cairo

The uprising continues in Egypt today. Al Jazeera is reporting "breaking news" that "Jet fighters and military helicopters fly low over Cairo as more army trucks appear in central Tahrir square." And, a recent report:

Thousands of anti-government protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square are standing their ground, despite troops firing into the air in a bid to disperse them.

The show of defiance came as Egypt entered another turbulent day following a night of deadly unrest, when looters roamed the streets in the absence of police.

There were also reports of several prisons across the country being attacked and of fresh protests being staged in cities like Alexandria and Suez.

And, Egyptian officals have shut down the internet, cell phones...now, they're going after Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera has been providing excellent coverage of the uprising in Egypt. Apparently, for Egyptian officials, it was too much. Earlier today, Egyptian officials closed the network's Cairo bureau.

From the live blog of events in Egypt:

11:40 am: Al Jazeera issues a statement denouncing the closure of its bureau in Cairo.

"The Al Jazeera Network strongly denounces and condemns the closure of its bureau in Cairo by the Egyptian government. The Network received notification from the Egyptian authorities this morning.

Al Jazeera has received widespread global acclaim for their coverage on the ground across the length and breadth of Egypt.

An Al Jazeera spokesman said that they would continue their strong coverage regardless:

"Al Jazeera sees this as an act designed to stifle and repress the freedom of reporting by the network and its journalists. In this time of deep turmoil and unrest in Egyptian society it is imperative that voices from all sides be heard; the closing of our bureau by the Egyptian government is aimed at censoring and silencing the voices of the Egyptian people.

"Al Jazeera assures its audiences in Egypt and across the world that it will continue its in-depth and comprehensive reporting on the events unfolding in Egypt. Al Jazeera journalists have brought unparalleled reporting from the ground from across Egypt in the face of great danger and extraordinary circumstances. Al Jazeera Network is appalled at this latest attack by the Egyptian regime to strike at its freedom to report independently on the unprecedented events in Egypt."

I've been checking Al Jazeera English online and CNN Internation on TV. Both have provided really good coverage. But, regular CNN still sucks. The difference between reporting from CNN International and its US-based programming is stark. The international reporters are solid and provide helpful information. Then, CNN will switch back to something lie Wolf Blitzer interviewing Ed Henry and the pathetic state of our news becomes so clear. Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

The big issue today is Egypt. And, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is appearing on all five of the major shows today. Yep, all five: CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and even FOX.

Of course, it wouldn't be Sunday if there wasn't an appearance by John McCain. He's on CNN. Mitch McConnell is on NBC. John Boehner is on FOX. And, the new White House Chief of Staff, Bill Daley, is on CBS.

We'll hear a lot of chatter about what the U.S. wants to happen in Egypt. But, it's not up to any of the guests on the Sunday shows. It's up to those people protesting on the streets of Egypt.

The full lineup is here. Read the rest of this post...