Harman Selling Out America?
By Larry Johnson on April 21, 2009 at 12:55 AM in Current Affairs
(Bumped up from Monday morning)
Jeff Stein’s story in the Congressional Quarterly is not just “happen stance” in my view. How did he learn that Jane Harmon, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, was bargaining with an Israeli spy to secure a personal advantage? That’s an interesting question. Let me suggest one possible explanation–this info was deliberately leaked to undercut supporters of Israel who are pushing for Israel to strike Iran. This also sends a clear, unmistakable signal to Israel that it’s ability to muck around in U.S. domestic politics is being challenged. Check out Pat Lang’s take on this?
Pat, as is his style, starts with the relevant quote:
“Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington.
Harman was recorded saying she would “waddle into” the AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a difference,” according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript.
In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections.” Jeff Stein
———————————————————————
Life is just not fair. Rod Blagojevich was impeached for corruption, is under massive indictment for the same and was pilloried for seeking to bargain with people (various) over President Obama’s vacated senate seat.
Jane Harman (according to CQ and Jeff Stein) bargained with a suspected foreign espionage and covert action agent (Israeli) on an open telephone line in a discussion as to whether or not she would attempt to have espionage charges reduced in the case of two men who are still awaiting trial for illegally handing over US secrets to the Israeili embassy. In return the suspected Israeli operative (not an American) offered to go to Nancy Pelosi to influence her to appoint Harmon chair of the House Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), a position in which she would have been able to do a lot for Israel (or anyone else).
Firstly, consider the fact that this spook was comfortable enough with Harmon to make her an offer like that… Harmon and her husband, Sidney, are major figures in the world of political think-tankery, charity, etc. BENS, WINEP, AIPAC, JINSA, etc. They get around. She has had to “settle” for a lesser committee chairmanship. As I said, life is not fair.
Then there is the fact that this spook said that he, a foreigner, would go to the minority leader of the House of Representatives (Pelosi) with some prospect of success to ask for Harmon to be made chairman of the HPSCI. Chutzpah indeed! There must have been a good case that he knew Pelosi well enough for Harman to think that plausible. I guess if enough people go to enough dinner parties, eventually everyone knows everyone?
Who was this person, the mysterious voice on the phone? Did he flee the country at some point? Is he now likely to visit Washington soon as a member of a new government? Will there be a dinner party? pl
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=hsnews-000003098436
PS. There is some thought that the “Israeli operative” may be a naturalized dual Israeli/American national. This is unclear, but not very important.
(Release: November 13)
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has a spatula.)
And check out these: 
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It appears ALL the Dems are willing to sell out America for political gain. 2010 will bring them down a notch or two.
omfg
wtf
arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhrrrrowllllll!
I C A N’ T R E A D A N Y M O R E O F T H I S S H I A T E O N A S T I C K - who do they THINK they’re kiddin?
democraticrooknhypocritepukes
blech (spit) God forgive me for EVER EVER DEFENDING THEM!! holy deluded was I.
Could it be that this whole far left “evil empire” is a mere house of cards that may fall at anytime with a well placed touch? If so, then fear likewise the far right evil empire. Left wingers… right wingers… we have had our fill of wings and yes, enough wings to last our lifetimes. We need a representative government of the people. Not this.
Agree! Never thought the Left and Right could be SOOOOO exactly the same. And JUST as disgusting.
I’m so OVER it!
PUMA BABY
I’d sooner vote for a Paul or Gravel
I agree, the wingers and the so easily corrupted need to be weeded out and winged into outerspace. It’s becoming increasingly clear that the only thing our representatives represent [regardless of party affiliation] is their own miserable butts and bank accounts.
They’ve sold their souls and sold us out to boot!
well you have to figure - the job of politician has to include some degree of self LOVE (as you probably have at least a hundred droids that tell you how wonderful you are daily)
so the EGO is the first to envelope them
then the perks, money, POWER (of course)
we should have a NON partisan political policing agency that does NOTHING but knock them off their high horses from time to time!
haha
Hey Dawn!
HI IMUSTPROTEST!!
Dawn, this is just as I feared. I’m never been more proud of leaving the party and becoming an independent. The new deal is the same as the old deal.
now that.s some hopey changy i can live with
What’s sad Harp is I think you’re correct, but I think it will be the Moderate Democrats that will be brought down which isn’t needed. The far left also has constituents that apparently could care less about this country, her citizens including their own children, or how far our government inserts the enema.
Well, they don’t right now. They will once it’s too late. Look at Pelosi’s district. Murtha(I have no respect for this man anymore). Kerry. Biden. They just keep putting them back in office. They’re not going to get the message until some of these people start loosing their seats, not the moderate Democrats. We need to keep them where they are. It’s the only way to get those that have infiltrated the party out.
If you are thinking Moderate Dems are innocent your naive…
Term limits baby, it’s the only thing that just might save us all.
I fear for moderate Dems as well. Extremists in both parties MUST be weeded out.
I agree, Catherine. This rot has its fingers in both parties. Not to see that now is truly naive. We need to start looking at individual players. Otherwise, we’ll only end up in the same place. Changing the party symbol doesn’t mean a thing, unless the candidates are honest brokers.
I still think there are honest brokers out there on both sides of the aisle. As voters, we need to ferret them out and vote accordingly. No more party-partial politics. That died quite some time ago while we were still asleep.
Indeed. This is no longer about party affiliation. This is about our country, which should always come first in matters of national security. Anyone associated with this mess should be investigated and, if necessary, brought up on criminal charges, irrespective of party affiliation.
The party before country mind-set has to be halted in its tracks.
This whole thing is a total non story on anything.
Justice will do what it does on the two spies they want to prosecute wether or not Jane Harman “waddles in” and begs them to go easy on the two.
The story also says ” a suspected Iraeli agent” - so in other words, those claiming Harman did something wrong, the big secret black op intel know it alls, cannot even themselves confirm she was talking to “a foreign agent” and admittedly are only guessing - somewhat suspicious.
This leaves Dear Jane in the absolute dark… about “foreign agent”.
DUH.
In reading a link, the backstory is this supposed “crime” was going to be “prosecuted” by “the Bush bots” but they needed Jane for “wire tap support” so they cut her loose… and let her fight for their wiretapping.
YEAH, SURE….
The supposed agent…
The supposed waddling
The supposed “she signed on to be let off”
The SHE CAN’T DO ANYTHING ANYWAY.
___________
Now it’s a crime to give your opinion on some stupid case after you waddle into justice doing it, if some poor sap crying for their mercy thinks “it might help”.
This sounds like an OBAMA PLOT to me, to get you people all worked up.
I agree. I too believe that there are still honorable public servants in both parties.
Americans need to learn to agree to disagree in a civil manner ….and this goes for BOTH sides.
Republicans and Democrats are NOT hockey teams where the fans can beat the sh*t out of each other. This is’nt a game!
Either we ALL win or we ALL lose. We need to start examining the individuals more closely when voting rather than just blindly vote straight party tickets because you just might not get what you thought you voted for.
If ALL Americans take this course of action and rather than allow parties, politicians and the media manipulate us than we can DEMAND and GET better government.
Some of us did try. I voted for Kerry’s democratic challenger during the primariy and then voted for his Republican opponent in the main election. Kerry ended up winning by >60%.
I plan to vote against incumbents again in 2012.
I realize these events are related to a larger problem – US Israeli Relations. But the part that bothers me as a citizen is “it is not fair.”
It is not fair to the citizens of the US. Most citizens probably hope that elected officials are not trading or selling government policy and action in return for personal gain. And most would prefer to see those who are committing such acts jailed, or at least removed from power.
I do not pity Blagojevich. I am part of the “most” and I expect, or at least Hope, that, no matter how important a person is to the success of a larger agenda, they are not given the soft-glove-slap treatment for their unethical action.
To put it simply. I want to see stripes on these people’s garments.
This seems MUCH more egregious than the allegation I continue to hear from the semi-informed that, “Al Gore gave away military secrets to Chinese monks at a fund-raiser.”
WHen you think of US electoral politics and governance, think of professional wresting.
Same game, same audience.
Professional “MUD” Wrestling, Baba? Even the WWW(?) has more dignity than Washington.
Bring back Wilbur Mills, Fanny Fox, Liz Ray and the rest of the ding-dongs of the 70’s.
I`m sure this will receive about as much attention as Charlie Rangel`s missteps.
Our entire Government needs to be removed.
I have always like Jane Harmon and was upset with what Pelosi did to her.
But this is all too typical of what goes on inside the Beltway and on both sides of the aisle. Either it’s about power or about money, but in both cases it’s about the self-interests of the elected officials.
What a mess! I’m still a democrat after all these months but I don’t know why? I do believe with Harp that 2010 will be a year of reckoning for the democrats but my question is, will we get better representation when we vote out many of the “corrupt dems”? In the meantime, I’m going to continue to read political blogs like this one so that I can become a more politically informed citizen.
We are fed up w many Republicans as well. Michael Steele says he is working on fresh, new candidates. Let’s hope so. There are some Republicans I admire such as Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Mike Pence from my state of Indiana. However, Richard Lugar who is supposedly a long time Republican from my state, has sided w Obama on crap. He needs to go.
I don’t want to get into another partisan b**tch bite session with certain people here, but WTF do we do to stop Pelosi then? And, really, these moonbats are out of control. My answer was a little balance and fiscal responsibility from SOMEWHERE. If it’s the GOP, fine. Whatever. I just hope people like Dodd, Reid, etc. can be removed from their participation in America’s destruction.
Isn’t she up for re-election in 2010? Vote her a** out you people in CA/ San Fran. She is the biggest embarrassment in Congress.
That is easier said than done. The only people who can vote on her are the people in her district — unless something has drastically changed there — she is very popular in her ritzy little area. Due to gerrymandering, it is very tough to vote any of these people out.
I was furious at my Congressman for coming out to endorse Obama in early May. Lots of Hillary supporters in my district. Didn’t matter. I called him, wrote letters — I said I would not vote for him this time out and neither would my family and neighbors — he didn’t care.
You know why?
He was running unopposed.
He’s been the Congressman for that District for 25 years.
Good luck getting rid of him.
Lobbying, complaining and DEMANDING term limits is the only way we will ever get some of the old corruption out of there.
You’re spot on.
“Voluntary” term limits didn’t work as demonstrated by the “Contract with America”, a document which wasn’t neither contract nor “with” America, as it happened.
Pelosi raises a lot of money for the Dems, but I’m sure you already know that, Ani. It’s why she’s speaker even though I think there are many Dems in the House who don’t like her. SF may re-elect her, but if the balance can be narrowed, she’ll have more difficulty getting what she wants. If we could add our support in areas where the races might be close, would that help?
I donated money to Cindy Sheehan in the hopes that she could unseat Pelosi. Didn’t happen. While there are some things I have agreed on with Pelosi, since this last election rife with corruption, I would like to see her replaced. However, I think she’s in a safe district and doubt that will happen. I had also hoped Barney Frank would have been voted out. Again, no such luck. Why is it people don’t hold their members of congress accountable. While my congressman voted against the stimulus bill, he refused to check out That One’s bonafides or eligibility or even answer my email in regards to it. So I voted against him, he still won. But I held him accountable - I wish more people would do that with their members of congress.
Maybe the country isn’t/wasn’t angry enough, Senneth. And it’s so much about money. Who has it and who doesn’t. The campaign finance reform was a joke.
The only soloution I see is to keep voting against them. Give the next one a term, then vote them out.
We aren’t being represented in any way, shape or form! All this corruption is doing is taking our rights as citizens away one by one. Represent our interests? That’s the furthest thing from a politicians mind!
I read about this morning at another site. Though I keep saying we’re beyond shock or surprise, I’m still shocked with this one. I always wondered what the dust-up between Pelosi and Harman was all about. I guess this fiasco tidbit gives us a sense of that.
It appears most politicans are willing to sell their souls for right the price or advantage. Shouldn’t be surprised, I know. But I am. Saddened too.
There are two sets of standards — one for us (the worker bees) and one for “them” the leeches.
If this conversation took place — then apparently many congress folk feel that they are above the law.
But I’m also disturbed at how closely we are all being monitored by the US government — with the aid of huge corporations. And it is an easy matter for our words to be twisted — through cleaver editing.
Anyone who voted for 0zero is a traitor — the enemy. Because they voted for a psychopath who has no moral code.
The US Constitution is being used for toilet paper in the white house — has anyone checked lately to verify that the supposed real Constitution on display is the real deal and not a cheap photocopy???
Northwest Rain…I have posted many times that I believe the original Constitution (the “flawed document”) and the Declaration of Independence (the Fraud thinks we need a “new one”) are in the Lincoln Bathroom for when the Fraud needs to blow his nose, or wipe his azz.
What a vile individual the Fraud is.
Is there some way we can take their perks away: like unbelievable pensions, healthcare ala the best, no paying into social security cause they don’t need it, travel expenses, meal money etc.? Make them the same as the rest of us who have jobs.The socialists in Congress want everyone to be equal, distribute the wealth, well let’s start with those guys. I really want term limits for the Senate and House too. How do we get them where it will hurt and make them pay attention to us who pay their salaries?
>>> then apparently many congress folk feel that they are above the law.
Oh, Honey…do ya THINK?
cripes, the TRAITORS are coming out of the woodwork…
I say 2010…Bring it!
Like someone said yesterday…
Nancy Pelosi…MINORITY LEADER.
I don’t want the Repugs back in power either. They screwed the pooch BEFORE Bambi got there.
Of course he’s doubled the disaster so far.
How about some NEW PARTY WHY CAN’T we DO THAT? ARGH! I don’t trust either. Won’t vote for either.
I don’t think either side should have 100% power, which is what got us in trouble both times. I would love to have a third party, but I don’t see that happening in time to stop the thugs and crooks in CONgress and the White House.
Pelosi and Obama are unstoppable now. Completely unstoppable. Someone has to put on the brakes. Very sad that many of the the Dems who brought the Fraud to us in the FIRST PLACE can’t see voting in some GOP reps. Oh well. Guess that means we continue on the path to hell?
“Won’t vote for either.”
Nor will I, ladydawn. Jumping from the frying pan into the fire is not a reasonable option.
I’m just curious…so everyone will stay home when it’s time to vote in their reps, just so they don’t have to vote party? Wow. We don’t really have much choice in some of these races so I guess I will go out and vote and hope for the best.
since ur NOT a woman
I can tell you as a WOMAN
I always hold out the option to change my MIND LATER
but for now
I”M STILL PIZZED, YO!
notSOladydawn…I’m a woman. Did you see my name? Paul-a Revere LOL. Not Paul. I’m pissed too, for maybe different reasons, but I’m way pissed.
Take it from me Not so whatever…
Paula is indeed a woman and a sweet woman at that.
Awwww, thanks USMoss….XOXOXO
if that is you lady Dawnelle I take back the whatever.
I know that we haven’t agreed on much in regards to foreign policy but you do have a big heart and a beautiful dog.
3rd try - would help if I put my name in
I rarely post here any more - too busy Moss
I need new glasses too Paul(a) sorry
and why don’t you understand then how woman change their mind and hold out the option always? huh? lol
ok so what EVA!
just taking a few to BOLDLY post my PiZZOFFNESS!
thank you Larry, Susan, et al.
(atreyu aka fluffy bunny thanks you)
woof
Big Messed Up Heart
this is my 4th attempt to answer this and I did such a fine job the first 3 times
well - Atreyu thanks you and you might be surprised at what all I think about foreign policy
I believe in Peace with a Mustang KICK
heavy on respect and plain spoken ENGLISH
(with all the bloody translations protocol would require)
lets see if this makes it through
oh and I need new glasses Paul(a)
I said that 3 times before too and it was eaten by the blog monster (I guess)
lol
Peggy Sue, I’m hoping some good Indie candidates show up. Not beholden to either party and answer only to the voters.
That element of the far right that would rather abandon McCain and cede to Obama knowing good and well what he would do to… that loony right… they are as complicit as the Loony left and should share in their fates. If the republicans oust that element… they aren’t much loyal to begin with… then maybe. If not… third party.
I wasn’t aware there is a third party you can vote for when voting for Congress.
I know, I still have my republican voter card and it will get no use at all until that day when the right abandons their own loony fringe. If there is a viable third party before that day comes … and if it is formed from the center… count me in.
Well, Doc, I don’t want things to stay the way they are. If no one does anything, then, what? Pelosi the Pig rapes us some more? Gotta love the thought of 8 more years of that. No way. Nuh uh. Not for me. She’s the worst of the bunch. Also, given a choice, you would leave Dodd, Frank, Reid and those morons where they are, committing more theft? It’s not to me about party, but if we leave these people where they are, then we have NO BUSINESS whining about it. We either do something, vote for country, or STFU and take it up the rear for 8 more years. WTF?
I think we deserve better than always having to decide which is the lesser of the two evils. Evil is evil. The parties represent themselves and the perpetuation of the current two party system. The rest of us be damned… we are unimportant. I am not convinced anything less than a third party can right things. I am open to the loony right getting tossed from the republican party… if so, o.k. But the loony right gave us Obama by abandoning McCain. That makes them every bit as complicit as the lony left. They knew this country would suffer… in fact they were counting on it. I will never be alright with that.
Doc…I’m going to remind you of something so that your hate of the right might get a little tempered…
Do you remember that mess of McCain suspending his campaign to go to DC to help? Do you remember EXACTLY how that went down? Well, here’s a refresher…
Early in the morning scumbag Harry Reid called McCain and said it was urgent, the sky was falling, the economy was going to tank and they wanted McCain to come help. That Obama didn’t know enough yet and they needed someone like McCain. So, taking the bait, and being naive, McCain went all out to be a hero and try to do something positive.
Later in the day, Harry Reid said that he had no idea why McCain was going to DC because they didn’t want him. Talk about a set up. You guys talk CONSTANTLY about the right and their smear tactics, when it’s the moonbats who brought us Obama. IF your party didn’t make him the nominee, he wouldn’t be here. Period.
AND, if your party hadn’t had Soros and his scumbag friends manipulate the market, to further bury McCain, we wouldn’t be here. Stop the ludicrous right hate. I’ve never seen more filth in my life than the acts of the left these past two years. And, again, he wasn’t the GOP nominee. How DARE you blame the GOP when he was your candidate? The logic behind that is way too WTF for a reasonable person.
Docelder said:
“That element of the far right that would rather abandon McCain and cede to Obama . . .”
And that’s exactly what they did–kick the can down the road but make sure someone else takes the blame. The complicity is stunning. And yes, the far right gangsters should share the fate of the far left. And if not? I’ll vote for a third party candidate [another first], whether they have a shot in hell or not. But I will not vote for this.
yeah nothing burns my bum more than my TRAITOROUS family members who voted for the Fraud. I still have a hard time speaking with my repubilican sis in law who crossed party lines for the first time to vote for that clown. I WARNED her: do your homework. Read up on the candidates.
I want so badly to ask her and my brother if they are suffering buyer’s remorse yet.
I sure wish there was this far right element you keep talking about. AS far as both our sight goes, there is no such thing in our government anywhere - with any amount of power anywhere.
The Bush machine went left, left, left, and the ONLY thing countering that is the Iraq War, which if one is honest, was supported by President Clinton and the democrats in Congress, and still is since they won’t cut off the money.
So if by right you mean the Iraq War, that includes the democrats as a whole - and their “far far left”.
These ideas about extremism to me are ridiculous - in the sense that the government has been lurching further and further left for decades, for my entire life, and now it’s on a real bender.
Would be perhaps nice, or a disaster, if “the far right elements” actually gained power, somewhere, sometime, in my lifetime, but that my friend is so far from happening it’s a ridiculous thought.
Bush and his people got hammered for increasing the new deal state of government to an enourmous degree, but now, it’s 5 or ten times worse, what is going on in that sense.
Where, my friend, is this horrific “far right powerbase” ?
It’s nowhere, not even the republicans can muster it.
This ephemeral entity supposedly abandoned republicans and gave us Obama, because they are just that bad ? LOL
That’s a pretty slick way of not blaming democrats for voting in Obama, but it is so far out of reality…
McCain was seen as way too left by the general republicans. Obama was perhaps seen as way to left by the general democrats.
Everything is LEFT.
There is no far right of any mention whatsoever.
That is what needs to be faced.
If it is, things MIGHT get back on track, but I seriously doubt people can face reality.
It’s better to have powerful imaginary boogieman, it seems.
The far right has no power now at all now. They are irrelevant, hence their decision to play it passive aggressive and give Obama to the rest of us. Just as the far left had no power for eight years. That is the point. We are on some kind of a roller coaster ride where the hills and valleys just keep getting taller and deeper and no controls are there to slow it down. The whole thing is going to crash unless sensible moderate people make it stop. Neither the far right or the far left deserve any power, as they don’t know how to graciously use it. The two “parties” are the same in that their main concern is their own perpetuation and propaganda dissemination. Middle America is without any effective representation right now… yes, we have a statutory representation… dot the i’s and cross the t’s we have representatives… but they don’t really care or represent middle America anymore. I have carried a republican card for years, mostly out of libertarian and fiscal conservative tendencies more than anything else. I have never been a hard line republican. If I had to take the far right over the far left… well I have been there and done that. Unless the republican party centers and disavows the far right, or until there is a new centrist party that emerges… I may never vote again in my life. What is the point?
i would love to see her give up her gavel..
Hey RAIN!
It’s not even a likeness
It’s all twisted up like some DALI thing! (but in a bad way) lol
I THOUGHT so!!!
Now why isn’t the press telling us about the counterfeit Constitution on display??
LMAO Rain…I think they’ve got a new printing press in the WH basement and are printing money and vital documents as we speak.
With the right Supreme Court in place the constitution won’t be worth the paper it’s written on. The more I think on this, the more I think it may all be just about money. How much could the uber-wealthy make selling our currency short? Provided of course that you know beforehand the currency will be devalued? i.e. G20, Geithner, surrender monkey, Korean missiles… etc. If one did not know better, one might think there was an intentional effort to destroy confidence in our economy and currency. All of the conspiracy theories flying around about birth certificates, religious affiliations etc… What if in the end it is all simply about money and what could be gained by shorting the U.S.?
If we’re going to pick a conspiracy theory, then I go with what I was told. The intentional collapse and dis empowerment of America and the dollar, global currency, the North American Union and the New World Order. And then I can add what I was told was that Hillary would never have gone along with this NWO crap so that’s why they got rid of her. The Fraud clearly has no conscience, hates America, and had no problem selling us out to his owners.
By all accounts then, we are at stage one of that conspiracy theory right now. Our economy and currency has been under attack since the “economic crisis” began. That “crisis” put the media focus on the economy and hung Bush II as a millstone around McCain’s neck unfairly. That crisis helped push the election from 52-48 McCain to 52-48 Obama.
Yes, Doc…and that was all manipulated by the lefties like Reid. I posted on another thread what happened that very sad day for McCain that he “suspended his campaign.” All a set up by that filth Harry Reid. But, of course it’s the right that’s to blame for everything.
No McCain made his bed when he folded and showed up for the first debate. Had he stuck to his word, the dialogue would have shifted from there not being a debate and onto the economy, which McCain would have established the high ground on. McCain blinked and lost… not even sacrificing Palin could save him in the end. Yes, I voted for McCain. Yes, the crisis was manufactured. Yes he was unfairly campaigned against as George Bush… all of that. But he lost that election on his own as well. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain… and he gained nothing from it.
Yes i believed this myself along time ago and informed the dem.party of my thoughts. I figured they would accuse me of being a conspiracy theorist ……
SO ,now what, are we doomed? I am with the Pumas and will not vote for a republican and now, after being a lifelong dem, won’t vote for one, unless its the right one. We all need to find an independent and help get them in, if it is possible. after this “election” we know that even a inexperienced chicago backed fraud can get selected by money and our powerful speaker and her gang to do their will.
I’m clearly NOT partisan as I trust NEITHER party
and I call it healthy debate
if you can’t handle it perhaps it becomes a “bitch” session?
who knows -
notSOladydawn…my comment was not directed towards you and you missed the lengthy exchange that I was referring to. Of course I can “handle” polite exchanges. But some people here have double standards as far as the left and right, which causes some heated discourse.
I know I just saw that ………. oops
my mistake
pardon - I was all fired up, ya know? heh
Harman’s quid pro quo with Alberto Gonzales is an interesting part of the story.
It’s definitely worth reading the entire story. And, yes the timing is curious, certainly Harman’s tone in the article is furious.
But I think this answers the question raised the other day regarding the “NSA wiretapping of the Congressional Representative” who is, evidently, now named.
Some Americans are more pro-Israel than they are pro-America. If this is proven to be true, Harman is a traitor and should be thrown in jail.
Agree. Frankly IMHO no one is not pro-American should be allowed in an elected office, most certainly including 0Zero!
Oh my. Rezko is secluded, singing his part in the opera. Pretty soon Blago will start singing. Now we have Harmon, bagged. The Auto Czar is in trouble. Dodd has $4K+ from CT. That House of Cards is shaking. And Oblahma is out there making cool with Chavez, Ortega, et al. What’s not to find funny?
R.O.F.L
Holy shit! I feel sick. ‘Tap them all, indict, prosecute and jail them for life. God damn this treasonous bullshit, regardless of pro-Israel, anti-Israel, pro-whomever, anti-whomever. Is the U.S.A. just a quaint idea anymore? Are we all just not “sophisticated” enough to be so corrupt? God damn this filth!
There appears to be a number of efforts which support (goad?) Israel into an attack on Iran. The efforts seem to involve setting people up such as the Jane Harman here, the Iranian journalist Saderi and grandstanding by the Iranian President at the UN.
Nobody set Harman up.
The LEGAL wiretap, approved by the FISA court under appropriate law, was for the Israeli operative (dual citizenship) with whom she was speaking.
The SURPRISE was to find Jane Harman on the other end of the phone, and that at the end of the bargaining conversation, she whispered, “This conversation never happened.”
She set herself up, by speaking same on an open line.
[...] Larry Johnson added an interesting post on Harman Selling Out America? : NO QUARTERHere’s a small excerptIn 1978 and in 1983-85 he worked in Latin America on community development projects as a community organizer. Returning to the United States in 1985 he joined the Central Intelligence Agency, thanks in part to a letter of recommendation … [...]
This is truly an example of one hand washing the other. Again I must say this is another reason why country must be placed before party. Maybe there isn’t a third party in place right now, but one had better start getting itself together or we are screwed, forever. Both sides are complicit, no one is innocent in these names, and damn them all for selling out our country and our people. There are no excuses that work, I don’t care who was spying and what they were spying for, treason, is treason. I not in the mood to play hypocrite or to play who is more to blame.
Larry, thank you for being there. I feel that you should know Jerry from Calbuzz. He’s fab. This whole thing is very frightening to me — and I feel the corruption runs deep. Deep. Jer was editor of the SFChronicle. He will know backstory.
hugs to you & Susan and the gang…
also I’m following morrissey at hotair of late — real journos…
This is all so sad. When are Americans going to spend a little less time concerned about what Brangelina are up to or whatever celebrity they like and a little more time studying up on current events and researching our elected officials AND those who would seek to become elected ….by hook or by crook?
There is no such thing as a leak in the Obama Administration. So why was this story ‘leaked’? AIPAC’s upcoming meeting will end with a rebuke of the president’s new Middle East policy, and it won’t be pretty. On the other hand J Street, the new liberal pro-Palestinian lobby, would do anything to destroy the viability of AIPAC and its supporters, like Jane Harman.
Halli Casser-Jayne
author, A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows
Well, if Harman is bargaining for a committee chairmanship by SUPPORTING the Bush wiretapping program publicly, and influencing papers NOT to report on that wiretapping until after the 2004 election in order to gain that chairmanship….
Then she DESERVES to be destroyed.
Did she think she wouldn’t get caught?
Major Scandal Erupts involving Rep. Jane Harman, Alberto Gonzales and AIPAC
By Glenn Greenwald
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22456.htm
The bigger question should be :was our government spying on members of Congress and how did this info get leaked and why. Does this benefit the agenda of the Obama administration and send the signal to Israel that they have no clout with him?
Yes, our government de facto spys on American citizens who are in contact with agents of foreign intelligence services. This is because we are spying on the agent of the foreign intelligence service, and when a Member of Congress calls them up, they come up on the surveillance screen.
Of course, we could pass a new law, I suggest calling it the “Harmon Law.” Under the provisions of the proposed Harmon Law, if a Member of Congress receives a phone call from an agent of a foreign intelligence service and proceeds to use the resources of that service against the United States government, then the NSA should immediately (a) hang up, (b) advise the foreign intelligence service of the names of all of their agents that we are spying on, (c) publically apologize to the Member of Congress for listening in on their attempt to use a foreign intelligence agent to thwart the Constitution, and (d) publically apologize to the foreign intelligence service for listening in on their attempt to subvert the U.S. government, and perhaps offer them a special appropriation of taxpayers’ dollars by way of making amends. How;s that?
It appears that is pretty much going on already. I’m sure the apology has issued, the outrage has been passed around pressuring the “illegal tappers”, the letters of repimand sent, the schmoozing to smooth it over given to Harmon, and obviously the foreign intel service is intimately aware of what is going on.
I’m sure Harmon said she was just standing up for the rights of the accused. Not sure there is any real law or any real enforcement of any law that could possibly happen. So some Israeli agent and Harmon jabber and she says ok, if you want me to put in two cents I’ll try. You know, not like the democrats as a whole aren’t doing more for the incarcerated at Gitmo - not exactly agents of a friendly government, so that appears to me to be much, much worse.
This is candy corn and peanuts compared to the Gitmo support that is 100% open front and center.
I do believe we’re looking at business as usual. Democrats are known to go against law enforcement powers to keep them in check since the civil rights revolution of the 60’s, and so now it’s their duty, ya know.
Republicans are more the pro police law and order raging cop lovers.
The information gained from the wiretap was used to “gain” her vote on the FISA bill. While I agree that intercept of telephone calls with foreign nationals is important to our national security, when the information gained is used to coerce votes from members of Congress, something is seriously wrong and it borders on illegal….
Is how Bush got so many democrats to vote along with so many of his crazy policies….did he have dirt on all of them.
What Blago did was childs play compared to this. Harmon should be censured and removed from office.
That is exactly the problem with warrantless wiretaps pcmoore. There is no oversight and the possibility of extortion and blackmail is always there. We are supposed to have three branches of government, but the judicial branch is being bypassed and ignored by Bush first and now by Obama. Laws have been broken and no one is held accountable. Will Harman have to answer for what amounts to treason? Probably not.
she is no better then he is…
Good questions, this from Sat., 18th:
LONDON (AFP) Israel’s military is preparing so it could launch major aerial attacks on Iranian nuclear sites if ordered to by the new government, a British newspaper said on Saturday, quoting Israeli defence and intelligence sources.
“Israel wants to know that if its forces were given the green light, they could strike at Iran in a matter of days, even hours,” an unnamed senior defence official told The Times.
“They are making preparations on every level for this eventuality. The message to Iran is that the threat is not just words.”
Yes, rw. That is what has been reported in several reports. It’s not a good situation anyway you look at it. Ahmedemijad went on a rant at the Conference on Race, forty reps walked out on him so he probably knows it’s coming too. If that happens, there will be a Resolution in the UN condemning Israel which will put Obama between a rock and a hard place. If the US votes for the Resolution, it will be the first time we have ever condemned Israel and Iran will have won a victory. If the US votes against the Resolution, Obama can forget building bridges to the Muslim world. Lose/lose.
” reported in several places”. Sorry for the clumsy wording.
This looks like they’re either telegraphing the punch, or they’re cobbling up a huge BOOGA-BOOGA for regional and domestic consumption.
Or, even more likely, trying to stampede US, UK and/or France into turning up the pressure on the Iranians.
If you plan to kick someone’s ass, you don’t threaten, you just do it.
Larry I want to make two points about this story. First, Harmon’s actions look terrible because we now know(?) that she was dealing with a foreign agent, this makes her look unfairly disloyal. But we have the gift of being able to see the full picture(like watching poker on TV, once you know everyone’s hole cards it easier to fault them for stupid mistakes).We must assume she had no idea with whom she was dealing with and thus her actions/statement’s are less sinister and more of the kind of horse-trading that takes place in DC, as distasteful as it appears.
The second point is this, I think we are missing the more important matter, and please, there is no effort on my part to steer the focus away from any AIPAC/Israel calumny if true, let’s follow two tracks of investigation: How is it that a secret transcript of an NSA wiretap has been disclosed? Who ordered them disclosed and who disclosed them? This is on par with Libby/Plame don’t you think? If this disclosure is accurate wouldn’t it compromise any investigation and the eventual prosecution? Why weren’t these transcripts handed over to a grand jury? Was the disclosure an attempt to short-circuit possible prosecution? Where is the MSM? (ok that was the easy part).
cali, if I am not mistaken, this investigation into the Israeli spy has been going on for a while. NSA has probably had a tap on his calls for two years or more so Harman wasn’t the target. And what do you think the chances are she didn’t know who she was talking to? She’s been on the Intelligence Committee for a long time. People in the NSA are career employees, not all with the same loyalties. In addition, there are some honest whistle blowers in government who are interested in informing Americans about the double dealing in Washington. Plame was a covert agent, outed to discredit her husband. There is no covert agent here and no one’s life was endangered with the release of this info. I guess I shouldn’t answer for LJ and this is just IMO. Larry correct me if I’m wrong.
You’re not wrong.
The wiretap was approved by the FISA court, under pre-Bush law, to tap the Israeli agent for AIPAC (dual citizenship) in peddling influence in our government.
No one expected Jane Harman to be on the phone line.
But SHE wasn’t being tapped. The dual citizenship Israeli was being tapped, and completely legally.
That’s fine wanting justice concerning the probable illegal disclosure - but the other part of what you said really burns me.
Why is it we are constantly told we can’t know anything, since there is an ongoing investigation - as if what they tell us will change the facts, or alert the criminals ? Aren’t the criminals already alerted by the ongoing investigation ?
Then we have this repeated a trillion times “exposed evidence cannot be used” . Then, after the leaked evidence supposedly shuts down any legal prosecution, if there ever is a legal prosecution we can’t be told anything about that, either.
In the end we get about zero - a few tidbits if one of the jury members wants to carefully parse a few words for the camera.
So, all the crimes are hidden information, all the investigations are hidden information, anything we know can jeapordize the prosecution, we can’t know the details once it’s in court, the jury is sanctioned from knowing most of the facts as the arguments and stops ofr admissibility are endless…
What we wind up getting is most people who commit ccrimes off the hook entirely, and the few that are - have been railroaded with emotional injustice, as Ally McBeal taught us so well.
I am so sick of it - so, so sick of it.
“PS. There is some thought that the “Israeli operative” may be a naturalized dual Israeli/American national. This is unclear, but not very important”
Could this be Rahm?????
Doesn’t he also have a brother?
I don’t know but your post reminded me of something I came across yesterday. Its an article about Rahm receiving a letter last week from an Israeli.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1239710730438
It’s not Rahm.
It’s a huge California fundraiser with dual citizenship (US, Israel) who offered the deal to Harman that if she helped slow down the investigation of the 2 AIPAC employees accused of spying, he would “influence” Pelosi’s chairmanship appointment by withholding fund-raising efforts for Pelosi’s re-election if she didn’t pick Harman.
THAT is what Harman agreed to; it makes her no different than Blago. In fact, it makes her WORSE.
NYTimes article has his name—-I just can’t remember it.
Now it appears that Feinstein is involved in a conflict of interest signing off on legislation ultimately benefiting her husband Richard Blum. Gee, what else is new? They have gotten richer and richer since she’s been in D.C. Still the timing is interesting. I don’t support the Dims anymore but support pro-Palestinians even less.
I don’t know but your post reminded me of something I came across yesterday. Its an article about Rahm receiving a letter last week from an Israeli.
So what if Rahm gets a letter from an Israeli. It probably isn’t the first. What the govt. spooks must do is protect aganst spys and covert agents of influence, not overt ones which are just part and parcel of internatonal relations and generic lobbying.
Since Israel sees Iran as an existential threat and states so repeatedly, one would certainly expect a full court press to get the US to deal with Iran on terms favorable to Israel. There is considerable, but not complete overlap between Israeli and American interests. The US just needs to be sure we have a foreign policy based on our overall interests. No doubt Iran would love to drive a wedge between the US and Israel and with potentially much greater harm to American interests so counterintel ops are even more critical there.
Thanks for the clarification that the wiretap was aimed at the spy, not Harman, however it doesn’t really change the dynamic - Harman may have know who she was speaking with, but did she know this person was a spy? And, who released the transcripts, will the release jeopardize any investigation/indictments? Did the “releaser” interfere with this investigation? These questions are still pertinent.
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I think that all on here who are dis-satisfied with govt. should all declare themselves in a new party called the “AMERICAN PARTY” not even independents, but the AMERICAN PARTY”>
We all are more than aware that our Govt. is full of paid crooks.
In 2010 Harry Reid of Nevada is said to be in a bad spot….suppose all of our “AMERICAN Party” buddies vote against him, and get just two friends or relatives in Nevada to do the same…..thats one down, and many more to go….
especially here in Wash.State….All of our Senators are corrupt, and so are our House of Representatives.
We have got to take all of them down for the AMERICAN PARTY”S sake, whiich is our goal.
It would be so refreshing to start with an entirely new congress, one who just might know we are their bosses, and any corruption,greed or bribery, will cost them their seat instantly………