Energy: Independence From Fossilized Ideas

ETHICS — CREW CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO BOEHNER’S ALLEGED LEAK OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION: Yesterday, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) “filed a complaint with the Department of Justice” asking that it “initiate an investigation into whether House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) violated the law by leaking classified information.” Last week, during an interview with Fox News, Boehner revealed the existence of a secret FISA court ruling that declared “a key element of the Bush administration’s wiretapping efforts illegal.” “There’s been a ruling, over the last four or five months, that prohibits the ability of our intelligence services and our counterintelligence people,” Boehner told Fox’s Neil Cavuto. Boehner’s office claimed that his comments were based on a public letter from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and thus not a leak of classified information, but, as the Washington Post points out, “the letter referred only to ‘approval’ of a government surveillance request and did not refer, as Boehner did, to the court’s rejection of surveillance of specific foreign communications routed through the United States.” According to CREW, Boehner appears to have violated 18 U.S.C. § 793(d), which “provides that anyone with lawful possession of information relating to the national defense, which could be used to the injury of the United States, who willfully communicates that information to any person not entitled to receive it, is subject to up to ten years imprisonment.”

POLITICS — CONSERVATIVE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES WARM UP TO YOUTUBE DEBATE: In the first CNN/YouTube presidential debate, voters could upload a 30-second video to YouTube and “directly question a presidential candidate during the debate.” Steve Grove, YouTube’s news and politics editor, called this new debate format “more democratic than ever.” Some conservatives openly mocked the debate, such as former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R-MA), who stated, “I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman,” referring to a citizen dressed as a snowman who submitted a question about global warming. Just two weeks ago, CNN was forced to postpone the debate due to the conservative opposition, but the Washington Times reports that today under public pressure, candidates are changing their minds. “Multiple sources close to the discussions say it was pressure from conservative bloggers, not scheduling conflicts, that made the reluctant Republican candidates reconsider.” “There was a tremendous outpouring of support from the coveted 18-to-35-year-old voters,” said Robert Bluey of the Heritage Foundation, who helped initiate an online petition. “It would be such a shame if Republicans missed this opportunity.” Initially, only two of the ten candidates agreed to participate: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX). Now, four are on board, including former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who privately questioned the debate format. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney still “appears less convinced.”

IRAQ — O’HANLON AND POLLACK CALL FOR ANOTHER SIX MONTHS IN IRAQ: This Sunday, Brookings Institution analysts Michael O’Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack, authors of the now infamous New York Times op-ed which cited military progress in Iraq, asked Congress to give the surge “six months or so, maybe nine more months” to stabilize Iraq. But Americans have repeatedly been told at different points that “the next few months” will be the “critical period” in Iraq. The media watchdogs at FAIR noted in 2006 that New York Times columnist Tom Friedman had been repeatedly claiming the “decisive” six months in Iraq were right around the corner. Many in the blogosphere warned that O’Hanlon and Pollack were engaging in the same tactic. As Atrios has frequently noted, many proponents of the war have offered “Friedman Units (F.U.)” — i.e. a continual “six-month period that would be required in order to determine the outcome of the Iraq War” — as a way to seek public acquiescence for the occupation. In fact, this is not the first time O’Hanlon and Pollack have called for six months to bring stability to Iraq. In March 2007, O’Hanlon penned an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal arguing for “another six to nine months before concluding that the current strategy should be discarded and a much different one.” One year earlier, in March of 2006, Pollack told students at Georgetown that there was “a critical six month window of opportunity to bring some form of stability to Iraq.”

“Britain called Tuesday for the Bush administration to release five British residents held at Guantanamo Bay — a policy reversal that suggests new Prime Minister Gordon Brown is pursuing a tougher line with the U.S. than his predecessor.” During his time as Prime Minister, Tony Blair rarely intervened in Guantanamo cases.

26: Number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq in the last week, beginning a “wave” of violence after a “relatively low death toll in July.”

The new law expanding the Bush administration’s spying powers “gives Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales responsibility for creating the broad procedures determining whose telephone calls and e-mails are collected. It also gives McConnell and Gonzales the role of assessing compliance with those procedures.”

“Iraq’s political crisis worsened Monday as five more ministers announced a boycott of Cabinet meetings leaving the embattled prime minister’s unity government with no members affiliated with Sunni political factions.”

Today in Singapore, Al Gore lambasted the misinformation campaign led by the world’s leading carbon polluters. “There has been an organized campaign, financed to the tune of about $10 million a year from some of the largest carbon polluters, to create the impression that there is disagreement in the scientific community,” said Gore. “In actuality, there is very little disagreement.”

And finally: “Imminent rail strikes may be threatening to bring Germany to a standstill,” but “one German train made an unscheduled halt for an entirely different reason — to replace a broken beer keg tap.” A special train ferrying soccer fans to Hamburg faced the “alarming prospect of a beer-less journey” and stopped a Wuppertal station. A “taxi rushed to fetch a replacement for the crucial instrument. Twenty-five minutes later, the new tap had arrived and the train could continue on its way.”