Scott Hodes: Proposed Senate FOIA Fix Won't Work

On LLRX, attorney Scott Hodes says proposed Senate legislation to fix FOIA won't do the job (ht FOIABlog):

Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT.) and John Cornyn (R-TX) have introduced a bill establishing a committee of citizens to make recommendations on improving FOIA performance. A similar version of this bill was introduced in 2005 and went nowhere fast.

I think the bill is nonsense. While getting recommendations on how to improve the Freedom of Information Act is a worthy goal, it can be done without legislation, without going through any bureaucratic red-tape that will ensue in establishing the proposed committee, and even better, it can be done now.

Many, in fact too many to mention here, have offered suggestions to improve FOIA operations. I've offered a number of suggestions (which have gone nowhere), such as the direct funding of FOIA operations by Congress and time limiting the use of certain exemptions (such as deliberative process privileged material). Further, if the Senate is interested in passing improvements in the FOIA, they could hold actual hearings asking participants for their views. The Senate staff could then follow up and research these issues. Then Senators Leahy and Cornyn could take these suggestions and the work of their staffs, and craft them into a bill--and better yet, this bill improving FOIA operations could be done this legislative session!

I really can only think of one advantage that the proposed bill has over the option I have presented. A legislatively mandated committee would likely have an easier time getting access to agency FOIA professionals. However, these agency FOIA professionals are subject to Congressional hearing subpoenas so I'm not convinced that this access really makes the proposed committee necessary.

The tools for improving FOIA performance are already here. I suggest that Senators Leahy, Cornyn and any others interested in the issue use them now.

On the other hand, Senators Leahy and Coryn, I'm willing to serve on the committee...

Health Care Reform Passes...

Without a single Republican vote. If people like it, it could actually mean gains for Democrats in 2010 Congressional elections. If they don't...

Happy Navruz!

Persians call it Norooz, but since I experienced the Persian New Year festival for the first time while living in Uzbekistan, it's still Navruz to me...Here's a link to Radio Javan's Norooz streaming web broadcast and link to local celebrations.

John Bolton: Obama Administration Abandons Israel

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton says that President Obama would defend Iran against an Israeli attack on nuclear sites, as unbelievable as that may sound:

Mr. Netanyahu's mistake has been to assume that Mr. Obama basically agrees that we must prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. But the White House likely believes that a nuclear Iran, though undesirable, can be contained and will therefore not support using military force to thwart Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

What's more, Mr. Obama is also unwilling to let anyone else, namely Israel, act instead. That means that if Israel bombs Iranian nuclear facilities, the president will likely withhold critical replenishments of destroyed Israeli aircraft and other weapons systems.

We are moving inexorably toward, and perhaps have now reached, an Israeli crisis with Mr. Obama. Americans must realize that allowing Iran to obtain nuclear weapons is empowering an existential threat to the Israeli state, to Arab governments in the region that are friendly to the U.S., and to long-term global peace and security.

Mr. Netanyahu must realize he has not been banking good behavior credits with Mr. Obama but simply postponing an inevitable confrontation. The prime minister should recalibrate his approach, and soon. Israel's deference on Palestinian issues will not help it with Mr. Obama after a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear program. It would be a mistake to think that further delays in such a strike will materially change the toxic political response Israel can expect from the White House. Israel's support will come from Congress and the American people, as opinion polls show, not from the president.

Mr. Obama is not merely heedless of America's predominant global position. He is also embarrassed enough by it not to regret diminishing it. In fact, we have achieved pre-eminence not simply to preen our American ego, but to defend our interests and those of like-minded allies. Ceding America's role in world affairs is not an act of becoming modesty but a dangerous signal of weakness to friends and adversaries alike. Israel may be the first ally to feel the pain.

Debka.com: US Now Supports Palestinians Against Israel

Well, although it doesn't make sense to me to side with those who danced for joy on 9/11 against those who stood with America, apparently General Petraeus's incredible propaganda claim that US support for Israel hurts the US war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan (so why did Kabul and Baghdad fall so easily?) wasn't a line he came up with all on his own. Debka.com reports that the US has now offered to shield Palestinians against Israeli military action--and that Gen. Petraeus is repeating Obama administration "Dump Israel" talking points:

Netanyahu tried offering the Obama administration a number of compromise proposals, such as the suspension of construction in East Jerusalem and the city's outlying Jewish suburbs until September, but they were rejected, as was an offer to prohibit further Jewish purchases of land and buildings in Jerusalem's Arab districts during peace negotiations.

Obama and Clinton made it clear they would brook no departures from their three demands, which Israel is required to treat as an ultimatum.

Neither party to the difference has mentioned the US administration's fourth condition for resuming normal relations: an Israeli commitment to refrain from attacking Iran's nuclear program without prior US consent. Because that commitment has not been offered, administration officials are continuing to hammer Israel in every possible arena. Indeed, the gloves are now off in earnest for insinuations that Israel's settlement policy is the root-cause of Iran's drive for a nuclear bomb and of the conflicts endangering American lives in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Vice President Joe Biden launched this drive, when he reportedly attacked Netanyahu for the announcement of 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem by saying: "What you are doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan."

A much-admired American military figure, CENTCOM chief, Gen. David Petraeus, was the next US official to put this linkage into words. In his briefing to a Senate panel, he said Wednesday, March 16: Clearly the tensions on these issues [with Israel] have enormous effect on the strategic context in which we operate in the Central Command's area of responsibility."

The general denied he had as yet formally asked for the Palestinian territories to be transferred to his command, but added: "In fact, staff members at various times have discussed asking for the Palestinian territories to be added to CENTCOM's turf."
DEBKAfile's military sources explain that, if approved, this step would be tantamount to providing the Palestinians with an American military umbrella against Israel.

This feels like the 1956 Suez crisis to me, somehow....while Daniel Pipes goes further. He argues America is creating a Palestinian Army --similar to US policy that split the former Yugoslavia by US support for a Kosovo Liberation Army and Croatian army:

Shortly after Yasir Arafat died in late 2004, the U.S. government established the Office of the U.S. Security Coordinator to reform, recruit, train, and equip the PA militia (called the National Security Forces or Quwwat al-Amn al-Watani) and make them politically accountable. For nearly all of its existence, the office has been headed by Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton. Since 2007, American taxpayers have funded it to the tune of US$100 million a year. Many agencies of the U.S. government have been involved in the program, including the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the Secret Service, and branches of the military.

The PA militia has in total about 30,000 troops, of which four battalions comprising 2,100 troops have passed scrutiny for lack of criminal or terrorist ties and undergone 1,400 hours of training at an American facility in Jordan. There they study subjects ranging from small-unit tactics and crime-scene investigations to first aid and human rights law.

With Israeli permission, these troops have deployed in areas of Hebron, Jenin, and Nablus. So far, this experiment has gone well, prompting widespread praise. Senator John Kerry (Democrat of Massachusetts) calls the program "extremely encouraging" and Thomas Friedman of the New York Times discerns in the U.S.-trained troops a possible "Palestinian peace partner for Israel" taking shape.

Looking ahead, however, I predict that those troops will more likely be a war partner than a peace partner for Israel. Consider the troops' likely role in several scenarios:

No Palestinian state: Dayton proudly calls the U.S.-trained forces "founders of a Palestinian state," a polity he expects to come into existence by 2011. What if – as has happened often before – the Palestinian state does not emerge on schedule? Dayton himself warns of "big risks," presumably meaning that his freshly-minted troops would start directing their firepower against Israel.

Palestinian state: The PA has never wavered in its goal of eliminating Israel, as the briefest glance at documentation collected by Palestinian Media Watch makes evident. Should the PA achieve statehood, it will certainly pursue its historic goal – only now equipped with a shiny new American-trained soldiery and arsenal.

The PA defeats Hamas: For the same reason, in the unlikely event that the PA prevails over Hamas, its Gaza-based Islamist rival, it will incorporate Hamas troops into its own militia and then order the combined troops to attack Israel. The rival organizations may differ in outlook, methods, and personnel, but they share the overarching goal of eliminating Israel.

Hamas defeats the PA: Should the PA succumb to Hamas, it will absorb at least some of "Dayton's men" into its own militia and deploy them in the effort to eliminate the Jewish state.

Hamas and PA cooperate: Even as Dayton imagines he is preparing a militia to fight Hamas, the PA leadership participates in Egyptian-sponsored talks with Hamas about power sharing – raising the specter that the U.S. trained forces and Hamas will coordinate attacks on Israel.

The law of unintended consequences provides one temporary consolation: As Washington sponsors the PA forces and Tehran sponsors those of Hamas, Palestinian forces are more ideologically riven, perhaps weakening their overall ability to damage Israel.

Admittedly, Dayton's men are behaving themselves at present. But whatever the future brings – state, no state, Hamas defeats the PA, the PA defeats Hamas, or the two cooperate – these militiamen will eventually turn their guns against Israel. When that happens, Dayton and the geniuses idealistically building the forces of Israel's enemy will likely shrug and say, "No one could have foreseen this outcome."

Not so: Some of us foresee it and are warning against it. More deeply, some of us understand that the 1993 Oslo process did not end the Palestinian leadership's drive to eliminate Israel.

The Dayton mission needs to be stopped before it does more harm. Congress should immediately cut all funding for the Office of the U.S. Security Coordinator.

Just hope that, as a result of this incredibly stupid policy, President Obama doesn't end up ordering the US Air Force to bomb Tel Aviv...although that might indeed be popular with the very Taliban leaders General Petraeus hopes to "flip."

AFP: US Seeking Israeli "Regime Change"

From Agence France Presse:

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration's row with Israel over settlements has prompted some analysts to wonder whether it seeks "regime change," a new government that can make peace with the Palestinians.

However, the analysts doubt that President Barack Obama's administration, which has made Arab-Israeli peace a national security priority, will achieve anything if it has indeed adopted such a strategy.

In unusually harsh words, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday that his right-wing government's plans to build new settler homes in east Jerusalem sent a "deeply negative signal" about Israel's ties to its top ally.

"Is this about regime change, or is it about (Israeli) behavior modification?" asked Aaron David Miller, a Middle East peace negotiator in past Republican and Democratic administrations.

"Because either way, it's going to be a rocky ride," Miller told AFP.

"If it's the former, then I think we're naive in the extreme in thinking that we will be able to produce and somehow manage that," said Miller, now at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Who Insulted Whom on Biden's Israel Visit?

President Biden with Palestinian President Abbas (White House photo)

Despite the conventional wisdom that Vice-President Biden was insulted by Israel's announced building of 1600 apartment units in Jerusalem--a curiously minor governmental action for the US State Department to "condemn," considering the un-condemned Saudi sponsorship of military and financial support for Taliban killing American soldiers in Afghanistan and Sunni militias killing American soldiers in Iraq--a moment's thought reveals that perhaps this crisis presents an opportunity for a reality check. Who was really insulted here?

In fact, Israelis are suffering from their own attempt at politeness. It was pointed out to me this morning that Biden's visit itself was an insult to the Israelis. For President Obama himself has made it a point to visit the Arab and Muslim capitals of Cairo and Istanbul--and has announced a forthcoming visit to Jakarta. However, since his election, President Obama has declined to visit Israel, despite invitations to do so. Thus, in diplomatic terms, the visit of Vice-President Biden, rather than a head of state, was an insult. Especially coming on the heels of Secretary of Defense Gates' visit to Afghanistan at the same time as the Iranian president. The message: Israel is not as important to the United States as the Muslim world. Rather than protest this demotion to second-tier status symbolized by Biden's visit, the Israelis kept quiet.

Taking silence as a sign of weakness, the US government was clearly emboldened to embarrass and humiliate Israel further--seizing on a pretext, a zoning decision for 1600 apartments, and blowing it up into an international incident. The motivation is probably to destabilize Netanyahu as Prime Minister, in order to bring in a possibly more malleable Tzipi Livni (herself charged with war crimes by Palestinians in London!). This is, as Yogi Berra once said, "deja vu all over again." President Bill Clinton ousted Netanyahu in favor of Ehud Barak when he was President. Since the Obama administration has failed in its policy of "regime change" in Iran, Plan B appears to be a resurrection of President Clinton's failed "peace process."

Step one: Regime change in Jerusalem.
Step two: Heat up the "intifada."
Step three: Israel unable to attack Iran to knock out nuclear missiles aimed at Tel Aviv--by a country that has announced its intention to wipe Israel off the map.

One Israeli alternative to reliance on an increasingly anti-Israel and pro-Islamist US administration (one fighting two wars in Muslim lands!), at this point, would be to seek a better relationship with an increasingly disgruntled and rising China, which also has considerable leverage on Iran...as well as continuing to improve relations with Russia and France--and hope that the next US administration is better. Israel should try to be friends with the US, but any friendship must be based on truly mutual respect.

Otherwise, Israel may find itself in the same position the Shah of Iran did under President Carter, when US support for Islamists helped spawn the Frankenstein international movement that still stalks the world...

The Last Days of Leo Tolstoy by Vladimir Chertkov

Just saw The Last Station starring Dame (and what a dame!) Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer. Liked the acting, sets, and costumes. Didn't like the script or direction--or the two youthful leads (why waste screen time on their sex scenes in order to turn Tolstoy into a "supporting" role?). The film lacked a certain tension and ambiguity. Secondary characters were cutouts at best. IMHO, director Michael Hoffman would have done better had he hired a talented screenwriter, so that he would have had an A picture instead of "Classics Illustrated." And he might have hired another director, too. Some of the scenes reminded me of UCLA film school... Though Plummer and Mirren were terrific scenery-chewers. I never read Jay Parini's novel--and won't now--but did find this account on the internet from Vladimir Chertkov, the film's heavy, played like Snidely Wiplash by Paul Giamatti. Still, I liked the film. It was a "good bad movie." Germany doesn't look exactly like Russia, and I missed seeing snow, troikas, and big fur coats (Tolstoy died in November). It's no Dr. Zhivago, but still worth seeing.

BTW, Wikipedia informs me that Michael Hoffman's picture is a remake of the 1912 Russian silent film Departure of a Grand Old Man. IMDB lists a few more films about Tolstoy, including a 1964 Soviet biopic by Gerasimov... Anyhow, here's the link to Chertkov's "The Last Days of Leo Tolstoy"

Open Government Czar Close-Mouthed About Regulatory Reform...

Apparently, I wasn't the only one struck by former Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard University and long-time University of Chicago Law School icon Cass Sunstein's lack of substance at this afternoon's Brookings Institution talk (which event also drew a protester dressed up like Oscar the Grouch and a woman singing "I Love Ash"--referring to a coal industry toxic waste issue that apparently has something to do with the Paperwork Reduction Act, if that makes any sense...).

In any case, here's what the Federal Times Fedline Blog has to say:

Sunstein said surprisingly little about regulatory reform — his chief area of responsibility as the head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Aside from quoting President Obama, John Rawls, Federalist 1 and Aristotle, Sunstein did little but regurgitate boilerplate talking points in favor of open-goverment, transparency, accountability, and "the wisdom of crowds" (though not mob rule, I guess). To say I was disappointed was an understatement. He deflected questions about his previously published positions by saying something that sounded distinctly odd to this listener-- that his academic publications were written by "somebody else" with the same name.

Wikipedia claims the former Supreme Court clerk (Thurgood Marshall) is named after Lewis Cass, a former US Secretary of State. From the Wiki photos it looks like there may be a family resemblance. Notably, the glamorous Samantha Power (of Hillary Clinton "is a monster" fame) appeared to be sitting in the first row--according to Wikipedia, she's his wife, as well as director for multilateral affairs in the Obama administration's National Security Council--so if she was at the lecture, who's dealing with Iranian nukes?

Among the odd topics that Sunstein was willing to discuss with the audience was their 10-month old child, Declan Power-Sunstein (according to Wikipedia). Sunstein stressed the importance of information about child safety seats being made available to the public on the web.

The Starbucks coffee and free cookies were good. Perhaps the transcript will reveal some hidden DaVinci-code like messages upon further study...

Another IBEW Suit Against Goldman Sachs...

Over allegedly fraudulent mortgages, from 2008. I don't know what, if anything, came of it...

IBEW Union (Philadelphia Local 98) v Goldman Sachs!

(ht Huffington Post) Here's the story from Pensions and Investments Online:

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 Pension Fund, Philadelphia, filed suit against Goldman Sachs Group, accusing it of overpaying its executives while underpaying its shareholders and damaging its stock price.

The suit, filed March 8 in Delaware Court of the Chancery in Wilmington by the $562 million pension fund, seeks to stop Goldman Sachs from allocating 47% of its 2009 net revenues to compensation.

Also, the suit seeks to require that Goldman Sachs management bear the cost of the $500 million the firm pledged in November for philanthropic and lending support for small business as an “apology for taking enormous bonuses.” It also wants management to be responsible for paying any fees imposed by the government on banks in reaction to their excessive compensation practices.

Also named as defendants are Lloyd C. Blankfein, chairman and CEO; the other 11 Goldman Sachs directors; and two non-director executives, David A. Viniar, executive vice president and CFO, and J. Michael Evans, vice chairman.

“Goldman’s employees are unreasonably overpaid for the management functions they undertake, and shareholders are vastly underpaid for the risk taken with their equity,” the suit states.

The pension fund is a Goldman Sachs shareholder. The number of shares it owns wasn’t available.

Russia TV on Geert Wilders

(ht Diana West)

Happy International Women's Day!

CNN has the story...

Don Argott's The Art of the Steal

School Reform for Dummies: "Race to the Top" Evaluation Form Published

Education Week has put the form used by the Department of Education to evaluate "Race to the Top" applications online, here. There's an interesting article explaining the politics behind the contest, which raises serious questions about the fairness and validity of the process, here.
More about this topic on Valerie Strauss's Washington Post Blog.

Providence Journal: Obama's "Race to the Top" Really a Race to the Bottom

Rhode Island attorney and law professor Monica Teixeira de Sousa writes:

public services.

The U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, placed Rhode Island in an untenable position with the “Race to the Top”: forgo an opportunity for much-needed resources or compete for funds by dismantling public education. This is one race in which it behooves us to walk, not run.

The heart of the Central Falls community was torn apart as almost 100 educators, the entire staff of the city’s sole high school, were let go. Duncan was quick to support the termination of the teachers, which he did without bothering to speak to them. Had he done so he would have learned that some are local success stories: the kids who made it and later returned as educators and role models. They now face unemployment.

It’s ironic that this joblessness is the result of actions prompted by Rhode Island’s effort to curry favor with Secretary Duncan, since the terminations were prompted by the decision to compete for federal “Race to the Top” funds. The $4.35 million initiative — a grab-bag of harsh and unproven strategies that include closing schools and wholesale dismissals of personnel — is itself funded through the economic stimulus package that was supposed to produce jobs.

By applying the Race to the Top’s “turnaround model” in Central Falls, calling for the termination of all staff and the rehiring of no more than 50 percent, our state is harming the very children that it hopes to help. It has been shown that the results of these draconian actions make it harder to attract new dedicated and well-qualified teachers while doing nothing to address the numerous socioeconomic problems that impede children’s progress.

Critics who point to low student test scores fail to put them in the context of concentrated poverty. The community’s many woes include some of the state’s highest rates for student mobility, children testing positive for lead poisoning, and childhood asthma hospitalizations. In Central Falls 41 percent of families have incomes below the federal poverty line. A median family income below $23,000 must contend with an average yearly rent greater than $11,000. Rather than addressing these root causes of failing schools in disadvantaged cities and towns like Central Falls, it’s more politically expedient and far less expensive to blame schools, blame teachers, and propose privately run charter schools as solutions.

But the events in Central Falls highlight the limitations of the reform strategies promoted by Secretary Duncan. The “school closure model” is not feasible because it assumes that there are high-performing schools within the district to which students may be reassigned. There is only one high school in Central Falls.

Under the “restart model,” Central Falls High School would become a charter school. Supt. Frances Gallo explored this option with no success. The Journal reported that no charter was interested in running a failing secondary school. This is not surprising, given that, with only one high school, the charter school would lose its “magic bullet,” the ability to cull students.

Transparent House's History of Apple Computers

(ht Huffington Post)

Anatomy of Apple Design from Transparent House on Vimeo.

Malvina Hoffman, American Sculptress

While in Cedar Rapids a while back, someone I know and yours truly saw an interesting exhibition of sculptures by Malvina Hoffman, Rodin's last student and sole sculptress for the "Hall of Man" exhibition at the Chicago World's Fair sponsored by Marshall Field, later displayed in the Field Museum of Natural History. They were removed from Chicago in 1968, and some ended up on display in Grant Wood's home town. Perhaps someone will bring them to Washington, someday. In the meantime, if you find yourself in Iowa, a visit to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art is highly recommended.

Chile Earthquake Person-Finder from Google

Found this app when downloading Google Earth. Perhaps one of our readers might find it useful, in a tragic situation:

http://chilepersonfinder.appspot.com/