KSM Trial to be Moved From NYC

Politico is reporting that the Obama administration is moving terrorist KSM's trial elsewhere. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been calling for the trial to be moved, in part because of the high cost of keeping the city safe during the trial. He also said it would be bad for businesses in Manhattan. Dianne Feinstein said in an interview with Andrea Mitchell yesterday that moving the trial was the right thing to do. She said the situation has changed, given the recent failed underwear bomb plot.

Now, the media pundits have more to gnaw on. We'll be hearing about how it affects Obama politically for the next week.

Feinstein Says Republicans Haven't Given Obama a Chance

Sen. Dianne Feinstein says the atmosphere in Washington is the worst it's been in a long, long time. "The Republicans have not given this president a chance," she said. She's right. Republicans have been trolls. Feinstein says the administration needs a period of time "to earn its spurs." Feinstein also says things have changed regarding terrorist KSM. KSM doesn't have to be tried in New York City and the Obama administration can move the trial somewhere else, she said. Mayor Bloomberg is also pushing for that.

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Dianne Feinstein Supports Obama on Afghanistan

Also in this video, Susan Collins asks a great question:

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Feinstein Proposes Insurance Rate Authority

Dianne Feinstein proposes a medical insurance rate authority that would oversee private insurers premium rates, a pretty good idea. I agree with Feinstein, that ultimately, healthcare must be nonprofit, especially given the recent threat by insurers that if reform passes, premiums will increase.

Feinstein Says Hillary Best to Negotiate Release of Journalists in N. Korea

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Chuck Hagel Says Cheney's Eight Years are Over

Republican Chuck Hagel says the hysteria of having Gitmo detainees in U.S. prisons is irrational. Yay for Hagel. It is completely irrational. Fear the neighborhood sex offender(s), not the terrorist, essentially a coward, safe in a super max prison. Democrats were completely irrational to vote down funding closure of Guantanamo. Even with the power, they're wimpy. 

James Moran, congressman of Alexandria, Virginia, says Alexandria would take detainees as well. See the video here. He says sometimes our limbic system gets the better of us. We've been fear mongered to for so long, we've been trained to be irrational.
Frank Wolf, republican congressman, then comes on to offer some more fear mongering. Man, they're good. Actually, he droned on and nearly put me to sleep.

Feinstein Says Detainees Can Be Safely Secured

Sen. Dianne Feinstein said she voted against funding of the closure of Guantanamo because it was a trap (read- politics). She was afraid the democrats would be billed as the bad guys letting terrorists run wild in U.S. neighborhoods. Wimps. Again, our leaders thinking we're all a bunch of dummies out here. We know better. But she says she believes that detainees can be held safely in U.S. prisons. 
Anyone afraid of a terrorist in a U.S. prison ought to get a grip and check out the number of sexual predators hanging out in their neighborhoods. There are scarier people out there. Bush-Cheney put terrorists on a pedestal. Terrorists are cowards.

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Cheney is Disturbed

Update: MSNBC is reporting that Obama is leaving the door open to prosecutions. 

Original post: 

Hannity, such a putz, asks: Did Joe Biden reach out to you? Why in the world would Biden reach out to tainted Mole Man. Ick.
Hannity may as well have been sitting in Cheney's lap. If Cheney thinks torture is a "success," he's a very sick man.

Meanwhile, Cheney is trying to prove his innocence by trying to declassify CIA records to show that torture works, which means that we probably should be prosecuting Cheney and everyone else involved in the memos. Originally, I thought that was a bad idea but it may be the right thing to do after all. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is asking Obama to hold off on any final decisions until the intelligence committee finishes its investigation:

Democrats and international officials pressed for a fuller accounting of what happened. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat and chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee, wrote Mr. Obama asking him not to rule out prosecutions until her panel completed an investigation over the next six to eight months. NYT

Cheney's argument that torture works is idiotic in any light because even if it did work, it doesn't mean that's the right way to get information or even the best way. It's similar to the surge argument. Just because the so-called surge worked in Iraq doesn't mean preemptive efforts or a different solution might've worked better.
Personally, I think Cheney was the point man in the downfall of this country. He seems to be a twisted man with an agenda. He's showing signs of ego and guilt. 

Obama To Order Guantanamo Closure Feinstein Introduces Bill

Obama intends to issue an order to close Guantanamo within his first week. Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced today a bill intended to shut the detention facility within a year:

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced legislation today to close the Department of Defense detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within one year of the bill’s enactment.

It is the first measure introduced in the Senate to close the Guantanamo Bay facility.

Senator Feinstein, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is deeply concerned that open-ended detentions and documented reports of detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay have tarnished America’s reputation and complicated our efforts to fight global terrorism.

“Guantanamo Bay has become a lightning rod for international condemnation,” Senator Feinstein said. “This has greatly damaged the nation’s credibility around the world. Rather than make the United States safer, the image projected by this facility puts us at greater risk. The time has come to close it down.”

“I want to be clear. I am absolutely opposed to releasing any terrorists, Taliban fighters or anyone else held at Guantanamo who is committed to harming the United States.

“At the same time, we must recognize the sustained damage this facility is doing to our international standing. We are better served by closing this facility and transferring the detainees elsewhere.”

The legislation Senator Feinstein has introduced requires that, within one year of the date of enactment:

The President shall close the Department of Defense detention facility at Guantanamo Bay; and
All detainees at the facility shall be removed and transferred to:
A civilian or military facility in the United States and charged with a violation of U.S. or international law for prosecution in a civilian or military proceeding;
A facility in the United States for continued detention, where authorized;
Any international legal tribunal that may be authorized for this purpose; or
The detainees’ home nations or a third-party government for further processing; there must be assurances that detainees will not be tortured or otherwise handled in a manner against international law. Read more at Feinstein's senate site.

Feinstein Warm to Panetta Now

It seems everyone is mixing and playing well, solving problems, and there have been plenty. The Obama effect? Or just the sweet beginnings the 111th congress?
Obama and Biden apologized yesterday to Feinstein. That probably helped. It was a high minded thing to do, as is seating Burris.

NYT: Emerging from a policy luncheon this afternoon, Senator Dianne Feinstein disclosed that she had spoken with Leon Panetta last night, after raising objections earlier this week about his qualifications to become the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Asked whether she planned to support his confirmation now — following telephone conversations initiated by both President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., she said: “I believe all systems are go.”

Democrats Ready to Seat Burris

This is a good move since the Blago appointment of Burris has become more of a spectacle than anything else. It's not a fight worth fighting. I'll bet he'll make the senate more interesting, too.

WASHINGTON - The Associated Press has learned Senate Democrats plan to accept Roland Burris for President-elect Barack Obama's vacant seat.

NBC news reports Burris is meeting with the Senate leadership now as Senate Democrats look for ways to defuse the standoff that has denied Burris a Senate seat.

Dianne Feinstein has been urging his seating:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, told reporters Tuesday evening that Burris should be seated.

"If you don't seat Mr. Burris, it has ramifications for gubernatorial appointments all over America," the California Democrat said. "Mr. Burris is a senior, experienced politician. He has been attorney general, he has been controller, and he is very well-respected. I am hopeful that this will be settled."

In a piece of political theater, Burris, 71, tried and failed Tuesday to take Obama's seat.

Obama and Biden Apologize to Feinstein

Well, what do you know. What a unique and very nice way to handle the situation.

First Read: Incoming Senate Intelligence Committee Chairperson Dianne Feinstein today said she's had a "substantial conversation" with President- and Vice President-elect Obama and Biden.

"They've apologized profusely," for not consulting with her before naming Leon Panetta as the nominee to head the CIA.

She called the oversight a "mistake," but suggested it was an honest one.

"I've been around a long time," said Feinstein, who's serving her fourth term. "I know this happens… so that's not an issue."

But she reiterated her concerns that Mr. Panetta wouldn't come to the job with significant intelligence experience. While acknowledging the CIA Director's job requires an operational skill set, "it's also a clandestine and covert service agency for the country. And as such, I think on the ground experience as a station agent in various parts of the world is vital."

Cheney Swears in Biden in the 111 Congress

The photo says it all. In other Biden news, he says Obama picking Panetta without consulting Sen. Dianne Feinstein was a mistake. Here's why. 

Obama's Panetta Pick Controversial

In addition to being a big surprise, many seem to think Panetta is not up on his spycraft, including Senator Dianne Feinstein, who will chair the Senate Intelligence Committee. Huh? is their reaction. Others like the shift from waterboarding to intelligence. A former CIA officer, Robert Baer, says at least Obama knows the CIA's problems. 

Leon Panetta may not have an intelligence background, but his appointment as CIA director shows that Barack Obama understands the CIA's problems.

Maybe the long-troubled CIA, which seems to lack leadership, will actually get an intelligence boost.

Houston Chronicle: WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama's decision to fill the nation's top intelligence jobs with two men short on direct experience in intelligence gathering surprised the spy community and signaled the Democrat's intention for a clean break from Bush administration policies.
Former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta, an eight-term congressional veteran and administrative expert, is being tapped to head the CIA. Retired Adm. Dennis Blair is Obama's choice to be director of national intelligence, a selection expected for weeks, according to two Democrats who spoke on condition of anonymity because Obama has not officially announced the choices.
Obama is sending an unequivocal message that controversial administration policies approving harsh interrogations, waterboarding and extraordinary renditions — the secret transfer of prisoners to other governments with a history of torture — and warrantless wiretapping are over, said several officials.
Earlier pick withdrew
The search for Obama's new CIA chief had been stalled since November, when John Brennan, Obama's transition intelligence adviser, abruptly withdrew his name from consideration.
And despite an internal list of former and current CIA officials who had impressive administrative credentials, all either worked in intelligence during the Bush administration's development of controversial policies on interrogation and torture or earlier, during the months leading up to the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Neither Panetta nor Blair are tainted by associations with Bush administration policies, in large part because they both come from outside the intelligence world. Blair was posted at the CIA for about a year.

Another senator balks:

A later e-mail: 'Senator Kit Bond, Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, ... made the following comments on President-elect Obama's nomination of Leon Panetta as the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency: 'Job number one at the CIA is to track down and stop terrorists. In a post-9-11 world, intelligence experience would seem to be a prerequisite for the job of CIA Director.'

Some background (2005) from the Foreign Policy Research Institute on what's wrong with the CIA. Here's part 2.
In 2006: 

CIA chief Porter Goss abruptly and unexpectedly resigned his post yesterday, apparently pushed out by intelligence czar John Negroponte after less than two years leading an agency dogged by morale problems.

Senior administration officials told reporters following videotaped statements by Goss and George W. Bush that Negroponte, who was given the nation's top intelligence post by the U.S. president, had recently raised the prospect of the departure of the former Florida congressman.

Here is what Bush said of Goss when he appointed him in 2004:

"He knows the CIA inside and out," Bush said of Goss, who was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and served as a clandestine CIA officer in the 1960s in Central America and Western Europe. "He's the right man to lead this important agency at this critical moment in our nation's history."

Which proves that knowing the CIA inside and out doesn't necessarily make a good CIA head.
Politico says Obama will be pushing Panetta's plusses:

THE CASE TEAM OBAMA WILL BE MAKING FOR PANETTA:

*Good manager -- recognized across the board for his management ability

*Foreign policy experience -- handled foreign policy as White House chief of staff, Bosnia war, etc...

*Intelligence -- as head of OMB, handled intelligence budget and other sensitive matters

*Bipartisanship -- good bipartisan support in Congress

--And a former colleague says don't forget: Calm and collected. 

David Axelrod says Panetta will do just fine:

"I think he's going to be fine," senior adviser David Axelrod said. Of concerns that Panetta might not have enough experience with the CIA's culture, Axelrod said Panetta "will do well. He's tough and smart."
Evan Bayh is with Feinstein. They like Steve Kappes, deputy chief of CIA.

Obama Picks Leon Panetta to Head CIA

Update: Dianne Feinstein, who's about to take over as chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, isn't too happy that she wasn't consulted by Obama. 

Apparently, she wanted an insider.

Obama picks Leon Panetta to head the Central Intelligence Agency, and retired Adm. Dennis Blair as director of national intelligence. Panetta replaces Mike McConnell. During the primaries, Panetta compared Clinton Pollster Mark Penn to Karl Rove. Ouch. Opposition to Panetta and challenges. 

CNN: Leon Panetta, chief of staff in President Clinton's White House, will be President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be CIA director, two Democratic officials told CNN on Monday.

Leon Panetta was chief of staff for President Clinton.

The officials also said that retired Adm. Dennis Blair, who formerly headed the U.S. Navy's Pacific Command, will be tapped as director of national intelligence.

Panetta, 70, has had a long political career, beginning in 1966 when he was a legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Thomas H. Kuchel, R-California.

Panetta was elected to the House of Representatives in 1977, serving California's 16th (now 17th) Congressional District until Clinton appointed him to head the Office of Budget and Management in 1993. He was chief of staff from 1994 to 1997.

Here is Panetta's bio from the The Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy:

Leon Edward Panetta has had a long and distinguished career in public service, ranging from his tour of duty in the U.S. Army to his service as the Chief of Staff to the President of the United States.
Born in Monterey in 1938 of Italian immigrant parents, Panetta attended both Catholic and public schools and worked on his family’s farm in Carmel Valley, where he lives today with his wife Sylvia. He earned a B.A. magna cum laude from Santa Clara University and his J.D. from Santa Clara University Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review. He served as a First Lieutenant in the Army from 1964 to 1966 and received the Army Commendation Medal.
Panetta first went to Washington in 1966, when he served as a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Thomas H. Kuchel of California, the Senate Minority Whip. In 1969, he became Special Assistant to the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and then Director of the U.S. Office for Civil Rights, where he was responsible for enforcement of equal education laws. His book Bring Us Together (published in 1971) is an account of that experience. In 1970, he went to New York City, where he served as executive assistant to Mayor John Lindsay, overseeing the city’s relations with the state and federal governments. Then, in 1971, he returned to California, where he practiced law in the Monterey firm of Panetta, Thompson & Panetta until he was elected to Congress in 1976.
Panetta was a U.S. Representative from California’s 16th (now 17th) district from 1977 to 1993. As a House member, he was a key participant in the 1990 budget summit as well as every other budget summit during the 1980s. He authored the Hunger Prevention Act of 1988; the Fair Employment Practices Resolution extending civil rights protections to House employees for the first time; numerous successful measures to protect the California coast, including creation of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary; legislation that established Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for hospice care for the terminally ill; and other legislation on a variety of education, health, agriculture and defense issues.
From 1989 to 1993, Panetta was chairman of the House Committee on the Budget. He also served as a member of that committee from 1979 to 1985. He chaired the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations and Nutrition; the House Administration Committee’s Subcommittee on Personnel and Police; and the Select Committee on Hunger’s Task Force on Domestic Hunger. He also served as vice chairman of the Caucus of Vietnam Era Veterans in Congress and as a member of the President’s Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies.
Panetta left Congress in 1993, at the beginning of his ninth term, to become Director of the Office of Management and Budget for the incoming Clinton administration. In that position, he was instrumental in developing the 1993 budget package that is widely credited with achieving a balanced federal budget and eventual budget surpluses.
Panetta was appointed Chief of Staff to President Clinton on July 17, 1994, and served in that position until January 20, 1997. He was the principal negotiator of the successful 1996 budget compromise, and was widely praised for bringing order and focus to White House operations and policy making.
Panetta is currently co-directs with his wife Sylvia the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, based at California State University, Monterey Bay – a university he helped establish on the site of the former U.S. Army base, Fort Ord. The Institute serves as a nonpartisan, not-for-profit study center for the advancement public policy, seeking in particular to attract thoughtful men and women to lives of public service.
In addition, Mr. Panetta serves as Distinguished Scholar to the Chancellor of the California State University system. He advises the Chancellor on national issues affecting higher education and teaches a Master’s course in Public Policy at the Panetta Institute.
In 1997, he was also appointed Presidential Professor at Santa Clara University, teaching a course called Studies in Public Policy
Mr. Panetta has served as a leader in numerous community and national public policy organizations throughout his career. In March 2006, he was chosen to serve on the Iraq Study Group, a bi-partisan committee established at the urging of Congress and organized by the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Center for the Study of the Presidency and the James A. Baker III Institute. Since 2005, he has served as member of the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future. In November 2004, Governor Schwarzenegger appointed him co-chair of the Council on Base Support and Retention.
Mr. Panetta served a six-year term on the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange beginning in 1997. He was chairman of the Committee for Review for the New York Stock Exchange Board of Directors and was co-chair of the Corporate Governance and Listing Standards Committee for the Stock Exchange.
He served on the National Review Board of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the board of the National Steinbeck Center, and the University of California Santa Cruz Foundation, and since June 1998, he has served on the board of the Santa Clara University Law School Board of Visitors. He also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Santa Clara University; as a member of the Fleishman-Hillard International Advisory Board; as a trustee for the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula; and as a director for the Monterey Bay Aquarium. He is chairman of the National Board of Advisors of the Center for National Policy as well as chairman of the Pew Oceans Commission. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for Blue Shield of California; IDT; Zenith; Connetics; the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation; Bread for the World; and Close Up. He lectures nationally and internationally on the state of the economy, the federal budget and other issues facing our nation, and is the recipient of awards and honors too numerous to list.

Mr. Panetta is married to the former Sylvia Marie Varni, who administered his district offices during his service in Congress and continues as a partner in his many activities. They have three grown sons and five grandchildren.

Full Inauguration Schedule Jan. 20

For the Swearing-In Ceremony, security checkpoints will open for ticketed guests at 8:00 am and the musical prelude begins at 10 am. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies advises arriving no later than 9:00 am to ensure that you are through the checkpoints by the time the program begins. Screening will end when the program begins at 11:30 am and late arrivals will not be able to enter the grounds.

Ticket holders should walk or use Metro due to road closures and restricted access around the US Capitol.
Read the bios of the performers here. Official inauguration site here.

The order of the day's events:

Musical Selections
The United States Marine Band

Musical Selections
The San Francisco Boys Chorus and the San Francisco Girls Chorus

Call to Order and Welcoming Remarks
The Honorable Dianne Feinstein

Invocation
Dr. Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, CA

Musical Selection
Aretha Franklin

Oath of Office Administered to Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
By Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
The Honorable John Paul Stevens

Musical Selection, John Williams, composer/arranger
Itzhak Perlman, Violin
Yo-Yo Ma, Cello
Gabriela Montero, Piano
Anthony McGill, Clarinet

Oath of Office Administered to President-elect Barack H. Obama
By the Chief Justice of the United States
The Honorable John G. Roberts, Jr.

Inaugural Address
The President of the United States, The Honorable Barack H. Obama

Poem
Elizabeth Alexander

Benediction
The Reverend Dr. Joseph E. Lowery

The National Anthem
The United States Navy Band “Sea Chanters”

After President Obama gives his Inaugural Address, he will escort outgoing President George W. Bush to a departure ceremony before attending a luncheon in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. The 56th Inaugural Parade will then make its way down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House with groups traveling from all over the country to participate.

Later that day, the Presidential Inaugural Committee will host ten official Inaugural Balls. More details about the Inaugural Balls will be released at a later date.

Obama's Transition Website

Here it is, aptly named change.gov. 
You can learn about Obama, the upcoming inauguration, apply for a job, read the transition directory and there is tons of other information. 
The inauguration, by the way, is being headed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The theme: A New Birth of American Freedom, taken from President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, given Nov. 19, 1863. Read more here.

Hillary's Backers Undercutting Obama

well, i figured it was too good to be true. obama takes a couple of days off to spend time with his family and dianne feinstein is pushing hillary, popular vote! popular vote! she should be supporting obama now and quit with the hillary speak. with hillary, it's always one more thing. now, we're stuck with a bunch of politicians trying to push hillary as vice president. these people have become tedious.

politico: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a backer of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) during the primary campaign, reiterated on ABC’s “This Week” that Clinton had won the popular vote — an assertion that is not accepted by Illinois Democrat Sen. Barack Obama’s camp and one that, if repeated often, could harm Democratic attempts to unify behind him.

“Hillary Clinton is well known, certainly she had the popular vote in this election,” she said, according to a transcript. “That is something and that is something tremendous. Now, I believe the [vice presidential] nomination is up to him. I can't tell him what to do. Nobody else can tell him what to do. All I can say is I agree with [Pennsylvania Gov.] Ed Rendell, that if you really want a winning ticket, this is it.”

dick morris, who called the race long ago, says hillary didn't quit and won't.

rcp: Why won't Hillary just concede that she has lost and pull out of the race? Why does she persist in keeping her delegates in line for her and not releasing them to Obama? Why does she feign party unity while, in fact, undermining it?

The Clintons never do anything without a lot of thinking and planning. There is no benign explanation for her maneuvers. They have several options that they are deliberately keeping open by their increasingly awkward positioning. Here's what they're up to:

1. The Obama Stumbles Option

As Hillary says, June is "early" in politics when the convention is not to be held until the end of August, unusually late for a Democratic conclave. And, as Tip O'Neill says "a week is a long time in politics." So is three months.

mark penn, one of her advisers blames money. obama just ran a better campaign, he says, which is practically meaningless. it wasn't anything that hillary did, it was the money. well WHY didn't hillary receive enough money from her 18 million people she touts so often? or did her campaign mismanage the money?

Feinstein Lends Hillary Home for Meeting

let's hope hillary offers the best concession speech ever saturday, one that honors herself and lifts obama.

nyt: Mrs. Feinstein had made the offer before and it was still good. And so a few hours later, at just about 9 p.m., Mrs. Clinton and Senator Barack Obama arrived for a face to face chat. No staff. No spouses. Just the two of them in Mrs. Feinstein’s living room.
The California senator had set up two chairs facing each other. She served them water. Nothing else. Staff members were sent to MrsM feinstein’s study. And secret service agents stayed out of the room.

Hillary Backer Feinstein Says It's Over

it's just a question of how long hillary will drag this out? will she give obama his moment? will obama take it anyway? will she offer some grace? now they're all pushing the vice presidency. i'm on the fence on that.

cnn: Major Hillary Clinton supporter Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Tuesday the final primaries mark a “moment of truth” for the New York senator, who should end her campaign.

The California senator also repeated her view that Clinton should be tapped for the vice presidency.

“I think after the campaigns are wrapped up today, it is in fact a moment of truth,” Feinstein told CNN. “I think a decision has to be made about whether keeping this nomination wide open is in the best interest of winning in November. I do not believe that it is, and I’m a very strong supporter of Hillary being placed on ticket as a vice presidential candidate.”