UC Berkeley law school professor John Yoo has long been known as the
legal architect of the nation’s torture program. And for the past few
years, legal scholars also have suspected that he was behind the
warrantless wiretapping program developed under President Bush. But
those suspicions were not officially confirmed until a new report was
released last week.
The report, prepared by five inspectors general of federal
governmental agencies, revealed that Yoo wrote two informal memos in
September and October in 2001, and a formal one in November of that
year, telling Bush that he could order federal authorities to listen in
on Americans’ phone conversations without a warrant. Yoo was working in
the Department of Justice at the time and was only one of three
department lawyers who knew about the top-secret program. According to
the Washington Post, Yoo’s legal opinions on the subject became
known in the intelligence community as “the scary memos.” But Yoo’s
work on warrantless wiretaps failed to produce actionable intelligence
in the so-called War on Terror, according to the report. And just as
Yoo’s torture memos were later repudiated and rescinded by succeeding
Bush-era lawyers for being shoddy and downright wrong, so was his work
on warrantless wiretaps.
Yoo, however, apparently will never be prosecuted in US courts
— even though listening to phone conversations without a warrant
and waterboarding prisoners are illegal under US and international
laws. According to the Post and The New York
Times, President Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, is thinking
about launching a torture investigation, but the probe apparently will
not target top Bush officials who developed the torture regime. That
means Yoo also may remain at UC Berkeley indefinitely, because the
university has said it will not attempt to remove him unless he’s
convicted of a crime.
California Is a National Joke
California reached a new low late last week when several large banks
stopped honoring state-issued IOUs. The banks’ decision added further
insult to a state that is fast becoming the laughingstock of the
nation. The move by the banks also means that taxpayers and private
companies that received IOUs will have to wait until the legislature
solves the budget crisis before they can cash them.
The banks’ decision also triggered a black market on eBay and
Craigslist in which unscrupulous vendors have been paying desperate
taxpayers and businesses pennies on the dollar for their IOUs in hopes
of making a profit when California is finally solvent again. The fear
that this black market will get out of hand also prompted the US
Securities and Exchange Commission to announce that it will attempt to
regulate the buying and selling of IOUs, according to the San
Francisco Chronicle.
Bad News for Oakland Cops
Oakland city officials learned that they will receive no more than
about one-third of a federal grant needed to avoid laying off 140
police officers. Oakland had asked for $67 million over three years to
pay for the 140 cops, but according to the Oakland Tribune,
federal officials capped the amount of money each city can receive to
no more than 50 officers per department. That means the city will
receive a maximum of about $24 million over three years. And Oakland
will be lucky to get that much because the feds received an
overwhelming number of requests from other cities.
Oakland, meanwhile, also is attempting to hijack revenue from the
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum that traditionally has gone to Alameda
County. According to the Trib, Oakland plans to begin collecting
an 18.5 percent tax on Coliseum parking. The only problem is that under
lease agreements with the A’s and the Raiders, the sports teams are
allowed to deduct any such tax from their rent payments. Consequently,
the amount of rent coming to the city and county will be reduced. The
city will make up the loss by collecting the tax, but the county will
be out of luck — and money. Not surprisingly, the county has
decided to sue.
Three-Dot Roundup
Speaking of lawsuits, ex-Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly
also is suing Oakland, alleging that Mayor Ron Dellums fired her
because she had refused requests by his wife, Cynthia Dellums, to pay
her cell-phone bill and to hire some of the mayor’s cronies. Edgerly,
however, has serious credibility problems and appears to be looking for
a payout after she failed to land a job in a small town back east. …
The Oakland City Council approved a plan that calls for taller
buildings in downtown, although it’s unclear whether that will actually
happen. … In fact, according to a new analysis by the Chron,
former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown’s 10K plan fell well short of its goal
to add 10,000 new residents to downtown. The paper estimated that
because of the housing crisis, only about 5,000 new residents had moved
into the downtown area since 1999 — not counting all those who
left. … As for Brown, the attorney general sought to quell a
mini-scandal in his bid to become the next governor when he returned
more than $50,000 in campaign donations made by the friends and
businesses of people that his office is investigating. … In Fremont,
Toyota threatened to close the NUMMI auto plant in a move that appeared
to be designed to extract concessions from the United Auto Workers’
union. … And in Richmond, Chevron has decided to appeal a judges’
decision that halted the oil giant’s massive refinery expansion.
