Dems Knew, Obama Legal Team Limiting Defendants Rights, Gov Takeover of GM, Rebellion Brewing

1) Hot doc: Cheney's request to declassify intel from 'torture' Former Vice President Dick Cheney is asking the Obama administration to declassify two documents on intelligence obtained from the so-called enhanced interrogation program that critics have decried as torture, according to a copy of his request obtained by POLITICO. See: http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/0409/Hot_doc_Cheneys_request_to_declassify_intel_from_torture_.html 1a) Democrats Supported CIA's 'Enhanced Interrogation' Techniques, Says House GOP Leader (CNSNews.com) – House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the “enhanced interrogation” techniques used on terror suspects--described in declassified Justice Department memos released by the Obama administration last week--had approval from congressional leaders in both parties.    Boehner also said that making the complete report public would show “the bigger picture” of how America was kept safe from terrorist attacks.   The memos that have been released reveal that only three top al Qaeda terror suspects, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM), were ever waterboarded. Information obtained from KSM, according to one of the memos, allowed the U.S. government to stop a planned terrorist attack in Los Angeles. See: http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=47104 2) Obama legal team wants to limit defendants' rights WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to overrule a 23 year-old decision that stopped police from initiating questions unless a defendant's lawyer is present, the latest stance that has disappointed civil rights and civil liberties groups. While President Barack Obama has reversed many policies of his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, the defendants' rights case is another stark example of the White House seeking to limit rather than expand rights. See: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gsdBeBfQ1PJTCFWgQGQw0vp6U30QD97ONB3G3 3) GM Is Becoming a Royal Debacle It's good to be the king -- until you start tripping over your own robe. So King Barack the Mild is finding as he tries to dictate the terms of what amounts to an out-of-court bankruptcy for Chrysler and GM. He wants Chrysler's secured lenders to give up their right to nearly full recovery in a bankruptcy in return for 15 cents on the dollar. They'd be crazy to do so, of course, except that these banks also happen to be beholden to the administration for TARP money. Kingly prerogative also conflicts with kingly prerogative in the case of GM's unsecured creditors, who are the sticking point in agreeing to a turnaround plan by the drop-dead date of June 1. His retainer, Steven Rattner, has delivered word that the king's pleasure is that these unsecured creditors give up 100% of their claims in return for GM stock. It may also be the king's pleasure, he advised, to convert at some point the government's own $13 billion in bailout loans into GM stock. …They've already seen that the rights and privileges of shareholders are not worth diddly when the king is throwing his prerogatives around. He dispensed with the services of GM chief Rick Wagoner, though the king owned not a single share of GM stock at the time. His minions communicated the king's pleasure that GM consider discontinuing its GMC brand, maker of pickups and SUVs that offendeth the royal eye -- though these vehicles earn GM's fattest profit margins. See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124035637935940943.html 4) Barney Frank: Marijuana, Internet Gambling O.K. for Americans, but not ‘Total Freedom’ in Financial Matters (CNSNews.com) – Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) told CNSNews.com Thursday that, if it were up to him, Americans would be completely free to smoke marijuana and gamble on the Internet -- but they shouldn’t be allowed “total freedom” in their financial decisions because those risky decisions might adversely affect others. Guess what, Barney??? Without economic freedom, there IS NO FREEDOM.  See: http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=47107 5) In GOP base, a 'rebellion brewing' …But outside Washington, the reality is very different. Rank-and-file Republicans remain, by all indications, staunchly conservative, and they appear to have no desire to moderate their views. GOP activists and operatives say they hear intense anger at the White House and at the party’s own leaders on familiar issues – taxes, homosexuality, and immigration. Within the party, conservative groups have grown stronger absent the emergence of any organized moderate faction.  There is little appetite for compromise on what many see as core issues, and the road to the presidential nomination lies – as always – through a series of states where the conservative base holds sway, and where the anger appears to be, if anything, particularly intense.  "There is a sense of rebellion brewing," said Katon Dawson, the outgoing South Carolina Republican Party chairman, who cited unexpectedly high attendance at anti-tax “tea parties” last week.  That same sense is detectable in New Hampshire, where Union Leader publisher Joseph McQuaid – a stalwart of the base – warned in a column last weekend that the push for same-sex marriage in the state legislature was really about “forcing society to embrace and give positive reinforcement to their lifestyle and agenda in our schools and in every other area of public life imaginable.” See: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21677.html 6) Book Chavez Gave to Obama Is Used as Core Text on Many College Campuses Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wasn't the first to discover the book he gave to President Obama last week in an attempt to ease diplomatic tensions — college students in the U.S. have been turning its pages for years. The 317-page "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent" has been identified on the syllabi of at least 20 U.S. colleges and universities since 2003, and it's been taught for decades on American campuses. The virulently anti-American book tells how for 500 years Europe and then the U.S. exploited Latin America, leaving it impoverished and governed by corrupt leaders. See: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517784,00.html 7) 100 days in office, coronated Messiah Arms outstretched, he wears crown of thorns on his brow On his 100th day in office, President Obama will be "crowned" in messianic imagery at New York City's Union Square.  Artist Michael D'Antuono's painting "The Truth" – featuring Obama with his arms outstretched and wearing a crown of thorns upon his head – will be unveiled on April 29 at the Square's South Plaza. See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=96138