11.15.2005 "Washington Times Reports Bush "Reclusive", "Feels Betrayed"" Hunter at Daily Kos

11.15.2005 WaPo: "Senators Agree on Detainee Rights"

11.15.2005 "Senate Urges Bush to Report Progress on Ending War"

11.15.2005 Kevin Drum: via Josh Marshall

One final word on this: the issue here is not who was right and who was wrong, or even whether the overall weight of the evidence was sufficient to justify the war. It would have been perfectly reasonable for the White House to present all the evidence pro and con and then use that evidence to make the strongest possible case for war. But that's not what they did. Instead, they suppressed any evidence that might have thrown doubt on their arguments, making it impossible for the public to evaluate what they were saying. In fact, by abusing the classification process to keep these dissents secret, they even made it impossible for senators who knew the truth to say anything about it in public.

But Hadley turns out to be a perfect illustration of the doublespeak the administration is now peddling.
...
And: But the president was president -- a fact of accountability he never seems to grasp. He drove the train.

" "In college, I developed a deep interest in constitutional law, motivated in large part by disagreement with the Warren Court decisions," Judge Alito wrote. He singled out that court's decisions in matters of criminal procedure, the separation of church and state, and the reapportionment of state voting districts to ensure minority groups were equally represented. "In capsule form," Judge Alito wrote, "I believe very strongly in limited government, federalism, free enterprise, the supremacy of the elected branches of government, the need for a strong defense and effective law enforcement, and the legitimacy of a government role in protecting traditional values." Judge Alito wrote that he was "a life-long registered Republican" who had contributed to Republican candidates as well as to the National Conservative Political Action Committee, a pillar of the political movement that grew out of the Goldwater campaign. He wrote that he was also a member of Concerned Alumni of Princeton. Formed in 1972 to oppose the admission of women to the university, the group moved on to criticize the school's minority admissions, permissive social norms, and religious nondenominational while supporting the selective admission's policies of private student clubs affiliated with the school. Judge Alito also said that within the previous year he had submitted articles for publication in the conservative magazines, National Review and the American Spectator. Neither magazine could locate any of his submissions.

11.12.2005 Fox News: "Ninety-five bishops from President Bush's church said Thursday they repent their "complicity" in the "unjust and immoral" invasion and occupation of Iraq."

11.12.2005 "Frank Rich on the 'flagrant embrace of torture'"

11.12.2005 "About that NIE" By Ivo Daalder

11.11.2005 Thank you John Cusack: "On Bush, the Dems, Jon Stewart, Hunter Thompson, Bill Moyers, and King (not Don)"

11.11.2005 Rays of hope:

But they were forced to postpone a vote on Thursday after failing to win over a crucial dissident, Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine, despite two hours of closed-door talks.
...
Other rank-and-file Republicans said they had to weigh the sentiments of their voters. "You have to listen to the people that live in your district," said Representative Dave Reichert, a freshman Republican from Washington who opposed a provision opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

"My mother-in-law in Florida has 78 options. That's supposed to be good?" says Judith Stein, executive director and founder of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, a private, non-profit group.

She urged consumers to carefully check plan options, as plans may differ on monthly premiums, deductibles and the types of drugs they cover. Annual costs also vary. Choices may become easier in future years, says Stein.

"I suspect the number of choices will diminish," because insurers may not make the profits they expect and leave the program, Stein says.

Article 6 of the Charter of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal established the legal basis for trying individuals accused of the following acts: Crimes against peace: the planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing. (emphasis added)

11.10.2005 Center for Constitutional Rights

As allegations of secret CIA torture facilities around the world dominate the headlines and the detainees at Guantánamo Bay continue their hunger strike, the Center for Constitutional Rights has received word that Senator Graham of South Carolina is planning to introduce an amendment to the defense appropriations bill that would strip the federal courts of jurisdiction and prohibit them from even hearing arguments against indefinite detention not only from Guantánamo detainees, but from anyone who has the misfortune of finding themselves at any U.S.-run facility anywhere. Even within the United States

President Bush's Walkabout

After President Bush's disastrous visit to Latin America, it's unnerving to realize that his presidency still has more than three years to run. An administration with no agenda and no competence would be hard enough to live with on the domestic front. But the rest of the world simply can't afford an American government this bad for that long.

11.9.2005 "US Army Admits Use of White Phosphorus as Weapon" Steven D at Kos

11.9.2005 "Report Warned C.I.A. on Tactics In Interrogation" By DOUGLAS JEHL

The Black Sites

11.9.2005 "CONGRESS -- SOME LEAKS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OTHERS:"
See also: "Bungling meant leak letter leaked" By Alexander Bolton

11.8.2005 E&P: "Another Leak Probe? GOP Calls for Investigation into 'Wash Post' Scoop on CIA 'Black Sites"

"If accurate, such an egregious disclosure could have long-term and far-reaching damaging and dangerous consequences, and will imperil our efforts to protect the American people and our homeland from terrorist attacks," Frist and Hastert said in a letter to Senate and House intelligence committee chairmen .

11.8.2005 Dana Priest: "CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons - Debate Is Growing Within Agency About Legality and Morality of Overseas System Set Up After 9/11"

It depends on the cooperation of foreign intelligence services, and on keeping even basic information about the system secret from the public, foreign officials and nearly all members of Congress charged with overseeing the CIA's covert actions
...
The black-site program was approved by a small circle of White House and Justice Department lawyers and officials,
...
The original standard for consigning suspects to the invisible universe was lowered or ignored, they said. "They've got many, many more who don't reach any threshold," one intelligence official said.
...
"It's just a horrible burden," said the intelligence official.

11.7.2005 Dana Priest:

In recent months, Cheney has been the force against adding safeguards to the Defense Department's rules on treatment of military prisoners, putting him at odds with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon R. England. On a trip to Canada last month, Rice interrupted a packed itinerary to hold a secure video-teleconference with Cheney on detainee policy to make sure no decisions were made without her input.

Just last week, Cheney showed up at a Republican senatorial luncheon to lobby lawmakers for a CIA exemption to an amendment by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that would ban torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners. The exemption would cover the CIA's covert "black sites" in several Eastern European democracies and other countries where key al Qaeda captives are being kept
...
Rice has emerged as an advocate for changing the rules to "get out of the detainee mess," said one senior U.S. official familiar with discussions.
...
Graham said he has not heard any concerns from the CIA suggesting it needs an exemption from the McCain amendment. The CIA declined to comment.

So where can we find Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi this week? Well, we'll find him in Washington. He has an appointment to sit down and break bread with Treasury Secretary Snow and the secretary of state, Condoleezza rice, and then a little later this week he's going to give a speech to the American Enterprise Institute.

Does this sound like a man under active investigation or a man who is being actively lauded by this administration?

I don't understand this. While the Department of Justice is actively investigating this man for wrongdoing that could have endangered American troops and American lives, the Department of State and the Department of the Treasury are hosting him like some dignitary

11.7.2005 The New Republic via Carpetbagger:

Take Paul J. Bonicelli, who was just appointed to oversee the U.S. Agency for International Development's democracy and governance programs, which play a vital role in Bush's efforts to democratize Iraq and the broader Middle East.

No doubt, Bonicelli will be a welcome addition. After all, he isn't just any run-of-the-mill Bush hack. He's an academic. Just before his appointment, Bonicelli served as dean of academic affairs at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia, a fundamentalist institution whose motto is "For Christ and for liberty," and which has had notable success placing its students in White House internships. Patrick Henry College requires all its affiliates to sign a "statement of faith" indicating that they believe "Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, is God come in the flesh," "Jesus Christ literally rose bodily from the dead," and "all who die outside of Christ shall be confined in conscious torment for eternity."

How brilliant: If bringing democracy to the Middle East is the Bush administration's crusade (and Muslims have been very touchy about Bush's use of that word), why not put a real evangelist in charge? No doubt Muslims the world over will welcome someone looking to save them, not just from oppressive regimes, but from "conscious torment for eternity" as well.

Carpetbagger: So, to summarize, the man Bush tapped to coordinate our military intelligence in the war on terror also happened to be an anti-Muslim religious zealot, while the man Bush tapped to help bring democracy to the Middle East is a Christian evangelist who teaches at a fundamentalist college."

The Wall Street Journal's editorial page today offered a spirited defense of Ellen Sauerbrey, President Bush's choice to be Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, despite her obvious lack of qualifications. In its reasoning, the paper badly misstated important facts.
...
Despite overwhelming evidence, the administration ultimately overruled Colin Powell and both houses of Congress and became the first president in four decades to pull U.S. financial support for the U.N. Population Fund. The reason? Alleged ties between the Fund and forced abortions in China. (They really do "make their own reality.")

There have now been a number of press reports about the alleged FBI investigation into the forgeries story. The Bureau has stated publicly that they have closed the investigation and that they did so after determining that there were no political motives behind the hoax, only a desire to make money. They made that determination without figuring out who forged them or even talking to the guy at the center of the story. And the reasons they're giving for not talking to him are, frankly, bogus.

None of that adds up.

Something's wrong.

I do wonder, though, about the window through which Alito was gazing at the social world in which the controversy arose. Was he perhaps viewing the ''burden" on married women in this situation as simply their due, as something that goes with the territory when a woman weds and thus, almost by definition, as no ''undue" burden?
...
Today's controversies over liberty, equality, personal privacy, and government power have implicated practices from body cavity searches to infrared surveillance of home life to spousal or parental involvement in abortion. Tomorrow's may involve questions about cloning body parts, implanting once-frozen embryos, deploying genetic screening or brain scans, and heaven knows what else. Slogans about just following ''settled law" as though it were a computer application, sticking to the text's ''original meaning" as if that were a matter of scientific fact, never ''legislating from the bench" as if judges ever think they're doing that, remaining within an imagined ''mainstream," and by all means respecting precedent -- particularly so-called ''super-precedent" -- offer precious little insight into how a justice might actually approach these brave new worlds.

If we care, we'd better stop the charade of pressing the nominee to tell us where he or she ''really" stands on buzzwords like privacy or states' rights and start probing for clues to the nominee's basic ways of understanding society and law's place within it. Only then will the confirmation process be worthy of the Constitution it guards.

11.6.2005 CNN: "A quarter of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are on hunger strikes"

11.6.2005 "The Mysterious Death of Pat Tillman" By Frank Rich

11.7.2005 Archaeologists Discover Ancient Church near the biblical site of Armageddon.

11.7.2005 Washingon Post re Library Connection Inc. v. Gonzales

A national security letter cannot be used to authorize eavesdropping or to read the contents of e-mail. But it does permit investigators to trace revealing paths through the private affairs of a modern digital citizen. The records it yields describe where a person makes and spends money, with whom he lives and lived before, how much he gambles, what he buys online, what he pawns and borrows, where he travels, how he invests, what he searches for and reads on the Web, and who telephones or e-mails him at home and at work.
...
"The beef with the NSLs is that they don't have even a pretense of judicial or impartial scrutiny," said former representative Robert L. Barr Jr. (Ga.), who finds himself allied with the American Civil Liberties Union after a career as prosecutor, CIA analyst and conservative GOP stalwart. "There's no checks and balances whatever on them. It is simply some bureaucrat's decision that they want information, and they can basically just go and get it."
...
Under the old legal test, the FBI had to have "specific and articulable" reasons to believe the records it gathered in secret belonged to a terrorist or a spy. Now the bureau needs only to certify that the records are "sought for" or "relevant to" an investigation "to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities."
...
Barr, the former congressman, said that "the abuse is in the power itself."
"As a conservative," he said, "I really resent an administration that calls itself conservative taking the position that the burden is on the citizen to show the government has abused power, and otherwise shut up and comply."

Vice President Dick Cheney made an unusual personal appeal to Republican senators this week to allow CIA exemptions to a proposed ban on the torture of terror suspects in U.S. custody, according to participants in a closed-door session.

Cheney told his audience the United States doesn't engage in torture, these participants added, even though he said the administration needed an exemption from any legislation banning "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment in case the president decided one was necessary to prevent a terrorist attack.

Indeed, when one studies the indictment, and carefully reads the transcript of the press conference, it appears Libby's saga may be only Act Two in a three-act play. And in my view, the person who should be tossing and turning at night, in anticipation of the last act, is the Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney.
...
So if Libby can take the heat for a time, he and his former boss (and friend) may get through this. But should Republicans lose control of the Senate (where they are blocking all oversight of this administration), I predict Cheney will resign "for health reasons."

"Former CPB Chairman Ken Tomlinson Resigns ... Tomlinson came under heavy fire for adding conservative shows to balance what he saw as liberal bias, and for hiring an outside consultant to gauge the bias in shows, particularly Now with Bill Moyers."

NYT: Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the head of the federal agency that oversees most government broadcasts to foreign countries, including the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, is the subject of an inquiry into accusations of misuse of federal money and the use of phantom or unqualified employees, officials involved in that examination said on Friday.

11.3.2005 "A quiet piece of jurisprudence that should be made to resound like trumpets is a 12th Judicial Circuit case that I have been following." Aaron

11.2.2005

Ed Kilgore: Nathan Newman is absolutely right: yesterday's approval of a Colorado ballot initiative relaxing the robo-fiscal-policy provisions of TABOR is a really big deal.
...
But I'd like to be more specific: this result is a particular setback for conservative uber-lobbyist Grover Norquist; for his longstanding efforts to dictate state fiscal policies from Washington; and for the crazy-quilt GOP coalition he has done so much to shepherd based on the principle of mutual irresponsibility

Nathan Newman: The idiocy of the TABOR rule was not only that it limited tax revenue to inflation and growth of the population-- irrespective of any additional needs such as health costs rising faster than inflation-- it also meant that if there was a recession and falling tax revenues, the "benchmark" was ratched downward and future budget limits were permanently decreased.

The sanctions for such disclosure are contained in Section 5.7 of the executive order. That section says that “the agency head, senior agency official or other supervisory official shall, at a minimum, promptly remove the classification authority of any individual who demonstrates reckless disregard or a pattern of error in applying the classification standards of this order.” Any reasonable reading of the events covered in the indictment would consider Rove’s behavior “reckless.” The fact that he discussed Plame’s identity with reporters more than once constitutes a pattern.

And so we find ourselves joining together to fight a $90 billion company bent on unilaterally changing copyright law to their benefit and in turn denying publishers and authors the rights granted to them by the U.S. Constitution.
...
Authors may be the first targets in Google's drive to make the intellectual property of others a cost-free inventory for delivery of its ad content, but we will hardly be the last. Media companies, engineering firms, software designers, architects, scientists, manufacturers, entertainers and professional services firms all produce products that could easily be considered for "fair use" by Google.
...
And so, five publishing companies on behalf of the entire publishing industry and the Author's Guild have filed two major lawsuits against Google seeking to stop this plan and deter such conduct in the future.

Has anyone noticed that the coverup worked?

In his impressive presentation of the indictment of Lewis "Scooter" Libby last week, Patrick Fitzgerald expressed the wish that witnesses had testified when subpoenas were issued in August 2004, and "we would have been here in October 2004 instead of October 2005."

Note the significance of the two dates: October 2004, before President Bush was reelected, and October 2005, after the president was reelected. Those dates make clear why Libby threw sand in the eyes of prosecutors, in the special counsel's apt metaphor, and helped drag out the investigation.

As long as Bush still faced the voters, the White House wanted Americans to think that officials such as Libby, Karl Rove and Vice President Cheney had nothing to do with the leak campaign to discredit its arch-critic on Iraq, former ambassador Joseph Wilson.

Here we have a judicial nominee who is somewhere to the right of Darth Vader (at least on the gun issue), who backs strip searches for little 10-year-old girls, who believes the word "women" is a contraction of "wombs for men," and who would probably approve of a corporate employment policy that required black men to dress up in jockey costumes and stand outside on the lawn holding little lanterns.

11.1.2005 Billmon:"Casey as the Bat"

11.1.2005 "What the Alito Nomination Means for Constitutional Law" Prof. Jack Balkin

Put another way, to understand what Alito's appointment means for constitutional doctrine, instead of focusing on Alito's views (which one assumes are reliably conservative), one needs to focus on Kennedy's.

• Baghdad Burning
• Billmon
• Carpetbagger
• Christian Coalition Ratings
• Steven C. Clemons
• DAOU (Subscription)
• Digby
• Maureen Dowd
• Drudge
• Gen. JC Christian, patriot
• The Huffington Post
• Headingleft, Sander and Aaron
• Memeorandum
• No More Mister Nice Blog
• Publius
• Wikipedia
• Farid Zakaria

Guantanamo ... Social Security ... Wilson/Plame Timeline ... Judicial Nominations

The Scalito, Mafia PDF

Alphabet Soup

The Project for the New American Century's Statement of Principles, and its pre-2000 writings about Iraq.

The U.S. Constitution
See also

Civil Disobedience, by Henry David Thoreau

Kos: Katrina Timeline

US Code, Section 793 Espionage and Censorship

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