So now we find out that Bush was actually spying on thousands of innocent Americans AND it led to no worthwhile evidence at all

Atrios has the goods. Time for new Bush talking points. Maybe they'll send Laura out again. Read More......

Bush's poll numbers are at 39% again, be afraid, be afraid!!!

I simply don't take anything these people say seriously anymore. Yeah yeah, we're all gonna die. Tell me something I don't know. Read More......

NYT: Two groups plan lawsuits against Bush warrantless eavesdropping

Tuesday's NYT:

Two leading civil rights groups say they plan to file lawsuits Tuesday against the Bush administration over its domestic spying program to determine whether the operation was used to monitor 10 defense lawyers, journalists, scholars, political activists and other Americans with ties to the Middle East.

The two lawsuits, which are being filed separately by the American Civil Liberties Union in Federal District Court in Detroit and the Center for Constitutional Rights in Federal District Court in Manhattan, are the first major court challenges to the eavesdropping program.

Both groups are seeking to have the courts order an immediate end to the program, which the groups say is illegal and unconstitutional. The Bush administration has strongly defended the legality and necessity of the surveillance program, and officials said the Justice Department would probably vigorously oppose the lawsuits on national security grounds....

One of the A.C.L.U. plaintiffs, Larry Diamond, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, said that a Stanford student studying in Egypt conducts research for him on political opposition groups, and that he worried that communications between them on sensitive political topics could be monitored. "How can we communicate effectively if you risk being intercepted by the National Security Agency?" Mr. Diamond said.

Also named as plaintiffs in the A.C.L.U. lawsuit are the journalist Christopher Hitchens, who has written in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; Barnett R. Rubin, a scholar at New York University who works in international relations; Tara McKelvey, a senior editor at The American Prospect; the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; Greenpeace, the environmental advocacy group; and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the country's largest Islamic advocacy group.

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Senator Reid orders staff to follow new ethics rules even before they're passed by Senate

In an all-staff email sent today by Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid's chief of staff Susan McCue, Senator Reid ordered all of his staff to abide by new, more stringent Senate ethics rules that haven't even yet been passed by the full Senate.

In a nutshell, Senate and House Democrats will introduce this Wednesday a comprehensive set of ethics reforms for the Senate and House. The package is called "The Honest Leadership Act." But Reid isn't waiting to see if the new reforms are passed by the Congress. He's adopting them immediately for his entire staff.

I think we all need to phone 99 other US Senators' office and ask them if they plan to follow Harry Reid's lead and immediately adopt the more stringent ethic rules of The Honest Leadership Act for their offices. Or do they care less about ethics than Harry Reid?

TAKE ACTION:

Use this link to find your Senators' phone numbers and email addresses, then contact both of your Senators and ask them if they will be following Harry Reid's lead by adopting "The Honest Leadership Act" as the new ethics rules for their office. And if not, why not?

Feel free to call now. Why not give them an answering machine full of messages to come to work to in the morning.

Here's the email Reid's chief of staff sent to all staff earlier today:

From: McCue, Susan (Reid)
To: [All Staff]
Sent: Mon Jan 16 19:32:46 2006
Subject:

All Staff:

This Wed, Jan 18, Sen. Reid will be unveiling an unprecedented set of reforms in an Honest Leadership Act to be introduced jointly by Senate and House Democrats. The Honest Leadership Act will clean out the corruption and cronyism that have broken the public's confidence in government, and it will prevent abuses of power in the future

If real reform is going to happen in Washington, Democrats must lead the way. What distinguishes our reform bill is its scope and our commitment to getting it done. To that end, we will walk the talk. Our office will adhere to proposed reforms in the Honest Leadership Act immediately. Every one of you does exemplary work. Team Reid is known for building public trust in government, and we will help fix the parts others have broken.

A key proposal in the Act, known as "The Jack Abramoff Rule," will ban staff and members from receiving gifts, meals and travel from lobbyists. Current office policy follows current Ethics Committee rules allowing gifts and meals under $50 and requiring full disclosure of lobbyist-related travel. Effective tomorrow, these rules will be changed in our office to reflect the Honest Leadership Act Sen. Reid is introducing. As such, no employee in Sen. Reid's federal offices will be allowed to receive any meals, gifts or travel from lobbyists. Our office policy manual will be updated. As with other office policies, any violation of this rule will be subject to disciplinary action up to termination.

Again, each of you bring honor and pride to Senator Reid, the State of Nevada and the country. You represent what good government is all about. These changes are an effort to lead by example and bring others along. Kevin Kayes will be hold a staff briefing on the Honest Leadership Act later this week to ensure everyone understands the provisions of the bill and changes from current policy. Please see Kevin or David McCallum if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Susan

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Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Paul Hackett says GOP has been taken over by religious fanatics

I'm really liking this guy. This is from a Hackett press release today (by the way, THIS is what a press release should be, newsworthy and sent to the right audience):

"The Republican Party has been hijacked by religious fanatics, who are out of touch with mainstream America. Think of the recent comments by Pat Robertson - a religious fanatic by any measure - that the United States should assassinate a democratically elected leader in Venezuela, and that Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment because Sharon wished to trade land for peace."

"Since the Republican Party has been utterly unable to stand for something positive, they have created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, and have pandered to religious fanatics not to vote for something they believe in, but to vote against their fellow Americans with whom they disagree. Those among us who would use religion and politics to divide rather than unite Americans should be ashamed."

And not surprisingly, the Ohio Republican party, that has itself been taken over by far-right extremists who use the word of God to justify bigotry and intolerance, is none too pleased. Of course, the only response the GOP could muster was to accuse Hackett of hating God. That's all the far right can come up with. If you don't endorse the Southern Baptist view of God, if you don't want to pass laws that enshrine the Southern Baptist religion as the law of the all land that ALL of us have to follow, then you hate God.

Then again, these are the same people who think all Catholics worship Satan. So, I'm not sure an attack from them is anything but a badge of honor.

Say what you will, but Paul Hackett is a breath of fresh air. Read more about him here. Read More......

Open thread

Getting ready for part II of 24. Read More......

Patrick Murphy meet my spam filter

I just got spam from some Democrat running for Congress in Pennsylvania. He felt it very important that I know that he helped rebuild some house today. Well bully for him. I'm sure that among the news of Tony Blair wanting to wiretap members of Parliament and Al Gore accusing George Bush of breaking the law you'll all be very interested in me updating you on the latest home-building efforts of some guy you've never heard of.

I don't mean to be bitchy, but I will be. I am getting so much email now that several times a week I simply miss important emails in my in-box. I got an invite to speak at a rather important conference, never saw it. Press requests, no clue. The volume of email is out of control.

Why bring this up? Not to blame you guys who email me and send me great source material. Some of the best stuff on this blog, much of it actually, comes to me from you guys, our readers, via email. We love it, you do amazing work, and you're what makes this blog effective.

But when Patrick Murphy's assistant sends me a press release telling me he helped rebuild the home of a disabled Marine, I want to rip the head off small kittens. This is the kind of crap that all of the top bloggers are getting from clueless people around the country. They add people to email lists without our permission, or just feel the need to send crap all day long.

Well, the crap has got to stop. This isn't just affecting me, it's affecting every high-traffic blogger. It's affecting journalists we're all trying to influence. It's affecting politicians. It's making it so that email is no longer effective and reliable for anybody. And that's bad. Real bad.

Please think before you send an email. Is it really something the person you're sending it to really needs to see, or are you just spamming a lot of people and not carefully considering each recipient's interest?

And for the love of God, don't add anyone to your email list without their permission.

And one more thing. Send me a press release on any topic and you die.

Okay, our two minutes hate is over. And for the record, Mr. Murphy's entire campaign is now permanently in my spam filter, no email from anyone there will ever see my in-box ever again. Read More......

Excerpts of Gore's speech today

Video excerpts in two formats from Politics TV (formerly DemsTV): QUICK TIME and WINDOWS

And watch the entire video of Gore's speech here.

From AFP:

"What we do know about that pervasive wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the president of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and consistently," Gore said during an event honoring Martin Luther King Jr. here.

Speaking on the US public holiday honoring the slain civil rights hero, the former vice president noted that King was himseld the target of secret FBI wiretaps for several years.

"It is especially important to recall that for the last several years of his life, Doctor King was illegally wiretapped, one of the hundred of thousands of Americans whose private communications were intercepted by the US governement during that period," Gore said....

`"Just one month ago, Americans awoke to the shocking news that in spite of this long settled law the executive branch has been secretly spying on large numbers of Americans for the last four years," Gore said.

Gore called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate "what many believe are serious violations".

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I have a dream

(Listen to it here.)

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" Read More......

Gore v. Bush

The transcript of Al Gore's speech today about Bush's illegal domestic spy program. It's good, real good.

...The President and I agree on one thing. The threat from terrorism is all too real. There is simply no question that we continue to face new challenges in the wake of the attack on September 11th and that we must be ever-vigilant in protecting our citizens from harm.

Where we disagree is that we have to break the law or sacrifice our system of government to protect Americans from terrorism. In fact, doing so makes us weaker and more vulnerable.

Once violated, the rule of law is in danger. Unless stopped, lawlessness grows. The greater the power of the executive grows, the more difficult it becomes for the other branches to perform their constitutional roles. As the executive acts outside its constitutionally prescribed role and is able to control access to information that would expose its actions, it becomes increasingly difficult for the other branches to police it. Once that ability is lost, democracy itself is threatened and we become a government of men and not laws...

Read More......

An open letter to our cousins in Great Britain

What does it mean that Tony Blair is considering lifting the ban on wiretapping members of Parliament? It means America isn't the only country willing to throw hundreds of years of history and ideals out the window.

It's bad enough that George Bush has been willing, and able, to challenge and dismantle some of the most basic tenets of our American democracy - the system of checks and balances, an independent judiciary, and the right of a people to be free from government intrusion and persecution - but to see England fall prey to the same simple-minded authoritarian leanings is simply very sad.

Perhaps it's because, as Americans, many of us have always had a somewhat glorified view of Europe.

Europe is the old country. It's where our parents, grandparents, and many of our ancestors and much of our history comes from. While we can understand, begrudgingly and in horror, how Americans could foolishly accept George Bush's growing affinity for the police state, somehow we hoped, we believed, that Europeans were better than that. That the weight of history made Europeans more level-headed than their ADD-riddled American cousins, and that the lessons of recent history (to the extent that World War II is recent), the lessons of what horrors befall nations that refuse to challenge nascent dictators and their police-state paranoia, were more firmly planted in the European mind than the American.

Obviously, we were wrong. Read More......

Open Thread

Keep it coming. Read More......

Newsday covers cell phone records theft story

Good article. And keeps the issue going. Read More......

Religious leaders want IRS investigations of Ohio churches

Call me old fashioned, but I kind of like the separation of church and state that our founding fathers included. Obviously I am not the only one.

In their complaint, the clergy members contend that the two Columbus-area churches, Fairfield Christian Church and the World Harvest Church, which were widely credited with getting out the Ohio vote for President Bush in 2004, have allowed their facilities to be used by Republican organizations, promoted the candidate, J. Kenneth Blackwell, among their members and otherwise violated prohibitions on political activity by tax-exempt groups.

They are asking the I.R.S. to examine whether the churches' tax exemptions should be revoked and are requesting that Mark W. Everson, the federal tax commissioner, seek an injunction to stop what they consider improper activities.

Thirty-one clergy members representing a variety of Christian and Jewish denominations signed the complaint, which was shown to the news media on Sunday. Rabbi Harold J. Berman said he had signed because he was concerned that the line between church and state was becoming blurred. "I think government is clearly impaired when churches get too actively involved in government," he said, "and I think religion gets impaired when government acts in religious affairs."

If churches want to support candidates, don't expect to receive tax exempt status. Let's see how long the IRS takes to respond to this complaint. Read More......

Laura says domestic spying is okay

Well, I guess this probably ends the debate. Laura has spoken:

First lady Laura Bush said Sunday that the U.S. government is right to eavesdrop on Americans with suspected ties to terrorists, but a top Senate Republican joined a chorus of lawmakers who think domestic spying is on shaky legal ground.

"I think the American people expect the United States government and the president to do what they can to make sure there's not an attack by foreign terrorists," Mrs. Bush said just before landing here to begin a four-day stay in West Africa.

She has the talking points down. But, one would like to ask Laura if she would want the government spying on, just say, her daughters. Or maybe looking really closely into her past. Read More......

Earth to McCain: US is over stretched in Iraq

Why even try to talk tough about Iran when the entire world, except perhaps the White House, knows that the US can't even control Iraq let along take on Iran. I know that macho posturing is always the rage within the GOP but those who supported the invasion of Iraq should have known that the war would significantly reduce our options with the real threat, Iran. Let's not be so hasty to prompt another war until the current disaster in Iraq has been sorted. Read More......

GOP Congressman Ney "temporarily" steps down from leadership post

Uh huh..."temporarily" just like Tom DeLay. Read More......

Open thread

Watching "24" on TiVO. Man is this good. It's a lot like watching the Bush administration. Terrorists afoot. Lots of law-breaking by federal agents whose only motivation is to save the country. Except in the case of 24, the law-breaking federal agents actually catch the bad guys rather than needlessly violating the rights of innocent Americans and assorted other foreigners.

Oh yeah. One more thing...

IT'S A TV SHOW. Read More......