� Surveillance Gone Amok

The Bush Cabal continues their abuse of powers--largely unreported-- while the media obsesses over the McCain/Palin campaign's never-ending, ever more outrageous, distorted character attacks on Senator Barack Obama.

Wake up, people.

ACLU Blog:

In pushing for ever-expanding and unaccountable surveillance authority, the Bush Administration has assured the public that it aims its spying capabilities at serious security threats. But as two government whistleblowers recently revealed to ABC News, surveillance programs touted as critical to protect national security have in fact been used to monitor the private communications of innocent Americans abroad, including humanitarian workers and U.S. service-members. While disturbing, ABC’s report confirms a core contention of the ACLU’s lawsuit challenging Congress’s recent expansion of governmental spying powers: unchecked surveillance authority invades the privacy of innocent Americans, and in doing so, fundamentally undermines the efforts of human rights workers, journalists, and attorneys doing important work around the globe.

Two former military intercept operators — the people who actually intercept, monitor, and collect international telephone and email communications — told ABC News that "hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family back home." The operators worked for the National Security Agency ("NSA"), the spy agency chiefly responsible for international surveillance. They report that NSA routinely listened in on the innocent, and sometimes intimate, conversations of Americans abroad. There were apparently no effective procedures in place to filter out these kinds of communications.

The NSA program went beyond invading the personal privacy of Americans abroad (and their friends and family on the other end of the line). NSA also directed its surveillance powers at well-established humanitarian organizations, like the International Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. As one whistleblower told ABC News: "We knew they were working for these aid organizations. . . . And yet, instead of blocking these phone numbers we continued to collect on them."...

Illustration credit: seattlepi.nwsource.com/.../Cartoon20060214.gif

Technorati tags: Military, ACLU, domestic surveillance, ABC News, NSA, abuse of power, Bush administration

Olbermann: Bush Puts Telecoms Ahead of Citizens

Another special comment from Keith Olbermann worth watching:



Transcript:

In a Presidency of hypocrisy; an Administration of exploitation; a labyrinth of leadership, in which every vital fact is a puzzle inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma hidden under a claim of executive privilege supervised by an idiot, this one, is surprisingly easy.

President Bush has put protecting the Telecom giants from the laws ahead of protecting you from the terrorists.

He has demanded an extension of the FYCA law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but only an extension that includes retroactive immunity for the Telecoms who helped him spy on you.

Congress has given him, and he has signed, a 15-day extension, which simply kicks the time bomb down the field, and has changed nothing of his insipid rhetoric, in which he portrays the Democrats as 'soft on terror' and getting in the way of his Superhuman efforts to protect the nation when, in fact and with bitter irony, if anybody is 'soft on terror' here it is Mr. Bush.

In the State of the Union Address, Sir, you told Congress, "if you do not act by Friday, our ability to track terrorist threats would be weakened and our citizens will be in greater danger."

Yet you are willing to weaken that ability!

You will subject us, your citizens, to that greater danger.

This, Mr. Bush, is simple enough even for you to understand: If Congress approves a new FYCA act without telecom immunity and sends it to your desk and you veto it, you, by your own terms and your own definitions, you will have just sided with the terrorists.

You got to have this law, or we're all going to die. But you might veto this law!

It's bad enough, Sir, that you are demanding an ex post facto law which would clear the phone giants from responsibility for their systematic, aggressive, and blatant collaboration with your illegal and unjustified spying on Americans, under the flimsy guise of looking for any terrorists stupid enough to make a collect call or send a mass e-mail.

But when you then demanded again, during the State of the Union address, that Congress retroactively clear the Verizons and the AT&T's, you wouldn't even confirm that they actually did anything for which they deserved to be cleared!

"The Congress must pass liability protection for companies believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend America."

Believed?

Don't you know?

Does the endless hair-splitting of your presidential fine print, extend even here?

If you, Sir, are asking Congress, and us, to join you in this shameless, breathless, literal, textbook example of fascism; the merged efforts of government and corporations who answer to no government, you still don't have the guts to even say the telecom companies did assist you, in your efforts?

Will you and the equivocators who surround you like a cocoon never go on the record about anything?

Even the stuff you claim to believe in?

Silly me.

Of course Mr. Bush is going to say "believed."

Yes, it sounds dumber than if he had referred to himself as "the alleged president," or had said today was "reportedly Thursday," or had claimed "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq.

But the moment he says anything else, any doubt that the telecoms knowingly broke the law, is out the window, and with it, any chance that even the Republicans who are fighting this like they were trying to fend off terrorists using nothing but broken beer bottles and swear words couldn't consent to retroactively immunize corporate criminals.

Which is why the Vice President probably shouldn't have phoned in to the Rush Limbaugh Propaganda-Festival yesterday.

Sixth sentence out of Mr. Cheney's mouth.

The FYCA bill is about, quote, "retroactive liability protection for the companies that have worked with us and helped us prevent further attacks against the United States."

Oops.

Mr. Cheney is something of a loose cannon, of course.

But he kind of let the wrong cat out of the bag there.

Because Mr. Bush and the corporations he values more than people didn't want anybody to verify what Mark Klein says.

Mark Klein is the AT&T Whistleblower who appeared on this newscast last November... who explained, in the placid, dull terms of your local neighborhood IT desk, how he personally attached all of AT&T's circuits, everything carrying every phone call, every e-mail, every bit of web browsing into a secure room — Room Number 641-A, at the Folsom Street facility in San Francisco, where it was all copied so the government could look at it.

Not some of it; not just the international part of it; certainly not just the stuff some truly patriotic and telepathic spy might be able to divine had been sent or spoken by or to a terrorist.

Everything.

Every time you looked at a naked picture, every time you bid on eBay, every time you phoned-in a donation to a Democrat.

"My thought was 'George Orwell's 1984,'" Mr. Klein told me, reflecting back, "and here I am, being forced to connect the Big Brother machine."

You know, Mr. Bush, if Mr. Klein's "Big Brother Machine" the one the Vice President conveniently just confirmed for us if it was of any damn use at all at actually finding anything, you could probably program it to find out who started that slanderous e-mail about Barack Obama.

Use Room 641-A to identify that assassin, Sir, and I'll stand up and applaud you.

Yeah, I'm holding my breath on that one, too.

But of course, Sir, this isn't about finding that kind of needle in a haystack. This isn't even about finding a haystack. This is about scooping up every piece of hay there ever was, and laying the groundwork for the next little job which you have to outsource to AT&T and Verizon.

It was your Director of National Intelligence, Mr. McConnell, letting this one out of the same bag.

The need for Homeland Security to stave off cyber-attacks against the government's computer networks.

And how do they do that, Sir?

By constantly monitoring the internet, the whole internet.

And who actually, physically, does that, Mr. Bush?

Right. The same Telecom giants for whom you want immunity, quickly. So quickly, you wouldn't believe it.

Because this previous domestic spying, and this upcoming policing of the internet -- they may be completely evil, indiscriminate, unlawful.

So you have to dress it up, as something just the opposite.

It isn't evil it's "to protect America."

It isn't indiscriminate it's "the ability to monitor terrorist communications."

It isn't unlawful it's just the kind of perfectly legal thing, for which you happen to need immunity!

There's yet another level to this, and here we move from Big Brother to Sleazy Son.

Mr. Bush's new Attorney General, Mr. Mukasey, the one who has already taken four different positions on water-boarding, and who may yet tie that record on this subject of telecom immunity, he has a very personal stake in this.

There happens to be a partner in the law firm of Bracewell and Giuliani, named Marc Mukasey. And Bracewell and Giuliani and the Attorney General's son Marc, just happen to represent Verizon.

You know, Verizon — Telecom Giant.

And all of a sudden this is no longer just a farce in which "protecting the Telecoms" is dressed up for us as, "protecting us from terrorist conference calls."

Now it begins to look like the bureaucrats of the Third Reich trying to protect the Krupp Family industrial giants by literally re-writing the laws for their benefit.

And we know how that turned out: Alfried Krupp and eleven of his directors were convicted of War Crimes at Nuremburg.

Nevertheless.

For those of us watching a President demanding this very specific law (the one the Germans had was called the "Lex Krupp") there is one surprising bit of comfort in all this:

Clearly, Mr. Bush is at his hyperbolic worst here.

Consider how his former chief of staff Andy Card came on and scolded Chris Matthews and me after the State of the Union address.

"The President's address tonight was very important," Card said, "because it really was a sobering call to reality for us.

"And the reality is, we have an enemy who wants to hurt us. The primary job of the president to protect us.

"He talked about protecting us. He talked about the needs to have the tools to protect us."

Indeed, Mr. Bush.

The primary job of any president is to protect us.

Not just those of us who own Internet and Telephone companies all of us.

And even you, Sir, with your intermittent grasp of reality, even with your ego greater than a 100-percent approval rating... even with your messianic petulance, even you could not truly choose to protect the corporations instead of the people.

I am not talking about ethics here.

I am talking about blame.

Even if it's you throwing out the baby with the bathwater, Mr. Bush, it still means we can safely conclude, there is no baby!

This is not a choice of protecting the telecoms from prosecution, or protecting the people from terrorists, Sir.

It is a choice of protecting the telecoms from prosecution, or pretending to protect the people from terrorists.

Sorry, Mr. Bush. The eavesdropping provisions of FYCA have obviously had no impact on counter-terrorism, and there is no current or perceived terrorist threat, the thwarting of which could hinge on an e-mail or a phone call going through room 641-A at AT&T in San Francisco next week or next month.

Because if there were, Mr. Bush, and you were to, by your own hand, veto an extension of this eavesdropping, and some terrorist attack were to follow, you would not merely be guilty of siding with the terrorists, you would not merely be guilty of prioritizing the telecoms over the people, you would not merely be guilty of stupidity, you would not merely be guilty of treason but you would be personally, and eternally, responsible.

And if there is one thing we know about you Mr. Bush, one thing that you have proved time and time again under any and all circumstances, it is that you are never responsible.

© 2008 MSNBC Interactive

Technorati tags: Keith Olbermann, Special Comment, telecoms, Bush, video, MSNBC, Countdown

FBI Director's Notes Contradict Gonzales's Version Of Ashcroft Visit

You won't be surprised by this:

Dan Eggen (WAPO) reports:

"Then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft was "feeble," "barely articulate" and "stressed" moments after a hospital room confrontation in March 2004 with Alberto R. Gonzales, who wanted Ashcroft to approve a warrantless wiretapping program over Justice Department objections, according to notes from FBI...."

Update:

• Judges May Release Wiretap Documents

  Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times reports that a secret intelligence court may consider an "unprecedented" request by the American Civil Liberties Union to unseal highly classified terrorist surveillance documents. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ordered the government to respond on the issue by August 31.

• NYTimes: The Founders Had an Idea for Handling Alberto Gonzales


• Matt Renner | Notes Show Ashcroft Kept in Dark on Spying:

  "Notes from FBI Director Robert Mueller, released Thursday by Congress, revealed that Bush administration officials may have prevented Attorney General John Ashcroft from conducting a review of a spying program, while at the same time attempting to gain Ashcroft's approval of the program...."

Technorati tags: FBI, Washington Post, Dan Eggen, John Ashcroft, Aberto Gonzales, Justice Department, Robert Mueller, White House, Warrantless Wiretapping, news

ACLU Slams Appeals Court Decision in NSA Surveillance Case

Court Allows Bush Administration to Continue Illegal Wiretapping:

CINCINNATI - In a 2-1 decision, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals today dismissed a legal challenge to the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program. The challenge was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of prominent journalists, scholars, attorneys and national nonprofit organizations who say that the unchecked surveillance program is disrupting their ability to communicate effectively with sources and clients.

Even though the plaintiffs alleged a well-founded fear that their communications were subject to illegal surveillance, the court dismissed the case because plaintiffs could not state with certainty that they had been wiretapped by the National Security Agency.

The following quote can be attributed to ACLU Legal Director Steven R. Shapiro:

“We are deeply disappointed by today’s decision that insulates the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance activities from judicial review and deprives Americans of any ability to challenge the illegal surveillance of their telephone calls and e-mails. As a result of today’s decision, the Bush administration has been left free to violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which Congress adopted almost 30 years ago to prevent the executive branch from engaging in precisely this kind of unchecked surveillance.

“It is important to emphasize that the court today did not uphold the legality of the government’s warrantless surveillance activity. Indeed, the only judge to discuss the merits clearly and unequivocally declared that the warrantless surveillance was unlawful.

“We are currently reviewing all of our legal options, including taking this challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the meantime it is now more important than ever for Congress to engage in meaningful oversight.”

On June 27, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy issued subpoenas to the White House, Vice President and the Justice Department for documents about warrantless surveillance. The deadline for compliance is July 18.

Today’s decision is online at:
www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/07a0253p-06.pdf

Also See:

• Adam Liptak, New York Times reports:

  "A divided federal appeals court yesterday dismissed a case challenging the National Security Agency’s program to wiretap without warrants the international communications of some Americans, reversing a trial judge’s order that the program be shut down.
  
  The majority in a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, ruled on a narrow ground, saying the plaintiffs, including lawyers and journalists, could not show injury direct and concrete enough to allow them to have standing to sue.
  
  Because it may be impossible for any plaintiff to demonstrate injury from the highly classified wiretapping program, the effect of the ruling was to insulate it from judicial scrutiny. Thus, the program’s secrecy is proving to be its best legal protection...."

Technorati tags: ACLU, Illegal Wiretapping, Courts, U.S. Justice System, Bush Administration, news

New NSA Whistleblower Speaks

David Swanson | Truthout:

"A former member of US military intelligence has decided to reveal what she knows about warrantless spying on Americans and about the fixing of intelligence in the leadup to the invasion of Iraq...."

Technorati tags: David Swanson, Truthout, Warrantless Eavesdropping, Whistleblower, Iraq, Intelligence, news

Bush's Monica Problem: The Gonzales Mess

Michael Isikoff and Evan Thomas report for Newsweek:

Almost 30 DOJ Officials Threatened To Resign Over Gonzales Hospital Visit To Ashcroft....

... and According to Newsweek, President Bush's role "has remained shadowy throughout the controversy over the eavesdropping program. But there are strong suggestions that he was an active presence. On the night after [former AG John] Ashcroft's operation, as Ashcroft lay groggy in his bed, his wife, Janet, took a phone call. It was Andy Card, asking if he could come over with [Alberto] Gonzales [now attorney general] to speak to Ashcroft. Mrs. Ashcroft said no, her husband was too sick for visitors. The phone rang again, and this time Mrs. Ashcroft acquiesced to a visit from the White House officials. Who was the second caller - one with enough power to persuade Mrs. Ashcroft to relent? The former Ashcroft aide who described this scene would not say, but senior DOJ officials had little doubt who it was - the president." ...

Technorati tags: Newsweek, Bush, Michael Isikoff, Evan Thomas, Domestic Eavesdropping, Gonzales, Monica Goodling, John Ashcroft, news

Bush's Complicity in Illegal Spying

President Intervened in Dispute Over Eavesdropping
By David Johnston
The New York Times

"President Bush intervened in March 2004 to avert a crisis over the National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping program after Attorney General John Ashcroft, Director Robert S. Mueller III of the F.B.I. and other senior Justice Department aides all threatened to resign, a former deputy attorney general testified Tuesday.

Mr. Bush quelled the revolt over the program’s legality by allowing it to continue without Justice Department approval, also directing department officials to take the necessary steps to bring it into compliance with the law, according to Congressional testimony by the former deputy attorney general, James B. Comey.

Although a conflict over the program had been disclosed in The New York Times, Mr. Comey provided a fuller account of the 48-hour drama, including, for the first time, Mr. Bush’s role, the threatened resignations and a race as Mr. Comey hurried to Mr. Ashcroft’s hospital sickbed to intercept White House officials, who were pushing for approval of the N.S.A. program...."

Also See:

• Mr. Gonzales's Incredible Adventure:

  There are clues in the testimony of a former deputy attorney general and in earlier testimony by Alberto Gonzales that suggest that the president initially ordered broader surveillance than he and his aides have acknowledged.

Technorati tags: Bush, Wiretapping, Domestic Eavesdropping, NSA, news

Enough Already!

• A Nation in Silent Anger
  By Manuel Valenzuela

  "...Can you feel the betrayal of millions who for decades have been made to believe in the American myth of a nation benign and altruistic, only to become aware that only wickedness, greed and criminality define the Empire, that beyond the smoke and mirrors America's government is ruthless, corporatist and concerned only for the interests of the elite?..."

• "Are we headed for another Great Depression?"
  My talks with Elaine Meinel Supkis
  By Mike Whitney

  "...Our empire won't retreat from its distant borders but these same borders are bankrupting us for we never recovered from the Vietnam War, we literally papered over the mess which remained and continues to poison our nation. The military/industrial complex is not making us rich, it is making us poorer. And the paper being laid over all this is the same paper the Germans used in 1924 to paper over their own bankruptcy: printed money...."

• The War on Democracy
  An Interview - Audio Q & A With John Pilger

  John Pilger, talked about his new film: The War on Democracy which comes out on June 15th and takes a look at Latin America. The man himself says: "I've long regarded Latin America as the source of hopes of freedom from poverty for the very poor, and the current, extraordinary rising of millions against the old order is defying all the stereotypes."

• Inside Sadr City
  By Pepe Escobar
  Asia Times

  BAGHDAD - This is the 24-square-kilometer theater where a great part of Iraq's future is already being played out; a vital element in US President George W Bush's surge; the place Pentagon generals dream of smashing into submission; one of the largest and arguably most notorious slums in the world: Sadr (formerly Saddam) City.
  
  Sadr City is also, along with Gaza and the West Bank, the theater of the already evolving 21st-century war, pitting the high-tech Western haves against the slum-dwelling Third World have-nots. If the Bush administration had any intention of conquering any hearts and minds in Iraq, this is where it would be trying the hardest. Reality spells otherwise...."

• Feingold Rejects Compromise, Pushes Exit Strategy
  By John Nichols
  The Nation

  "Fifty-seven percent of Americans say that Congress should not compromise with President Bush in the Iraq War funding fight. That's the number that, according to a new CNN poll, wants Congress to give Bush another bill with a withdrawal timetable.
  
  
  Unfortunately, not all the Democrats on the Hill want to push back quite that hard. There is serious talk of giving Bush a substantial portion of the money with no strings attached and then returning to the issue later this year.
  
  
  Such a move would highlight the failure of all the major players to step up to the challenge the Iraq imbroglio poses...."

• Bush to veto new Iraq Bill
  The Daily Telegraph

  "THE White House has warned Democrats that President George W. Bush would veto an Iraq funding Bill that would bankroll the war in Iraq for just three months...."

• POLL: Most Americans back Iraq Pullout Timetable
  Reuters AlterNet

  "Six out of 10 U.S. adults support setting a timetable for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, even though a clear majority predict civil war there if U.S. forces withdraw next year, according to a poll published on Wednesday...."

• Pelosi threat to sue Bush over Iraq bill
  By Jonathan E. Kaplan and Elana Schor
  The Hill

  "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is threatening to take President Bush to court if he issues a signing statement as a way of sidestepping a carefully crafted compromise Iraq war spending bill.
  
  Pelosi recently told a group of liberal bloggers, 'We can take the president to court' if he issues a signing statement, according to Kid Oakland, a blogger who covered Pelosi's remarks for the liberal website dailykos.com...."

• Afghan MPs demand end to military offensives
  Guardian Unlimited

  "Afghan MPs today called for an end to military offensives by international forces amid reports that 21 civilians had died in a wave of US-led air strikes yesterday...."

• CIA-backed raid 'killed 50 Afghan villagers'
  By Tom Coghlan in Kabul
  Telegraph

  "Military specialists with the CIA were among a US force accused of killing more than 50 civilians during the hunt for a Taliban commander in Afghanistan...."

• Afghanistan | No way to win hearts and minds
  Economist.com

  The killing of large numbers of civilians by American forces, through indisciplined firing or as a result of their heavy reliance on air-strikes, has been a bitter feature of the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq-just as it was in Vietnam.

• Internet Calls Subject To Phone Tapping
  By Eric Thomas
  ABC News

  "Companies that provide Internet phone service have just six days to meet a deadline from the Justice Department. By next Monday, they'll have to make their systems easier to tap. That's right -- make it easier to secretly listen in on your phone calls, or face daily fines of $10,000 dollars...."

• Mayday Immigration Reform Demonstration: Video

  Watch the video: The police are brutal. It's only a matter of time. (Warning X-Rated Language in Video)

Technorati tags: America, Depression, Police, Iraq, Afghanistan, Domestic Spying, Democracy, Immigration

WATCH OUT: Bush Is At It Again

Spying on Americans
New York Times Editorial

"For more than five years, President Bush authorized government spying on phone calls and e-mail to and from the United States without warrants. He rejected offers from Congress to update the electronic eavesdropping law, and stonewalled every attempt to investigate his spying program. Suddenly, Mr. Bush is in a hurry. He has submitted a bill that would enact enormous, and enormously dangerous, changes to the 1978 law on eavesdropping. It would undermine the fundamental constitutional principle -- over which there can be no negotiation or compromise -- that the government must seek an individual warrant before spying on an American or someone living here legally...."

Read more.

Illustration: Hardnewsnow.com (via thruthdig)

Also See:

• The Raw Story | Top officials: Bush can still wiretap US citizens without warrant

Technorati tags: Wiretapping, Eavesdropping, Surveillance of Citizens by Government, Bush, Politics, Government, news, commentary

Beyond Imus: Drowned-Out News

Administration Seeks to Expand Surveillance Law:

"The Bush administration yesterday asked Congress to make more non-citizens subject to intelligence surveillance and to authorize the interception of foreign communications routed through the United States...."

NIH Drops Contractor For Conflict of Interest:

"The federal government yesterday fired a contractor it had hired to review the safety of chemicals after discovering the company has been simultaneously working for the chemical industry...."

Rare Protests at Brigham Young Over a Planned Cheney Appearance:

"The invitation extended to Vice President Dick Cheney to be the commencement speaker at Brigham Young University has set off a rare, continuing protest at the Mormon university, one of the nation's most conservative.

Some of the faculty and the 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students, who are overwhelmingly Republican, have expressed concern about the Bush administration's support for the war in Iraq and other policies, but most of the current protest has focused on Mr. Cheney's integrity, character and behavior. Several students said, for example, that they were appalled at Mr. Cheney's use of an expletive on the Senate floor in a June 2004 exchange with Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont...."

Dollar Slide Accelerates:

"The dollar's slide against most of the world's currencies gained pace today as dealers worried over the outlook for the US economy...."

Pelosi: "The president is not king:"

"NP: The president is not king, the president is the president of the United States.� America is a democracy.� We have to make decisions based on our judgment.� Thus far, the president's judgment hasn't been good, in terms of say for example the war on Iraq.� So with all due respect to the president and the role he has, we want respect for the role we have.� And members of Congress have gone on fact finding trips since our country began.� We're not going to stop because the president wants to avoid the facts and doesn't want to engage in dialogue.� We had a bipartisan trip, interesting that the administration chose to ignore the trips of the Republicans who had been there in the week that we were there.�..."

A Bad Choice, a Quick Exit:

"The story of Eric Keroack's brief stint as director of family planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services brings together three familiar Bush administration themes: a disdain for women's reproductive health and rights, the sacrifice of science to ideology and incompetence...."

Dodd Challenges All Presidential Candidates To Lead On Ending War:

"Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, gave an amazing speech last night in Iowa that discussed America's place in the world, the need to rebuild United States prestige in the wake of the George W. Bush presidency and the imperative to exit the Iraq civil war far sooner than later.'Our policy is not only failing to make Iraq more secure. By sapping our military of its strength and America of its leadership in the world, the Bush/McCain policy has made America less secure,' said Dodd of the ill-advised troop surge that has shown no results. 'The hour is late. It is time to begin putting our country on a more secure path. The moment has arrived for leadership that stands up and announces without equivocation that prolonging this war will not make us more secure -- ending it will....'"

A Hollow Army - How the Bush Regime Broke America's Military:

"Richard Blair: Four years and one surge into the occupation of Iraq, the Bush regime has broken America's standing Army...."

Kurdistan's Covert Back-Channels:

"How an ex-Mossad chief, a German uberspy, and a gaggle of top-dollar GOP lobbyists helped Kurdistan snag 15 tons of $100 bills...."

Najaf Estimates Split along Liberal/Conservative Reliable/Unreliable Divide:

"In the war of numbers, it's the Pentagon and the far right blogs against everyone else....

Rove and Co. Broke Federal Law With Email Scam:

"Not only were those emails were meant to be lost, but the whole deal was illegal....

Presidential Candidate: U.S. In Danger of Dictatorship:

"Presidential candidate Ron Paul has warned that the US is now at a crisis point because the people have been so neglectful of protecting their liberties and big government has been so effective in eroding them. He warned that the elite are prepared to concoct events to scare the American people and asserted that the 2008 Presidential election is a contest between the people who care about their freedoms and those who are willing to succumb to the temptations of dictatorship...."

Technorati tags: Domestic Spying, Bush, NIH, Dick Cheney, U.S. Economy, Nancy Pelosi, Chris Dodd, Military, Pentagon, Kurdistan, Ron Paul, Karl Rove, Abuse of Power