Treachery At The Red Rocks Sweat Lodge
You may have seen the story of the deaths at an Arizona retreat sweat lodge in the news over the last week. It is not necessarily our normal fare, but I am oddly captivated by it on several levels.
A self help, wealth and awareness "guru"…
The WaPo's Broccoli Soup
Do you think the leak of Marcus Brauchli's letter to Charles Pelton's lawyer has anything to do with the fact that Brauchli was in charge of the "investigation"?
Movin Trash
Marcy has been moving, and moving sucks. I hate moving. Only positive thing about it is that it makes you sort through your stuff and get rid of crap that you should have thrown out a decade or two ago. Other than that, bleech.
Kobe is…
Hear No Evil, See No Evil
In case you haven't figured out, I've been swamped this week (I drove to CO to help my mom pack up her house so I've been packing boxes for the last several days). Thanks to bmaz for minding the liquor cabinet (and more importantly, for keeping…
Brit High Court Slaps Down US And British Torture Coverup
In a stunning and refreshing decision, the British High Court has overruled the British government's attempt to suppress torture evidence on the US and British treatment of Binyam Mohamed. From The Guardian:
David Miliband, the foreign secretary,…
DOJ Set To Shuck And Jive Judge White In EFF FOIA Case
Just two days ago we were discussing the status of EFF v. ODNI, the FOIA case in NDCA where disclosure is being sought of documents evidencing the telecom lobbying on immunity for corporate participation in Bush’s surveillance program. As…
Stare Indecisis: Obama's Inaction On Judicial Nominations
Michael Fletcher has an article in Friday's Washington Post entitled "Obama Criticized as Too Cautious, Slow on Judicial Posts".
President Obama has not made significant progress in his plan to infuse federal courts with a new cadre of judges,…
Alan Grayson v. the Insurance Industry Hack
Alan Grayson should get another shot at Alex Castellanos, now that he is finally going to be forced to admit he's a paid insurance industry shill.
More NDCA Goodness: Judge Walker Denies Prop 8 Proponents' Motion
As most of you know, Proposition 8 in California is the anti gay marriage provision. Supporters of the basic right to gay marriage sued the State of California after passage of Proposition 8 as a ballot initiative in last falls elections. …
Judge White Thumps The DOJ On EFF FOIA Case
Judge Jeffrey S. White has entered a new order in the NDCA denying the government's request for a stay pending appeal in the telco documents FOIA case brought by the EFF . And he did it before the government ever even really asked for a stay!
Christie Living Large on Our Dime
Some of the documents long FOIAed from Chris Christie's tenure as USA have been released. And they don't have good news for Christie.
Wexler Set To Extinguish Congressional Fire
Robert Wexler, the "Fire Breathing Liberal" may be on the cusp of resigning his seat in Congress. From Post On Politics:
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, will resign from Congress to take a “public policy position,” several Democratic…
Harry Reid's Price Of Failed Leadership
Harry Reid is in electoral trouble in Nevada, he has a very competent challenger looming on the GOP side and liberal and union activists will not be supporting him if he continues his failure to lead.
Order In The Court: Gnarly Orly Sanctions
Oh, this is beautiful. I know I have been on a discipline roll today, but this is too good to pass up. There has been a bit of discipline meted out down south in Georgia. From the Columbus (Georgia) Ledger Enquirer:
In an order today, California…
A Lack Of Party Discipline
Several commenters over the last few weeks have opined that Democratic leadership should flex its muscle and exercise party discipline by punishing recalcitrant moderates who break ranks and vote with the Republicans to filibuster (deny cloture)…
Dems' And Dole's Flaccid Healthcare Advocacy
Last week, former Senator and GOP Presidential candidate Bob Dole went public endorsing President Obama's attempt to reform healthcare. Dole did so over already existing objections by Mitch McConnell and other Republicans. It spite of those…
From the Department of Ironic Reorganization
Lanny Breuer thinks he needs to rearrange the department to better hunt human rights abusers. Me, I think he should just go get Addignton and Cheney.
Wieners versus Coal Plants
Howie Kurtz doesn't think the environmental damage new coal plants do is very visual.
Two Data Points on Section 215 and Bush's Illegal Program
I've been working on adding some of the dates from this FOIA to my warrantless wiretap FOIA, and I wanted to elaborate on two coincidences of timing I pointed out in this post. Mind you, I think we have to assume they're just coincidences at…
Torture Memos
Today at 5 pm EST and 2 pm PST/FDL time, I will be hosting Professor David Cole at FDL for a Book Salon discussion of his new compilation of the bush Administration torture memos. Here is the quick blurb on the book