KSM Refuses Lawyer Because of All the Legal Same Sex Marriage in the US
KSM says he doesn't want a lawyer because same sex marriage is permitted in the US. Do you think it's worth telling him that, in 48 states, he's wrong?
The DHS Report on Maher Arar
Marty Lederman links
to the DHS OIG report on Maher Arar's transfer to and subsequent torture in Syria. It's really really ugly reading, even though they've obviously redacted a lot of the paragraphs that ought to reveal the decision making process by which we decided sending Arar home to Canada or even to Switzerland so instead sent him to be tortured (many of the redacted paragraphs are marked with "U's,"
Whitehouse: Bush's Lies "Rot the Very Fiber of Democracy"
Sheldon Whitehouse's speech on Bush's lies to bring us to war.
Phase II Report Working Thread
The SSCI has released (finally) the remaining reports on Iraq intelligence. I'm printing them out and beginning to read. If you want to read, too, use this thread to talk about what you've found.Report on how Bush and Cheney said things that the intelligence didn't supportReport on how Dougie "stupidest fucking guy on the planet" Feith set up his own intelligence shop to bypass the professionals For a background, here's McClatchy.
Fitzgerald to Conyers: "Okay, Now I'm Ready to Talk"
Patrick Fitzgerald sure seems to be sending Congress a message that he can now talk about the evidence revealed in the Rezko trial that Karl Rove tried to get him fired.
The JAG Dismisses the Unitary Executive
Golly. The JAG doesn't think much of John Yoo's unitary executive theories.
DOD Contract Goes to Known Money-Launderer
Gaith Pharaon was a key player in the BCCI scandal--the Saudi playboy who schmoozed the people in the US who allowed BCCI to purchase banks in the US. Apparently, we're now back in business with him, buying oil for Bagram Air Base.
Goldwater and Kennedy, or Lincoln and Douglas?
McCain envisions Goldwater and Kennedy. Obama envisions Lincoln and Douglas. What does that say about their conception of their own campaigns?
Bush's DOJ: Okay, Maybe We Won't Imprison Siegelman for 30 Years
Siegelman's prosecutors just gave up their appeal to keep Don Siegelman in jail for 30 years.
John Yoo v. Alice Fisher and Michael Chertoff
The Yoo Torture Memo claims that OLC had consulted with the Criminal Division about which statutes would not be applied to the military during the conduct of war:
The Criminal Division concurs in our conclusion that these canons of construction preclude the application of the assault, maiming, interstate stalking, and torture statutes to the military during the conduct of a war.
Did Condi Speak with Bush about Rove's So-Called Innocence? Or about the NIE?
Along with the transcripts of Bush and Cheney's interviews with Fitzgerald, Waxman is asking for the unredacted interview transcripts of a bunch of people who had conversations with Bush and/or Cheney about the leak. Most of them are people whose conversations with the President and Vice President wealready knew about. The exception is Condi. What kind of conversation did Condi have with Bush and Cheney about the leak?
Waxman Closing in on Dick Cheney for Outing Valerie Wilson
Waxman comes awfully close to telling Michael Mukasey that if he continues to withhold the Plame-related documents Waxman has requested, he will be deliberately covering up for the President.
Fieger Acquitted of all Charges
Though there was no question that Fieger reimbursed employees for their donations to john Edwards, the government could not prove that Fieger knowingly broke the law.
Novak, That's Because the Trial Wasn't about YOUR Leak
Poor Novak. Scottie's book is cutting through the narrative that he cultivated so carefully about the CIA Leak case.
A Recap of the RBC Meeting
A number of people complain that the resolution of MI's delegation accepted by the RBC yesterday was arbitrary. That may be. But it was also based on precisely the concepts that Harold Ickes' affirmed in his argument for the Clinton campaign.
Some Thoughts
As a Michigan voter, the most important thing that happened today was the recognition--on the part of Mark Brewer and Carl Levin--that our January primary was not a real vote. That meant more to me as anything else that happened today--it was more important to me than the numbers that came out of the process.
RBC, the Early Evening Edition
We will deal with Florida first, then Michigan. Limited debate.
Alice Huffman is speaking in support of her proposal to seat all of Florida. She got so much mail in support of seating Florida.
David McDonald opposing this motion, because it asks to go back to a time before it was complicated by campaign interests.
A Little Civility, Please, Lanny
I saw Lanny Davis in the lobby here at the Rules Committee meeting. I had my little video camera and I wanted to ask him what he thought of his good friend Joe Lieberman who was now running around saying Barack Obama is a member of Hamas. But steam was coming out of Lanny's ears and it didn't seem like the best of times.
Anger just isn't the way, Lanny. Politics is a gentleman's game, part of the fine tradition of Cicero and the great orators. We lower ourselves and our American ideals when we lose our temper and engage in this kind of coarse, angry, spittle-flecked vitriol.
I really wanted to introduce myself and give him a hail-fellow-well-met over Lieberman's senate victory (something he is no doubt proud of), but I have to say I feared for my very safety lest I approach him and he not be able to control his terrible temper.
Oh for shame.
When You Break for Lunch at 3PM...
Waiting on the RBC members.
The MI Challenge
The MI delegation is doing a much better job presenting its case than I thought it would.