Okay, can we stop calling this incompetence? Clearly, they have a long-term plan to strip us of any constitutional protections:
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is quietly remaking the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, filling the permanent ranks with lawyers who have strong conservative credentials but little experience in civil rights, according to job application materials [...]

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Okay, kids, Glenn Greenwald has checked in on the Specter bill and yes, it is as bad as we thought:
Yesterday’s significant judicial defeat of the Bush administration in the EFF/AT&T NSA case underscores just how pernicious the Specter FISA bill is, and how urgent it is that it not be enacted. It has been clear [...]

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What a thoughtful gift from BushCo, the rich man’s dream:
The Bush administration will eliminate nearly half of the lawyers who handle gift and estate tax returns, which are filed for the wealthiest Americans. [...]
The Bush administration has passed measures that reduce the number of Americans who are subject to the estate tax — which opponents [...]

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Apparently Pat Robertson is not all that convinced that Jesus is coming.

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Preparing to hit the mattresses:
An adviser to President George W. Bush wants the White House Counsel’s office to “beef up” in case a possibly Democratic controlled House pursues a “tangle of investigations,” according to a Time Magazine web exclusive.
Near the end of an article about how “the crisis in Lebanon has dragged the Administration into [...]

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There’s an “I Stand With Israel” rally in Philly’s Love Park at noon today.

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It’s much more important to look right than actually be right. The Peter Principle lives:
Lt. Col. David Poirier, who commanded a military police battalion attached to the 4th Infantry Division and was based in Tikrit from June 2003 to March 2004, said the division’s approach was indiscriminate. “With the brigade and battalion commanders, it became [...]

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This is Arlen Specter’s explanation of his new proposed surveillance legislation. I don’t know enough about the law to argue this one way or another (although this is the Magic Bullet man), so lawyers, have at it:
The president has insisted that he was acting lawfully within his constitutional responsibilities. On its face, the program seems [...]

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I’m sure our crack Secretary of State will get right on this:
Pakistan has begun building what independent analysts say is a powerful new reactor for producing plutonium, a move that, if verified, would signal a major expansion of the country’s nuclear weapons capabilities and a potential new escalation in the region’s arms race.
Satellite photos of [...]

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You never know:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut on Sunday promised a bruising fight in the U.S. Senate against confirming John Bolton to be the country’s ambassador to the United Nations.
President George W. Bush bypassed the Senate and installed Bolton into the position last year when lawmakers were on recess.
The Senate Foreign [...]

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This one goes out to all of us, but especially to California and Nevada readers:

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Not safe for work, but cool.

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I’d put this plan right up there with “the Iraquis will greet us with flowers! It’ll be great!”

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Jeff Huber.

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1. Please Mr. Postman - The Beatles
2. Kentucky Girl - Emmylou Harris
3. Feets Don’t Fail Me Now - Taj Mahal w/Little Feat
4. The One That Got Away - Tom Waits
5. Ain’t No Way to Do - Rory Block
6. Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O’Connor
7. You’ve Really Got Me - The Kinks
8. After The Love [...]

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Heart-wrenching story from the L.A. Times:
A man with a canister sprayed clouds of formaldehyde over the empty pine boxes; the haze of chemicals caught in the breeze and carried over the crowd. The mourners and townspeople coughed and rubbed tears from reddened eyes.
Then the hospital workers opened the back doors of the refrigerated truck full [...]

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(To read about Matt, click here.)

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This came out yesterday, but I was busy all day and forgot to post it. Big news for political activists:
In the DNC’s rules committee vote today, Nevada was awarded the nation’s second Democratic caucus and South Carolina was given the second Democratic primary, beating out Arizona, DC, and Michigan in the former case and Alabama [...]

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This is the main reason I supported Howard Dean, and I’m happy to see it growing, because it will pay off in the long run:
Here’s what the front line of Howard Dean’s revolution looks like: two dozen senior citizens seated inside this gated community’s clubhouse listening intently as operatives from the state Democratic Party pitch [...]

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Via Noz:

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Via Elayne, the Worldwide Blessing Generator; via Mary Beth, the Jewish Voice for Peace; and Melanie spells out the obvious:
No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.

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New questions about David Kelly:
Alarming new questions about the death of Iraq weapons inspector David Kelly have been raised as a major investigation cast doubt on the official verdict that he committed suicide.
The inquiry by campaigning MP Norman Baker will spark renewed speculation about how the Government’s leading expert on weapons of mass destruction was [...]

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Ken Silverstein at Harpers:
I reported in May that despite the deteriorating situation in Iraq, no National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) has been produced on that country since the summer of 2004. The last NIE, a classified document that the CIA describes as “the most authoritative written judgment concerning a national security issue,” was rejected by the [...]

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Harry Shearer: If you want federal disaster assistance, buy a cow.

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Van Morrison, 1966:

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I’m always hesitant to link to anything even remotely critical of Israel, because it seems impossible to have a rational discussion about it. But this piece by Tom Hayden is so compelling, everyone should read it. (And hopefully have a rational discussion. But I’m not holding my breath.)
In 1982, Israel said the same thing about [...]

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In keeping with today’s theme, Nick Lowe and John Hiatt:

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The FDA: Business as usual. In a survey of 997 FDA scientists, the responses weren’t encouraging.
One hundred eighty three scientists in this sample reported they “have been asked, for non-scientific reasons, to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information or their conclusions in a FDA scientific document.”

There’s more.
The survey also revealed other compelling points of [...]

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Just when you least expect it.

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Juan Cole:
So let’s get this straight. The Israelis warn the small town Shiites of the south to flee their own homes and go hundreds of miles away (and live on what? in what?). But then they intensely bombing them, making it impossible for them to flee. The Lebanese have awoken to find themselves cockroaches.
I repeat, [...]

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