Excellent news...Congress cut funding for Byrne Grants and local cops say the war on drugs will suffer.

Congress in January cut funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant by two-thirds, from $520 million to $170 million for fiscal 2008. Local agencies say that's a threat to the officers who do much of the law enforcement spadework.

One of the results of Byrne Grants: Tulia, Texas.

Best-known is a case in Tulia, Texas, where a 1999 Byrne-funded investigation led to the cocaine arrests of 46 people, most of them black, on evidence so flimsy that 38 were pardoned by Gov. Rick Perry in 2003. The undercover agent responsible for the arrests was convicted of perjury and the defendants got a $5 million settlement from the state.

The Texas ACLU has identified more than a dozen other Byrne-funded operations it says were abusive and several other states have investigated similar complaints. Texas has imposed strict limits on Byrne-funded drug task forces.

The meth busters are upset. They probably don't need to worry, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will help them out. They support Byrne Grants. Here's record on anti-meth bills. Of course, the problem with these meth bills is they end up increasing the supply from Mexico. [More...]

By Big Tent Democrat

Here is an interesting development, as Jeralyn notes, Hillary Clinton reacted strongly to an Obama mailer that she claimed is filled with untruths.

I am well past mentioning the hypocrisy of Obama's decrying negative attacks, and that of the Media, as [an Obama blogger and] Rick Hertzberg demonstrates in this quote at the Obama site:

[HERTZBERG -] "Going negative" has been a bust. It could never be anything but a bust, because there is no audience for it in the Democratic Party...

[OBAMA BLOGGER] - Let's let Hillary know that the American people are sick and tired of negative attacks and want something new.

No, I am too familiar with the Obama Rules by now. My REAL question is this - if this race is over, why is Obama attacking Hillary Clinton?

NOTE - Comments are now closed.

The AP and New York Times report Hillary Clinton is fighting back today.

“Shame on you, Barack Obama,” Mrs. Clinton said at a news conference after a morning rally, holding the flyers and shaking them in the air as she spoke. “It is time you ran a campaign consistent with your messages in public. That’s what I expect from you. Meet me in Ohio. Let’s have a debate about your tactics and your behavior in this campaign.”

....“Time and time again, you hear one thing in speeches and then you see a campaign that has the worst kind of tactics, reminiscent of the same sort of Republican attacks on Democrats,” Mrs. Clinton said.

The backstory, about the Obama campaign wrongly claiming Hillary said NAFTA was a "boon" is below:

Time for an open thread, you pick the topics.

Here's a few things I haven't gotten around to writing about:

• Nevada County Dems are picking state delegates today. The delegates picked at their county caucuses aren't bound by their pledge and today's tally may or may not match the caucus results. More here.

• Tavis Smiley is receiving threats from Obama supporters over his criticism of Obama for not attending his State of the Black Union event. Hillary is attending the Louisiana event and will be speaking there.

• Check out the new film, Taxi to the Dark Side, about the politics of torture. It tells the story of Dilawar, whom we've frequently written about.

  In December 2002 a young Afghan named Dilawar, proud of his new taxi, picked up three fares. Shortly afterwards he and his passengers were detained as Taliban sympathizers by American forces, and Dilawar – almost certainly an innocent bystander – was flown to the Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan. He died after a few days in detention there. Medical examiners reported that his legs, at the time of death, looked like they had been run over by a bus.

• California prison officials are re-examining its policy on strip-searching prisoners.

• The LA Times reports that restrictive sex offender laws may increase crime. (Via Sentencing Law and Policy.)

What are you reading about today?

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only.

Well, David Shuster has no regrets:

From the beginning of his suspension, MSNBC executives "were perfectly fair and upfront, from the top on down," Shuster says. "I have no bitterness, no regrets."

Well, maybe one. File it under "Lesson Learned." "I have the responsibility to make my point precisely and aggressively, without using coarse language. Clearly, it was inappropriate for a lot of viewers. I made a horrible mistake by allowing people to be distracted by some words rather than focus on the story."

What story David? That Chelsea Clinton was campaigning for her mother? That was the story?

It seemed inevitable after being defended by the likes of A-List blogs like Talking Points Memo that Shuster would not learn any lessons. Shuster defended Chris Matthews for his sexist remarks and took a sexist approach to his coverage of the Clinton campaign. And was defended for it.

Of course the Clinton campaign was right that a temporary suspension was not enough. And I am not talking about Shuster. That was plenty for him. It seems that no one at NBC will address its pattern of sexism and misogyny.

By Big Tent Democrat

NOTE- The DLC does not support either candidate officially. My post was not intended to state that, but to discuss why many DLC-type figure do support Obama. Sorry for any confusion.

There is something both sad and hilarious about Kagro X's outrage that that the DLC and Lieber-types like Dan Gerstein are on the Obama bandwagon:

Please, God, don't let Harold Ford clamber onto the back of this [Obama] bandwagon now. . . . Allowing them suckerfish themselves onto what Obama's managed to build for himself would be an unimaginable tragedy. Allowing them to do it while they're also endorsing Republicans for Congress is a recipe for disaster.

UPDATE: Lord help us, it's a trend:

2 . Friday February 15, 2008

. . . Bill Bennett discussed the political landscape with Democratic strategist and Obama supporter Dan Gerstein . . .

This is sad and hilarious because not for one moment can Kagro imagine WHY the DLC and Dan Gerstein might support Barack Obama. He can not imagine that Obama's Unity Schtick is precisely what the DLC and Joe Lieberman have been preaching for decades and that the progressive blogs were supposed to be fighting AGAINST.

Excuse me, but has anyone in the progressive blogs actually been paying attention to what Obama has been saying? Probably not, too busy slamming Hillary Clinton.

NOTE - comments are now closed in this thread.

Big Tent Democrat wrote yesterday about the controversy that's developed over Barack Obama's reference in the Texas debate to an army captain who told him or someone in his campaign that his unit in Afghanistan had to fight without proper equipment and training. ABC News spoke to the captain and said he confirmed Obama's account.

Now, the Pentagon is challenging it and Sen. John Warner, who chaired the Senate Armed Forces Committee when the captain was in Afghanistan, has asked Obama for details of the man's unit and when and where the alleged incidents happened. He intends to bring it up at a hearing next week.

What Obama said (from the debate transcript):

More...

The Washington Post reports Obama Fever may be breaking. A rash of new Internet sites have cropped up which the Post says, show "Obamamania may be hitting a wall."

It's the nature of the Web -- and, really, of life. What goes up must come down. What's popular becomes too popular. What's seen as hip and hot and cool eventually gets mocked. Even, yes, Barack Obama.

Two of the sites named by the Post:

• Is Barack Obama the Messiah
• Obama is Your New Bicyle

Some of the sites, like the Bicycle site, are by Obama supporters.

More...

Ralph Nader seems poised to enter the 2008 Presidential race. He'll be on Meet the Press Sunday.

[2004 Nader spokesman Kevin]Zeese said he could only guess what Nader might do, but added:

"Obviously, I don't think ("Meet the Press" host) Tim Russert would have him on for no reason."

Nader formed an exploratory committee last month.

I can't imagine who he thinks would support him.

The Office of Professional Responsibility, which is the branch of the Justice Department that investigates alleged misconduct, announced today that it has opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the infamous August, 2002 "torture memorandum" that opined interrogation techniques such as waterboarding were not torture.

Among other issues, we are examining whether the legal advice contained in those memoranda was consistent with the professional standards that apply to Department of Justice attorneys," Jarrett wrote.

More...

By Big Tent Democrat

People wonder why I spend so much time defending Hillary Clinton from unfair and sexist attacks in the Media and unfortunately, progressive blogs, including, maybe especially, the A-List blogs. I do not support her. I wish she would not have run and put herself through this. But Digby captures it:

The reasons she didn't go for the jugular is that she knows it doesn't work for her and, contrary to popular myth, she won't do or say anything to win. I know that's shocking to those of you who are convinced that Clinton is a monster, but it's true. Her campaign has not been, by any historical standards, a negative or nasty one. She has stated repeatedly, and again last night, that the party would be unified and in light of the fact that she is losing, that remark takes on a different character -- she will not turn the Democratic party inside out just for the fun of it or greatly damage the front runner in some quixotic quest for power. (It's hard to believe that anyone but Ann Coulter would ever believe she would do such a thing, but there you have it.)

Her final comment was gracious and heartfelt . . . This is a person of maturity and depth and one of whom most Democrats in this country are actually quite proud.

It is a shame that progressive blogs have led the charge in demonizing this fine person who has dedicated much of her life to progressive causes. I am not sure I will ever get over what some have written about her. The unfairness, spite, falsehoods, nastiness and sexism demonstrated will be hard to forget. I imagine I am not the only person who feels that way.

(Comments now closing.)

By Big Tent Democrat

So it turns out there was this big to do on the Right blogs about something Obama said in the debate last night about a soldier in Afghanistan. Obama was accused of making it up. Jake Tapper says he did not:

I called the Obama campaign this morning to chat about this story, and was put in touch with the Army captain in question. He told me his story, which I found quite credible, though for obvious reasons he asked that I not mention his name or certain identifying information. Short answer: He backs up Obama's story.

Who would have thunk it, blogs got something wrong.