Among those on the front lines fighting the California fires this week were prison inmates.

About a quarter of the 14,000 firefighters defending homes and businesses in Southern California from wildfires have been prisoners, officials said. Of the 4,400 inmates trained to battle fires in the state, 3,091 were on the front lines Friday from Lake Arrowhead south to San Diego.

The inmates are paid $1.00 an hour. They also get a day of extra good time for every day spent fighting fires. The savings to California: $80 million a year.

The Washington Post reports on the CIA's Ghost Air prisoners. Some have been sent to Guantanamo, some were returned to their home countries (some of whom were never heard from again) and some are....missing.

Where are they? Who's keeping track? Human Rights Watch and Reprieve are trying to. According to the Post, HRW says at least 39 of those seized remain unaccounted for.

There's further reading today on this at Alternet: The Bush Era's Dark Legacy of Torture.

The Washington Post has a long feature article on a unit of soldiers preparing to leave Iraq. In a nutshell, as one of them says,

I don't think this place is worth another soldier's life."

Matt Yglesias smugly writes:

This is a presidential primary after all. Chris Dodd's already won my vote for Senate Majority Leader should the position come open. It seems to me that Obama needs to convince people that he would have a different, better Iran policy were he too become president and not that he has a better view of how he hypothetically would have handled Senate votes were he to have actually been in DC on the day of the vote.

I find that comment smugly . . . well, stupid. Obama, a sitting Senator, "needs to convince people that he would have a different, better Iran policy" and his performance as SENATOR is deemed irrelevant to that persuasion by Yglesias. I mean, honestly. Is Yglesias really such a believer in position papers that actual POSITIONS taken in ACTUAL VOTES are deemed irrelevant by him? I'm sorry, that is just irritatingly ignorant it seems to me.

On top of it all, Yglesias seems ignorant of the fact the Clinton campaign was pointing out - that Obama (and yes, my man Dodd too) favored designating the Iran Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization in the Fall of 2006, making their criticism of Clinton's vote on Kyl-Lieberman a bit nonsensical. But of course, if your view is that what someone does as Senator is irrelevant to their Presidential campaign, then it makes its own twisted sense. But then, you have to ignore Clinton's (and Dodd's) vote in favor of war with Iraq in 2002. But then, Yglesias favored the Iraq War at the time. So his position maybe does make sense for him.

He'll be Timmah's guest this week for the full hour. Be sure to check it out.

Fred Hiatt, an extreme partisan on behalf of the Bush Administration, insists on bickering about the FISA bill. Mr. Hiatt insists on partisan sniping at, for instance, Ron Wyden:

An amendment to the Senate bill by Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden would go too far by requiring that a warrant be obtained when U.S. citizens are the target of surveillance overseas; this would be an unnecessary and potentially disruptive precedent.

Rather than explaining why he believes requiring a warrant for government surveillance, as the Fourth Amendment requires in the United States, of US citizens residing overseas is "unnecessary and potentially disruptive," Hiatt instead engages in empty partisan bickering.

It is people like Fred Hiatt, who engage in partisan bickering, who keep our good representatives in Congress from enacting bipartisan laws. After all, the FISA bill Hiatt is engaging in partisan bickering about was passed overwhelmingly 13-2 by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Why does Fred Hiatt hate bipartisan legislation? Why must he constantly engage in partisan bickering

On the other hand, Hiatt is wrong in his diatribe against those who oppose Telco Amnesty. That is principled and brave representation of the principles of our country. You see the difference I hope. When I support or oppose something it is principled. When Fred Hiatt supports or opposes something, it is "partisan bickering." We must end the gridlock in Washington. Fred Hiatt must be detained by the government.

Via TPM, and it is a shame, because he is speaking some truths:

Thompson agreed that he didn't share the views of Vice President Cheney when it comes to the supremacy of the executive branch.

"No, I think the constitution in times of war, especially, is very definitive about that," he said. "The president is the commander in chief, but the Congress has the power of the budget. The power of the purse. So everything has to go through that prism. So it’s divided power in the constitution. Our founding fathers divided that up. Divided it up at the federal level, the idea being that things like Watergate should be made very difficult to happen. So no one branch of the government can misuse power."

Thompson described checks and balances as "a constant tug and pull. Controversy and differences of opinion over legitimate national security concerns is not a bad thing. Every branch needs to stand up for itself. And I saw that as, in effect, an attorney for the executive branch, and then as a legislator."

Credit to Senator Thompson. He is speaking the truth and making sense. Which is political suicide for a Republican Presidential candidate. But good on Frederick of Dollywood. Credit due.

Lawyers for Sen. Larry Craig filed their "Statement of the Case" (pdf) yesterday in the appeal from the court's denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea.

They have added a argument that his conduct was constitutionally protected and the statute under which he was charged is overbroad. The ACLU previously included this argument in a friend of court brief on his behalf.

His arguments now:

• the disorderly conduct statute is unconstitutional as applied to the facts of Craig's case
• the plea was not accurate, voluntary or intelligent
• the evidence was insufficient to support the plea
• the plea is invalid because the judge never signed anything approving it.

I'm going to be spending the remainder of this beautiful fall day at the jail. If you're online and have something to say, please go right ahead.

We also have a few new diaries up:

♦ It's the Messenger - and the Method
♦ Introducing the SquareState Small Donor Committee
♦ Omnipotence and the War In Iraq

The Center for Constitutional Rights and other human rights groups filed a complaint in Paris against Donald Rumsfeld last night alleging he ordered and authorized torture.

Rumsfeld is in Paris to give a talk on foreign policy.

“The filing of this French case against Rumsfeld demonstrates that we will not rest until those U.S. officials involved in the torture program are brought to justice. Rumsfeld must understand that he has no place to hide. A torturer is an enemy of all humankind,” said CCR President Michael Ratner.

“France is under the obligation to investigate and prosecute Rumsfeld’s accountability for crimes of torture in Guantanamo and Iraq. France has no choice but to open an investigation if an alleged torturer is on its territory. I hope that the fight against impunity will not be sacrificed in the name of politics. We call on France to refuse to be a safe haven for criminals.” said FIDH President Souhayr Belhassen.

More....

Bump and Update: Gov. Ryan has been ordered to report to prison November 7.

******
Gov. George Ryan: Supreme Court is His Last Chance

Former Illinios Governor George Ryan lost his federal appeal yesterday, seeking to overturn his conviction and 6 1/2 year jail sentence on corruption charges.

His last hope is the Supreme Court. The 7th Circuit vote was 6 to 3, with Judge Richard Posner writing a stinging dissent. Mostly, they criticized the length of the trial and blamed the trial judge for not exercising more control over the proceedings.

More...