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.

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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...

If you believe in justice, the best news you are likely to hear today is this:

The Georgia Supreme Court on Friday ordered the release of Genarlow Wilson, the Douglas County teenager who has been serving a controversial 10-year sentence for consensual oral sex. The court's 4-3 decision upholds a Monroe County judge's ruling that the sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment under both the Georgia and U.S. constitutions.

Wilson was caught in a bind because he was sentenced under a law (later changed) that imposed a ten year mandatory minimum for having consensual oral sex with a minor, even though she was only two years younger than Wilson, who was 17 at the time. Wilson's ordeal is chronicled in these TalkLeft posts.

The Georgia Supremes made the decision bullet-proof by concluding that the sentence was cruel and unusual under the Georgia Constitution. Even if Georgia were to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the federal constitutional holding, the independent state constitutional holding will continue to protect Wilson.

Wilson should be released from prison soon. He will presumably need to be resentenced, but the court will no longer be bound by the 10 year mandatory minimum, and should be guided by the Georgia legislature's recent determination that the crime shouldn't be punished by more than a year in jail -- a sentence that Wilson has finished serving.

Update: (TL): The court's opinion is here (pdf.)

A state court trial judge has has refused to grant Michael Skakel a new trial based on new evidence presented at a hearing last summer showing he did not kill Martha Moxley.

Karazin found that the 2003 interview of Skakel's Brunswick School classmate, Gitano "Tony" Bryant, in which Bryant told a private investigator that his friends Adolph Hasbrouck and Burt Tinsley confessed to killing Moxley, was not believable. Bryant is a cousin of NBA star Kobe Bryant.

The judge said no other witnesses at the 2002 trial or the hearing placed Bryant or the other two youths in Belle Haven on the night of the murder and physical evidence did not bear out Bryant's claim that the two boys had described dragging her by the hair.

"The testimony of Bryant is absent any genuine corroboration," Karazin wrote. "It lacks credibility and therefore would not produce a different result at a new trial."

The defense will appeal the decision. And file another suit challenging the conviction based on ineffective assistance of counsel.

More...

Happy Birthday to Hillary Clinton who turns 60 today.

She celebrated last night at a party in New York. Elvis Costello and the Wallflowers provided the music, Billy Crystal was M.C. The event raised $1.5 million.

The latest AP poll numbers make a good birthday present for her. Among Democrats:

• Hillary Rodham Clinton, 43 percent
• Barack Obama, 22 percent
• John Edwards, 14 percent
• Bill Richardson, 6 percent

My latest defense of anonymous blogging:

A few days ago, on [Comment is Free], Daphna Baram wrote in favour of stripping the anonymity from website commentators, arguing:

We are being made to believe that the defamation is a price we have to pay, especially those of us who write on contentious topics, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or anything to do with feminism. [. . .] There's nothing democratic about a state of affairs where people put themselves and their opinions on a public platform only to be confronted by a hooded, faceless crowd, often armed with rotten eggs and over-ripe tomatoes.

Is her objection to the facelessness or the rotten eggs? Like Garance Franke-Ruta before her, Baram arrives at a solution to speech she deems offensive - eliminate anonymity. She does not accept that anonymity provides a safeguard to free speech on the web. Her evidence for her assertion? Well, none. Instead, Baram ignores the history of pseudononymous writing, from the ancients to the modern American examples of Poor Richard, Publius, Mark Twain and Atrios.

. . . In the end, Baram's proposal would shut out the thousands of voices out there that comment anonymously for the same reason I tried to. I think a few harsh words directed at us by some idiots is a small price to pay for allowing these voices to be heard.

Go throw a few tomatoes and rotten eggs at me if you are so inclined.

If one were to believe Kevin Drum and Publius, our Democratic Presidential candidates are committing political suicide. Publius writes:

On funding, I agree it's different b/c they could block it themselves. But understand that (no matter how distasteful this argument sounds) it would be instant, generation-long political suicide to block war funding cold turkey. i don't like it either - but the american people have a strong, excessive nationalistic streak, and I just don't think they would see the nuance in that. This is the reality that pelosi/reid face.

Since all of our Presidential candidates save Biden have endorsed PRECISELY that, Publius must expect a Democratic wipeout in the 2008 Presidential election. Does he? Of course he does not. He is merely making excuses that have no logical basis. Indeed, what Publius might try and figure out is WHY Democrats won the 2006 Election and what might happen in 2008 in Congressional Elections if they do not honor the mandate they were given in that election - to end the Iraq War.

More.