I have been extremely careful in not labelling General David Petraeus as essentially becoming a political hack for the Bush Administration's Iraq policy. I have argued that he will deliver a soldier's report, one intent on shoring up support for a mission he believes in and feels he can accomplish. I have always argued he can not be, by definition, an honest evaluator of his own strategy and performance. That just seems common sense to me. But it is becoming increasingly clear, for even someone like me that really does not want to believe it, that General Petraeus and his operation have chosen to become political hacks doing the bidding of the Bush Administration and Republicans. This story in the Washington Post provides damning proof of what Petraeus has become:

The sheets of paper seemed to be everywhere the lawmakers went in the Green Zone, distributed to Iraqi officials, U.S. officials and uniformed military of no particular rank. So when Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) asked a soldier last weekend just what he was holding, the congressman was taken aback to find out.

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Woe is me, cries the Justice Department, according to the Wall St. Journal.

In the past few years, U.S. attorneys' offices around the country have been unable to fill vacancies. Lawyers sometimes can't travel to interview witnesses. Even funds for basic office needs such as photocopying documents and obtaining deposition transcripts have been cut, according to current and former officials.

Apparently,

Department of Justice data show the impact. Prosecutions are down overall, with large drops in categories such as drugs, violent crime and white-collar offenses.

Could have fooled me. But assuming that's true, what's the reason? How about the war in Iraq?

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, federal priorities shifted to terrorism from routine crime fighting. The cost of the Iraq war also prompted Congress and the White House to slow the growth of many types of domestic spending.

....[M]ore than 100 lawyers and administrative personnel from U.S. attorneys' offices have gone to Iraq to help the fledgling government there. The offices generally pay the salaries of the seconded attorneys, which would typically be about $120,000 a year plus an additional 25% in combat pay.

Easy answer: Shift the priorities back to crime-fighting, bring the prosecutors home from Iraq.

There is one group of prosecutions that have increased: Immigration cases.

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Inspector General Glenn Fine has responded by letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy and informed him that his office is investigating whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was truthful during his Senate testimony about the firing of U.S. Attorneys, the warrantless surveillance program and other issues.

Senator Leahy has issued this response:

"I am pleased that Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine will look into my concerns about potentially false, misleading or inappropriate testimony by the Attorney General. I look forward to the Inspector General's findings on the unprecedented firings of nine United States Attorneys, the improper political hiring of career officials within the Justice Department, the misuse of National Security Letters, and the efforts to bypass the Department's finding that a warrantless surveillance program was without legal basis.

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In 2004, Bush proclaimed himself to be a "compassionate conservative." Where's the compassion here?

Jacqueline Coats' husband drowned after he dove into a fierce Pacific Ocean riptide to rescue two boys. Now the immigrant from Kenya might be forced to leave the United States because he died before filing her residency application.

She is among more than 80 foreign-born widows across the nation who face possible deportation because their husbands died before immigration paperwork was approved.

A class-action suit for the women was filed yesterday. I hope they prevail. Also check out the website, Suriving Spouses Against Deportation.

The Chicago Tribune has an interview with Illinois Senator Dick Durbin. It sounds like he's supporting Barack Obama:

If it's a national poll, Hillary Clinton will always run ahead of Barack Obama. Even though we [Illinoisans] know Barack personally, and his kids' names and everything, only 60 percent of Americans do. Now go to the states where they're working and you'll find that the polling is much closer between the two of them and Barack at this point is either tied or ahead in most of these states.

So I feel good about it. I would say at this point that he still has that magic. He is bringing the fortysomethings in as John Kennedy did in '60. It's not just the volunteers and the voters, but it's a lot of business people and community leaders who are in that age range [and] who think it's their turn. And that's good for us.

I got to meet Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo tonight. We had our makeup done together. He was on CNN and I was on after him on MSNBC.

We chatted very amiably for over a half hour. I told him I thought he looked very good (posture and clothes) in the Republican debates, and although I've never agreed with anything he's ever said, I think it's pretty cool he's taken his quest for the Republican nomination as far as he has.

I did try to ask him some serious questions. Does he read blogs? Never. His campaign had a blogger who was terrific but he went back to college. He gets news clips with articles about himself every day. He knows bloggers write negative things about him and he has no interest in reading them.

Does he have a favorite for the Republican nomination if he's not the candidate? No.

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Say hello to Texas Prison Bid'ness... a blog about the private prison industry in Texas.

Their post today:

Willacy County Commissioners approved an additional $50.1 million in revenue bonds to expand the notorious MTC Tent City detention center. According to the Valley Morning News, the detention center, a series of tent-like structures made of windowless Kevlar pods that already has capacity to hold 2,000 ICE detainees, will expand by 1,000 beds.

What's it mean? The county will troll for inmates.

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Tuesday, Barack Obama's spokesperson said the Senator would not give up the donations received from Norman Hsu.

... spokesman Jen Psaki said Obama, who has criticized Clinton for taking contributions that could undermine her independence, had no plans to return Hsu's donations.

Today, he's had a change of heart.

A spokesman for Senator Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat who is a rival of Mrs. Clinton for the party’s presidential nomination, said Mr. Obama intended to give away $7,000 that Mr. Hsu contributed to his committees.

No one seems to know where Mr. Hsu really lives. I figured since he's a naturalized citizen, he must be registered to vote. But the only voter registration record I could find for a Norman Hsu was in Delaware. There's also a Norman Hsu in Cleveland. (I'm excluding the Norman Hsu who's been on the city council in Hacienda Heights, CA because it doesn't appear to be the same person.)

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MSNBC has obtained Sen. Larry Craig's post arrest interview. You can listen to the audio and read the transcript(pdf).

Shorter version: He never confessed.

I'll be discussing whether he can withdraw his guilty plea and other issues in the case on Dan Abrams' MSNBC show tonight, 9pm ET. [Update: video of the segment on plea withdrawal is here.]

Update: Sen. Craig pleaded guilty by mail, not in person. So there is no oral advisement. Check out his petition to plead guilty he submitted by mail. It seems to me to be missing a very important component: advisement of the right to counsel.

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I'm sneaking this post by J. cuz I loooooove my college sports, and especially college football. First games of the season tonight, headlined by LSU, a strong contender to challenge the defending national champions the Florida Fighting Gators (also two time defending NCAA basketball champions, yes it's great to be a Florida Gator!) facing SEC rival Mississippi State. Who are your favorites and who will win the BCS championship? My favorite and pick? One and the same - Florida. Tell me yours.

Chris Bowers thinks Bill Richardson has the right focus now on Iraq. I think he has a selfish and unproductive focus now. Richardson says:

All the major Democratic candidates say they are eager to end this war, and they all say they don't believe there is a military solution in Iraq. Why, then, do they maintain that we must leave an indefinite number of troops behind for an indeterminate amount of time to work hopelessly towards a military solution everyone says doesn't exist? It is time to get a straight answer from all the other candidates: how many troops would you leave behind? For how long?

Excuse me Governor Richardson. Excuse me Chris Bowers. Some of us want the candidates to focus on the REAL issues of September, which are not Richardson's self-serving question. The real issues for September, indeed for the rest of the Bush Presidency, are how we get out of Iraq and how can a Democratic Congress accomplish this.

The real question for September Governor Richardson is who will insist on a date certain for ending the Iraq Debacle DURING the Bush Presidency. Who will say 'this will be last funding for this Debacle President Bush?'

Bump and Update: Texas Governor Rick Perry has commuted Kenneth Foster's death sentence.

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Just in... The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has recommended a stay of execution for Kenneth Foster.

Texas Governor Perry will make the final decision before 6 pm tonight.

Send an e-letter to Gov. Perry now. Background on the case is available here.

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