Glenn Greenwald says:

[O'Hanlon and Pollack] . . . almost certainly will occupy key national security positions in the next Democratic administration, particularly in a Clinton administration.

Where does Glenn get this from? I do not know this is true and it absolutely should not be. Is it true? Why? How? Such a thing must be unacceptable.

I have not engaged the very silly Ben Wittes (and yes I know he is supposed to be some "Serious" Person, but, he isn't) on FISA, though others have. But this TNR defense of Wittes, via Sam Boyd, made me laugh:

I'm not entirely convinced by Wittes's claim that the bill Congress passed was a sound one, but I also can't help but feel that Yglesias and Lemieux are being a bit cavalier in their dismissal of the need for expanded surveillance powers in the first place. There's probably no good way out of this dilemma (so perhaps a law with a strict sunset provision isn't such a terrible place to start), but it would be comforting to at least see a bit more hand-wringing and equivocation from Yglesias and Lemieux before condemning Wittes's piece.

A little handwringing and equivocation BEFORE handing over this unprecedented power to Alberto Gonzales would have been in order. Funny, I did not see Wittes do much handwringing about that.

These "Serious People" are sooo, well, stupid. Sorry, I have no better word for it. And it is my word, not Jeralyn's or Chris'. I am the jerk here ok.

This post, ostensibly about economic efficiency, is just used as an excuse by me to post this:

Leona Helmsley, 87, died of heart failure this weekend.

While she will be remembered for the negative things people said about her, she should also be remembered for her philanthropy.

Leona Helmsley's charitable activities included a $25 million gift to New York Presbyterian Hospital, $5 million to Katrina relief and $5 million to help the families of firefighters after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In the late 1990s, she gave millions of dollars to help rebuild African-American churches that had been burned in the South.

In recent years, she was sued by a gay employee who alleged discrimination. He won an $11 million judgment. The Judge later reduced it to $556,000, saying Helmsley is not a multibillion-dollar pinata "to poke a stick at in the hopes of hitting the jackpot.

Her wealth, lifestyle and reputed meanness made her an easy target. I believe her contributions improved conditions for many more people than she personally hurt.

R.I.P. Leona.

Michael Vick's lawyers announced today he will plead guilty. No word yet on the sentence, but the charge is a felony, conspiracy, and a prison sentence is possible.

"After consulting with his family over the weekend," Michael Vick asks that I announce today that he has reached an agreement with federal prosecutors regarding the charges pending against him," lead defense attorney Billy Martin said in a statement.

"Mr. Vick has agreed to enter a plea of guilty to those charges and to accept full responsibility for his action and the mistakes he has made. Michael wishes to apologize again to everyone who has been hurt by this matter," Martin's statement said.

Sean Hannity did some fundraising for Rudy Giuliani. Some folks wondered if Fox Noise cared about this. Well, they did not really wonder - we all know Fox Noise is in the bag for Rudy, from Ailes on down. But Fox responded:

The New York Daily News reported yesterday that Fox News personality Sean Hannity introduced Rudy Giuliani at a closed-door $250/head fundraiser in Cincinnati on August 9. Bill Shine, Fox's senior vice president of programming, said Hannity should not be judged according to the standards of journalistic ethics, which speak out against actively helping a candidate in such a manner. "Sean is not a journalist - Sean is a conservative commentator," Shine said. "Sean doesn't hide, and never has hidden, his beliefs from anyone."

Of course that is true for the entire Fox Noise Network, a propaganda arm of the Republican Party. There are no journalists at Fox Noise. I applaud them for admitting this. So the question is why any Democrat (I am looking at you Harold Ford) would appear on a Republican Propaganda Network?

Monday, Lt. Army Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan goes on trial at Ft. Meade for his role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. He is the only officer charged. His claim to fame? According to the charges against him, he approved the use of dogs and nudity to intimidate the prisoners.

If convicted on all counts, Jordan faces 16 1/2 years in prison.

It's not just cooperators testifying against him. Maj. Gen. George R. Fay who investigated the abuses and wrote a report found:

Jordan's tacit approval of violence during a weapons search on Nov. 24, 2003, "set the stage for the abuses that followed for days afterward."

Jordan has a two-fold defense.

More...

Drug War Rant reports Bill Richardson refuses to be bullied by the D.E.A. and has been actively trying to implement New Mexico's medical marijuana law. (Background here.)

He's directed state officials to continue to work toward finding a way to implement the law, and has written a letter to the President urging him to end the "White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's misguided priority and wasted resources spent to intimidate states trying to implement medical marijuana programs."

From Richardson's letter to Bush, which he posted on his website.

I am writing to raise my deep concern about the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's misguided priority and wasted resources spent to intimidate states trying to implement medical marijuana programs that provide relief to citizens suffering from the pain of severe illness or injury.

"At a time when the scourge of meth is coming across the border, and cocaine and heroin use continues to ravage our communities, the federal government should be cracking down on real criminals---not people who are trying to help those in pain."

Today's NY Times on the FISA legislation signed into law less than two weeks ago: Concerns Raised on Wider Spying Under New Law:

Broad new surveillance powers approved by Congress this month could allow the Bush administration to conduct spy operations that go well beyond wiretapping to include -- without court approval -- certain types of physical searches on American soil and the collection of Americans' business records, Democratic Congressional officials and other experts said.

Administration officials acknowledged that they had heard such concerns from Democrats in Congress recently, and that there was a continuing debate over the meaning of the legislative language. But they said the Democrats were simply raising theoretical questions based on a harsh interpretation of the legislation.

They also emphasized that there would be strict rules in place to minimize the extent to which Americans would be caught up in the surveillance.

Once again, Congress adopts something and reads it later. What are we paying you guys for?

More...

Walter Pincus in the Washington Post reports the Defense Intelligence Agency wants to spend $1 billion on contractors outside the U.S. to do its dirty work.

What work? Collecting and analyzing intelligence information. Can you say data-mining? That's my interpretation.

When Iraq Debacle And Surge Supporters Ken Pollack and Michael O'Hanlon dishonestly labelled themselves war and Surge critics, their endorsement, in a NYTimes Op-Ed, of the Surge was falsely treated as big news. Now we have an Iraq War and Surge supporter declaring the Surge a failure in an Op-Ed in the NYTimes. His name is Tom Friedman:

Ditto with Iraqi surges. If it takes a Middle East expert to explain to you why it is working, it’s not working. . . . There’s only one thing at this stage that would truly impress me, and it is this: proof that there is an Iraq, proof that there is a coalition of Iraqi Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds who share our vision of a unified, multiparty, power-sharing, democratizing Iraq and who are willing to forge a social contract that will allow them to maintain such an Iraq — without U.S. troops. . . . [T]he Bush team will say the surge is a “partial” success and needs more time. But that is like your contractor telling you that your home is almost finished — the bricks are up, but there’s no cement. Thanks a lot. My answer: If I saw something with my own eyes that I hadn’t seen before — Iraq’s Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni leaders stepping forward, declaring their willingness to work out their differences by a set deadline and publicly asking us to stay until they do. That’s the only thing worth giving more time to develop. . . . Only Iraqis living in Iraq can prove otherwise. So far, I don’t see it.

Think that will get half of the coverage of the O'Pollahan dishonesties? Me neither.

See also Joe Klein, on this powerful piece by NCOs of the 82nd Airborne. Joe sez "It puts to shame--and shame is the appropriate word--all the Kristol, McCain, Lieberman, Pollack and O'Hanlon etc etc cheerleading of the past two months." Also John Cole.

As always, I speak for me only.

Adam Cohen gets it right:

. . . Members of Congress should keep in mind, however, that the founders gave them the impeachment power for a reason — and Mr. Gonzales’s malfeasance is just the sort they were worried about.

The Constitution provides for impeachment for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Not a clear formula, but it wasn’t meant to be. Impeachment, Alexander Hamilton explained in Federalist 65, cannot be “tied down” by “strict rules, either in the delineation of the offense” by the House, or “in the construction of it” by the Senate.

. . . Impeachment of Mr. Gonzales would fit comfortably into the founders’ framework. No one could charge this Congress with believing that executive branch members serve at the “pleasure of the Senate” or the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indicated that impeachment of President Bush is “off the table,” and there has been little talk of impeaching Vice President Dick Cheney or others in the administration . . . MORE