Not content to seek to deprive the Guantanamo detainees of habeas corpus and access to the federal courts to challenge the conditions of their confinement, the Bush Administration is taking it one step further. Now, it wants to limit the detainees' access to their lawyers.

Saying that visits by civilian lawyers and attorney-client mail have caused “intractable problems and threats to security at Guantánamo,” a Justice Department filing proposes new limits on the lawyers’ contact with their clients and access to evidence in their cases that would replace more expansive rules that have governed them since they began visiting Guantánamo detainees in large numbers in 2004.

What limits does the Administration want to impose? Read on...

A federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled police skid row searches unconstitutional:

U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson found that officers question — and at times search — parolees and probationers without evidence that they might have committed a crime, which the judge said was unconstitutional. He ordered the LAPD to change its practices.

This is the second victory for those on skid row:

A federal appeals court last year found the city's anti-camping ordinance to be unconstitutional, scuttling LAPD efforts to prevent the homeless from sleeping on downtown sidewalks at night.

TChris reported on that here.

More...

Thursday night, during the Presidential debate, John Edwards will call upon President Bush to fire Karl Rove.

Karl Rove’s shameless attempts to twist the federal government for partisan gain have simply gone too far. Rove is now clearly at the heart of the political firing and replacement of U.S. Attorneys warping the impartial execution of justice that all Americans depend on—and that’s just the beginning. We need to take a stand right now to defend the integrity of our government and our democracy—Karl Rove must be fired.

He has a petition he'd like you to sign.

Will Bush listen? Not to John alone. Not to you or me alone. But if thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of us speak out together to demand accountability for Karl Rove and end their era of cynical, destructive, partisan government—we cannot be ignored.

Please add your name, so when John speaks out at tomorrow's debate it's clear that he's speaking for thousands. We'll keep a signature counter online to show how many have joined the call.

[Note: I will periodically bump this to the top the next day or so, so check below for newer posts on our regular topics.]

It's been three months since I've asked readers to donate to TalkLeft. It's time to make some rain.

Site expenses and my time commitment are up, and any help you can give, even $5 or $10 would be greatly appreciated.

TalkLeft is almost 5 years old and in that time we've had almost 18 million visitors and more than 33 million page views. There's also been many improvements to the site over the years.

If you appreciate the work we're doing, I'd love your support.

While contributions from everyone who appreciates TalkLeft are welcome, I'm hoping that particularly you lurkers out there who read TalkLeft almost every day but don't comment or usually contribute, will chip in.

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As always, thanks in advance. Your generosity is really appreciated. I hope to keep TalkLeft thriving for a long time to come.

The Iraq funding bill has passed the House by a vote of 218 to 208.

The $124.2 billion bill would fund the war, among other things, but demand troop withdrawals begin on Oct. 1 or sooner if the Iraqi government does not meet certain standards. The bill sets a nonbinding goal of completing the troop pull out by April 1, 2008, allowing for forces conducting certain noncombat missions, such as attacking terrorist networks or training Iraqi forces, to remain.

The Senate is expected to vote and pass the bill tomorrow, and then it will go to President Bush, who has promised to veto it.

"Our troops are mired in a civil war with no clear enemy and no clear strategy for success," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

Videos of the debate are here.

The bill, "Conference Report to Accompany H.R. 1591 - Making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes." is here.

“It is better to be thought a Fool than to speak and remove all doubt. ...

Apparently, Broder is intent on removing all doubt. Greg Sargent tells us:

Over at the Dallas Morning News, which prints Broder's column from time to time, they've done a teaser on the paper's blog previewing the Op-ed columns the paper is running tomorrow. Here it is:

Tomorrow's op-ed columns

. .. (David Broder) How Harry Reid has joined Alberto Gonzales as exhibit A of ineptitude.

I won't say more because you should "[n]ever argue with a fool, they will lower you to their level and then beat you with experience."

Pointing to the latest WSJ poll, which Jeralyn posted on earlier, Atrios says:

People Hate Bush And Hate The War
I don't know what it'll take for that to enter the bloodstream of Official Washington.

The answer is nothing will make it enter their bloodstream because of their contempt for the American People. Consider the comment by the Republican pollster who conducted the poll that demonstrates that the American People want Congress to end the war:

Yet Newhouse, the GOP pollster, says that there are dangers for the Democrats if they decide to go too far on Iraq. "The Democrats risk overplaying the Iraq issue by tying the president's hands on funding. Yes, Americans want Congress to put pressure on the president for a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq, but that doesn't mean they want Congress to sidestep the president and do it on their own."

HIS OWN POLL proves that what he says is false. And still he spouts this nonsense. So the simple answer to Atrios' question is this - nothing will ever convince the Beltway that the American People want the Congress to end the Iraq Debacle. Democrats are fools to pay attention to them. They need to pay attention to the American People.

Al-Jazeera broadcast part of an interview today (remainder to be broadcast tomorrow) with a Taliban leader who says Osama bin Laden is alive and was behind the attack on Bagram Air Force Base when Cheney visited in February. 14 (or 23) people died in the attack. Cheney was reportedly Osama's target.

Dadullah said Bin Laden planned and supervised the "suicide" operation which targeted Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, in Bargam air force base during his visit to Afghanistan in February. Dadullah said: "Thank God, he is alive, we get updated information about it. Thank God, he plans the operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

"You may remember the martyr operation inside the Bagram base which targeted a senior US official ... that operation was a result of his wise planning. "He planned that operation in details and guided us through it. The operation was a success."

The White House responds that it has not seen any intelligence to back up the claim.

Lanny Davis wrote an article yesterday in The Hill criticizing media coverage of Hillary Clinton's polling numbers, particularly with respect to claims that Barack Obama is closing in on her.

The Wall. St. Journal has just published the results of a poll showing Hillary at 36% and Obama at 31%.

Sen. Barack Obama is closing the gap in the race for the 2008 Democratic nomination, trailing Sen. Hillary Clinton just 36% to 31%, a new WSJ/NBC poll finds. Last month, Obama lagged 12 percentage points behind Clinton. Support for John Edwards rose to 20% from 15%. The backdrop for those findings, fueling Democratic hopes for recapturing the White House next year, remains deep discontent with President Bush and the Iraq war. The poll results show Americans side with congressional Democrats on Iraq by a lopsided 56% to 37%.

Personally, I don't take the election poll numbers too seriously this early in the race. But what I do take seriously is this:

Three months after Mr. Bush announced a new policy to stabilize violence by sending more troops, just 12% see evidence of improvement. Some 49% say conditions in Iraq have gotten worse, while another 37% say they've stayed the same.

A 55% majority says that victory in Iraq is no longer possible; 36% say victory remains within reach.

This reaction from Obama is noteworthy to me because he may finally be learning that playing nice with Republicans gets you nowhere:

Rudy Giuliani today has taken the politics of fear to a new low and I believe Americans are ready to reject those kind of politics. America’s mayor should know that when it comes to 9/11 and fighting terrorists, America is united. We know we can win this war based on shared purpose, not the same divisive politics that question your patriotism if you dare to question failed policies that have made us less secure. . . .

I liked the sarcastic "America's Mayor" crack. Good job by Obama. Hillary, who already knows that playing nice with Republicans is a waste, ripped the GOP and Bush. Edwards also danced on Rudy's head, but he gave up the Johnny Sunshine schtick long ago and has been knocking heads for a while. Obama was the one needing a lesson. Maybe he got one.

I see London, I see France...

Sen. Gary Siplin of Orlando, a Florida lawmaker has introduced a bill to suspend students if you can see their underwear.

It's called the "Pull Up Your Britches" bill. Students in violation would face a ten day suspension.

The bill is under debate by the Education Appropriations Committee. As to Sen. Siplin,

The senator was convicted of grand theft for paying his office staff with state money while he worked on his re-election campaign. The senate has suspended action to remove Siplin from office pending his appeal.

[Hat tip The Agitator]

Democrats were successful today in a vote to subpoena Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice about the Administration's decision to go to war in Iraq.

When the decision was made, Rice was Bush's National Security Advisor.

Republicans accused Democrats of a "fishing expedition." But Democrats said they want Rice to explain what she knew about administration's warnings, later proven false, that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger for nuclear arms.

"There was one person in the White House who had primary responsibility to get the intelligence about Iraq right — and that was Secretary Rice who was then President George W. Bush's national security adviser," said committee Chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat.