U.S. Attorneys are being forced out of office, replaced with interim appointees chosen by the attorney general. Why? Let's start with the false explanation:

“We in no way politicize these decisions,” Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Right. That's why the choice to replace H.E. Cummins in Arkansas is the former research director for the Republican National Committee.

The selection of U.S. Attorneys is always political. Justice Department officials assured the NY Times that there are "frequently changes in the ranks of United States Attorneys after an election." That's true when the election produces a new president, but it's usual for an administration to force out prosecutors who the admInistration chose for the position.

A suspicious mind might wonder whether it's a coincidence that Carol Lam lost her job after prosecuting former Rep. Randy Cunningham, and that Kevin Ryan is getting the boot after investigating the backdating of stock options awarded to corporate executives. The Justice Department claims the prosecutors had poor priorities, pushing corruption cases rather than gun cases. Shouldn't federal resources be devoted to complex federal crimes, leaving states to prosecute simple "felon in possession" cases? Not according to the Gonzales Justice Department.

The ACLU has released a new report (available here) documenting that "the Pentagon monitored at least 186 anti-military protests in the United States and collected more than 2,800 reports involving Americans in an anti-terrorist threat database."

“It cannot be an accident or coincidence that nearly 200 anti-war protests ended up in a Pentagon threat database,” said Ann Beeson, Associate Legal Director of the ACLU. “This unchecked surveillance is part of a broad pattern of the Bush administration using ‘national security’ as an excuse to run roughshod over the privacy and free speech rights of Americans.”

The ACLU report reviews hundreds of pages of Defense Department documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed last year. The documents revealed that the surveillance of peace groups and anti-war activists was more widespread than previously known.

The Pentagon document released in conjunction with the report is here.

All lawyers like to humanize their clients, to show to the world (in a high profile case) and the jury in a routine case, that their client is more than the sum of any misdeeds he may have committed.

Very little of that has gone on so far in the Libby trial, but today there is a long profile of Mr. Libby in the New York Times, that attempts to do the job.

You read, you decide. Did it accomplish its mission?

Update: Is That Legal? says "no." On a related note, James Joyner at Outside the Beltway wonders if Scooter Libby can get a fair trial. Pacachutec at Firedoglake recaps Day 1 of jury selection and already beginning to blog on Day 2.

Kevin Drum asks:

Question: [Re:] the primary critique among the anti-war left, has the Iraq war vindicated them?

Well, my quick answer as to my primary critque of the Iraq Debacle is - for the same reasons Bush pere did not go to Baghdad at the end of Desert Storm. But my long answer relies on the Congressional testimony of General Wesley Clark in September 2002:

GEN. CLARK: I've been concerned that the attention on Iraq will distract us from what we're doing with respect to al Qaeda. . . . I think, as a minimum, that when one opens up another campaign, there is a diversion of effort. The question is whether the diversion of effort is productive or counterproductive. I really -- it's -- there are forces operating in both directions at this point. You can make the argument, as General Shalikashvili did, that you want to cut off all sources of supply. Problem with that argument is that Iran really has had closer linkages with the terrorists in the past and still does, apparently, today, than Iraq does. So that leads you to then ask, well, what will be the impact on Iran?

More.

Check this out about U.S. officials' treatment of Nour al-Khalm an Iraqi translator/fixer who almost lost her life trying to protect that of American journalist, Steven Vincent, who was kidnapped, beaten, and killed by insurgents in Basra in August 2005. The journalist's widow, Lisa Ramaci-Vincent,testified about it in the Senate hearings today.

If Nour's story spreads maybe she will be granted refugee status protections in the U.S. She sounds like she's deserved it.

A key line of testimony: When Vincent's widow lobbied American bureaucrats to extend refugee status to Nour, she says,

"I have been told she does not qualify for refugee or asylum status because Iraq is now a democracy, hence there should be no reason she would need to flee."

Jane Hamsher, of Firedoglake, is not only an unbelievable blogger who has put together one of the best, brightest and most thoughtful blog communities on the Internets, she's an incredibly humble human being.

Please go give her some blog love as she reveals today she is about to undergo surgery for her third bout with breast cancer. And don't forget to read the 500 comments posted so far. What a community the blogosphere is.

No one has covered the Valerie Plame and Scooter Libby investigations more than Jane. Her insights and writing ability on all Plame topics have been unparalleled in the blogosphere.

How cruel that she worked for months to secure the only in courtroom press pass awarded to a blogger in the Libby trial, as well as a media courtroom pass, arranged for the FDL crew to have a house in D.C. while covering the trial, and now she can't be there because she's going in for surgery.

The only good news is that she expects to fully recover, and get this because it's pure Jane, anticipates being in D.C. to cover the trial beginning Feb. 4.

You go, Jane. You're not only a survivor, but a winner. My hat is off to you. Take care of yourself, listen to your doctors, and I hope to see you in D.C. in February.

Say what you want about glitzy celebs, some of them put their money where their mouth is.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have moved their family to New Orleans. Their kids will attend school there. Angelina has put out a request to participate in volunteer activities. Pitt is following through with plans announced a few years ago join forces with Global Green USA and build 20 environment-friendly homes.

Jolie is also hanging out at local spots and mingling. We need more like them. [hat tip Scribe.]

It's official. Barack Obama has formed an exploratory commitee to run for President.

MSNBC runs down his record on the environment, the death penalty and judges, concluding he's in the center.

Update: Colorado Republican Tom Tancredo announced the formation of his Presidential exploratory committee today.

Jury selection has begun in the trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Pachacutec from Firedoglake is in the media courtroom, blogging away (make sure you read the comments where's he is posting continual updates.)

The Judge has read the jurors the list of potential witnesses. Here they are:

Update: It looks even worse.

The end may be near for Fidel Castro. A Spanish newspaper is reporting he has had three failed surgeries.

The newspaper El Pais cited two unnamed sources from the Gregorio Maranon hospital in the Spanish capital of Madrid. The facility employs surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who flew to Cuba in December to treat the 80-year-old Castro.

Here's a graphic description:

CNN's Situation Room Monday ran this segment on bloggers covering the Scooter Libby trial. [Via Raw Story.] TalkLeft is prominently mentioned, with some quotes by me, as to what readers can expect from our coverage, namely, a fresh perspective and gut reactions, from those of us who have followed and written about the case from Day 1.

Thanks to the Media Bloggers Association, I will go to Washington after Feb. 15 (hopefully to cover some of the defense portion, assuming the trial, which is expected to last six weeks, is still going on.) Crooks and Liars will cover a week in early February.

Jane and Christy of Firedoglake have their own press passes, in conjunction with Huffington Post, and are already on the scene in D.C. Marcy Wheeler, whose book on the case, Anatomy of Deceit, will be published in February, who writes as Empty Wheel at the Next Hurrah and used to write for Daily Kos, is also covering the trial.

Via Raw Story, the Detroit Free Press has this unsettling report:

Michigan's second-highest court says that anyone involved in an extramarital fling can be prosecuted for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in prison.

"We cannot help but question whether the Legislature actually intended the result we reach here today," Judge William Murphy wrote in November for a unanimous Court of Appeals panel, "but we are curtailed by the language of the statute from reaching any other conclusion."