Arianna saw "An Inconvenient Truth" and stayed for the Q and A with Gore in Los Angeles. She says he radiated commitment and confidence and then compares him to Hillary:

As a result of the soul-sapping tyranny of trying to please and placate everybody, she's become more processed than Velveeta. You can almost see every word that comes out of her mouth first being marched through the different compartments of her brain -- analyzed, evaluated, and vetted by each of them. What will the consultants think of this? How will it poll? Will working women between 25-35 in eastern Ohio think it's okay? How about likely voters in northern Oklahoma?

Her fear has caused a complete disconnect from who she really is and what she really thinks (that is, if she even knows anymore).

As to Gore, Arianna writes:

Lew Anderson, who played Clarabell on the Howdy Doody show from 1954 to 1960 has died of cancer at age 84.

Long mute as Clarabell, Anderson broke the clown's silence in the show's final episode in 1960. With trembling lips and a visible tear in his eye, he spoke the show's final words: "Goodbye, kids." Though Anderson was not the only man to play "Buffalo Bob" Smith's mute sidekick, he was the best, Smith said in his memoir.

Occasionally I was fortunate enough to be one of the kids in the Howdy Doody Show peanut gallery. Once, I got to cut the cupcake for Buffalo Bob during the Hostess commerical. But Clarabell is who I remember most. All of the kids would squeal and scream with delight at his antics. He would run up and down the aisle with a seltzer bottle that had a squirt top . One time he sprayed my brand new dress and I cried and cried. But I still went back whenever I could get my mother to take me.

Greg Sargeant moves the story forward today. FBI spokesman William Carter refused to rule out the agencies use of National Security Letters to obtain the phone records of reporters, as ABC News' The Blotter has reported. Greg believes this is the first time the FBI has commented on the record about the issue.

My last post on the use of National Security letters is here.

Bump and Update: Mark Ash of Truthout, like me, received denials from Mark Corallo and Bob Luskin. Ash, however, this afternoon writes he is sticking with Jason's story, saying Truthout has picked up additional sources.

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Original Post:

Update: Mark Corallo has responded. I've added it to the end of the post.

Beleaguered investigative reporter Jason Leopold was on the Ed Schultz radio show yesterday, defending his Truthout article that Karl Rove has been indicted. He sounds very confident. You can listen here.

Jason told Schultz that on Saturday he got a phone call from his sources telling him that the action Friday was not at the courthouse, but at Patton Boggs. They provided an extraordinary level of detail about what took place at the law firm.

Jason is continuing to receive new details. He said that yesterday, he was told that the entire 4th floor of Patton Boggs was locked down for the marathon meeting. He reiterated his prior information, that Rove was there with his secret service detail, that plea negotiations were going on which ultimately were rejected outright, after which he was given an envelope containing the Indictment and told he had 24 hours to get his affairs in order.

by TChris

There may be a legitimate public interest in limiting the number of people who are permitted to occupy a single residence, but that interest doesn't justify an ordinance that permits families to live together if the parents are married to each other while prohibiting them from living together if the parents are unmarried. The St. Louis suburb of Black Jack nonetheless thinks it has the right to keep unmarried couples with more than one child from occupying the same home.

The mayor said those who fall into that category could soon face eviction.... Mayor Norman McCourt said starting Wednesday the city will begin trying to evict groups who do not fit into Black Jack's definition of family, reports CBS affiliate KMOV-TV in St. Louis.

Putting aside whether the law is so arbitrary as to violate the constitutional right to equal protection, or whether it invades a couples' personal privacy interest in deciding whether to marry before cohabiting, the ordinance is poor public policy. Does putting families out on the street promote family values?

The Enron jury is deliberating the fate of Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. Here's a recap of the witnesses who testified.

Andrew Cohen at WaPo's Bench Conference has been following the closing arguments. Today he discusses deliberations. I agree with him the jury won't return a very quick verdict. They have four months of evidence to pour through.

Christy at Firedoglake is on Rove Indictment Watch. She's also reporting on what the media is covering today -- Nicole Kidman is engaged and Paul McCartney and his wife are splitting up, blaming the media for the their problems. Are they on Brangelina baby watch too?

Keep checking Christy.

The Blotter, an ABC News blog, reports that the Justice Department has disclosed that in 2005, it issued national security letters authorized by the Patriot Act to obtain phone records and other documents of 3,501 people.

Assistant Attorney General William Moschella told Congress last month that 9,254 National Security Letters were issued in 2005 involving 3,501 people.

....Federal law enforcement sources say the National Security Letters are being used to obtain phone records of reporters at ABC News and elsewhere in an attempt to learn confidential sources who may have provided classified information in violation of the law.

Barton Gellman of the Washington Post did an exhaustive analysis of national security letters in November, 2005. (See also, the FBI is Spying on You and Me.) From Gellman's article:

Following Bell Souths denial Monday, Verizon now has issued a statement disputing the allegation in USA Today that it provided the Government with customer phone records. The New York Times notes a loophole in Verizon's statement:

But the statement by Verizon left open the possibility that MCI, the long-distance carrier it bought in January, did turn over such records -- or that the unit, once absorbed into Verizon, had continued to do so. The company said Verizon had not provided customer records to the National Security Agency "from the time of the 9/11 attacks until just four months ago."

MCI, Sprint and AT&T carry the bulk of the country's long-distance and international calls.

According to a Government official:

by TChris

People who are injured by the design or neglect of another are entitled to seek redress in civil court, but most crime victims wait for the criminal prosecution to resolve before they consider civil remedies. Eyebrows raise when an alleged crime victim is eager to pursue civil remedies. The prospect of a cash settlement can be a powerful incentive to embellish or fabricate a criminal accusation, and questions about the credibility and bias of a complainant who has a financial stake in her accusation are sure to arise.

The mother of the accuser in the Duke case says she is "very interested" in retaining a high profile civil litigator for her daughter. This story says the lawyer in question is playing the role of "family adviser" and hasn't spoken to the alleged victim.

Update: Froomkin weighs in.

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White House Press Secretary Tony Snow gave his first televised press briefing today.

Crooks and Liars has some video. Snow used the word "tar baby" in connection with the NSA warrantless surveillance program. "Tar baby?

Think Progress then explains to Tony the problem with using that term. Based on the context of the term, we believe you meant tar baby to mean: "a situation almost impossible to get out of; a problem virtually unsolvable."

But in "American lore," the expression tar baby is also a racial slur "used occasionally as a derogatory term for black people." Use of the term has resulted in people being fired.

Random House notes, "some people suggest avoiding the use of the term in any context." Now that you are no longer at Fox News, you may want to take them up on their advice.

by TChris

In response to reports that FBI agents have questioned American Muslims about their religious practices and the sermons they hear during prayer services, the ACLU made a Freedom on Information Act request for information about the FBI's surveillance of Southern California mosques and Muslims.

Local Islamic leaders said they enlisted the ACLU's help after the FBI provided little information in response to their allegations that the agency was monitoring them and their places of worship.

Islamic leaders are worried that the FBI's intrusion into religious activities might have a chilling effect upon Muslims who fear going to mosques.

In an e-mail, FBI officials said they would "address" the ACLU's request but did not say whether records would be turned over.