Attorney General Alberto Gonzales spoke in London on Tuesday. Here are his prepared remarks. Undoubtedly, every word was vetted and chosen with care. Here's what he had to say about the U.S. sending detainees to other countries that practice torture:

We do not transport anyone to a country if we believe it more likely than not that the individual will be tortured.

So "more likely than not" is the standard. This makes it clear that the U.S. is sending prisoners to countries that practice torture except when they believe a particular individual will be tortured. We should not be sending any prisoners to countries that practice torture, period.

by TChris

Given the president's belief that he can wiretap at will, it isn't surprising that the FBI has followed that lead. In the last two years, the FBI has increasingly exceeded its intelligence gathering authority.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation found apparent violations of its own wiretapping and other intelligence-gathering procedures more than 100 times in the last two years, and problems appear to have grown more frequent in some crucial respects, a Justice Department report released Wednesday said.

FBI agents have exceeded court-imposed limits on wiretaps, sometimes eavesdropping for months after warrants expire.

by TChris

Republicans are packaging as "reform" a plan that would gut FISA, leaving the president free to spy on Americans without obtaining a warrant. A NY Times editorial expresses appropriate outrage at this cynical ploy to shield the president's lawless behavior:

Faced with a president who is almost certainly breaking the law, the Senate sets up a panel to watch him do it and calls that control. ... The Republicans' idea of supervision involves saying the White House should get a warrant for spying whenever possible. Currently a warrant is needed, period. And that's the right law. The White House has not offered a scrap of evidence that it interferes with antiterrorist operations. Mr. Bush simply decided the law did not apply to him.

The Times reports that the deal, negotiated with the White House, "left Senate Democrats fuming on the sidelines." The Times also reports that the proposal is "likely to win approval from the full Senate." Isn't it time for spineless Democrats to stop fuming and start filibustering?

by Last Night in Little Rock

On Thanksgiving, Talkleft saw the Rolling Stones in Denver. For those of you in big cities, no big deal. For those of us in the hinterlands, the Rolling Stones hitting town is a big deal. This is their second time in Little Rock. In 1995, they sold out 50,000 seats in eight hours. Ticket prices: $55 & 30. It was the best show I'd ever seen. The only other time I saw the Stones? 1967 in Syracuse NY. Tickets were $8. They were the counterpoint to the Beatles back then.

In August, tickets went on sale for March 9th's show. Ticket prices: $300, $150, $90. So I paid for these tickets six months ago.

This is near the end of the tour, and we are an add on, just like the shows in Australia and Indonesia in three weeks.

We Baby Boomers are a target, and a big one indeed.

Tom DeLay may have won the primary Tuesday, but his main battle is still in the Texas criminal courts:

Prosecutors pursuing conspiracy and money laundering charges against Rep. Tom DeLay on Wednesday sought campaign finance documents from a decade-old congressional campaign in East Texas. The subpoena requests documents that name contributions from businessman Peter F. Cloeren, who pleaded guilty to directing illegal corporate money into Republican Brian Babin's 1996 campaign for Congress.

In an affidavit signed in 1998, Cloeren said DeLay urged him to evade campaign finance laws and funnel more money than legally allowed into the Babin campaign. DeLay denied the accusation.

One thing DeLay must be coming to grips with is that when the government decides to bring its awesome power down on you, no matter how much money you have to fund your defense, they always have the edge. If anyone can beat the Government, I believe it's Dick DeGuerin, but at some point, all those other politicians and businessmen who did business with him and his staffers are going to "tell the government's truth" if the alternative is an indictment or a longer jail sentence for themselves.

Arianna is as enthusiastic as I am about Instapundit Glenn Reynold's new book, An Army of Davids.

The book is a powerful paean to how changes in technology are empowering the little guy to take on the goliaths of Big Media and Big Government. "Small is the new big," says Reynolds....Reynolds also nails how the blogosphere has become an invaluable tool for holding the mainstream media's feet to the fire: "Where before journalists and pundits could bloviate at leisure, offering illogical analysis or citing 'facts' that were in fact false, now the Sunday morning op-eds have already been dissected on Saturday night, within hours of their appearing on newspapers' webites."

Markos and Jerome's book, Crashing the Gates, also is getting great reviews. Here's another one at Slashdot.

by TChris

Two Border Patrol agents were convicted of a variety of crimes after they shot at a suspect who fled from a traffic stop. Agent Jose Alonso Compean fired several shots at the suspect but Agent Ignacio Ramos had better aim. His single shot struck the suspect in the buttocks. Campean picked up his spent shells and neither agent reported the incident.

A jury convicted the agents of assault, weapons offenses, obstruction of justice and a civil rights offense. They'll be sentenced in June, but here's the kicker:

Border Patrol officials will decide Thursday whether the two agents will be fired.

by TChris

New policy for officers of the Utah State Patrol: keep the keys to the evidence locker away from your chlidren.

Three 17-year-old St. George boys, one the son of a Utah Highway Patrol trooper, have been arrested for investigation into the thefts of more than 23 pounds of marijuana from the UHP's evidence locker in Cedar City.

Iron County authorities are unsure how many criminal cases may have been compromised by the thefts. Only some of the marijuana has been recovered.

President Bush must be hopping mad today. By a vote of 62-2, the House Appropriations Committee voted to jettison the Dubai Ports deal:

The House Appropriations Committee defied President Bush this evening, voting overwhelmingly to scuttle a deal giving a Dubai company control of some major seaport operations without awaiting the outcome of a 45-day review of potential security risks.

Representative Jerry Lewis, the California Republican who is chairman of the panel, made good on his threat to keep the port terminal takeover from going forward. He added an amendment blocking the transaction to an essential emergency spending measure that provides money for the war in Iraq and for Hurricane Katrina recovery. "It is my intention to lay the foundation to block the deal," he said Tuesday.

Bush has promised to veto any legislation blocking the deal. But, because the amendment is tacked on to an Iraq/Afghanistan funding bill, he may change his mind.

Here is Bush's latest executive order , issued yesterday. It's entitled, " Responsibilities of the Department of Homeland Security with Respect to Faith-Based and Community Initiatives."

The Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) shall establish within the Department of Homeland Security (Department) a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (Center).....The purpose of the Center shall be to coordinate agency efforts to eliminate regulatory, contracting, and other programmatic obstacles to the participation of faith-based and other community organizations in the provision of social and community services.

The Washington Post has more.

I thought this was a joke, but it's not. Apparently in an effort to send a message to those thinking about deserting from their service in Iraq, a Marine unit is on the prowl, hunting down and jailing Vietnam war deserters.

Chief Warrant Officer James Averhart, who has commanded the Marine Corps Absentee Collection Center since September 2004, told the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times that he had ordered cold cases reopened and that his squad had caught 27 deserters in his first 11 months on the job, a rate he suggested was higher than those of his predecessors. The Corps last month updated that number to 33 cases.

"I have a different leadership style than the guys who have had this job. My job is to catch deserters. And that's what I do," Averhart told the newspaper.

One would have thought this issue was put to rest years ago:

Drudge has portions of the new Vanity Fair interview with Jack Abramoff. It's quite a read. McCain and Newt and a few others won't be pleased.

[Graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.]