by TChris

Russ Feingold and two other senators had the courage to stand up for your right to privacy. It's pathetic that other senators didn't join them.

The Senate brushed aside an attempt to block renewal of the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act today, voting 96 to 3 against changes urged by Senator Russell D. Feingold, the act's most persistent critic. Mr. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, said he wants to make the Senate debate several more days on the bill, and under the Senate's rules he can do so. But today's vote signaled that, once Mr. Feingold has exhausted his moves, the act will indeed be renewed by the Senate before its scheduled expiration on March 10.

Feingold is a national treasure. A heartfelt thanks to Senators Feingold, Byrd, and Jeffords for putting up resistance to the administration's unquenchable thirst for unreviewable discretion to pry into our personal information and private communications.

by TChris

Will George and Dick soon be swapping hunting stories over a beer?

When George W. Bush, then a gubernatorial candidate, accidentally killed a protected [killdeer] during a dove shoot in 1994, he and his press aide swiftly decided on a strategy: confess fast.

"People watch the way you handle things. They get a feeling they like and trust you or they don't," said a biography of Mr Bush.

Dick should have called George for expert advice on hunting mishaps.

Dick Cheney: the rare politician who can make George Bush look good by comparison.

by TChris

In a speech at Wendy's corporate headquarters yesterday, the president "took on critics" of his plan to expand health savings accounts. Countering charges that the plan benefits the wealthy while giving no relief to 45 million uninsured Americans, the president said "It's kind of like saying, 'If you're not making a lot of money, you can't make decisions for yourself'."

No, it's more like saying, "If you have a low-paying job at a fast food chain like Wendy's that doesn't provide you with a comprehensive health insurance benefit, you're screwed because you can't save enough in a health savings account to cover your medical bills."

by TChris

An editorial in today's NY Times gives sound advice to the president: fire Michael Chertoff. In the wake of a report by an all-Republican Congressional panel that assigned blame for the inept governmental response to Katrina, Chertoff "stands out above the rest."

According to the panel's report, Mr. Chertoff has "primary responsibility for managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster," yet he handled his decision-making responsibilities "late, ineffectively, or not at all." A FEMA official named Marty Bahamonde sent word back to Washington on the same day Katrina struck, saying the 17th Street Canal levee in New Orleans had been breached. This was not based on a rumor; he had seen it with his own eyes from a Coast Guard helicopter. FEMA public affairs officials sent Mr. Chertoff's chief of staff an e-mail note that night. The former FEMA director, Michael Brown, says he notified the White House at the same time. Yet the next day, President Bush said New Orleans had "dodged the bullet," while Mr. Chertoff flew to Atlanta for a briefing on avian flu.

The president is more likely to give Chertoff a medal or a promotion than to admit that Chertoff wasn't up to the job, and we know he doesn't read newspapers. Still ...

It would be nice for the administration to finally send a message that if important people do a bad job, they go away.

by TChris

It's time to close Guantanamo. The prisoners detained there should be released or placed on trial. So says a report (pdf) issued by inspectors for the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

It focused in particular on the force-feeding of inmates on conducting hunger strikes, which is said was both a violation of human rights and of medical ethics, and of the use of interrogation techniques that go beyond what international law permits.

"The confusion with regard to authorized and unauthorized interrogation techniques is particularly alarming," it said.

Guantanamo is an embarrassment to the United States, a stain on the country's reputation as a guardian of human rights. It should be closed for that reason, if no other.

Ok, everyone, I'm out of here for a week. I'll be in Amsterdam with fellow bloggers Ezra, Amanda of Pandagon and Lindsay of Majikthise, courtesy of Holland.com, and the TL kid, courtesy of me.

Here's the disclosure statement on what the bloggers are getting and giving for the trip, via the arrangement between Holland.com and Blogads.

Of course I'll have my laptop and a camera, and will blog a little about the trip, and sporadically about some news, but not with my usual frequency.

There will be open threads up throughout the week (this is one), and TChris and Last Night in Little Rock will weigh in as their schedules permit. So check back often, they write great stuff.

Digby finds a chink in the story.

DUI cases. The stories are always the same. How many times have cops heard "I only had one beer" when pulling someone over. And now the latest from Cheney pal Katherine Armstrong: He was so distraught after the accident that he made a drink as soon as he got back to the ranch.

I was fine with the beer at lunch. It's true, that would not make him enebriated. It was a few hours before the shooting. But the drink back at the ranch could mean he wanted an explanation for any alcohol in his system in case he did have to take breath or blood test Saturday night -- in case the investigators weren't as sympatico to Katherine Armstrong, the former Bush-appointed head of Texas Wildlife, or the Secret Service, as he hoped they would be.

As Digby says:

[Cheney's story is] not exactly convincing when the secret service "made an appointment" with the sheriff's office for the next day and ran off the deputy who showed up to interview Cheney at the ranch.

Not to mention, the incident report states alcohol was not involved.

The She Pundit With Long Blond Hair did a no-no last week when she voted in the Palm Beach City Council election at the wrong precinct.

She wrote down Indian Avenue as her address when she registered to vote. Her realtor says Indian Avenue is a mail-drop for the conservative pundit. At the time she registered, she had already owned her home on another street for more than three months. Yet, she voted at a precinct four miles away from her home, presumably the one that matched the Indian Road address. Here's why it's a problem:

Florida statutes make it a third-degree felony to vote knowingly in the wrong precinct. Lying on a voter's registration can cost up to $5,000 and five years behind bars....."If someone brings us proof that a person falsified a registration, we'll check into it, then refer the matter to the state attorney's office if necessary."

Here is the transcript of Vice President Cheney's interview tonight.

How did he do? My take: If only he'd come out the first day with this interview, it would have been a 15 minute story.

Some snippets:

Cheney: Well, ultimately, I'm the guy who pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry. And you can talk about all of the other conditions that existed at the time, but that's the bottom line. And there's no -- it was not Harry's fault. You can't blame anybody else. I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend. And I say that is something I'll never forget.

Vice President Dick Cheney will give an interview to Fox News at 2:00 pm today. It will air shortly before 6 p.m. ET.

Democrats have been pressing him to come forward. The secrecy of this Administration and Cheney are unbefitting an open government. The White House is not private property.

The New York Times reports that the White House has dropped its tone of levity over the Cheney shooting of Texas lawyer Harry Whittington, following Whittington's heart attack this morning, caused by a pellet that lodged or migrated to his heart.

The turn for the worse in Mr. Whittington's health changed the White House response to the hunting accident as well as the response of local law officials in Texas. Officials there said that they were monitoring the case and Carlos Valdez, the district attorney in Kleberg County, said a fatality would require a new report from the local sheriff and, most likely, a grand jury investigation.

Cheney's handling of the incident has caused tension between his office and the office of the President. And many medical experts are disputing the Texas doctor's version of Whittington's condition.

Attytood has more on lobbyist and Texas ranch owner Katharine Armstrong. Our prior post on Armstrong and her family's connections is here, and a related post on Kenedy County, hunting ground for the Texas political heavyweights is here.

Happiness may be a warm gun, but it looks like Cheney could get cold-cocked over this. He still hasn't made a public statement and even the White House thinks he should.

President Bush says the United States does not engage in torture.

Now look at these new pictures, among 60 previously unpublished photographs that the US Government has been fighting to keep secret in a court case with the American Civil Liberties Union. Here's a sampling:

• Photo 1
• Photo 2
• Photo 3
• Photo 4
• Photo 5
• Photo 6
• Photo 7

President Bush is a liar.

[hat tip Patriot Daily.]