by TChris

As reported here, here, and here, the Air Force Academy took some well deserved heat for allowing religious extremists to proselytize while expressing intolerance of other religious views held by cadets. The controversy sprouted a lawsuit, and the Academy rescinded a code of ethics for chaplains that endorsed their right to evangelize those who weren't already affiliated with a religious body.

The evangelical right reacted with outrage to a perceived attack on Christianity. In response, the Air Force caved, "dropping a requirement for chaplains to respect others' rights to their own beliefs and no longer cautioning top officers about promoting their personal religious views." The new rules permit superior officers to lecture cadets about religion so long as it is "reasonably clear" that they are speaking personally, not officially. The new rules emphasize the vitality of the free exercise clause while undermining the protections afforded by the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

The New York Times, Washington Post and Associated Press are both reporting on Murray Waas' National Journal article disclosing that Patrick Fitzerald mentioned in a January 26 letter to Libby's lawyers that Libby told the grand jury he had been authorized by his superiors to disclose classified information to reporters.

The prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, said in a letter to Mr. Libby's lawyers last month that Mr. Libby had testified before the grand jury that "he had contacts with reporters in which he disclosed the content of the National Intelligence Estimate ('NIE')," that discussed Iraq's nuclear weapons capability. "We also note that it is our understanding that Mr. Libby testified that he was authorized to disclose information about the NIE to the press by his superiors."

Fitz's full letter is available here. (pdf) An earlier letter from Fitz to Libby's lawyers regarding their discovery obligations is available here. Both letters were were filed by Libby's lawyers on January 31 as exhibits to his Motion to Compel Discovery of Rule 16 and Brady Material in the Possession of Other Agencies (pdf). Check out footnote 4 on pages 3-4.

Bump and Update: Libby's lawyers deny he would try to blame higher-ups as a defense strategy. [link fixed]

Sen. Kennedy comments on the Cheney aspect to the story:

"These charges, if true, represent a new low in the already sordid case of partisan interests being placed above national security," Kennedy said. "The vice president's vindictiveness in defending the misguided war in Iraq is obvious. If he used classified information to defend it, he should be prepared to take full responsibility."

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Original Post (11:00 a.m)

Murray Waas breaks new ground again in the Scooter Libby case: Cheney and other top Administration officials authorized Libby to release classified information in the summer of 2003 to counter Joseph Wilson's charge that Bush misrepesented intelligence information in order to make the case for going to war.

The White House is pulling another fast one, this time with the Patriot Act. The Republican senators who joined the filibuster of the renewal legislation in December, John Sununu (NH), Larry Craig (ID), Lisa Murkowski (AL) and Chuck Hagel (NE) have made a deal with the White House. They will now vote for the revised Patriot Act, based upon insignificant and insufficient revisions agreed to by the White House.

Sen. Russ Feingold and Rep. John Conyers are blasting the deal. From their press releases (no link yet, received by e-mail.)

by TChris

Following up on yesterday's post about the mayor and police chief of Lonoke, Arkansas, who (along with others) are accused of various crimes and corrupt activities, WREG reports that the city council has accepted the resignations of both men. KATV has links to charging documents describing the alleged misbehavior, including inmate accounts of their jail furloughs to repair the chief's property and to have sex with his wife.

by TChris

Bringing to a conclusion lawsuits filed by anti-war protestors who contended that the police used excessive force against them, the City of Oakland agreed to settle the suits for $393,000. Combined with earlier payments made to resolve related lawsuits, the City coughed up a total of $1.3 million to settle the claims of injured protesters.

Protesters said police fired wood bullets and bean-bag rounds at them without provocation and failed to allow them to disperse during the 2003 rally at the Port of Oakland. They said they were protesting the war in Iraq and targeted the port because at least one company there was handling war supplies.

Oakland also "agreed to stop the indiscriminate use of such tactics."

by TChris

Helen O'Donnell argues that a larger story underlying the Abramoff scandal has been overlooked:

Years after taking this country away from Native Americans and herding them onto reservations to live mostly in poverty and despair, it ought to bother us that we still think so little of them as human beings that further exploitation of American Indians is somehow "business as usual" in Washington without rising to meet the real challenges that still face our American Indian sisters and brothers.

by TChris

An elementary school in Brockton, MA suspended a 6 year old for sexually harassing another student. This is the "sexual harassment": "officials said he put two fingers inside a girl's waistband, touching her skin, during a class."

Bugging other students (of either gender) is normal 6 year old behavior. Is it sexual harassment? Not by any meaningful definition of the term.

"[W]hen we think of sexual harassment, we think of somebody who is approaching somebody inappropriately as a sexual threat, and a 6-year-old's probably not capable of that level of plotting," [Elizabeth] Englander said. ... Englander, [a] psychologist, said children are naturally curious and very physical, and almost any kind of touching may be considered "normal" unless it is sexualized or mimicking sexual acts.

The school's policy defines sexual harassment as "repeated, unwanted, or unwelcomed verbalisms or behaviors of a sexist nature related to a person's sex or sexual orientation." A single, innocent touch by a 6 year old doesn't come close to meeting that definition. The school should be ashamed of its overreaction to the incident.

by TChris

Two stories in the NY Times this morning highlight the administration's post-"mission accomplished" failures in Iraq. Despite claims that insurgent attacks in Iraq are declining, declassified statistics "portray a rebellion whose ability to mount attacks has steadily grown in the nearly three years since the invasion." Meanwhile:

Virtually every measure of the performance of Iraq's oil, electricity, water and sewerage sectors has fallen below preinvasion values even though $16 billion of American taxpayer money has already been disbursed in the Iraq reconstruction program, several government witnesses said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Wednesday.

The Grammys : The Winners

The Washington Post has a good rundown. From my perspective:

Best moments:

The Christian Science Monitor reports on a huge, planned data mining program that will troll news and blogs.

The US government is developing a massive computer system that can collect huge amounts of data and, by linking far-flung information from blogs and e-mail to government records and intelligence reports, search for patterns of terrorist activity.

The system - parts of which are operational, parts of which are still under development - is already credited with helping to foil some plots. It is the federal government's latest attempt to use broad data-collection and powerful analysis in the fight against terrorism. But by delving deeply into the digital minutiae of American life, the program is also raising concerns that the government is intruding too deeply into citizens' privacy.

The "core" of the system is called Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight, and Semantic Enhancement (ADVISE). Check the Monitor article for lots more details.

Raw Story reports that Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) has written Attorney General Alberto Gonzales a letter (pdf) asking him to answer 51 questions about the NSA warrantless electronic surveillance program by March 2. Among the questions:

• "Do you agree that FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) 'expressly prohibits' the specific activities under this program?"

• "What is the rationale for authorizing a program to conduct surveillance in a manner that does not require prior judicial review by the FISA court?"