The Conservative publication Insight on the News reoprts that Karl Rove has threatened to blacklist Judiciary Committee Senators if they oppose Bush on the NSA warrantless surveillance issue:

The White House has been twisting arms to ensure that no Republican member votes against President Bush in the Senate Judiciary Committee's investigation of the administration's unauthorized wiretapping. Congressional sources said Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has threatened to blacklist any Republican who votes against the president. The sources said the blacklist would mean a halt in any White House political or financial support of senators running for re-election in November. "It's hardball all the way," a senior GOP congressional aide said.

Transcripts from today's hearing are here (html). Arianna tells the Democrats to stand strong because this is a winning issue. That's good advice.

There were many questions Gonzales would not answer at today's hearing citing national security:

Democrats repeatedly pressed Mr. Gonzales, without success, to state whether the administration's legal stance would permit the government to open Americans' mail without warrant or, in the words of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to conduct "black bag jobs."

He offered few details of the secret program, whose existence was revealed in December by The New York Times. Though he described the program as "narrowly" targeted, Mr. Gonzales said he could not provide an "absolute assurance" that Americans without ties to terrorists are not being spied upon.

That's the crux of the problem. Bush and Gonzales want us to believe the surveillance program is directed at al Qaeda and other terrorists. But the reality is it is directed at the communications of suspected al Qaeda members overseas with people within this country. (For polling differences that depend upon whether the question is phrased as one or the other, see this article in tomorrow's Wall St. Journal (free link.)

Hollywood's once premier private investigator to the stars got out of jail on Friday. Today, he and six others were charged in a 110 count federal indictment (text here, pdf) alleging RICO (racketeering) and other violations over alleged wiretapping and privacy breaches by Pelicano.

At one time, Pellicano's roster of clients stretched from Michael Jackson to Elizabeth Taylor and Sylvester Stallone. He was the go-to detective for information needed by lawyers and agents representing entertainment A-listers.

Pellicano, 61, is charged with organizing and masterminding a corrupt enterprise that allegedly wiretapped phones, entered private computers without authorization, committed wire fraud, bribery, identity theft and obstruction of justice.

When criminal associates testify against one another on behalf of the Government, the Government says they are telling the truth. When they testify against a cop, however, they are sleazy liars. Check out this Milwaukee Sentinel columnist on the official result of the investigaton of Wisconsin undercover sheriff's investigator Mario Altuzar.

Mario Altuzar appeared to be a pretty seasoned pothead. When he smoked the stuff outside the bars of Washington County, he even "French inhaled," breathed, that is, the smoke that he blew out his mouth back in through his nose, those who were with him told investigators. They were absolutely convinced he was getting high - so convinced that they let down their guards and became ensnared in what Washington County Sheriff Brian Rahn now calls, and quite justifiably, Altuzar's "phenomenal accomplishment."

Bump and Update: Here's the case in a nutshell:

[Judge] Brinkema told the prospective jurors the case hinges on whether Moussaoui lied when interrogated before Sept. 11, 2001, and whether people died that day as a direct result. Advocating execution, prosecutors contend Moussaoui could have prevented the attacks by telling authorities about al-Qaida's designs. Defense attorneys say the government knew more about the plot than Moussaoui before 9/11 and still couldn't stop the attacks.

Moussaoui was arrested on immigration charges Aug. 17, 2001, after arousing suspicion as he trained at a Minnesota flight school to fly 747 jetliners. He was still in custody when 19 hijackers flew two 757 and two 767 jetliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 Americans in the nation's deadliest terrorist attack.

Moussaoui was ejected from the courtroom a total of four times today.

Update: Moussaoui lasted two minutes at his trial before being removed from the courtroom.

Crooks and Liars has the video to the very funny exchange between Sen. Dick Durbin and a blogger-reporter today.

Atrios has the transcript:

Denver's wildly popular Mayor, John Hickenlooper, named by Time Magazine as one of the five most influential mayors in the country, just held a news conference to announce his final decision on whether he will run for Governor. The answer is "no." He loves being Mayor and wants to complete the programs he has in the works.

I live-blogged the press conference over at 5280. Up until this morning, speculation was rampant that he was going to run. As late as yesterday, his supporters were giddy with excitement.

My take: Hick made the correct decision, and one that will increase his political capital by leaps and bounds. He demonstrated that he puts the welfare of the people who elected him above personal ambition. How rare is that? He positively glowed with positive energy during the announcement.

I think we'll be calling him Senator Hickenlooper in a few years.

Update: You can listen live here. Afternoon news update is here.

Bump and Update: Reddhedd at Firedoglake live-blogged the morning session.

News recap of the morning is here.

by Last Night in Little Rock

In a remarkable story for Newsweek hitting the stands today, a DoJ official told a closed door Senate Intelligence Committee that the President has the legal authority to order killings inside the United States. Exclusive: Can the President Order a Killing on U.S. Soil? This is the Administration's logical extension of the argument that it can violate the Fourth Amendment during national security investigations.

The response came in response to a hypothetical question from Sen. Feinstein.

(Guest Posted by TalkLeft's Man in Hollywood)

Everything Old Is New Again Dept: Two worthy documentaries have just been released on dvd, each indispensable time capsules of a half century past, and each bearing unnerving (but unsurprising) reflections of our current State of the Union.

• EDWARD R. MURROW: THE McCARTHY YEARS (B&W, 114 Minutes)
  
  

This is one of those long ones intended for the seriously PlameGate afflicted:

There's lots of speculation going on about the recently published redacted affidavit of Patrick Fitzgerald in the Judith Miller/Matthew Cooper subpoena case respecting the leak of Valerie Plame's identity. Jane at Firedoglake has a compilation of links to all the recent documents in the case. These are among the latest documents released (pdf):

• The judge's February 2005 decision in the Miller case, with parts of formerly redacted portions in italics on pages 30-39.
• Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's Aug. 27, 2004 affidavit in the Miller case, released in conjunction with the appeals court's document.
• The appeals court order from Feb. 3, 2006 unsealing "in significant part" the redacted pages of a judge's decision in the case.

Half-time at the Superbowl. Absolutely great. I hope they live and play forever.

Update: There was no five second delay imposed on the Stones. They agreed in advance that Mick's mike would be turned down on two words.