by TChris

If we call it a terrorist surveillance program, the White House thinks, the public will embrace our illegal spying. As this editorial makes clear, the president's critics don't oppose surveillance of terrorists. They oppose the president's decision to ignore the laws that give him a lawful way to intercept the communications of persons who are reasonably suspected of promoting terrorism.

"Let me put it to you in Texan," Mr. Bush drawled at the Grand Ole Opry House yesterday. "If Al Qaeda is calling into the United States, we want to know."

Yes, and so does every American. But that has nothing to do with Mr. Bush's decision to toss out the Constitution and judicial process by authorizing the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without a warrant. Let's be clear: the president and his team had the ability to monitor calls by Qaeda operatives into and out of the United States before 9/11 and got even more authority to do it after the attacks. They never needed to resort to extralegal and probably unconstitutional methods.

The editorialist is unimpressed with the NSA's opinion that the domestic spying program is legal.

I have one more day at the Judge-Journalist workshop I'm attending in Reno and will be back to regular blogging tonight. If you're feeling like you have something to say, here's a thread for you.

by TChris

As the linked article points out, videos don't always tell the entire story. Yet the story apparently told by a video recorded by a Chino resident on Sunday is tragic.

[T]he video appears to show a deputy ordering 21-year-old Elio Carrion to his feet, then shooting him as he tries to stand. Carrion, an Air Force policeman who recently returned from Iraq, underwent surgery for wounds to his chest, ribs and leg and was listed in good condition Wednesday at the hospital.

Carrion was a passenger in a Corvette, which crashed following a brief chase that ended when the car crashed into a wall, authorities said. Authorities said no weapons were found on Carrion or the driver, Luis Escobedo. ... Escobedo said he and Carrion were trying to cooperate with the deputy.

"We were trying to explain to him, we were not armed," he told reporters. "Elio had nothing to do with this."

The FBI is investigating the incident. Experts who have viewed the video are disturbed by the officer's decision to fire multiple times at an unarmed man who posed no obvious threat.

by TChris

Hoping to continue benefitting from the culture of corruption, some House Republicans are complaining that their leaders are "overreacting" to Republican scandals. They oppose proposed reforms.

In a tense, 3 1/2 -hour closed-door session, many Republicans challenged virtually every element of the leadership's proposal, from a blanket ban on privately funded travel to stricter limits on gifts to an end to gym privileges for lawmakers-turned-lobbyists.

No gifts? No transportation on corporate jets? What's the point of being a Republican legislator if you can't cash in?

As a consequence, reform proposals are delayed.

House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.), who was to unveil a draft of the full lobbying reform package yesterday, instead announced it was not ready.

Andrea Yates, awaiting a retrial on charges she drowned her five children, has been granted $200,000. bail. She must reside in a mental hospital until the retrial.

This is what she has needed all along.

From Think Progess:

In a letter to Scooter Libby's lawyers, Patrick Fitzgerald says he has learned "that many e-mails from Cheney's office at the time of the Plame leak in 2003 have been deleted contrary to White House policy."

Why am I not surprised. But, Kevin writes it's time for some followup. I think it's time for Fitz to expand the scope of his investigation.

Update: Raw Story has a copy of Fitzgerald's letter (pdf) advising of the e-mails.

The House is preparing to extend the Patriot Act another five weeks.

Republicans are stalling. They have not done a thing to compromise since December. Since no one is gong to let the bill die a natural death, an extension is better than the Republicans jamming their version through.

I'm at a Judges/Journalist conference in Reno. During a break, one of the judges asked me why no one is writing about President Bush's mention of the line item veto in his speech last night. It's another unbridled attempt by him to grab power from the legislative branch.

I was struck by his comment on the equality of the two branches of government, the executive and the legislative. Was his omission of the judicial branch intentional? The three branches are co-equal. So many things Bush has done has been in an effort to reduce the oversight power of the judiciary.

by TChris

Robert J. Stein Jr. was a contracting official for the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-controlled entity that ran Iraq for more than a year after the president's "mission accomplished" declaration. Stein helped bring a culture of corruption to the CPA. He's scheduled to enter a guilty plea today to charges that he conspired with Philip Bloom and others to steal reconstruction money and to enrich his friends while pocketing more than a million dollars.

Stein, who has an earlier federal fraud conviction, used the money he stole or was paid by Bloom to buy a single-engine Cessna airplane, a top-of-the-line Porsche and other cars, grenade launchers, machine guns, diamond rings and other jewelry, and property in North Carolina, he said in his signed statement. Stein said he helped steer more than $8.6 million in contracts to companies controlled by Bloom, a U.S. citizen who has lived in Romania for many years.

Bloom also faces conspiracy and money laundering charges. Court documents indicate that five "U.S. Army Reserve officers also have been implicated in the theft and kickback scheme."

by TChris

The Electronic Frontier Foundation believes AT&T was too willing to help the NSA eavesdrop on its customers' conversations. It filed suit against AT&T on behalf of three AT&T customers, asserting that the telecommunications company "violated wiretapping and electronic privacy laws, since intercepting communications is prohibited except where authorized by law."

"As best we can tell, the NSA program is apparently the biggest fishing expedition ever devised, scanning millions of ordinary Americans' calls and e-mails for suspicious patterns," said Kevin Bankston, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which filed the suit.

"Based on the published reports and after a reasonable investigation, we think that discovery is going to show that AT&T has opened up its network to direct access by the NSA," Bankston said.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, is based in part on "a Los Angeles Times report that the National Security Agency had access to an AT&T database tracking calling records."

by TChris

UPDATE: The arrest of Cindy Sheehan served its purpose. Cindy was spirited away from cameras to purify the background for the president's speech. Now that she's not a threat to the president's image, Capitol Police have released her and plan to apologize. No charges will be pressed, as the Capitol Police belatedly discovered that no rule prohibits expressive attire. One might have expected the police to have inquired about the law before arresting Cindy for an imaginary crime.

Perhaps to prove that they are bipartisan transgressors of the right to free speech, the Capitol Police also removed Beverly Young, the wife of Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young, from the audience, having spotted her sporting a "Support the Troops" shirt. Rep. Young took to the House floor to admonish the Capitol Police -- "Shame, shame" -- for treating a patriot so poorly. Beverly Young said it best:

"They said I was protesting," she told the St. Petersburg Times. "I said, 'Read my shirt, it is not a protest.' They said, 'We consider that a protest.' I said, 'Then you are an idiot.'"

But Young was only ejected while Cindy was arrested, albeit briefly. Why?

Capitol Police did not explain why Sheehan was arrested and Young was not.

ORIGINAL POST:

What were the biggest lies? The low points? How did Tim Kaine do? Any predictions as to whether there will be a bounce for Bush tomorrow?

Arianna will be on Anderson Cooper 360 discussing the speech right afterwards. Are any liberals live-blogging? Let us know in the comments.

[Graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.)