Raw Story has obtained a copy of the Justice Department memo about to be released vouching for the legality of Bush's warrantless NSA electronic surviellance program.

"The NSA activities are supported by the President’s well-recognized inherent constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and sole organ for the Nation in foreign affairs to conduct warrantless surveillance of enemy forces for intelligence purposes to detect and disrupt armed attacks on the United States," Justice Department lawyers write, referring to the President's order to wiretap Americans' calls overseas.

It adds, "The President has the chief responsibility under the Constitution to protect America from attack, and the Constitution gives the President the authority necessary to fulfill that solemn responsibility."

The full DOJ memo is available here (pdf). The New York Times article is here.

The Independent Counsel Report in the 10 year, $22 million investigation of former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros has been released. What does it show? Not much of anything, certainly not enough to justify the length and expense of the investigation. The full report and appendixes and other documents are available here. As to charges that the Clinton Administration intervened to protect Cisneros, it sounds to me like bunk.

Justice Department officials who disputed Barrett's findings portrayed his investigation as deeply misguided and said the tax case against Cisneros had little merit. They suggested the prosecutor had turned his disappointment in his inability to prove the obstruction allegations into unprovable theories. Robert Litt, one of the Justice Department officials involved, wrote in a comment letter May 31 that he was allowed to read only edited portions of the report but he concluded the report was "a fitting conclusion to one of the most embarrassingly incompetent and wasteful episodes in the history of American law enforcement."

Bin Laden has released a tape saying there will be another attack but offering up the possibility of a truce. The U.S. has rejected the truce.

Some experts say the tape will boost support for Bush. Why? Won't it just show the ineptitude of his Administration in finding Bin Laden and its misjudgement in expending resources, energies and lives on Iraq?

Update: Excerpts from the tape are here. [hat tip Patriot Daily.]

This is an open thread, all topics, not just bin Laden.

Update: Check out Daily Kos' Whip Count.

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Original Post

In a closed meeting of the Democratic caucus Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Patrick Leahy made the case for rejecting Judge Sam Alito.

As I reported yesterday, Sens. Leahy and Kennedy will be speaking publicly against Alito today.

Kevin Zeese, director of Democracy Rising and an Independent candidate for the U.S. Senate in Maryland, makes an excellent case for filibustering Alito. (received by e-mail.) While I don't think that's a realistic possibility, I hope any Democrats and moderate Republicans considering voting for Alito read his piece first. It just might change their minds.

A second report from the independent Congressional Research Agency finds that Bush's warrantless NSA electronic surveillance did not comply with federal law.

The Congressional Research Service opinion said that the amended 1947 law requires President Bush to keep all members of the House and Senate intelligence committees "fully and currently informed" of such intelligence activities as the domestic surveillance effort.

The memo from national security specialist Alfred Cumming is the second report this month from CRS to question the legality of aspects of Bush's domestic spying program. A Jan. 6 report concluded that the administration's justifications for the program conflicted with current law.

With a 72 hour death threat hanging over her head, the Christian Science Monitor and the Council on American-Islamic Relations are stepping into overdrive to save kidnapped American reporter Jill Caroll.

The U.S. and coalition forces are holding 8 female Iraqi prisoners. The kidnappers have demanded their release. The Iraq Ministry of Justice says it will release six of them early in an action it says is unrelated to Ms. Carroll. Will it be enough?

I think Ms. Carroll will be saved. Here's a commercial-free link to the video of Ms. Carroll that appeared on al-jazeera tv.

There's a lot of news in Europe the past two days on the CIA's extraordinary renditions of terror suspects via Ghost Air:

• Europe sets up CIA prison inquiry
  The European Parliament is setting up a committee to investigate claims that the CIA has been transporting suspects to secret prisons in Europe....The committee's inquiry will run alongside the investigation by human rights watchdog the Council of Europe....46 members of the new committee are set to be announced on Thursday.

• Scotland has been asked to cooperate in the investigation . There are allegations Ghost Air landed at Scottish airports.

• A British Foreign Office memo has been leaked showing that British airports may have been used and UK leaders were concerned about the legality of the CIA's rendition program.

• A Swiss Senator says Switzerland has known about the CIA program for at least two years.

Yesterday I wrote about Michael Fortier's impending release Friday from prison. He's done with his 12 year sentence--he served 10 1/2 years, 85%. Fortier pleaded guilty to knowing about plans to bomb the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995 and not reporting it to authorities, as well as lesser offenses.

Tonight the Dallas Morning News reports that Fortier, his wife Lori (who received immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony against McVeigh and Nichols) and their children will immediately be whisked off into the Witness Protection program, given new identities and moved to a new location.

This reaction by one of the survivors of the bombing is particularly insightful:

CNN has hired three new additions this month:

• Bill Bennett
• Former Republican Congressman JC Watts
• Right Wing radio host Glenn Beck

My view: This will hurt CNN in the longrun. First, it will be perceived as a chance to rival Fox News. Second, it will lessen CNN's credibility. CNN, while not the number one cable news network, has until now successfully fostered an image of being neutral, and a network to whom people turn when they want the news, not spin. They risk being perceived as a talk-tv rather than news channel.

John Amato's Crooks and Liars has just hit #8 on Technorati's list of top 100 blogs. More sites link to him than to Michelle Malkin. 5,879 sites have linked to C&L in the past six months.

Congratulations, John.

The husband and wife team who faked finding a finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili were sentenced today to 12 and 9 years, respectively.

I'd bet they'd give up a finger of their own to undo their deed.

The TL kid just forwarded me an e-mail he received.

BUSH PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY DESTROYED BY FLOOD

Crawford, Texas -- A tragic flood this morning destroyed the personal library of President George W. Bush. The flood began in the presidential bathroom where the books were kept. Both of his books have been lost. A presidential spokesman said the president was devastated, as he had almost finished coloring the second one. The White House tried to call FEMA but there was no answer.