Earlier I wrote about today's New York Times article highlighting Alberto Gonzales' and Andrew Cards' 2004 hospital visit to former Attorney General John Ashcroft to get him to sign off on an extension of Bush's warrantless NSA electronic surveillance program.

The Times implies, but does not state, that Ashcroft refused. Newsweek confirms his refusal:

in March 2004, White House chief of staff Card and White House Counsel Gonzales visited Ashcroft, the seriously ill attorney general, to try to get him to overrule Comey, who was officially acting as A.G. while Ashcroft was incapacitated. Ashcroft refused, and a battle over what to do broke out in the Justice Department and at the White House. Finally, sometime in the summer of 2004, a compromise was reached, with Comey onboard: according to an account in The New York Times, Justice and the NSA refined a checklist to follow in deciding whether "probable cause" existed to start monitoring someone's conversations.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The biggest story of 2005 on CNN was Katrina and its aftermath, and this blog, as all the others, also exploded with stories about the government's gross mismanagement. "Brownie, you've done a heck of a job" became the catch-phrase for governmental cluelessness.

April 18th is the Centennial of the Great San Francisco Earthquake, and I've started reading up on it. Over the holidays, I read A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 by Simon Winchester. This was my first installment on the subject.

What shocked me was that the government's response in 1906 was immediate and decisive, unlike 2005.

The New York Times reports major news in the NSA warrantless electronic surveillance story: When it came time for an extension of the program in 2004, former Attorney General John Ashcroft was in intensive care recovering from pancreatitis. Then Deputy AG James Comey objected to some aspects of the program and refused to sign off on it. Alberto Gonzales (then White House Counsel) and Andrew Card actually went to see Ashcroft in the hospital to get him to sign off on it.

Accounts differed as to exactly what was said at the hospital meeting between Mr. Ashcroft and the White House advisers. But some officials said that Mr. Ashcroft, like his deputy, appeared reluctant to give Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales his authorization to continue with aspects of the program in light of concerns among some senior government officials about whether the proper oversight was in place at the security agency and whether the president had the legal and constitutional authority to conduct such an operation.

It is unclear whether the White House ultimately persuaded Mr. Ashcroft to give his approval to the program after the meeting or moved ahead without it.

Tennessee's new shaming law applicable to drunk drivers goes into effect today.

Starting Sunday, convicted drunken drivers are required to spend 24 hours cleaning roadsides while wearing orange vests emblazoned with the phrase "I am a Drunk Driver." You cause them to go out and pick up trash in front of their friends and neighbors, the embarrassment is going to be such that they're never going to want to go through that again," said state Rep. Charles Curtiss (D). "Hopefully you can turn them around to never become a second-time offender."

...Tennessee offenders will have to spend at least one day in jail, followed by three eight-hour cleanup shifts. The previous minimum sentence for driving under the influence was 48 hours in jail.

No, that's not how it will work. It will cause a group of people to hate authrority and be bitter over the shaming treatment which will reduce their self esteem. And, as one cop says,

"At the end of the weekend, we're going to have a person who has picked up a lot of litter but is still addicted to alcohol," he said.

Treatment, not shame, is the answer.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Surely you've heard the old saw: "Democracy is not a spectator sport." The earliest primaries are in a matter of four or five months, and they will shape the next Congress. Will it remain in Republican hands? Can we even afford to leave it in Republican hands any longer?

It took me until today to amortize in my mind the small fortune I contributed to losing candidates in '04, but I don't consider it wasted. I don't consider the campaigning time wasted, either. The old college try, and all that ....

My state primaries are in May. Soon enough I'll have to start contributing again and working for candidates.

Only in America, touted as the "greatest democracy," do less than 50% of the voters vote. We are a disgrace.

Resolve to be active in politics and take Congress back from the looters, plunderers, and sycophants charged with maintaining the public trust and public fisc who lack any scruples, concern for the people, or the cojones to vote an article of impeachment.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The NY Times reported late Saturday that a man arrested in Bentonville, Arkansas had files in his car and was mining data from the Indiana Sex Offender Registry.

Many in law enforcement get their jollies making post-prison sex offenders suffer for the rest of the lives by hounding them, at least there is a sheriff in Arkansas that does that, be we won't mention his name, but here's his website. At least social security numbers are not on the public Internet, but, for a price, there are plenty of websites that sell that personal data and more on all of us.

Happy New Year to all, from Jeralyn, TChris and Last Night in Little Rock. We hope it rings in justice and peace.

For those of you who will be online, this is an open thread.

Update: Here's a live streaming thread of the gathering in Times Square, including music, courtesy of Crooks and Liars.

Here's a smattering of what I've found interesting today:

• RJ Eskow on today's WaPo Alito article
• Avedon Carol's always excellent round-up.
• Glenn Greenewald on threatening Administration critics with prosecution
• Digby on Constitutional Thuggery
• TBogg's soccer post about his daughter Casey
• Norgwegianity leads us to Separated at Birth, for anti-Cheneyites everywhere.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Ever been to Times Square on New Year's Eve? Three times here, but not since the 90's. It is a party to remember forever: people you never met before will hug you and kiss you, if you don't mind the fact they may be extremely drunk. New Yorkers are still the finest and, yes, friendliest, people in America.

To get in now, however, backpacks are not allowed, and all bags are searched on the perimeter, blocks away. Just posted on NYTimes.com:

While the party carried on in Times Square, late arrivals waited in long lines to pass through security checkpoints where police searched bags. The crowds were still merging on midtown for the celebration an hour before midnight.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Something I missed from three days ago until I found it on PatriotDaily.com. USA Today reported Dec. 28 that TSA screeners use conversation at some airports to identify potential troublemakers: Airport security uses talk as tactic / Conversation can help identify high-risk fliers. If anything, this has a high-risk of abuse of civil liberties.

Conversation during a traffic stop has long been the ploy of choice for police officers to find an excuse to search your car for drugs or weapons.

A reader at Josh Marshall's TPM made a good catch. Last night's Associated Press article on Jack Abramoff's impending plea deal said:

Abramoff’s cooperation would be a boon to an ongoing Justice Department investigation of congressional corruption, possibly helping prosecutors build criminal cases against up to 20 lawmakers and their staff members.

Overnight it was changed to:

Abramoff's cooperation would be a boon to an ongoing Justice Department investigation of congressional corruption, possibly helping prosecutors build criminal cases against up to 20 lawmakers of both parties and their staff members. (enphasis added.)

As for whether Abramoff will try to take down Democrats as well as Republicans, I'd look to whom he blames most for his current predicament. As he's now having his come-to-jesus moment with the all but inevitability of his spending the next several years in a federal prison, don't count out simple revenge. Who didn't help him when they should have, who let him crash and burn, who dropped him like a hot-potato, and who tried to save their hide at his expense?

What a way to end the year. Where is the U.S. media on this? It's all over the European newspapers. Der Speigel:

Recent reports in the German media suggest that the United States may be preparing its allies for an imminent military strike against facilities that are part of Iran's suspected clandestine nuclear weapons program.

Some background:

According to Ulfkotte's report, "western security sources" claim that during CIA Director Porter Goss' Dec. 12 visit to Ankara, he asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to provide support for a possibile 2006 air strike against Iranian nuclear and military facilities. More specifically, Goss is said to have asked Turkey to provide unfettered exchange of intelligence that could help with a mission.

Note: This now appears to be a bogus story. See below:

In Washington State, school kids are being asked to take patriotism tests that are unrelated to their coursework.

[The test] gauges whether or not the student shows fealty to the power of the state and whether the student believes in the right to overthrow a corrupt government.

Here's one of them, submitted by the mother of a 10th grader. [hat tip to Patriot Daily.]

Update: Commenters are very skeptical of this article and the source, Prison Planet. I've added a question mark to the title.

Update: Patriot Daily agrees the article is bogus and explains. Classy addition by Patriot Daily, which happens to be a very reliable news source.