The Washington Post reports that reporter Bob Woodward was deposed by Patrick Fitzgerald on Monday for two hours. The big news is that Woodward was told by a "senior Administration official" about Joseph Wilson's wife working for the CIA as an analyst in weapons of mass destruction in mid-June, 2003.

My bet: Woodward's source is the State Department or CIA official mentioned in Paragraph 6 or 7 (and 33)of the Indictment against Libby. If it's the State Department official, it could be David Wurmser, John Hannah or Fred Fleitz. David Wurmser seems to me to be the most likely.

6. On or about June 11 or 12, 2003, the Under Secretary of State orally advised LIBBY in the White House that, in sum and substance, Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and that State Department personnel were saying that Wilson's wife was involved in the planning of his trip.

7. On or about June 11, 2003, LIBBY spoke with a senior officer of the CIA to ask about the origin and circumstances of Wilson's trip, and was advised by the CIA officer that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and was believed to be responsible for sending Wilson on the trip.

by Last Night in Little Rock

On Monday, the FCC's new regulation requiring Internet Service Providers and VoIP services to enable law enforcement to have a backdoor to eavesdrop goes into effect with 18 months to comply, as noted on CNET.com. CNET notes that the final order (pdf) was the result of years of lobbying by the FBI and DEA, altough its justification is terrorism investigations.

The regulation was issued in September as noted here.

The breadth and vagueness of the order concerns many.

Last week I put up a request for a new laptop. 24 hours later, an incredibly generous reader of TalkLeft purchased the exact one I had asked for. It just arrived this afternoon. It is so awesome, just 2.8 pounds and it's got everything I could want.

I am going to spend the next several hours getting acquainted with the new laptop. To my generous donor, thank you so much, and I'll be sending you a handwritten thank you note in the morning.

For the rest of you, here's an open thread.

by TChris

Update: Mother Jones reports on proposals to protect CPB from political influence.

....

Original post:

It’s old news that Kenneth Tomlinson, the former chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, violated federal law as he pursued his mission to rescue public radio and television from the “leftist” slant that he and other extremists on the right perceived. As TalkLeft reported here, CPB’s board of directors forced Tomlinson’s resignation after reviewing the confidential findings prepared by CPB’s inspector general. Now the “scathing” report has been finalized and it’s no longer confidential. (The IG's lengthy report, in pdf format, is here.)

[T]he report said that Mr. Tomlinson violated federal law by being heavily involved in getting more than $4 million in money for a program featuring the conservative editorial writers of The Wall Street Journal. The board is prohibited from getting involved in programming decisions, but the investigators found that Mr. Tomlinson had pushed hard for the program, "The Journal Editorial Report," even as some staff officials at the corporation raised concerns over its cost.

Say hello to Torture Is Not Us by American Progress (hoster of the excellent blog Think Progress), an action site to support the John McCain anti-torture amendment.

One crucial consideration: If the McCain Amendment passes, it must include the CIA. Like the Graham-Levin amendment on detainees, it is part of a larger 2006 military spending package. Bush and Cheney have threatened vetoes if the McCain Amendment passes in a form that excludes the CIA.

I'm not sure I can support the McCain Amendment with the Levin-Graham amendment as part of the package. Particularly, because as I wrote here, no habeas for them could become precedent for no habeas for us, as early as tomorrow, when the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold its second hearing on the dreadfulStreamlined Procedures Act.

Pajamas Media, the new blog-news-opinion collaboration, is having a big roll-out in New York tomorrow. They also will be announcing their new name. With $3.5 million in private financing on board, they are going top drawer.

While most of the participating blogs lean right, they did secure David Corn and Marc Cooper and I suspect more will join as it becomes better known and should it become successful.

Spain announced today it will probe allegations that the CIA used an airport near Mallorca to transfer Ghost Air detainees destined for overseas interrogation facilities.

The Spanish government had no knowledge of the alleged flights but a judge was investigating them, [Spanish Interior Minister Jose Antonio] Alonso told Spanish television channel Telecinco.

"If it were confirmed that this is true, we would be looking at very serious, intolerable deeds because they break the basic rules of treating people in a democratic legal and political system," he said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee today rejected the Jeff Bingaman amendment on habeas relief for detainees by a vote of 44 - 54. The Graham-Levin amendment was approved 84-14.

I just received a copy of the Amendment. My initial take is that while ithe compromise version is a modest improvement on the original Graham amendment, the Graham-Levin substitute would, like the original, eliminate habeas for Guatanamo detainees, overturn the Rasul decision, and also likely prevent the Supreme Court from ruling on the merits of the Hamdan case.

Kudos to Sen. Dick Durbin, whom I'm told, voted for the Bingaman Amendment and against the compromise.

More later.

350 law professors write the Senate Judiciary Committee (pdf)in opposition to Lindsay Graham's detainee habeas stripping amendment to the Pentagon funding bill.

I have not seen a copy of the Levin-Graham compromise. If anyone has it and can send it to me, that would be great. From the accounts I read in the news, it doesn't come close to the Bingaman Amendment - but I want to reserve judgment until I've read it.

Update: Marty Lederman of Balkinization apparently has seen the compromise and raises questions.

Update: I have a copy of the Amendment now, no need to send it.

[Update: Reddhed at Firedog Lake agrees and adds valuable additional thoughts.]

*******
Original Post

Taylor Marsh reports on special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and Libby's agreement to keep all discovery provided to Libby out of the hands of third parties and the lawsuit filed by Dow Jones, parent of the Wall St. Journal, to prevent the Court from going along.

As a defense lawyer, I have to say, the right thing to do is keep the material in the hands of the parties. I read Fitzgerald's proposed order (pertinent paragraphs are reproduced below) which is available on Pacer, the federal court docketing system, and it's very similar to ones I get in gang and large drug cases. It even requires the lawyers to return the discovery once the case is over and to keep a record of every person associated with the defense with whom they share it. Why? For one thing, the Government doesn't want unindicted co-conspirators to get their hands on it. For another, they want to protect the identity and safety of cooperating witnesses.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The Washington Post reported yesterday that DOJ Civil Rights Division career attorneys are leaving at a rate nearly double that of prior administrations because disagreements over the conservative agenda of DOJ under the current Administration.

Such is the distain for the current Administration for civil rights enforcement, the division's lawyers have found their energies diverted away from enforcement of the civil rights laws into other areas.

Ahmad Chalabi is getting the star treatment. The neocon purveyor of faulty intelligence met Monday first with Donald Rumsfeld and then with Dick Cheney.

Arianna tells all in My Dinner With Chalabi.

Other persons he's met with while here: Sen. Carl Levin, Rep. Tom Lantos, and Dick Holbrooke. He now praises Henry Waxman and hates Paul Bremer.

It sounds like his current meme is to protest he's being treated as a scapegoat of the CIA while declaring that human rights abuses, not WMD's, are why he made taking out Saddam his life mission.

Saddam's has been in jail for over a year and it seems the torture of Iraqis by Iraqis continues. But 2,000 young American lives have been lost. I'm not buying anything Mr. Chalabi has to sell, unless its a speedy withdrawal of American troops.