by TChris

The Bush administration assures us that it hasn't abused the powers conferred by the Patriot Act, including those that allow the government to review library records. At the same time, it's trying to prevent a nonprofit library organization from revealing its identity as the recipient of an FBI request for its patron information. Assisted by the ACLU, the organization won the first round of its battle to tell the public what the FBI is doing.

Judge Janet C. Hall ... found that the government fell short in meeting the heavy burden of proof needed to argue that national security interests warrant ignoring the organization's First Amendment right to free speech.

A footnote to the decision reveals that the FBI has demanded library records many times. The administration's position has always been, "don't worry, we really don't use that Patriot Act power." A Connecticut library organization hopes to tell the country that the FBI is, indeed, poking into the reading habits of its patrons. Judge Hall correctly concluded that the organization has an interest in publicly identifying itself as the recipient of the FBI's demand for records.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Maureen Dowd's op ed piece in the NY Times today is priceless: "Neigh to Cronies." She weighs in, too, on trusting the Federal Emergency Mismanagement Agency, which used to be an important position, to utterly experienceless cronies.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The man who shouted to VP Cheney live on the CNN and MSNBC interviews (Fox follows Cheney's every word. Where were they?) "Go f**k yourself, Mr. Cheney" is an ER physician named Dr. Ben Marble as noted here. He lost his home, too. What was Cheney's security's response to free speech? They found him at his half destroyed home and handcuffed him.

Marble's story is recounted on the above link. A friend videotaped it all, including the damage to Marble's house, and the DVD is for sale on eBay to help Marble rebuild his life. Price at this moment: $1935. The author of the linked article bid on it himself.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Ever the lovable jokester, Rep. Tom ("The Hammer") DeLay (R-TX,22) visited (i.e., made a photo op trip) evacuees in Houston. As noted on Domeblog of the Houston Chronicle and picked on Raw Story he talked with two young boys:

While on the tour with top administration officials from Washington, including U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, DeLay stopped to chat with three young boys resting on cots.

The congressman likened their stay to being at camp and asked, "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?"

They nodded yes, but looked perplexed.

This is another example of Rep. DeLay's commpassion for his fellow man in time of crisis which proves his leadership.

As Last Night in Little Rock noted here, Time Magazine has the details of Mike Brown's alleged resume padding. Mark Schmitt at TPM Cafe wonders whether the info wasn't put out by the Bush Administration to justify letting him go - kind of like Bernie Kerik's "non-existent nanny problem."

More padding details from the Time article:

Brown's FindLaw profile lists a wide range of areas of legal practice, from estate planning to family law to sports. However, one former colleague does not remember Brown's work as sterling. Stephen Jones, a prominent Oklahoma lawyer who was lead defense attorney on the Timothy McVeigh case, was Brown's boss for two-and-a-half years in the early '80s. "He did mainly transactional work, not litigation," says Jones. "There was a feeling that he was not serious and somewhat shallow." Jones says when his law firm split, Brown was one of two staffers who was let go.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The NY Times reports today that the NOLA Police have begun seizing guns from civilians as also noted below.

Local police officers began confiscating weapons from civilians in preparation for a forced evacuation of the last holdouts still living here, as President Bush steeled the nation for the grisly scenes of recovering the dead that will unfold in coming days.

by TChris

Paul Krugman:

It might make sense to hold off on the criticism if this were the first big disaster on Mr. Bush's watch, or if the chain of mistakes in handling Hurricane Katrina were out of character. But even with the most generous possible assessment, this is the administration's second big policy disaster, after Iraq. And the chain of mistakes was perfectly in character - there are striking parallels between the errors the administration made in Iraq and the errors it made last week.

by TChris

Colin Powell gave President Bush more loyalty than the president deserved. Now he's speaking his mind.

Making his most damning remarks about the conduct of the war since he was replaced by Condoleezza Rice, General Powell criticised the White House and Pentagon for their post-war planning and failure to send sufficient troops.

Unlike current members of the administration, Powell demonstrated an ability to confess his own failures.

by TChris

Mike Brown's departure for Margaritaville doesn't necessarily improve the country's safety. Look who's left in senior FEMA management:

Five of eight top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters and now lead an agency whose ranks of seasoned crisis managers have thinned dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

FEMA's top three leaders -- Director Michael D. Brown, Chief of Staff Patrick J. Rhode and Deputy Chief of Staff Brooks D. Altshuler -- arrived with ties to President Bush's 2000 campaign or to the White House advance operation, according to the agency. Two other senior operational jobs are filled by a former Republican lieutenant governor of Nebraska and a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official who was once a political operative.

by TChris

The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit did the Constitution no favors today by upholding presidential power to detain Jose Padilla indefinitely. TalkLeft background on Padilla is collected here.

A federal appeals court ruled today Jose Padilla, the so-called "dirty bomber," can be held forever in jail as an enemy combatant and never allowed to defend himself at trial, although he is an American citizen and was arrested in this country.

The decision was authored by Judge Michael Luttig, widely feared to be the president’s choice to replace Justice O’Connor. If the president hasn’t yet decided on a nominee, he may be tempted to reward Luttig for this unprecedented and dangerous expansion of presidential power.

by TChris

They don't have an effective public voice. Many will say that they deserve to suffer the consequences of their own actions. Advocates for the drug addicted nonetheless remind us that people who were trying to get their lives together in New Orleans shouldn't be ignored now that their support systems have been destroyed.

Among the estimated 1 million people left homeless by Katrina are thousands of drug abusers and alcoholics, some who have never been in treatment but many who have been torn from recovery programs.

by TChris

Half of the practicing attorneys in Louisiana lost their offices. The evidence room of the Orleans Parish Criminal Courts building is under water. Congress is allowing federal courts headquartered in New Orleans to set up shop elsewhere, but it's not so easy for Louisiana's state courts to relocate.

At emergency meetings in Baton Rouge, prosecutors and defense attorneys are debating how to alter laws that give judges authority only in stretches of Louisiana where courthouses have been destroyed.

Other problems will confound Louisiana's legal system. Will defendants who can't receive a speedy trial because of the hurricane be entitled to a dismissal? How long will they remain in pretrial detention while prosecutors rebuild files and police try to recover evidence that may have floated away?