The Center for Public Integrity has obtained classified background materials from the Army report on Abu Ghraib that describe in detail attacks, prisoner riots, interrogation methods and the torture and death of detainees. These documents, along with reports about the documents will be released in two parts beginning today, October 8. [link fixed]

If you have that uneasy feeling you're being watched between now and Election Day, you may be correct. Attorney General John Ashcroft has issued a sweeping 60 day directive authorizing federal agents from a variety of agencies--DEA, FBI, BATF and the U.S. Marshal's service--to begin surveillance of potential terrorism suspects.

Don't let the title to this article in the OC Weekly put you off. Read the 60 reasons to vote against Bush. Many of them are dead-on. There's something for everyone here. One of my favorites:

15. The Patriot Act does little to defend you from terrorists but greatly increases the government’s power to get all up in your mess. Phone and Internet records can now be searched without warrants; police can see what books you’ve checked out of the library, but libraries are prohibited from informing you about the inquiry; your religious and political activities can be scrutinized even if the government doesn’t suspect criminal activity; you may be jailed without being charged, denied a lawyer or the chance to confront witnesses against you, and held indefinitely without a trial. Bush’s boys apparently still don’t feel they’ve dismantled civil liberties enough: they’re reportedly at work on the Patriot Act II.

Here's another:

British hostage Ken Bigley has been beheaded . The militants who kidnapped him sent out a video. The group responsible reportedly is the armed Tawhid wa al-Jihad (Unity and Holy War) group.

R.I.P. Mr. Bigley.

Rumors are flying around Texas that Tom DeLay is the subject of a criminal probe and may be indicted. Daily Kos examines them. Bottom line: It's a distinct possibility but not a sure thing.

His office has been burning up the news wires, issuing press releases on legislation at a heavy clip the past few days. Two Thursday, three Wednesday, in addition to a release about a special "pen and paper briefing" for the media on the Ethics Complaint, to be held at his office; four Tuesday and one Monday. These all follow the press releases issued last Friday by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington on the Ethics Report and Campaign for America's Future , calling on House Republicans to oust DeLay "before he goes to prison for corruption."

To read them all, go here and type in DeLay and the date range you are interested in.

Go ahead, just try and cast your vote for Kerry.

Questions that surfaced on the internet about whether Bush was wired with an earpiece so his advisors could speak to him during the debate are gaining steam. Salon reports here.

Prior Internet reports are here and here.

Listen to the mp3 yourself- or watch the video at c-span --fast forward to 40 min 30 sec.

Not convinced? Here's another:

Lots more here.

Update: The LA Times asks if Bush is "a dope" in its Wednesday editorial. It concludes he isn't, but says he's mentally lazy.

Right on schedule.

AP: "The Education Department has advised school leaders nationwide to watch for people spying on their buildings or buses to help detect any possibility of terrorism like the deadly school siege in Russia. The warning follows an analysis by the FBI and the Homeland Security Department of the siege that killed nearly 340 people, many of them students, in the city of Beslan last month. 'The horror of this attack may have created significant anxiety in our own country among parents, students, faculty staff and other community members,'

Deputy Education Secretary Eugene Hickok said in a letter to schools and education groups ... The Education Department sent its letter by e-mail Wednesday to school police, state school officers, school boards, groups representing principals and many other organizations." (emphasis added)

First off, this isn't new and it's been debunked.Why trot it out now? Here's Why.

[links via Ezra at Pandagon and Pandagon commenters.]

This is unusual, to say the least. Is it also improper? At least one expert thinks so.

The judge who presided over the biggest terrorism trial since Sept. 11 left his Detroit courtroom, traveled to CIA headquarters and helped interview a witness whose testimony later became key to the judge's reversal of convictions in the case.

Government officials familiar with the interview told The Associated Press the judge and Justice officials worked together outside the presence of defense lawyers to conduct the interview because of concerns about protecting secret information under the Classified Information Procedures Act. But legal experts said U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen's actions were highly unusual and could provide grounds for lawyers to challenge his impartiality because he assumed the role of investigator in a case he continued to preside over.

The Valerie Plame grand jury investigation is taking prisoners:

A federal judge held a reporter in contempt Thursday for refusing to divulge confidential sources to prosecutors investigating the leak of an undercover CIA officer's identity.

U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan ordered New York Times reporter Judith Miller jailed until she agrees to testify about her sources before a grand jury, but said she could remain free while pursuing an appeal. Miller could be jailed up to 18 months.

by TChris

It isn't unusual for scientists employed by a government crime lab to make mistakes. It is unusual for a government scientist's problematic credibility to "tip the scales" in favor of a judge's decision to dismiss a prosecution.

Phillip Rawl has been tried twice on charges of vehicular homicide, based on a blood analysis showing that his blood alcohol content exceeded the legal limit after an accident that killed his passenger. Neither jury could reach a unanimous verdict. Before the third trial started, Rawl's attorney, David Kaloyanides, asked the judge to dismiss the charge because the prosecutor failed to disclose evidence that the crime lab chemist who tested the blood, Jeff Lowe, had been mistaken at least 27 times while performing a task as simple as weighing drugs.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephen A. Marcus agreed that the district attorney's office should have disclosed the evidence, and cited the failure as a factor that "tipped the scales" in favor of dismissal. The judge added that there was no reason to believe a third jury would convict after the first two hung.