This is news. The Associated Press reports that one unit of the FBI had information that McVeigh sought help from a group of white supremacist bank robbers days before the Oklahoma City Bombing, and failed to share the information with the FBI unit investigating the bombing:

The FBI believed Timothy McVeigh tried to recruit additional help in the days before the deadly 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and gathered evidence that white supremacist bank robbers may have become involved, according to government documents never introduced at McVeigh's trial.

The retired FBI chief of the Oklahoma City investigation, Dan Defenbaugh, said he was unaware of some evidence obtained by The Associated Press and that the investigation should be reopened to determine whether the robbery gang was linked to McVeigh.

The evidence never shared with Defenbaugh's investigators or defense lawyers includes documents showing the Aryan Republican Army bank robbers possessed explosive blasting caps similar to those McVeigh stole and a driver's license with the name of a central player who was robbed in the Oklahoma City plot.

Does this mean others were involved?

McVeigh's ex-lawyer said the evidence obtained by the AP is the strongest to date to show what he has argued for years -- that the bombing conspiracy may have involved more people than McVeigh and Nichols.

"I think these pieces close the circle, and they clearly show the bombing conspiracy consisted probably of 10 conspirators," attorney Stephen Jones said. "They (government officials) simply turned their backs on a group of people for which there is credible evidence suggesting they were involved in the murder of 160 people."

Some of the original documents cited in the article are available here.

You can read more from older news articles here and here.

From Long Story, Short Pier:

Billmon has uncovered the most glorious hack. It seems georgewbush.com has a really keen tool: enter your ZIP code, and it’ll bring up a list of your local papers. Type in the letter you wish to send to the editor(s), check off the papers in question, press the “send” button, and presto! You’ve siphoned off a tiny chip of his 200-million–dollar war chest and used it for truth, justice, and the American way. (If you’re at a loss, Billmon suggests you take the HRC or Lambda Defense Fund letters as boilerplate.)

What are you waiting for? Go! Go!

We'll be putting some great letters in the comments to this post which you can use for your letters. Feel free to add others in the comments that the rest of us can use. The part we like the best is that the Bush Campaign is paying for the funding of the technology to do this.

From Can They Hear You Now at Slate.com:

The Federal Communications Committee and the Justice Department are at loggerheads over a new problem in the war on terror: how to listen in on Internet phone calls. Thanks to the blistering growth of VoIP—Voice over Internet Protocol—services, which have been adopted by approximately 10 million people worldwide so far, law enforcement officials now worry that wiretapping may one day become technically obsolete. If traditional phone lines go the way of the horse and carriage, will the FBI still be able to listen in on Internet phone calls? How would it go about tapping one? Is it even possible?

After some highly technical descriptions, the article continues:

Last Thursday the FCC held an open hearing on the future of VoIP telecommunications. In a 4-1 decision, FCC commissioners, supported by Chairman Michael Powell, voted that a VoIP provider called Free World Dialup should not be subject to the same regulations as traditional phone companies—including the particulars of CALEA compliance. Instead, the FCC decided to put off the issue, stating that it would initiate a proceeding "to address the technical issues associated with law-enforcement access to Internet-enabled service" and "identify the wiretapping capabilities required." One commissioner, Michael J. Copps strongly dissented, calling the postponement "reckless."

Bottom line: The technology is growing so fast, the Government may not be able to implement monitoring internet calls even if it is allowed to do so--companies, particularly those overseas, are finding ways to free us.

ABC News reports Osama has left Pakistan for Afganistan.

The intelligence reports come as Arabic television stations aired audiotapes purportedly made by bin Laden's top aide, Ayman al-Zawahri. In one of the tapes, a man said to be Zawahri taunts President Bush and threatens new attacks on the United States.

Zawahri and his boss, bin Laden, moved out of Pakistan as that country's army stepped up pressure on tribal leaders in the far western area of Waziristan, U.S. intelligence officials tell ABCNEWS. The homes of suspected al Qaeda sympathizers in that region have been set on fire and there have been numerous arrests. Officials tell ABCNEWS they believe the two al Qaeda leaders have slipped across the mountainous border and re-entered Afghanistan.

A Miami jury returned a life sentence against a drug dealer convicted in the murder of a federal informant.

Luis Gonzalez Lauzan, 33, was eligible for the death penalty based on findings that he killed a federal informant and used a gun in a premeditated murder. He was convicted last month in the death of Alexander Texidor, who was shot to death by a hit man in 2002, less than a month after Texidor told authorities about the gunrunning activities of Luis Gonzalez Sr.

The jurors deadlocked, and were told to continue deliberating. They came back with the life verdict 20 minutes later.

The defense said Gonzalez deserved the lesser sentence because the hit man received a life sentence and could have that sentence reduced after testifying against Gonzalez.

Here's a timely article describing the process for amending the Constitution:

The Constitution provides that an amendment can be proposed either by Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures. So far, none of the 27 amendments to the Constitution has been proposed by constitutional convention.

In the case of a congressional vote, after passage in the form of a joint resolution, the archivist of the United States submits the proposed amendment to the states for their consideration. A proposed amendment becomes part of the Constitution if it is ratified by three-fourths, or 38, of the 50 states.

The Consitution has been amended six times since the 1950's. Here are the last three, from the same article

• The 27th Amendment, ratified in 1992, to prevent Congress from passing a law giving itself a pay raise before the next election.

• The 26th Amendment, in 1971, which extended the right to vote to citizens as young as 18.

• The 25th Amendment, ratified in 1967, which set out rules for the transfer of presidential power to the vice president in case the president is unable to fulfill the duties of the office.

The last two amendments that had congressional approval (the Equal Rights Amendment and the D.C. Voting Rights Amendment) failed to pass before the expiration of their respective ratification deadlines.

Bump and Update: Martha will not testify. She will rest her case tomorrow.

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The Martha Stewart trial may wrap up today. Her co-defendant and stock broker, Peter Bacnovic, will not take the stand. We believe Martha won't either. After Bacnovic rests, the Judge will rule on tossing the securities charge. We think it's history.

If the Judge throws out the securities charge, Martha's lawyers are expected to call one witness. The jury would likely get the case this week.

Our money's on Martha.

The first criminal charges have been brought against two detainees at Guantanamo.

Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi, of Sudan, was a paymaster for al Qaeda, and Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul, of Yemen, was a propagandist for bin Laden, the government charged in military indictments unsealed at the Pentagon.

The two men are among more than 600 foreign prisoners held at the U.S. Navy's Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba. Both spent time in terrorist training camps and served as bodyguards for bin Laden, according to military charging documents similar to indictments in the civilian court system.

The two will not face the death penalty but could receive life in prison.

In a statement, the Pentagon described al Qosi as a key al Qaeda accountant and weapons smuggler who was "a longtime assistant and associate of bin Laden dating back to the time when bin Laden lived in Sudan." The Pentagon identified al Bahlul as a "key al Qaeda propagandist who produced videos glorifying the murder of Americans to recruit, inspire and motivate other al Qaeda members" to attack Americans, the United States and other countries.

The Pentagon said al Bahlul and al Qosi were charged with willfully and knowingly conspiring with bin Laden and others to commit terrorism and murder, attack civilians and destroy property.

Attorney General Ashcroft gets to decide if Rodi Alvarado receives asylum. Please take just 30 seconds by clicking here and ask Ashcroft to grant Rodi Alvarado asylum. Please share with friends and colleagues. Please forward this action alert on to list-servs and e-mail lists. Please take action one last time for Rodi Alvarado and all women and girls fleeing gender-based persecution.

It's Grey Tuesday today. Received from Norwegianity:

It's time for music fans to stand up and demand change from the music industry's copyright cartel. Tuesday, February 24 will be a day of coordinated civil disobedience: websites will post Danger Mouse's Grey Album on their site for 24 hours in protest of EMI's attempts to censor this work.

DJ Danger Mouse created a remix of Jay-Z's the Black Album and the Beatles White Album, and called it the Grey Album. Jay-Z's record label, Roc-A-Fella, released an a capella version of his Black Album specifically to encourage remixes like this one. But despite praise from music fans and major media outlets like Rolling Stone ("an ingenious hip-hop record that sounds oddly ahead of its time") and the Boston Globe (which called it the "most creatively captivating" album of the year), EMI has sent cease and desist letters demanding that stores destroy their copies of the album and websites remove them from their site. EMI claims copyright control of the Beatles 1968 White Album.

The 2003 edition of the FBI's Handbook on Forensic Services is now available.

The purpose of the Handbook of Forensic Services is to provide guidance and procedures for safe and efficient methods of collecting, preserving, packaging, and shipping evidence and to describe the forensic examinations performed by the FBI's Laboratory Division and Investigative Technology Division.

Law enforcement can get a free copy by faxing a request. For the rest of us, you can get it through the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) for $50 in hard copy or $35 on cd-rom. Order it here.

This could be good news for the Terry Nichols defense team. The judge has ruled that he may present evidence of a wider conspiracy in the Oklahoma bombing if he can back it up with specific overt acts.

Mr. Nichols is going to be allowed to present his defense," Taylor said, ruling that prosecution motions to prevent Nichols from presenting evidence of other bombing suspects were premature.

Defense attorney Mark A. Earnest said Nichols' defense team does not plan to offer the names of other conspirators. He said the defense wants to present circumstantial evidence that Timothy McVeigh conspired with others, possibly members of the Aryan Republican Army, a white supremacist group with anti-government views, to bomb the P. Murrah Federal Building. Defense attorneys say the conspiracy was set up to cast blame on Nichols and shield other conspirators.

If Nichols can establish others were involved with McVeigh, the jury might believe he had a lesser role, warranting a life sentence instead of death. The federal jury that convicted him gave him a life sentence. We still don't see how he can get a fair trial anywhere in Oklahoma, particularly in McAlester, a town filled with prison guards and munitions factory workers, but nonetheless, this is a crumb for the defense.

More than 350 potential jurors were sworn in yesterday. Jury selection (voir dire) begins March 1.