Here it is all 8 pages of it today's memo of understanding from Attorney General John Ashcroft, the Director of the CIA, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security regarding the implementation of the new terror watch list. We can't wait for the ACLU's analysis. We'll post it here when it's out.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reports:

The Bush administration announced the creation of a new counterterrorism center today intended to develop a master "watch list" of more than 100,000 terrorism suspects and avoid the communication breakdowns that plagued the federal government before the Sept. 11 attacks.

....The plan announced today would create a new screening center, to be led by the F.B.I. in conjunction with the C.I.A., the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department. Officials said they expected the center to be operating by December. It will track, they said, not only suspected foreign terrorists but also Americans tied to domestic events like violence at abortion clinics.

Civil rights advocates said they worried that the new process would give the government greater power to track and compile information on Americans and others who may have no clear links to terrorism. Law enforcement officials pledged to respect privacy and civil rights while improving national security.

Where have we heard that before?

Update: This Bush supporter has bailed over homeland security. (link via Instapundit)

Here's some interesting news. The Office of National Drug Control Policy held a press conference in Washington today to announce that an estimated 11 million Americans have driven while under the influence of illegal drugs. This includes one out of every five 21 year olds.

John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the statistics show a failure to convince drivers that drugs impair driving as much as alcohol does. His office is kicking off an ad campaign to warn teens about driving while smoking marijuana.

"Marijuana is not the soft drug. Marijuana is not the casual rite of passage," Walters said at a news conference. "We have been sending the wrong message." Walters said marijuana can affect concentration, perception, coordination and reaction time for up to 24 hours after smoking it.

Well, lets take a look at the other side, as presented by Keith Stroup, Executive Director of NORML, who attended a portion of the press conference, at the invitation of an NBC reporter. Reportedly, he soon was ordered to leave by ONDCP officials. Anyway, here's Keith's report:

Filmmaker and author Michael Moore has a very good Patriot Act page on his official website. Actually, the whole website is excellent.

His movie, Bowling for Columbine, just came out on DVD. If you haven't seen it, you can order it here.

Bowling for Columbine
Buy Today!

It's about time someone made a scorecard of the Administration's handling of the terror war. The Independent Institute has just compiled one, with analysis. Here are the results.

To date, the biggest accomplishment—the elimination of Afghanistan’s Taliban regime that was harboring al Qaeda—has been significantly diminished by the al Qaeda leadership’s escape and by the nascent quagmire there that is embroiling the United States.

....Now that the threat to the U.S. homeland from al Qaeda in Afghanistan has been greatly reduced, rather than dig the Afghan hole deeper, the United States should declare victory, withdraw U.S. forces and turn the peacekeeping over to a coalition of the willing.

And the effects of U.S. policy go downhill from here. The hawks in the administration used the September 11 attacks to justify an unrelated policy agenda—settling old scores with Saddam Hussein. Because the administration hyped the threat of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and then didn’t find any, its fall-back position is that Iraq is better off without the despotic Hussein.

There's lots more explanation, but here are the grades:

Report Card on U.S. War on Terrorism

Removing al Qaeda haven in Afghanistan and neutralizing the group’s leadership B-

Avoiding a quagmire in Afghanistan C-

Finding weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq F

Making Iraq better off by eliminating Saddam F Reducing proliferation of WMD to rogue states and terrorist groups F

Adopting a more “humble” foreign policy to prevent overstretch of U.S. military F

Making U.S. citizens and territory safer from terrorism and bringing 9/11 conspiracy to justice F

MB Williams of Wampum thinks so:

As far as a Clark-Dean or Dean-Clark ticket, I think it's a pipe-dream. Clark as a VP would only highlight Dean's thin resume on defense matters. Voters expect the Commander-in-Chief to have his hand on the Red Phone, not the VP. Dean offers little other than Dean's grassroots supporters, and frankly, as we minorities have often been apprised, where you gonna go? If the race looks tight, Clark as nominee picks someone like himself, but with more inside the Beltway experience, such as Edwards, who can possibly carry an otherwise Red state. If the Administration goes into complete meltdown, Clark breaks the glass ceiling and chooses a Southern woman or minority politico. Maybe Dean gets a Secretary appointment (HHS?) in a Clark Administration. But I strongly suspect that if he leaves Boston without the nomination, he heads back to Vermont otherwise empty handed.

Lisa English of Ruminate This, is back from an on-again, off-again hiatus, with multiple great posts today, including this one agreeing with Wampum on Clark-Dean.

We've been invited to a small gathering next Sunday (9/29) where Sen. John Edwards will meet and greet all present and answer questions. No donation required. It will be a small group, it's at a private home. We'd love to go, but it's in Miami. Really too bad, because we like Edwards a lot and would appreciate the opportunity to listen to him and ask questions in such a setting--no cameras, no press.

We'd also love to attend the opening of the new Manhattan club Avalon this Saturday night. Howard Dean will be there to address the crowd, along with Al Franken, Whoopi Goldberg and Gloria Gaynor ("I will Survive.) It's cheap--35 bucks. If you are closer to NY than we are, and would like to go, here are the details. Who knows, maybe there will be an e-fare sale to NY this weekend and we can drag our law student offspring away from the books for a few hours to go with us.

Update: The site has moved here.

We love this website called Nobody Died: When Clinton Lied. It has pictures of road signs spotted across California by camera-equipped drivers. You can send your submissions to them to post. Just send the picture, the date and the intersection.

Reader Scarlet Pimpernel emails us that the signs appear to be the work of one group, and he spotted one today, about 10'X10', over the Santa Monica Freeway that read:

"Dear America, Thanks for all the money, sorry about your kids. - Halliburton Oil"

on one side,

and "Nobody Died when Clinton Lied" on the other.

We hope you will read Kirk Bloodsworth's oped in today's Philadelphia Inquirer. Mr. Bloodsworth was convicted of murder in 1983 and sentenced to death by two juries. He received a full pardon in 1993, based on DNA testing that proved he could not have committed the crime.

But it was not until 2003, almost twenty years after the murder, that the prosecutor ran tests on the DNA to see if the real killer in Bloodsworth's case could be identified. Sure enough, the DNA led authorities to real killer. The real killer was arrested for robbery, attempted rape, and attempted murder a few weeks after the crime for which Mr. Bloodsworth was falsely accused. He is serving a 45 year sentence for that crime. But think about it: Had the DNA testing occurred earlier, and had Mr. Bloodsworth not been falsely accused, another serious crime could have been avoided.

The point: DNA not only frees the innocent, it convicts the guilty. Please, read Mr. Bloodsworth's plea for the passage of the Innocence Protection Act.

In what the Homeland Security Agency describes as a "pilot program," Connecticut officials are arresting everyone who has been ordered deported.

Typically, an illegal immigrant who a judge has ordered deported but who has not committed another crime has been allowed to remain free while the order is appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals. Under the pilot program, immigrants are detained as soon as a deportation order is issued, although they can post bail. "We're trying to make the judges' final decisions mean something more," Bentley said.

Marshall Fitz, associate director of advocacy for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said it is unfair to group illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes with those who have not. "These people have not been judged to be criminals," Fitz said. "This is a blanket policy."

General Wesley Clark has made up his mind. He's joining the Democratic race for President. The official announcement is expected tomorrow.

We like Clark, a lot. We think he is more liberal than Dean on criminal justice issues. We reported on his known positions here.

Daily Kos, who now supports and works for Dean, had this to say about Clark back in April:

"He's solid on national security, well-spoken, presidential, pro-choice, pro-gun, pro-affirmative action, anti-PATRIOT Act, and believes strongly that the government should provide for the less fortunate amongst us."

To get up to speed on Wesley Clark and his views, here are some links:

An Army of One written by Clark in the September 2002 Washington Monthly.

On Clark's background (scroll down until you get to Clark):

A West Point graduate and former Rhodes Scholar, Clark saw combat in the Vietnam War as commander of a mechanized infantry company. He won the Silver Star, the Bronze Star (twice), the Purple Heart and other decorations for his heroism in combat. Clark served as Commander-in-Chief of US Southern Command ("SOUTHCOM") in 1996-97 and NATO Supreme Allied Commander in 1997-2000 (during the NATO bombing campaign against Serbia). He retired from the Army in 2000 and subsequently wrote a book on military-foreign policy entitled Waging Modern War (2001). Clark currently resides in DC, but considers Arkansas to be his home.

Wesley Clark Unplugged, a Salon Interview from March, 2003:

One of the things about the war on terror that I am disturbed about is that we've essentially suspended habeas corpus. Which is something that's only been done once in American history and then only for a very brief period.

When I go back and think about the atmosphere in which the PATRIOT Act was passed, it begs for a reconsideration and review. And it should be done. Law enforcement agencies will always chafe at any restriction whatsoever when they're in the business of trying to get their job done. But in practice we've always balanced the need for law enforcement with our own protection of our constitutional rights and that's a balance that will need to be reviewed.

This just might be our candidate. We're going to learn more and report it all here, so check back often.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered briefs be filed by tomorrow on whether the full court should hear the issue of delaying the recall election (called an en banc hearing.) Reuters reports that one of the Judges on the court asked his fellow judges to rehear the case. Stay tuned.....

Here is the text of the order:

"Before: Thomas, En Banc Coordinator:

The parties, including the intervenor, shall file simultaneous briefs, not to exceed 15 pages, or 7,000 words, setting forth their views on whether or not this case should be reheard en banc. The briefs shall be filed with the Clerk no later than Wednesday, September 17, at 2:00pm P.D.T. The briefs may be filed in letter format and shall be sent to the Court electronically. Issuance of the mandate will be stayed pending further order of this Court."

Fox News has this report.

Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill) will introduce the first bill in the history of the U.S. Senate to provide an affirmative defense to medical marijuana users facing federal pot charges--the Truth in Trials Act. From the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP):

For the first time ever, a federal law recognizing the validity of state medical marijuana laws will be introduced in the U.S. Senate. U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) will introduce the Senate version of the Truth in Trials Act in October. Now is the time for you to write to your U.S. senators urging them to be original cosponsors of this medical marijuana legislation.

Please take two minutes to fax your senators a pre-written letter explaining why it is necessary to provide federal protections to patients and caregivers who use and provide medical marijuana in compliance with state laws. Visit here, enter your address, select a letter, and click a button to send it to your senators.

The Truth in Trials Act would create an affirmative defense that could be used against the outrageous federal prosecutions of patients and caregivers acting with the approval of state authorities and in accordance with state medical marijuana laws. The Department of Justice is holding medical marijuana patients in federal prison and actively trying to increase their numbers....It is urgent that your senators hear your outrage!

Health Canada, which supplies legal marijuana to medical users in Canada, is under sharp attack from users of its product:

Some of the first patients to smoke Health Canada's government-approved marijuana say it's "disgusting" and want their money back.

"It's totally unsuitable for human consumption," said Jim Wakeford, 58, an AIDS patient in Gibsons, B.C. "It gave me a slight buzziness for about three to five minutes, and that was it. I got no other effect from it."

Barrie Dalley, a 52-year-old Toronto man who uses marijuana to combat the nausea associated with AIDS, said the Health Canada dope actually made him sick to his stomach.

"I threw up," Dalley said Monday. "It made me nauseous because I had to use so much of it. It was so weak in potency that I really threw up."