Remember Bernadette Devlin? We sure do. Don't miss Lisa English of Ruminate This who today delves into Devlin's recent deportation, wondering if it has anything to do with her current criticism of the war with Iraq.

We're over at Altercation today, subbing for Eric Alterman, who's off promoting his book, What Liberal Media?

We're also in Cancun, for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers' spring meeting, with a dial-up modem and expensive internet access, so posting will be sporadic through the weekend. The newsfeed is taking a respite for a few days, but Cursor , Buzzflash, Hamster and Common Dreams will keep you up to date.

Michael Tomasky is really good today filling in for Eric Alterman on Altercation. Charles Pierce was there yesterday and Eric Boehlert is there tomorrow. We'll be the guest blogger Friday, which is Slacker Friday, so if you have some comments on what the gang has written this week (including Eric on Monday), send it to us at Alterlinks@aol.com.

TalkLeft made the National Journal's Hotline today (subsciption only) for it's interview last week with Gary Hart.

HART: TAKE THIS DEFENSE TO HART

The blogger, TalkLeft, "had the opportunity to sit down with" ex-Sen. Gary Hart (D-CO) "for thirty uninterrupted minutes" on 2/13 "and discuss his recent San Francisco foreign policy speech, and the concerns of some ... that one line of the speech might be construed to be anti-semitic." Hart "doesn't talk in code. If he had a problem with a particular group, he'd come out and say it."

The "focus" of Hart's speech "was not War with Iraq, although Hart certainly mentioned it. The speech was about American's foreign policy role in the 21st century. ... His point was that where there is a difference between what is in
America's best interest and what is in the best interests of the homeland or country of origin of another group, America's interest must come first in shaping foreign policy. "

Hart, a "strong supporter of Israel for over 30 years," was "not referring to Jewish Americans. ... He was talking about America's long-term foreign policy role in the 21st century. His comment applies equally to Cuban, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Greek and Turkish -American citizens. He was talking about all
Americans, wherever we come from" ( TalkLeft, 2/13).

Say hello to a new law blog (blawg), SOHO. It's for lawyers working out of small offices or home offices.

It will be a resource for students coming out of law school who wonder if there's an alternative to big firm practice as well as for "the new opportunities available to attorneys who have practiced in larger, more conventional firms, and have grown dissatisfied. Not that long ago, many such folks would have to choose between changing practice areas to move to a SOHO practice, and staying unhappily at a big firm. Now they can come over to the light side without the Hobson's choice."

It's gorgeous here in Denver today, too nice to sit at the computer or not take advantage of the holiday, so we're off to Boulder and will be back later this afternoon. In the meantime, we hope you will visit our friends listed in our blogrolls and browse through our weekend posts.

If you can spare a buck or too, we'd also welcome your hitting our honor box or paypal links. As we get more popular, the bandwidth costs increase. Many thanks to those of you who take us up on this.

Via A Moveable Beast , we came across Behind the Homefront, an excellent journalism weblog devoted to the newly formed Department of Homeland Security.

On Jan. 24, 2003, a new law enforcement and investigatory agency whose duties include functions taken from as many as 22 other federal agencies came into existence. The reorganization of these operations reportedly marks the biggest government bureaucratic shake-up since the creation of the Department of Defense half a century ago.

Even before the new Department of Homeland Security opened its doors, controversies arose over not just how it would operate and exercise its powers, but what level of access to information it would allow, and how it would respond to news media requests. Will new exemptions be carved out of the FOI Act, either by law or by practice? Will officials and agents feel free to tap phones of journalists, or subpoena their records during investigations? Will the new director consider procedural safeguards, like those adopted years ago by the Department of Justice, to ensure that freedom of the press will not be denied? And will those practices be followed?

But "homeland" security is not the only concern for journalists covering anti-terrorism initiatives; military actions abroad often present a greater challenge, as questions over disclosure of information, access to troops, and restraints on reporting seem to resurface anew with each conflict.

Questions and issues like these led the Reporters Committee to launch this "weblog," so that there will be a centralized site on the Internet for journalists who want to follow these issues and pass along information they learn while covering -- or worse, being covered by -- the new department and other anti-terrorism actions. Please submit comments and pass along tips to make this project as useful, thorough and up-to-date as possible.

The mainsteam media credits weblogs again, this time on the Howard Coble case and Law. Prof. Eric Mueller's Is That Legal?.

Eric has done a phenomenal job on this issue, much like Atrios did on Trent Lott.

Devra over at Talk A Blue Streak says she's getting paranoid about things. Here's a sample of her concerns:

We have a President who embraces Fundamentalist Christian theology as a guide to governing in Foreign Policy. And who rejects 'Christian Charity' as a guide to governing in Domestic Policy. We have a Commander In Chief who is knowingly driving our government into bankruptcy. What does this add up to? A president who seeks to undermine us. I'm not inclined to paranoia - I'm just paying attention.

If you are a Fundamentalist Christian, you are probably perfectly comfortable with the idea that the government should be 'Faith Based' - provided that Faith is a Christian, Bible-centered one.

But how is this any different from the many 'Faith Based' Muslim nations of the world? The Taliban does come to mind, here, as does Saudi Arabia.

We are a secular nation. That is our strength. Why do we sit by, afraid to ask questions of a president who seeks to turn this into a bankrupt Christian nation. I wonder, what do Christian militias think of George W. Bush? Do they think he's on the right track? Bankrupt the Federal government, strengthen private industry, weaken labor, turn over social services to churches, privatize privatize privatize ... what's next? Dismantle government, and the individual protections it promises. Good god. It's like I'm living the prologue of a dystopian science fiction novel. And then there's the War.

And after that, the Moonies. Go read, and let her know she's not alone in her anxiety.

Via The Agonist, a link to the blog Uzbekistan Diary, "A year in the life of a North American Journalist working in Uzbekistan."

The most recent post is yesterday. It begins,

We are in the middle of a fight with the US Embassy. There are certain un-named factors in the US Embassy that want my organization to trumpet all the good things the US is doing here. And they want us to make our UZ journalists tell those stories on UZ TV.

This presents a conflict of interest for me.

Sure, as a private US citizen, I would like the world to know about the good things my country does. But as a director of a press organization, I do not see it as my job to do PR for the United States, even though my salary comes from US taxpayer money. My job -- my mandate -- is to promote a free and independent press. It is not to promote and create an UZ press that tells the stories the US government wants them to tell.

[Note: We incorrectly identified the blog's author as a "He"--so we have changed the title of this post. Thanks to Sean-Paul for letting us know.]

South Knox Bubba has had an epiphany on what's wrong with the Democratic Party. Don't forget to read the comments. [link via Atrios.]

Welcome back from a too long hiatus to Law Prof. Jeff Cooper of Cooped Up--he's moved to Movable Type and gotten a bloglift.

Issues Guy gives up anonymity and has a new article out at History News Network, go read.

Ignatz (Sam Heldman) gets a nice bloglift as well.

Lisa English of Ruminate This examines General Electric's ownership of NBC in the context of their status as a major producer of nuclear bombs and reactors.

Jim Capozzola of Rittenhouse Review on the latest code orange alert--we'd write some more but we're off to the grocery store to stock up on our three day supply of bottled water.

The Horse is all over the right-wing Kerry bashing

Don't forget Eric Alterman is on O'Reilly tonight-- Fox News Channel, 8 and 11 pm EST.

What Liberal Media?

by Eric Alterman


Buy the Book Today!