Hojjati emphasizes that she doesn't want war. But what she wants even less -- and what her think tank is designed to fight against -- is for the U.S. to acquiesce to the Iranian regime remaining in power.

26 percent:
Bush's approval rating in a new Newsweek poll. (Via Atrios.) Newsweek includes this helpful comparison chart:

think progress

69 percent:
Number of voting Americans who "disapprove of President George W. Bush commuting the 30-month prison sentence of I. Lewis `Scooter' Libby."

think progress

Electa provides more data:

I was amazed to learn that the children in my community have been following the Scooter story.  Probably because 85% have a parent(s)  incarcerated and grandmothers are having this discussion around the kitchen table.  Anyhew the kids are rapping a new song as they ride their scooters...Scooter Libby committed a crime, Bush commuted his sentence so he wouldn't drop a dime on Cheney's behind....but my Daddy is doing his time, doing his time, doing his time.  Who's the best man?  who's the greatest man?  Scooter Libby did the crime, Bush gave him freedom not to drop a dime.  Out of the mouths of babes.

A woman accused of running a prostitution ring in the nation's capital is free to distribute thousands of pages of phone records after a federal judge lifted a restraining order on Thursday.

Afraid of the potential stifling of information to you? Good. Then go to Save The Internet and see what you can do to fight. There are literally only days left for you to get your voice heard.

I remember watching Orrin Hatch, on the Senate floor some years back, describing that what he likes most about his job as a Senator is being able to use his office to get back at those that would say bad things against him. It just seems too much like a coincidence that Hatch sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee and that his very favorite-thing-about-his-job is what got used to retaliate against Joseph Wilson.

At least now, the infamous "Feeney Amendment" that had bolstered Hatch's draconian Protect Act, is punctuated with news reports of Rep. Tom Feeney, variously tied to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

From Sentencing Law and Policy mentioning the Feeney Amendment:

"[A]ccurate, real-time information on sentencing ... to play an appropriate and effective role in the public debate", ... clearly are being collected and analyzed by DOJ in real-time.

[I]t is notable that DOJ is not spotlighting or complaining about individual cases in which an imposed sentence was unduly harsh; DOJ seems really concerned not about undue disparity but rather undue leniency.

[...]

Daniel Collins, one of the chief proponents of the Feeney Amendment to the PROTECT ACT, stress USSC data in his testimony to argue that "We should not make fundamental structural changes solely to accommodate a problem that does not occur in 99.2% of the cases."  That statement struck me as jarring given that the Feeney Amendment, especially as originally proposed, sought to eliminate virtually all downward departures even though DOJ had identified downward departures as a major concern in some economic and sex offense cases and even though USSC statistics revealed that DOJ was successful in reversing 75% of the departures it appealed.

Prison Video Of Ex-Priest's Slaying Shown On YouTube

Former defense official seeks private relief bill.

From a cramped motor home in a Montana campground where Internet access is as spotty as the trout, Richard Barlow wakes each morning to battle Washington.

Once a top intelligence officer at the Pentagon who helped uncover Pakistan's efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, Barlow insisted on telling the truth, and it led to his undoing.

He complained in 1989 that top officials in the administration of President George H.W. Bush - including the deputy assistant secretary of defense - were misleading Congress about the Pakistani program. He was fired and stripped of his security clearances. His intelligence career was destroyed; his marriage collapsed.

Federal investigations found Barlow was unfairly fired, winning him sympathy from dozens of Democratic and Republican lawmakers and public interest groups. But for 17 years, he has fought without success to gain a federal pension, blocked at every turn by legal and political obstacles also faced by other federal intelligence whistle- blowers.

"This case has been put before the Congress to right a wrong, and for various reasons, they've failed to do it," said Robert Gallucci, dean of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and an expert in nonproliferation. "It's infuriating."

Kabul, Afghanistan - The men told the same story, of how foreign troops bombed their villages long after the Taliban fighters had left, how the bombs killed women and children, goats and sheep, and how if they had one wish, it would be for the foreigners to leave.

One man said 60 civilians had been killed in the air strike June 29 in a village in southern Helmand province, one of the most remote and dangerous areas of Afghanistan. Another villager, likely a Taliban sympathizer, exaggerated that as many as 500 innocent people had died, according to video of the bomb's aftermath provided by Ariana TV station, one of the few media outlets to visit the insurgent stronghold.

"Our children are being killed," said Abdul Qader, who said he lost at least seven family members. "Our homes are being destroyed. We are bombed. They destroy us and they kill us. What should we do?"

The air strike, near the village of Hyderabad, came after fighting between the Taliban and Afghan soldiers supported by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. The video showed shrapnel- riddled tractors and mangled cars and homes that looked like piles of crushed crackers.

Such bombings and the allegations of civilian casualties, exaggerated or not, are now the biggest challenge facing foreign forces trying to prop up Afghanistan's government. More than any suicide bombing or insurgent offensive, this issue has the potential to undermine foreign troops and ultimately hurt the NATO mission in Afghanistan, Western diplomats and Afghan officials say.

Boy sure sounds like a plot akin to the Niger Forgeries. Wonder how many others like her get checks from US taxpayers via Cheney's et al discretionary slush funds.

And as Laura Rozen asks: I am just curious, how does IKON do PR for the Argentinian intelligence chief for a year without uh registering as a foreign agent? The Israelis don't have to register either.....hnmmmmm