Here’s another big surprise… NOT!

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday issued subpoenas to the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney’s office and the Justice Department after what the panel’s chairman called “stonewalling of the worst kind” of efforts to investigate the National Security Agency’s policy of wiretapping without warrants.

The move put Senate Democrats squarely on a course they had until now avoided, setting the stage for a showdown with the Bush administration over one of the most contentious issues arising from the White House’s campaign against terrorism.

Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is chairman of the committee, said the subpoenas seek documents that could shed light on the administration’s legal justification for the wiretapping and on disputes within the government over its legality.

In addition, the panel is seeking materials on related issues, including the relationship between the Bush administration and several unidentified telecommunications companies that aided the N.S.A. eavesdropping program.

Full
Story on The NY Times Web Site

"Fighting Terrorism" continues to be the biggest, most over-used excuse to ILLEGALLY trample privacy.

Long-secret documents released Tuesday provide new details about how the Central Intelligence Agency illegally spied on Americans decades ago, including trying to bug a Las Vegas hotel room for evidence of infidelity and tracking down an expert lock-picker for a Watergate conspirator.

Known inside the agency as the “family jewels,” the 702 pages of documents catalog domestic wiretapping operations, failed assassination plots, mind-control experiments and spying on journalists from the early years of the C.I.A.

The papers provide evidence of paranoia and occasional incompetence as the agency began a string of illegal spying operations in the 1960s and 1970s, often to hunt links between Communist governments and the domestic protests that roiled the nation in that period.

Full Story on The NY Times Web Site

And does this really surprise anybody? I can’t wait to see what is divulged in future years about all the spying on our own people that is going on now. It’s starting to seem like privacy is just a fantasy.

You can file this one under, “Get a freakin’ life”! Seriously people. Whoever has a problem with Arnie smoking a Cuban cigar should be shot. Is that the biggest issue of the damn day? Whoever gets elected as President in 2008 should do away with this antiquated, idiotic trade embargo.

Here’s the story…

“Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fired up a stogie during his trip to Canada this week, but did he break U.S. law to do it?

The celebrity governor known for his love of premium cigars was headed to the Ottawa airport Wednesday when his motorcade made a detour to a hotel. There, Schwarzenegger picked up a Cuban Partagas cigar in a shop, with the $14.83 bill paid by an aide traveling with him, the Ottawa Citizen newspaper reported.”

Full Story

A former top Justice Department aide testified on Wednesday that she had “crossed the line” in considering the political beliefs of applicants for nonpartisan legal jobs and suggested that earlier testimony by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and another top official about the dismissals of federal prosecutors may have been flawed.

Monica M. Goodling, the former Justice official, told a House panel that she regretted favoring applicants with Republican credentials for lower level prosecutor jobs or prestigious postings at Justice headquarters, actions that could violate federal employment laws.

“I may have gone too far in asking political questions of applicants for career positions and I may have taken inappropriate political considerations into account,” Ms. Goodling said. “And I regret those mistakes.”

Full Story on NY Times Web Site

At least somebody is telling the truth around here.

Sorry for the late notice, but it was too late anyway…

"May 14th is the official deadline for cable modem companies, DSL providers, broadband over powerline, satellite internet companies and some universities to finish wiring up their networks with FBI-friendly surveillance gear, to comply with the FCC’s expanded interpretation of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. Congress passed CALEA in 1994 to help FBI eavesdroppers deal with digital telecom technology. The law required phone companies to make their networks easier to wiretap. The results: on mobile phone networks, where CALEA tech has 100% penetration, it’s credited with boosting the number of court-approved wiretaps a carrier can handle simultaneously, and greatly shortening the time it takes to get a wiretap going. Cops can now start listening in less than a day."

This kind of stuff is making wish I as born 50 years earlier.

Full story on Wired.com

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, second-in-command to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and caught in the firestorm over the firing of federal prosecutors, resigned on Monday citing family financial reasons. Full story on ABC News.

In the shell game that has become his life, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has withheld e-mails from Congress that indicate the White House and the Justice Department worked together to conceal the role Karl Rove played in the growing controversy over fired U.S. attorneys.

Earlier this months, Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vermont) subpoenaed all e-mails between the Justice Department and the White House over the attorney firings. Yet our nation’s top lawman refuses to obey the law of the land. And continues to be our nation’s top lawman.

Full post on Wired.com

When I was a kid I was fascinated by the Manson Family, the tie-in with the Beatles "White Album" and the book about it named "Helter Skelter" by author and attorney, Vincent Bugliosi. 

He has a new book out and the short answer is that Oswald killed Kennedy and acted alone. From The NY Times; "The prosecutor who put Charles Manson behind bars now wants to solve another crime - a really simple one, he insists. So simple that it takes only 1,612 pages to prove his case."

The $50 book is out today. I will wait for the movie to come out.

Full Article in The NY Times

“I understand why the Bush administration is coming after me — I have tried to help the very people they refuse to help, but until George W. Bush outlaws helping your fellow man, I have broken no laws and I have nothing to hide,” Michael Moore wrote.

Full article on MSNBC

With tears in their eyes, Pat Tillman’s furious family accused the government yesterday of turning his tragic death by friendly fire into a heroic fairy tale.

Struggling to contain his anger, Kevin Tillman said the government’s publicity stunt made a mockery of his brother’s patriotic decision to spurn a lucrative NFL contract and enlist in the Army to serve his country.

The outraged brother said the military engaged in a deliberate “coverup” for more than a month to allow the legend of Army Ranger Pat Tillman to take root in the national psyche - and persuade other Americans to volunteer in the war on terror.

The tale “inspired countless Americans, as intended,” said Kevin Tillman, also a former Ranger. “There was one small problem with this narrative, however: It was utter fiction.

New York Daily News - Full Story

It’s sad to say that this is no "shocker". It’s disgusting and ridiculous the amount of bullshit this administration still thinks we are all stupid enough to believe, and dumb enough to not uncover the truth.

And just to remind you, here’s another one. The story of Former Iraq POW Jessica Lynch is another fairy tale fed to the American public…

Jessica Lynch. You know the one. The sweet, American-pie 19-year-old soldier and kindergarten-teacher wanna-be whose army squad took a wrong turn in Iraq …

The Big Lie Of Jessica Lynch

Jessica Lynch supports the Tillman kin

In a word, "Un-ba-fucking-lievable"!

New York, NY - Al Goldstein, 71, has announced his candidacy for President of the United States. Goldstein, who three short years ago was homeless, broke and now lives on his social security, chronicled his fall from grace in his recent autobiography, I Goldstein. Goldstein figures that after bedding 7,000 women in his storied career he is something of an expert at screwing the people, and being screwed himself. Ideal experience, he says, for the nation’s top job. Goldstein now writes his popular blog AlGoldstein.com, sponsored by adult search engine Booble.

Best known as the founder of Screw Magazine in the summer of 1968, Goldstein also created and launched Midnight Blue, which became the most popular public access cable show in New York by featuring porn stars cavorting with Goldstein and celebrity guests.

As far as his candidacy, Al shares some of his controversial opinions on his new website.

• Iraq: “I am against that war. I am against all wars.”
• On Bush: “A liar, a former cocaine user, who has sent thousands of Americans to die for nothing.”
• On Gay Marriage: “They should be as miserable as heterosexual people”.
• On Obama: “He’s unelectable. No one can pronounce his name.”
• On Hillary: “A fireplug with legs, a mo ralizer, no better than Bush”.

There’s some great information and video clips on Al Goldstein’s Presidential Campaign Web Site