As has been covered extensively at TPM muckraker and noted by Adam B on the front page here today, the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) has been disabled by the Bush Administration's efforts to confirm notorious vote-suppression guru Hans von Spakovsky to the FEC.

Democrats rightly continue to block approval of von Spakovsky.  However, in another shameless effort to install Republican Partisans in influential positions in our elections bureaucracy, the Bush Administration has nominated for the FEC a lawyer intimately acquainted with how to suppress voters:

Caroline Hunter

The House has passed reasonable a FISA update bill that lacks immunity for Telecommunications companies that would forever hide any illegality associated with the Bush Administration Warrantless Wiretapping Program.

The Senate will soon readdress the FISA issue.
Republicans and the Bush Administration (and several Democratic Senators) favor TelCo immunity.

We must target our Senators to urge them to support the House version of FISA update, which protects our civil liberties as much as it protects our country from terrorists attacks.

This is the liveblog for Hillary Clinton's dental records, which are scheduled for release today at 10pm EDT.

This, from today's WSJ, is what I would call a Democratic Victory:

The White House, seeking to break a months-long standoff, has signaled to Democratic lawmakers it is open to negotiation over a proposal to expand government spy powers, according to officials familiar with the conversations.

In a revealing Slate article published last night, NY Times reporter Eric Lichtblau exposes new details of the lengths the Bush Administration went to in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to stop the Times from publishing Risen and Lichtblau's Pulitzer Prize-winning expose of the the Bush Administration's illegal Warrantless Wiretapping program.

The Slate article outlines the Government's strategy to hide the truth: Lies, threats, and similar to the publication of the "Pentagon Papers", a failed Nixon-era attempt to use the courts to stop the presses.

I used to love this site.

It was the first thing I'd read when I came to work each day.
Daily Kos was a refuge for me.  It was freedom from the conservative or apathetic co-workers, and more than that it was an exciting place- where bright, informed people were sharing ideas, dialog and dreams.

But this site has changed.

As the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Jane Harman was a member of the "Gang of Eight", and one of the congresspersons briefed on the secret and extralegal Administration programs (Surveillance, Interrogation) in the "War on Terror."

We now know that Jane Harman was briefed on videotapes of interrogations of al Qaeda captives in 2002, and knew details of CIA interrogation methods.

Yesterday, Jane Harman released the text of a letter to the CIA written in 2003 urging that videotapes of interrogations of al Qaeda captives be preserved.

Her strongly worded letter was unfortunately ignored, and the torture tapes were later destroyed.

Nonetheless, Rep. Harman's principled stand against torture should give us comfort that she is acting in good faith as she continues to lead the Blue Dogs in ongoing compromises with the GOP on Warrantless Wiretapping, TelCo amnesty and other issues that place the Administration in conflict with the Constitution and Rule of Law....Right?

I am still holding back the Red Ryder BB gun, but Harry Reid deserves an apple in his stocking this Christmas, after all.

After taking a righteous beating from Chris Dodd and attentive bloggers over a bewildering attempt at capitulation to the Administration (TelCo amnesty in the FISA update legislation), Reid has regained his Democratic legs.

Politico (via TPMmuckraker) reports that Reid has broken off negotiations to move nominees toward senate confirmation before the upcoming break, and will again hold pro forma sessions in the Senate to block any recess appointments.

Today's NY Times reveals the top Bush Administration lawyers informed of the existence of the CIA Interrogation tapes that likely contained documentation of waterboarding and others techniques that would be considered torture.  We have previously learned about the fact White House Counsel Harriet Miers was informed of the tapes existence.  Now we learn that the other officials included Dick Cheney's Counsel, David Addington, as well as White House Counsel and later Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The stated Administration justification for destroying the tapes was to protect the identities of the CIA agents who conducted the interrogations.  More skeptical folks have suggested that they were destroyed to eliminate bad publicity in the wake of the Abu Ghraib Scandal.

But I submit that there is a more tangible motive:  To eliminate evidence of Alberto Gonzales' perjury.

Thank you for standing up for Civil Liberties.
Thank you for leaving the campaign trail and coming to Washington to fight for our Constitution.
Thank you for representing America and Americans against those who would take away our freedom.
Thank you for being a leader, and for demonstrating the qualities that make me proud to be a Democrat.

Harry Reid announced Friday that he would introduce the SSCI version as the base bill of the FISA update in the Senate.  The SSCI versions provides TelCo amnesty and has limited oversight for Government spying activities.
This weekend, we learned that the Bush Administration sought spying devices to acquire communications of US Citizens before 9/11.  TelCo Amnesty and limited oversight are the last thing we need.

Because Chris Dodd has threatened to Filibuster, Reid announce a cloture vote at Noon today.  This tricky maneuver was done to use the weekend Press lull to limit coverage of the impending Amnesty vote, and minimize your ability to lobby your Senators against Amnesty.

Dodd needs 41 votes to prevent cloture.  All of the major Dem Presidential Candidates in the Senate have spoken against Amnesty.  Whether they will return from campaigning for this important vote is unclear.

As alluded to in Booman23's diary, Progressives appear poised to lose a major battle on FISA.  Not because Republicans hold a Senate Majority, but because Harry Reid may be about to capitulate to the Administration, again.

Harry Reid spoke on the floor of the Senate this morning describing how he will introduce the new FISA revision bill in a way to advance Bush's plan to provide TelCo amnesty and limit surveillance oversight protections.

Reid was not explicit about which version he would introduce, but implied that he will advance the SSCI bill, which contains Amnesty for TelCos and limited oversight, and the SJC version would be an amendment (requiring 60 votes to get rid of Amnesty).  Cloture will occur on Monday.

This he does in defiance of Senator Dodd's hold request, and a letter from all of the Democratic Presidential Candidates currently in the Senate.

Update: Please read the last paragraph below for some more thoughts about how this might not be all bad....

TelCo amnesty for illegality committed in the Bush Administration's Warrantless Wiretapping Program will be debated in the Senate soon.

There are 2 competing bills:
The Intelligence Committee's, which includes TelCo Immunity, and
The Judiciary Committee's, which does not.

Harry Reid will decide which bill or bills will be sent to the floor for consideration.  If the Intelligence Committee's Bill is debated, it will likely be approved.  If not, then Amnesty will be separated from FISA update and will require it's own bill.  This latter outcome would require those supporting amnesty to show their colors, and passage would be much less certain.

Today, all of the Democratic Presidential Candidates who are Senators signed a letter urging Reid not to advance the Intel Committee's Amnesty Bill.

This is a dramatic victory for progressives.

AP Photographer Bilal Hussein has been accused of supporting terrorists and held in military custody in Iraq for 20 months.

On Sunday, December 9th, 2007, the US Military presented evidence against Hussein before an Iraqi Court.  The seven hour hearings were ordered secret, as was the material presented by the Military.  Hussein's lawyer, Paul Gardephe, was allowed to see some of the material, but was forbidden from making copies.

Gardephe has presented a detailed rebuttal of the public allegations against Hussein.  However, even after Sunday's hearing, no formal charges have been filed, and much of the Military's evidence remains secret.

The incredible 20 month delay just to present evidence and the secrecy of the hearings certainly raise questions about the evidence against Hussein.  

I am returning to Friday's speech by Sheldon Whitehouse (video here), in which he excoriated the Bush Administration for their egregiously unconstitutional legal justification for the Warrantless Wiretapping Program.  The diary to follow is pure speculation, but I believe that there are several clues indicating that one of the key controversies of the Bush Administration's Wiretapping program will turn out to be the fact that this Administration conducted warrantless monitoring of the communications of American Citizens working overseas.  This group certainly includes contractors and servicemen and women in Iraq, citizens working for NGOs, and importantly, the Press.

"treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

Yesterday's speech by Sheldon Whitehouse (video here, thanks bumblebums) on the floor of the US Senate was the first salvo in the accounting of the criminality of the Bush Administration in Warrantless Wiretapping of US Citizens in contradiction of existing FISA law.

In his speech, Whitehouse focuses on the legal justification of the Warrantless Wiretapping Program.  James Comey and Jack Goldsmith told Congress where to look for illegality, and Sheldon Whitehouse has done so.

Along this path lays tangible evidence for demonstrating that George Bush and Dick Cheney should be impeached.  Whereas this outcome is a seeming impossibility, it is certain that along this path lays political fallout for the GOP and their Democratic enablers.  

As the former Senior Democratic Congresswoman on the House Intelligence Committee, Jane Harman was in a position to be informed about the intelligence operations and errors of the Bush Administration between 2002 and 2006.  

Importantly, Rep. Harman did nothing substantive to try to stop Illegal Warrantless Wiretapping, choosing instead to rubber stamp any and all Bush Administration schemes.  

We now learn of another intelligence misadventure of which Jane Harman was informed:
The CIA destroyed tapes of interrogations of captured high-level al Qaeda operatives.  Almost certainly, this was done to cover-up illegal or unethical torture of detainees, essentially amounting to criminal cover-up.

Jane Harman apparently wrote a letter of complaint when she learned of the cover-up in 2003.  She did not, however, do anything meaningful to expose or stop the Bush Administration's destruction-of-evidence agenda.

Emptywheel at The Next Hurrah (and soon to be at Firedoglake!) picks up on an important letter in the Governemnt's response last Friday to the Electronic Freedom Foundation's FOIA request.

Back in July and August 2007, when the House and Senate intelligence committees were negotiating fervently with DNI Mike McConnell to write legislation for FISA update, the Bush Administration was engaged in parallel, back-channel lobbying and negotiations with the Blue Dog Democrats.  And because owning the Blue Dogs ensured that the Administration could get any Bill it wanted, all of the assurances, promises and deal-making between the Administration and "Official" Senate Leadership was a meaningless pony show.

On August 5, 2007, the Bush Administration-Blue Dog Protect America Act (PAA) became law.