FEMA sorry for fake news briefing — chicagotribune.com. they had employees pretend to be reporters and barred reporters from asking questions. i feel like i’m taking crazy pills.

Bush re-states hard line on Cuba | Guardian Unlimited. Talking to Cubans, Bush said “You can bring about a future where your leaders answer to you”. Fuck, America could hope for that too.

FRONTLINE: Cheney’s Law: full video. as you can imagine, that was terrifying.

The best show on television returns on october 16th with a report entitled “Cheney’s Law”. really, the best show. they also have a sweet preview for the upcoming season.

More from Seymour Hersch on the Whitehouse and Iran. honestly, this guy must have more sources than every other reporter combined.

Bill Maher: New Rule: Stop Saying Iraq is Another Vietnam, it’s Another Enron “And here’s another one from the War in Iraq’s this-is going-to-make-you-vomit file”


“when did the democratic party turn into lionel hutz?”

Former Fed Chief Attacks Bush on Fiscal Role - New York Times. Add Greenspan to the list of insiders who can’t believe how foolish the entire Bush administration is.

patriot act ruling

On Thursday, a federal court struck down the National Security Letter provision of the Patriot Act. The provision allows the government to serve a warrant and prevents the party who received the warrant for telling anyone that they recieved the warrant or what was divulged. In the related case, the plantiff was an Internet Service Provider who, presumably, couldn’t tell it’s customers that it had divulged information about them. Oddly enough, the case’s title is John Doe vs (former Attorney General) Alberto Gonzalez. Why? Well, the ISP also can’t be named because of the National Security Letter.

The ACLU, who represented John Doe, has a pretty thorough press release on the ruling and about the case in general. The press release makes an interesting point about how anyone who is served with a NSL is then under a gag order to not talk about it and essentially can’t criticize it. From the release:

In its case, the ACLU and the NYCLU said that the gag provision has had significant effects on the John Doe plaintiff. John Doe was prevented from participating in the contentious Patriot Act reauthorization debate that raged across the nation in late 2005 and early 2006. Even though Doe had firsthand knowledge of this sweeping FBI power, he could not speak about the fact that he had received an NSL, divulge the breadth of the letter, or discuss the ramifications on his business relationships.

But here’s the part of the press release that blew me away. You would think that something like this isn’t used that widely. That, is definitely not the case. In the last two years the government has issued… wait for it… over 143,000 NSLs. That’s one NSL for every 2000 Americans in just 2 years.

While reports previously indicated a hundred-fold increase to 30,000 NSLs issued annually, an extraordinary March 2007 report from the Justice Department’s own Inspector General puts the actual number at over 143,000 NSLs issued between 2003 and 2005. The same investigation also found serious FBI abuses of the NSL power and numerous potential violations of the law.

Anyways, I’m so glad I renewed my membership to the ACLU last week.

Stephen Hayes got man handled by Tim Robbins and Bill Maher on Real Time. This guy should go hide in a hole or something.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales Resigns. I’ve been disconnected for the last 4 days. This is a nice surprise.

A Funkaoshi Production :: Bush’s Brand New Viet Nam. ram on bush’s latest dumbass comments.

60 Minutes - Under the Influence. this piece is INSANE. about how the drug lobby pushed the medicare drug bill through with the help of some corrupt politicians and staffers.

Jon Stewart Grills Cheney Biographer Stephen Hayes. this guy looked like a fool.

Daily Show: 94 Cheney vs. 9/11 Cheney. Even Dick doesn’t know Dick.

If FDR Were GWB. cute. via ram.

We know what’s best for you. | MetaFilter “the United States House of Representatives voted down a bill which would have prohibited the DEA from targeting State-authorized medical marijuana dispensaries. Almost simultaneously, the DEA raided 10 medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles.” via ram.

Gonzales Digs a Deeper Hole - TIME. what a fucking fool. how can this guy be in office? via ram

Guardian Unlimited | America is just starting to wake up to the awesome scale of its Iraq disaster. via ram.

Media Matters - Libby, Bush and the lapdog press. more on the horrible state of the press and the strongarming of the whitehouse. via ram.