Coretta Scott King Dies at 78

Rest in Peace...

"It's a bleak morning for me and for many people and yet it's a great morning because we have a chance to look at her and see what she did and who she was."

poet Maya Angelou

Alito squeaks by...

... in one of the "most partisan victories in modern history..."

58-42 (and not enough even to override a filibuster)

Republicans cannot debate on Alito any longer - get vote for cloture

Final Vote Count on Cloture of Alito Nomination Debate listed here. firedoglake has done a great job getting information out to stop Alito's confirmation. BUT THERE IS STILL TIME. Scroll down for contact information on your Senators.

GOP Senators just want to hand BushCo one success for his State of the DisUnion speech tomorrow night. Who cares that this a lifetime appointment...

BushCo: Fuzzy reality...

Bush can't recall taking photos with "Pioneer" Jack Abramoff and calls them 'not relevant.' It is hard to say whether BushCo is willing to accept the consequences of his link to good ole Jack. Surely, you can't not know who has contributed some $100,000 as becoming a Pioneer requires? His deflection, however, does not bode well for the GOP in general this election year. The fact that the rule of law was broken here - with the lobbying scandal and the NSA secret domestic wiretapping, as well as the ineptitude of Hurricane Katrina response and mismanagement of the Iraqi war, sets up his Party for a big fall. Let's face it, the Administration and the GOP, in their extreme zeal for power, stomped all over the weak Democrats, and assumed a powerful position. Now it is time to assume the responsibility for the corruption and mistakes.

What, me worry?

It seems some of press in the Midwest is fed up with BushCo's abuse of power. Some powerful commentary from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

If the first five years of the Bush administration have proved anything, it's that when an administration official says we don't need to worry, we need to worry.

California GOP Wasteland: Pombo gets a rival from his own Party...

It seems that former Republican congressman Pete McCloskey finds fellow GOP representative Richard Pombo 'an embarrassment' and has decided to take him on. Wow, it seems that the fallout of the GOP/Ambramoff lobbyist scandal (Pombo being one of the main beneficiaries) and Pombo's general assault on the Endangered Species Act pushed McCloskey over the edge.

"The party has shifted way away from the Republican values I knew,'' said McCloskey, known for his opposition to the Vietnam War while representing the South Bay a generation ago. "This man Pombo is an embarrassment," he said Monday as he opened his longshot election effort at a downtown Lodi restaurant.

It will be a tough race for McCloskey, but Pombo deserves the pressure. He is not doing his job as head of the House Resources Committee. He is mired in corruption connections and pays homage to oil interests. Pete decided enough was enough...

McCloskey argued that he's the true Republican in the race, because he supports "the four values Republicans have historically treasured: honesty and fiscal responsibility, limited government and environmental protection."

There is a thought. Even conservatives know the BushCo's path is the wrong path.

Google warrantless...

It seems that BushCo is one some fascist warpath. The latest target is Google as the Administration issues a subpoena for Americans' search data. Google says no. Good for them.

What the hell is this nonsense? It could be their follow up to what Think Progress calls the DOJ defense of the President's illegal warrantless domestic spying 42 Pages of Silly. The problem is that BushCo is deadly serious. And that is deadly dangerous.

Chris Matthews panders to the Right

Apparently, Chris Matthews is trying to score points with the Radical Right comparing Michael Moore to Osama Bin Laden. Wasn't this analogy already expended YEARS AGO? (via Daou Report)

Crooks and Liars has a clip of it.

Alito - recipe for defeat

Midwest editorials look into the real effect of Alito's confirmation. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette says it best: Americans will regret his confirmation. Why?

Judge Alito comes as advertised. Last week, he did little to confirm or deny what everybody knows about him. He kept his mask firmly in place as the posturing and hypocrisy swirled about him. Once on the court, freed of the need to parry questions, he will revert to type -- and that type will vex the American people, whether they know it or not, for years.

Oh yes, true indeed. For all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the veiled attempt to understand who Alito really is - the Dems constant pontification, the Repubs trifling soft-ball angelic glorification - one thing is for sure - he will take the Supreme Court right - way right in some cases and that will make many Americans (when it sinks in and they see the light) very uneasy about their Democracy. This is who he is and his record shows how consistent he has been. He cannot change on a dime after decades of ruling once way. These are his beliefs. The Post-Gazette sums it up:

An Associate Justice Alito will be meticulous, but he will read the law narrowly to favor authority -- presidential, police or otherwise -- and he will line up with those who wish to deprive women of the right to have an abortion. He will do it because it is his nature to do it -- as his most fervent supporters well understand -- and that is why he should be opposed.

Connecting the Dots: Abramoff and Rove

Rolling Stone digs up a little tidbit about the connection between Abramoff and Rove: their assistant.

Via firedoglake

Dems on fire at Alito hearings

Aside from some the obvious bias in this San Francisco Chronicle article concerning Alito's affiliation to a racist organization at Princeton, it hits at the heart of what is troubling about Samuel Alito. It just seems odd that he is acting like a moderate right now, given his rather consistent far-right approach over the last 2 decades. Yes, one can change their minds over time, but to rule on one side so often, then decide that 'it was the past and I would never do that now' does not feel right.

The Dems, as the beginning of this article suggests otherwise, have proved plenty able to 'land blows' on Alito's record. Alito has dissented many, many times on issues that shed light on him as an ultra- conservative jurist who is opposed to privacy and civil rights, checks and balances, and well, minority rights. His factual and stated membership to the racist Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP) shows us this reactionary ego. In response to Kennedy's line of questioning, Alito gives us this...

'I have racked my memory, and I can't recall anything,' Alito told Kennedy again. 'And if I had been involved actively in any way in the group, I'm sure that I would remember it.'

Hmmmm???

Kennedy expressed disbelief that Alito could recount details of each of his 67 dissents as a Third Circuit appellate court judge, but not his membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton.

Why Is Alito So Ashamed Of Himself?

Michael Giltz at AMERICAblog analyzes Alito and the fleecing of the Right-Wing. His questions could not be more close to the truth.
Via Daily Kos...

BushCo spying argument said to be weak

It is no surprise that the Congressional Research Service's report "rebuts the central assertions" that BushCo made to order domestic warrantless wiretaps on Americans. The WaPO reported over this past weekend:

The report also concluded that Bush's assertion that Congress authorized such eavesdropping to detect and fight terrorists does not appear to be supported by the special resolution that Congress approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which focused on authorizing the president to use military force.

"It appears unlikely that a court would hold that Congress has expressly or impliedly authorized the NSA electronic surveillance operations here," the authors of the CRS report wrote. The administration's legal justification "does not seem to be . . . well-grounded," they said.

This is the appropriate conclusion as seen through the the law. The Administration would have you think otherwise...

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the president and the administration believe the program is on firm legal footing. "The national security activities described by the president were conducted in accord with the law and provide a critical tool in the war on terror that saves lives and protects civil liberties at the same time," he said. A spokesman for the National Security Agency was not available for a comment yesterday.

Other administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the CRS reached some erroneous legal conclusions, erring on the side of a narrow interpretation of what constitutes military force and when the president can exercise his war powers.

Eh?????? These folks live in their own reality. BushCo broke the same law that lead to the impeachment of Nixon. Has anything changed over the last three decades? Maybe that is a naive question, but what is at stake here is legislative power (of the People) versus too much executive power. The President and his Administration are not above the law...

Have Americans lost the guts for democracy?

Great editorial from Gene Lyons at the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

...See, there have to be reasons the administration kept its actions hidden. Right now, we don’t know what they are. But we do know that Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who had personally prosecuted al-Qa’ida terrorists, refused to sign off on White House wiretaps, as apparently did former Attorney General John “Let the Eagle Soar” Ashcroft. It’s up to Congress, the courts and a hitherto easily intimidated free press to find out why. Under Gonzales, the Justice Department now plans to investigate the whistleblowers who exposed Bush’s defiance of the rule of law. A more upside-down situation can hardly be imagined. How can this great nation have been brought to such a pass by a few thousand stateless fanatics hiding in caves ? Have Americans still got the guts for democracy ?

Abramoff scandal widening

There is plenty being written about who's is on the block as GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff sings. What is worth noting is who poor Jack donated TO and when. As AMERICAblog states:

$172,933 - Republican
$88,985 - special interest
total: $261,918

That's 229 donations and not a DIME to Democrats.

Good start to 2006 as Republican lobbyist Abramoff pleads guilty...

It looks this Jack Abramoff will plead guilty and cooperate. This will open up the investigation to corrupt GOP lawmakers' dealings with Abramoff, Scanlon and other powerful lobbyists. One must note here that some of these folks used to work under Tom DeLay and are linked to Republican Bob Ney or Ohio, Roy Blunt of Missouri, and others.

As part of the deal, prosecutors filed conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion charges against the embattled lobbyist. The filing outlined lavish gifts and contributions that it said Abramoff gave an unnamed House member, identified elsewhere as Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Administration Committee, in return for Ney's agreement to use his office to aid Abramoff clients.

It is only fair to note that some Dems are being looked at as well, including Harry Reid of Nevada, but definitive proof shows many Republicans from Midwest states and Texas benefited greatly from this illegal campaigning, money laundering, and general defrauding. It is about time that the Justice Department moves on this. The abuse of power by this BushCo officials is almost unprecedented, as they lie, cheat, and steal their way to the top. Because, obviously, they could not get elected with and majority...