It is safe to assume the current Democrats and incoming Democrats will not do much to undo Bush's damage to the constitution without some serious poking and prodding. Hopefully the Ron Paul Republicans, our friends on this issue, will help them along a bit.

But I think we need to do everything we can to strategize and keep people informed about abuses to our civil liberties and about attempts to roll back the damage done to them during the last 8 years.

To help this effort along I started a Civil Liberties Google Group. Our brief agenda and link is below. Please join.

Whodda thunk that Pakistan has a more vibrant democracy than the good ol' USA?  Perhaps there's a slight angle to this argument, but consider the roles of Bush 'the Guardian of Democracy' & Musharraf 'The Generalismo'.  Now, consider the following:

1.  Pakistan actually sees demonstrations that aren't composed of vapid demonstrators simply wanting personal attention.  In Pakistan the attention often comes from suicide bombers or zealot policemen, yet the heroic lawyers protest on!  When's the last time you saw a group of 1000 climbing fences and sucking tear gas in America - other than spoiled brat (F)anarchists?

2.  The protests actually mean something, as witnessed by the resignation of Musharraf on charges that he violated the constitution.  Charges?  Back in the good ol' USA the we have legislation (FISA again) which officially acknowledges wrongdoing, but there's nary a twitch on the protest line.  

Combine the above with news about the dismal state of American electorate involvement and ability and it suggests that we need a kick in the pants.  Hmmm...Musharraf '08?

More hmmms...HS civics students graded on protest involvement?  Civil disobedience arrests as pre-req for Polisci degrees?

Just what we needed:

The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years.

The proposed changes would revise the federal government's rules for police intelligence-gathering for the first time since 1993 and would apply to any of the nation's 18,000 state and local police agencies that receive roughly $1.6 billion each year in federal grants.

Quietly unveiled late last month, the proposal is part of a flurry of domestic intelligence changes issued and planned by the Bush administration in its waning months. They include a recent executive order that guides the reorganization of federal spy agencies and a pending Justice Department overhaul of FBI procedures for gathering intelligence and investigating terrorism cases within U.S. borders.

Taken together, critics in Congress and elsewhere say, the moves are intended to lock in policies for Bush's successor and to enshrine controversial post-Sept. 11 approaches that some say have fed the greatest expansion of executive authority since the Watergate era.

Hmm. Where have I seen this dynamic before?

A spying technique that's currently illegal or otherwise prohibited, but which we're actually engaged in anyway, which the "administration" now proposes we legalize before somebody who takes the rule of law seriously gets elected to the White House.

But don't worry! The FOX Nutwork will have no problem finding Democrats to go on the air and endorse the plan, along with the usual useless caveats:

Former Justice Department official Jamie S. Gorelick said the new FBI guidelines on their own do not raise alarms. But she cited the recent disclosure that undercover Maryland State Police agents spied on death penalty opponents and antiwar groups in 2005 and 2006 to emphasize that the policies would require close oversight.

Oh, OK. All we need is some close oversight. Gotcha. No prob.

Seriously, is now any time to really be so glib about needing close oversight of, well, anything? Saying something requires close oversight to be done right is, these days, tantamount to saying it can't be done.

To borrow a phrase often heard in these parts not so long ago, "Shut up about FISA warrantless surveillance domestic spying already! It's over!"

What do you know? There might have been something fundamentally wrong there, after all.

No one could have foreseen...

Over the past few weeks, various members of the online liberal/progressive community, that included quite a few Kossaks, worked together in a democratic fashion to create the Netroots Platform  

For those of you who have just joined us, check out DemocracyLover in NYC mothership diary http://www.dailykos.com/... , to get the whole picture.  For the Civil and Human Rights Plank, we had a whopping 67 Contributors.  Join me over the fold to read the final version

I was driving home from work last night when I heard an advertisement for the Barracuda Message Archiver.

Now, I wasn't dumb enough to believe that the e-mails I send and receive at work don't ultimately end up in a grand archive - in fact, the warning that precedes every workday letting me know that anything created or submitted by this computer is their property (good thing none of this gets published :-) disabused me of the notion that I could delete an e-mail a long time ago.

But it's the sales line of this product that spooked me.

The Barracuda Message Archiver provides everything an organization needs to comply with government regulations in an easy to install and administer plug-and-play hardware solution.

For all you scared, greedy, stupid, or cynical Representatives and Senators who voted for the FISA revisions last month, here’s a little something that got lost in the Friday Olympics-vs.-sex-scandal news dump. . . .

Can you believe that congressional primaries are still happening across the country?  They are.  And wouldn’t it help to know a primary candidate’s position on FISA and other Constitutional issues prior to voting?

The Get FISA Right group is finding out the answers, using a questionnaire developed on our wiki.   The survey includes a section on the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 followed by a section on Constitutional Rights.  Challengers are scored on a curve with a grading method discussed in our web forum.  Incumbents are graded on the vote they made in the House and Senate when the flawed bill was passed.  Those who voted Nay get an A, while those who voted Aye get an F.

More after the fold.

After reading Spencer Ackerman's short piece today entitled "No More Voices Behind My Back" a few things came to mind that I would like to discuss.  Emails and phone calls with people in Middle Eastern or Southern Asian nations could cause the government to secretly and negatively focus attention on innocent parties.  Ackerman writes, makes and receives such emails and phone calls because of his work in journalism.  The scrutiny of his communications would undoubtedly take place at a higher level, and from more directions, than the scrutiny of domestic communications.  Having said that, and keeping in mind that I still consider all such spying illegal under the Constitution of the United States, political and rights activists here in the United States have plenty of reasons to worry about Bush's Big Brother policies.

More After The Flip

This would be Rep. Silvestre Reyes.

And to recap why I'm furious with him, it's best to read the diary I posted after our first conversation about the vile FISA rewrite.

Since Reyes pulled the stunt he said he was against back then, I've been fuming and stewing.

Today, I had the chance to let him know how upset I was.

CBS News recently spoke with Mr. Joel Brenner, who they described as "the nation’s top cyber-security official" about the security risks facing U.S. travelers planning on attending the Beijing Olympics.

The travel advisory was blunt: "All information you send electronically-by fax machine, personal digital assistant (PDA), computer or telephone-can be intercepted." It was of course non-news.

Then came an exchange between Mr. Brenner and reporter Bob Orr that must have come as a surprise to at least a few viewers:

Brenner: "The public security services in China can turn your telephone on and activate its microphone when you think it's off."

Sorry to interrupt the puritanical Ken Starr-like scolding going on, but something more important than John Edwards’ sex life happened today.

Or to be exact, 34 years ago today: Richard Nixon resigned the presidency over the threat of certain impeachment for violating the 4th Amendment, among other crimes.

Today, August 8, is the day Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency of the United States in 1974 to avoid impeachment and conviction for high crimes and misdemeanors.  Today is the day that Holy Joe Lieberman was driven from the Democratic Party.

Today is also the day the Strangebedfellows Moneybomb is set to go off.  Back in June-July when the FISA fight was roiling, pissed-off civil libertarians raised over $300,000 to run ads targeting Democrats such as Steny Hoyer who colluded with Congressional Republicans, the White House, and the telecoms to pass the corrupt and dangerous 2008 "FISA Amendments Act."  The Strangebedfellows aim to continue and broaden that campaign, and they need our help.

On March 5th, dailykos denizen norahc (Ben Plunkett) obtained permits in the name of "Swift Students for Truthiness" from the St. Paul Parks Department for use of Hamm's Plaza for non-partisan issue oriented expressive activity on Sept. 3d and 4th, 8AM to 8PM. Planned, a "Shutdown Guantanamo Stop Torture" event the 3d, "Stop Government Spying" on the 4th, both starting at 4:00. I'm co-ordinating the "spying" event.

Hamm's is tiny, not much more than a traffic island, so the limit of 91 in attendance at any time was acceptable.

Yesterday, Ben received a Certified Mail from the Parks Department, dated August 5th, indicating that the permits had been revoked, offering alternative space at Ecolab Plasa or Mears Park, both much less visible. Hamm's is 2 blocks from the Convention site at the Excel Center, and faces the St. Paul Hotel, a major delegate hub. I've just lined up an attorney, we'll be seeking a Temporary Restraining Order directing that the Parks Dept. honor the original permit.

Anyone planning to make it to St. Paul, post in comments, let's plan a get-together.

If you're mad as hell about the Capitulation Congress and Nancy Pelosi's spineless leadership, and you want to do something about it, tonight is your chance.

As you may have heard, Cindy Sheehan is running against Nancy Pelosi for her San Francisco congressional seat, and she's facing an Aug. 8 deadline to collect an additional 2,000 signatures to get on the ballot. But you don't have to be in California's 8th congressional district to help.

Like many husbands who married wives with Arabic names, I am subject to intrusion into my luggage, mail and general privacy on a regular basis. The post office pries through my packages without so much as a thank you or sorry--just a shitty job taping it back together. And, when we're lucky enough to fly, TSA rummages through my luggage and wife (but at least they're polite enough to leave a note).

Now, don't get me wrong, my government's benevolence is not lost on me. I'm not ungrateful Uncle Sam has spared the wife from extraordinary rendition, especially in light of her book collection, which includes works featuring Malcom X and Fidel Castro (together!). And a part of me almost believes that they're just trying to protect me from my wife.

Let's connect the dots:
Dot 1: Instant-Messagers Really Are About Six Degrees from Kevin Bacon
Dot 2: According to news reports, "the NSA began monitoring the communications of anyone "connected" to Al Qaeda figures"
Under this doctrine, even Rush Limbaugh is "connected" to al Qaeda and subject to warrantless surveillance.  In other words, the Bush Administration can now wiretap the international communications of anyone, anywhere, at their sole discretion.  And if any purely domestic communications "accidentally" make it through the filters, I'm sure the loyal Bushie in charge would never, ever consider relaying any politically useful bits to the appropriate political operatives...
(more below the fold)

Forty years ago, the Right created their "think tanks" and enlisted their talkshow propagandists to frame the political debate in our country.  We all know their sad tropes, because they were so wildly successful--The poor are lazy, Government is the problem, Responsibility rests on the least powerful not the most powerful, and Without discussion, the United States is the greatest country in the world.

So who's right on the "Gang of 10" energy proposal? From james-richardson, written early yesterday morning:

Conservatives have long had offshore drilling in their sights.  They consider it one of their many fronts in the war against liberals and their envrionmental wackos.... The reason they're pushing for offshore drilling now is because of FISA.  They know they can go around spouting complete lies on these issues and the congressional democrats will still capitulate every single time.  If the Dems gave in on F[I]SA, what else will they give in on?  Make no mistake; there will be more of these before November.