This is from NarcoNews a fairly new website dedicated to real news you won't find anywhere else.

Socorro Garcia, a pastor from the Blessed Works Christian Family Center, an Assembly of God congregation, had come to preach the gospel to some 30 or so residents receiving counseling and treatment for their addictions. She stood at the podium in the little conference room and gave the invitation to those at the prayer meeting to come forward and give their lives to Jesus. Many had their arms raised, faces turned toward heaven, praising the Lord and asking to be saved. At that moment at least four masked and hooded gunmen burst into the room and began to shoot. According to Socorro, "...the bullets came from all directions, from the right and the left, meanwhile I was crying out to God to send His angels to protect us and I saw the young people falling injured all around me and others managed to run for their lives..."

When the shooting stopped, bodies lay all over the room. The director of the center (who has not been identified in press accounts) lay with his body over another pastor’s wife. She and her unborn child survived. The man died.

Brutal, shocking, and something that would warrant a big investigation right ? Not gonna happen.

They picked a great day to dump this news. It will all but be buried as people rant about some guy and his sex life.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Friday that it had improperly obtained the phone records of reporters for The New York Times and The Washington Post in the newspapers’ Indonesia bureaus in 2004.

Robert S. Mueller III, director of the F.B.I., disclosed the episode in a phone call to Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times, and apologized for it. He also spoke with Leonard Downie Jr., the executive editor of The Washington Post, to apologize.

How many people said the abuse of wiretaps would end up this way ? I know I commented about it. Now with FISA it may not be a issue any more since it's now legal.

So it appears Bill will get his spotlight time at the convention. It's being reported that Bill will speak the Third night of the convention right be the VP Nominee is named. Anyone want to take a guess why Bill will be making this announcement ? hmmm? Nah, say it ain't so !

Former President Clinton will have a role at the Democratic convention in Denver later this month.

Democratic officials said Thursday that Clinton will give a speech on the third night of the convention, before an address by the as-yet-to-be-named running mate for Barack Obama, the party's likely presidential nominee. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity before the details were formally announced.

I'm praying Obama doesn't pick Hillary. If the numbers as are as tight as claimed, Hillary could just arouse the Right enough to turn out to vote instead of staying home, as many plan. http://www.sfgate.com/...

In a time when Democratic Senators control the Senate and when there is not reason to cave, Harry has done it again. Heaven forbid he stand his ground on this or any other issue. Not only did Harry surrender on one issue but on everything the Right wants. Remind anyone of the FISA votes ?

Reid said Democrats would allow votes on GOP amendments that would permit new drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf; the development of oil shale in western states; construction of new nuclear power plants; as well as a vote on broader legislation Republicans have dubbed "drill more, use less," which includes offshore drilling, conservation initiatives, the development of battery technology, and language to curb speculation in the oil futures market. Reid putting offshore drilling to a vote

As a aside Mitch has yet to accept Harrys offer, he may want still more don't you know.

This week in Ca. the trial started for Charles Lynch in Federal Court. Charles is a businessman, a member of the local Chamber of Commerce, who secured all the needed permits to open his business. The City leaders of Morro Bay thought so important was Charlies store that even after the Feds shut down his store, they reissued Lynch's business license to continue his store and it is valid to this day.
After reopening for a short time the Feds scared Charles's landlord into asking him to close out of fear of seizure of his property. Charlie was the owner, manager and Caregiver for Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers in Morro Bay, a Medical Marijuana provider. His store was open for over a year without incident or  major complaints in the small town.  Today he is facing 100 years in prison.
Drew Carey has even done a short documentary about Charlie and one of his patients that you can view at Charlie Lynch Trial Begins Tuesday

In what I can only call Pandering at it's worse Sen. Lieberman is handcarrying a Pardon Request for Eduardo Arocena, who is currently serving a life sentence. This news is spreading rather quickly and I am pleased to help.

1. Before addressing a pro-McCain event in Florida on July 20, 2008, Senator Joe Lieberman was recorded on video telling Miriam Arocena, wife of Eduardo Arocena, the Federally-convicted leader of the Cuban-American terrorist group Omega 7, that he will carry back to Washington her request for a Presidential pardon for her husband. Arocena is serving a mandatory life sentence and was convicted on 25 Federal counts in New York and 24 counts in New York.

Lieberman said:

   "It's my responsibility, it's my responsibility. I will carry it [the pardon request] back. I will carry it back. Yeah. I feel...I think of you like you were my family.... I'll bring it back. I'll do my best."

Today when Bootlick Atty Gen. Mukasey gave his speech he asked for Congress to issue a new AUMF for the Bush admin. If this doesn't send out warning bells to every citizen, then they are just plain braindead.

As part of the plan, the administration also wants Congress to "reaffirm," nearly seven years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, that the United States "remains engaged in an armed conflict with al Qaeda" and other terrorist groups. The administration used Congress’s original affirmation of an armed conflict, three days after 9/11, not only to invade Afghanistan, but also to incarcerate enemy combatants without trial and to conduct wiretaps on Americans without a court warrant.NYTimes

Over the last couple years many have called on Congress to rescind the current AUMF since Bush uses it as a excuse for many illegal acts including Torture.

For a while now the media has been covering how the International Criminal Court had issued a Arrest Warrant and had Indicted Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president for War Crimes. Today Mark Levine, a professor of Middle East history at the University of California, drew the parallel to Bush.

"Bashir was directly responsible [for the activities of the militias]. He is the president. He is the commander-in-chief. Those are not just formal words. He used the whole state apparatus. He used the army; he enrolled the militia/Janjaweed. They all report to him. They all obey him. His control is absolute."

In such context, Bush is also directly responsible for the horrific disaster in Iraq.

Bush's imperial presidency, with its "Unitary Executive" and arrogation of the right to declare war from the constitutionally-appointed Congress, has similarly "used the whole state apparatus" to wage the Iraq war. He "enrolled" our soldiers and his military commanders who "all report to him".

Wednesday Judge Walker, of the famous FISA cases, rules that Bush is not more powerful than FISA no matter what Bush says. How this will effect , if at all, the other FISA cases is yet to be known. For one thing this case is against the Government, not the Telecoms so the Immunity Sellout would not of affected it anyway.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in California said Wednesday that the wiretapping law established by Congress was the "exclusive" means for the president to eavesdrop on Americans, and he rejected the government’s claim that the president’s constitutional authority as commander in chief trumped that law.

A quick glance does raise a few questions for me, the layman, by rejecting the claims of authority that should mean Bush broke the Law. If Bush broke the law, then the authority he gave the Telecoms is null and void right ?

While we have all been worrying about the Telecom Immunity and the other changes to the FISA Laws Rep. Obey has quietly made sure the FBI doesn't have the money to do more harm. Obey and his Appropriations Comm. voted down a big 11 Million Dollar expansion of the FBI's datamining.

Earlier today, a House appropriators voted to pull $11 million to expand a controversial FBI data-mining project, after the Bureau repeatedly stiff-armed Congressmen and their gumshoes in the Government Accountability Office.

"By refusing to answer even the most basic questions about this program, the Department of Justice has given us little choice.  In fact, we’re only doing what they told us to do," said Congressman Brad Miller in a statement. "The Department of Justice... said that if Congress didn’t like what they were doing, we could pull their funding.  Well, that’s what we’ve done... Until an agency can provide reasonable explanations, and assurances that our citizens’ privacy won’t be violated, it would be irresponsible to give the Department of Justice this large increase in funds. " http://blog.wired.com/...

Yup, a Federal Judge has ruled that the NSA can wiretap a attorney and cannot be forced to admit it. If your calls with your attorney were swept up in Bushs Illegal Warrantless Wiretapping scheme then they are free to use whatever it was they heard. There is no fruit of the poison tree even if illegally collected.

WASHINGTON --
The National Security Agency does not need to tell lawyers for Guantánamo Bay detainees whether their phones were tapped as part of the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

So when a Lawyer calls a witness to see what they have to say they must take care that whatever is said could be used against them. If they need privacy they should travel and do all communications face to face in some kind of Safe Room.

While publicly playing the tough guys both Conyers and Sanchez are playing another game behind the scenes. Conyers has claimed they have have yet to receive any formal notice that the Pres. is asserting privilege, but it is being reported that the White House has ordered Rove not to testify.

House Judiciary Committee Democrats on Monday renewed their demand that former White House political adviser Karl Rove testify publicly on the politicization of the Justice Department but suggested they may accept a compromise in which Rove would be interviewed in private without taking an oath to tell the truth.

House Dems may accept unsworn statements from Rove

So much for all the tough talk. Next step is a meaningfully mean letter right ?

 It's beginning to look like that so-called Security Agreement Bush has been trying so hard to slip past Congress is going to come back and bite him in the ass. According Micheal Ware of CNN is warning that the Ieaqis may just decide to " take over this War ".

Maliki and others are not happy with many of the rules Bush wants. Things like 60 US bases, Immunity for Blackwater and the other contractors, control of the Iraqi Airspace, among other things. Ware told CNN tonight that if the Iraqi Parliament can get it together to pass the right laws that Bush could be forced to start the withdrawls before he leaves office. Talk about Bush being a laughing stock. His poor ego would not be able to handle being seny home with his tail between his legs. Personally I can't think of a more fitting end to this fiasco of Bush's Ego.

I don't know anything much about Gov. Kaine except for what I read in this Editorial. I can tell you I think Obama could do much worse. Being the Gov. of Virginia means he will take a lot of heat for this choice and a move like this could take him off the list or move him up in the rankings. I vote for moving him up in the ranking.

VIRGINIA GOV. Timothy M. Kaine (D), a confidant of Barack Obama's and the first governor outside Illinois to endorse the senator's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, is routinely mentioned as a vice-presidential prospect. Many politicians in his position might bend or suspend principle to keep such prospects alive. But this week, Mr. Kaine commuted the death sentence of a mentally deficient triple killer to life in prison without parole. Under the circumstances, the decision, which could well provide convenient fodder for Republican attack ads in a national campaign, was courageous as well as fair-minded and fact-based.

Today in a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs two members of the Iraqi Parliament  told members of Congress several new truths. One was that the only reason there was so much violence in Iraq was because the US Troops were there. That the violence was not pointed at Iraqis but at the Occupier's and that it would end when a Timetable was in place.

A interesting aside is that the only Hawkish member of the House present was Dana Rohrbacker, and he is nuts anyway. The only other Republican present almost flat out apologized for the War, stating we went in on a lie and he knew it now. More on the flipside

Asia Times via ThinkProgress is reporting a attack on the Iranian Quds Force. The story also say the "Senator Diane Feinstein, Democrat of California, and Senator Richard Lugar, Republican of Indiana, said they would write a New York Times op-ed piece "within days"."  This should come as no surprise if it happens.

NEW YORK - The George W Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the United States recently.

Two key US senators briefed on the attack planned to go public with their opposition to the move, according to the source, but their projected New York Times op-ed piece has yet to appear.

Most of us know Vincent Bugliosi as the man who prosecuted Charlie Manson, Mass Murders, and as the author of the book Helter Skelter. Tomorrow Bugliosi's new book, " The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder", will be released. The shit should hit the fan shortly after that if there is still justice in America. I have spent this morning reading excerpts, watching video, and digesting the information.

If Bush were impeached, convicted in the Senate, and removed from office, he'd still be a free man, still be able to wake up in the morning with his cup of coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice and read the morning paper, still travel widely and lead a life of privilege, still belong to his country club and get standing ovations whenever he chose to speak to the Republican faithful. This, for being responsible for over 100,000 horrible deaths?* For anyone interested in true justice, impeachment alone would be a joke for what Bush did. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

 In what I can only call shocking, Muskasey while giving a commencement speech at the Boston College Law School tried to defend John Yoo, one of the authors of the Torture Memos.  The dodges he use are insulting, even more so since being used to a crowd of Lawyers and Law Professors. They had to have seen through his ploys, and if it had been my graduation I would of had to walk out.

After some time setting up his straw dog it comes down to his basic argument. Tough Times call for tough readings of the Law, consequences be damned.

In short, the message sent to our national security lawyers in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks was clear; it was bipartisan; and it was all but unanimous.  It was that the legal culture in our intelligence agencies, and in the Justice Department, was too risk-averse.  It needed to be more aggressive, it needed to push to the limits of the law, to give policymakers and operators the most flexibility possible to confront the existential threat of international terrorism. Transcript