At every stage since his capture, in a taxi bound for the Afghan-Pakistan border, Hicks had crossed a legal landscape that Cheney did more than anyone to reshape. He was Detainee 002 at Guantanamo Bay, arriving on opening day at an asserted no man's land beyond the reach of sovereign law. Interrogators questioned him under guidelines that gave legal cover to the infliction of pain and fear -- and, according to an affidavit filed by British lawyer Steven Grosz, Hicks was subjected to beatings, sodomy with a foreign object, sensory deprivation, disorienting drugs and prolonged shackling in painful positions.

The U.S. government denied those claims, and before accepting Hicks's guilty plea it required him to affirm that he had "never been illegally treated."

Part 2 of the Washington Post's piece on Cheney and where we are now. Required reading.

Pushing the Envelope on Presidential Power | Cheney | washingtonpost.com

Kirk, an Illinois Republican, made the argument on Thursday during a heated debate in the House of Representatives over whether the U.S. government should be allowed to donate condoms and other contraceptives to family planning agencies abroad that also engage in abortion.

The proposal was narrowly approved by the House, over the protests of anti-abortion lawmakers who prefer sex abstinence education. The measure faces a veto threat from the White House.

You just can't make this stuff up... Let's see, we're going to fund sending condoms to a largely Catholic country. And what does the church say about contraception? Isn't this the bunch that Monty Python made fun of with "Every sperm is sacred?" Why it seems it is...

Lawmaker urges condoms for border control | Politics | Reuters

The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the National Archives, Vice President Cheney exempted his office from the presidential order that establishes government-wide procedures for safeguarding classified national security information. The Vice President asserts that his office is not an “entity within the executive branch.”

hmmm... Not within the excutive branch... Well it's sure as hell not part of the legislative or judicial branches, so it's either executive or non-governmental, in which case Cheney shouldn't have any access to any government information outside what the general public has.

Oh, and the Secret Service can tell him to provide his own security.

Vice President Exempts His Office from the Requirements for Protecting Classified Information :: Committee on Oversight and Government Reform :: United States House of Representatives

While the U.S. military searches for a soldier missing in Iraq, kidnapped by insurgents possibly allied with al Qaeda, his wife back home in Massachusetts may be deported by the U.S. government.

No pithy remarks this time. This is just offensive.

Missing Soldier's Wife Faces Deportation, As Military Searches For Kidnapped Soldier In Iraq, U.S. Threatens To Send Wife Back To Dominican Republic - CBS News

Karen Stevens, Tovah Calderon and Teresa Kwong had a lot in common. They had good performance ratings as career lawyers in the Justice Department's civil rights division. And they were minority women transferred out of their jobs two years ago -- over the objections of their immediate supervisors -- by Bradley Schlozman, then the acting assistant attorney general for civil rights.

Schlozman ordered supervisors to tell the women that they had performance problems or that the office was overstaffed. But one lawyer, Conor Dugan, told colleagues that the recent Bush appointee had confided that his real motive was to "make room for some good Americans"

This sort of thing is WHY there's a civil rights division, and now these vermin are running it. Jim Crow is back.

Political Hiring in Justice Division Probed - washingtonpost.com

President Bush has talked with British Prime Minister Tony Blair about taking a role as a Middle East peace envoy after he leaves office next week. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, the State Department's top diplomat for the Middle East, talked with Blair in London on Wednesday, while the White House and State Department spoke glowingly about the prime minister's credentials but said there was nothing to announce yet.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also expressed support for Blair playing a role in the Middle East.

Well shit! He's got the endorsement of the two most hated people in the Middle East, sounds good to me!

(Most hated is open to debate, but I think it's debate about whether or not person x is someone to consider as well, not any question about whether they W and Ehud aren't right there)

Bush Eyes Blair for Mideast Peace Role - The Huffington Post

Bush chose former Iowa Rep. Jim Nussle, one-time chairman of the House Budget Committee, as Portman's successor.

That's right, Jim Nussle, the guy who pulled a paper bag over his head on the floor of Congress. Jim Nussle, the guy who lost the race for Iowa governor 54-44. Didn't they already try this strategery with Ashcroft?

White House Budget Director Resigns - The Huffington Post

Keith Olbermann gives us the skinny on Fox News host, Bill O’Reilly’s ejection from the New York Mets’ clubhouse last week.

The jabs by Keith keep coming. Wait for the grin at the end of the clip.

Crooks and Liars » Countdown: Keith Clears The Air On The O'Reilly-Mets Affair

The conservative jurist stuck up for Agent Bauer, arguing that fictional or not, federal agents require latitude in times of great crisis. "Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles. ... He saved hundreds of thousands of lives," Judge Scalia said. Then, recalling Season 2, where the agent's rough interrogation tactics saved California from a terrorist nuke, the Supreme Court judge etched a line in the sand.

"Are you going to convict Jack Bauer?" Judge Scalia challenged his fellow judges. "Say that criminal law is against him? 'You have the right to a jury trial?' Is any jury going to convict Jack Bauer? I don't think so.

"So the question is really whether we believe in these absolutes. And ought we believe in these absolutes."

I wish I were making this up, but he really said it. Tony Scalia manages to argue in favor of torture and jury nullification. Oh, and uses a TV show as his source of jurisprudence. If I could make this shit up, I still wouldn't have a better job because no one would find it believable.

globeandmail.com: What would Jack Bauer do?

With President Bush’s 61st birthday a little over two weeks away, first lady Laura Bush is soliciting $61 donations from supporters of the Republican National Committee.

Fuck that. Send him a blivet.

CNN.com - CNN Political Ticker Laura Bush asks for birthday cash «