It seems that the FBI feels too constrained by current policies regulating who they can and can not investigate. Currently they need such things as evidence, or allegations that wrong doing has been committed.
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is considering letting the FBI investigate Americans without any evidence of wrongdoing, relying instead on a terrorist profile that could single out Muslims, Arabs or other racial and ethnic groups.
Law enforcement officials say the proposed policy would help them do exactly what Congress demanded after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks: root out terrorists before they strike.
Preemptive investigations hmm? More below jump/with action.
Just a quick diary here. The DNC and Obama need our help. We know McCain's fundraising has been weak, and Obama's has been stellar, but currently McCain + RNC has about $100 million dollars. The RNC was quietly raising funds while we battled it out in our primary. So please give anything you can!
If you need more of a push remember:
Remember the DNC and Obama are NOT taking money from lobbyists and need small donors!
Remember the DNC and Obama and our friend Dean are running a 50 state strategy!
Remember Obama practically threw Lieberman against a wall after getting the nomination!
Remember Obama just promised no permanent bases in Iraq!
Remember Obama isn't afraid to attack McCain-- this is the year that our gloves come off!
Below the jump is a video from Obama's manager, David Plouffe detailing the situation I just described.
Before you watch the video, and recommend this diary (so everyone sees it and dumps money into the Democratic coffers) give your own donation. Whatever you can:
I am not surprised when FOX lumps anyone with whom they disagree into the dubious category, far left. We know they are simply a right-wing bull horn. However I a more surprised when the NYT tosses labels around without any connection to reality. While I do not think that the NYT is perfect by any means, I assume they will at least do their research. A mistaken assumption perhaps?
Today the NYT ran a story entitled Obama Supporters on the Far Left Cry Foul. It discusses recent frustration with Obama's move toward the so-called center, and suggests that this disillusion is occuring over on the far left. The article resorts to typical straw men and reductive categories rather than discussing the complex and nuanced positions of the American Voter.
Its claims that only the far left opposes the Iraq war, and only the far left opposes telecom immunity, and that only the far left supports gun control the are dubious at best, and at worst are outright contradicted by polls in the reality-based community.
Like most here at our Dkos community I was furious over the passage of the FISA bill and telecom immunity and the way this capitulation was billed as a compromise. Well today I read two pieces of news about the ongoing battle against immunity and the current form of the FISA bill which made me feel (slightly) better: EFF and the ACLU will be fighting on going legal battles attempting to address he unconstitutional nature of the FISA bill.
Below the jump are two quick snips of this news to tuck you in for the evening....
There is a new law entering congress of which every woman, man, and blogger should take notice. Called the Global Online Freedom Act (H.R. 275) it will prevent U.S. companies from carrying out or facilitating the suppression of online speech in repressive countries. In short, GOFA will do the following, according to Amnesty International:
The Global Online Freedom Act of 2007 has been proposed in Congress to help stop U.S. companies from teaming up with foreign governments to violate human rights.
Now who wouldn't support that?
More over the jump.
Point 1: I recieved notice that I will be receiving my economic stimulus refund soon. While more money to me is always nice, the politics of it make me ill--why is it that every time Republicans see a problem the first thing our of their mouth is lower taxes, tax cut, tax refund?
Last Tuesday, our Primaries Matter campaign delivered results and helped lead Donna Edwards to a resounding 24-point victory over Bush-Democrat Al Wynn in MD-04. Ed Fallon is the next DFA-List endorsement and he's taking on Bush-Democrat, Rep. Leonard Boswell in IA-03.Contribute $20.08 right now and support a Democrat with the backbone to stand up for progressive values.
Ed Fallon is a true progressive and he has a record of beating out-of-touch Democrats in Iowa. In 1992, he beat 10-year incumbent Gary Sherzan with 63% of the vote and became a State Representative. When the conservative party establishment tried to primary Ed out of the state legislature, Ed won again with 68% of the vote.
Now, with your help, Ed will beat Bush-Democrat Leonard Boswell. Here's a breakdown of some of the important differences between them.
I tend to dislike presidential diaries, but I have reached my breaking point. While I have been an Obama supporter, I have-up to this point-been fully willing to vote/campaign/volunteer for whoever gets the primary nomination including Hillary.
But that might change.
Recent news that Hillary's rich buddies might launch their own 527s has turned my stomach. After the flip I will briefly tell you why.
Freedomworks is at it again. This diary is second in what I plan to be an ongoing series of watching Freedom Works and Freedom's Watch. Both groups style themselves as grassroots groups, answering the conservative call against MoveOn. Yet neither group is grassroots powered, and both have ties to powerful conservative think thanks and powerful conservative leaders. In this diary I will briefly discuss the powerbrokers behind FreedomWorks and then look at one of their causes-- Natural Gas, and how they are using liberal frames to get people to act on behalf of natural gas.
As I have said elsewhere I think if McCain wins the nomination, he will spur a grassroots conservative movement. FreedomWorks and Freedom's Watch will be two groups to watch closely. I also think that watching the right, particularly the so-called grassroots right is farmore important than all the candidate diaries. If we only watch ourselves, we will see nothing.
This is the first in what I hope will be a series on Freedom's Watch. This group is supposedly the conservative answer to Moveon.org. They pretend to be a conservative grassroots organization, but are as DC as you can get. I am an active member of MoveOn and am on Freedom Watch's email list and will try to keep the DKos community posted on their activities.
Up to this point Freedom's Watch has not been a major player in public opinion and has no where the word-of-mouth power that MoveOn has. But that might be about to change in the 08 campaign, and if they emerge as a major play--we must be vigilant.
Conservatives are notoriously good at turning politics into a lock-step-machine like process--whether it is the Get Out The Vote, or the Right-Wing-Noise-Machine, or following Karl Rove's commands for eight years despite the fact that they nearly all backfire.
Just as progressives seem to be uniting and talking to each other on major issue (whether at Netroots Nation/Take Back American Conventions or uniting labor and green energy) at the same time conservatives seem to be falling apart (can anyone say Republican Primary?).
The collapse of the Conservative lock-step was interestingly epitomized at the Republican debate when Mitt Romney attacked McCain for being like Nixon.
My friends conservatives are cannibalizing each other. Quotation and more below.
Every once in a while you get an email which just makes you laugh. Today I opened my email box and saw an email with the subject line:
One Year To Victory
When I opened it up I saw who it was from:
Republican National Committee
I just about bust a gut. Do these freaks actually think they stand a chance at victory? Now I am cautiously optimistic, but you gotta read their email.
They are either desperate or sooo out of touch. Below the jump is their email to me.
We all know by now that millions of China-produce toys have been recalled by manufacturers due their lead-taint.
We all know that Bush and many Republicans have opposed the SCHIP health bill which would have covered millions of children.
We all know the debacle which No Child Left Behind has been.
The intersection of these three issues constitutes a moral imperative for progressives and Democrats, and exposes an incredible weakness in the Republicans/Conservatives: What happened to family values?
Below are my initial thoughts on this 'story' and how it can be used to a) mobilize an understanding of progressive family values b) expose the Republicans as rhetoricians who fail at every turn to provide and protect our families c) enable us to offer a clear progressive alternative as a coherent package.
Granted the Dems are not perfect in all of these issues, but we can show that we are a hell of a lot better than the RepubliCons/Conservatives.
There has been a lot of discussion about Obama's campaign faltering, and his failure to bring together a progressive coalition and act as a progressive candidate.
And he has fallen in my view as of late, and I have said he is now in a 3 way tie with Edwards, and Dodd for my vote.
But there were several points last night during the debate in which I was reminded of why I have endorsed him up to this point.
I want to give one example and analysis over the jump.
The American Prospect hits the nail on the head in Spencer Ackerman's discussion of continued American-military presence beyond the so-called war on terror. The story on Iraq keeps changing precisely none of the stories hold up: WMDs, Humanitarian Motives, Stabilization of the Middle East, Iran etc.
Even if Hillary, Obama, and everyone else were to take the hardline approach like Richardson and call for zero residual troops... there is the still the issue of what they would do with all the bases being built there.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I miss Bill.
But boy do I wonder why he is here so mad at the RepubliCons and yet Hillary caved to Gooliani pressure and voted against MoveOn. {Update} My comment here is not entirely clear and now I realize that, and apologie for the confusion. While I am tempted to rewrite the diary I will not, lest the comments be confusing to those who come later. To be clear: Hillary voted against the Republican bill, voted for the Boxer bill condemning it and all such attack ads, and then on national TV condemned the ad and all such ads. See the link below the jump. (UPDATE)
Still political in nature, but semi personal as well.
The players: me a MoveOn volunteer organizer, Deborah Pryce, Cindy Sheehan, and our children: those here at home who need healthcare, and those in Iraq fighting our war.
